Note {4} — Chapter XLI

Note 4.—Mangalai, Kúblái’s third son, who governed the provinces of Shen-si and Sze-ch’wan, with the title of Wang or king (supra ch. ix. note 2), died in 1280, a circumstance which limits the date of Polo’s journey to the west. It seems unlikely that Marco should have remained ten years ignorant of his death, yet he seems to speak of him as still governing.