I Have given an account of events which should be clearly told, such as the benefits which have accrued both to the service of God and of His Majesty through our glorious conquests, costly as they were in the lives of the majority of my comrades, for very few of us are still alive, and those who died were sacrificed, and their hearts and blood offered to the Mexican idols named Tezcatepuca and Huichilobos.

I wish to begin by speaking about the sacrifices which we found in the countries and provinces we conquered. These [provinces] were full of sacrifices and iniquities, for they slew every year in Mexico alone, and certain neighbouring pueblos on the Lake, over two thousand persons big and little, as was found from the count which the Franciscan Monks made (and they were the first to come to New Spain, four and a half years before the Dominicans came), and these Franciscans were very good monks and [men] of holy principles.

In other provinces many more would be added to this count, and they practised other vices of sacrifice, and these were in so many ways I should never finish writing about them in detail, but those which I saw and took note of I will call to mind. They were accustomed to sacrifice the foreheads, ears, tongues, and lips, the breasts, arms, thighs and legs, and even the genital parts, and in some provinces they were circumcised and had flint knives with which to circumcise. The oratories, which are Cues, for so they are called among them, were so numerous that I deliver them to execration.