conclude: the history of the relations between Annam (Tong-king) and
her southern neighbour, the kingdom of Champa, the itineraries of Marco
Polo and Ibn Khordadhbeh as well as the position given to Sanf by
Abulfeda, justify me, I think, in placing Champa in that part of the
central and southern indo-Chinese coast which the French to-day call Annam
(Cochinchine and Basse-Cochinchine), the Binh-Thuan province showing more
particularly what remains of the ancient kingdom.

Since I wrote the above, I have received No. 1 of vol. ii. of the _Bul.
de l'Ecole Francaise d'Extreme-Orient_, which contains a note on _Canf et
Campa_, by M.A. Barth. The reasons given in a note addressed to him by
Professor De Goeje and the work of Ibn Khordadhbeh have led M.A. Barth to
my own conclusion, viz. that the coast of Champa was situated where
inscriptions have been found on the Annamite coast.--H.C.]

The Sagatu of Marco appears in the Chinese history as _Sotu_, the military
governor of the Canton districts, which he had been active in reducing.

In 1278 Sotu sent an envoy to Chen-ching to claim the king's submission,
which was rendered, and for some years he sent his tribute to Kublai. But
when the Kaan proceeded to interfere in the internal affairs of the
kingdom by sending a Resident and Chinese officials, the king's son (1282)
resolutely opposed these proceedings, and threw the Chinese officials into
prison. The Kaan, in great wrath at this insult, (coming also so soon
after his discomfiture in Japan), ordered Sotu and others to Chen-ching to
take vengeance. The prince in the following year made a pretence of
submission, and the army (if indeed it had been sent) seems to have been
withdrawn. The prince, however, renewed his attack on the Chinese
establishments, and put 100 of their officials to death. Sotu then
despatched a new force, but it was quite unsuccessful, and had to retire.
In 1284 the king sent an embassy, including his grandson, to beg for
pardon and reconciliation. Kublai, however, refused to receive them, and
ordered his son Tughan to advance through Tong-king, an enterprise which
led to a still more disastrous war with that country, in which the Mongols
had much the worst of it. We are not told more.

Here we have the difficulties usual with Polo's historical anecdotes.
Certain names and circumstances are distinctly recognisable in the Chinese
Annals; others are difficult to reconcile with these. The embassy of 1284
s