The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Marco Polo and da Pisa Rusticiano

“The Vast Plain.” But nothing can be absolutely satisfactory in such a case except historical evidence of the application of the name. I have left the identity of this name undecided, though pointing to the general position of the region so-called by Marco, as indicated by the vicinity of the Tangnu-Ola Mountains (p. 215). A passage in the Journey of the Taouist Doctor, Changchun, as translated by Dr. Bretschneider (_Chinese Recorder and Miss. Journ._, Shanghai, Sept.–Oct., 1874, p. 258), suggests to me the strong probability that it may be the _Kem-kém-jút_ of Rashiduddin, called by the Chinese teacher _Kien-kien_-chau. Rashiduddin couples the territory of the Kirghiz with Kemkemjút, but defines the country embracing both with some exactness: “On one side (south-east?), it bordered on the Mongol country; on a second (north-east?), it was bounded by the Selenga; on a third (north), by the ‘great river called Angara, which flows on the confines of Ibir-Sibir’ (_i.e._ of Siberia); on a fourth side by the territory of the Naimans. This great country contained _many towns and villages_, as well as many nomad inhabitants.” Dr. Bretschneider’s Chinese Traveller speaks of it as a country where _good iron was found_, where (grey) squirrels abounded, and wheat was cultivated. Other notices quoted by him show that it lay to the south-east of the Kirghiz country, and had its name from the _Kien_ or _Ken_ R. (_i.e._ the Upper Yenisei). The name (_Kienkien_), the general direction, the existence of good iron (“steel and ondanique”), the many towns and villages in a position where we should little look for such an indication, all point to the identity of this region with the Chingintalas of our text. The only alteration called for in the Itinerary Map (No. IV.) would be to spell the name _Hinkin_, or _Ghinghin_ (as it _is_ in the Geographic Text), and to shift it a very little further to the north. (See _Chingin_ in _Kovalevski’s Mongol Dict._, No. 2134; and for _Baron-tala_, etc., see _Della Penna, Breve Notizia del Regno del Thibet_, with Klaproth’s notes, p. 6; _D’Avezac_, p. 568; _Relation_ prefixed to D’Anville’s Atlas, p. 11; _Alphabetum Tibetanum_, 454; and _Kircher, China Illustrata_, p. 65.) Since the first edition was published, Mr. Ney Elias has traversed the region in question from east to west; and I learn from him that at Kobdo he found the most usual name for that town among Mongols, Kalmaks, and Russians to be SANKIN-hoto. He had not then thought of connecting this name with Chinghin-talas, and has therefore no information as to its origin or the extent of its application. But he remarks that Polo’s bearing of between north and north-west, if understood to be _from Kamul_, would point exactly to Kobdo. He also calls attention to the Lake _Sankin_-dalai, to the north-east of Uliasut’ai, of which Atkinson gives a sketch. The recurrence of this name over so wide a tract may have something to do with the Chinghin-talas of Polo. But we must still wait for further light.[1] [“Supposing that M. Polo mentions this place on his way from Sha-chow to Su-chow, it is natural to think that it is _Chi-kin-talas_, _i.e._ ‘Chi-kin plain’ or valley; Chi-kin was the name of a lake, called so even now, and of a defile, which received its name from the lake. The latter is on the way from Kia-yü kwan to Ansi chow.” (_Palladius_, _l.c._ p. 7.) “_Chikin_, or more correctly _Chigin_, is a Mongol word meaning ‘ear.’” (_Ibid._) Palladius (p. 8) adds: “The Chinese accounts of Chi-kin are not in contradiction to the statements given by M. Polo regarding the same subject; but when the distances are taken into consideration, a serious difficulty arises; Chi-kin is two hundred and fifty or sixty _li_ distant from Su-chow, whilst, according to M. Polo’s statement, ten days are necessary to cross this distance. One of the three following explanations of this discrepancy must be admitted: either Chingintalas is not Chi-kin, or the traveller’s memory failed, or, lastly, an error crept into the number of days’ journey. The two last suppositions I consider the most probable; the more so that similar difficulties occur several times in Marco Polo’s narrative.” (_L.c._ p. 8.)—H. C.] NOTE 2.—[_Ondanique_.—We have already referred to this word, _Kermán_, p. 90. _Cobinan_, p. 124. La Curne de Sainte-Palaye (_Dict._), F. Godefroy (_Dict._), Du Cange (_Gloss._), all give to _andain_ the meaning of _enjambée_, from the Latin _andare_. Godefroy, _s.v. andaine_, calls it _sorte d’acier ou de fer_, and quotes besides Marco Polo: “I. espiel, ou ot fer d’andaine, Dont la lamele n’iert pas trouble.” (Huon de Mery, _Le Tornoiement de l’Antechrist_, p. 3, Tarbé.) There is a forest in the department of Orne, arrondissement of Domfront, which belonged to the Crown before 1669, and is now State property, called Forêt d’Andaine; it is situated near some bed of iron. Is this the origin of the name?—H. C.] NOTE 3.—The Altai, or one of its ramifications, is probably the mountain of the text, but so little is known of this part of the Chinese territory that we can learn scarcely anything of its mineral products. Still Martini does mention that asbestos is found “in the Tartar country of _Tangu_,” which probably is the _Tangnu Oola_ branch of the Altai to the south of the Upper Yenisei, and in the very region we have indicated as Chingintalas. Mr. Elias tells me he inquired for asbestos by its Chinese name at Uliasut’ai, but without success. NOTE 4.— “Degli elementi quattro principali, Che son la Terra, e l’Acqua, e l’Aria, e ’l Foco, Composti sono gli universi Animali, Pigliando di ciascuno assai o poco.” (_Dati_, _La Sfera_, p. 9.) _Zurficar_ in the next sentence is a Mahomedan name, _Zu’lfiḳár_, the title of [the edge of] Ali’s sword. NOTE 5.—Here the G. Text adds: “_Et je meisme le vi_,” intimating, I conceive, his having himself seen specimens of the asbestos—not to his having been at the place. NOTE 6.—The story of the Salamander passing unhurt through fire is at least as old as Aristotle. But I cannot tell when the fable arose that asbestos was a substance derived from the animal. This belief, however, was general in the Middle Ages, both in Asia and Europe. “The fable of the Salamander,” says Sir Thomas Browne, “hath been much promoted by stories of incombustible napkins and textures which endure the fire, whose materials are called by the name of Salamander’s wool, which many, too literally apprehending, conceive some investing part or integument of the Salamander.... Nor is this Salamander’s wool desumed from any animal, but a mineral substance, metaphorically so called for this received opinion.” Those who knew that the Salamander was a lizard-like animal were indeed perplexed as to its woolly coat. Thus the Cardinal de Vitry is fain to say the creature “_profert ex cute_ quasi quamdam lanam _de quâ zonae contextae comburi non possunt igne._” A Bestiary, published by Cahier and Martin, says of it: “_De lui naist une cose qui n’est ne soie ne lin ne laine._” Jerome Cardan looked in vain, he says, for hair on the Salamander! Albertus Magnus calls the incombustible fibre _pluma Salamandri_; and accordingly Bold Bauduin de Sebourc finds the Salamander in the Terrestrial Paradise _a kind of bird covered with the whitest plumage_; of this he takes some, which he gets woven into a cloth; this he presents to the Pope, and the Pontiff applies it to the purpose mentioned in the text, viz. to cover the holy napkin of St. Veronica. Gervase of Tilbury writes: “I saw, when lately at Rome, a broad strap of Salamander skin, like a girdle for the loins, which had been brought thither by Cardinal Peter of Capua. When it had become somewhat soiled by use, I myself saw it cleaned perfectly, and without receiving harm, by being put in the fire.” In Persian the creature is called _Samandar_, _Samandal_, etc., and some derive the word from _Sam_, “fire,” and _Andar_, “within.” Doubtless it is a corruption of the Greek Σαλαμάνδρα, whatever be the origin of that. Bakui says the animal is found at Ghur, near Herat, and is _like a mouse_. Another author, quoted by D’Herbelot, says it is _like a marten_. [Sir T. Douglas Forsyth, in his _Introductory Remarks_ to Prjevalsky’s _Travels to Lob-nor_ (p. 20), at Aksu says: “The asbestos mentioned by Marco Polo as a utilized product of this region is not even so known in this country.”—H. C.] ✛ Interesting details regarding the fabrication of cloth and paper from amianth or asbestos are contained in a report presented to the French Institute by M. Sage (_Mém. Ac. Sciences_, 2e Sem., 1806, p. 102), of which large extracts are given in the _Diction. général des Tissus_, par M. Bezon, 2e éd. vol. ii. Lyon, 1859, p. 5. He mentions that a _Sudarium_ of this material is still shown at the Vatican; we hope it is the cover which Kúblái sent. [This hope is not to be realized. Mgr. Duchesne, of the Institut de France, writes to me from Rome, from information derived from the keepers of the Vatican Museum, that there is no sudarium from the Great Khan, that indeed part of a sudarium made of asbestos is shown (under glass) in this Museum, about 20 inches long, but it is ancient, and was found in a Pagan tomb of the Appian Way.—H. C.] M. Sage exhibited incombustible paper made from this material, and had himself seen a small furnace of Chinese origin made from it. Madame Perpenté, an Italian lady, who experimented much with asbestos, found that from a crude mass of that substance threads could be elicited which were ten times the length of the mass itself, and were indeed sometimes several metres in length, the fibres seeming to be involved, like silk in a cocoon. Her process of preparation was much like that described by Marco. She succeeded in carding and reeling the material, made gloves and the like, as well as paper, from it, and sent to the Institute a work printed on such paper. The Rev. A. Williamson mentions asbestos as found in Shantung. The natives use it for making stoves, crucibles, and so forth. (_Sir T. Browne_, I. 293; _Bongars_, I. 1104; _Cahier et Martin_, III. 271; _Cardan, de Rer. Varietate_, VII. 33; _Alb. Mag. Opera_, 1551, II. 227, 233; _Fr. Michel, Recherches_, etc., II. 91; _Gerv. of Tilbury_, p. 13; _N. et E._ II. 493; _D. des Tissus_, II. 1–12; _J. N. China Branch R. A. S._, December, 1867, p. 70.) [_Berger de Xivrey, Traditions tératologiques_, 457–458, 460–463.—H. C.] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] The late Mr. Atkinson has been twice alluded to in this note. I take the opportunity of saying that Mr. Ney Elias, a most competent judge, who has travelled across the region in question whilst admitting, as every one must, Atkinson’s vagueness and sometimes very careless statements, is not at all disposed to discredit the truth of his narrative.