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PLAN OF THE HOUSES. 123 
house proves, on inspection, to be uninhabited, 9,000 is pro- 
bably more nearly the population. A large Moorish town 
in Spain of about the seventeenth century was probably not 
unlike what Hermosillo is at the present day. Many of 
the houses are very large, and cover several acres. They 
are built of adobe, one story high, with very solid walls, 
and contain large, lofty rooms. Outside they are orna- 
mented more or less with paint and stucco. No windows 
are usually to be seen; if a few do face the street they are 
guarded with strong iron bars, and differ in shape from our” 
ordinary windows in being narrower at the top than below. 
They represent, in fact, that shaped cornice which the Moors 
introduced from Egypt into Spain, and the Spaniards into 
Mexico; and thus it has travelled more than half around the 
world. An archway in the centre of the block leads through 
huge oaken doors to the sahaun, or hall, with large rooms on 
either side, and a court, or patio, im front. The court is 
surrounded with a deep verandah, forming “the corradoa,” 
supported all round by a massive Moorish arcade, and orna- 
mented with birdeages, statuary, creeping plants, flowers, and 
palms, with a fountain in the centre of the patio. Doors 
open upon the corradoa from the different rooms, none of 
which are set apart exclusively for sleeping ; for during most 
of the year temporary cane cots are placed in the corradoa at 
bedtime, and removed every morning. Facing the sahaun, 
or entrance-hall, on the opposite side of the patio, is usually 
another archway, through which a vista, cool and refreshing, 
is obtained of the garden. Every house of any pretensions has 
a garden at the back. It is usually small, shut in by very 
high walls on all sides, and filled with tropical and semi- 
tropical plants, orange trees, banana palms, poison olive, fruit- 
bearing cacti, and flowering creepers ; it is also ornamented 
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