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
15 2 • THE ROADS & CARRIAGES OF QUINSAI • GAMPU ,MARCO POLO
anxious care is spent on it. And again the great lord has it guarded so well and with R so many people for fear that they may [67b] rebel. And first you may know quite z z R FB truly that all the ways and streets in all this town of Quinsai •are well paved with FB G P good •hewn stones and with baked bricks, so that the whole city is very clean; and so are TA z all the chief ways and streets and the causeways of all the province of Mangi paved
L FB so that one can ride at any time conveniently there wherever one wishes quite cleanly R FA both on horseback and on foot through all the lands of it without soiling the feet. •For FB the land is very low and flat and there is very deep[mud]when it rains, • so that if it were not that the ways are all paved (i.e. where it is needed) one sometimes could not ride R there nor go, on foot or on horse. .But because the couriers of the great Kaan could not travel quickly with horses over paved streets, therefore a part of the street at the side is left without pavement for the sake of the said couriers. In truth the main street of which we have spoken above, which runs from one end of the city to the other, is paved like this with stones and with. bricks ten paces along either side, but in the middle it is all filled with a small and fine gravel, with its vaulted conduits which lead the rain waters into the canals near by, so that it always stays dry. Now on this street are always seen going up and down certain long carriages covered and furnished with hangings and cushions of silk, in which six persons can stay. And they are taken every day by men and women who wish to go for pleasure. And an endless number of these carriages are seen at all times going along the said street, down the middle of it; and they go to gardens where they are received by the gardeners under certain shades made for this purpose, and there they stay to give themselves a good time all day with their ladies, VA and then in the evening they go home again in the said carriages. • And in this city are quite FB /0000 very fine and great streets.' And again I tell you that in this town of Quinsai
L FA are quite three thousand artificial baths, which spring from the ground, these are stoves, TA FB where the men and the women • bathe and take them great delight and go there several times a month; for they live very cleanly in their bodies. Moreover I tell you that they are the most beautiful baths and the best and the largest that are in the world. FB For I tell you that they are so large that more than a hundred men or a hundred women can well bathe themselves there at one time.' And again I make you to P know that twenty-five' miles distant from this city of Quinsai between the Greek FB P wind and sunrising is the Ocean sea of Indic', and there on the sea is a city which is called R Gampu, and there is a very good harbour, and all the very large ships with very
ri
1 It is possible that this is simply a corruption of the following sentence about the baths.
2 See note on p. 328 above for different account of the baths in R. Notice that FA,FB,V,S do not say that the baths were hot. TA,LT,P speak only of hot baths (stufe, therme). VA: stude VB: stude ... studare ... stue L: balnea.s.stufe VL: xiiij millia stuue Z omits completely.
3 TA3: xv
334
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