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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.
221. A Description of Japan2
Cipango3 is an island toward the east in the high seas, fifteen hundred miles distant from the continent; and a very great island it is.
The people are white, civilized, and well-favored. They are idolaters, and are dependent on nobody. And I can tell you the quantity of gold they have is endless; for they find it in
their own islands and their king does not allow it to be exported. Moreover, few merchants visit the country because it is so far from the mainland, and thus it comes to pass that their gold is abundant beyond all measure.
I will tell you a wonderful thing about the palace of the lord of that island. You must know that he has a great palace which is entirely roofed with fine gold, just as our churches are roofed with lead, insomuch that it would scarcely be possible to estimate its value. Moreover, all the pavement of the palace and the floors of its chambers are entirely of gold, in plates like slabs of stone, a good two fingers thick; and the windows also are of gold, so that altogether the richness of this palace is past all bounds and all belief.
They have also pearls in abundance, which are of a rose color, but fine, big, and round, and quite as valuable as the white ones. In this island some of the dead are buried and others are burnt. When a body is burnt, they put one of these pearls in the mouth, for such is their custom. They have also quantities of other precious stones.
Now you must know that the idols of Cathay and of this island are all of the same class. And in this island, as well as elsewhere, some of the idols have the head of an ox, some have the head of a pig, some of a dog, some of a sheep, and some of other kinds. And some of them have four heads, while some have three, one growing out of either shoulder. There are also some that have four hands, some ten, some a thousand! And they do put more faith in those idols that have a thousand hands than in any of the others. And when any Christian asks them why they make their idols in so many different forms, and not all alike, they reply that just so their forefathers were wont to have them made, and just so they will leave them to their children, and these to succeeding generations. And so they will be handed down forever. And you must understand that the deeds ascribed to these idols are such a parcel of deviltries as it is best not to tell. So let us have done with the idols and speak of other things.
But I must tell you one thing still concerning that island (and it is the same with the other East Indian islands), that if the natives take prisoner an enemy who cannot pay a ransom, he who has the prisoner summons all his friends and relations, and they put the prisoner to death, and then they cook him and eat him, and they say there is no meat in the world so good!
2 , bk. iii, chs. 2, 4.
3 Cipango, the old name of Japan, represents the Chinese Jihpen-kwe, "the origin of the sun," that is, the country of the rising sun. Nippon, the name by which the Japanese know their country, has the same meaning.
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Chicago: "A Description of Japan," Book of Ser Marco Polo in Readings in Early European History, ed. Webster, Hutton (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1926), 477–478. Original Sources, accessed November 21, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=NKMMI3BB4FF2B9M.
MLA: . "A Description of Japan." Book of Ser Marco Polo, Vol. iii, in Readings in Early European History, edited by Webster, Hutton, Boston, Ginn and Company, 1926, pp. 477–478. Original Sources. 21 Nov. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=NKMMI3BB4FF2B9M.
Harvard: , 'A Description of Japan' in Book of Ser Marco Polo. cited in 1926, Readings in Early European History, ed. , Ginn and Company, Boston, pp.477–478. Original Sources, retrieved 21 November 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=NKMMI3BB4FF2B9M.
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