SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 45 



canopy, attended by a numerous retinue of 

 courtiers ; and wherever he passed, every per- 

 son stopped with their eyes shut, as if they 

 feared to be dazzled with the splendour of 

 majesty. When he alighted from the litter, 

 to walk on foot, they spread carpets, that he 

 might not touch the earth with his feet. 



" The grandeur and magnificence of his 

 palaces, houses of pleasure, woods, and gar- 

 dens, were correspondent to this majesty. 

 The palace of his usual residence was a vast 

 edifice of stone and lime, which had twenty 

 doors to the public squares and streets ; three 

 great courts, in one of which was a beautiful 

 fountain ; several halls, and more than a 

 hundred chambers. Some of the apartments 

 had walls of marble and other valuable kinds 

 of stone. The beams were of cedar, cypress^ 

 and other excellent woods, well finished and 

 carved. Among the halls there was one so 

 large that, according to the testimony of an 



