CHINESE SPORTSMAN AND WEAPONS 227 



fine large chamber where the lord sleeps, 

 and there are also many other tents and 

 chambers, but they are not in contact with 

 the great tent as these are. The two 

 audience-tents and the sleeping-chamber 

 are constructed in this way. Each of the 

 audience tents has three poles, which are 

 of spice-wood, and are most artfully covered 

 with lions' skins, striped with black and 

 white and red, so that they do not suffer 

 from any weather. All three apartments 

 are also covered outside with similar skins 

 of striped lions, a substance that lasts for- 

 ever. And inside they are all lined with 

 ermine and sable, these two being the finest 

 and most costly furs in existence. For a 

 robe of sable, large enough to line a mantle, 

 is worth 2,000 bezants of gold, or 1,000 at 

 least, and this kind of skin is called by the 

 Tartars "The King of Furs." The beast 

 itself is about the size of a marten. These 

 two furs of which I speak are applied and 

 inlaid so exquisitely that it is really some- 

 thing worth seeing. All the tent-ropes are 

 of silk. And in short I may say that those 

 tents, to wit, the two audience-halls and the 

 sleeping chamber, are so costly that it is 

 not every king could pay for them. 



