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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
456
MARCO POLO BOOK H.
to China the ancient Persian system, founded on the period of io,000 years. The compilers of the Yuen-shi seem not to have had access to documents relating to this system, for they give no details about it. Finally by order of Kubilai the astronomers Hici-Heng and Ko Show-King composed a new calculation under the name of Shou-shi-li, which came into use from the year 1280. It is thoroughly explained in the Yuen-ski. Notwithstanding the fame this system generally enjoyed, its blemishes came soon to light. In the sixth month of 1302 an eclipse of the sun happened, and the calculation of the astronomer proved to be erroneous (it seems the calculation had anticipated the real time). The astronomers of the Ming Dynasty explained the errors in the Shou-shi-li by the circumstance, that in that calculation the period for one degree of precession of the equinox was taken too long (eighty-one years). But they were themselves hardly able to overcome these difficulties." (Palladius,
pp. 51-53.)—H. C.]
CHAPTER XXXIV.
[CONCERNING THE RELIGION OF THE CATHAYANS ;1 THEIR VIEWS AS TO THE SOUL ; AND THEIR CUSTOMS.
As we have said before, these people are Idolaters, and
as regards their gods, each has a tablet fixed high up on
the wall of his chamber, on which is inscribed a name
which represents the Most High and Heavenly God ;
and before this they pay daily worship, offering incense
from a thurible, raising their hands aloft, and gnashing
their teeth 2 three times, praying Him to grant them
health of mind and body ; but of Him they ask nought
else. And below on the ground there is a figure which
they call Naíigai, which is the god of things terrestrial.
To him they give a wife and children, and they worship
him in the same manner, with incense, and gnashing of
teeth,2 and lifting up of hands ; and of him they ask
seasonable weather, and the fruits of the earth, children,
and so forth.3
Their view of the immortality of the soul is after this
fashion. They believe that as soon as a man dies, his
soul enters into another body, going from a good to a
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