"And with the same result," Fred responded; "for we learn farther on from Marco Polo that, in spite of the death penalty, the legal-tender issue of the Great Khan was only worth half its nominal value in silver; and the more money he issued, the greater was the depreciation. But the khan was not the inventor of paper-money, for it was known at least four centuries before his time. Its origin is disputed, but the probabilities are that it came from the East.
"Some of the stories that are told about supernatural appearances are very interesting," continued Fred. "In the desert of Gobi, Polo says that the traveller who lags behind his party at night will hear spirits talking, and will suppose them to be his comrades. Sometimes the spirits will call him by name, and thus shall a traveller oft-times be led astray, so that he never finds his party; and in this way many have perished. And sometimes you shall hear the sound of a variety of musical instruments, and still more commonly the sound of drums.
"He says, in another place, 'When the Great Khan, seated on a platform some eight cubits above the pavement, desires to drink, cups filled with wine are moved from a buffet in the centre of the hall, a distance of ten paces, and present themselves to the emperor without being touched by anybody.'
CHINESE CONJURING EXTRAORDINARY.
"Polo describes other magical performances, some of which are partially explained by Colonel Yule. Another traveller relates that a juggler performed some remarkable tricks in his presence; and among them is the following: 'He took a wooden ball with several holes in it, through which loose thongs were passed, and, laying hold of one of these, slung it into the air. It went so high that we lost sight of it altogether. There now remained only a little of the end of a thong in the conjurer's hand, and he desired one of the boys who assisted him to lay hold of it and mount. He did so, climbing by the thong, and we lost sight of him! The conjurer then called to him three times; but getting no answer, he snatched up a knife as if in a great rage, laid hold of the thong, and disappeared also. By-and-by he threw down one of the boy's hands; then a foot; then the other hand, and then the other foot; then the trunk; and, last of all, the head. Then he came down himself, all puffing and panting, and, with his clothes all bloody, kissed the ground, and said something in Chinese. Then he took the lad's limbs, laid them together, gave a kick, when, presto! there was the boy, who got up and stood before us.'"
"The Indian jugglers are said to do the same trick, or one very much like it," said Doctor Bronson. "I have read a description of one of their performances, in which they took a long chain and threw one end of it in the air, where it remained as if fastened to something. A dog was then brought forward, and ran up the chain and disappeared in the air. In the same way a hog, a panther, a lion, and a tiger were sent up the chain one after the other, and all disappeared at its upper end. Finally they took down the chain, rolled it up and put it in a bag, no one being able to discover how the trick was performed."
"We must come to a stop now," said Fred, "though we haven't heard a tenth part of the strange things in Marco Polo's story of his travels. His account of the Court of Kublai-Khan would take a long time to tell, and perhaps you would get tired of it before I came to the end. So, if you want to know more, you must do as I have done—read for yourself."