He might go back to
Sze-ch'wan by the western route, via Tung-ch'wan and Chao-t'ung to Swi-fu,
or, by the eastern, easier and shorter route by Siuen-wei chau, crossing a
corner of the Kwei-chau province (Wei-ning), and passing by Yun-ning hien
to the Kiang, this is the route followed by Mr. A. Hosie in 1883 and by Mr.
F.S.A. Bourne in 1885, and with great likelihood by Marco Polo; he may
have taken the Yun-ning River to the district city of Na-ch'i hien, which
lies on the right bank both of this river and of the Kiang; the Kiang up to
Swi-fu and thence to Ch'eng-tu. I do not attempt to explain the difficulty
about Fungul.
I fully agree with Sir H. Yule when he says that Polo spoke of Caugigu and
of Bangala, probably of Anin, from report only. However, I believe that
Caugigu is the Kiao-Chi kwe of the Chinese, that Anin must be read
Aniu, that Aniu is but a transcription of Nan-yue that both Nan-yue
and Kiao-Chi represent Northern Annam, i.e. the portion of Annam which
we call Tung-king. Regarding the tattooed inhabitants of Caugigu, let it
be remembered that tattooing existed in Annam till it was prohibited by
the Chinese during the occupation of Tung-king at the beginning of the
15th century. - H.C.]
NOTE 7. - Here the traveller gets back to the road-bifurcation near Juju,
i.e. Chochau (ante p. 11), and thence commences to travel southward.
[Illustration: Fortified Villages on Western frontier of Kweichau. (From
Garnier.)
"Chastians ont-il grant quantite en grandismes montagnes et fortres."]
[1] A passing suggestion of the identity of Kafchi Kue and Caugigu is made
by D'Ohsson, and I formerly objected. (See Cathay, p. 272.)
[2] Cuiju might be read Ciuju - representing Siuchau, but the
difficulty about Fungul would remain.
BOOK II. - Continued.
PART III. - JOURNEY SOUTHWARD THROUGH EASTERN PROVINCES OF CATHAY AND MANZI.
CHAPTER LX.
CONCERNING THE CITIES OF CACANFU AND OF CHANGLU.
Cacanfu is a noble city. The people are Idolaters and burn their dead;
they have paper-money, and live by trade and handicrafts. For they have
plenty of silk from which they weave stuffs of silk and gold, and sendals
in large quantities. [There are also certain Christians at this place, who
have a church.] And the city is at the head of an important territory
containing numerous towns and villages. [A great river passes through it,
on which much merchandise is carried to the city of Cambaluc, for by many
channels and canals it is connected therewith.[NOTE 1]]
We will now set forth again, and travel three days towards the south, and
then we come to a town called CHANGLU. This is another great city
belonging to the Great Kaan, and to the province of Cathay. The people
have paper-money, and are Idolaters and burn their dead. And you must know
they make salt in great quantities at this place; I will tell you how 'tis
done.[NOTE 2]
A kind of earth is found there which is exceedingly salt. This they dig up
and pile in great heaps. Upon these heaps they pour water in quantities
till it runs out at the bottom; and then they take up this water and boil
it well in great iron cauldrons, and as it cools it deposits a fine white
salt in very small grains. This salt they then carry about for sale to
many neighbouring districts, and get great profit thereby.
There is nothing else worth mentioning, so let us go forward five days'
journey, and we shall come to a city called Chinangli.
NOTE 1. - In the greater part of the journey which occupies the remainder
of Book II., Pauthier is a chief authority, owing to his industrious
Chinese reading and citation. Most of his identifications seem well
founded, though sometimes we shall be constrained to dissent from them
widely. A considerable number have been anticipated by former editors, but
even in such cases he is often able to bring forward new grounds.
CACANFU is HO-KIEN FU in Pe Chih-li, 52 miles in a direct line south by
east of Chochau. It was the head of one of the Lu or circuits into which
the Mongols divided China. (Pauthier.)
NOTE 2. - Marsden and Murray have identified Changlu with T'SANG-CHAU in Pe
Chih-li, about 30 miles east by south of Ho-kien fu. This seems
substantially right, but Pauthier shows that there was an old town
actually called CH'ANGLU, separated from T'sang-chau only by the great
canal. [Ch'ang-lu was the name of T'sang-chau under the T'ang and the Kin.
(See Playfair, Dict., p. 34.) - H.C.]
The manner of obtaining salt, described in the text, is substantially the
same as one described by Duhalde, and by one of the missionaries, as being
employed near the mouth of the Yang-tzu kiang. There is a town of the
third order some miles south-east of T'sang-chau, called Yen-shan or
"salt-hill," and, according to Pauthier, T'sang-chau is the mart for salt
produced there. (Duhalde in Astley, IV. 310; Lettres Edif. XI. 267
seqq.; Biot. p. 283.)
Polo here introduces a remark about the practice of burning the dead,
which, with the notice of the idolatry of the people, and their use of
paper-money, constitutes a formula which he repeats all through the
Chinese provinces with wearisome iteration. It is, in fact, his definition
of the Chinese people, for whom he seems to lack a comprehensive name.
A great change seems to have come over Chinese custom, since the Middle
Ages, in regard to the disposal of the dead.
