harlestown, an American vessel, commanded by Mr.
Charles Harris, entered the river. She came for slaves, intending to
touch at Goree to fill up, and to proceed from thence to South Carolina.
This afforded me an opportunity of returning, though by a circuitous
route, to my native country. I therefore immediately engaged my passage
in his vessel for America. I disembarked at St. John's, and there took
passage to Antigua, where, catching the mail-packet for Falmouth, I
reached that port on December 22, having been absent from England two
years and seven months.

MARCO POLO

Travels

_I.--The Beginnings of a Romantic Career_

Marco Polo stands out in history and literature as the
most famous traveller belonging to the early mediaeval
period. He was born at Venice in 1254. In 1271, his father
and uncle, Venetian merchants, set out on a long and
romantic Oriental journey, taking with them young Marco,
who now began the amazing career chronicled in his book.
Everywhere he made copious notes of his observations, and
his curious records, so astonishing as to meet with little
credence during the Middle Ages, have been so far
confirmed as to demonstrate his absolute fidelity to facts
as he saw them, and to such traditions as were
communicated to him, however fantastic. Returning to
Venice in 1295, three years later he fought in his own
galley at Curzola, but on the defeat of the Venetians by
the Genoese he was taken captive and flung into a fortress
at Genoa. This captivity, which lasted a year, is
memorable as being the cause of bringing about the record
of his extraordinary experiences in the East. "The Travels
of Marco Polo, a Venetian," consists essentially of two
parts--first, the author's personal narrative; second, his
description of the provinces and states and the peoples of
Asia during the latter half of the thirteenth century.

In the middle of the thirteenth century, two merchants of Venice, Nicolo
and Maffeo Polo, voyaged with a rich cargo of merchandise, in their own
ship, to Constantinople, and thence to the Black Sea. From the Crimea
they travelled on horseback into Western Tartary, where they resided in
business for a year, gaining by their politic behaviour the cordial
friendship of the paramount chief of the tribes, named Barka.

Prevented from returning to Europe through the outbreak of a tribal war
in Tartary, the travellers proceeded to Bokhara, wh