Page:Vol 1 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/462

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342

POLITICS AND RELIGION.

weighed over 500 marcos, and the unbroken jewels and other effects were estimated at over 500,000 ducats, not counting the workmanship.^[1] The jewels were set with feathers, pearls, and precious stones, fashioned chiefly in animal forms, "so perfect as to appear natural." A number of trinkets for the royal share had also been fashioned by the goldsmiths after designs by the Spaniards, such as saintly images, crucifixes, bracelets, and chains, all made with wonderful fidelity to originals. The silver for the same

↑ Probanza de Lejalde, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. 421-2. Cortés, Cartas' 100-1, is not so explicit with regard to the latter figure, saying merely that le had set apart for the king unbroken jewels and other objects valued at over 100,000 ducats; but, since this figure comes in connection with the account of one fifth of all the treasures reserved for the sovereign, it may be assumed that the 100,000 formed also a fifth of the unbroken lot. This, consisting to a great extent of precious stones, pearls, cotton, and other effects, could not have all been reserved for the king. It seems besides improbable that so large a proportion of treasure as 100,000 ducats should a second time have been taken from the soldiers, even if Montezuma had destined them especially for their ruler. All the treasures and gifts acquired were obtained by the efforts of the expedition, and were always regarded as a part of its fund. Yet Gomara, Hist. Mex., 135-6, who had the statements of Cortés and others at his disposal, writes that the 100,000 lot was selected from the treasures, previous to melting, in order to form a present for the king in connection with the one fifth. Bernal Diaz writes confusedly that the heaps of unmelted gold from which feathers and other settings had been removed were valued at 600,000 pesos. This did not include the plates, quoits, and dust of gold, nor the silver and other treasures.' A few lines further he says that the royal officials declared the gold, melted, and in quoits, dust, and jewels, to be worth over 600,000 pesos, beside the silver and many jewels not valued. From these lots the distribution was made for king and expedition. Many soldiers declared that the original amount was larger, one third having been abstracted by the leaders. Hist. Verdad., 83. The marginal print in this authority calls the above sums pesos de oro, which increases the value three, times. Confusing as this version is, it confirms at any rate the supposition that the unbroken jewels were also divided among the members of the expedition. Prescott estimates the whole treasure in the money value of his time at $6,300,000, which may be accepted as sufficiently approximate. See Mex., ii. 202-5. Robertson accepts Bernal Diaz' last estimate in pesos, which is equivalent to about two fifths of Prescott's. The small proportion of silver indicates how little the natives understood and resorted to mining, and how insignificant a portion of the metallic wealth of the country was represented by the treasures so far acquired. Gold was obtained from loose and shallow alluvial deposits in and near the rivers, and it was only in the extraction of tin and copper that the Indians exhibited an advance in the art of mining. Robertson is wrong in assuming that gold was not used as a trade medium; still, it was only partly so, and it was chiefly sought for ornaments. The rarity of silver made this metal far more valuable than in Europe, and the stones most esteemed were regarded by the Spaniards as so many pebbles. For an account of mines, metals, and money among the Aztecs, see Native Races, ii. In vol. i. chap. iii. note 8 of the Central American division of the present work is given information on the currency of this period.

[D462-1] Probanza de Lejalde, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. 421-2. Cortés, Cartas' 100-1, is not so explicit with regard to the latter figure, saying merely that le had set apart for the king unbroken jewels and other objects valued at over 100,000 ducats; but, since this figure comes in connection with the account of one fifth of all the treasures reserved for the sovereign, it may be assumed that the 100,000 formed also a fifth of the unbroken lot. This, consisting to a great extent of precious stones, pearls, cotton, and other effects, could not have all been reserved for the king. It seems besides improbable that so large a proportion of treasure as 100,000 ducats should a second time have been taken from the soldiers, even if Montezuma had destined them especially for their ruler. All the treasures and gifts acquired were obtained by the efforts of the expedition, and were always regarded as a part of its fund. Yet Gomara, Hist. Mex., 135-6, who had the statements of Cortés and others at his disposal, writes that the 100,000 lot was selected from the treasures, previous to melting, in order to form a present for the king in connection with the one fifth. Bernal Diaz writes confusedly that the heaps of unmelted gold from which feathers and other settings had been removed were valued at 600,000 pesos. This did not include the plates, quoits, and dust of gold, nor the silver and other treasures.' A few lines further he says that the royal officials declared the gold, melted, and in quoits, dust, and jewels, to be worth over 600,000 pesos, beside the silver and many jewels not valued. From these lots the distribution was made for king and expedition. Many soldiers declared that the original amount was larger, one third having been abstracted by the leaders. Hist. Verdad., 83. The marginal print in this authority calls the above sums pesos de oro, which increases the value three, times. Confusing as this version is, it confirms at any rate the supposition that the unbroken jewels were also divided among the members of the expedition. Prescott estimates the whole treasure in the money value of his time at $6,300,000, which may be accepted as sufficiently approximate. See Mex., ii. 202-5. Robertson accepts Bernal Diaz' last estimate in pesos, which is equivalent to about two fifths of Prescott's. The small proportion of silver indicates how little the natives understood and resorted to mining, and how insignificant a portion of the metallic wealth of the country was represented by the treasures so far acquired. Gold was obtained from loose and shallow alluvial deposits in and near the rivers, and it was only in the extraction of tin and copper that the Indians exhibited an advance in the art of mining. Robertson is wrong in assuming that gold was not used as a trade medium; still, it was only partly so, and it was chiefly sought for ornaments. The rarity of silver made this metal far more valuable than in Europe, and the stones most esteemed were regarded by the Spaniards as so many pebbles. For an account of mines, metals, and money among the Aztecs, see Native Races, ii. In vol. i. chap. iii. note 8 of the Central American division of the present work is given information on the currency of this period.

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