ther to the Great Kaan, with some
10,000 horsemen of his, and abode with him; for Chagatai was his uncle.
And whilst there this Nogodar devised a most audacious enterprise, and I
will tell you what it was. He left his uncle who was then in Greater
Armenia, and fled with a great body of horsemen, cruel unscrupulous
fellows, first through BADASHAN, and then through another province called
PASHAI-DIR, and then through another called ARIORA-KESHEMUR. There he lost
a great number of his people and of his horses, for the roads were very
narrow and perilous. And when he had conquered all those provinces, he
entered India at the extremity of a province called DALIVAR. He
established himself in that city and government, which he took from the
King of the country, ASEDIN SOLDAN by name, a man of great power and
wealth. And there abideth Nogodar with his army, afraid of nobody, and
waging war with all the Tartars in his neighbourhood.[NOTE 4]

Now that I have told you of those scoundrels and their history, I must add
the fact that Messer Marco himself was all but caught by their bands in
such a darkness as that I have told you of; but, as it pleased God, he got
off and threw himself into a village that was hard by, called CONOSALMI.
Howbeit he lost his whole company except seven persons who escaped along
with him. The rest were caught, and some of them sold, some put to
death.[NOTE 5]

NOTE 1.--Ramusio has "Adam's apple" for apples of Paradise. This was some
kind of _Citrus_, though Lindley thinks it impossible to say precisely
what. According to Jacques de Vitry it was a beautiful fruit of the Citron
kind, in which the bite of human teeth was plainly discernible. (Note to
_Vulgar Errors_, II. 211; _Bongars_, I. 1099.) Mr. Abbott speaks of this
tract as "the districts (of Kerman) lying towards the South, which are
termed the Ghermseer or Hot Region, where the temperature of winter
resembles that of a charming spring, and where the palm, orange, and
lemon-tree flourish." (_MS. Report_; see also _J. R. G. S._ XXV. 56.)

["Marco Polo's apples of Paradise are more probably the fruits of the
Konar tree. There are no plantains in that part of the country. Turtle
doves, now as then, are plentiful, and as they are seldom shot, and are
said by the people to be unwholesome food, we can understand Marco Polo's
saying that the people do not eat them." (_Houtum-Schindler_, l.c. pp.
492-493.)--H. C.]

The Francolin here spoken of is, as Ma