were companies of singers and dancers in which he was
said to take great delight; and to all these he ordered
vases of chocolate to be distributed. When the
repast was ended, the four female attendants already
mentioned, after removing the cloths, presented him
again with water to wash his hands, during which he
continued his conversation with the four old nobles,
who then took their leaves with much ceremony.
He was then presented with three small hollow canes
highly ornamented, containing an herb called tobacco
mixed with liquid amber; and when he was satisfied
with the buffoons, dancers, and singers, he smoked
for a short time from one of these canes, and then
laid himself to sleep. I forgot to mention in
its proper place that, during the time of dinner, two
beautiful women were employed in making certain small
delicately white cakes, of eggs and other ingredients,
which they presented on plates covered with napkins
to Montezuma; and then another kind of bread was brought
to him in long loaves, as likewise plates of a kind
of cakes resembling wafers or pancakes. When
Montezuma had concluded his meal, all his guards and
domestics sat down to dinner, and as well as I could
judge, above a thousand dishes of the various eatables
already mentioned were served up to them, with immense
quantities of fruit, and numerous vessels of foaming
chocolate. His establishment, including his women
and inferior servants of all kinds, was amazingly
numerous, and must have occasioned prodigious expence,
yet the most perfect regularity was preserved amid
that vast profusion. The steward of his household,
or major-domo, was at this time a prince named
Tapiea,
who kept an account of all the royal rents in a set
of books or symbolical representations which occupied
an entire house.
Connected with the palace of Montezuma there were
two large buildings filled with every kind of arms,
both offensive and defensive, some of which were richly
ornamented with gold and jewels; such as large and
small shields, some of the latter being so contrived
as to roll up in a small compass, and to let fall
in action so as to cover the whole body; much defensive
armour of quilted cotton, ornamented with various devices
in feather work; helmets or casques for the head made
of wood and bone, adorned with plumes of feathers;
immense quantities of bows, arrows, darts, and slings;
lances having stone heads or blades six feet long,
so strong as not to break when fixed in a shield,
and as sharp as razors; clubs or two-handed swords,
having edges of sharp stones; and many other articles
which I cannot enumerate. In the palace there
was a magnificent aviary, containing every kind of
bird to be found in all the surrounding country, from
large eagles down to the smallest paroquets of beautiful
plumage. In this place the ornamental feather-work
so much in repute among the Mexicans, was fabricated,
the feathers for this purpose being taken from certain
birds called Quetzales, and others, having green,