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Book of Ser Marco Polo
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General SummaryMARCO POLO was the most famous of medieval travelers. He spent nearly twenty years in the Far East and brought back to Europe much entertaining knowledge about lands and peoples previously almost unknown. About 1260 his father, Nicolo, and his uncle, Maffeo, set out from Constantinople on a trading venture, which led them, ultimately, to the court of the Mongol ruler, Kublai Khan. Kublai received the Venetians graciously and intrusted them with a message to the pope, requesting one hundred wise men of the West to teach the Mongols Christianity and the arts of civilization. The two brothers returned to Venice in 1269, but found no pope to comply with the Great Khan’s wishes. Tired of waiting for a new pope to be chosen, the Polos started out in 1271 on a second journey to the East. They took with them this time Nicolo’s son, Marco, then a lad of seventeen. It had been their intention, after reaching Ormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, to follow the sea route to China. But this plan was abandoned, and the Polos struck northward from Ormuz through Persia to the upper Oxus and the plateau of Pamir. These wild and inaccessible regions of central Asia were not again explored by European travelers till the nineteenth century. Crossing the desert of Gobi, the Polos at last reached China and the court of the Great Khan at Cambaluc, or Peking. Kublai took the young Marco into his service and sent him on important missions to different parts of the Mongol realm. In this way. Marco became familiar with a large extent of the Far East. All the Polos amassed much wealth, in consequence of the khan’s favor, but for a long time he was unwilling to let them return to Europe. It was not until 1292 that they started from Zaitun on the coast of China for the long journey homeward. They reached Venice at the end of 1295 and displayed to the astonished eyes of their kinsmen the huge quantities of precious stones, rubies, sapphires, diamonds and emeralds, into which they had converted their wealth. The story of their remarkable adventures was written down, at Marco’s dictation, by a certain Rusticano, who thus preserved it for all time. The original text was in French, but translations of it were made into the principal languages of western Europe.
222. The Pearl-Fishers of Ceylon1
You must know that the sea here forms a gulf between the island of Ceylon and the mainland. And all round this gulf the water has a depth of no more than ten or twelve fathoms, and in some places no more than two fathoms. The pearl-fishers take their vessels, great and small, and proceed into this gulf, where they stop from the beginning of April till the middle of May. . . . Here they cast anchor and shift from their large vessels into small boats. You must know that the many merchants who go divide into various companies, and each of these must engage a number of men on wages, hiring them for April and half of May. Of all the produce they have first to pay the king, as his royalty, the tenth part. And they must also pay those men who charm the great fishes, to prevent them from injuring the divers while engaged in seeking pearls under water, a twentieth part of all that they take. These fish-charmers are termed Brahmans; and their charm holds good for that day only, for at night they dissolve the charm so that the fishes can work mischief at their will. These Brahmans know also how to charm beasts and birds and every living thing. When the men have got into the small boats, they jump into the water and dive to the bottom, which may be at a depth of from four to twelve fathoms, and there they remain as long as they are able. And there they find the shells that contain the pearls, and these they put into a net bag tied round the waist and mount up to the surface with them, and then dive anew. When they cannot hold their breath any longer they come up again, and after a little while down they dive once
more, and so they go on all day. The shells are like those of oysters. And in these shells are found pearls, great and small, of every kind, sticking in the flesh of the shell fish.
In this manner pearls are secured in great quantities, for thence in fact come the pearls which are spread all over the world. And I can tell you the king of that state has a very great treasure from his dues upon those pearls.
1 , bk. iii, ch. 16.
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Chicago: "The Pearl-Fishers of Ceylon," Book of Ser Marco Polo in Readings in Early European History, ed. Webster, Hutton (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1926), 479. Original Sources, accessed April 19, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=3FVM1U97INST5QC.
MLA: . "The Pearl-Fishers of Ceylon." Book of Ser Marco Polo, Vol. iii, in Readings in Early European History, edited by Webster, Hutton, Boston, Ginn and Company, 1926, page 479. Original Sources. 19 Apr. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=3FVM1U97INST5QC.
Harvard: , 'The Pearl-Fishers of Ceylon' in Book of Ser Marco Polo. cited in 1926, Readings in Early European History, ed. , Ginn and Company, Boston, pp.479. Original Sources, retrieved 19 April 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=3FVM1U97INST5QC.
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