OF THE CITY AND GREAT HAVEN OF ZAYTON.
Now when you quit Fuju and cross the River, you travel for five days
south-east through a fine country, meeting with a constant succession of
flourishing cities, towns, and villages, rich in every product. You travel
by mountains and valleys and plains, and in some places by great forests
in which are many of the trees which give Camphor.[NOTE 1] There is
plenty of game on the road, both of bird and beast. The people are all
traders and craftsmen, subjects of the Great Kaan, and under the
government of Fuju. When you have accomplished those five days' journey
you arrive at the very great and noble city of ZAYTON, which is also
subject to Fuju.
At this city you must know is the Haven of Zayton, frequented by all the
ships of India, which bring thither spicery and all other kinds of costly
wares. It is the port also that is frequented by all the merchants of
Manzi, for hither is imported the most astonishing quantity of goods and
of precious stones and pearls, and from this they are distributed all over
Manzi.[NOTE 2] And I assure you that for one shipload of pepper that goes
to Alexandria or elsewhere, destined for Christendom, there come a hundred
such, aye and more too, to this haven of Zayton; for it is one of the two
greatest havens in the world for commerce.[NOTE 3]
The Great Kaan derives a very large revenue from the duties paid in this
city and haven; for you must know that on all the merchandize imported,
including precious stones and pearls, he levies a duty of ten per cent.,
or in other words takes tithe of everything. Then again the ship's charge
for freight on small wares is 30 per cent., on pepper 44 per cent., and on
lignaloes, sandalwood, and other bulky goods 40 per cent., so that between
freight and the Kaan's duties the merchant has to pay a good half the
value of his investment [though on the other half he makes such a profit
that he is always glad to come back with a new supply of merchandize]. But
you may well believe from what I have said that the Kaan hath a vast
revenue from this city.
There is a great abundance here of all provision for every necessity of
man's life. [It is a charming country, and the people are very quiet, and
fond of an easy life. Many come hither from Upper India to have their
bodies painted with the needle in the way we have elsewhere described,
there being many adepts at this craft in the city.[NOTE 4]]
Let me tell you also that in this province there is a town called TYUNJU,
where they make vessels of porcelain of all sizes, the finest that can be
imagined. They make it nowhere but in that city, and thence it is exported
all over the world. Here it is abundant and very cheap, insomuch that for
a Venice groat you can buy three dishes so fine that you could not imagine
better.[NOTE 5]
I should tell you that in this city (i.e. of Zayton) they have a
peculiar language. [For you must know that throughout all Manzi they
employ one speech and one kind of writing only, but yet there are local
differences of dialect, as you might say of Genoese, Milanese,
Florentines, and Neapolitans, who though they speak different dialects can
understand one another.[NOTE 6]]
And I assure you that the Great Kaan has as large customs and revenues
from this kingdom of Chonka as from Kinsay, aye and more too.[NOTE 7]
We have now spoken of but three out of the nine kingdoms of Manzi, to wit
Yanju and Kinsay and Fuju. We could tell you about the other six, but it
would be too long a business; so we will say no more about them.
And now you have heard all the truth about Cathay and Manzi and many other
countries, as has been set down in this Book; the customs of the people
and the various objects of commerce, the beasts and birds, the gold and
silver and precious stones, and many other matters have been rehearsed to
you. But our Book as yet does not contain nearly all that we purpose to
put therein. For we have still to tell you all about the people of India
and the notable things of that country, which are well worth the
describing, for they are marvellous indeed. What we shall tell is all
true, and without any lies. And we shall set down all the particulars in
writing just as Messer Marco Polo related them. And he well knew the
facts, for he remained so long in India, and enquired so diligently into
the manners and peculiarities of the nations, that I can assure you there
never was a single man before who learned so much and beheld so much as he
did.
NOTE 1. - The Laurus (or Cinnamomum) Camphora, a large timber tree,
grows abundantly in Fo-kien. A description of the manner in which camphor
is produced at a very low cost, by sublimation from the chopped twigs,
etc., will be found in the Lettres Edifiantes, XXIV. 19 seqq.; and
more briefly in Hedde by Rondot, p. 35. Fo-kien alone has been known
to send to Canton in one year 4000 piculs (of 133-1/3 lbs. each), but
the average is 2500 to 3000 (Ib.).
NOTE 2. - When Marco says Zayton is one of the two greatest commercial
ports in the world, I know not if he has another haven in his eye, or is
only using an idiom of the age. For in like manner Friar Odoric calls Java
"the second best of all Islands that exist"; and Kansan (or Shen-si) the
"second best province in the world, and the best populated." But apart
from any such idiom, Ibn Batuta pronounces Zayton to be the greatest haven
in the world.
