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.
