Montezuma again sent embassadors to Cortes bearing presents. They said “that their monarch could not but feel astonished that we” as Diaz relates, “had made so long a stay among a poor and uncivilized people, who were not fit for slaves, but so viciously disposed, so treacherous and thievish, that some day or night when we least apprehended it they would kill us merely for the sake of plunder. Montezuma begged us to visit his city, where, at least, we might enjoy the good things it offered, even though these should be below our deserts, and not equal to what he could wish.... Cortes thanked the embassadors in a very flattering manner for their civilities and the expressions of friendship they had conveyed to him from their monarch, and he desired them to tell their sovereign that in a short time he would pay his respects to him.” At Cholula, to which Cortes next marched, a plot was concocted to kill the Spaniards, but being warned, they were on their guard and severely punished the inhabitants for their treacherous conduct. Describing the city, Diaz says: “Cholula had more than a hundred very high towers, they were all _cues_ or temples, in which human sacrifices were offered and idols stood. The principal temple was even higher than the one in the city of Mexico, though the latter was really magnificent and very high. The temple [at Cholula] is said to have contained one hundred courts, and an idol of enormous dimensions, (the name of which I have forgotten), which was in great repute, and people came from various places to sacrifice human beings to it and bring offerings for the dead. I well remember when we first entered the city and beheld the elevated white temples, how the whole place reminded us all of Valladolid.[326] ... I must add a word or two respecting the wooden cages we saw in this city. They were constructed of heavy timber, and filled with grown men and little boys, who were fattening for the sacrifices and feasts. Cortes ordered these diabolical cages to be pulled down, and sent the prisoners to their homes.”