The Commentary of Father Monserrate 3.2.7

3.2.7

To say something about Indian towns:—they appear very pleasant from afar; for they are adorned with many towers and high buildings, in a very beautiful manner. But when one enters them, one finds that the narrowness, aimless crookedness, and ill-planning of the streets deprive these cities of all beauty. Moreover the houses are purposely built without windows on account of the filth of the streets. None the less the rich adorn the roofs and arched ceilings of their houses with carvings and paintings: plant ornamental gardens in their courtyards: make tanks and fish-ponds, which are lined with tiles of various colours: construct artificial springs and fountains, which fling showers of water far into the air: and lay down promenades paved with brickwork or marble. Yet such houses will show nothing in their facades or entrances by which the eye of the passer-by might be attracted, and nothing by which it might be known that inside is anything out of the ordinary. The Brachmanae have another style of architecture; but they also beautify their houses with cleverly executed statues and sculptures of fabulous heroes and monsters either in wood or stone. They never forget to carve or paint somewhere on their buildings (generally on the capitals of the columns) the crested snake, which is called by the Portuguese the 'cuckoo-serpent,' and which I believe to be the Egyptian asp.