The Comings and Goings of Moctezuma's Messengers

The native texts, mainly from the informants of Sahagun, speak about the several comings and goings of the messengers of Moctezuma to the Gulf coasts, where the strangers had appeared. First some texts taken from the Florentino Codex are presented about the instructions given by Moctezuma to his messengers. In these texts it appears clearly the projection that the nahuas made of their old ideas to explain the coming of the Spaniards: they thought that the one arrived was Quetzalcoatl, The Feathered Snake; God of the Wind, the Light and the East; First Star of the Evening (Venus).

Next, the Mexicas tell about the how the messengers arrived to the sea shore, being received by the Spaniards, to whom they gave the gifts sent by Moctezuma. The description is particularly interesting of the gifts offered to Cortez and how he tried to frighten them, shooting before them an 'arcabuz'.

The third part of this chapter is about the return of Moctezuma's messengers to Mexico-Tenochtitlan and of the information they gave to him, about the looks of the Spaniards, their cannons, the animals they mounted, a kind of "big deers, but without antlers", their dogs, etc.

Moctezuma soon issued orders to Pinotl, the one from Cuetlaxtlan, and to all of them. He said to them:
"Issue this order: that there must be surveillance throughout the water edge, in the places called Nauhtla, Tuztlan, and Mictlancuauhtla. Where they (the strangers) come."

Immediately the butlers went away. They issued orders to keep watch.

In the meantime Moctezuma met with his princes:
The Cihuacoatl Tlilpotonqui, the Tlacochcalcatl Cuappiaztzin, the Tizociahuacatl Quetzalaztatzin, the Huiznahuatlailotlac Hecateupatiltzin. He had them hear the story and he showed them the necklaces that he had had made.

He told them:
"We have admired the blue turquoises. They will be kept well. The treasurers will keep them well. If they lose some, ours will be their houses, ours their children.

And the year turned, to 13-Rabbit. And when the13-Rabbit year is ending, they come again, again they are seen.
Soon they come to give the news to Moctezuma. As soon as he knew, quickly he sends messengers. It was as if he thought that the newcomer was our prince Quetzalcoatl.
Thus it was in his heart: to come alone, to come here: he will come to know the site of his throne. Because that is the reason he went away once, when he went away.

Moctezuma sent five to meet him, to give him gifts. A priest lead them, the one that had the sanctuary of Yohualichan to his charge and to his name.
Second, the one of Tepoztlan; third, the one of Tizatlan; fourth was the one of Huehuetlan, and fifth, the one of Great Mictlan.

He told them:
"Come here, Tiger Knights, come here. Apparently our Lord has come again to the land. You go to His presence, you go to make him hear; you put good ear to what he says to you. Good ear you must keep."

"This is what you must present to our Lord, this it is the treasure of Quetzalcoatl:

A mask of a serpent, of turquoise

A crosspiece for the chest, made of quetzal feathers

A woven necklace, in the middle it has a golden disk

And a shield with crosspieces of gold, and with crosspieces of nacre shell, it has quetzal feathers on the edge and banderoles of the same feathers

Also a mirror that the dancers wear on their buttocks, with quetzal feathers. That mirror seems a shield of turquoise; it is a mosaic of turquoises, of turquoises is inlaid

And a bracelet of chalchihuites, with bells of gold

Also, a dart-thrower made of turquoise. It is as if it had serpent rattles; it has serpent heads

And obsidian sandals"

Secondly he gave them the attire of Tezcatlipoca:

A cape of conical forms, yellow because of the gold, all full of stars.

And its earrings adorned with gold bells.

And a necklace of fine shells: a necklace that covers the chest, with works of snails, that seem to scatter from its edge.

And a painted sleeveless coat, with gold rings on the edges, in its border there are fine feathers that seem sea foam

A tied thread mantle of blue, called the "sounding bell". It reaches the ears and there it is tied

And also a set of gold bells that are tied to the ankle

And a set of sandals of white color

Thirdly, the attire of Tlalocan Tecuhtli; (lord of the Tlalocan):

A wig of heron and quetzal pens, and on it, a crosspiece made of gold and nacre shell.

Earrings in serpent form, made of chalchihuites (Chalchihuites: various green precious stones, mainly jade).

A coat adorned with chalchihuites.

Its necklace: a necklace of chalchihuites, woven in petatillo, also with a golden disk.

Also a mirror for the back, also with bells

The blanket with which it is covered, with edges of red rings, and bells for the ankles, made of gold

And its cane of serpentine form with a mosaic of turquoises

In fourth place, the attire of Quetzalcoatl:

One head ornament of tiger skin with pheasant feathers; on it there is an enormous green stone: with this the head is adorned

And round earrings of turquoises, from which a curved earring of shell and gold hangs.

And a woven necklace of chalchihuites, also with a golden disk in the middle

And the blanket with which it is covered, with red borders

Also it requires gold bells for the feet

And a gold shield, perforated in the center, with tended quetzal feathers on its border; also with quetzal banderole

And twisted cane of Ehecatl: curved the top, with white precious stones like constellations

And its foam sandals

There are all the sorts of standards that are called "divine standards". They were put in charge of the ambassadors. And still many more objects they took as welcome gifts:

A snail cap made of gold

One head ornament of gold

Then this was put in baskets and was arranged in straps to be carried.

And to the five mentioned above, Moctezuma orders them, he tells them:

"Go, do not delay. You pay your respects to our Lord the God. Tell him:
'Moctezuma your lieutenant sends us. Here is what he sends you in occasion of your arrival to your dwelling in Mexico'. "

The messengers go to the Spaniards

Then they were transported in boats, taken to Xicalanco. And in their canoes, by the river they went to the sea, they arrived to the ships of the Spaniards.

They (the Spaniards) said to them:
"Who are you? From whence have you come?"

"We have come from Mexico."

Again they said to them:
"It may or may not be that you come from there, or perhaps you just made that up; perhaps you are making fun of us."

But their heart was convinced, their heart was satisfied. Soon they put a hook in the prow of the ship; with which they were pulled, and then they dropped a scale.

So, they got aboard the ship. They had the presents in the boats. One by one they made the ceremony of kissing the Earth with their mouths in front of the captain, (that is, they made reverence and oath).
Immediately they say to him:
"Let the God hear: his lieutenant Moctezuma comes to pay tribute. He has in his power the city of Mexico. He says: 'Tiresome it has been, tired is the God'."

Immediately they adorned the captain. They put on him with care the mask of turquoises, to it was fixed the cross band of quetzal feathers. And from this mask are hanging, on it are the earrings on either side.
And they put on him the coat, and they put on his neck the necklace, the woven necklace of chalchihuites; in the middle it had a disk of gold. Then, on his hip they tied the mirror that hanged from behind, and threw on his back the cloak called "sounding bell". And on his ankles they put the ornaments that the Huastecos use, with constellations of chalchihuites and gold bells.
They also gave him, and put in his hand, the shield that had the gold and shell crosspieces, with its banderoles of quetzal feathers. In front of him they put the obsidian sandals.
As for the other three attires, they just laid them in front of him.

Then the captain told them:
" Is this all your welcome offer? Is this how you receive people?

They said:
"This is all, this is what we came with, our Lord."

Then the captain gave orders, the Mexicas were tied; they put irons on their necks and ankles. After this, they fired the big cannon. In a moment the messengers lost their wits; they fell, bent over and passed out.
The Spaniards picked them up, gave them wine and food, made them eat. With this, they recovered and were comforted.

Then the captain told them:
"Hear this. I know, I have heard, that the Mexicans are very strong, that they are warriors, that they are terrible. That a single Mexican can make enemies flee, make them retreat, even defeat them, even if they are ten or maybe twenty enemies.
Now my heart wants to be convinced; I want to see for myself how strong you are, how machos!"

He gave them leather shields, swords and lances, and told them:
"Very early, at dawn, this will be done: we will fight each other; we will joust in pairs; we will defy each other.Then we will know. We will see who falls!"

And they answered the captain:
"Hear this, our Lord: it may be that Moctezuma, your lieutenant, did not send us to do this! As ambassadors we have come, to give comfort and rest we have come, to greet each other. It is not our problem what you want, but if we did this thing, it might be that Moctezuma got very angry. For this he would finish us."

The captain answered:
"No, it must be done. The word has spread in Castilla, that you are supposed to be very strong, very warring people. For now, eat very early; I will too. Be brave!"

Then he sent them away, had them lowered to their boats. As soon as they got to their boats, they rowed swiftly. Some even rowed with their hands, they went with their souls very troubled. They were saying to each other:
"Row, our captains, row as strong as you can! May nothing happen to us here! May nothing happen!"

With all haste they came over the sea to the place called Xicalanco. They got their breaths back there. Then strongly they kept going. They came to Tecpantlayacac. From there they started walking and swiftly got to Cuetlaxtlan. Just as in their journey from Mexico, they rested there.
And the Cuetlaxtecas told them:
"At least rest for a day! At least get your breaths back!"

But they answered:
"No. We are in a hurry: we are going to report to our Lord Moctezuma. We will tell him what we have seen. Something awesome. Never something like this has ever been seen! Have you ever heard of it?"

But when they came, he said:
"I don't want to hear them here. I will hear them in the House of the Serpent. Send them there."

And he gave order:
"Have two captives painted blue!"


And the messengers went to the House of the Serpent. Him too, Moctezuma. He then oversaw the sacrifices. They opened the chest of the captives, and with their blood they sprinkled the messengers.
The reason for this, was that they made a difficult journey, that they saw the Gods, that they set eyes on their faces and heads. They had talked to the Gods!

What the messengers saw

After this, the messengers reported to Moctezuma. They told them how they were awed and what they saw, and how was their food. And when he had heard what his messengers said, he was very frightened, very awed. And he called very awesome their food. He was also very frightened to know how one passes out, how one's ears ring there. And when the shot happens, a round rock flies out, trailing sparks, and how the smoke that comes out stinks, smells like rotten mud, goes to your brain. And how, if it hits a hill, it cracks the hill, and if it hits a tree, it destroys it to splinters, an awesome thing, as if something blew into it from the inside.

All their items are of iron; iron they dress, iron they wear on their heads, iron are their swords, iron their bows, iron their shields, iron their lances. Their "deers" hold them on their backs, as high as the roofs are.
Wrapped everywhere are their bodies, only their faces show. White they are, like chalk. Their hair is yellow, though some have it black. Their beards are long, also yellow and they also have yellow mustaches. They have abundant and fine hair, a little messed.

As to their food, it is like human food: white, light, like straw. Like the fiber in the corn plant, and like the middle of the corn plant it tastes. A little sweet, a little like honey; they eat sweet food.

And their dogs are huge, with wobbly ears flat against their heads, with huge hanging tongues; they have eyes that spill fire, sparkling: their eyes are yellow, intensely yellow. Their bellies very flat, long and muscled. They are very strong and wide chested, never at ease, always panting with their tongues hanging out. Their fur is spotted, like tigers, but spotted in many colors.

When Moctezuma had heard this, he was filled with great fright and his heart went numb, his heart shrank, it sank in anguish.