46 MAPS AND THEIR MAKERS 



'Chambaleth', the city of the Great Khan which so 

 intrigued the chroniclers of the fourteenth century, receives 

 due prominence, with a long legend describing its magnitude 

 and grandeurs. It stands near the apex of a triangle formed 

 by two rivers and the ocean ; each of the two rivers divides into 

 three before reaching the sea, a representation embodying 

 a somewhat confused notion of the interlinked natural and 

 artificial waterways of China. 



On the southern portion of the Cathay coast, the general 

 uniformity of the coast is broken by three bays, and it is 

 significant that these are associated with the three great ports, 

 Zayton (near Changchow), Cansay (better known in medieval 

 records as Quinsay, i.e. Hangchow) and Cincolam (Canton). 

 Of these. Canton is not mentioned by Marco Polo; it was 

 however much frequented by Arab navigators and traders, 

 upon whose reports the compiler was probably drawing. 

 The attempt at representing the configuration of the coast 

 suggests at least that his informants were interested from 

 a maritime point of view. Some of the islands off Quinsay may 

 stand for the Chusan archipelago, and further to the south is 

 the large island of Caynam, i.e. Hainan. In the interior, the 

 towns, in Cordier's view, can in general be related to the 

 itineraries described by Polo. 



South-east of the coast of Cathay are numerous islands — 

 we are told that they number 7,548 — in which grow the spices. 

 In the extreme corner is a portion of a great island which is 

 named Taprobana. A legend states that it is the last island in 

 the East, and is called by the Tatars 'Great Caulij'. Yule 

 pointed out that Kao li was the name for Korea, and he there- 

 fore considered that the island depicted confused notions of 

 the Korean peninsula and Japan. 



The delineation of the coastline of southern Asia has one 

 major defect and one outstanding merit; the defect is the 

 entire omission of the south-eastern peninsula; the merit is 

 the portrayal for the first time of the Indian sub-continent in 

 its peninsular form. The first is difficult to explain; to make 

 up for it the cartographer has inserted a great island of Java 

 (mis-spelt Jana), which however was probably intended for 

 Sumatra. For the Indian peninsula, other sources are inter- 



