HISTORV OF Tin Is! i »i ( « n n.v. 39 



as to be reduced l<» .1 froth ot ihc cuiisislency of honey, which 

 gradually dissolved in the mouth, and was taken cold. This 

 heverage, if so it could be called, was served in golden goblets, 

 with spoons of the same metal, or of tortoiseshell fuKrly wrought." 

 Antonio de litrrcra, in his "History of th«; West ln<li<s,"' 

 vol. ii.. page 425, writes ili.it " One of Montezuma's storehouses 

 contained 40,000 loads of Cocoa * * The Cocoa was in 

 wicker baskets, which six men could not grasp." This vast store 

 of Cocoa was tribute i)aid to Montezuma by the j)r()vinc«'S which 

 were subject to him. 



As ^lontczu ma was the greatest patro n of the cultivation of 

 Cocoii,^ he merits more than a passing notice. The dazzling 

 treiusures of gold, silver, and jewels, " from the ri\er of Kmeralds, " 

 and vast stores of wealth, tempted the cupidity of Cortes ami his 

 mercenaries to plunder and destroy the power of a prince who 

 swayed the sceptre with such wisdom that he was held in greater 

 reverence and awe than any other prince of his lineage, or, indeed, 

 any that ever sat on a throne in the western world. " With him 

 may be said to have terminated the royal line of the Aztecs, and 

 the glory to have passed away from the empire, which under 

 him had reached the zenith of its prosperity."* 



\\'«- cannot now fully estimate the extent and beauty of 

 .Monie/uma's glorious capital, with its great causeway ext(!nding for 

 miles thn)ugh the heart of the city, antl intersected by broatl canals 

 and bounded on each side by temjiles, terraces, and gardens, so 

 that a S|>ectator standing at <nie end of it might look into the 

 deep vista which melted in the tr.msparcnt atmospht-re of the blue 

 mounUiins in the distance. 



* Mist, de IlascaLi. I'racoii n 



1)2 



