Mirabilia descripta: The wonders of the East — A Reader’s Guide

§ 1. Mount Ararat and its legends. The vines of Noah. 2. Martyrdom of apostles, and their miracles. 3. Other martyrs. 4. Conversion of the schismatics by the Missionary Friars. 5. Rulers of Armenia. 6. Its Dead Sea. 7. Its extent. 8, 9. Other particulars of Armenia.

CONCERNING THE REALM OF PERSIA.

§ 1. Tabriz; absence of dew and rain; manna. 2. Conversions to Holy Church; Ur of the Chaldees. 3. Sultania. 4. Onagri. 5. People and productions of Persia. 6. Its extent, and uncleanly manners of the people. 7. Springs of pitch. 8. Manna; flowing sands; general character of those countries.

CONCERNING INDIA THE LESS.

§ 1. Date-palms. 2. Absence of springs, and of rain for nine months; heavy dews. 3. Marvels. Habits of the people. 4. Variation of days and nights. 5, 6. Fruits of India; _Chaqui_ and _Bloqui_ (the jack-fruit). 7, 8, 9. The mango, lemons, vines, etc. 10. The coco-nut and its products. 11. Other trees giving liquor; the Banyan described. 12, 13, 14. Wild beasts—the Lynx, the Rhinoceros. 15. Marvellous serpents. 16. The Crocodile. 17. Birds, and great Bats. 18. Other birds. 19. Wars in India contemptible. 20, 21. Precious stones. 22. Widow burning. 23. The Parsis described. 24. The Dóms. 25. Ginger; Sugar-cane; Cassia fistula. 26. High character of the people. 27. Heat. 28. Few metals; no spices but ginger. 29. Ravages of the Saracens. 30. Pagan prophecies. 31. Christians of St. Thomas, and their ignorance. 32. Conversions to the faith. 33. Tolerant spirit of the idolaters. 34. Their manner of sacrifice. 35. Their idols, etc.; their reverence for oxen. 36, 37. Blackness a beauty in India.

CONCERNING INDIA THE GREATER.

§ 1, 2. The Elephant described. 3. Spices. 4. Ginger; Pepper described; Cinnamon. 5. Islands of India; Ceylon. 6. Pearl fishery. 7. Birds. 8. Marvels of the islands. 9. Winged cats (flying squirrels). 10. The Talipat’s great leaves. 11. The king of Ceylon and his rubies. 12. Island of Naked Folk. 13-16. Great island of Java (the Archipelago in general); Spices; Pygmies; Cloves; Cannibals. 17. Dress in India. 18. That of the kings. 19. Inheritance in the female line only (Nairs). 20. Vows of self-immolation. 21-27. Particulars of climate and celestial phenomena. 28. Wild Forest Races. 29. Serpents. 30. Remarkable wasps. 31. White ants. 32, 33. Red kites. 34. Great bird that wails by night. 35. The Devil speaketh. 36. Marvellous land. 37. Champa (_India ultra Gangem_), and its abundance of elephants. 38. Wars of elephants. 39. Ivory. 40. Mode of capturing elephants. 41. Kings of (Southern) India detailed, etc.

CONCERNING INDIA TERTIA (S. E. AFRICA).

§ 1, 2. Speaks from trustworthy report only. Legend of dragons and carbuncles. Prester John. 3. The Roc. 4. The true unicorn. 5. The civet. 6. The terrestrial paradise. 7. Serpents. 8. Negroes described. 9. Mighty hunters. 10. Ambergris. 11. Zebras. 12, 13. Islands of Men only and Women only. 14, 15. Other islands. Dog-headed Folk.

CONCERNING THE GREATER ARABIA.

§ 1. Incense and myrrh. 2. Low civilization. 3. Deserts. 4. Æthiopia and its monsters. 5. The great power of the Lord thereof. 6, 7, 8. Other particulars.

CONCERNING THE GREAT TARTAR.

§ 1. His wealth, power, and liberality. 2. Paper money. 3. Singular resemblance to Catholic practices. 4, 5. Funeral rites. 6, 7. Great cities of this empire. 8. High civilization. 9. Rhubarb; musk described. 10. Porcelain. 11. Burial of the emperor. 12, 13, 14. Sundry particulars.

§ 1. Babylon deserted; its terrors. 2, 3, 4. Sundry monstrous appearances.

CONCERNING THE LAND OF ARAN

There is nothing to be said.

CONCERNING THE LAND OF MOGAN.

§ 1. The Three Kings. 2. Baku, and its pits of naphtha.

CONCERNING THE CASPIAN HILLS.

Self-styled Christians. Fifteen different nations.

CONCERNING GEORGIANA.

CONCERNING THE DISTANCES OF COUNTRIES.

§ 1. Distance to Constantinople. 2. Thence to Tartary. 3. Extent of the Persian (Tartar) Empire. 4. Of Lesser India. 5. Of Greater India. 6. The Vessels of the Indies. 7. Extent of Cathay. 8. Population of Æthiopia (?). 9. Other two Tartar Empires. 10. The Vessels of Cathay. 11. Græcia (?). 12. Superior advantages of Christendom, but the Eastern Converts better Christians. 13. What is needed to convert India. 14. The Author’s own experiences, and sufferings from the Saracens. Martyrdom of nine brethren. 15. The French King might subdue the world.

CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF CHIOS.

Mastick. The deeds of Captain Martin Zachary.

§ 1. Andreolo Cathani, a Genoese Captain. His manufacture of alum described. 2. The VII Churches, and Sepulchre of Saint John. 3, 4. The country and people characterized.

The little work here presented was printed in the original Latin at Paris in 1839, under the editorship of M. Coquebert-Montbret, in the _Recueil de Voyages et de Mémoires, publié par la Société de Géographie_, vol. iv.

I cannot find that it has ever been published or translated in England, or even noticed in any English book, except in the _Ceylon_ of Sir James Emerson Tennent, where there is an allusion to it.

The book itself does not add anything to our knowledge; but the observations of a traveller who resided in India so far back as the beginning of the fourteenth century must be very dull indeed if sufficient interest cannot be derived from their date to make them acceptable. Nor do I think our author is dull, whilst I regret that he is so brief, and has omitted so much that he might really have laid up as an addition to our knowledge. The very fact that there were Roman Catholic missionaries and a bishop in India at that period, just between the days of Marco Polo and those of Ibn Batuta, may indeed be excavated from old ecclesiastical chronicles; but it is certainly unfamiliar to the knowledge of those who do not dig in such mines.

The translation which follows has been made, and the brief particulars which I shall give respecting the author have been derived, from the _Recueil_ above indicated.[22]

The manuscript from which the French editor transcribed belonged to the Baron Walckenaer. It is on parchment, of the fourteenth century, and contains other matter, the work of Jordanus occupying twenty-nine quarto pages.

The author is termed a native of Séverac. That he was a Frenchman will appear from several passages in his book. But there are at least five places of the name of Séverac in France. Three of these are in the district of Rouergue, in the department of the Aveyron (near the eastern boundary of the old province of Guyenne, and some ninety miles N.E. of Toulouse), and it was probably from one of these that he came. There was a noble family of this province called De Séverac, of which was Amaulry de Séverac, Marshal of France in the time of Charles VII. But, as will afterwards appear, our traveller was called _Catalani_.[23]

The dates of his birth, his death, or his first going to the East, are undetermined. But it is ascertained that he was in the East in 1321-1323, that he returned to Europe, and started again for India, in or soon after 1330. There appears to be nothing to determine whether this book of _Mirabilia_ was written on his first, or on a subsequent, return to Europe.

The authorities for the dates just given are the following:—

Two letters from Jordanus are found in a MS. in the national library at Paris (in 1839,—Bibliothèque du Roi—MS. No. 5,006, p. 182), entitled _Liber de ætatibus_, etc. The first of these is dated from Caga,[24] 12th October, 1321. It is addressed to members of his own order (the Dominican) and of that of St. Francis, residing at Tauris, Tongan, and Marogo,[25] and points out three stations adapted for the establishment of missions, viz., Supera, Paroco, and Columbum. On the receipt of these letters, Nicolaus Romanus, who was Vice-Custos of the Dominicans in Persia, is stated to have started for India.[26]

In his second letter, dated in January, 1324, Jordanus relates how he had started from Tabriz to go to Cathay, but embarked first for Columbum with four Franciscan missionaries, and how they were driven by a storm to Tana,[27] in India, where they were received by the Nestorians. There he left his companions, and started for Baroch, where he hoped to preach with success, as he was better acquainted with the Persian tongue than the others were. Being detained however at Supera, he there heard that his four brethren at Tana had been arrested, and returned to aid them, but found them already put to death. He was enabled to remove the bodies of these martyrs by the help of a young Genoese whom he found at Tana, and, having transported them to Supera, he buried them in a church there as honourably as he could.[28]

The only remaining date in the biography of Jordanus is derived from a bull of Pope John XXII., the date of which is equivalent to 5th April 1330, addressed to the Christians of Columbum, and intended to be delivered to them by Jordanus, who was nominated bishop of that place. The bull commences as follows:—[29]

“Nobili viro domino Nascarinorum et universis sub eo Christianis Nascarinis de Columbo, Venerabilem fratrem nostrum Jordanum Catalani, episcopum Columbensem, Prædicatorum Ordinis professorem, quem nuper ad episcopalis dignitatis apicem auctoritate apostolicâ duximus promovendum⸺” etc.

The Pope goes on to recommend the missionaries to their good-will, and ends by inviting the Nascarini (_Nazrání_, Christians, in India) to abjure their schism, and enter the unity of the Catholic Church.

The Pope had shortly before nominated John de Core to be Archbishop of Sultania in Persia. This metropolitan had, at least, three bishops under him, viz., of Tabriz, of Semiscat, and of Columbum.[30] The two latter were entrusted by the Pope with the _Pallium_ for the archbishop. Sultania, between Tabriz and Tehran, was the seat of the Persian kings previous to the Tartar conquest in the thirteenth century, and was still a great centre of commerce between the Indies and Europe. The number of Christians was so great, that they had in this city, it is said, four hundred churches. (?)[31]

We may suppose that Jordanus, after fulfilling his commission at Sultania, proceeded to his see in Malabar by the Persian Gulf, the route which he had followed on his first visit to India; but whether he ever reached it, or ever returned from it, seems to be undetermined.[32] M. Coquebert-Montbret assumes that he did both; but as far as I can gather, this is based on the other assumption, that his _Mirabilia_ was written _after_ returning a second time. My impression is that it was written _before_ he went out as bishop, for it contains no allusion to his having held that dignity. Nor does it appear to be known whether he had any successor in his episcopate.

Another work appears to have been traced with some plausibility to our author. It is a chronicle composed in the fourteenth century, and quoted by Muratori from a MS. which in 1740 existed in the Vatican library, with the No. 1960. It is adorned with fine miniatures, and is entitled

“Satyrica gestarum rerum, regum et regnorum, atque summorum pontificum, historia, à creatione mundi usque ad Henricum VII. Romanum augustum.”

The chronicle ends with the year 1320, and purports to be written by one _Jordanus_. The passage which is considered to identify him with our author is one relating to the martyrdom of four Minor Friars at Tana, and is so interesting in itself as to be worth quoting at length. It is very perplexing, that though several of the circumstances appear to identify his narrative with that which forms the subject of our author’s letter quoted in a previous page, the dates are irreconcilable. This difficulty the French editor does not notice, nor can I solve it.[33]

“MDCCCXIX. Pope John read in the consistory, with great approval, a letter which he had received, to the effect following: To wit, that certain brethren of the orders of Minors and Preachers, who had been sent on a mission to Ormus to preach the faith to the infidels, when they found that they could do no good there, thought it well to go over to Columbum in India. And when they arrived at the island called Dyo,[34] the brethren of the order of Minors separated from the rest of the party, both Preachers and secular Christians, and set out by land to a place called Thana, that they might there take ship for Columbum. Now there was at that place a certain Saracen of Alexandria, Ysufus[35] by name, and he summoned them to the presence of Melich, the governor of the land, to make inquest how and why they were come. Being thus summoned, he demands: what manner of men are ye called? They made answer, that they were Franks, devoted to holy poverty, and anxious to visit St. Thomas. Then, being questioned concerning their faith, they replied that they were true Christians, and uttered many things with holy fervour regarding the faith of Christ. But when Melich let them go, the aforesaid Yusuf a second and a third time persuaded him to arrest and detain them. At length Melich and the Cadi and the people of the place were assembled, Pagans and idolaters as well as Saracens, and questioned the brethren: How can Christ, whom ye call the Virgin’s son, be the son of God, seeing that God hath not a mate? Then set they forth many instances of divine generation, as from the sun’s rays, from trees, from germs in the soil; so that the infidels could not resist the Spirit who spake in them. But the Saracens kindled a great fire, and said: Ye say that your law is better than the law of Mahomet; an it be so, go ye into the fire, and by miracle prove your words. The brethren replied that, for the honour of Christ, that they would freely do; and brother Thomas coming forward would first go in, but the Saracens suffered him not, for that he seemed older than the others; then came forward the youngest of the brethren, James of Padua, a young wrestler for Christ, and incontinently went into the fire, and abode in it until it was well nigh spent, rejoicing and uttering praise, and without any burning of his hair even, or of the cloth of his gown. Now they who stood by shouted with a great cry, Verily these be good and holy men!

“But the Cadi, willing to deny so glorious a miracle, said: It is not as ye think, but his raiment came from the land of Aben ...[36] a great friend of God, who when cast into the flames in Chaldea, took no hurt; therefore, hath this man abode scatheless in the fire.

“Then stripped they the innocent youth, and all naked as he was born was he cast by four men into the fire. But he bore the flames without hurt, and went forth from the fire unscathed and rejoicing. Then Melich set them free to go whither they would. But the Cadi, and the aforesaid Yusuf, full of malice, knowing that they had been entertained in the house of a certain Christian, said to Melich: What dost thou? why slayest thou not these Christ-worshipers? He replied: That I find no cause of death in them. But they say: If ye let them go, all will believe in Christ, and the law of Mahomet will be utterly destroyed. Melich again says: What will ye that I should do, seeing that I find no cause of death? But they said: His blood be upon us. For it is said that if one cannot go pilgrim to Mecca, let him slay a Christian and he shall obtain a full remission of sins, as if he had visited Mecca. Wherefore, the night following, the three men aforesaid, Melich, the Cadi, and Yusuf, sent officers who despatched the three brethren, Thomas, James, and Demetrius, to the joys of heaven, bearing the palm of martyrdom. And after awhile, having made brother Peter, who was in another place, present himself before them, when he firmly held to the faith of Christ, for two days they vexed him with sore afflictions, and on the third day, cutting off his head, accomplished his martyrdom. But their comrades, the Preachers and the rest, when they heard this, wrote to the West, lamenting wofully that they had been parted from the company of the holy martyrs, and saying that they were devoutly engaged in recovering the relics of the martyrs.”

I had desired to add to this preface some notices of the Christians of Malabar, embracing the latest information; but my work is cut short by circumstances, and I must content myself with saying something, hurriedly put together, as to the identity of _Columbum_, the seat of the bishop’s see.

It is clear that Columbum is not Colombo in Ceylon, though the French editor is wrong in supposing that the latter city did not exist in the time of Jordanus, for it is mentioned by the modern name in Ibn Batuta’s travels, only a few years later. Jordanus evidently does not speak of Ceylon as one who had been there, and whilst treating of greater India, he says distinctly, “_In istâ Indiâ, me existente in Columbo, fuerunt inventi_,” _etc._

The identity of Columbum with Kulam or Quilon, on the coast of Malabar (now in Travancore), might therefore have been assumed, but for the doubts which have been raised by some of the editors of Marco Polo as to the position of the _Kulam_ or _Coilon_ of Marco and other medieval travellers.

Mr. Hugh Murray, adopting the view of Count Baldello Boni in his edition of Marco Polo, considers that the place so-called by those travellers was on the east coast of the Peninsula. I have not time to seek for Baldello’s edition, and do not know his arguments; but I conceive that there is enough evidence to show that he is wrong.

The argument on which Murray rests is chiefly the position in which Polo introduces his description of Coilon, after Maabar, and before Comari; Maabar being with him an extensive region of Coromandel, and Comari doubtless the country about Cape Comorin. But, omitting detailed discussion of the value of this argument, which would involve a consideration of all the other difficulties in reducing to geographical order Polo’s notices of the kingdoms on the coast of India, his description of Coilon as a great port for pepper and brazil-wood, is sufficient to identify it as on the coast of Malabar. The existence of places called Coulan on the east coast in the maps of D’Anville, Rennel, and Milburn, is of little moment, for an inspection of the “Atlas of India” will show scores of places so-called on both sides of Cape Comorin, the word signifying, in the Tamul tongue, ‘an irrigation tank, formed by damming up natural hollows.’ Indeed, though I have found no trace of any well-known port on the east coast so-called, there were at least four ports of the name on the west coast frequented by foreign vessels, viz., Cote Colam, north of Cananore; Colam, called Pandarani, north of Calicut; Cai-Colam, or Kaincolam,[37] between Cochin and the chief place of the name; Coulam, or Quilon, the Columbum of our author.

We know that Kulam, on the coast of Malabar, was founded in the ninth century, and that its foundation formed an era from which dates were reckoned in Malabar.[38] In that same century we find[39] that the sailing directions for ships making the China voyage from the Persian Gulf, were to go straight from Maskát to _Kulam Malé_, a place evidently, both from name and fact, on the coast of Malabar. Here there was a custom-house, where ships from China paid their dues.

The narrative of Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela is very hazy. He calls _Chulan_ only seven days from El-Cathif (which is a port on the west coast of the Persian Gulf), “and on the confines of the country of the Sun-worshippers.” However, his description of the pepper-gardens adjoining the city, the black Jews, etc., identify it with one of the Kulams on the Malabar coast, and doubtless with Quilon, which was the chief of them.

Then comes Polo’s notice of Coilon already alluded to, followed by our author’s mention of it, and residence there.

It is probable that the Polumbrum or Polembum of his contemporaries Odoricus and Mandevill, are corrupt readings of the name of Kulam or Columbum. The former describes this place as at the head of the pepper forest towards the south, and as abounding in all sorts of merchandize; Mandevill adding, “thither go merchants often from Venice to buy pepper and ginger.”

Ibn Batuta, only half a century after Polo, is quite clear in his description of _Kaulam_, as the seat of an infidel king, the last city on the Malabar coast, and frequented by many Mahomedan merchants. He also says that Kaulam, Calicut, and Hílí were the only ports entered by the ships of China.

So also Conti, early in the fifteenth century, on his return from the Eastern Archipelago, departing from Champa (Cambodia), doubtless in one of those same ships of China, after a month’s voyage arrives at _Coloen_, a noble city, three days from Cochin, and “situated in the province called Melibaria.”

Coming down to later times, Barbosa, in the first years of the sixteenth century, speaks of Coulon still as the great pepper port, the seat of one of the three (chief) kings of Malabar, and where lived many Moors, Gentiles, and Christians, who were great merchants, and had many ships trading to Coromandel, Ceylon, Bengal, Pegu, Malacca, Sumatra, etc.