?08 THREE YEARS IN THE PACIFIC. 



bles a vast ruin ; the tops of the houses look as if they were 

 covered with ashes, and the number of buzzards, stalking so- 

 lemnly over every building, serves to enhance the impression. 



The whitewashed fronts of the houses present a puertacalle 

 or great doorway, opening into a patio, across which are seen 

 the windows and entrance to the drawing-room, or sometimes 

 to the sala. The windows are without shutters, and until of 

 late years, without glass or sash ; in their place are substituted 



rejas," which are fancifully formed gratings of iron, some- 

 times beautifully gilt. Very few houses have windows open- 

 ing from the lovver story into the street. Heavy, close balco- 

 nies, resembling great boxes, jut out over the great door-way; 

 they are generally green, but so seldom painted, that they look 

 sad and dingy. The walls terminate abruptly on top, without 

 cornice or finish of any kind, except in some of the best houses 

 and public buildings. When the puertacalle opens on a dead 

 wall, as is the case in many parts of the city, a landscape or 

 some perspective view is painted on it to relieve the eye. 

 Nevertheless, the appearance of the streets is dull and mean. 



The interior structure is light and airy, and well adapted to 

 the climate. The various rooms are distributed round courts, 

 which are surrounded by corridors when there are two stories, 

 accessible from the patio by a broad stair. All the rooms are 

 lofty. For the admission of light and air, they have square 

 windows near the ceiling, closed by rough inside shutters, con- 

 trolled by cords, terminated with tassels, which hang from 

 spring-latches into the room. The joists or rafters which sup- 

 port the roof or ceiling, as it may be, are carved and varnished. 

 The floors are generally made of square earthen tiles, and in 

 the best houses of Dutch tiles, ornamented with drawings. 

 The walls are whitewashed ; within a few years, however, 

 some are papered, and in the dwellings of the wealthy, tapes- 

 tried with damask. Some houses have two or three courts, 

 with corridors communicating one with the other. 



Almost every house has a stream of water running through 

 it, which is used for domestic purposes. Gardens are rare. 

 Though the Limanians are passionately fond of flowers, they 

 seldom attempt any thing further in this way than the cultiva- 



