John H. Haaren, Famous Men of the Middle Ages… (1904)
“ At last the Venetians left their friends, went to the Black Sea and took ship for Venice.They had been away so long and were so much changed in appearance that none of their relations and old friends knew them when they arrived in Venice. As they were dressed in Tatar costume and sometimes spoke the Chinese language to one another, they found it hard to convince people that they were members of the Polo family. ”
John H. Haaren, Famous Men of the Middle Ages… (1904)
“ Louis led his last Crusade there was born in Venice a boy named Marco Polo. His father was a wealthy merchant who often went on trading journeys to distant lands.In 1271, when Marco was seventeen years old, he accompanied his father and uncle on a journey through the Holy Land, Persia and Tartary, and at length to the Empire of China—then called Cathay (Ca-thay’) . It took the travelers three years to reach Cathay.The emperor of Cathay was a monarch named Kublai Khan (koo’ bli-kän’) , who lived in Peking. ”
