Excerpts from The Travels of Marco Polo, describing his travels from Italy to China for trade, ca. 1299

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1 The Travels of Marco Polo Adapted from The Enduring Legacy of Ancient China Lesson 18, by Shirley Moore Moore s writing identified by Cambria font; excerpts from Polo s writing in Bradley Hand font Read the excerpts below and answer the questions. You can write your answers in bullet point format. At the end of the document is a word bank with definitions for the words in bold. Excerpts from The Travels of Marco Polo, describing his travels from Italy to China for trade, ca Marco Polo was born in Venice, Italy, in Before he was twenty years old, he joined a trading expedition to China. He obtained an official post in Beijing, became a confidant of Emperor Kublai Khan ( ), and remained in China for twenty years. After he returned to Venice, he was imprisoned by the Genoese. During his time in prison, he dictated an account of his remarkable travels to a fellow prisoner. Marco Polo died in [Pamir] When the traveler leaves this place [Badakhshan in the Hindu Kush region], he goes three days journey towards the northeast, through the mountains all the time, climbing so high that this is said to be the highest place in the world. And when he is in this high place, he finds a plain between two mountains, with a lake from which flows a very fine river. Here is the best pasturage in the world; for a lean beast grows fat here in ten days. Wild game of every sort abounds. There are great quantities of wild sheep of huge size. Their horns grow to as much as six palms in length and are never less than three or four. From these horns the shepherds make big bowls from which they feed, and also fences to keep in their flocks. There are also innumerable wolves, which devour many of the wild rams. The horns and bones of the sheep are found in such numbers that men build cairns of them beside the tracks to serve as landmarks to travelers in the snowy season. This plain, whose name is Pamir, extents fully twelve days journey. In all these twelve days there is no habitation or shelter, but travelers must take their provisions with them. No birds fly here because of the height and the cold. And I assure you that, because of this great cold, fire is not so bright here nor of the same color as elsewhere, and food does not cook well. (pp ) [Kashgar] Kashgar was once a kingdom, but now it is subject to the Great Khan. It has villages and towns in plenty. The biggest city, and the most splendid, is Kashgar. The inhabitants live by trade and industry. They have very fine orchards and vineyards and flourishing estates. Cotton grows here in plenty, besides flax and hemp. The soil is fruitful and productive of all the means of life. This country is the starting-point from which many 1

2 merchants set out to market their wares all over the world. The folk here are very close-fisted and live very poorly, neither eating well nor drinking well. There are some Nestorian Christians in this country, having their own church and observing their own religion. The inhabitants have a language of their own. The province is five days journey in extent. (pp ) [Charchan] I will tell you of another province of Turkestan, lying east-north-east, which is called Charchan. It used to be a splendid and fruitful country, but it has been much devastated by the Tartars. The inhabitants worship Mahomet. There are villages and towns in plenty, and the chief city of the kingdom is Charchan. There are rivers producing jasper and chalcedony, which are exported for sale in Cathay and bring in a good profit; for they are plentiful and of good quality. All this province is a tract of sand; and so is the country from Khotan to Pem and from Pem to here. There are many springs of bad and bitter water, though in some places the water is good and sweet. When it happens that an army passes through the country, if it is a hostile one, the people take flight with their wives and children and their beasts two or three days journey into the sandy wastes to places where they know there is water and they can live with their beasts. And I assure you that no one can tell which way they have gone, because the wind covers their tracks with sand, so that there is nothing to show where they have been, but the country looks as if it had never been traversed by a man or beast. That is how they escape from their enemies. But, if it happens that a friendly army passes that way, they merely drive off their beasts, because they do not want to have them seized and eaten; for the armies never pay for what they take. And you should know that, when they harvest their corn, they store it far from any habitation, in certain caves among these wastes, for fear of the armies; and from these stores they bring home what they need month by month. After leaving Charchan, the road funs for fully five days through sandy wastes, where the water is bad and bitter, except in a few places where it is good and sweet; and there is nothing worth noting in our book. (p. 83) [Lop and Gobi Desert] The city I have mentioned, which stands at the point where the traveler enters the Great Desert, is a big city called Lop, and the desert is called the Desert of Lop. The city is subject to the Great Khan, and the inhabitants worship Mahomet. I can tell you that travelers who intend to cross the desert rest in this town for a week to refresh themselves and their beasts. Then they leave the town and enter the desert. This desert is reported to be so long that it would take a year to go from end to end; and at the narrowest point it takes a month to cross it. It consists entirely of mountains and sand and valleys. There is nothing at all to eat. But I can tell you that after traveling a day and night you find drinking water not enough water to supply a large company, but enough for fifty or a hundred men with their beasts. And all the way through the desert you must go for a day and a night before you find water. And I can tell you that in three or four places you find the water bitter and brackish; but at all the other watering places, that is, twenty-eight in all, the water is good. Beasts and birds there are none, because they find nothing to eat. But I assure you that one thing is found here, and that a very strange one, which I relate to you. The truth is this. When a man is riding by night through this desert and something happens to make him loiter and lose touch with his companions, by dropping asleep or for some 2

3 other reason, and afterwards he wants to rejoin them, then he hears spirits talking in such a way that they seem to be his companions. Sometimes, indeed they even hail him by name. Often these voices make him stray from the path, so that he never finds it again. And in this way many travelers have been lost and have perished. And sometimes in the night they are conscious of a noise like the clatter of a great cavalcade of riders away from the road; and, believing that these are some of their own company, they go where they hear the noise and, when day breaks, find they are victims of an illusion and in an awkward plight. And there are some who, in crossing this desert, have seen a host of men coming towards them and, suspecting that they were robbers, have taken flight; so, having left the beaten track and not knowing how to return to it, they have gone hopelessly astray. Yes, and even by daylight men hear these spirit voices, and often you fancy you are listening to the strains of many instruments, especially drums, and the clash of arms. For this reason bands of travelers make a point of keeping very close together. Before they go to sleep they set up a sign pointing in the direction in which they have to travel. And round the necks of all their beasts they fasten little bells, so that by listening to the sound they may prevent them from straying off the path. That is how they cross the desert, with all the discomfort of which you have heard. (pp ) [Khan- balik] You may take it for a fact that more precious and costly wares are imported into Khan-balik than into any other city in the world. Let me give you particulars. All the treasures that come from India precious stones, pearls, and other rarities are brought here. So too are the choicest and coolest products of Cathay itself and every other province. This is on account of the Great Khan himself, who lives here, and of the lords and ladies and the enormous multitude of hotelkeepers and other residents and of visitors who attend the courts held here by the Khan. That is why the volume and value of the imports and of the internal trade exceed those of any other city in the world. It is a fact that every day more than 1,000 cartloads of silk enter the city; for much cloth of gold and silk is woven here. Furthermore, Khan-balik is surrounded by more than 200 other cities, near and far, from which traders come to it to sell and to buy. So it is not surprising that it is the centre of such traffic as I have described. (pp. 130) Questions 1. What is the landscape like in Pamir? 2. What kinds of animals live in Pamir? 3

4 3. What is the weather like in Pamir? 4. How long did it take to cross the Pamir plain? 5. What was life like in Kashgar? 6. How long did it take to cross Kashgar province? 7. What is the landscape like in Charchan? 8. What was life like in Charchan? 9. How long did it take to cross the Gobi Desert at its narrowest point? 10. What strange thing did Marco Polo report happened to travelers in the Gobi? 4

5 11. What was life like in Khan- balik? 12. Few Europeans traveled all the way to China along the silk routes. Most international trade was handled by a series of Central Asian middlemen between the Black Sea and Chinese cities like Kashgar. How might the travel conditions along the silk routes explain why trade was conducted this way? Word Bank brackish: not clear; salty; impure cairn: a mound or pile Cathay: a name used by people in medieval Europe to refer to China cavalcade: a large group of people; a parade chalcedony: a kind of precious stone choicest: best clash of arms: the sound of battle clatter: a loud noise with many different parts confidant: a person who is trusted with someone s secrets; an advisor devastated: completely ruined dictate: to speak something aloud for someone else to write down expedition: a big trip, the purpose of which is often exploration or discovery 5

6 extents: the size of an area fancy: imagine flax: a kind of plant; often used to make cloth (i.e. linen) flourishing: healthy; growing well fruitful: productive go astray: to wander off; to leave the path Great Khan: Kublai Khan, who conquered China and founded the Yuan Dynasty habitation: places for people to live hail: call out to hemp: a kind of plant; often used to make cloth host: large group jasper: a precious stone loiter: wait around; dawdle Mahomet: another spelling of Mohammed, the founder of Islam multitude: large number Nestorian Christianity: a Christian sect based on the teachings of Nestorius, who was the Archbishop of Constantinople in the middle of the fourth Century on account of: because of pasturage: a.k.a. pastures; fields where animals can graze plight: a dangerous or difficult situation; a big problem rarities: things that are rare strains: faint sounds of music stray: wander away subject to: under the rule of take flight: run away Tartars: a.k.a. Tatars; an ethnic group from Eastern Europe related to Mongolian and Turkic peoples; fought with Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan s grandfather tract: a large piece of land traffic: movement of people or things through a place; importing and exporting traverse: travel across wares: goods that are bought and sold 6

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