The Indians of the Americas were bewildered by the extent of the Europeans' lust for gold, and the lengths they were willing to go to obtain it. In the "General History of the Things of New Spain," Fray Bernardino de Sahagún relates the Aztecs' astonishment:

"The Spaniards appeared to be much delighted, they seized upon the gold like monkeys, their faces flushed. For clearly their thirst for gold was insatiable; they starved for it; they lusted for it; they wanted to stuff themselves with it as if they were pigs. They went about fingering handling the streamers of gold, passing them back and forth, grabbing them one to the other babbling, talking gibberish among themselves."

Cortés told the Aztecs that he and his men "suffered from a disease of the heart which is only cured by gold." Pedro de Cieza de León was inspired to sail to Peru after seeing the Inca gold unloaded in Seville. "As long as I live I cannot get it out of my mind," he said. All of which perplexed - and, in the end, disgusted - the native peoples. The half-Inca historian, Waman Poma, portrayed an Indian asking a Spaniard: "Do you actually eat this gold?" And the Spaniard replies: "Yes, we certainly do!" The last of the great Incas, Manco himself, bitterly remarked, "Even if the snows of the Andes turned to gold still they would not be satisfied."