to a modest amount." (_Palladius_, pp. 50-51.)--H. C.]

[Dr. Bretschneider (_Hist. Bot. Disc._, I. p. 4) makes the following
remark:--"Polo states (I. 409) that the Great Kaan causeth the bark of
great Mulberry-trees, made into something like paper, to pass for money."
He seems to be mistaken. Paper in China is not made from mulberry-trees
but from the _Broussonetia papyrifera_, which latter tree belongs to the
same order of Moraceae. The same fibres are used also in some parts of
China for making cloth, and Marco Polo alludes probably to the same tree
when stating (II. 108) "that in the province of Cuiju (Kwei chau) they
manufacture stuff of the bark of certain trees, which form very fine
summer clothing."--H. C.]

[1] Even now there are at least eight different _taels_ (or liangs) in
extensive use over the Empire, and varying as much as from 96 to 106;
and besides these are many local _taels_, with about the same limits
of variation.--(_Williamson's Journeys_, I. 60.)

[2] [The Archimandrite Palladius (l.c., p. 50, note) says that "the _ting_
of the Mongol time, as well as during the reign of the Kin, was a unit
of weight equivalent to fifty _liang_, but not to ten _liang_. Cf.
_Ch'u keng lu_, and _Yuen-shi_, ch. xcv. The _Yuen pao_, which as
everybody in China knows, is equivalent to fifty _liang_ (taels) of
silver, is the same as the ancient _ting_, and the character _Yuen_
indicates that it dates from the _Yuen_ Dynasty."--H. C.]

[3] This is also, as regards Customs payments, the system of the
Government of modern Italy.

[4] The first edition of this work gave a facsimile of one of this unlucky
minister's notes.

[5] On both sides, however, was the Mahomedan formula, and beneath that
the words _Yiranjin Turji_, a title conferred on the kings of Persia
by the Kaan. There was also an inscription to the following effect:
that the Emperor in the year 693 (A.H.) had issued these auspicious
_chao_, that all who forged or uttered false notes should be summarily
punished, with their wives and children, and their property
confiscated; and that when these auspicious notes were once in
circulation, poverty would vanish, provisions become cheap, and rich
and poor be equal (_Cowell_). The use of the term _chao_ at Tabriz may
be compared with that of _Banklot_, current in modern India.

CHAPTER XXV.

CONCERNING THE TWELVE BARONS WH