was also an eyewitness of Chinese ships in Southeast Asia, claiming to have seen five-masted junks of about 2000 tons* burthen: Other translations of the passage give the size as a 2000 butts, which would be around a 1000 tons, a butt being half a ton. Christopher Wake noted that the transcription of the unit is actually vegetes, that is Venetian butt, and estimated a burthen of 1300 tons. The ship of Conti may have been a Burmese or Indonesian jong. Song and Yuan junks Although active prior to the treasure voyages, both Marco Polo (1254–1325) and Ibn Battuta (1304–1369) attest to large multi-masted ships carrying 500 to 1000 passengers in Chinese waters. The large ships (up to 5,000 liao or 1520–1860 tons burden) would carry 500–600 men, and the second class (1,000–2,000 liao) would carry 200–300 men. Unlike Ming treasure ships, Song and Yuan great junks were propelled by oars, and have with them smaller junks, probably for maneuvering aids. The largest junks (5,000 liao) may have had a hull length twice that of Quanzhou ship (1,000 liao), that is . However, the usual Chinese trading junks pre-1500 was around long, with the length of only becoming the norm after 1500 CE. Large size could be a disadvantage for shallow harbors of southern seas, and the presence of numerous reefs exacerbates this. Marco Polo Ibn Battuta Description Taizong Shilu The most contemporary accounts of the treasure ships come from the Taizong Shilu, which contains 24 notices from 1403 to 1419 for the construction of ships at several locations. On 4 September 1403, 200 "seagoing transport ships" were ordered from the Capital Guards in Nanjing. On 1 March 1404, 50 "seagoing ships" were ordered from the Capital Guards. In 1407, 249 vessels were ordered "to be prepared for embassies to the several countries of the Western Ocean". On 14 February 1408, 48 treasure ships were ordered from the Ministry of Works in Nanjing. This is the only contemporary account containing references to both treasure ships and a specific place of construction. Coincidentally, the only physical evidence of treasure ships comes from Nanjing. On 2 October 1419, 41 treasure ships were ordered without disclosing the specific builders involved. Longjiang Chuanchang Zhi 's Longjiang Chuanchang Zhi (1553), also known as the Record of the Dragon River Shipyard, notes that the plans for the treasure ships had vanished from the ship yard in