dogs
as bigs as donkeys, which are capital at seizing wild beasts [and in
particular the wild oxen which are called _Beyamini_, very great and
fierce animals] They have also sundry other kinds of sporting dogs, and
excellent lanner falcons [and sakers], swift in flight and well-trained,
which are got in the mountains of the country.[NOTE 5]

Now I have told you in brief all that is to be said about Tebet, and so we
will leave it, and tell you about another province that is called Caindu.

[Illustration: Village of Eastern Tibet on Szechwan Frontier (From
Cooper)]

As regards Tebet, however, you should understand that it is subject to the
Great Kaan. So, likewise, all the other kingdoms, regions, and provinces
which are described in this book are subject to the Great Kaan, nay, even
those other kingdoms, regions, and provinces of which I had occasion to
speak at the beginning of the book as belonging to the son of Argon, the
Lord of the Levant, are also subject to the Emperor; for the former holds
his dominion of the Kaan, and is his liegeman and kinsman of the blood
Imperial. So you must know that from this province forward all the
provinces mentioned in our book are subject to the Great Kaan; and even if
this be not specially mentioned, you must understand that it is so.

[Illustration: Roads in Eastern Tibet. (Gorge of the Lan t'sang Kiang,
from Cooper.)]

Now let us have done with this matter, and I will tell you about the
Province of Caindu.

NOTE 1.--Here Marco at least shows that he knew Tibet to be much more
extensive than the small part of it that he had seen. But beyond this his
information amounts to little.

NOTE 2.--"_Or de paliolle_" "_Oro di pagliuola_" (_pagliuola_, "a
spangle") must have been the technical phrase for what we call gold-dust,
and the French now call _or en paillettes_, a phrase used by a French
missionary in speaking of this very region. (_Ann. de la Foi_, XXXVII.
427.) Yet the only example of this use of the word cited in the _Voc.
Ital. Universale_ is from this passage of the Crusca MS.; and Pipino seems
not to have understood it, translating "_aurum quod dicitur_ Deplaglola";
whilst Zurla says erroneously that _pajola_ is an old Italian word for
_gold_. Pegolotti uses _argento in pagliuola_ (p. 219). A Barcelona tariff
of 1271 sets so much on every mark of _Pallola_. And the old Portuguese
navigators seem always to have used the same expression for the gold-dust
of Africa, _o