st by Marco Polo, and
serves considerably to confirm the authenticity of Rabbi Banjamin;
who, as a Jew, felt more interest in attending to his countrymen.--E.

SECTION XI.

_Account of the Imperial City of Cambalu, and the Court of the Great Khan,
or Emperor of the Tartars_.

During the three winter months of December, January, and February,
Kublai-khan generally resides in Cambalu[1] which is at the north-east
border of Kathay. On the north part of the new city stands the great palace
of the khan. In the first place is a great wall surrounding a vast square
enclosure, each side being eight miles in length; the wall is environed on
the outside by a deep ditch, and has a great gate in the middle of each
side. Within this outer wall, there is another exactly a mile distant, each
side of the square which it forms being six miles; and in the space between
these two walls the soldiers attend and perform their exercises and
evolutions. This inner square has three gates on its south side, and the
same number on the north; the middle gate of both these sides being greater
and more magnificent than the others, and is appropriated to the sole use
of the khan, the others being open to all who have a right to pass. In each
corner of this second wall, and in the middle of each side, there are very
large and magnificent buildings, eight in all, which are appropriated as
storehouses or arsenals for keeping the warlike weapons and furniture
belonging to the khan: as horse trappings of all kinds in one; bows and
arrows and cross-bows in a second; helmets, cuirasses, and leather armour
in a third; and so on in the rest. Within this second circuit, and at a
considerable distance, there is a third wall, likewise square, each side
being a mile in length; this wall being ten paces high and very thick, with
white battlements, has six gates as in the second wall. Between this third
wall and the former there is an extensive park, with many fine trees and
large meadows, well stocked with deer and other game, and the roads are
raised two cubits above the meadows, to save the grass from being trodden.
All of this park is kept in the finest order imaginable. In the four
angles, and in the middle of each side of this interior wall, there are
eight large and magnificent buildings, in which the khans provisions, and
other things belonging to the court, are stored up.

Within this last wall is the palace of the great khan, which is the la