General Trednoke's house was built by Spanish missionaries in the sixteenth century; and in its main features it was little altered in three hundred years.

In a climate where there is no frost, walls of adobe last as long as granite.

The house consisted, practically, of but one story; for although there were rooms under the roof, they were used only for storage; no one slept in them.

The plan of the building was not unlike that of a train of railway-cars,--or, it might be more appropriate to say, of emigrant-wagons.

There was a series of rooms, ranged in a line, access to them being had from a narrow corridor, which opened on the rear veranda.