The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Marco Polo and da Pisa Rusticiano
CHAPTER LII.
1838 words | Chapter 313
CONCERNING THE CUSTOMS OF THE TARTARS.
Now that we have begun to speak of the Tartars, I have plenty to tell
you on that subject. The Tartar custom is to spend the winter in warm
plains, where they find good pasture for their cattle, whilst in summer
they betake themselves to a cool climate among the mountains and
valleys, where water is to be found as well as woods and pastures.
Their houses are circular, and are made of wands covered with felts.{1}
These are carried along with them whithersoever they go; for the wands
are so strongly bound together, and likewise so well combined, that
the frame can be made very light. Whenever they erect these huts the
door is always to the south. They also have waggons covered with black
felt so efficaciously that no rain can get in. These are drawn by oxen
and camels, and the women and children travel in them.{2} The women
do the buying and selling, and whatever is necessary to provide for
the husband and household; for the men all lead the life of gentlemen,
troubling themselves about nothing but hunting and hawking, and looking
after their goshawks and falcons, unless it be the practice of warlike
exercises.
They live on the milk and meat which their herds supply, and on the
produce of the chase; and they eat all kinds of flesh, including that
of horses and dogs, and Pharaoh’s rats, of which last there are great
numbers in burrows on those plains.{3} Their drink is mare’s milk.
They are very careful not to meddle with each other’s wives, and will
not do so on any account, holding that to be an evil and abominable
thing. The women too are very good and loyal to their husbands, and
notable housewives withal.{4} [Ten or twenty of them will dwell
together in charming peace and unity, nor shall you ever hear an ill
word among them.]
The marriage customs of Tartars are as follows. Any man may take a
hundred wives an he so please, and if he be able to keep them. But the
first wife is ever held most in honour, and as the most legitimate [and
the same applies to the sons whom she may bear]. The husband gives a
marriage payment to his wife’s mother, and the wife brings nothing to
her husband. They have more children than other people, because they
have so many wives. They may marry their cousins, and if a father dies,
his son may take any of the wives, his own mother always excepted; that
is to say the eldest son may do this, but no other. A man may also take
the wife of his own brother after the latter’s death. Their weddings
are celebrated with great ado.{5}
NOTE 1.—The word here in the G. T. is “_fennes_,” which seems
usually to mean _ropes_, and in fact Pauthier’s text reads: “_Il
ont mesons de verges et les cueuvrent de cordes_.” Ramusio’s text
has _feltroni_, and both Müller and the Latin of the S. G. have
_filtro_. This is certainly the right reading. But whether _fennes_
was ever used as a form of _feltres_ (as _pennes_ means _peltry_)
I cannot discover. Perhaps some words have dropped out. A good
description of a Kirghiz hut (35 feet in diameter), and exactly
corresponding to Polo’s account, will be found in _Atkinson’s
Siberia_, and another in _Vámbéry’s Travels_. How comfortable
and civilised the aspect of such a hut may be, can be seen also
in Burnes’s account of a Turkoman dwelling of this kind. This
description of hut or tent is common to nearly all the nomade
tribes of Central Asia. The trellis-work forming the skeleton of
the tent-walls is (at least among the Turkomans) loosely pivoted,
so as to draw out and compress like “lazy-tongs.”
[Illustration: Dressing up a tent.]
Rubruquis, Pallas, Timkowski, and others, notice the custom of
turning the door to the south; the reason is obvious. (_Atkinson_,
285; _Vámb._ 316; _Burnes_, III. 51; _Conolly_, I. 96) But
throughout the Altai, Mr. Ney Elias informs me, K’alkas, Kirghiz,
and Kalmaks all pitch their tents facing _east_. The prevailing
winter wind is there _westerly_.
[Mr. Rockhill (_Rubruck_, p. 56, note) says that he has often
seen Mongol tents facing east and south-east. He adds: “It is
interesting to find it noted in the _Chou Shu_ (Bk. 50, 3) that the
Khan of the Turks, who lived always on the Tu-kin mountains, had
his tent invariably facing south, so as to show reverence to the
sun’s rising place.”—H. C.]
NOTE 2.—Æschylus already knows the
“wandering Scyths who dwell
In latticed huts high-poised on easy wheels.”
(_Prom. Vinct._ 709–710.)
And long before him Hesiod says Phineus was carried by the Harpies—
“To the Land of the Milk-fed nations, whose houses are waggons.”
(_Strabo_, vii. 3–9.)
Ibn Batuta describes the Tartar waggon in which he travelled to
Sarai as mounted on four great wheels, and drawn by two or more
horses:—
“On the waggon is put a sort of pavilion of wands laced together
with narrow thongs. It is very light, and is covered with felt or
cloth, and has latticed windows, so that the person inside can look
out without being seen. He can change his position at pleasure,
sleeping or eating, reading or writing, during the journey.” These
waggons were sometimes of enormous size. Rubruquis declares that
he measured between the wheel-tracks of one and found the interval
to be 20 feet. The axle was like a ship’s mast, and twenty-two
oxen were yoked to the waggon, eleven abreast. (See opposite cut.)
He describes the huts as not usually taken to pieces, but carried
all standing. The waggon just mentioned carried a hut of 30 feet
diameter, for it projected beyond the wheels at least 5 feet on
either side. In fact, Carpini says explicitly, “Some of the huts
are speedily taken to pieces and put up again; such are packed
on the beasts. Others cannot be taken to pieces, but are carried
bodily on the waggons. To carry the smaller tents on a waggon one
ox may serve; for the larger ones three oxen or four, or even more,
according to the size.” The carts that were used to transport the
Tartar valuables were covered with felt soaked in tallow or ewe’s
milk, to make them waterproof. The tilts of these were rectangular,
in the form of a large trunk. The carts used in Kashgar, as
described by Mr. Shaw, seem to resemble these latter. (_I. B._ II.
381–382; _Rub._ 221; _Carp._ 6, 16.)
The words of Herodotus, speaking generally of the Scyths, apply
perfectly to the Mongol hordes under Chinghiz: “Having neither
cities nor forts, and carrying their dwellings with them wherever
they go; accustomed, moreover, one and all, to shoot from
horseback; and living not by husbandry but on their cattle, their
waggons the only houses that they possess, how can they fail of
being unconquerable?” (Bk. IV. ch. 46, p. 41, _Rawlins._) Scythian
prisoners in their waggons are represented on the Column of
Theodosius at Constantinople; but it is difficult to believe that
these waggons, at least as figured in Banduri, have any really
Scythian character.
It is a curious fact that the practice of carrying these _yurts_
or felt tents upon waggons appears to be entirely obsolete in
Mongolia. Mr. Ney Elias writes: “I frequently showed your picture
[that opposite] to Mongols, Chinese, and Russian border-traders,
but none had ever seen anything of the kind. The only cart I have
ever seen used by Mongols is a little low, light, roughly-made
bullock-dray, _certainly_ of Chinese importation.” The old system
would, however, appear to have been kept up to our own times by
the Nogai Tartars, near the Sea of Azof. (See note from Heber, in
_Clark’s Travels_, 8vo ed. I. 440, and Dr. Clark’s vignette at p.
394 in the same volume.)
[Illustration: J. Cooper Sc
Mediæval Tartar Huts and Waggons.]
NOTE 3.—_Pharaoh’s Rat_ was properly the Gerboa of Arabia and
North Africa, which the Arabs also regard as a dainty. There
is a kindred animal in Siberia, called _Alactaga_, and a kind of
Kangaroo-rat (probably the same) is mentioned as very abundant
on the Mongolian Steppe. There is also the _Zieselmaus_ of
Pallas, a Dormouse, I believe, which he says the Kalmaks, even of
distinction, count a delicacy, especially cooked in sour milk.
“They eat not only the flesh of all their different kinds of
cattle, including horses and camels, but also that of many wild
animals which other nations eschew, _e.g._ marmots and _zieselmice_,
beavers, badgers, otters, and lynxes, leaving none untouched except
the dog and weasel kind, and also (unless _very_ hard pressed) the
flesh of the fox and the wolf.” (_Pallas, Samml._ I. 128; also
_Rubr._ 229–230.)
[“In the Mongol biography of Chinghiz Khan (Mongol text of the
_Yuan ch’ao pi shi_), mention is made of two kinds of animals
(mice) used for food; the tarbagat (_Aritomys Bobac_) and
_kuchugur_.” (_Palladius_, _l.c._ p. 14.) Regarding the marmots
called _Sogur_ by Rubruquis, Mr. Rockhill writes (p. 69): “Probably
the _Mus citillus_, the _Suslik_ of the Russians.... M. Grenard
tells me that _Soghur_, more usually written _sour_ in Turki, is
the ordinary name of the marmot.”—H. C.]
NOTE 4.—“Their wives are chaste; nor does one ever hear any talk
of their immodesty,” says Carpini;—no Boccaccian and Chaucerian
stories.
NOTE 5.—“The Mongols are not prohibited from having a plurality of
wives; the first manages the domestic concerns, and is the most
respected.” (_Timk._ II. 310.) Naturally Polygamy is not so general
among the Mongols as when Asia lay at their feet. The Buraets, who
seem to retain the old Mongol customs in great completeness, are
polygamists, and have as many wives as they choose. Polygamy is
also very prevalent among the Yakuts, whose lineage seems to be
Eastern Turk. (_Ritter_, III. 125; _Erman_, II. 346.)
Of the custom that entitled the son on succeeding to take such
as he pleased of his deceased father’s wives, we have had some
illustration (see _Prologue_, ch. xvii. note 2), and many
instances will be found in Hammer’s or other Mongol Histories.
The same custom seems to be ascribed by Herodotus to the Scyths
(IV. 78). A number of citations regarding the practice are given
by Quatremère. (_Q. R._ p. 92.) A modern Mongol writer in the
_Mélanges Asiatiques_ of the Petersburg Academy, states that the
custom of taking a deceased brother’s wives is now obsolete, but
that a proverb preserves its memory (II. 656). It is the custom of
some Mahomedan nations, notably of the Afghans, and is one of those
points that have been cited as a supposed proof of their Hebrew
lineage.
“The Kalin is a present which the Bridegroom or his parents make
to the parents of the Bride. All the Pagan nations of Siberia have
this custom; they differ only in what constitutes the present,
whether money or cattle.” (_Gmelin_, I. 29; see also _Erman_, II.
348.)
Reading Tips
Use arrow keys to navigate
Press 'N' for next chapter
Press 'P' for previous chapter