2S2 



A VOYAGE TO 



the fourth. la the centre of the front building there 

 is a gate-way^ and the rooms on either hand, as we 

 enter, are in general occupied as places of business^ or 

 merchants' counting rooms; the rear building, is usu- 

 ally the dining room, while that on the left, or the right, 

 (as it may happen,) is the sitting room or parlor. The 

 patio is usually paved with brick, and sometimes with 

 marble, and is a cool and delightful place. Grape- 

 vines are planted round the walls, and at this season, 

 are loaded with their fruit. The houses have as little 

 wood as possible about them; both the first and se- 

 cond floor having brick pavements; fire engines are 

 therefore unknown, together with that uneasiness from 

 this angry element when once master, so much felt in 

 our cities. There are no chimnies, but those of kitch- 

 ens. At all the windows, there is a light iron grating, 

 which projects about one foot; probably a remnant of 

 Spanish jealousy. The compactness of the town, the 

 flatness of the roofs, the incombustibility of the houses, 

 the open court yards, which resemble the area of forts, 

 and the iron gratings, constitute a complete fortifica- 

 tion, and 1 do not know a worse situation in which an 

 enemy could be, than in one of these streets. It is not 

 surprising, that a city so well fortified, should have so 

 effectually resisted the army of twelve thousand men, 

 under general Whitelock. The only mode by which 

 it could be assailed, would be by first obtaining a com- 

 plete command of the country around it, and of the ri- 

 ver in front This would require a greater effort than 

 Spain can make, even if she were to abandon all her 

 other colonies, and unite for the special purpose, all 

 the forces she is able to spare out of her Spanish do- 

 minions. 



