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 WEALTH OF ÇAITON • I 57.
and hamlets enough which are very noble and good, where there is great wealth of all things for food. There are hills and valleys and plains; there are also vast forests' R z where there are many trees of those which make camphor. There is hunting and
tt chase enough of beasts and of birds; it is a country greatly abounding in wild animals. R
They live by trading and by crafts. They are subject to the rule of the great Kaan v and have money of notes and are idolaters and are in the domain of the city of Fugiu, that FB Z is in its kingdom. And when one is gone these five days journeys then one finds a city which is called Çaiton which is very great and noble . At this city is the port of çaiton • on the Ocean sea, to which all the ships from Indie come with many goods FB R and dear, and namely with many precious stones of great value and with many pearls z both large and good. And it is the port from which the merchants of Mangi, that is all round this port, come. So that thus at this port comes and goes so great abundance FB of goods and of stones and of pearls that it is a wonderful thing to see. And from this FB city of this harbour they got through all the province of Mangi and elsewhere. L Moreover I tell you that for one ship load of pepper which may go to Alexandre or z to other place to be carried into Christian lands,3 there come more than a hundred z of them to this port of Çaiton. And it would be almost impossible to believe the great R gathering of merchants and merchandise at this city,' for you may know that this is one of the two ports in the world where most merchandise comes, for its greatness and R convenience. [71a] And moreover I tell you that the great Kaan receives in this port and in this town very great duty, because I make you know that all the merchants[in z the]ships which come from Indie give of all goods, and of all stones and pearls they give, ten per cent, that is the tenth part of everything. The ships take for their hire, that is the freight, 3o per cent of small goods, & of pepper they take 44 per cent, and of lign aloe and of sandalwood and of other spices and large goods they R take 40 per cent. So that between the freight and the great Kaan's duty the merchants really give the half of all that they bring to this port. And yet of that half which R remains to them they make so great profits that every hour they wish to return there with other goods. And so everyone must believe that the great Kaan has a very great quantity of treasure at this town. The people of Çaiton city, moreover, they are idolaters & are subject z
1 R: alcuni arboscelli
2 de test cite de test port uont FB: de ce port vont TAS: quinci uanno Z: ab ista ciuitate istíus portus feruntur V: da questa aitade de questo porto vano
3 Z: de alexandria in xpistianitate V: dalesandria in christianitade
4 There seem to be signs in F,FB, and some other MSS. of an intention to distinguish between the name of the city and of the port, but it is not clear enough to justify different spellings in the translation. VB reads el cape chiamata caron ... aita de caiten. See PN.
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