CHAPTER X.

CONCERNING THE PALACE OF THE GREAT KAAN.

You must know that for three months of the year, to wit December,

January, and February, the Great Kaan resides in the capital city of

Cathay, which is called CAMBALUC, [and which is at the north-eastern

extremity of the country]. In that city stands his great Palace, and

now I will tell you what it is like.

It is enclosed all round by a great wall forming a square, each side of

which is a mile in length; that is to say, the whole compass thereof

is four miles. This you may depend on; it is also very thick, and a

good ten paces in height, whitewashed and loop-holed all round.{1} At

each angle of the wall there is a very fine and rich palace in which

the war-harness of the Emperor is kept, such as bows and quivers,{2}

saddles and bridles, and bowstrings, and everything needful for an

army. Also midway between every two of these Corner Palaces there is

another of the like; so that taking the whole compass of the enclosure

you find eight vast Palaces stored with the Great Lord’s harness of

war.{3} And you must understand that each Palace is assigned to only

one kind of article; thus one is stored with bows, a second with

saddles, a third with bridles, and so on in succession right round.{4}

The great wall has five gates on its southern face, the middle one

being the great gate which is never opened on any occasion except when

the Great Kaan himself goes forth or enters. Close on either side of

this great gate is a smaller one by which all other people pass; and

then towards each angle is another great gate, also open to people in

general; so that on that side there are five gates in all.{5}

Inside of this wall there is a second, enclosing a space that is

somewhat greater in length than in breadth. This enclosure also has

eight palaces corresponding to those of the outer wall, and stored like

them with the Lord’s harness of war. This wall also hath five gates on

the southern face, corresponding to those in the outer wall, and hath

one gate on each of the other faces, as the outer wall hath also. In

the middle of the second enclosure is the Lord’s Great Palace, and I

will tell you what it is like.{6}

You must know that it is the greatest Palace that ever was. [Towards

the north it is in contact with the outer wall, whilst towards the

south there is a vacant space which the Barons and the soldiers are

constantly traversing.{7} The Palace itself] hath no upper story,

but is all on the ground floor, only the basement is raised some ten

palms above the surrounding soil [and this elevation is retained by

a wall of marble raised to the level of the pavement, two paces in

width and projecting beyond the base of the Palace so as to form a

kind of terrace-walk, by which people can pass round the building,

and which is exposed to view, whilst on the outer edge of the wall

there is a very fine pillared balustrade; and up to this the people

are allowed to come]. The roof is very lofty, and the walls of the

Palace are all covered with gold and silver. They are also adorned with

representations of dragons [sculptured and gilt], beasts and birds,

knights and idols, and sundry other subjects. And on the ceiling too

you see nothing but gold and silver and painting. [On each of the four

sides there is a great marble staircase leading to the top of the

marble wall, and forming the approach to the Palace.]{8}

The Hall of the Palace is so large that it could easily dine 6000

people; and it is quite a marvel to see how many rooms there are

besides. The building is altogether so vast, so rich, and so beautiful,

that no man on earth could design anything superior to it. The outside

of the roof also is all coloured with vermilion and yellow and green

and blue and other hues, which are fixed with a varnish so fine and

exquisite that they shine like crystal, and lend a resplendent lustre

to the Palace as seen for a great way round.{9} This roof is made too

with such strength and solidity that it is fit to last for ever.

[On the interior side of the Palace are large buildings with halls and

chambers, where the Emperor’s private property is placed, such as his

treasures of gold, silver, gems, pearls, and gold plate, and in which

reside the ladies and concubines. There he occupies himself at his own

convenience, and no one else has access.]

Between the two walls of the enclosure which I have described, there

are fine parks and beautiful trees bearing a variety of fruits. There

are beasts also of sundry kinds, such as white stags and fallow deer,

gazelles and roebucks, and fine squirrels of various sorts, with

numbers also of the animal that gives the musk, and all manner of other

beautiful creatures,{10} insomuch that the whole place is full of them,

and no spot remains void except where there is traffic of people going

and coming. [The parks are covered with abundant grass; and the roads

through them being all paved and raised two cubits above the surface,

they never become muddy, nor does the rain lodge on them, but flows off

into the meadows, quickening the soil and producing that abundance of

herbage.]

From that corner of the enclosure which is towards the north-west there

extends a fine Lake, containing foison of fish of different kinds which

the Emperor hath caused to be put in there, so that whenever he desires

any he can have them at his pleasure. A river enters this lake and

issues from it, but there is a grating of iron or brass put up so that

the fish cannot escape in that way.{11}

Moreover on the north side of the Palace, about a bow-shot off, there

is a hill which has been made by art [from the earth dug out of the

lake]; it is a good hundred paces in height and a mile in compass.

This hill is entirely covered with trees that never lose their leaves,

but remain ever green. And I assure you that wherever a beautiful tree

may exist, and the Emperor gets news of it, he sends for it and has it

transported bodily with all its roots and the earth attached to them,

and planted on that hill of his. No matter how big the tree may be, he

gets it carried by his elephants; and in this way he has got together

the most beautiful collection of trees in all the world. And he has

also caused the whole hill to be covered with the ore of azure,{12}

which is very green. And thus not only are the trees all green, but the

hill itself is all green likewise; and there is nothing to be seen on

it that is not green; and hence it is called the GREEN MOUNT; and in

good sooth ’tis named well.{13}

On the top of the hill again there is a fine big palace which is all

green inside and out; and thus the hill, and the trees, and the palace

form together a charming spectacle; and it is marvellous to see their

uniformity of colour! Everybody who sees them is delighted. And the

Great Kaan had caused this beautiful prospect to be formed for the

comfort and solace and delectation of his heart.

You must know that beside the Palace (that we have been describing),

_i.e._ the Great Palace, the Emperor has caused another to be built

just like his own in every respect, and this he hath done for his son

when he shall reign and be Emperor after him.{14} Hence it is made

just in the same fashion and of the same size, so that everything can

be carried on in the same manner after his own death. [It stands on

the other side of the lake from the Great Kaan’s Palace, and there is

a bridge crossing the water from one to the other.]{15} The Prince

in question holds now a Seal of Empire, but not with such complete

authority as the Great Kaan, who remains supreme as long as he lives.

Now I am going to tell you of the chief city of Cathay, in which these

Palaces stand; and why it was built, and how.

NOTE 1.—[According to the _Ch’ue keng lu_, translated by

Bretschneider, 25, “the wall surrounding the palace ... is

constructed of bricks, and is 35 _ch’i_ in height. The construction

was begun in A.D. 1271, on the 17th of the 8th month, between three

and five o’clock in the afternoon, and finished next year on the

15th of the 3rd month.”—H. C.]

NOTE 2.—_Tarcasci_ (G. T.). This word is worthy of note as the

proper form of what has become in modern French _carquois_. The

former is a transcript of the Persian _Tărkăsh_; the latter appears

to be merely a corruption of it, arising perhaps clerically from

the constant confusion of _c_ and _t_ in MSS. (See _Defrémery_,

quoted by Pauthier, _in loco._) [Old French _tarquais_ (13th

century), Hatzfeldt and Darmesteter’s _Dict._ gives; “Coivres orent

ceinz et tarchais.” (WACE, _Rou_, III., 7698; 12th century).]

NOTE 3.—[“It seems to me [Dr. Bretschneider] that Polo took the

towers, mentioned by the Chinese author, in the angles of the

galleries and of the Kung-ch’eng for palaces; for further on he

states, that ‘over each gate [of Cambaluc] there is a great and

handsome palace.’ I have little doubt that over the gates of

Cambaluc, stood lofty buildings similar to those over the gates of

modern Peking. These tower-like buildings are called _lou_ by the

Chinese. It may be very likely, that at the time of Marco Polo,

the war harness of the Khan was stored in these towers of the

palace wall. The author of the _Ch’ue keng lu_, who wrote more than

fifty years later, assigns to it another place.” (_Bretschneider,

Peking_, 32.) —H. C.]

[Illustration: IDEAL PLAN of the ANCIENT PALACES of the MONGOL

EMPERORS AT KHANBALIGH according to Dʳ. Bretschneider]

NOTE 4.—The stores are now outside the walls of the “Prohibited

City,” corresponding to Polo’s Palace-Wall, but within the walls of

the “Imperial City.” (_Middle Kingdom_, I. 61.) See the cut at p.

376.

NOTE 5.—The two gates near the corners apparently do not exist in

the Palace now. “On the south side there are three gates to the

Palace, both in the inner and the outer walls. The middle one is

absolutely reserved for the entrance or exit of the Emperor; all

other people pass in and out by the gate to the right or left of

it.” (_Trigautius_, Bk. I. ch. vii.) This custom is not in China

peculiar to Royalty. In private houses it is usual to have three

doors leading from the court to the guest-rooms, and there is a

great exercise of politeness in reference to these; the guest after

much pressing is prevailed on to enter the middle door, whilst

the host enters by the side. (See _Deguignes, Voyages_, I. 262.)

[See also _H. Cordier’s Hist. des Relat. de la Chine_, III. ch. x.

_Audience Impériale_.]

[“It seems Polo took the three gateways in the middle gate

(_Ta-ming men_) for three gates, and thus speaks of five gates

instead of three in the southern wall.” (_Bretschneider, Peking_,

27, note.)—H. C.]

NOTE 6.—Ramusio’s version here diverges from the old MSS. It makes

the inner enclosure a mile square; and the second (the city of

Taidu) six miles square, as here, but adds, at a mile interval,

a third of eight miles square. Now it is remarkable that Mr. A.

Wylie, in a letter dated 4th December 1873, speaking of a recent

visit to Peking, says: “I found from various inquiries that there

are several remains of a very much larger city wall, inclosing the

present city; but time would not allow me to follow up the traces.”

Pauthier’s text (which I have corrected by the G. T.), after

describing the _outer inclosure_ to be a _mile every way_, says

that the inner inclosure lay at _an interval of a mile within it_!

[Dr. Bretschneider observes “that in the ancient Chinese works,

three concentric inclosures are mentioned in connection with

the palace. The innermost inclosed the _Ta-nei_, the middle

inclosure, called _Kung-ch’eng_ or _Huang-ch’eng_, answering to

the wall surrounding the present prohibited city, and was about 6

_li_ in circuit. Besides this there was an outer wall (a rampart

apparently) 20 _li_ in circuit, answering to the wall of the

present imperial city (which now has 18 _li_ in circuit).” The

_Huang-ch’eng_ of the Yuen was measured by imperial order, and

found to be 7 _li_ in circuit; the wall of the Mongol palace was 6

_li_ in circuit, according to the _Ch’ue keng lu_. (_Bretschneider,

Peking_, 24.)—Marco Polo’s mile could be approximately estimated

= 2·77 Chinese _li_. (_Ibid._ 24, note.) The common Chinese _li_

= 360 _pu_, or 180 _chang_, or 1800 _ch’i_ (feet); 1 _li_ = 1894

English feet or 575 mètres; at least according to the old Venice

measures quoted in _Yule’s Marco Polo_, II., one pace = 5 feet.

Besides the common _li_, the Chinese have another _li_, used for

measuring fields, which has only 240 _pu_ or 1200 _ch’i_. This is

the _li_ spoken of in the _Ch’ue keng lu_. (_Ibid._ 13, note.)—H. C.]

NOTE 7.—[“Near the southern face of the wall are barracks for

the Life Guards.” (_Ch’ue keng lu_, translated by Bretschneider,

25.)—H. C.]

NOTE 8.—This description of palace (see opposite cut), an elevated

basement of masonry with a superstructure of timber (in general

carved and gilded), is still found in Burma, Siam, and Java, as

well as in China. If we had any trace of the palaces of the ancient

Asokas and Vikramadityas of India, we should probably find that

they were of the same character. It seems to be one of those things

that belonged to some ancient Panasiatic fashion, as the palaces of

Nineveh were of a somewhat similar construction. In the Audience

Halls of the Moguls at Delhi and Agra we can trace the ancient

form, though the superstructure has there become an arcade of

marble instead of a pavilion on timber columns.

[“The _Ta-ming tien_ (Hall of great brightness) is without doubt

what Marco Polo calls ‘the Lord’s Great Palace.’... He states, that

it ‘hath no upper story’; and indeed, the palace buildings which

the Chinese call _tien_ are always of one story. Polo speaks also

of a ‘very fine pillared balustrade’ (the _chu lang_, pillared

verandah, of the Chinese author). Marco Polo states that the

basement of the great palace ‘is raised some ten palms above the

surrounding soil.’ We find in the _Ku kung i lu_: ‘The basement of

the Ta-ming tien is raised about 10 _ch’i_ above the soil.’ There

can also be no doubt that the Ta-ming tien stood at about the same

place where now the _T’ai-ho tien_, the principal hall of the

palace, is situated.” (_Bretschneider, Peking_, 28, note.)

[Illustration: _A. Housselin d._

Palace at Khan-baligh. (From the _Livre des Merveilles_.)]

[Illustration: Winter Palace at Peking.]

The _Ch’ue keng lu_, translated by Bretschneider, 25, contains long

articles devoted to the description of the palace of the Mongols

and the adjacent palace grounds. They are too long to be reproduced

here.—H. C.]

NOTE 9.—“As all that one sees of these palaces is varnished in

those colours, when you catch a distant view of them at sunrise, as

I have done many a time, you would think them all made of, or at

least covered with, pure gold enamelled in azure and green, so that

the spectacle is at once majestic and charming.” (_Magaillans_, p.

353.)

NOTE 10.—[This is the _Ling yu_ or “Divine Park,” to the east of

the _Wan-sui shan_, “in which rare birds and beasts are kept.

Before the Emperor goes to Shangtu, the officers are accustomed

to be entertained at this place.” (_Ch’ue keng lu_, quoted by

Bretschneider, 36.)—H. C.]

NOTE 11.—“On the west side, where the space is amplest, there

is a lake very full of fish. It is in the form of a fiddle, and

is an Italian mile and a quarter in length. It is crossed at

the narrowest part, which corresponds to gates in the walls, by

a handsome bridge, the extremities of which are adorned by two

triumphal arches of three openings each.... The lake is surrounded

by palaces and pleasure houses, built partly in the water and

partly on shore, and charming boats are provided on it for the

use of the Emperor when he chooses to go a-fishing or to take an

airing.” (_Ibid._ 282–283.) The marble bridge, as it now exists,

consists of nine arches, and is 600 feet long. (_Rennie’s Peking_,

II. 57.)

Ramusio specifies another lake in the _city_, fed by the same

stream before it enters the palace, and used by the public for

watering cattle.

[“The lake which Marco Polo saw is the same as the _T’ai-yi ch’i_

of our days. It has, however, changed a little in its form. This

lake and also its name _T’ai-yi ch’i_ date from the twelfth

century, at which time an Emperor of the Kin first gave orders to

collect together the water of some springs in the hills, where now

the summer palaces stand, and to conduct it to a place north of

his capital, where pleasure gardens were laid out. The river which

enters the lake and issues from it exists still, under its ancient

name _Kin-shui_.” (_Bretschneider, Peking_, 34.)—H. C.]

NOTE 12.—The expression here is in the Geog. Text, “_Roze_ de

_l’açur_,” and in Pauthier’s “_de rose et de l’asur_.” _Rose

Minerale_, in the terminology of the alchemists, was a red powder

produced in the sublimation of gold and mercury, but I can find no

elucidation of the term Rose of Azure. The Crusca Italian has in

the same place _Terra dello Azzurro_. Having ventured to refer the

question to the high authority of Mr. C. W. King, he expresses the

opinion that _Roze_ here stands for _Roche_, and that probably the

term _Roche de l’azur_ may have been used loosely for _blue-stone_,

_i.e._ carbonate of copper, which would assume a green colour through

moisture. He adds: “Nero, according to Pliny, actually used

_chrysocolla_, the siliceous carbonate of copper, in powder, for

strewing the circus, to give the course the colour of his favourite

faction, the _prasine_ (or green). There may be some analogy

between this device and that of Kúblái Khan.” This parallel is a

very happy one.

NOTE 13.—Friar Odoric gives a description, short, but closely

agreeing in substance with that in the Text, of the Palace, the

Park, the Lake, and the Green Mount.

A green mount, answering to the description, and about 160 feet in

height, stands immediately in rear of the palace buildings. It is

called by the Chinese _King-Shan_, “Court Mountain,” _Wan-su-Shan_,

“Ten Thousand Year Mount,” and _Mei-Shan_, “Coal Mount,” the last

from the material of which it is traditionally said to be composed

(as a provision of fuel in case of siege).[1] Whether this is

Kúblái’s Green Mount does not seem to be quite certain. Dr.

Lockhart tells me that, according to the information he collected

when living at Peking, it is not so, but was formed by the Ming

Emperors from the excavation of the existing lake on the site which

the Mongol Palace had occupied. There is another mount, he adds,

adjoining the east shore of the lake, which must be of older date

even than Kúblái, for a Dagoba standing on it is ascribed to the

_Kin_.

[Illustration: Mei Shan.]

[The “Green Mount” was an island called _K’iung-hua_ at the time

of the Kin; in 1271 it received the name of _Wan-sui shan_; it is

about 100 feet in height, and is the only hill mentioned by Chinese

writers of the Mongol time who refer to the palace grounds. It

is not the present _King-shan_, north of the palace, called also

_Wan-sui-shan_ under the Ming, and now the _Mei-shan_, of more

recent formation. “I have no doubt,” says Bretschneider (_Peking_,

_l.c._ 35), “that Marco Polo’s handsome palace on the top of the

Green Mount is the same as the _Kuang-han tien_” of the _Ch’ue

keng lu_. It was a hall in which there was a jar of black jade,

big enough to hold more than 30 piculs of wine; this jade had

white veins, and in accordance with these veins, fish and animals

have been carved on the jar. (_Ibid._ 35.) “The _Ku kung i lu_, in

describing the _Wan-sui-shan_, praises the beautiful shady green of

the vegetation there.” (_Ibid._ 37.) —H. C.]

[“Near the eastern end of the bridge (_Kin-ao yü-tung_ which

crosses the lake) the visitor sees a circular wall, which is called

_yüan ch’eng_ (round wall). It is about 350 paces in circuit.

Within it is an imperial building _Ch’eng-kuang tien_, dating from

the Mongol time. From this circular enclosure, another long and

beautifully executed marble bridge leads northwards, to a charming

hill, covered with shady trees, and capped by a magnificent white

_suburga_.” (_Bretschneider_, p. 22.)—H. C.]

In a plate attached to next chapter, I have drawn, on a small

scale, the existing cities of Peking, as compared with the Mongol

and Chinese cities in the time of Kúblái. The plan of the latter

has been constructed (1) from existing traces, as exhibited

in the Russian Survey republished by our War Office; (2) from

information kindly afforded by Dr. Lockhart; and (3) from Polo’s

description and a few slight notices by Gaubil and others. It will

be seen, even on the small scale of these plans, that the general

arrangement of the palace, the park, the lakes (including that in

the city, which appears in Ramusio’s version), the bridge, the

mount, etc., in the existing Peking, very closely correspond with

Polo’s indications; and I think the strong probability is that the

Ming really built on the old traces, and that the lake, mount,

etc., as they now stand, are substantially those of the Great

Mongol, though Chinese policy or patriotism may have spread the

belief that the foreign traces were obliterated. Indeed, if that

belief were true, the Mongol Palace must have been very much out

of the axis of the City of Kúblái, which is in the highest degree

improbable. The _Bulletin de la Soc. de Géographie_ for September

1873, contains a paper on Peking by the physician to the French

Embassy there. Whatever may be the worth of the meteorological

and hygienic details in that paper, I am bound to say that the

historical and topographical part is so inaccurate as to be of no

value.

NOTE 14.—For son, read grandson. But the G. T. actually names the

Emperor’s son Chingkim, whose death our traveller has himself

already mentioned.

NOTE 15.—[“Marco Polo’s bridge, crossing the lake from one side to

the other, must be identified with the wooden bridge mentioned in

the _Ch’ue keng lu_. The present marble bridge spanning the lake

was only built in 1392.” “A marble bridge connects this island

(an islet with the hall _I-t’ien tien_) with the _Wan-sui shan_.

Another bridge, made of wood, 120 _ch’i_ long and 22 broad, leads

eastward to the wall of the Imperial Palace. A third bridge, a

wooden draw-bridge 470 _ch’i_ long, stretches to the west over the

lake to its western border, where the palace _Hing-sheng kung_

[built in 1308] stands.” (_Bretschneider_, _Peking_, 36.)—H. C.]

[Illustration: Yüan ch’eng.]

----------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] Some years ago, in Calcutta, I learned that a large store of

charcoal existed under the soil of Fort William, deposited there, I

believe, in the early days of that fortress.

[“The _Jihia_ says that the name of _Mei shan_ (Coal hill) was

given to it from the stock of coal buried at its foot, as a

provision in case of siege.” (_Bretschneider, Peking_, 38.)—H. C.]