eir route, and wrote most affectionate letters to them.
When they had arrived within a short distance from Mexico, Cortes
himself, accompanied by father Olmedo, and the whole of his brave
officers and men, went out to meet them; as also Quauhtemoctzin, lord of
Mexico, with the most distinguished Mexicans, and a great number of
other caziques from the principal townships. As soon as we beheld these
pious men, Cortes and all the rest of us dismounted, and walked up to
them; and the first who went down on his knees before Francisco de
Valencia was our general himself; but when he was going to kiss the
reverend father's hand, the latter would not allow him, and Cortes then
only kissed his cowl.

The meeting between father Olmedo and the newly-arrived was of the most
affectionate kind, and they embraced each other most heartily; then we
officers and soldiers, with Quauhtemoctzin, and the other caziques,
likewise knelt down before them, and kissed their garments.

Cortes' respectful conduct towards these monks made a deep and
astonishing impression on the Mexican monarch, and the other grandees of
the country; and it served as an excellent precept to all Indians, when
they beheld the man whom they almost feared, and revered as a god,
humble himself before these religious men, and stand in their presence
with his head uncovered. In the presence of men who came without any
covering to their feet, their garments of the meanest kind, their
appearance altogether poverty stricken, and their countenances
emaciated, besides that they came on foot, and not on horseback; all
this amazed the Indians, who ever after throughout the whole country
paid the greatest veneration to these men.

Our reverend guests were quartered in a house which had been purposely
prepared for their reception; and father Olmedo, at the desire of
Cortes, acted as their host.

About four years afterwards twelve other monks of the Dominican order
arrived in New Spain, with their provincial or prior, father Thomas
Ortiz, a native of Biscay, and who had been prior in a cloister near
Punta del Drago, but unfortunately he and his companions were unable to
bear the hot climate; for they all fell ill, and most of them died;
however, I will relate these circumstances more fully in the proper
place. Subsequently several other very pious and excellent men of this
same order arrived from Spain, who were particularly assiduous in their
endeavours to convert the Indians o