IN ORDER, most potent Sire, to convey to your Majesty a just conception
of the great extent of this noble city of Temixtitlan, and of the many rare and wonderful
objects it contains; of the government and dominions of Moctezuma, the sovereign: of the
religious rights and customs that prevail, and the order that exists in this as well as
the other cities appertaining to his realm: it would require the labor of many
accomplished writers, and much time for the completion of the task. I shall not be able to
relate an hundredth part of what could be told respecting these matters; but I will
endeavor to describe, in the best manner in my power, what I have myself seen; and
imperfectly as I may succeed in the attempt, I am fully aware that the account will appear
so wonderful as to be deemed scarcely worthy of credit; since even we who have seen these
things with our own eyes, are yet so amazed as to be unable to comprehend their reality.
But your Majesty may be assured that if there is any fault in my relation, either in
regard to the present subject, or to any other matters of which I shall give your Majesty
an account, it will arise from too great brevity rather than extravagance or prolixity in
the details; and it seems to me but just to my Prince and Sovereign to declare the truth
in the clearest manner, without saying anything that would detract from it, or add to it.
Before I begin to describe this great city and the others already
mentioned, it may be well for the better understanding of the subject to say something of
the configuration of Mexico, in which they are situated, it being the principal seat of
Moctezuma's power. This Province is in the form of a circle, surrounded on all sides by
lofty and rugged mountains; its level surface comprises an area of about seventy leagues
in circumference, including two lakes, that overspread nearly the whole valley, being
navigated by boats more than fifty leagues round. One of these lakes contains fresh and
the other, which is the larger of the two, salt water. On one side of the lakes, in the
middle of the valley, a range of highlands divides them from one another, with the
exception of a narrow strait which lies between the highlands and the lofty sierras. This
strait is a bow-shot wide, and connects the two lakes; and by this means a trade is
carried on between the cities and other settlements on the lakes in canoes without the
necessity of traveling by land. As the salt lake rises and falls with its tides like the
sea, during the time of high water it pours into the other lake with the rapidity of a
powerful stream; and on the other hand, when the tide has ebbed, the water runs from the
fresh into the salt lake.
This great city of Temixtitlan [Mexico] is situated in this salt lake,
and from the main land to the denser parts of it, by whichever route one chooses to enter,
the distance is two leagues. There are four avenues or entrances to the city, all of which
are formed by artificial causeways, two spears' length in width. The city is as large as
Seville or Cordova; its streets, I speak of the principal ones, are very wide and
straight; some of these, and all the inferior ones, are half land and half water, and are
navigated by canoes. All the streets at intervals have openings, through which the water
flows, crossing from one street to another; and at these openings, some of which are very
wide, there are also very wide bridges, composed of large pieces of timber, of great
strength and well put together; on many of these bridges ten horses can go abreast.
Foreseeing that if the inhabitants of the city should prove treacherous, they would
possess great advantages from the manner in which the city is constructed, since by
removing the bridges at the entrances, and abandoning the place, they could leave us to
perish by famine without our being able to reach the main land, as soon as I had entered
it, I made great haste to build four brigatines, which were soon finished, and were large
enough to take ashore three hundred men and the horses, whenever it should become
necessary.
This city has many public squares, in which are situated the markets
and other places for buying and selling. There is one square twice as large as that of the
city of Salamanca, surrounded by porticoes, where are daily assembled more than sixty
thousand souls, engaged in buying and selling; and where are found all kinds of
merchandise that the world affords, embracing the necessaries of life, as for instance
articles of food, as well as jewels of gold and silver, lead, brass, copper, tin, precious
stones, bones, shells, snails, and feathers. There are also exposed for sale wrought and
unwrought stone, bricks burnt and unburnt, timber hewn and unhewn, of different sorts.
There is a street for game, where every variety of birds in the country are sold, as
fowls, partridges, quails, wild ducks, fly-catchers, widgeons, turtledoves, pigeons,
reed-birds, parrots, sparrows, eagles, hawks, owls, and kestrels; they sell likewise the
skins of some birds of prey, with their feathers, head, beak, and claws. There are also
sold rabbits, hares, deer, and little dogs [i.e., the chihuahua], which are raised
for eating. There is also an herb street, where may be obtained all sorts of roots and
medicinal herbs that the country affords. There are apothecaries' shops, where prepared
medicines, liquids, ointments, and plasters are sold; barbers' shops, where they wash and
shave the head; and restaurateurs, that furnish food and drink at a certain price. There
is also a class of men like those called in Castile porters, for carrying burdens. Wood
and coal are seen in abundance, and braziers of earthenware for burning coals; mats of
various kinds for beds, others of a lighter sort for seats, and for halls and bedrooms.
There are all kinds of green vegetables, especially onions, leeks,
garlic, watercresses, nasturtium, borage, sorrel, artichokes, and golden thistle; fruits
also of numerous descriptions, amongst which are cherries and plums, similar to those in
Spain; honey and wax from bees, and from the stalks of maize, which are as sweet as the
sugar-cane; honey is also extracted from the plant called maguey, which is superior to
sweet or new wine; from the same plant they extract sugar and wine, which they also sell.
Different kinds of cotton thread of all colors in skeins are exposed for sale in one
quarter of the market, which has the appearance of the silk-market at Granada, although
the former is supplied more abundantly. Painters' colors, as numerous as can be found in
Spain, and as fine shades; deerskins dressed and undressed, dyed different colors;
earthen-ware of a large size and excellent quality; large and small jars, jugs, pots,
bricks, and endless variety of vessels, all made of fine clay, and all or most of them
glazed and painted; maize or Indian corn, in the grain and in the form of bread, preferred
in the grain for its flavor to that of the other islands and terra-firma; patés of birds
and fish; great quantities of fish---fresh, salt, cooked and uncooked; the eggs of hens,
geese, and of all the other birds I have mentioned, in great abundance, and cakes made of
eggs; finally, everything that can be found throughout the whole country is sold in the
markets, comprising articles so numerous that to avoid prolixity, and because their names
are not retained in my memory, or are unknown to me, I shall not attempt to enumerate
them.
Every kind of merchandise is sold in a particular street or quarter
assigned to it exclusively, and thus the best order is preserved. They sell everything by
number or measure; at least so far we have not observed them to sell anything by weight.
There is a building in the great square that is used as an audience house, where ten or
twelve persons, who are magistrates, sit and decide all controversies that arise in the
market, and order delinquents to be punished. In the same square there are other persons
who go constantly about among the people observing what is sold, and the measures used in
selling; and they have been seen to break measures that were not true.
This great city contains a large number of temples, or houses, for
their idols, very handsome edifices, which are situated in the different districts and the
suburbs; in the principal ones religious persons of each particular sect are constantly
residing, for whose use, besides the houses containing the idols, there are other
convenient habitations. All these persons dress in black, and never cut or comb their hair
from the time they enter the priesthood until they leave it; and all the sons of the
principal inhabitants, both nobles and respectable citizens, are placed in the temples and
wear the same dress from the age of seven or eight years until they are taken out to be
married; which occurs more frequently with the first-born who inherit estates than with
the others. The priests are debarred from female society, nor is any woman permitted to
enter the religious houses. They also abstain from eating certain kinds of food, more at
some seasons of the year than others.
Among these temples there is one which far surpasses all the rest,
whose grandeur of architectural details no human tongue is able to describe; for within
its precincts, surrounded by a lofty wall, there is room enough for a town of five hundred
families. Around the interior of the enclosure there are handsome edifices, containing
large halls and corridors, in which the religious persons attached to the temple reside.
There are fully forty towers, which are lofty and well built, the largest of which has
fifty steps leading to its main body, and is higher than the tower of the principal tower
of the church at Seville. The stone and wood of which they are constructed are so well
wrought in every part, that nothing could be better done, for the interior of the chapels
containing the idols consists of curious imagery, wrought in stone, with plaster ceilings,
and wood-work carved in relief, and painted with figures of monsters and other objects.
All these towers are the burial places of the nobles, and every chapel in them is
dedicated to a particular idol, to which they pay their devotions.
Three halls are in this grand temple, which contain the principal
idols; these are of wonderful extent and height, and admirable workmanship, adorned with
figures sculptured in stone and wood; leading from the halls are chapels with very small
doors, to which the light is not admitted, nor are any persons except the priests, and not
all of them. In these chapels are the images of idols, although, as I have before said,
many of them are also found on the outside; the principal ones, in which the people have
greatest faith and confidence, I precipitated from their pedestals, and cast them down the
steps of the temple, purifying the chapels in which they had stood, as they were all
polluted with human blood, shed ill the sacrifices. In the place of these I put images of
Our Lady and the Saints, which excited not a little feeling in Moctezuma and the
inhabitants, who at first remonstrated, declaring that if my proceedings were known
throughout the country, the people would rise against me; for they believed that their
idols bestowed on them all temporal good, and if they permitted them to be ill-treated,
they would be angry and without their gifts, and by this means the people would be
deprived of the fruits of the earth and perish with famine. I answered, through the
interpreters, that they were deceived in expecting any favors from idols, the work of
their own hands, formed of unclean things; and that they must learn there was but one God,
the universal Lord of all, who had created the heavens and earth, and all things else, and
had made them and us; that He was without beginning and immortal, and they were bound to
adore and believe Him, and no other creature or thing.
I said everything to them I could to divert them from their idolatries,
and draw them to a knowledge of God our Lord. Moctezuma replied, the others assenting to
what he said, AThat they had already informed me
they were not the aborigines of the country, but that their ancestors had emigrated to it
many years ago; and they fully believed that after so long an absence from their native
land, they might have fallen into some errors; that I having more recently arrived must
know better than themselves what they ought to believe; and that if I would instruct them
in these matters, and make them understand the true faith, they would follow my
directions, as being for the best.@ Afterwards,
Moctezuma and many of the principal citizens remained with me until I had removed the
idols, purified the chapels, and placed the images in them, manifesting apparent pleasure;
and I forbade them sacrificing human beings to their idols as they had been accustomed to
do; because, besides being abhorrent in the sight of God, your sacred Majesty had
prohibited it by law, and commanded to put to death whoever should take the life of
another. Thus, from that time, they refrained from the practice, and during the whole
period of my abode in that city, they were never seen to kill or sacrifice a human being.
The figures of the idols in which these people believe surpass in
stature a person of more than ordinary size; some of them are composed of a mass of seeds
and leguminous plants, such as are used for food, ground and mixed together, and kneaded
with the blood of human hearts taken from the breasts of living persons, from which a
paste is formed in a sufficient quantity to form large statues. When these are completed
they make them offerings of the hearts of other victims, which they sacrifice to them, and
besmear their faces with the blood. For everything they have an idol, consecrated by the
use of the nations that in ancient times honored the same gods. Thus they have an idol
that they petition for victory in war; another for success in their labors; and so for
everything in which they seek or desire prosperity, they have their idols, which they
honor and serve.
This noble city contains many fine and magnificent houses; which may be
accounted for from the fact, that all the nobility of the country, who are the vassals of
Moctezuma, have houses in the city, in which they reside a certain part of the year; and
besides, there are numerous wealthy citizens who also possess fine houses. All these
persons, in addition to the large and spacious apartments for ordinary purposes, have
others, both upper and lower, that contain conservatories of flowers. Along one of these
causeways that lead into the city are laid two pipes, constructed of masonry, each of
which is two paces in width, and about five feet in height. An abundant supply of
excellent water, forming a volume equal in bulk to the human body, is conveyed by one of
these pipes, and distributed about the city, where it is used by the inhabitants for drink
and other purposes. The other pipe, in the meantime, is kept empty until the former
requires to be cleansed, when the water is let into it and continues to be used till the
cleaning is finished. As the water is necessarily carried over bridges on account of the
salt water crossing its route, reservoirs resembling canals are constructed on the
bridges, through which the fresh water is conveyed. These reservoirs are of the breadth of
the body of an ox, and of the same length as the bridges. The whole city is thus served
with water, which they carry in canoes through all the streets for sale, taking it from
the aqueduct in the following manner: the canoes pass under the bridges on which the
reservoirs are placed, when men stationed above fill them with water, for which service
they are paid. At all the entrances of the city, and in those parts where the canoes are
discharged, that is, where the greatest quantity of provisions is brought in, huts are
erected, and persons stationed as guards, who receive a certain sum of everything that
enters. I know not whether the sovereign receives this duty or the city, as I have not yet
been informed; but I believe that it appertains to the sovereign, as in the markets of
other provinces a tax is collected for the benefit of the cacique.
In all the markets and public places of this city are seen daily many
laborers waiting for some one to hire them. The inhabitants of this city pay a greater
regard to style in their mode of dress and politeness of manners than those of the other
provinces and cities; since, as the Cacique Moctezuma has his residence in the capital,
and all the nobility, his vassals, are in constant habit of meeting there, a general
courtesy of demeanor necessarily prevails. But not to be prolix in describing what relates
to the affairs of this great city, although it is with difficulty I refrain from
proceeding, I will say no more than that the manners of the people, as shown in their
intercourse with one another, are marked by as great an attention to the proprieties of
life as in Spain, and good order is equally well observed; and considering that they are
barbarous people, without the knowledge of God, having no intercourse with civilized
nations, these traits of character are worthy of admiration.
In regard to the domestic appointments of Moctezuma, and the wonderful
grandeur and state that he maintains, there is so much to be told, that I assure your
Highness I know not where to begin my relation, so as to be able to finish any part of it.
For, as I have already stated, what can be more wonderful than a barbarous monarch, as he
is, should have every object found in his dominions imitated in gold, silver, precious
stones, and feathers; the gold and silver being wrought so naturally as not to be
surpassed by any smith in the world; the stone work executed with such perfection that it
is difficult to conceive what instruments could have been used; and the feather work
superior to the finest productions in wax or embroidery. The extent of Moctezuma's
dominions has not been ascertained, since to whatever point he despatched his messengers,
even two hundred leagues from his capital, his commands were obeyed, although some of his
provinces were in the midst of countries with which he was at war. But as nearly as I have
been able to learn, his territories are equal in extent to Spain itself, for he sent
messengers to the inhabitants of a city called Cumatan (requiring them to become subjects
of your Majesty), which is sixty leagues beyond that part of Putunchan watered by the
river Grijalva, and two hundred and thirty leagues distant from the great city; and I sent
some of our people a distance of one hundred and fifty leagues in the same direction.
All the principle chiefs of these provinces, especially those in the
vicinity of the capital, reside, as I have already stated, the greater part of the year in
that great city, and all or most of them have their oldest sons in the service of
Moctezuma. There are fortified places in all the provinces, garrisoned with his own men,
where are also stationed his governors and collectors of the rents and tribute, rendered
him by every province; and an account is kept of what each is obliged to pay, as they have
characters and figures made on paper that are used for this purpose. Each province renders
a tribute of its own peculiar productions, so that the sovereign receives a great variety
of articles from different quarters. No prince was ever more feared by his subjects, both
in his presence and absence. He possessed out of the city as well as within numerous
villas, each of which had its peculiar sources of amusement, and all were constructed in
the best possible manner for the use of a great prince and lord. Within the city his
palaces were so wonderful that it is hardly possible to describe their beauty and extent;
I can only say that in Spain there is nothing equal to them.
There was one palace somewhat inferior to the rest, attached to which
was a beautiful garden with balconies extending over it, supported by marble columns, and
having a floor formed of jasper elegantly inlaid. There were apartments in this palace
sufficient to lodge two princes of the highest rank with their retinues. There were
likewise belonging to it ten pools of water, in which were kept the different species of
water birds found in this country, of which there is a great variety, all of which are
domesticated; for the sea birds there were pools of salt water, and for the river birds,
of fresh water. The water is let off at certain times to keep it pure, and is replenished
by means of pipes. Each specie of bird is supplied with the food natural to it, which it
feeds upon when wild. Thus fish is given to the birds that usually eat it; worms, maize,
and the finer seeds, to such as prefer them. And I assure your Highness, that to the birds
accustomed to eat fish there is given the enormous quantity of ten arrobas every day,
taken in the salt lake. The emperor has three hundred men whose sole employment is to take
care of these birds; and there are others whose only business is to attend to the birds
that are in bad health.
Over the polls for the birds there are corridors and galleries, to
which Moctezuma resorts, and from which he can look out and amuse himself with the sight
of them. There is an apartment in the same palace in which are men, women and children,
whose faces, bodies, hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes are white from their birth. The emperor
has another very beautiful palace, with a large court-yard, paved with handsome flags, in
the style of a chess-board. There are also cages, about nine feet in height and six paces
square, each of which was half covered with a roof of tiles, and the other half had over
it a wooden grate, skillfully made. Every cage contained a bird of prey, of all the
species found in Spain, from the kestrel to the eagle, and many unknown there. There was a
great number of each kind; and in the covered part of the cages there was a perch, and
another on the outside of the grating, the former of which the birds used in the night
time, and when it rained; and the other enabled them to enjoy the sun and air. To all
these birds fowls were daily given for food, and nothing else. There were in the same
palace several large halls on the ground floor, filled with immense cages built of heavy
pieces of timber, well put together, in all or most of which were kept lions, tigers,
wolves, foxes, and a variety of animals of the cat kind, in great numbers, which were fed
also on fowls. The care of these animals and birds was assigned to three hundred men.
There was another palace that contained a number of men and women of monstrous size, and
also dwarfs, and crooked and ill-formed persons, each of which had their separate
apartments. These also had their respective keepers. As to the other remarkable things
that the emperor had in his city for his amusement, I can only say that they were numerous
and of various kinds.
He was served in the following manner: Every day as soon as it was
light, six hundred nobles and men of rank were in attendance at the palace, who either
sat, or walked about the halls and galleries, and passed their time in conversation, but
without entering the apartment where his person was. The servants and attendants of these
nobles remained in the court-yards, of which there were two or three of great extent, and
in the adjoining street, which was also very spacious. They all remained in attendance
from morning until night; and when his meals were served, the nobles were likewise served
with equal profusion, and their servants and secretaries also had their allowance. Daily
his larder and wine-cellar were open to all who wished to eat or drink. The meals were
served by three or four hundred youths, who brought on an infinite variety of dishes;
indeed, whenever he dined or supped, the table was loaded with every kind of flesh, fish,
fruits, and vegetables that the country produced. As the climate is cold, they put a
chafing-dish with live coals under every plate and dish, to keep them warm. The meals were
served in a large hall, in which Moctezuma was accustomed to eat, and the dishes quite
filled the room, which was covered with mats and kept very clean. He sat on a small
cushion curiously wrought of leather. During the meals there were present, at a little
distance from him, five or six elderly caciques, to whom he presented some of the food.
And there was constantly in attendance one of the servants, who arranged and handed the
dishes, and who received from others whatever was wanted for the supply of the table.
Both at the beginning and end of every meal, they furnished water for
the hands; and the napkins used on these occasions were never used a second time; this was
the case also with the plates and dishes, which were not brought again, but new ones in
place of them; it was the same also with the chafing-dishes. He is also dressed every day
in four different suits, entirely new, which he never wears a second time. None of the
caciques who enter his palace have their feet covered, and when those for whom he sends
enters his presence, they incline their heads and look down, bending their bodies; and
when they address him, they do not look him in the face; this arises from excessive
modesty and reverence. I am satisfied that it proceeds from respect, since certain
caciques reproved the Spaniards for their boldness in addressing me, saying that it showed
a want of becoming deference. Whenever Moctezuma appeared in public, which is seldom the
case, all those who accompanied him, or whom he accidentally met in the streets, turned
away without looking towards him, and others prostrated themselves until he had passed.
One of the nobles always preceded him on these occasions, carrying three slender rods
erect, which I suppose was to give notice of the approach of his person. And when they
descended from the litters, he took one of them in his hand, and held it until he reached
the place where he was going. So many and various were the ceremonies and customs observed
by those in the service of Moctezuma, that more space than I can spare would be required
for the details, as well as a better memory than I have to recollect them; since no sultan
or other infidel lord, of whom any knowledge now exists; ever had so much ceremonial in
his court.
