the man to congratulate him on the birth of the child, while the mother cooked and cleaned and nursed the infant!

Myanmar

On another trip, Marco traveled far to the south, over mountains, across a wide plain, and through dense bamboo forests. He saw elephants and rhinoceroses (because of its single horn, he mistook the rhino for the legendary unicorn). Finally he reached Burma (today's Myanmar). Marco described how its king, with an army of trained archers on the backs of huge elephants, faced the Mongol hordes across a large plain. Though outnumbered five to one, the Mongols triumphed in a battle "so great that the clangor of arms and shouts of men ascended to the skies." Like so many others, the native people fell under Mongol rule. They had been in this land for as long as they could remember. According to legend, their ancestors had

Page 3

followed a golden deer to this place, which they named "wondrous land." It was so beautiful, they stayed forever.

When Marco entered the capital city of this kingdom he was awed at the sight of two pagodas (towers) gleaming in the sun, one covered with silver and the other with gold. They were temples built over the tomb of an ancient king. The Mongols had left them standing, since they considered it a sin to destroy or remove anything built in honor of the dead.

The people of this country were tattooed all over their bodies with figures of birds and beasts. Those with the most tattoos were considered to be the most beautiful. In a neighboring province, men and women wore bracelets of gold and silver on their wrists, arms, and legs. Farther on, Marco came to a land where people made clothing from the bark of trees. This country was wild, and was inhabited by so many tigers that people didn't dare leave their homes except with their large and fierce dogs.

Southern China

In the southeast part of China, Marco found a more populated land. Its many cities and towns were all subject to the Great Khan's rule. It had taken the Mongols many years to conquer these lands.

When the invaders swept into China, one of the Chinese Emperor's sons escaped and proclaimed himself the new Emperor of the Song Dynasty. He fled to the south and established his royal capital in a city which Marco called Quinsai (today's Hangzhou). Years later, Kublai Khan sent his best general, Chinsan Bayan ("Old Hundred-Eyes"), to capture the city and the Song Emperor. As the general and his armies marched toward the Song capital, they destroyed towns and burned fields. Just before they reached the capital, the Emperor died, leaving his four-year-old son and the boy's grandmother to face the Mongol army.