Note 203 — Chapter III
Reading edition
Bancroft, Native Races, vol. v, p. 34, note, says: “A Chinese li is about one-third of a mile”—English, we suppose, but upon what authority we are unable to say. Klaproth adopted 850 li to a degree, while D’Eichthal fixes it at 400 to a degree in the sixth century, though at present it is 250 li to a degree. Deguignes’ Mémoires de l’Académie des Inscriptiones et Belles Lettres, vol. xxviii, 1761, and Leland’s Fusang, pp. 128 and 140.