Marco Polo : vol.1 / Page 187 (Color Image)

0187	Marco Polo : vol.1

THE DESCRIPTION OF THE WORLD. WILD OXEN & MUSK DEER • 7 2 •

and some • Saracens also, those who worship by the law of Mahomet. There are noble z VB Z VB

cities enough and villages in the said province, and the capital city is named Ergiuul. z TA

And from this city towards sirocco one can go into the countries of Catai, and on

this road of sirocco towards the countries of Catai [3od] he finds a city which

has Silingiu to naine, • and the province is called Silingiu, and there are towns and cities FB z

enough under it, and it is also part of the abovesaid province of Tangut itself and belongs VB L Z

to the dominion of the great Kaan. And the people likewise are idolaters and people vB v P

who worship Mahomet, and there are also some Nestorian Christians. And there are z L V

great numbers of wild oxen and cows which are as large as it were as elephants & they VB L

are very good and beautiful to see, for they are all hairy except the back, and they VA

are white and black. And the hair is about three palms long;1 and they say that their L L VB

hair is wonderful, and is very fine and white wool, and the said wool is more fine than silk is.

I Marc Pol brought some of it here to Venese as a wonderful thing, and so it was counted for

such by all. They are so beautiful that it is a wonder to see. And of these same oxen

they have many domesticated,[with hair]so long, but not so long as the wild. For they VB

catch some of the wild ones when they were small and make them breed with the domestic FB R

cows, so that they already have a very great number of them. And the oxen which are L VB

born of them are wonderful animals, and more fit for labour than any other animal. And

they load them with great loads and plough with them, and I tell you that in a short R P

time they plough twice as much as the others and have double strength. And in this FB Z

country is produced the best musk and the finest that is to be had in the world. P

And you may know that musk is found in this way that I shall tell you. You may

know quite truly that in this country there is a little kind of wild animal which is of the FB FB z

size of a gazelle,2 that is of a goat, but its fashion is thus. It has deer's hair, but very z L

much more thick, and the feet large as a gazelle, horns as the gazelle it has not, it has L V TA R

a gazelle's tail; but it has four teeth, two below and two above, which are quite FB

three fingers long and are very thin, and white as ivory, and go two upwards and two VA VB

downwards. And it is a very beautiful beast to see; • and it is called gudderi according to v v Z LT

the Tartar tongue. •And I carried with me here to Venese the head and the feet of one of the VB

said animals dried, and some musk in the musk sac, and pairs of little teeth.3•But the musk is v

found in this way. The hunters sally forth at the full of the moon to catch the said animals; VB

1 R: I loro peli sono in cadauna parte del corpo bassi eccetto che sopra le spalle, che sono lunghi tre palmi, Z omits the sentence.

2 TA, LT, V A, P: "a cat"—and so just below.

3 VB: edel muschio enel chapo del muschio pare pote de denti picolli—of which the exact sense escapes me.

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