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
I 5 8. THE REPAIR OF THE SHIPS & TEST OF LUCK ,4MARCO POLO
tenders that they carry quite i000 baskets of pepper. But I tell you too that they FB Z VA take 40, 50, •some 6o, some 8o, some too sailors, and these go with oars' and with
z sails •when there is opportunity. And often again they help to tow the great ship with ropes, that is hawsers, when they are moved with oars, and also when they are moved with sails if the wind prevails rather from the beam, because the smaller go in front of the larger and tow it tied with ropes; but not if the wind blows straight, for the sails of the larger ship would prevent the wind from catching the sails of the smaller and so the larger would overtake the
z FB smaller. They take two and three • of these large tenders, but the one is larger than the
other. And of small ships which we call boats also they take quite ten, to anchor and
to catch fish and to wait upon the large ship in many other ways. And the ship z P carries all these boats through the water lashed to her sides outside, and when necessary FB they put them in the water; • but they tow the two large ones astern, which each have their mariners and their sails and all that is needed for themselves and for then?. And again I tell you that
L the said two large tenders also carry small boats. Moreover I tell you again that when VA the great ships' wish to be decorated, that is to be repaired, and it has made a great
z voyage or has sailed a whole year or more and needs repair, they repair it in such a way. z For they nail yet [72a] another board over the aforesaid original two all round the
FB ship, without removing the former at all, and then there are three of them over the whole FB ship everywhere, the one nailed above the other, and then, when it is nailed, they also caulk and
FB oil it with the foresail mixture; and this is the repair which they do. And at the end of
L VA the second year, at the second repair they nail yet another board, leaving the other boards. so FB Z Z that there are four. And in this way they go each year from repair to repair up to the number FB of six boards the one nailed above the other. And when they have six boards the one upon Z FP, the other nailed, then • the ship is condemned and • they sail no more in her on too high seas but in near journeys and good weather, and they do not overload them; until it seems to them that they are no more of any value and that one can make no more use of them. Then they dismantle z and break them up. • And so we will tell you how, when any ship must go on a voyage, they prove whether its business will go well or ill on that voyage. The men of the ship indeed will have a hurdle, that is a grating, of withies, and at each corner and side of the hurdle will be tied a cord, so that there will be eight cords, and they will all be tied at the other end with a long rope. Again they will find someone stupid or drunken and will bind him on the hurdle; for no wise man nor undepraved would expose himself to that danger. And this is done when a strong wind prevails. They indeed set up the hurdle opposite the wind, and the wind lifts the hurdle and carries it into the sky and the men hold by the long rope. And if while it is in the
1 armes FB,TA,Z,&c. support the correction a renies.
2 FB: les ij.nefz
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