[2] _Note_ by _Mr. C. Phillips_. I omit a corroborative quotation about sugar from the Turkish Geography, copied from Klaproth in the former edition; because the author, Hajji Khalfa, used European sources; and I have no doubt the passage was derived indirectly from Marco Polo. [3] _Note_ by _Mr. G. Phillips_. CHAPTER LXXXI. CONCERNING THE GREATNESS OF THE CITY OF FUJU. Now this city of Fuju is the key of the kingdom which is called CHONKA, and which is one of the nine great divisions of Manzi.{1} The city is a seat of great trade and great manufactures. The people are Idolaters and subject to the Great Kaan. And a large garrison is maintained there by that prince to keep the kingdom in peace and subjection. For the city is one which is apt to revolt on very slight provocation. There flows through the middle of this city a great river, which is about a mile in width, and many ships are built at the city which are launched upon this river. Enormous quantities of sugar are made there, and there is a great traffic in pearls and precious stones. For many ships of India come to these parts bringing many merchants who traffic about the Isles of the Indies. For this city is, as I must tell you, in the vicinity of the Ocean Port of ZAYTON,{2} which is greatly frequented by the ships of India with their cargoes of various merchandize; and from Zayton ships come this way right up to the city of Fuju by the river I have told you of; and ’tis in this way that the precious wares of India come hither.{3} The city is really a very fine one and kept in good order, and all necessaries of life are there to be had in great abundance and cheapness. NOTE 1.—The name here applied to Fo-kien by Polo is variously written as _Choncha, Chonka, Concha, Chouka_. It has not been satisfactorily explained. Klaproth and Neumann refer it to _Kiang-Ché_, of which Fo-kien at one time of the Mongol rule formed a part. This is the more improbable as Polo expressly distinguishes this province or kingdom from that which was under Kinsay, viz. Kiang-Ché. Pauthier supposes the word to represent _Kien-Kwé_, “the Kingdom of Kien,” because in the 8th century this territory had formed a principality of which the seat was at _Kien-chau_, now Kien-ning fu. This is not satisfactory either, for no evidence is adduced that the name continued in use. One might suppose that _Choncha_ represented _T’swan-chau_, the Chinese name of the city of Zayton, or rather of the department attached to it, written by the French _Thsiuan-tchéou_, but by Medhurst _Chwanchew_, were it not that Polo’s practice of writing the term _tchéu_ or _chau_ by _giu_ is so nearly invariable, and that the soft _ch_ is almost always expressed in the old texts by the Italian _ci_ (though the Venetian does use the soft _ch_).[1]