The Mastering of Mexico/Chapter 11
CHAPTER XI
How the great Montezuma looked, how he dined, his arsenals, his craftsmen and craftswomen, his gardens, aviary, beasts of prey; how we viewed the great market place and what else we saw when we ascended the chief temple.
The mighty Montezuma may have been at this time about forty years of age. He was tall and had a slender body of beautiful proportion, and a complexion not very brown but approaching the Indians' in color. He did not wear his hair long, but only so as to cover his ears, and his beard was scanty. His face was rather long, but cheerful, and he had fine eyes which reflected his moods of tenderness and gravity. He was particularly neat in his person and bathed every afternoon. The clothes that he had on one day he did not put on again till after four days.
In halls entering his apartments he had always a guard of over two hundred men, with whom, however, he held no conversation, except to give or receive some intelligence. Whenever they went to speak to him they had first to take off their rich cloaks and put on others of little value, though these must be neat and clean; and they entered his presence barefoot and eyes cast down. During three prostrations they were obliged to make before they came up to him they must say in their speech, "Lord, my Lord, my great Lord," and make their report with eyes still cast down and in fewest possible words. Withdrawing from his presence, their formalities required that they should not turn their backs but keep their faces towards the monarch and eyes still on the ground and back out of the room.
For his dining his cooks prepared over thirty different dishes, placing small earthern brasiers underneath each that the food should not get cold. Not often, but sometimes, Montezuma went out with the officers of his household and chose of what his dinner should be; but this was mere pastime. I heard it said that the flesh of young boys, as a very dainty morsel, was sometimes set before him. If there were any truth in this we could not find, on account of the variety every day cooked, such as fowls, turkeys, pheasants, partridges, quail, wild and tame geese, venison, musk boar, pigeons, hares and rabbits, and many other sorts of birds and beasts, which it would not be an easy task to name. But this I do know, that after Cortes reproached him with the sacrifices of human beings and the eating of their flesh, he ordered that no such dishes should again be brought to his table. Every kind of fruit which the land produced was served, and from time to time they brought him cacao frothed in cups of pure gold.
The monarch was served at dinner after this manner:—The chair on which he sat was rather low, but beautifully carved and cushioned. The table, also low, was covered with a white cloth and napkin. Four very neat and beautiful women first brought water in a sort of pitcher for his hands, and then they held basins below to catch the water and presented him towels to dry his hands. Two other women brought maize bread—served as was all his food on red or black Cholulan earthenware—and as soon as he began to eat they placed before him a gold-painted screen so that no one might watch him eating. Four elderly caciques, however, came in, and with these Montezuma conversed from time to time. Sometimes he would favor them by giving them a plate of what tasted best to him, but they ate standing with veneration and not looking at his face. These grey-haired elders, we learned, were his nearest of kin and counsellors and chief justices. While the monarch was at table the men on guard in the halls never spoke aloud nor made any kind of noise.
Sometimes during his dining he would have in deformed persons very small of stature, who jested and went through antics for his amusement; and at other times buffoons to enliven him with their witty sayings; and then again dancers and singers, for Montezuma was fond of song and entertainment, and he would order broken food and pitchers of cacao distributed to these performers. When he had done dining the four women cleared the cloths and brought him water to wash his hands; and then they laid on the table three gilded tubes holding liquid amber mixed with certain herbs the Indians call tobacco. After one of the tubes was lighted the monarch inhaled a very little of the smoke, and fell asleep.
Montezuma had numerous stewards, treasurers and cooks—indeed there is so much to tell that I know not where to begin. The limitless supply of provisions, the excellent order maintained, the expenses of the table of the guards and of the women who baked and made thousands of cups of frothy cacao—all kept us wondering. At that time a great cacique had the accounting of the whole of Montezuma's revenue in large books of paper. Such account-books filled a large house.
Two other houses were arsenals filled with arms of every sort, many adorned with gold and precious stones. With all the different sized shields, broadswords set with flint knives, lances with a fathom of blade fitted with knives, bows and arrows, slings with stones rounded by hand, large shields so ingeniously made that they could be rolled up out of the way when the warriors were not fighting—with 
This terra cotta figure of a warrior, found in a cave in the Valley of Mexico, makes clearer their quilted cotton armor — its jacket tied in the back, its loin cloth, its leggings and sandals. The ears are pierced for ornaments and the ring on the top of the head was perhaps for a head-dress of feathers.
all these we saw there great quantities of armor of quilted cotton, wrought with different-colored feathers, and also feathered helmets of wood and bone. Workmen were always busy adding to this store.
Skilled workmen Montezuma likewise employed in every craft that the Mexicans knew—in the cutting and polishing of precious stones, in working and smelting of gold and silver in which they astonish even the great goldsmiths of Spain.[1] Masters in painting and feather-work and sculpture also wrought for him, and there are still in Mexico artists so skilful that had they lived in the days of the ancient Greek Apelles, or of Michael Angelo of our own time, their work would be in their company. The women are especially skilful in weaving fabrics of the finest threads and wonderfully interweaving feathers. In the house of Montezuma, daughters of caciques made the most beautiful stuffs, and others who lived in other houses in retirement, like nuns, also did weaving especially of feathers. Houses for such nuns stood near a great temple of Huitzilopochtli, god of war, and also elsewhere in devotion to certain goddesses, and in them dwelt Indian girls until they married.[2] Montezuma had also plantations of medicinal and useful herbs, gardens for the culture of flowers and trees, where countless birds sang and nested among the branches, and ponds and baths of fresh water where the water came in at one end and flowed out at the other. All the ponds and tanks were substantially walled with masonry, well cemented, as was also the theatre where his singers, dancers and clowns performed.
Then the monarch had an aviary. It is indeed difficult for me to restrain myself from telling too minutely of this. For there was in it, in the full splendor of plumage, every species of bird from the royal eagle to tiny birds of many colors,—even to the birds from whose green plumage they make their beautiful green feather work. All these birds had houses, and men and women keepers fed them proper food, cleaned their nests and set them for breeding. In the courtyard stood a large tank of fresh water,
. and in it were those water fowls of stilt legs and plumage of red called flamingos.
In another great house they kept terrible idols, and with them beasts of prey, such as tigers, hons, jackals, foxes, and other flesh-eating animals. They fed them on deer, turkeys, dogs and such like, and I have heard it said, also, the bodies of Indians sacrificed they gave to these fierce beasts in their abominable dens—in which also were vipers and other poisonous snakes, among them one which carries at the end of the tail a kind of rattle. When all the lions and tigers roared together, and jackals and foxes howled and the serpents hissed, it was horrible to hear and you could not think otherwise than that you were in hell.
We had been four days in the city of Mexico, and neither our captain nor any of us had left our quarters except to visit the gardens and buildings near by. Cortes now said to us that we should see the great plaza, and the chief temple of the god of war, and he sent Donna Marina and Aguilar to ask permission. When the monarch knew our wishes he said we were welcome to go; still, since he was apprehensive that we might do some dishonor to his gods, he would himself go with us and bring a company of caciques. He came, and in a rich litter, but when he was half way between his palace and the temple, he left the litter, for he deemed it lack of 
respect to approach his idols otherwise than on foot. As he walked he leaned on the arms of some of his caciques, and others went before him holding high two staves, like sceptres, which signified that the monarch was approaching. He ascended the steps of the temple in company with many papas, and on reaching the top began to burn incense and perform other ceremonies to Huitzilopochtli.
We for our part entered the temple yards and found them paved with white flagstones, and where stones were wanting, with cement, all kept so very clean one could not find the smallest particle of dust or straw anywhere, and enclosed by a double wall of stone. Before we had mounted a single one of the one hundred and fourteen steps of the temple, Montezuma sent down six priests and two chiefs to help our captain up. They were going to take him by the arms, just as they helped Montezuma. Cortes, however, would not permit them to aid him.
When we reached the summit we saw a platform set about with large stones, on which they put those doomed for sacrifice, and near by was an image shaped like a dragon, and other abominable figures, and a quantity of fresh blood. Montezuma himself accompanied by two papas came out of a chapel in which his cursed idols were standing and received us with courtesy. "Ascending this great temple of ours, Malinche, must have fatigued you," he said; on which Cortes assured him that nothing ever tired him and his companions. The monarch then took him by the hand and told him to look down on his great city, and all the other cities standing in the water and the many other towns on land round the lake. Indeed the accursed temple stood so high that we could see the great causeway leading to the city, and the aqueduct which provides the whole town with sweet water from Chapultepec. We could see also the bridges of the three causeways, and canoes speeding in the lake, coming with supplies of food and going with bales of merchandise. And in all the towns temples rose gleaming white, like towers and castles in our Spanish towns, and made a picture wonderful to see.
We looked down also on the great market place, and the crowds of people in it, so many buying and selling that the hum of their voices could be heard miles away. Some of our old soldiers who had been in Constantinople, and Rome, and many parts of the world, said they never had seen a market place so large, so crowded and so well arranged. Every kind of merchandise had its separate spot for sale—gold and silver wares, cotton and hennequen cloths, twisted thread, tanned and untanned skins of tigers, lions, red deer, wild cats and other beasts of prey, beans, sage, cacao and other vegetables, fowls, rabbits, deer, dogs, and other meats, fruit of all kinds, cooked foods, honey and honey and nut pastes, every sort of earthern ware, and copper, brass and tin, furniture such as tables, benches, cradles—but why do I waste words when I can not note down the details of this great market! Before turning from these sights Cortes said to Fray Bartolome de Olmedo, "We should, perhaps, take this opportunity to ask permission to build our church here"; to which the padre answered that it would be excellent, if Montezuma would grant it, but it seemed to him overhasty to make the proposition now when probably the monarch would be little disposed to it. Cortes then asked the favor of seeing the idols and teules. After Montezuma had spoken to his chief priests, we entered a small tower in which there were two altars with richly wrought carvings. On each altar stood a figure, gigantic, very fat, and that on the right represented their god of war, Huitzilopochtli.[3] This idol had a very broad face with terrible eyes, and was covered with precious stones, gold and pearls. Great snakes, likewise made of gold and precious stones, girdled the body of the monster, which in one hand held a bow, in the other a bunch of arrows. A small figure standing by its side they said was his page, at any rate it held the idol's short lance and shield decorated with gold and jewels. Round the neck of Huitzilopochtli were figures of human faces made of gold, and hearts of silver set with many precious blue stones. In front of the image stood several incense pans in which the hearts of three Indians, who had that day been sacrificed, were burning with copal as a burnt-offering. The walls of the chapel and the whole floor were so encrusted with human blood that they were black, and the stench of the place was unendurable.
On the left hand stood another figure of the same size as that of Huitzilopochtli. Its face was very like that of a bear, and its shining eyes were made of the looking glass of their country. This idol, like the other, for they say they are brothers, was plastered with precious stones. It was Tezcatlipoca, god of hell, and in charge of the souls of the Mexicans. His body was encircled by little devils with snakes' tails. The walls and floor round this idol, too, were saturated with blood so that the place smelled as vilely as a slaughter house in Spain. Five human hearts were that day's sacrifice to him.
At the very top of this temple rose another chapel, the woodwork richly carved, and in it was another image, half man and half lizard, covered with precious stones, and half of the body spread with a mantle. They said the half-covered body held seeds of every plant of the earth, for this image represented the god of seed time and harvest. I have forgotten its name but not that here, also, everything was covered with blood and the stench so offensive that we could hardly wait till we could get out. In this chapel was an enormous drum, which made a dismal noise when they beat it, like a drum of hell so to speak, and its head of the skins of snakes resounded so it could be heard as many as eight miles. In this place, also, were trumpets, slaughter knives and burnt hearts of Indians offered to the god—and everything clotted with blood. We hastened away from the horrors.
Our captain now said to Montezuma, "I can not imagine how such a wise man and powerful monarch as you should not have discovered that these idols of yours are evil spirits. That it may be proved to you, and that your papas may see it clearly, permit me to set a cross here at the top of this temple, and in the place where Huitzilopochtli and Tezcatlipoca stand give me space to put up an image of Our Lady. Then you will see by the fear that will seize these idols that they have been deceiving you."
Montezuma had already seen an image of Our Lady, yet he was greatly irritated, and answered, "Malinche, if I had supposed that you would say such evil things, I certainly should not have shown you my gods. We think them good gods. They give us health, rains, good weather and good harvests, and victory when we ask them for it. Most earnestly I beg you to say no more to insult them." When Cortes heard this protest, and saw the excitement of the monarch and the two papas who stood by, he said in cheerful wise to Montezuma, "It is time for us to go." Montezuma answered that he would not keep us longer, but he himself must stay and atone to his gods by prayer and sacrifice for his sin in permitting us to ascend the great temple and affront them. "In that case," returned Cortes, "I ask your pardon." Upon that we descended.
A little apart from the chief temple was another small tower, also an idol house. Rather I should term it a temple of hell, for at one of its doors was a terrible demon mouth fitted with great fangs. Near it also stood figures of devils and serpents, and an altar encrusted with blood and black with smoke. Further within were dishes and other basins in which the priests cooked the flesh of the unfortunates whom they sacrificed—the flesh they themselves ate. Near the altar were knives and wooden blocks such as those they cut meat upon in slaughter houses, and behind that cursed house lay piles of firewood and a tank of running water. I called the place "The House of Satan."
Beyond the splendid courtyard stood another temple, stained with blood and smoke, where great Mexican caciques were buried, and another holding human skulls and bones piled in orderly fashion. Here also other idols, and other priests clad in long black robes with hoods shaped like those worn by Dominican friars. The hair of these papas was long and matted with clotted blood. At no great distance from this place of skulls stood other temples to still other gods said to be protectors of marriage. One, where abominable human sacrifices were offered, was for men, and another for women in which women made sacrifices and held festivals in endeavor to induce the gods to give them good husbands.
Cortes and the rest of us at last grew weary of seeing so many idols and the horrible utensils used about them and we returned to our lodgings accompanied by the many caciques Montezuma had sent as our escort.
- ↑ Here in Mexico, as at times elsewhere in human history, real barbarism was mitigated and made appealing by most marvellous perfection in details of industrial art.
- ↑ Very charmingly expressed advices of a Mexican mother to her daughter still live in writings of the old missionary, Sahagun. The following extracts are from Prescott's "Conquest of Mexico":—"This I tell you that you may know that I and your father are sources of your being; it is we who now instruct you. See that you receive our words and treasure them in your breast. Take care that your garments are such as are decent and proper; and observe that you do not adorn yourself with much finery, since this is a mark of vanity and folly. Let your clothes be becoming and neat that you may appear neither fantastic nor mean. "When you speak do not hurry jour words from uneasiness, but speak deliberately and calmly. Do not raise your voice very high, nor speak very low, but in a moderate tone. Neither mince when you speak, nor when you salute, nor speak through your nose; but let your words be proper, of a good sound and your voice gentle. "In walking, my daughter, see that you behave becomingly, neither going with haste nor too slowly, and when you are in the street do not carry your head much inclined or your body bent; nor as little go with your head very much raised, since it is mark of ill-breeding. Walk through the streets quietly and with propriety. Another thing that you must attend to, my daughter, is, that, when you are in the street, you do not go looking hither and thither, nor turning your head to look at this and that. Look upon those you meet with serene countenance, and give no one occasion of being offended with you. See, my daughter, that you give yourself no concern about the words you may hear, in going through the street, nor pay any regard to them, let those who come and go say what they will. Take care that you neither answer nor speak, but act as if you neither heard nor understood. See, likewise, my daughter, that you never paint your face, nor stain it, nor your lips, with colors in order to appear well. Paints and colorings are things which bad women use—the immodest, who have lost shame and even sense, who are like fools and drunkards. "Adorn yourself, wash yourself, and cleanse your clothes; but do this with moderation. My daughter, this is the course for you to take, since in this manner the ancestors from whom you sprang brought us up. Those noble and venerable dames, your grandmothers, told us not so many things as I have told you. My tenderly loved daughter, my little dove, keep this illustration in your heart. "When it shall please God that you receive a husband, be free from arrogance, see that you do not neglect him or allow your heart to be in opposition to him. Beware that in no time nor place you commit treason against him. Remember that though no man sees you, nor your husband ever knows, God, who is in every place, sees you, and will be angry with you and will permit you to have neither contentment nor tranquillity. My dear daughter, whom I love, see that you live in the world in peace and contentment all the days you shall live. May God prosper you, my first-born, and may you come to God who is in every place."
- ↑ See note on foregoing page 28.