"The journey through a
plenteous region, passing a succession of dwellings and charming gardens;
the epithets 'great, rich, and fine city'; the 'trade, manufactures, and
handicrafts,' and the 'necessaries in great plenty and cheapness,' appear
to apply rather to the populous plain and the large city of ancient fame,
than to the small Fu-yang hien ... shut in by a spur from the hills, which
would hardly have allowed it in former days to have been a great city."
(Note by Baron R.) The after route, as elucidated by the same authority,
points with even more force to Shao-hing.
[Mr. G. Phillips has made a special study of the route from Kinsay to
Zaytun in the T'oung Pao, I. p. 218 seq. (The Identity of Marco
Polo's Zaitun with Changchau). He says (p. 222): "Leaving Hangchau by
boat for Fuhkien, the first place of importance is Fuyang, at 100 li
from Hangchau. This name does not in any way resemble Polo's Ta Pin Zu,
but I think it can be no other." Mr. Phillips writes (pp. 221-222) that by
the route he describes, he "intends to follow the highway which has been
used by travellers for centuries, and the greater part of which is by
water." He adds:
