(1.) That Fu-chau was not the capital of Fo-kien ("chief dou reigne").
(2.) That the River of Fu-chau does not flow through the middle of the
city ("por le mi de cest cite"), nor even under the walls.
(3.) That Fu-chau was not frequented by foreign trade till centuries
afterwards.
The first objection will be more conveniently answered under next chapter.
As regards the second, the fact urged is true. But even now a straggling
street extends to the river, ending in a large suburb on its banks, and a
famous bridge there crosses the river to the south side where now the
foreign settlements are. There may have been suburbs on that side to
justify the por le mi, or these words may have been a slip; for the
Traveller begins the next chapter - "When you quit Fuju (to go south) you
cross the river."[3]
Touching the question of foreign commerce, I do not see that Mr.
Phillips's negative evidence would be sufficient to establish his point.
But, in fact, the words of the Geog. Text (i.e. the original dictation),
which we have followed, do not (as I now see) necessarily involve any
foreign trade at Fu-chau, the impression of which has been derived mainly
from Ramusio's text. They appear to imply no more than that, through the
vicinity of Zayton, there was a great influx of Indian wares, which were
brought on from the great port by vessels (it may be local junks)
ascending the river Min.[4]
[Illustration: Scene on the Min River, below Fu-chau. (From Fortune.)
"E sachies che por le mi de ceste cite vait un grant fluv qe bien est
large un mil, et en ceste cite se font maintes nes lesquelz najent por cel
flum."]
[Mr. Phillips gives the following itinerary after Unguen: Kangiu =
Chinchew = Chuan-chiu or Ts'wan-chiu. He writes (T. Pao, I. p. 227):
"When you leave the city of Chinchew for Changchau, which lies in a
south-westerly, not a south-easterly direction, you cross the river by a
handsome bridge, and travelling for five days by way of Tung-an, locally
Tang-oa, you arrive at Changchau. Along this route in many parts, more
especially in that part lying between Tang-oa and Changchau, very large
camphor-trees are met with. I have frequently travelled over this road. The
road from Fuchau to Chinchew, which also takes five days to travel over, is
bleak and barren, lying chiefly along the sea-coast, and in winter a most
uncomfortable journey. But few trees are met with; a banyan here and there,
but no camphor-trees along this route; but there is one extremely
interesting feature on it that would strike the most unobservant traveller,
viz.; the Loyang bridge, one of the wonders of China." Had Polo travelled
by this route, he would certainly have mentioned it. Pauthier remarks upon
Polo's silence in this matter: "It is surprising," says he, "that Marco
Polo makes no mention of it." - H.C.]
NOTE 2. - The G.T. reads Caiton, presumably for Caiton or Zayton. In
Pauthier's text, in the following chapter, the name of Zayton is written
Caiton and Cayton, and the name of that port appears in the same form
in the Letter of its Bishop, Andrew of Perugia, quoted in note 2, ch.
lxxxii. Pauthier, however, in this place reads Kayteu which he
develops into a port at the mouth of the River Min.[5]
NOTE 3. - The Min, the River of Fu-chau, "varies much in width and depth.
Near its mouth, and at some other parts, it is not less than a mile in
width, elsewhere deep and rapid." It is navigable for ships of large size
20 miles from the mouth, and for good-sized junks thence to the great
bridge. The scenery is very fine, and is compared to that of the Hudson.
(Fortune, I. 281; Chin. Repos. XVI. 483.)
[1] Dr. Medhurst calls the proper name of the city, as distinct from the
Fu, Chinkang (Dict. of the Hok-keen dialect). Dr. Douglas has
suggested Chinkang, and T'swan-kok, i.e. "Kingdom of T'swan"
(chau), as possible explanations of Chonka.
[2] Mr. Phillips's views were issued first in the Chinese Recorder
(published by Missionaries at Fu-Chau) in 1870, and afterwards sent to
the R. Geo. Soc., in whose Journal for 1874 they appeared, with
remarks in reply more detailed than I can introduce here. Dr.
Douglas's notes were received after this sheet was in proof, and it
will be seen that they modify to a certain extent my views about
Zayton, though not about Fu-chau. His notes, which do more justice to
the question than Mr. Phillips's, should find a place with the other
papers in the Geog. Society's Journal.
[3] There is a capital lithograph of Fu-chau in Fortune's Three Years'
Wanderings (1847), in which the city shows as on a river, and
Fortune always speaks of it; e.g. (p. 369): "The river runs
through the suburbs." I do not know what is the worth of the old
engravings in Montanus. A view of Fu-chau in one of these (reproduced
in Astley, iv. 33) shows a broad creek from the river
penetrating to the heart of the city.
[4] The words of the G.T. are these: "Il hi se fait grant mercandies
de perles e d'autres pieres presiose, e ce est por ce que les nes de
Yndie hi vienent maintes con maint merchaant qe usent en les ysles de
L'ndie, et encore voz di que ceste ville est pres au port de Caiton
en la mer Osiani; et illuec vienent maintes nes de Indie con maintes
mercandies, e puis de cest part vienent les nes por le grant flum qe
je voz ai dit desoure jusque a la cite de Fugui, et en ceste mainere
hi vienent chieres cousse de Indie."
[5] It is odd enough that Martini (though M. Pauthier apparently was not
aware of it) does show a fort called Haiteu at the mouth of the
Min; but I believe this to be merely an accidental coincidence.
