Page:Vol 1 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/316

196 thousand. There were also piles of bones, and skulls suspended from beams, all of which produced far from pleasant impressions. This horror was aggravated by the evident coldness of their reception, and by the scanty fare offered. Olintetl occupied what Cortés describes as the "largest and most finely constructed houses he had yet seen in this country," wherein two thousand servants attended to the wants of himself and his thirty wives.

Impressed by the magnificence of his surroundings, Cortés inquired whether he was a subject or ally of Montezuma. "Who is not his slave?" was the reply. He himself ruled twenty thousand subjects, yet was but a lowly vassal of the emperor, at whose command thirty chiefs at least could place each one hundred thousand warriors in the field. He proceeded to extol the imperial wealth and power, and the grandeur of the capital, wherein twenty thousand human victims were annually given to the idols. This was probably intended to awe the little. band; "But we," says Bernal Diaz, "with the qualities of Spanish soldiers, wished we were there striving for fortunes, despite the dangers described." Cortés calmly assured the cacique that great as Montezuma was, there were vassals of his own king still mightier, with more to the same effect; and he concluded by demanding the submission of the cacique, together with a present of gold, and the abandonment of sacrifices and cannibalism. Olintetľ's only reply was that he could do nothing without authority from the capital. "Your