There flows through the middle of this city a great river, which is about
a mile in width, and many ships are built at the city which are launched
upon this river. Enormous quantities of sugar are made there, and there is
a great traffic in pearls and precious stones. For many ships of India
come to these parts bringing many merchants who traffic about the Isles of
the Indies. For this city is, as I must tell you, in the vicinity of the
Ocean Port of ZAYTON,[NOTE 2] which is greatly frequented by the ships of
India with their cargoes of various merchandize; and from Zayton ships
come this way right up to the city of Fuju by the river I have told you
of; and 'tis in this way that the precious wares of India come hither.
[NOTE 3]

The city is really a very fine one and kept in good order, and all
necessaries of life are there to be had in great abundance and cheapness.

NOTE 1.--The name here applied to Fo-kien by Polo is variously written as
_Choncha, Chonka, Concha, Chouka_. It has not been satisfactorily
explained. Klaproth and Neumann refer it to _Kiang-Che_, of which Fo-kien
at one time of the Mongol rule formed a part. This is the more improbable
as Polo expressly distinguishes this province or kingdom from that which
was under Kinsay, viz. Kiang-Che. Pauthier supposes the word to represent
_Kien-Kwe_ "the Kingdom of Kien," because in the 8th century this
territory had formed a principality of which the seat was at _Kien-chau_,
now Kien-ning fu. This is not satisfactory either, for no evidence is
adduced that the name continued in use.

One might suppose that _Choncha_ represented _T'swan-chau_, the Chinese
name of the city of Zayton, or rather of the department attached to it,
written by the French _Thsiuan-tcheou_, but by Medhurst _Chwanchew_, were
it not that Polo's practice of writing the term _tcheu_ or _chau_ by _giu_
is so nearly invariable, and that the soft _ch_ is almost always expressed
in the old texts by the Italian _ci_ (though the Venetian does use the
soft _ch_).[1]

It is again impossible not to be struck with the resemblance of _Chonka_
to "CHUNG-KWE" "the Middle Kingdom," though I can suggest no ground for
the application of such a title specially to Fo-kien, except a possible
misapprehension. _Chonkwe_ occurs in the Persian _Historia Cathaica_
published by Mueller, but is there specially applied to _North China_. (See
_Quat. Rashid._, p. lxxxvi.)

The city of course is FU-CHAU. It was visi