Analyzing Author's Purpose and Perspective in a Travelogue Answers

Read the excerpt from chapter 8 of The Travels of Marco Polo.This province produces great quantities of excellent white incense, and also dates in great abundance. No grain is grown here except rice, and not much of that; but it is imported from abroad at a big profit. Fish is plentiful, notably tunnies of large size, which are so abundant that two of them can be bought for a Venetian groat. The staple diet consists of rice, meat, and fish.

Read the excerpt from The Travels of Marco Polo and study the map.When the traveler leaves Kuh-banan he goes for fully eight days through a desert. . . . After these eight days he reaches a province called Tun and Kain, where there are cities and towns in plenty. It is situated on the northern borders of Persia. There is an immense plain here, in which stands the Solitary Tree, which the Christians call the Dry Tree.

Read the excerpt from chapter 8 of The Travels of Marco Polo.And let me tell you something else. They have sheep here that have no ears, nor even ear-holes; but in the place where ears ought to be they have little horns. They are small creatures and very pretty. And here is something else that may strike you as marvelous: their domestic animals—sheep, oxen, camels, and little ponies—are fed on fish. They are reduced to this diet because in all this country and in all the surrounding regions there is no grass; but it is the driest place in the world.

Read the excerpt from chapter 8 of The Travels of Marco Polo and study the map.Let us go on now to tell of a large city which forms part of the province of Aden but has a petty ruler of its own. This city, which lies about 400 miles north-west of the port of Aden, is called Shihr. It is ruled by a count, who maintains strict justice in his domain. He has several cities and towns under his sway but is himself subject to the sultan of Aden. The people are Saracens and worship Mahomet. The city has a very good port; for I assure you that many merchant-ships come here well loaded with goods from India, and from here they export many goods to India. In particular they export innumerable fine chargers and sturdy pack-horses of great worth and price, on which the merchants make a handsome profit.

Read the excerpt from chapter 8 of The Travels of Marco Polo.Hormuz is a great and splendid city on the sea, governed by a malik and with several cities and towns in subjection to it. The people are Saracens who worship Mahomet. The climate is excessively hot—so hot that the houses are fitted with ventilators to catch the wind. The ventilators are set to face the quarter from which the wind blows and let it blow into the house. This they do because they cannot endure the over-powering heat.

Map of Europe and Asia showing Marco Polo's route in red dashes and arrows.

Which literary elements typically appear in a travelogue? Select three options.

Read the excerpt from chapter 8 of The Travels of Marco Polo.I should add that ships cannot sail to the other islands that lie farther south, beyond Madagascar and Zanzibar, because the current sets so strongly towards the south that they would have little chance of returning. Therefore they do not venture to go. You may note that ships coming from Maabar to this island make the voyage in twenty days, whereas the return trip takes them all of three months; and this is due to the continual southward set of the current. It flows in the same direction the all time—southward, ever southward. These more southerly islands, which men do not willingly visit because of this southward drift, are very numerous, and it is said that they are inhabited by gryphon birds, which make their appearance here at certain seasons of the year.

What are most likely the author's purposes for writing this text? Select two options.

Read the excerpt from chapter 8 of The Travels of Marco Polo.Many marketable commodities are produced here. And many ships come here laden with cloth of gold and various silken fabrics, and much else besides that I will not attempt to specify, and exchange them for local products. They arrive and depart with full cargoes and the merchants make a handsome profit on the transaction.