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.
