282 



HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



king might have the pleafure of beholding, with his 

 own eyes, all the wonders which they had to relate to 

 him. Cortes perceiving their intention, in order to fur- 

 nifh their painters with a fubjecl: capable of making a 

 grander impreffion on the mind of their king, command- 

 ed his cavalry to mufter on the beach, and go through 

 fome military evolutions, and the artillery to be dis- 

 charged in a volley. Both orders were obferved, and 

 the exhibition attended to with all the ftupor and amaze- 

 ment imaginable by the two governors, their numerous 

 retinue, and crowd of followers, which, as Gomara af- 

 firms, confifted of more than four thoufand Indians. 

 Teuhtlile took notice of a gilded vifor, or malic, which, 

 from its refemblance to that belonging to one of the 

 principal idols of Mexico, he demanded from Cortes 

 that they might (hew it to their king ; and Cortes grant- 

 ed it, on condition of having it returned to him full of 

 gold duft, under a pretence that he defired to fee 

 whether the gold, which was dug from the mines of 

 Mexico, was the fame as that of his native country (/). 



As foon as the paintings were fmiflied, Teuhtlile took 

 a friendly leave of Cortes, propofing to return in a few 

 days with the anfwer of his fovereign, and deputing 

 Cuitlalpitoc in his place, that he might provide the 

 Spaniards with every thing neceflary, he departed for 

 Cuitlachtlan, the place of his ufual refidence: from 

 whence he carried in perfon the intelligence, the paint- 

 ings, and prefent from the Spanifh general, as Bernal 

 Diaz and Torquemada affirm - y or he fent them all, as 



Solis 



(/) Some hiftorians fay, that Cortes in demanding the vifor to be filled with 

 gold, pretended that he and his companions fuffered a certain difeafe of the 

 heart, which, they faid, could not be cured by any other remedy than thi*- 

 precious metal, but that imports little as to the fubftance of the fadfc. 



