OF THE GREAT COUNTRY CALLED CHAMBA.
You must know that on leaving the port of Zayton you sail west-south-west
for 1500 miles, and then you come to a country called CHAMBA,[NOTE 1] a
very rich region, having a king of its own. The people are Idolaters and
pay a yearly tribute to the Great Kaan, which consists of elephants and
nothing but elephants. And I will tell you how they came to pay this
tribute.
It happened in the year of Christ 1278 that the Great Kaan sent a Baron of
his called, Sagatu with a great force of horse and foot against this King
of Chamba, and this Baron opened the war on a great scale against the King
and his country.
Now the King [whose name was Accambale] was a very aged man, nor had he
such a force as the Baron had. And when he saw what havoc the Baron was
making with his kingdom he was grieved to the heart. So he bade messengers
get ready and despatched them to the Great Kaan. And they said to the
Kaan: "Our Lord the King of Chamba salutes you as his liege-lord, and
would have you to know that he is stricken in years and long hath held his
realm in peace. And now he sends you word by us that he is willing to be
your liegeman, and will send you every year a tribute of as many elephants
as you please. And he prays you in all gentleness and humility that you
would send word to your Baron to desist from harrying his kingdom and to
quit his territories. These shall henceforth be at your absolute disposal,
and the King shall hold them of you."
When the Great Kaan had heard the King's ambassage he was moved with pity,
and sent word to that Baron of his to quit that kingdom with his army, and
to carry his arms to the conquest of some other country; and as soon as
this command reached them they obeyed it. Thus it was then that this King
became vassal of the Great Kaan, and paid him every year a tribute of 20
of the greatest and finest elephants that were to be found in the country.
But now we will leave that matter, and tell you other particulars about
the King of Chamba.
You must know that in that kingdom no woman is allowed to marry until the
King shall have seen her; if the woman pleases him then he takes her to
wife; if she does not, he gives her a dowry to get her a husband withal.
In the year of Christ 1285, Messer Marco Polo was in that country, and at
that time the King had, between sons and daughters, 326 children, of whom
at least 150 were men fit to carry arms.[NOTE 2]
There are very great numbers of elephants in this kingdom, and they have
lignaloes in great abundance. They have also extensive forests of the wood
called Bonus, which is jet-black, and of which chessmen and pen-cases are
made. But there is nought more to tell, so let us proceed.[NOTE 3]
NOTE 1. - +The name CHAMPA is of Indian origin, like the adjoining Kamboja
and many other names in Indo-China, and was probably taken from that of an
ancient Hindu city and state on the Ganges, near modern Bhagalpur. Hiuen
Tsang, in the 7th century, makes mention of the Indo-Chinese state as
Mahachampa (Pel. Boudd, III. 83.)
The title of Champa down to the 15th century seems to have been applied by
Western Asiatics to a kingdom which embraced the whole coast between
Tong-king and Kamboja, including all that is now called Cochin China
outside of Tong-king. It was termed by the Chinese Chen-Ching. In 1471
the King of Tong-king, Le Thanh-tong, conquered the country, and the
genuine people of Champa were reduced to a small number occupying the
mountains of the province of Binh Thuan at the extreme south-east of the
Coch. Chinese territory. To this part of the coast the name Champa is often
applied in maps. (See J.A. ser. II. tom. xi. p. 31, and J. des Savans,
1822, p. 71.) The people of Champa in this restricted sense are said to
exhibit Malay affinities, and they profess Mahomedanism. ["The Mussulmans
of Binh-Thuan call themselves Bani or Orang Bani, 'men mussulmans,'
probably from the Arabic beni 'the sons,' to distinguish them from the
Chams Djat 'of race,' which they name also Kaphir or Akaphir, from
the Arabic word kafer 'pagans.' These names are used in Binh-Thuan to
make a distinction, but Banis and Kaphirs alike are all Chams.... In
Cambodia all Chams are Mussulmans." (E. Aymonier, Les Tchames, p. 26.)
The religion of the pagan Chams of Binh-Thuan is degenerate Brahmanism with
three chief gods, Po-Nagar, Po-Rome, and Po-Klong-Garai. (Ibid., p.
35.) - H.C.] The books of their former religion they say (according to Dr.
Bastian) that they received from Ceylon, but they were converted to
Islamism by no less a person than 'Ali himself. The Tong-king people
received their Buddhism from China, and this tradition puts Champa as the
extreme flood-mark of that great tide of Buddhist proselytism, which went
forth from Ceylon to the Indo-Chinese regions in an early century of our
era, and which is generally connected with the name of Buddaghosha.
The prominent position of Champa on the route to China made its ports
places of call for many ages, and in the earliest record of the Arab
navigation to China we find the country noticed under the identical name
(allowing for the deficiencies of the Arabic Alphabet) of Sanf or
Chanf. Indeed it is highly probable that the [Greek: Zaba] or [Greek:
Zabai] of Ptolemy's itinerary of the sea-route to the Sinae represents
this same name.
