- (Williamson's Journeys, I. 60.)

[2] [The Archimandrite Palladius (l.c., p. 50, note) says that "the ting of the Mongol time, as well as during the reign of the Kin, was a unit of weight equivalent to fifty liang, but not to ten liang.

Cf. Ch'u keng lu, and Yuen-shi, ch. xcv. The Yuen pao, which as everybody in China knows, is equivalent to fifty liang (taels) of silver, is the same as the ancient ting, and the character Yuen indicates that it dates from the Yuen Dynasty." - H. C.]

[3] This is also, as regards Customs payments, the system of the Government of modern Italy.

[4] The first edition of this work gave a facsimile of one of this unlucky minister's notes.

[5] On both sides, however, was the Mahomedan formula, and beneath that the words Yiranjin Turji, a title conferred on the kings of Persia by the Kaan. There was also an inscription to the following effect: that the Emperor in the year 693 (A.H.) had issued these auspicious chao, that all who forged or uttered false notes should be summarily punished, with their wives and children, and their property confiscated; and that when these auspicious notes were once in circulation, poverty would vanish, provisions become cheap, and rich and poor be equal (Cowell). The use of the term chao at Tabriz may be compared with that of Banklot, current in modern India.

CHAPTER XXV.

CONCERNING THE TWELVE BARONS WHO ARE SET OVER ALL THE AFFAIRS OF THE GREAT KAAN.

You must know that the Great Kaan hath chosen twelve great Barons to whom he hath committed all the necessary affairs of thirty-four great provinces; and now I will tell you particulars about them and their establishments.

You must know that these twelve Barons reside all together in a very rich and handsome palace, which is inside the city of Cambaluc, and consists of a variety of edifices, with many suites of apartments. To every province is assigned a judge and several clerks, and all reside in this palace, where each has his separate quarters. These judges and clerks administer all the affairs of the provinces to which they are attached, under the direction of the twelve Barons. Howbeit, when an affair is of very great importance, the twelve Barons lay in before the Emperor, and he decides as he thinks best. But the power of those twelve Barons is so great that they choose the governors for all those thirty-four great provinces that I have mentioned, and only after they have chosen do they inform the Emperor of their choice. This he confirms, and grants to the person nominated a tablet of gold such as is appropriate to the rank of his government.

Those twelve Barons also have such authority that they can dispose of the movements of the forces, and send them whither, and in such strength, as they please. This is done indeed with the Emperor's cognizance, but still the orders are issued on their authority. They are styled SHIENG, which is as much as to say "The Supreme Court," and the palace where they abide is also called Shieng. This body forms the highest authority at the Court of the Great Kaan; and indeed they can favour and advance whom they will. I will not now name the thirty-four provinces to you, because they will be spoken of in detail in the course of this Book.[NOTE 1]

NOTE 1. - Pauthier's extracts from the Chinese Annals of the Dynasty, in illustration of this subject, are interesting. These, as he represents them, show the Council of Ministers usually to have consisted of twelve high officials, viz.: two Ch'ing-siang [Chinese] or (chief) ministers of state, one styled, "of the Right," and the other "of the Left"; four called P'ing-chang ching-sse, which seems to mean something like ministers in charge of special departments; four assistant ministers; two Counsellors.

Rashiduddin, however, limits the Council to the first two classes: "Strictly speaking, the Council of State is composed of four Ch'ing-sang (Ch'ing-siang) or great officers (Wazirs he afterwards terms them), and four Fanchan (P'ing-chang) or associated members, taken from the nations of the Tajiks, Cathayans, Ighurs, and Arkaun" (i.e. Nestorian Christians). (Compare p. 418, supra.)

[A Samarkand man, Seyyd Tadj Eddin Hassan ben el Khallal, quoted in the Masalak al Absar, says: "Near the Khan are two amirs who are his ministers; they are called Djing San [Arabic] (Ch'ing-siang). After them come the two Bidjan [Arabic] (P'ing Chang), then the two Zoudjin [Arabic] (Tso Chen), then the two Yudjin [Arabic] (Yu Chen), and at last the Landjun [Arabic] (Lang Chang), head of the scribes, and secretary of the sovereign. The Khan holds a sitting every day in the middle of a large building called Chen [Arabic] (Sheng), which is very like our Palace of Justice." (C. Schefer, Cent. Ec. Langues Or., pp. 18-19.) - H. C.]

In a later age we find the twelve Barons reappearing in the pages of Mendoza: "The King hath in this city of Tabin (Peking), where he is resident, a royal council of twelve counsellors and a president, chosen men throughout all the kingdom, and such as have had experience in government many years." And also in the early centuries of the Christian era we hear that the Khan of the Turks had his twelve grandees, divided into those of the Right and those of the Left, probably a copy from a Chinese order then also existing.

But to return to Rashiduddin: "As the Kaan generally resides at the capital, he has erected a place for the sittings of the Great Council, called Sing.... The dignitaries mentioned above are expected to attend daily at the Sing, and to make themselves acquainted with all that passes there."

The Sing of Rashid is evidently the Shieng or Sheng (Scieng) of Polo. M. Pauthier is on this point somewhat contemptuous towards Neumann, who, he says, confounds Marco Polo's twelve Barons or Ministers of State with the chiefs of the twelve great provincial governments called Sing, who had their residence at the chief cities of those governments; whilst in fact Polo's Scieng (he asserts) has nothing to do with the Sing, but represents the Chinese word Siang "a minister," and "the office of a minister." [There was no doubt a confusion between Siang [Chinese] and Sheng [Chinese]. - H. C.]

It is very probable that two different words, Siang and Sing, got confounded by the non-Chinese attaches of the Imperial Court; but it seems to me quite certain that they applied the same word, Sing or Sheng, to both institutions, viz.

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