ner. There are in
it many great and splendid halls, and many chambers, all painted and
embellished with work in beaten gold. This Mangalai rules his realm right
well with justice and equity, and is much beloved by his people. The
troops are quartered round about the palace, and enjoy the sport (that the
royal demesne affords).

So now let us quit this kingdom, and I will tell you of a very mountainous
province called Cuncun, which you reach by a road right wearisome to
travel.

NOTE 1.--["_Morus alba_ is largely grown in North China for feeding
silkworms." (_Bretschneider, Hist. of Bot. Disc._ I. p. 4.)--H.C.]

NOTE 2.--Having got to sure ground again at Kenjanfu, which is, as we shall
explain presently, the city of SI-NGAN FU, capital of Shen-si, let us look
back at the geography of the route from P'ing-yang fu. Its difficulties are
great.

The traveller carries us two days' journey from P'ing-yang fu to his castle
of the Golden King. This is called in the G. Text and most other MSS.
_Caicui_, _Caytui_, or the like, but in Ramusio alone _Thaigin_. He then
carries us 20 miles further to the Caramoran; he crosses this river,
travels two days further, and reaches the great city Cachanfu; eight days
more (or as in Ramusio _seven_) bring him to Si-ngan fu.

There seems scarcely room for doubt that CACHANFU is the HO-CHUNG FU [the
ancient capital of Emperor Shun--H.C.] of those days, now called P'U-CHAU
FU, close to the great elbow of the Hwang Ho (_Klaproth_). But this city,
instead of being _two days west_ of the great river, stands _near_ its
_eastern_ bank.

[The Rev. C. Holcombe writes (pp. 64-65): "P'u-chau fu lies on a level with
the Yellow River, and on the edge of a large extent of worthless marsh
land, full of pools of brackish, and in some places, positively salt
water.... The great road does not pass into the town, having succeeded in
maintaining its position on the high ground from which the town has
_backslided_.... The great road keeping to the bluff, runs on, turning
first south, and then a trifle to the east of south, until the road, the
bluff, and Shan-si, all end together, making a sudden plunge down a
precipice and being lost in the dirty waters of the Yellow River."--H.C.]

Not maintaining the infallibility of our traveller's memory, we may
conceive confusion here, between the recollections of his journey westward
and those of his return; but this does not remove all the difficulties.

The mos