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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.
282
We perceive that the Arbaca of P. de la Croix, the Ej'ircai of Klaproth, the Uiraca of D'Ohsson, the Artacki or Artackín of Erdmann, are all various readings or forms of the same name, and are the same with the Chinese form Ulahai of De Mailla, and most probably the place is the Egrz aia of Polo.
We see also that Erdmann mentions another place Aruki (09?) ?) in connec-
tion with Kanchau and Suhchau. This is, I suspect, the Er guild of Polo, and perhaps the Irghai of Sanang Setzen.
Rashiduddin seems wrong in calling Ircayá the capital of the king, a circumstance which leads Klaproth to identify it with Ning-hsia. Pauthier, identifying Ulahai with Egrigaya, shows that the former was one of the circles of Tangut, but not that of Ning-hsia. Its position, he says, is uncertain. Klaproth, however, inserts it in his map of Asia, in the era of Kúblái (Tabs. Hist. pl. 22), as Ulakhai to the north of Ning-hsia, near the great bend eastward of the Hwang-Ho. Though it may have extended in this direction, it is probable, from the name referred to in next note, that Egrigaia or Ulahai is represented by the modern principality of ALASHAN, visited by Prjevalsky in 1871 and 1872.
[New travels and researches enable me to say that there can be no doubt that Egrigaia = Ning -hsia. Palladius (/.c. 18) says : " Egy-i; aia is Erigaia of the Mongol text. Klaproth was correct in his supposition that it is modern Ning-h'ia. Even now the Eleuths of Alashan call Ning-h'ia, Yargai. In M. Polo's time this department was famous for the cultivation of the Safflower (cartlzanzus tinctorius). [Size t'ung keen, A.D. 1292.] " Mr. Rockhill (cf. his Diary of a Journey) writes to me that Ninghsia is still called Irge AT/whin by Mongols at the present day. M. Bonin (J. As., 1900, I. 585) mentions the same fact.
Palladius (19) adds : " Erigaia is not to be confounded with Urahai, often mentioned in the history of Chingis Khan's wars with the Tangut kingdom. Urahai was a fortress in a pass of the same name in the Alashan Mountains. Chingis Khan spent five months there (an. 1208), during which he invaded and plundered the country in the neighbourhood. [Si Ida s/arc sízi.] The Alashan Mountains form a semicircle 500 li in extent, and have over forty narrow passes leading to the 'department of Ning-hia ; the broadest and most practicable of these is now called Ch'i-mu-K'ow ; it is not more than 8o feet broad. [Nin Ida fu chi.] It may be that the Urahai fortress existed near this pass."
" From Liang-chow fu, M. Polo follows a special route, leaving the mo /ern postal route on his right ; the road he took has, since, the time of the Emperor K'ang-hi, been called the courier's route." (Palladius, i8.) I I. C.]
NOTE 2.—Calachan, the chief town of Fgrigaia, is mentioned, according to Klaproth, by Rashiduddin, among the cities of Tangut, as KALA,ÁN. The name and approximate position suggest, as just noticed, identity with Alashan, the modern capital of which, called by Prjevalsky Dyn-yuan-yin, stands some distance west of the Hwang-Ho, in about lat. 39°. Polo gives no data for the interval between this and his next stage.
[The D)-n yuan yin of Prjevalsky is the camp of Tin yztan yng or Fu-ma-fu of M. Bonin, the residence of the Si-wang (western prince), of Alashan, an abbreviation of Alade-shan (skan, mountain in Chinese), Alade = Eleuth or CElöt ; the sister of this prince married a son of Prince Tuan, the chief of the Boxers. (La Géoti raplzie, 1901, I. 118.) Palladius (l.c. 19) says : " Under the name of Calachan, Polo probably means the summer residence of the Tangut kings, which was 6o li from Ning-hia, at the foot of the Alashan Mountains. It was built by the famous Tangut king Yuenliao, on a large scale, in the shape of a castle, in which were high terraces and magnificent buildings. Traces of these buildings are visible to this day. There are
often found coloured tiles and iron nails I foot, and even 2 feet long. The last
Tangut kings mtde this place their permanent residence, and led there an indolent and sensual life. The Chinese name of this residence was Ho-lan Shan Li-Kung,
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