CHAPTER CV.

CHAPTER CV.

_How all the gold presented by Motecusuma, and collected from the
different townships, was divided; and what happened to one of our
soldiers on the occasion._

First of all, one fifth of the treasure was set apart for the crown, and a second for Cortes, as had been promised him when we elected him captain-general and chief justice. After this had been deducted, Cortes brought in the expenses of fitting out the armament at Cuba; then the sum due to Velasquez for the vessels we had destroyed, and, lastly, the travelling expenses of our agents whom we sent to Spain. Next were deducted the several shares due to the garrison at Vera Cruz, which consisted of seventy men; then the value of the two horses which had been killed, one in the engagement with the Tlascallans, the other at Almeria.

Not until all this had been deducted were the rest of our men allowed to take their shares. Double shares were also set apart for the two priests, the officers, and the cavalry, likewise for the musketeers and crossbow-men. After these and other nibblings, there remained, for the greater part of our men, who could only claim one share, such a mere trifle, that many of them would not even accept of it, which Cortes then took himself. At that time, indeed, we thought it best to say nothing about this unjust division; for what would it have availed us had we demanded justice? Besides which, Cortes had secretly bribed some with presents and large promises, and many of the most noisy he presented with a hundred pesos to stop their mouths.

The portion belonging to the garrison at Vera Cruz was forwarded to Tlascalla for safe keeping. Most of our officers employed Motecusuma's goldsmiths of Escapuzalco to make them heavy chains of the gold; and Cortes, among other things, ordered a grand dinner service. Several of our soldiers, who had learnt how to fill their pockets, had other things made; and it was not long before a number of the stamped bars and trinkets came into circulation; for gambling was now commenced to a great extent, after a certain Pedro Valenciano had managed to manufacture playing cards from parchment, which were as well painted and as beautiful to the eye as those manufactured in Spain.

I will, however, show what impression this unfair division of the gold made upon our men. Among our troops there was a man named Cardenas, a sailor by profession, who had left behind him in Spain a wife and children in great want, and had the ill-luck, with many of us, to continue in poverty.

When this man beheld the great heap of gold piled up in bars, plates, besides the gold dust, and found his share of the spoil was a mere hundred pesos, he became excessively low-spirited. One of his friends, who had observed this, asked him the cause of his grief and heavy sighs? He answered, "Why, how the devil can I do otherwise, when I see the gold which we have so hardly earned find its way into Cortes' pockets, with his fifths, monies laid out for horses, vessels, and other such like vile trickeries, while my wife and children are perishing at home for want of food? I could even have sent them a little help when our agents went to Spain, for there was sufficient gold at that time to have divided it among us." "What gold are you speaking of?" inquired his friend. "Why," answered Cardenas, "of that which our agents took with them to Spain. If Cortes had granted me my share of that, my wife and children would not have wanted: but he employed every species of artifice to persuade us to send the whole treasure as a present to the emperor, with the exception, however, of above 6000 pesos to Martin Cortes, his father: I will not even mention the gold which he has secretly stowed away. We others who have fought about courageously night and day at Tabasco, Tlascalla, Zinpantzinco, and Cholulla; we who at present live in continual fear, with almost certain death before our eyes as soon as the inhabitants of this great city get it into their heads to rise up against us,--we all remain, as before, poverty-stricken, and all our remonstrances are in vain! Cortes, on the contrary, acts as if he were the emperor himself, and runs away with a fifth of our hard earnings!"

In this strain the poor fellow continued his complaints, and was of opinion that we should not have allowed Cortes to deduct a fifth for himself; and that we required no other sovereign than our own emperor.

"And are you really," returned the other, "going to embitter your happiness with such thoughts? All this will avail you nothing. You know we fare equally bad with respect to provisions, for Cortes and his officers nearly eat up all themselves; but it is of no use for us to complain, therefore drive away, all such melancholy thoughts from your mind, and pray to the Almighty that we may not meet with our total destruction in this city."

Cortes was duly apprized of all this and similar complaints; and as the discontent among the men respecting the unfair division of the gold became pretty general, he ordered the whole of us into his presence, and addressed us in a speech abounding with the sweetest sentences imaginable. He was indebted, he said, for all he had to us; that he had not required the fifth part, but the share which was promised him when we elected him captain-general, and he was quite ready to bestow something on those who stood in need. The gold we had collected up to this moment, he continued, was a trifle to that which was to come. We ought to remember what great cities were dispersed through the country, and the rich mines which were in our possession; these certainly would enrich every man in his army. In this way he continued for some time, and spoke feelingly to the heart! but, finding all this had no effect, he employed other means. Many he secretly silenced with gold, and others by great promises, and the provisions sent us by Motecusuma's orders were from this moment justly divided, so that every man among us had an equal share of food with himself. He likewise took Cardenas aside, and quieted him with a present of 300 pesos, and the promise that he would allow him to return home to his family with the first vessel that left for Spain. This Cardenas I shall have occasion to mention on some future occasion, for he did Cortes considerable injury in Spain during the subsequent complaints which were laid before the emperor against him.