Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 1.djvu/255

Rh Iztapalapan has some twelve or fifteen thousand households, and stands on the shore of a great salt lake, half of it in the water, and the other half on land. Its chief has some new houses, which, though still unfinished, are as good as the best in Spain; I say as large and well constructed, not only in the stone work, but also in the wood work, and all arrangements for every kind of household service, all except the relief work, and other rich details, which are used in Spanish houses, but are not found here. There are both upper and lower rooms, and very refreshing gardens, with many trees and sweet scented flowers, bathing places of fresh water, well constructed, with steps leading down to the bottom. He has also a large garden round his house, in which there is a terrace with many beautiful corridors and rooms, and, within the garden, is a great pool of fresh water, very well built with sides of handsome masonry, around which runs an open walk with well laid tile pavements, so broad that four persons can walk abreast on it, and four hundred paces square, making, in all, sixteen hundred paces. On the other side of this promenade, towards the wall of the garden, it is all surrounded by a lattice work of canes, behind which are arbours, planted with fragrant shrubs. The pool contains many fish, and water fowl, such as ducks, cranes, and other kinds of water birds, in such numbers that the water is covered with them.

The next day after I had arrived in this city, I left, and having gone half a league, I reached another causeway, leading out into the lake a distance of two leagues to the great city of Temixtitan, which stands in the midst of the said lake. This causeway is two lances broad, and so well built that eight horsemen can ride abreast; and, within these two leagues, there are three cities, on one and the other side of the said highway, one called Mesicalsingo, founded for the greater part within the said lake,