he city is one hundred
miles in circumference and has twelve thousand stone bridges, and
beneath the greater part of these a large ship might pass. And you
need not wonder there are so many bridges, because the city is wholly
on the water and surrounded by it like Venice. The merchants are so
numerous and so rich that their wealth can neither be told nor believed.
They and their ladies do nothing with their own hands, but live as
delicately as if they were kings. These females also are of most angelic
beauty, and live in the most elegant manner. The people are idolaters,
subject to the Great Khan, and use paper money. They eat the flesh
of dogs and other beasts, such as no Christian would touch for the
world. In this city, too, are four thousand baths, in which the citizens,
both men and women, take great delight and frequently resort thither,
because they keep their persons very cleanly. They are the largest
and most beautiful baths in the world, insomuch that one hundred of
either sex may bathe in them at once. Twenty-five miles from thence
is the ocean, and there is a city (Ning-po) which has a very fine port,
with large ships and much merchandise of immense value from India and
other quarters."

[Illustration: "THE UNROLLING OF THE CLOUDS"--III. The world as known
at the end of the thirteenth century after the travels of Marco Polo
and his contemporaries.]

But though Marco revels in the description of wonderful cities, he
is continually leading us back to the Great Khan himself. His festivals
were splendid. The tables were arranged so that the Emperor sat higher
than all the others, always with his face to the south. His sons and
daughters were placed so that their heads were on a level with his
feet. Some forty thousand people feast on these occasions, but the
Khan himself is served only by his great barons, their mouths wrapped
in rich towels embroidered in gold and silver, that their breath might
not blow upon the plates. His presents were on a colossal scale; it
was no rare occurrence for him to receive five thousand camels, one
hundred thousand beautiful horses, and five thousand elephants
covered with cloth of gold and silver.

"And now I will relate a wonderful thing," says Marco. "A large lion
is led into his presence, which, as soon as it sees him, drops down
and makes a sign of deep humility, owning him its lord and moving about
without any chain."

His kingdom was ruled by twelve barons all living a