Marco's description of the lake of
Yun-Nan may be perfectly well applied to the Lake of Ta-li.... The fish
were particularly commended to our notice, though we were told that there
were no oysters in this lake, as there are said to be in that of Yun-Nan;
if the latter statement be true, it would illustrate Polo's account of
another lake somewhere in these regions in which are found pearls (which
are white but not round)." - H.C.]
Ta-li fu was recently the capital of Sultan Suleiman [Tu Wen-siu]. It was
reached by Lieutenant Garnier in a daring detour by the north of Yun-nan,
but his party were obliged to leave in haste on the second day after their
arrival. The city was captured by the Imperial officers in 1873, when a
horrid massacre of the Mussulmans took place [19th January]. The Sultan
took poison, but his head was cut off and sent to Peking. Momein fell soon
after [10th June], and the Panthe kingdom is ended.
We see that Polo says the King ruling for Kublai at this city was a son of
the Kaan, called COGACHIN, whilst he told us in the last chapter that the
King reigning at Yachi was also a son of the Kaan, called ESSENTIMUR. It
is probably a mere lapsus or error of dictation calling the latter a son
of the Kaan, for in ch.
