Page images
PDF
EPUB

be traceable, having probably been carried away by the changes in the river. But it would seem to have been at the mouth of the canal on the north side of the Hwang-Ho, and the name is the same as that given below (ch. lxxii.) to the town (Kwachau) occupying the corresponding position on the Kiang.

“Khatai,” says Rashiduddin, “is bounded on one side by the country of Máchín, which the Chinese call MANZI. In the Indian language Southern China is called Mahá-chín, i.e., ' Great China,' and hence we derive the word Machin. The Mongols call the same country Nangiass. It is separated from Khatai by the river called KARAMORAN, which comes from the mountains of Tibet and Kashmir, and which is never fordable. The capital of this kingdom is the city of Khingsai, which is 40 days' journey from Khanbalik." (Quat. Rashid. xci.-xciii.)

MANZI (or Mangi) is a name used for Southern China, or more properly for the territory which constituted the dominion of the Sung Dynasty at the time when the Mongols conquered Cathay or Northern China from the Kin, not only by Marco, but by Odoric and John Marignolli, as well as by the Persian writers, who, however, more commonly call it Máchín. I imagine that some confusion between the two words led to the appropriation of the latter name also to Southern China. The term Mantzu or Mantze signifies "Barbarians" ("Sons of Barbarians"), and was applied, it is said, by the Northern Chinese to their neighbours on the south, whose civilization was of later date.* The name is now specifically applied to a wild race on the banks of the Upper Kiang. But it retains its medieval application in Manchuria, where Mantszi is the name given to the Chinese immigrants, and in that use is said to date from the time of Kublai (Palladius in J. R. G. S., vol. XLII., p. 154). And Mr. Moule has found the word, apparently used in Marco's exact sense, in a Chinese extract of the period, contained in the topography of the famous Lake of Hangchau (infra, ch. lxxvi.-lxxvii.).

Though both Polo and Rashiduddin call the Karamoran the boundary between Cathay and Manzi, it was not so for any great distance. Honan belonged essentially to Cathay.

CHAPTER LXV.

HOW THE GREAT KAAN CONQUERED THE PROVINCE OF MANZI.

You must know that there was a king and sovereign lord of the great territory of Manzi who was styled FACFUR,

Magaillans says the Southerns, in return, called the Northerns Pe-tai, "Fools of the North"!

so great and puissant a prince, that for vastness of wealth and number of subjects and extent of dominion, there was hardly a greater in all the earth except the Great Kaan himself. But the people of his land were anything rather than warriors; all their delight was in women, and nought but women; and so it was above all with the king himself, for he took thought of nothing else but women, unless it were of charity to the poor.

In all his dominion there were no horses; nor were the people ever inured to battle or arms, or military service of any kind. Yet the province of Manzi is very strong by nature, and all the cities are encompassed by sheets of water of great depth, and more than an arblast-shot in width; so that the country never would have been lost, had the people but been soldiers. But that is just what they were not; so lost it was.'

Now it came to pass, in the year of Christ's incarnation, 1268, that the Great Kaan, the same that now reigneth, despatched thither a Baron of his whose name was BAYAN CHINCSAN, which is as much as to say "Bayan HundredEyes." And you must know that the King of Manzi had found in his horoscope that he never should lose his kingdom except through a man that had an hundred eyes; so he held himself assured in his position, for he could not believe that any man in existence could have an hundred eyes. There, however, he deluded himself, in his ignorance of the name of Bayan.3

This Bayan had an immense force of horse and foot entrusted to him by the Great Kaan, and with these he entered Manzi, and he had also a great number of boats to carry both horse and foot when need should be. And when he, with all his host, entered the territory of Manzi and arrived at this city of COIGANJU-whither we now are got, and of which we shall speak presently-he summoned the people thereof to surrender to the Great Kaan; but this they flatly refused. On this Bayan went on to another

city, with the same result, and then still went forward; acting thus because he was aware that the Great Kaan was despatching another great host to follow him up.+

What shall I say then? He advanced to five cities in succession, but got possession of none of them; for he did not wish to engage in besieging them, and they would not give themselves up. But when he came to the sixth city he took that by storm, and so with a second, and a third, and a fourth, until he had taken twelve cities in succession. And when he had taken all these he advanced straight against the capital city of the kingdom, which was called KINSAY, and which was the residence of the King and Queen.

And when the King beheld Bayan coming with all his host, he was in great dismay, as one unused to see such sights. So he and a great company of his people got on board a thousand ships and fled to the islands of the Ocean Sea, whilst the Queen who remained behind in the city took all measures in her power for its defence, like a valiant lady.

Now it came to pass that the Queen asked what was the name of the captain of the host, and they told her that it was Bayan Hundred-Eyes. So when she wist that he was styled Hundred-Eyes, she called to mind how their astrologers had foretold that a man of an hundred eyes should strip them of the kingdom.5 Wherefore she gave herself up to Bayan, and surrendered to him the whole kingdom and all the other cities and fortresses, so that no resistance was made. And in sooth this was a goodly conquest, for there was no realm on earth half so wealthy." The amount that the King used to expend was perfectly marvellous; and as an example I will tell you somewhat of his liberal acts.

In those provinces they are wont to expose their newborn babes; I speak of the poor, who have not the means of bringing them up. But the King used to have all those

VOL. II.

K

foundlings taken charge of, and had note made of the signs and planets under which each was born, and then put them out to nurse about the country. And when any rich man was childless he would go to the King and obtain from him as many of these children as he desired. Or, when the children grew up, the King would make up marriages among them, and provide for the couples from his own purse. In this manner he used to provide for some 20,000 boys and girls every year.?

I will tell you another thing this King used to do. If he was taking a ride through the city and chanced to see a house that was very small and poor standing among other houses that were fine and large, he would ask why it was so, and they would tell him it belonged to a poor man who had not the means to enlarge it. Then the King would himself supply the means. And thus it came to pass that in all the capital of the kingdom of Manzi, Kinsay by name, you should not see any but fine houses.

This King used to be waited on by more than a thousand young gentlemen and ladies, all clothed in the richest fashion. And he ruled his realm with such justice that no malefactors were to be found therein. The city in fact was so secure that no man closed his doors at night, not even in houses and shops that were full of all sorts of rich merchandize. No one could do justice in the telling to the great riches of that country, and to the good disposition of the people. Now that I have told you about the kingdom, I will go back to the Queen.

You must know that she was conducted to the Great Kaan, who gave her an honourable reception, and caused her to be served with all state, like a great lady as she was. But as for the King her husband, he never more did quit the isles of the sea to which he had fled, but died there. So leave we him and his wife and all their concerns, and let us return to our story, and go on regularly with our account of the great province of Manzi and of the manners

« PreviousContinue »