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matchlocks were known to the Chinese before the sixteenth century. Matchlocks were first introduced into Japan by Mendez Pinto and his companions in 1543, and were not known to the Chinese until later. The inference is that this passage, and probably the whole chapter, is a later interpolation.

It is perhaps necessary to remind the reader that there is a nucleus of fact hidden among all this fictitious embroidery. Kublai Khan did send a large fleet against Japan about the time stated, which met with a fate similar to that of the Spanish Armada prepared for the conquest of England.