These
Sari Uigurs Are Mentioned By Du Plan Carpin, As Sari Huiur.
Can Sala be
the same as Sari?"
"Mohammedans," says Mr. Rockhill (Ibid. p. 39), "here are divided into two
sects, known as 'white-capped Hui-hui,' and 'black-capped Hui-hui.' One of
the questions which separate them is the hour at which fast can be broken
during the Ramadan. Another point which divides them is that the
white-capped burn incense, as do the ordinary Chinese; and the Salar
condemn this as Paganish. The usual way by which one finds out to which
sect a Mohammedan belongs is by asking him if he burns incense. The
black-capped Hui-hui are more frequently called Salar, and are much
the more devout and fanatical. They live in the vicinity of Ho-chou,
in and around Hsuen-hua t'ing, their chief town being known as Salar
Pakun or Paken."
[Illustration: Cross on the Monument at Si-ngan fu (actual size). (From a
rubbing.)]
Ho-chou, in Western Kan-Suh, about 320 li (107 miles) from Lan-chau, has
a population of about 30,000 nearly entirely Mahomedans with 24 mosques;
it is a "hot-bed of rebellion." Salar-pa-kun means "the eight thousand
Salar families," or "the eight thousands of the Salar." The eight kiun
(Chinese t'sun? a village, a commune) constituting the Salar pa-kun are
Ka-tzu, the oldest and largest, said to have over 1300 families living in
it, Chang-chia, Nemen, Ch'ing-shui, Munta, Tsu-chi, Antasu and Ch'a-chia.
Besides these Salar kiun there are five outer (wai) kiun: Ts'a-pa,
Ngan-ssu-to, Hei-ch'eng, Kan-tu and Kargan, inhabited by a few Salar and a
mixed population of Chinese and T'u-ssu: each of these wai-wu kiun has,
theoretically, fifteen villages in it. Tradition says that the first Salar
who came to China (from Rum or Turkey) arrived in this valley in the third
year of Hung-wu of the Ming (1370). (Rockhill, Land of the Lamas, Journey;
Grenard, II. p. 457) - H.C.] (Martini; Cathay, 148, 269; Petis de la
Croix, III. 218; Russian paper on the Dungen, see supra, vol. i. p. 291;
Williamson's North China, u.s.; Richthofen's Letters, and MS. Notes.)
NOTE 4. - Mangalai, Kublai's third son, who governed the provinces of
Shen-si and Sze-ch'wan, with the title of Wang or king (supra ch. ix.
note 2), died in 1280, a circumstance which limits the date of Polo's
journey to the west. It seems unlikely that Marco should have remained ten
years ignorant of his death, yet he seems to speak of him as still
governing.
[With reference to the translation of the oldest of the Chinese-Mongol
inscriptions known hitherto (1283) in the name of Ananda, King of Ngan-si,
Professor Deveria (Notes d'Epigraphie Mongolo-Chinoise, p. 9) writes: "In
1264, the Emperor Kublai created in this region [Shen si] the department of
Ngan-si chau, occupied by ten hordes of Si-fan (foreigners from the west).
All this country became in 1272, the apanage of the Imperial Prince
Mangala; this prince, third son of Kublai, had been invested with the title
of King of Ngan-si, a territory which included King-chao fu (modern Si-ngan
fu). His government extended hence over Ho-si (west of the Yellow River),
the T'u-po (Tibetans), and Sze-ch'wan. The following year (1273) Mangala
received from Kublai a second investiture, this of the Kingdom of Tsin,
which added to his domain part of Kan-Suh; he established his royal
residence at K'ia-ch'eng (modern Ku-yuan) in the Liu-p'an shan, while
King-chao remained the centre of the command he exercised over the Mongol
garrisons. In 1277 this prince took part in military operations in the
north; he died in 1280 (17th year Che Yuan), leaving his principality of
Ngan-si to his eldest son Ananda, and this of Tsin to his second son
Ngan-tan Bu-hoa. Kublai, immediately after the death of his son Mangala,
suppressed administrative autonomy in Ngan-si." (Yuan-shi lei
pien). - H.C.]
[1] I am indebted for this information to Baron Richthofen.
[2] See the small map attached to "Marco Polo's Itinerary Map, No. IV.,"
at end of Vol. I.
[3] [It is supposed to come from kang (king) dang. - H.C.]
[4] In the first edition I was able to present a reduced facsimile of a
rubbing in my possession from this famous inscription, which I owed
to the generosity of Dr. Lockhart. To the Baron von Richthofen I am no
less indebted for the more complete rubbing which has afforded the
plate now published. A tolerably full account of this inscription is
given in Cathay, p. xcii. seqq., and p. clxxxi. seqq., but the
subject is so interesting that it seems well to introduce here the
most important particulars: -
The stone slab, about 7-1/2 feet high by 3 feet wide, and some 10
inches in thickness,[A] which bears this inscription, was
accidentally found in 1625 by some workmen who were digging in the
Chang-ngan suburb of the city of Singanfu. The cross, which is
engraved at p. 30, is incised at the top of the slab, and beneath this
are 9 large characters in 3 columns, constituting the heading, which
runs: "Monument commemorating the introduction and propagation of the
noble Law of Ta T'sin in the Middle Kingdom;" Ta T'sin being the
term applied in Chinese literature to the Roman Empire, of which the
ancient Chinese had much such a shadowy conception as the Romans had,
conversely, of the Chinese as Sinae and Seres. Then follows the
body of the inscription, of great length and beautiful execution,
consisting of 1780 characters. Its chief contents are as follows: -
1st. An abstract of Christian doctrine, of a vague and figurative
kind; 2nd. An account of the arrival of the missionary OLOPAN
(probably a Chinese form of Rabban = Monk),[B] from Ta T'sin in the
year equivalent to A.D. 635 bringing sacred books and images, of the
translation of the said books, of the Imperial approval of the
doctrine and permission to teach it publicly.
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