All The Tribes Of The Tartars Were Known By The Name Of Mogles,
Moguls Or Mongals; And In Process Of Time They Increased So Much, As To
Form Seven Populous Independent Nations.
The first was called Tartar, after
a province of that name, which was their original habitation; the second
Tangot,
Tangut, or Tongusians; the third Kunat; the fourth Jalair or
Thalair; the fifth Sonich; the sixth Monghi; and the seventh Tabeth.
Prompted by a vision and a command from God, the chiefs of these nations
chose Changi or Zinghis to be their sovereign ruler or Great Khan; and we
are told that when he came down from the mountains of Belgian, the sea
withdrew nine feet, and made a way for him where there was none before.
This seems to be the same history with that of Irganekon, which is also
related by Abulgasi. The mountain Belgian must be looked for in the
environs of lake Balehas, in the country of Organum or Irganekon. According
to the Nighiaristan, a collection of oriental history, the Turkomanni
likewise came from a place called Belgian or Bilkhan. - Forst.
[1] Faucon Pelerin, the Pilgrim Falcon, - Forst.
[2] Esmerliones, or Merlins. - Forst.
[3] The Bondree and Sacre, or the Honey-buzzard and Sacre. - Forst.
CHAP. XI.
Travels of Marco Polo, through Tartary, China, the Islands of India, and
most of Asia, from A. D. 1260 to 1295 [1].
Nicolo Polo, the father of this intelligent early traveller, and Maffei
Polo his uncle, were Venetian gentlemen engaged in commerce; and appear to
have gone into the east, in the prosecution of their trade, in the year
1260. They resided far some time at the court of Kublai-khan, the great
emperor of the Mongals or Tartars; and, returning to Venice in 1269, they
found that the wife of Nicolo had died during their absence, leaving a son
Marco, the author of the following travels, of whom she was pregnant at the
time of their departure. These circumstances are detailed in the first
section of this chapter, but the date which has been usually assigned for
the commencement of this first journey, 1250, is evidently corrupted, as
will appear from the following considerations, derived from a comparison of
the chronology of the kings and princes, who are mentioned in the travels
as reigning at the time. The high probability is, that the obvious mistake,
of assuming the year 1250 as the era of the first journey, arose from a
careless substitution of the figure 5 for 6 in transcription.
Assuming the corrected date of 1260 as the commencement of the first
journey of Nicolo and Maffei Polo, this will appear to be consonant with
the chronology of the princes with whose reigns their travels were
connected; while the date of 1250, adopted by Ramusio and Muller, is
totally irreconcilable with the truth of history. They remained one year at
the leskar or camp of Bereke-khan, whence they travelled into Bochara,
where they tarried three years. From thence they spent one year on their
journey to the court of Kublai-khan, and were three years on their journey
back to Venice. But as they remained some time at the residence of
Kublai-khan, one year may be allowed for that circumstance; and this first
journey may therefore be allowed to have occupied nine years in all.
Kublai-khan reigned supreme emperor of the Mongals from 1259 to 1294, in
which last year he died at eighty years of age. If, therefore, Nicolo and
Maffei had set out upon their first journey in 1250, they must have arrived
at the imperial residence of Cambalu, or Pekin, in 1255, at the latest, or
four years before Kublai-khan ascended the throne. Their first journey
commenced while Baldwin II. was emperor of Constantinople, who reigned from
1234 to 1261. The khan of Kiptschak, or the western division of the vast
empire of the Mongals, at the time of this journey, was Bereke, who ruled
from 1256 to 1266. Holagu-khan, who was then at war with Bereke, did not
begin to reign till 1258. Hence it follows, that they could not have
commenced their first journey at the very earliest before 1258, or 1259
rather; as it is not to be supposed that Holagu would enter upon a
dangerous war in the first year of his reign. Upon the whole, therefore,
the date of 1260, for the commencement of the first journey, as already
observed, is perfectly consistent with the chronology of history.
The year of their return to Venice, 1269, is agreed upon on all hands; and
as Marco was born in the first year of their absence, he would then be
about nine years of age. Ramusio, who dates the commencement of the first
journey in 1250, supposes Marco to have been fifteen years of age at the
return of his father and uncle, which is absurd; as, if the era assumed by
Ramusio were possibly true, he must then have been in his nineteenth year.
According to the opinion of Mr J. R. Forster, the commencement of the
second journey in which Marco was engaged, must have been in 1271; and he
founds this opinion on the circumstance, that Gregory IX. had then been
elected pope, from whom they carried letters for Kublai-khan. But it will
appear from the travels themselves, that the three Polos had commenced
their journey previously to the election of that sovereign pontiff, and
that they were detained some time in Armenia, in consequence of an express
sent after them for the purpose, that they might there wait for his final
instructions. They may, therefore, have commenced this second journey in
1270. We only know, however, that they set out from Venice for a second
journey into Tartary, soon after their return from the first, in 1269; and
that they carried young Marco along with them. On his appearance at the
court of Cambalu, Kublai-khan took a fancy to the young Venetian, and
caused him to be instructed in four of the principal languages which were
spoken in the extensive dominions of the Mongals.
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