40 THE DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA 



carry 1000 baskets of pepper, and carry fifty or sixty 

 mariners apiece, and they are likewise moved by oars. . . . 

 There are also ten small boats for the service of each 

 great ship. . . . When the ship is under sail she carries 

 these boats slung to her sides." 



Whither did Now, how far did the Chinese merchants, sailing in these 

 they sail ? splendid ships, penetrate the ocean in the direction of 

 Australia ? Marco tells what he knows in a passage that 

 requires careful study. After completing the description 

 of Cathay, the Pisan gentleman, who is telling us what 

 Marco had told him, remarks that " our Book as yet does 

 not contain nearly all that we purpose to put therein. For 

 we have still to tell you all about the people of India, and 

 the notable things of that country, which are well worth 

 describing, for they are marvellous indeed. What we shall 

 tell is all true, and without any lies. And we shall set 

 down all the particulars in writing just as Messer Marco 

 Polo related them. And he well knew the facts." 

 Cipango and After telling, apparently from hearsay, of Cipango 

 Island" 06 (J a P an )> with its palaces roofed with gold gold which 

 Columbus hoped to melt into coin to pay for the Crusades 

 that should recover the Holy Sepulchre he describes 

 the " Eastern sea of Chin." " I tell you with regard to 

 that Eastern sea of Chin, according to what is said by the 

 experienced pilots and mariners of those parts, there be 

 7,459 Islands in the waters frequented by the said mariners ; 

 and^that is how they know that fact, for their whole life 

 is spent in navigating that sea. And there is not one of 

 those Islands but produces valuable and odorous woods 

 like the lign-aloe, aye and better too ; and they produce 

 also a great quantity of spices. For example, in those 

 Islands grows pepper as white as snow, as well as the black 

 in great quantities. In fact the riches of those Islands is 

 something wonderful, whether in gold or precious stones, 

 or in all manner of spices, but they lie so far off from the 

 main land that it is hard to get to them. And when the 

 ships of Zayton and Kinsay do voyage thither they make 

 vast profits by their venture. It takes them a whole year 

 for the voyage, going in winter and returning in summer. 



