The herald., 1895-03-31
PAGES 13 TO "a

great cou itesy heitook his departure. and
we all accompanied him to the street, for
Cortes ordered us not to go outside our
quarters for the present.
The next day Cortes resolved to pay
visit to Montezuma, but first he sen, TO
inform him of his intention, and he took
with him four Captains, Pedro de Alvara-
DO. Juan Velaque.de Leon. Diego de Ordas
Gonzalo de Sandoval, and five soldiers.
Montezuma came out into the middle Of
the hall to receive us, accompanied by his
nephews, for none but his relatives could
entel the private apartments of Monte
yuma. unless on grave and urgent busi-
ness, and he made many reverences to
Cortes and Cortes to him and the Emperor
then TOOK Cortes by the hands and led
nm to cushion on the floor and seated
him at his right hand and ordered SER
wants to bring seats for us all.
Cortes then said that now that we had
seen and spoken with him we had COM
Piled with the commands of our King,
and what remained to be said was the
commands OF our Lord God, and which
his eXcellency had already heard through
his EN- mbassadors, Pitalpitoque, QuintalDor
and Tendile, when it had pleased him
to send us the moon of silver and the sun
OF gold at San Juan de Ulua.
He then said that we were Christians
and told him of the passion and death of
Jesus Christ. AMI that the cross was the
sign OF our faith, because on it Christ our
Lord was crucified to save us, and that
this passion and death he submitted to to
save the whole human race, which, before
it, vas lost and that the third day he
arose from the dead and that he went to
heaven, and that he it was who made the
heavens and the earth and the sea and
all things which are on the earth; and
the things they had for gods were moth
ing but devils and evil things and had no
power, and that wherever we planted the
cross they would not dare to appear before
it. And then he told him of the creation
of the world and how we were all brothers,
descendants of Adam and Eve, and how
as brother the King, our lord feeling
sad for the loss of so many souls whom
their idols were taking to hell to burn in
living flames, had sent us to remedy this
and to tell them not to adore idols nor
sacrifice Indians, nor to rob each other,
and further, that in the time to come our
King would send certain men, who among
us led holy lives much better than ours,
to teach them, for we had only come to
notify them; and that with all of this we
hoped Montezuma would comply And
because it appeared that Montezuma de-
sired to reply, CorteS ceased Speaing, saw
ing to us, This is sufficient for the first
attempt
Montezuma then said: "Lord Malinche,
1 very well understand your reasoning
and your words and have understood them
before now, for you told the same things
to my servants on the coast, and you have
also preached the same things in all the
towns through which you have passed,
and to it we have made no reply, because
from the beginning here we have adored
our own gods and we hold them to be as
good as yours probably also are, but for
the present we will speak no more on that
point; but as to the creation of the world,
we have always believed as you do and
for this reason we take it for certain that
you are those whom our ancestors told us
nr,nn frnr vrrhar !, - 4
as to your King l am in his charge and
will give him what l have. IL is now two
years since l first heard of strangers
who came to my shores in ships, and
how they all said they were servants
of your great King. | now wish to
know if you are all servants of the same
King"
Cortes replied that we were and
that those who came before. came to ex-
anime the seas and ports that we might
come afterwards as we had. And then
Montezuma spoke of Francisco de Cordoba
and of Grijalva and said that since they
had been on the coast he had desire to
see some OF the strangers and that nov
his gods had gratltied his desire, for now
we were In his houses, which we should
consider our own; and to repose our
selves, as he would see that we were
served in everything we desired. And
he said also that if he had sent to tell US
that he did not want us to enter his CITY,
it was not because he was opposed to it,
but because his vassals were afraid, saying
that we killed many Indians with the
horses and with flames and thunderbolts,
and that we were wicked Teules. and had
said many of their childish things about
US. But that now that he had seen our
persons and that we were beings of flesh
and bone and of intelligence and very
brave. For these things he esteemed us
more than ever and would give us of
what he had. And we all replied that
we were very grateful for his many favors.