silver trinkets; a
necklace of gold, decorated with upwards of a hundred emeralds, rubies,
and various other ornaments of gold; a second necklace, consisting of
numbers of large pearls and emeralds, all of the most exquisite
workmanship; numerous other gold trinkets in the shape of frogs and
animals; jewels in the form of medals, the shrines being even more
valuable than the precious stones they contained; a quantity of large
and small grains of gold. The most valuable of these presents, however,
were two round plates, one of gold, on which was a sun with rays and the
zodiac; this weighed above one hundred marks: the other was of silver,
which in a similar manner represented the moon, weighing above fifty
marks: both were massive, and of the thickness of the Spanish coin of
four silver reals, and as large as a waggon wheel. Those who saw these
splendid presents said that, without considering the beautiful
workmanship, the value of the gold and silver alone amounted to 25,000
castellanos de oro; so that the whole together may well be estimated at
50,000 ducats." (p. 91.)

CHAPTER XL.

_How Cortes goes in search of another harbour and a good spot to
found a colony, and what further happened._

After the Mexican ambassadors had again taken their departure, Cortes
ordered two vessels to sail further on and explore the coast. The
command of these was given to Francisco de Montejo, with orders to
follow the same course taken by Grijalva. He was to sail on for the
space of ten days, and search for a good harbour and convenient spot to
form a settlement; for in the sandy region we were now staying it was
impossible to live, on account of the gnats; the inhabited districts,
moreover, being too far distant. Alaminos and el Manquillo who were
already acquainted with these waters, piloted the vessels. Montejo
departed and arrived in the waters of Rio Grande, near Panuco, as far as
we had gone with Grijalva, but on account of the heavy currents there he
could proceed no further; he, therefore, returned to San Juan de Ulua,
bringing us no other news than that they had seen at a distance of about
thirty-six miles further on a town, which to all appearance was
fortified. This place was called Quiahuitzlan, having a harbour, which,
according to the opinion of Alaminos, was secure from the north wind.
Ten or twelve days were spent by Montejo in this expedition out and
home. Quitlalpitoc, who had remained to furnish us