IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
| THE DESCRIPTION OF THE WORLD". THE RUBIES OF SIGHINAN in the mountains) with very great expense & trouble to find therm, and go far underground VB FB as in these parts here they do who dig the vein of gold and silver.' And this is done. VB V V only in a particular mountain which is called Sighinan. And again you may know FB that the king of the said province has them dug for himself, nor could any other man v native or foreign beside the king dare to go to that mountain to dig up any of those z balasci for himself who would not be slain at once. And again he says that it is at FR the price of head and possessions if one takes any of them from his kingdom, for the king collects them all and •keeps the dearest for himself & sends them hither - thither FB VB VA by his men to the other kings and to the other princes and great lords, to some for tribute and to some for love,' and also has some of them if he pleases sold for gold FB FB and for silver to merchants; • and these can be taken to other countries. And the king does VB R this for his own honour that his balasci may be dear and of great value everywhere z z as they arc. For if he let other men dig them and carry them through the world so many of them would be taken away that all the world would be full of them and they FB would not be so dear nor of so great value, so that the king would make little or no LT gain. And for this cause the king has set so great a penalty that none may take any of them away without his leave. And again in another mountain in this province y sapphires are produced and they arc dug out in the same way as the balasci are. And again you may know in truth that in this same country in another mountain are found the stones from which one makes ultramarine azure, and it is the finest azure and L the best that is known in the [Z od] world. And the stone of which I have told you vB of which one makes azure, is dug, as gold & silver are, from a vein of earth which is v TA produced in mountains like other veins; and that vein is called lapis laçul. And LT again I tell you that there arc other mountains in this province in which one finds FB v veins from which they take silver, copper, and lead in great plenty. And it is a very z L cold country and province. And again you may know that very good horses are bred there and they are great runners and large and wear no irons on their feet P though there are many stones there; and the reason is because of the good, • hard, and • strong LT P LT feet which they have and good hoofs. And they go in the mountains & on bad roads FB always, and do not hurt their feet, • and the men gallop with than over the mountain slopes P R where other animals could not gallop, nor would they dare to gallop there. And it was said to him that no long time past • there used to be found in this province horses which had descended z front the seed of king Alexandre's horse named bucefalo, which were all born with a horn, • with a mark, • on the forehead like bucefalo; because mares had conceived from that very horse. R Z |
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| i & montagnes 2 P:ferrum 3 R: & qualche volta ne dona ad alcuni gentilhuoniini, che passano di la, quali non possono comprarne da altri, nè portarne fuori del suo regno senza sua licenza. | ||||||
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