The Great Kaan Hath Prohibited All Gambling And Sharping, Things More
Prevalent There Than In Any Other Part Of The World.
In doing this, he
said:
"I have conquered you by force of arms, and all that you have is
mine; if, therefore, you gamble away your property, it is in fact my
property that you are gambling away." Not that he took anything from them
however.
I must not omit to tell you of the orderly way in which the Kaan's Barons
and others conduct themselves in coming to his presence. In the first
place, within a half mile of the place where he is, out of reverence for
his exalted majesty, everybody preserves a mien of the greatest meekness
and quiet, so that no noise of shrill voices or loud talk shall be heard.
And every one of the chiefs and nobles carries always with him a handsome
little vessel to spit in whilst he remain in the Hall of Audience - for no
one dares spit on the floor of the hall, - and when he hath spitten he
covers it up and puts it aside.[NOTE 6] So also they all have certain
handsome buskins of white leather, which they carry with them, and, when
summoned by the sovereign, on arriving at the entrance to the hall, they
put on these white buskins, and give their others in charge to the
servants, in order that they may not foul the fine carpets of silk and
gold and divers colours.]
NOTE 1. - Ramusio's heading has Tartars, but it is manifestly of the
Cathayans or Chinese that the author speaks throughout this chapter.
NOTE 2. - "Sbattendo i denti." This is almost certainly, as Marsden has
noticed, due to some error of transcription. Probably Battono i fronti,
or something similar, was the true reading. [See following note,
p. 461. - H. C.]
NOTE 3. - The latter part of this passage has, I doubt not, been more or
less interpolated, seeing that it introduces again as a Chinese divinity
the rude object of primitive Tartar worship, of which we have already
heard in Bk. I. ch. liii. And regarding the former part of the passage,
one cannot but have some doubt whether what was taken for the symbol of
the Most High was not the ancestral tablet, which is usually placed in one
of the inner rooms of the house, and before which worship is performed at
fixed times, and according to certain established forms. Something, too,
may have been known of the Emperor's worship of Heaven at the great
circular temple at Peking, called T'ien-t'an, or Altar of Heaven (see p.
459), where incensed offerings are made before a tablet, on which is
inscribed the name Yuh-Hwang Shang-ti, which some interpret as "The
Supreme Ruler of the Imperial Heavens," and regard as the nearest approach
to pure Theism of which there is any indication in Chinese worship (See
Doolittle, pp. 170, 625; and Lockhart in J. R. G. S., xxxvi.
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