Ilust. 20.) Oviedo, a contemporary of the Conquerors, informs us that the _peso de oro_ and the _castellano_ were of the same value, and that was precisely one-third greater than the value of the ducat. (Hist. del Ind., lib. 6, cap. 8, ap. Ramusio, Navigationi et Viaggi (Venetia, 1565), tom. iii.) Now, the ducat, as appears from Clemencin, reduced to our currency, would be equal to eight dollars and seventy-five cents. _The peso de oro, therefore, was equal to eleven dollars and sixty-seven cents, or two pounds, twelve shillings, and sixpence sterling._ Keeping this in mind, it will be easy for the reader to determine the actual value, in _pesos de oro_, of any sum that may be hereafter mentioned.{*} {*} [But Ramirez, commenting upon this statement, estimates the _castellano_ at $2.93.--M.] [19] “¡Cierto cosas de ver!” exclaims Las Casas, who saw them with the Emperor Charles V. in Seville, in 1520. “Quedáron todos los que viéron aquestas cosas tan ricas y tan bien artifiçiadas y ermosísimas como de cosas nunca vistas,” etc. (Hist. de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 120.) “Muy hermosas,” says Oviedo, who saw them in Valladolid, and describes the great wheels more minutely; “todo era mucho de ver!” (Hist. de las Indias, MS., loc. cit.) The inquisitive Martyr, who examined them carefully, remarks, yet more emphatically, “Si quid unquam honoris humana ingenia in huiuscemodi artibus sunt adepta, principatum iure merito ista consequentur. Aurum, gemmasque non admiror quidem, quâ industriâ, quóve studio superet opus materiam, stupeo. Mille figuras et facies mille prospexi quæ scribere nequeo. Quid oculos hominum suâ pulchritudine æque possit allicere meo iudicio vidi nunquam.” De Orbe Novo, dec. 4, cap. 9. [20] Las Casas, Hist. de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 121.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 39.--Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 80.--Gomara, Crónica, cap. 27, ap. Barcia, tom. ii. [21] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 40.--Father Sahagun thus describes these stones, so precious in Mexico that the use of them was interdicted to any but the nobles: “The _chalchuites_ are of a green color mixed with white, and are not transparent. They are much worn by persons of rank, and, attached to the wrist by a thread, are a token of the nobility of the wearer.” Hist. de Nueva-España, lib. 11, cap. 8. [22] Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.--Las Casas, Hist. de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 121.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 40, 41.--Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 5, cap. 6.--Gomara, Crónica, cap. 29, ap. Barcia, tom. ii. [23] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 41.--Las Casas, Hist. de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 121.--Gomara, Crónica, cap. 28. [24] The letter from the _cabildo_ of Vera Cruz says nothing of these midnight conferences. Bernal Diaz, who was privy to them, is a sufficient authority. See Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 42.