Sides there is a great marble staircase leading to
the top of the marble wall, and forming the approach to the Palace.]
[NOTE 8]
The Hall of the Palace is so large that it could easily dine 6000 people;
and it is quite a marvel to see how many rooms there are besides. The
building is altogether so vast, so rich, and so beautiful, that no man on
earth could design anything superior to it. The outside of the roof also
is all coloured with vermilion and yellow and green and blue and other
hues, which are fixed with a varnish so fine and exquisite that they shine
like crystal, and lend a resplendent lustre to the Palace as seen for a
great way round.[NOTE 9] This roof is made too with such strength and
solidity that it is fit to last for ever.
[On the interior side of the Palace are large buildings with halls and
chambers, where the Emperor's private property is placed, such as his
treasures of gold, silver, gems, pearls, and gold plate, and in which
reside the ladies and concubines. There he occupies himself at his own
convenience, and no one else has access.]
Between the two walls of the enclosure which I have described, there are
fine parks and beautiful trees bearing a variety of fruits. There are
beasts also of sundry kinds, such as white stags and fallow deer, gazelles
and roebucks, and fine squirrels of various sorts, with numbers also of
the animal that gives the musk, and all manner of other beautiful
creatures,[NOTE 10] insomuch that the whole place is full of them, and no
spot remains void except where there is traffic of people going and
coming. [The parks are covered with abundant grass; and the roads through
them being all paved and raised two cubits above the surface, they never
become muddy, nor does the rain lodge on them, but flows off into the
meadows, quickening the soil and producing that abundance of herbage.]
From that corner of the enclosure which is towards the north-west there
extends a fine Lake, containing foison of fish of different kinds which
the Emperor hath caused to be put in there, so that whenever he desires
any he can have them at his pleasure. A river enters this lake and issues
from it, but there is a grating of iron or brass put up so that the fish
cannot escape in that way.[NOTE 11]
Moreover on the north side of the Palace, about a bow-shot off, there is a
hill which has been made by art [from the earth dug out of the lake]; it
is a good hundred paces in height and a mile in compass. This hill is
entirely covered with trees that never lose their leaves, but remain ever
green. And I assure you that wherever a beautiful tree may exist, and the
Emperor gets news of it, he sends for it and has it transported bodily
with all its roots and the earth attached to them, and planted on that
hill of his. No matter how big the tree may be, he gets it carried by his
elephants; and in this way he has got together the most beautiful
collection of trees in all the world. And he has also caused the whole
hill to be covered with the ore of azure,[NOTE 12] which is very green.
And thus not only are the trees all green, but the hill itself is all
green likewise; and there is nothing to be seen on it that is not green;
and hence it is called the GREEN MOUNT; and in good sooth 'tis named
well.[NOTE 13]
On the top of the hill again there is a fine big palace which is all green
inside and out; and thus the hill, and the trees, and the palace form
together a charming spectacle; and it is marvellous to see their
uniformity of colour! Everybody who sees them is delighted. And the Great
Kaan had caused this beautiful prospect to be formed for the comfort and
solace and delectation of his heart.
You must know that beside the Palace (that we have been describing), i.e.
the Great Palace, the Emperor has caused another to be built just like his
own in every respect, and this he hath done for his son when he shall
reign and be Emperor after him.[NOTE 14] Hence it is made just in the same
fashion and of the same size, so that everything can be carried on in the
same manner after his own death. [It stands on the other side of the lake
from the Great Kaan's Palace, and there is a bridge crossing the water
from one to the other.][NOTE 15] The Prince in question holds now a Seal
of Empire, but not with such complete authority as the Great Kaan, who
remains supreme as long as he lives.
Now I am going to tell you of the chief city of Cathay, in which these
Palaces stand; and why it was built, and how.
NOTE 1. - [According to the Ch'ue keng lu, translated by Bretschneider,
25, "the wall surrounding the palace ... is constructed of bricks, and is
35 ch'i in height. The construction was begun in A.D. 1271, on the 17th
of the 8th month, between three and five o'clock in the afternoon, and
finished next year on the 15th of the 3rd month." - H. C.]
NOTE 2. - Tarcasci (G. T.) This word is worthy of note as the proper form
of what has become in modern French carquois. The former is a transcript
of the Persian Tarkash; the latter appears to be merely a corruption of
it, arising perhaps clerically from the constant confusion of c and t
in MSS.