CONCERNING THE CITY OF CAMBALUC, AND ITS GREAT TRAFFIC
AND POPULATION.
You must know that the city of Cambaluc hath such a multitude of
houses, and such a vast population inside the walls and outside, that
it seems quite past all possibility. There is a suburb outside each
of the gates, which are twelve in number;{1} and these suburbs are
so great that they contain more people than the city itself [for the
suburb of one gate spreads in width till it meets the suburb of the
next, whilst they extend in length some three or four miles]. In those
suburbs lodge the foreign merchants and travellers, of whom there are
always great numbers who have come to bring presents to the Emperor, or
to sell articles at Court, or because the city affords so good a mart
to attract traders. [There are in each of the suburbs, to a distance
of a mile from the city, numerous fine hostelries{2} for the lodgment
of merchants from different parts of the world, and a special hostelry
is assigned to each description of people, as if we should say there
is one for the Lombards, another for the Germans, and a third for the
Frenchmen.] And thus there are as many good houses outside of the
city as inside, without counting those that belong to the great lords
and barons, which are very numerous.
[Illustration: Plain of Cambaluc; the City in the distance; from the
Hills on the north-west.]
You must know that it is forbidden to bury any dead body inside the
city. If the body be that of an Idolater it is carried out beyond the
city and suburbs to a remote place assigned for the purpose, to be
burnt. And if it be of one belonging to a religion the custom of which
is to bury, such as the Christian, the Saracen, or what not, it is also
carried out beyond the suburbs to a distant place assigned for the
purpose. And thus the city is preserved in a better and more healthy
state.
Moreover, no public woman resides inside the city, but all such abide
outside in the suburbs. And ’tis wonderful what a vast number of these
there are for the foreigners; it is a certain fact that there are more
than 20,000 of them living by prostitution. And that so many can live
in this way will show you how vast is the population.
[Guards patrol the city every night in parties of 30 or 40, looking
out for any persons who may be abroad at unseasonable hours,
_i.e._ after the great bell hath stricken thrice. If they find any
such person he is immediately taken to prison, and examined next
morning by the proper officers. If these find him guilty of any
misdemeanour they order him a proportionate beating with the stick.
Under this punishment people sometimes die; but they adopt it in
order to eschew bloodshed; for their _Bacsis_ say that it is an
evil thing to shed man’s blood.]
To this city also are brought articles of greater cost and rarity,
and in greater abundance of all kinds, than to any other city in the
world. For people of every description, and from every region, bring
things (including all the costly wares of India, as well as the fine
and precious goods of Cathay itself with its provinces), some for the
sovereign, some for the court, some for the city which is so great,
some for the crowds of Barons and Knights, some for the great hosts of
the Emperor which are quartered round about; and thus between court and
city the quantity brought in is endless.
As a sample, I tell you, no day in the year passes that there do not
enter the city 1000 cart-loads of silk alone, from which are made
quantities of cloth of silk and gold, and of other goods. And this is
not to be wondered at; for in all the countries round about there is no
flax, so that everything has to be made of silk. It is true, indeed,
that in some parts of the country there is cotton and hemp, but not
sufficient for their wants. This, however, is not of much consequence,
because silk is so abundant and cheap, and is a more valuable substance
than either flax or cotton.
Round about this great city of Cambaluc there are some 200 other cities
at various distances, from which traders come to sell their goods and
buy others for their lords; and all find means to make their sales and
purchases, so that the traffic of the city is passing great.
NOTE 1.—It would seem to have been usual to reckon _twelve_ suburbs
to Peking down to modern times. (See _Deguignes_, III. 38.)
NOTE 2.—The word here used is _Fondaco_, often employed in mediæval
Italian in the sense nearly of what we call a _factory_. The word
is from the Greek πανδοκεῖον, but through the Arabic _Fandúḳ_. The
latter word is used by Ibn Batuta in speaking of the hostelries at
which the Mussulman merchants put up in China.