96 CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA, ETC. a great number of Christians ; and they were massacred along with the multitude of foreigners who nocked thi- ther to traffic on the Coast of China, and usually to the port of Khan-Fou. It is remarkable, and tends to show how much this Arab writer is worthy of our confidence, that Marco Polo, who visited this great commercial depot four hundred years afterwards, speaks of it in the same terms. " And also I must let you know," says the illustrious Venetian, " that twenty-five miles from this city is the sea, between north-east and east ; and there is a town called Ganfoo, a very good port, whither come im- mense vessels and large quantities of merchandise of great value from India and other parts." * The factories of the numerous foreigners who come to trade with the Chinese were probably at Han-Tcheou-Fou, a town but a little way from the sea, and which, being the capital of the province, was of considerable importance. It had become a great commercial centre for all parts of China, and it was so in the time of Marco Polo, who speaks very little of Khan-Fou, but gives a magnificent description of this town, which he calls Quinsay, " Quinsay is so large that it is certainly a hundred miles round ; and there are in it twelve thousand bridges so high that great ships might pass under them ; and no one need wonder that there are so many bridges, for I tell you that the city is entirely in the water and surrounded by water, so that there must be many bridges in order to go about it. And within the city there is a lake which is certainly thirty miles round ; and round the lake many beautiful palaces and fine
- Marco Polo, edition by the Societe des Geographic, vol. i. p. 170.
