CHAPTER LVI.

SUNDRY PARTICULARS OF THE PLAIN BEYOND CARACORON.

And when you leave Caracoron and the Altay, in which they bury the

bodies of the Tartar Sovereigns, as I told you, you go north for forty

days till you reach a country called the PLAIN OF BARGU.{1} The people

there are called MESCRIPT; they are a very wild race, and live by their

cattle, the most of which are stags, and these stags, I assure you,

they used to ride upon. Their customs are like those of the Tartars,

and they are subject to the Great Kaan. They have neither corn nor

wine.[They get birds for food, for the country is full of lakes and

pools and marshes, which are much frequented by the birds when they are

moulting, and when they have quite cast their feathers and can’t fly,

those people catch them. They also live partly on fish.{2}]

And when you have travelled forty days over this great plain you

come to the ocean, at the place where the mountains are in which the

Peregrine falcons have their nests. And in those mountains it is so

cold that you find neither man or woman, nor beast nor bird, except

one kind of bird called _Barguerlac_, on which the falcons feed. They

are as big as partridges, and have feet like those of parrots and

a tail like a swallow’s, and are very strong in flight. And when

the Grand Kaan wants Peregrines from the nest, he sends thither to

procure them.{3} It is also on islands in that sea that the Gerfalcons

are bred. You must know that the place is so far to the north that

you leave the North Star somewhat behind you towards the south! The

gerfalcons are so abundant there that the Emperor can have as many as

he likes to send for. And you must not suppose that those gerfalcons

which the Christians carry into the Tartar dominions go to the Great

Kaan; they are carried only to the Prince of the Levant.{4}

Now I have told you all about the provinces northward as far as the

Ocean Sea, beyond which there is no more land at all; so I shall

proceed to tell you of the other provinces on the way to the Great

Kaan. Let us, then, return to that province of which I spoke before,

called Campichu.

NOTE 1.—The readings differ as to the length of the journey. In

Pauthier’s text we seem to have first a journey of forty days from

near Karakorúm to the Plain of Bargu, and then a journey of forty

days more across the plain to the Northern Ocean. The G. T. seems

to present only _one_ journey of forty days (Ramusio, of sixty

days), but leaves the interval from Karakorúm undefined. I have

followed the former, though with some doubt.

NOTE 2.—This paragraph from Ramusio replaces the following in

Pauthier’s text: “In the summer they got abundance of game, both

beasts and birds, but in winter, there is none to be had because of

the great cold.”

Marco is here dealing, I apprehend, with hearsay geography,

and, as is common in like cases, there is great compression

of circumstances and characteristics, analogous to the like

compression of little-known regions in mediæval maps.

The name _Bargu_ appears to be the same with that often mentioned

in Mongol history as BARGUCHIN TUGRUM or BARGUTI, and which

Rashiduddin calls the northern limit of the inhabited earth. This

commenced about Lake Baikal, where the name still survives in that

of a river (_Barguzin_) falling into the Lake on the east side, and

of a town on its banks (_Barguzinsk_). Indeed, according to Rashid

himself, BARGU was the name of one of the tribes occupying the

plain; and a quotation from Father Hyacinth would seem to show that

the country is still called _Barakhu_.

[The Archimandrite Palladius (_Elucidations_, 16–17) writes:—“In

the Mongol text of Chingis Khan’s biography, this country is called

Barhu and Barhuchin; it is to be supposed, according to Colonel

Yule’s identification of this name with the modern Barguzin, that

this country was near Lake Baikal. The fact that Merkits were in

Bargu is confirmed by the following statement in Chingis Khan’s

biography: ‘When Chingis Khan defeated his enemies, the Merkits,

they fled to Barhuchin tokum.’ _Tokum_ signifies ‘a hollow, a low

place,’ according to the Chinese translation of the above-mentioned

biography, made in 1381; thus Barhuchin tokum undoubtedly

corresponds to M. Polo’s Plain of Bargu. As to M. Polo’s statement

that the inhabitants of Bargu were Merkits, it cannot be accepted

unconditionally. The Merkits were not indigenous to the country

near Baikal, but belonged originally,—according to a division

set forth in the Mongol text of the _Yuan ch’ao pi shi_,—to the

category of tribes _living in yurts_, _i.e._ nomad tribes, or tribes

of the desert. Meanwhile we find in the same biography of Chingis

Khan, mention of a people called Barhun, which belonged to the

category of tribes _living in the forests_; and we have therefore

reason to suppose that the Barhuns were the aborigines of Barhu.

After the time of Chingis Khan, this ethnographic name disappears

from Chinese history; it appears again in the middle of the 16th

century. The author of the _Yyu_ (1543–1544), in enumerating the

tribes inhabiting Mongolia and the adjacent countries, mentions

the Barhu, as a strong tribe, able to supply up to several tens of

thousands (?) of warriors, armed with steel swords; but the country

inhabited by them is not indicated. The Mongols, it is added, call

them Black Ta-tze (Khara Mongols, _i.e._ ‘Lower Mongols’).

“At the close of the 17th century, the Barhus are found inhabiting

the western slopes of the interior Hing’an, as well as between

Lake Kulon and River Khalkha, and dependent on a prince of eastern

Khalkhas, Doro beile. (Manchu title.)

“At the time of Galdan Khan’s invasion, a part of them fled to

Siberia with the eastern Khalkhas, but afterwards they returned.

[_Mung ku yew mu ki_ and _Lung sha ki lio_.] After their rebellion

in 1696, quelled by a Manchu General, they were included with

other petty tribes (regarding which few researches have been made)

in the category _butkha_, or hunters, and received a military

organisation. They are divided into Old and New Barhu, according

to the time when they were brought under Manchu rule. The Barhus

belong to the Mongolian, not to the Tungusian race; they are

sometimes considered even to have been in relationship with the

Khalkhas. (_He lung kiang wai ki_ and _Lung sha ki lio_.)

“This is all the substantial information we possess on the Barhu.

Is there an affinity to be found between the modern Barhus and the

Barhuns of Chingis Khan’s biography?—and is it to be supposed, that

in the course of time, they spread from Lake Baikal to the Hing’an

range? Or is it more correct to consider them a branch of the

Mongol race indigenous to the Hing’an Mountains, and which received

the general archaic name of Bargu, which might have pointed out the

physical character of the country they inhabited [_Kin Shi_], just

as we find in history the Urianhai of Altai and the Urianhai of

Western Manchuria? It is difficult to solve this question for want

of historical data.”—H. C.]

_Mescript_, or _Mecri_, as in G. T. The _Merkit_, a great tribe

to the south-east of the Baikal, were also called _Mekrit_, and

sometimes _Megrin_. The Mekrit are spoken of also by Carpini and

Rubruquis. D’Avezac thinks that the _Kerait_, and not the _Merkit_,

are intended by all three travellers. As regards Polo, I see

no reason for this view. The name he uses is _Mekrit_, and the

position which he assigns to them agrees fairly with that assigned

on good authority to the Merkit or Mekrit. Only, as in other cases,

where he is rehearsing hearsay information, it does not follow that

the identification of the name involves the correctness of all the

circumstances that he connects with that name. We saw in ch. xxx.

that under _Pashai_ he seemed to lump circumstances belonging to

various parts of the region from Badakhshan to the Indus; so here

under _Mekrit_ he embraces characteristics belonging to tribes

extending far beyond the Mekrit, and which in fact are appropriate

to the Tunguses. Rashiduddin seems to describe the latter under

the name of _Uriangkut_ of the Woods, a people dwelling beyond the

frontier of Barguchin, and in connection with whom he speaks of

their Reindeer obscurely, as well as of their tents of birch bark,

and their hunting on snow-shoes.

The mention of the Reindeer by Polo in this passage is one of the

interesting points which Pauthier’s text omits. Marsden objects

to the statement that the stags are ridden upon, and from this

motive mis-renders “_li qual’anche_ cavalcano,” as, “which

they make use of for the purpose of travelling.” Yet he might

have found in Witsen that the Reindeer are _ridden_ by various

Siberian Tribes, but especially by the Tunguses. Erman is very

full on the reindeer-riding of the latter people, having himself

travelled far in that way in going to Okhotsk, and gives a very

detailed description of the saddle, etc., employed. The reindeer

of the Tunguses are stated by the same traveller to be much larger

and finer animals than those of Lapland. They are also used for

pack-carriage and draught. Old Richard Eden says that the “olde

wryters” relate that “certayne Scythians doe ryde on Hartes.” I

have not traced to what he refers, but if the statement be in

any ancient author it is very remarkable. Some old editions of

Olaus Magnus have curious cuts of Laplanders and others riding on

reindeer, but I find nothing in the text appropriate. We hear from

travellers of the Lapland deer being occasionally mounted, but only

it would seem in sport, not as a practice. (_Erdmann_, 189, 191;

_D’Ohsson_, I. 103; _D’Avezac_, 534 _seqq._; _J. As._ sér. II.

tom. xi.; sér. IV. tom. xvii. 107; _N. et E._ XIII. i. 274–276;

_Witsen_, II. 670, 671, 680; _Erman_, II. 321, 374, 429, 449

_seqq._, and original German, II. 347 _seqq._; _Notes on Russia_,

Hac. Soc. II. 224; _J. A. S. B._ XXIX. 379.)

The numerous lakes and marshes swarming with water-fowl are very

characteristic of the country between Yakutsk and the Kolyma. It

is evident that Marco had his information from an eye-witness,

though the whole picture is compressed. Wrangell, speaking of

Nijni Kolyma, says: “It is at the moulting season that the great

bird-hunts take place. The sportsmen surround the nests, and slip

their dogs, which drive the birds to the water, on which they are

easily knocked over with a gun or arrow, or even with a stick....

This chase is divided into several periods. They begin with the

ducks, which moult first; then come the geese; then the swans....

In each case the people take care to choose the time when the birds

have lost their feathers.” The whole calendar with the Yakuts

and Russian settlers on the Kolyma is a succession of fishing

and hunting seasons which the same author details. (I. 149, 150;

119–121.)

NOTE 3.—What little is said of the _Barguerlac_ points to some

bird of the genus _Pterocles_, or Sand Grouse (to which belong

the so-called Rock Pigeons of India), or to the allied _Tetrao

paradoxus_ of Pallas, now known as _Syrrhaptes Pallasii_. Indeed,

we find in Zenker’s Dictionary that _Boghurtláḳ_ (or _Baghírtláḳ_,

as it is in Pavet de Courteille’s) in Oriental Turkish is the

_Kata_, _i.e._ I presume, the _Pterocles alchata_ of Linnæus, or

Large Pin-tailed Sand Grouse. Mr. Gould, to whom I referred the

point, is clear that the _Syrrhaptes_ is Marco’s bird, and I

believe there can be no question of it.

[Passing through Ch’ang-k’ou, Mr. Rockhill found the people praying

for rain. “The people told me,” he says, in his _Journey_ (p. 9),

“that they knew long ago the year would be disastrous, for the

sand grouse had been more numerous of late than for years, and the

saying goes _Sha-ch’i kuo, mai lao-po_, ‘when the sand grouse fly

by, wives will be for sale.’”—H. C.]

The chief difficulty in identification with the Syrrhaptes or any

known bird, would be “the feet like a parrot’s.” The feet of the

Syrrhaptes are not indeed like a parrot’s, though its awkward,

slow, and waddling gait on the ground, may have suggested the

comparison; and though it has very odd and anomalous feet, a

circumstance which the Chinese indicate in another way by calling

the bird (according to Huc) _Lung Kio_, or “Dragon-foot.” [Mr.

Rockhill (_Journey_) writes in a note (p. 9): “I, for my part,

never heard any other name than _sha-ch’i_, ‘sand-fowl,’ given

them. This name is used, however, for a variety of birds, among

others the partridge.”—H. C.] The hind-toe is absent, the toes are

unseparated, recognisable only by the broad flat nails, and fitted

below with a callous couch, whilst the whole foot is covered with

short dense feathers like hair, and is more like a quadruped’s paw

than a bird’s foot.

The home of the Syrrhaptes is in the Altai, the Kirghiz Steppes,

and the country round Lake Baikal, though it also visits the North

of China in great flights. “On plains of grass and sandy deserts,”

says Gould (_Birds of Great Britain_, Part IV.), “at one season

covered with snow, and at another sun-burnt and parched by drought,

it finds a congenial home; in these inhospitable and little-known

regions it breeds, and when necessity compels it to do so, wings

its way ... over incredible distances to obtain water or food.” Huc

says, speaking of the bird on the northern frontier of China: “They

generally arrive in great flights from the north, especially when

much snow has fallen, flying with astonishing rapidity, so that the

movement of their wings produces a noise like hail.” It is said to

be very delicate eating. The bird owes its place in Gould’s _Birds

of Great Britain_ to the fact—strongly illustrative of its being

_moult volant_, as Polo says it is—that it appeared in England in

1859, and since then, at least up to 1863, continued to arrive

annually in pairs or companies in nearly all parts of our island,

from Penzance to Caithness. And Gould states that it was breeding

in the Danish islands. A full account by Mr. A. Newton of this

remarkable immigration is contained in the _Ibis_ for April, 1864,

and many details in _Stevenson’s Birds of Norfolk_, I. 376 _seqq._

There are plates of _Syrrhaptes_ in _Radde’s Reisen im Süden

von Ost-Sibirien_, Bd. II.; in vol. v. of _Temminck_, Planches

Coloriées, Pl. 95; in _Gould_, as above; in _Gray, Genera of

Birds_, vol. iii. p. 517 (life size); and in the _Ibis_ for April,

1860. From the last our cut is taken.

[See _A. David et Oustalet_, _Oiseaux de la Chine_, 389, on

_Syrrhaptes Pallasii_ or _Syrrhaptes Paradoxus_.—H. C.]

[Illustration: Syrrhaptes Pallasii.]

NOTE 4.—Gerfalcons (_Shonḳár_) were objects of high estimation

in the Middle Ages, and were frequent presents to and from royal

personages. Thus among the presents sent with an embassy from

King James II. of Aragon to the Sultan of Egypt, in 1314, we find

three white gerfalcons. They were sent in homage to Chinghiz and

to Kúblái, by the Kirghiz, but I cannot identify the mountains

where they or the Peregrines were found. The Peregrine falcon was

in Europe sometimes termed _Faucon Tartare_. (See _Ménage_ s.v.

_Sahin_.) The Peregrine of Northern Japan, and probably therefore

that of Siberia, is identical with that of Europe. Witsen speaks

of an island in the Sea of Tartary, from which falcons were got,

apparently referring to a Chinese map as his authority; but I know

nothing more of it. (_Capmany_, IV. 64–65; _Ibis_, 1862, p. 314;

_Witsen_, II. 656.)

[On the _Falco peregrinus_, Lin., and other Falcons, see Ed.

Blanc’s paper mentioned on p. 162. The _Falco Saker_ is to be found

all over Central Asia; it is called by the Pekingese _Hwang-yng_

(yellow falcon). (_David et Oustalet_, _Oiseaux de la Chine_,

31–32.)—H. C.]