With the aid of these they ascertained the value of the
royal fifth to be thirty-two thousand and four hundred pesos de oro.
Diaz swells it to nearly four times that amount. But their desire of
securing the emperor's favour makes it improbable that the Spaniards
should have defrauded the exchequer of any part of its due; while,
as Cortes was responsible for the sum admitted in his letter, he would
be still less likely to overstate it. His estimate may be received
as the true one.
The whole amounted, therefore, to one hundred and sixty-two
thousand pesos de oro, independently of the fine ornaments and
jewellery, the value of which Cortes computes at five hundred thousand
ducats more. There were, besides, five hundred marks of silver,
chiefly in plate, drinking cups, and other articles of luxury. The
inconsiderable quantity of the silver, as compared with the gold,
forms a singular contrast to the relative proportions of the two
metals since the occupation of the country by the Europeans. The whole
amount of the treasure, reduced to our own currency, and making
allowance for the change in the value of gold since the beginning of
the sixteenth century, was about six million three hundred thousand
dollars, or one million four hundred and seventeen thousand pounds
sterling; a sum large enough to show the incorrectness of the
popular notion that little or no wealth was found in Mexico.
Pages:
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476