ute the extraordinary richness of the sovereign's
palace, according to what we are told by those who have access to the
place. The entire roof is covered with a plating of gold, in the same
manner as we cover houses, or more properly churches, with lead. The
ceilings of the halls are of the same precious metal; many of the
apartments have small tables of pure gold, of considerable thickness;
and the windows have also golden ornaments. So vast, indeed, are the
riches of the palace that it is impossible to convey an idea of them.
In this island there are pearls also, in large quantities, of a red
(pink) color, round in shape, and of great size, equal in value to, or
even exceeding that of the white pearls. It is customary with one part
of the inhabitants to bury their dead, and with another part to burn
them. The former have a practise of putting one of these pearls into
the mouth of the corpse. There are also found there a number of
precious stones.

[Footnote 24: From the "Travels." The text of this, the most famous
perhaps of all books of travel, has come down to us in an extremely
corrupt state. Written as it was about 250 years before the invention
of printing, innumerable copies in manuscript form were put into
circulation, some in French, some in Italian, some in German and some
in Latin. French is believed to be the language in which it originally
was composed, but this has not been definitely proven. More than
eighty copies in manuscript are still extant. A Latin version was
printed in Basel in 1532. The first English translation appears to be
one that was made by John Frampton, published in London in 1579. An
English version by W. Marsden appeared in 1818.]

[Footnote 25: Chinese miles are here meant.]

Of so great celebrity was the wealth of this island that a desire was
excited in the breast of the grand Khan Kublai, now reigning, to make
the conquest of it and to annex it to his dominions. In order to
effect this he fitted out a numerous fleet, and embarked a large body
of troops, under the command of two of his principal officers, one of
whom was named Abbacatan and the other Vonsancin. The expedition
sailed from the ports of Zai-tun and Kin-sai [probably Amoy and
Ningpo], and, crossing the intermediate sea, reached the island in
safety; but in consequence of a jealousy that arose between the two
commanders, one of whom treated the plans of the other with contempt
and resisted the execution of his orders,