184 Asiatic Sovereigns and Paper Currency. [No. 2' 



in full force under the early successors of Chenghiz Khan. After the 

 expulsion of the Moghuls in 1366, the founder of the native or Ming 

 dynasty tried to revive it, but the attempt appears to have failed. 



We have the accounts of two travellers, who visited China during 

 this period, to confirm this account. The first is Marco Polo who 

 resided in the court of the Emperor Kublai Khan from about 1274 to 

 1291. Kublai Khan, one of the most enlightened of the Moghul mo- 

 narchs, had been crowned Great Khan (or more properly Ka-an) of 

 Northern China in 1260 ; in 1280 he overthrew the Song dynasty in 

 the South, and he reigned over all China (founding the Yuen dynasty,) 

 until his death in 1294. 



The second is the Arabian traveller Ibn Batiita, who visited China 

 as ambassador from the Sultan of Delhi, Muhammad Toghluk, in 

 1345, and seems to have spent about a year there. He left during 

 the troubles which followed the accession of the last of the Yuen or 

 Moghul dynasty. 



Marco Polo's narrative is as follows.* 



" With regard to the money of Kambalu,f the great Khan may be 

 called a perfect alchemist, for he makes it himself. He orders people 

 to collect the bark of a certain tree, whose leaves are eaten by the 

 worms that spin silk. The thin rind between the bark and the 

 interior wood is taken, and from it cards are formed, like those of 

 paper, all black. He then causes them to be cut into pieces, and 

 each is declared worth respectively half a livre, a whole one, a silver 

 grosso of Venice, and so on to the value of ten bezants. All these 

 cards are stamped with his seal, and so many are fabricated that they 

 would buy all the treasuries in the world. He makes all his payments 

 with them, and circulates them through the kingdoms and provinces, 

 over which he holds dominion ; and none dares to refuse them under 

 pain of death. All the nations under his sway receive and pay this 

 money for their merchandise, gold, silver, precious stones, and 

 whatever they transport, buy or sell. The merchant often brings 

 to him goods worth 400,000 bezants, and he pays them all in these 

 cards, which they willingly accept, because they can make purchases 

 with them throughout the whole empire. He frequently commands 



* Murray's transl. p. 137, (eh, 26.) which I follow as more recent than Mars- 

 den's. 



f Khan-balik or Pekin. 



