When The Tablet Was Marked 'Urgent,' He Had The Right
To Take Private Horses, And Was Required To Ride, Night And Day, 700 Li
In Twenty-Four Hours.
On his return he had to give back the tablet to the
Emperor, who handed it to the prince who had the custody of the state
tablets and seals." (Dr. S. W. Bushell, Actes XI.
Cong. Int. Orient.,
Paris, p. 17.)
"The Kin, in the thirteenth century, used badges of office made of silver.
They were rectangular, bore the imperial seal, and an inscription
indicative of the duty of the bearer. (Chavannes, Voyageurs chez les
Khitans, 102.) The Nue-chen at an earlier date used wooden pai-tzu tied
to each horseman and horse, to distinguish them by. (Ma Tuan-lin, Bk.
327, 11.)" (Rockhill, Rubruck, p. 181, note.)
"Tiger's tablets - Sinice Hu fu, and p'ai tsze in the common language.
The Mongols had them of several kinds, which differed by the metal, of
which they were made, as well as by the number of pearls (one, two, or
three in number), which were incrusted in the upper part of the tablet.
Falcon's tablets with the figure of a falcon were round, and used to be
given only to special couriers and envoys of the Khan. [Yuen shi lui
pien and Yuen ch'ao tien chang.] The use of the Hu-fu was adopted by
the Mongols probably from the Kin." (Palladius, l.c. p. 39.)
Rubruquis (Rockhill's ed. pp. 153-154) says: - "And whenever the principal
envoy [of Longa] came to court he carried a highly-polished tablet of
ivory about a cubit long and half a palm wide. Every time he spoke to the
chan or some great personage, he always looked at that tablet as if he
found there what he had to say, nor did he look to the right or the left,
nor in the face of him with whom he was talking. Likewise, when coming
into the presence of the Lord, and when leaving it, he never looked at
anything but his tablet." Mr. Rockhill observes: "These tablets are called
hu in Chinese, and were used in China and Korea; in the latter country
down to quite recent times. They were made of jade, ivory, bamboo, etc.,
according to the rank of the owner, and were about three feet long. The
hu was originally used to make memoranda on of the business to be
submitted by the bearer to the Emperor or to write the answers to
questions he had had submitted to them. Odoric also refers to 'the tablets
of white ivory which the Emperor's barons held in their hands as they
stood silent before him.'"
(Cf. the golden tablets which were of various classes with a tiger for
image and pearls for ornaments, Deveria, Epigraphie, p. 15 et seq.) - H.
C.]
NOTE 3. - Umbrella. The phrase in Pauthier's text is "Palieque que on
dit ombrel." The Latin text of the Soc. de Geographie has "unum pallium
de auro," which I have adopted as probably correct, looking to Burma,
where the old etiquettes as to umbrellas are in full force.
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