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yenthly, for the reverend father and the captains ; eighthly, double 

 (hares for the cavahy, mufketeers, and crofsbow-men. Thus by the 

 time all thefe drafts were made, what remained for each foldier was 

 hardly worth ftooping for !! Many refufed to take their (hares, and the 

 whole, nearly, remained with Cortes. We were obliged to be filent, 

 for to whom could we appeal for juftice? Some at length took their 

 (hares at a hundred crowns, and then cried out for more; thefe men's 

 mouths Cortes flopped, giving privately a little to one, and a little to 

 another, with promifes in abundance on condition that they kept them- 

 felves quiet. That which was allotted to the foldiers in Villa Rica 

 went no better, as (hall be related in its place, and fuch was the refult 

 of the divifion of Montezuma's treafure. 



Our captains got chains of gold made for them by the king's 

 workmen; Cortes had alfo (imilar works executed for him, together 

 with a fervice of plate. Many of our foldiers who had lined their 

 pockets well did the fame, and deep gaming went on, day and night, 

 with cards made out of the heads of drums ; and thus we pafTed our 

 time in Mexico. 



Quitting for the prefent the fubjed: of Montezuma's gold, badly 

 divided, and worfe employed, I will relate what happened to a poor 

 fellow, one Cardenas a pilot and a native of Triana. He had a wife 

 and children, and like many others of us little or nothing to give them. 

 When he perceived that all this immenfe treafure of Montezuma's had 

 dwindled into a (hare of a hundred crowns, and that he, after all his 

 battles, had nothing to exped: in future but hard blows, it made fuch 

 an imprelTion on him, and he expre(red himfelf fo loudly, that it could 

 not but come to the ears of Corses. Accordingly when he heard all 

 that, and muchxnore, which had been faid, he called us together, and 

 in a long fet fpeech gave us a great many honied words, which he had 

 an extraordinary facility of doing, wondering how we could be fo fo- 

 licitous about a little paltry gold, when the whole country would foon 

 be ours, with all its rich mines, wherewith there was enough to make 



us 



