“There understanding is keen, modest and silent, not proud or showy as in other nations.”

-Motolinia, 15-36-43

“Some readers who have visited New Spain, and other readers who have not, may be aware that Mexico was a very large city, built in the water like Venice, and ruled by the Great Prince Montezuma, king of many neighboring lands, who ruled over the whole of New Spain, which is a country twice the size of our own. The prince was so powerful that he wished to extend his will and gather information further than possible. He had received news of our first entrada under Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba, and of the battles of Catoche and Champoton, also of the happenings at Champoton during our present voyage.

“He knew that our soldiers, though few, had defeated the warriors of that town and the many allies that had joined them. He knew that we had penetrated the Tabasco River, and of our dealings with the caciques of Tabasco. What is more, he realized that our purpose was to trade for goods we had brought for gold.[1]

“All this information had been presented to him painted on cloth made of sisal hemp, which is like linen. Knowing that we were sailing up the coast towards his provinces, he ordered his governors, if we brought our ships into their districts, to barter the gold for our beads, especially the green ones, since they somewhat resembled their chalchihuites, which were valued as highly as emeralds. He also ordered them to find out more about or nature and intentions.

“Now it is a fact, as we afterwards heard, that the Indians’ ancestors had prophesied that men with beards would come from the direction of Sunrise and rule over them. [2] So, for one reason or another, many of the great Montezuma’s people were posted beside the river, watching for us, and carrying long poles with a white cotton flag on the end of each, which they waved at us, calling us, it seemed, in peace, to come and join them on shore."

[1] In the land of blood hungry gods, which was ever threatened with eternal night, the world itself coming close to death every fifty-two years, strangers coming in search of the tears of the Sun would be most distressing. For details of the mind boggling Aztec mythos see the links below.

[2] Many theorists have explained this supposed belief of the Aztecs to have been a distant remembrance of former overseas visitors as diverse as Israelites, Vikings and the Chinese Star Fleet. In hearing of the legend of Quetzalcoatl, a god-ancestor of the region, Cortez would take that role of the returning holy figure himself. However, as seen through a Spanish Christian lens, it is difficult to sort out the truth as it seemed to the Aztec prince, for that was the worldview that mattered most at this juncture. I favor the idea of Quetzalcoatl having been an apostate Mesoamerican figure who cultivated a beard rather than plucking it—which was the native custom throughout the Americas—with Montezuma’s dark theology getting the best of him until it was too late.

An anonymous mate of Bernal Diaz had the following to say about the men of Mexico loyal to Montezuma, when questioned in the 1520s, soon after the conquest:

“The people of this province are well-proportioned, tending to be tall rather than short; they are dark-complexion of brown hue, of well-formed face and with good bearing. They are mostly skillful, steadfast and tireless, yet they sustain themselves with less food than any other people. They are very warlike and do not fear death.”