Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 2.djvu/167

and Persians carried on a brisk trade. Customs inspectorates were established at Ningpo, Han-chou (Marco Polo’s “Kinsay"), Tsuan-chou (Polo’s “Zaitun"), and Kanpu (“Canfu"). This last-named place was only twenty-five miles from Han-chou, of which city it served as the port, the bore in the river preventing ships from lying off Han-chou itself. The importance of the trade carried on at Kanpu may be inferred from an account of its capture and sack in 877, compiled by the Arab traveller Abu Zaid. He declares that on that occasion there were among the people destroyed a hundred and twenty thousand Mohammedans, Jews, Christians, Magians, and Parsees, all engaged in commerce. Another Arab traveller, Ibn Wahab, gives details which show that any one, whether native or foreign, could journey in China in the time of the Tang dynasty, the only proviso being that he must carry two passports, one containing all personal details of himself and his retinue, the other setting forth the nature and quantity of the goods and money in his possession. The object of these passports was, not to restrict the goings and comings of strangers, but "to prevent danger to travellers in their money or goods; for should one suffer loss or die, everything about him is immediately known and he himself or his heirs after his death receive whatever is his.” There is also evidence that a system of transit dues, or something very similar, existed, and, in fact, that all