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MARCO POLO   Boo1L II.

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It would seem from the expression, both in Pauthier's text and in the G. T., as if

'*   Polo intended to say that Chincsan (Cinqsan) meant " One Hundred Eyes " ; and if

•    , .   so we could bave no stronger proof of his ignorance of Chinese. It is Pe yen, the

• +e   Chinese form of Bayan, that means, or rather may be punningly rendered, " One

   ..   Hundred Eyes." Chincsan, i.e. Chingsiang, was the title of the superior ministers of

   gs. . „   .'   state at Khanbaligh, as we have already seen. The title occurs pretty frequently in
the Persian histories of the Mongols, and frequently as a Mongol title in Sanang •

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s w . Setzen. We find it also disguised as Chyansam in a letter from certain Christian ••, nobles at Khanbaligh, which Wadding quotes from the Papal archives. (See Cathay,

':   PP. 314-315.)

But it is right to observe that in the Ramusian version the mistranslation which we have noticed is not so undubitable : " Volendo sapere come avr ea nome it Capitano nemico, le fu detto, Chinsambaian, cioé Cent'occhi."

A kind of corroboration of Marco's story, but giving a different form to the pun, has been found by Mr. W. F. Mayers, of the Diplomatic Department in China, in a Chinese compilation dating from the latter part of the 14th century. Under the heading, " A h ïan; -nan Prophecy," this book states that prior to the fall of the Sung a prediction ran through Kiang-nan : " If Kiang-nan fall, a hundred wild geese (Pê yen)

   will make their appearance."   This, it is added, was not understood till the-

q'   •l 7 •   generalissimo Peyen Ching siang made his appearance on the scene. " Punning

•     ,•',,   prophecies of this kind are so common in Chinese history, that the above is only
  worth noticing in connection with Marco Polo's story." (N. and Q., China and Japan, vol. ii. p. 162.)

But I should suppose that the Persian historian Wassáf had also heard a bungled version of the same story, which he tells in a pointless manner of the fortress of Sindfúr (evidently a clerical error for Saianfu, see below, eh. lxx.) : " Payan ordered this fortress to be assaulted. The garrison had heard how the capital of China had fallen, and the army of Payan was drawing near. The commandant was an experienced veteran who had tasted all the sweets and bitters of fortune, and had borne the day's heat and the night's cold ; he had, as the saw goes, milked the world's cow dry. So he sent word to Payan : ` In my youth ' (here we abridge Wassáf 's rigmarole) ` I heard my father tell that this fortress should be taken by a man called Payan, and that all fencing and trenching, fighting and smiting, would be of no avail. You need not, therefore, bring an army hither ; we give in ; we surrender the fortress and all that is

r■   therein.' So they opened the gates and came down." ( Wassáf, Hammer's ed.,

- 4   . 41).

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NOTE 6.—There continues in this narrative, with a general truth as to the course of events, a greater amount of error as to particulars than we should have expected. The Sung Emperor Tu Tsong, a debauched and effeminate prince, to whom Polo seems to refer, had died in 1274, leaving young children only. Chaohien, the second son, a boy of four years of age, was put on the throne, with his grandmother Siechi, as regent. The approach of Bayan caused the greatest alarm ; the Sung Court made humble propositions, but they were not listened to. The brothers of the young emperor were sent off by sea into the southern provinces ; the empress regent was also pressed to make her escape with the young emperor, but, after consenting, she changed her mind and would not move. The Mongols arrived before King-szé, and the empress sent the great seal of the empire to Bayan. He entered the city without resistance in the third month (say April), 1276, riding at the head of his whole staff with the standard of the general-in-chief before him. It is remarked that he went to look at the tide in the River Tsien Tang, which is noted for its bore. He declined to meet the regent and her grandson; pleading that he was ignorant of the etiquettes proper to such an interview. Before his entrance Bayan had nominated a joint-commission of Mongol and Chinese officers to the government of the city, and appointed a committee to take charge of all the public documents, maps, drawings, records of courts, and seals of all public offices, and to plant sentinels at necessary

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