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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

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58   MARCO POLO.   VOL. I. BK. I.

on p. io, Vol. XX. of the China Review. The Kao-ch'é (= High

Carts, Tölös, or early Ouigours) and the early Cathayans (Sien-

pi) had very similar customs. Heikel gives an account of

analogous ` Olympic games ' witnessed at Urga in the year 1890."

(E. H. PARKER, Asiatic Quart. Rev., Jan., 1904, pp. 140—I.)

51.  p. 251. Read T'ung •hwo period (A.D. 992) instead of

(A.D. 692).

52.  pp. 252, 254, n. 3. " [The Tartars] live on the milk and meat

which their herds supply, and on the produce of the chase ; and they

eat all kinds of flesh, including that of horses and dogs, and Pharaoh's

rats, of which last there are great numbers in burrows on those plains."

Pharaoh's rat was the mangouste or ichneumon (Herpestes

ichneumon) formerly found in this part of Asia as well as in

Egypt where it was venerated. Cf. Cathay, II., p. 116.

LII., p. 254. Instead of " his tent invariably facing south," read

" facing east" according to the Chou Shu. (PELLIOT.)

p. 256 n.

MARRIAGE.

The China Review, Vol. XX. " gives numerous instances of

marrying mothers-in-law and sisters-in-law amongst the Hiung

nu. The practice was common with all Tartars, as, indeed, is

stated by Yule." (E. H. PARKER, Asiatic Quart. Rev., Jan., 1904,

p. 141.)

LII, p. 257 n.

TENGRI (HEAVEN).

" The Mongol word Tengri (= Heaven) appears also in

Hiung-nu times ; in fact, the word shen yü is stated to have been

used by the Hiung-nu alternatively with Tengri kudu (Son of

Heaven)." (E. H. PARKER, Asiatic Quart. Rev., Jan., 1904,

p. 141.)

LIV., p. 263 n.

COATS OF MAIL.

Parker's note is erroneous. See Laufer, Chinese Clay

Figures, Part I.

LV.,p. 267. They [the Tartars] have another notable custom, which

is this. If any man have a daughter who dies before marriage, and

another man have had a son also die before marriage, the parents of