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| 0660 |
The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 |
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7.—Fire-arms. (Vol. i. p. 342.)
From a paper on Siam's Intercourse with China, published by Lieutenant-Colonel
Gerini in the Asiatic Quarterly Review for October, 1902, it would appear that fire-
arms were mentioned for the first time in Siamese Records during the Lāu invasion and
the siege of Swankhalôk (from 1085 to 1097 A.D.); it is too early a date for the intro-
duction of fire-arms, though it would look "much more like an anachronism were the
advent of these implements of warfare [were] placed, in blind reliance upon the
Northern Chronicles, still a few centuries back. The most curious of it all is, how-
ever, the statement as to the weapons in question having been introduced into the
country from China." Following W. F. Mayers in his valuable contributions to the
Jour. North-China B. R. A. S., 1869-1870, Colonel Gerini, who, of course,
did not know of Dr. Schlegel's paper, adds: "It was not until the reign of the
Emperor Yung Lê, and on occasion of the invasion of Tonkin in A.D. 1407, that the
Chinese acquired the knowledge of the propulsive effect of gunpowder, from their
vanquished enemies."
8.—La Couvade. (Vol. ii. p. 91.)
Mr. H. Ling Roth has given an interesting paper entitled On the Signification of
Couvade, in the Journ. Anthropological Institute, XXII. 1893, pp. 204-243. He
writes (pp. 221-222):—"From this survey it would seem in the first place that we
want a great deal more information about the custom in the widely isolated cases
where it has been reported, and secondly, that the authenticity of some of the
reported cases is doubtful in consequence of authors repeating their predecessors' tales,
as Colquhoun did Marco Polo's, and V. der Haart did Schouten's. I should not be
at all surprised if ultimately both Polo's and Schouten's accounts turned out to be
myths, both these travellers making their records at a time when the Old World was
full of the tales of the New, so that in the end, we may yet find the custom is not,
nor ever has been, so widespread as is generally supposed to have been the case."
I do not very well see how Polo, in the 13th and 14th centuries could make his
record at a time when the Old World was full of the tales of the New, discovered at
the end of the 15th century! Unless Mr. Ling Roth supposes the Venetian Traveller
acquainted with the various theories of the Pre-Columbian discovery of America!!
9.—Alacan. (Vol. ii. pp. 255 and 261.)
Dr. G. Schlegel writes, in the T'oung Pao (May, 1898, p. 153): "Abakan or
Abachan ought to be written Alahan. His name is written by the Chinese Ats'ehan
and by the Japanese Asikan; but this is because they have both confounded the
character lah with the character ts'e; the old sound of [the last] character [of the
name] was kan and is always used by the Chinese when wanting to transcribe the
title Khan or Chan. Marco Polo's Alacan is a clerical error for Alacan."
10.—Champa. (Vol. ii. p. 268.)
In Ma Huan's account of the Kingdom of Siam, transl. by Mr. Phillips (Jour.
China B. R. A. S., XXI. 1886, pp. 35-36) we read: "Their marriage ceremonies
are as follows:—They first invite the priest to conduct the bridegroom to the bride's
house, and on arrival there the priest exacts the 'droit seigneurial,' and then she
is introduced to the bridegroom."
11.—Ruck Quills. (Vol. ii. p. 421.)
Regarding Ruck Quills, Sir H. Yule wrote in the Academy, 22nd March, 1884,
pp. 204-205:—
"I suggested that this might possibly have been some vegetable production, such
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731
732
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