Behind
The Palace There Are Many Great Rooms And Private Storehouses, For The
Treasure And Jewels Of The Khan, For The Dwellings Of His Women, And For
Various Other Private Purposes.
Over against the palace of the khan, there
is another, which was formerly inhabited by his deceased son Zingis, who
held a court in all things resembling that of his father.
Near the palace,
and to the north, there is a high artificial mount, a mile in
circumference, and an hundred paces high, planted with evergreen trees,
which were brought from remote places, with all their roots, on the backs
of elephants: This eminence is called the Green Mountain, and is
extremely pleasant and beautiful. Where the earth was taken away to form
this mount, there are two lakes corresponding with each other, supplied by
a small river, and well stored with fish; and the passages of the water are
grated in such a manner that the fish cannot escape.
The city of Cambalu is seated on a great river in the province of Kathay,
or Northern China, and its name signifies the city of the prince, having
been the royal residence in former times. After the conquest,
understanding, from his astrologers, that the inhabitants would rebel, the
great khan removed the city to the other side of the river, calling the new
city Taidu, which is twenty-four miles in circumference, every side of the
square being six miles, and he commanded all the Kathayans to remove from
the old city into the new one. The walls are of earth, ten paces thick at
the bottom, and gradually tapering to three paces thick at the top, with
white battlements. Each side of the square has three principal gates, or
twelve in all, having sumptuous palaces built over each; and there are
pavilions in all the angles of the wall, where the arms of the garrison are
kept, being 1000 men for each gate. The whole buildings of this city are
exactly squared, and all the streets are laid out in straight lines; so
that a free prospect is preserved from gate to gate, through the whole
city; and the houses are built on each side like palaces, with courts and
gardens, divided according to the heads of families. In the middle of the
whole, there is a noble building, in which a great bell is suspended, after
the tolling of which, at a certain hour of the night, no person must go out
of his house till the dawn of next morning, except it be for some urgent
cause, as for assistance to a woman in labour, and even then they must
carry lights. 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.
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