In 1272-1273 Marco Polo and his companions stayed for a time in Badakshan.
There is considerable reason to think, however, that the more frequent ports of call in the Straits of Malacca were situated in Sumatra, rather than on the shores of the Malay Peninsula, and two famous medieval travellers, Marco Polo and Ibn Batuta, both called and wintered at the former, and make scant mention of the latter.
In the narrative of Marco Polo "Unc Can," alias Prester John, is the liege lord of the Tatars, to whom they paid tribute until Jenghiz arose.
Far superior to these maps is Fra Mauro's map (1457), for the author has availed himself not only of the information collected by Marco Polo and earlier travellers, but *was able, by personal intercourse, to gather additional information from Nicolo de' Conti, who had returned from the east in 1440, and more especially from Abyssinians who lived in Italy at that time.
In China his mention of Canton by the name of Censcolam or Censcolam (Chin-Kalan), and his descriptions of the custom of fishing with tame cormorants, of the habit of letting the finger-nails grow extravagantly, and of the compression of women's feet, are peculiar to him among the travellers of that age; Marco Polo omits them all.
