The Grand Khan appoints twelve of the most intelligent among his nobles, whose duty it is to make themselves acquainted with the conduct of the officers and men of his army, particularly upon expeditions and in battles, and to present their reports to him, and he, upon being apprised of their respective merits, advances them in his service, raising those who commanded a hundred men to the command of a thousand, and presenting many with vessels of silver, as well as the customary tablets or warrants of command and of government.  The tablets given to those commanding a hundred men are of silver; to those commanding a thousand, of gold or of silver gilt; and those who command ten thousand receive tablets of gold, bearing the head of a lion; the former being of the weight of a hundred and twenty saggi,[69] and these with the lion’s head two hundred and twenty.  At the top of the inscription on the tablet is a sentence to this effect:  “By the power and might of the great God, and through the grace which he vouchsafes to our empire, be the name of the Khan blessed; and let all such as disobey (what is herein directed) suffer death and be utterly destroyed.”

The officers who hold these tablets have privileges attached to them, and in the inscription is specified what are the duties and the powers of their respective commands.  He who is at the head of a hundred thousand men, or the commander-in-chief of a grand army, has a golden tablet weighing three hundred saggi, with the sentence above mentioned, and at the bottom is engraved the figure of a lion, together with representations of the sun and moon.  He exercises also the privileges of his high command, as set forth in this magnificent tablet.  Whenever he rides in public, an umbrella is carried over his head, denoting the rank and authority he holds;[70] and when he is seated, it is always upon a silver chair.  The Grand Khan confers likewise upon certain of his nobles tablets on which are represented figures of the gerfalcon, in virtue of which they are authorized to take with them as their guard of honor the whole army of any great prince.  They can also make use of the horses of the imperial stud at their pleasure, and can appropriate the horses of any officers inferior to themselves in rank.

Kublai is of the middle stature, that is, neither tall nor short; his limbs are well formed, and in his whole figure there is a just proportion.  His complexion is fair, and occasionally suffused with red, like the bright tint of the rose, which adds much grace to his countenance.  His eyes are black and handsome, his nose is well shaped and prominent.  He has four wives of the first rank, who are esteemed legitimate, and the eldest born son of any one of these succeeds to the empire upon the decease of the grand khan.  They bear equally the title of “empress,” and have their separate courts.  None of them has fewer than three hundred young female attendants of great beauty, together with a multitude of youths as pages, and other eunuchs, as well as ladies of the bedchamber; so that the number of persons belonging to each of their respective courts amounts to ten thousand.