Chang De: Xi shi ji 西使记; (1263) (Record
of an Embassy to the Regions in the West).
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Chang De, Yuan court’s envoy to the Il-khanate, who dictated his travels Xi shi ji 西使记 (Record of an Embassy to the Regions in the West) to Liu Yu in 1263 was an Investigating Censor 监察御史 of the Yuan dynasty. The account tells of the Mongol expansion westward into Persia. After receiving his orders to travel westward, Chang De left Qaraqorum in 1259 on his fourteen-month journey and returned in 1260. His record of the journey, describes cities, rivers and small kingdoms across the Arabian Peninsula, Europe, and Africa. He has not much on East Africa.
Taken from: Notes on Chinese Mediaeval Travellers to the West. By E. Bretschneider.
Left: A page from this book
P5-6
The kingdom of the Ha-li-fa at that time, considering its wealth and its numerous population, stood at the head of all the realms in the regions of the west. The palace of the Ha-li-fa (Caliph of Baghdad) was built of fragrant and precious woods of Ch’en (aloewood), T’an (sandalwood), Wu-mu (ebony), Hiang-chen-hiang (red fragrant wood) which arrived by river. The walls of it were constructed of black and white jade. It is impossible to imagine the quantity of gold and precious stones found there. The wives of the Ha-li-fa were all from China. There were large pearls called tai- sui-tan, Ian ski, se se, kin hang tsuan and many other precious things. Girdles were found which might be estimated at a thousand liang (3) of gold.
This kingdom had endured for more than six hundred years under forty rulers, down to the time of the (last) Ha-li-fa, when it became extinct.(1)
P8-9
In the west on the way to the country (Egypt) there is a great sea, and to the west of that sea are the Franks. Their women are dressed beautifully, like Bodhisattvas (2) in paintings (pusa huaxiang 菩萨画像); their men wear foreign (hu胡) dress, and all sleep in pyjamas (literally, with clothes on). Husband and wife live separately. There is a large bird with ostrich feet, dark green in color, and over 3.33 meters tall (one zhang 丈)(4) in height; it eats fire, walk by flapping their wings; their eggs each are about one sheng 升 (about 1.07 litres or 1.88 pints). (Yan Zonglin thinks that the bird refers to the African ostrich.)
P18-19
The sa-ba-r (ambergris) is a product of the western sea. It is the essence of the tortoise-shell. The kiao yii (crocodiles) eat the tortoises and then vomit. In a year the vomited substance hardens. (That is the sa-ba-rh.) The price of it equals that of gold. It is adulterated with rhinoceros excrement.
(1) down to the time of the (last) Ha-li-fa, when it became extinct: The last Caliph of Baghdad; ended with the Mongils burning the city in 1258.
(2) Bodhisattvas : are enlightened beings who have put off entering paradise in order to help others attain enlightenment.
(3) Liang: traditional Chinese weight unit, about 37.8 grams, the same as a tael.
(4) ten feet