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 ISLAND OF ÇIPINGU • I 5 8
air the hurdle leans towards the way of the wind, they pull the rope to them a little and then the hurdle is set upright, and they let out some rope and the hurdle rises. And if it leans down again they pull the rope by so much till the hurdle is set up and rises, and they let out some rope; so that in this way it would rise so much that it could not be seen, if only the rope should be so long. This proof is made in this way, namely that if the hurdle going straight up makes for the sky, they say that the ship for which that proof has been made will make a quick and prosperous voyage, and all the merchants run together to her for the sake of sailing and going with her. And if the hurdle has not been able to go up, no merchant will be willing to enter the ship for which the proof was made, because they say that she could not finish her voyage and many ills would oppress her. And so that ship stays in port that year. Now I have described to you all the ordering of the ships in which the merchants go and corne into Indie by sea, FB FB and which bring the great merchandise by the great Ocean sea of Indie and by the isles of Indie. And then we will leave this matter of the ships' and will tell you of Indie, but yet z first of all I wish to tell you of many Indian islands which are in this Ocean sea L where we are now. And these islands are to the sunrising from the regions of which we L have told before, and we will begin you first with an island which is called Çipingu.
EiERE HE TELLS OF THE ISLAND OF ÇIPINGU. Çipingu is an island to the • 159
sunrising which is on the high sea 15002 miles distant from the land of Mangi . It is a very exceedingly great island. The people of it are white, P z •
fair fashioned, and beautiful, and of good manners. They are idolaters and keep them- L
selves by themselves, that is they are ruled by their own king, • but pay tribute to no other, z P
and have no lordship of any other men but of themselves . Moreover I tell you that
they have gold in very great abundance, because gold is found there beyond measure.
Moreover I tell you that no man takes gold out from that island, because the king z P
does not easily allow it to be taken from the island and therefore no merchant as it were nor z
other man goes there from the mainland, because it is so far, • and ships are rarely brought FB P
there from other regions, for it abounds in all things; and therefore I tell you that they V
have so much gold that it is a wonderful thing, as I have told you, so that they do not know V FB
what to do with it. Moreover I shall tell you a great wonder of the immense excellence z
of wealth of a [72b] palace of the lord, that is the chief. ruler, of this island,3 according VB Z Z
to what the men who know the country say. I tell you quite truly that he has a very great
1 test maniere des nes B. prints mainere de nes, but suggests the correction matiere. This is supported by des, and by V: questa materia.
2 V: I250
3 de ceste uille But FA, FB,TA, LT,VA, P, Z, V all have "island"; while VB,L have no corresponding word; so that we should probably correct uille to ille or isle.
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