OF THE PROVINCE OF CHINGINTALAS.
Chingintalas is also a province at the verge of the Desert, and lying
between north-west and north. It has an extent of sixteen days’
journey, and belongs to the Great Kaan, and contains numerous towns and
villages. There are three different races of people in it—Idolaters,
Saracens, and some Nestorian Christians.{1} At the northern extremity
of this province there is a mountain in which are excellent veins of
steel and ondanique.{2} And you must know that in the same mountain
there is a vein of the substance from which Salamander is made.{3}
For the real truth is that the Salamander is no beast, as they allege
in our part of the world, but is a substance found in the earth; and I
will tell you about it.
Everybody must be aware that it can be no animal’s nature to live in
fire, seeing that every animal is composed of all the four elements.{4}
Now I, Marco Polo, had a Turkish acquaintance of the name of Zurficar,
and he was a very clever fellow. And this Turk related to Messer Marco
Polo how he had lived three years in that region on behalf of the Great
Kaan, in order to procure those Salamanders for him.{5} He said that
the way they got them was by digging in that mountain till they found
a certain vein. The substance of this vein was then taken and crushed,
and when so treated it divides as it were into fibres of wool, which
they set forth to dry. When dry, these fibres were pounded in a great
copper mortar, and then washed, so as to remove all the earth and to
leave only the fibres like fibres of wool. These were then spun, and
made into napkins. When first made these napkins are not very white,
but by putting them into the fire for a while they come out as white
as snow. And so again whenever they become dirty they are bleached by
being put in the fire.
Now this, and nought else, is the truth about the Salamander, and the
people of the country all say the same. Any other account of the matter
is fabulous nonsense. And I may add that they have at Rome a napkin of
this stuff, which the Grand Kaan sent to the Pope to make a wrapper for
the Holy Sudarium of Jesus Christ.{6}
We will now quit this subject, and I will proceed with my account of
the countries lying in the direction between north-east and east.
NOTE 1.—The identification of this province is a difficulty,
because the geographical definition is vague, and the name assigned
to it has not been traced in other authors. It is said to lie
_between north-west and north_, whilst Kamul was said to lie
_towards the north-west_. The account of both provinces forms a
digression, as is clear from the last words of the present chapter,
where the traveller returns to take up his regular route “in the
direction between north-east and east.” The point from which he
digresses, and to which he reverts, is Shachau, and ’tis presumably
from Shachau that he assigns bearings to the two provinces forming
the subject of the digression. Hence, as Kamul lies _vers maistre_,
_i.e._ north-west, and Chingintalas _entre maistre et tramontaine_,
_i.e._ nor’-nor’-west, Chingintalas can scarcely lie due west of
Kamul, as M. Pauthier would place it, in identifying it with an
obscure place called _Saiyintala_, in the territory of Urumtsi.
Moreover, the province is said to belong to the Great Kaan. Now,
_Urumtsi_ or Bishbalik seems to have belonged, not to the Great
Kaan, but to the empire of Chagatai, or possibly at this time to
Kaidu. Rashiduddin, speaking of the frontier between the Kaan and
Kaidu, says:—“From point to point are posted bodies of troops
under the orders of princes of the blood or other generals, and
they often come to blows with the troops of Kaidu. Five of these
are cantoned on the verge of the Desert; a sixth in Tangut, near
Chagan-Nor (White Lake); a seventh in the vicinity of Karakhoja,
a city of the Uighúrs, which lies between the two States, and
maintains neutrality.”
Karakhoja, this neutral town, is near Turfan, to the south-east of
Urumtsi, which thus would lie _without_ the Kaan’s boundary; Kamul
and the country north-east of it would lie within it. This country,
to the north and north-east of Kamul, has remained till quite
recently unexplored by any modern traveller, unless we put faith in
Mr. Atkinson’s somewhat hazy narrative. But it is here that I would
seek for Chingintalas.
Several possible explanations of this name have suggested
themselves or been suggested to me. I will mention two.