All the houses have a cross, and some two or three, on the roof or gables, as a preservative against evil spirits, [132] and lightning; and though few years pass without many accidents from the latter, the crosses are still preserved in preference to conductors, even in the magazines, not one of which is provided with this useful preservative, though that of the citadel contains many thousand pounds of powder. The suburbs of the city are extensive, and contain many stone houses, in which some of the principal inhabitants reside, and generally all the foreigners, the vicinity of the river, and its many branches, rendering it more convenient for business. The custom-house is a plain octagonal building of considerable extent, and contains a fine courtyard surrounded with an arcade, and extensive magazines for warehousing goods. These, from neglect and the ravages of the white ants, are fast falling to decay, and in a few years the building will be a ruin; it is now very dirty and ill-arranged, the entrance not being convenient to the river, and wanting quays and a crane. The officers of this establishment are in general attentive, civil, and indulgent to foreigners, though the length of their siestas does not contribute to the dispatch of business. There is no interpreter attached to this establishment, nor is the king responsible for goods or money deposited in it, this being solely at the merchant's risk. The "Calzada," or public drive, is a broad neat carriage road, leading round the outer face of the outer ditch, from the bridge, round the land and sea faces of the fortifications to the river. It is planted with trees, and forms a good drive, having roads leading from it into the country, whose rich and cultivated appearance gives the stranger a high opinion of its fertility. The roads are however much in want of waterings in dry weather, the dust of the principal one being at these times insufferable. On the road leading to the village of Santa Anna is the cemetery, [133] a building well worth the attention of strangers both as a novelty in itself, and as in some measure redeeming the character of the architecture of this country from its general want of interest and symmetry. It consists of two concentric circular walls, about ten feet apart and fourteen in height, both surmounted with a balustrade. The inner wall forms the periphery of a circle of about 250 feet in diameter, and is pierced with three rows of small semicircular arches, which form the entrances to as many arched, oven-like receptacles, formed in the space betwixt the walls, and of a size just calculated to receive a coffin, to which purpose they are appropriated. There are from two to three hundred of those receptacles; and when occupied, the entrances are walled up. The plot of ground in the centre is crossed by two broad stone walks, the borders of which are planted with flowers and shrubs; the remaining space is used for interments.