said so in hope of dying on the road.  In fact the treasury was reduced very low before the accession of Guatimotzin.  I and several other good divers searched that part of the lake which had been indicated by Guatimotzin, but we found only some small pieces of gold, which were immediately claimed by Cortes and Alederete the treasurer; who likewise sent down other persons in their own presence, but all they got did not reach the value of ninety crowns.  We were all miserably disappointed to find our shares so small; insomuch that Olmedo and all the captains proposed to Cortes to divide the whole which belonged to the army among the wounded, the lame, the blind, and the sick, all who were sound renouncing their claims.  We were all curious to know what our shares amounted to, and it at length appeared that the share of a horseman was only an hundred crowns.  I forget how much belonged to a foot soldier; but it was so small that none of us would accept the paltry sum, more especially the soldiers of Narvaez, who never liked Cortes.

Many of our soldiers had incurred heavy debts.  A crossbow cost fifty crowns, a musket a hundred, a horse eight hundred or a thousand, and every thing else in proportion.  Our surgeon, master Juan, and Doctor Murcia our apothecary and barber, charged very high, and there were various other sources of debt, all to be satisfied from our miserable dividends.  These required to be regulated; and accordingly Cortes appointed two respectable persons, Santa Clara and Lerena, to arbitrate all claims, which were ordered to be cleared off within two years according to their award.  The value also of the gold was debased, to serve us in our dealings with the merchants from Spain and Cuba; but it had the opposite effect, as they charged more than double the difference on their goods.  On these abuses being known at court, our emperor was pleased to prohibit the farther currency of this base metal, ordering it to be all received in payment of certain duties, and no more of it to be made; and as two goldsmiths were detected for putting off base metal with the legal mark of good, they were hanged for the fraud.

As the best way to rid himself of troublesome demands, Cortes resolved to send off colonies to make settlements at convenient situations.  Sandoval was sent for this purpose to occupy Coatzacualco and Tzapotecapan, the south-eastern provinces of the Mexican empire.  Juan Velasquez to Colima, and Villa Fuerte to Zacatollan, the most westerly provinces on the south sea.  Christoval de Oli to take possession of the kingdom of Michuacan, and Francisca de Orozco to Guaxaca or Oaxaco.  The native chiefs of the distant provinces could hardly be brought to believe that Mexico was destroyed, and sent deputations to ascertain the truth of the report, bearing large presents of gold to Cortes, and submitting themselves as vassals to our emperor.  Many came in person to Mexico, and even brought their children to see the fallen condition of that great