834707762

? Cosmographies in Romanian 159

( = probably Cathai, in the Norlh of China), deocribed as “The great and famous Tartar empire in Asia which barely had any equal in the world”. That empire "begins at the Sunrise to the Sea-Ocean (Marea Ochiianul) called Iou" ^23b18. Marco Polo does not speak of an emperor called Manghia, but he offers fleeting evidence on the Mangi country (South of present-day China), The story of the emperor Manghia (ms. 1436, f. 58 ^v— 59) is told by Marco Polo in. connection with Naian, a Nestorian Christian, Kinsman of Kublai Khan, defeated in battle and later killed by his relative; in the end, the Great Khan succeeded in compelling his subjects to be tollerant with the rest of the Nestorians (1955 ed., pp. 105—106).

The description of the town of Cambal (present day Beijing) of Cataa-ghion and that of the bridge over the river Polizahnis (ms. 1436 f. 59) retells the information given by Marco Polo on Cambalue and the river Pulisanghin (1955 ed., pp. 135 and 152 respectively).

The countries listed in ms. 1436 (f. 59) as part of Scythia represent as a matter of fact the districts and counties Marco Polo knew in his journey from, Cambalue to the Korth part of present-day Indo-China (1955 ed., pp. 161-184).

Ihe story of the hill near the town of Tauris that war moved from its place by the prayers of a Christian (ms. 1436, f. 59^v) is told by Marco Polo too, but he provided morę details (1955 ed., pp. 29—35). The same happens with the information about the Tartar people and countries from “true woody and muddy places where the cloudy foggy clay-land was imbued with reed” (ms. 1436, f. 59—60); they were barely mentioned in the Romanian ver-sion but are widely treated in Marco Polo's book (1955 ed., pp. 320—322); he, in his turn, enlarges a passage existing in Strabon and transmitted through various Mediaeval writings. ²⁴

It is worth mentioning the fragment on the Salamander ‘'from the country of Hinhitas” (ms. 1436, f. 66; or Chinchintal at Munster, 1567 ed., pp. 1417; 1568 ed., pp. 1320; or Ghinghin Talas, 1955 ed., pp. 71; or Ghyenghin Talas in Marco Polo's book, the Latin edition, yol. 2,pp. 20; or Chinghita-las in the Italian edition of the same book, pp. 98). In accordance with old beliefs this reptile and the clothes madę from its hair are fire-resistant; this idea is viewed critically by Marco Polo, who noted that it is actually a minerał bearing the same name and which can be processed in order to obtain certain type of fibres. ²⁵.

Since the manuscript no. 1436 also contains the story of the reptile named Salamander we may suggest that one of the sources of the Romanian version is not a shortened copy of Marco Polo's book, but an older writing with influences in the latter's book too. It is interesting to notę that Sebastian Munster who very often ąuotes Marco Polo explicitely still copies the same