"In the Island of Hai-nan (Hai-lam), again (setting aside the central
aborigines), a language is spoken which differs from Amoy more than that
of Swatow, but is more nearly related to these two than to any other of
the languages of China.
"In Fuh-chau fu we have another language which is largely spoken in the
centre and north of Fuh-kien. This has many points of resemblance to the
Amoy, but is quite unintelligible to the Amoy people, with the exception
of an occasional word or phrase.
"Hing-hwa fu (Heng-hoa), between Fuh-chau and Chinchew, has also a
language of its own, though containing only two Hien districts. It is
alleged to be unintelligible both at Amoy and at Fuhchau.
"To the other languages of China that of Amoy is less closely related; yet
all evidently spring from one common stock. But that common stock is not
the modern Mandarin dialect, but the ancient form of the Chinese language
as spoken some 3000 years ago. The so-called Mandarin, far from being
the original form, is usually more changed than any. It is in the ancient
form of the language (naturally) that the relation of Chinese to other
languages can best be traced; and as the Amoy vernacular, which very
generally retains the final consonants in their original shape, has been
one of the chief sources from which the ancient form of Chinese has been
recovered, the study of that vernacular is of considerable importance."
NOTE 7. - This is inconsistent with his former statements as to the supreme
wealth of Kinsay. But with Marco the subject in hand is always pro
magnifico.
Ramusio says that the Traveller will now "begin to speak of the
territories, cities, and provinces of the Greater, Lesser, and Middle
India, in which regions he was when in the service of the Great Kaan,
being sent thither on divers matters of business. And then again when he
returned to the same quarter with the queen of King Argon, and with his
father and uncle, on his way back to his native land. So he will relate
the strange things that he saw in those Indies, not omitting others which
he heard related by persons of reputation and worthy of credit, and things
that were pointed out to him on the maps of manners of the Indies
aforesaid."
[Illustration: The Kaan's Fleet leaving the Port of Zayton]
[Illustration: Marco Polo's Itineraries No. VI. (Book II, Chapters 67-82)
Journey through Manzi Polo's names thus Kinsay]
[1] Dr. C. Douglas objects to this derivation of Zayton, that the place
was never called Tseut'ung absolutely, but T'seu-t'ung-ching, "city
of prickly T'ung-trees"; and this not as a name, but as a polite
literary epithet, somewhat like "City of Palaces" applied to Calcutta.
