Makrizi, IV. 118.)
NOTE 6. - "Note is taken at every post," says Amyot, in speaking of the
Chinese practice of last century, "of the time of the courier's arrival,
in order that it may be known at what point delays have occurred."
(Mem. VIII. 185.)
NOTE 7. - The post-system is described almost exactly as in the text by
Friar Odoric and the Archbishop of Soltania, in the generation after Polo,
and very much in the same way by Magaillans in the 17th century. Posts had
existed in China from an old date. They are spoken of by Mas'udi and the
Relations of the 9th century. They were also employed under the ancient
Persian kings; and they were in use in India, at least in the generation
after Polo. The Mongols, too, carried the institution wherever they went.
Polo describes the couriers as changed at short intervals, but more
usually in Asiatic posts the same man rides an enormous distance. The
express courier in Tibet, as described by "the Pandit," rides from Gartokh
to Lhasa, a distance of 800 miles, travelling day and night. The courier's
coat is sealed upon him, so that he dares not take off his clothes till
the seal is officially broken on his arrival at the terminus. These
messengers had faces cracked, eyes bloodshot and sunken, and bodies raw
with vermin.
