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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
| 414 MARCO POLO BOOK II. of the city as inside, without counting those that belong to the great lords and barons, which are very numerous. 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 bath stricken thrice. I f they find any such person he is im- mediately 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 some- times die ; but they adopt it in order to eschew blood- shed ; 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 (includ- ing all the costly wares of India, as well as the fine and precious goods of Cathay itself with its provinces), some | ||||
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