Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/32

12 effort was to render the buildings strong in case of an uprising, and with this view stone and masonry work was the rule, and towers could be erected at each corner, which assisted to give them an imposing appearance. The pains bestowed on architectural embellishments, wherein churches and convents afterward took the lead, proved a salutary example to the community, to judge from Cortés' enthusiastic assurance to the emperor that within a few years the city would take the first rank in the world for population and fine edifices.

The general himself built two fine houses on the sites of the old and new palaces of Montezuma, located respectively in the western and south-eastern parts of the ancient square. They were constructed with great strength, particularly the south-eastern, which contained more than one interior court, and was protected by a projecting tower at each corner, and liberally provided with embrasures and loop-holes. Seven thousand beams are said to have been employed in the construction. Strength was not the only object of these centrally located houses, but also profit, the lower story of one at least being divided into shops,