Note 21 — Chapter LXI

Of the township of Xocotlan, Torquemada gives some further account, from which we learn more of the condition of the country at the time of the conquest. Olintecl, he says, was lord of 20,000 subjects, and he had thirty wives, who were attended upon by one hundred female servants. The township contained thirteen temples, full of various shaped idols made of stone, to whom were sacrificed men, women, children, pigeons, and quails. Here the Mexican monarch had a garrison of 5000 men, and couriers were stationed at particular distances from each other all the way from the town to the city of Mexico. These nimble pedestrians were always in pairs, that all news might be conveyed to the metropolis with the utmost speed. (p. 142.)