CHAPTER XXI.

REHEARSAL OF THE WAY THE YEAR OF THE GREAT KAAN IS

DISTRIBUTED.

On arriving at his capital of Cambaluc,{1} he stays in his palace

there three days and no more; during which time he has great court

entertainments and rejoicings, and makes merry with his wives. He then

quits his palace at Cambaluc, and proceeds to that city which he has

built, as I told you before, and which is called Chandu, where he has

that grand park and palace of cane, and where he keeps his gerfalcons

in mew. There he spends the summer, to escape the heat, for the

situation is a very cool one. After stopping there from the beginning

of May to the 28th of August, he takes his departure (that is the time

when they sprinkle the white mares’ milk as I told you), and returns

to his capital Cambaluc. There he stops, as I have told you also, the

month of September, to keep his Birthday Feast, and also throughout

October, November, December, January, and February, in which last month

he keeps the grand feast of the New Year, which they call the White

Feast, as you have heard already with all particulars. He then sets out

on his march towards the Ocean Sea, hunting and hawking, and continues

out from the beginning of March to the middle of May; and then comes

back for three days only to the capital, during which he makes merry

with his wives, and holds a great court and grand entertainments. In

truth, ’tis something astonishing, the magnificence displayed by the

Emperor in those three days; and then he starts off again as you know.

Thus his whole year is distributed in the following manner: six months

at his chief palace in the royal city of Cambaluc, to wit, _September_,

_October_, _November_, _December_, _January_, _February_;

Then on the great hunting expedition towards the sea, _March_, _April_,

_May_;

Then back to his palace at Cambaluc for _three days_;

Then off to the city of Chandu which he has built, and where the Cane

Palace is, where he stays _June_, _July_, _August_;

Then back again to his capital city of Cambaluc.

So thus the whole year is spent; six months at the capital, three

months in hunting, and three months at the Cane Palace to avoid the

heat. And in this way he passes his time with the greatest enjoyment;

not to mention occasional journeys in this or that direction at his own

pleasure.

NOTE 1.—This chapter, with its wearisome and whimsical

reiteration, reminding one of a game of forfeits, is peculiar to

that class of MSS. which claims to represent the copy given to

Thibault de Cepoy by Marco Polo.

Dr. Bushell has kindly sent me a notice of a Chinese document (his

translation of which he had unfortunately mislaid), containing a

minute contemporary account of the annual migration of the Mongol

Court to Shangtu. Having traversed the Kiu Yung Kwan (or Nankau)

Pass, where stands the great Mongol archway represented at the

end of this volume, they left what is now the Kalgan post-road at

Tumuyi, making straight for Chaghan-nor (_supra_, p. 304), and

thence to Shangtu. The return journey in autumn followed the same

route as far as Chaghan-nor, where some days were spent in fowling

on the lakes, and thence by Siuen-hwa fu (“_Sindachu_,” _supra_, p.

295) and the present post-road to Cambaluc.