CHAPTER XXII.

CONCERNING THE CITY OF CAMBALUC, AND ITS GREAT TRAFFIC

AND POPULATION.

You must know that the city of Cambaluc hath such a multitude of

houses, and such a vast population inside the walls and outside, that

it seems quite past all possibility. There is a suburb outside each

of the gates, which are twelve in number;{1} and these suburbs are

so great that they contain more people than the city itself [for the

suburb of one gate spreads in width till it meets the suburb of the

next, whilst they extend in length some three or four miles]. In those

suburbs lodge the foreign merchants and travellers, of whom there are

always great numbers who have come to bring presents to the Emperor, or

to sell articles at Court, or because the city affords so good a mart

to attract traders. [There are in each of the suburbs, to a distance

of a mile from the city, numerous fine hostelries{2} for the lodgment

of merchants from different parts of the world, and a special hostelry

is assigned to each description of people, as if we should say there

is one for the Lombards, another for the Germans, and a third for the

Frenchmen.] And thus there are as many good houses outside of the

city as inside, without counting those that belong to the great lords

and barons, which are very numerous.

[Illustration: Plain of Cambaluc; the City in the distance; from the

Hills on the north-west.]

You must know that it is forbidden to bury any dead body inside the

city. If the body be that of an Idolater it is carried out beyond the

city and suburbs to a remote place assigned for the purpose, to be

burnt. And if it be of one belonging to a religion the custom of which

is to bury, such as the Christian, the Saracen, or what not, it is also

carried out beyond the suburbs to a distant place assigned for the

purpose. And thus the city is preserved in a better and more healthy

state.

Moreover, no public woman resides inside the city, but all such abide

outside in the suburbs. And ’tis wonderful what a vast number of these

there are for the foreigners; it is a certain fact that there are more

than 20,000 of them living by prostitution. And that so many can live

in this way will show you how vast is the population.

[Guards patrol the city every night in parties of 30 or 40, looking

out for any persons who may be abroad at unseasonable hours,

_i.e._ after the great bell hath stricken thrice. If they find any

such person he is immediately taken to prison, and examined next

morning by the proper officers. If these find him guilty of any

misdemeanour they order him a proportionate beating with the stick.

Under this punishment people sometimes die; but they adopt it in

order to eschew bloodshed; for their _Bacsis_ say that it is an

evil thing to shed man’s blood.]

To this city also are brought articles of greater cost and rarity,

and in greater abundance of all kinds, than to any other city in the

world. For people of every description, and from every region, bring

things (including all the costly wares of India, as well as the fine

and precious goods of Cathay itself with its provinces), some for the

sovereign, some for the court, some for the city which is so great,

some for the crowds of Barons and Knights, some for the great hosts of

the Emperor which are quartered round about; and thus between court and

city the quantity brought in is endless.

As a sample, I tell you, no day in the year passes that there do not

enter the city 1000 cart-loads of silk alone, from which are made

quantities of cloth of silk and gold, and of other goods. And this is

not to be wondered at; for in all the countries round about there is no

flax, so that everything has to be made of silk. It is true, indeed,

that in some parts of the country there is cotton and hemp, but not

sufficient for their wants. This, however, is not of much consequence,

because silk is so abundant and cheap, and is a more valuable substance

than either flax or cotton.

Round about this great city of Cambaluc there are some 200 other cities

at various distances, from which traders come to sell their goods and

buy others for their lords; and all find means to make their sales and

purchases, so that the traffic of the city is passing great.

NOTE 1.—It would seem to have been usual to reckon _twelve_ suburbs

to Peking down to modern times. (See _Deguignes_, III. 38.)

NOTE 2.—The word here used is _Fondaco_, often employed in mediæval

Italian in the sense nearly of what we call a _factory_. The word

is from the Greek πανδοκεῖον, but through the Arabic _Fandúḳ_. The

latter word is used by Ibn Batuta in speaking of the hostelries at

which the Mussulman merchants put up in China.