NOTE 3. - We see here that mosolin or muslin had a very different
meaning from what it has now. A quotation from Ives by Marsden shows it to
have been applied in the middle of last century to a strong cotton cloth
made at Mosul. Dozy says the Arabs use Maucili in the sense of muslin,
and refers to passages in 'The Arabian Nights.' [Bretschneider (Med.
Res. II. p. 122) observes "that in the narrative of Ch'ang Ch'un's
travels to the west in 1221, it is stated that in Samarkand the men of the
lower classes and the priests wrap their heads about with a piece of white
mo-sze. There can be no doubt that mo-sze here denotes 'muslin,' and the
Chinese author seems to understand by this term the same material which we
are now used to call muslin." - H. C.] I have found no elucidation of
Polo's application of mosolini to a class of merchants. But, in a letter
of Pope Innocent IV. (1244) to the Dominicans in Palestine, we find
classed as different bodies of Oriental Christians, "Jacobitae,
Nestoritae, Georgiani, Graeci, Armeni, Maronitae, et Mosolini." (Le
Quien, III. 1342.)
NOTE 4. - "The Curds," says Ricold, "exceed in malignant ferocity all the
barbarous nations that I have seen.... They are called Curti, not
because they are curt in stature, but from the Persian word for
Wolves.... They have three principal vices, viz., Murder, Robbery, and
Treachery." Some say they have not mended since, but his etymology is
doubtful. Kurt is Turkish for a wolf, not Persian, which is Gurg; but
the name (Karduchi, Kordiaei, etc.) is older, I imagine, than the
Turkish language in that part of Asia. Quatremere refers it to the Persian
gurd, "strong, valiant, hero." As regards the statement that some of the
Kurds were Christians, Mas'udi states that the Jacobites and certain other
Christians in the territory of Mosul and Mount Judi were reckoned among
the Kurds. (Not. et Ext. XIII. i. 304.) [The Kurds of Mosul are in part
nomadic and are called Kotcheres, but the greater number are sedentary
and cultivate cereals, cotton, tobacco, and fruits. (Cuinet.) Old
Kurdistan had Shehrizor (Kerkuk, in the sanjak of that name) as its
capital. - H. C.]
NOTE 5. - Ramusio here, as in all passages where other texts have
Bucherami and the like, puts Boccassini, a word which has become
obsolete in its turn. I see both Bochayrani and Bochasini coupled, in
a Genoese fiscal statute of 1339, quoted by Pardessus. (Lois Maritimes,
IV. 456.)
MUSH and MARDIN are in very different regions, but as their actual
interval is only about 120 miles, they may have been under one
provincial government. Mush is essentially Armenian, and, though the seat
of a Pashalik, is now a wretched place. Mardin, on the verge of the
Mesopotamian Plain, rises in terraces on a lofty hill, and there, says
Hammer, "Sunnis and Shias, Catholic and Schismatic Armenians, Jacobites,
Nestorians, Chaldaeans, Sun-, Fire-, Calf-, and Devil-worshippers dwell
one over the head of the other." (Ilchan. I. 191.)
CHAPTER VI.
OF THE GREAT CITY OF BAUDAS, AND HOW IT WAS TAKEN.
Baudas is a great city, which used to be the seat of the Calif of all the
Saracens in the world, just as Rome is the seat of the Pope of all the
Christians.[NOTE 1] A very great river flows through the city, and by this
you can descend to the Sea of India. There is a great traffic of merchants
with their goods this way; they descend some eighteen days from Baudas,
and then come to a certain city called KISI, where they enter the Sea of
India.[NOTE 2] There is also on the river, as you go from Baudas to Kisi,
a great city called BASTRA, surrounded by woods, in which grow the best
dates in the world.[NOTE 3]
In Baudas they weave many different kinds of silk stuffs and gold
brocades, such as nasich, and nac, and cramoisy, and many another
beautiful tissue richly wrought with figures of beasts and birds. It is
the noblest and greatest city in all those regions.[NOTE 4]
Now it came to pass on a day in the year of Christ 1255, that the Lord of
the Tartars of the Levant, whose name was Alaue, brother to the Great Kaan
now reigning, gathered a mighty host and came up against Baudas and took
it by storm.[NOTE 5] It was a great enterprise! for in Baudas there were
more than 100,000 horse, besides foot soldiers. And when Alaue had taken
the place he found therein a tower of the Califs, which was full of gold
and silver and other treasure; in fact the greatest accumulation of
treasure in one spot that ever was known.[NOTE 6] When he beheld that
great heap of treasure he was astonished, and, summoning the Calif to his
presence, he said to him: "Calif, tell me now why thou hast gathered such
a huge treasure? What didst thou mean to do therewith? Knewest thou not
that I was thine enemy, and that I was coming against thee with so great
an host to cast thee forth of thine heritage? Wherefore didst thou not
take of thy gear and employ it in paying knights and soldiers to defend
thee and thy city?"
The Calif wist not what to answer, and said never a word. So the Prince
continued, "Now then, Calif, since I see what a love thou hast borne thy
treasure, I will e'en give it thee to eat!" So he shut the Calif up in the
Treasure Tower, and bade that neither meat nor drink should be given him,
saying, "Now, Calif, eat of thy treasure as much as thou wilt, since thou
art so fond of it; for never shalt thou have aught else to eat!"
So the Calif lingered in the tower four days, and then died like a dog.
Truly his treasure would have been of more service to him had he bestowed
it upon men who would have defended his kingdom and his people, rather
than let himself be taken and deposed and put to death as he was.[NOTE 7]
Howbeit, since that time, there has been never another Calif, either at
Baudas or anywhere else.[NOTE 8]
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