He Was
Treated Handsomely During The Remainder Of His Stay In China, Plentifully
Supplied With All Necessaries, And Honoured With Many Presents[5].
From the information of Ebn Wahab, we learn that Cumdan, where the emperor
of China keeps his court, is a very large and extremely populous city,
divided into two parts by a very long and broad street.
That the emperor,
his chief ministers, the supreme judge, the eunuchs, the soldiery, and all
belonging to the imperial household, dwelt in that part of the city which
is on the right hand eastward; and that the people were not admitted into
that part of the city, which is watered by canals from different rivers,
the borders of which are, planted with trees, and adorned by magnificent
palaces. That portion of the city on the left hand, westwards from the
great street, is inhabited by the ordinary kind of people, and the
merchants, where also are great squares and markets for all the necessaries
of life. At day-break every morning, the officers of the royal household,
with the inferior servants, purveyors, and the domestics of the grandees of
the court, come into that division of the city, some on horseback, and
others on foot, to the public markets, and the shops of those who deal in
all sorts of goods, where they buy whatever they want, and do not return
again till their occasions call them back next morning. The city is very
pleasantly situate in the midst of a most fertile soil, watered by several
rivers, and hardly deficient in any thing except palm trees, which grow not
there.
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