I. 71 and passim; Ouseley's Travels, II. 158 seqq.)
VIII. TUN-O-KAIN, the eastern Kuhistan or Hill country of Persia, of which
Tun and Kain are chief cities. The practice of indicating a locality by
combining two names in this way is common in the East. Elsewhere in this
book we find Ariora-Keshemur and Kes-macoran (Kij-Makran). Upper Sind
is often called in India by the Sepoys Rori-Bakkar, from two adjoining
places on the Indus; whilst in former days, Lower Sind was often called
Diul-Sind. Karra-Manikpur, Uch-Multan, Kunduz-Baghlan are other
examples.
The exact expression Tun-o-Kain for the province here in question is
used by Baber, and evidently also by some of Hammer's authorities.
(Baber, pp. 201, 204; see Ilch. II. 190; I. 95, 104, and Hist. de
l'Ordre des Assassins, p. 245.)
[We learn from (Sir) C. Macgregor's (1875) Journey through Khorasan (I.
p. 127) that the same territory including Ghain or Kain is now called by
the analogous name of Tabas-o-Tun. Tun and Kain (Ghain) are both described
in their modern state, by Macgregor. (Ibid. pp. 147 and 161.) - H. C.]
Note that the identification of Suolstan is due to Quatremere (see N.
et E. XIII. i. circa p. 332); that of Soncara to Defremery (J. As.
ser. IV. tom. xi. p. 441); and that of Tunocain to Malte-Brun. (N. Ann.
des V. xviii. p. 261.) I may add that the Lurs, the Shuls, and the
Shabankaras are the subjects of three successive sections in the
Masalak-al-Absar of Shihabuddin Dimishki, a work which reflects much of
Polo's geography. (See N. et E. XIII. i. 330-333; Curzon, Persia, II.
pp. 248 and 251.)
NOTE 2. - The horses exported to India, of which we shall hear more
hereafter, were probably the same class of "Gulf Arabs" that are now
carried thither. But the Turkman horses of Persia are also very valuable,
especially for endurance. Kinneir speaks of one accomplishing 900 miles in
eleven days, and Ferrier states a still more extraordinary feat from his
own knowledge. In that case one of those horses went from Tehran to
Tabriz, returned, and went again to Tabriz, within twelve days, including
two days' rest. The total distance is about 1100 miles.
The livre tournois at this period was equivalent to a little over 18
francs of modern French silver. But in bringing the value to our modern
gold standard we must add one-third, as the ratio of silver to gold was
then 1:12 instead of 1:16. Hence the equivalent in gold of the livre
tournois is very little less than 1l. sterling, and the price of the
horse would be about 193l.[1]
Mr. Wright quotes an ordinance of Philip III. of France (1270-1285) fixing
the maximum price that might be given for a palfrey at 60 livres
tournois, and for a squire's roncin at 20 livres. Joinville, however,
speaks of a couple of horses presented to St. Lewis in 1254 by the Abbot
of Cluny, which he says would at the time of his writing (1309) have been
worth 500 livres (the pair, it would seem). Hence it may be concluded in a
general way that the ordinary price of imported horses in India
approached that of the highest class of horses in Europe. (Hist. of Dom.
Manners, p. 317; Joinville, p. 205.)
About 1850 a very fair Arab could be purchased in Bombay for 60l., or
even less; but prices are much higher now.
With regard to the donkeys, according to Tavernier, the fine ones used by
merchants in Persia were imported from Arabia. The mark of silver was
equivalent to about 44s. of our silver money, and allowing as before for
the lower relative value of gold, 30 marks would be equivalent to 88l.
sterling.
Kisi or Kish we have already heard of. Curmosa is Hormuz, of which we
shall hear more. With a Pisan, as Rusticiano was, the sound of c is
purely and strongly aspirate. Giovanni d'Empoli, in the beginning of the
16th century, another Tuscan, also calls it Cormus. (See Archiv. Stor.
Ital. Append. III. 81.)
NOTE 3. - The character of the nomad and semi-nomad tribes of Persia in
those days - Kurds, Lurs, Shuls, Karaunahs, etc. - probably deserved all
that Polo says, and it is not changed now. Take as an example Rawlinson's
account of the Bakhtyaris of Luristan: "I believe them to be individually
brave, but of a cruel and savage character; they pursue their blood feuds
with the most inveterate and exterminating spirit.... It is proverbial in
Persia that the Bakhtiyaris have been compelled to forego altogether the
reading of the Fatihah or prayer for the dead, for otherwise they would
have no other occupation. They are also most dextrous and notorious
thieves." (J. R. G. S. IX. 105.)
NOTE 4. - The Persians have always been lax in regard to the abstinence
from wine.
According to Athenaeus, Aristotle, in his Treatise on Drinking (a work
lost, I imagine, to posterity), says, "If the wine be moderately boiled it
is less apt to intoxicate." In the preparation of some of the sweet wines
of the Levant, such as that of Cyprus, the must is boiled, but I believe
this is not the case generally in the East. Baber notices it as a
peculiarity among the Kafirs of the Hindu Kush. Tavernier, however, says
that at Shiraz, besides the wine for which that city was so celebrated, a
good deal of boiled wine was manufactured, and used among the poor and
by travellers. No doubt what is meant is the sweet liquor or syrup called
Dushab, which Della Valle says is just the Italian Mostocotto, but
better, clearer, and not so mawkish (I. 689). (Yonge's Athen. X. 34;
Baber, p. 145; Tavernier, Bk. V. ch. xxi.)
[1] The Encyc. Britann., article "Money," gives the livre tournois of
this period as 18.17 francs.
