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0122 The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2
The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 / Page 122 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000269
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particular sign of sanctity." The like practice is ascribed to the rude Moslem of
Gilghit; and such allegations must have been current in Europe, for they are the
motive of Southey's St. Romuald:

" 'But,' quoth the Traveller, ' wherefore did he leave
A flock that knew his saintly worth so well?'

" 'Why, Sir,' the Host replied,
'We thought perhaps that he might one day leave us;
And then, should strangers have
The good man's grave,
A loss like that would naturally grieve us;
For he'll be made a saint of, to be sure.
Therefore we thought it prudent to secure
His relics while we might;
And so we meant to strangle him one night.'"

(See Sindh, pp. 86, 388; Ind. Antig. I. 13; Southey's Ballads, etc., ed. Routledge,
p. 330.)
[Captain Gill (I. p. 323) says that he had made up his mind to visit a place called
Li-fan Fu, near Ch'êng-tu. "I was told," he writes, "that this place was inhabited
by the Man-Tzŭ, or Barbarians, as the Chinese call them; and Monseigneur Pinchon
told me that, amongst other pleasing theories, they were possessed of the belief that
if they poisoned a rich man, his wealth would accrue to the poisoner; that, therefore,
the hospitable custom prevailed amongst them of administering poison to rich or
noble guests; that this poison took no effect for some time, but that in the course of
two or three months it produced a disease akin to dysentery, ending in certain
death."—H. C.]

CHAPTER L.

Concerning the Province of Zardandan.

When you have left Carajan and have travelled five
days westward, you find a province called Zardandan.
The people are Idolaters and subject to the Great Kaan.
The capital city is called Vochan.¹

The people of this country all have their teeth gilt;
or rather every man covers his teeth with a sort of
golden case made to fit them, both the upper teeth and
the under. The men do this, but not the women.²
[The men also are wont to gird their arms and legs
with bands or fillets pricked in black, and it is done thus;
they take five needles joined together, and with these