188 EEMINISCENCES OF A SPOETSMAN-. 



house, and then gave his hawk to Lord Wilmot, who 

 continued the journey with the same fiekl sport. 



IMarco Polo*, the great Venetian traveller, states that 

 when he was in Tartary, the Great Khan took particular 

 delight in falconry, and that the country which afforded 

 him the best sport was the Changa-ner, or the White 

 Lake, the numerous waters and extensive plains here, 

 furnishing aquatic and land fowl in abundance. He 

 here found herons, cranes, swans, wild geese, and ducks 

 of various kinds, as well as pheasants, partridges, and 

 other birds indigenous to those countries. The Grand 

 Khan had the gyr falcons, and other hawks well trained 

 by his falconers for this ancient field sport in the East. 

 This traveller further informs us, that at another palace 

 near the City of Chandu, in Tartary, the Grand Khan 

 kept upwards of two hundred hawks, which during his 

 stay there he always visited and inspected in person 

 at least once a week. The mews were pleasantly 

 situated in the park, where a variety of animals of the 

 deer and goat kind were pastured to serve as food for 

 the hawks and other birds employed in the chase. 



* Marco Polo, a famous traveller of the thirteenth centiuy, son of 

 Nicolas Polo, a Venetian merchant, accompanied by his brother Matthew 

 Nicholas, penetrated to the court of Kublai, the Khan of the Tartars, 

 when this prince, highly entertained with their account of Europe, made 

 them his ambassadors to the Pope. They therefore proceeded to Eome, 

 and having obtained a couple of missionaries, visited Tartary, accom- 

 panied by the yoimg Marco. He was employed by the Sultan on various 

 embassies, imtil, after a residence of several years, the three Venetians 

 returned with immense wealth to their own countiy in 1295. Marco after- 

 wards served his country at sea, and being taken prisoner by the 

 Genoese, remained many years in confinement, which he beguiled by 

 composing the history of his travels. Polo not only gave a better ac- 

 count of China than any previoiis one, but furnished an account of 

 Japan, &c. The period of his death is not known. 



