{*} [The story of Bernal Diaz is not at all improbable. Young children were frequently sacrificed in order to obtain the auspices. As the flesh of human victims was always eaten, it goes without saying that “dishes of tender children” must have appeared at times upon the tables. Bancroft (Native Races, vol. ii. p. 176, Note) explains that Torquemada (Monarq. Ind.) “regrets that certain persons, out of the ill-will they bore the Mexicans, have falsely imputed to Montezuma the crime of eating human flesh, _without its being well seasoned_, but he admits that when properly cooked and disguised, the flesh of those sacrificed to the gods appeared at the royal board.”--M.] [346] “_Lo que yo ví_,” says Diaz, speaking from his own observation, “que traian sobre cincuenta jarros grandes hechos de buen cacao con su espuma, y de lo que bebia.” Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 91. [347] Ibid., ubi supra.--Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 113, 114.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 11, 46.--Gomara, Crónica, cap. 67. [348] “Tambien le ponian en la mesa tres cañutos muy pintados, y dorados, y dentro traian liquidámbar, rebuelto con vnas yervas _que se dize tabaco_.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 91. [349] The feats of jugglers and tumblers were a favorite diversion with the Grand Khan of China, as Sir John Maundeville informs us. (Voiage and Travaille, chap. 22.) The Aztec mountebanks had such repute, that Cortés sent two of them to Rome to amuse his Holiness Clement VII. Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 186. [350] “Ninguno de los Soldanes, ni otro ningun señor infiel, de los que hasta agora se tiene noticia, no creo, que tantas, ni tales ceremonias en servicio tengan.” Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 115. [351] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 91.--Carta del Lic. Zuazo, MS.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., ubi supra.--Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 7.--Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 110-115.--Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 306. [352] If the historian will descend but a generation later for his authorities, he may find materials for as good a chapter as any in Sir John Maundeville or the Arabian Nights. [353] “Referre in tanto rege piget superbam mutationem vestis, et desideratas humi jacentium adulationes.” (Livy, Hist., lib. 9, cap. 18.) The remarks of the Roman historian in reference to Alexander, after he was infected by the manners of Persia, fit equally well the Aztec emperor. [354] “La Gente de esta Ciudad es de mas manera y primor en su vestido, y servicio, que no la otra de estas otras Provincias, y Ciudades; porque como allí estaba siempre este Señor Muteczuma, y todos los Señores sus Vasallos ocurrian siempre á la Ciudad, había en ella mas manera, y policía en todas las cosas.” Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 109.