In 1272, the great khan sent an army of 12,000 veteran troops, under the command of aft experienced officer, named Nestardin, to reduce the kingdom of Vociam and Guarazan[8]. As soon as the kings of Mien[9] and Bengala heard of this invasion, they assembled an army of 60,000 horse and foot, besides a thousand elephants, carrying castles, in each of which there were from twelve to sixteen armed men. With this army, the king of Mien marched towards the city of Vociam, where the Tartar army was encamped. Nestardin, regardless of the great disparity of numbers, marched with invincible courage to fight the enemy; but when he drew near, he encamped under cover of a great wood, knowing that the elephants could not penetrate into the wood with the towers on their backs. The king of Mien drew near to fight the Tartars; but the Tartarian horses were so terrified with the sight of the elephants, who were arranged along the front of the battle, that it was impossible to bring them up to the charge. The Tartars, therefore, were compelled to alight from their horses, which they fastened to the trees, and came boldly forewards on foot against the elephants, among whom they discharged immense quantities of arrows; so that the elephants, unable to endure the smart of their wounds, became unmanageable, and fled to the nearest wood, where they broke their castles, and overturned the armed men, with which they were filled. On this, the Tartars remounted their horses, and made a furious attack on the enemy. The battle continued for some time undecided, and many men were slain on both sides. At length the army of the king of Mien was defeated and put to flight, leaving the victory to the Tartars; who now hastened into the wood, and made many prisoners, by whose assistance they seized two hundred of the elephants, which were sent to the great khan. Before this time, the Tartars were unaccustomed to the use of elephants in war; but the great khan has ever since had elephants in his army. After this victory, the great khan subjected the kingdoms of Mien and Bengala to his empire.
[8] Named previously Carazam and Caraian, afterwards Caraiam, or Carian. --E.
Departing from the province of Carian, or Caraiam, there is a great desert which continues for two days and a half, without any inhabitants, at the end of which desert there is a large plain, in which great multitudes meet for traffic three days in every week. Many people come down from the great mountains, bringing gold, which they exchange for five times its weight of silver; on which account, many merchants come here from foreign countries with silver, and carry away gold, bringing likewise large quantities of merchandize to sell to these people; for no strangers can go into the high mountains where the people dwell who gather gold, oh account of the intricacy and impassable nature of the roads. After passing this plain, and going to the south for fifteen days journey, through uninhabited and woody places, in which there are innumerable multitudes of elephants, rhinoceroses[10], and other wild beasts, we come to Mien, which borders upon India. At the end of that journey of fifteen days, we come to the great and noble city of Mien, the capital of the kingdom, which is subject to the great khan. The inhabitants are idolaters, and have a peculiar language. There was formerly a king in this city, who being on the point of death, gave orders to erect two pyramidal monuments, or towers of marble, near his sepulchre, one at the head and the other at the foot, each of them ten fathoms high, and having a round ball on the top of each. One of these he ordered to be covered with gold, and the other with silver, a fingers breadth in thickness; and round about the tops of these pyramids many little bells of gold and silver were hung, which gave a pleasing shrill sound, when agitated by the wind. The monument or sepulchre between these was likewise covered with plates of gold and silver. When the great khan undertook the conquest of this country, he sent a valiant captain at the head of a large army, mostly of cavalry, of which the Tartarian armies principally consist. After the city was won, the general would not demolish this monument without orders from the khan; who, on being informed that the former king had erected it in honour of his soul, would not permit it to be injured, as the Tartars never violate those things which belong to the dead. In the country of Mien there are many elephants and wild oxen, large stags and deer, and various other kinds of wild beasts in great abundance.
[9] In some modern maps, Mien is introduced as a large province on the river of Pegu, immediately to the south-west of Yunnan in China, and divided from Bengal by the whole country of Ava. But the distribution of eastern dominion has been always extremely fluctuating; and Mien may then have included all the north of Ava.--E.
[10] In the original text this animal is called the unicorn; a word of the same import with rhinoceros.--E.
The province of Bengala borders on India towards the south[11], and was subdued by the great khan, while I Marco Polo resided in the eastern countries. It had its own proper king, and has a peculiar language. The inhabitants are all idolaters, and have schools in which the masters teach idolatries and enchantments, which are universal among all the great men of the country. They eat flesh, rice, and milk; and have great abundance of cotton, by the manufacture of which a great trade is carried on. They abound also in spike, galingal, ginger, sugar, and various other spices; and they make many eunuchs, whom they sell to the merchants. This province continues for thirty days journey going eastwards, when we come to the province of Cangigu[12]. This country has its own king, who is tributary to the great khan. The inhabitants are idolaters, and have a peculiar language. The king has about three hundred wives. The province has much gold and many spices, but these cannot be easily transported, as it is far distant from the sea. It has also many elephants and much game. The inhabitants live on flesh, rice, and milk, having no wine, but they make an excellent drink of rice and spices. Both men and women ornament their faces, necks, hands, bellies, and legs, with the figures of lions, dragons, and birds, and these are so firmly imprinted, as to be almost indelible. There are in this country professors of this foolish art of skin embroidery, who follow no other trade but this needle work, and dying of fools skins; and the person who has the greatest number and variety of these images, is considered the finest and most gallantly ornamented.
[11] This either implies that Bengal on the borders of India is to the south of Thibet; or south is here an error for east, Bengal being the eastern frontier province of India proper.--E.
[12] The difficulty, or rather impossibility of tracing the steps of Marco Polo, may proceed from various causes. The provinces or kingdoms, mostly named from their chief cities, have suffered infinite changes from perpetual revolutions. The names he gives, besides being corrupted in the various transcriptions and editions, he probably set down orally, as given to him in the Tartar or Mogul dialect, very different from those which have been adopted into modern geography from various sources. Many of these places may have been destroyed, and new names imposed. Upon the whole, his present course appears to have been from Bengal eastwards, through the provinces of the farther India, to Mangi or southern China; and Cangigu may possibly be Chittigong. Yet Cangigu is said in the text to be an inland country. --E.
Amu or Aniu, twenty-five days journey to the east of the province of Cangigu, is subject to the great khan, and its inhabitants are idolaters who have a peculiar language. This country abounds in provisions, and has great quantities of cattle and many horses; and these last being excellent, are carried by the