So that I may well say their life is one of extraordinary
asceticism.
They have great idols, and plenty of them; but they sometimes
also worship fire. The other Idolaters who are not of this sect call these
people heretics - Patarins as we should say[NOTE 16] - because they do not
worship their idols in their own fashion. Those of whom I am speaking
would not take a wife on any consideration.[NOTE 17] They wear dresses of
hempen stuff, black and blue,[NOTE 18] and sleep upon mats; in fact their
asceticism is something astonishing. Their idols are all feminine, that is
to say, they have women's names.[NOTE 19]
Now let us have done with this subject, and let me tell you of the great
state and wonderful magnificence of the Great Lord of Lords; I mean that
great Prince who is the Sovereign of the Tartars, CUBLAY by name, that
most noble and puissant Lord.
NOTE 1. - [There were two roads to go from Peking to Shangtu: the eastern
road through Tu-shi-k'ow, and the western (used for the return journey)
road by Ye-hu ling. Polo took this last road, which ran from Peking to
Siuen-te chau through the same places as now; but from the latter town it
led, not to Kalgan as it does now, but more to the west, to a place called
now Shan-fang pu where the pass across the Ye-hu ling range begins. "On
both these roads nabo, or temporary palaces, were built, as
resting-places for the Khans; eighteen on the eastern road, and twenty-four
on the western." (Palladius, p. 25.) The same author makes (p. 26) the
following remarks: "M. Polo's statement that he travelled three days from
Siuen-te chau to Chagannor, and three days also from the latter place to
Shang-tu, agrees with the information contained in the 'Researches on the
Routes to Shangtu.' The Chinese authors have not given the precise position
of Lake Chagannor; there are several lakes in the desert on the road to
Shangtu, and their names have changed with time. The palace in Chagannor
was built in 1280" (according to the Siu t'ung kien). - H. C.]
NOTE 2. - Chandu, called more correctly in Ramusio Xandu, i.e. SHANDU,
and by Fr. Odorico Sandu, viz. SHANG-TU or "Upper Court," the Chinese
title of Kublai's summer residence at Kaipingfu, Mongolice Keibung (see
ch. xiii. of Prologue) [is called also Loan king, i.e. "the capital on
the Loan River," according to Palladius, p. 26. - H. C.]. The ruins still
exist, in about lat. 40 deg. 22', and a little west of the longitude of
Peking. The site is 118 miles in direct line from Chaghan-nor, making
Polo's three marches into rides of unusual length.[1] The ruins bear the
Mongol name of Chao Naiman Sume Khotan, meaning "city of the 108
temples," and are about 26 miles to the north-west of Dolon-nor, a
bustling, dirty town of modern origin, famous for the manufactory of
idols, bells, and other ecclesiastical paraphernalia of Buddhism.
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