Discoverers and Explorers | Page 4

his father and his uncle, who were anxious to trade and gain more
wealth in the East. This was in the year 1271.
The three Polos traveled across Persia into China, and across the Desert
of Gobi to the northwest, where they found the great ruler, Kublai Khan.
This monarch was a kind-hearted and able man. He wanted to help his
subjects to become civilized and learned, as the Europeans were. So
Kublai Khan assisted the two elder Polos in their business of trading,
and took Marco into his service.
Soon Marco learned the languages of Asia, and then he was sent by the
khan on errands of state to different parts of the country. He visited all
the great cities in China, and traveled into the interior of Asia to places
almost unknown at the present time.
At length the three Polos expressed a desire to return to Venice. The

great khan did not wish to part with them, but he at last consented; for
he found that by going they could do him a service. The service
required was their escort for a beautiful young princess who was to be
taken from Peking to Tabriz, where she was to marry the Khan of
Persia.
It was difficult to find any one trustworthy enough to take charge of so
important a person on so long and dangerous a journey. But Kublai
Khan had faith in the Polos. They had traveled more than any one else
he knew, and were cautious and brave.
So he gave them permission to return to their home, and requested
them to take the princess to Tabriz on the way. It was decided that the
journey should be made by sea, as the land route was so beset by
robbers as to be unsafe. Besides, the Polos were fine sailors.
They started from the eastern coast of China, and continued their
voyage for three years, around the peninsula of Cochin China, and
through the Indian Ocean to the Persian Gulf. Here they went ashore,
and then proceeded by land across Persia to Tabriz. They left the
princess in that city, and resumed their journey by way of the Bosporus
to Venice.
When they reached Venice they found that they had been forgotten by
their friends. They had been away twenty-four years, and in that time
everything had changed very much. They themselves had grown older,
and their clothes differed from those worn by the Venetians; for
fashions changed even in the thirteenth century, although not so often
as they change at the present time. It is no wonder that the Polos were
not known until they recalled themselves to the memory of their
friends.
One evening they invited a few of their old friends to dinner, and
during the evening they brought out three old coats. These coats they
proceeded to rip apart, and out from the linings dropped all kinds of
precious stones--diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, and rubies. In this way
these wary travelers had hidden their wealth and treasure while on their
perilous journey. The visitors were astonished at the sight of so great

riches, and listened eagerly to the accounts of the countries from which
they came.
Soon after the return of Marco Polo to Venice, he took part with his
countrymen in a battle against the Genoese. The city of Genoa, like the
city of Venice, had a large trade with the East. These two cities were
rivals in trade, and were very jealous of each other. Whenever Venetian
ships and those of the Genoese met on the Mediterranean Sea, the
sailors found some way of starting a quarrel. The quarrel quickly led to
a sea fight, and it was in one of these combats that Marco Polo engaged.
The Venetians were defeated, and Marco Polo was taken prisoner and
cast into a dungeon. Here he spent his time in writing the wonderful
book in which he described his travels.
[Illustration: A Sea Fight.]
The descriptions Polo gave of the East were as wonderful as fairy tales.
He told of countries rich in gold, silver, and precious stones, and of
islands where diamonds sparkled on the shore. The rulers of these
countries wore garments of rich silk covered with glittering gems, and
dwelt in palaces, the roofs of which were made of gold.
He described golden Cathay, with its vast cities rich in manufactures,
and also Cipango, Hindustan, and Indo-China. He knew of the Indies
Islands, rich in spices, and he described Siberia, and told of the sledges
drawn by dogs, and of the polar bears. The fact that an ocean washed
the eastern coast of Asia was proved by him, and this put at rest forever
the theory that there was an impassable swamp east of Asia.
This book by Marco Polo was