[326] Cortes conjectured the city contained twenty thousand houses. The temple of Quetzalcoatl was built on a terraced mound about two hundred feet high, and was reached by ascending one hundred and twenty steps. [327] The name of the city is written Tenustitlan Mexico by Diaz. It is spelled Tenuchtitlan Mexico by some Spanish writers. “In the spelling of the names of Indian chiefs, the townships, and of the provinces, we have mostly followed Torquemada, who is considered more correct on this point, for he lived fifty years in New Spain.”—The memoirs of the conquistador. Lockhart. Preface. vol. i. p. vi. [328] This name, says Diaz, was given to Cortes “because our interpreter, Doña Marina, was always near him, particularly when embassadors arrived, and in our negotiations with the different caciques she interpreted for both parties. They therefore called him the captain of Marina, and contracted that appellation into the word Malinche.” [329] It is said that the slimy substance mentioned by Diaz was called _tecuitlatl_, the excrement of stone. It was variously fashioned, and dried in the sun. [330] _Xiquipiles_, according to Torquemada, expressed the number of 8,000 of any thing. [331] Cacao-beans were used by the Mexicans in lieu of small coin. [332] Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España. Diaz. cap. xxxix-clix.—_Vide_ The memoirs of the conquistador. Lockhart. chap. xxxix-clix. [333] Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España. Diaz. cap. lx, clxii.—_Vide_ The memoirs of the conquistador. Lockhart. chap. lx, clxii. [334] Tratado, que compõs e nobre & notauel capitão Antonio Galuão. [335] In June, 1523, Francisco de Garay sailed with a fleet and a large number of troops from Jamaica to take possession of the province of Panuco, of which he had been appointed governor. He failed to accomplish his purpose, and died in the city of Mexico, at the end of December, 1523. Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España. cap. cxxxiii, clxii. _Vide_ The memoirs of the conquistador. Lockhart. chap. cxxxiii, clxii. [336] Coleccion de los viages y descubrimientos. Navarrete. tom. iii. pp. 64-69; 147-153.