Note 15 — EXPLANATORY LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME I. (continued 2)

Wangcheu

in the Chinese Annals;

Vanchu

in Ramusio. I assume that Polo’s

Vanchu

was pronounced as in English; for in Venetian the

ch

very often has that sound. But I confess that I can adduce no other instance in Ramusio where I suppose it to have this sound, except in the initial sound of

Chinchitalas

and twice in

Choiach

(see II. 364).

Professor Bianconi, who has treated the questions connected with the Texts of Polo with honest enthusiasm and laborious detail, will admit nothing genuine in the Ramusian interpolations beyond the preservation of some oral traditions of Polo’s supplementary recollections. But such a theory is out of the question in face of a chapter like that on Ahmad.