But the Great Kaan conquered the kingdom of these three
Kings, and stripped them of their inheritance.[NOTE 1]
Through the midst of this great city runs a large river, in which they
catch a great quantity of fish. It is a good half mile wide, and very deep
withal, and so long that it reaches all the way to the Ocean Sea, - a very
long way, equal to 80 or 100 days' journey. And the name of the River is
KIAN-SUY. The multitude of vessels that navigate this river is so vast,
that no one who should read or hear the tale would believe it. The
quantities of merchandize also which merchants carry up and down this river
are past all belief. In fact, it is so big, that it seems to be a Sea
rather than a River![NOTE 2]
Let us now speak of a great Bridge which crosses this River within the
city. This bridge is of stone; it is seven paces in width and half a mile
in length (the river being that much in width as I told you); and all
along its length on either side there are columns of marble to bear the
roof, for the bridge is roofed over from end to end with timber, and that
all richly painted. And on this bridge there are houses in which a great
deal of trade and industry is carried on. But these houses are all of wood
merely, and they are put up in the morning and taken down in the evening.
Also there stands upon the bridge the Great Kaan's Comercque, that
is to say, his custom-house, where his toll and tax are levied.[NOTE 3]
And I can tell you that the dues taken on this bridge bring to the Lord a
thousand pieces of fine gold every day and more. The people are all
Idolaters.[NOTE 4]
When you leave this city you travel for five days across a country of
plains and valleys, finding plenty of villages and hamlets, and the people
of which live by husbandry. There are numbers of wild beasts, lions, and
bears, and such like.
I should have mentioned that the people of Sindu itself live by
manufactures, for they make fine sendals and other stuffs.[NOTE 5]
After travelling those five days' march, you reach a province called Tebet,
which has been sadly laid waste; we will now say something of it.
NOTE 1. - We are on firm ground again, for SINDAFU is certainly CH'ENG-TU
FU, the capital of Sze-ch'wan. Probably the name used by Polo was
Sindu-fu, as we find Sindu in the G.T. near the end of the chapter.
But the same city is, I observe, called Thindafu by one of the Nepalese
embassies, whose itineraries Mr. Hodgson has given in the J.A.S.B. XXV.
488.
The modern French missions have a bishop in Ch'eng-tu fu, and the city has
been visited of late years by Mr. T.T. Cooper, by Mr. A. Wylie, by Baron
v. Richthofen, [Captain Gill, Mr. Baber, Mr. Hosie, and several other
travellers]. Mr. Wylie has kindly favoured me with the following
note: - "My notice all goes to corroborate Marco Polo. The covered bridge
with the stalls is still there, the only difference being the absence of
the toll-house. I did not see any traces of a tripartite division of the
city, nor did I make any enquiries on the subject during the 3 or 4 days I
spent there, as it was not an object with me at the time to verify Polo's
account. The city is indeed divided, but the division dates more than a
thousand years back. It is something like this, I should say [see
diagram]".[1]
[Illustration:
| - - - - - - |
| |
| - -| | - -| |
| B | | C | A |
|| || |
| |
||
A. The Great City.
B. The Little City.
C. The Imperial City.]
"The Imperial City (Hwang Ching) was the residence of the monarch Lew Pe
(i.e. Liu Pei of p. 32) during the short period of the 'Three Kingdoms'
(3rd century), and some relics of the ancient edifice still remain. I was
much interested in looking over it. It is now occupied by the Public
Examination Hall and its dependencies."
I suspect Marco's story of the Three Kings arose from a misunderstanding
about this historical period of the San-Kwe or Three Kingdoms (A.D.
222-264). And this tripartite division of the city may have been merely
that which we see to exist at present.
[Mr. Baber, leaving Ch'eng-tu, 26th July, 1877, writes (Travels, p. 28):
"We took ship outside the East Gate on a rapid narrow stream, apparently
the city moat, which soon joins the main river, a little below the An-shun
Bridge, an antiquated wooden structure some 90 yards long. This is in all
probability the bridge mentioned by Marco Polo. The too flattering
description he gives of it leads one to suppose that the present handsome
stone bridges of the province were unbuilt at the time of his journey."
Baber is here mistaken.
Captain Gill writes (l.c. II. p. 9): "As Mr. Wylie in recent days had
said that Polo's covered bridge was still in its place, we went one day on
an expedition in search of it. Polo, however, speaks of a bridge full half
a mile long, whilst the longest now is but 90 yards. On our way we passed
over a fine nine-arched stone bridge, called the Chin-Yen-Ch'iao. Near the
covered bridge there is a very pretty view down the river." - H.C.]
Baron Richthofen observes that Ch'eng-tu is among the largest of Chinese
cities, and is of all the finest and most refined.
