engines, for the thing seemed to them to be done by sorcery.  They declared that they were all dead men if they yielded not, so they determined to surrender on such conditions as they could get.[NOTE 4] Wherefore they straightway sent word to the commander of the army that they were ready to surrender on the same terms as the other cities of the province had done, and to become the subjects of the Great Kaan; and to this the captain of the host consented.

So the men of the city surrendered, and were received to terms; and this all came about through the exertions of Messer Nicolo, and Messer Maffeo, and Messer Marco; and it was no small matter.  For this city and province is one of the best that the Great Kaan possesses, and brings him in great revenues.[NOTE 5]

NOTE 1.—­Pauthier’s MS. C. here says:  “When the Great Kaan, and the Barons about him, and the messengers from the camp ... heard this, they all marvelled greatly; for I tell you that in all those parts they know nothing of mangonels or trebuchets; and they were so far from being accustomed to employ them in their wars that they had never even seen them, nor knew what they were.”  The MS. in question has in this narrative several statements peculiar to itself,[1] as indeed it has in various other passages of the book; and these often look very like the result of revision by Polo himself.  Yet I have not introduced the words just quoted into our text, because they are, as we shall see presently, notoriously contrary to fact.

NOTE 2.—­The same MS. has here a passage which I am unable to understand.  After the words “300 lbs. and more,” it goes on:  “Et la veoit l’en voler moult loing, desquelles pierres il en y avoit plus de lx routes qui tant montoit l’une comme l’autre” The Bern has the same. [Perhaps we might read lx en routes, viz. on their way.—­H.C.]

NOTE 3.—­I propose here to enter into some detailed explanation regarding the military engines that were in use in the Middle Ages.[2] None of these depended for their motive force on torsion like the chief engines used in classic times.  However numerous the names applied to them, with reference to minor variations in construction or differences in power, they may all be reduced to two classes, viz. great slings and great crossbows.  And this is equally true of all the three great branches of mediaeval civilisation—­European, Saracenic, and Chinese.  To the first class belonged the Trebuchet and Mangonel; to the second, the Winch-Arblast (Arbalete a Tour), Springold etc.