134 



SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 



to amuse the curious reader, I have tran- 

 scribed the passage. 



" The streets are very broad, in the nar- 

 rowest three coaches may goe, and in the 

 broader six may goe in the breadth of them, 

 which makes the city seeme a great deal 

 bigger than it is ; in my time it was thought 

 to bee of between 80 and 40,000 inhabitants, 

 Spaniards, who are so proud and rich, that 

 half the city was judged to keepe coaches, for 

 it was a most credible report that in Mexico 

 in my time there were above fifteen thousand 

 coaches. It is a by-word, that in Mexico 

 there are foure things faire, that is to say, the 

 women, the apparel, the horses, and the 

 streets. But to this I may adde the beauty 

 of some of the coaches of the gentry, which 

 doe exceed in cost the best of the court of 

 Madrid and other parts of Christendome, for 

 there they spare no silver, nor gold, nor pre- 



