Every winter, when the level of the water is low, the course of the river is temporarily diverted Jdykes built of tong cylindrical bamboo baskets fied with large boule ders, and the channels are dug out; some large stone blocks lying in the river-bed are believed to indicate the correct depth. Then, at the beginning of spring, a great ceremony takes place when the dykes are opened and the waters ore allowed, into the Chengtu plain, Marco Polo, as may not be gener= ally known, "is" supposed to have Chengtu, "which he calls Sindafu. If he did so, he must have been drawing the long bow even worse than usual when he describes it-as being "a good 20 miles in compass," with a large river running through it'"a good. half mile wide, which there are "an incredible multitude of vessels": and gives de-falls of 2 wonderful bridge inside the city half a mile Jong with wooden houses on it "which are put up in the morning and taken down in the evening."
There is none of all this to-day: the city is scarcely twelve miles in cireumference, the "river" running through it is a mere creek less than 30 fect, wide, and the largest stone bridge that I'saw was less. than 100 yards long, and outside the town at that, Learned commentators have bbeeri_at much pains to. explain. all this away. Tt seems rather a. waste fof time and energy: one either believes Marco Polo. implicitly or one docs not to the latter class hold him to have avery gullible Kentleman who unquestioningly swale Towed one half of the stories he heard and. himself embroidered on the other half, 1 therefore venture to doubt whether he ever set eyes on Chengtu at all
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.