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National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
93
INTRODUCTION
as on an Island, contrary to the old texts and to the fact ; for
the city of Hormuz was not transferred to the island, afterwards
so famous, till some years after Polo's return from the East. It is
probably also the editor who in the notice of the oil-springs of
Caucasus (i. p. 46) has substituted camel-loads for ship-loads, in
ignorance that the site of those alluded to was probably Baku on
the Caspian.
Other erroneous statements, such as the introduction of win-
dow-glass as one of the embellishments of the palace at Cam-
baluc, are probably due only to accidental misunderstanding.
62. Of circumstances certainly genuine, which are peculiar to
this edition of Polo's work, and which it is difficult to assign to
Genuine any one but himself, we may note the specification of
statements the woods east of Yezd as composed of date trees (vol.
peculiar to
Ramusio. i. pp 88-89) ; the unmistakable allusion to the sub-
terranean irrigation channels of Persia (p. 123) ; the accurate ex-
planation of the term Mulehet applied to the sect of Assassins
(pp. 139-142) ; the mention of the Lake (Sirikul ?) on the plateau
of Pamer, of the wolves that prey on the wild sheep, and of the
piles of wild rams' horns used as landmarks in the snow (pp. 171-
177). To the description of the Tibetan Yak, which is in all the
texts, Ramusio's version alone adds a fact probably not recorded
again till the present century, viz., that it is the practice to cross
the Yak with the common cow (p. 274). Ramusio alone notices
the prevalence of goitre e at Yarkand, confirmed by recent
travellers (i. p. 187) ; the vermilion seal of the Great Kaan
imprinted on the paper-currency, which may be seen in our plate
of a Chinese note (p. 426) ; the variation in Chinese dialects (ii.
p. 236) ; the division of the hulls of junks into water-tight com-
partments (ii. p. 249) ; the introduction into China from Egypt of
the art of refining sugar (ii. p. 226). Ramusio's account of the
position of the city of Sindafu (Ch"ng-tu fu) encompassed and
intersected by many branches of a great river (ii. p. 40), is much
more just than that in the old text, which speaks of but one
river through the middle of the city. The intelligent notices of
the Kaan's charities as originated by his adoption of " idolatry "
or Buddhism ; of the astrological superstitions of the Chinese, and
of the manners and character of the latter nation, are found in
Ramusio alone. To whom but Marco himself, or one of his
party, can we refer the brief but vivid picture of the delicious
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