REHEARSAL OF THE WAY THE YEAR OF THE GREAT KAAN IS
DISTRIBUTED.
On arriving at his capital of Cambaluc,{1} he stays in his palace
there three days and no more; during which time he has great court
entertainments and rejoicings, and makes merry with his wives. He then
quits his palace at Cambaluc, and proceeds to that city which he has
built, as I told you before, and which is called Chandu, where he has
that grand park and palace of cane, and where he keeps his gerfalcons
in mew. There he spends the summer, to escape the heat, for the
situation is a very cool one. After stopping there from the beginning
of May to the 28th of August, he takes his departure (that is the time
when they sprinkle the white mares’ milk as I told you), and returns
to his capital Cambaluc. There he stops, as I have told you also, the
month of September, to keep his Birthday Feast, and also throughout
October, November, December, January, and February, in which last month
he keeps the grand feast of the New Year, which they call the White
Feast, as you have heard already with all particulars. He then sets out
on his march towards the Ocean Sea, hunting and hawking, and continues
out from the beginning of March to the middle of May; and then comes
back for three days only to the capital, during which he makes merry
with his wives, and holds a great court and grand entertainments. In
truth, ’tis something astonishing, the magnificence displayed by the
Emperor in those three days; and then he starts off again as you know.
Thus his whole year is distributed in the following manner: six months
at his chief palace in the royal city of Cambaluc, to wit, _September_,
_October_, _November_, _December_, _January_, _February_;
Then on the great hunting expedition towards the sea, _March_, _April_,
_May_;
Then back to his palace at Cambaluc for _three days_;
Then off to the city of Chandu which he has built, and where the Cane
Palace is, where he stays _June_, _July_, _August_;
Then back again to his capital city of Cambaluc.
So thus the whole year is spent; six months at the capital, three
months in hunting, and three months at the Cane Palace to avoid the
heat. And in this way he passes his time with the greatest enjoyment;
not to mention occasional journeys in this or that direction at his own
pleasure.
NOTE 1.—This chapter, with its wearisome and whimsical
reiteration, reminding one of a game of forfeits, is peculiar to
that class of MSS. which claims to represent the copy given to
Thibault de Cepoy by Marco Polo.
Dr. Bushell has kindly sent me a notice of a Chinese document (his
translation of which he had unfortunately mislaid), containing a
minute contemporary account of the annual migration of the Mongol
Court to Shangtu. Having traversed the Kiu Yung Kwan (or Nankau)
Pass, where stands the great Mongol archway represented at the
end of this volume, they left what is now the Kalgan post-road at
Tumuyi, making straight for Chaghan-nor (_supra_, p. 304), and
thence to Shangtu. The return journey in autumn followed the same
route as far as Chaghan-nor, where some days were spent in fowling
on the lakes, and thence by Siuen-hwa fu (“_Sindachu_,” _supra_, p.
295) and the present post-road to Cambaluc.