And great abundance of other
animals, as stags and deer of different sorts, boars, elks, hares,
rabbits, squirrels, wild-cats, rats, geese, ducks, very fine jungle-fowl,
etc., and all so cheap that I never could have believed it" (pp. 177-178).
As this writer mentions wild-cats, we may presume that the "lions" of
Polo also were destined to be eaten.
["Kubilai Khan kept a whole army, 14,000 men, huntsmen, distributed in
Peking and other cities in the present province of Chili (Yuen-shi). The
Khan used to hunt in the Peking plain from the beginning of spring, until
his departure to Shang-tu. There are in the Peking department many low and
marshy places, stretching often to a considerable extent and abounding in
game. In the biography of Ai-sie (Yuen shi, chap. cxxxiv.), who was a
Christian, it is mentioned that Kubilai was hunting also in the department
of Pao-ting fu." (Palladius, p. 45.) - H. C.]
CHAPTER XVIII.
OF THE LIONS AND LEOPARDS AND WOLVES THAT THE KAAN KEEPS FOR THE CHASE.
The Emperor hath numbers of leopards[NOTE 1] trained to the chase, and
hath also a great many lynxes taught in like manner to catch game, and
which afford excellent sport.[NOTE 2] He hath also several great Lions,
bigger than those of Babylonia, beasts whose skins are coloured in the
most beautiful way, being striped all along the sides with black, red, and
white.
