defatigable President of the Italian Geographical Society; to Dr. ZOTENBERG, of the Great Paris Library, and to M. CH. MAUNOIR, Secretary-General of the Société de Géographie; to Professor HENRY GIGLIOLI, at Florence; to my old friend Major-General ALBERT FYTCHE, Chief Commissioner of British Burma; to Dr. RosT and Dr. FORBES-WATSON, of the India Office Library and Museum; to Mr. R. H. MAJOR, and Mr. R. K. DOUGLAS, of the British Museum; to Mr. N. B. DENNYS, of Hongkong; and to Mr. C. GARDNER, of the Consular Establishment in China. There are not a few others to whom my thanks are equally due; but it is feared that the number of names already mentioned may seem ridiculous, compared with the result, to those who do not appreciate from how many quarters the facts needful for a work which in its course intersects so many fields required to be collected, one by one. I must not however omit acknowledgments to the present Earl of DERBY for his courteous permission, when at the head of the Foreign Office, to inspect Mr. Abbott's valuable unpublished Report upon some of the Interior Provinces of Persia; and to Mr. T. T. COOPER, one of the most adventurous travellers of modern times, for leave to quote some passages from his unpublished diary. PALERMO, December 31, 1870. I. OBSCURITIES IN THE HISTORY OF HIS LIFE AND BOOK. § 1. Obscurities, &c. 2. Ramusio his earliest Biographer; his Account § 9. State of the Levant. 10. The various Mongol Sovereignties in III. THE POLO FAMILY. PERSONAL HISTORY OF THE TRAVEL- LERS TILL THEIR FINAL RETURN FROM THE EAST § 13. Alleged origin of the Polos. 14. Claims to Nobility. 15. The Elder Marco Polo. 16. Nicolo and Maffeo Polo commence their Travels. 17. Their Intercourse with Kublai Kaan. 18. Their return home, and Marco's appearance on the scene. 19. Second Journey of the Polo Brothers, accompanied by Marco. 20. Marco's Employment by Kublai Kaan; and his Journeys. 21. Circumstances of the departure of the Polos from the Kaan's IV. DIGRESSION CONCERNING THE MANSION OF THE POLO FAMILY AT S. GIOVANNI GRISOSTOMO § 23. Probable period of their establishment at S. Giovanni Grisostomo. V. DIGRESSION CONCERNING THE WAR-GALLEYS OF THE MEDI- TERRANEAN STATES IN THE MIDDLE AGES .. § 25. Arrangement of the Rowers in Medieval Galleys; a separate Oar to every Man. 26. Change of System in 16th Century. 27. Some details of 13th-Century Galleys. 28. Fighting Arrange- VI. THE JEALOUSIES AND NAVAL WARS OF VENICE AND GENOA. LAMBA DORIA'S EXPEDITION ΤΟ THE ADRIATIC; BATTLE OF CURZOLA; AND IMPRISONMENT § 31. Growing Jealousies and Outbreaks between the Republics. 32. Battle in Bay of Ayas in 1294. 33. Lamba Doria's Expedition to the Adriatic. 34. The Fleets come in sight of each other at Curzola. 35. The Venetians defeated, and Marco Polo a Prisoner. 36. Marco Polo in Prison dictates his Book to Rusticiano of Pisa. Release of Venetian Prisoners. 37. Grounds on which the story of Marco Polo's capture at Curzola $ 38. Rusticiano, perhaps a Prisoner from Meloria. 39. A Person known from other Sources. 40. Character of his Romance Compilations. 41. Identity of the Romance Compiler with VIII. NOTICES OF MARCO POLO'S HISTORY AFTER THE TER- MINATION OF HIS IMPRISONMENT AT GENOA § 43. Death of Marco's Father before 1300. Will of his Brother Maffeo. 44. Documentary Notices of Polo at this time. The Sobriquet of Milione. 45. Polo's relations with Thibault de Cepoy. 46. His Marriage, and his Daughters. Marco as a Merchant. 47. $ 50. General Statement of what the Book contains. 51. Language of the original Work. 52. Old French Text of the Société de Géographie. 53. Conclusive proof that the Old French Text is the source of all the others. 54. Greatly diffused employment PAGE $55. Four Principal Types of Text. First, that of the Geographic or § 66. Grounds of Polo's Pre-eminence among Medieval Travellers. 67. XII. CONTEMPORARY RECOGNITION OF POLO AND HIS BOOK $75. How far was there diffusion of his Book in his own day? 76. Contemporary References to Polo. T. de Cepoy; Pipino; Jacopo d'Acqui; Giov. Villani. 77. Pietro d'Abano; Jean le § 79. Tardy operation, and causes thereof. 80. General characteristics of Medieval Cosmography. 81. Roger Bacon as a Geographer. 82. Marino Sanuto the Elder. 83. The Catalan Map of 1375, the most complete medieval embodiment of Polo's Geography. 84. Fra Mauro's Map. Confusions in Cartography of the 16th Century from the endeavour to combine new and old informa- tion. 85. Gradual disappearance of Polo's nomenclature. 86. Alleged introduction of Block-printed Books into Europe by Marco Polo. 87. Frequent opportunities for such introduc- § 88. Texts followed by Marsden and by Pauthier. 89. Eclectic |