l my travels I had
not seen a more populous place.

The city is an exact square, each side of the wall being five hundred
feet long. The two great streets, which run across and divide it into
four quarters, are five feet wide. The lanes and alleys, which I could
not enter, but only viewed them as I passed, are from twelve to eighteen
inches. The town is capable of holding five hundred thousand souls; the
houses are from three to five stories; the shops and markets well
provided.

The emperor's palace is in the centre of the city, where the two great
streets meet. It is enclosed by a wall of two foot high, and twenty foot
distant from the buildings. I had his majesty's permission to step over
this wall; and the space being so wide between that and the palace, I
could easily view it on every side.

The outward court is a square of forty feet, and includes two other
courts; in the inmost are the royal apartments, which I was very
desirous to see, but found it extremely difficult; for the great gates
from one square into another were but eighteen inches high, and seven
inches wide. Now the buildings of the outer court were at least five
feet high, and it was impossible for me to stride over them without
infinite damage to the pile, though the walls were strongly built of
hewn stone, and four inches thick.

At the same time, the emperor had a great desire that I should see the
magnificence of his palace; but this I was not able to do till three
days after, which I spent in cutting down, with my knife, some of the
largest trees in the royal park, about an hundred yards distance from
the city. Of these trees I made two stools, each about three feet high,
and strong enough to bear my weight.

[Illustration: "HER IMPERIAL MAJESTY WAS PLEASED TO SMILE VERY GRACIOUSLY
UPON ME" P. 50.]

The people having received notice a second time, I went again through
the city to the palace, with my two stools in my hands. When I came to
the side of the outer court, I stood upon one stool, and took the other
in my hand; this I lifted over the roof, and gently set it down on the
space between the first and second court, which was eight feet wide. I
then stept over the building very conveniently, from one stool to the
other, and drew up the first after me with a hooked stick. By this
contrivance I got into the inmost court; and, lying down upon my side, I
applied my face to the windows of the middle stories, which were left
open on purpos