"There Is One Church Only [At Kinsay], Belonging To The Nestorian Christians."

It was one of the seven churches built in China by Mar Sarghis, called Ta p'u hing sze (Great Temple of Universal Success), or Yang yi Hu-mu-la, near the Tsien k'iao men.

Cf. Marco Polo, II., p. 177; VISSIERE, Rev. du Monde Musulman, March, 1913, p. 8.

LXXVI., p. 193.

KINSAY.

Chinese Atlas in the Magliabecchian Library.

The Rev. A.C. Moule has devoted a long note to this Atlas in the Journ. R. As. Soc., July, 1919, pp. 393-395. He has come to the conclusion that the Atlas is no more nor less than the Kuang yue t'u, and that it seems that Camse stands neither for Ching-shih, as Yule thought, nor for Hang chau as he, Moule, suggested in 1917, but simply for the province of Kiangsi. (A Note on the Chinese Atlas in the Magliabecchian Library, with reference to Kinsay in Marco Polo.)

Mr. P. von Tanner, Commissioner of Customs at Hang chau, wrote in 1901 in the Decennial Reports, 1892-1901, of the Customs, p. 4: "While Hangchow owes its fame to the lake on the west, it certainly owes its existence towards the south-west to the construction of the sea wall, called by the Chinese by the appropriate name of bore wall. The erection of this sea wall was commenced about the year A.D. 915, by Prince Ts'ien Wu-su; it extends from Hang Chau to Chuan sha, near the opening of the Hwang pu.... The present sea wall, in its length of 180 miles, was built. The wall is a stupendous piece of work, and should take an equal share of fame with the Grand Canal and the Great Wall of China, as its engineering difficulties were certainly infinitely greater.... The fact that Marco Polo does not mention it shows almost conclusively that he never visited Hang Chau, but got his account from a Native poet. He must have taken it, besides, without the proverbial grain of salt, and without eliminating the over-numerous 'thousands' and 'myriads' prompted less by facts than by patriotic enthusiasm and poetical licence."

LXXVI., p. 194 n.

BRIDGES OF KINSAY.

In the heart of Hang-chau, one of the bridges spanning the canal which divides into two parts the walled city from north to south is called Hwei Hwei k'iao (Bridge of the Mohamedans) or Hwei Hwei Sin k'iao (New Bridge of the Mohamedans), while its literary name is Tsi Shan k'iao (Bridge of Accumulated Wealth); it is situated between the Tsien k'iao on the south and the Fung lo k'iao on the north. Near the Tsi Shan k'iao was a mosk, and near the Tsien k'iao, at the time of the Yuen, there existed Eight Pavilions (Pa kien lew) inhabited by wealthy Mussulmans. Mohamedans from Arabia and Turkestan were sent by the Yuen to Hang-chau; they had prominent noses, did not eat pork, and were called So mu chung (Coloured-eye race). VISSIERE, Rev. du Monde Musulman, March, 1913.

LXXVI., p. 199.

KINSAY, KHANFU.

Pelliot proposes to see in Khanfu a transcription of Kwang-fu, an abridgment of Kwang chau fu, prefecture of Kwang chau (Canton). Cf. Bul. Ecole franc Ext. Orient, Jan.-June, 1904, p. 215 n., but I cannot very well accept this theory.

LXXX., pp. 225, 226. "They have also [in Fu Kien] a kind of fruit resembling saffron, and which serves the purpose of saffron just as well."

Dr. Laufer writes to me: "Yule's identification with a species of Gardenia is all right, although this is not peculiar to Fu Kien. Another explanation, however, is possible. In fact, the Chinese speak of a certain variety of saffron peculiar to Fu Kien. The Pen ts'ao kang mu shi i (Ch. 4, p. 14 b) contains the description of a 'native saffron' (t'u hung hwa, in opposition to the 'Tibetan red flower' or genuine saffron) after the Continued Gazetteer of Fu Kien, as follows: 'As regards the native saffron, the largest specimens are seven or eight feet high. The leaves are like those of the p'i-p'a (Eriobotrya japonica), but smaller and without hair. In the autumn it produces a white flower like a grain of maize (Su-mi, Zea mays). It grows in Fu Chou and Nan Ngen Chou (now Yang Kiang in Kwang Tung) in the mountain wilderness. That of Fu Chou makes a fine creeper, resembling the fu-yung (Hibiscus mutabilis), green above and white below, the root being like that of the ko (Pachyrhizus thunbergianus). It is employed in the pharmacopeia, being finely chopped for this purpose and soaked overnight in water in which rice has been scoured; then it is soaked for another night in pure water and pounded: thus it is ready for prescriptions.' This plant, as far as I know, has not yet been identified, but it may well be identical with Polo's saffron of Fu Kien."

LXXX., pp. 226, 229 n.

THE SILKY FOWLS OF MARCO POLO.

Tarradale, Muir of Ord, Ross-shire, May 10, 1915.

In a letter lately received from my cousin Mr. George Udny Yule (St. John's College, Cambridge) he makes a suggestion which seems to me both probable and interesting. As he is at present too busy to follow up the question himself, I have asked permission to publish his suggestion in The Athenaeum, with the hope that some reader skilled in mediaeval French and Italian may be able to throw light on the subject.

Mr. Yule writes as follows: -

"The reference [to these fowls] in 'Marco Polo' (p. 226 of the last edition; not p. 126 as stated in the index) is a puzzle, owing to the statement that they are black all over. A black has, I am told, been recently created, but the common breed is white, as stated in the note and by Friar Odoric.

"It has occurred to me as a possibility that what Marco Polo may have meant to say was that they were black all through, or some such phrase. The flesh of these fowls is deeply pigmented, and looks practically black; it is a feature that is very remarkable, and would certainly strike any one who saw it.

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