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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

194

BOOK II.

MARCO POLO

of Chao Tsung, one of the last emperors of the T'ang Dynasty (892), so as to embrace the Luh-ho-ta Pagoda, on a high bluff over the Tsien-tang River,* 15 li distant from the present south gate, and had then a circuit of 70 H. Moreover, in 1159, after the city became the capital of the Sung emperors, some further extension was given to it, só that, even exclusive of the suburbs, the circuit of the city may have been not far short of ioo li. When the city was in its glory under the Sung, the Luh-ho-ta Pagoda may be taken as marking the extreme S.W. Another known point marks approximately the chief north gate of that period, at a mile and a half or two miles beyond the present north wall. The S.E. angle was apparently near the river bank. But, on the other hand, the waist of the city seems to have been a good deal narrower than it now is. Old descriptions compare its form to that of a slender-waisted drum (dice-box or hour-glass shape).

Under the Mongols the walls were allowed to decay ; and in the disturbed years that closed that dynasty (1341-1368) they were rebuilt by an insurgent chief on a greatly reduced compass, probably that which they still retain. Whatever may have been the facts, and whatever the origin of the estimate, I imagine that the ascription of ioo miles of circuit to Kinsay had become popular among Westerns. Odoric makes the same statement. Wassáf calls it 24 parasangs, which will not be far short of the same amount. Ibn Batuta calls the length of the city three clays' journey. Rashiduddin says the enceinte had a diameter of II parasangs, and that there were three post stages between the two extremities of the city, which is probably what Ibn Batuta had heard. The ulfasálak-al-Absár calls it one day's journey in length, and half a day's journey in breadth. The enthusiastic Jesuit Martini tries hard to justify Polo in this as in other points of his description. We shall quote the whole of his remarks at the end of the chapters on Kinsay.

[Dr. F. Hirth, in a paper published in the T'oung Pao, V. pp. 386-390 ( Ueber den Shiffsverkehr von Kinsay zu Marco Polo's Zei!), has some interesting notes on the maritime trade of Hang-chau, collected from a work in twenty books, kept at the Berlin Royal Library, in which is to be found a description of Hang-chau under the title of Meng-lian,; -lu, published in 1274 by Wu Tzu-mu, himself a native of this city : there are various classes of sea-going vessels ; large boats measuring 5000 liao and carrying from five to six hundred passengers ; smaller boats measuring from 2 to 1000 liao and carrying from two to three hundred passengers ; there are small fast boats called tszian fênd, " wind breaker," with six or eight oarsmen, which can carry easily 100 passengers, and are generally used for fishing ; sampans are not taken into account. To start for foreign countries one must embark at Ts'wan-chau, and then go to the sea of Ts'i-chau (Paracels), through the Tai-hsii pass ; coming back he must look to Kwen-lun (Pulo Condor).—H. C.]

The 12,000 bridges have been much carped at, and modern accounts of Hang-chau (desperately meagre as they are) do not speak of its bridges as notable. " There is, indeed," says Mr. Kingsmill, speaking of changes in the hydrography about Hang-chau, " no trace in the city of the magnificent canals and bridges described by Marco Polo." The number was no doubt in this case also a mere popular saw, and Friar Odoric repeats it. The sober and veracious John Marignolli, alluding apparently to their statements, and perhaps to others which have not reached us, says : " When authors tell of its ten thousand noble bridges of stone, adorned with sculptures and statues of armed princes, it passes the belief of one who has not been there, and yet peradventure these authors tell us no lie." \Vassáf speaks of 36o bridges only, but

by the remarks of the Right Rev. G. E. Moule of the Ch. Mission. Soc., now residing at Hang-chau. These are partly contained in a paper (Notes on Colonel Yule's Edition of Marco Polo's `Quinsay') read before the North China Branch of the R. A. Soc. at Shang-hai in December 1873 [published in New Series, No. IX. of the journal N. C. B. R. A. Soc.], of which a proonbas been most kindly sent to me by Mr. Moule, and partly in a special communication, both forwarded through Mr. A. Wylie. [See also Notes on Hangelzow Past and Present, a paper read in 1889 by Bishop G. E. Moule at a Meeting of the Hangchau Missionary Association, at whose request it was compiled, and subsequently printed for private circulation.—H. C.]

* The building of the present Luh-ho-ta (" Six Harmonies Tower "), after repeated destructions by fire, is recorded on a fine tablet of the Sung period, still standing (!houle).