294 



POLO 



condition of tlie suffrage ; the sum being generally 

 $1, but in some states only 50 cents, ana in others 

 varying from year to year, but not exceeding $3. 

 A e.. n -i, I ei able number have no such tax ; in others 

 the imposition of a poll-tax is expressly prohibited 

 by the constitution. TAX. 



I'olo. an equestrian game, which may be 

 shortly described as hockey on horseback. It is 

 of oriental origin mid of high antiquity ; indeed, 

 it has been claimed that it can be traced back to 

 600 B.C. The accompanying illustration is from a 

 beautifully illuminated PwttU MS. of the poems 

 of Mali/, executed in the year 956 of the Hegira or 

 1549 of the Christian era, and now in the liod- 

 leian Library, Oxford, by the permission of whose 



authorities it has lieen specially photographed to 

 illustrate this article. It bears the following 

 legend : ' Welcome to the meultin, thou chief of 

 horsemen: strike the ball.' I'olo was first played 

 by Europeans in 1863 in Calcutta, whither it had 

 been brought by officers who had been stationed 

 in Cachar in Assam, where polo has been played 



since time iiiiin< rial hy the hill-trilte of Mani- 



piiris. Almost the same game exists in Tibet; 

 whilst native equestrian games more or less closely 

 resembling polo are played in Japan and other 

 parts of the East. Sine.' 1S7I many polo clubs 

 have been started in Britain ami, since 187<>, in 

 America, ax well a.s whei-e\er Kritoiis are found 

 in the East. The principal Itiitish eluli, whieli 

 makes the rules of the game, is at Hiirlingliam, 

 near London. The following is a short descrip- 

 tion of polo : An oblong space of turf is mai k< d 

 out, of which the proper si/e i* 300 yards by 200 

 yards ; at each end in the centre of the line two 

 poles are fixed 22 feet apart, forming the goals 

 through which it is the object of the opposing 

 sides to strike the kill. The players are mounted 

 on ponies, the xi/.e of which, according to rule. 

 should not exceed 14 hands; and each player is 

 armed with a polo stick, consisting of a strong 

 cane about 4 feet long with a cross head altom, 

 8 inches long, with which to strike the ball of 

 light wood. The pro|x*r number of players is 

 four a side, each of whom has a definite place 

 ( numbered one, two, three, and back ) in relation 

 to friends and opponents ; and in polo, as in most 

 games, combination is perhaps the first condition 

 of <urvi-!>H. The (Hiiiies have to be carefully trained, 

 and HOIIIC acquire wonderful cleverness in under- 



-landing what is required of them. It is part of 

 the game so to ride alongside an opp.nimit as to 

 prevent him from hitting the ball, hut it is not 

 allowed to ride across iu front of an opponent. To 

 become a good player requires strength, good 

 horsemanship, a i|iiick eye, and much practice. 



See Captain G. F. Younghiuband'g I'ulo in Imlin ( 1890), 

 and the chapter on ' Polo ' by J. Moray Brown in Kittimj 

 (Badminton Library, IS'.il ). 



I'olo. MAKCO, the greatest of media-val travel- 

 lers, was born of a noble family of Dalmatian 

 origin, at Venice, in 1254. His father, Nieolo 

 Polo, and his uncle, Mallei) Polo, both enterprising 

 merchants, hail, previous to his birth, set out on 

 a mercantile expedition, visiting Constantinople, 

 the Crimea, and the court of Bark a Khan at Sarai. 

 Thence they travelled round the north side of the 

 Caspian Sea to Bokhara, and here they fell in with 

 some envoys reluming from llnlami in Persia to 

 his brother the Great Khan Knblai, and by them 

 were persuaded to accompany them to Cathay. 

 They were well received by Kulilai, then either at 

 Cambaluc (Peking) or his summer resilience at 

 Shangtu (Coleridge's Xanadu), north of the Great 

 Wall. He listened eagerly to their reports concern- 

 ing the peoples and mode of government in Europe, 

 and commissioned them as envoys to the pope, far- 

 ing letters requesting him to send KM) Europeans 

 learned in the sciences and arts, to act as instruc- 

 tors to the Mongols. They reached Venice in 1269, 

 found Rome in the confusion of a long interregnum, 

 and, after the new pope ( Gregory X. ) was elected, 

 could only get two Dominicans, and even these 

 had hardly commenced the journey when they lost 

 heart and turned hack. The Polos made their final 

 start in the Noveml>er of 1271, taking with them 

 young Marco, and arrived again at the court of 

 Knblai Khan in the spring of 1275, after travel- 

 ling by Sivas, Mosul, Bagdad, Hornm/., through 

 Khorassan, up the Oxus to the Pamir, by Kashgar, 

 Varkmid, and Khotan, Lob Nor, and across the 

 great desert of Gobi to Tangut, thence to Shangtu. 

 Their second reception was still more honourable 



than the first, and the khan took special notit t 



Marco, from the rapidity with which he learned 

 the customs and language of the Mongols. Mi- 

 wisdom and intelligence also recommended him a- 

 a lit envoy to the various neighbouring rulers ; and 

 during his residence at their several courts Maico 

 observed closely the manners and customs of the 

 country, and delivered on his return a detailed 

 report to the khan. In various missions he visited 

 tin- western provinces on the Ixirders of Tiliet, 

 Yunnan, northern Burma (Mien), Kaiakorum, 

 Champa or southern Cochin-China, and Southern 

 India. l-'or three years he served as governor of 

 the town of Yang-chow, and with his uncle hel|>ed 

 to reduce the city of Saianfu by constructing man- 

 gonels for easting stones. The khan long refused 

 to think of the I'olos leaving his court, but at 

 length in the Ix-ginning of 1292 they succeeded in 

 obtaining permission to join the escort of a Mongol 

 princess, who was travelling to marry Arghun, 

 khan of Persia, grandson of Knhlai's brother 

 Mulagu. They sailed from Chwan-chow in l-'u- 

 kien (Zitiluii), but were detained long on the 

 coasts of Sumatra ami Southern India, and only 

 real-bed I'ersia after two years had passed. Two 

 of the three envoys and most of their attendants 

 had perished. Arghun Khan himself was dead, 

 but the three Polos and the young princess were 

 safe, and she married the late khan's brother and 

 successor. The Venetians finally reached their 

 native city alxmt the end of 1205, and Hamnsio 

 tells the story how like Ulvsses they were recog- 

 ni-ed by none of their kinsfolk, and repulsed from 

 the door. They brought with them much wealth 

 in the portable form of precious stones, the fruits 



