Travels of Marco Polo Part 24

The Great Khan usually resides during three months of the year, namely December, January, and February, in the great city of Khanbali, in the northeastern extremity of the province of Cathay. Here, on the southern side of the new city, is the site of his vast palace, the form and dimensions of which are as follows. It is a square enclosed with a wall and deep ditch, each side being eight miles in length and halving at equal distance from each extremity, Within this enclosure, there is, on all four sides, an open space one mile in breadth, where the troops are stationed. Those on each side always remain open for the use of other people. In the middle of each section of these walls is a handsome and spacious building. Consequently, within the enclosure, there are eight such buildings, in which are deposited the royal military stores, one building being devoted to each class of stores. Within this walled enclosure, there is still another, of great thickness and full twenty-five feet in length. The battlements, or notch parapets, are all white. This forms a square four miles in extent, each side being one mile, and it has six gates, distributed like those of the former enclosure. It likewise contains eight large buildings, similarly arranged, which are appropriated to the wardrobe of the emperor. The spaces between the one wall and the other are ornamented with many handsome trees, and contain meadows in which are kept various kinds of beasts, such as stags, the animals that yield the must. Roebuck, fallow deer, and others of the same class. Every interval between the walls is stocked in this manner. The pastures have abundant vegetation, the roads across them being paved and raised three feet above their level. No mud collects upon them, and no rainwater settles on them, but on the contrary runs off and helps improve vegetation. Within these walls, which constitute the boundary of four miles, stands the Palace of the Great Khan, the most expensive that has ever yet been known. It reaches from the northern to the southern wall, leaving only a vacant court, where persons of rank and the military guards pass. It has no upper floor, but the roof is very lofty. The paved foundation, or platform, on which it stands is raised ten spans above the level of the ground, and a wall of marble, two paces wide, resides on all sides. This wall serves as a terrace, where those who walk on it are visible from without. Along the exterior edge of the wall is a handsome balustrade with pillars, which the people are allowed to approach. The sides of the great halls and the apartments are ornamented with dragons in carved work and gilt, figures of warriors, birds, and beasts, and with representations of bevels. The inside of the roof is contrived, so that nothing besides gilding and painting presents itself to the eye. On each of the four sides of the palace, there is a grand flight of marble steps by which you ascend from the level of the ground to the wall of marble which surrounds the building, and which constitutes the approach to the palace itself. The grand hall is extremely long and wide, and permits dinners to be served to great multitudes of people. The palace contains a number of separate chambers, all highly beautiful and so admirably located that it seems impossible to suggest any improvement in this respect. The exterior of the roof is adorned with a variety of colors, red, green, azure, violet, and the covering is so strong as to last for many years. The glazing of the windows is so well wrought and so delicate as to have the transparency of crystal. In the rear of the body of the palace, there are large buildings containing several apartments, where are kept the private possessions of the monarch, or his treasure in gold and silver bullion, precious stones and pearls, and also his vessels of gold and silver plate. Here are likewise the apartments of his wives and concubines, and in this privacy he dispatches business at his convenience, free from every kind of interruption. On the other side of the grand palace, opposite to that in which the emperor resides, is another palace in every respect similar, which is the residence of Chinggis, his eldest son. At his court are observed all the same ceremonials as at that of his father. Not far from the palace on the northern side, and about a bowshot distance from the surrounding wall, is an artificial hill of earth, the height of which is fully a hundred paces, and the circuit at the base about a mile. It is covered with the most beautiful evergreen trees, for wherever his majesty fears of a handsome tree growing in any place, he causes it to be dug up with all its roots and the earth around it, and however massive it may be, he has it transported by means of elephants to the mound and adds it to the verdant collection. Because the growth on this hill is always green, it has acquired the name of the Green Mound. On its summit is erected an ornamental pavilion, which is likewise entirely green. Altogether, the mound itself, the trees, and the building form a delightful and wonderful scene. In the northern quarter also, and equally within the precincts of the city, there is a large and deep excavation, carefully shaped, the earth from which was used in building the mound. It is furnished with water by a small rivulet, and has the appearance of a fish pond, but is used for watering the cattle. The stream, passing along an aqueduct at the foot of the Green Mound, proceeds to fill another great and very deep excavation formed between the private palace of the emperor and that of his son, and the earth from this has also served to increase the height of the mound. In this ladder basin there is a great variety of fish, from which the table of his majesty is supplied with any quantity that may be wanted. The stream discharges at the farther end of the pond, and to prevent the escape of the fish, fradings of copper or iron have been set at the entrance and outlet. It is stocked also with swans and other water birds. From the one palace to the other, there is a bridge across the water. Such is the Great Palace. We shall now speak of the city of Taidu, Tatu or the Great Court, the Tartar City. Chapter 11 of the New City of Taidu, built near that of Khan Balik, and of the city policed. Khan Balik is situated near a large river in the province of Cathay, and was in ancient times a great and noble city. The name itself means the city of the emperor, but his majesty was informed by astrologers that it was destined to become rebellious, and he decided to build another capital on the opposite side of the river, where stand the palaces just described. The new and the old cities are separated from each other only by the river between them. The new city received the name of Taidu, and all Cathayans, that is, all inhabitants who were natives of the province of Cathay, were compelled to evacuate the ancient city and settle in the new. Some inhabitants, of whose loyalty he did not entertain any suspicion, were, however, covered to remain, especially because the new one could not hold all of them. The new city is perfectly square and is 24 miles in circumference. It is enclosed with earthen walls that at the base are about 10 paces thick, but gradually diminish towards the top, which is not more than 3 paces. All the battlements are white. The whole plan of the city was laid out in lines, and the streets in general are consequently so straight that when a person on the wall over one of the gates looks straight forward, he can see the gate on the opposite side of the city. In the public streets, there are, on each side, booths and shops of every description. All building lots throughout the city are square and exactly on a line with each other, each being sufficiently spacious for handsome buildings, with corresponding courts and gardens. Each of these was assigned to the head of a family. In this manner, the whole interior of the city is laid out like a chessboard, and planned with precision and beauty impossible to describe. The wall of the city has 12 gates, three on each side of the square, and over each gate and each angle of the wall there is a handsome building, so that on each side of the square there are five such buildings containing large rooms, in which are kept the arms of the garrison of the city, every gate being guarded by a thousand men. It should not be thought that such a force is stationed there out of fear of hostile power, whatever, but as a guard suitable to the honor and dignity of the sovereign. It must be admitted that the prophecy of the astrologers excited in him some suspicion with regard to the Cathayim. In the center of the city there is a great bell, suspended in a lofty building, which is sounded every night, and after the third stroke, no person dares to be found in the streets unless upon some urgent occasion, such as to get help for a woman in labor, or a man attacked by sickness. In such cases, the person is required to carry a light. Outside each gate is a suburb so wide it reaches to and joins those of the nearest gates on both sides, and extends a distance of three or four miles, so that the number of inhabitants in these suburbs exceeds that of the city itself. Within each suburb there are at intervals, as far perhaps as a mile from the city, many hotels, or canavansaries, which accommodate merchants arriving from various parts. A separate building is assigned to each nationality, one, as we should say, to the Lombards, another to the Germans, and a third to the French. The number of public women who prostitute themselves for money, reckoning those in the new city as well as those in the suburbs of the old, is 25,000. For each hundred and each thousand of these, there are superintending officers who are under a captain-general. The motive for placing them under such command is this. When ambassadors arrive with any business in which the interests of the Great Con are concerned, it is customary to maintain them at his majesty's expense, and in order that they may be treated in the most honorable manner, the captain is ordered to furnish nightly to each individual of the embassy one of these courtesans, who is likewise to be changed every night, as this service is considered in the light of a tribute they owe to the sovereign, they do not receive any remuneration. Guards and parties of 30 or 40 continually patrol the streets during the night and look for persons away from their homes at an unseasonable hour, that is, after the third stroke of the great bell. When they meet any under such circumstances, they immediately arrest them and take them in the morning for examination before officer is appointed for that purpose. Upon proof of any delinquency, they are sentenced, depending on the offense, to a flogging, which sometimes, however, occasions their death. They adopt this mode of punishment from a disinclination to shedding blood, which their astrologers instruct them to avoid. Having thus described the city of Taidu, we shall now give an example of the rebellious disposition of its Cathaean inhabitants.