Читать книгу The True History of the Conquest of New Spain - Bernal Diaz del Castillo - Страница 78

How ambassadors arrive in our camp from Motecusuma, and of the presents they brought with them.

After the Almighty, in his great mercy, had granted us the victory in the battles against the Tlascallans, our fame was spread to every district, and even reached the ears of the mighty Motecusuma, in the great city of Mexico. If we had been previously looked upon as teules, or a species of gods, their idea of our bravery now became the more exalted, and terror seized the whole country when we had broken the great power of the Tlascallans with such a handful of men, and compelled them to sue for peace.

And so it also happened that the powerful king of Mexico, Motecusuma, either in the great goodness of his heart, or because he began to fear our approach to his metropolis, despatched five men of distinction to our camp in the land of Tlascalla to welcome us on our arrival, and to assure us of the excessive delight he felt at the great victories which we had gained over such numerous armies. This message was accompanied by a valuable present in gold trinkets of various workmanship, worth about 1000 pesos, and of packages of cotton stuffs as much as twenty men could carry. He likewise wished us to know that it was his desire to become a vassal of our emperor, and the great pleasure he felt to find that we were so near his metropolis, that he was every way well disposed towards Cortes and all the teules his brothers: he likewise wished to know from us what annual tribute in gold, silver, jewels, and cotton stuffs he was to forward to our great emperor, which would save us the trouble of coming to Mexico: he should, indeed, be pleased to see us, but our march there would be a terrible one, through a sterile and rocky country, and the fatigues which we should have to undergo grieved him the more when he considered the impossibility to remove those difficulties out of our way.

To this Cortes answered, that he was very thankful for such kind feeling, as also for the presents, and the offer to pay tribute, but he must beg of the ambassadors not to leave again before we had reached the metropolis of Tlascalla, when he would deliver to them his answers for their monarch.

The real fact was, he did not feel well enough just then, as the day previous he had taken a purgative of manzanilla,{28} which latter is found on the island of Cuba, and is very wholesome when its use is rightly understood.