Storia do Mogor 254.1.9

254.1.9

This is briefly the clothing of these people. Their dwellings also are very small. Excluding the temples of their false gods, some of which cost great sums, and the palaces of a few kings, princes, et cetera, which are built of brick and mortar, and even then have no architectural style, all other houses are constructed of earth and pieces of wood bound together with ropes, without much regard to appearances. These wooden posts serve as supporting pillars, and the roof is of thatch. In this way they build a house without using a single nail. The floors of the houses are not stone-paved, nor covered with the sort of cement they make in this country of lime, eggs, and other ingredients mixed together. The floors are of pounded earth only, spread over with a wash of cow's dung. This is the bed of the great majority of humble people in this country, who have no other mattress to lie on. However, rich people have a mat or a quilt on which they sleep ; and those that possess this much believe themselves in possession of one of the greatest luxuries in the world.