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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
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MARCO POLO BooK I.
84
Dealers carry their horses to Nisi and Curmosa, two
cities on the shores of the Sea of India, and there they
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meet with merchants who take the horses on to India
for sale.
In this country there are many cruel and murderous
people, so that no day passes but there is some homicide
among them. Were it not for the Government, which
is that of the Tartars of the Levant, they would do great
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mischief to merchants ; and indeed, maugre the Govern-
ment, they often succeed in doing such mischief. Unless
merchants be well armed they run the risk of being
murdered, or at least robbed of everything ; and it some-
times happens that a whole party perishes in this way
when not on their guard. The people are al] Saracens,
i.e. followers of the Law of Mahommet.3
In the cities there are traders and artizans who live
.a by their labour and crafts, weaving cloths of gold, and
silk stuffs of sundry kinds. They have plenty of cotton
produced in the country ; and abundance of wheat,
barley, millet, panick, and wine, with fruits of all kinds.
[Some one may say, " But the Saracens don't drink
wine, which is prohibited by their law." The answer is
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that they gloss their text in this way, that if the wine be
boiled, so that a part is dissipated and the rest becomes
sweet, they may drink without breach of the command-
ment ; for it is then no longer called wine, the name
being changed with the change of flavour. 4]
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NOTE I.—The following appear to be Polo's Eight Kingdoms :-
I. KAZVÍN; then a flourishing city, though I know not why he calls it a kingdom. Persian 'Irák, or the northern portion thereof, seems intended. Previous to Ilulaku's invasion Kazvin seems to hive been in the hands of the Ismailites or Assassins.
H. KURDISTAN. I do not understand the difficulties of Marsden, followed by Lazari and Pauthier, which lead them to put forth that Kurdistan is not Kurdistan but something else. The boundaries of Kurdistan according to Hamd Allah were Arabian 'Irak, Khuzistán, Persian 'Irak, Azerbaijan and Diarbekr. (Did. de la P. 480.) [Cf, Curzon, Persia pass.--II. C.] Persian Kurdistan, in modern as in
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