[Sidenote:  Contemporary references to Polo.]

76.  Of contemporary or nearly contemporary references to our Traveller by name, the following are all that I can produce, and none of them are new.

First there is the notice regarding his presentation of his book to Thibault de Cepoy, of which we need say no more (supra, p. 68).

Next there is the Preface to Friar Pipino’s Translation, which we give at length in the Appendix (E) to these notices.  The phraseology of this appears to imply that Marco was still alive, and this agrees with the date assigned to the work by Ramusio.  Pipino was also the author of a Chronicle, of which a part was printed by Muratori, and this contains chapters on the Tartar wars, the destruction of the Old Man of the Mountain, etc., derived from Polo.  A passage not printed by Muratori has been extracted by Prof.  Bianconi from a MS. of this Chronicle in the Modena Library, and runs as follows:—­

“The matters which follow, concerning the magnificence of the Tartar Emperors, whom in their language they call Cham as we have said, are related by Marcus Paulus the Venetian in a certain Book of his which has been translated by me into Latin out of the Lombardic Vernacular.  Having gained the notice of the Emperor himself and become attached to his service, he passed nearly 27 years in the Tartar countries."[5]

Again we have that mention of Marco by Friar Jacopo d’Acqui, which we have quoted in connection with his capture by the Genoese, at p. 54.[6] And the Florentine historian GIOVANNI VILLANI,[7] when alluding to the Tartars, says:—­

“Let him who would make full acquaintance with their history examine the book of Friar Hayton, Lord of Colcos in Armenia, which he made at the instance of Pope Clement V., and also the Book called Milione which was made by Messer Marco Polo of Venice, who tells much about their power and dominion, having spent a long time among them.  And so let us quit the Tartars and return to our subject, the History of Florence."[8]

[Sidenote:  Further contemporary references.]

77.  Lastly, we learn from a curious passage in a medical work by PIETRO OF ABANO, a celebrated physician and philosopher, and a man of Polo’s own generation, that he was personally acquainted with the Traveller.  In a discussion on the old notion of the non-habitability of the Equatorial regions, which Pietro controverts, he says:[9]

[Illustration:  Star at the Antarctic as sketched by Marco Polo[10].]

“In the country of the ZINGHI there is seen a star as big as a sack.  I know a man who has seen it, and he told me it had a faint light like a piece of a cloud, and is always in the south.[11] I have been told of this and other matters by MARCO the Venetian, the most extensive traveller and the most diligent inquirer whom I have ever known.  He saw this same star under the Antarctic; he described