The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 / 72 ページ（カラー画像）

0072	The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2
マルコ=ポーロ卿の記録 : vol.2

The modern French missions have a bishop in Ch'êng-tu fu, and the city has been
visited of late years by Mr. T. T. Cooper, by Mr. A. Wylie, by Baron v. Richthofen,
[Captain Gill, Mr. Baber, Mr. Hosie, and several other
travellers]. Mr. Wylie has kindly favoured me with
the following note :—"My notice all goes to
corroborate Marco Polo. The covered bridge with
the stalls is still there, the only difference being the
absence of the toll-house. I did not see any traces of
a tripartite division of the city, nor did I make any
enquiries on the subject during the 3 or 4 days I spent
there, as it was not an object with me at the time to
verify Polo's account. The city is indeed divided,
but the division dates more than a thousand years
back. It is something like this, I should say [see
diagram]. *
"The Imperial City (Hwang Ching) was the
residence of the monarch Lew Pé (i.e. Liu Pei of p. 32) during the short period of the
'Three Kingdoms' (3rd century), and some relics of the ancient edifice still remain.
I was much interested in looking over it. It is now occupied by the Public Examina-
tion Hall and its dependencies."
I suspect Marco's story of the Three Kings arose from a misunderstanding about
this historical period of the San-Kwé, or Three Kingdoms (A.D. 222–264). And this
tripartite division of the city may have been merely that which we see to exist at
present.
[Mr. Baber, leaving Ch'êng-tu, 26th July, 1877, writes (Travels, p. 28): "We
took ship outside the East Gate on a rapid narrow stream, apparently the city moat,
which soon joins the main river, a little below the An-shun Bridge, an antiquated
wooden structure some 90 yards long. This is in all probability the bridge mentioned
by Marco Polo. The too flattering description he gives of it leads one to suppose
that the present handsome stone bridges of the province were unbuilt at the time of
his journey." Baber is here mistaken.
Captain Gill writes (l.c. II. p. 9): "As Mr. Wylie in recent days had said that
Polo's covered bridge was still in its place, we went one day on an expedition in
search of it. Polo, however, speaks of a bridge full half a mile long, whilst the
longest now is but 90 yards. On our way we passed over a fine nine-arched stone
bridge, called the Chin-Yen-Ch'iao. Near the covered bridge there is a very pretty
view down the river."—H. C.]
Baron Richthofen observes that Ch'êng-tu is among the largest of Chinese cities,
and is of all the finest and most refined. The population is called 800,000. The
walls form a square of about 3 miles to the side, and there are suburbs besides. The
streets are broad and straight, laid out at right angles, with a pavement of square flags
very perfectly laid, slightly convex and drained at each side. The numerous com-
memorative arches are sculptured with skill; there is much display of artistic taste;
and the people are remarkably civil to foreigners. This characterizes the whole
province; and an air of wealth and refinement prevails even in the rural districts.
The plain round Ch'êng-tu fu is about 90 miles in length (S.E. to N.W.), by 40 miles
in width, with a copious irrigation and great fertility, so that in wealth and population
it stands almost unrivalled. (Letter VII. pp. 48–66.)
[Mr. Baber (Travels, p. 26) gives the following information regarding the popula-
tion of Ch'êng-tu: "The census of 1877 returned the number of families at about
70,000, and the total population at 330,000—190,000 being males and 140,000

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