NOTE 4.—­+12,000 cantars would be more than 500 tons, and this is justified by the burthen of Chinese vessels on the river; we see it is more than doubled by that of some British or American steamers thereon.  In the passage referred to under Note 1, Admiral Collinson speaks of the salt-junks at I-ching as “very remarkable, being built nearly in the form of a crescent, the stern rising in some of them nearly 30 feet and the prow 20, whilst the mast is 90 feet high.”  These dimensions imply large capacity.  Oliphant speaks of the old rice-junks for the canal traffic as transporting 200 and 300 tons (I. 197).

NOTE 5.—­The tow-line in river-boats is usually made (as here described) of strips of bamboo twisted.  Hawsers are also made of bamboo.  Ramusio, in this passage, says the boats are tracked by horses, ten or twelve to each vessel.  I do not find this mentioned anywhere else, nor has any traveller in China that I have consulted heard of such a thing.

NOTE 6.—­Such eminences as are here alluded to are the Little Orphan Rock, Silver Island, and the Golden Island, which is mentioned in the following chapter.  We give on the preceding page illustrations of those three picturesque islands; the Orphan Rock at the top, Golden Island in the middle, Silver Island below.

[1] See Gaubil, p. 93, note 4; Biot, p. 275 [and Playfair’s Dict.,
    p. 393].

CHAPTER LXXII.

CONCERNING THE CITY OF CAIJU.

Caiju is a small city towards the south-east.  The people are subject to the Great Kaan and have paper-money.  It stands upon the river before mentioned.[NOTE 1] At this place are collected great quantities of corn and rice to be transported to the great city of Cambaluc for the use of the Kaan’s Court; for the grain for the Court all comes from this part of the country.  You must understand that the Emperor hath caused a water-communication to be made from this city to Cambaluc, in the shape of a wide and deep channel dug between stream and stream, between lake and lake, forming as it were a great river on which large vessels can ply.  And thus there is a communication all the way from this city of Caiju to Cambaluc; so that great vessels with their loads can go the whole way.  A land road also exists, for the earth dug from those channels has been thrown up so as to form an embanked road on either side.[NOTE 2]

Just opposite to the city of Caiju, in the middle of the River, there stands a rocky island on which there is an idol-monastery containing some 200 idolatrous friars, and a vast number of idols.  And this Abbey holds supremacy over a number of other idol-monasteries, just like an archbishop’s see among Christians.[NOTE 3]

Now we will leave this and cross the river, and I will tell you of a city called Chinghianfu.

NOTE 1.—­No place in Polo’s travels is better identified by his local indications than this.  It is on the Kiang; it is at the extremity of the Great Canal from Cambaluc; it is opposite the Golden Island and Chin-kiang fu.  Hence it is KWA-CHAU, as Murray pointed out.  Marsden here misunderstands his text, and puts the place on the south side of the Kiang.