ty of such duties, so harassing, that persuaded Fang Kuan-ch'eng
to write the couplet on one of the city gateways: _Jih pien ch'ung yao, wu
shuang ti: T'ien hsia fan nan, ti yi Chou_. 'In all the world, there is no
place so public as this: for multiplied cares and trials, this is the first
Chou.' The people of Cho-Chou, of old celebrated for their religious
spirit, are now well known for their literary enterprise."--H.C.] This
bifurcation of the roads is a notable point in Polo's book. For after
following the western road through Cathay, i.e. the northern provinces of
China, to the borders of Tibet and the Indo-Chinese regions, our traveller
will return, whimsically enough, not to the capital to take a fresh
departure, but to this bifurcation outside of Chochau, and thence carry us
south with him to Manzi, or China south of the Yellow River.

Of a part of the road of which Polo speaks in the latter part of the
chapter Williamson says: "The drive was a very beautiful one. Not only were
the many villages almost hidden by foliage, but the road itself hereabouts
is lined with trees.... The effect was to make the journey like a ramble
through the avenues of some English park." Beyond Tingchau however the
country becomes more barren. (I. 268.)

CHAPTER XXXVII.

THE KINGDOM OF TAIANFU.

After riding then those ten days from the city of Juju, you find yourself
in a kingdom called TAIANFU, and the city at which you arrive, which is the
capital, is also called Taianfu, a very great and fine city. [But at the
end of five days' journey out of those ten, they say there is a city
unusually large and handsome called ACBALUC, whereat terminate in this
direction the hunting preserves of the Emperor, within which no one dares
to sport except the Emperor and his family, and those who are on the books
of the Grand Falconer. Beyond this limit any one is at liberty to sport, if
he be a gentleman. The Great Kaan, however, scarcely ever went hunting in
this direction, and hence the game, particularly the hares, had increased
and multiplied to such an extent that all the crops of the Province were
destroyed. The Great Kaan being informed of this, proceeded thither with
all his Court, and the game that was taken was past counting.][NOTE 1]

Taianfu[NOTE 2] is a place of great trade and great industry, for here they
manufacture a large quantity of the most necessary equipments for the army
of the Emperor. There grow here many excellent