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September 12, 1903)]
Zoroastrian cult wherein the ancient Aryan | deities as the Fevas became transformed into Parsi Daêvar, and were made to occupy subordinate position as evil intelligences alongside Ahura Mazdao and his hosts. The religion of the Magi, on the other hand, was a corrupt survival of the older belief, which partially existed alongside the purer faith, and in the end had a debasing influence on the › teachings of Zarathustra, himself apparently
an Elamite.
It is probable that the tradition of the Greek Athiope was derived from the proto Semitic Teaba* and was confounded with the older and still existig form dithiops, sparkling, Aashing, as if from aithe, to kindie, burn. These Ethiopians always appear in Homer with the epithatamymôn, usually translated blameless, but more likely an archaic form from memona, as if unmoved, imperturbable; the Ethio- pians were above mortals, and Zeus himself at the council meeting of the gods thought it sufficient excuse for his non-attendance that he was feasting with them Later on, a con. fusion of Aithiops, an Ethiopian, with aithops, from aitho, to burn, led to the erroneous im pression that Ethiopian meaut the
64 82612 burnt" races of Africa; and in more modern
Greek came to indicate the Negroes, and this led on to the story that not only one of the Three Kings was a Negro, but that the Queen of Sheba herself also was a full-blooded black. With regard to the placing of the venue of the story of the Magi in Persia, it seems to have been forgotten by all that myrrh and frankincense are not, and never could have been products of Persia: the tale must have had its origin in Arabia, and its transfer to Sab. in the north of even modern Persis can only be explained by the original wide distribution of these Ethiops, callel by Homer "the farthest of men, living with the rising as with the setting sun." The bodies of the three Magi were even at the time of Polo's visit said to be still entire, but he honestly confes es that, though he enquired, he could find no one in the country who knew aught of the matter. So much, as Marco Polo would him. self say, for the Magi.
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In the thirteenth century the roads in Persia seem to have been in much the same state of insecurity as at present; and we find much mention of robbers, which is too trite a subject to linger over. In spite of all our traveller got to Hormuz, doubtless with the intention of proceeding thence by sea: his description of the place is not flattering. It is a very sickly place, and the heat of the sun is tremendous. If any foreign merchant die there the king takes all his property." The ships he found to be wretched affairs, tied together with strings, and all he finds to commend is the date wine. To the Chinese student Hormuz has an interest as being the furthest part reached by the Han explorers. The Heo Han Shu tells how after travelling across Tiaoch'i (Sarangia). Kan Ying reached the sea-coast, plainly at Hormuz. Here he was desirous of embarking for Tat'sin (Syria); the shipmen, evidently inspired from Parthia, did their best to deter him. The sea is wide and dangerous, even with a fair wind it takes three months to cross: under less favourable conditions two years are needed. Those who attempt the voyage require to lay in provisions for three years. When they are on the water an intense longing for bome seizes them, and they wish they were dead.” Whether Kan Ying was dissuaded by these representa- tions, or stronger measures were used to oppose his embarkation, at all events the only oppor- tunity China ever had of exploring the Roman Empire was lost.
CI
Whatever was the reason, Polo too, like his predecessor, was persuaded from embarking at Hormuz, and determined to take the overland reute. Nothing very particular happened to him in the way of adventure, so he reverts to his practice in such cases of spinning yarns, and tells the story of the Arbre Sec, on which his commentators descant wisely, and at length. Proceeding to the towns of Tun and Kain, which Marco iu oriental fashion joins in
Both orthography and accent in Aithiops, as distinguished from aithops, point to this conclu- In Tasba the final aleph is part of the and corresponds with the Greek jota in the medial syllable."
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
one as Tunoosin, a sudden hiatus occurs, which it is difficult to account for otherwise than by the loss of an important portion of the M.S. This is the more to be regretted as the blank bides such interesting spots as Nishapur, Meshed, and Mer, regarding the condition of which so soon after their sack by the Mongol levies we should feel much interest. Characteristically Maroo Alls up the gap by the introduction of the story of Hassan the Old Man of the Mountain," famous in medieval and east: ru lore. It is not necessary to follow him here; the more so as the subject is altogether outside our narrative.
When next the direct narrative is resumed it is at Sapurgan, which the commentators correctly identify with Shiberghan in the valley of the upper Oxus, still fertile, and famous for melour.
The next stage to be reached was the city of Balkh, of all the cities of Asia m at famous. It had submitted to Jenghiz Khan without opposition, on the promise that its inhabitants would be spared: notwithstanding the promise the inhabitants, under pretence of numbering them, were marched in detachments into the plain, where they were murdered to a man in cold blood. Marco Polo, doubtless influenced by his form r efficial position at the court of Kublai Khan, merely says that it was a noble city and great, though greatly ravaged and d stroyed at the hands of the Tartars. As a fact. neither Balkh nor the other cities in the land have ever recovered from the havoc wrought. With the name of Balkh occurs another which neither Yule or the latest commentator have been able to identify; this is Dogana, called properly “a country." This, of course is intend- ed for Tokharistan, the medieval name of the country hereabouts, and so called after the Tokhars, who are mentioned in this connection by Strabo. From Balkh the road led by Talik- han and Khism into Badakhshan: so far there is no difficulty. Both commentators have, however, made a mistake as to the further route, and in taking Polo through the Taghdambash Pamir to Yarkand. What Polo says he did was to ride twelve days from Badakhshan into a country called Vokhan (Wakhan), then go three days N.E. over
"the highest place in the World" to a great lake out of which was running a fine river. He in fact followed in Wood's footpr nta till he got to Issar: there he found, as Wood did, the road divided: he took the more northerly, and found himself at Lake Yeshil Kul, described by Hedin. Thence he crossed the Alichar Pamir, by Rang Kul, and so on direct to Kash gar. This country he calls Bolor, a name that led the pretended traveller "George Ludwig von
As usual
"into a merry quagmire. The au thorities quoted for the existence of Bolor all point to a district far to the south, but to save Polo's face Dr. Hedin actually passed a few miles from the Yeshil Kul, a small taru which be names Balun Kul, and which in all proba- bility accounts for Marco's Bolor. when Polo actually saw the place desoribed his remarks are pithy and suocinct. Kashgar is the finest town in the province and has b autiful gardens and vineyards; which is true to the present day. The inhabitants are niggardly, which ourionsly tallies with the description given by Sz'ma Ts'den, that they will wrangle over a cash. When the traveller was at K'shgar he describes from hearsay the city of Samarcan, Samarkand. The coitrast in the methods is instructive.
When Polo was at Kashgar, for reasons not stated but which were doubtless connected with the quarrel between Kublai and Kaidu Khans, he decided to take the southern road to China, and passed through Yarkand and Khotan. On the way he gives an account of a place called by him Pein, the identification of which is by no means clear. Yule and Cordier make it out to have corresponded with the Pimo of Yueu Chwang, but this is little help, as the Pi of the monk should be read Kwen, and the place intended was Kiriwa (Kiria), the question must remain an open one a little longer.
After Pein, wherever it may have been, Marco Polo arrived at Charchan, the Laslan or Shoushen of the older Chinese historians. We are here on classic ground, the tale of Charchan going back to mythical times. It was in fact the Troy of China destroyed, by her mythical hero Wan Wang, before his entrance into the Tienhya. The ancient ballad sings
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Thus spake the gods on high. Wan Wang ! "Fear not to grasp the work, nor quail; als "Let not your pity spare; be strong 1"--
*
On Tsuugyung's walls our engines ply, Taungyung the fair, the wide-renowned ; Worsted and wan the burghers fly: Or captives sad in fetters bound, To grace our solemn rites appear.
—Shi King, III, ii., 71,-*** When Polo visited it, it was, however, fallen from its former high estate, and apparently dependent on its production of jade.
The whole of the province," he adds, “is sandy, and so is the road all the way from Pein, and much of the water that you do find is bitter, and bad. When you leave it you ride some five days through the sands, when you come to a city called Lop." There is no doubt that the place intended is the town called Küsze Ruins still exist here by Sr'ma Ta'ien.
at a place still called Wash or Gash-shahri, by Prejavatsk, and on some Chinese maps a lake shown in this position is made to bear the n me of Khas, so that we may safely assume that in Polo's time this was really the title of the town to which our traveller transferred the name of the dis-
trict. Here Marco prepared himself for orossing the desert, which in those days as at present lay in his road. Much needless wonder is ex- pressed that he did not mention Lake Lop. As a fact the Lake as described by the few travel- lers who have visited it as an inconspicuous object; and keeping nearer the Altyn Tagh he probably did not hear his guides mention it. te, however, after thirty days' journey fetched up at the rest station of Shacheo, which accord- ing to his custom he calls a city. Shacheo is practically identical with the older Tunhwang, the western outpost of China mentioned as early as the Shi Ki; and formed the entrance for travellers coming from the west to what was then the province of Tangut, but which more frequently in the past had been an independent state. The history of Taugut is in fact older than that of China itself. As M. Cordier points out on the high authority of Dr. Bushell, Tangut is a Mongol plural; by the Mongols the country was ca led Tangut or Tangwa. The Chinese in the sixth century called this people Tonghang or Tongchang, where the first syllable was in the lower tone, so that the combination stood for Dongar. This people, according to the Wei Shu, were Kiang, ie, Kurus, and were descended frou the Sammiao of the Yukung. In the Shu King they are represented as assisting Wa Wang in his conquest of China. In the tenth contury, probably under a descendant of the house of Tobar, they set up a short-lived kingdom, the Chinese title adopted for which was Ta Hia, the latter syllable representing the final gar of Dongar. Of this people we shall speak later.
From Shicheo, Polo went on to Sukchur (Suhcheo), and then to Campiohu, correctly iden.ified by our authors as Kancheo, the present capital of the prevince of Kansu. From this again both editors have mistaken the route actually traversed by the Polos Leaving Kancheo, then, they went N.N.W. to a place which Polo calls the "city" of Etzina, which we may assume to have been a halting
somewhere on place
the river flowing north from Suhcheo, called in modern Chinese maps Gechina; and which loses itself in the great Mongolian depression. This will bring into order Polo's description of Kara- korum, as well as account for the digression here, in which Camul and Chigitalas are mentioned. Kublai Khan, to whom the Polos were consigned, was at the time of their arrival in Tangut, probably in the spring of 1275, engaged in mortal conflict with Kaidu; he was evidently in the north, but where may well have been uncertain, as between the in China, at the time con- fided to the care of Kublai's famous general, Bayam, and the ever active Kaidu, Kublai was kept on a continual stretch. Here the Polos evidently rested till they got instructions to proceed to Kublai's new capital, which, as explained in the 14th chapter of the prologue was situated at Kemenfu. This was K'aip'ng Fu, beyond the Great Wall, which Kublai on selecting it as the site of his court denominated officially -- Shangtu, “ Supr Capital."
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