In this
manner the fire-arrows, fire-pao, and even the pao casting stones of 100
Lbs. weight, could cause no damage to the towers or houses." (Ib. 196; also
for previous parts of this note, Visdelou, 188; Gaubil, 34, 155 seqq.
and 70; De Mailla, 329; Pauthier in loco and Introduction; D'Ohsson,
II. 35, and 391; Notes by Mr. Edward Thomas, F.R.S.; Q. Rashid., pp.
132, 136.) [See I. p. 342.]
[Captain Gill writes (River of Golden Sand, I. p. 148): "The word 'P'ao'
which now means 'cannon,' was, it was asserted, found in old Chinese books
of a date anterior to that in which gunpowder was first known to
Europeans; hence the deduction was drawn that the Chinese were acquainted
with gunpowder before it was used in the West. But close examination shows
that in all old books the radical of the character 'P'ao' means 'stone,'
but that in modern books the radical of the character 'P'ao' means 'fire';
that the character with the radical 'fire' only appears in books well
known to have been written since the introduction of gunpowder into the
West; and that the old character 'P'ao' in reality means 'Balista.'"
- H.C.]
["Wheeled boats are mentioned in 1272 at the siege of Siang-yang. Kublai
did not decide to 'go for' Manzi, i.e. the southern of the two Chinese
Empires, until 1273. Bayan did not start until 1274, appearing before
Hankow in January 1275. Wuhu and Taiping surrendered in April; then
Chinkiang, Kien K'ang (Nanking), and Ning kwoh; the final crushing blow
being dealt at Hwai-chan. In March 1276, the Manzi Emperor accepted
vassaldom. Kiang-nan was regularly administered in 1278." (E. H. Parker,
China Review, xxiv. p. 105.) - H.C.]
Siang-yang has been twice visited by Mr. A. Wylie. Just before his first
visit (I believe in 1866) a discovery had been made in the city of a
quantity of treasure buried at the time of the siege. One of the local
officers gave Mr. Wylie one of the copper coins, not indeed in itself of
any great rarity, but worth engraving here on account of its connection
with the siege commemorated in the text; and a little on the principle of
Smith the Weaver's evidence: - "The bricks are alive at this day to testify
of it; therefore deny it not."
[Illustration: Coin from a treasure hidden at Siang-yang during the siege
in 1268-73, lately discovered.]
[1] And to the Bern MS. which seems to be a copy of it, as is also I think
(in substance) the Bodleian.
[2] In this note I am particularly indebted to the researches of the
Emperor Napoleon III. on this subject. (Etudes sur le passe et
l'avenir de l'Artillerie; 1851.)
[3] Thus Joinville mentions the journey of Jehan li Ermin, the king's
artillerist, from Acre to Damascus, pour acheter cornes et glus pour
faire arbalestres - to buy horns and glue to make crossbows withal
(p. 134).
In the final defence of Acre (1291) we hear of balistae bipedales
(with a forked rest?) and other vertiginales (traversing on a pivot)
that shot 3 quarrels at once, and with such force as to stitch the
Saracens to their bucklers - cum clypeis consutos interfecerunt.
The crossbow, though apparently indigenous among various tribes of
Indo-China, seems to have been a new introduction in European warfare
in the 12th century. William of Brittany in a poem called the
Philippis, speaking of the early days of Philip Augustus, says: -
"Francigenis nostris illis ignota diebus
Res erat omnino quid balistarius arcus,
Quid balista foret, nec habebat in agmine toto
Rex quenquam sciret armis qui talibus uti."
- Duchesne, Hist. Franc. Script., V. 115.
Anna Comnena calls it [Greek: Tzagra] (which looks like Persian
charkh), "a barbaric bow, totally unknown to the Greeks"; and she
gives a very lengthy description of it, ending: "Such then are the
facts about the Tzagra, and a truly diabolical affair it is."
(Alex. X. - Paris ed. p. 291.)
[4] The construction is best seen in Figs. 17 and 19. Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
in the cut are from Chinese sources; Figs. 6, 7, 8 from Arabic works;
the rest from European sources.
[5] Christine de Pisan says that when keeping up a discharge by night
lighted brands should be attached to the stones in order to observe and
correct the practice. (Livre des faits, etc., du sage Roy Charles,
Pt. II. ch. xxiv.)
[6] Professor Sprenger informs me that the first mention of the Manjanik
in Mahomedan history is at the siege of Tayif by Mahomed himself, A.D.
630 (and see Sprenger's Mohammed [German], III. 330). The Annales
Marbacenses in Pertz, xvii. 172, say under 1212, speaking of wars of
the Emperor Otho in Germany: "Ibi tunc cepit haberi usus instrumenti
bellici quod vulgo tribok appellari solet."
There is a ludicrous Oriental derivation of Manjanik, from the Persian:
"Man chi nek"! "How good am I!" Ibn Khallikan remarks that the word
must be foreign, because the letters j and k ([Arabic] and [Arabic])
never occur together in genuine Arabic words (Notes by Mr. E.
Thomas, F.R.S.). It may be noticed that the letters in question occur
together in another Arabic word of foreign origin used by Polo, viz.
Jathalik.
[7] Dufour mentions that stone shot of the mediaeval engines exist at
Zurich, of 20 and 22 inches diameter. The largest of these would,
however, scarcely exceed 500 lbs. in weight.
[8] Georg. Stellae Ann. in Muratori, XVII. 1105; and Daru, Bk. viii.
sec. 12.
[9] Shaw, Dresses and Decorations of the Middle Ages, vol. i. No 21.
CHAPTER LXXI.
CONCERNING THE CITY OF SINJU AND THE GREAT RIVER KIAN.
You must know that when you leave the city of Yanju, after going 15 miles
south-east, you come to a city called SINJU, of no great size, but
possessing a very great amount of shipping and trade.
