Walls, many of the
stones having crosses cut on them." Another singular discovery relating to
these missions, is one mentioned by Father VITTORIO RICCI, which would
seem to point distinctly to the remains of the Franciscan church built by
ANDRE DE PEROUSE outside the city of Zaitun: "The heathen of Changchow,"
says RICCI, "found buried in a neighbouring hill called Saysou another
cross of a most beautiful form cut out of a single block of stone, which I
had the pleasure of placing in my church in that city. The heathen were
alike ignorant of the time when it was made and how it came to be buried
there." - H.C.]
Whether the application by foreigners of the term Zayton, may, by some
possible change in trade arrangements in the quarter-century after Polo's
departure from China, have undergone a transfer, is a question which it
would be vain to answer positively without further evidence. But as
regards Polo's Zayton, I continue in the belief that this was T'swan-chau
and its haven, with the admission that this haven may probably have
embraced that great basin called Amoy Harbour, or part of it.[4]
[Besides the two papers I have already mentioned, the late Mr. Phillips
has published, since the last edition of Marco Polo, in the T'oung-Pao,
VI. and VII.: Two Mediaeval Fuh-kien Trading Ports: Chuean-chow and
Chang-chow. He has certainly given many proofs of the importance of
Chang-chau at the time of the Mongol Dynasty, and one might well hesitate
(I know it was also the feeling of Sir Henry Yule at the end of his life)
between this city and T'swan-chau, but the weak point of his controversy is
his theory about Fu-chau. However, Mr. George Phillips, who died in 1896,
gathered much valuable material, of which we have made use; it is only fair
to pay this tribute to the memory of this learned consul. - H.C.]
Martini (circa 1650) describes T'swan-chau as delightfully situated on a
promontory between two branches of the estuary which forms the harbour,
and these so deep that the largest ships could come up to the walls on
either side. A great suburb, Loyang, lay beyond the northern water,
connected with the city by the most celebrated bridge in China.
Collinson's Chart in some points below the town gives only 1-1/4 fathom
for the present depth, but Dr. Douglas tells me he has even now
occasionally seen large junks come close to the city.
Chinchew, though now occasionally visited by missionaries and others, is
not a Treaty port, and we have not a great deal of information about its
modern state.
