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kinds of spices. He had already attempted this, but, embarrassed by his competitors, Diego Velasquez, viceroy of Cuba, Panfilo Narvaez, and finally Garay, he was supposed to have renounced his intention.

One example will serve to illustrate how tribute is everywhere collected. In the course of our narratives relative to Temistitan, addressed by us to the Sovereign Pontiff Leo X., uncle of Your Holiness, and to his successor Adrian, we have related how the omnipotent monarch Muteczuma was sovereign over numerous and different princes, who were themselves masters of great cities. Cortes has conquered them for the most part, because they refused to obey him, but he has installed in their office and kingdoms their sons, brothers, or other relatives of inferior birth, so that the people, seeing themselves governed by the representatives of the ancient dynasties, endure more easily the yoke.

Of these cities, the one nearest to the salt lake is called Tezcuco. It numbers about twenty thousand houses and is whiter than a swan, for all its houses are washed with white bitumen. They are so brilliant that any one, beholding them from a distance, might, unless forewarned, think he saw little hills covered with snow. Tezcuco is built in the form of a square, being three miles long and about the same breadth. Cortes designated a very young man, descended from the family of ancient rulers, as chief. Otumba is another town, a trifle smaller than Tezcuco. Cortes also placed there a mild, obedient chief, who was his godson, and had been baptised under the name of Fernando Cortes. The territory of this town is extensive, fertile, and traversed by rivers, whose sands gleam with gold. To escape a visit from the Spaniards, which cannot be made without disturbance, each of the caciques pays Cortes each year, according to agreement, sixty thousand gold pesos. We have stated that the value of the peso is equal to a ducat and a fourth. In addition they supply

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products of the earth, maize, chickens, and wild animals which abound in the neighbouring mountains.

All the native leaders received the same treatment, that is to say, each one pays tribute according to his resources. Cortes allows most of the provinces to enjoy real liberty, without a king, and with their old customs maintained. The only exception he makes is the odious custom of human sacrifices, concerning which he had lively disputes with Muteczuma. Even these free provinces pay a certain tribute to Cortes; one called Guaxaca has rich gold deposits. It is seventy leagues distant from the royal city of the lakes. Locpoteca is another province, where the conditions are the same. Most of the other provinces pay their tributes in gold. Cortes has also reserved certain gold mines for the royal fisc, which he has worked by prisoners of war. When he sets them at liberty, they occupy themselves in agriculture or in industrial arts.

I cite one peculiar fact worthy of notice. The province of Guacinalgo' is governed by a king bearing the same name. This prince, accompanied only by his mother, came to salute Cortes; but his hands were not empty. Slaves carried on their shoulders thirty thousand pieces of gold, which he presented to Cortes. You will learn, not without pleasure, how he paid his homage. He approached almost naked, although he possesses plenty of valuable clothing. But we understand that it is their custom for an inferior who approaches a powerful personage, to present himself poorly dressed, with bowed head, bending the knee and stammering when he speaks; this is in token of humility.

It will not be useless to hear what happy money they use; for they have money which I call happy, because they obtain it by merely scratching the earth, and because neither the envy of the avaricious nor the terrors of war cause it to return to its subterranean hiding-place, as Meaning Guachinango, situated 165 kilometres north of Mexico.

happens with gold or silver. This money is produced by a tree. I have already described it at length elsewhere, explaining how it is sown and transplanted, how it is reared in the protecting shade of another large tree, until it is full grown and may support the heat of summer and the violence of tempests. This tree bears a fruit similar to a small almond. When fresh it has a bitter taste and is not edible, but from it is made the drink of the noble and rich classes. When dried these fruits are ground into flour. At the breakfast or dinner hour the servants fill wine or water vessels, or cups having handles, with water, adding a proportionate quantity of this flour. They pour the mixture from one vessel to another, shaking it by raising their arms as high as they can without letting it fall like rain on a roof; this operation is repeated till the liquid froths, and the more frothy the beverage is, the better it is considered to be. When the mixture has been thus shaken for about an hour, it is left to stand a little, so that the heavier grains may settle to the bottom of the cup or wine-vessel. This drink is sweet and not very intoxicating. Nevertheless those who drink it immoderately begin to feel confused in the head, as though by the fumes of our wines.

The natives call the fruit and the tree by the same name, cocoa, just as we call the nut or the tree, almond. The Spaniards compare the drink with curds, because it serves both as a food and a drink. These trees and coins only grow in certain regions, nor will they grow in every soil when they are sown and transplanted. The same happens with our own fruits. Lemons, citrons, and shaddocks-vulgarly so called-and other similar fruits only grow and prosper in very few places. The caciques and each of the rich provinces they govern pay their tributes to Cortes, and it is with cocoa that he pays his mens' wages, furnishing them with drinks, and with which he buys whatever he needs. It has been noticed that the

countries suitable for this precious product are not fertile in cereals. Merchants, therefore, visit them and carry on their trade by means of exchange. They bring maize, or cotton for making clothing and also made garments, in exchange of which the people give them cocoa. This is enough concerning this money. If I return to these particulars, Most Holy Father, it is that those who may study this book dedicated to you, and who may not be acquainted with the Decades addressed to Popes Leo and Adrian, may be informed concerning these things.

Some caciques who possess silver mines in their countries pay their tribute in silver. Cortes has furniture made of silver, and wrought vases artistically worked, both in gold and in silver. Your Holiness may now form some opinion about Cortes. It is alleged that he was much affected when the French pirates, some three years ago, carried off the great treasures he sent to the Emperor. Amongst the lost objects we noted the marvellous ornaments the natives offered their gods in the temples when sacrificing human victims. What shall I say of the gems and precious stones? There was especially an emerald of pyramidal form, almost as large at the base as a man's right hand. As was told us in the Royal Council and repeated to the Emperor, nothing of the kind had ever been seen. It is alleged that the French admiral redeemed it from him' who captured it for a large sum of money.

The unfortunate captain of the captured vessel, Alfonso de Avila, was inhumanly treated; he is a young man of noble birth, but not rich. They keep him shut in a dark prison, solely because this precious gem and the other treasures had been confided to him. They think they may exact twenty thousand ducats for his ransom. People who know the value of jewels say that this emerald is beyond all price, so transparent, brilliant, and admirably pure is it.

'The admiral was Philippe de Brion-Chabot. The pirate was John Florin or Fleury.

Our cereals grow when planted in the country of Temistitan, for it is cold there, because of the distance from the sea and the neighbourhood of high mountains, although the country is situated in the torrid zone eighteen degrees from the equator. The ears and kernels grow to larger size than in Europe. As there are three kinds of maize, the white, the yellow, and the red; the natives prefer maize to wheaten flour. They find it also more wholesome. Wild vines grow spontaneously in the forests, producing large and palatable crops, but no time has yet been found to make wine. It is reported that Cortes has planted vineyards; what will result we shall know in time.

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