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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
CHAP. XIX. THE KEEPERS OF TIIE KAAN'S HOUNDS 40I
towards the right, whilst the other goes towards the left
with his party in like manner. They move along, all
abreast of one another, so that the whole line extends
over a full day's journey, and no animal can escape
them. Truly it is a glorious sight to see the working
b
of the dogs and the huntsmen on such an occasion !
And as the Lord rides a-fowling across the plains, you
will see these big hounds coming tearing up, one pack
after a bear, another pack after a stag, or some other
beast, as it may hap, and running the game down now
on this side and now on that, so that it is really a most
delightful sport and spectacle.
[The Two Brothers I have mentioned are bound by
the tenure of their office to supply the Kaan's Court
from October to the end of March with i 000 head of
game daily, whether of beasts or birds, and not counting
quails ; and also with fish to the best of their ability,
allowing fish enough for three persons to reckon as
equal to one head of game.]
Now I have told you of the Masters of the Hounds
and all about them, and next will I tell you how the
Lord goes off on an expedition for the space of three
months.
NOTE I. —Though this particular Bayan and Mingan are not likely to be mentioned in history, the names are both good Mongol names ; Bayan that of a great soldier under Kúblái, of whom we shall hear afterwards ; and Mingan that of one of Chinghiz's generals.
The title of " Master of the Mastiffs " belonged to a high Court official at Constantinople in former days, Sdnzsúnji Bashi, and I have no doubt Marco has given the exact interpretation of the title of the two Barons : though it is difficult to trace its elements. It is read variously Cunici (i.e. Kunichi) and Cinuci (i.e Chinuchi). It is evidently a word of analogous structure to Kusjichi, the Master of the Falcons ; Parschi, the Master of the Leopards. Professor Schiefner thinks it is probably corrupted from Nog haichi, which appears in Kovalevski's Mongol Diet. as " cIz sear qui a soins des chiens courants." This word occurs, he points out, in Sanang Setzen, where Schmidt translates it Aufseher über Hunde. (See S. S. p. 39.)
The metathesis of Noghai-chi into Kuni-chi is the only drawback to this otherwise apt solution. We generally shall find Polo's Oriental words much more accurately expressed than this would imply--as in the next chapter. I have hazarded a suggestion of (Or. Turkish) Chong—It—chi," Keeper of the Big Dogs," which Professor Vámbéry thinks possible. (See "thong, big, strong,' in his Tschagataische Sprachstudien,
2 C
VOL. I.
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