colored, plain, and figured,[1] interwoven with feathers or embroidered with gold and silver thread; feathers and plumes of all colors, embroidered sandals, and marcasite mirrors. All these, however, were trifles beside the gold, the beautiful glittering gold which was now disclosed, and likewise the silver. First there was a disk of the yellow metal, representing the sun with its rays, as large as a carriage wheel, ten spans in diameter, ornamented in demi-relief and valued at thirty-eight hundred pesos de oro.[2] A companion disk of solid silver, of the same size, and equally ornamented, represented the moon.[3] Then there were thirty golden ducks, well fashioned; a number of other pieces in form of dogs, lions, monkeys, and other animals; ten collars, a necklace with over one hundred pendent stones called emeralds and rubies by the Spaniards; twelve arrows, a bow with cord stretched, two staves each five palms in length; fans, bracelets, and other pieces, all of fine gold, beside a number of silver. What could have delighted the Spaniards more? One thing only, and that was not wanting-the gilt helmet returned full of virgin gold, fine dust and coarse, with a plentiful mixture of nuggets of various sizes and shapes, all fresh from the placers. The value of this was three thousand
- ↑ Some of them were checkered, which to Peter Martyr is a sufficient proof that the Mexicans played chess, dec. v. cap. x.
- ↑ Carta del Ayunt. de V. Cruz, in Cortés, Cartas, 29. 'Pessaba la de oro quatro mill y ochoçientos pessos . . . tenia nueve palmos y medio de anchura é treynta de çircunferençia,' says Oviedo, who inspected the presents at Seville, evidently with mathematical precision. iii. 259. Pesaua cien marcos, hecha como Sol, y con muchos follajes, y animales de relieue.' Gomara, Hist. Mex., 42. Peter Martyr, dec. iv. cap. ix., describes the central figure as a king enthroned, surrounded with foliated ornaments. In the above Carta del Ayunt. a peso de oro and a castellano are shown to be equivalent, and a marco contains fifty castellanos. Writers differ widely in their calculations to reduce these coins to modern values, Prescott estimating the castellanos at $11.67 in United States money, and Ramirez, in a critical note thereupon, at $2.93. Prescott's Mex., i. 321; also edition Mex. 1845, app. ii. 79-92. See note on coins in Hist. Cent. Am., this series, i. 192-3. Clemencin, in Mem. Real Acad, de Hist., vi. illust. 20, 525-45, enters fully into the subject.
- ↑ Weighing 48 marcos. Carta del Ayunt., loc. cit. 'De cincuenta y tantos marcos, ternia de gordor como un toston de á 4 reales,' says Las Casas, who examined the gifts in Spain. Hist. Ind., iv. 485-6. 'Otra mayor rueda de plata.' Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 26. Robertson, Hist. Am., ii. 16, 449, misunderstanding Diaz, places the value of this disk at 20,000 pesos or £5000.
