ries with which he was at war. But as nearly as I
have been able to learn, his territories are equal in extent {158} to
Spain itself, for he sent messengers to the inhabitants of a city
called Cumatan (requiring them to become subjects of Your Majesty),
which is sixty leagues beyond that part of Putunchan watered by the
river Grijalva, and two hundred and thirty leagues distant from the
great city; and I sent some of our people a distance of one hundred and
fifty leagues in the same direction. All the principal chiefs of these
provinces, especially those in the vicinity of the capital, reside, as
I have already stated, the greater part of the year in that great city,
and all or most of them have their oldest sons in the service of
Muteczuma. There are fortified places in all the provinces, garrisoned
with his own men, where are also stationed his governors and collectors
of the rent and tribute, rendered him by every province; and an account
is kept of what each is obliged to pay, as they have characters and
figures made on paper that are used for this purpose. Each province
renders a tribute of its own particular productions, so that the
sovereign receives a great variety of articles from different quarters.
No prince was ever more feared by his subjects, both in his presence
and absence. He possessed out of the city as well as within, numerous
villas, each of which had its peculiar sources of amusement, and all
were constructed in the best possible manner for the use of a great
prince and lord. Within the city his palaces were so wonderful that it
is hardly possible to describe their beauty and extent; I can only say
that in Spain there is nothing to equal them.

There was one palace somewhat inferior to the rest, attached to which
was a beautiful garden with balconies extending over it, supported by
marble columns, and having a floor formed of jasper elegantly {159}
laid. There were apartments in this palace sufficient to lodge two
princes of the highest rank with their retinues. There were likewise
belonging to it ten pools of water, in which were kept the different
species of water birds found in this country, of which there is a great
variety, all of which are domesticated; for the sea birds there were
pools of salt water, and for the river birds, of fresh water. The
water is let off at certain times to keep it pure, and is replenished
by means of pipes. Each species of bird is supplied with the food
nat