_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,[27] which latter is
found on the island of Cuba, and is very wholesome when its use is
rightly understood.
[27] This name Oviedo gives to the fruit of a tree, which he calls
macanna, growing in Cuba. (Hippomane Mancinella of Linn.) From the same
fruit, according to this historian, the inhabitants prepare the deadly
poison in which they dip the points of their arrows. (p. 170.)