Naughin[L3] Is A Province To The West[14] Of Tangui, One Of The Greatest And Noblest In All Mangi, And A Place Of Vast Trade, Having Abundance Of Beasts And Fowls, Wild And Tame, And Plenty Of Corn.

The inhabitants are idolaters, and manufacture, stuffs of silk and gold, using only paper money.

This country produces large revenues to the khan, especially in the customs which he receives from trade.

Sian-Fu is a large and noble city in the province of Mangi, having twelve great and rich cities under its jurisdiction. This city is so strong that it was three years besieged by the army of the Tartars, and could not be vanquished at the time when the rest of the kingdom of Mangi was subdued. It was so environed with lakes and rivers, that ships came continually with plenty of provisions and it was only accessible from the north. The long resistance of this city gave much dissatisfaction to the khan; which coming to the knowledge of Nicolo and Maffei Polo, then at his court, they offered their services to construct certain engines, after the manner of those used in Europe, capable of throwing stones of three hundred weight, to kill the men, and ruin the houses in the besieged city. The khan assigned them carpenters, who were Nestorian Christians, to work under their direction, and they made three of these engines, which were tried before the khan and approved of. These were accordingly sent by shipping to the army before Sian-fu, and being planted against the city, cast great stones into it, by which some of the houses were beaten down and destroyed. The inhabitants were very much astonished and terrified by the effect of these machines, and surrendered themselves to the authority and dominion of the khan, on the same conditions with the rest of Mangi; and by this service, the Venetian brethren acquired great reputation and favour.

From this city of Sian-fu, to another called Sin-gui, it is accounted fifteen miles to the south-east. This city, though not very large, has a prodigious number of ships, as it is situate on the greatest river in the world, called Quiam [l5], being in some places ten, in others eight, and in others six miles broad. But its length extends to a distance of above an hundred days journey from its source to the sea, receiving numberless navigable rivers in its course, from various and distant regions, by which means incredible quantities of merchandize are transported upon this river. There are about two hundred cities which participate in the advantages of this river, which runs through, or past, the boundaries of sixteen provinces. The greatest commodity on this river is salt, with which all the provinces and cities which have communication with its water are supplied. I, Marco, once saw at Singui five thousand vessels, yet some other cities on the river have a greater number. All these ships are covered, having but one mast and one sail, and usually carry 4000 Venetian Canthari and upwards, some as far as 12,000.

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