Page:Mexico as it was and as it is.djvu/178

 the gold amounted, in value, to upward of a thousand crowns; and he gave it with an affability and indifference which made him appear a truly magnificent prince." He then proceeds, after some other details, to give an account of the personal appearance of this sovereign, and of the style and splendor of his court.

"The great Montezuma was, at this time, aged about 40 years, of good stature, well proportioned, and thin. His complexion was much fairer than that of the Indians; he wore his hair short, just covering his ears, with very little beard, well arranged, thin and black. His face was rather long, with a pleasant mien and good eyes; gravity and good-humor were blended together when he spoke. He was very delicate and cleanly in his person, bathing himself every evening. He had a number of mistresses of the first families, and two princesses, his lawful wives; when he visited them, it was with such secrecy that none could know it except his own servants. He was clear of all suspicions of unnatural vices. The clothes which he wore one day he did not put on for four days after. He had set two hundred of his nobility as a guard in apartments adjoining his own. Of these only certain persons could speak to him, and when they went to wait upon him, they took off their rich mantles and put on others of less ornament, but clean. They entered his apartment barefooted, their eyes fixed on the ground, and making three inclinations of the body as they approached him. In addressing the king they said, "Lord—my lord—great lord!" When they had finished, he dismissed them with a few words, and they retired with their faces toward him and their eyes fixed on the ground. I also observed, that when great men came from a distance about business, they entered his palace barefooted, and in plain habit; and also, that they did not enter the gate directly, but took a circuit in going toward it.

"His cooks had upward of thirty different ways of dressing meats, and they had earthen vessels so contrived as to keep them constantly hot. For the table of Montezuma himself, above three hundred dishes were dressed, and for his guards above a thousand. Before dinner, Montezuma would sometimes go out and inspect the preparations, and his officers would point out to him which were the best, and explain of what birds and flesh they were composed; and of those he would eat. But this was more for amusement than anything else.

"It is said, that at times the flesh of young children was dressed for him; but the ordinary meats were domestic fowls, pheasants, geese, partridges, quails, venison, Indian hogs, pigeons, hares and rabbits, with many other animals and birds peculiar to the country. This is certain—that after Cortéz had spoken to him relative to the dressing of human flesh, it was not practiced in his palace. At his meals, in the cold weather, a number of torches of the bark of a wood which makes no smoke, and has an aromatic smell, were lighted; and, that they should not throw too much heat, screens, ornamented with gold and painted with figures of idols, were placed before them.