Saggio Is Possibly
The Same Word, Or Rather May Have Been Confounded With It, But The Saggio
Was A Recognised Venetian Weight Equal To 1/6 Of An Ounce.
We shall see
hereafter that Polo appears to use it to indicate the miskal, a weight
which may be taken at 74 grains Troy.
On that supposition the smallest
tablet specified in the text would weigh 18-1/2 ozs. Troy.
I do not know if any gold Paizah has been discovered, but several of
silver have been found in the Russian dominions; one near the Dnieper, and
two in Eastern Siberia. The first of our plates represents one of these,
which was found in the Minusinsk circle of the Government of Yenisei in
1846, and is now in the Asiatic Museum of the Academy of St. Petersburg,
For the sake of better illustration of our text, I have taken the liberty
to represent the tablet as of gold, instead of silver with only the
inscription gilt. The moulded ring inserted in the orifice, to suspend the
plate by, is of iron. On the reverse side the ring bears some Chinese
characters engraved, which are interpreted as meaning "Publication No.
42." The inscription on the plate itself is in the Mongol language and
Baspa character (supra, Prologue, note 1, ch. xv.), and its purport is a
remarkable testimony to the exactness of Marco's account, and almost a
proof of his knowledge of the language and character in which the
inscriptions were engraved.
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