CHAPTER XVI.

CONCERNING THE TWELVE THOUSAND BARONS WHO RECEIVE ROBES OF CLOTH OF

GOLD FROM THE EMPEROR ON THE GREAT FESTIVALS, THIRTEEN CHANGES

A-PIECE.

Now you must know that the Great Kaan hath set apart 12,000 of his

men who are distinguished by the name of _Keshican_, as I have told

you before; and on each of these 12,000 Barons he bestows thirteen

changes of raiment, which are all different from one another: I mean

that in one set the 12,000 are all of one colour; the next 12,000 of

another colour, and so on; so that they are of thirteen different

colours. These robes are garnished with gems and pearls and other

precious things in a very rich and costly manner.{1} And along with

each of these changes of raiment, _i.e._ 13 times in the year, he

bestows on each of those 12,000 Barons a fine golden girdle of great

richness and value, and likewise a pair of boots of _Camut_, that is to

say of _Borgal_, curiously wrought with silver thread; insomuch that

when they are clothed in these dresses every man of them looks like a

king!{2} And there is an established order as to which dress is to be

worn at each of those thirteen feasts. The Emperor himself also has

his thirteen suits corresponding to those of his Barons; in _colour_,

I mean (though his are grander, richer, and costlier), so that he is

always arrayed in the same colour as his Barons, who are, as it were,

his comrades. And you may see that all this costs an amount which it is

scarcely possible to calculate.

Now I have told you of the thirteen changes of raiment received from

the Prince by those 12,000 Barons, amounting in all to 156,000 suits of

so great cost and value, to say nothing of the girdles and the boots

which are also worth a great sum of money. All this the Great Lord

hath ordered, that he may attach the more of grandeur and dignity to

his festivals.

And now I must mention another thing that I had forgotten, but which

you will be astonished to learn from this Book. You must know that on

the Feast Day a great Lion is led to the Emperor’s presence, and as

soon as it sees him it lies down before him with every sign of the

greatest veneration, as if it acknowledged him for its lord; and it

remains there lying before him, and entirely unchained. Truly this must

seem a strange story to those who have not seen the thing!{3}

NOTE 1.—On the _Keshican_, see note 1 to chap. xii., and on the

changes of raiment note 3 to chap. xiv., and the remarks there as

to the number of distributions. I confess that the stress laid upon

the number 13 in this chapter makes the supposition of error more

difficult. But there is something odd and unintelligible about the

whole of the chapter except the last paragraph. For the 12,000

_Keshican_ are here all elevated to _Barons_; and at the same time

the statement about their changes of raiment seems to be merely

that already made in chapter xiv. This repetition occurs only in

the French MSS., but as it is in all these we cannot reject it.

NOTE 2.—The words _Camut_ and _Borgal_ appear both to be used

here for what we call _Russia-Leather_. The latter word in one

form or another, _Bolghár, Borgháli_, or _Bulkál_, is the term

applied to that material to this day nearly all over Asia. Ibn

Batuta says that in travelling during winter from Constantinople

to the Wolga he had to put on three pairs of boots, one of wool

(which we should call stockings), a second of wadded linen, and a

third of _Borgháli_, “_i.e._ of horse-leather lined with wolf-skin.”

Horse-leather seems to be still the favourite material for boots

among all the Tartar nations. The name was undoubtedly taken from

_Bolghar_ on the Wolga, the people of which are traditionally said

to have invented the art of preparing skins in that manner. This

manufacture is still one of the staple trades of Kazan, the city

which in position and importance is the nearest representative of

Bolghar now.

_Camut_ is explained by Klaproth to be “leather made from the

back-skin of a camel.” It appears in Johnson’s Persian Dictionary

as _Kámú_, but I do not know from what language it originally

comes. The word is in the Latin column of the Petrarchian

Vocabulary with the Persian rendering _Sagri_. This shows us

what is meant, for _Saghrí_ is just our word _Shagreen_, and is

applied to a fine leather granulated in that way, which is much

used for boots and the like by the people of Central Asia. [In

Turkish _ṣāghri_ or _saghri_ is the name both for the buttocks of

a horse and the leather called _shagreen_ prepared with them. (See

_Devic, Dict. Étym._)—H. C.] In the commercial lists of our Indian

north-west frontier we find as synonymous _Saghri_ or _Kímukht_,

“Horse or Ass-hide.” No doubt this latter word is a form of _Kámú_

or _Camut_. It appears (as _Keimukht_, “a sort of leather”) in a

detail of imports to Aden given by _Ibn al Wardi_, a geographer of

the 13th century.

Instead of Camut, Ramusio has _Camoscia_, _i.e._ Chamois, and the

same seems to be in all the editions based on Fra Pipino’s version.

It may be a misrendering of _camutum_ or _camutium_; or is there

any real connexion between the Oriental _Kámú Kímukht_, and the

Italian _camoscia_? (_I. B._ II. 445; _Klapr. Mém._ vol. III.;

_Davies’s Trade Report_, App. p. ccxx.; _Vámbéry’s Travels_, 423;

_Not. et Ext._ II. 43.)

Fraehn (writing in 1832) observes that he knew no use of the word

_Bolghár_, in the sense of Russian leather, older than the 17th

century. But we see that both Marco and Ibn Batuta use it. (_F. on

the Wolga Bulghars_, pp. 8–9.)

Pauthier in a note (p. 285) gives a list of the garments issued to

certain officials on these ceremonial occasions under the Mongols,

and sure enough this list includes “pairs of boots in red leather.”

Odoric particularly mentions the broad golden girdles worn at the

Kaan’s court.

[La Curne, _Dict._, has _Bulga_, leather bag; old Gallic word from

which are derived _bouge_ et _bougete, bourse_; he adds in a note,

“Festus writes: ‘_Bulgas_ galli sacculos scorteos vocant.’”—H. C.]

NOTE 3.—“Then come mummers leading lions, which they cause to

salute the Lord with reverence.” (_Odoric_, p. 143.) A lion sent by

Mirza Baisangar, one of the Princes of Timur’s House, accompanied

Shah Rukh’s embassy as a present to the Emperor; and like presents

were frequently repeated. (See _Amyot_, XIV. 37, 38.)