Volume II Part 153 (1/2)

KHAKHAN.

”Mr. Rockhill's remarks about the t.i.tle _Khakhan_ require supplementing. Of course, the Turks did not use the term before 560 (552 was the exact year), because neither they nor their name 'Turk' had any self-a.s.sertive existence before then, and until that year they were the 'iron-working slaves' of the Jou-jan. The Khakhan of those last-named Tartars naturally would not allow the petty tribe of Turk to usurp his exclusive and supreme t.i.tle. But even a century and a half before this, the ruler of the T'u-kuh-hun nomads had already borne the t.i.tle of Khakhan, which (the late Dr. Bretschneider agreed with me in thinking) was originally of Tungusic and not of Turkish origin. The T'u-kuh-hun were of the same race as the half-Mongol, half-Tungusic Tobas, who ruled for two centuries over North China.... The t.i.tle of Khakhan, in various b.a.s.t.a.r.d forms, was during the tenth century used by the Kings of Khoten and Kuche, as well as by the petty Ouigour Kings of Kan Chou, Si Chou, etc.” (E.H.

PARKER, _Asiatic Quart. Rev._, Jan., 1904, pp. 139-140.)

Introduction, p. 19. [The] second start [of the Venetians] from Acre took place about November, 1271.

M. Langlois remarks that the last stay of the Polos at Acre was necessarily before the 18th November, 1271, date of the departure of Gregory X. for the West. Cf. _Itineraires a Jerusalem et Descriptions de la Terre-Sainte rediges en francais aux XI'e, XII'e et XIII'e siecles_, publ. par H. MICHELANT et G. RAYNAUD (Geneve, 1882), pp.

xxviii-xxix:

”La date de 1269, donnee seulement par un des ma.n.u.scrits de la redaction de Thibaut de Cepoy, pour le premier sejour a Acre des Polo et leur rencontre avec Tedaldo Visconti, qui allait etre elu pape et prendre le nom de Gregoire X., date preferee par tous les editeurs a celles evidemment erronees de Rusticien de Pise (1260) et des huit autres ma.n.u.scrits de Thibaut de Cepoy (1250 et 1260), n'est pas hors de toute discussion. M.G. Tononi, archipretre de Plaisance, qui prepare une histoire et une edition des ceuvres de Gregoire X., me fait remarquer que les chroniqueurs ne placent le depart de Tedaldo pour la Terre-Sainte qu'apres celui de S. Louis pour Tunis (2 juillet 1270), et que, d'apres un acte du _Tresor des Chartes_, Tedaldo etait encore a Paris le 28 decembre 1269. Il faudrait done probablement dater de 1271 le premier et le deuxieme sejour des Polo a Acre, et les placer tous deux entre le 9 mai, epoque de l'arrivee en Terre-Sainte d'Edouard d'Angleterre,--avec lequel, suivant _l'Eracles_, aborda Tedaldo--et le 18 novembre, date du depart du nouveau pape pour l'Occident.” (Cf. _Hist. litt. de la France_, x.x.xV, _Marco Polo_.)

Introduction, p. 19 n.

I have here discussed Major Sykes' theory of Polo's itinerary in Persia; the question was raised again by Major Sykes in the _Geographical Journal_, October, 1905, pp. 462-465. I answered again, and I do not think it necessary to carry on farther this controversy. I recall that Major Sykes writes: ”To conclude, I maintain that Marco Polo entered Persia near Tabriz, whence he travelled to Sultania, Kashan, Yezd, Kerman, and Hormuz. From that port, owing to the unseaworthiness of the vessels, the presence of pirates, the fact that the season was past, or for some other reason, he returned by a westerly route to Kerman, and thence crossed the Lut to Khorasan.”

I replied in the _Geographical Journal_, Dec., 1905, pp. 686-687: ”Baghdad, after its fall in 1258, did not cease immediately to be 'rather off the main caravan route.' I shall not refer Major Sykes to what I say in my editions of 'Odorico' and 'Polo' on the subject, but to the standard work of Heyd, _Commerce du Levant_, Vol. 2, pp. 77, 78. The itinerary, Tabriz, Sultania, Kashan, Yezd, was the usual route later on, at the beginning of the fourteenth century, and it was followed, among others, by Fra Odorico, of Pordenone. Marco Polo, on his way to the Far East--you must not forget that he was at Acre in 1271--could not have crossed Sultania, which _did not exist_, as its building was commenced by Arghun Khan, who ascended the throne in 1284, and was continued by Oeljaitu (1304-1316), who gave the name of Sultania to the city.” Cf. Lieut.-Col.

P.M. SYKES, _A History of Persia_, 1915, 2 vols., 8vo; II., p. 181 n.

Introduction, p. 21. M. Pauthier has found a record in the Chinese Annals of the Mongol dynasty, which states that in the year 1277, a certain POLO was nominated a second-cla.s.s commissioner or agent attached to the Privy Council, a pa.s.sage which we are happy to believe to refer to our young traveller.

Prof. E.H. Parker remarks (_Asiatic Quart. Review_, 3rd Series, Vol.

XVII., Jan., 1904, pp. 128-131): ”M. Pauthier has apparently overlooked other records, which make it clear that the identical individual in question had already received honours from Kublai many years before Marco's arrival in 1275. Perhaps the best way to make this point clear would be to give all the original pa.s.sages which bear upon the question.

The number I give refer to the chapter and page (first half or second half of the double page) of the _Yuan Sh_:--

A. Chap. 7, p. 1-2/2: 1270, second moon. Kublai inspects a court pageant prepared by Puh-lo and others.

B. Chap. 7, p. 6-1/2: 1270, twelfth moon. The _yu-sh chung-ch'eng_ (censor) Puh-lo made also President of the _Ta-sz-nung_ department. One of the ministers protested that there was no precedent for a censor holding this second post. Kublai insisted.

C. Chap. 8, p. 16-1/2: 1275, second moon. Puh-lo and another sent to look into the Customs taxation question in Tangut.

D. Chap. 8, p. 22-1/2: 1275, fourth moon. The _Ta-sz-nung_ and _yu-sh chung-ch'eng_ Puh-lo promoted to be _yu-sh ta-fu_.

E. Chap. 9, p. 11-2/2: 1276, seventh moon. The Imperial Prince Puh-lo given a seal.

F. Chap. 9, p. 16-2/2: 1277, second moon. The _Ta-sz-nung_ and _yu-sh ta-fu_, Puh-lo, being also _suan-wei-sh_ and Court Chamberlain, promoted to be _shu-mih fu-sh_, and also _suan-hwei-sh_ and Court Chamberlain.

”The words _shu-mih fu-sh_ the Chinese characters for which are given on p. 569 of M. Cordier's second volume, precisely mean 'Second-cla.s.s Commissioner attached to the Privy Council,' and hence it is clear that Pauthier was totally mistaken in supposing the censor of 1270 to have been Marco. Of course the Imperial Prince Puh-lo is not the same person as the censor, nor is it clear who the (1) pageant and (2) Tangut Puh-los were, except that neither could possibly have been Marco, who only arrived in May--the third moon--at the very earliest.

”In the first moon of 1281 some gold, silver, and bank-notes were handed to Puh-lo for the relief of the poor. In the second moon of 1282, just before the a.s.sa.s.sination of Achmed, the words 'Puh-lo the Minister'

(_ch'eng-siang_) are used in connection with a case of fraud. In the seventh moon of 1282 (after the fall of Achmed) the 'Mongol man Puh-lo'

was placed in charge of some gold-was.h.i.+ngs in certain towers of the then Hu Peh (now in Hu Nan). In the ninth moon of the same year a commission was sent to take official possession of all the gold-yielding places in Yun Nan, and Puh-lo was appointed _darugachi_ (= governor) of the mines.

In this case it is not explicitly stated (though it would appear most likely) that the two gold superintendents were the same man; if they were, then neither could have been Marco, who certainly was no 'Mongol man.'

Otherwise there would be a great temptation to identify this event with the mission to '_una citta, detta Carazan_' of the Ramusio Text.

”There is, however, one man who may possibly be Marco, and that is the Poh-lo who was probably with Kublai at Chagan Nor when the news of Achmed's murder by w.a.n.g Chu arrived there in the third moon of 1282. The Emperor at once left for Shang-tu (i.e. _K'ai-p'ing Fu_, north of Dolonor), and 'ordered the _shu-mih fu-sh_ Poh-lo [with two other statesmen] to proceed with all speed to Ta-tu (i.e. to Cambalu). On receiving Poh-lo's report, the Emperor became convinced of the deceptions practised upon him by Achmed, and said: ”It was a good thing that w.a.n.g Chu _did_ kill him.”' In 1284 Achmed's successor is stated (chap, 209, p.

9-1/2) to have recommended Poh-lo, amongst others, for minor Treasury posts. The same man (chap. 209, p. 12-1/2) subsequently got Poh-lo appointed to a salt superintendency in the provinces; and as Yang-chou is the centre of the salt trade, it is just possible that Marco's 'governors.h.i.+p' of that place may resolve itself into this.