he called mistakenly the West Indies, he was afraid that he had missed Cipango, and he asked the natives where the land of gold (Cipango) was situated; when they pointed to the south, he made up his mind that he had sailed by the northern point of Cipango and had fallen upon one of the Indian islands. Later on, in 1498, after the discovery of America, John Cabot and his son Sebastian sailed on an expedition into the west, and they too were searching for the wealthy island of Cipango, which of course they never found.

Marco gives glowing accounts of the great maritime cities of Kinsay and Zayton, on the eastern and southeastern coast of China. Hangchau is the modern name of Kinsay, which, in Marco's time, was a port of the very first importance. It is the capital of Chinkiang. Zayton, which lies south of Hangchau, and is now known as Chinchau, or Tsinchau, was the port from which the Khan's fleets sailed for the capture of Japan; and from that port also sailed Marco Polo and his father and uncle on their final return to Europe, when they took with them the bride of the Persian Khan. The city was famous, among other things, for a peculiar, rich, and glossy silk, which was called satin, from a change of the name, Zayton, or Zaituni, where it was made and exported. In the same way, calico takes its name from the Indian city Calicut, and cambric from

XX.]

COCHIN CHINA.

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Cambrai. Kinsay and Zayton were also objects of Columbus' search on his first and second voyages.

Another region in the eastern archipelago noted by Marco is Cochin China, which he calls Chamba. Cochin China was conquered by the Great Khan, and Marco visited the country in 1285, he says. At that time, according to Marco Polo, the king had a great many wives; and he also had, " between sons and daughters, three hundred and twenty-six children, of whom at least one hundred and fifty were men fit to carry arms." Of the productions of the country he writes:

There are very great numbers of elephants in this kingdom, and they have lignaloes in great abundance. They have also extensive forests of the wood called Bonus, which is jet black, and of which chessmen and pen-cases are made.

Elephants are still very numerous in Cochin China; and ebony, the jet-black wood of which Marco speaks, is also brought from there. We must understand that lignaloes is the antique name for aloes-wooda vegetable product from which is prepared the drug known in medicine as aloes.

The other countries mentioned by Marco are Java, of which he gives a very meagre account; Sumatra, which he calls "Java the Less"; and divers other islands, which are difficult for us now to identify on

the modern map. Concerning the strange things he saw in Sumatra, Marco says:

This also is an independent kingdom, and the people have a language of their own; but they are just like beasts, without laws or religion. They call themselves subjects of the Great Kaan, but they pay him no tribute; indeed, they are so far away that his men could not go thither. Still, all these Islanders declare themselves to be his subjects, and sometimes they send him curiosities as presents. There are wild elephants in the country, and numerous unicorns, which are very nearly as big. They have hair like that of a buffalo, feet like those of an elephant, and a horn in the middle of the forehead, which is black and very thick. They do no mischief, however, with the horn, but with the tongue alone; for this is covered all over with long and strong prickles, and when savage with any one they crush him under their knees and then rasp him with their tongue. The head resembles that of a wild boar, and they carry it ever bent toward the ground. They delight much to abide in mire and mud. 'Tis a passing ugly beast to look upon. There are also monkeys here in great numbers and of sundry kinds, and goshawks as black as crows. These are very large birds and capital for fowling.

You

I may tell you, moreover, that when people bring home pygmies which they allege to come from India, 'tis all a lie and a cheat. For those little men, as they call them, are manufactured on this Island, and I will tell you how. see there is on the Island a kind of monkey which is very small, and has a face just like a man's. They take these, and pluck out all the hair except the hair of the beard and on the breast, and then they dry them and stuff them and daub them with saffron and other things until they look like men. But you see it is all a cheat; for nowhere in