On Each Tablet There Is An Inscription Of The Following
Import:
"By the strength and power of the Almighty God, and by the grace
which He hath given to our empire:
Let the name of the great khan be
blessed, and let all die or be destroyed who will not obey his commands."
Besides these badges of distinction all officers have commissions in
writing, in which all their duties, privileges, and authorities are
recited. When the generals appear in public, they have a cloth or canopy
carried over their heads, and they give audience sitting on chairs of
silver. The badge or tablet of a general, weighs three hundred sagi, or
fifty ounces of gold, laving images of the sun and moon; and such as have
the representation of a ger-falcon, may take with them a whole army for
their guard.
Kublai-khan is a comely handsome man of middle stature, with a fresh
complexion, bright black eyes, a well formed nose, and every way well
proportioned. He has four lawful wives, every one of whom has the title of
empress, and the eldest born son of these wives is to succeed him in the
empire. Each of these empresses has her own magnificent palace and peculiar
court, and is attended by three hundred women, besides many eunuchs, and
the suite of each extends at least to ten thousand persons. The great Khan
has also many concubines; and every second year he sends messengers to a
remarkably fair tribe among the Tartars named Virgut, to make search for
die fairest young women among them for his use. These messengers usually
bring with them four or five hundred young women, more or less as they see
cause. Examiners are appointed to take a view of all their beauties, who
fix values upon them in proportion to their various merits, at sixteen,
seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, or more carats; and only those are
brought to court whose values reach to a certain appointed rate. On their
arrival at Cambalu, other examiners again view them, and choose out twenty
or thirty of the handsomest for the chambers of the khan. Those who are
thus selected, are placed for some time under the care of some of the wives
of the great barons about the court, who are directed to report whether
they do not snore in their sleep, and if they are not offensive in smell or
behaviour. Such as are finally approved, are divided into parties of five;
and one such party attends in the chamber of the khan for three days and
nights in their turn, while another party waits in an adjoining chamber to
prepare whatever the others may command them. Those who are less prized in
the course of these rigid examinations of their qualities, are employed in
cookery or other offices about the palace, or are bestowed by the khan on
his favoured officers, with large portions. The men of the country from
whence these young women are brought, deem it a great honour when their
daughters are found worthy of the khans regard, and esteem themselves
unfortunate when they are rejected at court.
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