paes describes the king's attitude to law and order by the sentence, "the king maintains the law by killing." offences against property (designed to maintain stability) and for murder ranged from cutting of a foot and hand for theft and beheading for murder (except for those occurring as a result of duel). paes could not estimate the size of vijaynagar as his view was obscured by the hills but estimated the city to be at least as large as rome. furthermore, he considered vijaynagar to be "the best provided city in the world" with a population of not less than a half a million.