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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
i
5 6 THE SANDY DESERTS OF CIARCIAN AND OF LOP ,MARCO POLO
VA are enemies,1 all the men of that province who are in a place where the army passes they fly FB LT with all their wives and with children and with their beasts and all their things LT P among the sands two days marches or three from Ciarcian into other places where LT L they know that there is pasture to be found and .good water and that they could live
LT with their beasts, & that their enemy does not find them; • and there they stay and wait until the army is passed. Moreover I tell you that none can see where they are gone
LT because the wind from the south west, which prevails in those places, • destroys their footsteps. L LT made in the sand immediately •and covers the ways by which they are gone with sand, VB so that when the army comes & does not find anybody, they do not know where they are & it is not seen where they are gone and it does not seem that man or beast had VA LT ever gone that way, & they know not what to do. • After the departure[of the enemy]they return to their proper place. In that way they escape from their enemies as I have [23b] LT told you. And if it happens that an army of the Tartars to whore they are subject, who LT v are friends, pass that way, then the men do not _fly but the beasts only fly, & they do this because they do not wish them to be taken from them and eaten; for the LT VA armies of the Tartars do not pay for things which they take from the people where R they pass.. And know that when they reap their corn they store it far from the dwellings in those sands, in certain caves, for fear of the armies, and thence they bring back home what is necessary from month to month, nor do others than themselves know _those places, nor can any ever know where they go, because the wind when it blows immediately covers their footprints with sand. And when one departs from Ciarcian he goes quite five days marches V VA VB still through sand where there is some very bad water and some very bitter, and in VA some places there is found some good and sweet. And there is nothing which does FB to mention in our book; so we will go forward and will tell you of a province which
FB has Lop to name. And at end of these five days marches one finds a city also, which FB is named Lop, which is at the end of the great desert, where the men rest themselves [and take food to cross the desert. And therefore let us leave it and we will tell you further.
57 • ERE HE TELLS OF THE CITY OF LOP. Lop is a great city which is at the
FB Z L end of the desert, from which when one departs one enters into the very
great desert which is called the desert of Lop, and it is between sun-VA v rising and the Greek wind. And this city belongs to the rule of the great Kaan, and z P the people of it worship Mahomet. All things needful for travellers who wish to cross the desert are made ready in this city. And I tell you that those who wish to cross the VA V V great desert must rest in this town at the least a week to refresh themselves and their
I il que soient enesus cf. B. p. 42.
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