National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

78   MARCO POLO.   VOL. II. BK. II.

transcrite phonétiquement en chinois Kin-tchang fou, sans que

les caractéres choisis jouent là aucun rôle sémantique ; Kin-tchang

fou n'existe pas dans la géographie chinoise. Quant á l'origine

de la forme persane, il est possible, mais non par sűr, que ce soit

King-tchao fou. La forme ` Quen-zan-fou,' qu'un écolier chinois

du Chen Si fournit á M. von Richthofen comme le nom de Si-

ngan fou au temps des Yuan, doit avoir été fautivement recueillie.

Il me parait impossible qu'un Chinois d'une province quelconque

prononce zan le caractère   tchao."

XLI., p. 29 n. A clause in the edict also orders the foreign bonzes of

Ta T' sin and Mubupa (Christian and Mobed or Magian) to return to

secular life.

Mubupa has no doubt been derived by the etymology mobed,

but it is faulty ; it should be Muhupa. (PELLIOT, Bul. Ecole

franç. Ext. Orient, IV., July—Sept., 1904, p. 771.) Pelliot writes

to me that there is now no doubt that it is derived from mu-lu

hien and that it must be understood as the " [religion of] the

Celestial God of the Magi."

43.  p. 32.

" The chien-tao, or ` pillar road,' mentioned, should be chan-tao,

or ` scaffolding road.' The picture facing p. 50 shows how the

shoring up or scaffolding is effected. The word chan is still in

common use all over the Empire, and in 1267 Kúblái ordered

this identical road (` Sz Ch'wan chan-tao') to be repaired. There

are many such roads in Sz Ch'wan besides the original one from

Han-chung-Fu." (E. H. PARKER, As. Quart. Rev., Jan., 1904,

P. 144.)

44.  p. 36. SINDAFU (Ch'êng to fu). Through the midst of

this great city runs a large river. ... It is a good half-mile wide. . . .

" It is probable that in the thirteenth century, when Marco

Polo was on his travels, the ` great river a good half-mile wide,'

flowing past Chengtu, was the principal stream ; but in the

present day that channel is insignificant in comparison to the

one which passes by Ta Hsien, Yung-Chia Chong, and Hsin-

Chin Hsien. Of course, these channels are stopped up or opened

as occasion requires. As a general rule, they follow such

contour lines as will allow gravitation to conduct the water to

levels as high as is possible, and when it is desired to raise it

higher than it will naturally flow, chain-pumps and enormous

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