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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 |
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Citation Information
228
MARCO POLO Boom II.
Asia in the 2nd century B.C., and since then much cultivated in that country." (Bretsclineider, Hist. of Bot. Disc. I. p. 4.)—I I. C.]
NOTE 2.—See vol. i. p. 312.
NOTE 3.—These particulars as to a race of painted or tattooed caterans accused of cannibalism apparently apply to some aboriginal tribe which still maintained its ground in the mountains between Fo-kien and Che-kiang or Kiang-si. Davis, alluding to the Upper part of the Province of Canton, says : " The Chinese History speaks of the aborigines of this wild region under the name of Mcin (Barbarians), who within a comparatively recent period were subdued and incorporated into the Middle Nation. Many persons have remarked a decidedly Malay cast in the features of the natives of this province ; and it is highly probable that the Canton and Fo-kien people were originally the same race as the tribes which still remain unreclaimed on the east side of Formosa." * (Supply. Vol. p. 26o.) Indeed Martini tells us that even in the 17th century this very range of mountains, farther to the south, in the Ting-chau department of Fo-kien, contained a race of uncivilised people, who were enabled by the inaccessible character of the country to maintain their independence of the Chinese Government (p. I 14 ; see also Seredo, p. 19).
[" Colonel Yule's ` pariah caste ' of Shao-ling, who, he says, rebelled against either the Sung or the Yüan, are evidently the tornin of Ningpo and zikas of Wenchow. Colonel Yule's ` some aboriginal tribe between Fo-kien and Che-kiang' are probably the zikas of Wênchow and the siapo of Fu-kien described by recent travellers. The zikas are locally called dogs' heads, which illustrates Colonel Yule's allophylian theories." (Parker, China Review, XIV. p. 359.) Cf. A Visit to the
` Dog =Headed Barbarians " or Hill People, near Fu-chow, by Rev. F. Ohlin' er,
Chinese Recorder, July, 1886, pp. 265-268.—H. C.]
NOTE 4.—Padre Martini long ago pointed out that this Quelinfu is KIEN-NING FU, on the upper part of the Min River, an important city of Fo-kien. In the Fo-kien dialect he notices that l is often substituted for n, a well-known instance of which is Liampoo, the name applied by F. M. Pinto and the old Portuguese to Ningpo.
[Mr. Phillips writes (T. Pao, I. p. 224) : " From Puchêng to Kien-Ning-Foo the distance is 290 li, all down stream. I consider this to have been the route followed
by Polo. His calling Kien-Ning-Foo, Que-lin-fu, is quite correct, as far as the
Ling is concerned, the people of the city and of the whole southern province pronounce Ning, Ling. The Ramusian version gives very full particulars regarding the manufactures of Kien-Ning-Foo, which are not found in the other texts ; for example, silk is said in this version to be woven into various stuffs, and further : ` They also make much cotton cloth of dyed thread which is sent all over Manzi.' All this is
quite true. Much silk was formerly and is still, woven in Kien-Ning, and the
manufacture of cotton cloth with dyed threads is very common. Such stuff is called Hung Lu Kin ` red and green cloth.' Cotton cloth, made with dyed thread, is also very common in our day in many other cities in Fuh-Kien."--H. C.]
In Ramusio the bridges are only each more than loo paces long and 8 paces wide." In Pauthier's text each is a mile long, and 20 feet wide. I translate from the G. T.
Martini describes one beautiful bridge at Kien-ning fu : the piers of cut stone, the superstructure of timber, roofed in and lined with houses on each side (pp. 112-113). If this was over the Min it would seem not to survive. A recent journal says : " The river is crossed by a bridge of boats, the remains of a stone bridge being visible just above water." (Chinese Recorder (Foochow), August, 187o, p. 65.)
* " It is not improbable that there is some admixture of aboriginal blood in the actual population (of Fuh-Kien), but if so, it cannot be much. The surnames in this province are the same as those in
Central and North China. . The language also is pure Chinese ; actually much nearer the
ancient form of Chinese than the modern Mandarin dialect. There are indeed many words in the vernacular for which no corresponding character has been found in the literary style : but careful iti. vestigation is gradually diminishing the number." (Note by Rev. Dr. C. Douglas.)
g;
ti.
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