China Br.R.A.S.Soc.

XXXIII.

1899-1900, pp. 22-36. - H.C.]

[Above Kwan Hsien, near Ch'eng-tu, there is a fine suspension bridge, mentioned by Marcel Monnier (Itineraires, p. 43), from whom I borrow the cut reproduced on this page. This bridge is also spoken of by Captain Gill (l.c. I. p. 335): "Six ropes, one above the other, are stretched very tightly, and connected by vertical battens of wood laced in and out. Another similar set of ropes is at the other side of the roadway, which is laid across these, and follows the curve of the ropes. There are three or four spans with stone piers." - H.C.]

[Illustration: Bridge near Kwan-hsien (Ch'eng-tu).]

NOTE 3. - (G.T.) "Hi est le couiereque dou Grant Sire, ce est cilz qe recevent la rente dou Seignor." Pauthier has couvert. Both are, I doubt not, misreadings or misunderstandings of comereque or comerc. This word, founded on the Latin commercium, was widely spread over the East with the meaning of customs-duty or custom-house. In Low Greek it appeared as [Greek: kommerkion] and [Greek: koumerkion], now [Greek: komerki]; in Arabic and Turkish as [Arabic] and [Turkish] (kumruk and gyumruk), still in use; in Romance dialects as comerchio, comerho, comergio, etc.

NOTE 4. - The word in Pauthier's text which I have rendered pieces of gold is pois, probably equivalent to saggi or miskals.[2] The G.T. has "is well worth 1000 bezants of gold," no doubt meaning daily, though not saying so. Ramusio has "100 bezants daily." The term Bezant may be taken as synonymous with Dinar, and the statement in the text would make the daily receipt of custom upwards of 500l., that in Ramusio upwards of 50l. only.

NOTE 5. - I have recast this passage, which has got muddled, probably in the original dictation, for it runs in the G. text: "Et de ceste cite se part l'en et chevauche cinq jornee por plain et por valee, et treve-l'en castiaus et casaus assez. Les homes vivent dou profit qu'il traient de la terre. Il hi a bestes sauvajes assez, lions et orses et autres bestes. Il vivent d'ars: car il hi se laborent des biaus sendal et autres dras. Il sunt de Sindu meisme." I take it that in speaking of Ch'eng-tu fu, Marco has forgotten to fill up his usual formula as to the occupation of the inhabitants; he is reminded of this when he speaks of the occupation of the peasantry on the way to Tibet, and reverts to the citizens in the words which I have quoted in Italics. We see here Sindu applied to the city, suggesting Sindu-fu for the reading at the beginning of the chapter.

Silk is a large item in the produce and trade of Sze-ch'wan; and through extensive quarters of Ch'eng-tu fu, in every house, the spinning, dying, weaving, and embroidering of silk give occupation to the people. And though a good deal is exported, much is consumed in the province, for the people are very much given to costly apparel. Thus silk goods are very conspicuous in the shops of the capital. (Richthofen.)

[1] My lamented friend Lieutenant F. Garnier had kindly undertaken to send me a plan of Ch'eng-tu fu from the place itself, but, as is well known, he fell on a daring enterprise elsewhere. [We hope that the plan from a Chinese map we give from M. Marcel Monnier's Itineraires will replace the promised one.

It will be seen that Ch'eng-tu is divided into three cities: the Great City containing both the Imperial and Tartar cities. - H.C.

[2] I find the same expression applied to the miskal or dinar in a MS. letter written by Giovanni dell' Affaitado, Venetian Agent at Lisbon in 1503, communicated to me by Signor Berchet. The King of Melinda was to pay to Portugal a tribute of 1500 pesi d'oro, "che un peso val un ducato e un quarto."

CHAPTER XLV.

CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF TEBET.

After those five days' march that I spoke of, you enter a province which has been sorely ravaged; and this was done in the wars of Mongu Kaan. There are indeed towns and villages and hamlets, but all harried and destroyed.[NOTE 1]

In this region you find quantities of canes, full three palms in girth and fifteen paces in length, with some three palms' interval between the joints. And let me tell you that merchants and other travellers through that country are wont at nightfall to gather these canes and make fires of them; for as they burn they make such loud reports that the lions and bears and other wild beasts are greatly frightened, and make off as fast as possible; in fact nothing will induce them to come nigh a fire of that sort. So you see the travellers make those fires to protect themselves and their cattle from the wild beasts which have so greatly multiplied since the devastation of the country. And 'tis this great multiplication of the wild beasts that prevents the country from being reoccupied. In fact but for the help of these canes, which make such a noise in burning that the beasts are terrified and kept at a distance, no one would be able even to travel through the land.

I will tell you how it is that the canes make such a noise. The people cut the green canes, of which there are vast numbers, and set fire to a heap of them at once. After they have been awhile burning they burst asunder, and this makes such a loud report that you might hear it ten miles off. In fact, any one unused to this noise, who should hear it unexpectedly, might easily go into a swound or die of fright. But those who are used to it care nothing about it. Hence those who are not used to it stuff their ears well with cotton, and wrap up their heads and faces with all the clothes they can muster; and so they get along until they have become used to the sound.

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