s, 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 guestrooms, 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
Imperiale_.]

["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.), af