All The Rivers Of Fo-Kien, As I Learn From Dr.
Douglas Himself, Are Rapidly Silting Up; And It Is Probable That The River
Of Chinchew Presented, In The 13th And 14th Centuries, A Far More
Impressive Aspect As A Commercial Basin Than It Does Now.
But still it
must have been far below Amoy Harbour in magnitude, depth, and
accessibility.
I have before recognised this, but saw no way to reconcile
the proposed deduction with the positive historical facts already stated,
which absolutely (to my mind) identify the Zayton of Polo and Rashiduddin
with the Chinese city and port of T'swan-chau. Dr. Douglas, however,
points out that the whole northern shore of Amoy Harbour, with the Islands
of Amoy and Quemoy, are within the Fu or Department of T'swan-chau; and
the latter name would, in Chinese parlance, apply equally to the city and
to any part of the department. He cites among other analogous cases the
Treaty Port Neuchwang (in Liao-tong). That city really lies 20 miles up
the Liao River, but the name of Neuchwang is habitually applied by
foreigners to Ying-tzu, which is the actual port. Even now much of the
trade of T'swan-chau merchants is carried on through Amoy, either by junks
touching, or by using the shorter sea-passage to 'An-hai, which was once a
port of great trade, and is only 20 miles from T'swan-chau.[3] With such
a haven as Amoy Harbour close by, it is improbable that Kublai's vast
armaments would have made rendezvous in the comparatively inconvenient
port of T'swan-chau.
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