Asia -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800; Mongols -- History; Polo, Marco, 1254-1323?; Voyages and travels
[Mr. Phillips writes (_T. Pao_, I. p. 222): “From Fuyang the next
point reached is Tunglu, also another 100 _li_ distant. Polo
calls this city Ugim, a name bearing no resemblance to Tunglu,
but this name and Ta Pin Zu are so corrupted in all editions that
they defy conjecture. One hundred _li_ further up the river from
Tunglu, we come to Yenchau, in which I think we have Polo’s Gengiu
of Ramusio’s text. Yule’s text calls this city Ghiuju, possibly
an error in transcription for Ghinju; Yenchau in ancient Chinese
would, according to Williams, be pronounced Ngam, Ngin, and
Ngienchau, all of which are sufficiently near Polo’s Gengiu. The
next city reached is Lan Ki Hien or Lan Chi Hsien, famous for its
hams, dates, and all the good things of this life, according to the
Chinese. In this city I recognise Polo’s Zen Gi An of Ramusio. Does
its description justify me in my identification? ‘The city of “Zen
gi an,”’ says Ramusio, ‘is built upon a hill that stands isolated
in the river, which latter, by dividing itself into two branches,
appears to embrace it. These streams take opposite directions:
one of them pursuing its course to the south-east and the other
to the north-west.’ Fortune, in his _Wanderings in China_ (vol.
ii. p. 139), calls Lan-Khi, Nan-Che-hien, and says: ‘It is built
on the banks of the river, and has a picturesque hill behind it.’
Milne, who also visited it, mentions it in his _Life in China_ (p.
258), and says: ‘At the southern end of the suburbs of Lan-Ki the
river divides into two branches, the one to the left on south-east
leading direct to Kinhua.’ Milne’s description of the place is
almost identical with Polo’s, when speaking of the division of the
river. There are in Fuchau several Lan-Khi shopkeepers, who deal in
hams, dates, etc., and these men tell me the city from the river
has the appearance of being built on a hill, but the houses on
the hill are chiefly temples. I would divide the name as follows,
Zen gi an; the last syllable _an_ most probably represents the
modern Hien, meaning District city, which in ancient Chinese was
pronounced _Han_, softened by the Italians into _an_. Lan-Khi was a
Hien in Polo’s day.”—H. C.]
Kin-hwa fu, as Pauthier has observed, bore at this time the name
of WU-CHAU, which Polo would certainly write _Vugiu_. And between
Shao-hing and Kin-hwa there exists, as Baron Richthofen has pointed
out, a line of depression which affords an easy connection between
Shao-hing and Lan-ki hien or Kin-hwa fu. This line is much used by
travellers, and forms just 3 short stages. Hence Kin-hwa, a fine
city destroyed by the T’ai-P’ings, is satisfactorily identified
with _Vugiu_.
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