Page:About Mexico - Past and Present.djvu/47

Rh well whitened and polished, and the floors made of the smoothest plaster and neatly matted. All the walls were very thick and strong, the ceilings being high and generally of wood. Doors were almost unknown and chimneys unheard of.

The houses were usually kept very neatly. Walls were hung with cotton drapery in bright colors and curious feather-work. The beds were often curtained and quite comfortable. Though chairs and tables were not found even in the so-called palace of Montezuma, there were low seats which were easy as well as elegant. The house occupied by Montezuma's clan was very luxurious in its appointments. Its garden was surrounded by balconies supported by marble columns and floored with jasper elegantly inlaid. In the grounds were ten large pools, in which all the different species of waterbirds found in Mexico disported themselves. Sea-birds had tanks of salt water. All were kept pure and sweet, filled by pipes leading from the lake or the aqueduct. Three hundred men were constantly employed to take care of these creatures, and a bird-doctor attended to such as were sick. About these tanks there were pleasant corridors, where Montezuma and his brother-chiefs often walked to observe the curious habits of these feathered captives.

Spanish writers speak also of a great collection of albinos, another of dwarfs and giants and deformed people, some of whom had been made such to provide curiosities for the State museum.

Besides the large collection of water-birds, there was another one of such as were found in fields and woods. A menagerie of wild beasts had been gathered from every country known to the Mexicans.