Ents report back about their encounters. Read the selection below from an account of one of these
Aztec messengers sharing his experience with Montezuma.
The Messanger told him: "A thing like a ball of stone comes out of its entrails: it comes
out shooting sparks and raining fire. The smoke that comes out of it has a pestilent
odor, like that of rotten mud. This odor penetrates even to the brain and causes the
greatest discomfort. If the cannon is aimed against a mountain, the mountain splits and
cracks open. If it is aimed against a tree, it shatters the tree into splinters. This is a most
unnatural sight, as if the tree had exploded from within.
"Their trappings and arms are all made of iron. They dress in iron and wear iron casques
[helmets) on their heads. Their swords are iron; their bows are iron; their shields are
iron; their spears are iron. Their deer carry them on their backs wherever they wish to
go. These deer, our lord, are as tall as the roof of a house."
The messanger also said: "The strangers' bodies are completely covered, so that only
their faces can be seen. Their skin is white, as if it were made of lime. They have yellow
hair, though some of them have black. Their beards are long and yellow, and their
moustaches are also yellow. Their hair is curly, with very fine strands.
"Their dogs are enormous, with flat ears and long, dangling tongues. The color of their
eyes is a burning yellow; their eyes flash fire and shoot off sparks. Their bellies are
hollow, their flanks long and narrow. They are tireless and very powerful. They bound
here and there, panting, with their tongues hanging out. And they are spotted like an
ocelot." When (Montezuma) heard this report, he was filled with terror, it was it his heart
had fainted, as if it had shriveled. It was as if he were conquered by despair.
What description best depicts the author of this primary source document?
Click or top choice to answer the question
Montezuma, the ruler of the Aztec Empire a member of Hernando Cortés's feet who
recorded his encounter with the Aztecs
Hernando Cortés, the Spanish explorer
an Aztec who recorded a report from one
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