Marco Polo
translation: Henry Yule, Henri Cordier

THE TRAVELS OF MARCO POLO
Volume II.
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THE CHEETA, OR HUNTING LEOPARD.

Cf. Chapters on Hunting Dogs and Cheetas, being an extract from the "Kitab'u' l-Bazyarah," a treatise on Falconry, by Ibn Kustrajim, an Arab writer of the Tenth Century. By Lieut.-Colonel D.C. Phillott and Mr. R.F. Azoo (Journ. and Proc. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, Jan., 1907, pp. 47-50):

"The cheeta is the offspring of a lioness, by a leopard that coerces her, and, for this reason, cheetas are sterile like mules and all other hybrids. No animal of the same size is as weighty as the cheeta. It is the most somnolent animal on earth. The best are those that are 'hollow-bellied,' roach backed, and have deep black spots on a dark tawny ground, the spots on the back being close to each other; that have the eyes bloodshot, small and narrow; the mouth 'deep and laughing'; broad foreheads; thick necks; the black line from the eyes long; and the fangs far apart from each other. The fully mature animal is more useful for sporting purposes than the cub; and the females are better at hunting than are the males, and such is the case with all beasts and birds of prey."

See Hippolyte Boussac, Le Guépard dans l'Egypte ancienne (La Nature, 21st March, 1908, pp. 248-250).

XIX., p. 400 n. Instead of Hoy tiao, read Hey tiao (Hei tiao).

XIX., p. 400. "These two are styled Chinuchi (or Cunichi), which is as much as to say, 'The Keepers of the Mastiff Dogs.'"

Dr. Laufer writes to me: "The word chinuchi is a Mongol term derived from Mongol cinoa (pronounced cino or cono which means 'wolf,' with the possessive suffix -ci, meaning accordingly a 'wolf-owner' or 'wolf-keeper).' One of the Tibetan designations for the mastiff is cang-k'i (written spyang-k'yi), which signifies literally 'wolf-dog.' The Mongol term is probably framed on this Tibetan word. The other explanations given by Yule (401-402) should be discarded."

Prof. Pelliot writes to me: "J'incline a croire que les Cunichi sont a lire Cuiuci et répondent au kouei-tch'e ou kouei-yeou-tch'e, 'censeurs,' des textes chinois; les formes chinoises sont transcrites du mongol et se rattachent au verbe güyü, ou güyi, 'courir'; on peut songer a restituer güyükci. Un Ming-ngan (= Minghan), chef des kouei-tch'e, vivait sous Kúblái et a sa biographie au ch. 135 du Yuan Che; d'autre part, peut-etre faut-il lire, par déplacement de deux points diacritiques, Bayan güyükci dans Rashid ed-Din, ed. BLOCHET, II., 501."

XX., p. 408, n. 6. Cachar Modun must be the place called Ha-ch'a-mu-touen in the Yuan Shi, ch. 100, f°. 2 r. (PELLIOT.)

XXIV., pp. 423, 430. "Bark of Trees, made into something like Paper, to pass for Money over all his Country."

Regarding Bretschneider's statement, p. 430, Dr. B. Laufer writes to me: "This is a singular error of Bretschneider. Marco Polo is perfectly correct: not only did the Chinese actually manufacture paper from the bark of the mulberry tree (...)

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