HISTORY OF THE SPANISH CONQUEST OF YUCATAN AND OF THE ITZAS

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baptisms on some who came to me, talking with the King and some of the
caciques of the other _Petens_ or islands and other priests, who stayed
with us continually, we discussed at our leisure various matters which
came up. I asked them what products they had for their food and
clothing, and they told me that they had a great deal of maize, beans,
seeds, peppers, and that they sowed all this two or three times in the
year; also many plantains and _chunes_, which are like the _chayotes_,
though without thorns; some _cacao_ (though but little), vanilla, and
in some orchards enclosed with stakes in their homes, some wild
cabbage. I did not see these nor the onions, which, however, the
singers who accompanied me told me that they had seen;[9.8] there is a
great deal of cotton, cochineal, and indigo, which accounts for the
abundance of clothing which they have and give to the Cehaches Indians,
and those from Tipu in barter for hatchets and _machetes_; and all this
woven very neatly, in a variety of colors of cotton thread; the said
clothing is very durable, since it is like felt, although the colors of
their cloth are not very permanent, from their not knowing; how to give