Chapter 154

mission to Yun-nan, _21_; governor of Yang-chau, _22_; employed at Kan-chau, Kara Korum, Champa and Indian Seas, _22_; returns home, _23–24_; mentioned in his Uncle Marco’s will, _25_; commands a galley at Curzola, _46_; taken prisoner and carried to Genoa, _48_; his imprisonment there, _52_; dictates his book to Rusticiano, _52_; release and return to Venice, _52_; evidence as to story of capture, _53–55_; dying vindication of his book, _54_; executor to his brother Maffeo, _64_; record of exemption from municipal penalty, _66_; gives copy of book to T. de Cepoy, _68_; marriage and daughters, _69_; lawsuit with Paulo Girardo, proceeding regarding house property, _70_; illness and last will, _70–74_; probable date of death, _74_; place of burial, _74_; professed portraits of, _75–76_; alleged wealth, _77_; estimate of him and of his book, _104_ _seqq._; true claims to glory, _106_; faint indications of personality, _107_; rare indications of humour, _108_; absence of scientific notions, _109_; geographical data in book, _109_; his acquisition of languages, ignorance of Chinese, deficiencies in Chinese notices, _110_; historical notices, _111_; allusions to Alexander, _113_; incredulity about his stories, _115_; contemporary recognition, _116_ _seqq._; by T. de Cepoy, Friar Pipino, _118_; J. d’Acqui, Giov. Villani, and P. d’Abano, _119_; notice by John of Ypres, _121_; borrowings in poem of Bauduin de Sebourc, _121_ _seqq._; Chaucer and, _128_; influence on geography, obstacles to its effect, _129_; character of mediæval cosmography, _130_; Roger Bacon as geographer, _131_; Arab maps, _132_; Marino Sanudo’s map, _133_; Medicean, _134_; Carta Catalana largely based on Polo’s, _134_; increased appreciation of Polo’s book, _135_; confusions of nomenclature, _136_; introduction of block-printing into Europe and Polo, _138–141_; dictates his narrative, i. 2; found at Venice, 18; his age, 19n, 22, 26; noticed and employed by Kúblái, 27; grows in favour, many missions, 30, 31; returns from one to India, 32; escapes from the Karaunas, 99, 106n; hears of breed of Bucephalus, 158; recovers from illness in hill climate, 159; hears from Zulficar about Salamander, 213; at Kan-chau, 220; brings home hair of yak, 274; and head and feet of musk deer, 275; witnesses events connected with Ahmad’s death, 420, 422n; noticed in Chinese annals, 422n; whether he had to do with Persian scheme of paper currency in 1294, 428n; sent by Khan into Western provinces, ii. 3; governor of Yang-chau, 154; probable extent of his authority, 157n; aids in constructing engines for siege of Siang-yang, 159 _seqq._; difficulties as to this statement, 167n _seqq._; on number of vessels on Great Kiang, 170; ignorant of Chinese, 183; on greatness of Kinsay, 185; his notes, 193n; sent to inspect amount of revenue from Kinsay, 216; his great experience, 236; never in islands of Sea of Chin, 265; in kingdom of Chamba, 268, 271n; historical anecdotes, 270n; detained five months in Sumatra, stockade party against wild people, 292; brings Brazil seed to Venice, 299; partakes of tree-flour (sago), 300; takes some to Venice, 305n; in six kingdoms of Sumatra, 300; witnesses arrest for debt in Maabar, 343; his erroneous view of Arabian coast, _110_, ii. 452n; Indian geography, 403n; his unequalled travels, 501; Venetian documents about him, 510n–521n —— Marco, called Marcolino, son of Nicolo the Younger, _65_, _77_, _78_, ii. 510n —— Marco, last male survivor, _8_, _78_, _79_, ii. 510n —— Marco, others of this name, _66_, _79_, _80_, ii. 508n, 509n —— Maroca, sister of Nicolo the Younger, _15_, _25_, i. 4n —— or Delfino, Moreta, youngest daughter, _69_, _71_, _76_, ii. 506n, 513n Polo, Nicolo and Maffeo, sons of Andrea, their first journey, _15_ _seqq._; cross Black Sea to Soldaia, i. 2; visit Volga country, etc., 4; go to Bokhara, 9; join envoys to Khan’s Court, 10; Kúblái’s reception of, 11; sent back as envoys to Pope, 13; receive a Golden Tablet, 15; reach Ayas, 16; Acre, 17; Venice, 18; find young Marco there, _ib._ —— Nicolo, Maffeo and Marco, proceed to Acre, i. 19; set out for East, recalled from Ayas, 20; set out again with Pope’s letters, etc., 22; reach Kúblái’s Court, 25; are welcomed, 26; _see_ on their journey outward, _19_; their alleged service in capture of Siang-yang, _22_, ii. 158, 159; Khan refuses them permission to return home, i. 32; allowed to go with ambassadors, 33; receive Golden Tablets, 34; on return _see_ also _23_, _24_; story of their arrival at Venice, _4_; scheme to assert their identity, _5_ —— Nicolo, his alleged second marriage and sons, _7_, _15_; probable truth as to time of, _17_; his illegitimate sons, _25_; approximate time of his death, _64_; his tomb, _7_, _74_ —— Nicolo the Younger, cousin of traveller, _15_, _25_, _65_, i. 4n —— Stefano and Giovannino, illegitimate brothers of Traveller, _25_, _30_, _65_ —— (?), or Trevisano(?), Fiordelisa, perhaps second wife of Nicolo Polo the Elder, and mother of Maffeo the Younger, _17_, _25_, _27_ —— or Trevisano, Maria, last survivor of the family, _8_, _78_, _79_; doubts as to her kindred, 79, ii. 510n —— Family, its duration and end, according to Ramusio, _7–8_; origin, _13_; last notices of, _76_ _seqq._ (For relationship of different Polos, _see_ table, ii. 506n.) —— Family, branch of S. Geremia, _14_, _66_, ii. 507n–509n _Po-lut_ (Pa-lut), _incense_, ii. 304n Polygamy, i. 220, 252, 276, ii. 371; supposed effect on population, i. 437n–438n, ii. 268, 339 _Pomilo_ (Pamir), i. 174n _Pompholyx_, i. 126n Ponent, or West, term applied by Polo to Kipchak, the Mongol Khanate of the Volga, _see_ Kipchak Pong (Mediæval Shan State), ii. 79n, 113n Poods, Russian, i. 162n Popinjays, i. 107 Population, vast, of Cathay, i. 437n–438n Porcelain manufacture, ii. 235, 242n; fragments found at Kayál, 373n; Chinese, 595n —— shells, _see_ Cowries Porcupines, i. 154, 156n Pork, mention of, omitted, ii. 210n _Postín_, sheep-skin coat, i. 153, 155n Posts, post-houses and runners, i. 433 _et seqq._, 438n; in Siberia, ii. 480 Po-sz’ (Persia), ii. 437n Potala at L’hasa, i. 319n Pottinger, i. 94n, 96n Poultry, kind of, in Coilum, ii. 376; in Abyssinia (guinea-fowl?), 431, 437n Pound, sterling, _71_, ii. 591n _Pourpre_, or _Purpura_, i. 66n, 389n P’o-yang Lake, ii. 243n Pozdneiev, Professor, i. 228n Precious stones or gems, _5_, i. 75, 76n, 107, 350, 390, 394, 424,