From Pole to Pole

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At his death Jenghiz Khan was sixty-five years old, and he bequeathed
his immense kingdom to his four sons. One of these was the father of
Kublai Khan, who conquered China in 1280 and established the Mongolian
dynasty in the Middle Kingdom. His court was even more brilliant than
that of his grandfather, and an exact description both of the great Khan
and his empire was given by the great traveller Marco Polo.

In the year 1260 two merchants from Venice were dwelling in
Constantinople. They were named Nicolo and Maffeo Polo. Their desire to
open trade relations with Asia induced them to travel to the Crimea, and
thence across the Volga and through Bukhara to the court of the Great
Khan, Kublai. Up to that time only vague rumours of the great civilized
empire far in the East had been spread by Catholic missionaries.

The Great Khan, who had never seen Europeans, was pleased at the arrival
of the Venetians, received them kindly, and made them tell of all the
wonderful things in their own country. Finally he decided to send them
back with a letter to the Pope, in which he begged him to send a hundred
wise and learned missionaries out to the East. He wished to employ them
in training and enlightening the rude tribes of the steppe.

After nine years' absence the travellers returned to Venice. The Pope
was dead, and they waited two years fruitlessly for a successor to be
elected. As, then, they did not wish the Great Khan to believe them
untrustworthy, they decided to return to the Far East, and on this
journey they took with them Nicolo's son, Marco Polo, aged fifteen
years.

Our three travellers betook themselves from Syria to Mosul, quite close
to the ruins of Nineveh on the Tigris, and thence to Baghdad and Hormuz,
a town situated on the small strait between the Persian Gulf and the
Arabian Sea. Then they proceeded northwards through the whole of Persia
and northern Afghanistan, and along the Amu-darya to the Pamir,
following routes which had to wait 600 years for new travellers from
Europe. Past Yarkand, Khotan, and Lop-nor, and through the whole of the
Gobi desert, they finally made their way to China.

It was in the year 1275 that, after several years' wanderings, they came
to the court of the Great Khan in eastern Mongolia. The potentate was so
delighted with Marco Polo, who learned to read and write several Eastern
languages, that he took him into his service. The first commission he
entrusted to the young Venetian was an official journey to northern and
western China. Polo had noticed that Kublai Khan liked to hear curious
and extraordinary accounts from foreign countries, and he therefore
treasured up in his memory all he saw and experienced in order to relate
it to the Emperor on his return. Accordingly he steadily rose higher in
the estimation of Kublai Khan, and was sent out on other official
journeys, even as far as India and the borders of Tibet, was for three
years governor of a large town, and was also employed at the capital,
Peking.

Marco Polo relates how the Emperor goes hunting. He sits in a palanquin
like a small room, with a roof, and carried by four elephants. The
outside of the palanquin is overlaid with plates of beaten gold and the
inside is draped with tiger skins. A dozen of his best gerfalcons are
beside him, and near at hand ride several of his attendant lords.
Presently one of them will exclaim, "Look, Sire, there are some cranes."
Then the Emperor has the roof opened and throws out one of the falcons
to strike down the game; this sport gives him great satisfaction. Then
he comes to his camp, which is composed of 10,000 tents. His own
audience tent is so large that it can easily hold 1000 persons, and he
has another for private interviews, and a third for sleeping. They are
supported by three tent-poles, are covered outside with tiger skins, and
inside with ermine and sable. Marco Polo says that the tents are so fine
and costly that it is not every king who could pay for them.

Only the most illustrious noblemen can wait on the Emperor at table.
They have cloths of silk and gold wound over their mouths and noses that
their breath may not pollute the dishes and cups presented to His
Majesty. And every time the Emperor drinks, a powerful band of music
strikes up, and all who are present fall on their knees.

All merchants who come to the capital, and especially those who bring
gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, must sell their valuables
to the Emperor alone. Marco Polo thinks it quite natural that Kublai
Khan should have greater treasures than all the kings of the world, for
he pays only with paper money, which he makes as he likes, for notes
were current at that time in China.

So Marco Polo and his father and uncle lived for many long years in the
Middle Kingdom, and by their cleverness and patient industry accumulated
much property. But the Emperor, their protector, was old, and they
feared that their position would be very different after his death. They
longed, too, to go home to Venice, but whenever they spoke of setting
out, Kublai Khan bade them stay a little longer.

However, an event occurred which facilitated their departure. Persia
also stood under the supremacy of the Mongols, and its prince or Khan
was a close connection of Kublai Khan. The Persian Khan had lost his
favourite wife, and now desired to carry out the wish she had expressed
on her deathbed that he should marry a princess of her own race.
Therefore he despatched an embassy to Kublai Khan. It was well received,
and a young, beautiful princess was selected for the Khan of Persia. But
the land journey of over 4000 miles from Peking to Tabriz was considered
too trying for a young woman, so the ambassadors decided to return by
sea.

They had conceived a great friendship and respect for the three
Venetians, and they requested Kublai Khan to send them with them, for
they were skilful mariners, and Marco Polo had lately been in India, and
could give them much valuable information about the sea route thither.
At last Kublai Khan yielded, and equipped the whole party with great
liberality. In the year 1292 they sailed southwards from the coast of
China.

Many misfortunes, storms, shipwreck, and fever befell them on the
voyage. They tarried long on the coasts of Sumatra and India, a large
part of the crew perished and two of the three ambassadors died, but the
young lady and her Venetian cavaliers at last reached Persia safe and
sound. As the Khan had died, the princess had to put up with his nephew,
and she was much distressed when the Polos took leave of her to return
home to Venice by way of Tabriz, Trebizond, the Bosporus, and
Constantinople. There they arrived in the year 1295, having been absent
for twenty-four years.

Their relatives and friends had supposed them to be dead long before.
They had almost forgotten their mother tongue, and appeared in their
native city in shabby Asiatic clothes. The first thing they did was to
go to the old house of their fathers and knock at the door; but their
relations did not recognize them, would not believe their romantic
story, and sent them about their business.

The three Polos accordingly took another house and here made a great
feast for all their family. When the guests were all seated round the
table and the banquet was about to commence, the three hosts entered,
dressed down to the feet in garments of costly crimson silk. And as
water was taken round for the guests to wash their hands, they exchanged
their dresses for Asiatic mantles of the finest texture, the silken
dresses being cut into pieces and distributed among their retainers.
Then they appeared in robes of the most valuable velvet, while the
mantles were divided among the servants, and lastly the velvet went the
same way.

All the guests were astonished at what they saw. When the board was
cleared and the servants were gone, Marco Polo brought in the shabby,
tattered clothes the three travellers had worn when their relatives
would not acknowledge them. The seams of these garments were ripped up
with sharp knives, and out poured heaps of jewels on to the
table--rubies, sapphires, carbuncles, diamonds, and emeralds. When
Kublai Khan gave them leave to depart they exchanged all their wealth
for precious stones, because they knew that they could not carry a heavy
weight of gold such a long way. They had sewed the stones in their
clothes that no one might suspect that they had them.

When the guests saw these treasures scattered over the table their
astonishment knew no bounds. And now all had to acknowledge that these
three gentlemen were really the missing members of the Polo house. So
they became the object of the greatest reverence and respect. When news
about them spread through Venice the good citizens crowded to their
house, all eager to embrace and welcome the far-travelled men and to pay
them homage. "The young men came daily to visit and converse with the
ever polite and gracious Messer Marco, and to ask him questions about
Cathay and the Great Can, all which he answered with such kindly
courtesy that every man felt himself in a manner his debtor." But when
he talked of the Great Khan's immense wealth, and of other treasures
accumulated in Eastern lands, he continually spoke of millions and
millions, and therefore he was nicknamed by his countrymen Messer Marco
Millioni.

At that time, and for long afterwards, great envy and jealousy raged
between the three great commercial republics, Venice, Genoa, and Pisa.
In the year 1298 the Genoese equipped a mighty fleet which ravaged the
Venetian territory on the Dalmatian coast of the Adriatic Sea. Here it
was met by the Venetian fleet, in which Marco Polo commanded a galley.
After a hot fight the Genoese gained the victory, and with 7000
prisoners sailed home to Genoa, where they made a grand procession
through the city amidst the jubilation of the people. The prisoners were
put in chains and cast into prison, and among them was Marco Polo.

In the prison Marco had a companion in misfortune, the author Rusticiano
from Pisa. It was he who recorded Marco Polo's remarkable adventures in
Asia from his dictation, and therefore there is cause of satisfaction at
the result of the battle, for otherwise the name of Marco Polo might
perhaps have been unknown to posterity.

After a year prisoners were exchanged and Marco Polo returned to Venice,
where he married and had three daughters. In the year 1324 he died, and
was buried in the Church of San Lorenzo in Venice.

On his deathbed he was admonished to retract his extraordinary
narrative. No reliance was placed on his words, and even at the
beginning of the eighteenth century there were learned men who
maintained that his whole story was an excellently planned romance. The
narrative taken down in prison was, however, distributed in an
innumerable number of manuscript copies. The great Christopher Columbus,
discoverer of America, found in it a support to his conviction that by
sailing west a man would at length come to India.

There are many curious statements in Marco Polo's book. He speaks of the
"Land of Darkness" in the north, and of islands in the northern sea
which lie so far north that if a man travels thither he leaves the
pole-star behind him. We miss also much that we should expect to find.
Thus, for example, Marco Polo does not once mention the Great Wall,
though he must have passed through it several times. Still his book is a
treasure of geographical information, and most of his discoveries and
reports were confirmed five hundred years later. His life was a long
romance, and he occupies one of the most foremost places among
discoverers of all ages.

FOOTNOTES:

[14] Since this was written, China has become a republic, the Emperor
P'u-yi (born February 11, 1906) having abdicated on February 12, 1912,
in consequence of the success of a revolution which broke out in the
autumn of 1911. He still retains the title of Manchu Emperor, but with
his death the title will cease. A provisional President of the Republic
was elected, and the first Cabinet was constituted on March 29, 1912.

[15] The Republic has adopted a new flag consisting of five
stripes--crimson, yellow, white, blue, and black--to denote the five
principal races comprised in the Chinese people, Mongol, Chinese,
Manchu, Mohammedan, and Tibetan.

[16] A Russian coin, worth about 2s, 1 1/8d.

XIII

JAPAN (1908)

NAGASAKI AND KOBE

Marco Polo was also the first European to make Japan known in Western
countries. He called it Chipangu, and stated that it was a large, rich
island in the sea east of China. Accordingly the Chinese call it the
"Land of the Rising Sun," and Nippon, as the Japanese themselves call
their islands, has the same poetical signification, derived from the
rising of the sun out of the waves of the Pacific Ocean. The flag of
Japan displays a red sun on a white field, and when it flies from the
masts of warships the sun is surrounded by sixteen red rays.

We leave Shanghai by the fine steamer _Tenyo Maru_, which is driven by
turbines and makes 18 knots an hour. The _Tenyo Maru_ belongs to a line
which plies between Hong-kong and San Francisco, calling at Shanghai,
Japan, and the Sandwich Islands on the way. From Shanghai it is 470
miles over the Eastern Sea to Nagasaki, a considerable town situated on
Kiu-shiu, the southernmost of the four islands of Japan proper.

As we near Japan the vessel crosses the great current called the "Kuro
Shiwo," or the "Black Salt." It comes from the region immediately north
of the equator, and flows northwards, washing the Japanese coast with
its water, over 200 fathoms deep, and with a temperature of 72 deg.,
just as the Gulf Stream washes the east coast of Europe. Off Japan the
sea is very deep, the lead sinking down to 4900 fathoms and more.

In Nagasaki the visitor is astonished at the great shipbuilding yards
and docks; they are the largest in Asia, and the _Tenyo Maru_, as well
as other ships as big, have been, for the most part at any rate, built
here. It is hard to believe that it is only forty years since the
Japanese took to European civilization and the inventions of Western
lands. In many respects they have surpassed their teachers.

[Illustration: MAP SHOWING JOURNEY FROM SHANGHAI THROUGH JAPAN AND KOREA
TO DALNY (pp. 185-202).]

After a whole day in Nagasaki we steam out to sea again and make
northwards round Kiu-shiu to the beautiful narrow strait at Shimonoseki
which leads to the Inland Sea. Unfortunately it is pitch dark when we
pass Admiral Togo's fleet. He has just been engaged in manoeuvres with
eighty-five of Japan's two hundred modern warships. In sea-power Japan
is the fifth nation of the world, and is only surpassed by England,
Germany, America, and France. A large number of their warships were
captured from Russia during the war, and afterwards refitted and
re-christened with Japanese names. On a peace footing the land army of
Japan contains 250,000 men and 11,000 officers. In time of war, when all
the reservists and landwehr troops are called out, the strength amounts
to a million and a half; 120,000 men yearly are called out for active
service. The Japanese make any sacrifice when it is a question of the
defence of their fatherland. To them affection for Nippon is a
religion.

The area of Japan is about half as large again as that of the British
Islands, and the population is, roughly, a quarter more. But if the
recently acquired parts of the mainland, Korea and Kwan-tung, be
included, 77,000 square miles must be added and the population increased
to 65 millions.

Early on the morning of November 9 we pass through the strait of
Shimonoseki into the Inland Sea, the Mediterranean of Japan, which lies
between the islands Hondo, Kiu-shiu, and Shikoku. The scenery which
unfolds itself on all sides is magnificent, and is constantly changing.
Close around us, away over the open passages and in among the dark
islands, is the clear, green, salt water, edged with foaming surf and
dotted with picturesque fishing-boats under full sail; and as a frame to
the gently heaving sea we have the innumerable islands--some large, some
small, some wooded, others bare, but all sloping steeply to the shore,
where the breakers thunder eternally. A pleasant breeze is felt on the
promenade deck of the _Tenyo Maru_, the air is fresh and pure, the day
bright and cheerful, and from sea and coast comes a curious mixed odour
of salt brine and pine needles.

At dusk we cast anchor in the roadstead of Kobe, where the _Tenyo Maru_
has to remain for twenty-four hours in order to take cargo on board. A
launch takes us to the busy town, and we determine to spend the night on
shore in a genuine Japanese hotel. At the entrance we are met by the
landlord, in a garment like a petticoat and a thin mantle with short
hanging sleeves. Two small waiting-maids take off our shoes and put a
pair of slippers on our feet. We go up a narrow wooden staircase and
along a passage with a brightly polished wooden floor. Outside a sliding
door we take off our slippers and enter in stocking feet. Cleanliness is
the first rule in a Japanese house, and it would be thought inexcusable
to enter a room in shoes which had lately been in the dust and dirt of
the lanes and streets.

Our rooms are divided from one another by partitions of paper or the
thinnest veneer, which can be partially drawn aside so that the rooms
may be thrown into one. Here and there mottoes are inscribed on hanging
shields, and we see that they are written in the same singular
characters as are used in China. On one wall hangs a _kakemono_, or a
long strip of paper with flowers painted in water-colours. On a small
carved wooden stool below the painting stands a dwarf tree scarcely two
feet in height. It is a cherry-tree which has been prevented from
growing to its full size, but it is a real, living tree, perhaps twenty
years old, and exactly like an ordinary cherry-tree, only so small that
it might have come from Lilliput.

The floor is laid with mats of rice straw with black borders. Each mat
is 6 feet long and 3 wide, and when a house is built the areas of the
rooms are always calculated in a certain number of mats; thus a room of
six mats is spoken of, or one of eight mats. Not infrequently the rooms
are so small that three or even two mats will cover the floor.

We take our seats crossed-legged or on our heels on small, square, down
cushions, the only furniture to be seen. A young Japanese maiden, also
in stocking feet, enters and places a stove in the middle of our circle.
There is no fireplace. This stove is shaped like a flower-pot, made of
thick metal, and is filled with fine white ashes. The young woman builds
the ashes up into a cone like the summit of Fujiyama and lays fresh
glowing charcoal against it. Instead of tongs she uses a pair of small
iron rods.

Bedsteads are not used in Japan, and the bedding, which consists of
thick padded quilts of rustling silk, is simply spread out on the mats
on the floor. All the service and attendance is performed by women. They
are dressed in their becoming and tasteful national costume, the
"kimono," a close-fitting coloured garment, cut out round the neck, a
broad sash of cloth round the waist, and a large rosette like a cushion
at the back. Their hair is jet black, smooth, and shiny, and is arranged
in tresses that look as if they were carved in ebony. Japanese women are
always clean, neat, and dainty, and it is vain to look for a speck of
dust on a silken cuff. If they did not giggle sometimes, you might think
that they were dolls of wax or china. They are treated like princesses
with the greatest politeness and consideration, for such is the custom
of the country. They do their work conscientiously, and are always
cheerful, contented, and friendly.

[Illustration: PLATE XIX. A JAPANESE RICKSHA.]

We sit down on our cushions for breakfast. The serving-girls bring in a
small red-lacquered table, not larger or higher than a footstool. Every
guest has his own table, and on each are five cups, bowls, and small
dishes of porcelain and lacquer, all of them with lids like teapots.
These contain raw fish and boiled fish in various forms, omelettes and
macaroni, crab soup with asparagus in it, and many other strange
viands. When we have partaken of the first five dishes, another table is
brought in with fresh dishes; and if it is a great banquet, as many as
four or five such tables may be placed before one before the dinner is
over. We eat with two chopsticks of wood or ivory not larger than a
penholder, drink pale, weak tea without sugar and cream, and a kind of
weak rice spirit called _sake_. When a bowl of steaming rice cooked dry
is brought in, it is a sign that the meal is ended.

* * * * *

The streets of Kobe are not paved. They are narrow roads, too narrow for
the large, clumsy vehicles, which are, however, few in number, and are
mostly used for the transport of goods. The people ride in
"rickshas"--neat, smart, two-wheeled gigs drawn by a running bare-legged
man with a mushroom-shaped hat on his head (Plate XIX.). The road
westwards along the coast runs through a succession of animated and busy
villages, past open tea-houses and small country shops, homely,
decorated wooden dwellings, temples, fields, and gardens. Everything is
small, neat, and well kept. Each peasant cultivates his own property
with care and affection, and the harvest from innumerable small plots
constitutes the wealth of Japan. It is impossible to drive fast along
the narrow road, for we are always meeting waggons and two-wheeled
carts, porters, and travellers.

At the "Beach of Dancing Girls" we stay a while under some old
pine-trees. Here people bathe in summer, while the children play among
the trees. But now in November it is cold rather than warm, and after a
pleasant excursion we return to Kobe. On the way we look into a Shinto
temple erected to the memory of a hero who six hundred years ago fell in
a battle in the neighbourhood. In the temple court stands a large
Russian cannon taken at Port Arthur, and also a part of the mast shot
off the man-of-war _Mikasa_.

Buddhism was introduced into Japan in the sixth century A.D., and more
than half the population of the country profess this religion. The old
faith of Japan, however, is Shintoism, to which about one-third of the
people still belong. The sun is worshipped as a principal god and the
powers of nature are adored as divinities. From the solar deity the
imperial house derives its origin, and the Emperor is regarded with
almost religious reverence. Respect is also paid to the memory of
departed heroes, as in China. Of late Christianity has spread far and
wide in Japan, and Christian churches are now numerous.

FUJIYAMA AND TOKIO

It is now November 11. During the night the _Tenyo Maru_ has passed out
from Kobe into the Pacific Ocean, and is now steering north-east at a
good distance from the coast of Hondo. The sky is gloomy, and the desert
of water around us is a monotonous steely-grey expanse in every
direction.

The Mediterranean countries of Europe lie on the same parallel of
latitude as Japan. But Japan lies in the domain of the monsoons or
periodical winds, and when these blow in summer from the ocean, they
bring rain with them, while the winter, when the wind comes from the
opposite direction, is fairly dry. On the whole Japan is colder than the
Mediterranean countries, but the difference in climate between the
northern and southern parts is very great. On the northern island, Yezo,
the winter lasts quite seven months.

At noon Fujiyama[17] is first seen towards the north-east. Nothing of
the coast is visible, only the snowy summit of the mountain floating
white above the sea. Our course takes us straight towards it, and the
imposing mountain becomes more distinct every quarter of an hour. Now
also the coast comes in sight as a dark line, but only the summit of the
mountain is visible, a singularly regular flat cone. The top looks as if
it were cut off; that is the crater ring, for Fujiyama is a volcano,
though it has been quiescent for the past two centuries.

The snowfields in the gullies stand out more and more clearly, but still
only the summit is visible, floating as it were free above the earth, a
vision among the clouds. An hour later the whole contour comes into view
and becomes sharper and sharper; and when we anchor off the shore the
peak of Fujiyama rises right above us.

Fujiyama is the highest mountain in Japan, and the crater ring of the
slumbering volcano is 12,395 feet above the surface of the Pacific
Ocean. Fujiyama is a holy mountain; the path up it is lined with small
temples and shrines, and many pilgrims ascend to the top in summer when
the snow has melted away. It is the pride of Japan and the grandest
object of natural beauty the country possesses (Plate XX.). It would be
vain to try to enumerate all the objects on which the cone of Fujiyama
has been represented from immemorial times. It is always the same
mountain with the truncated top--in silver and gold on the famous
lacquered boxes, and on the rare choice silver and bronze caskets, on
the valuable vases in cloisonne, on bowls, plaques, and dishes, on
screens, parasols, everything.

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