It is of considerable extent: Mr.
Cook makes it as large as Liverpool; but Liverpool, in 1767, when Mr.
Cook wrote, was not two-thirds of its present size. Perhaps it
equals Chester, or Exeter, in the share of ground it occupies, and is
infinitely more populous than either of them. The streets intersect each
other at right angles, are tolerably well built, and excellently paved,
abounding with shops of every kind, in which the wants of a stranger,
if money is not one of them, can hardly remain unsatisfied. About the
centre of the city, and at a little distance from the beach, the Palace
of the Viceroy stands, a long, low building, no wise remarkable in
its exterior appearance; though within are some spacious and handsome
apartments. The churches and convents are numerous, and richly
decorated; hardly a night passes without some of the latter being
illuminated in honour of their patron saints, which has a very brilliant
effect when viewed from the water, and was at first mistaken by us for
public rejoicings. At the corner of almost every street stands a little
image of the Virgin, stuck round with lights in an evening, before which
passengers frequently stop to pray and sing very loudly.
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