( >3i ) 



the timber of which was cedar, with fpacious courts, and apartments 

 fumilhed with canopies of the fineft cotton. After having contem- 

 plated thefc noble edifices we walked through the gardens, which were 

 admirable to behold from the variety of beautiful and aromatic plants, 

 and the numerous alleys filled with fruit trees, rofcs, and various 

 flowers. Here was alfo a lake of the cleareft water, which communi- 

 cated with the grand lake of Mexico by a channel cut for the purpofe, 

 and capable af admitting the largeft canoes. The whole was orna- 

 mented with works of art, painted, and admirably plaiftered and 

 whitened, and it was rendered more delightful by numbers of beautiful 

 birds. When I beheld the fcenes that were around me, I thought 

 within myfelf that this was the garden of the world ! This place, was 

 at the time of which I am fpeaking, with one half of the houfes in the 

 water, and the other half on dry land ; but all is deftroyed, and that 

 which was a lake is now a trad: of fields of Indian corn, and fo entirely 

 altered that the natives themfelves could hardly know it. 



