er, there
stands a rocky island on which there is an idol-monastery containing some
200 idolatrous friars, and a vast number of idols. And this Abbey holds
supremacy over a number of other idol-monasteries, just like an
archbishop's see among Christians.[NOTE 3]

Now we will leave this and cross the river, and I will tell you of a city
called Chinghianfu.

NOTE 1.--No place in Polo's travels is better identified by his local
indications than this. It is on the Kiang; it is at the extremity of the
Great Canal from Cambaluc; it is opposite the Golden Island and Chin-kiang
fu. Hence it is KWA-CHAU, as Murray pointed out. Marsden here
misunderstands his text, and puts the place on the south side of the
Kiang.

Here Van Braam notices that there passed in the course of the day more
than fifty great rice-boats, most of which could easily carry more than
300,000 lbs. of rice. And Mr. Alabaster, in 1868, speaks of the canal from
Yang-chau to Kwa-chau as "full of junks."

[Sir J.F. Davis writes (_Sketches of China_, II. p. 6): "Two ... days ...
were occupied in exploring the half-deserted town of _Kwa-chow_, whose name
signifies 'the island of gourds,' being completely insulated by the river
and canal. We took a long walk along the top of the walls, which were as
usual of great thickness, and afforded a broad level platform behind the
parapet: the parapet itself, about six feet high, did not in thickness
exceed the length of a brick and a half, and the embrasures were evidently
not constructed for cannon, being much too high. A very considerable
portion of the area within the walls consisted of burial-grounds planted
with cypress; and this alone was a sufficient proof of the decayed
condition of the place, as in modern or fully inhabited cities no person
can be buried within the walls. Almost every spot bore traces of ruin, and
there appeared to be but one good street in the whole town; this, however,
was full of shops, and as busy as Chinese streets always are."--H.C.]

NOTE 2.--Rashiduddin gives the following account of the Grand Canal spoken
of in this passage. "The river of Khanbaligh had," he says, "in the course
of time, become so shallow as not to admit the entrance of shipping, so
that they had to discharge their cargoes and send them up to Khanbaligh on
pack-cattle. And the Chinese engineers and men of science having reported
that the vessels from the provinces of Cathay, from Machin, and from the
cities of Khings