6 1 8 
Book I. 
The VOYAGES 
for in the Night none of the Citizens date go out, but 
thofe who are in Danger. The Khan always keeps here a 
Body of his bed and mod faithful Soldiery, as being the bed 
and riched Place in the World. Within a Mile of each 
other, are built Ramparts of Wood, where the fame 
Precautions are ufed for like Purpofes. When the Khan 
had reduced all Mangi to his Obedience, he divided it, 
being before but one Kingdom, into nine Parts, and fet 
them a Vice-King over each, who there adminiders Ju- 
dice. Every Year they give Account to the Khan’s Offi- 
cers of the Revenues, and other Accidents, and every third 
Year are charged, as all other Officers are. One of 
thefe Deputy Kings is refident at 'uinfay , who is Go- 
vernor of above one hundred and forty Cities, all rich and 
great : Nor let this be edeemed a Wonder, feeing in 
Mangi there are twelve thoufand Cities, all inhabited by 
rich and indudrious People, in one of which the Khan 
maintaineth a Garrifon, proportionable to the Greatnefs 
and Occafions, one thoufand, ten, or twenty thoufand, not 
all Tartars , but Cat hay an s ; for the Tartars are Horfemen, 
and keep in fuch Places as may be fit to exercife their 
Horfes. Into Cathay he fends thofe of Mangi , and Ca- 
thayans hither, fuch as are fit for Arms, of which he 
makes choice every third Year, and fends them for four 
or five Years together, into Places twenty Days Journey 
from their own Country, and then fuffers them to return 
Home, a frefh Body fucceeding ; and mod Part of the 
Khan’s Revenues are this Way expended, and if any Ci- 
ty rebel, he fuddenly from the next Garrifon compotes an 
Army to reduce or dedroy them. The City of Chain fay 
hath in condant Garrifon thirty thoufand Soldiers, and 
that which hath lead, hath one thoufand regular Troops, 
Horfe and Foot in Garrifon V 
I come next to fpeak of the Palace of King Fan fur. 
His Predeceffors caufed to be enciofed a Place of ten 
Miles Circuit, with high Walls, and divided it into three 
Parts. That in the midd was entred by one Gate on the 
one Side, and on the other were great and large Galleries, 
the Roof fudained by Pillars, painted and wrought in 
pure Gold, and fine Azure. Thefe were fmaller at the 
•Entry, and the further the greater, the faired at the End ; 
the Roof richly adorned with Gold, and on the Walls 
were painted the Stories of the former Kings, done very 
elegantly. Every Year, on certain Idol Holidays, Fan - 
fur keeps his Court, and feads his principal Lords, the 
great: Merchants, and rich Artificers of Quinfay. Ten 
•thoufand are at a Time under thefe Teraces. This feaft- 
ing endured ten or twelve Days with incredible Magnifi- 
cence, every Gued endeavouring to prefent himfelf in 
greated Pomp. Behind this marble Building was a Wall, 
which divided the Palace, in which were, as it were a 
Cloifter with Pillars, fudaining the Terace round about the 
Cloifter, wherein were Chambers for the King and Queen, 
curioufly wrought. From this Cloider was an Entrance into 
a Gallery fix Paces wide, extending in Length to the 
Lake, all covered. On each Side of this Gallery were 
ten Courts, anfwering to each other like Cloiders, each 
Court having fifty Chambers, with their Gardens, and in 
them one thoufand Concubines abode, which the King 
kept for his Service, who fometimes with the Queen, 
fometimes with -them, went in his Royal Barge, on the Lake, 
for Recreation, or to vifit his Idol Temples. The other 
two Parts of the Seraglio were divided into Groves, Lakes 
and Gardens, planted with Trees, in which were inclofed 
all Sorts of Beads, Roe-Bucks, Stags, Hares, Conies, and 
there the King diverted himfelf with his Damfels in Cha- 
riots, or on Horfeback, no Man entering there. There 
the Ladies hunted with his Dogs, and when weary, they 
went into thole Groves, which anfwered one another over 
and TRAVELS 
the Lakes, and there leaving their Garments, came forth 
naked, and fell to fwimming in the King’s Prefence. 
Sometimes he would eat a Banquet in thofe Groves, being 
ferved by thofe Damfels, without once thinking of Arms, 
which fweet Meat cod him the four Sauce ye have heard. 
All this was told me by a rich old Merchant of Chtinfay , 
while I was there, one who had been familiar with King 
Fanfur , and knew all his Life, and had feen that Palace 
ftouriffiing, into which he would needs bring me. 
The Viceroy now refides there, and the fird Galleries 
remain as they were, but the Damfels Chambers are ruin- 
ed. The Walls alfo which encompaffed the Woods and 
Gardens, are fallen to the Ground, the Beads and Trees being 
gone, and all the other Ornaments dedroyed. Twenty- 
five Miles from Q -uinfay is the Ocean, between the Ead 
and North-Ead, near which is a City called Gampu , an 
excellent Port, where arrive the Indian Ships with Merchan- 
dize. While Marco Polo was in ^uinfay , Account being 
given to the grand Khan of the Revenues, and the Num- 
ber of Inhabitants, he hath feen that there have been in- 
rolled one hundred fixy Toman of Fires, reckoning for a 
Fire the Family dwelling in one Houfe ; every Toman 
contains ten thoufand, which makes fixteen hundred thou- 
fand Families, of all which there is but one Church of 
Chridians, and thofe Nefiorians. Every Houfholder is 
bound to have written over his Door the Names of his 
whole Houfhold, Males and Females; alfo the Number 
of Horfes, the Names added or blotted out as the Family 
increafeth or decreafeth ; and this is obferved in all the Ci- 
ties of Mangi and Cathay. Thofe alfo that keep Inns write 
in a Book the Names of their Gueds, and the Day and 
Flour of their Departure, which Books they fend daily to 
the Lords, or Magidrates, who prefide at the Market- 
Places. In Mangi , the Poor which are not able to bring 
up their Children, fell them to the Rich. The Revenues 
which accrue to the Khan from Quinjay , and the other 
Cities pertaining thereto, being the Ninth Part of the King- 
dom of Mangi , are fird of Salt, every Year, eight To- 
mans of Gold, every Toman is eighty thoufand Sazzi’s of 
Gold, and every Sazzi is more than one Florin of Gold, 
which will amount to fix Millions and four hundred thou- 
fand Ducats. The Caufe is, that that Province being 
nigh the Sea, there are many Lakes, where the Water 
in Summer is coagulated into Salt, v/herewith five other 
Kingdoms in that Country are ferved. There is plenty of 
Sugar growing, which pay, as Jikewife all Spices do, three 
Parts, and a third in the Hundred : The like of Rice, 
Wine. Alfo thofe twelve Companies, which we faid had 
twelve thoufand Shops, and the Merchants which bring 
Goods hither, or carry any hence by Sea, pay the fame 
Price. They which come from remote Countries and Re- 
gions, as for Example, from the Indies , pay Ten per 
Cent. Likewife all things there breeding, as Beads, and 
growing out of the Earth, and Silk, pay Tithe to the 
King, and the Computation being made in the Prefence 
ofMader Marco, befides Salt before- mentioned, yearly a- 
mounts to two hundred and ten Tomans, which will be 
fixteen million eight hundred thoufand Ducats in Gold c . 
A Day’s Journey from £ 'uinfay to the South-Ead, are, 
all the Way, Houfes, Villages, fair Gardens, and Plenty 
of Victuals ; at the End whereof is Tapinzu , a fine City, 
in the Jurifdidtion of Cfuinfay. Three Days thence, 
South-Ead, is Uguiu , and two Days farther you may dill ride 
that Way, finding Cadies, Cities, and well cultivated 
Places, in fuch a Neighbourhood that they feem to Tra- 
vellers all one City, and are all in the Jurifdidtion of 
Cfuinfay ; there are great Canes fifteen Paces long and four 
Palms thick. Two Days Journey farther is the City Con- 
gui , fair and large ; and travelling farther South-Ead, are 
b The Tartars vifiblv depended upon a military Force for the Prefervation of their Empire in China, which whether it was an Effeft or their own 
Policy, or a Part of the Chinefe Syitem of Government, which they adopted, is uncertain ; but it is moft probable that it was the latter. However 
it was far enough from anfwering the End, for the Tartar Forces becoming a meer Handing Army, and having nothing to do but to make a lazy 
Livelihood of that Profeffion,, the Soul of which is an active State ; they foon degenerated, and became as foft and effeminate as the Chinefe, while the 
latter, humbled by the Tartar Conqueft, impoverifh’d by enduring the Burthen of fuch a numerous Army, and above all, taught the Value of Li- 
berty by the Lofs of it, began to form Defigns for bringing about a new Revolution, which at laft they were fo lucky as to effect. . 
c Thefe Particulars might very well appear (as indeed they did) abfolutely incredible, at a Time when there was not fo much as an Idea ot a we - 
peopled, and regularly fetled Country beyond the Limits of Perfla, received among the Europeans. As the Chinefe were amazed, and knevv not w rat to 
think of our Manners, when we came firft amongft them, fo the firft News of fuch an Empire as China, fo exteniive, fo well peopled, 10 aamira y 
governed, and in fo flourifhing a Condition, nauft needs aftonilh us not a little. According to the latejft Accounts of this Empire, its Revenues 
amount to fifty Millions Sterling annually, 
- • . Places 
