I answered again, and I do not
think it necessary to carry on farther this controversy. I recall that
Major Sykes writes: "To conclude, I maintain that Marco Polo entered
Persia near Tabriz, whence he travelled to Sultania, Kashan, Yezd, Kerman,
and Hormuz. From that port, owing to the unseaworthiness of the vessels,
the presence of pirates, the fact that the season was past, or for some
other reason, he returned by a westerly route to Kerman, and thence
crossed the Lut to Khorasan."

I replied in the _Geographical Journal_, Dec., 1905, pp. 686-687:
"Baghdad, after its fall in 1258, did not cease immediately to be 'rather
off the main caravan route.' I shall not refer Major Sykes to what I say
in my editions of 'Odorico' and 'Polo' on the subject, but to the standard
work of Heyd, _Commerce du Levant_, Vol. 2, pp. 77, 78. The itinerary,
Tabriz, Sultania, Kashan, Yezd, was the usual route later on, at the
beginning of the fourteenth century, and it was followed, among others, by
Fra Odorico, of Pordenone. Marco Polo, on his way to the Far East--you
must not forget that he was at Acre in 1271--could not have crossed
Sultania, which _did not exist_, as its building was commenced by Arghun
Khan, who ascended the throne in 1284, and was continued by Oeljaitu
(1304-1316), who gave the name of Sultania to the city." Cf. Lieut.-Col.
P.M. SYKES, _A History of Persia_, 1915, 2 vols., 8vo; II., p. 181 n.

Introduction, p. 21. M. Pauthier has found a record in the Chinese Annals
of the Mongol dynasty, which states that in the year 1277, a certain POLO
was nominated a second-class commissioner or agent attached to the Privy
Council, a passage which we are happy to believe to refer to our young
traveller.

Prof. E.H. Parker remarks (_Asiatic Quart. Review_, 3rd Series, Vol.
XVII., Jan., 1904, pp. 128-131): "M. Pauthier has apparently overlooked
other records, which make it clear that the identical individual in
question had already received honours from Kublai many years before
Marco's arrival in 1275. Perhaps the best way to make this point clear
would be to give all the original passages which bear upon the question.
The number I give refer to the chapter and page (first half or second half
of the double page) of the _Yuan Shi_:--

A. Chap. 7, p. 1-2/2: 1270, second moon. Kublai inspects a court pageant
prepared by Puh-lo and others.

B. Chap. 7, p. 6-1/2: 1270, twelfth moon. The _yue-shi chung-ch'eng_
(censor) Puh-lo made als