National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

> > > >
Color New!IIIF Color HighRes Gray HighRes PDF   Japanese English
0118 Cathay and the Way Thither : vol.2
Cathay and the Way Thither : vol.2 / Page 118 (Color Image)

New!Citation Information

doi: 10.20676/00000042
Citation Format: Chicago | APA | Harvard | IEEE

OCR Text

 

358   RECOLLECTIONS OF TRAVEL IN THE EAST,

so we were detained by this man, with all politeness as I said, for four months.

On that very high mountain [of which we have spoken], perhaps after Paradise the highest mountain on the face of the earth, some indeed think that Paradise itself exists. But this is a mistake, for the name skews the contrary. For it is called by the natives Zinclan Baba ; baba meaning `father' (and mama `mother') in every language in the world ; whilst Zinclan is the same as `Hell', so that Zinclan Baba is as much as to say `the hell of our father', implying that our first father when placed there on his expulsion from Paradise was as it were in hell.'

That exceeding high mountain hath a pinnacle of surpassing height, which, on account of the clouds, can rarely be seen. But God, pitying our tears, lighted it up one morning just before the sun rose, so that we beheld it glowing with the brightest flame. In the way down from this same mountain there is a fine level spot, still at a great height, and there you find in order, first the mark of Adam's foot ; secondly, a certain statue of a sitting figure with the . left hand resting on the knee, and the right hand raised and extended towards the west ; lastly, there is the house (of Adam) which he made with his own hands. It is of an oblong quadrangular shape like a sepulchre, with a door in the middle, and is formed of great tabular slabs of marble, not cemented, but merely laid one upon another.2

' I cannot find any trace of this name in the books about Ceylon. Zindccn (Pers.) signifies " a dungeon," and seems often applied to buildings of mysterious antiquity. Thus a tower-like building of huge blocks of marble, which exists among those remains north of Persepolis which are supposed to mark the site of Pasargada, is called Zinclan-i-Suleiman, " Solomon's Dungeon." And another relic, described by Sir H. Rawlinson in his paper on the Atropatenian Ecbatana, has the same name. It is very likely that the sepulchre-like building which Marignolli describes below, was called Zinclan-i-Baba by the Persian visitors. Baba is correctly applied to Adam. Thus Ibn Batuta mentions that of the two roads to

the Peak one was Tarik Baba (Adam's Road), and the other Tarzk 'llama (Eve's Road) (iv, p. 180).

2 It is clear from all this that Marignolli never ascended the Peak.