The TRAVELS of MARCO POLO INTRODUCTION AFTER AN ABSENCE OF twenty-six years, Marco Polo and his father Nicolo and his uncle Maffeo returned from the spectacular court of Kublai Khan to their old home in Venice. Their clothes were coarse and tattered; the bun­ dles that they carried were bound in Eastern cloths and their bronzed faces bore evi­ dence of great hardships, long endurance, and suffering. They had almost forgotten their native tongue. Their aspect seemed foreign and their ac­ Copyright 1926 by Boni & Liveright, Inc. cent and entire manner bore the strange stamp of the Tartar. Copyright renewed 1953 by Manuel Komroff During these twenty-six years Venice, too, had changed and Copyright 1930 by Horace Liveright, Inc. the travellers had difficulty in finding their old residence. But here at last as they entered the courtyard they were All rights reserved back home. Back from the Deserts of Persia, back from Printed in the United States of America Manufacturing by the Maple-Vail Book Manufacturing Group the lofty steeps of Pamir, from mysterious Tibet, from the dazzling court of Kublai Khan, from China, Mongolia, Burma, Siam, Sumatra, Java; back from Ceylon, where For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write Adam has his tomb, and back from India, the land of myth to Permissions, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY and marvels. But the dogs of Venice barked as the travellers 10110 knocked on the door of their old home. The Polos had long been thought dead, and the distant Hardcover ISBN 0-87140-657-8 relatives who occupied the house refused admittance to the Paperback ISBN 0-393-97968-7 three shabby and suspicious looking gentlemen. After much W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110 1234567890 questioning, finally, the travellers took advantage of a mo­ honour to the three gentlemen, agreeing that they could be ment when the bolt was drawn and beat their way into the no other than those of the merchant family. The year was house, dragging their bundles with them. Other relatives now 1295. were brought from various parts of Venice and after much This story of the return of Marco Polo with his father discussing, the three Polos, who had long been counted and uncle comes from his very first editor, John Baptist among the dead, finally succeeded in convincing their own Ramusio, who, in his Collection of Voyages and Travels kindred that they were not impostors. The news soon says: "This story I have often heard when I was a young­ spread and great excitement reigned. ster from the illustrious Messer Hasparo Malpiero, a gentle­ A day or two later a grand feast was arranged to which all man of very great age, and a Senator of eminent virtue and the old friends and relatives were asked. The three travel­ integrity, whose house was on the Canal of Santa Marina j lers were clothed in long robes of crimson satin, but these . and he said he had heard the story from his own they removed before they sat down to the feast and they put father and grandfather, and from other old men among on other robes of crimson damask, while the first were cut the neighbours." up and the cloth divided among the servants. Once, during the course of the meal, the travellers left the room and How Marco Polo Went to China came back, this time in long robes of crimson velvet and the damask garments were presented to some of the guests. Marco Polo was born in Venice in the year 1254. His When the dinner was finished the robes of velvet were father, Nicolo, and his uncle, Maffeo, were merchants who removed and the travellers appeared dressed in the ordinary had seats in the great council and were enrolled with the fashion of the day; and the velvet robes were likewise noblemen of Venice. Marco also had another uncle who distributed to the guests in strict accordance with the Mongol lived in Constantinople and Crimea and was engaged in custom. commerce. This performance caused much wonder. But when the The first great eastern journey of the Polos began in table had been cleared, and all the servants had been asked 1260. Nicolo Polo and his brother, Maffeo, first visited to retire from the hall, Marco Polo produced the coarse, Constantinople and from there started out on a trading shabby costumes which the three travellers had worn on expedition to the Crimea. From here the quest of profits their arrival. Then taking sharp knives they ripped the drove them far north along the Volga and then east to seams and pleats and let fall to the table quantities of Bokhara. They were now well within the domain of the rubies, carbuncles, sapphires, diamonds, emeralds, pearls Great Kublai Khan, Emperor of the Tartars, and it was and other jewels of great value. Amazement bewildered here that the merchants met an ambassador who was pro­ and dumbfounded the guests; but if a shadow of doubt ceeding to the court of Kublai Khan and were invited to had remained in the minds of some regarding the identity accompany the party. In the prologue to his book of travels of the travellers, it was now wholly dispersed. And all paid Marco Polo tells about the arrival of his father and uncle at the court of the Great Khan, who was highly pleased with out the mission of Kublai Khan they returned to Acre, but these gentlemen from Europe and showed them great the new Pope, Gregory X, was able to supply the Emperor honour. of the Tartars with only two Dominican Friars. To these The Emperor heard all that the merchants had to tell ill-educated monks was entrusted the spiritual destiny him about their native land and Christianity and very soon of a domain that reached from the borders of Poland to the decided to send them back to the Pope as his ambassadors, Yellow Sea, from the Siberian Steppes to India. Two friars, with messages of peace and a request for a hundred educated for the whole of Mongolia, China, Tibet, Siberia, Tur­ missionaries to come to China and convert them all to Chris­ kestan, Persia and Turkey! And they themselves seemed tianity. The motives that prompted this plan were not but lightly inspired with their mission, nor were they ac­ wholly religious; a craftier design was in the background, customed to the hardships of a long journey. They soon as we shall soon learn when we look into the story of lost courage, and before they had taken the first step of the Kublai Khan. At any rate, when the brothers returned in journey, pretended that they were ill, made their excuses to 1269 the Pope, Clement IV, who is known to posterity as the Venetians, and took the very first opportunity to return the benefactor and protector of the English philosopher, home. Roger Bacon, had already been dead a year and his suc­ The three Polos went on alone, forcing their way across cessor had not yet been elected. When they arrived in the perilous deserts of Persia. It was here that Marco Venice Nicolo found that his wife, too, had died during his contracted a dangerous fever and was led to record in his absence, but that his son, Marco, was now quite grown, a travels the great joy that they experienced when they reached fine lad of fifteen. the cool, fragrant climate of Balkh, in what is now northern The merchants remained in Venice for two years, and Afghanistan. Here they remained a whole year, recovering as a new Pope had not yet been elected, they decided to keep from the illness contracted in Persia and, taking advantage their promise, return to Kublai Khan and report the reason of their time, studied the native languages. of their failure. Large profits from trade with these dis­ From this point they ascended to the plateau of Pamir, tant parts also, no doubt, prompted the brothers to return; often referred to as the top of the world. This land was and on this journey they took Marco with them. wholly unknown to Europe and the name Pamir unheard At Acre they procured letters from the Archdeacon of until it was described by Marco Polo; and for many hun­ Liege, who was then accompanying Edward of England on dreds of years this and other regions further east towards a crusade, explaining the reason for the failure of the mis­ Kashgar and Yarkand, remained almost entirely closed to sion. With these documents in hand, the Polos started on our knowledge. In fact, parts of it still remain uncharted. the long journey eastward. They had, however, not trav­ The Gobi Desert now lay between the Venetians and elled very far when they were overtaken by messengers in­ Kublai Khan. It is interesting to note that Marco Polo's forming them that their friend the Archdeacon of Liege, account of the difficulties and terrors, as well as of the had been elected Pope and requested their return. To carry strange superstitions of tribes living on its borders, had been independently described by a Chinese Pilgrim six hundred decline were evident. Discontent and revolt were brewing; years earlier. a certain social twitching and uneasiness were already ap­ As they neared the capital the Emperor Kublai was in­ parent. The decline had begun before the height had been formed, through the well organized post system described reached. The vast domain that stretched from the sea by Marco Polo, of the approach of the Venetians, and when westward into Europe and from Arctic lands south to India, they were still forty days from the court sent orders ahead Burma and Siam was now falling apart, bit by bit, while on providing for their comfort.