explanation of the origin of this text seems to me to be some such
hypothesis as the following:—I suppose that Polo in his latter years
added with his own hand supplementary notes and reminiscences,
marginally or otherwise, to a copy of his book; that these, perhaps
in his lifetime, more probably after his death, were digested and
translated into Latin;[18] and that Ramusio, or some friend of his,
in retranslating and fusing them with Pipino’s version for the
_Navigationi_, made those minor modifications in names and other
matters which we have already noticed. The mere facts of digestion
from memoranda and double translation would account for a good deal of
unintentional corruption.
That more than one version was employed in the composition of Ramusio’s
edition we have curious proof in at least one passage of the latter.
We have pointed out at p. 410 of this volume a curious example of
misunderstanding of the old French Text, a passage in which the term
_Roi des Pelaines_, or “King of Furs,” is applied to the Sable, and
which in the Crusca has been converted into an imaginary Tartar phrase
_Leroide pelame_, or as Pipino makes it _Rondes_ (another indication
that Pipino’s Version and the Crusca passed through a common medium).
But Ramusio exhibits _both_ the true reading and the perversion: “_E li
Tartari la chiamano_ Regina delle pelli” (there is the true reading),
“_E gli animali si chiamano_ Rondes” (and there the perverted one).
We may further remark that Ramusio’s version betrays indications that
one of its bases either was in the Venetian dialect, or had passed
through that dialect; for a good many of the names appear in Venetian
forms, _e.g._, substituting the _z_ for the sound of _ch_, _j_, or
soft _g_, as in _Goza_, _Zorzania_, _Zagatay_, _Gonza_ (for Giogiu),
_Quenzanfu_, _Coiganzu_, _Tapinzu_, _Zipangu_, _Ziamba_.
[Sidenote: Summary in regard to Text of Polo.]