By Means Of These
Channels, As Well As By The Streets, You Can Go All About The City.
Both
streets and canals are so wide and spacious that carts on the one and
boats on the other can readily pass to and fro, conveying necessary
supplies to the inhabitants.[NOTE 2]
At the opposite side the city is shut in by a channel, perhaps 40 miles in
length, very wide, and full of water derived from the river aforesaid,
which was made by the ancient kings of the country in order to relieve the
river when flooding its banks. This serves also as a defence to the city,
and the earth dug from it has been thrown inwards, forming a kind of mound
enclosing the city.[NOTE 3]
In this part are the ten principal markets, though besides these there are
a vast number of others in the different parts of the town. The former are
all squares of half a mile to the side, and along their front passes the
main street, which is 40 paces in width, and runs straight from end to end
of the city, crossing many bridges of easy and commodious approach. At
every four miles of its length comes one of those great squares of 2 miles
(as we have mentioned) in compass. So also parallel to this great street,
but at the back of the market places, there runs a very large canal, on
the bank of which towards the squares are built great houses of stone, in
which the merchants from India and other foreign parts store their wares,
to be handy for the markets.
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