It Would Seem, However,
That The Term Adhered Long As A Quasi-Proper Name To Hang-Chau; For In The
Chinese Atlas, dating from 1595, which the traveller Carletti presented to
the Magliabecchian Library, that city appears to be still
Marked with this
name, transcribed by Carletti as Camse; very near the form Campsay
used by Marignolli in the 14th century.
[Illustration: The ancient Lun ho-ta Pagoda at Hang-chau.]
NOTE 2. - +The Ramusian version says: "Messer Marco Polo was frequently at
this city, and took great pains to learn everything about it, writing down
the whole in his notes." The information being originally derived from a
Chinese document, there might be some ground for supposing that 100 miles
of circuit stood for 100 li. Yet the circuit of the modern city is
stated in the official book called Hang-chau Fu-Chi or topographical
history of Hang-chau, at only 35 li. And the earliest record of the
wall, as built under the Sui by Yang-su (before A.D. 606), makes its
extent little more (36 li and 90 paces.)[1] But the wall was
reconstructed by Ts'ien Kiao, feudal prince of the region, during the
reign of Chao Tsung, one of the last emperors of the T'ang Dynasty (892),
so as to embrace the Luh-ho-ta Pagoda, on a high bluff over the Tsien-tang
River,[2] 15 li distant from the present south gate, and had then a
circuit of 70 li. Moreover, in 1159, after the city became the capital
of the Sung emperors, some further extension was given to it, so that,
even exclusive of the suburbs, the circuit of the city may have been not
far short of 100 li.
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