their wars that they had never even seen
them, nor knew what they were." The MS. in question has in this narrative
several statements peculiar to itself,[1] as indeed it has in various
other passages of the book; and these often look very like the result of
revision by Polo himself. Yet I have not introduced the words just quoted
into our text, because they are, as we shall see presently, notoriously
contrary to fact.

NOTE 2.--The same MS. has here a passage which I am unable to understand.
After the words "300 lbs. and more," it goes on: "Et la veoit l'en voler
moult loing, desquelles pierres _il en y avoit plus de_ lx _routes qui
tant montoit l'une comme l'autre_" The Bern has the same. [Perhaps we
might read lx _en routes_, viz. on their way.--H.C.]

NOTE 3.--I propose here to enter into some detailed explanation regarding
the military engines that were in use in the Middle Ages.[2] None of these
depended for their motive force on _torsion_ like the chief engines used
in classic times. However numerous the names applied to them, with
reference to minor variations in construction or differences in power,
they may all be reduced to two classes, viz. _great slings_ and _great
crossbows_. And this is equally true of all the three great branches of
mediaeval civilisation--European, Saracenic, and Chinese. To the first
class belonged the _Trebuchet_ and _Mangonel_; to the second, the
_Winch-Arblast_ (Arbalete a Tour), _Springold_ etc.

Whatever the ancient _Balista_ may have been, the word in mediaeval Latin
seems always to mean some kind of crossbow. The heavier crossbows were
wound up by various aids, such as winches, ratchets, etc. They discharged
stone shot, leaden bullets, and short, square-shafted arrows called
_quarrels_, and these with such force we are told as to pierce a six-inch
post (?). But they were worked so slowly in the field that they were no
match for the long-bow, which shot five or six times to their once. The
great machines of this kind were made of wood, of steel, and very
frequently of horn;[3] and the bow was sometimes more than 30 feet in
length. Dufour calculates that such a machine could shoot an arrow of half
a kilogram in weight to a distance of about 860 yards.

The _Trebuchet_ consisted of a long tapering shaft or beam, pivoted at a
short distance from the butt end on a pair of strong pyramidal trestles.
At the other end of the shaft a sling was applied, one cord of which was
firmly atta