SLAUGHTER!' This Beheld The Prophet In Vision 600 Years Ago.
And Could There Well Be Worse Slaughter Than There Was In Rei, Where I,
Wretch That I Am, Was Born And Bred, And Where The Whole Population Of
Five Hundred Thousand Souls Was Either Butchered Or Dragged Into Slavery?"
Marco habitually suppresses or ignores the frightful brutalities of the
Tartars, but these were somewhat less, no doubt, in Kublai's time.
The Hindustani poet Amir Khosru gives a picture of the Mongols more
forcible than elegant, which Elliot has translated (III. 528).
This is Hayton's account of the Parthian tactics of the Tartars: "They
will run away, but always keeping their companies together; and it is very
dangerous to give them chase, for as they flee they shoot back over their
heads, and do great execution among their pursuers. They keep very close
rank, so that you would not guess them for half their real strength."
Carpini speaks to the same effect. Baber, himself of Mongol descent, but
heartily hating his kindred, gives this account of their military usage in
his day: "Such is the uniform practice of these wretches the Moghuls; if
they defeat the enemy they instantly seize the booty; if they are
defeated, they plunder and dismount their own allies, and, betide what
may, carry off the spoil." (Erdmann, 364, 383, 620; Gold. Horde, 77,
80; Elliot, II. 388; Hayton in Ram. ch. xlviii.; Baber, 93;
Carpini, p. 694.)
NOTE 7. - "The Scythians" (i.e. in the absurd Byzantine pedantry,
Tartars), says Nicephorus Gregoras, "from converse with the Assyrians,
Persians, and Chaldaeans, in time acquired their manners and adopted their
religion, casting off their ancestral atheism.... And to such a degree
were they changed, that though in former days they had been wont to cover
the head with nothing better than a loose felt cap, and for other clothing
had thought themselves well off with the skins of wild beasts or
ill-dressed leather, and had for weapons only clubs and slings, or spears,
arrows, and bows extemporised from the oaks and other trees of their
mountains and forests, now, forsooth, they will have no meaner clothing
than brocades of silk and gold! And their luxury and delicate living came
to such a pitch that they stood far as the poles asunder from their
original habits" (II. v. 6).
[1] This is Chomeni in the original, but I have ventured to correct it.
CHAPTER LV.
CONCERNING THE ADMINISTERING OF JUSTICE AMONG THE TARTARS.
The way they administer justice is this. When any one has committed a
petty theft, they give him, under the orders of authority, seven blows of
a stick, or seventeen, or twenty-seven, or thirty-seven, or forty-seven,
and so forth, always increasing by tens in proportion to the injury done,
and running up to one hundred and seven. Of these beatings sometimes they
die.[NOTE 1] But if the offence be horse-stealing, or some other great
matter, they cut the thief in two with a sword. Howbeit, if he be able to
ransom himself by paying nine times the value of the thing stolen, he is
let off. Every Lord or other person who possesses beasts has them marked
with his peculiar brand, be they horses, mares, camels, oxen, cows, or
other great cattle, and then they are sent abroad to graze over the plains
without any keeper. They get all mixt together, but eventually every beast
is recovered by means of its owner's brand, which is known. For their
sheep and goats they have shepherds. All their cattle are remarkably fine,
big, and in good condition.[NOTE 2]
They have another notable custom, which is this. If any man have a
daughter who dies before marriage, and another man have had a son also die
before marriage, the parents of the two arrange a grand wedding between
the dead lad and lass. And marry them they do, making a regular contract!
And when the contract papers are made out they put them in the fire, in
order (as they will have it) that the parties in the other world may know
the fact, and so look on each other as man and wife. And the parents
thenceforward consider themselves sib to each other, just as if their
children had lived and married. Whatever may be agreed on between the
parties as dowry, those who have to pay it cause to be painted on pieces
of paper and then put these in the fire, saying that in that way the dead
person will get all the real articles in the other world.[NOTE 3]
Now I have told you all about the manners and customs of the Tartars; but
you have heard nothing yet of the great state of the Grand Kaan, who is
the Lord of all the Tartars and of the Supreme Imperial Court. All that I
will tell you in this book in proper time and place, but meanwhile I must
return to my story which I left off in that great plain when we began to
speak of the Tartars.[NOTE 4]
NOTE 1. - The cudgel among the Mongols was not confined to thieves and such
like. It was the punishment also of military and state offences, and even
princes were liable to it without fatal disgrace. "If they give any
offence," says Carpini, "or omit to obey the slightest beck, the Tartars
themselves are beaten like donkeys." The number of blows administered was,
according to Wassaf, always odd, 3, 5, and so forth, up to 77. (Carp.
712; Ilchan. I. 37.)
["They also punish with death grand larceny, but as for petty thefts, such
as that of a sheep, so long has one has not repeatedly been taken in the
act, they beat him cruelly, and if they administer an hundred blows they
must use an hundred sticks." (Rockhill, Rubruck, p. 80.) - H. C.]
NOTE 2. - "They have no herdsmen or others to watch their cattle, because
the laws of the Turks (i.e. Tartars) against theft are so severe.... A man
in whose possession a stolen horse is found is obliged to restore it to
its owner, and to give nine of the same value; if he cannot, his
children are seized in compensation; if he have no children, he is
slaughtered like a mutton." (Ibn Batuta, II.
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