CXXXIV PRELIMINARY ESSAY. few years later (1339) we find William
of Modena, a merchant, dying for the Faith with certain friars
at Almalik on the banks of the Ili. John Marignolli mentions
that when he was in Malabar about 1347-8, his interpreter was a
youth who had been rescued from pirates in the Indian seas by a
merchant of Genoa. And from the same authority we find that
there was a fondaco or factory, and warehouse for the use of the
Christian merchants, attached to one of the Franciscan convents
at Zayton. But the most distinct and notable evidence of the
importance and frequency of the European trade from Cathay, of
which silk and silk goods were the staple, is to be found in the
work of F. BALDUCCI PEGOLOTTI, of which an account and extracts
are given in the present collection. Tbat the ventures on this
trade were not insignificant is plain from the example taken by
the author to illustrate the question of expenses on the journey
to Cathay, which is that of a merchant carrying goods to the
amount of so