of fact. The Chinese at that time seem to have had
little knowledge of their nearest civilized neighbor.

[Illustration: Reproduced by permission of The Philadelphia Museums.
RETURNING FROM MARKET. JAPAN.]

"Zipangu"--the name he gives it--is, he says, "an island in the Eastern
Ocean, about fifteen hundred miles [Chinese miles] from the mainland.
Its people are well made, of fair complexion, and civilized in manner,
but idolaters in religion." He continues, "They have gold in the
greatest abundance, its sources being inexhaustible. To this
circumstance we are to attribute 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
pink color, round in shape and of great size, equal in value to, or even
exceeding, that of the white pearls. There are also found there a number
of precious stones."

This story is as remote from truth as some of those told by Sindbad the
Sailor. Polo, no doubt, thought he was telling the truth, and knew that
this cascade of gold and pearls would be to the taste of his readers,
but anything more unlike the plainness and simplicity of the actual
palace of the mikado it would be hard to find.

For the next European knowledge of Japan we must step forward to the
year 1542. Columbus had discovered America, and Portugal had found an
ocean highway to the spice islands of the East. A Portuguese adventurer,
Mendez Pinto by name, ventured as far as China, then almost unknown,
and, with two companions, found himself on board a Chinese junk, half
trader, half pirate.

In a sea-fight with another corsair their pilot was killed, and soon
after a fierce storm blew them far off shore. Seeking to make the
Loochoo Islands, they lost them through lack of a pilot, and were tossed
about at the ocean's will for twenty-three days, when they made harbor
on Tane, a small island of Japan lying south of Kiushiu. Pinto, after
his return to Europe, told so many marvellous stories about Japan