When you have gone 15 miles from the city of Unken, you
come to this noble city which is the capital of the kingdom. So we will
now tell you what we know of it.
NOTE 1. - The vague description does not suggest the root turmeric with
which Marsden and Pauthier identify this "fruit like saffron." It is
probably one of the species of Gardenia, the fruits of which are used by
the Chinese for their colouring properties. Their splendid yellow colour
"is due to a body named crocine which appears to be identical with the
polychroite of saffron." (Hanbury's Notes on Chinese Mat. Medica, pp.
21-22.) For this identification, I am indebted to Dr. Flueckiger of Bern.
["Colonel Yule concludes that the fruit of a Gardenia, which yields a
yellow colour, is meant. But Polo's vague description might just as well
agree with the Bastard Saffron, Carthamus tinctorius, a plant introduced
into China from Western Asia in the 2nd century B.C., and since then much
cultivated in that country." (Bretschneider, Hist. of Bot. Disc. I. p.
4.) - H.C.]
[Illustration: Scene in the Bohea Mountains, on Polo's route between
Kiang-si and Fo-kien (From Fortune.)
"Adonc entre l'en en roiaume de Fugin, et ici comance.
