At length, the three Polos returned to Venice, in 1295, after an absence of twenty-five or twenty-six years, during which long period they had never been heard of by their friends and countrymen, seventeen years of which Marco had been employed in the service of the great khan. On their return to their own house in Venice, they were entirely forgotten by their relations and former acquaintances, and had considerable difficulty to establish their identity, and to get themselves recognized by their family, and were obliged to use extraordinary means to recover the respect which was their due, and an acknowledgement of their name, family, and rank, the particulars of which will be found in the travels themselves.
About three years after the return of these adventurous travellers, hostilities arose between the republics of Genoa and Venice. The Genoese admiral, Lampa Doria, came to the island of Curzola with a fleet of seventy gallies, to oppose whom, the Venetians fitted out a great naval force under Andrea Dandolo, under whom Marco Polo had the command of a galley. The Venetians were totally defeated in a great naval engagement, with the loss of their admiral and eighty-five ships, and Marco Polo had the misfortune to be among the number of the prisoners.
Harris alleges that he remained a prisoner during several years, in spite of every offer of ransom that was made for his liberation. But in this he must have mistaken, or been misled by the authorities which he trusted to, as peace was concluded in 1299, the year immediately subsequent to the naval engagement in which he was made prisoner. While in prison at Genoa, many of the young nobility are said to have resorted to Marco, to listen to the recital of his wonderful travels and surprizing adventures; and they are said to have prevailed upon him to send to Venice for the notes which he had drawn up during his peregrinations, by means of which the following relation is said to have been written in Latin from has dictation. From the original Latin, the account of his travels was afterwards translated into Italian; and from this again, abridgements were afterwards made in Latin and diffused over Europe.
According to Baretti[2], the travels of Marco Polo were dictated by him in 1299, while in the prison of Genoa, to one Rustigielo, an inhabitant of Pisa, who was his fellow prisoner. They were afterwards published in Italian, and subsequently translated into Latin by Pessuri, a Dominican monk of Bologna. Copies of the original manuscript, though written in the Venetian dialect, which is extremely different from the Tuscan or pure Italian, were multiplied with great rapidity in all parts of Italy, and even made their way into France and Germany. From one or more of these, corrupted by the carelessness or ignorance of transcribers, some of whom may have abridged the work, or may even have interpolated it from other sources, a thing quite common before the invention of printing, the Latin translations may have been made and circulated over Europe. Ramusio, an early editor of voyages and travels, published these travels in an Italian translation from the Latin, which he erroneously supposed to have been the original dictation of Marco to Rustigielo; and many other editions have been published in the various languages of Europe, but all from one or other of these corrupted transcripts or translations.
[2] Ital Libr. p. iv.
A manuscript of the travels of Marco polo, in the Venetian dialect, was long preserved by the Soranza family at Venice, but whether this now exists, or has ever been published, is unknown. Mr. Pinkerton informs us [3], that a genuine edition of these travels, probably from the original MS. either of Marco himself, after his return from Genoa, or from that of his amanuensis Rustigielo, was published at Trevigi in 1590, in the dialect of Venice, which has hitherto escaped the attention of all editors and commentators. This curious publication is often worded in the names of all the three travellers, father, uncle, and son; but when the peculiar travels of Marco are indicated, his name only is employed. In the former case, the language runs thus, "We, Nicolo, Maffei, and Marco, have heard, seen, and know, &c.:" In the latter, "I Marco was in that place, and saw, &c." In this Venetian edition, the names of places and persons are often widely different from those in the other editions, and probably more genuine and correct. But that publication being at present inaccessible, we are under the necessity of being contented with the edition of Harris, in which he professes to have carefully collated the edition of Ramusio with most of the other translations, and with an original MS. in the royal library of Prussia. This latter labour, however, he seems to have taken entirely upon trust from Muller, a German editor and translator, probably through the intermediation of Bergeron, an early French editor of voyages and travels. The only freedom which has been assumed in the present edition is, by dividing it into sections for more ready consultation and reference, and by the addition of explanatory notes from various sources.
[3] Mod. Geogr. II. xvi.
Marco Polo is the chief of all the early modern discoverers; having been the first who communicated to Europe any distinct ideas of the immense regions of Asia, from the Euxine eastwards, through the vast extent of Tartary to China and Japan; and the very first author who has made any mention of that distant insular sovereignty. Even Columbus is supposed, with some considerable probability, to have been prompted to his enterprize, which ended in the discovery of America, by the study of these travels; believing, that by a western course through the unexplored Atlantic, he should find a comparatively short passage to those eastern regions of the Indies, which Polo had visited, described, or indicated. In this view he was, however, so far misled in his estimation of the distance, by the erroneously spread-out longitudes of Ptolomy, bringing these regions much farther towards the east, and consequently nearer by the west, than their actual situation; and was stopped in his western course, by the important and unexpected discovery of many islands, and a vast interposed continent; which, from preconceived theory, he named the West Indies.
Such is the account of these travels which has been handed down to us from various sources, and which their importance and intrinsic merit have induced us to record at some length. Of these adventurous travellers, some notices yet remain, which may be worthy of being preserved. Signior Maffio Polo, the uncle of Marco, became a magistrate of Venice, and lived for some time in much respect among his countrymen. Nicolo Polo, the father of Marco, is said to have married during the captivity of his son at Genoa, and to have left three children by this second marriage. Marco himself married after his return to Venice from Genoa, and left two daughters, Moretta and Fantina, but had no male issue. He is said to have received among his countrymen the name of Marco Millioni, because he and his family had acquired a fortune of a million of ducats in the east. He died as he had lived, universally beloved and respected by all who knew him; for, with the advantages of birth and fortune, he was humble and beneficent and employed his great riches, and the interest he possessed in the state, only to do good.
SECTION I.
Introductory General Account of the whole Travels, from the commencement of the first Journey of Nicolo and Maffei Polo, in 1260, to their final return along with Marco to Venice, in 1295.
(Illustration: MAP OF THE Eastern part of Tartary & ADJACENT COUNTRIES)
In the year 1260, when Baldwin was emperor of Continople, two brothers of an illustrious family at Venice, Nicolo and Maffei Polo, embarked in a vessel which was laden with a various assortment of merchandize on their own account; and, after traversing the Mediterranean and Bosphoros with a fair wind, they arrived in safety at Constantinople. Having remained for some time in the imperial city, they crossed the Great Sea to Soldadia[1], from thence they went to the court of a Tartar prince, named Barha[2], who lived in the towns of Bolgara and Alsara[3]. To this prince they shewed the fine jewels which they had brought for sale, and presented him with some of the most valuable. He was far from ungrateful for their presents, which he kindly accepted, and for which he made them returns of greater value. Having remained a whole year at his court, they were desirous of returning to Venice; but before they had any opportunity of departing, a war broke out between Barha and another Tartar prince named Arau[4]; the armies of these rivals came to a battle, in which Barha was defeated, and obliged to fly. By this unfortunate incident, the roads to the westwards became quite unsafe for the journey of the Polos, and they were advised to make a large circuit round the north and east frontiers of the dominions