Whether 'Puh-Lo The Premier' Or 'one Of The
Ministers,' Mentioned In 1282, Is The Same Person As 'Poh-Lo The Ts'an
Cheng,' Or 'Prime Minister's Assistant' Of 1284, I Cannot Say.
Perhaps,
when the whole Yuean Shi has been thoroughly searched throughout in all
its editions, we may obtain more certain information.
Meanwhile, one thing
is plain: Pauthier is wrong, Yule is wrong in that particular connection;
and M. Cordier gives us no positive view of his own. The other
possibilities are given above, but I scarcely regard any of them as
probabilities. On p. 99 of his Introduction, Colonel Yule manifestly
identifies the Poh-lo of 1282 with Marco; but the identity of his title
with that of Puh-lo in 1277 suggests that the two men are one, in which
case neither can be Marco Polo. On p. 422 of Vol. I. Yule repeats this
identification in his notes. I may mention that much of the information
given in the present article was published in Vol. XXIV. of the China
Review two or three years ago. I notice that M. Cordier quotes that
volume in connection with other matters, but this particular point does
not appear to have caught his eye.
"As matters now stand, there is a fairly strong presumption that Marco
Polo is once named in the Annals; but there is no irrefragable evidence;
and in any case it is only this once, and not as Pauthier has it."
Cf. also note by Prof. E.H. Parker, China Review, XXV. pp. 193-4, and,
according to Prof. Pelliot (Bul. Ecole franc. Ext. Orient, July-Sept.,
1904, p. 769), the biography of Han Lin-eul in the Ming shi, k. 122, p.
3.
Prof. Pelliot writes to me: "Il faut renoncer une bonne fois a retrouver
Marco Polo dans le Po-lo mele a l'affaire d'Ahmed. Grace aux titulations
successives, nous pouvons reconstituer la carriere administrative de ce
Po-lo, au moins depuis 1271, c'est-a-dire depuis une date anterieure a
l'arrivee de Marco Polo a la cour mongole. D'autre part, Rashid-ud-Din
mentionne le role joue dans l'affaire d'Ahmed par le Pulad-aqa,
c'est-a-dire Pulad Chinsang, son informateur dans les choses mongoles, mais
la forme mongole de ce nom de Pulad est Bolod, en transcription
chinoise Po-lo. J'ai signale (T'oung Pao, 1914, p. 640) que des textes
chinois mentionnent effectivement que Po-lo (Bolod), envoye en mission
aupres d'Arghun en 1285, resta ensuite en Perse. C'est donc en definitive
le Pulad (= Bolod) de Rashid-ud-Din qui serait le Po-lo qu'a la suite de
Pauthier on a trop longtemps identifie a Marco Polo."
Introduction, p. 23.
"The Yuean Shi contains curious confirmation of the facts which led up to
Marco Polo's conducting a wife to Arghun of Persia, who lost his spouse in
1286. In the eleventh moon of that year (say January, 1287) the following
laconic announcement appears: 'T'a-ch'a-r Hu-nan ordered to go on a
mission to A-r-hun.' It is possible that Tachar and Hunan may be two
individuals, and, though they probably started overland, it is probable
that they were in some way connected with Polo's first and unsuccessful
attempt to take the girl to Persia." (E.H. PARKER, Asiatic Quart.
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