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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 |
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Citation Information
CHAP. LXX. MONGOL ARTILLERY ENGINES 169
t.
•
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0111(jI~;~ ~n Illl~~imllll I1111IWh
Ponente"; and it is worthy of note that in the campaigns of Alaudin Khilji and his generals in the Deccan, circa 1300, frequent mention is made of the Western 1llanjanil s and their great power. (See Elliot, III. 75, 78, etc.)
Of the kind worked by man-ropes must have been that huge mangonel which Mahomed Ibn Kásim, the conqueror of Sind, set in battery against the great Dagoba of Daibul, and which required 500 men to work it. Like Simon de Montfort's it had a tender name ; it was called " The Bride." (Elliot, I. 120.)
Before quitting this subject, I will quote a curious passage from the History of the Sung Dynasty, contributed to the work of Reinaud and Favé by M. Stanislas Julien : " In the 9th year of the period Hien-shun (A. D. 1273) the frontier cities had fallen into the hands of the enemy (Tartars). The Pao (or engines for shooting) of the IIwei-Ilwei (Mahomedans) were imitated, but in imitating them very ingenious improvements were introduced, and pao of a different and very su ret for kind were constructed. Moreover, an extraordinary method was invented of neutralising the effects of the enemy's pao. Ropes were made of rice-straw 4 inches thick, and 34 feet in length. Twenty such ropes were joined, applied to the tops of buildings, and covered with clay. In this mannor the fire-arrows, fire pao, and even the pao casting stones of too lbs. weight, could cause no damage to the towers or houses." (lb. 196 ; also for previous parts of this note, hisdelou, 188 ; Gaubil, 34, 155 seqq. and 70 ; De ihTailla, 329 ; Pauthier in loco and Introduction ; D' Ohsson, II. 35, and 391 ; Notes by 1í7r. Edward Thomas, F.R.S. ; Q. Rashid., pp. 132, 136.) [See I.
p. 342.]
[Captain Gill writes (River of Golden Sand, I. p. 148) : " The word ` P'ao' which now means ` cannon,' was, it was asserted, found in old Chinese books of a date anterior to that in which gunpowder was first known to Europeans ; hence the deduction was drawn that the Chinese were acquainted with gunpowder before it was used in the West. But close examination shows that in all old books the radical of the character ` P'ao' means ` stone,' but that in modern books the radical of the character ` P'ao ' means ` fire ' ; that the character with the radical ` fire ' only appears in books well known to have been written since the introduction of gunpowder into the West ; and that the old character ` P'ao' in reality means ` Balista.' "—H. C.]
E" Wheeled boats are mentioned in 1272 at the siege of Siang-yang. Kúblái did not decide to go for ' Manzi, i.e. the southern of the two Chinese Empires, until
1273. Baran did not start until 1274, appearing
before Hankow in January 1275. Wuhu and Taiping surrendered in April ; then Chinkiang, Kien K'ang (Nanking), and Ning kwoh ; the final crushing blow being dealt at Hwai-chan. In March 1276, the Manzi. Emperor accepted vassaldom. Kiang-nan was regularly administered in 1278." (E. H. Parker, China Review, xxiv. p. i05.)—H. C.]
Siang-yang has been twice visited by Mr. A. Wylie. Just before his first visit (I believe in 1866) a discovery had been made in the city of a quantity of treasure
buried at the time of the siege. One of the local Coin from a treasure hidden at
officers gave Mr. Wylie one of the copper coins, not Siang-yang during the siege
indeed in itself of any great rarity, but worth engraving in 1268-73, lately discovered.
here on account of its connection with the siege com-
memorated in the text ; and a little on the principle of Smith the Weaver's evidence :
--" The bricks are <<1ive at this day to testify of it ; therefore deny it not."
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