Saggi of gold, so that the total value
of the fourscore tomans will be five millions and six hundred thousand
saggi of gold, each saggio being worth more than a gold florin or
ducat; in sooth, a vast sum of money! [This province, you see, adjoins the
ocean, on the shores of which are many lagoons or salt marshes, in which
the sea-water dries up during the summer time; and thence they extract
such a quantity of salt as suffices for the supply of five of the kingdoms
of Manzi besides this one.]
Having told you of the revenue from salt, I will now tell you of that
which accrues to the Great Kaan from the duties on merchandize and other
matters.
You must know that in this city and its dependencies they make great
quantities of sugar, as indeed they do in the other eight divisions of
this country; so that I believe the whole of the rest of the world
together does not produce such a quantity, at least, if that be true which
many people have told me; and the sugar alone again produces an enormous
revenue. - However, I will not repeat the duties on every article
separately, but tell you how they go in the lump. Well, all spicery pays
three and a third per cent.
