This Chinghu, they disembark and hire coolies and chairs to take them
and their luggage across the Sien-hia pass to Puching in Fuhkien. This
route is described by Fortune in an opposite direction, in his Wanderings
in China, vol. ii. p. 139. I am inclined to think that Polo followed this
route, as the one given by Yule, by way of Shao-hing and Kin-hua by land,
would be unnecessarily tedious for the ladies Polo was escorting, and
there was no necessity to take it; more especially as there was a direct
water route to the point for which they were making. I further incline to
this route, as I can find no city at all fitting in with Yenchau,
Ramusio's Gengiu, along the route given by Yule."
In my paper on the Catalan Map (Paris, 1895) I gave the following
itinerary: Kinsay (Hang-chau), Tanpiju (Shao-hing fu), Vuju (Kin-hwa fu),
Ghiuju (K'iu-chau fu), Chan-shan (Sui-chang hien), Cuju (Ch'u-chau),
Ke-lin-fu (Kien-ning fu), Unken (Hu-kwan), Fuju (Fu-chau), Zayton (Kayten,
Hai-t'au), Zayton (Ts'iuen-chau), Tyunju (Tek-hwa).
Regarding the burning of the dead, Mr. Phillips (T'oung Pao, VI. p. 454)
quotes the following passage from a notice by M. Jaubert.
