an be decyphered. A stone road leads up from the city
gate, and another one, very steep, down to the lake. This is the only
vestige remaining of the old palace grounds. There is no doubt about
this being really a relic of the palace.... You will see on the map,
just inside the walls of the Imperial city, the Temple of Brahma.
There are still two stone columns standing with curious Buddhist
inscriptions.... Although the temple is entirely gone, these columns
retain the name and mark the place. They date from the 6th century,
and there are few structures earlier in China." One is engraved above,
after a sketch by Mr. Moule.

[6] See the plan of the city with last chapter.

CHAPTER LXXVIII.

TREATING OF THE GREAT YEARLY REVENUE THAT THE GREAT KAAN HATH FROM KINSAY.

Now I will tell you about the great revenue which the Great Kaan draweth
every year from the said city of Kinsay and its territory, forming a ninth
part of the whole country of Manzi.

First there is the salt, which brings in a great revenue. For it produces
every year, in round numbers, fourscore _tomans_ of gold; and the
_toman_ is worth 70,000 _saggi_ of gold, so that the total value
of the fourscore tomans will be five millions and six hundred thousand
_saggi_ of gold, each saggio being worth more than a gold florin or
ducat; in sooth, a vast sum of money! [This province, you see, adjoins the
ocean, on the shores of which are many lagoons or salt marshes, in which
the sea-water dries up during the summer time; and thence they extract
such a quantity of salt as suffices for the supply of five of the kingdoms
of Manzi besides this one.]

Having told you of the revenue from salt, I will now tell you of that
which accrues to the Great Kaan from the duties on merchandize and other
matters.

You must know that in this city and its dependencies they make great
quantities of sugar, as indeed they do in the other eight divisions of
this country; so that I believe the whole of the rest of the world
together does not produce such a quantity, at least, if that be true which
many people have told me; and the sugar alone again produces an enormous
revenue.--However, I will not repeat the duties on every article
separately, but tell you how they go in the lump. Well, all spicery pays
three and a third per cent. on the value; and all merchandize likewise
pays three and a third per cent. [But sea-borne goods from India and