CHAPTER XIII.

HOW MESSER NICOLO AND MESSER MAFFEO POLO, ACCOMPANIED BY

MARK, TRAVELLED TO THE COURT OF THE GREAT KAAN.

So the Two Brothers, and Mark along with them, proceeded on their way,

and journeying on, summer and winter, came at length to the Great Kaan,

who was then at a certain rich and great city, called KEMENFU.{1} As to

what they met with on the road, whether in going or coming, we shall

give no particulars at present, because we are going to tell you all

those details in regular order in the after part of this Book. Their

journey back to the Kaan occupied a good three years and a half, owing

to the bad weather and severe cold that they encountered. And let me

tell you in good sooth that when the Great Kaan heard that Messers

Nicolo and Maffeo Polo were on their way back, he sent people a journey

of full 40 days to meet them; and on this journey, as on their former

one, they were honourably entertained upon the road, and supplied with

all that they required.

NOTE 1.—The French texts read _Clemeinfu_, Ramusio _Clemenfu_.

The Pucci MS. guides us to the correct reading, having _Chemensu_

(_Kemensu_) for _Chemenfu_. KAIPINGFU, meaning something like

“City of Peace,” and called by Rashiduddin _Kaiminfu_ (whereby

we see that Polo as usual adopted the Persian form of the name),

was a city founded in 1256, four years before Kublai’s accession,

some distance to the north of the Chinese wall. It became Kublai’s

favourite summer residence, and was styled from 1264 _Shangtu_

or “Upper Court.” (See _infra_, Bk. I. ch. lxi.) It was known to

the Mongols, apparently by a combination of the two names, as

_Shangdu Keibung_. It appears in D’Anville’s map under the name of

_Djao-Naiman Sumé_. Dr. Bushell, who visited Shangtu in 1872, makes

it 1103 _li_ (367 miles) by road distance _viâ_ Kalgan from Peking.

The busy town of Dolonnúr lies 26 miles S.E. of it, and according

to Kiepert’s _Asia_ that place is about 180 miles in a direct line

north of Peking.

(See _Klaproth_ in _J. As._ XI. 365; _Gaubil_, p. 115; _Cathay_, p.

260; _J. R. G. S._ vol. xliii.)