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0377 The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2
The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 / Page 377 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000269
Citation Format: Chicago | APA | Harvard | IEEE

OCR Text

"Or eot voir qe en ceste yole a nne montagne mont haut et si degrot de les
rocches qe nul hi puent monter aus oe ne en ceste mainere qe je boz
dirai" . . . . . . .

Brahmans to be the footstep of Siva, by the Buddhists of Buddha, . . . by the
Gnostics of Ieu, by the Mahometans of Adam, whilst the Portuguese authorities were
divided between the conflicting claims of St. Thomas and the eunuch of Candace,
Queen of Ethiopia." (Tennent, II. 133.)
["Near to the King's residence there is a lofty mountain reaching to the skies.
On the top of this mountain there is the impress of a man's foot, which is sunk two
feet deep in the rock, and is some eight or more feet long. This is said to be the
impress of the foot of the ancestor of mankind, a Holy man called A-tan, otherwise
P'an-Ku." (Ma-Huan, p. 213.)—H. C.]
Polo, however, says nothing of the foot; he speaks only of the sepulchre of Adam,
or of Sakya-muni. I have been unable to find any modern indication of the monu-
ment that was shown by the Mahomedans as the tomb, and sometimes as the house,
of Adam; but such a structure there certainly was, perhaps an ancient Kist-vaen, or
the like. John Marignolli, who was there about 1349, has an interesting passage on
the subject: "That exceeding high mountain hath a pinnacle of surpassing height,
which on account of the clouds can rarely be seen. [The summit is lost in the clouds.
(Ibn Khordâdhbeh, p. 43.)—H. C.] But God, pitying our tears, lighted it up one
morning just before the sun rose, so that we beheld it glowing with the brightest flame.
[They say that a flame bursts constantly, like a lightning, from the Summit of the
mountain.—(Ibn Khordâdhbeh, p. 44.)—H. C.] In the way down from this mountain
there is a fine level spot, still at a great height, and there you find in order: first,
the mark of Adam's foot; secondly, a certain statue of a sitting figure, with the left
hand resting on the knee, and the right hand raised and extended towards the west;
VOL. II. X