NOTE 9.—The estuary of the Ts’ien T’ang, or river of Hang-chau, has undergone great changes since Polo’s day. The sea now comes up much nearer the city; and the upper part of the Bay of Hang-chau is believed to cover what was once the site of the port and town of KANP’U, the Ganpu of the text. A modern representative of the name still subsists, a walled town, and one of the depôts for the salt which is so extensively manufactured on this coast; but the present port of Hang-chau, and till recently the sole seat of Chinese trade with Japan, is at _Chapu_, some 20 miles further seaward. It is supposed by Klaproth that KANP’U was the port frequented by the early Arab voyagers, and of which they speak under the name of _Khánfú_, confounding in their details Hang-chau itself with the port. Neumann dissents from this, maintaining that the Khanfu of the Arabs was certainly Canton. Abulfeda, however, states expressly that Khanfu was known in his day as _Khansá_ (_i.e._ Kinsay), and he speaks of its lake of fresh water called _Sikhu_ (Si-hu). [Abulfeda has in fact two Khânqû (Khanfû): Khansâ with the lake which is Kinsay, and one Khanfû which is probably Canton. (See _Guyard’s transl._, II., ii., 122–124.)—H. C.] There seems to be an indication in Chinese records that a southern branch of the Great Kiang once entered the sea at Kanp’u; the closing of it is assigned to the 7th century, or a little later. [Dr. F. Hirth writes (_Jour. Roy. As. Soc._, 1896, pp. 68–69): “For centuries Canton must have been the only channel through which foreign trade was permitted; for it is not before the year 999 that we read of the appointment of Inspectors of Trade at Hang-chou and Ming-chou. The latter name is identified with Ning-po.” Dr. Hirth adds in a note: “This is in my opinion the principal reason why the port of _Khanfu_, mentioned by the earliest Muhammadan travellers, or authors (Soleiman, Abu Zeid, and Maçoudi), cannot be identified with Hang-chou. The report of Soleiman, who first speaks of _Khanfu_, was written in 851, and in those days Canton was apparently the only port open to foreign trade. Marco Polo’s _Ganfu_ is a different port altogether, viz. _Kan-fu_, or _Kan-pu_, near Hang-chou, and should not be confounded with _Khanfu_.”—H. C.]