arrived at Si-ngan on the 30th (_Von
Peking nach Ch'ang-an_). Mr. Rockhill left Peking on the 17th December,
1888, reached T'ai-yuan on the 26th, crossed the Yellow River on the 5th
January, and arrived at Si-ngan fu on the 8th January, 1889, in twenty-two
days, a distance of 916 miles. (_Land of the Lamas_, pp. 372-374.) M.
Grenard left Si-ngan on the 10th November and reached Peking on the 16th
December, 1894 = thirty-six days; he reckons 1389 kilometres = 863 miles.
(See _Rev. C. Holcombe, Tour through Shan-hsi and Shen-hsi_ in _Jour.
North China Br.R.A.S.N.S._ X. pp. 54-70.)--H.C.]

[Illustration: The Bridge of Pulisanghin. (From the _Livre des
Merveilles_.)]

NOTE 2.--_Pul-i-Sangin_, the name which Marco gives the _River_, means in
Persian simply (as Marsden noticed) "The Stone Bridge." In a very different
region the same name often occurs in the history of Timur applied to a
certain bridge, in the country north of Badakhshan, over the Wakhsh branch
of the Oxus. And the Turkish admiral Sidi 'Ali, travelling that way from
India in the 16th century, applies the name, as it is applied here, to the
river; for his journal tells us that beyond Kulib he crossed "the _River
Pulisangin_."

We may easily suppose, therefore, that near Cambaluc also, the Bridge,
first, and then the River, came to be known to the Persian-speaking
foreigners of the court and city by this name. This supposition is however
a little perplexed by the circumstance that Rashiduddin calls the _River_
the _Sangin_ and that _Sangkan_-Ho appears from the maps or citations of
Martini, Klaproth, Neumann, and Pauthier to have been one of the _Chinese_
names of the river, and indeed, Sankang is still the name of one of the
confluents forming the Hwan Ho.

[By _Sanghin_, Polo renders the Chinese _Sang-kan_, by which name the River
Hun-ho is already mentioned, in the 6th century of our era. _Hun-ho_ is
also an ancient name; and the same river in ancient books is often called
_Lu-Kou_ River also. All these names are in use up to the present time; but
on modern Chinese maps, only the upper part of the river is termed
_Sang-Kan ho_, whilst south of the inner Great Wall, and in the plain, the
name of _Hun-ho_ is applied to it. _Hun ho_ means "Muddy River," and the
term is quite suitable. In the last century, the Emperor K'ien-lung ordered
the Hun-ho to be named _Yung-ting ho_, a name found on modern maps, but the
people always call it _Hun ho_ (_Bretschneider, P