IIIF Color HighRes
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
CHAP. XXVIII. THE PROVINCE OF CASEM
153
CHAPTER XXVIII.
OF TAICAN, AND THE MOUNTAINS OF SALT. ALSO OF THE PROVINCE OF CASEM.
AFTER those twelve days' journey you come to a forti-
fied place called TAICAN, where there is a great corn
market.' I t is a fine place, and the mountains that you
see towards the south are all composed of salt. People
from all the countries round, to some thirty days' journey,
come to fetch this salt, which is the best in the world,
and is so hard that it can only be broken with iron picks.
'Tis in such abundance that it would supply the whole
world to the end of time. [Other mountains there grow
almonds and pistachioes, which are exceedingly cheap.]2
When you leave this town and ride three days
further between north-east and east, you meet with
many fine tracts full of vines and other fruits, and with
a goodly number of habitations, and everything to be
had very cheap. The people are worshippers of Ma-
hommet, and are an evil and a murderous generation,
whose great delight is in the wine shop ; for they have
good wine (albeit it be boiled), and are great topers ; in
truth, they are constantly getting drunk. They wear
nothing on the head but a cord some ten palms long
twisted round it. They are excellent huntsmen, and
take a great deal of game ; in fact they wear nothing
but the skins of the beasts they have taken in the chase,
for they make of them both coats and shoes. Indeed,
all of them are acquainted with the art of dressing skins
for these purposes.3
When you have ridden those three days, you find a
town called CASEM,4 which is subject to a count. His
other towns and villages are on the hills, but through this
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