(Ann. de la Prop. XXXI. 136; Richthofen, Letter
VII. 81.)
NOTE 6. - We have now got back to Sindafu, i.e. Ch'eng-tu fu in
Sze-ch'wan, and are better able to review the geography of the track we
have been following. I do not find it possible to solve all its
difficulties.
The different provinces treated of in the chapters from lv. to lix. are
strung by Marco upon an easterly, or, as we must interpret,
north-easterly line of travel, real or hypothetical. Their names and
intervals are as follows: (1) Bangala; whence 30 marches to (2) Caugigu; 25
marches to (3) Anin; 8 marches to (4) Toloman or Coloman; 12 days in Cuiju
along a river to the city of (5) Fungul, Sinugul (or what not); 12 days
further, on or along the same river, to (6) Ch'eng-tu fu. Total from
Bangala to Ch'eng-tu fu 87 days.
I have said that the line of travel is real or hypothetical, for no
doubt a large part of it was only founded on hearsay. We last left our
traveller at Mien, or on the frontier of Yun-nan and Mien. Bangala is
reached per sallum with no indication of interval, and its position is
entirely misapprehended.
