Bengal and Guzerat by their present names, as great and opulent kingdoms.  On the east coast of Africa, his knowledge did not reach beyond Zanguebar, and the port of Madagascar opposite to it:  he first made known this island to Europe.  Such is a sketch of the countries described by Marco Polo; from which it will easily be perceived, how much he added to the geographical knowledge of Asia possessed at that period.

The information he gives respecting the commerce of the countries he either visited himself, or describes from the reports of others, is equally important.  Beginning with the more western parts of Asia, he mentions Giazza, a city in the Levant, as possessed of a most excellent harbour, which was much frequented by Genoese and Venetian vessels, for spices and other merchandize.  Rich silks were manufactured in Georgia, Bagdat, Tauris, and Persia, which were the source of great wealth to the manufacturers and merchants.  All the pearls in Christendom are brought from Bagdat.  The merchants from India bring spices, pearls, precious stones, &c. to Ormus:  the vessels of this port are described as very stoutly built, with one mast, one deck, and one sail.  Among the most remarkable cities of China, he particularly notices Cambalu, or Pekin, Nankin, and Quinsai.  At the distance of 2,500 Italian miles from this last city, was the port of Cauzu, at which a considerable trade was carried on with India and the spice islands.  The length of the voyage, in consequence of the monsoons, was a year.  From the spice islands was brought, besides other articles, a quantity of pepper, infinitely greater than what was imported at Alexandria, though that place supplied all Europe.  He represents the commerce and wealth of China as very great; and adds, that at Cambalu, where the merchants had their distinct warehouses, (in which they also lived,) according to the nation to which they belonged, a large proportion of them were Saracens.  The money was made of the middle bark of the mulberry, stamped with the khan’s mark.  Letters were conveyed at the rate of 200 or 250 miles a day, by means of inns at short distances, where relays of horses were always kept.  The tenth of all wool, silk, and hemp, and all other articles, the produce of the earth, was paid to the khan:  sugar, spices, and arrack, paid only 3-1/2 per cent.  The inland trade is immense, and is carried on principally by numerous vessels on the canals and rivers.  Marco Polo describes porcelain, which was principally made at a place he calls Trigui; it was very low-priced, as eight porcelain dishes might be bought for a Venetian groat:  he takes no notice of tea.  He supposes the cowries of the Maldives to be a species of white porcelaine.  Silver then, as now, must have been in great demand, and extremely scarce; it was much more valuable than gold, bearing the proportion to the latter, as 1 to 6 or 8.  Fine skins also bore a very high price:  another proof of the stability of almost every thing connected with China.  He was particularly struck with what he calls black stones, which were brought from the mountains of Cathay, and burnt at Pekin, as wood, evidently meaning some kind of coal.  The collieries of China are still worked, principally for the use of the porcelaine manufactures.