Travels of Marco Polo Part 32

The Travels of Marco Polo, Book 2, Chapter 45 of The Province of Tibet. The province named Tibet, Tibet, was laid entirely waste at the time that Mangu Khan carried his wars into that country. For a distance of twenty days' journey, you see numberless towns and castles in a state of ruin. And because of the absence of inhabitants, wild beasts, and especially tigers, have multiplied to such a degree that merchants and other travelers are exposed to great danger during the night. They must not only carry their provisions along with them, but are obligated upon arriving at halting places to take the following precautions that their horses may not be devoured. In this region, and particularly near rivers, are found bamboos of the length of ten paces and three palms in circumference, and three palms also in the space between each knot or joint. Several of these, in their green state, the travelers tie together and, when evening approaches, place them at a certain distance from their quarters with fire lighted around them. The action of the heat upon the green wood causes the joints to burst with loud explosions. The noise is so loud as to be heard at a distance of two miles, and this terrifies the wild beasts, causing them to flee. The merchants also provide themselves with iron shackles in order to fasten the legs of their horses, which would otherwise, when alarmed by the noise, break their halters and run away. From neglect of this precaution, many owners have lost their cattle. Thus, you travel for twenty days through a desolate country finding neither inns nor provisions, unless perhaps once in three or four days, when you take the opportunity of replenishing your stock of necessities. At the end of that period, you come upon a few castles and strongpoints, on rocky heights or on the summits of mountains. And gradually enter an inhabited and cultivated district where there is no longer any danger from beasts of prey. A scandalous custom, which could only arise from the blindness of idolatry, prevails among the people of these parts. They are disinclined to marry young women, so long as they are virgins, but required, on the contrary, that they should have had previous relations with many of the other sexes. This, they assert, is pleasing to their deities, and they believe that a woman who has not had the company of men is worthless. Accordingly, upon the arrival of a caravan of merchants, and as soon as they have set up their tents for the night, those mothers who have marriageable daughters conduct them to the place and entreat the strangers to accept their daughters and enjoy their society so long as they remain in the neighborhood. Such as are most attractive are, of course, chosen, and the others return home disappointed and chagrined. Those chosen remain with the travelers until their departure. The travelers then return them to their mothers and never attempt to carry them away. It is expected, however, that the merchants will make the young women presents of trinkets, rings, or other tokens of their regard, which the young women take home with them. They wear all these ornaments about the neck or other parts of the body, and she who shows the greatest number of them is considered to have attracted the greatest number of men, and is therefore in higher esteem with the young men who are looking for wives. At her wedding ceremony, she accordingly makes a display of them to the assembly, and the man regards them as the proof that her idols have rendered her lovely in the eyes of men. These idolatrous people are treacherous and cruel, and holding it no crime to rob, are the greatest brigands in the world. They subsist by chase and by fouling as well as on the fruits of the earth. Here are found the animals that produce musk, and there are so many that the scent of it is diffused over the whole country. Once in every month, a secretion takes place, and it forms itself, as has already been said, into a sort of bag or oil, full of blood near the navel. Throughout every part of this region, the animal abounds, and the odour generally prevails. They are called Guderi in the language of the natives, and are taken with dogs. These people have no coined money nor even the paper money of the great Khan, but use salt for currency. Their dress is homely, being of leather, undressed skins or canvases. They have a language peculiar to the province of Tibet, which borders on Manzi. Tibet was formerly a country of so much importance as to be divided into eight kingdoms, containing many cities and castles. Its rivers, lakes, and mountains are numerous. In the rivers, gold dust is found in very large quantities. Not only is coral used for money, but the women wear it around their necks, and adorn their idols with it. They manufacture camlet and gold cloth, and produce many drugs that have not been brought to our country. Among these people you find the most skilled wizards, who, by their diabolic art, perform the most extraordinary marvels that were ever seen or heard. They cause tempests to arise, accompanied with flashes of lightning and thunderbolts, and many other miraculous effects. They are altogether an ill-conditioned race. They have dogs the size of asses, strong enough to hunt all sorts of wild beasts, particularly the wild oxen called bayamini, which are extremely large and fierce. Some of the best lanner falcons are bred here, and also seikers, very swift of flight, and the natives have good sport with them. This province of Tibet is subject to the Great Khan, as well as the other kingdoms and provinces that have been mentioned. Next to this place is the province of Kaindu. Chapter 47 of Kaindu and Men Who Turn Over Their Women to Travelers. Kaindu is a western province which is formerly subject to its own princes, but it has been brought under the domain of the Great Khan and is now ruled by governors whom he appoints. We are not to understand, however, that it is situated in the western part of Asia, but only that it lies westward with respect to our course from the northeastern quarter. It contains many cities and castles, and the capital city, standing at the entrance of the province, is likewise named Kaindu. Near to it there is a large salt lake that abounds in pearls of a white color, but not round. So great indeed is the quantity of this, that if his majesty permitted every individual to search for them, their value would become trifling. But fishing for them is prohibited to all who do not obtain his license. A mountain in the neighborhood yields the turquoise stone, the mines of which cannot be worked without the same permission. The inhabitants of this district have the shameful and odious habit of considering it no mark of disgrace that those who travel through the country should have relation with their wives, daughters, or sisters, but on the contrary, when strangers arrive, each householder endeavors to bring one of them home with him. There he turns over all the women of the family to him, leaves him in the position of master of the house, and goes off. While the stranger is in the house, he places a signal at the window, such as his hat or some other thing, and as long as the signal is visible, the husband remains away. And this custom prevails throughout the province. This they do in honor of their idols, believing that by such acts of kindness and hospitality to travelers, a blessing is obtained and that they shall be rewarded with a plentiful supply of fruits of the earth. The money or currency they use is made thus. Their gold is formed into small rods and is valued accordingly to its weight, without any stamp. This is the greater money. The smaller is made thus. In this country, there are salt springs from which they manufacture salt by boiling it in small pans. When the water is boiled for an hour, it becomes a kind of paste, which is formed into cakes of the value of two pence each. These cakes, which are flat upon the lower and convex on the upper side, are placed upon hot tiles near a fire to dry and harden. The stamp of the great Khan is pressed into them, and it cannot be prepared by any other than his own officers. Eighty of the cakes pass for a sagio of gold, but when these are carried by traders among the inhabitants of the mountains and other parts that are rarely visited, they obtain a sagio of gold for sixty, fifty, or even forty of the salt cakes, in proportion as they find the natives less civilized, further removed from the towns, and more accustomed to remain where they are. The same merchants travel in like manner through the mountains and other parts of the province of Tibet, where the money of salt has equal currency. Their profits are considerable because these country people consume the salt with their food and regard it as an indispensable necessity, whereas the inhabitants of the cities use only fragments of the cakes, putting the remainder into circulation as money. Here also the animals that yield musk are taken in great numbers, and the article is accordingly abundant. Many kinds of good fish are caught in the lake. In the country are found tigers, bears, deer, stags, and antelopes, as well as numerous birds of various storks. The wine is not made from grapes, but of wheat and rice with a mixture of spices, and is an excellent beverage. This province also produces cloves. The tree is small, the branches and leaves resemble those of the laurel, but are somewhat longer and narrower. Its flowers are white and small, and are cloves themselves, but as they ripen they become dark. Ginger grows there, and also much cassia besides many other drugs of which very little is brought to Europe. Upon leaving the city of Kaindu, the journey is ten days to the opposite boundary of the province, in the course of which you come to sizable villages, many fortified posts, and also places good for hunting and fowling. The inhabitants follow the customs and manners already described. At the end of these ten days you reach the great river Rios, which bounds the province, and in which are found large quantities of gold dust. It flows into the ocean. We shall now leave this river and speak of the province of Karajan.