CONCERNING THE TWELVE THOUSAND BARONS WHO RECEIVE ROBES OF CLOTH OF
GOLD FROM THE EMPEROR ON THE GREAT FESTIVALS, THIRTEEN CHANGES
A-PIECE.
Now you must know that the Great Kaan hath set apart 12,000 of his
men who are distinguished by the name of _Keshican_, as I have told
you before; and on each of these 12,000 Barons he bestows thirteen
changes of raiment, which are all different from one another: I mean
that in one set the 12,000 are all of one colour; the next 12,000 of
another colour, and so on; so that they are of thirteen different
colours. These robes are garnished with gems and pearls and other
precious things in a very rich and costly manner.{1} And along with
each of these changes of raiment, _i.e._ 13 times in the year, he
bestows on each of those 12,000 Barons a fine golden girdle of great
richness and value, and likewise a pair of boots of _Camut_, that is to
say of _Borgal_, curiously wrought with silver thread; insomuch that
when they are clothed in these dresses every man of them looks like a
king!{2} And there is an established order as to which dress is to be
worn at each of those thirteen feasts. The Emperor himself also has
his thirteen suits corresponding to those of his Barons; in _colour_,
I mean (though his are grander, richer, and costlier), so that he is
always arrayed in the same colour as his Barons, who are, as it were,
his comrades. And you may see that all this costs an amount which it is
scarcely possible to calculate.
Now I have told you of the thirteen changes of raiment received from
the Prince by those 12,000 Barons, amounting in all to 156,000 suits of
so great cost and value, to say nothing of the girdles and the boots
which are also worth a great sum of money. All this the Great Lord
hath ordered, that he may attach the more of grandeur and dignity to
his festivals.
And now I must mention another thing that I had forgotten, but which
you will be astonished to learn from this Book. You must know that on
the Feast Day a great Lion is led to the Emperor’s presence, and as
soon as it sees him it lies down before him with every sign of the
greatest veneration, as if it acknowledged him for its lord; and it
remains there lying before him, and entirely unchained. Truly this must
seem a strange story to those who have not seen the thing!{3}
NOTE 1.—On the _Keshican_, see note 1 to chap. xii., and on the
changes of raiment note 3 to chap. xiv., and the remarks there as
to the number of distributions. I confess that the stress laid upon
the number 13 in this chapter makes the supposition of error more
difficult. But there is something odd and unintelligible about the
whole of the chapter except the last paragraph. For the 12,000
_Keshican_ are here all elevated to _Barons_; and at the same time
the statement about their changes of raiment seems to be merely
that already made in chapter xiv. This repetition occurs only in
the French MSS., but as it is in all these we cannot reject it.
NOTE 2.—The words _Camut_ and _Borgal_ appear both to be used
here for what we call _Russia-Leather_. The latter word in one
form or another, _Bolghár, Borgháli_, or _Bulkál_, is the term
applied to that material to this day nearly all over Asia. Ibn
Batuta says that in travelling during winter from Constantinople
to the Wolga he had to put on three pairs of boots, one of wool
(which we should call stockings), a second of wadded linen, and a
third of _Borgháli_, “_i.e._ of horse-leather lined with wolf-skin.”
Horse-leather seems to be still the favourite material for boots
among all the Tartar nations. The name was undoubtedly taken from
_Bolghar_ on the Wolga, the people of which are traditionally said
to have invented the art of preparing skins in that manner. This
manufacture is still one of the staple trades of Kazan, the city
which in position and importance is the nearest representative of
Bolghar now.
_Camut_ is explained by Klaproth to be “leather made from the
back-skin of a camel.” It appears in Johnson’s Persian Dictionary
as _Kámú_, but I do not know from what language it originally
comes. The word is in the Latin column of the Petrarchian
Vocabulary with the Persian rendering _Sagri_. This shows us
what is meant, for _Saghrí_ is just our word _Shagreen_, and is
applied to a fine leather granulated in that way, which is much
used for boots and the like by the people of Central Asia. [In
Turkish _ṣāghri_ or _saghri_ is the name both for the buttocks of
a horse and the leather called _shagreen_ prepared with them. (See
_Devic, Dict. Étym._)—H. C.] In the commercial lists of our Indian
north-west frontier we find as synonymous _Saghri_ or _Kímukht_,
“Horse or Ass-hide.” No doubt this latter word is a form of _Kámú_
or _Camut_. It appears (as _Keimukht_, “a sort of leather”) in a
detail of imports to Aden given by _Ibn al Wardi_, a geographer of
the 13th century.
Instead of Camut, Ramusio has _Camoscia_, _i.e._ Chamois, and the
same seems to be in all the editions based on Fra Pipino’s version.
It may be a misrendering of _camutum_ or _camutium_; or is there
any real connexion between the Oriental _Kámú Kímukht_, and the
Italian _camoscia_? (_I. B._ II. 445; _Klapr. Mém._ vol. III.;
_Davies’s Trade Report_, App. p. ccxx.; _Vámbéry’s Travels_, 423;
_Not. et Ext._ II. 43.)
Fraehn (writing in 1832) observes that he knew no use of the word
_Bolghár_, in the sense of Russian leather, older than the 17th
century. But we see that both Marco and Ibn Batuta use it. (_F. on
the Wolga Bulghars_, pp. 8–9.)
Pauthier in a note (p. 285) gives a list of the garments issued to
certain officials on these ceremonial occasions under the Mongols,
and sure enough this list includes “pairs of boots in red leather.”
Odoric particularly mentions the broad golden girdles worn at the
Kaan’s court.
[La Curne, _Dict._, has _Bulga_, leather bag; old Gallic word from
which are derived _bouge_ et _bougete, bourse_; he adds in a note,
“Festus writes: ‘_Bulgas_ galli sacculos scorteos vocant.’”—H. C.]
NOTE 3.—“Then come mummers leading lions, which they cause to
salute the Lord with reverence.” (_Odoric_, p. 143.) A lion sent by
Mirza Baisangar, one of the Princes of Timur’s House, accompanied
Shah Rukh’s embassy as a present to the Emperor; and like presents
were frequently repeated. (See _Amyot_, XIV. 37, 38.)