Thus it was over two years before the junks reached Persia, and two of the three envoys and a large number of their suite had died by the way.

When at last they landed, it was found that Arghun, the prospective bridegroom, had meanwhile died too, leaving his throne in the charge of a regent for his young son.

But on the regent's advice a convenient solution of the difficulty was found by handing the princess over to this prince, and Marco and his uncles duly conducted her to him in the province of Timochain, where Marco Polo noticed that the women were 'in my opinion the most beautiful in the world', where stood the famed and solitary _arbor secco_, and where men still told tales of great Alexander and Darius.

There they took leave of their princess, who had come on the long voyage to love them like fathers, so Marco says, and wept sorely when they parted.

It was while they were still in Persia, where they stayed for nine months after handing over the princess, that the Polos received news of the death of the Great Khan whom they had served so faithfully for so many years.