Spaniards in a litter richly worked in green feathers, with many silver borderings and rich stones set in bosses of gold. Later, Montecuzoma arrived in a similar vehicle, and after alighting advanced supported by four high chiefs "beneath a marvellously rich canopy of green-coloured feathers with much gold and silver embroidery, and with pearls and chalchiuites suspended from a sort of bordering which was wonderful to look at. . . . He was shod with sandals . . . the soles were of gold and the upper part adorned with precious stones." Cloths were spread before him to tread upon, and all his suite kept their eyes lowered except the four who supported him, who were his nephews. In his palace,his antechamber was kept by a large body-guard, and even the most important chieftains, when they came to visit him, exchanged their rich mantles for garments of poor material and entered his presence barefoot. The magnificence of his service, state apartments and general entourage, his aviaries and collection of wild beasts, have often been described, and by none better than by Prescott, so that it is hardly necessary to enter into detail on this subject. Two quotations will suffice, both from eye-witnesses, one relating to the practice of smoking, the other to the dimensions of the palace. After his meal, which was served on Cholulan pottery, "there were also placed on the table three tubes, much painted and gilded, which held liquidambar mixed with certain herbs which they call tabaco; and when he had finished eating, after they had danced before him and sung and the tables were removed, he inhaled the smoke from one of these tubes, but he took very little of it, and with that he fell asleep."
Of the palace, the "Anonymous Conqueror" writes, "Several times I entered the residence of the king, simply to see it; each time I walked about there until I was tired, nevertheless I have never seen the whole of it." The various ornaments and ceremonial dresses of
