A Moorish house is a square, with blind walls outside, and a court within. A corridor, sustained by pillars, runs round, and affords an opening and light to the rooms: the court is paved with marble, or is in mosaics, the place of meeting of the family. From this type the domestic architecture of Cadiz is derived. The soil upon which the city stands is occupied with those square blocks fitted one against the other, leaving no patch vacant. There is nothing that is not house or street. The houses, however, have windows on that side which faces the street. The roofs are flat, terraced, parapeted, and surmounted by square towers, sometimes three stories high. These roofs are the _basse cour_. There the poultry is kept, the washing, and all dirty work done, and the linen hung out to dry.[70] Here the inmates ascend, in the summer evenings, to enjoy the breeze, and in the winter days to bask in the sun. Above the sounds and bustle of the city, amid airy terraces, which, but for the want of water, might rival the hanging gardens of Babylon, looking out on the bright sea, and down and around on the shining city, the Gaditanas walk, converse, and observe their neighbours similarly employed on the neighbouring battlements. As the houses adjoin, they are cut off from each other by parapets. Otherwise, the means of communication above would be nearly as complete as in the deep cuts of the streets that divide the masses. But to see Cadiz, you must ascend one of her towers,[71] in the still night, and under the moon. The aspect from below is scarcely less striking. The streets are very narrow: to exclude the sun, the houses are constructed to keep out the heat. From every window projects an iron cage (rejà) or balcony--many of these glazed round, and resembling an oriel window. These verandas are filled with flowers, or shrouded in a mantle of ivy. The building is relieved by the gayest colours--bright sea-green, red, and yellow. The iron work is green. The houses are separated, as also the floors, by lines of red: a narrow border of yellow runs round the base of each balcony, and of the houses. There is no more charming, urban sight, than that presented in looking down the narrow streets. The verandas approach from the opposite sides, with their lively colours, their shrubs, and flowers. Everything is fresh, and clean, and bright, as if just from the workman’s hands. Within, white reigns alone, above, and around. As you pass by, you have a succession of glimpses into the columned _patios_, neat, bright, and shiny, embellished with plants, flowers, and fountains.[72]