Hi ftorie of the Indies lib. 6. 



dians fo excellent dancers, asitis admirable. Some 

 dance vpon a cord , fbme vpon a long and ftraight 

 ftake, in a thoufand fundrie fortes, others with the 

 foules of their fcete and their ham roes, do handle, caft 

 vp and receive againe a very heavy blocke, which feems 

 incredible but in feeing it . They do make many other 

 fhevves of their great agilitie, in leaping, vaulting, and 

 tumbling, (bmetiraes bearing a great and heavic bur 

 then, fbmetimes enduring blovves able to breakea 

 barre of yron. But the moft vfuall exercife of recreati- 

 on among the Mexicaines is the folemne MittQttt, and 

 that is a kinde of daunce they held fo brave and fo ho* 

 norable that the king himfelfedaunced, but not ordi 

 narily , as the king Don Pedro of Arragon with the Bar- 

 ber of Valencia. This daunce or Mittotte was common* 

 ly midein the Courts of theTemple, and in thofeof 

 the kings houfes,which were more fparious. They did 

 place in the midft of the Court two inftruments, one 

 likctoadrumme, and the other like a barrellmadeof 

 onepeece, and hollow within, which they fetvppon 

 the forme of a man, a beaft, or vpon a piller. 



Thcfe two inftruments were fo well accorded toge 

 ther, that they made a good harmony : and with thefe 

 inftruments they made many kinds of Aires,& Songs. 

 They did all fing-cmd dance to the found and meafure 

 of thefe inftruments, with fo goodly an order and ac 

 cord ,both of their feete and voices,as it was a pleafint 

 thing to beholde . In thefe daunces they made twoo 

 circles or wheeles, the one was in the middeft ncere to 

 the inftruments , wherein the Aunticnts|and Noble 

 men did fing and daunce with a foftcr and flowe mo 

 tion; and the other was of the reft of the people round 

 about theixijbut a good diftancefroni the firft, where- 



vcrs 



