IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
| |||||||||
|
| IIIF Color HighRes |
| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Citation Information
a
•
•
0
MARCO POLO
BOOK II.
•
96
relation of gold to silver when he makes the Prince of Morocco, balancing over Portia's caskets, argue :-
" Or shall I think in silver she's immured, Being ten times undervalued to tried gold ? O sinful thought !"
a
~►
r
•
In Japan, at the time trade was opened, we know from Sir R. Alcock's work the extraordinary fact that the proportionate value set upon gold and silver currency by
authority was as 3 to I.
( Cathay, etc., p. ccl. and p. 442 ; Leconte, II. 91 ; Al ilburne's Oriental Commerce, II. 510 ; Sonnerat, II. 17 ; Hedde, Etude, Pratique, etc., p. 14 ; Williams, Chinese Commercial Guide, p. 129 ; Timkowski, II. 202 ; Alcock, I. 281 ; II.
411, etc.)
NOTE 6.—Mr. Lay cites from a Chinese authority a notice of a tribe of " Western Miautsze," who " in the middle of autumn sacrifice to the Great Ancestor or Founder of their Race." ( The Chinese as they are, p. 321.)
NOTE 7.—Dr. Anderson confirms the depressing and unhealthy character of the summer climate at Momein, though standing between 5000 and 6000 feet above the
sea (p. 41).
NOTE 8.—" Whereas before," says Jack Cade to Lord Say, " our forefathers had no books but score and tally, thou hast caused printing to be used." The use of such
tallies for the record of contracts among the aboriginal tribes of Kweichau is mentioned by Chinese authorities, and the French missionaries of Bonga speak of the same as in use among the simple tribes in that vicinity. But, as Marsden notes, the use of such rude records was to be found in his day in higher places and much nearer home. They continued to be employed as records of receipts in the British Exchequer till 1834, " and it is worthy of recollection that the fire by which the Houses of Parliament were destroyed was supposed to have originated in the over-heating of the flues in which the discarded tallies were being burnt." I remember often, when a child, to have seen the tallies of the colliers in Scotland, and possibly among that class they may survive. They appear to be still used by bakers in various parts of England and France, in the Canterbury hop-gardens, and locally in some other trades. (Martini, i 35 ; Bridgman, 259, 262 ; Eng. Cyclop. sub v. Tally; Notes and Queries, ist ser. X. 485.)
[According to Father Crabouillet (Missions Calh. 1873, p. 105), the Lolos use tallies for their contracts ; Dr. Harmand mentions (Tour du Monde, 1877, No. VII.) the same fact among the Khas of Central Laos ; and M. Pierre Lefèvre-Pontalis (Populations du nord de l'Indo-Chine, 1892, p. 22) from the J. As.) says he saw these tallies among the Khas of Luang-Prabang.—H. C.]
" In Illustration of this custom I have to relate what follows. In the year 1863 the Tsaubwa (or Prince) of a Shan Province adjoining Yun-nan was in rebellion against the Burmese Government. He wished to enter into communication with the British Government. IIe sent a messenger to a British Officer with a letter tendering his allegiance, and accompanying this letter was a piece of bamboo about five inches long. This had been split down the middle, so that the two pieces fitted closely together, forming a tube in the original shape of the bamboo. A notch at one end included the edges of both pieces, showing that .they were a pair. The messenger said that if the reply were favourable one of the pieces was to be returned and the other kept. I need hardly say the messenger received no written reply, and both pieces of bamboo were retained." (MS. Note by Sir Arthur Pliayre. )
NOTE 9.—Compare Mr. Iiodgson's account of the sub-Himalayan Bodos and Dhimals : " All diseases are ascribed to supernatural agency. The sick man is supposed to be possessed by one of the deities, who racks him with pain as a
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright (C) 2003-2019 National Institute of Informatics and The Toyo Bunko. All Rights Reserved.