it lies down before him with every sign of the greatest veneration, as if it acknowledged him for its lord; and it remains there lying before him, and entirely unchained. Truly this must seem a strange story to those who have not seen the thing!

THE KHAN AS A

CHAPTER XV.

MIGHTY HUNTER-HIS FALCONERS, HAWKS, AND HUNTING GEAR-RIDING IN A CHAMBER ON ELEPHANTS' BACKS-RIGHT ROYAL SPORT.

W

E have already seen that Marco had a keen taste for sport, and it is noticeable that he describes the hunting-scenes of the Khan with great gusto, as if he had been present at some of them, and had a good time in the field with the imperial sportsman. This is what he has to say about the animals trained to hunt for the Great Khan:

The Emperor hath numbers of leopards trained to the chase, and hath also a great many lynxes taught in like manner to catch game, and which afford excellent sport. He hath also several great Lions, bigger than those of Babylonia, beasts whose skins are coloured in the most beautiful way, being striped all along the sides with black, red, and white. These are trained to catch boars and wild cattle, bears, wild asses, stags, and other great or fierce beasts. And 'tis a rare sight, I can tell you, to see those Lions giving chase to such beasts as I have mentioned ! When they are to be so employed, the Lions are taken out in a covered cart, and every Lion has a little doggie with him. They are obliged to approach the game against the

wind, otherwise the animals would scent the approach of the Lion and be off.

There are also a great number of eagles, all broken to catch wolves, foxes, deer, and wild goats, and they do catch them in great numbers. But those especially that are trained to wolf-catching are very large and powerful birds, and no wolf is able to get away from them.

This is an accurate description of the manner of hunting still in vogue in some parts of India among the native princes. The "lion," to which Marco refers as being trained to hunt, is the cheetah, a species of leopard, which is carried to the huntingfield in a box, with its eyes covered by a hood. When loosed in the field, the cheetah will bound off in pursuit of any game which may be in sight, and seldom fails to bring it down. Hawking was a fashionable diversion in Europe during Marco's time, as well as in Cathay. Kublai Khan had hawks of various kinds taught to fly at feathered game; and his trained eagles pursued larger game, such as wolves and foxes. Here is a detailed account of the Great Khan's hunting expeditions:

The Emperor hath two Barons who are own brothers, one called Baian, and the other Mingan; and these two are styled Chinuchi (or Cunichi), which is as much as to say, "The Keepers of the Mastiff Dogs." Each of these brothers hath ten thousand men under his orders, each body of ten thousand being dressed alike, the one in red and the other in blue; and whenever they accompany the Kaan to the chase they wear this livery, in order to be