The merchants pay likewise so high
for freights, that not above a half of their cargoes remains to themselves
for sale, and yet of that moiety they make immense profits. The inhabitants
of Zaitum are idolaters, and much given to pleasure, and in it there are
many artizans employed in embroidery and arras-work[18].
This river is large, wide, and swift, one arm of it reaching to Quinsai,
and the other to Zaitum[19], and at the parting of these branches, the city
of Tringui is situated, where porcelain dishes are made[20]. I was told of
a certain earth which is cast up into conical heaps, and left exposed to
the weather for thirty or forty years without stirring; after which,
refined by time, it is made into dishes, which are painted and baked in
furnaces; and so cheap is this manufacture, that eight of these dishes may
be bought for one Venetian groat[21]. From this province of Concha, the
great Khan derives nearly as great a revenue as he does from Quinsai. In
these two provinces I travelled, but in none of die other provinces of
Mangi; in all of which one language Is used, with considerable variety in
dialect, and but one kind of writing.
[1] There are two Chinese measures called Li; of the greater there are 200
to a degree of latitude, and of the smaller 250. It is possible that
Marco may have mistaken one or other of these measures for miles;
either of which suppositions would reduce the bounds of Quinsai to
some decent moderation, being thirty-four miles for the greater, and
twenty-seven miles for the smaller li, yet a large city on even the
latter substitution. Koan-sing, which may likewise be written Quan-
sing, all Chinese names in alphabetical characters, being quite of
arbitrary orthography, is the only place which can be supposed the
same with Quinsai. But similarity of sounds is a very uncertain guide.
From other circumstances in the text, the modern Kua-hing may have
once been Quinsay. - E.
[2] Calculating by Li, this extent will be reduced to eleven or thirteen
miles. - E.
[3] By the same reduction, these squares will be reduced to half a quarter
of a mile in the sides. - E.
[4] Probably a mistaken translation or transcription for melons, pumpkins,
or gourds. - E.
[5] This amounts to more than one sixth of an ounce daily for a population
of a million, including infants. A thing utterly incredible, and which
must arise from some corruption of the text.
