Page:Vol 1 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/463

Rh share was made into plates, spoons, and similar articles. The feathers presented a brilliant variety of colors and forms, and the cotton, some of the most delicate texture and color, was both plain and embroidered, and made into robes, tapestry, covers, and other articles. Turquoises, pearls, toys, and trinkets were also among the treasures.

Cortés proposed to defer the distribution till more gold and better weights were obtained; but the men, who with good reason, perhaps, suspected that a delay might diminish rather than increase the treasures, clamored for an immediate division. The troops were accordingly called, and in their presence the partition was made: first of the royal fifth; then of the fifth promised to Cortés when appointed captain-general; after this a large sum was set apart to cover expenditures by Cortés and Velazquez on the fleet and its outfit, and the value of the horses killed during the campaign, and another sum for the expenses and shares of the procuradores in Spain, while double or special shares were assigned to the priests, the captains, those owning horses, and the men with fire-arms and cross-bows. After all these deductions but little remained for the rank and file — a hundred pesos, if we may credit Bernal Diaz. This, many indignantly