A.V.W. Jackson writes
(Persia, 1906, p. 413): "And the name is rightly applied, for the people
there do worship fire. In an article entitled The Magi in Marco Polo
(Journ. Am. Or. Soc., 26, 79-83) I have given various reasons for
identifying the so-called 'Castle of the Fire-Worshippers' with Kashan,
which Odoric mentions or a village in its vicinity, the only rival to the
claim being the town of Nain, whose Gabar Castle has already been
mentioned above."
XIV., p. 78.
PERSIA.
Speaking of Saba and of Cala Ataperistan, Prof. E.H. Parker (Asiatic
Quart. Rev., Jan., 1904, p. 134) has the following remarks: "It is not
impossible that certain unexplained statements in the Chinese records may
shed light upon this obscure subject. In describing the Arab Conquest of
Persia, the Old and New T'ang Histories mention the city of Hia-lah as
being amongst those captured; another name for it was Sam (according to
the Chinese initial and final system of spelling words). A later Chinese
poet has left the following curious line on record: 'All the priests
venerate Hia-lah.' The allusion is vague and undated, but it is difficult
to imagine to what else it can refer. The term seng, or 'bonze,' here
translated 'priests,' was frequently applied to Nestorian and Persian
priests, as in this case."
XIV., p. 80. "Three Kings."
Regarding the legend of the stone cast into a well, cf. F.W.K. MUELLER,
Uigurica, pp. 5-10 (Pelliot).
XVII., p. 90. "There are also plenty of veins of steel and Ondanique."
"The ondanique which Marco Polo mentions in his 42nd chapter is almost
certainly the pin t'ieh or 'pin iron' of the Chinese, who frequently
mention it as coming from Arabia, Persia, Cophene, Hami, Ouigour-land and
other High Asia States." (E.H. PARKER, Journ. North China Br. Roy.
Asiatic Soc., XXXVIII., 1907, p. 225.)
XVIII., pp. 97, 100. "The province that we now enter is called
REOBARLES.... The beasts also are peculiar.... Then there are sheep here
as big as asses; and their tails are so large and fat, that one tail shall
weight some 30 lbs. They are fine fat beasts, and afford capital mutton."
Prof. E.H. PARKER writes in the Journ. of the North China Branch of the
Royal Asiatic Soc., XXXVII., 1906, p. 196: "Touching the fat-tailed sheep
of Persia, the Shan-hai-king says the Yueh-chi or Indo-Scythy had a
'big-tailed sheep' the correct name for which is hien-yang. The Sung
History mentions sheep at Hami with tails so heavy that they could not
walk. In the year 1010 some were sent as tribute to China by the King of
Kuche."
"Among the native products [at Mu lan p'i, Murabit, Southern Coast of
Spain] are foreign sheep, which are several feet high and have tails as
big as a fan.
