The Travels of Marco Polo

This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the information in books and make it universally accessible. http://books.google.com TheTravelsofMarcoPolo MarcoPolo,HughMurray HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY FROM THE BEQUEST OF GEORGE FRANCIS PARKMAN (Class of 1844) OF BOSTON " - TRAVELS MAECO POLO. OLIVER & BOYD, EDINBURGH. TDE TRAVELS MARCO POLO, GREATLY AMENDED AND ENLARGED FROM VALUABLE EARLY MANUSCRIPTS RECENTLY PUBLISHED BY THE FRENCH SOCIETY OP GEOGRAPHY AND IN ITALY BY COUNT BALDELLI BONI. WITH COPIOUS NOTES, ILLUSTRATING THE ROUTES AND OBSERVATIONS OF THE AUTHOR, AND COMPARING THEM WITH THOSE OF MORS RECENT TRAVELLERS. BY HUGH MURRAY, F.R.S.E. TWO MAPS AND A VIGNETTE. THIRD EDITION. EDINBURGH: OLIVER & BOYD, TWEEDDALE COURT; AND SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO., LONDON. MDOCCXLV. A EKTERIR IN STATIONERS' BALL. Printed by Oliver & Boyd, / ^ Twseddale Court, High Street, Edinburgh. p PREFACE. Marco Polo has been long regarded as at once the earliest and most distinguished of European travellers. He sur passed every other in the extent of the unknown regions which he visited, as well as in the amount of new and important information collected ; having traversed Asia from one extremity to the other, including the elevated central regions, and those interior provinces of China from which foreigners have since been rigidly excluded. " He has," says Bitter, " been frequently called the Herodotus of the Middle Ages, and he has a just claim to that title. If the name of a discoverer of Asia were to be assigned to any person, nobody would better deserve it." The description of the Chinese court and empire, and of the adjacent countries, under the most powerful of the Asiatic dynasties, forms a grand historical picture not exhibited in any other record. His return along the southern coasts of the continent abounds also in curious and novel observations. Doubts, it is well known, were at first raised respecting the accuracy of his statements ; but they are now fully proved to 6 PREFACE. have arisen solely from the fact that his discoveries far transcended the knowledge of his age. In proportion as those distant regions became known, his reports re ceived confirmation ; and eminent travellers of recent date have added strong testimonies to his veracity. The value of his narrative being thus acknowledged, it may seem surprising that no edition of it, in a form ge nerally accessible to the British public, has ever appeared. It exists only in voluminous collections, and in the pon derous though interesting work of Mr Marsden. With a view to supply this defect, the present publication was undertaken. In the prosecution of this task, it soon appeared that there was room for much more than a mere reprint ; and access has been obtained to important materials, unknown to Mr Marsden, or any former British edi tor. The two versions recently edited by the French Society of Geography, and the early Italian ones by Count Baldelli Boni, are undoubtedly at once more copious and genuine than any before published. They prove that various difficulties, which embarrassed Mr Marsden, and shook the traveller's authority, arose only from the corrupted state of later copies. They contain also a considerable number of additional chapters and passages. By carefully collating them with early editions, and accredited manuscripts in the British Museum, it is hoped that a purer and more complete text has now been produced than any that has hitherto appeared in our language. To enable the reader to follow satisfactorily the route of the author, and the scope of his narrative, Notes and Illustrations of considerable extent have been intro duced. Time has effected such mighty changes on the PREFACE. 7 names and aspect of those regions, at best imperfectly known, that much research was requisite to ascertain the countries actually visited, and prove the accuracy with which they are described. The Editor readily acknowledges his obligation to the ample materials col lected for this purpose by Marsden and Boni. He has, however, in many cases deemed it necessary to refer to original sources, in order to correct or illustrate both these learned writers. Since the date of their publica tions, too, narratives by eminent travellers, Humboldt, Burnes, Wood, Wellsted, and others, have afforded new means of elucidating the text, and confirming its authen ticity. The series of chapters recently printed by the French Society, being unknown to Mr Marsden, could not receive his annotations ; but the Editor hopes that, by a collation with Haithon, De Guignes, Malcolm, Price, and other historians, he has proved their agreement with the best Oriental authorities. Previous to Polo's travels, successive embassies had been sent to the several princes of the Mongol race, then reigning in Central Asia. As their narratives illus trate those of our traveller, a copious abstract of them is prefixed, in which aid has been derived from the ver sions lately edited by the French Society, and the learned commentary of M. D'Avezac. This introduction, taken in connexion with the text and notes of Marco, will be found to include a complete historical view of the dynasty of Gengis Khan, the most powerful that ever ruled in the East. A preliminary account is given of the several manu scripts and early editions, from the examination of which the present text has been composed, comprehending an estimate of their respective merits ; a task which their 8 PREFACE. great number and wide variations have rendered by no means easy. Another is prefixed, exhibiting the grounds upon which the authenticity of our adventurer's narra tive is established ; and it is hoped that some additional proofs have been thereby supplied, and not a few diffi culties removed. A Map of Central Asia has been constructed on a scale suited to the Work, with a view to illustrate the routes both of the early embassies and of Marco Polo ; and great care has been taken to render it as accurate as the somewhat uncertain materials would admit. One of China has also been inserted, to enable the reader to follow the traveller through that extensive empire. Edinburgh, April 1844. CONTENTS. PRELIMINARY NOTICE. AUTHENTICITY OP THE WORK— MANUSCRIPTS AND EDITIONS CONSULTED. Doubts as to Authenticity— Causes— Their temporary Preva lence — How gradually removed — Grounds of Confidence in the Narrative — No prior Source of Information ; yet accurate Survey of the Eastern Regions — Recent additional Proofs — Charges against Marco — Miraculous Events— Exaggeration of Numbers — Extraordinary Objects— Omissions— The Great Wall — Tea — His Work not written in a desultory Manner — Fresh Confirmations afforded in this Edition — Manuscripts employed — That published by the French Geographical So ciety — Its great Value — The Narrative written in French— Rusticien de Pise— Berne MS Paris Latin — Hamusio's Edition— Its general Estimation— Followed by Mr Marsden — Shown to be grossly corrupted — Interpolated Passages — Their Errors and Contradictions— By whom probably in serted—Are of some Value— Edition by1 Pipino— Manuscripts in the British Museum— Grynaeus-Miiller — First English and French Translations — These include all the most import ant—Arrangement of the Work, Page 13 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. EMBASSIES TO THE EAST PRIOR TO MARCO POLO. Great Plain of Scythia or Tartary— Its Inhabitants, Turks, Mongols— Former Conquests — Temugin or Gengis — His first Exploits— Ouang or Prester John - His Defeat and Death- Extensive Conquests of Gengis -Tartar Invasion of Europe —Ravages— Embassy and Letter from the Pope - Carpini's Journey through Poland — Reception by the Tartar Chief Corrensa — Journey to the Volga — Court of Baatu -Journey through Tartary —Arrival at the Imperial Court -Great Splendour — Numerous Ambassadors— Treatment of the Mis 10 CONTENTS. sion — Letter from the Emperor to the Pope — Return to Eu rope — Embassy by Ascelin— Reaches the Army of Baioth- noy — Rash Conduct and rough Reception — Final Dismissal — Changes in the Mongol .Dynasty — Embassy to the French King — He sends a Mission under Rubruquis— Landing at Soudak — Journey through the Crimea — Visit to a Tartar Chief, Scacatai— Description of Comania and Russia— Court of Sartach — Of Baatu— Journey through Tartary— Arrival at the Imperial Court— Reception — Audience of the Great Khan— Various Superstitions — City of Karakorum — Religi ous Controversy — Dismissal of the Ambassador — His Jour ney homeward— The Tartars — Their Government — Manners — Physical Condition— Religion — Military System— Break ing up of the Dynasty of Gengis, , Page 41 TRAVELS OF MARCO POLO. Preliminary Notice, ; INTRODUCTORY NARRATIVE OP THE JOURNEY. Prologue — Journey of Nicolo and Maffio Polo into the East — Their Arrival at the Court of Kublai, the Tartar Emperor of China — Sent back on a Mission to the Pope— Return, carrying Marco with them— Final Departure, and Voyage through the Indian Ocean to Persia— Arrival at Venice,... 95 PART I. DESCRIPTION OP CHINA, AND OP THE COURT OF THE EMPEROR KUBLAI. Kublai, Great Khan of the Tartars, and Emperor of China — His War with Nayan— Favour for the Christians — Descrip tion of Kambalu (Pe-King)— An Insurrection there — Great Festivals celebrated by the Emperor— Their Order and Pomp — His extensive HuntingExpeditions— Leopards,Falcons,and other Animals employed — Mode of pursuing and taking the Game— HuntingPalace atShandu inTartary — AtCianganor— Paper Money — Large Revenue — Arrangement of his Govern ment and Officers — Bounty towards the People — Manners and Superstitions of the Chinese — Marco Polo's Journey through the Western Provinces — Thibet, Bengal, and the neighbouring CONTENTS. 1 1 Countries— Return to the Vicinityof Pe-king— Journey through the Eastern Provinces — The Yellow River — ManjiorSouthern China, — Its Conquest by Kublai — Character of the deposed King— Nan-king and other great Cities — The Kiang — Its im mense Trade and Shipping — Kin-sai, the Capital — Its extra ordinary Extent and Magnificence — Splendour of its Palace — Journey through Tche-kiang and Fo-kien — The Porcelain Manufacture — Arrival atZai-tun or Amoy, Page 107 PART II.

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