1841,
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A New History of China.
643:
Black Barba
Here he tells
..
notice what he says respecting the countries of Catai and Mangi. The western Tartars call the Chinese Hari Kitai, or rians,' which is the name they also give to China. us that Marco Polo should not have written can (kan or khan) for king, but han, which is according to the pronunciation of the west- ern Tartars. The Mantchous formerly called China Nica Corum,' i. e. the kingdom of barbarians;' but now, that they are its masters, they imitate the Chinese and call it Tulimpa Corum, i. e. the cen- tre kingdom. Here again he informs us, that Polo should have writ ten Hanpalu, the king's court, and not Cambalu. Mangi is, he says, derived from Mani Zu, (Man-tsze) which signifies barbarians. The southern provinces-those south of the " Yam cu Kiam (Yangtsze keäng) the river son of the sea,”—were also called Nan Man, or ‹bar- barians of the south. After all this, and much more, our author comes to the conclusion that the northern provinces were called. Kitai and the southern Mangi.
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Further, he " also with good reason takes notice of the hyperboles which Marco Polo makes use in describing the city of Kimsai,” i.e. Hangchow, where the Venetian traveler found twelve., thousand bridges. To end all disputes..concerning the name of this famous city, Magaillans produces the following extract from Chinese chro nicles.
. ד
. 1
In the year of Jesus Christ, 1200, a captain of the oriental Tartars that some years since subdued this empire, made himself master of the pro vinces of Peking, Shanse, and Shantung, which the Yellow, river separates from the other twelve. Thereupon he caused himself to be crowned king, and named his family. Tai leaou. Some years after, another captain of the eastern Tartars made war upon him, got possession of his kingdom, exter- minated the reigning family, and called his own, and his kingdom Tae- Kin kwo, or the kingdom of Gold, which continued till the year 1260; at what time the other twelve provinces were subdued by an emperor of the family of Sung. Upon this some of his chief ministers advised him to send great presents to the Grand Han, who had a little before subdued the west- ern Tartars, and to desire his assistance for the expulsion of the Taṛtars out of the three provinces which they had usurped. But others of his council. lors laid before him the ill consequence of provoking that terrrible nation of the western Tartars, or molesting the eastern, with whom they had for seve- ral years preserved an amicable correspondence; withal, that it was no good policy to expel tigers, and bring more cruel lions into their room. Never- theless the first counsel, though the worst, was followed: and the Grand Han was called 'in
with his Tartars, already the vanquishers of so many nations, who in a short time exterminated the family of Tae-Kin, and made themselves masters of the three provinces. But so soon as they had finished
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