[267] The principal grievance alleged was that slaves, many of them held temporarily by their masters, according to the old Aztec usage, were comprehended in the census. The complaint forms part of a catalogue of grievances embodied by Cortés in a memorial to the emperor. It is a clear and business-like paper. Carta de Cortés á Nuñez, MS. [268] Ibid., MS. [269] [“Dominando una vista muy extensa sobre el valle hácia el Sur, lo que al Norte y Oriente se termina con la magestuosa cordillera que separa el valle de Cuernavaca del de Méjico.” Alaman, Disertaciones históricas, tom. ii. p. 35.] [270] The palace has crumbled into ruins, and the spot is now only remarkable for its natural beauty and its historic associations. “It was the capital,” says Madame de Calderon, “of the Tlahuica nation, and, after the Conquest, Cortés built here a splendid palace, a church, and a convent for Franciscans, believing that he had laid the foundation of a great city.... It is, however, a place of little importance, though so favored by nature; and the Conqueror’s palace is a half-ruined barrack, though a most picturesque object, standing on a hill, behind which starts up the great white volcano.” Life in Mexico, vol. ii. let. 31. [The beautiful church of San Francisco, now the parish church, was constructed by Cortés, and enriched with jewels and sacred vessels by his wife, manifesting, says Alaman, the good taste and the piety of _the marquis_ and _the marchioness_,--as, in consequence of their being the first and at that time the only persons who bore the title in Mexico, they were styled and always subscribed themselves. Disertaciones históricas, tom. ii. p. 35.] [271] These particulars respecting the agricultural economy of Cortés I have derived in part from a very able argument, prepared, in January, 1828, for the Mexican Chamber of Deputies, by Don Lúcas Alaman, in defence of the territorial rights possessed at this day by the Conqueror’s descendant, the duke of Monteleone. [272] Navarrete, Coleccion de los Viages y Descubrimientos (Madrid, 1837), tom. v., Viages al Maluco. [273] Instruccion que dió el Marques del Valle á Juan de Avellaneda, etc., MS. [274] Provision sobre los Descubrimientos del Sur, MS., Setiembre, 1534. [275] The river Huasacualco furnished great facilities for transporting across the isthmus, from Vera Cruz, materials to build vessels on the Pacific. Humboldt, Essai politique, tom. iv. p. 50.