CHAPTER XVII.

CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF KERMAN.

Kerman is a kingdom which is also properly in Persia, and formerly

it had a hereditary prince. Since the Tartars conquered the country

the rule is no longer hereditary, but the Tartar sends to administer

whatever lord he pleases.{1} In this kingdom are produced the stones

called turquoises in great abundance; they are found in the mountains,

where they are extracted from the rocks.{2} There are also plenty of

veins of steel and _Ondanique_.{3} The people are very skilful in

making harness of war; their saddles, bridles, spurs, swords, bows,

quivers, and arms of every kind, are very well made indeed according

to the fashion of those parts. The ladies of the country and their

daughters also produce exquisite needlework in the embroidery of silk

stuffs in different colours, with figures of beasts and birds, trees

and flowers, and a variety of other patterns. They work hangings for

the use of noblemen so deftly that they are marvels to see, as well as

cushions, pillows quilts, and all sorts of things.{4}

In the mountains of Kerman are found the best falcons in the world.

They are inferior in size to the Peregrine, red on the breast, under

the neck, and between the thighs; their flight so swift that no bird

can escape them.{5}

On quitting the city you ride on for seven days, always finding towns,

villages, and handsome dwelling-houses, so that it is very pleasant

travelling; and there is excellent sport also to be had by the way in

hunting and hawking. When you have ridden those seven days over a plain

country, you come to a great mountain; and when you have got to the top

of the pass you find a great descent which occupies some two days to

go down. All along you find a variety and abundance of fruits; and in

former days there were plenty of inhabited places on the road, but now

there are none; and you meet with only a few people looking after their

cattle at pasture. From the city of Kerman to this descent the cold in

winter is so great that you can scarcely abide it, even with a great

quantity of clothing.{6}

NOTE 1.—Kermán is mentioned by Ptolemy, and also by Ammianus

amongst the cities of the country so called (_Carmania_): “_inter

quas nitet_ Carmana _omnium mater_.” (XXIII. 6.)

M. Pauthier’s supposition that _Sirján_ was in Polo’s time the

capital, is incorrect. (See _N. et E._ XIV. 208, 290.) Our Author’s

Kermán is the city still so called; and its proper name would seem

to have been _Kuwáshír_. (See _Reinaud, Mém. sur l’Inde_, 171; also

_Sprenger P. and R. R._ 77.) According to Khanikoff it is 5535 feet

above the sea.

Kermán, on the fall of the Beni Búya Dynasty, in the middle of the

11th century, came into the hands of a branch of the Seljukian

Turks, who retained it till the conquests of the Kings of Khwarizm,

which just preceded the Mongol invasion. In 1226 the Amir Borák,

a Kara Khitaian, who was governor on behalf of Jaláluddin of

Khwarizm, became independent under the title of Kutlugh Sultan.

[He died in 1234.] The Mongols allowed this family to retain the

immediate authority, and at the time when Polo returned from China

the representative of the house was a lady known as the _Pádishah

Khátún_ [who reigned from 1291], the wife successively of the

Ilkhans Abaka and Kaikhatu; an ambitious, clever, and masterful

woman, who put her own brother Siyurgutmish to death as a rival,

and was herself, after the decease of Kaikhatu, put to death by

her brother’s widow and daughter [1294]. The Dynasty continued,

nominally at least, to the reign of the Ilkhan Khodabanda

(1304–13), when it was extinguished. [See Major Sykes’ _Persia_,

chaps, v. and xxiii.]

Kermán was a Nestorian see, under the Metropolitan of Fars. (_Ilch.

passim; Weil_, III. 454; _Lequien_, II. 1256.)

[“There is some confusion with regard to the names of Kermán both

as a town and as a province or kingdom. We have the names Kermán,

Kuwáshír, Bardshír. I should say the original name of the whole

country was Kermán, the ancient Karamania. A province of this was

called Kúreh-i-Ardeshír, which, being contracted, became Kuwáshír,

and is spoken of as the province in which Ardeshír Bábekán, the

first Sassanian monarch, resided. A part of Kúreh-i-Ardeshír was

called Bardshír, or Bard-i-Ardeshír, now occasionally Bardsír,

and the present city of Kermán was situated at its north-eastern

corner. This town, during the Middle Ages, was called Bardshír.

On a coin of Qara Arslán Beg, King of Kermán, of A.H. 462, Mr.

Stanley Lane Poole reads Yazdashír instead of Bardshír. Of Al

Idrísí’s Yazdashír I see no mention in histories; Bardshír was

the capital and the place where most of the coins were struck.

Yazdashír, if such a place existed, can only have been a place of

small importance. It is, perhaps, a clerical error for Bardshír;

without diacritical points, both words are written alike. Later,

the name of the city became Kermán, the name Bardshír reverting

to the district lying south-west of it, with its principal place

Mashíz. In a similar manner Mashíz was often, and is so now,

called Bardshír. Another old town sometimes confused with Bardshír

was Sírján or Shírján, once more important than Bardshír; it is

spoken of as the capital of Kermán, of Bardshír, and of Sardsír.

Its name now exists only as that of a district, with principal

place S’aídábád. The history of Kermán, ’Agd-ul-’Olá, plainly

says Bardshír is the capital of Kermán, and from the description

of Bardshír there is no doubt of its having been the present town

Kermán. It is strange that Marco Polo does not give the name of

the city. In Assemanni’s _Bibliotheca Orientalis_ Kuwáshír and

Bardashír are mentioned as separate cities, the latter being

probably the old Mashíz, which as early as A.H. 582 (A.D. 1186)

is spoken of in the _History of Kermán_ as an important town.

The Nestorian bishop of the province Kermán, who stood under the

Metropolitan of Fars, resided at Hormúz.” (_Houtum-Schindler_,

_l.c._ pp. 491–492.)

There does not seem any doubt as to the identity of Bardashir with

the present city of Kermán. (See _The Cities of Kirmān in the

time of Hamd-Allah Mustawfi and Marco Polo_, by Guy le Strange,

_Jour. R. As. Soc._ April, 1901, pp. 281, 290.) Hamd-Allah is

the author of the Cosmography known as the _Nuzhat-al-Kūlūb_ or

“Heart’s Delight.” (Cf. Major Sykes’ _Persia_, chap. xvi., and the

_Geographical Journal_ for February, 1902, p. 166.)—H. C.]

NOTE 2.—A MS. treatise on precious stones cited by Ouseley mentions

_Shebavek_ in Kermán as the site of a Turquoise mine. This is

probably _Shahr-i-Babek_, about 100 miles west of the city of

Kermán, and not far from _Párez_, where Abbott tells us there is

a mine of these stones, now abandoned. Goebel, one of Khanikoff’s

party, found a deposit of turquoises at Taft, near Yezd.

(_Ouseley’s Travels_, I. 211; _J. R. G. S._ XXVI. 63–65; _Khan.

Mém._ 203.)

[“The province Kermán is still rich in turquoises. The mines of

Páríz or Párez are at Chemen-i-mó-aspán, 16 miles from Páríz on the

road to Bahrámábád (principal place of Rafsinján), and opposite

the village or garden called Gód-i-Ahmer. These mines were worked

up to a few years ago; the turquoises were of a pale blue. Other

turquoises are found in the present Bardshír plain, and not far

from Mashíz, on the slopes of the Chehel tan mountain, opposite

a hill called the Bear Hill (tal-i-Khers). The Shehr-i-Bábek

turquoise mines are at the small village Kárík, a mile from

Medvár-i-Bálá, 10 miles north of Shehr-i-Bábek. They have two

shafts, one of which has lately been closed by an earthquake, and

were worked up to about twenty years ago. At another place, 12

miles from Shehr-i-Bábek, are seven old shafts now not worked for

a long period. The stones of these mines are also of a very pale

blue, and have no great value.” (_Houtum-Schindler_, _l.c._ 1881,

p. 491.)

The finest turquoises came from Khorasan; the mines were near

Maaden, about 48 miles to the north of Nishapūr. (Heyd, _Com. du

Levant_, II. p. 653; Ritter, _Erdk._ pp. 325–330.)

It is noticeable that Polo does not mention indigo at Kermán.—H. C.]

NOTE 3.—Edrisi says that excellent iron was produced in the “cold

mountains” N.W. of Jiruft, _i.e._ somewhere south of the capital;

and _Jihán Numá_, or Great Turkish Geography, that the steel mines

of Niriz, on the borders of Kermán, were famous. These are also

spoken of by Teixeira. Major St. John enables me to indicate their

position, in the hills east of Niriz. (_Edrisi_, vol. i. p. 430;

_Hammer, Mém. sur la Perse_, p. 275; _Teixeira, Relaciones_, p.

378; and see Map of Itineraries, No. II.)

[“Marco Polo’s steel mines are probably the Parpa iron mines on

the road from Kermán to Shíráz, called even to-day M’aden-i-fúlád

(steel mine); they are not worked now. Old Kermán weapons, daggers,

swords, old stirrups, etc., made of steel, are really beautiful,

and justify Marco Polo’s praise of them” (_Houtum-Schindler_,

_l.c._ p. 491.)—H. C.]

_Ondanique_ of the Geog. Text, _Andaine_ of Pauthier’s, _Andanicum_

of the Latin, is an expression on which no light has been thrown

since Ramusio’s time. The latter often asked the Persian merchants

who visited Venice, and they all agreed in stating that it was a

sort of steel of such surpassing value and excellence, that in the

days of yore a man who possessed a mirror, or sword, of _Andanic_

regarded it as he would some precious jewel. This seems to me

excellent evidence, and to give the true clue to the meaning of

_Ondanique_. I have retained the latter form because it points

most distinctly to what I believe to be the real word, viz.

_Hundwáníy_, “Indian Steel.”[1] (See _Johnson’s Pers. Dict._ and

_De Sacy’s Chrestomathie Arabe_, II. 148.) In the _Vocabulista

Arabico_, of about A.D. 1200 (Florence, 1871, p. 211), _Hunduwán_

is explained by _Ensis_. Vüllers explains _Hundwán_ as “anything

peculiar to India, especially swords,” and quotes from Firdúsi,

“_Khanjar-i-Hundwán_,” a hanger of Indian steel.

The like expression appears in the quotation from Edrisi below

as _Hindiah_, and found its way into Spanish in the shapes of

_Alhinde, Alfinde, Alinde_, first with the meaning of _steel_, then

assuming, that of _steel mirror_, and finally that of metallic

foil of a glass mirror. (See _Dozy_ and _Engelmann_, 2d ed. pp.

144–145.) _Hint_ or _Al-hint_ is used in Berber also for steel.

(See _J. R. A. S._ IX. 255.)

The sword-blades of India had a great fame over the East, and

Indian steel, according to esteemed authorities, continued to be

imported into Persia till days quite recent. Its fame goes back

to very old times. Ctesias mentions two wonderful swords of such

material that he got from the king of Persia and his mother. It

is perhaps the _ferrum candidum_ of which the Malli and Oxydracae

sent a 100 talents weight as a present to Alexander.[2] Indian

Iron and Steel (σíδηρος Ἰνδικòς καì στóμωμα) are mentioned in the

_Periplus_ as imports into the Abyssinian ports. _Ferrum Indicum_

appears (at least according to one reading) among the Oriental

_species_ subject to duty in the Law of Marcus Aurelius and

Commodus on that matter. Salmasius notes that among surviving Greek

chemical treatises there was one περì βαφῆς Ἰνδικοῦ σιδήρου, “On

the Tempering of Indian Steel.” Edrisi says on this subject: “The

Hindus excel in the manufacture of iron, and in the preparation of

those ingredients along with which it is fused to obtain that kind

of soft Iron which is usually styled _Indian Steel_ (HINDIAH).[3]

They also have workshops wherein are forged the most famous sabres

in the world.... It is impossible to find anything to surpass the

edge that you get from Indian Steel (_al-hadíd al-Hindí_).”

Allusions to the famous sword-blades of India would seem to be

frequent in Arabic literature. Several will be found in Hamása’s

collection of ancient Arabic poems translated by Freytag. The old

commentator on one of these passages says: “_Ut optimos gladios

significet_ ... Indicos _esse dixit_,” and here the word used in

the original is _Hundwániyah_. In Manger’s version of Arabshah’s

_Life of Timur_ are several allusions of the same kind; one, a

quotation from _Antar_, recalls the _ferrum candidum_ of Curtius:

“Albi (gladii) Indici _meo in sanguine abluuntur_.”

In the histories, even of the Mahomedan conquest of India, the

Hindu infidels are sent to _Jihannam_ with “the well-watered blade

of the Hindi sword”; or the sword is personified as “a Hindu of

good family.” Coming down to later days, Chardin says of the steel

of Persia: “They combine it with Indian steel, which is more

tractable ... and is much more esteemed.” Dupré, at the beginning

of this century, tells us: “I used to believe ... that the steel

for the famous Persian sabres came from certain mines in Khorasan.

But according to all the information I have obtained, I can assert

that no mine of steel exists in that province. What is used for

these blades comes in the shape of disks from Lahore.” Pottinger

names _steel_ among the imports into Kermán from India. Elphinstone

the Accurate, in his _Caubul_, confirms Dupré: “Indian Steel [in

Afghanistan] is most prized for the material; but the best swords

are made in Persia and in Syria;” and in his _History of India_, he

repeats: “The steel of India was in request with the ancients; it

is celebrated in the oldest Persian poem, and is still the material

of the scimitars of Khorasan and Damascus.”[4]

Klaproth, in his _Asia Polyglotta_, gives _Andun_ as the Ossetish

and _Andan_ as the Wotiak, for Steel. Possibly these are

essentially the same with _Hundwáníy_ and _Alhinde_, pointing to

India as the original source of supply. [In the _Sikandar Nāma,e

Bará_ (or “Book of Alexander the Great,” written A.D. 1200, by Abū

Muhammad bin Yusuf bin Mu,Ayyid-i-Nizāmu-’d-Dīn), translated by

Captain H. Wilberforce Clarke (Lond., 1881, large 8vo), steel is

frequently mentioned: Canto xix. 257, p. 202; xx. 12, p. 211; xlv.

38, p. 567; lviii. 32, pp. 695, 42, pp. 697, 62, 66, pp. 699; lix.

28, p. 703.—H. C.]

Avicenna, in his fifth book _De Animâ_, according to Roger Bacon,

distinguishes three very different species of iron: “1st. Iron

which is good for striking or bearing heavy strokes, and for being

forged by hammer and fire, but not for cutting-tools. Of this

hammers and anvils are made, and this is what we commonly call

_Iron_ simply. 2nd. That which is purer, has more heat in it, and

is better adapted to take an edge and to form cutting-tools, but is

not so malleable, viz. _Steel_. And the 3rd is that which is called

ANDENA. This is less known among the Latin nations. Its special

character is that like silver it is malleable and ductile under a

very low degree of heat. In other properties it is intermediate

between iron and steel.” (_Fr. R. Baconis Opera Inedita_, 1859,

pp. 382–383.) The same passage, apparently, of Avicenna is quoted

by Vincent of Beauvais, but with considerable differences. (See

_Speculum Naturale_, VII. ch. lii. lx., and _Specul. Doctrinale_,

XV. ch. lxiii.) The latter author writes _Alidena_, and I have not

been able to refer to Avicenna, so that I am doubtful whether his

_Andena_ is the same term with the _Andaine_ of Pauthier and our

_Ondanique_.

The popular view, at least in the Middle Ages, seems to have

regarded _Steel_ as a distinct natural species, the product of

a necessarily different _ore_, from iron; and some such view

is, I suspect, still common in the East. An old Indian officer

told me of the reply of a native friend to whom he had tried

to explain the conversion of iron into steel—“What! You would

have me believe that if I put an ass into the furnace it will

come forth a horse.” And Indian Steel again seems to have been

regarded as a distinct natural species from ordinary steel. It is

in fact made by a peculiar but simple process, by which the iron

is converted _directly_ into cast-steel, without passing through

any intermediate stage analogous to that of _blister-steel_. When

specimens were first examined in England, chemists concluded that

the steel was made direct from the _ore_. The _Ondanique_ of

Marco no doubt was a fine steel resembling the Indian article.

(_Müller’s Ctesias_, p. 80; _Curtius_, IX. 24; _Müller’s Geog. Gr.

Min._ I. 262; _Digest. Novum_, Lugd. 1551, Lib. XXXIX. Tit. 4;

_Salmas. Ex. Plinian._ II. 763; _Edrisi_, I. 65–66; _J. R. S. A._

A. 387 _seqq._; _Hamasae Carmina_, I. 526; _Elliot_, II. 209, 394;

_Reynolds’s Utbi_, p. 216.)

[Illustration: Texture, with Animals, etc., from a Cashmere Scarf in

the Indian Museum.

“=De deverses maineres laborés à bestes et ausiaus mout

richement.=”]

NOTE 4.—Paulus Jovius in the 16th century says, I know not on

what authority, that Kermán was then celebrated for the fine temper

of its steel in scimitars and lance-points. These were eagerly

bought at high prices by the Turks, and their quality was such that

one blow of a Kermán sabre would cleave an European helmet without

turning the edge. And I see that the phrase, “Kermání blade” is

used in poetry by Marco’s contemporary Amír Khusrú of Delhi. (_P.

Jov. Hist. of his own Time_, Bk. XIV.; _Elliot_, III. 537.)

There is, or was in Pottinger’s time, still a great manufacture

of _matchlocks_ at Kermán; but rose-water, shawls, and carpets

are the staples of the place now. Polo says nothing that points

to shawl-making, but it would seem from Edrisi that some such

manufacture already existed in the adjoining district of Bamm. It

is possible that the “hangings” spoken of by Polo may refer to

the carpets. I have seen a genuine Kermán carpet in the house of

my friend, Sir Bartle Frere. It is of very short pile, very even

and dense; the design, a combination of vases, birds, and floral

tracery, closely resembling the illuminated frontispiece of some

Persian MSS.

The shawls are inferior to those of Kashmir in exquisite softness,

but scarcely in delicacy of texture and beauty of design. In

1850, their highest quality did not exceed 30 _tomans_ (14_l._)

in price. About 2200 looms were employed on the fabric. A good

deal of Kermán wool called _Kurk_, goes _viâ_ Bandar Abbási and

Karáchi to Amritsar, where it is mixed with the genuine Tibetan

wool in the shawl manufacture. Several of the articles named in the

text, including _pardahs_ (“cortines”) are woven in shawl-fabric.

I scarcely think, however, that Marco would have confounded woven

shawl with needle embroidery. And Mr. Khanikoff states that the

silk embroidery, of which Marco speaks, is still performed with

great skill and beauty at Kermán. Our cut illustrates the textures

figured with animals, already noticed at p. 66.

The Guebers were numerous here at the end of last century, but they

are rapidly disappearing now. The Musulman of Kermán is, according

to Khanikoff, an epicurean gentleman, and even in regard to wine,

which is strong and plentiful, his divines are liberal. “In other

parts of Persia you find the scribblings on the walls of Serais to

consist of philosophical axioms, texts from the Koran, or abuse

of local authorities. From Kermán to Yezd you find only rhymes in

praise of fair ladies or good wine.”

(_Pottinger’s Travels_; _Khanik. Mém._ 186 _seqq._, and _Notice_,

p. 21; _Major Smith’s Report_; _Abbott’s MS. Report_ in F. O.;

_Notes by Major O. St. John_, R.E.)

NOTE 5.—Parez is famous for its falcons still, and so are the

districts of Aktár and Sirján. Both Mr. Abbott and Major Smith were

entertained with hawking by Persian hosts in this neighbourhood.

The late Sir O. St. John identifies the bird described as the

_Sháhín_ (Falco _Peregrinator_), one variety of which, the _Fársi_,

is abundant in the higher mountains of S. Persia. It is now little

used in that region, the _Terlán_ or goshawk being most valued, but

a few are caught and sent for sale to the Arabs of Oman. (_J. R. G.

S._ XXV. 50, 63, and _Major St. John’s Notes_.)

[“The fine falcons, ‘with red breasts and swift of flight,’ come

from Páríz. They are, however, very scarce, two or three only

being caught every year. A well-trained Páríz falcon costs from

30 to 50 tomans (12_l._ to 20_l._), as much as a good horse.”

(_Houtum-Schindler_, _l.c._ p. 491.) Major Sykes, _Persia_, ch.

xxiii., writes: “Marco Polo was evidently a keen sportsman, and his

description of the _Sháhin_, as it is termed, cannot be improved

upon.” Major Sykes has a list given him by a Khán of seven hawks of

the province, all black and white, except the _Sháhin_, which has

yellow eyes, and is the third in the order of size.—H. C.]

NOTE 6.—We defer geographical remarks till the traveller reaches

Hormuz.

[1] A learned friend objects to Johnson’s _Hundwáníy_ = “Indian Steel,”

as too absolute; some word for _steel_ being wanted. Even if it

be so, I observe that in three places where Polo uses _Ondanique_

(here, ch. xxi., and ch. xlii.), the phrase is always “_steel

and ondanique_.” This looks as if his mental expression were

_Púlád-i-Hundwáni_, rendered by an idiom like Virgil’s _pocula et

aurum_.

[2] Kenrick suggests that the “bright iron” mentioned by Ezekiel among

the wares of Tyre (ch. xxvii. 19) can hardly have been anything else

than Indian Steel, because named with cassia and _calamus_.

[3] Literally rendered by Mr. Redhouse: “The Indians do well the

combining of mixtures of the chemicals with which they (smelt and)

cast the soft iron, and it becomes _Indian_ (steel), being referred

to India (in this expression).”

[4] In _Richardson’s Pers. Dict._, by Johnson, we have a word _Rohan,

Rohina_ (and other forms). “The finest Indian steel, of which the

most excellent swords are made; also the swords made of that steel.”