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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 |
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Citation Information
200
MARCO POLO BOOK II.
(infra, p. 222) there are stone pillars inscribed " Highway (from Che-kiang) to Eight Provinces," thus indicating Nine. (Milne, p. 319.)
NOTE I I.—We have in Ramusio : " The men levied in the province of Manzi are not placed in garrison in their own cities, but sent to others at least 20 days' journey from their homes ; and there they serve for four or five years, after which they are relieved. This applies both to the Cathayans and to those of Manzi.
" The great bulk of the revenue of the cities, which enters the exchequer of the Great Kaan, is expended in maintaining these garrisons. And if perchance any city rebel (as you often find that under a kind of madness or intoxication they rise and murder their governors), as soon as it is known, the adjoining cities despatch such large forces from their garrisons that the rebellion is entirely crushed. For it would be too long an affair if troops from Cathay had to be waited for, involving perhaps a delay of two months."
NOTE 12.—" The sons of the dead, wearing hempen clothes as badges of mourning, kneel down," etc. (Doolittle, p. 138.)
NOTE 13.—These practices have been noticed, supra, Bk. I. ch. xl.
NOTE I4.—This custom has come down to modern times. In Pauthier's Chine Moderne, we find extracts from the statutes of the reigning dynasty and the comments thereon, of which a passage runs thus : " To determine the exact population of each province the governor and the lieutenant-governor cause certain persons who are nominated as Pao-kia, or Tithing-Men, in all the places under their jurisdiction, to add up the figures inscribed on the wooden tickets attached to the doors of houses, and exhibiting the number of the inmates " (p. 167).
Friar Odoric calls the number of fires 89 Ionians ; but says Io or 12 households would unite to have one fire only !
CHAPTER LXXVII.
FURTHER PARTICULARS CONCERNING THE GREAT CITY OF KINSAY.1]
[THE position of the city is such that it has on one side
a lake of fresh and exquisitely clear water (already
spoken of), and on the other a very large river. The
waters of the latter fill a number of canals of all sizes
which run through the different quarters of the city,
carry away all impurities, and then enter the Lake ;
whence they issue again and flow to the Ocean, thus
producing a most excellent atmosphere. By means of
these channels, as well as by the streets, you can go all
about the city. Both streets and canals are so wide and
spacious that carts on the one and boats on the other can
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