Places round about, present
themselves in the Great Hall before the Emperor; whilst those who can find
no room to enter stand outside in such a position that the Emperor can see
them all well. And the whole company is marshalled in this wise. First are
the Kaan's sons, and his nephews, and the other Princes of the Blood
Imperial; next to them all Kings; then Dukes, and then all others in
succession according to the degree of each. And when they are all seated,
each in his proper place, then a great prelate rises and says with a loud
voice: "Bow and adore!" And as soon as he has said this, the company bow
down until their foreheads touch the earth in adoration towards the
Emperor as if he were a god. And this adoration they repeat four times,
and then go to a highly decorated altar, on which is a vermilion tablet
with the name of the Grand Kaan inscribed thereon, and a beautiful censer
of gold. So they incense the tablet and the altar with great reverence,
and then return each man to his seat.[NOTE 4]
When all have performed this, then the presents are offered, of which I
have spoken as being so rich and costly. And after all have been offered
and been seen by the Emperor, the tables are set, and all take their
places at them with perfect order as I have already told you. And after
dinner the jugglers come in and amuse the Court as you have heard before;
and when that is over, every man goes to his quarters.
NOTE 1. - The first month of the year is still called by the Mongols
Chaghan or Chaghan Sara, "the White" or the "White Month"; and the
wearing of white clothing on this festive occasion must have been purely a
Mongol custom. For when Shah Rukh's ambassadors were present at the New
Year's Feast at the Court of the succeeding Chinese Dynasty (2nd
February, 1421) they were warned that no one must wear white, as that
among the Chinese was the colour of mourning. (Koeppen, I. 574, II. 309;
Cathay, p. ccvii.)
NOTE 2. - On the mystic importance attached to the number 9 on all such
occasions among the Mongols, see Hammer's Golden Horde, p. 208;
Hayton, ch. iii. in Ramusio II.; Not. et Ext. XIV. Pt. I. 32; and
Strahlenberg (II. 210 of Amsterd. ed. 1757). Vambery, speaking of the
Kalin or marriage price among the Uzbegs, says: "The question is always
how many times nine sheep, cows, camels, or horses, or how many times
nine ducats (as is the custom in a town), the father is to receive for
giving up his daughter." (Sketches of Cent. Asia, p. 103.) Sheikh
Ibrahim of Darband, making offerings to Timur, presented nines of
everything else, but of slaves eight only. "Where is the ninth?"
enquired the court official. "Who but I myself?" said the Sheikh, and so
won the heart of Timur. (A. Arabsiadis ... Timuri Hist. p. 357.)
NOTE 3. - The elephant stud of the Son of Heaven had dwindled till in 1862
Dr. Rennie found but one animal; now none remain. [Dr. S. W. Williams
writes (Middle Kingdom, I. pp. 323-324): "Elephants are kept at Peking
for show, and are used to draw the state chariot when the Emperor goes to
worship at the Altars of Heaven and Earth, but the sixty animals seen in
the days of Kienlung, by Bell, have since dwindled to one or two. Van
Braam met six going into Peking, sent thither from Yun-Nan." These were no
doubt carrying tribute from Burmah. - H. C.] It is worth noticing that the
housings of cut cloth or applique work ("draps entaillez") are still
in fashion in India for the caparison of elephants.
NOTE 4. - In 1263 Kublai adopted the Chinese fashion of worshipping the
tablets of his own ancestors, and probably at the same time the adoration
of his own tablet by his subjects was introduced. Van Braam ingenuously
relates how he and the rest of the Dutch Legation of 1794 performed the
adoration of the Emperor's Tablet on first entering China, much in the way
described in the text.
There is a remarkable amplification in the last paragraph of the chapter
as given by Ramusio: "When all are in their proper places, a certain great
personage, or high prelate as it were, gets up and says with a loud voice:
'Bow yourselves and adore!' On this immediately all bend and bow the
forehead to the ground. Then the prelate says again: 'God save and keep
our Lord the Emperor, with length of years and with mirth and happiness.'
And all answer: 'So may it be!' And then again the prelate says: 'May God
increase and augment his Empire and its prosperity more and more, and keep
all his subjects in peace and goodwill, and may all things go well
throughout his Dominion!' And all again respond: 'So may it be!' And this
adoration is repeated four times."
One of Pauthier's most interesting notes is a long extract from the
official Directory of Ceremonial under the Mongol Dynasty, which admirably
illustrates the chapters we have last read. I borrow a passage regarding
this adoration: "The Musician's Song having ceased, the Ministers shall
recite with a loud voice the following Prayer: 'Great Heaven, that
extendest over all! Earth which art under the guidance of Heaven! We
invoke You and beseech You to heap blessings upon the Emperor and the
Empress! Grant that they may live ten thousand, a hundred thousand years!'
"Then the first Chamberlain shall respond: 'May it be as the prayer hath
said!' The Ministers shall then prostrate themselves, and when they rise
return to their places, and take a cup or two of wine."
The K'o-tow (Kheu-theu) which appears repeatedly in this ceremonial and
which in our text is indicated by the four prostrations, was, Pauthier
alleges, not properly a Chinese form, but only introduced by the Mongols.
Baber indeed speaks of it as the Kornish, a Moghul ceremony, in which
originally "the person who performed it kneeled nine times and touched the
earth with his brow each time." He describes it as performed very
elaborately (nine times twice) by his younger uncle in visiting the
elder.
