The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 / Page 241 (Color Image)

0241	The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2

CHAP. LXXVI. THE GREAT CITY OF KINSAY

193

an hostel for travellers is bound to register their names

and surnames, as well as the day and month of their

arrival and departure. And thus the sovereign bath the

means of knowing, whenever it pleases him, who come

and go throughout his dominions. And certes this is a

wise order and a provident.

NOTE I.—KINSAY represents closely enough the Chinese term King-soe, "capital," which was then applied to the great city, the proper name of which was at that time Lin-ngan and is now HANG-CIIAU, as being since 1127 the capital of the Sung Dynasty. The same term Kins sse is now on Chinese maps generally used to designate Peking. It would seem, however, that the term adhered long as a quasi-proper name to Hang-chau ; for in the Chinese Atlas, dating from 1595, which the traveller Carletti presented to the Magliabecchian Library, that city appears to be still marked with this name, transcribed by Carletti as Camse; very near the form Canzpsay used by Marignolli in the 14th century.

NOTE 2.—±The Ramusian version says : " Messer Marco Polo was frequently at

The information be-

ing originally de- '

rived from a Chinese document, there might be some ground for supposing that Too miles of circuit stood for

Ioo li. Yet the -

circuit of the modern city is stated in the official book called Hang- chart Flt - Chi, or topographical history of Hang-chau, at only 35 li. And the earliest record of

the wall, as built under the Sui by Yang-su (before A. D. 6o6), makes its extent little more

(36 li and 90 paces.)* But the

wall was reconstructed by Ts'ien

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The ancient Lun-ho-ta Pagoda at Hang-chau.

Kiao, feudal prince of the region, during the reign

* In the first edition my best authority on this matter was a lecture on the city by the late Rev. D. D. Green, an American Missionary at Ningpo, which is printed in the November and December numbers for 1869 of the (Fuchau) Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal. In the present (second) edition I have on this, and other points embraced in this and the following chapter, benefited largely

VOL. II. N

this city, and took great pains to learn

everything about it,
writing down the
whole in his notes."

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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

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National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

Citation Information

OCR Text

National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books