the city, in honour of John the Baptist; and by his name the church was called. And they took a very fine stone which belonged to the Saracens, and placed it as the pedestal of a column in the middle of the church, supporting the roof. It came to pass, however, that Sigatay died. Now the Saracens were full of rancour about that stone that had been theirs, and which had been set up in the church of the Christians; and when they saw that the Prince was dead, they said one to another that now was the time to get back their stone, by fair means or by foul. And that they might well do, for they were ten times as many as the Christians. So they gat together and went to the church and said that the stone they must and would have. The Christians acknowledged that it was theirs indeed, but offered to pay a large sum of money and so be quit. Howbeit, the others replied that they never would give up the stone for anything in the world. And words ran so high that the Prince heard thereof, and ordered the Christians either to arrange to satisfy the Saracens, if it might be, with money, or to give up the stone. And he allowed them three days to do either the one thing or the other.

What shall I tell you? Well, the Saracens would on no account agree to leave the stone where it was, and this out of pure despite to the Christians, for they knew well enough that if the stone were stirred the church would come down by the run. So the Christians were in great trouble and wist not what to do. But they did do the best thing possible; they besought Jesus Christ that he would consider their case, so that the holy church should not come to destruction, nor the name of its Patron Saint, John the Baptist, be tarnished by its ruin. And so when the day fixed by the Prince came round, they went to the church betimes in the morning, and lo, they found the stone removed from under the column; the foot of the column was without support, and yet it bore

the load as stoutly as before! Between the foot of the column and the ground there was a space of three palms. So the Saracens had away their stone, and mighty little joy withal. It was a glorious miracle, nay, it is so, for the column still so standeth, and will stand as long as God pleaseth.3

Now let us quit this and continue our journey.

NOTE 1.-Of Kaidu, Kublai Kaan's kinsman and rival, and their long wars, we shall have to speak later. He had at this time a kind of joint occupancy of SAMARKAND and Bokhara with the Khans of Chagatai, his cousins.

Marco evidently never was at Samarkand, though doubtless it was visited by his Father and Uncle on their first journey, when we know they were long at Bokhara. Having therefore little to say descriptive of a city he had not seen, he tells us a story :

"So geographers, in Afric maps,

With savage pictures fill their gaps,
And o'er unhabitable downs

Place elephants for want of towns."

As regards the Christians of Samarkand who figure in the preceding story, we may note that the city had been one of the Metropolitan Sees of the Nestorian Church since the beginning of the 8th century, and had been a bishopric perhaps two centuries earlier. Prince Sempad, High Constable of Armenia, in a letter written from Samarkand in 1246 or 1247, mentions several circumstances illustrative of the state of things indicated in this story: "I tell you that we have found many Christians scattered all over the East, and many fine churches, lofty, ancient, and of good architecture, which have been spoiled by the Turks. Hence, the Christians of this country came to the presence of the reigning Kaan's grandfather (i.e. Chinghiz); he received them most honourably, and granted them liberty of worship, and issued orders to prevent their having any just cause of complaint by word or deed. And so the Saracens, who used to treat them with contempt, have now the like treatment in double measure."

Shortly after Marco's time, viz. in 1328, Thomas of Mancasola, a Dominican, who had come from Samarkand with a Mission to the Pope (John XXII.) from Ilchigadai Khan of Chagatai, was appointed Latin Bishop of that city. (Mosheim, p. 110, &c.; Cathay, p. 192.)

NOTE 2.-CHAGATAI, here called Sigatay, was Uncle, not Brother, to the Great Kaan (Kublai). Nor was Kaidu either Chagatai's son or Kublai's nephew, as Marco here and elsewhere represents him to be (see Book IV. chap. i.). The term used to describe Chagatai's relation

ship is frère charnel, which excludes ambiguity, cousinship or the like (such as is expressed by the Italian fratello cugino), and corresponds, I believe, to the brother german of Scotch law documents.

NOTE 3.-One might say, these things be an allegory! We take the fine stone that belongs to the Saracens (or Papists) to build our church on, but the day of reckoning comes at last, and our (Irish Protestant) Christians are afraid that the Church will come about their cars. May it stand, and better than that of Samarkand has done!

There is a story somewhat like this in D'Herbelot, about the Karmathian Heretics carrying off the Black Stone from Mecca, and being obliged years after to bring it back across the breadth of Arabia ; on which occasion the stone conducted itself in a miraculous manner.

There is a remarkable Stone at Samarkand, the Kok-Tash or Green Stone, on which Timur's throne was set. Tradition says that, big as it is, it was brought by him from Brusa ;-but tradition may be wrong. (See Vámbéry's Travels, p. 206).

CHAPTER XXX V.

OF THE PROVINCE OF YARCAN.

YARCAN is a province five days' journey in extent. The people follow the Law of Mahommet, but there are also Nestorian and Jacobite Christians. They are subject to the same Prince that I mentioned, the Great Kaan's nephew. They have plenty of everything, [particularly of cotton. The inhabitants are also great craftsmen, but a large proportion of them have swoln legs, and great crops at the throat, which arises from some quality in their drinking-water.] As there is nothing else worth telling we may pass on.'

NOTE 1.-Yarkan or Yarken seems to be the general pronunciation of the name to this day, though we write YARKAND.

Mir 'Izzat Ullah in modern days speaks of the prevalence of goître at Yarkand. And Mr. Shaw informs me that during his recent visit to Yarkand (1869) he had numerous applications for iodine as a remedy for that disease. The theory which connects it with the close atmosphere of valleys will not hold at Yarkand. (J. R. A. S., VII. 303.)

CHAPTER XXXV I.

OF A PROVINCE CALLED COTAN.

COTAN is a province lying between north-east and east, and is eight days' journey in length. The people are subject to the Great Kaan, and are all worshippers of Mahommet. There are numerous towns and villages in the country, but Cotan, the capital, is the most noble of all, and gives its name to the kingdom. Everything is to be had there in plenty, including abundance of cotton, [with flax, hemp, wheat, wine, and the like]. The people have vineyards and gardens and estates. They live by commerce and manufactures, and are no soldiers.2

NOTE 1. "Aourent Mahommet." Though this is Marco's usual formula to define Mahomedans, we can scarcely suppose that he meant it literally. But in other cases it was very literally interpreted. Thus in Baudouin de Sebourg, the Dame de Pontieu, a passionate lady who renounces her faith before Saladin, says :—

"Et je renoie Dieu et le povoir qu'il a,
Et Marie sa Mère qu'on dist que le porta!
Mahom voel aourer, apportez-le-moi cha !'
* Li Soudans commanda

Qu'on aportast Mahom; et celle l'aoura.”—I. p. 74.

The same romance brings in the story of the Stone of Samarkand, adapted from chap. xxxiv., and accounts for its sanctity in Saracen eyes because it had long formed a pedestal for Mahound!

And this notion gave rise to the use of Mawmet for an idol in general; whilst from the Mahommerie or place of Islamite worship the name of mummery came to be applied to idolatrous or unmeaning rituals; both very unjust etymologies. Thus of mosques in Richard Cœur de Lion:

'Kyrkes they made of Crystene Lawe,

And her Mawmettes lete downe drawe."-Weber, II. 228.

So Correa calls a golden idol, which was taken by Da Gama in a ship of Calicut, “an image of Mahomed" (372). Don Quixote too, who ought to have known better, cites with admiration the feat of Rinaldo in carrying off, in spite of forty Moors, a golden image of Mahomed.

NOTE 2.-800 li (160 miles) east of Chokiuka or Yarkand, Hwen Thsang comes to Kiustanna (Kustána) or KHOTAN. "The country chiefly consists of plains covered with stones and sand. The remainder