Celebrated Travels and Travellers Vol 1 First Part Chapter IV part 1 - Marco Polo.

Jules Verne (0:27)

CHAPTER IV. PART I.

Marco Polo, 1253-1324.

The Junoese and Venetian merchants could not fail to be much interested in the explorations of the rape travellers in Central Asia, India and China, for they saw that these countries would give them new openings for disposing of their merchandise, and also great benefit to be derived by the West from being in supply with the production of the East. The interest of commerce has stimulated fresh explorations, and it was this motive that actuated Junovel Venetians to leave their homes, and both ought to fatigue and danger for perilous journey.

These two Venetians belonged to the family of Polo, which had come originally from Dalmatia, and, owing to successful trading, had a kept opulent as to be recalled among the Patrician families at Venice. These two Venetians belonged to the family of Polo, which had come originally from Dalmatia, and, owing to successful trading, had become so opulent as to be recalled among the Patrician families at Venice. In top sixty the two brothers, Nicholas and Matteo, who had lived for some years in Constantinople, where they had established a branch house, went to Crimea, with a considerable stock of precious stones, where the eldest brother, Andrea Polo, had his place of business. Then, taken of eastern direction, and crossing the country of the Kromans, they reached the camp of Bakai Khan under Volga. This Mongol prince received two mergers very kindly, and bought all the jewels he offered him, at top of the value. Niccolo and Matea remained a year in the Mongolian camp, but they were breaking out this charm between Bakai and Hulagu. The conqueror of Persia, and two brothers, not wishing to be in the midst of a country where war was being waged, went to Bokhara, and where they remained three years, but when Bakai was vanquished and his capital taken, the partisans of Hulagu induced two Venetians to follow them to the resurgence of the Grand Khan of Tartary, who all showed to give them a hearty welcome. This Kublaï-Khan, the fourth son of Genghis Khan, was emperor of China, and was to have his summer palace in Mongolia, on the frontier of the Chinese empire. The Venetian merchants set out, and were wholly crossing the immense extent of country life within Bokhara, at the northern limits of China. Kublaï-Khan was much pleased to receive these strangers from the West. He fed to them, and asked, with much eagerness, for any information that they could give him of what was happening in Europe, requiring details from the government of the various kings and emperors, and the methods of making war. And he then conversed at some length about the Pope and the Strait of Latin Church. Matteo and Nicola fortunately spoke a tater language fluently, so they could freely answer all the emperor's questions. It had occurred to Kublaï-Khan to send messages to the Pope, and he seized the opportunity to beg the two brothers to act as his ambassadors to his holiness. The merchants thankfully accepted this proposal, for they foresaw that this new character would be very advantageous to them. Emperor had some charters drawn up in a Turkish language, asking that the Pope to send a hundred learned men who conferred his people to Christianity, and then he appointed one of his parents, named Kogutel, to accompany them, and then he charged him to bring him some ore from the sacred land, which he perpetually burned before the tomb of Christ at Jerusalem. The two brothers took leave at the Khan, having been furnished with passports by him, which put both men and horses at their disposal throughout the empire, and in 1266 they set out on the journey. Soon the Baron Kogutel fell ill, and the Venetians were obliged to leave him and continue their journey, but in spite of all the aid that they had given to them, there were three years in reaching the port of Laiaz, in Armenia, now known by the name of Isis. Leaving this port, they arrived in Acre in 1269, where they heard the death of Pope Clement IV. To whom they were sent, but to leg it they were to live in Acre and receive the Venetians, learning what the object of the mission he begged them to wait for the election of the new pope.

The brothers had been absent from the country for 15 years, so they resolved to return to Venice. At Negroport, they embarked on board a vessel that was going direct to the native town. On landing there, Nicola was met by an oose of the death of his wife, and the birth of his son, who had been born shortly after his departure in 1554, the son who was celebrated Marco Polo. The two brothers waited at Venice for the election of the pope, but at the end of two years, as it had not taken place, they thought they could no longer defer the return to the Emperor of Mongols, according to the ex-charter for Acre, taking Marco Polo with them, who could not have been more than seventeen. At Acre they had an interview with the legate Theobar, who authorized them to go to Jerusalem, and said to procure some of the sacred oil. This mission accomplished, the Venetians returned to Acre, and asked the legate to give them letters to Kublaï-Khan, mentioning the death of Pope Clement V. He complied with their request, and they returned to Lyas or Isis. There, to their great joy, to learn that the legate Theobar had been made Pope with the title of Gregory X, on 1st September, 1771