men like unto ourselves, nor horses, had ever been seen
here before!

When we gazed upon all this splendour at once, we scarcely knew what to
think, and we doubted whether all that we beheld was real. A series of
large towns stretched themselves along the banks of the lake, out of
which still larger ones rose magnificently above the waters. Innumerable
crowds of canoes were plying everywhere around us; at regular distances
we continually passed over new bridges, and before us lay the great city
of Mexico in all its splendour.

And we who were gazing upon all this, passing through innumerable crowds
of human beings, were a mere handful of men, in all 450, our minds still
full of the warnings which the inhabitants of Huexotzinco, Tlascalla,
and Tlalmanalco, with the caution they had given us not to expose our
lives to the treachery of the Mexicans. I may safely ask the kind reader
to ponder a moment, and say whether he thinks any men in this world ever
ventured so bold a stroke as this?

When we had arrived at a spot where another narrow causeway led towards
Cojohuacan we were met by a number of caziques and distinguished
personages, all attired in their most splendid garments. They had been
despatched by Motecusuma to meet us and bid us welcome in his name; and
in token of peace they touched the ground with their hands and kissed
it. Here we halted for a few minutes, while the princes of Tetzcuco,
Iztapalapan, Tlacupa, and Cojohuacan hastened in advance to meet
Motecusuma, who was slowly approaching us, surrounded by other grandees
of the kingdom, seated in a sedan of uncommon splendour. When we had
arrived at a place not far from the town, where several small towers
rose together, the monarch raised himself in his sedan, and the chief
caziques supported him under the arms, and held over his head a canopy
of exceedingly great value, decorated with green feathers, gold, silver,
chalchihuis stones, and pearls, which hung down from a species of
bordering, altogether curious to look at.

Motecusuma himself, according to his custom, was sumptuously attired,
had on a species of half boot, richly set with jewels, and whose soles
were made of solid gold. The four grandees who supported him were also
richly attired, which they must have put on somewhere on the road, in
order to wait upon Motecusuma; they were not so sumptuously dressed when
they first came out to meet us. Besides these distinguished caziques,
there were many