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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 |
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Citation Information
CHAP. LXXIX. ASCENT OF TII TS'IEN-T'ANG VALLEY
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In my paper on the Catalan Map (Paris, 1895) I gave the following itinerary : Kinsay (Hang-chau), Tanpiju (Shao-hing fu), Vuju (Kin-hwa fu), Ghiuju (K'iu-chau fu), Chan-shan (Sui-chang hien), Cuju (Ch'u-chau), Ke-lin-fu (Kien-ning fu), Unken (Hu-kwan), Fuju (Fu-chau), Zayton (Kayten, Hai-t'au), Zayton (Ts'iuen-chau), Tyunju (Tek-hwa).
Regarding the burning of the dead, Mr. Phillips (T'oung Pao, VI. p. 454) quotes the following passage from a notice by M. Jaubert. " The town of Zaitun is situated half a day's journey inland from the sca. At the place where the ships anchor, the water is fresh. The people drink this water and also that of the wells. Zaitun is 3o days' journey from Khanbaligh. The inhabitants of this town burn their dead either with Sandal, or Brazil wood, according to their means ; they then throw the ashes into the river." Mr. Phillips adds : " The custom of burning the dead is a long established one in Fuh-Kien, and does not find much favour among the upper classes. It exists even to this day in the central parts of the province. The time for cremation is generally at the time of the Tsing-Ming. At the commencement of the present dynasty the custom of burning the dead appears to have been pretty general in the Fuchow Prefecture ; it was looked upon with disfavour by many, and the gentry petitioned the Authorities that proclamations forbidding it should be issued. It was thought unfilial for children to cremate their parents ; and the practice of gathering up the bones of a partially cremated person and thrusting them into a jar, euphoniously called a Golden Jar, but which was really an earthen one, was much commented on, as, if the jar was too small to contain all the bones, they were broken up and put in, and many pieces got thrown aside. In the Changchow neighbourhood, with which we have here most to do, it was a universal custom in 1126 to burn the dead, and was in existence for many centuries after." (See note, supra, II. p. 134.)
Captain Gill, speaking of the country near the Great Wall, writes (I. p. 6i) : [" The Chinese] consider mutton very poor food, and the butchers' shops are always kept by Mongols. In these, however, both beef and mutton can be bought for 3d. or 4d. a lb., while pork, which is considered by the Chinese as the greatest delicacy, sells for double the price."--H. C.]
NOTE 2.—Che-kiang produces bamboos more abundantly than any province of Eastern China. Dr. Medhurst mentions meeting, on the waters near Hang-chau, with numerous rafts of bamboos, one of which was one-third of a mile in length. (Glance at Int. of China, p. 53.)
NOTE 3.—Assuming Tanpiju to be Shao-hing, the remaining places as far as the Fo-kien Frontier run thus :—
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3 days to Vuju (P. Vugui, G. T. Vugrz2, Vuigui, Ram. Uguiu).
2 „ to Ghiuju (P. Guiguy, G. T. Glzin;ui, Ghengui, Chengui, Ram. Gengu!).
4 „ to Chanshan (P. Ciancian, G. T. Cianscian, Ram. Zengian).
3 „ to Cuju or Chuju (P. Cinguy, G. T. Cugui, Ram. Gieza).
First as regards Chanshan, which, with the notable circumstances about the waters there, constitutes the key to the route, I extract the following remarks from a note which Mr. Fortune has kindly sent me : " When we get to Chanshan the proof as to the route is very strong This is undoubtedly my Chang-shan. The town is near the head of the Green River (the Ts'ien T'ang) which flows in a N.E. direction and falls into the Bay of Ilang-chau. At Chang-shan the stream is no longer navigable even for small boats. Travellers going west or south-west walk or are carried in sedan-chairs across country in a westerly direction for about 3o miles to a town named Yuh-shan. Here there is a river which flows westward (` the other half goes down'), taking the traveller rapidly in that direction, and passing en route the towns of Kwansinfu, Ilokow or Hokeu, and onward to the Poyang Lake." From the careful study of Mr. Fortune's published narrative I had already arrived at the conclusion that this was the correct explanation of the remarkable expressions about the division of the waters, which are closely analogous to those used by the traveller in eh. lxii. of this book
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