The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 / Page 761 (Color Image)

0761	The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1

CHAP. XXXII. THE KAAN'S CHARITY TO THE POOR

445

You see he causes selection to be made of a number

of families in the city which are in a state of indigence,

and of such families some may consist of six in the

house, some of eight, some of ten, more or fewer in each

as it may hap, but the whole number being very

great. And each family he causes annually to be

supplied with wheat and other corn sufficient for the

whole year. And this he never fails to do every year.

Moreover, all those who choose to go to the daily dole

at the Court receive a great loaf apiece, hot from the

baking, and nobody is denied ; for so the Lord hath

ordered. And so some 30,000 people go for it every

day from year's end to year's end. Now this is a great

goodness in the Emperor to take pity of his poor

people thus ! And they benefit so much by it that they

worship him as he were God.

[He also provides the poor with clothes. For he

lays a tithe upon all wool, silk, hemp, and the like, from

which clothing can be made ; and he has these woven

and laid up in a building set apart for the purpose; and

as all artizans are bound to give a day's labour weekly,

in this way the Kaan has these stuffs made into clothing

for those poor families, suitable for summer or winter,

according to the time of year. He also provides the

clothing for his troops, and has woollens woven for them

in every city, the material for which is furnished by the

tithe aforesaid. You should know that the Tartars,

before they were converted to the religion of the

Idolaters, never practised almsgiving. Indeed, when

any poor man begged of them they would tell him,

" Go with God's curse, for if He loved you as He loves

me, He would have provided for you." But the sages

of the Idolaters, and especially the Bacsis mentioned

before, told the Great Kaan that it was a good work

to provide for the poor, and that his idols would be

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