THE METAL ART OF ANCIENT MEXICO. 529 



His whole narrative bears the stamp of reliability, and the student 

 may easily from internal evidence and comparison deduct approximate 

 truth." 



Andres de Tapia, on the other hand, describes the march against 

 Mexico as well as all that was seen and done upon its entry, and al- 

 though apparently a panegyrist of the conqueror, he is absolutely 

 silent concerning the elaborate silver presents which he is said to have 

 received. Neither does he testify to the bronze, lead, and tin of the 

 Mexican market. Our confidence in Cortes and Bernal Diaz, the other 

 two eye-witnesses, being impaired, these facts should be given no little 

 significance. There is one instance, however, in which Tapia men- 

 tions silver, and in this he says that " Montezuma's treasures of gold, 

 silver, and greenstones, of not very fine quality, were shown to him- 

 self and another Spaniard in the Casa de las Aves," or the House of 

 the Birds. 



Another contemporary writer who is of unquestionable authority 

 is Bernadino de Sahagun. Pie was a Franciscan priest, and came to 

 Mexico eight years after the conquest. He studied the native tongue, 

 and became more proficient in it than any other Spaniard. He studied 

 also the motives, lives, and thoughts of the natives and got from them 

 their hieroglyphics which he expressed in the Roman character. His 

 work is composed from the evidence in large part of Aztec eye-wit- 

 nesses, and these are mingled, though somewhat confusedly, with 

 recollections from old Spanish soldiers. He gives considerable space 

 to the arts of the natives and their manner of w T ork, and though he 

 speaks of their work in gold, and this as performed with the hammer, 

 he fails to furnish any information in regard to silver, bronze, and tin. 

 Now, if the ancient Mexicans separated tin from its ore and knew 

 how to fuse it with copper to make bronze, it must certainly be con- 

 sidered strange that Sahagun so soon after the conquest neither saw 

 a relic thereof, nor obtained from the surviving Aztecs any account of 

 their skill in this regard. Sahagun, moreover, in his twelfth book, 

 gives a full description of the conquest. Herein he describes in detail 

 the presents of gold, feathers, etc., which Montezuma made at dif- 

 ferent times to Cortes, but he is careful to omit all mention of any of 

 silver. Not a word about that wonderful silver disk that represented 

 the moon, neither any mention of what we deem still more wonderful, 

 namely, that lead, tin, and bronze were seen on sale in the market- 

 place of the conquered city. He would indeed be remiss in his duty 

 as an historian should he omit all mention of a feature so singular and 

 important were he confident that it was true. All that he has to nar- 

 rate, concerning the metals that the Spaniai'ds saw in Mexico, is that 

 Montezuma showed them a hall where were stored bright feathers, 

 " and many rich trinkets of plumes, gold, and stones," and then when 

 the Spaniards expressed their desire to see the contents of his private 

 chamber, which was called " Totocalco," or the House of the Birds, 

 vol. xxxi. 34 



