them out of the rough materials.  The dealers in gold had the native metal in grains as it comes from the mines, in transparent tubes or quills, so that it could easily be seen; and the gold was valued at so many mantles, or so many xiquipils of cocoa nuts, in proportion to the size of the quills.  The great square was enclosed all round by piazas, under which there were great stores of grain, and shops for various kinds of goods.  On the borders of the adjoining canals there were boats loaded with human ordure, used in tanning leather, and on all the public roads there were places built of canes and thatched with straw or grass, for the convenience of passengers in order to collect this material.  In one part of the square was a court of justice having three judges, and their inferior officers were employed in perambulating the market, preserving order, and inspecting the various articles.

After having satisfied our curiosity in the square, we proceeded to the great temple, where we went through a number of large courts, the smallest of which seemed to me larger than the great square of Salamanca, the courts being either paved with large cut white stones, or plastered and polished, the whole very clean, and inclosed by double walls of stone and lime.  On coming to the gate of the great temple, which was ascended by 114 steps, Montezuma sent six priests and two nobles to carry up Cortes, which he declined.  On ascending to the summit, which consisted of a broad platform, we observed the large stones on which the victims were placed for sacrifice, near which was a monstrous figure resembling a dragon, and much blood appeared to have been recently spilt.  Montezuma came out of an adoratory or recess, in which the accursed idols were kept, and expressed his apprehension to Cortes that he must be fatigued by the ascent, to which Cortes answered that we were never fatigued.  Montezuma, taking our general by the hand, pointed out to him the different quarters of the city, and the towns in the neighbourhood, all of which were distinctly seen from this commanding eminence.  We had a distinct view of the three causeways by which Mexico communicated with the land, and of the aqueduct of Chapoltepec, which conveyed an abundant supply of the finest water to the city.  The numbers of canoes which were continually seen passing between Mexico and all the towns on the borders of the lake, carrying provisions and merchandise, was really astonishing.  We could see, as we had been often told, that most of the houses of this great city, and of the others in the neighbourhood which were built in the water, stood apart from each other, their only communication being by means of drawbridges or canoes, and that all their roofs were terraced and battlemented.  We saw numerous temples and adoratories in the great city below, on the causeways, and in the adjacent cities, all resembling so many fortresses with towers, wonderfully brilliant, being all whitewashed.  The noise and bustle of the market in the great square just below, was so great that it might easily have been heard almost at the distance of a league; and some of our companions who had seen both Rome and Constantinople, declared they had not seen any thing comparable in these cities, for convenient and regular distribution or numbers of people.