232 



HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



to be admired with their eyes than to be deftroyed with 

 their hands. 



The houfes of the poor were built of reeds, or un- 

 burned bricks, or ftone and mud, and the roofs made of 

 a long kind of hay which grows thick, and is common 

 in the fields, particularly in hot countries, or of the 

 leaves of the maguei, or aloe, placed in the manner of 

 tiles, to which they bear fome refemblance both in thick- 

 nefs and fliape. One of the columns or fupports of thefe 

 houfes was generally a tree of a regular growth, by 

 means of which, befides the pleafure they took in its 

 foliage and (hade, they faved themfelves fome labour and 

 expenfe. Thefe houfes had for the mod part but one 

 chamber, where the family and all the animals belonging 

 to it, the fire-place, and furniture, were lodged. If the 

 family was not very poor, there were more chambers, an 

 ajauhcalli, or oratory ; a temazcalli, or bath, and a little 

 granary. 



The houfes of lords, and people of circumftances, were 

 built of ftone and lime ; they confided of two floors, 

 having halls, large court-yards, and the chambers fitly 

 difpofed ; the roofs were flat and terraced ; the walls 

 were fo well whitened, polifhed, and fliining, that they 

 appeared to the Spaniards when at a diftance to have 

 been filver. The pavement or floor was plafter, perfect- 

 ly level, plain, and fmooth. 



Many of thefe houfes were crowned with battlements 

 and turrets ; and their gardens had fifti-ponds, and the 

 walks of them fymmetrically laid out. The large houfes 

 of the capital had in general two entrances, the principal 

 one to the ftreet, the other to the canal : they had no 

 wooden doors to their houfes, perhaps, becaufe they 

 thought their habitations fufficiently fecure without them 



from 



