XI., p. 75.  “The [the men of Tauris] weave many kinds of beautiful and valuable stuffs of silk and gold.”

Francisque-Michel (I., p. 316) remarks:  “De ce que Marco Polo se borne a nommer Tauris comme la ville de Perse ou il se fabriquait maints draps d’or et de soie, il ne faudrait pas en conclure que cette industrie n’existat pas sur d’autres points du meme royaume.  Pour n’en citer qu’un seul, la ville d’Arsacie, ancienne capitale des Parthes, connue aujourd’hui sous le nom de Caswin, possedait vraisemblablement deja cette industrie des beaux draps d’or et de soie qui existait encore au temps de Huet, c’est-a-dire au XVII’e siecle.”

XIII., p. 78.  “Messer Marco Polo found a village there which goes by the name of CALA ATAPERISTAN, which is as much as to say, ’The Castle of the Fire-worshippers.’”

With regard to Kal’ah-i Atashparastan, Prof.  A.V.W.  Jackson writes (Persia, 1906, p. 413):  “And the name is rightly applied, for the people there do worship fire.  In an article entitled The Magi in Marco Polo (Journ.  Am.  Or.  Soc., 26, 79-83) I have given various reasons for identifying the so-called ‘Castle of the Fire-Worshippers’ with Kashan, which Odoric mentions or a village in its vicinity, the only rival to the claim being the town of Nain, whose Gabar Castle has already been mentioned above.”

XIV., p. 78.

PERSIA.

Speaking of Saba and of Cala Ataperistan, Prof.  E.H.  Parker (Asiatic Quart.  Rev., Jan., 1904, p. 134) has the following remarks:  “It is not impossible that certain unexplained statements in the Chinese records may shed light upon this obscure subject.  In describing the Arab Conquest of Persia, the Old and New T’ang Histories mention the city of Hia-lah as being amongst those captured; another name for it was Sam (according to the Chinese initial and final system of spelling words).  A later Chinese poet has left the following curious line on record:  ’All the priests venerate Hia-lah.’  The allusion is vague and undated, but it is difficult to imagine to what else it can refer.  The term seng, or ‘bonze,’ here translated ‘priests,’ was frequently applied to Nestorian and Persian priests, as in this case.”

XIV., p. 80.  “Three Kings.”

Regarding the legend of the stone cast into a well, cf.  F.W.K.  MUELLER, Uigurica, pp. 5-10 (Pelliot).

XVII., p. 90.  “There are also plenty of veins of steel and Ondanique.”

“The ondanique which Marco Polo mentions in his 42nd chapter is almost certainly the pin t’ieh or ‘pin iron’ of the Chinese, who frequently mention it as coming from Arabia, Persia, Cophene, Hami, Ouigour-land and other High Asia States.” (E.H.  PARKER, Journ.  North China Br.  Roy.  Asiatic Soc., XXXVIII., 1907, p. 225.)

XVIII., pp. 97, 100.  “The province that we now enter is called REOBARLES....  The beasts also are peculiar....  Then there are sheep here as big as asses; and their tails are so large and fat, that one tail shall weight some 30 lbs.  They are fine fat beasts, and afford capital mutton.”