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.”