The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 / Page 348 (Color Image)

0348	The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1

50 MARCO POLO BOOK I.

s •rG

CHAPTER IV.

f OF GEORGIANIA AND THE KINGS THEREOF.

•

IN GEORGIANIA there is a King called David Melic, which

is as much as to say " David King " ; ho is subject to the

Tartar.' In old times all the kings were born with the

figure of an eagle upon the right shoulder. The people

are very handsome, capital archers, and most valiant

soldiers. They are Christians of the Greek Rite, and

have a fashion of wearing their hair cropped, like

Churchmen.

This is the country beyond which Alexander could

not pass when he wished to penetrate to the region of the

Ponent, because that the defile was so narrow and

perilous, the sea lying on the one hand, and on the other

lofty mountains impassable to horsemen. The strait

extends like this for four leagues, and a handful of

people might hold it against all the world. Alexander

caused a very strong tower to be built there, to prevent

the people beyond from passing to attack him, and this

got the name of the IRON GATE. This is the place that

the Book of Alexander speaks of, when it tells us how he

shut up the Tartars between two mountains ; not that

they were really Tartars, however, for there were no

Tartars in those days, but they consisted of a race of

people called COMANIANS and many besides.'

[In this province all the forests are of box-wood.]

There are numerous towns and villages, and silk is pro-

duced in great abundance. They also weave cloths of

gold, and all kinds of very fine silk stuffs. The country

produces the best goshawks in the world [which are

called Avig-i].5 It has indeed no lack of anything, and

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