edition of Polo’s work, and which it is difficult to assign to any
one but himself, we may note the specification of the woods east of
Yezd as composed of _date trees_ (vol. i pp. 88–89); the unmistakable
allusion to the subterranean irrigation channels of Persia (p. 123);
the accurate explanation of the term _Mulehet_ applied to the sect of
Assassins (pp. 139–142); the mention of the Lake (Sirikul?) on the
plateau of Pamer, of the wolves that prey on the wild sheep, and of the
piles of wild rams’ horns used as landmarks in the snow (pp. 171–177).
To the description of the Tibetan Yak, which is in all the texts,
Ramusio’s version alone adds a fact probably not recorded again till
the present century, viz., that it is the practice to cross the Yak
with the common cow (p. 274). Ramusio alone notices the prevalence of
_goître_ at Yarkand, confirmed by recent travellers (i. p. 187); the
vermilion seal of the Great Kaan imprinted on the paper-currency, which
may be seen in our plate of a Chinese note (p. 426); the variation in
Chinese dialects (ii. p. 236); the division of the hulls of junks into
water-tight compartments (ii. p. 249); the introduction into China from
Egypt of the art of refining sugar (ii. p. 226). Ramusio’s account of
the position of the city of Sindafu (Ch’êng-tu fu) encompassed and
intersected by many branches of a great river (ii. p. 40), is much
more just than that in the old text, which speaks of but one river
through the middle of the city. The intelligent notices of the Kaan’s
charities as originated by his adoption of “idolatry” or Buddhism; of
the astrological superstitions of the Chinese, and of the manners and
character of the latter nation, are found in Ramusio alone. To whom but
Marco himself, or one of his party, can we refer the brief but vivid
picture of the delicious atmosphere and scenery of the Badakhshan
plateaux (i. p. 158), and of the benefit that Messer Marco’s health
derived from a visit to them? In this version alone again we have an
account of the oppressions exercised by Kúblái’s Mahomedan Minister
Ahmad, telling how the Cathayans rose against him and murdered him,
with the addition that Messer Marco was on the spot when all this
happened. Now not only is the whole story in substantial accordance
with the Chinese Annals, even to the name of the chief conspirator,[15]
but those annals also tell of the courageous frankness of “Polo,
assessor of the Privy Council,” in opening the Kaan’s eyes to the truth.
Many more such examples might be adduced, but these will suffice. It
is true that many of the passages peculiar to the Ramusian version,
and indeed the whole version, show a freer utterance and more of a
literary faculty than we should attribute to Polo, judging from the
earlier texts. It is possible, however, that this may be almost, if not
entirely, due to the fact that the version is the result of a double
translation, and probably of an editorial fusion of several documents;
processes in which angularities of expression would be dissolved.[16]
[Sidenote: Hypothesis of the sources of the Ramusian Version.]