IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Cathay and the Way Thither : vol.2 |
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Citation Information
258 CONTEMPORARY NOTICES OF CATHAY
This city had been the residence of the former kings. It was built in ancient times according to the indications of the most learned astrologers, and under the most fortunate constellations, which have always continued propitious to it. But as it had been destroyed by Chinghiz Kaan, Kublai Kaan desired to spread his own fame by restoring it. The city which he built was close to the former capital and was
called DAïnu.1
The wall of this city is flanked by seventeen towers, with intervals of a parasang between every two. The population
of Daïdu is so great that even outside of the fortifications
there are great streets and numerous houses. And there are extensive gardens, planted with various kinds of fruit
trees brought together from every quarter. In the middle of this city Kublai Kaan established his Ordu, in a palace of great extent which they call the Karsi.2
The pavements and columns of this palace are all of marble or of the finest cut stone. Four walls enclose and defend it, and there is an interval of a bow-shot from one wall to the next.
The outer court is assigned' to the palace-guards ; the next to the nobles, who assemble there every morning ; the
third is occupied by the great officers of the army ; and the fourth by the sovereign's most intimate associates. The picture of the palace which follows is reduced from one which was painted for his majesty Ghazan Kaan.
[Here the original MS. seems to have had an illustration.]
Two important rivers pass by Khanbaligh and Daïdu. After coming from the direction of the kaan's summer resi-
dence in the north, and flowing near Jamj al, they unite to form another river. A very large basin, like a lake in fact, has been dug near the city and furnished with a slip for
1 Supra, p. 127.
2 Karsi is a Mongol word signifying the hall in which the Emperor sits on state occasions. (Klapr.)
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