And when you have travelled those eight days’ journey, you come to that great city which I mentioned, called KENJANFU.[NOTE 2] A very great and fine city it is, and the capital of the kingdom of Kenjanfu, which in old times was a noble, rich, and powerful realm, and had many great and wealthy and puissant kings.[NOTE 3] But now the king thereof is a prince called MANGALAI, the son of the Great Kaan, who hath given him this realm, and crowned him king thereof.[NOTE 4] It is a city of great trade and industry.  They have great abundance of silk, from which they weave cloths of silk and gold of divers kinds, and they also manufacture all sorts of equipments for an army.  They have every necessary of man’s life very cheap.  The city lies towards the west; the people are Idolaters; and outside the city is the palace of the Prince Mangalai, crowned king, and son of the Great Kaan, as I told you before.

This is a fine palace and a great, as I will tell you.  It stands in a great plain abounding in lakes and streams and springs of water.  Round about it is a massive and lofty wall, five miles in compass, well built, and all garnished with battlements.  And within this wall is the king’s palace, so great and fine that no one could imagine a finer.  There are in it many great and splendid halls, and many chambers, all painted and embellished with work in beaten gold.  This Mangalai rules his realm right well with justice and equity, and is much beloved by his people.  The troops are quartered round about the palace, and enjoy the sport (that the royal demesne affords).

So now let us quit this kingdom, and I will tell you of a very mountainous province called Cuncun, which you reach by a road right wearisome to travel.

NOTE 1.—­["Morus alba is largely grown in North China for feeding silkworms.” (Bretschneider, Hist. of Bot.  Disc. I. p. 4.)—­H.C.]

NOTE 2.—­Having got to sure ground again at Kenjanfu, which is, as we shall explain presently, the city of SI-NGAN FU, capital of Shen-si, let us look back at the geography of the route from P’ing-yang fu.  Its difficulties are great.

The traveller carries us two days’ journey from P’ing-yang fu to his castle of the Golden King.  This is called in the G. Text and most other MSS. Caicui, Caytui, or the like, but in Ramusio alone Thaigin.  He then carries us 20 miles further to the Caramoran; he crosses this river, travels two days further, and reaches the great city Cachanfu; eight days more (or as in Ramusio seven) bring him to Si-ngan fu.

There seems scarcely room for doubt that CACHANFU is the HO-CHUNG FU [the ancient capital of Emperor Shun—­H.C.] of those days, now called P’U-CHAU FU, close to the great elbow of the Hwang Ho (Klaproth).  But this city, instead of being two days west of the great river, stands near its eastern bank.