50 UNPUBLISHED NOTICES OF THE TIMES OF EDWARD I.

It is not a little curious that at the very time these ambas- sadors from the English sovereign were making their way from Genoa to the ^loghul court, that ever-to-be-beloved old traveller Marco Polo was bringing a Tartar bride to Arghun, by sea from China. ^ ]Iarco and his charge found him deceased, that event having occurred in 1291 ; and he probably died before the Enghsh embassy could reach his presence. The death of Arghun did not, however, wholly interrupt the relations between the Moghul and English courts. As late as the year 1303, we find a letter from Edward to Casan, or Gazan, who, after a short interval, succeeded Arghun, acknowledging the receipt of the letter he had sent by " Buscarelli de Giussurfa," apparentl}^ the same Itahan envoy, and informing him that he was prevented from attending to the affairs of the HoW Land, by the political embarrassments and wars of Europe.^ When the embassy started from Genoa, the Moghul court was supposed to be at Cassaria, the ancient Csesarea, in Armenia ; but it was probably constantly on the move, and therefore the route of the envoys was as frequently changed. We find them at Sebaste, or Sebastopolis, in Cappadocia; Tabriz (Taurisium), in Kurdistan; Meredin, in Mesopatamia; Erzeroum, in Armenia ; at Co^^a, the ancient Iconium ; at Papertum, the Castle of Baiburt, in Armenia ; and they went as far in search of the ^loghul sovereign as Sarakana, or Saraij, near the ancient Astracan, on the eastern arm of the Wolga. On the present occasion, however, it is not my intention to give the whole Itinerary. I would rather pro- ceed to some illustrations of the times, which are to be derived from the expenditure of the envoys, and reserve the Itinerary for another communication. In the first place, the account of monies is made out in aspers, except in some few instances. At Genoa, the ambassadors, to whom the various climates they were about to encounter must have been well known, bought furs, cloths, armour, carpets, silver plate, fur pelisses ; and there one of the attendant squires fell sick, and had 31/. 3*. 4c?. allowed to pay his expenses back to England. The silver plate which they bought cost altogether the large

• See Marsden's edition of tlio Travels is supposed to have landed his charge at

of Marco Polo ; the lady had the eupho- the port of Ormuz. uioiis iiaiiic of « Kogatin ; " p. 27. Marco » New Rvnier, vol i., pt. ii., p. 949.