[164] This seems an incredibly short time in a country without horses, for Mexico lies over 200 miles by road from this part of the coast; but with numerous relays of runners and litter-bearers the distance would not take long to cover. ‘Estas mensajerias fuerõ en vn dia, y vna noche del real de Cortés a Mexico, que ay setenta leguas y mas.’ _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 41. [165] Torquemada. 389, assumes this to have been in token of divine adoration, but the ceremony was a quite common mark of respect for distinguished persons. See _Native Races_, ii. 284. ‘Nos llamaron Teules ... ó dioses.’ ‘Hence when I say Teules, or Gods, it may be understood to mean us,’ says Bernal Diaz with conscientious pride. _Hist. Verdad._, 32. But the _teu_ or _teo_ prefix to names must be accepted in the same light as the incense burning, and in this case equivalent to ‘hero.’ See also _Clavigero_, _Storia Mess._, iii. 19. ‘Demonios’ is Oviedo’s translation of teules, iii. 500. [166] Some writers doubt the ability of native painters to have given a sufficiently accurate portrait; but with the aid of explanatory signs there was little difficulty. [167] Some of them were checkered, which to Peter Martyr is a sufficient proof that the Mexicans played chess, dec. v. cap. x. [168] _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. [169] 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.