8.
--H.C.]

CHAPTER LXVI.

CONCERNING THE CITY OF COIGANJU.

Coiganju is, as I have told you already, a very large city standing at the
entrance to Manzi. The people are Idolaters and burn their dead, and are
subject to the Great Kaan. They have a vast amount of shipping, as I
mentioned before in speaking of the River Caramoran. And an immense
quantity of merchandize comes hither, for the city is the seat of
government for this part of the country. Owing to its being on the river,
many cities send their produce thither to be again thence distributed in
every direction. A great amount of salt also is made here, furnishing some
forty other cities with that article, and bringing in a large revenue to
the Great Kaan.[NOTE 1]

NOTE 1.--Coiganju is HWAI-NGAN CHAU, now _-Fu_ on the canal, some
miles south of the channel of the Hwang-Ho; but apparently in Polo's time
the great river passed close to it. Indeed, the city takes its name from
the River _Hwai_, into which the Hwang-Ho sent a branch when first
seeking a discharge south of Shantung. The city extends for about 3 miles
along the canal and much below its level. [According to Sir J.F. Davis,
the situation of Hwai-ngan "is in every respect remarkable. A part of the
town was so much below the level of the canal, that only the tops of the
walls (at least 25 feet high) could be seen from our boats.... It proved
to be, next to Tien-tsin, by far the largest and most populous place we
had yet seen, the capital itself excepted." (_Sketches of China_, I.
pp. 277-278.)--H.C.]

The headquarters of the salt manufacture of Hwai-ngan is a place called
Yen-ching ("Salt-Town"), some distance to the S. of the former city
(_Pauthier_).

CHAPTER LXVII.

OF THE CITIES OF PAUKIN AND CAYU.

When you leave Coiganju you ride south-east for a day along a causeway
laid with fine stone, which you find at this entrance to Manzi. On either
hand there is a great expanse of water, so that you cannot enter the
province except along this causeway. At the end of the day's journey you
reach the fine city of PAUKIN. The people are Idolaters, burn their dead,
are subject to the Great Kaan, and use paper-money. They live by trade and
manufactures and have great abundance of silk, whereof they weave a great
variety of fine stuffs of silk and gold. Of all the necessaries of life
there is great store.

When you leave Paukin you ride another day to the south-east, and then you
arriv