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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
CHAP. XXXVI. THE PROVINCE OF COTAN
189
of the Naïmans, who came from the banks of the Ili, destroyed the Mahomedan dynasty of Boghra Khân (1209), but was in his turn subjugated by Chinghiz Khan.
The only Christian monument discovered in Khotan is a bronze cross brought back by Grenard (III. pp. 134-135) ; see also Devéria, Notes d'EAvallzie Mongole, p. 80.--H. C.]
NOTE 2.—" Aourent Mahonzmet." Though this is Marco's usual formula to define Mahomedans, we can scarcely suppose that he meant it literally. But in other cases it was very literally interpreted. Thus in Baudouin de Sebourc, the Dame de Pontieu, a passionate lady who renounces her faith before Saladin, says :--
" ` Et je renoië Dieu, et le pooir qu'il a ;
Et Marie, sa Mere, qu'on dist qui le porta ;
111ahom voel aourer, aportez-le-moi chá ! '
* * * * Li Soudans commanda
Qu'on aportast Mahon/ ; et celle z aoura." (I. p. 72.)
The same romance brings in the story of the Stone of Samarkand, adapted from ch. xxxiv., and accounts for its sanctity in Saracen eyes because it had long formed a pedestal for Mahound !
And this notion gave rise to the use of Mawmet for an idol in general ; whilst from the Mahommerie or place of Islamite . worship the name of mummery came to be applied to idolatrous or unmeaning rituals ; both very unjust etymologies. Thus of mosques in Richard Cceur de Lion:
"Kvrkes they made of Crystene Lawe,
And her Mawmettes lete downe drawe." ( Weber, II. 228.)
So Correa calls a golden idol, which was taken by Da Gama in a ship of Calicut, " an image of Mahomed " (372). Don Quixote too, who ought to have known better, cites with admiration the feat of Rinaldo in carrying off, in spite of forty Moors, a golden image of Mahomed.
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NOTE 3.-800 li (16o miles) east of Chokiuka or Yarkand, Hiuen Tsang comes to Aiustanna (Kustána) or KHOTAN. " The country chiefly consists of plains covered with stones and sand. The remainder, however, is favourable to agriculture, and produces everything abundantly. From this country are got woollen carpets, fine felts, well woven taffetas, white and black jade." Chinese authors of the loth century speak of the abundant grapes and excellent wine of Khotan.
Chinese annals of the 7th and 8th centuries tell us that the people of Khotan had chronicles of their own, a glimpse of a lost branch of history. Their writing, laws, and literature were modelled upon those of India.
Ilchi, the modern capital, was visited by Mr. Johnson, of the Indian Survey, in 1865. The country, after the revolt against the Chinese in 1863, came first under the rule of Habíb-ullah, an aged chief calling himself Khan Bádshalz of Khotan ; and since the treacherous seizure and murder of Ilabíb-ullah by Ya'kub Beg of Kashgar in January 1867, it has formed a part of the kingdom of the latter.
Mr. Johnson says : " The chief grains of the country are Indian corn, wheat, barley of two kinds, bájra, , jowár (two kinds of holcus), buckwheat and rice, all of which
are superior to the Indian grains, and are of a very fine quality The country
is certainly superior to India, and in every respect equal to Kashmir, over which it has the advantage of being less humid, and consequently better suited to the growth of fruits. Olives (?), pears, apples, peaches, apricots, mulberries, grapes, currants, and melons, all exceedingly large in size and of a delicious flavour, are produced in
great variety and abundance Cotton of valuable quality, and raw silk, are pro-
duced in very large quantities,"
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