And Of A Morning He Will Take A Half Pound Of It And Put It
In His Leather Bottle, With As Much Water As He Pleases.
So, as he rides
along, the milk-paste and the water in the bottle get well churned
together into a kind of pap, and that makes his dinner.[NOTE 5]]
When they come to an engagement with the enemy, they will gain the victory
in this fashion. [They never let themselves get into a regular medley, but
keep perpetually riding round and shooting into the enemy. And] as they do
not count it any shame to run away in battle, they will [sometimes pretend
to] do so, and in running away they turn in the saddle and shoot hard and
strong at the foe, and in this way make great havoc. Their horses are
trained so perfectly that they will double hither and thither, just like a
dog, in a way that is quite astonishing. Thus they fight to as good
purpose in running away as if they stood and faced the enemy, because of
the vast volleys of arrows that they shoot in this way, turning round upon
their pursuers, who are fancying that they have won the battle. But when
the Tartars see that they have killed and wounded a good many horses and
men, they wheel round bodily, and return to the charge in perfect order
and with loud cries; and in a very short time the enemy are routed. In
truth they are stout and valiant soldiers, and inured to war. And you
perceive that it is just when the enemy sees them run, and imagines that
he has gained the battle, that he has in reality lost it; for the Tartars
wheel round in a moment when they judge the right time has come. And after
this fashion they have won many a fight.[NOTE 6]
All this that I have been telling you is true of the manners and customs
of the genuine Tartars. But I must add also that in these days they are
greatly degenerated; for those who are settled in Cathay have taken up the
practices of the Idolaters of the country, and have abandoned their own
institutions; whilst those who have settled in the Levant have adopted the
customs of the Saracens.[NOTE 7]
NOTE 1. - The bow was the characteristic weapon of the Tartars, insomuch
that the Armenian historians often call them "The Archers." (St. Martin,
II. 133.) "CUIRBOULY, leather softened by boiling, in which it took any
form or impression required, and then hardened." (Wright's Dict.) The
English adventurer among the Tartars, whose account of them is given by
Archbishop Ivo of Narbonne, in Matthew Paris (sub. 1243), says: "De
coriis bullitis sibi arma levia quidem, sed tamen impenetrabilia
coaptarunt." This armour is particularly described by Plano Carpini
(p. 685). See the tail-piece to Book IV.
[Mr. E. H. Parker (China Review, XXIV. iv. p. 205) remarks that "the
first coats of mail were made in China in 1288: perhaps the idea was
obtained from the Malays or Arabs." - H. C.]
NOTE 2. - M. Pauthier has judiciously pointed out the omissions that have
occurred here, perhaps owing to Rusticiano's not properly catching the
foreign terms applied to the various grades. In the G. Text the passage
runs: "Et sachies que les cent mille est apelle un Tut (read tuc) et
les dix mille un Toman, et les por milier et por centenier et por
desme." In Pauthier's (uncorrected) text one of the missing words is
supplied: "Et appellent les C.M. un Tuc; et les X.M. un Toman; et un
millier Guz por centenier et por disenier." The blanks he supplies thus
from Abulghazi: "Et un millier: [un Miny]; Guz, por centenier et [Un]
por disenier." The words supplied are Turki, but so is the Guz, which
appears already in Pauthier's text, whilst Toman and Tuc are common to
Turki and Mongol. The latter word, Tuk or Tugh, is the horse-tail or
yak-tail standard which among so many Asiatic nations has marked the
supreme military command. It occurs as Taka in ancient Persian, and
Cosmas Indicopleustes speaks of it as Tupha. The Nine Orloks or Marshals
under Chinghiz were entitled to the Tuk, and theirs is probably the
class of command here indicated as of 100,000, though the figure must not
be strictly taken. Timur ordains that every Amir who should conquer a
kingdom or command in a victory should receive a title of honour, the
Tugh and the Nakkara. (Infra, Bk. II. ch. iv. note 3.) Baber on
several occasions speaks of conferring the Tugh upon his generals for
distinguished service. One of the military titles at Bokhara is still
Tokhsabai, a corruption of Tugh-Sahibi, (Master of the Tugh).
We find the whole gradation except the Tuc in a rescript of Janibeg,
Khan of Sarai, in favour of Venetian merchants dated February 1347. It
begins in the Venetian version: "La parola de Zanibeck allo puovolo di
Mogoli, alli Baroni di Thomeni,[1] delli miera, delli centenera, delle
dexiene." (Erdmann, 576; D'Avezac, 577-578; Remusat, Langues
Tartares, 303; Pallas, Samml. I. 283; Schmidt, 379, 381; Baber,
260, etc.; Vambery, 374; Timour Inst. pp. 283 and 292-293; Bibl. de
l'Ec. des Chartes, tom. lv. p. 585.)
The decimal division of the army was already made by Chinghiz at an early
period of his career, and was probably much older than his time. In fact
we find the Myriarch and Chiliarch already in the Persian armies of Darius
Hystaspes. From the Tartars the system passed into nearly all the Musulman
States of Asia, and the titles Min-bashi or Bimbashi, Yuzbashi,
Onbashi, still subsist not only in Turkestan, but also in Turkey and
Persia. The term Tman or Tma was, according to Herberstein, still used
in Russia in his day for 10,000. (Ramus. II. 159.)
[The King of An-nam, Dinh Tien-hoang (A.D. 968) had an army of 1,000,000
men forming 10 corps of 10 legions; each legion forming 10 cohorts of 10
centuries; each century forming 10 squads of 10 men.
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