mself 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.

[16] These remarkable presents have all been enumerated by Torquemada,
(Monarchia Indiana, i, iv, c. 17;) and we cannot do better than give his
minute description of them here: "The ambassador of Motecusuma ordered
mats to be spread on the ground before Cortes, and over them some cotton
cloths, on which he arranged the presents, consisting of large
quantities of cotton shirts and other cotton stuffs, beautifully
manufactured, and interwoven with feathers of the most splendid colours;
bucklers made of the purest white staffs, decorated with feathers, gold,
silver, and pearls, surpassing everything in beauty and skilfulness of
workmanship that was ever seen. There was also a helmet, tastefully
carved out of wood, filled with grains of gold; a casque, made of thin
plates of gold, decorated with tassels and stones, resembling the
smaragdus; numerous large bunches of feathers of diversified colours,
fastened in silver and gold; fans for keeping off flies, made of the
rarest feathers; a thousand lockets of gold and silver, of the most
curious and beautiful workmanship; bracelets and military decorations of
gold and silver, splendidly embossed with green and bright yellow
feathers; leather made of deer skin, curried and coloured in the best
possible manner; shoes and sandals of the same leather, sewn with thin
gold wire, and the soles made of splendid white and blue stone. There
were other kinds of shoes, most tastefully manufactured of cotton;
mirrors of marcasite, globular shaped, of the size of a fist, and most
ingeniously set in gold, the small frame itself being very valuable, and
worthy of the acceptance of any crowned head; coverings and curtains to
beds, manufactured of various coloured cotton, more glossy and of finer
texture than silk; a number of other gold and