They burn the bodies of the dead.  And when any one dies the friends and relations make a great mourning for the deceased, and clothe themselves in hempen garments,[NOTE 12] and follow the corpse playing on a variety of instruments and singing hymns to their idols.  And when they come to the burning place, they take representations of things cut out of parchment, such as caparisoned horses, male and female slaves, camels, armour suits of cloth of gold (and money), in great quantities, and these things they put on the fire along with the corpse, so that they are all burnt with it.  And they tell you that the dead man shall have all these slaves and animals of which the effigies are burnt, alive in flesh and blood, and the money in gold, at his disposal in the next world; and that the instruments which they have caused to be played at his funeral, and the idol hymns that have been chaunted, shall also be produced again to welcome him in the next world; and that the idols themselves will come to do him honour. [NOTE 13]

Furthermore there exists in this city the palace of the king who fled, him who was Emperor of Manzi, and that is the greatest palace in the world, as I shall tell you more particularly.  For you must know its demesne hath a compass of ten miles, all enclosed with lofty battlemented walls; and inside the walls are the finest and most delectable gardens upon earth, and filled too with the finest fruits.  There are numerous fountains in it also, and lakes full of fish.  In the middle is the palace itself, a great and splendid building.  It contains 20 great and handsome halls, one of which is more spacious than the rest, and affords room for a vast multitude to dine.  It is all painted in gold, with many histories and representations of beasts and birds, of knights and dames, and many marvellous things.  It forms a really magnificent spectacle, for over all the walls and all the ceiling you see nothing but paintings in gold.  And besides these halls the palace contains 1000 large and handsome chambers, all painted in gold and divers colours.

Moreover, I must tell you that in this city there are 160 tomans of fires, or in other words 160 tomans of houses.  Now I should tell you that the toman is 10,000, so that you can reckon the total as altogether 1,600,000 houses, among which are a great number of rich palaces.  There is one church only, belonging to the Nestorian Christians.

There is another thing I must tell you.  It is the custom for every burgess of this city, and in fact for every description of person in it, to write over his door his own name, the name of his wife, and those of his children, his slaves, and all the inmates of his house, and also the number of animals that he keeps.  And if any one dies in the house then the name of that person is erased, and if any child is born its name is added.  So in this way the sovereign is able to know exactly the population of the city.  And this is the practice also throughout all Manzi and Cathay. [NOTE 14]