have their separate courts. None of them has
fewer than three hundred young female attendants of great beauty,
together with a multitude of youths as pages, and other eunuchs, as
well as ladies of the bedchamber; so that the number of persons
belonging to each of their respective courts amounts to ten thousand.

The Grand Khan usually resides during three months of the
year--December, January, and February--in the great city of
Kanbalu,[71] situated toward the northeastern extremity of Cathay; and
here, on the southern side of the new city, is the site of his vast
palace, in a square enclosed with a wall and deep ditch; each side of
the square being eight miles in length, and having at an equal
distance from each extremity an entrance gate. Within this enclosure
there is, on the four sides, an open space one mile in breadth, where
the troops are stationed, and this is bounded by a second wall,
enclosing a square of six miles. The palace contains a number of
separate chambers, all highly beautiful, and so admirably disposed
that it seems impossible to suggest any improvement to the system of
their arrangement. The exterior of the roof is adorned with a variety
of colors--red, green, azure, and violet--and the sort of covering is
so strong as to last for many years.

The glazing of the windows is so well wrought and so delicate as to
have the transparency of crystal. In the rear of the body of the
palace there are large buildings containing several apartments, where
is deposited the private property of the monarch, or his treasure in
gold and silver bullion, precious stones, and pearls, and also his
vessels of gold and silver plate. Here are likewise the apartments of
his wives and concubines; and in this retired situation he despatches
business with convenience, being free from every kind of interruption.

His majesty, having imbibed an opinion from the astrologers that the
city of Kanbalu was destined to become rebellious to his authority,
resolved upon building another capital, upon the opposite side of the
river, where stand the palaces just described, so that the new and the
old cities are separated from each other only by the stream that runs
between them. The new-built city received the name of Tai-du, and all
those of the inhabitants who were natives of Cathay were compelled to
evacuate the ancient city and to take up their abode in the new. Some
of the inhabitants, however, of whose loyalty he did not entertain