20-21; Mart. p. 9.) But here is a
Chinese picture of the very thing described by Marco, under the Sung
Dynasty: "When Yaou Shunming was Prefect of Hangchow, there was an old
woman, who said she was formerly a singing-girl, and in the service of
Tung-p'o Seen-sheng.[4] She related that her master, whenever he found a
leisure day in spring, would invite friends to take their pleasure on the
lake. They used to take an early meal on some agreeable spot, and, the
repast over, a chief was chosen for the company of each barge, who called
a number of dancing-girls to follow them to any place they chose. As the
day waned a gong sounded to assemble all once more at 'Lake Prospect
Chambers,' or at the 'Bamboo Pavilion,' or some place of the kind, where
they amused themselves to the top of their bent, and then, at the first or
second drum, before the evening market dispersed, returned home by
candle-light. In the city, gentlemen and ladies assembled in crowds, lining
the way to see the return of the thousand Knights. It must have been a
brave spectacle of that time." (Moule, from the Si-hu-Chi, or
"Topography of the West Lake.") It is evident, from what Mr. Moule says,
that this book abounds in interesting illustration of these two chapters of
Polo. Barges with paddle-wheels are alluded to.
NOTE 10. - Public carriages are still used in the great cities of the
north, such as Peking. Possibly this is a revival. At one time carriages
appear to have been much more general in China than they were afterwards,
or are now. Semedo says they were abandoned in China just about the time
that they were adopted in Europe, viz. in the 16th century. And this
disuse seems to have been either cause or effect of the neglect of the
roads, of which so high an account is given in old times. (Semedo; N. and
Q. Ch. and Jap. I. 94.)
Deguignes describes the public carriages of Peking, as "shaped like a
palankin, but of a longer form, with a rounded top, lined outside and in
with coarse blue cloth, and provided with black cushions" (I. 372). This
corresponds with our author's description, and with a drawing by Alexander
among his published sketches. The present Peking cab is evidently the same
vehicle, but smaller.
NOTE 11. - The character of the King of Manzi here given corresponds to
that which the Chinese histories assign to the Emperor Tu-Tsong, in whose
time Kublai commenced his enterprise against Southern China, but who died
two years before the fall of the capital. He is described as given up to
wine and women, and indifferent to all public business, which he committed
to unworthy ministers. The following words, quoted by Mr. Moule from the
Hang-Chau Fu-Chi, are like an echo of Marco's: "In those days the
dynasty was holding on to a mere corner of the realm, hardly able to
defend even that; and nevertheless all, high and low, devoted themselves
to dress and ornament, to music and dancing on the lake and amongst the
hills, with no idea of sympathy for the country." A garden called
Tseu-king ("of many prospects") near the Tsing-po Gate, and a monastery
west of the lake, near the Lingin, are mentioned as pleasure haunts of the
Sung Kings.
NOTE 12. - The statement that the palace of Kingsze was occupied by the
Great Kaan's lieutenant seems to be inconsistent with the notice in De
Mailla that Kublai made it over to the Buddhist priests. Perhaps Kublai's
name is a mistake; for one of Mr. Moule's books (Jin-ho-hien-chi) says
that under the last Mongol Emperor five convents were built on the area
of the palace.
Mr. H. Murray argues, from this closing passage especially, that Marco
never could have been the author of the Ramusian interpolations; but with
this I cannot agree. Did this passage stand alone we might doubt if it
were Marco's; but the interpolations must be considered as a whole. Many
of them bear to my mind clear evidence of being his own, and I do not see
that the present one may not be his. The picture conveyed of the ruined
walls and half-obliterated buildings does, it is true, give the impression
of a long interval between their abandonment and the traveller's visit,
whilst the whole interval between the capture of the city and Polo's
departure from China was not more than fifteen or sixteen years. But this
is too vague a basis for theorising.
Mr. Moule has ascertained by maps of the Sung period, and by a variety of
notices in the Topographies, that the palace lay to the south and
south-east of the present city, and included a large part of the fine hills
called Fung-hwang Shan or Phoenix Mount,[5] and other names, whilst its
southern gate opened near the Ts'ien-T'ang River. Its north gate is
supposed to have been the Fung Shan Gate of the present city, and the chief
street thus formed the avenue to the palace.
By the kindness of Messrs. Moule and Wylie, I am able to give a copy of
the Sung Map of the Palace (for origin of which see list of
illustrations). I should note that the orientation is different from that
of the map of the city already given. This map elucidates Polo's account
of the palace in a highly interesting manner.
[Father H. Havret has given in p. 21 of Varietes Sinologiques, No. 19, a
complete study of the inscription of a chwang, nearly similar to the one
given here, which is erected near Ch'eng-tu. - H.C.]
Before quitting KINSAY, the description of which forms the most striking
feature in Polo's account of China, it is worth while to quote other
notices from authors of nearly the same age.
