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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
4. 4.
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Io6
MARCO POLO BOOK I.
was caught in one of these storms down in Jíruft, where, according to the people I questioned, such storms now never occur. On the 29th of September, 1879, at Kermán, a high wind began to blow from S.S.W. at about 5 P. M. First there came thick heavy clouds of dust with a few drops of rain. The heavy dust then settled down, the lighter particles remained in the air, forming a dry fog of such density that large objects, like houses, trees, etc., could not even faintly be distinguished at a distance of a hundred paces. The barometers suffered no change, the three I had with me remained in statu quo." " The heat is over by the middle of September, and after the autumnal equinox, there are a few days of what is best descr?bed as a dense dry fog. This was undoubtedly the haze referred to by Marco Polo." (Major Sykes, eh. iv.)-1; I. C. ]
" Richthofen's remarkable exposition of the phenomena of the löss in North China, and of the sub-aerial deposits of the steppes and of Central Asia throws some light on this. But this hardly applies to St John's experience of " no deposit of dust." (See Richthofen, China, pp. 96-97 s. MS. Note, H. Y.)
The belief that such opportune phenomena were produced by enchantment was a thoroughly Tartar one. D'Herbelot relates (art. Giagathai) that in an action with a rebel called Mahomed Tarabi, the Mongols were encompassed by a dust storm which they attributed to enchantment on the part of the enemy, and it so discouraged them that they took to flight.
NOTE 5. --The specification that only seven were saved from Marco's company is peculiar to Pauthier's Text, not appearing in the G. T.
Several names compounded of Salm or Salmi occur on the dry lands on the borders of Kermán. Edrisi, however (I. p. 428), names a place called KANÁT-ULSHÁM as the first march in going from Jiruft to Walashjird. Walashjird is, I imagine, represented by Galashkird, Major R. Smith's third march from Jiruft (see my Map of Routes from Kermán to Hormuz) ; and as such an indication agrees with the view taken below of Polo's route, I am strongly disposed to identify Ianát-ulShám with his castello or walled village of Canosalmi.
[ " Marco Polo's Conosalmi, where he was attacked by robbers and lost the greater part of his men, is perhaps the ruined town or village Kamasal (Kahn-i-asal = the honey canal), near Kahnúj-i-pancheh and Vakílábád in Jíruft. It lies on the direct road between Shehr-i-Dagíánús (Camadi) and the Nevergún Pass. The road goes in an almost due southerly direction. The Nevergún Pass accords with Marco Polo's description of it ; it is very difficult, on account of the many great blocks of sandstone scattered upon it. Its proximity to the I3ashakird mountains and Mekrán easily accounts for the prevalence of robbers, who infested the place in Marco Polo's time. At the end of the Pass lies the large village Shamíl, with an old fort ; the distance thence to the site of Hormúz or Bender 'Abbás (lying more to the west) is 52 miles, two days' march. The climate of Bender 'Abbás is very bad, strangers speedily fall sick, two of my men died there, all the others were seriously ill." (Houtum-Schindler, 1.c. pp. 495-496.) Major Sykes (eh. xxiii.) says : " Two marches from Camadi was Kahn-i-Panchur, and a stage beyond it lay the ruins of Fariáb or Pariáb, which was once a great city, and was destroyed by a flood, according to local legend. It may have been Alexander's Salmons, as it is about the right distance from the coast, and if so, could not have been Marco's Cono Salmi. Continuing on,
Galashkird mentioned by Edrisi, is the next stage."—H. C.]
The raids of the Mekranis and Biluchis long preceded those of the Karaunas, for they were notable even in the time of Mahmud of Ghazni, and they have continued to our own day to be prosecuted nearly on the same stage and in the same manner. About 1721, 4000 horsemen of this description plundered the town of Bander Abbasi, whilst Captain Alex. Hamilton was in the port ; and Abbott, in 185o, found the dread of Bilúch robbers to extend almost to the gates of Ispahan. A striking account of the Bilúch robbers and their characteristics is given by General Ferrier. (See Hamilton, I..109 ; J. R . G. S. XXV. ; Khanikof s Memoire ; Macd. Kinneir, 196 ; Caravan Journeys, p. 437 seq.)
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