Cuiju is a province towards the East.[NOTE 1] After leaving Coloman you
travel along a river for 12 days, meeting with a good number of towns and
villages, but nothing worthy of particular mention. After you have
travelled those twelve days along the river you come to a great and noble
city which is called FUNGUL.
The people are Idolaters and subject to the Great Kaan, and live by trade
and handicrafts. You must know they manufacture stuffs of the bark of
certain trees which form very fine summer clothing.[NOTE 2] They are good
soldiers, and have paper-money. For you must understand that henceforward
we are in the countries where the Great Kaan's paper-money is current.
[Illustration: The Koloman after a Chinese drawing
"Coloman est une provence vers levant
El sunt mult belles jens et ne
sunt mie bien blances mes biunz
El sunt bien homes d'armes"]
The country swarms with lions to that degree that no man can venture to
sleep outside his house at night.[NOTE 3] Moreover, when you travel on
that river, and come to a halt at night, unless you keep a good way from
the bank the lions will spring on the boat and snatch one of the crew and
make off with him and devour him. And but for a certain help that the
inhabitants enjoy, no one could venture to travel in that province,
because of the multitude of those lions, and because of their strength and
ferocity.