"As I Travelled By That River Towards The East, And
Passed Many Towns And Cities, I Came To A Certain City Which Is Called
SUNZUMATU, Which Hath A Greater Plenty Of Silk Than Perhaps Any Place On
Earth, For When Silk Is At The Dearest You Can Still Have 40 Lbs.
For less
than eight groats.
There is in the place likewise great store of
merchandise," etc. When commenting on Odoric, I was inclined to identify
this city with Lin-t'sing chau, but its position with respect to the two
last cities in Polo's itinerary renders this inadmissible; and Murray and
Pauthier seem to be right in identifying it with T'SI-NING CHAU. The affix
Matu (Ma-t'eu, a jetty, a place of river trade) might easily
attach itself to the name of such a great depot of commerce on the canal
as Marco here describes, though no Chinese authority has been produced for
its being so styled. The only objection to the identification with
T'si-ning chau is the difficulty of making 3 days' journey of the short
distance between Yen-chau and that city.
Polo, according to the route supposed, comes first upon the artificial
part of the Great Canal here. The rivers Wen and Sse (from near
Yen-chau) flowing from the side of Shan-tung, and striking the canal line
at right angles near T'si-ning chau, have been thence diverted north-west
and south-east, so as to form the canal; the point of their original
confluence at Nan-wang forming, apparently, the summit level of the canal.
There is a little confusion in Polo's account, owing to his describing the
river as coming from the south, which, according to his orientation,
would be the side towards Hunan.
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