942 HOUSES AND HOUSE-LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 
was used at dinner. It will be noticed that according to this account the 
dinner was served to all at the same time, Montezuma and several chiefs 
eating at one end of the room, but no mention is made of the manner in which 
the remainder ate. The six hundred men (or less) who remained about the 
house and courts during the day, we may well suppose, were, with their 
families, joint residents and joint proprietors with Montezuma of the estab- 
lishment. ‘Two or three structures are mingled in these descriptions, which 
were probably entirely distinct in their uses. 
Herrera gathered up the subsequent growth of the story, which 
undoubtedly made a great sensation in Europe as a part of the picture of 
life in the New World; and embellished it from sheer delight in a marvel- 
ous tale. The few facts stated by Bernal Diaz, expressing the interpre- 
tation of the Spanish soldiers, were fruitful seeds planted three hundred 
years ago, which the imaginations of enthusiastic authors have developed 
into a glowing and picturesque narrative. The principal part of Herrera’s 
account runs as follows: “Montezuma did always eat alone, and so great a 
quantity of meat was served up to his table, such great variety, and so richly 
dressed, that there was sufficient for all the prime men of his household. 
His table was a cushion, or two pieces of colored leather; instead of a chair, 
a little low stool, made of one piece, the seat hollowed out, carved and 
painted in the best manner that could be; the table-cloth, napkins, and 
towels of very fine cotton as white as snow, and never served any more 
than once, being the fees of the proper officers. The meat was brought in 
by four hundred pages, all gentlemen, sons of lords, and set down together 
in a hall; the king went thither, and with a rod, or his hand, pointed to 
what he liked, and then the sewer set it upon the chafing-dishes that it might 
not be cold; and this he never failed to do, unless the steward at any time 
very much recommended to him some particular dishes. Before he sat 
down, twenty of the most beautiful women’ came and brought him water 
to wash his hands, and when seated the sewer did shut a wooded rail that 
divided the room, lest the nobility that went to see him dine should encum- 
ber the table, and he alone set on and took off the dishes, for the pages 
neither came near nor spoke a word. Strict silence was observed, none 
daring to speak unless it was some jester, or the person of whom he asked 
