The Travels Of Marco Polo - Volume 2 Of 2 By Marco Polo And Rustichello Of Pisa











































 -  - H.C.] A small lake
is marked by D'Anville, close to Kien-ch'ang, under the name of
Gechoui-tang. The - Page 40
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- H.C.] A Small Lake Is Marked By D'Anville, Close To Kien-Ch'ang, Under The Name Of Gechoui-Tang.

The large quantities of gold derived from the Kin-sha Kiang, and the abundance of musk in that vicinity, are testified to by Martini.

The Lake mentioned by Polo as existing in the territory of Yachi is no doubt the Tien-chi, the Great Lake on the shore of which the city of Yun-nan stands, and from which boats make their way by canals along the walls and streets. Its circumference, according to Martini, is 500 li. The cut (p. 68), from Garnier, shows this lake as seen from a villa on its banks. [Deveria (p. 129) quotes this passage from the Yuen-shi-lei pien: "Yachi, of which the U-man or Black Barbarians made their capital, is surrounded by Lake Tien-chi on three sides." Tien-chi is one of the names of Lake Kwen-ming, on the shore of which is built Yun-nan fu. - H.C.]

Returning now to the Karajang of the Mongols, or Carajan, as Polo writes it, we shall find that the latter distinguishes this great province, which formerly, he says, included seven kingdoms, into two Mongol Governments, the seat of one being at Yachi, which we have seen to be Yun-nan fu, and that of the other at a city to which he gives the name of the Province, and which we shall find to be the existing Ta-li fu. Great confusion has been created in most of the editions by a distinction in the form of the name as applied to these two governments. Thus Ramusio prints the province under Yachi as Carajan, and that under Ta-li as Carazan, whilst Marsden, following out his system for the conversion of Ramusio's orthography, makes the former Karaian and the latter Karazan. Pauthier prints Caraian all through, a fact so far valuable as showing that his texts make no distinction between the names of the two governments, but the form impedes the recognition of the old Mongol nomenclature. I have no doubt that the name all through should be read Carajan, and on this I have acted. In the Geog. Text we find the name given at the end of ch. xlvii. Caragian, in ch. xlviii. as Carajan, in ch. xlix. as Caraian, thus just reversing the distinction made by Marsden. The Crusca has Charagia(n) all through.

The name then was Kara-jang, in which the first element was the Mongol or Turki Kara, "Black." For we find in another passage of Rashid the following information:[3] - "To the south-west of Cathay is the country called by the Chinese Dailiu or 'Great Realm,' and by the Mongols Karajang, in the language of India and Kashmir Kandar, and by us Kandahar. This country, which is of vast extent, is bounded on one side by Tibet and Tangut, and on others by Mongolia, Cathay, and the country of the Gold-Teeth. The King of Karajang uses the title of Mahara, i.e. Great King. The capital is called Yachi, and there the Council of Administration is established. Among the inhabitants of this country some are black, and others are white; these latter are called by the Mongols Chaghan-Jang ('White Jang')." Jang has not been explained; but probably it may have been a Tibetan term adopted by the Mongols, and the colours may have applied to their clothing. The dominant race at the Mongol invasion seems to have been Shans;[4] and black jackets are the characteristic dress of the Shans whom one sees in Burma in modern times. The Kara-jang and Chaghan-jang appear to correspond also to the U-man and Pe-man, or Black Barbarians and White Barbarians, who are mentioned by Chinese authorities as conquered by the Mongols. It would seem from one of Pauthier's Chinese quotations (p. 388), that the Chaghan-jang were found in the vicinity of Li-kiang fu. (D'Ohsson, II. 317; J. R. Geog. Soc. III. 294.) [Dr. Bretschneider (Med. Res. I. p. 184) says that in the description of Yun-nan, in the Yuen-shi, "Cara-jang and Chagan-jang are rendered by Wu-man and Po-man (Black and White Barbarians). But in the biographies of Djao-a-k'o-p'an, A-r-szelan (Yuen-shi, ch. cxxiii.), and others, these tribes are mentioned under the names of Ha-la-djang and Ch'a-han-djang, as the Mongols used to call them; and in the biography of Wu-liang-ho t'ai. [Uriang kadai], the conqueror of Yun-nan, it is stated that the capital of the Black Barbarians was called Yach'i. It is described there as a city surrounded by lakes from three sides." - H.C.]

[Illustration: A Saracen of Carajan, being a portrait of a Mahomedan Mullah in Western Yun-nan. (From Garnier's Work.)

"Les sunt des plosors maineres, car il hi a jens qe aorent Maomet." ]

Regarding Rashiduddin's application of the name Kandahar or Gandhara to Yun-nan, and curious points connected therewith, I must refer to a paper of mine in the J.R.A.Society (N.S. IV. 356). But I may mention that in the ecclesiastical translation of the classical localities of Indian Buddhism to Indo-China, which is current in Burma, Yun-nan represents Gandhara,[5] and is still so styled in state documents (Gandalarit).

What has been said of the supposed name Caraian disposes, I trust, of the fancies which have connected the origin of the Karens of Burma with it. More groundless still is M. Pauthier's deduction of the Talains of Pegu (as the Burmese call them) from the people of Ta-li, who fled from Kublai's invasion.

NOTE 2. - The existence of Nestorians in this remote province is very notable [see Bonin, J. As. XV. 1900, pp. 589-590. - H.C.] and also the early prevalence of Mahomedanism, which Rashiduddin intimates in stronger terms. "All the inhabitants of Yachi," he says, "are Mahomedans." This was no doubt an exaggeration, but the Mahomedans seem always to have continued to be an important body in Yun-nan up to our own day.

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