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| Notes on Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
358 158. CINGHIS
Lu-chü River [i. e. the Kerulen] », while the Secret History says [§ 250] that he returned to Sa'arikä'är; we have seen [p. 323] that Sa'ari-kä'är lay in fact somewhat west of the great bend of the Kerulen). Although serious objections may be raised against it, I am inclined to accept the first hypothesis. As to the burial-site of Chinghiz being also the place of his birth, HMI T'ing himself relates it only as hearsay tradition, which we know to be wrong.
V. - PALLADIUS (Elucidations, 12, and cf. Y, 1, 248; Ch, I, 195) has quoted a passage of Chin Yu-tzû's Pei-chêng lu, the account of Yung-lo's Mongolian campaign of 1410, which has a reference to the tombs of the Mongol Emperors. No detailed study of Yung-lo's itinerary has as yet been made, and most of the names mentioned by Chin Yu-tzû are unidentified (we know, however, that he passed through Dari-yangya; cf. TP, 1931, 166). But, since Yung-lo left Peking via Hsüan-hua-fu and the Lake of the Brahminy Ducks (see « Ciagannor ») and went on to the north-west, he must have followed what has since been the main track from Peking to Ulan-bàtor, and reached the Kerulen towards the southern part of its great bend from the south to the east-north-east. The passage reads as follows (ff. 19-20) : « [In the fourth month ... ,] on the 27th day (May 30, 1410), we halted at an old Buddhist shrine ( it 14 ku fan-ch'ang). Early on the 28th day (May 31), we left the old Buddhist shrine, and marched several tens of li. There was [then] to the north-east a mountain very high and large, with towering peaks, and gloriously verdant; it looked like the mountains south of the [Yang-tzû-] chiang. At the foot of the mountains, a lone peak stood high, with much white stone on it. The princes (1 wang) of the Mongol dynasty (It & yüan shih) lie buried at the foot [of this
peak]. In the evening, we arrived at W< i Ch'ang-ch'ing-sai ('Ever-pure Barrier'); there
was [there] a spring with very pure water; [the Emperor] bestowed on it the name of 3
Yü-hua-ch'üan (Jade-flower Spring'). At the first beat of the night clepsydra, the Emperor stood in front of his tent and, pointing to the Northern Dipper (= the Great Bear), said : 'This is the Northern Dipper looking south'. He retired only after a long talk. On the 30th day (June 2; the diary is silent about June 1, which was probably a day of rest), we arrived at jk
Shun-an-chên. The Emperor stood in front of his tent and, pointing to the mountains outside of the camp, said : ' These are mountains of the land of the slaves (i. e. the Mongols) which form good subjects for paintings'. Consequently, he ordered painters to paint them. In the evening, it rained. On the first day of the fifth month (June 3, 1410), at an early hour, in light rain, we left Shun-an-chên; after we had marched more than ten li, the mountains had many white clouds. The Emperor called [me], and pointing with his finger to the mountain
in front [of us] said : 'This is to be called djj Po-yün-shan (« White cloud mountain »)'.
Marching again several li, there was in the white clouds a greenish (ch'ing) vapour that reached to the ground; from afar, it looked like white clouds on a greenish mountain. The Emperor said : ' This mountain is very high and is a site worth looking at '. [I, Chin] Yu-tzû, [said that] it was certainly so. [Then] the Emperor laughed and said : ' This is vapour, and not a real mountain. If it were actually a mountain, there would be no mountain in the world that
could surpass it'. Crossing a range (fAl kang), we saw from afar the Lu-chü-ho
(Lu-chü River, the Kerulen). When we crossed another range, the Emperor shortened his reins
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