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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
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MARCO POLO Boox I.
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E" They also punish with death grand larceny, but as for petty thefts, such as that of a sheep, so long as one has not repeatedly been taken in the act, they beat him cruelly, and if they administer an hundred blows they must use an hundred sticks." (Rocks ill, Rube zzck, p. So.)--II. C. -I
NOTE 2.—" They have no herdsmen or others to watch their cattle, because the
laws of the Turks (i.e. Tartars) against theft are so severe A man in whose
possession a stolen horse is found is obliged to restore it to its owner, and to give ;line of the same value; if he cannot, his children are seized in compensation ; if he have no children, he is slaughtered like a mutton." (Ibn Batuta, II. 364.)
NOTE 3.— This is a Chinese custom, though no doubt we may trust Marco for its being a Tartar one also. " In the province of Shansi they have a ridiculous custom, which is to marry dead folks to each other. F. Michael Trigault, a Jesuit, who lived several years in that province, told it us whilst we were in confinement. It falls out that one man's son and another man's daughter die. Whilst the coffins are in the house (and they used to keep them two or three years, or longer) the parents agree to marry them ; they send the usual presents, as if the pair were alive, with much ceremony and music. After this they put the two coffins together, hold the wedding dinner in their presence, and, lastly, lay them together in one tomb. The parents, from this time forth, are looked on not merely as friends but as relatives—just as they would have been had their children been married when in life." (Navarrete, quoted by Marsden.) Kidd likewise, speaking of the Chinese custom of worshipping at the tombs of progenitors, says : " So strongly does veneration for this tribute after death prevail that parents, in order to secure the memorial of the sepulchre for a daughter who has died during her betrothal, give her in marriage after her decease to her intended husband, who receives with nuptial ceremonies at his own house a paper effigy made by her parents, and after he has burnt it, erects a tablet to her memory—an honour which usage forbids to be rendered to the memory of unmarried persons. The law seeks without effect to abolish this absurd custom." (China, etc., pp. 179-180.)
[Professor J. J. M. de Groot (Relz 'ions System of China) gives several instances of marriages after death ; the following example (II. 804-805) will illustrate the custom : "An interesting account of the manner in which such post-mortem marriages were concluded at the period when the Sung Dynasty governed the Empire, is given by a contemporary work in the following words : ` In the northern parts of the Realm it is customary, when an unmarried youth and an unmarried girl breathe their last, that the two families each charge a match-maker to demand the other party in marriage. Such go-betweens are called match-makers for disembodied souls. They acquaint the two families with each other's circumstances, and then cast lots for the marriage by order of the parents on both sides. If they augur that the union will be a happy one, (wedding) garments for the next world are cut out, and the match-makers repair to the grave of the lad, there to set out wine and fruit for the consummation of the marriage. Two seats are placed side by side, and a small streamer is set up near each seat. If these streamers move a little after the libation has been performed, the souls are believed to approach each other; but if one of them does not move, the party represented thereby is considered to disapprove of the marriage. Each family has to reward its match-maker with a present of woven stuffs. Such go-betweens make a regular livelihood out of these proceedings.' "—H. C.]
The Ingushes of the Caucasus, according to Klaproth, have the same custom : "If a man's son dies, another who has lost his daughter goes to the father and says, `Thy son will want a wife in the other world ; I will give him my daughter; pay me the price of the bride.' Such a demand is never refused, even though the purchase of the bride amount to thirty cows." (7) aveis, Eng. Trans. 345.)
No'1'E 4.—There is a little doubt about the reading of this last paragraph. The G. T. has—` ` Mes desornzés volun retorner á nostre conte en la grant plaingne oil nos estion quant nos comechames des fais des Tartars," whilst Pauthier's text has " Mais
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