MARCO POLO
THE BOOK OF SER MARCO POLO
Translated and edited by
Colonel Sir Henry Yule
London: John Murray, 1903
CHAPTER VIII
CONCERNING THE PERSON OF THE GREAT KhAN
The personal appearance of the Great Khan, Lord of Lords, whose name is Cublay, is such as I shall
now tell you. He is of a good stature, neither tall nor short, but of a middle height. He has a
becoming amount of flesh, and is very shapely in all his limbs. His complexion is white and red, the
eyes black and fine, the nose well formed and well set on. He has four wives, whom he retains
permanently as his legitimate consorts; and the eldest of his sons by those four wives ought by rights
to be emperor; — I mean when his father dies. Those four ladies are called empresses, but each is
distinguished also by her proper name. And each of them has a special court of her own, very grand
and ample; no one of them having fewer than 300 fair and charming damsels. They have also many
pages and eunuchs, and a number of other attendants of both sexes; so that each of these ladies has
not less than 10,000 persons attached to her court.
When the Emperor desires the society of one of these four consorts, he will sometimes send
for the lady to his apartment and sometimes visit her at her own. He has also a great number of
concubines, and I will tell you how he obtains them.
You must know that there is a tribe of Tartars called Ungrat, who are noted for their beauty.
Now every year an hundred of the most beautiful maidens of this tribe are sent to the Great Kaan,
who commits them to the charge of certain elderly ladies dwelling in his palace. And these old ladies
make the girls sleep with them, in order to ascertain if they have sweet breath [and do not snore], and
are sound in all their limbs. Then such of them as are of approved beauty, and are good and sound in
all respects, are appointed to attend on the Emperor by turns. Thus six of these damsels take their
turn for three days and nights, and wait on him when he is in his chamber and when he is in his bed,
to serve him in any way, and to be entirely at his orders. At the end of the three days and nights they
are relieved by other six. And so throughout the year, there are reliefs of maidens by six and six,
changing every three days and nights.
CHAPTER IX
CONCERNING THE GREAT KHAN'S SONS
The Emperor hath, by those four wives of his, twenty-two male children; the eldest of whom was
called Chinkin for the love of the good Chinghis Kaan, the first Lord of the Tartars. And this
Chinkin, as the Eldest Son of the Kaan, was to have reigned after his father's death; but, as it came to
pass, he died. He left a son behind him, however, whose name is Temur, and he is to be the Great
Kaan and Emperor after the death of his Grandfather, as is but right; he being the child of the Great
Kaan's eldest son. And this Temur is an able and brave man, as he hath already proven on many
occasions.
The Great Kaan hath also twenty-five other sons by his concubines; and these are good and
valiant soldiers, and each of them is a great chief. I tell you moreover that of his children by his four
lawful wives there are seven who are kings of vast realms or provinces, and govern them well; being
all able and gallant men, as might be expected. For the Great Kaan their sire is, I tell you, the wisest
and most accomplished man, the greatest Captain, the best to govern men and rule an Empire, as
well as the most valiant, that ever has existed among all the Tribes of Tartars.