Chapter XLIII

CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF ACBALEC MANZI.

After you have travelled those 20 days through the mountains of CUNCUN that I have mentioned, then you come to a province called ACBALEC MANZI, which is all level country, with plenty of towns and villages, and belongs to the Great Kaan. The people are Idolaters, and live by trade and industry. I may tell you that in this province, there grows such a great quantity of ginger, that it is carried all over the region of Cathay, and it affords a maintenance to all the people of the province, who get great gain thereby. They have also wheat and rice, and other kinds of corn, in great plenty and cheapness; in fact the country abounds in all useful products. The capital city is called ACBALEC MANZI [which signifies “the White City of the Manzi Frontier”].{1}

This plain extends for two days’ journey, throughout which it is as fine as I have told you, with towns and villages as numerous. After those two days, you again come to great mountains and valleys, and extensive forests, and you continue to travel westward through this kind of country for 20 days, finding however numerous towns and villages. The people are Idolaters, and live by agriculture, by cattle-keeping, and by the chase, for there is much game. And among other kinds, there are the animals that produce the musk, in great numbers.{2}

NOTE 1.—Though the termini of the route, described in these two
chapters, are undoubtedly Si-ngan fu and Ch’êng-tu fu, there are
serious difficulties attending the determination of the line
actually followed.

The time according to all the MSS., so far as I know, except those
of one type, is as follows:

In the plain of Kenjanfu 3 days.
In the mountains of Cuncun 20 „
In the plain of Acbalec 2 „
In mountains again 20 „
——
45 days.
——

[From Si-ngan fu to Ch’êng-tu (Sze-ch’wan), the Chinese reckon
2300 _li_ (766 miles). (Cf. _Rockhill, Land of the Lamas_, p. 23.)
Mr. G. F. Eaton, writing from Han-chung (_Jour. China Br. R. A.
S._ xxviii. p. 29) reckons: “From Si-ngan Fu S.W. to Ch’êng-tu,
_viâ_ K’i-shan, Fung-sien, Mien, Kwang-yuan and Chao-hwa, about 30
days, in chairs.” He says (p. 24): “From Ch’êng-tu _viâ_ Si-ngan
to Peking the road does not touch Han-chung, but 20 _li_ west of
the city strikes north to Pao-ch’eng.—The road from Han-chung to
Ch’êng-tu made by Ts’in Shi Hwang-ti to secure his conquest of
Sze-ch’wan, crosses the Ta-pa-shan.”—H. C.]

It seems to me almost impossible to doubt that the Plain of
Acbalec represents some part of the river-valley of the Han,
interposed between the two ranges of mountains called by Richthofen
_T’sing-Ling-Shan_ and _Ta-pa-Shan_. But the time, as just stated,
is extravagant for anything like a direct journey between the two
termini.

The distance from Si-ngan fu to Pao-ki is 450 _li_, which _could_
be done in 3 days, but at Polo’s rate would probably require 5.
The distance by the mountain road from Pao-ki to the Plain of
Han-chung, could never have occupied 20 days. It is really a 6 or 7
days’ march.

But Pauthier’s MS. C (and its double, the Bern MS.) has viii.
marches instead of xx., through the mountains of Cuncun. This
reduces the time between Kenjanfu and the Plain to 11 days, which
is just about a proper allowance for the whole journey, though
not accurately distributed. Two days, though ample, would not be
excessive for the journey across the Plain of Han-chung, especially
if the traveller visited that city. And “20 days from Han-chung, to
Ch’êng-tu fu would correspond with Marco Polo’s rate of travel.”
(_Richthofen_).

So far then, provided we admit the reading of the MS. C, there is
no ground for hesitating to adopt the usual route between the two
cities, _viâ_ Han-chung.

But the key to the exact route is evidently the position of Acbalec
Manzi, and on this there is no satisfactory light.

For the name of the province, Pauthier’s text has _Acbalec Manzi_,
for the name of the city _Acmalec_ simply. The G. T. has in the
former case _Acbalec Mangi_, in the latter “Acmelic Mangi _qe vaut
dire_ le une _de le confine dou Mangi_.” This is followed literally
by the Geographic Latin, which has “_Acbalec Mangi et est dictum
in lingua nostra_ unus _ex confinibus Mangi_.” So also the Crusca;
whilst Ramusio has “_Achbaluch Mangi, che vuol dire_ Città Bianca
de’ confini di Mangi.” It is clear that Ramusio alone has here
preserved the genuine reading.

Klaproth identified Acbalec conjecturally with the town of
_Pe-ma-ching_, or “White-Horse-Town,” a place now extinct, but
which stood like Mien and Han-chung on the extensive and populous
Plain that here borders the Han.

It seems so likely that the latter part of the name _Pe_-MACHING
(“_White_ Maching”) might have been confounded by foreigners with
_Máchín_ and _Manzi_ (which in Persian parlance were identical),
that I should be disposed to overlook the difficulty that we have
no evidence produced to show that Pemaching was a place of any
consequence.

It is possible, however, that the name _Acbalec_ may have been
given by the Tartars without any reference to Chinese etymologies.
We have already twice met with the name or its equivalent
(_Acbaluc_ in ch. xxxvii. of this Book, and _Chaghan Balghasun_ in
note 3 to Book I. ch. lx.), whilst Strahlenberg tells us that the
Tartars call all great residences of princes by this name (Amst.
ed. 1757, I. p. 7). It may be that Han-chung itself was so named
by the Tartars; though its only claim that I can find is, that it
was the first residence of the Han Dynasty. Han-chung fu stands
in a beautiful plain, which forms a very striking object to the
traveller who is leaving the T’sing-ling mountains. Just before
entering the plains, the Helung Kiang passes through one of its
wildest gorges, a mere crevice between vertical walls several
hundred feet high. The road winds to the top of one of the cliffs
in zigzags cut in the solid rock. From the temple of Kitau Kwan,
which stands at the top of the cliff, there is a magnificent view
of the Plain, and no traveller would omit this, the most notable
feature between the valley of the Wei and Ch’êng-tu-fu. It is,
moreover, the only piece of level ground, of any extent, that is
passed through between those two regions, whichever road or track
be taken. (_Richthofen_, MS. Notes.)

[In the _China Review_ (xiv. p. 358) Mr. E. H. Parker, has an
article on _Acbalec Manzi_, but does not throw any new light on the
subject.—H. C.]

NOTE 2.—Polo’s journey now continues through the lofty mountainous
region in the north of Sze-ch’wan.

The dividing range Ta-pa-shan is less in height than the
T’sing-ling range, but with gorges still more abrupt and deep; and
it would be an entire barrier to communication but for the care
with which the road, here also, has been formed. But this road,
from Han-chung to Ch’êng-tu fu, is still older than that to the
north, having been constructed, it is said, in the 3rd century B.C.
[See _supra_.] Before that time Sze-ch’wan was a closed country,
the only access from the north being the circuitous route down the
Han and up the Yang-tz’ŭ. (_Ibid._)

[Mr. G. G. Brown writes (_Jour. China Br. R. As. Soc._ xxviii.
p. 53): “Crossing the Ta-pa-shan from the valley of the Upper
Han in Shen-si we enter the province of Sze-ch’wan, and are now
in a country as distinct as possible from that that has been
left. The climate which in the north was at times almost Arctic,
is now pluvial, and except on the summits of the mountains no
snow is to be seen. The people are ethnologically different....
More even than the change of climate the geological aspect is
markedly different. The loess, which in Shen-si has settled like
a pall over the country, is here absent, and red sandstone rocks,
filling the valleys between the high-bounding and intermediate
ridges of palæozoic formation, take its place. Sze-ch’wan is
evidently a region of rivers flowing in deeply eroded valleys,
and as these find but one exit, the deep gorges of Kwei-fu,
their disposition takes the form of the innervations of a leaf
springing from a solitary stalk. The country between the branching
valleys is eminently hilly; the rivers flow with rapid currents
in well-defined valleys, and are for the most part navigable
for boats, or in their upper reaches for lumber-rafts.... The
horse-cart, which in the north and north-west of China is the
principal means of conveyance, has never succeeded in gaining
an entrance into Sze-ch’wan with its steep ascents and rapid
unfordable streams; and is here represented for passenger traffic
by the sedan-chair, and for the carriage of goods, with the
exception of a limited number of wheel-barrows, by the backs of
men or animals, unless where the friendly water-courses afford the
cheapest and readiest means of intercourse.”—H. C.]

Martini notes the musk-deer in northern Sze-ch’wan.