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Robert MacMicking
During 1848, 1849 and 1850
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However, on the occurrence of an earthquake, it is usual to run down stairs, and have the protection of the thick lower walls against any accident, such as that of the roof giving way. As the house I lived in while there may be taken as a specimen of many others, I shall describe it. After entering the gateway, the door of which is always very stout and heavy, and under the constant protection of a porter, for security’s sake, you reach a flight of steps leading to the habitable part of the house, and enter a gallery running from the top of the staircase, and a suite of rooms facing the street, to the gala or drawing-room at the other end of the house, and a suite of rooms facing the river. The entire length of the gallery is about a hundred feet, by twenty broad, and it looks into the open court-yard forming the centre of the building, on one side. There are several large and spacious bedrooms on the other side, the windows of which are lighted from a narrow street running to the river. Facing the gallery, and on the other side of the house, across the central court-yard, that entire side of the building is appropriated by the servants for cooking and sleeping-places.
The beams supporting the upper or habitable floor extend four or five feet beyond the outer wall, towards the street, forming a sort of verandah, or corridor, as it is called in Spanish as well as in English, round the entire building, affording a considerable protection against the sun’s rays. The outer side of this corridor is composed of coarse and dark-coloured mother-of-pearl shell of little value, set in a wooden framework of small squares, forming windows which move on slides. Although the light admitted through this sort of window is much inferior to what glass would give, it has the advantage of being strong, and is not very liable to be damaged by the severe weather to which it is occasionally exposed during some months of the year.
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