articularly with his concubines, of
whom he had a great number; some of these, at times, he gave in marriage
to his generals, principal favorites, and likewise to us soldiers; as I,
for instance, obtained Dona Francisca, whom you might well see was a
woman of distinction. Now and then the monarch would laugh, and then
again he was pensive, and seemed to reflect on his confinement.

I must once more return to the soldier whom Cortes had so severely
punished for calling Motecusuma a dog. Many to whom I have related this
were surprised at the severity of his punishment, as the man had not
said it to the monarch's face; besides that, our numbers were so small,
and that the Mexicans would be sure to hear of it. My reply to this is,
that all of us, even Cortes himself, paid Motecusuma the most profound
respect, and no one passed by him without uncovering his head: add to
all this, he was so very kind, and so courteous in his behaviour towards
us, that we should have considered ourselves bound to pay his person and
good breeding every possible respect, though he had not been the monarch
of New Spain.

Lastly, it must be remembered that our lives were in his hands; for, at
his very wink, his subjects would have flown to his rescue. When we saw
how he was continually surrounded by so many distinguished personages,
and the numbers of princes who came to wait upon him from distant parts
of his empire, in the same way as if he had still been at liberty in his
own palace, can we at all feel surprised, then, that Cortes should so
severely have punished on the spot an insult offered to this monarch?
Assuredly he did nothing more than the circumstances of the moment
required!

[70] Alvarado, who sometimes also played a game with Motecusuma, showed
little generosity, according to other writers. If he lost, he paid with
chalchihuis stones; if he won, he was paid with bars of gold, each worth
at least fifty ducats. Motecusuma frequently lost in one evening from
forty to fifty of such gold bars to Alvarado; but the more he lost, the
more good-humoured he appeared. (p. 258.)

[71] A kind of soup or broth, of which the so termed Spanish pepper
formed the chief ingredient. (p. 260.)

CHAPTER XCVIII.

_How Cortes orders two large brigantines to be built for the
navigation of the lake of Mexico; Motecusuma begs permission to
visit his temples to offer up his prayers there; and what Cortes
said to him when he granted