We shall find that he makes the general line of bearing from
Peking towards Kiangnan, Sciloc or S. East, hence his Midi ought in
consistency to represent S. West, an impossible direction for the Ocean.
It is remarkable that Ramusio has Greco or N. East, which would by the
same relative correction represent East. And other circumstances point
to the frontier of Liao-tong as the direction of this excursion. Leaving
the two days out of question, therefore, I should suppose the "Ocean
Sea" to be struck at Shan-hai-kwan near the terminus of the Great Wall,
and that the site of the standing hunting-camp is in the country to the
north of that point. The Jesuit Verbiest accompanied the Emperor Kanghi on
a tour in this direction in 1682, and almost immediately after passing the
Wall the Emperor and his party seem to have struck off to the left for
sport. Kublai started on the "1st of March," probably however the 1st of
the second Chinese month. Kanghi started from Peking on the 23rd of March,
on the hunting-journey just referred to.
NOTE 2. - We are told that Bajazet had 7000 falconers and 6000 dog-keepers;
whilst Sultan Mahomed Tughlak of India in the generation following Polo's,
is said to have had 10,000 falconers, and 3000 other attendants as
beaters. (Not. et Ext. XIII. p. 185.)
The Oriental practice seems to have assigned one man to the attendance on
every hawk. This Kaempfer says was the case at the Court of Persia at the
beginning of last century. There were about 800 hawks, and each had a
special keeper. The same was the case with the Emperor Kanghi's hawking
establishment, according to Gerbillon. (Am. Exot. p. 83; Gerb. 1st
Journey, in Duhalde.)
NOTE 3. - The French MSS. read Toscaor; the reading in the text I take
from Ramusio. It is Turki, Toskaul, [Arabic], defined as "Gardien,
surveillant de la route; Waechter, Wache, Wegehueter." (See Zenker, and
Pavet de Courteille.) The word is perhaps also Mongol, for Remusat has
Tosiyal = "Veille." (Mel. As. I. 231.) Such an example of Polo's
correctness both in the form and meaning of a Turki word is worthy of
especial note, and shows how little he merits the wild and random
treatment which has been often applied to the solution of like phrases in
his book.
[Palladius (p. 47) says that he has heard from men well acquainted with
the customs of the Mongols, that at the present day in "battues," the
leaders of the two flanks which surround the game, are called toscaul in
Mongol. - H. C.]
NOTE 4. - The remark in the previous note might be repeated here.
