this territory, uses exactly Polo's phrase, saying
that the districts in question are properly called _Kil-o-Kilan_, but by
the Arabs _Jil-o-Jilan_. Teixeira gives the Persian name of the sea as
_Darya Ghilani_. (See _Abulf._ in _Buesching_, v. 329.)

[The province of Gil (Gilan), which is situated between the mountains and
the Caspian Sea, and between the provinces of Azerbaijan and Mazanderan
(H. C.)], gave name to the silk for which it was and is still famous,
mentioned as _Ghelle_ (_Gili_) at the end of this chapter. This _Seta
Ghella_ is mentioned also by Pegolotti (pp. 212, 238, 301), and by Uzzano,
with an odd transposition, as Seta _Leggi_, along with Seta _Masandroni_,
i.e. from the adjoining province of Mazanderan (p. 192). May not the
Spanish _Geliz_, "a silk-dealer," which seems to have been a puzzle to
etymologists, be connected with this? (See _Dosy and Engelmann_, 2nd ed.
p. 275.) [Prof. F. de Filippi (_Viaggo in Persia nel_ 1862,... Milan,
1865, 8vo) speaks of the silk industry of Ghilan (pp. 295-296) as the
principal product of the entire province.--H. C]

The dimensions assigned to the Caspian in the text would be very correct
if length were meant, but the Geog. Text with the same figure specifies
_circuit_ (_zire_). Ramusio again has "a circuit of 2800 miles." Possibly
the original reading was 2700; but this would be in excess.

NOTE 8.--The Caspian is termed by Vincent of Beauvais _Mare Seruanicum_,
the Sea of Shirwan, another of its numerous Oriental names, rendered by
Marino Sanuto as _Mare Salvanicum_. (III. xi. ch. ix.) But it was
generally known to the Franks in the Middle Ages as the SEA OF BACU. Thus
Berni:--

"Fuor del deserto la diritta strada
Lungo il Mar di Bacu miglior pareva."
(_Orl. Innam._ xvii. 60.)

And in the _Sfera_ of Lionardo Dati (circa 1390):--

"Da Tramontana di quest' Asia Grande
Tartari son sotto la fredda Zona,
Gente bestial di bestie e vivande,
Fin dove _l'Onda di Baccu_ risuona," etc. (p. 10.)

This name is introduced in Ramusio, but probably by interpolation, as well
as the correction of the statement regarding Euphrates, which is perhaps a
branch of the notion alluded to in _Prologue_, ch. ii. note 5. In a later
chapter Marco calls it the _Sea of Sarai_, a title also given in the Carta
Catalana. [Odorico calls it Sea of _Bacuc_ (_Cathay_) and Sea of _Bascon_
(Cordier). The latter name is a corruption of Abeskun, a small town and
island in the