50-51;
Ducange, by Haenschel, s.v.; Makrizi, I. 173.)
[Dozy (Supp. aux Dict. Arabes) has [Arabic] [naqqare] "petit tambour
ou timbale, bassin de cuivre ou de terre recouvert d'une peau tendue," and
"grosses timbales en cuivre portees sur un chameau ou un mulet." - Devic
(Dict. Etym.) writes: "Bas Latin, nacara; bas grec, [Greek: anachara].
Ce n'est point comme on l'a dit, l'Arabe [Arabic] naqir ou [Arabic]
naqoer, qui signifient trompette, clairon, mais le persan [Arabic] en
arabe, [Arabic] naqara, timbale." It is to be found also in Abyssinia
and south of Gondokoro; it is mentioned in the Sedjarat Malayu.
In French, it gives nacaire and gnacare from the Italian gnacare.
"Quatre jouent de la guitare, quatre des castagnettes, quatre des
gnacares." (MOLIERE, Pastorale Comique.) - H. C.]
[Illustration: Nakkaras. (From an Indian original.)]
NOTE 4. - This description of a fight will recur again and again till we
are very tired of it. It is difficult to say whether the style is borrowed
from the historians of the East or the romancers of the West. Compare the
two following parallels. First from an Oriental history: -
"The Ear of Heaven was deafened with the din of the great Kurkahs and
Drums, and the Earth shook at the clangour of the Trumpets and Clarions.
The shafts began to fall like the rain-drops of spring, and blood flowed
till the field looked like the Oxus." (J. A. S. ser. IV. tom. xix. 256)
Next from an Occidental Romance: -
"Now rist grete tabour betyng,
Blaweyng of pypes, and ek trumpyng,
Stedes lepyng, and ek arnyng,
Of sharp speres, and avalyng
Of stronge knighttes, and wyghth meetyng;
Launces breche and increpyng;
Knighttes fallyng, stedes lesyng;
Herte and hevedes thorough kervyng;
Swerdes draweyng, lymes lesyng
Hard assaylyng, strong defendyng,
Stiff withstondyng and wighth fleigheyng.
Sharp of takyng armes spoylyng;
So gret bray, so gret crieyng,
Ifor the folk there was dyeyng;
So muche dent, noise of sweord,
The thondur blast no myghte beo hirde,
No the sunne hadde beo seye,
For the dust of the poudre!
No the weolkyn seon be myght,
So was arewes and quarels flyght."
- King Alisaunder, in Weber, I. 93-94.
And again: -
"The eorthe quaked heom undur,
No scholde mon have herd the thondur."
- Ibid. 142.
Also in a contemporary account of the fall of Acre (1291): "Renovatur ergo
bellum terribile inter alterutros ... clamoribus interjectis hine et inde
ad terrorem; ita ut nec Deus tonans in sublime coaudiri potuisset."
(De Excidio Acconis, in Martene et Durand, V. 780.)
NOTE 5. - "Car il estoit homme au Grant Kaan." (See note 2, ch. xiv.,
in Prologue.)
NOTE 6. - In continuation of note 4, chap. ii., we give Gaubil's conclusion
of the story of Nayan: "The Emperor had gone ahead with a small force,
when Nayan's General came forward with 100,000 men to make a
reconnaissance. The Sovereign, however, put on a bold front, and though in
great danger of being carried off, showed no trepidation. It was night,
and an urgent summons went to call troops to the Emperor's aid. They
marched at once, the horsemen taking the foot soldiers on the crupper
behind them. Nayan all this while was taking it quietly in his camp, and
his generals did not venture to attack the Emperor, suspecting an
ambuscade. Liting then took ten resolute men, and on approaching the
General's camp, caused a Fire-Pao to be discharged; the report caused a
great panic among Nayan's troops, who were very ill disciplined at the
best. Meanwhile the Chinese and Tartar troops had all come up, and Nayan
was attacked on all sides: by Liting at the head of the Chinese, by
Yusitemur at the head of the Mongols, by Tutuha and the Emperor in person
at the head of his guards and the troops of Kincha (Kipchak). The
presence of the Emperor rendered the army invincible, and Nayan's forces
were completely defeated. That prince himself was taken, and afterwards
put to death. The battle took place in the vicinity of the river Liao, and
the Emperor returned in triumph to Shangtu" (207). The Chinese record
given in detail by Pauthier is to the like effect, except as to the Kaan's
narrow escape, of which it says nothing.
As regards the Fire-Pao (the latter word seems to have been applied to
military machines formerly, and now to artillery), I must refer to Fave
and Reinaud's very curious and interesting treatise on the Greek fire (du
Feu Gregeois). They do not seem to assent to the view that the arms of
this description which are mentioned in the Mongol wars were cannon, but
rather of the nature of rockets.
[Dr. G. Schlegel (T'oung Pao, No. 1, 1902), in a paper entitled, On the
Invention and Use of Fire-Arms and Gunpowder in China, prior to the
Arrival of Europeans, says that "now, notwithstanding all what has been
alleged by different European authors against the use of gunpowder and
fire-arms in China, I maintain that not only the Mongols in 1293 had
cannon, but that they were already acquainted with them in 1232." Among
his many examples, we quote the following from the Books of the Ming
Dynasty: "What were anciently called P'ao were all machines for hurling
stones. In the beginning of the Mongol Dynasty (A.D. 1260), p'ao
(catapults) of the Western regions were procured. In the siege [in 1233]
of the city of Ts'ai chow of the Kin (Tatars), fire was for the first
time employed (in these p'ao), but the art of making them was not handed
down, and they were afterwards seldom used." - H. C.]
CHAPTER V.
HOW THE GREAT KAAN CAUSED NAYAN TO BE PUT TO DEATH.
And when the Great Kaan learned that Nayan was taken right glad was he,
and commanded that he should be put to death straightway and in secret,
lest endeavours should be made to obtain pity and pardon for him, because
he was of the Kaan's own flesh and blood.
