sun, the whole of the finest gold, and of the most beautiful workmanship; a most extraordinary work of art, which, according to the account of those who weighed it, was worth above 20,000 gold pesos. The second was a round plate, even larger than the former, of massive silver, representing the moon, with rays and other figures on it, being of great value. The third was the casque, completely filled with pure grains of gold, as they are found in the mines, worth about 3000 pesos, which was more to us than if it had been ten times the value, as we now knew for certain there were rich gold mines in the country. Among other things there were also thirty golden ducks, exactly resembling the living bird, and of splendid workmanship; further figures resembling lions, tigers, dogs and apes; likewise ten chains with lockets, all of gold, and of the most costly workmanship; a bow with the string and twelve arrows, and two staffs five palms in length, like those used by the justices, all cast of the purest gold; further, they brought small cases containing the most beautiful green feathers, blended with gold and silver, and fans similarly worked; every species of game likewise cast in gold. In short such a number of objects, which from the many years since elapsed I cannot now altogether remember.16 There were alone above thirty packages of cotton stuffs, variously manufactured and interworked with variegated feathers. When the great cazique Quintalbor and Teuthlille handed over these presents to Cortes, they begged of him to accept of them in the same friendly disposition with which their monarch sent them, and to distribute them among his Teules. Upon this they began to unfold what their monarch had in particular commissioned them to say, which was as follows: "He, Motecusuma, was delighted with the arrival of such courageous men in his states, as we, according to the accounts he had received and judging from the occurrence at Tabasco, certainly must be. He wished very much to see our great emperor, who was such a powerful monarch, of whom, although residing at such a vast distance, he had already gained some knowledge, and he would send him a present of some valuable stones. He was likewise ready to furnish us with everything we might require during our stay. But as for Cortes calling upon him, we had better give up all thoughts of that, as it was not necessary, and would be accompanied with great difficulties."
Cortes thanked them most sincerely for their kindness, gave to each a couple of shirts made of holland, blue beads, and other trifles, begging of them to return to their great monarch Motecusuma, and tell him that our emperor and master would take it very unkind, after we had come from such distant countries and crossed such vast seas, merely with the intention of paying our respects to Motecusuma, if we returned without fulfilling this object. He wished, therefore, to proceed to his residence and himself to receive his commands. The ambassadors answered, that they would mention all this to their monarch, but that any waiting upon him would be superfluous. Cortes upon this gave them out of our poverty a cup, of Florentine workmanship, gilt and surrounded with a quantity of relieved foliage, besides those shirts made of holland, and other things; all these were to be presented to Motecusuma, and he desired them to take his answer to him. Both the delegates then departed, while Quitlalpitoc remained alone behind in our camp, commissioned, it appeared, by the two other officials of Motecusuma, to provide provisions for us out of the neighbouring districts.
CHAPTER XL.
How Cortes goes in search of another harbour and a good spot to found a colony, and what further happened.
After the Mexican ambassadors had again taken their departure, Cortes ordered two vessels to sail further on and explore the coast. The command of these was given to Francisco de Montejo, with orders to follow the same course taken by Grijalva. He was to sail on for the space of ten days, and search for a good harbour and convenient spot to form a settlement; for in the sandy region we were now staying it was impossible to live, on account of the gnats; the inhabited districts, moreover, being too far distant. Alaminos and el Manquillo who were already acquainted with these waters, piloted the vessels. Montejo departed and arrived in the waters of Rio Grande, near Panuco, as far as we had gone with Grijalva, but on account of the heavy currents there he could proceed no further; he, therefore, returned to San Juan de Ulua, bringing us no other news than that they had seen at a distance of about thirty-six miles further on a town, which to all appearance was fortified. This place was called Quiahuitzlan, having a harbour, which, according to the opinion of Alaminos, was secure from the north wind. Ten or twelve days were spent by Montejo in this expedition out and home. Quitlalpitoc, who had remained to furnish us with provisions, soon ceased to do so altogether, which, of course, created a great scarcity of food: our cassave-bread had likewise become quite mouldy and swarmed with worms, so that we had nothing to eat if we did not procure ourselves shellfish. In the commencement the Indians had certainly brought us gold and fowls for our goods, but now they no longer came in such great numbers as at first, and those who did come appeared quite shy and reserved. We, therefore, anxiously awaited the return of the two ambassadors from Mexico.
After some days had elapsed Teuthlille indeed returned with a great number of Indians. They observed the same courteous behaviour as on the previous occasion, perfuming Cortes and all of us, and then brought forth their presents, consisting in ten packages of mantles, richly worked in feathers; further, four chalchihuitls, a species of green stone of uncommon value, which are held in higher estimation with them than the smaragdus17 with us; lastly, there were also all kinds of gold trinkets, which I heard valued at 3000 pesos. The great cazique Quintalbor had fallen ill on the journey, and consequently remained behind. Teuthlille and Quitlalpitoc, therefore, alone fulfilled Motecusuma's commission, and assured us that he had most graciously accepted of our present. Regarding the four chalchihuitls they observed, that those were intended as a present to our emperor, as each of them was worth, more than a load of gold. For the rest it was unnecessary to send any more messengers to Mexico, neither was there any further mention to be made of a personal interview between their monarch and Cortes.
Although, it was very unpleasant to the latter that his visit to Motecusuma should thus be declined in dry words, yet he thanked them most kindly; and added to some of us who were present: "Really this Motecusuma must be a great and rich gentleman; nevertheless, if God be willing, we shall one day visit him in his palace!" "We only wish, (returned we soldiers,) that we were once nicely engaged with him."
All this took place just about the hour of Ave Maria; the bell, therefore, announced that we should assemble ourselves around the cross, which we had erected on an elevated sand-hill. While we were all on our knees before it, and repeating the Ave Maria, Teuthlille and Quitlalpitoc inquired why we thus humbled ourselves so greatly before that pole.
Cortes immediately turned to Bartolome de Olmedo, and remarked to him: "This is a good opportunity, father, to give these people some notion of our holy religion through our interpreters." This father Olmedo accordingly did in a manner which would have done honour to the greatest of theologians. He first of all explained that we were Christians, and then expatiated on the whole substance of our belief; he then proved that their idols were useless things, evil spirits, which fled away from the presence of the cross. On such a cross, he continued, the Lord of heaven and earth suffered death, we believed in him only, and prayed to him as the only true God, Jesus Christ, who suffered death for the salvation of the human race; who rose again on the third day, and ascended into heaven, that he would again appear to hold judgment over the living and the dead. Upon this followed everything that was edifying, which the Indians comprehended well, and which they assured us they would relate to their monarch.
Cortes then explained to them, that among the many reasons which had induced our great emperor to send us here, one was that they should abandon for ever the religion of their cursed idols, abolish human sacrifices, and abstain from kidnapping. He, therefore, must beg of them to erect crosses like this in their towns and on their temples, and also the figure of the holy Virgin, with her most excellent Son, then God would bestow great blessings on them. In short, there were many expressions replete with excellent feeling, which I am unable wholly to report, and therefore will rather leave in my pen.
Our
