Their Long Hair Was Matted Together With Clotted
Blood, Some Of Them Having It So Long As To Hang Down To Their Feet, And
Others Only To The Waist.
Their ears were all torn and cut, and they smelt
horribly of putrid flesh.
These priests were said to be all of noble
families.
When all this was ended, Cortes made a harangue to the people, saying,
That we were now really brothers, and that Montezuma should not oppress
them any more, for he would place them under the protection of the Mother
of God, whom we adored; and he added many good and holy arguments
exceedingly well expressed, to all of which the people listened most
attentively. He then had the walls of the temple cleared of blood and new
plastered, employing a number of Indian masons for this purpose, using
lime which the place afforded in plenty. After having thus cleaned and
purified the temple, he ordered a new altar to be erected, which he hung
all round with rich mantles, and adorned it with wreaths of odoriferous
flowers; and ordering four native priests to cut off their hair and to put
on white garments, he committed the altar to their care, on which he
planted the holy cross, before which our chaplain Olmedo celebrated the
mass. He also instructed the natives to make wax candles, and enjoined the
four priests to keep some of these always burning before the altar. All
these things being arranged, he placed a lame old soldier named Juan de
Torres, to reside in the temple as a hermit, and to keep the native
priests to their new duty.
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