All these pieces of paper are [issued with as much solemnity
and authority as if they were of pure gold or silver; and on every piece a
variety of officials, whose duty it is, have to write their names, and to
put their seals. And when all is prepared duly, the chief officer deputed
by the Kaan smears the Seal entrusted to him with vermilion, and impresses
it on the paper, so that the form of the Seal remains printed upon it in
red; the Money is then authentic. Any one forging it would be punished
with death.] And the Kaan causes every year to be made such a vast
quantity of this money, which costs him nothing, that it must equal in
amount all the treasure in the world.
With these pieces of paper, made as I have described, he causes all
payments on his own account to be made; and he makes them to pass current
universally over all his kingdoms and provinces and territories, and
whithersoever his power and sovereignty extends. And nobody, however
important he may think himself, dares to refuse them on pain of death. And
indeed everybody takes them readily, for wheresoever a person may go
throughout the Great Kaan's dominions he shall find these pieces of paper
current, and shall be able to transact all sales and purchases of goods by
means of them just as well as if they were coins of pure gold. And all the
while they are so light that ten bezants' worth does not weigh one golden
bezant.
Furthermore all merchants arriving from India or other countries, and
bringing with them gold or silver or gems and pearls, are prohibited from
selling to any one but the Emperor. He has twelve experts chosen for this
business, men of shrewdness and experience in such affairs; these appraise
the articles, and the Emperor then pays a liberal price for them in those
pieces of paper. The merchants accept his price readily, for in the first
place they would not get so good an one from anybody else, and secondly
they are paid without any delay. And with this paper-money they can buy
what they like anywhere over the Empire, whilst it is also vastly lighter
to carry about on their journeys. And it is a truth that the merchants
will several times in the year bring wares to the amount of 400,000
bezants, and the Grand Sire pays for all in that paper. So he buys such a
quantity of those precious things every year that his treasure is endless,
whilst all the time the money he pays away costs him nothing at all.
Moreover, several times in the year proclamation is made through the city
that any one who may have gold or silver or gems or pearls, by taking them
to the Mint shall get a handsome price for them. And the owners are glad
to do this, because they would find no other purchaser give so large a
price. Thus the quantity they bring in is marvellous, though these who do
not choose to do so may let it alone. Still, in this way, nearly all the
valuables in the country come into the Kaan's possession.
When any of those pieces of paper are spoilt - not that they are so very
flimsy neither - the owner carries them to the Mint, and by paying three
per cent, on the value he gets new pieces in exchange. And if any Baron,
or any one else soever, hath need of gold or silver or gems or pearls, in
order to make plate, or girdles, or the like, he goes to the Mint and buys
as much as he list, paying in this paper-money.[NOTE 1]
Now you have heard the ways and means whereby the Great Kaan may have, and
in fact has, more treasure than all the Kings in the World; and you know
all about it and the reason why. And now I will tell you of the great
Dignitaries which act in this city on behalf of the Emperor.
NOTE 1. - It is surprising to find that, nearly two centuries ago,
Magaillans, a missionary who had lived many years in China, and was
presumably a Chinese scholar, should have utterly denied the truth of
Polo's statements about the paper-currency of China. Yet the fact even
then did not rest on Polo's statement only. The same thing had been
alleged in the printed works of Rubruquis, Roger Bacon, Hayton, Friar
Odoric, the Archbishop of Soltania, and Josaphat Barbaro, to say nothing
of other European authorities that remained in manuscript, or of the
numerous Oriental records of the same circumstance.
The issue of paper-money in China is at least as old as the beginning of
the 9th century. In 1160 the system had gone to such excess that
government paper equivalent in nominal value to 43,600,000 ounces of
silver had been issued in six years, and there were local notes besides;
so that the Empire was flooded with rapidly depreciating paper.
The Kin or "Golden" Dynasty of Northern Invaders who immediately
preceded the Mongols took to paper, in spite of their title, as kindly as
the native sovereigns. Their notes had a course of seven years, after
which new notes were issued to the holders, with a deduction of 15 per
cent.
The Mongols commenced their issues of paper-money in 1236, long before
they had transferred the seat of their government to China. Kublai made
such an issue in the first year of his reign (1260), and continued to
issue notes copiously till the end.
