46 SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 



eye-witness of veracity, it could contain three 

 thousand people. Besides this palace he had 

 others, both within and without the capital. 

 In Mexico, besides the seraglio for his wives, 

 there was lodging for all his ministers and 

 counsellors, and all the officers of his house- 

 hold and court : and also accommodation for 

 foreign lords who arrived there, and particu- 

 larly for the two allied kings. 



" Two houses in Mexico he appropriated 

 to animals ; the one for birds which did not 

 live by prey ; the other for those of prey, qua- 

 drupeds, and reptiles. There were several 

 chambers belonging to the first, and galleries 

 supported on pillars of marble all of one piece. 

 These galleries looked towards a garden, 

 where, in the midst of some shrubbery, ten 

 fish-ponds were formed, some of them of fresh 

 water for the aquatic birds of rivers, and 

 others of salt water for those of the sea. In 

 other parts of the house were all sorts of 



