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APPENDIX.
great kindness, was highly gratified with the result of their mission and with the letters of the pope, and having received from them some oil from the lamp of the holy sepulchre, he had it locked up, and guarded it as a precious treasure. T h e three Venetians, father, brother and son, were treated with such distinction by the Khan, that the courtiers were filled with jealousy.
Marco
soon, however, made himself popular, and was particularly esteemed by the emperor.
H e acquired the four principal languages of the country,
and was of such remarkable capacity, that, notwithstanding his youth, the Khan employed him in missions and services of importance, in various parts of his dominions, some to the distance of even six months' journey. On these expeditions he was industrious in gathering all kinds of informa足 tion respecting that vast empire ; and from notes and minutes made for the satisfaction of the Grand Khan, he afterwards composed the history of his travels. After about seventeen years residence in the Tartar court the Vene足 tians felt a longing to return to their native country.
Their patron was
advanced in age and could not survive much longer, and after his death, their return might be difficult if not impossible.
T h e y applied to the
Grand Khan for permission to depart, but for a time met with a refusal, accompanied by friendly upbraidings.
A t length a singular train of events
operated in their favor ; an embassy arrived from a Mogul Tartar prince, who ruled in Persia, and who was grand nephew to the emperor. object was to entreat, as a spouse, a princess of the imperial lineage. granddaughter of Cublai Khan, seventeen years
of
The A
age, and of great
beauty and accomplishments, was granted to the prayer of the prince, and departed for Persia with the ambassadors, and with a splendid retinue, but after traveling for some months, was obliged to return on account of the distracted state of the country. T h e ambassadors despaired of conveying the beautiful bride to the arms of her expecting bridegroom, when Marco Polo returned from a voyage to certain of the Indian islands.
His representations of the safety of a voy足
age in those seas, and his private instigations, induced the ambassadors to urge the Grand Khan for permission to convey the princess by sea to the gulf of Persia, and that the Christians might accompany them, as being best experienced in maritime affairs.
Cublai Khan consented with great
reluctance, and a splendid fleet was fitted out and victualed for two years, consisting of fourteen ships of four masts, some of which had crews of two hundred and fifty men.