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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
92 MARCO POLO BOOK L
Bard-i-Ardeshír, now occasionally Bardsír, and the present city of Kermán was situated at its north-eastern corner. This town, during the Middle Ages, was called Bardshír. On a coin of Qara Arslán Beg, King of Kermán, of A.H. 462, Mr. Stanley Lane Poole reads Yazdashír instead of Bardshfr. Of Al Idrísí's Yazdashír I see no mention in histories ; Bardshfr was the capital and the place where most of the coins were struck. Yazdashír, if such a place existed, can only have been a place of small importance. It is, perhaps, a clerical error for Bardshír ; without diacritical points, both words are written alike. Later, the name of the city became Kermán, the name Bardshír reverting to the district lying south-west of it, with its principal place Mashíz. In a similar manner Mashíz was often, and is so now, called Bardshfr. Another old town sometimes confused with Bardshír was Sírján or Shírján, once more important than Bardshír ; it is spoken of as the capital of Kermán, of Bardshír, and of Sardsír. Its name now exists only as that of a district, with principal place S'aídábád. The history of Kermán, 'Agd-ul-'O1á, plainly says Bardshír is the capital of Kermán, and from the description of Bardshír there is no doubt of its having been the present town Kermán. It is strange that Marco Polo does not give the name of the city. In Assemanni's Bibliotheca Orientalis Kuwáshír and Bardashir are mentioned as separate cities, the latter being probably the old Mashíz, which as early as A.H. 582 (A. D. 1186) is spoken of in the History of Kermán as an important town. The Nestorian bishop of the province Kermán, who stood under the Metropolitan of Fars, resided at Horn-111z." (Houtunz-Schindler, 1.c. pp.
491-492. )
There does not seem any doubt as to the identity of Bardashir with the present city of Kermán. (See The Cities of Kirmán in the time of Hamd-Allah Mustawfz and Marco Polo, by Guy le Strange, Jour. R. As. Soc. April, 1901, pp. 281, 290. ) Hamd-Allah is the author of the Cosmography known as the Nuzhat-al-Kzslizb or "Heart's Delight." (Cf. Major Sykes' Persia, chap. xvi., and the Geographical journal for February, 1902, p. 166.)—II. C. ]
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NOTE 2.—A MS. treatise on precious stones cited by Ouseley mentions Shebavek in Kermán as the site of a Turquoise mine. This is probably Slzalzr-i-Babek, about Too miles west of the city of Kermán, and not far from Párez, where Abbott tells us there is a mine of these stones, now abandoned. Goebel, one of Khanikoff's party, found a deposit of turquoises at Taft, near Yezd. (Ouseley's Travels, I. 211 ; J. R. G. S. XXVI. 63-65 ; Khan. MZ;n. 203. )
E" The province Kermán is still rich in turquoises. The mines of Páríz or Párez are at Chernen - i - mó - aspán, 16 miles from Páríz on the road to Bahrámábád (principal place of Rafsinján), and opposite the village or garden called Gód-i-Ahmer. These mines were worked up to a few years ago ; the turquoises were of a pale blue. Other turquoises are found in the present Bardshír plain, and not far from Mashíz, on the slopes of the Chehel tan mountain, opposite a hill called the Bear Hill (tal-i-Khers). The Shehr-i-Bábek turquoise mines are at the small village Kárík, a mile from Medvár- i - Bálá, Io miles north of Shehr-i-Bábek. They have two shafts, one of which has lately been closed by an earthquake, and were worked up to about twenty years ago. At another place, 12 miles from Shehr - i - Bábek, are seven old shafts now not worked for a long period. The stones of these mines are also of a very pale blue, and have no great value." (Houtunz-Schindler, 1.c. 1881, p. 491.)
The finest turquoises came from Khorasan ; the mines were near Maaden, about 48 miles to the north of Nishapiir. (Heyd, Cora. du Levant, II. p. 653 ; Ritter, Erdk. pp. 325-330.)
It is noticeable that Polo does not mention indigo at Kermán.—H. C.]
NOTE 3.—Edrisi says that excellent iron was produced in the " cold mountains" N.W. of Jiruít, i.e. somewhere south of the capital; and the Jilin A z!1;1á, or Great Turkish Geography, that the steel mines of Niriz, on the borders of Kermán, were famous. These are also spoken of by Teixeira. Major St. John enables me to in-
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