So why should I want to go to China ?" "You have made a great case for the grandeur and beauty of Venice," says the sea-captain.

"It is lovely, surely," says he, filling his pipe; "but finer poets nor you, my lad," says he, lighting it, "have tried to describe the grace and beauty of Tao-Tuen, and," says he taking a draw, "have failed." "Tao-Tuen is a beautiful name.

It is like two notes plucked on a harp.
And it must be a wonderful place, surely, if great poets cannot describe it." "It is not a place," said the captain, "it's a girl." "As for women, Venice--" "Venice be damned!" said the sea-captain.

"Not in Venice, not in all the world, is there the like for grace or beauty of Tao-Tuen.

They call her Golden Bells," he says.
"Is she a dancing-girl ?" Marco asked.
"She is not a dancing-girl," says the sea-captain, "she is the daughter of Kubla, the great Khan." "A cold and beautiful princess," says Marco Polo.
"She is not a cold and beautiful princess," says the sea-captain.