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•                     52   MARCO POLO.   VOL. I. BK. I.

Palladius felt uncertain about his identification. But Palladius

is mistaken in feeling thus uncertain : in 1315 and 1326 the

Mongol History twice mentions the garrison starts at Ch' ill kin,

and in such a way that the place must be where Marco Polo puts

it, i.e. west of Kia-yüh Kwan."

OF THE PROVINCE OF SUKCHUR.

XLIII., p. 217. " Over all the mountains of this province rhubarb is

found in great abundance, and thither merchants come to buy it, and

carry it thence all over the world. Travellers, however, dare not visit

those mountains with any cattle but those of the country, for a certain

plant grows there which is so poisonous that cattle which eat it loose

their hoofs. The cattle of the country know it and eschew it."

During his crossing of the Nan Shan, Sir Aurel Stein had

the same experience, five of his ponies being benumbed and

refusing to touch grass or fodder." The traveller notes that,

Ruins of Desert Cathay, II., p. 303 : " I at once suspected that

they had eaten of the poisonous grass which infests certain parts

of the Nan Shan, and about which old Marco has much to tell

in his chapter on ` Sukchur ' or Su-chou. The Venetian's account

had proved quite true ; for while my own ponies showed all

the effects of this inebriating plant, the local animals had evidently

been wary of it. A little bleeding by the nose, to which Tila

Bai, with the veterinary skill of an old Ladak ` Kirakash,' promptly

proceeded, seemed to afford some relief. But it took two or

three days before the poor brutes were again in full possession

of their senses and appetites."

" Wild rhubarb, for which the Nan-shan was famous in Marco

Polo's days, spread its huge fleshy leaves everywhere." (STEIN,

Ruins of Desert Cathay, I I., p. 305.)

43.  p. 218.

SUKCHUR.

The first character of Suchau was pronounced Szik at the

time of the T'ang ; we find a Sughciu in von Le Coq's MSS.

from Turkestan and Sughtu in the runnic text of W. Thomsen ;

cf. PELLIOT, .7. As., Mai—Juin, 1912, p. 591 ; the pronunciation

Suk-chau was still used by travellers coming from Central Asia

for instance, by the envoys of Shah Rukh. See Cathay, III.,

p. 126 n.

OF THE CITY OF CAMPICHU.

44.  pp. 219 seq.   The Idolaters have many minsters and abbeys