The Travels of Marco Polo Volume I Part 100

_Al-Barniya_, "vas fictile in quo quid recondunt," whence the Spanish word _Albornia_, "a great glazed vessel in the shape of a bowl, with handles."

So far as regards the form, the change of _Barniya_ into _Vernique_ would be quite a.n.a.logous to that change of _Hundwaniy_ into _Ondanique_, which we have already met with. (See _Dozy et Engelmann, Glos. des Mots Espagnols_, etc., 2nd ed., 1867, p. 73; and _Boerio, Diz. del. Dial.

Venez._)

[_F. G.o.defroy, Dict., s.v. Vernigal_, writes: "Coupe sans anse, vernie ou laquee d'or," and quotes, besides Marco Polo, the _Regle du Temple_, p. 214, ed. Soc. Hist. de France:

"Les _vernigaus_ et les escuelles."

About _vernegal_, cf. _Rockhill, Rubruck_, p. 86, note. Rubruck says (_Soc. de Geog._ p. 241): "Implevimus unum _veringal_ de biscocto et platellum unum de pomis et aliis fructibus." Mr. Rockhill translates _veringal_ by _basket_.

Dr. Bretschneider (_Peking_, 28) mentions "a large jar made of wood and _varnished_, the inside lined with silver," and he adds in a note "perhaps this statement may serve to explain Marco Polo's _verniques_ or _vaselle_ vernicate _d'oro_, big enough to hold drink for eight or ten persons."--H. C.]

A few lines above we have "of the capacity of a _firkin_." The word is _bigoncio_, which is explained in the _Vocab. Univ. Ital._ as a kind of tub used in the vintage, and containing 3 _mine_, each of half a _stajo_.

This seems to point to the _Tuscan_ mina, or half stajo, which is = 1/3 of a bushel. Hence the _bigoncio_ would = a bushel, or, in old liquid measure, about a firkin.

NOTE 3.--A buffet, with flagons of liquor and goblets, was an essential feature in the public halls or tents of the Mongols and other Asiatic races of kindred manners. The amba.s.sadors of the Emperor Justin relate that in the middle of the pavilion of Dizabulus, the Khan of the Turks, there were set out drinking-vessels, and flagons and great jars, all of gold; corresponding to the _coupes_ (or _hanas a mances_), the _verniques_, and the _grant peitere_ and _petietes peiteres_ of Polo's account. Rubruquis describes in Batu Khan's tent a buffet near the entrance, where _k.u.miz_ was set forth, with great goblets of gold and silver, etc., and the like at the tent of the Great Kaan. At a festival at the court of Oljaitu, we are told, "Before the throne stood golden buffets ... set out with full flagons and goblets." Even in the private huts of the Mongols there was a buffet of a humbler kind exhibiting a skin of _k.u.miz_, with other kinds of drink, and cups standing ready; and in a later age at the banquets of Shah Abbas we find the great buffet in a slightly different form, and the golden flagon still set to every two persons, though it no longer contained the liquor, which was handed round.

(_Cathay_, clxiv., cci.; _Rubr._ 224, 268, 305; _Ilch._ II. 183; _Della Valle_, I. 654 and 750-751.)

[Referring to the "large and very beautiful piece of workmans.h.i.+p," Mr.

Rockhill, _Rubruck_, 208-209, writes: "Similar works of art and mechanical contrivances were often seen in Eastern courts. The earliest I know of is the golden plane-tree and grape vine with bunches of grapes in precious stones, which was given to Darius by Pythius the Lydian, and which shaded the king's couch. (Herodotus, IV. 24.) The most celebrated, however, and that which may have inspired Mangu with the desire to have something like it at his court, was the famous Throne of Solomon ([Greek: Solomonteos Thronos]) of the Emperor of Constantinople, Theophilus (A.D. 829-842)....

Abulfeda states that in A.D. 917 the envoys of Constantine Porphyrogenitus to the Caliph el Moktader saw in the palace of Bagdad a tree with eighteen branches, some of gold, some of silver, and on them were gold and silver birds, and the leaves of the tree were of gold and silver. By means of machinery, the leaves were made to rustle and the birds to sing. Mirkhond speaks also of a tree of gold and precious stones in the city of Sultanieh, in the interior of which were conduits through which flowed drinks of different kinds. Clavijo describes a somewhat similar tree at the court of Timur."

Dr. Bretschneider (_Peking_, 28, 29) mentions a clepsydra with a lantern.

By means of machinery put in motion by water, at fixed times a little man comes forward exhibiting a tablet, which announces the hours. He speaks also of a musical instrument which is connected, by means of a tube, with two peac.o.c.ks sitting on a cross-bar, and when it plays, the mechanism causes the peac.o.c.ks to dance.--H. C.]

Odoric describes the great jar of liquor in the middle of the palace hall, but in his time it was made of a great ma.s.s of jade (p. 130).

NOTE 4.--This etiquette is specially noticed also by Odoric, as well as by Makrizi, by Rubruquis, and by Plano Carpini. According to the latter the breach of it was liable to be punished with death. The prohibition to tread on the threshold is also specially mentioned in a Mahomedan account of an emba.s.sy to the court of Barka Khan. And in regard to the tents, Rubruquis says he was warned not to touch the ropes, for these were regarded as representing the threshold. A Russo-Mongol author of our day says that the memory of this etiquette or superst.i.tion is still preserved by a Mongol proverb: "Step not on the threshold; it is a sin!" But among some of the Mongols more than this survives, as is evident from a pa.s.sage in Mr. Michie's narrative: "There is a right and a wrong way of approaching _yourt_ also. Outside the door there are generally ropes lying on the ground, held down by stakes, for the purpose of tying up the animals when they want to keep them together. There is a way of getting over or round these ropes that I never learned, but on one occasion the ignorant breach of the rule on our part excluded us from the hospitality of the family." The feeling or superst.i.tion was in full force in Persia in the 17th century, at least in regard to the threshold of the king's palace. It was held a sin to tread upon it in entering. (_Cathay_, 132; _Rubr._ 255, 268, 319; _Plan. Carp._ 625, 741; _Makrizi_, I. 214; _Mel.

Asiat. Ac. St. Petersb._ II. 660; _The Siberian Overland Route_, p. 97; _P. Della Valle_, II. 171.)

[Mr. Rockhill writes (_Rubruck_, p. 104): "The same custom existed among the Fijians, I believe. I may note that it also prevailed in ancient China. It is said of Confucius 'when he was standing he did not occupy the middle of the gate-way; when he pa.s.sed in or out, he did not tread on the threshold.' (_Lun-yu_, Bk. X. ch. iv. 2.) In China, the bride's feet must not touch the threshold of the bridegroom's house, (Cf. _Denny's Folk-lore in China_, p. 18.)

"The author of the _Ch'ue keng lu_ mentions also the athletes with clubs standing at the door, at the time of the khan's presence in the hall. He adds, that next to the Khan, two other life-guards used to stand, who held in their hands 'natural' axes of jade (axes found fortuitously in the ground, probably primitive weapons)." (_Palladius_, p. 43.)--H. C.]

NOTE 5.--Some of these etiquettes were probably rather Chinese than Mongol, for the regulations of the court of Kublai apparently combined the two. In the visit of Shah Rukh's amba.s.sadors to the court of the Emperor Ch'eng Tsu of the Ming Dynasty in 1421, we are told that by the side of the throne, at an imperial banquet, "there stood two eunuchs, each having a band of thick paper over his mouth, and extending to the tips of his ears.... Every time that a dish, or a cup of _dara.s.sun_ (rice-wine) was brought to the emperor, all the music sounded." (_N. et Ext._ XIV. 408, 409.) In one of the Persepolitan sculptures, there stands behind the King an eunuch bearing a fan, and with his mouth covered; at least so says Heeren. (_Asia_, I. 178.)

NOTE 6.--"_Jongleours et entregetours de maintes plusieurs manieres de granz experimenz_" (P.); "_de Giuculer et de Tregiteor_" (G. T.). Ital.

_Tragettatore_, a juggler; Romance, _Trasjitar, Tragitar_, to juggle. Thus Chaucer:--

"There saw I playing Jogelours, Magiciens, and _Tragetours_, And Phetonisses, Charmeresses, Old Witches, Sorceresses," etc.

--_House of Fame_, III. 169.

And again:--

"For oft at festes have I wel herd say, That _Tregetoures_, within an halle large, Have made come in a water and a barge, And in the halle rowen up and doun.

Somtime hath semed come a grim leoun; * * * * *

Somtime a Castel al of lime and ston, And whan hem liketh, voideth it anon."

--_The Franklin's Tale_, II. 454.

Performances of this kind at Chinese festivities have already been spoken of in note 9 to ch. lxi. of Book I. Shah Rukh's people, Odoric, Ysbrandt Ides, etc., describe them also. The practice of introducing such _artistes_ into the dining-hall after dinner seems in that age to have been usual also in Europe. See, for example, _Wright's Domestic Manners_, pp. 165-166, and the Court of the Emperor Frederic II., in _Kington's Life_ of that prince, I. 470. (See also _N. et E._ XIV. 410; _Cathay_, 143; _Ysb. Ides_, p. 95.)

CHAPTER XIV.

CONCERNING THE GREAT FEAST HELD BY THE GRAND KAAN EVERY YEAR ON HIS BIRTHDAY.

You must know that the Tartars keep high festival yearly on their birthdays. And the Great Kaan was born on the 28th day of the September moon, so on that day is held the greatest feast of the year at the Kaan's Court, always excepting that which he holds on New Year's Day, of which I shall tell you afterwards.[NOTE 1]

Now, on his birthday, the Great Kaan dresses in the best of his robes, all wrought with beaten gold;[NOTE 2] and full 12,000 Barons and Knights on that day come forth dressed in robes of the same colour, and precisely like those of the Great Kaan, except that they are not so costly; but still they are all of the same colour as his, and are also of silk and gold. Every man so clothed has also a girdle of gold; and this as well as the dress is given him by the Sovereign. And I will aver that there are some of these suits decked with so many pearls and precious stones that a single suit shall be worth full 10,000 golden bezants.

And of such raiment there are several sets. For you must know that the Great Kaan, thirteen times in the year, presents to his Barons and Knights such suits of raiment as I am speaking of.[NOTE 3] And on each occasion they wear the same colour that he does, a different colour being a.s.signed to each festival. Hence you may see what a huge business it is, and that there is no prince in the world but he alone who could keep up such customs as these.

On his birthday also, all the Tartars in the world, and all the countries and governments that owe allegiance to the Kaan, offer him great presents according to their several ability, and as prescription or orders have fixed the amount. And many other persons also come with great presents to the Kaan, in order to beg for some employment from him. And the Great Kaan has chosen twelve Barons on whom is laid the charge of a.s.signing to each of these supplicants a suitable answer.

On this day likewise all the Idolaters, all the Saracens, and all the Christians and other descriptions of people make great and solemn devotions, with much chaunting and lighting of lamps and burning of incense, each to the G.o.d whom he doth wors.h.i.+p, praying that He would save the Emperor, and grant him long life and health and happiness.

And thus, as I have related, is celebrated the joyous feast of the Kaan's birthday.[NOTE 4]

Now I will tell you of another festival which the Kaan holds at the New Year, and which is called the White Feast.

NOTE 1.--The Chinese Year commences, according to Duhalde, with the New Moon nearest to the Sun's Pa.s.sage of the middle point of Aquarius; according to Pauthier, with the New Moon immediately preceding the Sun's entry into Pisces. (These would almost always be identical, but not always.) Generally speaking, the first month will include part of February and part of March. The eighth month will then be September-October (_v. ante_, ch. ii. note 2).

[According to Dr. S. W. Williams (_Middle Kingdom_, II. p. 70): "The year is lunar, but its commencement is regulated by the sun. New Year falls on the first new moon after the sun enters Aquarius, which makes it come not before January 21st nor after February 19th." "The beginning of the civil year, writes Peter Hoang (_Chinese Calendar_, p. 13), depends upon the good pleasure of the Emperors. Under the Emperor Hw.a.n.g-ti (2697 B.C.) and under the Hsia Dynasty (2205 B.C.), it was made to commence with the 3rd month _yin-yueh_ [Pisces]; under the Shang Dynasty (1766 B.C.) with the 2nd month _ch'ou-yueh_ [Aquarius], and under the Chou Dynasty (1122 B.C.) with the 1st month _tzu-yueh_ [Capricorn]."--H. C.]

NOTE 2.--The expression "_a or batuz_" as here applied to robes, is common among the mediaeval poets and romance-writers, e.g. Chaucer:--

"Full yong he was and merry of thought, And in samette with birdes wrought And with gold beaten full fetously, His bodie was clad full richely."

--_Rom. of the Rose_, 836-839.

M. Michel thinks that in a stuff so termed the gold wire was _beaten out_ after the execution of the embroidery, a process which widened the metallic surface and gave great richness of appearance. The fact was rather, however, according to Dr. Rock, that the gold used in weaving such tissues was _not_ wire but beaten sheets of gold cut into narrow strips.

This would seem sufficient to explain the term "beaten gold," though Dr.

Rock in another pa.s.sage refers it to a custom which he alleges of sewing goldsmith's work upon robes. (_Fr. Michel_, _Recherches_, II. 389, also I.

371; _Rock's Catalogue_, pp. xxv. xxix. x.x.xviii. cvi.)

NOTE 3.--The number of these festivals and distributions of dresses is _thirteen_ in all the old texts, except the Latin of the Geog. Soc., which has _twelve_. Thirteen would seem therefore to have been in the original copy. And the Ramusian version expands this by saying, "Thirteen great feasts that the Tartars keep with much solemnity to each of the thirteen moons of the year."[1] It is possible, however, that this latter sentence is an interpolated gloss; for, besides the improbability of munificence so frequent, Pauthier has shown some good reasons why _thirteen_ should be regarded as an error for _three_. The official History of the Mongol Dynasty, which he quotes, gives a detail of raiment distributed in presents on great state occasions _three_ times a year. Such a mistake might easily have originated in the first dictation, _treize_ subst.i.tuted for _trois_, or rather for the old form _tres_; but we must note that the number 13 is repeated and corroborated in ch. xvi. Odoric speaks of _four_ great yearly festivals, but there are obvious errors in what he says on this subject. Hammer says the great Mongol Feasts were three, viz. New Year's Day, the Kaan's Birthday, and the Feast of the Herds.

Something like the changes of costume here spoken of is mentioned by Rubruquis at a great festival of four days' duration at the court of Mangku Kaan: "Each day of the four they appeared in different raiment, suits of which were given them for each day of a different colour, but everything on the same day of one colour, from the boots to the turban."

So also Carpini says regarding the a.s.semblies of the Mongol n.o.bles at the inauguration of Kuyuk Kaan: "The first day they were all clad in white pourpre (? _albis purpuris_, see Bk. I. ch. vi. note 4), the second day in ruby pourpre, the third day in blue pourpre, the fourth day in the finest baudekins." (_Cathay_, 141; _Rubr._ 368; _Pl. Car._ 755.)

[Mr. Rockhill (_Rubruck_, p. 247, note) makes the following remarks: "Odoric, however, says that the colours differed according to the rank.

The custom of presenting _khilats_ is still observed in Central Asia and Persia. I cannot learn from any other authority that the Mongols ever wore turbans. Odoric says the Mongols of the imperial feasts wore 'coronets'

(_in capite coronati_)."--H. C.]

NOTE 4.--["The accounts given by Marco Polo regarding the feasts of the Khan and the festival dresses at his Court, agree perfectly with the statements on the same subject of contemporary Chinese writers. Banquets were called in the common Mongol language _chama_, and festival dresses _chisun_. General festivals used to be held at the New Year and at the Birthday of the Khan. In the _Mongol-Chinese Code_, the ceremonies performed in the provinces on the Khan's Birthday are described. One month before that day the civil and military officers repaired to a temple, where a service was performed to the Khan's health. On the morning of the Birthday a sumptuously adorned table was placed in the open air, and the representatives of all cla.s.ses and all confessions were obliged to approach the table, to prostrate themselves and exclaim three times: _Wan-sui_ (i.e. 'Ten thousand years' life to the Khan). After that the banquet took place. In the same code (in the article on the _Ye li ke un_ [Christians, _Erke-un_]) it is stated, that in the year 1304,--owing to a dispute, which had arisen in the province of Kiang-nan between the _ho-shang_ (Buddhist priests) and the Christian missionaries, as to precedence in the above-mentioned ceremony,--a special edict was published, in which it was decided that in the rite of supplication, Christians should follow the Buddhist and Taouist priests." (_Palladius_, pp. 44-45.)--H. C.]