Marco Polo's Voyage to Indian Seas: 53: Conci & His Northern Kingdom

In this quarter is a king named Conci. He and his people are Tartars, and adhere to rudest and brutal customs, never having changed since the time of Genghis Khan.  They have a shared ancestry with Mongols.  Most of the Mongol rulers had wives from Khongirad tribes. They have a god of felt named Nacigai, to whom they also give a wife. Together they guard the corn and the beasts of people. The king is independent being of the imperial line of Genghis Khan.  They have neither cites nor castles, and the people reside in vast plain diversified with valleys and mountains.  They are very submissive to him, and he maintains peace and union among them. They have no grains, but live on milk and cattle, which abound, including camel, horses, oxen, sheep, and other animals. There are also bears, white all over, and longer than twenty palms, foxes, large and black, sables whose skin is worth thousand bezants, rats of Pharaoh are plentiful, affording food to the people during summer.  This king has a country where horses cannot travel on account of the numerous lakes and fountains, and the quantity of ice and mud.  This ragged track extends thirteen days journey, and at the end of each is a post house to accommodate the messengers, with about forty dogs almost as large as asses to convey them from one post to other.  As wheeled carriages cannot travel here, they employ sledges, so formed as to move over the surface without sinking. They are also used to convey hay and straw when there is great rain and mud. On the ledge is spread a bear's skin, whereon the messenger sits, and the dogs draw it direct to the following post. The guardian mounts a similar carriage, and guides him by the best and nearest way.  At the next post they find another relay of sledges and dogs, and the one which conveyed is returned. The men dwelling here are expert hunters, capturing many precious animals such as sables, ermines and black foxes, whose skin yield a large profit. They have engine so contrived that no animal can escape. But owing to the extreme cold, all their habitations are underground.  Having nothing more to mention we shall depart and treat of a place where there is perpetual twilight.

End of the Section 





1. Conci: The term may be a Venetian corruption of Khongirad, a Mongolian trbe. One of the major division of Mongolian tribes. The king here referred may be a Chietain of Khongirad.

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