The Travels of Marco Polo, Volume 2 | Page 9

the Life of Bishop Daniel
Wilson.
INTERIOR of Syrian CHURCH at Kötteiyam. From the same.
CAPE COMORIN. From an original sketch by Mr. FOOTE of the
Geological Survey of India.
MOUNT D'ELY. From a nautical sketch of last century.

Mediaeval ARCHITECTURE in GUZERAT, being a view of Gateway
at Jinjawára, given in Forbes's Ras Mala. From _Fergusson's History of
Architecture_.
The GATES of SOMNATH (so called), as preserved in the British
Arsenal at Agra. From a photograph by Messrs. SHEPHERD and
BOURNE, converted into an elevation.
The RUKH, after a Persian drawing. From _Lane's Arabian Nights_.
Frontispiece of A. Müller's _Marco Polo_, showing the Bird Rukh.
The ETHIOPIAN SHEEP. From a sketch by Miss Catherine Frere.
View of ADEN in 1840. From a sketch by Dr. R. KIRK in the
Map-room of the Royal Geographical Society.
The Harvest of FRANKINCENSE in Arabia. Facsimile of an engraving
in _Thevet's Cosmographie Universelle_ (1575). Reproduced from
_Cassell's Bible Educator_, by the courtesy of the publishers.
BOSWELLIA FREREANA, from a drawing by Mr. W.H. FITCH. The
use of this engraving is granted by the India Museum through the
kindness of Sir George Birdwood.
A Persian BÁD-GÍR, or Wind-Catcher. From a drawing in the Atlas to
_Hommaire de Hell's Persia_. Engraved by ADENEY.
BOOK FOURTH.
Tomb of OLJAITU KHAN, the brother of Polo's CASAN, at Sultaniah.
From _Fergusson's History of Architecture_.
The Siberian DOG-SLEDGE. From the Tour du Monde.
Mediaeval RUSSIAN Church. From _Fergusson's History of
Architecture_.
Figure of a TARTAR under the Feet of Henry Duke of Silesia, Cracow,

and Poland, from the tomb at Breslau of that Prince, killed in battle
with the Tartar host, 9th April, 1241. After a plate in _Schlesische
Fürstenbilder des Mittelalters_, Breslau, 1868.
Asiatic WARRIORS of Polo's Age. From the MS. of Rashiduddin's
History, noticed under cut at p. 19. Engraved by ADENEY.
APPENDICES.
FIGURE of MARCO POLO, from the first printed edition of his Book,
published in German at Nuremberg 1477. Traced from a copy in the
Berlin Library. (This tracing was the gift of Mr. Samuel D. Horton, of
Cincinnati, through Mr. Marsh.)
Marco Polo's rectified Itinerary from Khotan to Nia.

THE BOOK OF MARCO POLO
[Illustration: MARCO POLO in the Prison of Genoa]

BOOK SECOND.--CONTINUED.

PART II.--JOURNEY TO THE WEST AND
SOUTH-WEST OF CATHAY.

CHAPTER XXXV
.
HERE BEGINS THE DESCRIPTION OF THE INTERIOR OF
CATHAY, AND FIRST OF THE RIVER PULISANGHIN.
Now you must know that the Emperor sent the aforesaid Messer Marco
Polo, who is the author of this whole story, on business of his into the
Western Provinces. On that occasion he travelled from Cambaluc a
good four months' journey towards the west.[NOTE 1] And so now I

will tell you all that he saw on his travels as he went and returned.
[Illustration: The Bridge of Pulisanghin. (Reduced from a Chinese
original.)
"--et desus cest flum a un mout biaus pont de pieres: car sachiez qe
pont n'a en tout le monde de si biaus ne son pareil."]
When you leave the City of Cambaluc and have ridden ten miles, you
come to a very large river which is called PULISANGHIN, and flows
into the ocean, so that merchants with their merchandise ascend it from
the sea. Over this River there is a very fine stone bridge, so fine indeed,
that it has very few equals. The fashion of it is this: it is 300 paces in
length, and it must have a good eight paces of width, for ten mounted
men can ride across it abreast. It has 24 arches and as many water-mills,
and 'tis all of very fine marble, well built and firmly founded. Along the
top of the bridge there is on either side a parapet of marble slabs and
columns, made in this way. At the beginning of the bridge there is a
marble column, and under it a marble lion, so that the column stands
upon the lion's loins, whilst on the top of the column there is a second
marble lion, both being of great size and beautifully executed sculpture.
At the distance of a pace from this column there is another precisely the
same, also with its two lions, and the space between them is closed
with slabs of grey marble to prevent people from falling over into the
water. And thus the columns run from space to space along either side
of the bridge, so that altogether it is a beautiful object.[NOTE 2]
NOTE 1.--[When Marco leaves the capital, he takes the main road, the
"Imperial Highway," from Peking to Si-ngan fu, via Pao-ting,
Cheng-ting, Hwai-luh, Taï-yuan, Ping-yang, and T'ung-kwan, on the
Yellow River. Mr. G. F. Eaton, writing from Han-chung (_Jour. China
Br. R. As. Soc._ XXVIII. No. 1) says it is a cart-road, except for six
days between Taí-yuan