Volume II Part 159 (1/2)
See on the discreditable custom of the people of Qamul, a long note in the second edition of _Cathay_, I., pp. 249-250.
XLI., p. 211.
Prof. Parker remarks (_Asiatic Quart. Rev._, Jan., 1904, p. 142) that: ”The Chinese (Manchu) agent at Urga has not (nor, I believe, ever had) any control over the Little Bucharia Cities. Moreover, since the reconquest of Little Bucharia in 1877-1878, the whole of those cities have been placed under the Governor of the New Territory (Kan Suh Sin-kiang Sun-fu), whose capital is at Urumtsi. The native Mohammedan Princes of Hami have still left to them a certain amount of home rule, and so lately as 1902 a decree appointing the rotation of their visits to Peking was issued. The present Prince's name is _Shamu Hust_, or _Hussot_.”
XLII., p. 215.
THE PROVINCE OF CHINGINTALAS.
Prof. E.H. PARKER writes in the _Journ. of the North China Branch of the Royal As. Soc._, x.x.xVII., 1906, p. 195: ”On p. 215 of Yule's Vol. I. some notes of Palladius' are given touching Chingkintalas, but it is not stated that Palladius supposed the word _Ch'ih kin_ to date after the Mongols, that is, that Palladius felt uncertain about his identification. But Palladius is mistaken in feeling thus uncertain: in 1315 and 1326 the Mongol History twice mentions the garrison starts at _Ch'ih kin_, and in such a way that the place must be where Marco Polo puts it, i.e. west of Kia-yuh Kwan.”
OF THE PROVINCE OF SUKCHUR.
XLIII., p. 217. ”Over all the mountains of this province rhubarb is found in great abundance, and thither merchants come to buy it, and carry it thence all over the world. Travellers, however, dare not visit those mountains with any cattle but those of the country, for a certain plant grows there which is so poisonous that cattle which eat it loose their hoofs. The cattle of the country know it and eschew it.”
During his crossing of the Nan Shan, Sir Aurel Stein had the same experience, five of his ponies being ”benumbed and refusing to touch gra.s.s or fodder.” The traveller notes that, _Ruins of Desert Cathay_, II., p.
303: ”I at once suspected that they had eaten of the poisonous gra.s.s which infests certain parts of the Nan Shan, and about which old Marco has much to tell in his chapter on 'Sukchur' or Su-chou. The Venetian's account had proved quite true; for while my own ponies showed all the effects of this inebriating plant, the local animals had evidently been wary of it. A little bleeding by the nose, to which Tila Bai, with the veterinary skill of an old Ladak 'Kirakash,' promptly proceeded, seemed to afford some relief. But it took two or three days before the poor brutes were again in full possession of their senses and appet.i.tes.”
”Wild rhubarb, for which the Nan-shan was famous in Marco Polo's days, spread its huge fleshy leaves everywhere.” (STEIN, _Ruins of Desert Cathay_, II., p. 305.)
XLIII., p. 218.
SUKCHUR.
The first character of Suchau was p.r.o.nounced _Suk_ at the time of the T'ang; we find a _Sughciu_ in von Le Coq's MSS. from Turkestan and _Sughcu_ in the runnic text of W. Thomsen; cf. PELLIOT, _J. As._, Mai-Juin, 1912, p. 591; the p.r.o.nunciation _Suk_-chau was still used by travellers coming from Central Asia--for instance, by the envoys of Shah Rukh. See _Cathay_, III., p. 126 n.
OF THE CITY OF CAMPICHU.
XLIV., pp. 219 seq. ”The Idolaters have many minsters and abbeys after their fas.h.i.+on. In these they have an enormous number of idols, both small and great, certain of the latter being a good ten paces in stature; some of them being of wood, others of clay, and others yet of stone. They are all highly polished, and then covered with gold. The great idols of which I speak lie at length. And round about them there are other figures of considerable size, as if adoring and paying homage before them.”
The amba.s.sadors of Shah Rukh to China (1419-1422) wrote:
”In this city of Kamchau there is an idol temple five hundred cubits square. In the middle is an idol lying at length, which measures fifty paces. The sole of the foot is nine paces long, and the instep is twenty-one cubits in girth. Behind this image and overhead are other idols of a cubit (?) in height, besides figures of _Baks.h.i.+s_ as large as life.
The action of all is. .h.i.t off so admirably that you would think they were alive. Against the wall also are other figures of perfect execution. The great sleeping idol has one hand under his head, and the other resting on his thigh. It is gilt all over, and is known as _Shakamuni-fu_. The people of the country come in crowds to visit it, and bow to the very ground before this idol” (_Cathay_, I., p. 277).
XLV., p. 223.
OF THE CITY OF ETZINA.
I said, I., p. 225, that this town must be looked for on the river _Hei-shui_ called _Etsina_ by the Mongols, and would be situated on the river on the border of the Desert, at the top of a triangle, whose bases would be Suhchau and Kanchau. My theory seems to be fully confirmed by Sir Aurel Stein, who writes:
”Advantages of geographical position must at all times have invested this extensive riverine tract, limited as are its resources, with considerable importance for those, whether armed host or traders, who would make the long journey from the heart of Mongolia in the north to the Kansu oases.
It had been the same with the ancient Lou-lan delta, without which the Chinese could not have opened up the earliest and most direct route for the expansion of their trade and political influence into Central Asia.
The a.n.a.logy thus presented could not fail to impress me even further when I proceeded to examine the ruins of Khara-khoto, the 'Black Town' which Colonel Kozloff, the distinguished Russian explorer, had been the first European to visit during his expedition of 1908-1909. There remained no doubt for me then that it was identical with Marco Polo's 'City of Etzina.' Of this we are told in the great Venetian traveller's narrative that it lay a twelve days' ride from the city of Kan-chou, 'towards the north on the verge of the desert; it belongs to the Province of Tangut.'
All travellers bound for Kara-koram, the old capital of the Mongols, had here to lay in victuals for forty days in order to cross the great 'desert which extends forty days' journey to the north, and on which you meet with no habitation nor baiting place.'
”The position thus indicated was found to correspond exactly to that of Khara-khoto, and the identification was completely borne out by the antiquarian evidence brought to light. It soon showed me that though the town may have suffered considerably, as local tradition a.s.serts, when Chingiz Khan with his Mongol army first invaded and conquered Kansu from this side about 1226 A.D., yet it continued to be inhabited down to Marco Polo's time, and partially at least for more than a century later. This was probably the case even longer with the agricultural settlement for which it had served as a local centre, and of which we traced extensive remains in the desert to the east and north-east. But the town itself must have seen its most flouris.h.i.+ng times under Tangut or Hsi-hsia rule from the beginning of the eleventh century down to the Mongol conquest.
”It was from this period, when Tibetan influence from the south seems to have made itself strongly felt throughout Kansu, that most of the Buddhist shrines and memorial Stupas dated, which filled a great portion of the ruined town and were conspicuous also outside it. In one of the latter Colonel Kozloff had made his notable find of Buddhist texts and paintings.
But a systematic search of this and other ruins soon showed that the archaeological riches of the site were by no means exhausted. By a careful clearing of the debris which covered the bases of Stupas and the interior of temple cellas we brought to light abundant remains of Buddhist ma.n.u.scripts and block prints, both in Tibetan and the as yet very imperfectly known old Tangut language, as well as plenty of interesting relievos in stucco or terra-cotta and frescoes. The very extensive refuse heaps of the town yielded up a large number of miscellaneous records on paper in the Chinese, Tangut, and Uigur scripts, together with many remains of fine glazed pottery, and of household utensils. Finds of Hsi-hsia coins, ornaments in stone and metal, etc., were also abundant, particularly on wind-eroded ground.