centre. Around ran the shady porticos, lined with suites of apartments, the larger reception rooms in front, the stores and kitchen in the rear, and other rooms and chambers, with the never failing temazcalli, or bath, arranged between them, and provided with wicker screens or curtains in lieu of doors.
Courts as well as rooms were covered with flags of stones, tessellated marble or cement, polished with ochre or gypsum; and the walls were decorated not infrequently with porphyry, jasper, and alabaster, and hung with cotton tapestry adorned with feather and other ornaments. The furniture on the other hand was scanty, consisting chiefly of mats of palm leaves, cushions, low tables, and stools.6
It was in the morning of the 8th of November that the Spaniards mustered for the entry into Mexico.
Not far from Iztapalapan they came upon the longest causeway, two leagues in extent, which with the exception
of a short angle near the shore led in a straight
line northward to the heart of the city.7 They passed several towns, some on the shore, others touching the causeway,8 and supported to a great extent by the manufacture of salt from the lake water. The causeway had been reserved for the passage of the troops, out of deference to the desire manifested to keep the natives at a respectful distance,9 but both sides were lined with canoes bearing an eager crowd of sight-seers. About half a league from the city the causeway formed a junction with the road from Xochimilco and Coyohuacan, at a spot called Acachinanco,10 where a stout battlemented wall, fully ten feet in height, and surmounted by two towers, guarded the two gates for entry and exit.
Entering here the Spaniards were met by a procession of over one thousand representative people from the capital,11 richly arrayed in embroidered robes, and with jewelry of pendent stones and gold.