The latter makes a strong point in the magnificent character of Amoy Harbour, which really is one of the grandest havens in the world, and thus answers better to the emphatic language of Polo, and of Ibn Batuta, than the river of T’swan-chau. All the rivers of Fo-kien, as I learn from Dr. Douglas himself, are rapidly silting up; and it is probable that the river of Chinchew presented, in the 13th and 14th centuries, a far more impressive aspect as a commercial basin than it does now. But still it must have been far below Amoy Harbour in magnitude, depth, and accessibility. I have before recognised this, but saw no way to reconcile the proposed deduction with the positive historical facts already stated, which absolutely (to my mind) identify the Zayton of Polo and Rashiduddin with the Chinese city and port of T’swan-chau. Dr. Douglas, however, points out that the whole northern shore of Amoy Harbour, with the Islands of Amoy and Quemoy, are within the Fu or Department of T’swan-chau; and the latter name would, in Chinese parlance, apply equally to the city and to any part of the department. He cites among other analogous cases the Treaty Port Neuchwang (in Liao-tong). That city really lies 20 miles up the Liao River, but the name of Neuchwang is habitually applied by foreigners to Ying-tzŭ, which is the actual port. Even now much of the trade of T’swan-chau merchants is carried on through Amoy, either by junks touching, or by using the shorter sea-passage to ’An-hai, which was once a port of great trade, and is only 20 miles from T’swan-chau.[3] With such a haven as Amoy Harbour close by, it is improbable that Kúblái’s vast armaments would have made _rendezvous_ in the comparatively inconvenient port of T’swan-chau. Probably then the two were spoken of as one. In all this I recognise strong likelihood, and nothing inconsistent with recorded facts, or with Polo’s concise statements. It is even possible that (as Dr. Douglas thinks) Polo’s words intimate a distinction between Zayton the City and Zayton the Ocean Port; but for me Zayton the city, in Polo’s chapters, remains still T’swan-chau. Dr. Douglas, however, seems disposed to regard it as _Chang-chau_.