679 / 1060
BooK
III.
Royal Comf!Jentaries.
" bigger or lefs, according to the proportion of the
T~ee
out of which they
" were hewen.
·
·
l
i·
" About this time this City contained
7 0 0
great and
p~mc1p~
Pa
aces,
well
cc
built of Lime and Stone ; the which were not covered w1th
1
Tile or Slate, but
" made Bat with a Tarras, fo that People
~ight
walk. on the top.
.
" The Streets are very commodious , plat? and !lre1ght, and
fo
wide
th~t
four _
" Horfemen may be able
to
ride a-breafi with their Lan'Ces and Targets, without
cc
couching one the ocher.
.
" The Town-houfe, where the Tribunals .of Jufiice are held, hath nine feve–
" ral Courts or Yards within it, together with a large Garden, and a fpacious
" place where they exercifed their Sports called the
F;afh
of
Bulls.
Within
" this Houfe the Vice-king
Don .fi.ntonio
de
Mendofa
kept
h~s ~ourt,
and the
VHi–
«
tor. or Super-Intendent
Don Frant ifco
Tello
de
Sandaval,
wuh
three Judges and the
'
" Accountant General were conveniently
lod~ed.
Within
t~e
Verge al\o of
this
" Town-houfe, the Royal Prifon
was
contained, and
a
Houfe and Office for
'' founding Bells and Cannon, as alfo the Mint for
Coi~age
of Money.
.
" Upon one fide of this Houfe the Street fronts which they call
Tacuha,
and
" on rhe ocher fide runs the Street of
St. Francu,
and behind is the Street called
'' the
Chafe,
all
which are Principal Streets; and on the Front of
all
is the open
'' Place where they bait the Bulls
5
and, in fine,
this
Palace is of that large Cir–
,, cumference, that it anfwers
to
the eighty Gates belonging to the Houfes of
" Principal Inhabitants of that City.
'' The
Indians
of this City live in two great Streets called
St. {ago
and
Mexico;
" the number of which are at this time reckoned to be
:z.obthoufand. The
A–
" venues
to
this City are
four,
one whereof is two Leagu
es inlength, and
is
that
'' to the South-ward, by which
H grnando Cortes
made his entryo
Thus far are the words of
Diego
Fernande~,
co which this Authour adds ,
That
in thofe days there were
700
great capacious Houfes, he might mean rather
700
large Streets , which may well be imagined, if we take the Meafures thereof by
the proportion of that vafl: Palace, wherein were contained the Vice-king's Houfe,
the Vificors Apartments, yvith the Lodgings of the Judges and other Officers
of
the Kingdom , as alfo the Prifon , the
Mint , and
the rooms wherein the
Bells
and Cannon were
founded~
all and every of which Offices were
fo
large that
each of chem of it felf contained a whole Street; which this Authour confirms
in
the Defcription he gives of this Houfe,
faying,
That this Houfe
is
fo large that
ir anfwers
to
80
great Gates belonging co the Hoafes of Principal Citizens.
In
fhort, we may pofitively affirm , that this Imperial City
of
Mexico
is
certainly
one of the chief, if not the moft confiderable City
in
the World.
The which
I
prove _by the teftimony of
a
Dutch
Gentleman , who having ont of curioficy
travailed to fee the mofi famous Cities of the Old World, did averre, that out
of curiofity onely to fee
Mexico,
-he took a voyage into the new-found World
s
and
thar
1
befides
the
pleafme he took in the
Egbe
thereof, he had gained
20
thou–
fand Ducats in his Countrey upon feveral wagers he had made, concerning
rhe'
particulars
he
had related thereof; to prove which a man
was
purpofely
fem
to
rhof
e
parts.
B~t
not to .make coo long a Digreffi0n upon this
Su~jett,
we iliaIJ omit many
pamculars which he related to rpe hereof, as alfo of his long Travails he made
there, and the many years he fpent therein which to
my
belt remembrance
he
told me
~ere
14. .
Palentino
reports, that when the Vice-king went forth co meet
and receive the V1fitor or Super-Incendent, he was accompanied with the
Privy
Council, Judges and other Officers of State , as alfo wirh the Mayor
and
Alder–
men of the City, and the Clergy, together with
6 0 0
Gentlemen all very richly
attired and well armed; all which was no Romance nor more than the truth.
For befides other Grandeurs and pieces of Ofi:encation belonging to
Mexico.
it
is
4
moft certain, that ' tis common and ufual on SMndays, and other Fefiival-days
to
fee
5
or
6 00
Gentlemen riding through the Streets, not upon defign of
Mat~hes
or I:Iorfe-races, or
t~e
like, but onely
fo:
common pafiime, and to cake the
Air :
w~JCh
for a
fubordma~e
Government without the prefence of a King,
is
very ma–
gnificent and excraordmary.