e says (_Mich. Pal._ III. 9), that the Emperor Michael "depended
upon the _Gasmuls_, or mixt breeds ([Greek: symmiktoi]), which is the
sense of this word of the Italian tongue, for these were born of Greeks
and Italians, and sent them to man his ships; for the race in question
inherited at once the military wariness and quick wit of the Greeks, and
the dash and pertinacity of the Latins." Again (IV. 26) he speaks of these
"Gasmuls, whom a Greek would call [Greek: digeneis], men sprung from Greek
mothers and Italian fathers." Nicephorus Gregoras also relates how Michael
Palaeologus, to oppose the projects of Baldwin for the recovery of his
fortunes, manned 60 galleys, chiefly with the tribe of Gasmuls ([Greek:
genos tou Gasmoulikou]), to whom he assigns the same characteristics as
Pachymeres. (IV. v. 5, also VI. iii. 3, and XIV. x. 2.) One MS. of Nicetas
Choniates also, in his annals of Manuel Comnenus (see Paris ed. p. 425),
speaks of "the light troops whom we call _Basmuls_." Thus it would seem
that, as in the analogous case of the _Turcopuli_, sprung from Turk
fathers and Greek mothers, their name had come to be applied technically
to a class of troops. According to Buchon, the laws of the Venetians in
Candia mention, as different races in that island, the _Vasmulo_, Latino,
Blaco, and Griego.

Ducange, in one of his notes on Joinville, says: "During the time that the
French possessed Constantinople, they gave the name of _Gas-moules_ to
those who were born of French fathers and Greek mothers; or more probably
_Gaste-moules_, by way of derision, as if such children by those irregular
marriages ... had in some sort debased the wombs of their mothers!" I have
little doubt (_pace tanti viri_) that the word is in a Gallicized form the
same with the surviving Italian _Guazzabuglio_, a hotch-potch, or
mish-mash. In Davanzati's _Tacitus_, the words "Colluviem _illam nationum_"
(_Annal._ II. 55) are rendered "_quello_ guazzabuglio _di nazioni_," in
which case we come very close to the meaning assigned to _Guasmul_. The
Italians are somewhat behind in matters of etymology, and I can get no
light from them on the history of this word. (See _Buchon_, _Chroniques
Etrangeres_, p. xv.; _Ducange_, _Gloss. Graecitatis_, and his note on
_Joinville_, in _Bohn's Chron. of the Crusades_, 466.)

NOTE 5.--It has often been cast in Marco's teeth that he makes no mention
of the Great Wall of China, and that is true; whilst the apologies made