Note {4} — Chapter XLVIII

Note 4.—The word piccoli is supplied, doubtfully, in lieu of an unknown symbol. If correct, then we should read “24 piccoli each,” for this was about the equivalent of a grosso. This is the first time Polo mentions cowries, which he calls porcellani. This might have been rendered by the corresponding vernacular name “Pig-shells,” applied to certain shells of that genus (Cypraea) in some parts of England. It is worthy of note that as the name porcellana has been transferred from these shells to China-ware, so the word pig has been in Scotland applied to crockery; whether the process has been analogous, I cannot say.