The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Marco Polo and da Pisa Rusticiano
CHAPTER XXI.
1676 words | Chapter 276
CONCERNING THE CITY OF COBINAN AND THE THINGS THAT ARE
MADE THERE.
Cobinan is a large town.{1} The people worship Mahommet. There is much
Iron and Steel and _Ondanique_, and they make steel mirrors of great
size and beauty. They also prepare both _Tutia_ (a thing very good for
the eyes) and _Spodium_; and I will tell you the process.
They have a vein of a certain earth which has the required quality,
and this they put into a great flaming furnace, whilst over the
furnace there is an iron grating. The smoke and moisture, expelled
from the earth of which I speak, adhere to the iron grating, and
thus form _Tutia_, whilst the slag that is left after burning is the
_Spodium_.{2}
NOTE 1.—KUH-BANÁN is mentioned by Moḳaddasi (A.D. 985) as one of
the cities of Bardesír, the most northerly of the five circles into
which he divides Kermán. (See _Sprenger, Post-und Reise-routen
des Orients_, p. 77.) It is the subject of an article in the Geog.
Dictionary of Yáḳút, though it has been there mistranscribed into
_Kubiyán_ and _Kukiyán_. (See Leipzig ed. 1869, iv. p. 316, and
_Barbier de Meynard_, _Dict. de la Perse_, p. 498.) And it is also
indicated by Mr. Abbott (_J. R. G. S._ XXV. 25) as the name of a
district of Kermán, lying some distance to the east of his route
when somewhat less than half-way between Yezd and Kermán. It would
thus, I apprehend, be on or near the route between Kermán and
Tabbas; one which I believe has been traced by no modern traveller.
We may be certain that there is now no place at Kuh-Banán deserving
the title of _une cité grant_, nor is it easy to believe that
there was in Polo’s time; he applies such terms too profusely. The
meaning of the name is perhaps “Hill of the Terebinths, or Wild
Pistachioes,” “a tree which grows abundantly in the recesses of
bleak, stony, and desert mountains, _e.g._ about Shamákhi, about
Shiraz, and in the deserts of Luristan and Lar.” (_Kämpfer_, 409,
413.)
[“It is strange that Marco Polo speaks of Kúbenán only on his
return journey from Kermán; on the down journey he must have been
told that Kúbenán was in close proximity; it is even probable that
he passed there, as Persian travellers of those times, when going
from Kermán to Yazd, and _vice versá_, always called at Kúbenán.”
(_Houtum-Schindler_, _l.c._ p. 490.) In all histories this name is
written Kúbenán, not Kúhbenán; the pronunciation to-day is Kóbenán
and Kobenún.—H. C.]
I had thought my identification of _Cobinan_ original, but a
communication from Mr. Abbott, and the opportunity which this
procured me of seeing his MS. Report already referred to, showed
that he had anticipated me many years ago. The following is an
extract: “_Districts of Kerman * * * Kooh Benan_. This is a
hilly district abounding in fruits, such as grapes, peaches,
pomegranates, _sinjid_ (sweet-willow), walnuts, melons. A great
deal of madder and some asafœtida is produced there. _This is
no doubt the country alluded to by Marco Polo, under the name of
Cobinam_, as producing iron, brass, and tutty, and which is still
said to produce iron, copper, and tootea.” There appear to be
lead mines also in the district, as well as asbestos and sulphur.
Mr. Abbott adds the names of nine villages, which he was not able
to verify by comparison. These are Púz, Tarz, Gújard, Aspaj,
Kuh-i-Gabr, Dahnah, Búghín, Bassab, Radk. The position of Kuh Banán
is stated to lie between Bahabád (a place also mentioned by Yáḳút
as producing _Tutia_) and Ráví, but this does not help us, and
for approximate position we can only fall back on the note in Mr.
Abbott’s field-book, as published in the _J. R. G. S._, viz. that
the _District_ lay in the mountains E.S.E. from a caravanserai 10
miles S.E. of Gudran. To get the seven marches of Polo’s Itinerary
we must carry the _Town_ of Kuh Banán as far north as this
indication can possibly admit, for Abbott made only five and a half
marches from the spot where this observation was made to Kermán.
Perhaps Polo’s route deviated for the sake of the fresh water.
That a district, such as Mr. Abbott’s Report speaks of, should lie
unnoticed, in a tract which our maps represent as part of the Great
Desert, shows again how very defective our geography of Persia
still is.
[“During the next stage to Darband, we passed ruins that I believe
to be those of Marco Polo’s ‘Cobinan’ as the modern Kúhbenán does
not at all fit in with the great traveller’s description, and it
is just as well to remember that in the East the caravan routes
seldom change.” (Captain P. M. Sykes, _Geog. Jour._ X. p. 580.—See
_Persia_, ch. xxiii.)
Kuh Banán has been visited by Mr. E. Stack, of the Indian Civil
Service. (_Six Months in Persia_, London, 1882, I. 230.)—H. C.]
NOTE 2.—_Tutty_ (_i.e._ Tutia) is in modern English an impure
oxide of zinc, collected from the flues where brass is made; and
this appears to be precisely what Polo describes, unless it be
that in his account the production of tutia from an ore of zinc
is represented as the object and not an accident of the process.
What he says reads almost like a condensed translation of Galen’s
account of _Pompholyx_ and _Spodos_: “Pompholyx is produced in
copper-smelting as _Cadmia_ is; and it is also produced from
Cadmia (carbonate of zinc) when put in the furnace, as is done
(for instance) in Cyprus. The master of the works there, having no
copper ready for smelting, ordered some pompholyx to be prepared
from cadmia in my presence. Small pieces of cadmia were thrown into
the fire in front of the copper-blast. The furnace top was covered,
with no vent at the crown, and intercepted the soot of the roasted
cadmia. This, when collected, constitutes _Pompholyx_, whilst that
which falls on the hearth is called _Spodos_, a great deal of which
is got in copper-smelting.” Pompholyx, he adds, is an ingredient in
salves for eye discharges and pustules. (_Galen, De Simpl. Medic._,
p. ix. in Latin ed., Venice, 1576.) Matthioli, after quoting this,
says that Pompholyx was commonly known in the laboratories by the
Arabic name of _Tutia_. I see that pure oxide of zinc is stated to
form in modern practice a valuable eye-ointment.
Teixeira speaks of tutia as found only in Kermán, in a range of
mountains twelve parasangs from the capital. The ore got here was
kneaded with water, and set to bake in crucibles in a potter’s
kiln. When well baked, the crucibles were lifted and emptied, and
the _tutia_ carried in boxes to Hormuz for sale. This corresponds
with a modern account in Milburne, which says that the tutia
imported to India from the Gulf is made from an argillaceous ore of
zinc, which is moulded into tubular cakes, and baked to a moderate
hardness. The accurate Garcia da Horta is wrong for once in saying
that the tutia of Kermán is no mineral, but the ash of a certain
tree called _Goan_.
(_Matth. on Dioscorides_, Ven. 1565, pp. 1338–40; _Teixeira,
Relacion de Persia_, p. 121; _Milburne’s Or. Commerce_, I. 139;
_Garcia_, f. 21 v.; _Eng. Cyc._, art. _Zinc_.)
[General A. Houtum-Schindler (_Jour. R. As. Soc._ N.S. XIII.
October, 1881, p. 497) says: “The name Tútíá for collyrium is
now not used in Kermán. Tútíá, when the name stands alone, is
sulphate of copper, which in other parts of Persia is known as
Kát-i-Kebúd; Tútíá-i-sabz (green Tútíá) is sulphate of iron, also
called Záj-i-síyah. A piece of Tútíá-i-zard (yellow Tútíá) shown
to me was alum, generally called Záj-i-safíd; and a piece of
Tútíá-í-safíd (white Tútíá) seemed to be an argillaceous zinc ore.
Either of these may have been the earth mentioned by Marco Polo
as being put into the furnace. The lampblack used as collyrium is
always called Surmah. This at Kermán itself is the soot produced
by the flame of wicks, steeped in castor oil or goat’s fat, upon
earthenware saucers. In the high mountainous districts of the
province, Kúbenán, Páríz, and others, Surmah is the soot of the
Gavan plant (Garcia’s goan). This plant, a species of Astragalus,
is on those mountains very fat and succulent; from it also exudes
the Tragacanth gum. The soot is used dry as an eye-powder, or,
mixed with tallow, as an eye-salve. It is occasionally collected on
iron gratings.
“Tútíá is the Arabicised word dúdhá, Persian for smokes.
“The Shems-ul-loghát calls Tútíá a medicine for eyes, and a
stone used for the fabrication of Surmah. The Tohfeh says Tútíá
is of three kinds—yellow and blue mineral Tútíá, Tútíá-i-qalam
(collyrium) made from roots, and Tútíá resulting from the process
of smelting copper ore. ‘The best Tútíá-i-qalam comes from Kermán.’
It adds, ‘Some authors say Surmah is sulphuret of antimony,
others say it is a composition of iron’; I should say any _black_
composition used for the eyes is Surmah, be it lampblack, antimony,
iron, or a mixture of all.
“Teixeira’s Tútíá was an impure oxide of zinc, perhaps the
above-mentioned Tútíá-i-safíd, baked into cakes; it was probably
the East India Company’s Lapis Tútíá, also called Tutty. The
Company’s Tutenague and Tutenage, occasionally confounded with
Tutty, was the so-called ‘Chinese Copper,’ an alloy of copper,
zinc, and iron, brought from China.”
Major Sykes (ch. xxiii.) writes: “I translated Marco’s description
of _tutia_ (which is also the modern Persian name), to a khán of
Kubenán, and he assured me that the process was the same to-day;
spodium he knew nothing about, but the sulphate of zinc is found in
the hills to the east of Kubenán.”
Heyd (_Com._ II. p. 675) says in a note: “Il résulte de l’ensemble
de ce passage que les matières désignées par Marco Polo sous le nom
de ‘espodie’ (spodium) étaient des scories métalliques; en général,
le mot spodium désigne les résidus de la combustion des matières
végétales ou des os (de l’ivoire).”—H. C.]
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