Supra.
(Kingsmill, u.s. p. 53; Chin. Repos. III. 118; Middle Kingdom, I.
95-106; Buerck. p. 483; Cathay, p. cxciii.; J.N.Ch.Br.R.A.S.,
December 1865, p. 3 seqq.; Escayrac de Lauture, Mem. sur la Chine, H.
du Sol, p. 114.)
NOTE 10. - Pauthier's text has: "Chascun Roy fait chascun an le compte de
son royaume aux comptes du grant siege," where I suspect the last word is
again a mistake for sing or scieng. (See supra, Bk. II. ch. xxv.,
note 1.) It is interesting to find Polo applying the term king to the
viceroys who ruled the great provinces; Ibn Batuta uses a corresponding
expression, sultan. It is not easy to make out the nine kingdoms or
great provinces into which Polo considered Manzi to be divided. Perhaps
his nine is after all merely a traditional number, for the "Nine
Provinces" was an ancient synonym for China proper, just as Nau-Khanda,
with like meaning, was an ancient name of India. (See Cathay, p. cxxxix.
note; and Reinaud, Inde, p. 116.) But I observe that on the portage
road between Chang-shan and Yuh-shan (infra, p. 222) there are stone
pillars inscribed "Highway (from Che-kiang) to Eight Provinces," thus
indicating Nine. (Milne, p. 319.)
NOTE 11. - We have in Ramusio: "The men levied in the province of Manzi are
not placed in garrison in their own cities, but sent to others at least 20
days' journey from their homes; and there they serve for four or five
years, after which they are relieved. This applies both to the Cathayans
and to those of Manzi.
"The great bulk of the revenue of the cities, which enters the exchequer
of the Great Kaan, is expended in maintaining these garrisons. And if
perchance any city rebel (as you often find that under a kind of madness
or intoxication they rise and murder their governors), as soon as it is
known, the adjoining cities despatch such large forces from their
garrisons that the rebellion is entirely crushed. For it would be too long
an affair if troops from Cathay had to be waited for, involving perhaps a
delay of two months."
NOTE 12. - "The sons of the dead, wearing hempen clothes as badges of
mourning, kneel down," etc. (Doolittle, p. 138.)
NOTE 13. - These practices have been noticed, supra, Bk. I. ch. xl.
NOTE 14. - This custom has come down to modern times. In Pauthier's Chine
Moderne, we find extracts from the statutes of the reigning dynasty and
the comments thereon, of which a passage runs thus: "To determine the
exact population of each province the governor and the lieutenant-governor
cause certain persons who are nominated as Pao-kia, or Tithing-Men, in
all the places under their jurisdiction, to add up the figures inscribed
on the wooden tickets attached to the doors of houses, and exhibiting the
number of the inmates" (p. 167).
Friar Odoric calls the number of fires 89 tomans; but says 10 or 12
households would unite to have one fire only!
[1] In the first edition, my best authority on this matter was a lecture
on the city by the late Rev. D.D. Green, an American Missionary at
Ningpo, which is printed in the November and December numbers for 1869
of the (Fuchau) Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal. In the
present (second) edition I have on this, and other points embraced in
this and the following chapters, benefited largely by the remarks of
the Right Rev. G.E. Moule of the Ch. Mission. Soc., now residing at
Hang-chau. These are partly contained in a paper (Notes on Colonel
Yule's Edition of Marco Polo's 'Quinsay') read before the North China
Branch of the R.A.Soc. at Shang-hai in December 1873 [published in New
Series, No. IX. of the Journal N.C.B.R.A.Soc.], of which a proof has
been most kindly sent to me by Mr. Moule, and partly in a special
communication, both forwarded through Mr. A. Wylie. [See also Notes
on Hangchow Past and Present, a paper read in 1889 by Bishop G.E.
Moule at a Meeting of the Hangchau Missionary Association, at whose
request it was compiled, and subsequently printed for private
circulation. - H.C.]
[2] The building of the present Luh-ho-ta ("Six Harmonies Tower"), after
repeated destructions by fire, is recorded on a fine tablet of the
Sung period, still standing (Moule).
CHAPTER LXXVII.
[FURTHER PARTICULARS CONCERNING THE GREAT CITY OF KINSAY.[NOTE 1]]
[The position of the city is such that it has on one side a lake of fresh
and exquisitely clear water (already spoken of), and on the other a very
large river. The waters of the latter fill a number of canals of all sizes
which run through the different quarters of the city, carry away all
impurities, and then enter the Lake; whence they issue again and flow to
the Ocean, thus producing a most excellent atmosphere. By means of these
channels, as well as by the streets, you can go all about the city. Both
streets and canals are so wide and spacious that carts on the one and
boats on the other can readily pass to and fro, conveying necessary
supplies to the inhabitants.[NOTE 2]
At the opposite side the city is shut in by a channel, perhaps 40 miles in
length, very wide, and full of water derived from the river aforesaid,
which was made by the ancient kings of the country in order to relieve the
river when flooding its banks. This serves also as a defence to the city,
and the earth dug from it has been thrown inwards, forming a kind of mound
enclosing the city.[NOTE 3]
In this part are the ten principal markets, though besides these there are
a vast number of others in the different parts of the town.
