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Polo (MARCO a Venetian traveler)

MARCO, a Venetian traveler of the 13th century, the son of a merchant, who, with his brother, had penetrated to the court of Kublai, the great khan of the Tartars. This prince, being highly entertained with their account of Europe, made them his ambassadors to the Pope; on which they traveled back to Rome, and with two missionaries, once more visited Tartary, accompanied by the young Marco, who became a great favorite with the khan.

Having acquired the different dialects of Tartary, he was employed on various embassies; and after a residence of 17 years, all the three Venetians returned to their own country in 1295, with immense wealth. Marco afterward served his country at sea against the Genoese, and, being taken prisoner, remained many years in confinement, where he wrote his "Travels." An English trans- POLONAISE lation of the "Travels of Marco Polo" was published by William Marsden, the Orientalist, in 1817 and it has often been reprinted.