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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

It is in the notice of « Mogedaxo » that Polo speaks of four sheikhs who have the rule of the country (cf. Vol. I, 428). Under « Mogedaxo », I hope to establish that the country meant is Mogadiscio, and not Madagascar as generally accepted hitherto. As a matter of fact, Mogadiscio was actually ruled by sheikhs. Ibn Baṭṭūṭah (II, 183-185) speaks of the « sheikh » who welcomed him there, and Ya'qūt says that Arabs had settled there and constituted several tribes every one of which was governed by a sheikh (cf. DEVIC, Le pays des Zendjs, 61-62).

223. ESENTEMUR

asen, stentimuor V ensentemus P essecemur LT
centemur R esentemur F, FB, VL sentemur FA
centimur, çentimur, zentimur esetemur VA setemur FB, VB
VB essantemur FA

Āsān-tāmūr is composed of Mong. āsān, « sane », and tāmūr, « iron ». The name is common; there are about thirty Āsān-tāmūr in YS (cf. WANG Hui-tsu¹, 22, 4-6); the Persian spelling is اسن تيمور Āsān-temūr or اسان تيمور Esān-temūr (cf. Bl, II, 365, 579); the Chinese have always Yeh-hsien-t'ieh-mu-êrh, Āsān-tāmūr, written in different ways (for the four spellings of the name of this onef cf. WANG Hui-tsu², 42, 7 a).

The present Āsān-tāmūr is the son of Hūgāci (see « Cogacin »), himself a son of Qubilai; Rašīdu-'d-Dīn names him too (Bl, II, 365). He did not immediately succeed, as « prince of Yün-nan », his father who had been poisoned in 1271. It was only on November 1, 1280, that at the request of one of his father's former secretaries, he was granted the title and the seal of Hūgāci, but he had to wait until the end of 1285 to be given full powers in Yün-nan. In 1286, Qubilai ordered Āsān-tāmūr to place from 1.000 to 3.000 men at the disposal of the army operating in Tonking. In 1287-1288, Āsān-tāmūr himself led the war against Burma. In the beginning of 1308, he was promoted prince of 郢 Ying, and so left Yün-nan for Liao-tung. It is from there that he led his troops towards the capital when the princes fought for the succession of Yāsūn-tāmūr in 1328; he was defeated and deprived of his seal, which was, however, given back to him in 1330. Āsān-tāmūr died probably on February 29, 1332. The best notice on him is in T'u Chi, 76, 10 b-11 b. It is Āsān-tāmūr, and not Naṣru-'d-Dīn (see « Nesoradin »), who led the Burmese war of which Polo gives an account (cf. HUBER, in BEFEO, IX, 651).

224. ETHIOPIA

ethiopia P; R ethyopia LT etiopia V

In Polo's notice on « Abasce » (q. v.), the addition « which is called Ethiopia » does not occur in F or Z and, in all likelihood, must be considered as a gloss of the copyists.

Under « Abasce », I have alluded to the early mediaeval mislocation of Ethiopia in India, or