355. Sculptured GERFALCON from the Gate of Iconium. Copied from _Hammer’s Falknerklee_. 357. Portrait of the Great KAAN KÚBLÁI. From a Chinese engraving in the Encyclopædia called _San Thsai-Thou-Hoei_; in the Paris Library. 367. Ideal Plan of the Ancient Palaces of the Mongol Emperors at Khanbaligh, according to Dr. Bretschneider. 369. Palace at Khan-baligh. From the _Livre des Merveilles_. 369. The WINTER PALACE at PEKING. Borrowed from _Fergusson’s History of Architecture_. 371. View of the “GREEN MOUNT.” From a photograph kindly lent to the present Editor by Count de SEMALLÉ. 373. The _Yüan ch’eng_. From a photograph kindly lent to the present Editor by Count de SEMALLÉ. 376. South GATE of the “IMPERIAL CITY” at Peking. From an original sketch belonging to the late _Dr. W. Lockhart_. 399. The BÚRGÚT EAGLE. After _Atkinson’s Oriental and Western Siberia_. 409. The TENTS of the EMPEROR K’ien-lung. From a drawing in the _Staunton Collection_ in the British Museum. 413. Plain of CAMBALUC; the City in the distance; from the hills on the north-west. From a photograph. Borrowed from _Dr. Rennie’s Peking_. 458. The Great TEMPLE OF HEAVEN at Peking. From _Michie’s Siberian Overland Route_. 463. MARBLE ARCHWAY erected under the MONGOL DYNASTY at Kiu-Yong Kwan in the Nan-k’au Pass, N.W. of Peking. From a photograph in the possession of the present Editor. [Illustration: Doorway of the House of Marco Polo in the Corte Sabbionera, at Venice.] MARCO POLO AND HIS BOOK. INTRODUCTORY NOTICES. I. OBSCURITIES IN THE HISTORY OF HIS LIFE AND BOOK. RAMUSIO’S STATEMENTS. [Sidenote: Obscurities of Polo’s Book, and personal History.] 1. With all the intrinsic interest of Marco Polo’s Book it may perhaps be doubted if it would have continued to exercise such fascination on many minds through successive generations were it not for the difficult questions which it suggests. It is a great book of puzzles, whilst our confidence in the man’s veracity is such that we feel certain every puzzle has a solution.