IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
THE DESCRIPTION OF THE WORLD. GOLD BANGLES IN AMU . I 2 7.
legs, and all over the body in this[way] . First indeed one will cause the shapes of patterns, z
so many and such as he shall please, to be drawn with black over the whole body. And this
donc he will be bound feet and hands and two or more will hold him, and then the master, .who R
practises no other art, . will take five needles, four of them tied together as a square and the fifth z
placed in the middle; and with these needles he goes pricking him everywhere according to the
drawing of the patterns; and when the pricks are made ink is immediately drawn over, and
then the figure that was drawn appears in those pricks. But men suffer so much pain in this
that it might be thought enough for them for purgatory. And they paint the garments and all, TA
and they do this for great [58c] gentility, and he who has more of these pictures
is held as superior and as more gentle and beautiful by the others. . And very many TA VA z
of them die while they are being so painted, for they lose much blood. Now we will leave you
then from this province and from the men who are painted with flowers and with animals, FB
and will tell you of another province which has Amu for name, which is toward
sunrising.
HERE HE TELLS OF THE PROVINCE OF AMU. Amu is a province which is V • I2$ •
toward sunrising where they are subject to the great Kaan. And they are FB idolaters. They have great flocks of animals and live on flocks and the profit P of the land. They have a king and a language for themselves. The ladies wear TA
anklets on the legs and on the hands and arms bracelets of gold and of silver with VB Z K
pearls and stones of the greatest value. And the men wear them also, and better than
the ladies and much more dear.' And they have moreover horses plenty and good,2 FB V Z
of which they take and sell them in vast quantity to the Indians,3 who make great V
trade of them. They have also too great abundance of buffaloes and of oxen and of
cows, and this because it is too good a place and one of vast and good pasture. They V R
have great abundance also of all things for life. And you may know that from this z
province of Amu as far as to the province of Caugigu which is behind more to the west z z L
is fifteen' days journeys, and from Caugigu to Bangala which is the third province FB
back more to the west is thirty days journeys. Now we will set out from this Amu, and L FB
will go riding to another province which has Toloman for name, which is quite V
eights days marches distant from this, still toward the sunrising. FB
1 R: ma quelli, che portano le donne, sono di maggior valuta.
2 aseç 6- buens This was anciently misunderstood, e.g. FB: asse z et beufz V: chauali e boi VA: chauali axeni buo R(1559): molti caualli, 6- buoni but later editions: buoi, So MARSDEN: and oxen".
3 a les ydules PB: aux yndiens Z: Jndis V: inindia cf. p. 295 n. 2, 5 above.
4 R: "twenty-five" TA, LT: "twenty" 6 V: "seven"
297
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