despise so paltry a present, which he excused on account of the poverty of their nation, occasioned by the extortions of Montezuma, from whom they were forced to purchase peace at the expence of every thing valuable belonging to them.  Cortes assured them that he valued their gift, small as it was, more than he would a house full of gold from others, as it was a testimony of their friendship, which he greatly valued.  Xicotencatl then proposed that a strict alliance should be formed between the two nations, and that our chiefs should accept their daughters in marriage, offering his own to Cortes, who thanked him for these marks of friendship.  The chiefs remained with Cortes a whole day, and as Xicotencatl was blind, Cortes permitted him to examine his head, face, and beard with his hands, which he did with much attention.

Next day the chiefs brought five daughters of their principal caciques, who were much handsomer than the other women of the country, each attended by a female slave.  On this occasion Xicotencatl presented his own daughter to Cortes, and desired him to assign the others among his principal officers.  Cortes thanked him for the mark of regard, but that for the present the ladies must remain with their parents, as we must first obey the commands of our God, and the orders of our sovereign, by abolishing human sacrifices and other abominations, and by teaching them the true faith in the adoration of one only God.  He then shewed them a beautiful image of the holy Mary, the queen of heaven, the mother of our Lord by the power of the Holy Ghost, conceived without sin, adding, That if they wished to become our brethren, and that we should marry their daughters, they must renounce their idolatry, and worship our God, by which they would not only benefit their temporal concerns, but would secure an eternal happiness in heaven; whereas by persisting in the worship of their idols, which were representations of the devils, they would consign themselves to hell, where they would be plunged eternally into flames of fire.  This and a great deal more excellently to the purpose, being well explained to them by our interpreters, the chiefs made answer to the following effect:  That they readily believed all they had now heard respecting the excellence of our God and his saints, and might in time be able to understand the subject of his exhortations; but that if they were now to renounce the religion of their ancestors in their old age to please us, the priests and people would rebel against them; more especially as the priests had already consulted their gods, who had commanded them on no account to omit the human sacrifices and other ancient customs, as otherwise they would send famine, pestilence, and war into their country:  They requested, therefore that nothing more might be said on this subject, as they could not renounce their gods but with their lives.  When the subject of this conference was reported to father Olmedo, who was a wise and good man, he advised