Introduction, p. 23.

“The Yuean Shi contains curious confirmation of the facts which led up to Marco Polo’s conducting a wife to Arghun of Persia, who lost his spouse in 1286.  In the eleventh moon of that year (say January, 1287) the following laconic announcement appears:  ’T’a-ch’a-r Hu-nan ordered to go on a mission to A-r-hun.’  It is possible that Tachar and Hunan may be two individuals, and, though they probably started overland, it is probable that they were in some way connected with Polo’s first and unsuccessful attempt to take the girl to Persia.” (E.H.  PARKER, Asiatic Quart.  Rev., Jan., 1904, p. 136.)

Introduction, p. 76 n.

With regard to the statue of the Pseudo-Marco Polo of Canton, Dr. B.
Laufer, of Chicago, sends me the following valuable note:—­

THE ALLEGED MARCO POLO LO-HAN OF CANTON.

The temple Hua lin se (in Cantonese Fa lum se, i.e.  Temple of the Flowery Grove) is situated in the western suburbs of the city of Canton.  Its principal attraction is the vast hall, the Lo-han t’ang, in which are arranged in numerous avenues some five hundred richly gilded images, about three feet in height, representing the 500 Lo-han (Arhat).  The workmanship displayed in the manufacture of these figures, made of fine clay thickly covered with burnished gilding, is said to be most artistic, and the variety of types is especially noticeable.  In this group we meet a statue credited with a European influence.  Two opinions are current regarding this statue:  one refers to it as representing the image of a Portuguese sailor, the other sees in it a portrait of Marco Polo.

The former view is expressed, as far as I see, for the first time, by MAYERS and DENNYS (The Treaty Ports of China and Japan, London and Hong Kong, 1867, p. 162).  “One effigy,” these authors remark, “whose features are strongly European in type, will be pointed out as the image of a Portuguese seaman who was wrecked, centuries ago, on the coast, and whose virtues during a long residence gained him canonization after death.  This is probably a pure myth, growing from an accidental resemblance of the features.”  This interpretation of a homage rendered to a Portuguese is repeated by C.A.  MONTALTO DE JESUS, Historic Macao (Hong Kong, 1902, p. 28).  A still more positive judgment on this matter is passed by MADROLLE (Chine du Sud et de l’Est, Paris, 1904, p. 17).  “The attitudes of the Venerable Ones,” he says, “are remarkable for their life-like expression, or sometimes, singularly grotesque.  One of these personalities placed on the right side of a great altar wears the costume of the 16th century, and we might be inclined to regard it as a Chinese representation of Marco Polo.  It is probable, however, that the artist, who had to execute the statue of a Hindu, that is, of a man of the West, adopted as the model of his costume that of the Portuguese