II. 55) Are Rendered "Quello Guazzabuglio Di Nazioni," In
Which Case We Come Very Close To The Meaning Assigned To Guasmul.
The
Italians are somewhat behind in matters of etymology, and I can get no
light from them on the history of this word.
(See Buchon, Chroniques
Etrangeres, p. xv.; Ducange, Gloss. Graecitatis, and his note on
Joinville, in Bohn's Chron. of the Crusades, 466.)
NOTE 5. - It has often been cast in Marco's teeth that he makes no mention
of the Great Wall of China, and that is true; whilst the apologies made
for the omission have always seemed to me unsatisfactory. [I find in Sir
G. Staunton's account of Macartney's Embassy (II. p. 185) this most
amusing explanation of the reason why Marco Polo did not mention the wall:
"A copy of Marco Polo's route to China, taken from the Doge's Library at
Venice, is sufficient to decide this question. By this route it appears
that, in fact, that traveller did not pass through Tartary to Pekin, but
that after having followed the usual track of the caravans, as far to the
eastward from Europe as Samarcand and Cashgar, he bent his course to the
south-east across the River Ganges to Bengal (!), and, keeping to the
southward of the Thibet mountains, reached the Chinese province of
Shensee, and through the adjoining province of Shansee to the capital,
without interfering with the line of the Great Wall." - H. C.] We shall see
presently that the Great Wall is spoken of by Marco's contemporaries
Rashiduddin and Abulfeda.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 946 of 1256
Words from 257066 to 257323
of 342071
