nce of all our
officers and many of our soldiers, none of whom could refrain from tears,
at beholding the distress and agitation of the great and generous
Montezuma on this humiliating occasion.

Some time afterwards, when Cortes and his captains were conversing with
Montezuma on various topics, the general made inquiry relative to the gold
mines of the empire, when Montezuma informed him that the richest of these
were in the province of Zacatula or Zacatollan, and said that the gold was
procured by washing the earth, the small grains of metal sinking to the
bottom during the operation. He also said that it was obtained from two
rivers in the province of Guztepeque, where the natives were not subjects
to his empire; but, if Cortes chose to send some troops to that place, he
would order his officers to accompany them. Cortes accordingly sent the
pilot Umbria and two soldiers to examine the mines of Zacatula; and sent
his relation Pizarro, to the territories of Chinantla and Zapoteca.
Pizarro was then a young man, and at that time his name and that of Peru,
now so famous, were both equally unknown. Pizarro, who was one of our
captains, took with him four soldiers who were used to mining, and four
Mexican nobles; and Montezuma presented Cortes with a map of the whole
northern, or rather eastern coast of the Mexican empire, admirably
represented in painting, extending at least an hundred and forty leagues,
all the way to Tabasco. Among the rivers said to produce gold, was that of
Huatzocoalco, which Cortes wished to have examined, and Diego de Ordas
offering himself for this purpose, was reluctantly accepted by Cortes, as
he was a person on whom he depended for sound judgment and wholesome
advice on occasions of importance. Before his departure, Montezuma told
Ordas, that the power of the crown of Mexico did not extend over the
country to which he was going, but that he was welcome to the assistance
of the frontier garrisons. Umbria returned first from his mission,
bringing with him gold to the value of three hundred crowns and reported
that the mines might be made very productive, if they were as expertly
managed as those of Hispaniola and Cuba. Two principal persons of the
district accompanied him to Mexico, who brought a present of gold to the
value of about a hundred crowns, and offered to submit themselves and
country to the sovereignty of our emperor. Umbria and his companions
described the country which they had visit