Note {1} — Chapter LXVI

Note 1.—Coiganju is Hwai-ngan chau, now -Fu, on the canal, some miles south of the channel of the Hwang-Ho; but apparently in Polo’s time the great river passed close to it. Indeed, the city takes its name from the River Hwai, into which the Hwang-Ho sent a branch when first seeking a discharge south of Shantung. The city extends for about 3 miles along the canal and much below its level. [According to Sir J. F. Davis, the situation of Hwai-ngan “is in every respect remarkable. A part of the town was so much below the level of the canal, that only the tops of the walls (at least 25 feet high) could be seen from our boats.... It proved to be, next to Tien-tsin, by far the largest and most populous place we had yet seen, the capital itself excepted.” (Sketches of China, I. pp. 277–278.)—H. C.]