The Travels of Marco Polo Volume I Part 108

HOW THE GREAT KAAN CAUSES STORES OF CORN TO BE MADE, TO HELP HIS PEOPLE WITHAL IN TIME OF DEARTH.

You must know that when the Emperor sees that corn is cheap and abundant, he buys up large quant.i.ties, and has it stored in all his provinces in great granaries, where it is so well looked after that it will keep for three or four years.[NOTE 1]

And this applies, let me tell you, to all kinds of corn, whether wheat, barley, millet, rice, panic, or what not, and when there is any scarcity of a particular kind of corn, he causes that to be issued. And if the price of the corn is at one bezant the measure, he lets them have it at a bezant for four measures, or at whatever price will produce general cheapness; and every one can have food in this way. And by this providence of the Emperor's, his people can never suffer from dearth. He does the same over his whole Empire; causing these supplies to be stored everywhere, according to calculation of the wants and necessities of the people.

NOTE 1.--"_Le fait si bien_ estuier _que il dure bien trois ans ou quatre_" (Pauthier): "_si bien_ estudier" (G.T.). The word may be _estiver_ (It. _stivare_), to stow, but I half suspect it should be _estuver_ in the sense of "kiln-dry," though both the Geog. Latin and the Crusca render it _gubernare_.[1] Lecomte says: "Rice is always stored in the public granaries for three or four years in advance. It keeps long if care be taken to air it and stir it about; and although not so good to the taste or look as new rice, it is said to be more wholesome."

The Archbishop of Soltania (A.D. 1330) speaks of these stores. "The said Emperor is very pitiful and compa.s.sionate ... and so when there is a dearth in the land he openeth his garners, and giveth forth of his wheat and his rice for half what others are selling it at." Kublai Kaan's measures of this kind are recorded in the annals of the Dynasty, as quoted by Pauthier. The same practice is ascribed to the sovereigns of the T'ang Dynasty by the old Arab _Relations_. In later days a missionary gives in the _Lettres Edifiantes_ an unfavourable account of the action of these public granaries, and of the rascality that occurred in connection with them. (_Lecomte_, II. 101; _Cathay_, 240; _Relat._ I. 39; _Let. Ed._ xxiv.

76.)

[The _Yuen-s.h.i.+_ in ch. 96 contains sections on dispensaries (_Hui min yao ku_), granary regulations (_s.h.i.+ ti_), and regulations for a time of dearth (_Chen Su_). (_Bretschneider_, _Med. Res._ I. p. 187.)--H. C.]

[1] Marsden observes incidentally (_Hist. of Sumatra_, 1st edition, p. 71) that he was told in Bengal they used to dry-kiln the rice for exportation, "owing to which, or to some other process, it will continue good for several years."

CHAPTER x.x.xII.

OF THE CHARITY OF THE EMPEROR TO THE POOR.

I have told you how the Great Kaan provides for the distribution of necessaries to his people in time of dearth, by making store in time of cheapness. Now I will tell you of his alms and great charity to the poor of his city of Cambaluc.

You see he causes selection to be made of a number of families in the city which are in a state of indigence, and of such families some may consist of six in the house, some of eight, some of ten, more or fewer in each as it may hap, but the whole number being very great. And each family he causes annually to be supplied with wheat and other corn sufficient for the whole year. And this he never fails to do every year. Moreover, all those who choose to go to the daily dole at the Court receive a great loaf apiece, hot from the baking, and n.o.body is denied; for so the Lord hath ordered. And so some 30,000 people go for it every day from year's end to year's end. Now this is a great goodness in the Emperor to take pity of his poor people thus! And they benefit so much by it that they wors.h.i.+p him as he were G.o.d.

[He also provides the poor with clothes. For he lays a t.i.the upon all wool, silk, hemp, and the like, from which clothing can be made; and he has these woven and laid up in a building set apart for the purpose; and as all artizans are bound to give a day's labour weekly, in this way the Kaan has these stuffs made into clothing for those poor families, suitable for summer or winter, according to the time of year. He also provides the clothing for his troops, and has woollens woven for them in every city, the material for which is furnished by the t.i.the aforesaid. You should know that the Tartars, before they were converted to the religion of the Idolaters, never practised almsgiving. Indeed, when any poor man begged of them they would tell him, "Go with G.o.d's curse, for if He loved you as He loves me, He would have provided for you." But the sages of the Idolaters, and especially the _Bacsis_ mentioned before, told the Great Kaan that it was a good work to provide for the poor, and that his idols would be greatly pleased if he did so. And since then he has taken to do for the poor so much as you have heard.[NOTE 1]]

NOTE 1.--This is a curious testimony to an ameliorating effect of Buddhism on rude nations. The general establishment of medical aid for men and animals is alluded to in the edicts of Asoka;[1] and hospitals for the diseased and dest.i.tute were found by Fahian at Palibothra, whilst Hiuen Tsang speaks of the distribution of food and medicine at the _Punyasalas_ or "Houses of Beneficence," in the Panjab. Various examples of a charitable spirit in Chinese Inst.i.tutions will be found in a letter by Pere d'Entrecolles in the XVth Recueil of _Lettres Edifiantes_; and a similar detail in _Nevius's China and the Chinese_, ch. xv. (See _Prinsep's Essays_, II. 15; _Beal's Fah-hian_, 107; _Pel. Boudd._ II.

190.) The Tartar sentiment towards the poor survives on the Arctic sh.o.r.es:--"The Yakuts regard the rich as favoured by the G.o.ds; the poor as rejected and cast out by them." (_Billings_, Fr. Tranls. I. 233.)

[1] As rendered by J. Prinsep. But I see that Professor H. H. Wilson did not admit the pa.s.sage to bear that meaning.

CHAPTER x.x.xIII.

[CONCERNING THE ASTROLOGERS IN THE CITY OF CAMBALUC.]

[There are in the city of Cambaluc, what with Christians, Saracens, and Cathayans, some five thousand astrologers and soothsayers, whom the Great Kaan provides with annual maintenance and clothing, just as he provides the poor of whom we have spoken, and they are in the constant exercise of their art in this city.

They have a kind of astrolabe on which are inscribed the planetary signs, the hours and critical points of the whole year. And every year these Christian, Saracen, and Cathayan astrologers, each sect apart, investigate by means of this astrolabe the course and character of the whole year, according to the indications of each of its Moons, in order to discover by the natural course and disposition of the planets, and the other circ.u.mstances of the heavens, what shall be the nature of the weather, and what peculiarities shall be produced by each Moon of the year; as, for example, under which Moon there shall be thunderstorms and tempests, under which there shall be disease, murrain, wars, disorders, and treasons, and so on, according to the indications of each; but always adding that it lies with G.o.d to do less or more according to His pleasure. And they write down the results of their examination in certain little pamphlets for the year, which are called _Tacuin_, and these are sold for a groat to all who desire to know what is coming. Those of the astrologers, of course whose predictions are found to be most exact, are held to be the greatest adepts in their art, and get the greater fame.[NOTE 1]

And if any one having some great matter in hand, or proposing to make a long journey for traffic or other business, desires to know what will be the upshot, he goes to one of these astrologers and says: "Turn up your books and see what is the present aspect of the heavens, for I am going away on such and such a business." Then the astrologer will reply that the applicant must also tell the year, month, and hour of his birth; and when he has got that information he will see how the horoscope of his nativity combines with the indications of the time when the question is put, and then he predicts the result, good or bad, according to the aspect of the heavens.

You must know, too, that the Tartars reckon their years by twelves; the sign of the first year being the Lion, of the second the Ox, of the third the Dragon, of the fourth the Dog, and so forth up to the twelfth;[NOTE 2]

so that when one is asked the year of his birth he answers that it was in the year of the Lion (let us say), on such a day or night, at such an hour, and such a moment. And the father of a child always takes care to write these particulars down in a book. When the twelve yearly symbols have been gone through, then they come back to the first, and go through with them again in the same succession.]

NOTE 1.--It is odd that Marsden should have sought a Chinese explanation of the Arabic word _Takwim_ even with Tavernier before him: "They sell in Persia an annual almanac called _Tacuim_, which is properly an ephemeris containing the longitude and lat.i.tude of the planets, their conjunctions and oppositions, and other such matter. The _Tacuim_ is full of predictions regarding war, pestilence, and famine; it indicates the favourable time for putting on new clothes, for getting bled or purged, for making a journey, and so forth. They put entire faith in it, and whoever can afford one governs himself in all things by its rules." (Bk.

V. ch. xiv.)

The use of the term by Marco may possibly be an ill.u.s.tration of what I have elsewhere propounded, viz. that he was not acquainted with Chinese, but that his intercourse and conversation lay chiefly with the foreigners at the Kaan's Court, and probably was carried on in the Persian language.

But not long after the date of our Book we find the word used in Italian by Jacopo Alighieri (Dante's son):--

"A voler giudicare Si conviene adequare Inprimo il _Taccuino_, Per vedere il cammino Come i Pianeti vanno Per tutto quanto l'anno."

--_Rime Antiche Toscane_, III. 10.

Marco does not allude to the fact that almanacs were published by the Government, as they were then and still are. Pauthier (515 seqq.) gives some very curious details on this subject from the Annals of the Yuen. In the accounts of the year 1328, it appears that no less than 3,123,185 copies were printed in three different sizes at different prices, besides a separate almanac for the _Hwei-Hwei_ or Mahomedans. Had Polo not omitted to touch on the issue of almanacs by Government he could scarcely have failed to enter on the subject of printing, on which he has kept a silence so singular and unaccountable.

The Chinese Government still "considers the publication of a Calendar of the first importance and utility. It must do everything in its power, not only to point out to its numerous subjects the distribution of the seasons,... but on account of the general superst.i.tion it must mark in the almanac the lucky and unlucky days, the best days for being married, for undertaking a journey, for making their dresses, for buying or building, for presenting pet.i.tions to the Emperor, and for many other cases of ordinary life. By this means the Government keeps the people within the limits of humble obedience; it is for this reason that the Emperors of China established the Academy of Astronomy." (_Timk._ I. 358.) The acceptance of the Imperial Almanac by a foreign Prince is considered an acknowledgment of va.s.salage to the Emperor.

It is a penal offence to issue a pirated or counterfeit edition of the Government Almanac. No one ventures to be without one, lest he become liable to the greatest misfortunes by undertaking the important measures on black-balled days.

The price varies now, according to Williams, from 1-1/2_d._ to 5_d._ a copy. The price in 1328 was 1 _tsien_ or cash for the cheapest edition, and 1 _liang_ or tael of silver for the _edition de luxe_; but as these prices were in paper-money it is extremely difficult to say, in the varying depreciation of that currency, what the price really amounted to.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mongol Compendium Instrument seen in the Observatory Garden]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mongol Armillary Sphere in the Observatory Garden]

["The Calendars for the use of the people, published by Imperial command, are of two kinds. The first, _Wan-nien-shu, the Calendar of Ten Thousand Years_, is an abridgment of the Calendar, comprising 397 years, viz. from 1624 to 2020. The second and more complete Calendar is the _Annual Calendar_, which, under the preceding dynasties, was named _Li-je, Order of Days_, and is now called _s.h.i.+h-hsien-shu, Book of Constant Conformity (with the Heavens)_. This name was given by the Emperor _Shun-chih_, in the first year of his reign (1644), on being presented by Father John Schall (_Tang Jo-w.a.n.g_) with a new Calendar, calculated on the principles of European science. This _Annual Calendar_ gives the following indications: (1) The cyclical signs of the current year, of the months, and of all the days; (2) the _long_ and _short_ months, as well as the _intercalary_ month, as the case maybe; (3) the designation of each day by the 5 _elements_, the 28 constellations, and the 12 _happy presages_; (4) the day and hour of the new moon, of the full moon, and of the two dichotomies, _Shang-hsien_ and _Hsia-hsien_; (5) the day and hour for the _positions_ of the sun in the 24 zodiacal signs, calculated for the various capitals of China as well as for Manchuria, Mongolia, and the tributary Kingdoms; (6) the hour of sunrise and sunset and the length of day and night for the princ.i.p.al days of the month in the several capitals; (7) various superst.i.tious indications purporting to point out what days and hours are auspicious or not for such or such affairs in different places. Those superst.i.tious indications are stated to have been introduced into the Calendar under the _Yuan_ dynasty." (_P. Hoang, Chinese Calendar_, pp. 2-3.)--H. C.]

We may note that in Polo's time one of the princ.i.p.al officers of the Mathematical Board was _Gaisue_, a native of _Folin_ or the Byzantine Empire, who was also in charge of the medical department of the Court.

Regarding the Observatory, see note at p. 378, supra.

And I am indebted yet again to the generous zeal of Mr. Wylie of Shanghai, for the princ.i.p.al notes and extracts which will, I trust, satisfy others as well as myself that the instruments in the garden of the Observatory belong to the period of Marco Polo's residence in China.[1]

The objections to the alleged age of these instruments were entirely based on an inspection of photographs. The opinion was given very strongly that no instrument of the kind, so perfect in theory and in execution, could have been even imagined in those days, and that nothing of such scientific quality could have been made except by the Jesuits. In fact it was a.s.serted or implied that these instruments must have been made about the year 1700, and were therefore not earlier in age than those which stand on the terraced roof of the Observatory, and are well known to most of us from the representation in Duhalde and in many popular works.

The only authority that I could lay hand on was Lecomte, and what he says was not conclusive. I extract the most pertinent pa.s.sages:

"It was on the terrace of the tower that the Chinese astronomers had set their instruments, and though few in number they occupied the whole area.

But Father Verbiest, the Director of the Observatory, considering them useless for astronomical observation, persuaded the Emperor to let them be removed, to make way for several instruments of his own construction. The instruments set aside by the European astronomers are still in a hall adjoining the tower, buried in dust and oblivion; and we saw them only through a grated window. They appeared to us to be very large and well cast, in form approaching our astronomical circles; that is all that we could make out. There was, however, thrown into a back yard by itself, a celestial globe of bronze, of about 3 feet in diameter. Of this we were able to take a nearer view. Its form was somewhat oval; the divisions by no means exact, and the whole work coa.r.s.e enough.

"Besides this in a lower hall they had established a gnomon.... This observatory, not worthy of much consideration for its ancient instruments, much less for its situation, its form, or its construction, is now enriched by several bronze instruments which Father Verbiest has placed there. These are large, well cast, adorned in every case with figures of dragons," etc. He then proceeds to describe them:

"(1). Armillary Zodiacal Sphere of 6 feet diameter. This sphere reposes on the heads of four dragons, the bodies of which after various convolutions come to rest upon the extremities of two brazen beams forming a cross, and thus bear the entire weight of the instrument. These dragons ... are represented according to the notion the Chinese form of them, enveloped in clouds, covered above the horns with long hair, with a tufted beard on the lower jaw, flaming eyes, long sharp teeth, the gaping throat ever vomiting a torrent of fire. Four lion-cubs of the same material bear the ends of the cross beams, and the heads of these are raised or depressed by means of attached screws, according to what is required. The circles are divided on both exterior and interior surface into 360 degrees; each degree into 60 minutes by transverse lines, and the minutes into sections of 10 seconds each by the sight-edge[2] applied to them."

Of Verbiest's other instruments we need give only the names: (2) Equinoxial Sphere, 6 feet diameter. (3) Azim.u.t.h.al Horizon, same diam. (4) Great Quadrant, of 6 feet radius. (5) s.e.xtant of about 8 feet radius. (6) Celestial Globe of 6 feet diameter.

As Lecomte gives no details of the old instruments which he saw through a grating, and as the description of this zodiacal sphere (No. 1) corresponds in some of its main features with that represented in the photograph, I could not but recognize the _possibility_ that this instrument of Verbiest's had for some reason or other been removed from the Terrace, and that the photograph might therefore possibly _not_ be a representation of one of the ancient instruments displaced by him.[3]