On The Other Side Of The City, There Is A Large Canal Forty Miles[2] Long, Which Incloses It On

That side, being deep and full of water, made by the ancient kings, both to receive the overflowings of the

River, and to fortify the city, and the earth which was dug out from this canal, is laid on the inside as a rampart of defence. There are ten great market places which are square, half a mile in each side[3]. The principal street is forty paces broad, having a canal in the middle with many bridges, and every four miles [Li] there is a market place, two miles [Li] in circuit. There is also one large canal behind the great street and the market places, on the opposite bank of which there are many storehouses of stone, where the merchants from India and other places lay up their commodities, being at hand and commodious for the markets. In each of these markets, the people from the country, to the number of forty or fifty thousand, meet three days in every week, bringing beasts, game, fowls, and in short every thing that can be desired for subsistence in profusion; and so cheap, that two geese, or four ducks, may be bought for a Venetian groat. Then follow the butcher markets, in which beef, mutton, veal, kid, and lamb, are sold to the great and rich, as the poor eat of all offal and unclean beasts without scruple. All sorts of herbs and fruits are to be had continually, among which are huge pears, weighing ten pounds each, white within, and very fragrant[4], with yellow and white peaches of very delicate flavour.

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