The book as belonging to the son of Argon, the
Lord of the Levant, are also subject to the Emperor; for the former holds
his dominion of the Kaan, and is his liegeman and kinsman of the blood
Imperial. So you must know that from this province forward all the
provinces mentioned in our book are subject to the Great Kaan; and even if
this be not specially mentioned, you must understand that it is so.
[Illustration: Roads in Eastern Tibet. (Gorge of the Lan t'sang Kiang,
from Cooper.)]
Now let us have done with this matter, and I will tell you about the
Province of Caindu.
NOTE 1. - Here Marco at least shows that he knew Tibet to be much more
extensive than the small part of it that he had seen. But beyond this his
information amounts to little.
NOTE 2. - "Or de paliolle" "Oro di pagliuola" (pagliuola, "a
spangle") must have been the technical phrase for what we call gold-dust,
and the French now call or en paillettes, a phrase used by a French
missionary in speaking of this very region. (Ann. de la Foi, XXXVII.
427.) Yet the only example of this use of the word cited in the Voc.
Ital. Universale is from this passage of the Crusca MS.; and Pipino seems
not to have understood it, translating "aurum quod dicitur Deplaglola";
whilst Zurla says erroneously that pajola is an old Italian word for
gold. Pegolotti uses argento in pagliuola (p. 219). A Barcelona tariff
of 1271 sets so much on every mark of Pallola. And the old Portuguese
navigators seem always to have used the same expression for the gold-dust
of Africa, ouro de pajola. (See Major's Prince Henry, pp. 111, 112, 116;
Capmany Memorias, etc., II. App. p. 73; also "Aurum de Pajola," in
Usodimare of Genoa, see Graberg, Annali, II. 290, quoted by Peschel, p.
178.)
NOTE 3. - The cinnamon must have been the coarser cassia produced in the
lower parts of this region (See note to next chapter.) We have already
(Book I. ch. xxxi.) quoted Tavernier's testimony to the rage for coral
among the Tibetans and kindred peoples. Mr. Cooper notices the eager
demand for coral at Bathang: (See also Desgodins, La Mission du Thibet,
310.)
NOTE 4. - See supra, Bk. I. ch. lxi. note 11.
NOTE 5. - The big Tibetan mastiffs are now well known. Mr. Cooper, at
Ta-t'sien lu, notes that the people of Tibetan race "keep very large dogs,
as large as Newfoundlands." And he mentions a pack of dogs of another
breed, tan and black, "fine animals of the size of setters." The missionary
M. Durand also, in a letter from the region in question, says, speaking of
a large leopard: "Our brave watch-dogs had several times beaten him off
gallantly, and one of them had even in single combat with him received a
blow of the paw which had laid his skull open." (Ann. de la Prop de la
Foi, XXXVII. 314.) On the title-page of vol. i. we have introduced one of
these big Tibetan dogs as brought home by the Polos to Venice.
The "wild oxen called Beyamini" are probably some such species as the
Gaur. Beyamini I suspect to be no Oriental word, but to stand for
Buemini, i.e. Bohemian, a name which may have been given by the
Venetians to either the bison or urus. Polo's contemporary, Brunetto
Latini, seems to speak of one of these as still existing in his day in
Germany: "Autre buef naissent en Alemaigne qui ont grans cors, et sont
bons por sommier et por vin porter." (Paris ed., p. 228; see also
Lubbock, Pre-historic Times, 296-7.)
[Mr. Baber (Travels, pp. 39, 40) writes: "A special interest attaches to
the wild oxen, since they are unknown in any other part of China Proper.
From a Lolo chief and his followers, most enthusiastic hunters, I
afterwards learnt that the cattle are met with in herds of from seven to
twenty head in the recesses of the Wilderness, which may be defined as the
region between the T'ung River and Yachou, but that in general they are
rarely seen.... I was lucky enough to obtain a pair of horns and part of
the hide of one of these redoubtable animals, which seem to show that they
are a kind of bison." Sir H. Yule remarks in a footnote (Ibid. p. 40):
"It is not possible to say from what is stated here what the species is,
but probably it is a gavoeus, of which Jerdan describes three species.
(See Mammals of India, pp. 301-307.) Mr. Hodgson describes the Gaur
(Gavoeus gaurus of Jerdan) of the forests below Nepaul as fierce and
revengeful." - H.C.]
CHAPTER XLVII.
CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF CAINDU.
CAINDU is a province lying towards the west,[NOTE 1] and there is only
one king in it. The people are Idolaters, subject to the Great Kaan, and
they have plenty of towns and villages. [The chief city is also called
Caindu, and stands at the upper end of the province.] There is a lake
here,[1] in which are found pearls [which are white but not round]. But
the Great Kaan will not allow them to be fished, for if people were to
take as many as they could find there, the supply would be so vast that
pearls would lose their value, and come to be worth nothing. Only when it
is his pleasure they take from the lake so many as he may desire; but any
one attempting to take them on his own account would be incontinently put
to death.
There is also a mountain in this country wherein they find a kind of stone
called turquoise, in great abundance; and it is a very beautiful stone.
These also the Emperor does not allow to be extracted without his special
order.[NOTE 2]
