On The Outside Of The Walls There Are Twelve Large Suburbs,
Extending Three Or Four Miles In Length, From Each Gate, And There Are More
Inhabitants In These Suburbs Than Within The Walls.
In these, foreign
merchants, and other strangers live, each nation having several storehouses
and bazars, in which they lodge and keep their goods.
No dead body is
allowed to be burnt or buried within the city; but the bodies of the
idolaters are burned without the suburbs, and the bodies of all other sects
are buried in the same places. On account of the vast multitude of
Mahometans who inhabit here, there are above 25,000 harlots in the city and
suburbs: Over every 100 and every 1000 of these, there are chiefs or
captains appointed, to keep them in order, and one general inspector over
the whole. When any ambassador or other person, having business with the
khan, comes to Cambalu, his whole charges are defrayed from the imperial
treasury, and the general inspector of the harlots provides the ambassador,
and every man of his family, a change of women every night at free cost.
The guards of the city carry all whom they may find walking in the streets,
after the appointed hour, to prison; and it these persons cannot give a
valid excuse, they are beaten with cudgels, as the Bachsi allege that it is
not right to shed mens blood; yet many persons die of this beating.
There are 12,000 horse-guards, called Casitan, who attend on the person of
the khan, more from state than from any suspicion of danger. These have
four chief commanders, one to every 3000 men; and one commander, with his
band of 3000, keeps guard over the khan for three days and nights, after
which he is succeeded by another, and so on in regular order.
When the khan holds a solemn court on any particular day of festival, his
table is raised higher than all the rest, and is set on the north side of
the hall, having his face to the south, his first queen or principal wife
being placed on his left hand, and his sons and nephews, and other princes
of the blood-royal being arranged on his right; but their table is placed
so much lower, that their heads are hardly so high as the khans feet. The
princes and other lords of the court sit lower still on the right hand; and
the ladies being all placed in similar order on the left, those of the sons
and kinsmen of the khan being next to the queen, and after these, the wives
of the lords and officers, each according to their several ranks, in due
order. By this means the khan, as he sits at table, can see all that feast
along with him in the hall. There are not tables for all who are admitted
to the feast, but the greatest part of the soldiers and captains sit down
on carpets, where they are served with victuals and drink. At all the doors
there are two gigantic fellows with cudgels, who observe carefully if any
one touches the threshold in going in; and whoever does so, forfeits his
garment, or receives a certain number of blows of a cudgel. Those who serve
the khan, or who sit at his table, have their mouths covered with silken
veils, lest their breath should touch the meat or drink which he is to use.
When he drinks, the damsel who carries the cup kneels down, and then all
the barons and others present kneel likewise, and all the musicians sound
their instruments, till the khan has done drinking. If I were to describe
all the pomp and magnificence of these festivals, and all die dainties and
delicate dishes which are served up, I should become prolix and tiresome.
The birth days of their lords are celebrated with great reverence among the
Tartars. That of Kublai-khan, their great emperor, is held yearly, on the
twenty-eighth day of September, and is kept with greater solemnity than any
other festival, except that of the new year, which is celebrated on the
first day of February, when the Tartar year commences. On his birth day the
great khan is clothed in a most splendid robe of cloth of gold, and about
2000 of his barons and soldiers receive, on this occasion, silken garments
of a golden, colour, and girdles wrought in gold or silver, with each a
pair of shoes. Some of those who are next to the khan in dignity, wear
pearls and jewels of great value. These splendid garments are only worn on
thirteen solemn festivals, corresponding to the thirteen moons or lunar
months, into which the Tartar year is divided, when all the great men of
the court are splendidly habited, like so many kings. The birth-day of the
great khan is celebrated by all the Tartars throughout his extensive
dominions; and on this day, all the kings, princes, governors, and nobles,
who are subject to his authority, send presents to him in honour of the
day, and in token of submission. Such as are desirous of obtaining any
place of dignity or office, present their petitions to a council of twelve
barons, appointed for that express purpose; and their decision is
considered as equivalent to an answer from the khan in person. All the
people of the immense dominions who acknowledge the authority of the great
khan, whether Christians, or Jews, Mahometans, Tartars, or Pagans, are
bound, on this anniversary, to pray solemnly to their Gods for the life,
safety, prosperity, and health of the great khan.
On the first of February, which is the commencement of the Tartar year, the
great khan, and all the Tartars, wherever they may happen to be at the
time, observe a very solemn feast; and all of them, both men and women, are
desirous, on that occasion, to be clothed in white garments, that fortune
may be favourable to them for the remainder of the year.
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