gods, always accompanied by three human statues, and which is in no way inferior to the Colossus of Rhodes. Whenever a devotee, moved by piety, desires to dedicate a statue to any divinity, he busies himself in collecting a quantity of all kinds of edible seeds, sufficient to compose a statue of the size he desires. These seeds are then ground to flour.

Oh, what frightful crime! O, what horrible barbarity! When this flour is ground, children, young girls, and slaves in the required number are murdered, and their blood supplies the place of tepid water in mixing a paste. While this paste is still damp and soft, though sufficiently thick, the artist and the overseer of this odious work, assisted by the infernal sacrificing priest, handles this substance as the potter does his clay or the wax-modeller his wax, and complete their labour without repugnance. If I remember rightly I have elsewhere reported that the victims are not sacrificed by cutting their throats, but by opening their breasts above the heart; and that while these unfortunates are still living and realise their unhappy fate, their hearts are torn out and offered to the gods. The lips of the idols are smeared with the blood that flows from the heart, and the latter is burned, to appease, as they think, the anger of the divinity: at least the priests have taught the people this absurdity.

I will be asked, and with reason, what is done with the members and flesh of the unhappy victims. O abominable and nauseous disgust! Just as the Jews under the ancient law formerly ate the lambs they sacrificed, so do these natives devour the human flesh, leaving only the hands, feet, and entrails untouched. Let us note that, according to their wants, they construct different figures of gods, one to secure victory, another to obtain health, or for some similar motive.

But let us return to the visit of Cortes in the great temple. In the vast courts we have mentioned, there are

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numerous huge statues of gods and also dark sanctuaries, only entered by narrow openings, entrance to which is the exclusive privilege of the priests. The great courts dedicated to the important gods are set aside as burialplaces for princes, and the smaller and less important ones for the burial of nobles. Human sacrifices are celebrated each year according to the means of each family, just as amongst us poor people burn a small dip to the divinity, while the wealthy light a large candle; or many are content to burn incense, while others found churches. We believe the incense and wax suffice to procure us the favour of Christ and the saints, provided our offering is fervently made.

In the course of the visit of Cortes and Muteczuma to the temple, it happened that some of the former's companions entered the narrow dark sanctuaries, in spite of the opposition of the guardians. They perceived by the light of torches that the walls were stained red; and wishing to convince themselves they scratched the wall with their daggers. O horrors! not only were the walls sprinkled with the blood of human victims, but there were pools of blood two fingers deep on the floors. It was enough to nauseate the stomach! Where the wall had been scratched with their daggers, an intolerable odour exhaled from the decomposed blood covered with fresh blood.

In the midst of all these horrors there is one thing that will cause us rejoicing. Cortes ordered all the idols in the court to be overthrown,' after which he smashed them to pieces, and the pieces, after being reduced to

'Two separate visits of Cortes to two different temples are here combined into one. Subsequent authors, ignoring the description penned by the Conqueror himself in his second letter to Charles V., have repeated this error. The smashing of the idols in the great teocalli took place five months after the first visit to the Tlatelolco temple. Consult, Letters of Cortes, Second Letter to Charles V.; Hist. Verdad., cap. viii.; Orozco y Berra, Hist. Antiq., tom. iv., cap. v.

powder, were scattered over the steps of the temple. The only one he spared was the marble colossus, which was too large to be easily broken up. Muteczuma, profoundly disturbed, witnessed this scene. All the courtiers who accompanied the emperor were horrified, and broke forth into lamentations, saying: "Miserable and unfortunate creatures that we are: the gods are angry with us. They will take from us the products of the earth by which we live, and we shall die of hunger; every malady will overtake us, as happens to those towards whom the gods are ill-disposed. If our enemies attack us, we shall have no shelter; we shall be attacked by the people, who will rise in fury against us, when they hear of this sacrilege."

Cortes answered: "Is it possible to imagine anything more monstrous and more absurd? Do you then believe that these figures, made by the hands of your own servants, are gods? Are the works of your own hands superior to your dignity as men? O Muteczuma! Is this thing, made by the hands of your artisan, perhaps a vile slave, more honourable than your own majesty? What blindness or rather what mad credulity! Is it because of

these senseless idols that you yearly sacrifice so many human victims? Do you then believe that these objects, which neither see nor hear, can think? There is but one God, who has created the heavens and the earth, and it is him you should adore. This God, from whom all good things proceed, abhors your sacrifices. Moreover, it has been expressly forbidden by our King who, according to what you yourself say, descends from him who brought your ancestors to this country, that whoever sacrifices man or woman shall perish by the sword."

When this decision of Cortes was communicated by interpreters to Muteczuma, the latter, pale with fear and quivering with excitement, said: "Bear in mind, Cortes, that the ceremonies we have observed and solemnised

until now were taught us by our ancestors. If you no w teach us that we are in profound error and displease your sovereign, we are glad to know it and we shall endeavour to convince the people. Perhaps our ancestors, left to themselves, found these rites observed by the aborigines of that time; as for ourselves, we have followed the traditions of our forefathers and their wives, and you need not be astonished that we have committed these grave faults, if indeed faults they be. Give your orders, and we shall do our best to carry them out."

Upon hearing these words, Cortes repeated that there was but one God, in three persons, one in his essence, who created the heavens and the earth, the sun and the moon, and all the stars scattered about the earth for its adornment. The killing of men is an odious act in his eyes, for he created from the same substance both slaves and all who have human shape, like myself or you, or these others who hear us. This God is born of the womb of a Virgin; coming into our midst he suffered for the salvation of the human race. Wise men, whose coming we await, will one day explain this more clearly to you and to your people. The emblem of this God and the sign of victory is the figure of the cross, as well as the image of the Virgin Mother bearing a child upon her breast. Speaking thus, Cortes, who transformed himself for the occasion, from a lawyer into a theologian, exhibited for the adoration of the bystanders a cross and an image of the Virgin.

In this way were the odious vestiges of idolatry destroyed, and Muteczuma ordered his servants to cleanse the courts of the temple in his presence, and to so cleanse the walls that there should not remain a trace of those blood-stains. But this is enough concerning the abominable religion of the people of Temistitan. Let us pass to the palaces of the lords and wealthy people.

Cortes declares that he has never seen a royal palace

or a princely establishment in Spain, that was not inferior to seventy palaces in this town. These buildings are constructed of stone and marble, and are decorated with every architectural device. Everywhere are variegated pavements, doors of jasper or white transparent marble surrounding the courts, or immense stone colonnades open to the sun.

He adds that all the marvels concerning this country should be believed. Numerous kingdoms are certainly subject to Muteczuma, and in the different provinces of these kingdoms there live numerous lords, similar to the dukes, counts, marquises, and other nobles, subject to our Emperor's authority. At certain periods of the year and in conformity with an ancient custom, all these nobles betake themselves to Muteczuma's court whether they like it or not. Each resolves to eclipse his fellows by the splendour of his establishment. I might well compare the sojourn in Muteczuma's court with that of the cardinals at Rome, but it is not precisely the same thing, for the cardinals build for nobody but themselves, and care not at all for their successors; whereas Muteczuma's vassals consider their remote posterity. They send their sons, especially the eldest, to Muteczuma's court for their education, and there is such a great number of these children that more than five hundred of them may daily be seen walking in the courts or on the terraces of the palace; and during this period until the hour of their retirement, their servants and dependents are so numerous that they fill three large interior courts and the squares in front of the palace gates. They are fed at Muteczuma's expense, and a table stands all day laid for every comer who has a right to call for drink from the cellarers. Nobody may see the emperor before he leaves his private apartments to dine or sup, or to go into the large court described by Cortes as being larger than any other in the world. When he takes his seat, three hundred youths dressed in palace uniform