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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
OE'
354
MARCO POLO BooK II.
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" Tiger's tablets—Sinice Hu fu, and p'ai tsze in the common language. The Mongols had them of several kinds, which differed by the metal, of which they were made, as well as by the number of pearls (one, two, or three in number), which were incrusted in the upper part of thè tablet. Falcon's tablets with the figure of a falcon were round, and used to be given only to special couriers and envoys of the Khan. [ Yuen shi lui pies and Yuen ch'ao tien char . ] The use of the Hu fii was adopted by the Mongols probably from the Kin." (Palladizis, l.c. p. 39.)
Rubruquis (Rockhill's ed. pp. 153-154) says :—" And whenever the principal envoy [of Longa] came to court he carried a highly-polished tablet of ivory about a cubit long and half a palm wide. Every time he spoke to the chan or some great personage, he always looked at that tablet as if he found there what he had to say, nor did he look to the right or the left, nor in the face of him with whom he was talking. Likewise, when coming into the presence of the Lord, and when leaving it, he never looked at anything but his tablet." Mr. Rockhill observes : " These tablets are called hu in Chinese, and were used in China and Korea ; in the latter country down to quite recent times. They were made of jade, ivory, bamboo, etc., according to the rank of the owner, and were about three feet long. The hza was originally used to make memoranda on of the business to be submitted by the bearer to the Emperor or to write the answers to questions he had had submitted to them. Odoric also refers to ` the tablets of white ivory which the Emperor's barons held in their hands as they stood silent before him.' "
(Cf. the golden tablets which were of various classes with a tiger for image and pearls for ornaments, DevJria, Epig rapli ie, p. 15 et seq.) ---I I. C.]
Noi'E 3.—Umbrella. The phrase in Pauthier's te_,t is " Palieque gm, on dit ombrel." The Latin text of the Soc. de Géographie has " unum gallium de auro,"
which I have adopted as probably correct, looking to Burma, where the old etiquettes as to umbrellas are in full force. These etiquettes were probably in both countries of old Hindu origin. Pal/lulu, according to Muratori, was applied in the Middle Ages to a kind of square umbrella, by which is probably meant rather a canopy on four staves, which was sometimes assigned by authority as an honourable privilege.
But the genuine umbrella would seem to have been used also, for Polo's contemporary, Martino da Canale, says that, when the Doge goes forth of his palace, " si vait apres lui un damoiseau qui porte une umbrele de Bras à or sur son chit f," which umbrella had been given by "Monseigneur l'.postoille." There is a picture by Girolamo Gambarota, in the Sala del Gran Consiglio, at Venice, which represents the investiture of the Doge with the umbrella by Pope Alexander III., and Frederick Barbarossa (concerning which see Sanuto junior, in Muratori, XXII. 512).
The word Parasol also occurs in the Petrarchian vocabulary (14th century) as the equivalent of saioual (Pers. sáycíban or scíiu,wcrn, an umbrella). Carpini notices that umbrellas (so/ilium vel tentoriolum in /lasted) were carried over the Tartar nobles and their wives, even on horseback ; and a splendid one, covered with jewels, was one
of the presents made to Kuyuk Kaan on his enthronement. .
With respect to the honorary character attaching to umbrellas in China, I may notice that recently an English resident of Ningpo, on his departure for Europe, was presented by the Chinese citizens, as a token of honour, with a pair of Nan min she, umbrellas of enormous size.
The umbrella must have gone through some curious vicissitudes ; for at one time we find it familiar, at a later date apparently unknown, and then reintroduced as some strange novelty. Arrian speaks of the űi,cá&a, or umbrellas, as used by all Indians of any consideration ; but the thing of which he spoke was familiar to the use of Greek and Roman ladies, and many examples of it, borne by slaves behind their mistresses, are found on ancient vase-paintings. Athenaeus quotes from Anacreon the description of a " beggar on horseback " who
" like a woman bears
An ivory parasol over his delicate head."
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