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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 |
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Citation Information
,r
CHAP. LIII. TIIE PROVINCE OF AMIEN
IOC
bringing silver which they exchange for gold with these
people ; and in this way the merchants make great gain.
As regards those people of the country who dispose of
gold so cheaply, you must understand that nobody is
acquainted with their places of abode, for they dwell
in inaccessible positions, in sites so wild and strong
that no one can get at them to meddle with them. Nor
will they allow anybody to accompany them so as to gain
a knowledge of their abodes.'
After you have ridden those two days and a half
down hill, you find yourself in a province towards the
south which is pretty near to India, and this province is
called AMIEN. You travel therein for fifteen days through
a very unfrequented country, and through great woods
abounding in elephants and unicorns and numbers of
other wild beasts. There are no dwellings and no people,
so we need say no more of this wild country, for in sooth
there is nothing to tell. But I have a story to relate
which you shall now hear.'
•
NOTE I.—In all the Shan towns visited by Major Sladen on tl^is frontier he found markets held eves y fifth day. This custom, he says, is borrowed from China, and is general throughout Western Yun-nail. There seem to be traces of this five-day week over Indo-China, and it is found in Java ; as .it is in Mexico. The Kakhyens attend in great crowds. They do not now bring gold for sale to Momein, though it is found to some extent in their hills, more especially in the direction of Mogaung, whence it is exported towards Assam.
Major Sladen saw a small quantity of nuggets in the possession of a Kakhyen who had brought them from a hill two days north of Bhamó. (MS. Notes by Major Sladen.)
NOTE 2.— I confess that the indications in this and the beginning of the following chapter are, to me, full of difficulty. According to the general style of Polo's itinerary, the 22 days should be reckoned from Yung-ch'ang ; the distance therefore to the capital city of Mien would be 17z days. The real capital of Mien or Burma at this time was, however, Pagán, in lat. 21° 13', and that city could hardly have been reached by a land traveller in any such time. We shall see that something may be said in . behalf of the supposition that the point reached was Tagaung or Old Pagán, on the upper Irawadi, in lat. 23° 28' ; and there was perhaps some confusion in the traveller's mind between this and the great city. The descent might then be from Tung-ch'ang to the valley of the Shwéli, and that valley then followed to the Irawadi. Taking as a scale Polo's 5 marches from Tali to Yung-ch'ang, I find we should by this route make just about 17 marches from Yung-ch'ang to Tagaung. We have no detailed knowledge of the route, but there is a road that way, and by
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