bed, commended, as we have seen in the History, three favorite daughters to the protection of Cortés. After their father’s death they were baptized, and after the Conquest were married to Spaniards of honorable family, and from them have descended several noble houses in Spain. Cortés granted, by way of dowry, to the eldest, Doña Isabel, the city of Tacuba and several other places, embracing an extensive and very populous district. I have given here the instrument containing this grant, which has a singular degree of interest, from the notices it contains of Montezuma’s last moments, and the strong testimony it bears to his unswerving friendship for the Spaniards. Some allowance must be made by the reader for the obvious endeavor of Cortés to exhibit Montezuma’s conduct in so favorable a light to the Castilian government as might authorize the extensive grant to his daughter.
The instrument in the Muñoz collection was taken from an ancient copy in the library of Don Rafael Floranes