, and sea, and every living creature was formed: and nothing
existed but by his divine will. Those figures, on the contrary, which he
considered as gods, were no gods, but devils, which were evil spirits.
It was very evident how powerless and what miserable things they were,
since in all those places where we had planted the cross, those gods no
longer durst make their appearance. Of this his ambassadors were fully
convinced, and he himself would, in the course of time, be convinced of
this truth. He begged he would also pay particular attention to
something else he had to communicate." Here Cortes very intelligently
explained to him how the world was created, how all people were
brothers, and sons of one father and mother, called Adam and Eve; and
how grieved our emperor was to think that so many human souls should be
lost, and sent to hell by those false idols, where they would be
tormented by everlasting fire; for this reason he had sent us hither to
put an end to so much misery, and to exhort the inhabitants of this
country no longer to adore such gods, nor sacrifice human beings to
them; and also to abstain from robbery and committing unnatural
offences. In a very short time our emperor would send to this country
men of great piety and virtue, of whom there were numbers in our
country, and who would explain these things more fully to them. Of all
this we were merely the first messengers, and could only beg of them to
support us in our labours, and assist us in their completion.

As Motecusuma was about to answer, Cortes stopped short, and, turning to
us, said, "Verily, I am determined they shall comply with this, and let
this be the commencement of our work!"

Motecusuma, in reply, expressed himself as follows: "Malinche! What you
have just been telling me of your God has, indeed, been mentioned to me
before by my servants, to whom you made similar disclosures immediately
upon your arrival off the coast. Neither am I ignorant of what you have
stated concerning the cross and everything else in the towns you passed
through. We, however, maintained silence, as the gods we adore were
adored in bygone ages by our ancestors. We have, once for all,
acknowledged them as good deities, in the same way as you have yours,
and therefore let us talk no further on this subject. Respecting the
creation of the world, we likewise believe it was created many ages ago.
We likewise believe that you are those people whom our ancestors