Marco Polo's Voyage to Indian Seas: 1: Of Seas and Ships in General

Having described so many inland provinces I will now leave the region. The ships in which the merchants navigate towards the places around Indian Seas are made of fir, [1] with only one deck, but many of them are divided beneath into sixty compartments, in each of which a person can be conveniently accommodated. They have one rudder and four masts; while some have two additional which can be put up  and taken down at pleasure.  Many of the largest have as many as thirteen divisions in the hold, [2] formed of thick planks mortised into each other.  The object is to guard against accidents which may cause the vessel to spring a leak, such as striking on a rock, or being attacked by whales.  This last circumstance is not unusual, for during the night the motion of the ship through waves raises foam invites the hungry animal, which hoping to find food rushes violently against the hull and often forces in part of the bottom.  The water entering by the leak runs on to the well, which is always kept clear, and the crew on perceiving the occurrence remove the goods from the inundated portion, and the boards are so tight that it cannot pass to any other.  They then repair the injury and replace the article.  The planks are double, fastned with iron nails and plastered without and within, but not secured by the pitch, of which the people are destitute.  They, therefore take the lime and beat it into fine powder and mix it with an oil from trees so that it becomes equal to glue.  These vessels carry two hundred mariners and five or six thousand leads of pepper.  They are moved by oars of each of which four hands are employed. Everyone of them has two barks, large enough to carry a thousand loads, and forty seamen well armed, who often assist in dragging the large ships.  The small boats are also kept for fishing and various other services; two being attached to each bark.  When the ships have sailed a year, and stand in need of repair a fresh plank is fastned above the two others, then nailed and cemented, till they sometimes acquire a depth of six planks.  Having thus described the merchant vessels that go to India, I will tell you of the country itself; but first I mention the many isles in the sea lying eastward the first of one named Zipangu.




1. Here, it means Keteleeria, a genus of three species of coniferous trees in the family of Pinaceae.  This is found in southern China, from Shaanxi to Gaungdong and Yunnan.

2. In the hold means the lowest compartment in a ship's hull.

3. Zipangu: Modern day Japan.  Scholars are of opinion that Marco Polo did not visit all the places he narrated in his account. Some of them he visited and some of them he based on local traditions, which were available in those times. There were story-tellers who entertained people with their stories about kings and kingdoms and about peoples and their life and customs. For example, the Sutas of Maha Bharata or Great Indian Stories. These people were excellent cart-drivers as well as story-tellers. The bards of the Celtic tradition, and the griots of West Africa, and the ashiks of Middle East and Central Asian cultures were story tellers.

End of the Section 

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