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, ISLES IN THE SEA OF CIN
is called the sea of Cin, which means to say the sea which is over against Mangi,
because the province of Mangi is on its shores; for I tell you that in the language of P
those of this island it means to say Mangi when they say Cin; which is to the
sunrising and sirocco.' And this sea of Cin is so long and broad that it has 7000 and 400 FB z
and 48 islands,2 which for the most part are inhabited, according as the wise
pilots' who have carefully counted them say and the wise sailors of this country who never P FB FR
do anything else but sail there and who well know them, so that they all say that this is FR
the truth. Moreover I tell you that in all those islands no tree grows from which
does not come a great odour and good and which is not of great use, quite as
great as the finest lign aloe and greater. There are also many dear spices of many VB
and different kinds. And again I tell you that pepper' white as snow (and also some z
black, and ginger) grows in these islands in great abundance, which does not grow V VB
elsewhere, and none of it is carried to the sunsetting because this is a very unknown place and
they take black pepper more easily and at less cost. Gold is found there[andljewels; pearls
both large and small are fished there in the greatest quantity. The great value of the gold
and of the other dear things and of the spiceries• and of the timbers which are in these FB L
islands is a very wonderful thing; but I tell you that they are so distant from the z
mainland that with great difficulty is it possible to go there. And when the ships
from Çaiton or from Quinsai go there they [74a] make great profit there and great
gain. Moreover I tell you that they work hard without ceasing for a year to go their z z
whole journey. For they go in the winter and come back in the summer. For the winds
do not blow there but of two kinds, the one which takes them and the other which
brings them back, and it blows the one in summer and the other in winter. And you
may know that this country is distant from Indie a very great deal of way. And again
I tell you that because I have told you that this sea is called the sea of Cin, yet I wish you to know that it is the Ocean sea. But it has its name. One says it as he would FB say the sea of Engletere and the sea of Rocelle & the Aegean sea, • because of the different z L provinces which it washes,' so one says in that country in the sea of the islands of Indie, FR the sea of Cin and the sea of Indie and the such a sea, but nevertheless all these
161•
1 FB: a leuant et a selot may be a mere corruption of F: a leuant & a selonc But L: ad oriens
et syroch. V: in leuante sono silongo chelano tre porti
2 vijm.et.iiijm.& xlviii.ysles FA: 7459 FB: 7449 TA: 7450 LT: 7748 (margin: 7747) VA: 7447 P, L, V L : 7448 Z, R: 7440 V: 6448 VB: 7400
3 FA: pescheurs
~ leure FB: poiure Z,L: piper and so all others. `' L: lignorum L': li quorum
6 L: mare de Engleterra et de flandia et de riolla V: mar danglia el mar de bachu
365
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