[8] _Jackdaws_, I believe, in spite of some doubt from the imbecility of ordinary dictionaries in such matters. They are under this name made the object of a similitude by Dante (surely a most unhappy one) in reference to the resplendent spirits flitting on the celestial stairs in the sphere of Saturn:— “E come per lo natural costume _Le Pole_ insieme, al cominciar del giorno, Si muovono a scaldar le fredde piume: Poi altre vanno vià senza ritorno, Altre rivolgon sè, onde son mosse, Ed altre roteando fan soggiorno.”—_Parad._ XXI. 34. There is some difference among authorities as to the details of the Polo blazon. According to a MS. concerning the genealogies of Venetian families written by Marco Barbaro in 1566, and of which there is a copy in the Museo Civico, the field is _gules_, the bend _or_. And this I have followed in the cut. But a note by S. Stefani of Venice, with which I have been favoured since the cut was made, informs me that a fine 15th-century MS. in his possession gives the field as _argent_, with no _bend_, and the three birds _sable_ with beaks _gules_, disposed thus ∵. [Illustration: Arms of the Polo[A]] [A] [This coat of arms is reproduced from the Genealogies of Priuli, Archivio di Stato, Venice.—H. C.] [9] Marco Antonio Trevisano was elected Doge, 4th June, 1553, but died on the 31st of May following. We do not here notice Ramusio’s numerous errors, which will be corrected in the sequel. [See p. 78.] II. SKETCH OF THE STATE OF THE EAST AT THE TIME OF THE JOURNEYS OF THE POLO FAMILY. 9. The story of the travels of the Polo family opens in 1260. [Sidenote: State of the Levant.]