Chapter XII: Siberia and Kamchatka 275 (1)

INDEX 311

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

The Great Chan of Cathay at Table _Frontispiece_

Galley Going Into Action 13

Marco Polo 18

Plain of Cambaluc 26

Damascus 50

Ruins of the Temples at Balbeck 66

King Henry II of England 72

Richard Cœur-de-Lion 89

Hernando Cortes 101

Cannon of Cortes’s Time 104

The Great Temple of Mexico 109

Montezuma 116

An Indian Pueblo 128

Moqui Woman Grinding Corn 139

Hearne’s Drawing of Prince of Wales Fort, Hudson’s Bay 162

Baron Humboldt 198

STORIES OF ADVENTURE.

I.

MARCO POLO.

[Sidenote: 1880.]

A very bright and merry set of boys and girls have been invited, now for every winter for some years, to spend their Saturday afternoons with Col. Ingham, at his house at Jamaica Plain, near Boston. It is the old Lady Oliver house, which was built by some West Indian grandees before the Revolution,--from whose windows, indeed, they looked out to smile approval on the English troops, when, in the spring of 1775, they made their one “military promenade” out through Roxbury, and back through Dorchester into Boston,--the only time they ever went out to come safely back again.

The evenings of these young people at this house are generally spent in dancing or in round games around Col. Ingham’s large tables; but a habit has grown up, in which, if they choose, they may come as early as half-past three o’clock, and ask Col. Ingham questions about what they are reading, and burrow as much as they choose in the treasures of his curious library. The “Stories of the Sea,” which has its place in this collection, were read aloud by these young people in successive visits of one winter,--much as they had dug out the “Stories of War,” in a visit they made to the colonel at Little Crastis, on the Rhode Island sea-shore, the summer before.

After a summer and autumn crowded full with hair-breadth adventure,--stories of sea, indeed, and stories of land, though fortunately no worse stories of war than Blanche’s encounter with a deaf conductor, and Bedford’s somewhat doubtful encounters with quails and partridges at Quonochontaug,--the children gathered one dark afternoon at Col. Ingham’s, with loud mutual felicitations, and with a cordial welcome from him. It was raining pitilessly out of doors; but rubber boots and gossamers had emancipated these girls, and the boys, of course, had to be out always, “weather or no.”

“No Blue Hills to-day,” said Uncle Fritz, laughing, as Blanche and May rubbed their little hands in front of his hickory fire.

“No,” said Blanche, “the famous Alpine Club itself surrenders to this storm. And my sketch, Uncle Fritz,--what you called my grand study for a panorama,--will have to be finished with spring apple-blossoms on the right hand, to patch out the sombre chestnuts and oaks I had worked in so elaborately on the left hand; for we shall certainly have no more alpine clubs this fall.”

The young people are fond of calling themselves the Alpine Club when they go to the Quarries or the Blue Hills or Nahant or the Brewsters or the Middlesex Fells or the Waverley Oaks or any of the other nice places within an easy excursion from Boston.

“Unless, indeed,” said Col. Ingham, “unless we get a sleigh-ride some afternoon, and I send you up to the top of the Blue Hills on snow-shoes. I did not know how many of you might be here. I am not jealous of Mr. Hale; but when I found you were all studying politics over at his house, I thought there might be no time for story-telling. Have you prepared your protocol for Russia, Blanche?”

Blanche laughed. She said the more they read of one thing, the more they wanted to read of another; and that, for her part, she found no one of Uncle Fritz’s rules so easy as that which bids her

CONFESS IGNORANCE.

Uncle Fritz’s rules for talk are:--

TELL THE TRUTH.
DO NOT TALK ABOUT YOUR OWN AFFAIRS.
CONFESS IGNORANCE.
TALK TO THE PERSON WHO TALKS TO YOU.
DO NOT UNDERRATE HIM.
BE SHORT.[1]

All the boys and girls agreed with Blanche, as, indeed, they are apt to, for Blanche is as pleasant as she is sensible; and here are two qualities which do not always travel together.

By this time almost all the “Alpine Club” had come. The waterproofs were hung to drip and dry in the back hall, under Flora Haggerty’s care; and in a great semicircle the young people sat round the hickory fire. It was something about the “Stories of the Sea,” which had just been published by Little & Brown, which started them on travels; and how they would like to go to Tahiti and New Zealand and all the wonderful places!

Uncle Fritz told them of some college friends of his, who had planned landing in Arabia from Zanzibar, and then assuming Arab costumes, talking such Arabic as they could, and gradually making their way through Asia till they came out at Canton, on the eastern shore. They failed in this great plan only from the merest accident at the start.

“We know, to this hour, curiously little of Central Asia,” he said. “There are regions of which Marco Polo’s account is the only account we have to this day; and that is six hundred years old.”

“And it was not true when it was new, was it?” asked Horace, laughing.

Uncle Fritz said that that was an old scandal. He said that Mandeville and Marco Polo had long been called the princes of liars, while people did not follow their example of travel; but in our times, their reputations are waking up to light again. In Marco Polo’s case, he wrote almost wholly from memory,--from the mere fact that he wrote long after his return from the East; but later authorities have verified so much of his narrative that it is but fair to believe him when nothing can be proved against him.

Bertha confessed that she mixed him up very badly with Marco Paul, who travelled in Mr. Abbott’s books.

They all laughed, because they knew what Bertha meant. “That was one of Jacob Abbott’s quiet jokes. His books are wellnigh perfect in everything, and in nothing more perfect than in the choice of names. So he makes Marco Paul a traveller, on purpose that we may all remember the prince of the travellers of the Middle Ages.”

Then Col. Ingham sent for the third volume of Irving’s “Columbus,” and for Col. Yule’s careful edition of “Marco Polo,”--a fascinating book, which should be in every public library. He told Bedford to go to the bookcase which had Columbus’s bust on top, and look till he found them.

That is the case with the travels and geographies in it. Bedford knows it as well as he knows the bookshelves he has at home, which he made on his own work-bench in the laundry. Col. Ingham told Bedford he would find an account of Marco Polo in the Appendix; and Bedford found it, and read aloud:--

IRVING’S ACCOUNT OF MARCO POLO.

[Sidenote: 1260.]

Marco Polo was a native of Venice, who in the thirteenth century made
a journey to the East, and filled all Christendom with curiosity
by his account of the countries he had visited. He was preceded in
his travels by his father Nicholas, and his uncle, Matteo Polo.
These two brothers were of an illustrious family in Venice, and
embarked, in the year 1260,[2] on a commercial voyage to the East.
Having traversed the Mediterranean and the strait of Bosphorus,
they stopped for a short time at Constantinople. From hence they
proceeded by the Euxine to Armenia, where they remained for a year,
entertained with great favor at the court of a Tartar prince. A war
breaking out between their patron and a neighboring potentate, and
the former being defeated, they were embarrassed how to extricate
themselves from the country, and return home in safety. After
various wanderings, they at length reached Bochara, in the Gulf
of Persia, where they resided for three years. While here, there
arrived an ambassador from one of the inferior Tartar powers, on his
way to the court of the Great Khan. Finding that the two brothers
were well acquainted with the Tartar tongue, he prevailed upon them
to accompany him. After a march of several months, being delayed by
snows and inundations, they arrived at the court of Cublai, otherwise
called the Great Khan, which signifies king of kings, being the
sovereign potentate of the Tartars. This magnificent prince received
them with great distinction. He made inquiries about the countries
and princes of the West, their civil and military government, and the
manners and customs of the Latin nations.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: 1271-95.]

After one return to the Levant they took a second journey, and this
time took Marco Polo with them. He was gone twenty-four years. On
their return, when they arrived at Venice, they were known by nobody.
So many years had elapsed since their departure, without any tidings
of them, that they were either forgotten or considered dead.

They repaired to their own house, which was a noble palace,
afterwards known by the name of la Corte de la Milione. They found
several of their relatives still inhabiting it; but they were slow
in recollecting the travellers, not knowing of their wealth, and
probably considering them poor adventurers, returned to be a charge
upon their families. The Polos, however, took an effectual mode of
quickening the memories of their friends, and ensuring themselves
a loving reception. They invited them all to a grand banquet. The
guests were lost in astonishment, and could not comprehend
the meaning of this masquerade, when, having dismissed all the
attendants, Marco Polo brought forth the coarse Tartar dresses in
which they had arrived. Slashing them in several places with a knife,
and ripping open the seams and linings, there tumbled forth a vast
quantity of precious jewels, such as rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and
diamonds. The whole table glittered with inestimable wealth, which
they had acquired from the munificence of the Grand Khan, and which
they had conveyed in this portable form through the perils of their
long journey.

The company, observes Ramusio, were out of their wits with amazement,
and now clearly perceived what they had at first doubted, that these
in very truth were those honored and valiant gentlemen, the Polos,
and accordingly paid them great respect and reverence.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: 1295-98.]

Some months after their return, Lampo Doria, commander of the Genoese
navy, appeared in the vicinity of the island of Cuzzola, with seventy
galleys. Andrea Dandolo, the Venetian admiral, was sent against him.
Marco Polo commanded a galley of the fleet. His usual good fortune
deserted him. Advancing the first in the line with his galley, and
not being properly seconded, he was taken prisoner, and thrown in
irons, and carried to Genoa. Here he was detained for a long time
in prison, and all offers of ransom rejected. His imprisonment gave
great uneasiness to his father and uncle, fearing that he might
never return. Seeing themselves in this unhappy state, with so much
treasure, and no heirs, they consulted together. They were both very
old men; but Nicolo, observes Ramusio, was of a galliard complexion.
It was determined he should take a wife, and he did so.

In the meanwhile, the fame of Marco Polo’s travels had circulated in
Genoa. His prison was daily crowded with the nobility, and he was
supplied with everything that could cheer him in his confinement. A
Genoese gentleman, who visited him every day, at length prevailed
on him to write an account of what he had seen. He had his papers
and journals sent to him from Venice, and with the assistance of his
friend produced the book which afterwards made such noise throughout
the world.

“So, you see,” said Uncle Fritz, “that the poor rich man wrote in prison, far away from home, and with such journals and notes as had escaped wars, shipwrecks, and travel.”

Bedford and two of the girls seized on one volume of Col. Yule’s book,--which is a good edition of “Marco Polo,”--and Laura and two of the boys seized on another. There are very amusing and instructive pictures; and the young people were delighted as they turned from chapter to chapter. Meanwhile, Uncle Fritz was questioning the others about their summer travels; and all the talk was running on adventure.

“This is a very good day for ‘Marco Polo,’” said he; “for what with Oregon, and Colorado Springs, and the Saguenay River, you have travelled about as far this summer as the Venetian gentlemen did in all those years. Bedford, have you found nothing you can read to us?”

And, after a minute’s conference, Bedford selected and read--

HOW THE EMPEROR SENT MARK ON AN EMBASSY.

[Sidenote: 1298.]

Now it came to pass that Marco, the son of Messer Nicolo, sped
wondrously in learning the customs of the Tartars as well as their
language, their manner of writing, and their practice of war,--in
fact, he came in brief space to know several languages, and four
sundry written characters; and he was discreet and prudent in every
way, insomuch that the emperor held him in great esteem. And so, when
he discerned Mark to have so much sense, and to conduct himself so
well and beseemingly, he sent him on an ambassage of his to a country
which was a good six months’ journey distant. The young gallant
executed his commission well, and with discretion. Now, he had
taken note on several occasions that, when the prince’s ambassadors
returned from different parts of the world, they were able to tell
him about nothing except the business on which they had gone; and the
prince, in consequence, held them for no better than fools and dolts,
and would say, “I had far liever hearken about the strange things
and the manners of the different countries you have seen than merely
be told of the business you went upon,”--for he took great delight
in hearing of the affairs of strange countries. Mark, therefore, as
he went and returned, took great pains to learn about all kinds of
different matters in the countries which he visited, in order to be
able to tell about them to the Great Kaan.

When Mark returned from his ambassage, he presented himself before
the emperor; and, after making his report of the business with which
he was charged, and its successful accomplishment, he went on to
give an account, in a pleasant and intelligent manner, of all the
novelties and strange things that he had seen and heard, insomuch
that the emperor and all such as heard his story were surprised,
and said, “If this young man live, he will assuredly come to be a
person of great worth and ability.” And so, from that time forward,
he was always entitled MESSER MARCO POLO; and thus we shall style him
henceforth in this book of ours, as is but right.

Then Bedford turned over to a place where Mary Long had put in a mark, and read--

OF THE GREAT COUNTRY OF PERSIA, WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE THREE KINGS.

[Sidenote: 1271-95.]

Persia is a great country, which was in old times very illustrious
and powerful; but now the Tartars have wasted and destroyed it. In
Persia is the city of Saba, from which the three magi set out, when
they went to worship Jesus Christ; and in this city they are buried,
in three very large and beautiful monuments, side by side. And above
them there is a square building carefully kept. The bodies are still
entire, with the hair and beard remaining. One of these was called
Jasper, the second Melchoir, and the third Balthasar. Messer Marco
Polo asked a great many questions of the people of that city as to
those three magi; but never one could he find that knew aught of the
matter, except that these were three kings, who were buried there
in days of old. However, at a place three days’ journey distant,
he heard of what I am going to tell you. He found a village there
which goes by the name of Cala Ataperistan, which is as much as to
say, “The Castle of the Fire-worshippers”; and the name is rightly
applied, for the people there do worship fire, and I will tell you
why. They relate that, in old times, three kings of that country went
away to worship a prophet that was born; and they carried with them
three manner of offerings,--gold and frankincense and myrrh,--in
order to ascertain whether that prophet were God or an earthly king
or a physician. “For,” said they, “if he take the gold, then he is
an earthly king; if he take the incense, he is God; if he take the
myrrh, he is a physician.” So it came to pass, when they had come to
the place where the Child was born, the youngest of the three kings
went in first, and found the Child apparently just of his own age; so
he went forth again, marvelling greatly. The middle one entered next,
and, like the first, he found the Child seemingly of his own age; so
he also went forth again, and marvelled greatly. Lastly, the eldest
went in, and as it had befallen the other two, so it befel him; and
he went forth very pensive.

And when the three had rejoined one another, each told what he had
seen; and then they all marvelled the more. So they all agreed to go
in all three together; and on doing so, they beheld the Child with
the appearance of its actual age,--to wit, some thirteen days. Then
they adored, and presented their gold and incense and myrrh; and the
Child took all the three offerings, and then gave them a small closed
box: whereupon the kings departed to return into their own land.

And when they had ridden many days they said they would see what the
Child had given them. So they opened the little box; and inside it
they found a stone. On seeing this they began to wonder what this
might be that the Child had given them, and what was the import
thereof. Now the signification was this: when they presented their
offerings, the Child accepted all three; and when they saw that, they
had said within themselves that he was the True God, and the True
King, and the True Physician. And what the gift of the stone implied
was that this Faith which had begun in them should abide firm as a
rock. For he well knew what was in their thoughts. Howbeit they had
no understanding at all of this signification of the gift of the
stone, so they cast it into a well. Then straightway a fire from
heaven descended into that well wherein the stone had been cast. And
when the Three Kings beheld this marvel they were sore amazed, and
it greatly repented them that they had cast away the stone; for well
they then perceived that it had a great and holy meaning. So they
took of that fire, and carried it into their own country, and placed
it in a rich and beautiful church. And there the people keep it
continually burning, and worship it as a god; and all the sacrifices
they offer are kindled with that fire. And if ever the fire becomes
extinct they go to other cities round about, where the same faith is
held, and obtain of that fire from them, and carry it to the church.
And this is the reason why the people of this country worship fire.
They will often go ten days’ journey to get of that fire.

The children were highly edified by finding this echo of the story of the wise men of the Bible, brought from the East, and asked Uncle Fritz if they might believe it, ever so little. He told them that, till Mahomet’s time, all these countries were more or less under the rule of Christian faith, though it were but limp faith, and stupid. It was quite possible that Messer Marco Polo might have found some legends there which he repeated here.

“But I think,” said Uncle Fritz, “that if you are going to dip, before reading, you had better begin on Cublay Khan himself.”

“Cublay Khan!” cried Fergus. “Are we to hear about Cublay Khan?”

“Why, what do you know about Cublay Khan?” cried Mary Long.

“Do you not remember,--‘Mustapha, Rubadub, Cublay Khan’?”

“I do not think you say it right. But hush! Horace is going to begin.”

So Horace began:--

HOW NAYAN WAS BEATEN.

[Sidenote: 1286.]

Now am I come to that part of our book in which I shall tell you of
the great and wonderful magnificence of the Great Kaan now reigning,
by name CUBLAY KAAN,--_Kaan_ being a title which signifieth “the
Great Lord of Lords,” or Emperor. And of a surety he hath good right
to such a title; for all men know for a certain truth that he is
the most potent man, as regards forces and lands and treasure, that
existeth in the world, or ever hath existed, from the time of our
First Father, Adam, until this day.

“That was probably true,” interrupted Col. Ingham.

All this I will make clear to you for truth, in this book of ours, so
that every one shall be fain to acknowledge that he is the greatest
lord that is now in the world, or ever hath been. And now, ye shall
hear how and wherefore.

* * * * *

There was a great Tartar chief, whose name was Nayan, a young man of
thirty, lord over many lands and many provinces; and he was uncle
to the Emperor Cublay Kaan, of whom we are speaking. And when he
found himself in authority, this Nayan waxed proud in the insolence
of his youth and his great power; for indeed he could bring into
the field three hundred thousand horsemen, though all the time he
was liegeman to his nephew, the Great Kaan Cublay, as was right and
reason. Seeing, then, what great power he had, he took it into his
head that he would be the Great Kaan’s vassal no longer: nay, more,
he would fain wrest his empire from him, if he could. So this Nayan
sent envoys to another Tartar prince, called Caidu, also a great and
potent lord, who was a kinsman of his, and who was a nephew of the
Great Kaan, and his lawful liegeman also, though he was in rebellion,
and at bitter enmity with his sovereign lord and uncle. Now, the
message that Nayan sent was this: that he himself was making ready
to march against the Great Kaan with all his forces, which were
great, and he begged Caidu to do likewise from his side, so that by
attacking Cublay on two sides at once with such great forces they
would be able to wrest his dominion from him. And when Caidu heard
the message of Nayan, he was right glad thereat, and thought the time
was come at last to gain his object; so he sent back answer that he
would do as requested, and got ready his host, which mustered a good
hundred thousand horsemen.

Now, let us go back to the Great Kaan, who had news of all this plot.

When the Great Kaan heard what was afoot, he made his preparations
in right good heart, like one who feared not the issue of an attempt
so contrary to justice. Confident in his own conduct and prowess, he
was in no degree disturbed, but vowed that he would never wear crown
again if he brought not those two traitorous and disloyal Tartar
chiefs to an ill end. So swiftly and secretly were his preparations
made that no one knew of them but his privy council, and all were
completed within ten or twelve days. In that time he had assembled
good three hundred and sixty thousand horsemen and one hundred
thousand footmen,--but a small force, indeed, for him, and consisting
only of those that were in the vicinity; for the rest of his vast and
innumerable forces were too far off to answer so hasty a summons,
being engaged under orders from him on distant expeditions to conquer
divers countries and provinces. If he had waited to summon all his
troops, the multitude assembled would have been beyond all belief; a
multitude such as never was heard of, or told of, past all counting!
In fact, those three hundred and sixty thousand horsemen that he got
together consisted merely of the falconers and whippers-in that were
about the court! And when he got ready this handful, as it were, of
his troops, he ordered his astrologers to declare whether he should
gain the battle, and get the better of his enemies. After they had
made their observations they told him to go on boldly, for he would
conquer and gain a glorious victory; whereat he greatly rejoiced.
So he marched with his army; and after advancing for twenty days
they arrived at a great plain, where Nayan lay with all his host,
amounting to some four hundred thousand horse. Now, the Great Kaan’s
forces arrived so fast and so suddenly that the others knew nothing
of the matter; for the Kaan had caused such strict watch to be made
in every direction for scouts that every one that appeared was
instantly captured. Thus Nayan had no warning of his coming, and was
completely taken by surprise, insomuch that, when the Great Kaan’s
army came up, he was asleep; so thus you see why it was that the
emperor equipped his force with such speed and secrecy. Of the battle
which the Great Kaan fought with Nayan, what shall I say about it?

When day had well broken, there was the Kaan, with all his host, upon
a hill overlooking the plain where Nayan lay in his tent, in all
security, without the slightest thought of any one coming thither to
do him hurt. In fact, this confidence of his was such that he kept
no videttes, whether in front or in rear; for he knew nothing of the
coming of the Great Kaan, owing to all the approaches having been
completely occupied, as I told you. Moreover, the place was in a
remote wilderness, more than thirty marches from the court,--though
the Kaan had made the distance in twenty, so eager was he to come to
battle with Nayan. And what shall I tell you next? The Kaan was there
on the hill, mounted on a great wooden bartizan, which was borne by
four well-trained elephants; and over him was hoisted his standard,
so high aloft that it could be seen from all sides. His troops were
ordered in battles of thirty thousand men apiece, and a great part of
the horsemen had each a foot-soldier, armed with a lance, set on the
crupper behind him (for it was thus that the footmen were disposed
of); and the whole plain seemed to be covered with his forces.
So it was thus that the Great Kaan’s army was arrayed for battle.
When Nayan and his people saw what had happened, they were sorely
confounded, and rushed in haste to arms. Nevertheless, they made them
ready in good style, and formed their troops in an orderly manner.
And when all were in battle array on both sides, as I have told you,
and nothing remained but to fall to blows, then might you have heard
a sound arise of many instruments of various music, and of the voices
of the whole of the two hosts loudly singing.

For this is a custom of the Tartars, that before they join battle
they all unite in singing and playing on a certain two-stringed
instrument of theirs, a thing right pleasant to hear, and so they
continue in their array of battle, singing and playing in this
pleasing manner, until the great Naccara of the prince is heard to
sound. As soon as that begins to sound the fight also begins on both
sides; and in no case before the prince’s Naccara sounds dare any
commence fighting.

So, then, as they were thus singing and playing, though ordered
and ready for battle, the great Naccara of the Great Kaan began to
sound, and that of Nayan also began to sound, and thenceforward
the din of battle began to be heard loudly from this side and from
that, and they rushed to work so doughtily with their bows and their
maces, with their lances and swords, and with the arblests of the
footmen, that it was a wondrous sight to see. Now might you behold
such flights of arrows from this side and from that, that the whole
heaven was canopied with them, and they fell like rain. Now might you
see on this side and on that full many a cavalier and man-at-arms
fall slain, insomuch that the whole field seemed covered with them.
From this side and from that such cries arose from the crowds of the
wounded and dying that had God thundered you would not have heard
Him. For fierce and furious was the battle, and quarter there was
none given; but why should I make a long story of it? You must know
that it was the most parlous and fierce and fearful battle that has
ever been fought in our day. Nor have there ever been such forces
in the field in actual fight, especially of horsemen, as were then
engaged; for, taking both sides, there were not fewer than seven
hundred and sixty thousand horsemen,--a mighty force!--and that
without reckoning the footmen, who were also very numerous. The
battle endured with various fortune on this side and on that from
morning till noon; but at last, by God’s pleasure and the right that
was on his side, the Great Kaan had the victory, and Nayan lost
the battle and was utterly routed. For the army of the Great Kaan
performed such feats of arms that Nayan and his host could stand
against them no longer, so they turned and fled; but this availed
nothing for Nayan, for he and all the barons with him were taken
prisoners and had to surrender to the Kaan with all their arms.

Now you must know that Nayan was a baptized Christian, and bore
the Cross on his banner, but this nought availed him, seeing how
grievously he had done amiss in rebelling against his lord. For he
was the Great Kaan’s liegeman, and was bound to hold his lands of him
like all his ancestors before him.

The scale of this fighting satisfied even Bedford, who is notorious for his passion for a good fight. Uncle Fritz told them that if they would look further they would see that military rockets were used in this battle, or something which resembled rockets more than cannon.

While they were talking, Horace and Fred looked further, and when there was a lull read--

And after the Great Kaan had conquered Nayan, as you have heard, it
came to pass that the different kinds of people who were present,
Saracens and idolaters and Jews, and many others that believed not in
God, did gibe those that were Christians because of the Cross that
Nayan had borne on his standard, and that so grievously that there
was no bearing it. Thus they would say to the Christians: “See now
what precious help this God’s Cross of yours hath rendered Nayan, who
was a Christian and a worshipper thereof.” And such a din arose about
the matter that it reached the Great Kaan’s own ears. When it did so,
he sharply rebuked those who cast these gibes at the Christians, and
he also bade the Christians be of good heart, “for if the Cross had
rendered no help to Nayan, in that It had done right well, nor could
that which was good, as It was, have done otherwise; for Nayan was
a disloyal and traitorous rebel against his lord, and well deserved
that which had befallen him. Wherefore the Cross of your God did well
in that It gave him no help against the right.” And this he said so
loud that everybody heard him. The Christians then replied to the
Great Kaan: “Great King, you say the truth indeed, for our Cross can
render no one help in wrong-doing, and therefore it was that It aided
not Nayan, who was guilty of crime and disloyalty, for It would take
no part in his evil deeds.” And so thenceforward no more was heard of
the floutings of the unbelievers against the Christians; for they
heard very well what the sovereign said to the latter about the Cross
on Nayan’s banner, and Its giving him no help.

POST HOUSES.

Now you must know that from this city of Cambaluc proceed many roads
and highways leading to a variety of provinces, one to one province,
another to another, and each road receives the name of the province
to which it leads; and it is a very sensible plan, and the messengers
of the emperor in travelling from Cambaluc, be the road whichsoever
they will, find at every twenty-five miles of the journey a station
which they call “Yamb,” or, as we should say, the “Horse-Post-House.”
And at each of those stations used by the messengers there is a large
and handsome building for them to put up at, in which they find all
the rooms furnished with fine beds and all other necessary articles
in rich silk, and where they are provided with everything they can
want. If even a king were to arrive at one of these he would find
himself well lodged.

At some of these stations, moreover, there shall be posted some four
hundred horses standing ready for the use of the messengers; at
others there shall be two hundred, according to the requirements,
and to what the emperor has established in each case. At every
twenty-five miles, as I said, or anyhow at every thirty miles, you
find one of these stations on all the principal highways leading
to the different provincial governments, and the same is the case
throughout all the chief provinces subject to the Great Kaan; even
when the messengers have to pass through a roadless tract where
neither house nor hostel exists, still there the station-houses have
been established just the same, excepting that the intervals are
somewhat greater, and the day’s journey is fixed at thirty-five to
forty-five miles, instead of twenty-five to thirty. But they are
provided with horses and all the other necessaries just like those we
have described, so that the emperor’s messengers, come they from what
region they may, find everything ready for them.

And in sooth this is a thing done on the greatest scale of
magnificence that ever was seen. Never had emperor, king, or lord
such wealth as this manifests! For it is a fact that on all these
posts taken together there are more than three hundred thousand
horses kept up specially for the use of the messengers. And the great
buildings that I have mentioned are more than ten thousand in number,
all richly furnished as I told you. The thing is on a scale so
wonderful and costly that it is hard to bring one’s self to describe
it.

But now I will tell you another thing that I had forgotten, but which
ought to be told whilst I am on this subject. You must know that by
the Great Kaan’s orders there has been established between those
post-houses, at every interval of three miles, a little fort, with
some forty houses round about it, in which dwell the people who act
as the emperor’s foot-runners. Every one of those runners wears a
great wide belt, set all over with bells, so that as they run the
three miles from post to post their bells are heard jingling a long
way off. And thus on reaching the post the runner finds another man
similarly equipt, and all ready to take his place, who instantly
takes over whatsoever he has in charge, and with it receives a slip
of paper from the clerk, who is always at hand for the purpose; and
so the new man sets off and runs his three miles. At the next station
he finds his relief ready in like manner; and so the post proceeds,
with a change at every three miles. And in this way the emperor, who
has an immense number of these runners, receives despatches with news
from places ten days’ journey off in one day and night; or, if need
be, news from a hundred days off in ten days and nights, and that
is no small matter! In fact, in the fruit season, many a time fruit
shall be gathered one morning in Cambaluc, and the evening of the
next day it shall reach the Great Kaan at Chandu, a distance of ten
days’ journey.

The clerk at each of the posts notes the time of each courier’s
arrival and departure; and there are often other officers, whose
business it is to make monthly visitations of all the posts, and to
punish those runners who have been slack in their work. The emperor
exempts these men from all tribute, and pays them beside.

Moreover, there are also at those stations other men, equipt
similarly with girdles hung with bells, who are employed for
expresses when there is a call for great haste in sending despatches
to any governor of a province, or to give news when any baron has
revolted, or in other such emergencies; and these men travel a good
two hundred or two hundred and fifty miles in the day, and as much in
the night. I’ll tell you how it stands. They take a horse from those
at the station, which are standing ready saddled, all fresh and in
wind, and mount and go at full speed, as hard as they can ride, in
fact. And when those at the next post hear the bells, they get ready
another horse and a man equipt in the same way, and he takes over the
letter or whatever it be, and is off full speed to the third station,
where again a fresh horse is found all ready, and so the despatch
speeds along from post to post, always at full gallop, with regular
change of horses. And the speed at which they go is marvellous. By
night, however, they cannot go so fast as by day, because they have
to be accompanied by footmen with torches, who could not keep up with
them at full speed.

Those men are highly prized; and they could never do it did they not
bind hard the stomach, chest, and head with strong bands. And each of
them carries with him a gerfalcon tablet, in sign that he is bound on
an urgent express; so that if perchance his horse break down, or he
meet with other mishap, whomsoever he may fall in with on the road,
he is empowered to make him dismount and give up his horse. Nobody
dares refuse in such a case; so that the courier hath always a good
fresh nag to carry him.

Now all these numbers of post-horses cost the emperor nothing at all;
and I will tell you the how and the why. Every city, or village, or
hamlet that stands near one of these post-stations has a fixed demand
made on it for as many horses as it can supply, and these it must
furnish to the post. And in this way are provided all the posts of
the cities, as well as the towns and villages round about them; only
in uninhabited tracts the horses are furnished at the expense of the
emperor himself.

How far all this was true, the children were then eager to know. But Uncle Fritz told them that, as to that, they must look at Col. Yule’s very interesting notes. And while they clustered around him and Laura, who had the second volume, all looking at the maps and pictures, Ellen Mahony came in and said that tea was on the table.

Col. Yule’s edition of Marco Polo was published by Murray, in London, in 1875. As has been said above, it should be in every public library which means to provide for intelligent readers.

II.

SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE AND THE CRUSADES.

[Sidenote: 1880.]

Col. Ingham was well pleased, when his boys and girls clustered round him the next Saturday, to find how many copies of “Marco Polo” they had found in different libraries, and how much of it they had read, in one reading-circle and another. They found in it manifold illustrations of the “Arabian Nights,” which, in its best form,--Lane’s translation,--is a favorite book in our little circle.

They began to understand what Uncle Fritz had meant, when he said that Marco Polo seemed accurate when he described what he saw, and that his exaggerations, or what people called his lies, came in when he was repeating stories which other people had told.

Esther asked him who Mandeville was, of whom he had said the same thing.

“Mandeville was an Englishman,--Sir John Mandeville,--who went to Constantinople, Egypt, Palestine, Armenia, and other countries of Western Asia a little less than two hundred years before Columbus sailed for America. The exact limits of his absence are said to be the years 1322 and 1356. It was as dark a time as there was in the Dark Ages. He was in the military service of one of the Eastern princes, and had a chance to see travellers from all lands, and to hear their stories. People told stories in the East then, just as they do now, and as I sometimes hope they will, one day, do here again.

“For my part, when I am sitting in the rather dingy reading-room of a third-rate inn, in a fourth-rate town, waiting for my train, which is not to come till eleven at night, I should be very glad if a good story-teller would come in and sit down on a mat, and tell me either the story of Sindbad the Sailor or of Hiawatha and the Arrow-maker, or of his adventures in the Rebellion. When he passed his hat round, I should put in my five-cent piece much more willingly than I give it for the Torra-worra Tell-tale, which only gives me in brief the same news which I read in the Big Bow-wow the same morning.

“Well, Sir John Mandeville heard these stories told by story-tellers, just as you may hear them to-day in Cairo or in Damascus. Whether he wrote them down at once, I do not know; but at some time or other he wrote them down, and now the whole is mixed up together,--what he saw himself with what travellers told him and with what story-tellers told him.

“So you may find bits of ‘Arabian Nights’ in Sir John Mandeville.

“There is so much of this that there came to be a time when people thought he had rather lie than to tell the truth.

“Indeed,” said Uncle Fritz, “I can remember that at one time his name was spelled Man-Devil, as if he were quite outside of human nature; but I believe there is now no doubt that this was his real name.”

Esther said she remembered, in Catlin’s “Indians,” that he told of some chiefs who had been taken all through the great cities, that they might understand the power of the whites, and, when they came back, were wholly disgraced and degraded, because they told such large stories that nobody could believe they were true.

Uncle Fritz was well pleased with Esther’s good memory, and said it was just so with Sir John Mandeville.

Bob Edmeston brought the book, which is in a very handy form.[3] In Bohn’s Library, it is included with many other early journeys to Palestine. The young people knew the Antiquarian Library already. And it may be said to other young people, who have a little money to spend for books, that in Bohn’s various “Libraries” they get as much for their money--if they find the book they want in the catalogue--as they can find anywhere.

But the little book did not look as fascinating as the elegant, large pages crowded with illustrations of Marco Polo.

Uncle Fritz told Bob that when he was a man, and had travelled all through Asia, he might edit an edition of Sir John Mandeville, as elegant as Col. Yule’s of Marco Polo.

“You will have to be satisfied now,” said he, “by looking for my pencil-marks. Or turn to the end. See what I have noticed on the last page.”

So they turned to the last page, and found that Uncle Fritz had made an index of the things he liked in the book. This is always a good thing to do,--if the book is your own, of course. They read aloud the headings, and came to “The Lady changed into a Dragon.”

“That is the story in Morris’s ‘Earthly Paradise,’” said Uncle Fritz. “Look a little further.” Esther read on, and he told her to turn back to the book, and read to them, when she found--

HOW ROSES FIRST CAME INTO THE WORLD.

[Sidenote: 1322-56.]

From Hebron we proceed to Bethlehem in half a day, for it is but
five miles; and it is a very fair way, by pleasant plains and woods.
Bethlehem is a little city, long and narrow and well-walled, and on
each side enclosed with good ditches. It was formerly called Ephrata,
as Holy Writ says, “Lo, we heard of it at Ephrata.” And towards the
east end of the city is a very fair and handsome church, with many
towers, pinnacles, and corners, strongly and curiously made, and
within are forty-four great and fair pillars of marble; and between
the city and the church is the Field _Floridus_,--that is to say,
the _field flourish-ed_. For a fair maiden was blamed with wrong,
and slandered, for which cause she was condemned to be burned in
that place; and as the fire began to burn about her, she made her
prayers to our Lord that, as truly as she was not guilty, he would
by his merciful grace help her, and make it known to all men. And
when she had thus said she entered into the fire, and immediately
the fire was extinguished, and the fagots that were burning became
red rose-bushes, and those that were not kindled became white
rose-bushes, full of roses; and these were the first rose-trees and
roses, both white and red, that ever any man saw. And thus was this
maiden saved by the grace of God; and therefore is that field called
the field that God flourished, for it was full of roses.

Then Esther turned to another place which had struck her eye, and read--

OF THE ROCKS OF ADAMANT.

In that island are ships without nails of iron or brass, on account
of the rocks of adamant (loadstones). For they are all abundant
thereabout in that sea, that it is marvellous to speak of; and if a
ship passed there that had either iron bands or iron nails, it would
perish; for the adamant, by its nature, draws iron to it, and so it
would draw it to the ship, because of the iron, that it should never
depart from it.

“That,” cried Bob Edmerton, “was what happened to Sindbad.”

“Oh, no; not to Sindbad!” said all the others.

Uncle Fritz confessed that he thought it was to Sindbad. This was a great triumph for the little troop. “To think,” said Tom Rising, “that we should bowl out Uncle Fritz on the ‘Arabian Nights’! I thought he knew the ‘Arabian Nights’ by heart.” So the “Arabian Nights” (in Lane’s version) was sent for, and Tom Rising read aloud from the story of “The Third Royal Mendicant.”

“A royal mendicant,” said Uncle Fritz, “is what was called a ‘calendar,’ when I was a boy.”

THE STORY OF THE THIRD ROYAL MENDICANT.

So he went aloft, and when he had come down he said to the captain,
“I saw, on my right hand, fish floating upon the surface of the
water, and, looking towards the midst of the sea, I perceived
something looming in the distance,--sometimes black and sometimes
white.”

When the captain heard this report of the watch, he threw his turban
on the deck, and plucked his beard, and said to those who were with
him, “Receive warning of our destruction, which will befall all of
us: not one will escape.” So saying, he began to weep; and all of us,
in like manner, bewailed our lot. I desired him to inform us of that
which the watch had seen. The watch said, “To-morrow we shall arrive
at a mountain of black stone, called loadstone: the current is now
bearing us violently toward it, and the ship will fall in pieces; for
God hath given to the loadstone a secret property, by virtue of which
everything of iron is attracted toward it. On that mountain is such
a quantity of iron as no one knoweth but God, whose name be exalted!
for from times of old great numbers of ships have been destroyed by
the influence of that mountain.”

On the following morning we drew near to the mountain; the current
carried us toward it with violence, and when the ships were almost
close to it, they fell asunder, and all the nails, and everything
else that was of iron, flew from them toward the loadstone. It was
near the close of the day when the ship fell in pieces. Some of us
were drowned, and some escaped; but the greater number were drowned,
and of those who saved their lives, none knew what became of the
others, so stupefied were they by the waves and the boisterous wind.

After they had looked up the other passages, which are somewhat like this, in the Fifth Voyage of Sindbad the Sailor, they came back to Sir John Mandeville. They found the story of the rich man Gathenabes, and his false Paradise, the same that is told of the King of the Assassins. This was in the mysterious land of Prester John. They found the happy story of the “Island of Bragman,” which some men call the Land of Faith. Then they found the description of the Terrestrial Paradise, which poor Mandeville could not reach from the East Indies, better than poor Columbus could from the West.[4] They found about the country where the gentleman has such long nails that he may take nothing, nor handle anything.

Then they found--and this was a great relief to Sybil--that after all these travels, Sir John returned to Rome, and “was absolved of all that lay in my conscience of many grievous points.” For notwithstanding Uncle Fritz’s excuses for Sir John, Sybil was sadly afraid that he needed absolution for the master sin of lying; and if he ever repented of it, Sybil was glad.

Before she laid down the book she read one extract more.

OF THE GREAT CHAN OF CATHAY.

In this city (Caydon) is the seat of the Great chan,[5] in a very
great palace, the fairest of the world, the walls of which are in
circuit more than two miles; and within the walls it is all full of
other palaces. And in the garden of the great palace there is a great
hill, upon which is another palace, the fairest and richest that
any man may devise. And all about the palace and the hill are many
trees bearing divers fruits. And all about that hill are great and
deep ditches, and beside them are great fish-ponds on both sides; and
there is a very fair bridge to pass over the ditches. And in these
fish-ponds are an extraordinary number of wild geese and ganders,
and wild ducks and swans and herons. And all about these ditches and
fish-ponds is the great garden, full of wild beasts, so that when the
Great chan will have any sport, to take any of the wild beasts or the
fowls, he will cause them to be driven, and take them at the windows,
without going out of his chamber. Within the palace, in the hall,
there are twenty-four pillars of fine gold; and all the walls are
covered within with red skins of animals called panthers, fair beasts
and well-smelling; so that for the sweet odor of the skins, no evil
air may enter into the palace.

The skins are as red as blood, and shine so bright against the sun
that a man may scarcely look at them. And many people worship the
beasts when they meet them first in a morning, for their great virtue
and for the good smell that they have; and the skins they value more
than if they were plates of fine gold.