The Venice saggio was one-sixth of a Venice ounce. The Venice mark of 8
ounces I find stated to contain 3681 grains troy;[2] hence the saggio =
76 grains. But I imagine the term to be used by Polo here and in other
Oriental computations, to express the Arabic miskal, the real weight of
which, according to Mr. Maskelyne, is 74 grains troy. The miskal of gold
was, as Polo says, something more than a ducat or sequin, indeed, weight
for weight, it was to a ducat nearly as 1.4: 1.
Eight saggi or miskals would be 592 grains troy. The tael is 580, and
the approximation is as near as we can reasonably expect from a
calculation in such terms.
Taking the silver tael at 6s. 7d., the gold tael, or rather the
ting, would be = 3l. 5s. 10d.; the toman = 32,916l. 13s.
4d.; and the whole salt revenue (80 tomans) = 2,633,333l.; the revenue
from other sources (210 tomans) = 6,912,500l.; total revenue from Kinsay
and its province (290 tomans) = 9,545,833l. A sufficiently startling
statement, and quite enough to account for the sobriquet of Marco Milioni.
Pauthier, in reference to this chapter, brings forward a number of
extracts regarding Mongol finance from the official history of that
dynasty. The extracts are extremely interesting in themselves, but I
cannot find in them that confirmation of Marco's accuracy which M.
Pauthier sees.
