HISTORY OF THE SPANISH CONQUEST OF YUCATAN AND OF THE ITZAS

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wife, children and relatives of the debtor would pay the debt after his
death....

"In the wars which because of their ambition they made upon one
another, some were taken prisoners, those of the conquered who were
taken remaining slaves. In this situation they were very rigorous,
treating the enslaved with asperity, and making use of them in all
sorts of bodily labor.

"In food-supplies there were no bargains, because they were always
fixed at one price, save Maize, which was wont to go up when crops were
poor, but it never passed what it is now worth, a _real_ or so, the
load (which is half a Castillian fanega).

"The money that they used was little bells and jingles of copper, which
had value according to their size, and some red shells, which were
brought from far away from this land, which they strung, after the