fine young woman, whom he must treat well, for she was the daughter of a chief. He also gave him three quoits of gold and two loads of robes.[1] The gift came from the emperor's harem, from which he frequently drew to please those whom he delighted to honor. The vacancies thus created were filled from noble families, who like those of more advanced countries regarded it an honor for a daughter to occupy the position of royal concubine. After his imprisonment Montezuma seems to have disposed of his wives quite rapidly, a number of them falling to leading Spaniards.[2] To Cortés he offered for the second time a daughter, prettier than the one given him on the day of his capture, but in this instance the gift was declined in favor of Olid, who accepted her, together with any number of presents, and was henceforth treated as a relative by her imperial father. Both she and the sister with Cortés were baptized.[3]
The soldiers generally were by no means forgotten in the distribution of women and other gifts, and in course of time the quarter became so crowded with male and female attendants that Cortés found it nec-
- ↑ The bride was named Francisca. Hist. Verdad., 77. As an instance of Montezuma's eagerness to gratify the Spaniards, and at the same time to exhibit his own power, it is related that one day a hawk pursued a pigeon to the very cot in the palace, amid the plaudits of the soldiers. Among them was Francisco the dandy, former maestresala to the admiral of Castile, who loudly expressed the wish to obtain possession of the hawk and to tame him for falconry. Montezuma heard him, and gave his hunters orders to catch it, which they did. Id.; Gomara, Hist. Mex., 125.
- ↑ Duran states that the soldiers discovered a house filled with women, supposed to be wives of Montezuma, and hidden to be out of the reach of the white men. He assumes that gratitude would have made the Spaniards respect them; or, if the women were nuns, that respect for virtue must have obtained.
- ↑ Cortés' protégée being named Ana. Quite a number of the general's followers declare in their testimony against him, in 1528, that he assumed the intimate protectorship of two or even three of Montezuma's daughters, the second being called Inés, or by others Isabel, the wife of Grado, and afterward of Gallego. 'Tres fijas de Montezuma e que las dos dellas an parido del e la otra murio preñada del quando se perdio esta cibdad.' Tirado, in Cortés, Residencia, ii. 39, 241, 244; i. 63, 99, 221, 263. Intrigues are mentioned with other Indian princesses. Vetancurt assumes that two noble maidens were given, one of whom Olid received. Teatro Mex., pt. iii. 133; Torquemada, i. 462. Bernal Diaz supposes that this is the first daughter offered by Montezuma, and he believes evidently that Cortés accepts her, to judge by a later reference. Hist. Verdad., 85, 102.
