17 - The Book of Ser Marco Polo, Volume 2.

17 - The Book of Ser Marco Polo, Volume 2.  
17 - Book Third, Chapters 36 to 40. Concerning the province of Aden. Concerning the city of Esher. Concerning of the city of Dufar. Concerning the gulf of Calatu. Return to the city of Hormos.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Section seventeen of the Book of Sir Marco Polo the
Venetian concerning the Kingdoms and Marvels of the East, Volume two.
This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Dave Gillespie, Chapter thirty

(00:22):
six concerning the province of Aiden. You must know that
in the province of Aiden, there is a prince who
is called the Soldan. The people are old Saracens and
Odors of Mohammet, and have a great hatred of Christians.
There are many towns and villages in the country. This

(00:44):
Aiden is the port to which many of the ships
of India come with their cargoes, and from this haven
the merchants carry the goods a distance of seven days
further in small vessels. At the end of those seven
days they land the goods and load them on camels,
and so carry them a land journey of thirty days.

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This brings them to the river of Alexandria, and by
it they descend to the latter city. It is by
this way through Aiden that the Saracens of Alexandria receive
all their stores of pepper and other spicery. And there
is no other route equally good and convenient by which
these goods could reach that place. And you must know

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that the Sultan of Aiden receives a large amount in
duties from the ships that traffic between India and his country,
importing different kinds of goods, and from the exports also
he gets a revenue. For there are dispatched from the
port of Aiden to India a very large number of

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Arab charters and palfreys and stout nags adapted for all work,
which are a source of great profit to those who
export them. For horses fetch very high prices in India,
there being none bred there, as I have told you before,
insomuch that a charger will sell there for one hundred

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marks of silver and more when these also the Soldan
of Aiden receives heavy payments in port charges. So that
tis said he is one of the richest princes in
the world. And it is a fact that when the
soldan of Babylon went against the city of Acre and
took it, this Soldan of Aiden sent to his assistants

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thirty thousand horsemen and a full forty thousand camels to
the great help of the Saracens and the grievous injury
of the Christians. He did this a great deal more
for the hate he bears the Christians than for any
love he bears the soldan of Babylon. For these two
do hate one another hardly. Now we will have done

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with the soldan of their and I will tell you
of a city which is subject to Aiden, called Esher.
End of Chapter thirty six. Chapter thirty seven concerning the
city of Esher. Esher is a great city, lying in
a northwesterly direction from the last, and four hundred miles

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distant from the port of Aiden. It has a king
who is subject to the Sultan of Aiden. He has
a number of towns and villages under him, and administers
his territory well and justly. The people are Saracens. The
place has a very good haven, wherefore many ships from
India come thither with various cargoes, and they export many

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good chargers thence to India. A great deal of white
incense grows in this country and brings in a great
revenue to the prince, for no one dares sell it
to anyone else. And whilst he takes it from the
people at tis of gold for the hundredweight, he sells
it to the merchants at sixty livres, so his profit

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is immense. Dates also grow very abundantly here. The people
have no corn but rice, and very little of that,
but plenty is brought from abroad, for it sells here
at a good profit. They have fish in great profusion,
and notably plenty of tonney of large size, so plentiful indeed,

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that you may buy two big ones for a venice
groat of silver. The natives live on meat and rice
and fish. They have no wine of the vine, but
they make good wine from sugar, from rice, and from
dates also. And I must tell you another very strange thing.
You must know that their sheep have no ears, but

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where the ear ought to be they have a little horn.
They are pretty little beasts. And I must not omit
to tell you that all they are cattle, including horses, oxen,
and camels, live upon small fish and nought besides, for
tis all they get to eat. You see, in all
this country there is no grass or forage of any kind.

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It is the driest country on the face of the earth.
The fish which are given to the cattle are very small,
and during March, April and May are caught in such
quantities as would astonish you. They are then dried and stored,
and the beasts are fed on them from year's end
to year's end. The cattle will also readily eat these fish,

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all alive and just out of the water. The people
here have likewise many other kinds of fish of large
size and good quality, exceedingly cheap. These they cut in
pieces of about a pound each and dry them in
the sun, and then store them and eat them all
the year through like so much biscuit. End of chapter

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thirty seven thirty eight discerning the city of Dufar. Dufar
is a great and noble and fine city, and lies
five hundred miles to the northwest of Esher. The people
are Saracens and have account for their chief, who is
subject to the Sultan of Aiden, for this city still

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belongs to the province of Aiden. It stands upon the
sea and has a very good haven, so that there
is a great traffic of shipping between this and India,
and the merchants take hence great numbers of Arab horses
to that market. Making great profits. Thereby. The city has
under it many other towns and villages. Much white incense

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is produced here, and I will tell you how it grows.
The trees are like small fir trees. These are notched
with a knife in several places, and from these notches
the incense is exuded. Sometimes also it flows from the
tree without any notch. This is by reason of the
great of the sun there end of Chapter thirty eight.

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Chapter thirty nine concerning the Gulf of Calatu in the
city so called Calatu, is a great city within a
gulf which bears the name of the Gulf of Calatu.
It is a noble city and lies six hundred miles
from Defar toward the northwest upon the seashore. The people

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are Saracens and are subject to Hormos. And whenever the
Melic of Hormos is at war with some prince more
potent than himself, he betakes himself to this city of Calatu,
because it is very strong, both from its position and
its fortifications. They grow no corn here, but get it

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from abroad. For every merchant vessel that comes brings some.
The haven is very large and good, and is frequented
by numerous ships with goods from India and from this city.
The spices and other merchandise are distributed among the cities
and towns of the interior. They also export many good

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Arab horses from this to India. For as I have
told you before, the number of horses exported from this
and the other cities to India yearly is something astonishing.
One reason is that no horses are bred there, and
another that they die as soon as they get there
through ignorant handling, for the people there do not know

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how to take care of them, and they feed the
horses with cooked vituals and all sorts of trash, as
I have told you fully heretofore, and besides all that
they have no farrires. The city of Calatu stands at
the mouth of the gulf, so that no ship can
enter or go forth without the will of the chief.

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And when the Melic of Hormos, who is Melic of
Calatu also and this vassal to the Suldan of Kerman,
fears anything at the hand of the latter, he gets
on board his ships and comes from Hormos to Kalatu,
and then he prevents any ship from entering the golf.
This causes great injury to the Sultan of Kerman, for

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he thus loses all the duties that he is wont
to receive from merchants frequenting his territories from India or elsewhere.
For ships with cargoes of merchandise come in great numbers,
and the very large revenue is derived from them. In
this way he is constrained to give way to the
demands of the Melic of Hormos. This melic also has

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a castle which is still stronger than the city, and
has a better command of the entry to the golf.
The people of this country live on dates and salt fish,
which they have in great abundance. The nobles, however, have
better fare. There is no more to say on the subject.
So now let us go and speak of the city

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of Hormos, of which we told you before. End of
chapter thirty nine. Chapter forty returns to the city of Hormos,
whereof we spoke formerly. When you leave the city of
Calatu and go for three hundred miles between northwest and
north you come to the city of Hormos, a great

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and noble city on the sea. It has a melick
which is as much to say a king, and he
is under the soldan of Kerman. There are a good
many cities and towns belonging to Hormos, and the people
are Saracens. The heat is tremendous, and on that account
their houses are built with ventilators to catch the wind.

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These ventilators are placed on the side from which the
wind comes, and they bring the wind down into the
house to cool it. But for this the heat would
be utterly unbearable. I shall say no more about these places,
because I formerly told you in regular order all about
the same city of Hormos, and about Kerman as well.

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But as we took one way to go and another
to come back, it was proper that we should bring
you a second time to this point. Now, however, we
will quit this part of the world and tell you
about Great Turkey. First, however, there is a point that
I have omitted to wit, that when you leave the

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city of Calatu and go between west and northwest a
distance of five hundred miles, you come to the city
of Kiss. Of that, however, we shall say no more now,
but pass it with this brief mention, and return to
the subject of Great Turkey, which you shall now hear

(11:47):
end of Chapter forty, end of Section seventeen,