HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



309 



ufeful for food, which were in conftant circulation as 

 money (*/), and ufed in no other way almoft than in 

 commerce. Of this fort of money, all hiftorians of Mex- 

 ico, Spanifli, as well as Indian, make mention. Of 

 the other four fpecies, which we fpoke of in our Vllth 

 book of this hiftory, Cortes and Torquemada both give 

 an account. Cortes, in his lafl letter to the emperor 

 Charles V. affirms, that having made enquiries concern- 

 ing the commerce of thofe nations, he found that in 

 Tlachco, and other provinces, they trafficked with mo- 

 ney. If he had not meant to be underftood to fpeak of 

 coined money, he would not have reftri&ed the ufe of it to 

 Tlachco, and fome other provinces ; becaufe, he knew 

 very well, without making fuch enquiries, that at the 

 markets of Mexico, where he had been frequently pre- 

 fent, they employed, inftead of money, the cacao, and 

 certain little cloths of cotton, called by them Patolquach- 

 tli, and gold in dufl enclofed in goofe quills. It is there- 

 fore fomewhat fufpicious, notwithftanding that we have 

 faid in our former book, that there was alfo coined mo- 

 ney among them, and that both thofe thin pieces of tin 

 which Cortes mentions, and thofe pieces of copper, in 

 form of T, mentioned by Torquemada, as two fpecies 

 of money, had fome flamp upon them authorifed by the 

 fovereign, or his feudatory lords. 



To hinder any frauds in commerce, nothing but com- 

 mon articles of food could be fold out of the market- 

 place, which was kept, as we have already faid, in the 

 greateft order that can be imagined. There were mea- 

 fures fixed by the magiftrates ; the commilfaries we men- 

 tioned 



(d) In the capital itfelf of Mexico, where from eighteen to twenty thoufand 

 crowns (pefos fuertes) are annually coined in gold and filver, the poor people 

 ftill make ufe of the cacaa to purchafe fmall articles in the market. 



