Prussia. This latter labour, however, he seems to have taken entirely upon
trust from Muller, a German editor and translator, probably through the
intermediation of Bergeron, an early French editor of voyages and travels.
The only freedom which has been assumed in the present edition is, by
dividing it into sections for more ready consultation and reference, and by
the addition of explanatory notes from various sources.

Marco Polo is the chief of all the early modern discoverers; having been
the first who communicated to Europe any distinct ideas of the immense
regions of Asia, from the Euxine eastwards, through the vast extent of
Tartary to China and Japan; and the very first author who has made any
mention of that distant insular sovereignty. Even Columbus is supposed,
with some considerable probability, to have been prompted to his
enterprize, which ended in the discovery of America, by the study of these
travels; believing, that by a western course through the unexplored
Atlantic, he should find a comparatively short passage to those eastern
regions of the Indies, which Polo had visited, described, or indicated. In
this view he was, however, so far misled in his estimation of the distance,
by the erroneously spread-out longitudes of Ptolomy, bringing these regions
much farther towards the east, and consequently nearer by the west, than
their actual situation; and was stopped in his western course, by the
important and unexpected discovery of many islands, and a vast interposed
continent; which, from preconceived theory, he named the West Indies.

Such is the account of these travels which has been handed down to us from
various sources, and which their importance and intrinsic merit have
induced us to record at some length. Of these adventurous travellers, some
notices yet remain, which may be worthy of being preserved. Signior Maffio
Polo, the uncle of Marco, became a magistrate of Venice, and lived for some
time in much respect among his countrymen. Nicolo Polo, the father of
Marco, is said to have married during the captivity of his son at Genoa,
and to have left three children by this second marriage. Marco himself
married after his return to Venice from Genoa, and left two daughters,
Moretta and Fantina, but had no male issue. He is said to have received
among his countrymen the name of Marco Millioni, because he and his family
had acquired a fortune of a million of ducats in the east. He died as he
had lived,