NOTE 1.—The vague description does not suggest the root _turmeric_ with which Marsden and Pauthier identify this “fruit like saffron.” It is probably one of the species of _Gardenia_, the fruits of which are used by the Chinese for their colouring properties. Their splendid yellow colour “is due to a body named crocine which appears to be identical with the polychroite of saffron.” (_Hanbury’s Notes on Chinese Mat. Medica_, pp. 21–22.) For this identification, I am indebted to Dr. Flückiger of Bern. [“Colonel Yule concludes that the fruit of a _Gardenia_, which yields a yellow colour, is meant. But Polo’s vague description might just as well agree with the Bastard Saffron, _Carthamus tinctorius_, a plant introduced into China from Western Asia in the 2nd century B.C., and since then much cultivated in that country.” (_Bretschneider, Hist. of Bot. Disc._ I. p. 4.)—H. C.] [Illustration: Scene in the Bohea Mountains, on Polo’s route between Kiang-si and Fo-kien. (From Fortune.) “=Adonc entre l’en en roiaume de Fugiu, et ici comance. Et ala siz jornée por montangnes e por valés....=”] NOTE 2.—See vol. i. p. 312. NOTE 3.—These particulars as to a race of painted or tattooed caterans accused of cannibalism apparently apply to some aboriginal tribe which still maintained its ground in the mountains between Fo-kien and Che-kiang or Kiang-si. Davis, alluding to the Upper part of the Province of Canton, says: “The Chinese History speaks of the aborigines of this wild region under the name of _Mân_ (Barbarians), who within a comparatively recent period were subdued and incorporated into the Middle Nation. Many persons have remarked a decidedly Malay cast in the features of the natives of this province; and it is highly probable that the Canton and Fo-kien people were originally the same race as the tribes which still remain unreclaimed on the east side of Formosa.”[1] (_Supply. Vol._ p. 260.) Indeed Martini tells us that even in the 17th century this very range of mountains, farther to the south, in the Ting-chau department of Fo-kien, contained a race of uncivilised people, who were enabled by the inaccessible character of the country to maintain their independence of the Chinese Government (p. 114; see also _Semedo_, p. 19). [“Colonel Yule’s ‘pariah caste’ of Shao-ling, who, he says, rebelled against either the Sung or the Yüan, are evidently the _tomin_ of Ningpo and _zikas_ of Wênchow. Colonel Yule’s ‘some aboriginal tribe between Fo-kien and Che-kiang’ are probably the _zikas_ of Wênchow and the _siapo_ of Fu-kien described by recent travellers. The _zikas_ are locally called dogs’ heads, which illustrates Colonel Yule’s allophylian theories.” (_Parker, China Review_, XIV. p. 359.) Cf. _A Visit to the “Dog-Headed Barbarians” or Hill People, near Fu-chow, by Rev. F. Ohlinger, Chinese Recorder_, July, 1886, pp. 265–268.—H. C.]