Note 322 — Chapter XIII · ENTRY INTO TLASCALA. September, 1519.

Nearly every writer states that Montezuma acknowledged himself the vassal of the Spanish king, but it is doubtful whether he stooped so low before a distant enemy. Gomara, Hist. Mex., 79, calls the present 1000 ropas and 1000 castellanos de oro, and Cortés says pesos de oro, which doubtless means dust; but Bernal Diaz terms the latter gold jewels worth that amount. Prescott confounds these presents with a later gift, and assumes without good authority that they came after Xicotencatl had brought in his submission. Gomara on the other hand places their arrival on September 6, which must be altogether too early.