In the midst of these was Montezuma, in a chair or litter, richly ornamented with gold and feathers of various colours.

Four of his principal favourites carried him on their shoulders; others supported a canopy of curious workmanship over his head: before him marched three officers with rods of gold in their hands, which they lifted on high at certain intervals.
[Illustration] At that signal all the people bowed their heads and hid their faces, as unworthy to look on so great a monarch.
When he drew near, Cortez dismounted advancing towards him in respectful posture; at the same time Montezuma alighted from his chair, and leaning on the arm of two of his nearest relations, approached him with a slow and stately pace, his attendants covering the way with cotton cloths, that he might not touch the ground.
Cortez accosted him with profound reverence, after the European fashion.
He returned the salutation, according to the mode of his country, by touching the earth with his hand and then kissing it.
This condescension, in so proud a monarch, made all his subjects believe that the Spaniards were something more than human.
Montezuma conducted Cortez to the quarters which he had ordered for his reception, and immediately took his leave, with a politeness not unworthy of a court more refined.
"You are now," said he, "with your brothers, in your own house: refresh yourselves after your fatigue, and be happy until I return." The place allotted for the Spaniards was a magnificent palace built by the father of Montezuma.

It was surrounded by a stone wall with towers, and its apartments and courts were so large as to accommodate both the Spaniards and their Indian allies.
The first care of Cortez was to take precautions for his security, by planting artillery so as to command the different avenues which led to it, and posting sentinels at proper stations, with orders to observe the greatest vigilance.
In the evening Montezuma returned to visit his guests, with the same pomp as in their first interview, and brought presents of great value not only to Cortez and his officers, but even to the private men.

A long conference ensued, in which Cortez, in his usual style, magnified the power and dignity of his sovereign.
Next morning Cortez and some of his principal attendants were admitted to a public audience of the emperor; the three following days were employed in viewing the city, the appearance of which was so far superior to any place the Spaniards had beheld in America, and yet so little resembling the structure of an European city, that it filled them with surprise and admiration.
Mexico, or Tenuchtitlan, as it was anciently called, is situated on some small islands, near one side of a large lake, which is ninety miles in circumference.

The access to the city was by artificial causeways or streets, formed of stones and earth, about thirty feet in breadth.