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5 2 • THE GREAT PROVINCES OF YARCAN AND COTAN MARCO POLO
FB P had their stone •with their great misadventure; and so the pillar is • unto this day without FR VB support of human prop, • and will be as long as God shall please, • through the intercession of the precious Saint. And from many parts there run together people all day long to see the R mighty miracle. Now let us leave you this of which enough is said, and we will go forward and will tell you of a province which is called Yarcan.1 -
53 . ERE HE TELLS OF THE PROVINCE OF YARCAN. Yarcan is a province which VA VB FB LT lasts quite five' days journeys long. And the people of that province are all of the religion of Mahomet, and there are some Nestorian Christians FB VB LT and Jacobins, • but not a great number. They belong to the domain of that same nephew VB of the great Kaan of whom I have told you above. And it is a province where they LT R have great abundance of all things which are generally necessary for the life of man, • and z principally of cotton. The inhabitants are great craftsmen. • And for the most part the dwellers in that province have one foot very large but the other small, and yet they walk very well;• R L R and the legs swollen • and they have a lump in the throat, • which comes about through the nature TA of the water they drink. But because there is nothing else which does to mention in FB FB our book, so then let us leave it[andlgo forward, and we will tell you of another province which is named Cotan. -
54 • T T ERE HE TELLS OF THE GREAT PROVINCE OF COTAN . Cotan is a province ! 2 2 d
between sunrising and the Greek wind, and is eight days marches long. V V V LT 1 1 And they belong to the rule of the great Kaan. And the people of that province V VB TA all worship Mahomet. And there are cities and fine villages enough, and they are noble people. And the most noble city and that which is chief of the realm is called TA L Cotan, that is the name of the whole province. And it is fertile and it has abundance R V L of all things needful for the life of man. • And there grows cotton enough, & flax and VL L hemp, &•oil, wheat, •corn, and wine r the rest as is done rightly in our lands. They -
have vines and closes and' gardens enough. And they live by trade and by crafts, V VB V and they are not men of arms, but mean enough and very cowardly. • And in this proving there is nothing else to say, but now we will leave it and tell you of another province TA which has for name Pent. | | |
| ' Throughout this chapter VB purs the whole pillar in place of the stone base as taken from and restored to the Saracens, ending like this: venuto el ter`o zorno a cristiani imposto trouoroiw la coílona spichata dal teto per modo the fazillissimamente fa moxe et sema lexion alguna delle la oiexia. fu trata e data a saraxini non sema suo grande amira`íone e dispiazere . . . In the extracts above "stone" has been put for collona. 2 VA: sete s de FB: et Just below FB has Bras for dars. | | |
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