at
anything but his tablet." Mr. Rockhill observes: "These tablets are called
_hu_ in Chinese, and were used in China and Korea; in the latter country
down to quite recent times. They were made of jade, ivory, bamboo, etc.,
according to the rank of the owner, and were about three feet long. The
_hu_ was originally used to make memoranda on of the business to be
submitted by the bearer to the Emperor or to write the answers to
questions he had had submitted to them. Odoric also refers to 'the tablets
of white ivory which the Emperor's barons held in their hands as they
stood silent before him.'"

(Cf. the golden tablets which were of various classes with a tiger for
image and pearls for ornaments, _Deveria, Epigraphie_, p. 15 et seq.) --H.
C.]

NOTE 3.--_Umbrella_. The phrase in Pauthier's text is "_Palieque que on
dit_ ombrel." The Latin text of the Soc. de Geographie has "_unum pallium_
de auro," which I have adopted as probably correct, looking to Burma,
where the old etiquettes as to umbrellas are in full force. These
etiquettes were probably in both countries of old Hindu origin. _Pallium_,
according to Muratori, was applied in the Middle Ages to a kind of square
umbrella, by which is probably meant rather a canopy on four staves, which
was sometimes assigned by authority as an honourable privilege.

But the genuine umbrella would seem to have been used also, for Polo's
contemporary, Martino da Canale, says that, when the Doge goes forth of
his palace, "_si vait apres lui un damoiseau qui porte une umbrele de dras
a or sur son chief_," which umbrella had been given by "_Monseigneur
l'Apostoille_." There is a picture by Girolamo Gambarota, in the Sala del
Gran Consiglio, at Venice, which represents the investiture of the Doge
with the umbrella by Pope Alexander III., and Frederick Barbarossa
(concerning which see _Sanuto_ Junior, in _Muratori_, XXII. 512).

The word _Parasol_ also occurs in the Petrarchian vocabulary, (14th
century) as the equivalent of _saioual_ (Pers. _sayaban_ or _saiwan_, an
umbrella). Carpini notices that umbrellas (_solinum vel tentoriolum in
hasta_) were carried over the Tartar nobles and their wives, even on
horseback; and a splendid one, covered with jewels, was one of the
presents made to Kuyuk Kaan on his enthronement.

With respect to the honorary character attaching to umbrellas in China, I
may notice that recently an English resident of Ningpo, on his departure
for Europe, was pre