Not with such complete authority as the Great Kaan, who
remains supreme as long as he lives.
Now I am going to tell you of the chief city of Cathay, in which these
Palaces stand; and why it was built, and how.
NOTE 1. - [According to the Ch'ue keng lu, translated by Bretschneider,
25, "the wall surrounding the palace ... is constructed of bricks, and is
35 ch'i in height. The construction was begun in A.D. 1271, on the 17th
of the 8th month, between three and five o'clock in the afternoon, and
finished next year on the 15th of the 3rd month." - H. C.]
NOTE 2. - Tarcasci (G. T.) This word is worthy of note as the proper form
of what has become in modern French carquois. The former is a transcript
of the Persian Tarkash; the latter appears to be merely a corruption of
it, arising perhaps clerically from the constant confusion of c and t
in MSS. (See Defremery, quoted by Pauthier, in loco.) [Old French
tarquais (13th century), Hatzfeldt and Darmesteter's Dict. gives;
"Coivres orent ceinz et tarchais." (WACE, Rou, III., 7698; 12th
century).]
NOTE 3. - ["It seems to me [Dr. Bretschneider] that Polo took the towers,
mentioned by the Chinese author, in the angles of the galleries and of the
Kung-ch'eng for palaces; for further on he states, 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.
