In a straight line from north to south, the whole way through crowded
blocks of houses, and without encountering a spot that is not full of
dwellings and full of people; whilst from east to west you can do very
nearly the same thing." (Atlas Sinensis, p. 99.)
And so we quit what Mr. Moule appropriately calls "Marco's famous rhapsody
of the Manzi capital"; perhaps the most striking section of the whole
book, as manifestly the subject was that which had made the strongest
impression on the narrator.
[1] Fanfur, in Ramusio.
[2] See the mention of the I-ning Fang at Si-ngan fu, supra,
p. 28. Mr. Wylie writes that in a work on the latter city, published
during the Yuen time, of which he has met with a reprint, there are
figures to illustrate the division of the city into Fang, a
word "which appears to indicate a certain space of ground, not an open
square ... but a block of buildings crossed by streets, and at the end
of each street an open gateway." In one of the figures a first
reference indicates "the market place," a second "the official
establishment," a third "the office for regulating weights." These
indications seem to explain Polo's squares. (See Note 3, above.)
[3] Foreigner in Far Cathay, pp.
