- Semedo And Martini, In The 17th Century, Give A Very Similar
Account Of The Lake Si-Hu, The Parties Of Pleasure Frequenting It, And
Their Gay Barges.
(Semedo, pp.
20-21; Mart. p. 9.) But here is a
Chinese picture of the very thing described by Marco, under the Sung
Dynasty: "When Yaou Shunming was Prefect of Hangchow, there was an old
woman, who said she was formerly a singing-girl, and in the service of
Tung-p'o Seen-sheng.[4] She related that her master, whenever he found a
leisure day in spring, would invite friends to take their pleasure on the
lake. They used to take an early meal on some agreeable spot, and, the
repast over, a chief was chosen for the company of each barge, who called
a number of dancing-girls to follow them to any place they chose. As the
day waned a gong sounded to assemble all once more at 'Lake Prospect
Chambers,' or at the 'Bamboo Pavilion,' or some place of the kind, where
they amused themselves to the top of their bent, and then, at the first or
second drum, before the evening market dispersed, returned home by
candle-light. In the city, gentlemen and ladies assembled in crowds, lining
the way to see the return of the thousand Knights. It must have been a
brave spectacle of that time." (Moule, from the Si-hu-Chi, or
"Topography of the West Lake.") It is evident, from what Mr. Moule says,
that this book abounds in interesting illustration of these two chapters of
Polo.
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