(Gaubil, 166, 167,
170; Carpini, 696; Erdmann, 262; Quat. Rashid. 357.)
[1] I must observe here that the learned Professor Bruun has raised doubts
whether these Alans of Marignolli's could be Alans of the Caucasus, and
if they were not rather Ohlans, i.e. Mongol Princes and nobles. There
are difficulties certainly about Marignolli's Alans; but obvious
difficulties also in this explanation.
CHAPTER LXXV.
OF THE NOBLE CITY OF SUJU.
Suju is a very great and noble city. The people are Idolaters, subjects of
the Great Kaan, and have paper-money. They possess silk in great
quantities, from which they make gold brocade and other stuffs, and they
live by their manufactures and trade.[NOTE 1]
The city is passing great, and has a circuit of some 60 miles; it hath
merchants of great wealth and an incalculable number of people. Indeed, if
the men of this city and of the rest of Manzi had but the spirit of
soldiers they would conquer the world; but they are no soldiers at all,
only accomplished traders and most skilful craftsmen. There are also in
this city many philosophers and leeches, diligent students of nature.
And you must know that in this city there are 6,000 bridges, all of stone,
and so lofty that a galley, or even two galleys at once, could pass
underneath one of them.[NOTE 2]
In the mountains belonging to this city, rhubarb and ginger grow in great
abundance; insomuch that you may get some 40 pounds of excellent fresh
ginger for a Venice groat.[NOTE 3] And the city has sixteen other great
trading cities under its rule. The name of the city, Suju, signifies in
our tongue, "Earth," and that of another near it, of which we shall speak
presently, called Kinsay, signifies "Heaven;" and these names are given
because of the great splendour of the two cities.[NOTE 4]
Now let us quit Suju, and go on to another which is called VUJU, one day's
journey distant; it is a great and fine city, rife with trade and
manufactures. But as there is nothing more to say of it we shall go on and
I will tell you of another great and noble city called VUGHIN. The people
are Idolaters, &c., and possess much silk and other merchandize, and they
are expert traders and craftsmen. Let us now quit Vughin and tell you of
another city called CHANGAN, a great and rich place. The people are
Idolaters, &c., and they live by trade and manufactures. They make great
quantities of sendal of different kinds, and they have much game in the
neighbourhood. There is however nothing more to say about the place, so we
shall now proceed.[NOTE 5]
NOTE 1. - SUJU is of course the celebrated city of SU-CHAU in Kiang-nan -
before the rebellion brought ruin on it, the Paris of China. "Everything
remarkable was alleged to come from it; fine pictures, fine carved-work,
fine silks, and fine ladies!" (Fortune, I. 186.) When the Emperor
K'ang-hi visited Su-chau, the citizens laid the streets with carpets and
silk stuffs, but the Emperor dismounted and made his train do the like.
(Davis, I. 186.)
[Su-chau is situated 80 miles west of Shang-hai, 12 miles east of the
Great Lake, and 40 miles south of the Kiang, in the plain between this
river and Hang-chau Bay. It was the capital of the old kingdom of Wu which
was independent from the 12th to the 4th centuries (B.C.) inclusive; it
was founded by Wu Tzu-su, prime minister of King Hoh Lue (514-496 B.C.),
who removed the capital of Wu from Mei-li (near the modern Ch'ang-chau) to
the new site now occupied by the city of Su-chau. "Suchau is built in the
form of a rectangle, and is about three and a half miles from North to
South, by two and a half in breadth, the wall being twelve or thirteen
miles in length. There are six gates." (Rev. H.C. Du Bose, Chin.
Rec., xix. p. 205.) It has greatly recovered since the T'ai-P'ing
rebellion, and its recapture by General (then Major) Gordon on the 27th
November 1863; Su-chau has been declared open to foreign trade on the 26th
September 1896, under the provisions of the Japanese Treaty of 1895.
"The great trade of Soochow is silk. In the silk stores are found about
100 varieties of satin, and 200 kinds of silks and gauzes.... The weavers
are divided into two guilds, the Nankin and Suchau, and have together
about 7000 looms. Thousands of men and women are engaged in reeling the
thread." (Rev. H.C. Du Bose, Chin. Rec., xix. pp. 275-276.) - H.C.]
[Illustration: CITY OF SUCHAU
Reduced to 1/10 the scale from a Rubbing of a PLAN incised on MARBLE
AD MCCXLVII, & preserved in the GREAT TEMPLE of CONFUCIUS at SUCHAU]
NOTE 2. - I believe we must not bring Marco to book for the literal
accuracy of his statements as to the bridges; but all travellers have
noticed the number and elegance of the bridges of cut stone in this part
of China; see, for instance, Van Braam, II. 107, 119-120, 124, 126;
and Deguignes I. 47, who gives a particular account of the arches.
These are said to be often 50 or 60 feet in span.
["Within the city there are, generally speaking, six canals from North to
South, and six canals from East to West, intersecting one another at from
a quarter to half a mile. There are a hundred and fifty or two hundred
bridges at intervals of two or three hundred yards; some of these with
arches, others with stone slabs thrown across, many of which are twenty
feet in length.
