profusion of rare flowers, of luscious fruits and sweet spicery, of heavily-laden argosies of valuable merchandise floating on noble rivers, and of vast collections of gold, silver, and precious stones, were read with the most exaggerated conceptions of their reality."

Referring again to Polo's descriptions of the far-off territories which he had visited, we are told, "He was the first traveller to trace a route across the whole longitude of Asia, naming and describing kingdom after kingdom which he had seen with his own eyes; the flowering plateaux and wild gorges of Badakh-Shan, the jade-bearing rivers of Khotan, the Mongolian steppes. The first traveller to reveal China in all its wealth and vastness,-its mighty rivers, its huge cities, its rich manufactures, its swarming population, the inconceivably vast fleets that quickened its seas and its inland waters; to tell us of the nations on its borders, with all their eccentricities of manner and worship; of Tibet, with its sordid devotees; of Burma, with its golden pagodas and their tinkling crowns; . . of India the Great, not as a dream - land of Alexandrian fables, but as a country seen and partially explored, with its virtuous Brahmins, its obscene ascetics, its diamonds, and the strange tales of their acquisition." 1

In a description of the Khan's palace in or near to the city of Chandu, Polo's readers were told that it was a very fine marble palace, the rooms of which were all gilt, and painted with figures of men and beasts and birds, and with a variety of trees and flowers, all executed with such exquisite art that you regard them with delight and astonishment.

1 Yule's The Book of Ser Marco Polo, Introd. p. cxxxi.

The palace enclosure was described to be "a compass of sixteen miles." There was a second palace built of cane, of which he (Polo) gave a description. "It is gilt all over. . . It is stayed on gilt and lacquered columns, on each of which is a dragon all gilt, the tail of which is attached to the column, whilst the head supports the architrave, and the claws are stretched out right and left to support the architrave." The Great Khan was possessed of a stud of twenty thousand white horses and mares, "and all pure white without a speck." The Khan had four wives, each of whom enjoyed the title of empress.

"And each has a special court of her own, very grand and ample; no one of them having fewer than three hundred fair and charming damsels. They have also many pages and eunuchs, and a number of other attendants of both sexes. When the emperor desires the society of one of these four consorts, he will sometimes send for the lady to his apartment, and sometimes visit her at her own. He has also a great number of concubines, and I will tell you how he obtains them. You must know that there is a tribe of Tartars called Ungrat who are noted for their beauty. Now, every year a hundred of the most beautiful maidens of this tribe are sent to the Great Khan, who commits them to the charge of certain elderly ladies dwelling in his palace. And these old ladies make the girls sleep with them, in order to ascertain if they have sweet breath and do not snore, and are sound in all their limbs. Then such of them as are of approved beauty, and are good and sound in all respects, are appointed to attend on the emperor by turns. Thus six of these damsels take their turn for three

days and nights, and wait on him when he is in his chamber. . . . At the end of the three days and nights they are. relieved by other six. And so throughout the year there are reliefs of maidens by six and six, changing every three days and nights.'

"Of the children by his lawful wives," Polo says, "there are seven who are kings of vast realms or provinces, and govern them well, being all able and gallant men, as might be expected. For the Great Khan their sire is, I tell you, the wisest and most accomplished man, the greatest captain, 'the best to govern men and rule an empire, as well as the most valiant that ever has existed among all the tribes of Tartars." . . . "You must know that for three months of the year, to wit-December, January, and February, the Great Khan resides in the capital city of Cathay. In that city stands his great palace, and now I will tell you what it is like. It is enclosed all round by a great wall forming a square, each side of which is a mile in length; that is to say, the whole compass thereof is four miles. This you may depend on; it is also very thick, and a good ten paces in height, whitewashed and loopholed all round. At each angle of the wall there is a very fine and rich palace, in which the war-harness of the emperor is kept, such as bows and quivers, saddles and bridles, and bowstrings, and everything needful for an army. Also midway between every two of these corner palaces there is another of the like, so that, taking the whole compass of the enclosure, you find eight vast palaces stored with the Great Lord's harness of war. And you must understand that each palace is assigned to only one

kind of article; thus one is stored with bows, a second with saddles, a third with bridles, and so on in succession right round. The great wall has five gates on its southern face, the middle one being the great gate, which is never opened on any occasion except when the Great Khan himself goes forth or enters. ... You must know that it is the greatest palace that ever was. . . . The roof is very lofty, and the walls of the palace are all covered with gold and silver. They are also adorned with representations of dragons [sculptured and gilt], beasts and birds, knights and idols, and sundry other subjects. And on the ceiling, too, you see nothing but gold and silver and painting. On each of the four sides there is a great marble staircase leading to the top of the marble wall. . . . The building is altogether so vast, so rich, and so beautiful, that no man on earth could design anything superior to it. The outside of the roof also is all covered with vermilion, and yellow, and green, and blue, and other hues, which are fixed with a varnish so fine and exquisite that, they shine like crystal, and lend a resplendent lustre to the palace as seen for a great way round. the interior side of the palace are large buildings with halls and chambers, in which reside the ladies and concubines. There he occupies himself at his own convenience, and no one else has

access.

"Of the City and great Haven of Zayton.

On

Now, when you quit Fuju and cross the river, you travel for five days south-east through a fine country, meeting with a constant succession of flourishing cities, towns, and villages, rich in every

product. You travel by mountains, and valleys, and plains, and in some places by great forests in which are many of the trees that give camphor. There is plenty of game on the road, both of bird and beast. The people are all traders and craftsmen, subjects of the Great Kaan. When have you accomplished those five days' journey, you arrive at the very great and noble city of Zayton.

At this city, you must know, is the Haven of Zayton, frequented by all the ships of India, which bring thither spicery and all other kinds of costly wares. It is the port also that is frequented by all the merchants of Manzi,' for hither is imported the most astonishing quantity of goods, and of precious stones and pearls, and from this they are distributed all over Manzi. And I assure you, that for one shipload of pepper that goes to Alexandria or elsewhere, destined for Christendom, there come a hundred such, ay, and more too, to this Haven of Zayton; for it is one of the two greatest havens in the world for commerce.

But the most important reference, so far as these references and descriptions of places have a bearing upon the discovery of the new world, is that which relates to the island of Cipango, or Chipangu, otherwise Zipangu.

He says: "Chipangu is an island towards the east in the high seas, 1500 miles distant from the Continent; and a very great island it is. The people are white, civilised, and well-flavoured. They are idolaters, and are dependent on nobody. 2 See the letter of Toscanelli, infra, p. 81.

3

1 Infra, p. 82.

Japan, infra, p. 82.