Marco Was, No Doubt, Speaking
From Hearsay, Or Rather, From A Recollection Of Hearsay, As It Does Not
Appear That He Possessed Any Notes; But There Is Good Reason For Supposing
That He Had Personally Visited Yung-Ch'ang.
Weary of the interminable
mountain-paths, and encumbered with much baggage - for a magnate of Marco's
court influence could
Never, in the East, have travelled without a
considerable state - impeded, in addition, by a certain quantity of
merchandise, for he was 'discreet and prudent in every way,' he would have
listened longingly to the report of an easy ride of two and a half days
downhill, and would never have forgotten it. That such a route exists I am
well satisfied. Where is it? The stream which drains the Yung-ch'ang plain
communicates with the Salwen by a river called the 'Nan-tien,' not to be
confounded with the 'Nan-ting,' about 45 miles south of that city, a fair
journey of two and a half days. Knowing, as we now do, that it must
descend some 3500 feet in that distance, does it not seem reasonable to
suppose that the valley of this rivulet is the route alluded to? The great
battle on the Yung-ch'ang plain, moreover, was fought only a few years
before Marco's visit, and seeing that the king and his host of elephants
in all probability entered the valley from the south, travellers to Burma
would naturally have quitted it by the same route.
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