ABSTRACT
Among the Venetians brought to Genoa in captivity was Marco Polo, who had commanded one of the galleys. The Polos were accounted dead, and their relatives occupied what had been their house. What these foreigners knew about the family could easily have been learned from the Polos by impostors who had been their fellow-travellers on part of the way to the East. The Polos, when about to leave on the return journey, had wisely converted their vast property into jewels. Peace was made, and Marco Polo returned to Venice. The palace of the Polos was nicknamed "Corte del Milione". Most incredible, most improbable of all did it seem that, on the farther side of the Asiatic continent, beyond the other countries specified, should lie die gigantic, fabulous realm of Cathay—this being the name given by Marco Polo to what we now call China.
