It is in some places ten miles wide, in
others eight, in others six, and it is more than 100 days' journey in
length from one end to the other. This it is that brings so much trade to
the city we are speaking of; for on the waters of that river merchandize
is perpetually coming and going, from and to the various parts of the
world, enriching the city, and bringing a great revenue to the Great Kaan.
And I assure you this river flows so far and traverses so many countries
and cities that in good sooth there pass and repass on its waters a great
number of vessels, and more wealth and merchandize than on all the rivers
and all the seas of Christendom put together! It seems indeed more like a
Sea than a River.[NOTE 2] Messer Marco Polo said that he once beheld at
that city 15,000 vessels at one time. And you may judge, if this city, of
no great size, has such a number, how many must there be altogether,
considering that on the banks of this river there are more than sixteen
provinces and more than 200 great cities, besides towns and villages, all
possessing vessels?
Messer Marco Polo aforesaid tells us that he heard from the officer
employed to collect the Great Kaan's duties on this river that there
passed up-stream 200,000 vessels in the year, without counting those that
passed down! [Indeed as it has a course of such great length, and receives
so many other navigable rivers, it is no wonder that the merchandize which
is borne on it is of vast amount and value. And the article in largest
quantity of all is salt, which is carried by this river and its branches
to all the cities on their banks, and thence to the other cities in the
interior.[NOTE 3]]
The vessels which ply on this river are decked. They have but one mast,
but they are of great burthen, for I can assure you they carry (reckoning
by our weight) from 4000 up to 12,000 cantars each.[NOTE 4]
Now we will quit this matter and I will tell you of another city called
CAIJU. But first I must mention a point I had forgotten. You must know
that the vessels on this river, in going up-stream have to be tracked, for
the current is so strong that they could not make head in any other
manner. Now the tow-line, which is some 300 paces in length, is made of
nothing but cane. 'Tis in this way: they have those great canes of which I
told you before that they are some fifteen paces in length; these they
take and split from end to end [into many slender strips], and then they
twist these strips together so as to make a rope of any length they
please. And the ropes so made are stronger than if they were made of
hemp.[NOTE 5]
[There are at many places on this river hills and rocky eminences on which
the idol-monasteries and other edifices are built; and you find on its
shores a constant succession of villages and inhabited places.[NOTE 6]]
NOTE 1. - The traveller's diversion from his direct course - sceloc
or south-east, as he regards it - towards Fo-kien, in order to notice
Ngan-king (as we have supposed) and Siang-yang, has sadly thrown out both
the old translators and transcribers, and the modern commentators. Though
the G. Text has here "quant l'en se part de la cite de Angui," I cannot
doubt that Iangui (Yanju) is the reading intended, and that Polo here
comes back to the main line of his journey.
[Illustration: 'Sono sopiaquesto frumern molti luoghi, colline e
monticelli sassosi, sopia quali sono edificati monasteir d'Edoli, e altre
stanze...']
I conceive Sinju to be the city which was then called CHEN-CHAU, but now
I-CHING HIEN,[1] and which stands on the Kiang as near as may be 15 miles
from Yang-chau. It is indeed south-west instead of south-east, but those
who have noted the style of Polo's orientation will not attach much
importance to this. I-ching hien is still the great port of the Yang-chau
salt manufacture, for export by the Kiang and its branches to the interior
provinces. It communicates with the Grand Canal by two branch canals.
Admiral Collinson, in 1842, remarked the great numbers of vessels lying in
the creek off I-ching. (See note 1 to ch. lxviii. above; and J.R.G.S.
XVII. 139.)
["We anchored at a place near the town of Y-ching-hien, distinguished by
a pagoda. The most remarkable objects that struck us here were some
enormously large salt-junks of a very singular shape, approaching to a
crescent, with sterns at least thirty feet above the water, and bows that
were two-thirds of that height. They had 'bright sides', that is, were
varnished over the natural wood without painting, a very common style in
China." (Davis, Sketches, II. p. 13.) - H.C.]
NOTE 2. - The river is, of course, the Great Kiang or Yang-tzu Kiang
(already spoken of in ch. xliv. as the Kiansui), which Polo was
justified in calling the greatest river in the world, whilst the New World
was yet hidden. The breadth seems to be a good deal exaggerated, the
length not at all. His expressions about it were perhaps accompanied by a
mental reference to the term Dalai, "The Sea," which the Mongols appear
to have given the river. (See Fr. Odoric, p. 121.) The Chinese have a
popular saying, "Hai vu ping, Kiang vu ti," "Boundless is the Ocean,
bottomless the Kiang!"
NOTE 3.