Marco Polo

by Robin Brown

  Malabar on the Indian mainland is an extensive kingdom to the west with an independent king and a singular language. The North Star may be seen here about 6 feet above the horizon. Here and in the kingdom of Guzzerat [Gujarat], which is no great distance, numerous pirates operating a fleet of almost a hundred small boats plague the shipping lanes, seizing and plundering the ships that pass this way. The pirates take their wives and children with them for the whole of the summer and string their boats out in a line 5 miles apart. Thus twenty boats will prey from a line 100 miles long and nothing escapes them. Whenever a merchant ship hoves in sight of one of them, they signal to each other with smoke and then converge to capture the vessel. The crews of these plundered ships are rarely injured, in fact the pirates let them go back ashore in the hope that they will enrich themselves a second time.

  There is a vast abundance of pepper, cubebs and Indian nuts in this kingdom and they make the most beautiful cotton stuffs to be found anywhere in the world. The ships from Manji come in here ballasted with copper and cargoes of gold brocades, silks, gauzes, gold, silver and bullion, together with many kinds of herbs not produced in Malabar. There are even merchants here who buy these goods for export to Adem from where they ship them on to Alexandria.

  I should make the point that I don’t have space to describe all the cities of India. They are too numerous and the account would prove tiresome. A last word on the pirates of Guzzerat who really are desperate characters. When these fellows come across a voyaging merchant they force him to drink sea water which has the effect of opening his bowels, as the pirates know that when a merchant sees them he will often attempt to conceal pearls or jewels by swallowing them.

  Along with the abundance of ginger, pepper and indigo, cotton is harvested in large quantities from trees some 18 feet high. This cotton [kapok] is used for quilting rather than spinning. There are also trees of about twelve years of age which produce a cotton that may be spun into fine muslins and other stuffs of great delicacy.

  Vast numbers of goat, buffalo, wild ox, rhinoceros and other hides are processed here and huge bundles of them shipped to different parts of Arabia. Coverlets are made from extremely soft, delicate leather dyed blue and gold and sewn with silver and gold thread. These are very popular with Mahometans. Cushions ornamented with gold wire in the form of birds and beasts originate here and you can pay as much as six silver marks for them. I think this is the best embroidery in the world.

  Moving ever westwards you come to the large and noble kingdom of Kanan (when I speak of the west I am describing countries as I found them on a journey that began in the east). Again, they have an independent king and their own distinctive language. A great quantity of incense of a dark colour is produced and trading vessels in large numbers come here for it. Horses are also shipped from here for sale in other parts of India.

  Travelling ever westwards, next is the kingdom of Kambaia, rich in indigo, cotton stuffs, wool and hides. You have to pay for these in gold, silver, copper or tutty (a metal made in Persia of zinc or antimony). Then west again to the kingdom of Servenath. I was warned that the priests in the temples here are the most perfidious and cruel in the world.

  The last and very extensive kingdom in south India is Kesmorcan, again with its own independent king and language, but here the people are mostly Saracens who make their living from trade and manufacturing. It’s a popular place for merchants who come by land and sea to trade here for the abundant meat and milk products. We take to the sea again sailing southwards for about 500 miles to two islands 30 miles apart, one of which is inhabited by men, the other by women. These people are baptised Christians and practise the laws of the Old Testament.

  The men visit the women’s island and cohabit with them from March through April and May, each man occupying a separate house with his ‘wife’. The rest of their year is spent on the Island of Men. The allocation of their offspring is complicated; sons stay with their mothers until they are twelve and are then sent to the fathers. Daughters remain on the women’s island until they reach marriageable age, whereupon they are offered to the visiting men. (I was told that this mode of living is occasioned by the peculiarities of the climate of the islands which would kill off any man – he would quite literally be sacrificing his life – if he attempted to live on the Island of Women all year round.)

  These people have their own bishop who is subordinate to the see of Succotera. The men support their wives by planting grain, but the women prepare the soil and bring in the harvest. The islands have bountiful fruit and the men are expert fishermen, bringing home immense catches. Much fresh and salted fish is sold to traders who regularly visit the islands primarily for the large amount of ambergris on offer.

  The island of Succotera (we are now off the East Coast of Africa) 500 miles to the south is huge and rich in all the necessities of life. Much ambergris, a substance voided from the gut of whales, is found on the beaches here. The substance is so valuable people hunt these fish using a barbed iron which they strike into the whale so firmly it cannot be drawn out. The harpoon has a long line that enables the fish to be found when it is dead. The whale is dragged to the shore, the ambergris extracted from the belly and several barrels of oil taken from the head.

  The natives here, both male and female, all go about naked apart from a scrap of cloth round their waists. Their diet is rice, meat and milk. They are all Christians, having been duly baptised but their bishop, who has powers both temporal and spiritual, is not subject to the Church of Rome. Their patriarch resides in Baghdad and he appoints their bishop, or the bishop can be appointed by the people themselves subject to the confirmation of the patriarch.

  This is a haven for pirates, who come here with their plunder knowing that it will be purchased without scruple (it having been taken from idolaters and Saracens) by the islanders.

  Every ship bound for Adem calls here to buy large quantities of fish as well as a variety of cotton goods.

  Succotera is a hotbed of sorcery and witchcraft, more so than anywhere else around, and this in spite of the fact that the archbishop has anathematised such practices and will excommunicate anyone who engages in them. Little account is taken of this interdict, however, and if a pirate ship should damage a local craft they put the pirates under a spell which makes it impossible for them to go on their way until they have put right the damage. The sorcerers also have the ability to change fair winds causing fleeing miscreants to be blown back to the island, and they can calm the sea or raise tempests at will as well as bring about shipwrecks. Honestly, this is just a small part of what they can do.

  We turn now to the great island of Madagascar. Leaving Succotera and steering in a south to south-west direction for 1,000 miles will bring you to this huge, fertile island some 3,000 miles in circumference. The inhabitants are Saracens or Mohametans and they are ruled by four sheiks or more accurately ‘elders’ who divide the government between them.

  Here are sold a vast number of elephants’ teeth [ivory tusks] as the country abounds with elephants, as too does the island of Zenzibar [Zanzibar], where they are similarly exploited.

  The principal food of the people is camel meat which is eaten all year round. Cattle are also raised, but camel meat is preferred as it is judged to be the most wholesome and palatable of any meat found in this part of the world. Red sandalwood grows plentifully and is cheap.

  The natives collect ambergris from the beaches where it is washed up in huge quantities. They also have lynxes, tigers and a variety of other animals. Fine sport is also to be had from hunting antelope, stags, fallow deer and many birds which are quite different to the ones we get at home. Ships from many ports of the world come here laden with brocades and patterned silks, and there are fat profits for the merchants.

  The only other island in these waters that is able to handle such shipping is Zenzibar. This is a result of a current that runs with prodigious velocity in the direction of the island. Vessels sailing from the coast of India can mak
e Zenzibar in anything from twenty to twenty-five days but, as a result of the current running so strongly and constantly southwards, they struggle for three months on the return journey.

  The people of Madagascar tell stories of an incredible bird that they call a rukh or roc, which makes its appearance at a certain time of year from the wild southern regions of the island. It is shaped like an eagle but is vastly larger. They are, in fact, so large and strong they can lift an elephant in their talons, dropping it to the ground from a great height in order to prey on the carcass. People who have seen the bird assert that it has a wingspan of almost 50 feet and feathers that are 24 feet in length and proportionately as thick.

  When Kublai Khan heard of this extraordinary bird he sent envoys to the island (on the pretext of demanding the release of an ambassador who had been detained there) to investigate the wonderful tale. I am told that when they returned they were able to present the Grand Khan with the feather of a rukh said to measure some 43 feet with the quill a foot round! The Grand Khan was very pleased with this curio and the envoys were rewarded with valuable gifts. They also brought him the tusk of a wild boar, weighing 14lb, from an animal the size of a buffalo. Truly, Madagascar has a great deal of unique wildlife, such as the camelopard and wild ass.

  Zenzibar island was reported to me to be 2,000 miles in circumference. Here the people are idolaters, have a distinctive language and pay tribute to no foreign sovereign. But I have to say they are the most ugly people in the world. They are large but strangely built with limbs disproportionate to their bodies, otherwise they would appear gigantic. They are very strong, one of them being capable of carrying the load of four or five ordinary people. Admittedly, he’d also require the food of five.

  These people are black and apart from a cloth to hide their private parts go about naked. Their hair is sort of crisp and even when wetted stays tightly curled. They have large mouths, their noses turn up, their ears are long and their eyes are large and scary. They literally have the appearance of demons. The women are especially ugly having wide mouths, thick noses and large eyes. Their hands and heads are large and out of proportion and they have ugly breasts four times as large as other women’s. These are in fact the most ugly women in the world.

  Their diet consists of milk, meat, rice and dates. They have no grape vines but make a sort of wine from rice and sugar flavoured with spicy herbs. Actually, it’s delicious and you can get drunk on it as easily as from the grape.

  Elephants are found here in vast numbers and their teeth are an important item of trade. Did you know that because of the position of the female organs elephants copulate just like humans?

  You find giraffes as well as the camelopard which is a very handsome creature. Gentle in manner with long high front legs and short hind legs, the neck is very long and the head small. They are a light colour with circular reddish spots, standing about 9 feet tall to the top of the head.

  They have sheep very different to ours with white bodies and black heads, and dogs of a similar colour that are different in appearance to ours.

  The trading ships come here all the time for the ivory and the ambergris, for the sea abounds with whales and a huge amount of it is washed up on the beaches.

  The natives are actually very brave people, showing a complete contempt for death when they occasionally engage in battle. There are no horses on the island but they fight on camels and elephants, mounting wooden castles housing fifteen to twenty men armed with swords, lances and stones. Before going into battle the elephants are given copious draughts of wine which they say makes them more spirited and furious when they charge.

  Just as I was obliged to describe only the main cities of India so also I must deal with the islands of the Indian sea, the number of which is frankly incredible. Merchants and pilots plying these waters have told me that there are no fewer than 12,700, a figure con-firmed by the records of those who have navigated the Indian sea. This figure includes, of course, all the uninhabited as well as inhabited islands.

  What I have termed Greater India extends from Maabar to Kesmacoram and comprises thirteen kingdoms of which I have described ten. Lesser India [in this era, eastern Africa] comprises eight kingdoms as well as those in the numerous islands.

  Abascia [Abyssinia/Ethiopia] is a large country known as the Second India. The principal king is Christian and there are six others: three more Christians and three Saracens. I have been told that Christians imprint three marks with a hot iron on the face to distinguish themselves, one on each cheek and one on the forehead, a sort of second baptism by fire! The other religions mark themselves as well. Saracens have a mark on the forehead reaching down to the nose while the Jews, who are also numerous, have a mark on each cheek.

  The capital of the principal Christian king is in the interior (at Aksum) while the dominions of the Saracens are towards the province of Adem. The people of Abascia were converted to Christianity by the glorious Apostle, St Thomas, who performed a number of miracles. He came to Abascia from Nubia where he also preached and converted the people. You will recall that he subsequently went on to Maabar in Greater India where, after making a host of converts, he was martyred and buried.

  The Abascians are very good, brave soldiers as a result of endless wars with the Sultan of Adem, the Nubians and many others with whom they share a border. In fact, as a result of waging these ceaseless conflicts they are regarded as the best soldiers in this part of the world.

  In the year 1288 the great Abascian Christian prince (Menelik) decided to make a personal visit to the Holy Sepulchre of Christ in Jerusalem, a pilgrimage also made each year by thousands of his subjects. But Menelik was talked out of making the journey by his ministers who decided it was too dangerous for him to travel through so many Saracen countries. Instead he sent a bishop, a man of great piety, who duly went to Jerusalem and said the prayers and made the offerings as Menelik had directed.

  On his way home, however, the bishop was kidnapped by the Sultan of Adem who, when the bishop absolutely refused to embrace Islam, had him circumcised before sending him home. Upon hearing of the violent indignities that had been inflicted on his bishop, the King determined to exterminate the Sultan, assembled a great army and rode out at its head. The Sultan called up two neighbouring Saracen princes who put together a considerable opposing force, but to no avail. Menelik’s army prevailed and he sacked and pillaged Adem in revenge for the insults he had suffered through the treatment of his bishop.

  The province of Adem is ruled by a Sultan and the inhabitants here are all Saracens and detest Christians.

  There are many towns and castles and it enjoys the advantages of a fine port to which come ships from India loaded with many spices and medicinal herbs. Merchants then ship these goods overland to Alexandria, or up the Gulf in smaller craft, a voyage of some twenty days.

  Camels are used to carry the goods all the way overland to the River Nile from the various ports of call where they are again put aboard small vessels, called jerms, which go to Cairo and then via an artificial canal known as the Kalizene to Alexandria. This is the shortest route from Cairo to Alexandria. It’s from Adem that the merchants ship a great number of Arabian horses to all the islands and kingdoms of India. They fetch high prices and earn the merchants fat profits.

  The Sultan of Adem is immensely rich from the import and export duties he levies on the India trade. Adem is in fact the main centre for all the commodity trade in the area and its port is the most popular.

  I was told that the Saracens so loathe the Christians that the first time the Sultan besieged the city of Acre [then in Venetian hands] and took it, the town of Adem supplied him with 30,000 horses and 40,000 camels. The Sultan also controls (I should say with exemplary justice) the city of Escier 45 miles away to the south-east. Here the people are Mahometans. Within the city’s administrative control are a great number of towns and castles and it has a good port also used by many ships from India. The trade in excellent horses is also carried
on here very profitably, with these horses commanding considerable prices in India.

  In this district white frankincense of the highest quality is produced, distilled drop by drop from a small tree that resembles a fir. A tree is ‘tapped’ by paring away the bark to allow the frankincense to seep slowly out and afterwards become hard. As a result of the extreme heat of the climate, trees seep even when you don’t cut them.

  Dates are produced in abundance from groves of palm trees but no grain apart from rice and millet is cultivated in this country. They have to import all their wheat. There is no wine made here from grapes but they produce a delicious beverage from rice, sugar and dates.

  They have a small breed of sheep with ears unlike those of other sheep; they have small horns where you would expect the ears to be. Lower down towards the nose are two small orifices that serve the purpose of ears. The countryside is dry, sun-scorched and arid and produces virtually no vegetables, but they have accustomed their sheep, cattle and horses to eat dried fish which is consumed with relish.

  The town of Kalayati, some 50 miles from Dafar to the south-east is a substantial place on the Gulf. The people are Mahometans and subjects of the Regent of Melik. Melik has the reputation of being so strong and well situated for defence it has never been successfully invaded. Its harbour is good and many trading ships from India come here to sell piece-goods and spices to great advantage, as there are a number of towns and castles within range creating a steady demand. The ships return to India laden with thoroughbred horses.

  There is a fortress so well positioned at the entrance to the Gulf of Kalatu no vessel may come in without permission. Every so often the Regent, who gives allegiance to the King of Kermain, reneges on his dues when he thinks the King has made unreasonable demands on him. An army is then routinely despatched to enforce the demands, but the Regent simply quits Ormuz and makes his stand at Kalatu secure in the knowledge that no ships may come or go without his say-so. This restriction of considerable revenues and duties usually has the effect of bringing the King to heel.