WHAT MONTEZUMA THOUGHT OF IT.
HOME OF MEXICAN CIVILIZATION—THE BORDER LAND OF
SAVAGISM—CONFIGURATION OF THE COUNTRY—THE NAHUAS AND
THE MAYAS—TOLTECS, CHICHIMECS, AND AZTECS—THE VALLEY OF
MEXICO—CIVIL POLITY OF THE AZTECS—KING AHUITZOTL—MONTEZUMA
MADE EMPEROR—CHARACTER OF THE MAN—HIS CAREER—THE FIRST
APPEARING OF THE SPANIARDS NOT UNKNOWN TO MONTEZUMA—THE
QUETZALCOATL MYTH—DEPARTURE OF THE FAIR GOD—SIGNS AND OMENS
CONCERNING HIS RETURN—THE COMING OF THE SPANIARDS MISTAKEN
FOR THE FULFILMENT OF THE PROPHECY—THE DOOR OPENED TO THE
INVADER.
Before entering upon the crusade which was so painfully to affect the
destinies of this vast interior, let us cast a brief glance upon the
country and its inhabitants, and particularly on that idiosyncrasy
of the aboriginal mind which opened the door to the invaders. The
first two subjects are fully treated in the first, second, and fifth
volumes of my _Native Races of the Pacific States_ to which I would
refer the reader, being able here to give only an outline of what in
detail is an exceedingly interesting phase of indigenous development.
This development awoke to consciousness in the forms of the Nahua and
Maya civilizations, the former occupying the northern portion of that
tropical table-land which rises to salubrious heights between latitudes
22° and 11°, and the latter the southern portions. Round the opaque
lowland edges of this heaven-enlightened interior the mind of man
seemed also dark and low, dwarfed by sandy sweeps, or overshadowed by
redundant foliage; yet it was not altogether free from the influence
of its neighbors, for the people of the tierras calientes bordering
this elevation were further removed from savagism than their more
northern and southern brethren. The valley of Mexico, the Anáhuac
of the Aztecs, was situated between the two principal ranges, the
Pacific branch and the Atlantic branch of the Sierra Madre, under
which name the great cordillera here presents itself, coming in from
the north-west, flattening near the centre, and reuniting before
reaching Tehuantepec. Eventually Anáhuac overspreads the whole plateau.
Cross the continent on the nineteenth parallel and you will reach the
greatest elevation and see the highest mountains in this vicinity.
Indeed, from the plain of Puebla, whereabout lay the walled town of
Tlascala, you may take in Popocatepetl, Iztaccihuatl, and Orizaba at
one view. Within seventy leagues from Vera Cruz inland, through the
temperate valley of Orizaba, you may pass from a region of palms to
a region of pines. The plains of Tabasco, upon whose border we have
already landed and fought our battle, form the north-eastern part of
the broad isthmus valley of Tehuantepec. This is bordered on the south
by the sierra connecting the elevation of Anáhuac with the table-land
of Guatemala, whose western declivity breaks into parallel wooded
ridges running due south-west. North of Anáhuac the surface settles
into wide plains between short sierras, until monotonous quietude
is attained in the prairies of Texas and New Mexico. Crossing the
isthmus of Tehuantepec at a diminished altitude the cordillera rises
again and stretches out into the broad and lofty ranges of Central
America, where the Maya nations made their home.
Earliest among the Nahua nations to stand forth upon the mythic record
are the Toltecs, whose first supremacy in Anáhuac is placed in the
sixth century. Endowed by tradition with a culture surpassing that
of their successors, the halo surrounding their name has been kept
bright by monuments, such as the pyramids of Teotihuacan and Cholula.
For five centuries this people flourish, sustained by a confederation
of kings whose capitals become in turn famous as seats of learning
and of imperial splendor. Religious strife, developing gradually
into civil war, with attendant famine and pestilence, opens the door
to ruder tribes, and the Toltecs pass off the stage. Throwing off
the Toltec veil so long shielding them, a number of tribes now rise
into distinct political existence, and the stronger, in connection
with somewhat ruder yet more energetic incomers, form the new ruling
combination, the Chichimec empire. Of the leading power, denominated
the Chichimec, nothing is known; but the permanency of Nahua language
and civilization leads to the supposition that it is of the same race
as its predecessors. In later times the name is also applied to the
wild border tribes of the north. For several centuries Anáhuac becomes
the scene of intrigues and struggles between the different branches
of the combination for the balance of power, during which a number of
towns figure as dominating centres, and a number of tribes rise to
prominence under the traditional term of conquerors and immigrants.
Among these are the Aztecs, the representative nation of the Nahua
civilization at the coming of the Spaniards.
Upon opposite sides of the largest of a cluster of lakes which
illuminate the oval valley of Mexico have stood, since the beginning of
the fourteenth century, three cities, Tezcuco, Mexico, and Tlacopan,
capitals of three confederate nations, the Acolhuas, the Aztecs, and
the Tepanecs. To the first belonged the eastern portion of the valley,
to the second the southern and western, and to the third a small
portion of the north-west. Of this confederation, Tezcuco was for a
time the most powerful; Tlacopan was least. While keeping to their
respective limits within the valley, beyond its classic precincts
the three powers made common cause against the barbarians. About
the middle of the fifteenth century, under the warlike Montezuma
I., Mexico attained the supremacy, and during the next sixty years
extended her empire to the shores of either ocean. Within this
circuit, however, were several nations which she never conquered;
instance the Tlascaltecs, the Tarascos, and the Chiapanecs. Many there
were—for example, the people of Tehuantepec, of northern Guatemala,
and Soconusco, and the Miztecs and Zapotecs of Oajaca, whose conquest
by the Aztecs was temporary—who either paid tribute for a time only,
or who threw off the yoke the moment the invader’s back was turned.
The Matlaltzincas, west of the lakes, and the Huastecs and Totonacs
of Vera Cruz, were subjugated but a few years prior to the appearing
of the Spaniards. These coast-dwellers had not yet become reconciled
to the rule of the interior lords, but hated them as inveterate
foes; and herein lay one of the chief causes of success accompanying
the Castilian arms. Indeed, Aztec supremacy was maintained in every
quarter only by constant war; rebellion, as soon as checked in one
quarter, breaking out in another. Further than this, the Aztecs, by
their overbearing spirit, had become obnoxious to their allies; yet
their aggressive policy was continued in full force by the predecessor
of Montezuma II., Ahuitzotl, with whom war was an absorbing passion.
In the civil polity of the Aztecs were elements which, if given free
play, would by elevating the people raise the nation yet higher in
the scale of domination. This did not escape the observant neighbors,
upon whom the prospect fell with chilling fear, a fear by no means
mitigated by the ever increasing tendency of the Mexicans for the
immolation of human beings. Nor were the Aztec nobles pleased to see
political power slipping from their grasp and falling into the hands
of the people, among whom the spirit of republicanism and equality
was regarded as having already gained too great ascendancy. The
result was a struggle, not unlike that at the same time going on in
Europe, between the nobility and the commonalty, the clergy taking
sides with the former. And at the death of Ahuitzotl the higher class
succeeded in raising to the throne a person of extreme aristocratic
and religious tastes, though humble withal, as Coriolanus could not
be, to catch the common herd; for when tidings of his election were
brought him he was found sweeping the temple.
Montezuma, he was called, and surnamed Xocoyotzin, the younger, to
distinguish him from the first Montezuma, known as Huehue, the elder.
He was the son of Axayacatl and Xochicueitl, and nephew of the late
king; and had reached only his thirty-fourth year when selected for
the throne, in preference to an elder brother. The reasons alleged for
this distinction were the possession of high qualities as a warrior,
whose bravery had been tested on more than one field of battle; as
an adviser, whose words, uttered in clear, dignified tones, had been
heard in the council with respect; and as high priest, whose gravity
and circumspection had won him favor among all classes. Upon occasions
he could observe the taciturnity which so often attracts a reputation
for wisdom; and, moreover, he possessed a fine figure and a majestic
presence, such as admirably suited the monarch. He was proficient in
astronomy, picture-writing, and in certain esoteric branches, for
which he showed a natural bent; likewise he was well read in the
history of his people, and familiar with all their traditions.
This second Montezuma was a born prince, and might have been a
pattern for Niccolo Machiavelli, with whom he was contemporary. For,
like the Florentine’s ideal, he was talented, learned, crafty, and
unscrupulous. Had he studied in his own language that immaculate
manual of political ethics, _The Prince_, he could not have more
faithfully followed its precepts. No sooner had he assumed the sceptre
than, throwing off the mask by which he had deceived the plebeians,
he dismissed every person of that class employed about the palace,
and filled all vacancies, civil and military, from the ranks of the
nobles. He applied himself with energy to war and diplomacy, in both
of which he was eminently successful, and raised himself and his
throne to the highest pinnacle of grandeur; whereupon he did not
disdain the title of Emperor of the World. Notwithstanding his talents
and accomplishments, he was exceedingly superstitious, surpassing
in this respect many of his followers, and was dependent on diviners
and astrologers, appealing also to the counsels of Nezahualpilli and
other prominent personages. Men, whom he knew, he did not fear; but
the gods, whom he did not know, he feared exceedingly. And because
he practised human sacrifice to propitiate them he has been called
cruel, but the actions of a blind devotee of religion must not be
measured by a too critical standard. There was nothing cruel in the
wish of Caligula, however hateful and vindictive it might be, that
the Roman people had but one head, so that he might strike it off at
a single blow; but when he tortured men and women for amusement while
at his meals, that was the quintessence of cruelty. As for honor,
integrity, and all those virtues which go to make a man, we must not
expect them in princes or in politicians; yet we may safely say that
in all the generous qualities of mind and heart the Aztec monarch
was no whit behind contemporary European rulers.
From all which it is safe to say that Montezuma, though most
magnificent and lordly among his lords, was not popular with the
masses, and his position at this juncture was not of the safest.
His extravagance exceeded all bounds; his continuous wars were
expensive; and to meet the heavy draughts upon the treasury required
excessive taxation. This was made to weigh with special heaviness on
the subjugated provinces, on which likewise was laid with peculiar
aggravation the horrible burden of furnishing victims for human
sacrifices. The successful resistance to his arms of several states
enclosed by his conquests, or bordering on his domain, caused him no
small unhappiness. There was the little republic of Tlascala, on the
very border of the Mexican valley, which often he had tried to conquer,
and failed. Then there was the Tarascan kingdom of Michoacan, on the
western side, whose people boasted as high a culture as any of the
lake region, which stood firm against all efforts of the confederation.
With nations beyond their border little intercourse existed, yet
Aztec traders, likewise playing spies, were often as far south as
Nicaragua, and along the coasts of Honduras and Yucatan. There is no
doubt, therefore, that the presence in those parts of the Spaniards
was known to Montezuma from the first. It might have been like a voice
from behind the clouds, the reports of Columbus and Pinzon, but the
appearing of Córdoba and Grijalva, who talked and drew blood, was
something more tangible. The people of Tuito, on the west coast of
Mexico, held that before the conquest a vessel was lost there, from
which had landed more than forty persons, dressed like Spaniards,
and whom the natives received kindly, but finally slew because they
insisted on the worship of the cross.[138] A box thrown up by the
waves, and containing peculiar clothing, gold rings, and a sword which
no one could break, was said to have been in Montezuma’s possession.
Vague as were these appearings, there was something painfully
portentous in them.
For the chief divinity of the Nahua nations was Quetzalcoatl, the
gentle god, ruler of the air, controller of the sun and rain, and
source of all prosperity. In the palmy days of the Toltecs he had
been their king, the creator of their golden age, giving them metals,
improved government, and products of spontaneous growth; after which
he was their god, with his chief shrine at Cholula, where surrounding
peoples, even those inimical to the city, maintained temples for his
worship. From toward the rising sun Quetzalcoatl had come; and he
was white, with large eyes, and long black hair, and copious beard.
After a final rule of twenty years at Cholula he set out for the
country whence he came, and on reaching the seaboard of Goazacoalco
he sailed away on a craft of snakes. His last words were that one day
bearded white men, brethren of his, perhaps he himself, would come by
way of the sea in which the sun rises, and would enter in and rule
the land;[139] and from that day, with a fidelity befitting Hebrews
waiting the coming of their Messiah, the Mexican people watched for
the fulfilment of this prophecy, which promised them a gentle rule,
free from bloody sacrifices and oppression; but to their sovereign
the thought gave rise to deep apprehension, for then his own reign
must terminate.
Thus it was that the tidings of strange sails and bearded white men
on their eastern border were received at the gay capital with mingled
fear and joy. And marvel-mongers went about the streets talking of
the good Quetzalcoatl and his pedigree, of the signs and wonders that
had been seen, the prodigies, oracles, and occult divinations, as
in ancient Athens the old families of Olympus, with their ape-gods
and bull-gods of Memphis, and the dog-headed monster Anubis, were
discussed; and as for Rome, Lucan has recorded no omens which the
sages of Mexico could not now match. To what extent the Spanish
chroniclers have assisted the natives in the manufacture of marvels
I leave the reader to judge, simply recommending to his consideration
the accompanying lengthy note; neither, however, fell into the madness
of Canute, who chose the time the tide was rising, instead of when
it was falling, to order the stay of waters.
It was not alone in Mexico, but in distant parts, and on the islands,
that man and nature were thus annoyed by the supernatural. There were
found predictions centuries old, by priests widely separated, and the
poems of wise men, all pointing in the one direction. The destruction
of towns was predicted by a philosopher; the famine of 1505 spoke more
plainly than words; Popocatepetl, choked by consternation, failed to
emit his smoke for twenty days, which, however, was a good omen; an
eclipse and an earthquake near together and the drowning of eighteen
hundred soldiers were decidedly unfavorable. Most terrible of all,
however, were a three-headed comet in open day, a pyramidal light
at night, and other portentous scenes, such as the furious uprising
of the lake, the awakening of the dead, and visits to the spirit
world.[140]
To us the most wonderful part of it is, not the wonders themselves,
but that it should so happen, if indeed it did, that these fearful
forebodings, running back for generations, should all converge toward
the coming of the brethren of Quetzalcoatl at the very time the
Spaniards appeared, and that the latter should be in so many respects
as the good gods themselves were to have been. The prophecies of Isaiah
are dim indeed and unfathomable as compared with these. To what end
are signs that cannot be interpreted until after the occurrence, as is
generally the case, when their interpretation is not needed, sages do
not say. But in this instance the testimony is abundant and explicit
that many of these prodigies were at the time received, not only
by Montezuma and his people, but by the neighboring nations, as the
distinct announcement of the coming of the gods, who did in good truth
appear at the proper time in the person of the Spaniards. And what
should be their doom, those stupid and profane men of Potonchan and
Tabasco, who had raised their hands against these heavenly messengers!
We are further assured that, prior to the arrival of any Spaniard,
some of the subjected provinces assumed an air of independence,
encouraged by the fear which these occurrences produced on the Aztecs,
against whom they were regarded as especially directed. Cuetlachtlan
sorcerers having in their divining-pits conjured up visions of Mexicans
acting as abject carriers to armed bearded men astride giant deer,
this people became in 1511 so insolent as to refuse the customary
tribute, and even to murder the Aztec officials sent to collect it.
And so involved was Montezuma in divers troubles that he was unable
to resent the outrage.
The thought occurred to the Mexican monarch that perhaps the
threatened evils might be averted by propitiating the gods with
greater sacrifices. For this the several campaigns then waged or
concluded promised an abundance of victims; and to make the holocaust
still more imposing, it was resolved to consecrate at the same time
a new sacrificial stone. After diligent search a suitable stone was
found at Tenanitlan, near Coyohuacan. The sculptors having finished
their work, and the priests theirs, with loud hosannas it was rolled
along toward the imperial city. While crossing the Xolco canal the
bridge broke, and the stone sank beneath the water, dragging down
the high-priest and his attendants, “who went to hell quicker than
the stone,” comments the pious Torquemada. The stone, however, was
recovered, and consecrated on the summit of the great temple, in
1512, with the blood of over twelve thousand captives.[141]
And now Montezuma almost wishes the calamities he fears were already
upon him, so full of dread and dire oppression is he. Priests, chiefs
of wards, and other officials, says Tezozomoc, are commanded to
ascertain and impart all dreams and strange occurrences relating to
a coming people or to the throne. Wise and politic as he is, he does
not seem to know that this is only placing himself and his malady
at the mercy of the masses. Who could not conjure up visions under
such a summons? Some old men immediately come forward with a dream,
wherein Huitzilopochtli’s image is overthrown and his temple burned
to the ground, leaving no vestige. Certain hags next appear with a
dream of a furious stream, which has swept away the palace and temple,
forcing the lords to flee the city.
This will not do. Away with such trumpery! And so the terrified monarch
hurls the evil dreamers into prison, and leaves them there to die of
starvation, while he orders on new ones in the persons of the priests
and men of circumspection. But softly now. These wise ones deem it
prudent not to dream at all, which course only adds suspicion to the
hot anger of Montezuma. Next he calls on all astrologers, sorcerers,
and diviners in the empire to dream, to cause others to dream, and
to declare their dreams; to declare the secrets of the starry realms,
and all things pertinent on and in this earth. Neither will these ply
their avocation during such troublous times. Down with them, then,
to the lowest depths! In prison, however, they do understand that the
planets and terrestrial phenomena combine to foreshadow extraordinary
occurrences, whether for good or evil the emperor will soon enough
know. “Force them to tell; burn them else,” are the next instructions.
But the messengers find the prison, though guarded, empty. The unhappy
monarch sends to their respective towns and demolishes their houses,
but these agents of offended heaven are never seen again.[142]
This, and more of yet wilder strain continued in the note, shows at
least that prior to the coming of the Spaniards the people of the
Mexican valley, and their sovereign in particular, were profoundly
moved with fearful forebodings of calamity of some kind. And whether
these forebodings pointed to some strange arrival by sea or other
marvel, certain it is that they opened the door of this rich realm
to the invaders.
Ever intent on means to propitiate the gods, Montezuma in 1517 hit
upon the idea of plating the temple of Huitzilopochtli with gold set
with precious stones and feathers, and gave the order accordingly to
Tzompantzin, the minister of finance. Now Tzompantzin was an old and
faithful servant of the government, blunt withal, and nowise afraid
to die. He was of the ancient chivalry, not wholly in sympathy with
the present régime, and did not hesitate to expostulate with his
sovereign, saying that the people would be ruined by the proposed
tax. “Beside,” he concluded, “Huitzilopochtli will not long be god,
for those even now are coming who will take for themselves all these
riches and lord it over us forever.” That very night Tzompantzin and
his son were politely escorted across the dark river.[143]
The following year, 1518, the temple of Coatlan was dedicated, with
the usual sacrifices, the last recorded holocaust to consecrate a
heathen temple. For already the white-winged vessels of Spain were
at hand, having on board the messengers of a purer religion, even if
it did not at once prove to be the gospel of peace to the poor Indian.
Pinotl, calpixque of Cuetlachtlan, was the first of Montezuma’s
captains, according to the native record, to make observations for
the emperor of the dreaded visitants. Prompted no less by zeal in his
master’s service than by curiosity, Pinotl, with several attendants,
armed with provisions and rich mantles for presents, had mingled
with the crowd which boarded Grijalva’s vessel, and had prostrated
himself at the feet of the commander and his officers as before kings
or gods.[144] The beads and other trinkets given in return for their
goods they received as priceless marks of favor from supernatural
personages. When Pinotl explained as best he was able the majesty
and wealth of his sovereign, Grijalva promised to return some day and
visit him in his great city. Bearing with them paintings on _amatl_,
or maguey paper, of the vessels with all their belongings, and of the
soldiers and sailors with their arms, armor, dress, and attitude, down
to their very swagger, and leaving orders that the strangers should
be treated with every consideration, the chief men of the province
set out by fast relays to report the awful tidings to the emperor.[145]
Entering the imperial presence they prostrated their bodies to the
ground, which they kissed, declaring themselves worthy of death for
having ventured unbidden before their lord, but their mission permitted
no delay. “For oh! most dread sovereign,” they exclaimed, “we have
seen gods! All of us here present have seen their water-houses on
our shores. We have talked with them, and eaten with them, and have
handled them with our hands; we have given them gifts, and have
received in return these priceless treasures.” Then they showed the
glass beads, a specimen too often approaching the value of the gifts
received by the strong from the weak. Montezuma sat mute, scarcely
heeding the messages sent him by Grijalva, concerned most of all that
vassals should not witness his dismay. Here again was his phantasy
before him, like the shade of dead Hector before Æneas, warning him
against hopeless resistance to the preordained fall of Troy.
Bidding the men retire and keep secret what they had seen, Montezuma
hastily summoned his privy council,[146] King Cacama of Tezcuco, his
brother Cuitlahuatzin, lord of Itzapalapan, and laid before them
the mystery. After sage consultations, attended by divinings and
comparisons of signs, prophecies, and traditions, not unlike the
means by which we of to-day likewise ascertain the unknowable, it
was concluded that this commander was none other than the fair-hued
god himself, who had returned to resume the throne, as he had said.
Therefore resistance would be in vain; and the only proper course was
to tender worthy reception and conciliate with gifts. The chiefs were
sent back with orders for the governors of the coast districts[147]
to report any arrival or strange occurrence. Following them was an
embassy of five persons bearing rich presents, with instructions to
bid the god welcome in the name of the emperor and of his court; yet
they were to watch him closely. But the embassy was too late. Grijalva
had gone.[148]
FOOTNOTES
[138] When Francisco Cortés entered the town, shortly
after the fall of Mexico, he was met by a body of Indians
with their hair tonsured like priests, and with crosses
in their hands, headed by the chief in flowing white gown
and scapulary. This, they explained, had been the practice
of the shipwrecked crew, who had held up the cross as a
recourse from all danger. _Frejes_, _Hist. Conq._, 63-4.
This authority places implicit reliance in the story, and
regards the strangers as a missionary party driven from
the East Indies or China. _Jalisco_, _Mem. Hist._, 30-2.
[139] See _Native Races_, iii. and v., 25-6, for the myths
relating to Quetzalcoatl, and to their interpretation,
in which occur the characters of the Messiah and the
apostle Saint Thomas, with whom some pious chroniclers
have identified him. The Saint Thomas idea is advocated in
_Florencia_, _Hist. Prov. Comp. de Jesus_, 234.
[140] The natives of Española are said to have received
an oracle shortly before Columbus’ arrival, announcing
the coming of bearded men, with sharp, bright swords.
_Villagvtierre_, _Hist. Conq. Itza._, 33. The Yucatec
records abound in predictions to the same effect, more or
less clear. The most widely quoted is that of Chilam Balam,
high-priest of Mani, and reputed a great prophet, who
foretold that, ere many years, there would come from the
direction of the rising sun a bearded white people, bearing
aloft the cross which he displayed to his listeners. Their
gods would flee before the new-comers, and leave them to
rule the land; but no harm would fall on the peaceful who
admitted the only true God. The priest had a cotton mantle
woven, to be deposited in the temple at Mani, as a specimen
of the tribute required by the new rulers, and he it was who
erected the stone crosses found by the Spaniards, declaring
them to be the true tree of the world. Cogolludo, _Hist.
Yucathan_, 99-101, gives the prophecy at length, which is
not quite so clear as the version which he afterward quotes
from Herrera. The latter calls the priest Chilam Cambal,
and says: ‘Esta fue la causa que preguntauan a Francisco
Hernandez de Cordoua, y a los suyos, si yuan de donde nacia
el Sol.’ Dec. ii. lib. iii. cap. i. Alaman enters into a
profound argument on the above, and interprets Chilam Cambal
to be the Chinese for Saint Thomas. In seeking to give a
date he mistakes the meaning of a Yucatec age and places
the prophecy back at the beginning of the Christian era.
The opening lines of the prophecy read, ‘at the end of the
thirteenth age,’ which should be interpreted ‘at the end
of two hundred and sixty years.’ The name is also given as
Chilam Balan and Chilan Balam, the latter part savoring of
the Canaanite divinity. _Remesal_, _Hist. Chyapa_, 245-6;
_Gonzalez Dávila_, _Teatro Ecles._, i. 203-4. A priest of
Itzalan, named Patzin Yaxun Chan, is recorded as having
urged his people to worship the true god, whose word would
soon come to them; and the high-priest of the same place,
Na Hau Pech, prophesied that within four ages—a Yucatec
age equals twenty of our years—news would be brought of
the supreme God, by men who must be received as guests and
masters. Ah Ku Kil Chel, also a priest, spoke with sorrow
of ills to come upon the people from the north and from the
east. In the age following the date of his prediction no
priest would be found to explain the will of their idols.
Another temple guardian announced that in the last age
idolatry would cease, and the world would be purified by
fire. Happy he who repented! _Cogolludo_, _Hist. Yucathan_,
97-101. Several prophecies therein quoted literally are
reproduced in _Villagvtierre_, _Hist. Conq. Itza._, 34-5,
which also refers to Itzan predictions.
Among the Mexicans, says Mendieta, predictions were current
some four generations before the conquest of the coming
of bearded men dressed in raiments of different color, and
with caskets on their heads. Then the idols would perish,
leaving but one supreme God; war would cease, roads would
be opened, intercourse established, and the husband would
cherish but one wife. _Hist. Ecles._, 180; _Torquemada_,
i. 235-6. This smacks of an elaboration of the Quetzalcoatl
promise. Nezahualcoyotl, the wise Tezcucan monarch, who died
in 1472, left poems in which chroniclers have discovered
vague allusions to a coming race. The reader may, perhaps, be
equally fortunate if he examine the specimens of his poems
given in _Native Races_, ii. 494-7. His son Nezahualpilli,
equally celebrated as a just king and a philosopher, versed
in the occult arts, revealed to Montezuma that, according
to his astrologic investigations, their towns would within
a few years be destroyed and their vassals decimated. This,
he added, would soon be verified by celestial signs and
other phenomena. _Duran_, _Hist. Ind._, MS., ii. 254-7. The
precursor of these harbingers of evil appears to have been
the famine of 1505, which compelled many a parent to sell his
children for the means to obtain food, while others lined
the road-side with their famished bodies. The cessation of
smoke from the volcano Popocatepetl, for twenty days, was
a feature seized upon by the diviners as a sign of relief;
and true enough, in the following year, the suffering people
were cheered with an abundant harvest. Soon again their fears
were roused by an eclipse and an earthquake, in the very
inaugural year of the new cycle, 1507, and by the drowning
of 1800 soldiers during the Miztec campaign. Almost every
succeeding year confirmed their apprehensions by one or
more signs or occurrences of an ominous nature. One of the
most alarming was the appearance, in broad day, of a comet
with three heads, which darted across the sky, eastward,
with such speed that the tails seemed to scatter sparks.
‘Salieron cometas del cielo de tres en tres ... parecian
... echando de sí brasas de fuego ... y llevaban grandes y
largas colas.’ _Mendieta_, _Hist. Ecles._, 179. ‘Cayó una
cometa, parecian tres estrellas.’ _Sahagun_, _Hist. Conq._,
i. 4; _Native Races_, v. 466. After this, in 1507 or 1510,
a pyramidal light, which scattered sparks on all sides,
rose at midnight from the eastern horizon till its apex
reached the zenith, where it faded at dawn. This continued
for forty days, or for a year, according to some accounts.
‘Diez años antes que viniesen los españoles ... duró por
espacio de un año cada noche.’ _Sahagun_, _Hist. Conq._,
i. 3. ‘Ocho años antes de la venida de los españoles, ... y
esto se vió cuatro años.’ _Id._, _Hist. Gen._, ii. 271. It
occurred in 1509, and lasted over forty days. _Codex Tell.
Rem._, in _Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq._, v. 154; vi. 144. The
interpreter of the Codex enters into a lengthy argument to
prove it a volcanic eruption, one of his points being that
the original picture-writing places the light as appearing
behind, or from, the mountains east of the city. In 1510,
_Ixtlilxochitl_, _Hist. Chich._, 278, or year five, toxtli.
_Codex Chimalpopoca_, MS.; _Camargo_, _Hist. Tlax._, 139.
Torquemada, who had no other authority for the preceding
comet than Herrera, considered that by the comet was meant
this light, i. 234. Humboldt suggests that the fiery pyramid
may have been a zodiacal light. Astrologers announced that
it portended wars, famine, pestilence, mortality among the
lords, every imaginable ill, in fact, and causing one general
cry of fear and lament. Montezuma himself was so troubled
that he applied for advice to Nezahualpilli, although they
had not been on speaking terms for some time. This royal
astrologer showed his apprehensions by ordering all campaigns
then upon his hands to be suspended, and announced to
his confrère that the disasters in store would be brought
upon the empire by a strange race. Montezuma expressed his
disbelief, and proposed a game of _tlachtli_ to decide the
interpretation. As if resigned to the fate predicted for
himself, and desirous of showing how little he appreciated
wealth and power, Nezahualpilli is said to have staked on
the result his kingdom against three turkey-cocks. The wager
was not so hazardous, however, as it seemed, for the king
of Tezcuco was a good player. After allowing Montezuma to
win the first two points, and raising high his hopes, he
stopped his exultation by scoring the rest for himself.
Still doubtful, Montezuma called on an astrologer famous for
his many true announcements, only to receive confirmation
of Nezahualpilli’s utterance, whereupon the irate monarch
caused the house to be pulled down over the diviner, who
perished in the ruins. _Ixtlilxochitl_, _Hist. Chich._,
278-9; _Veytia_, _Hist. Ant. Méj._, iii. 345-7. Clavigero,
who connects the game with a comet, is quite earnest in
asserting his belief in traditions and presages of the
coming of Spaniards, as attested by native paintings and
by witnesses of high standing. ‘Se il Demonio pronosticava
le future calamità per ingannar que’ miserabili Popoli, il
pietosissimo Dio le annunziava per disporre i loro spiriti
al Vangelo.’ _Storia Mess._, i. 288-9. According to Duran,
the summoning of Nezahualpilli was due to a comet with an
enormous tail, which burst upon the view of a temple-watcher
as it rose in the east and settled above the city. Montezuma,
who had been roused to witness the phenomenon, called on
his sorcerers for an explanation, and on finding that they
had seen nothing, had them punished for their sloth. The
wise Tezcucan then came and presaged dire calamities, which
would also afflict himself. He was resigned, and would retire
to await death. This was to be the last interview between
the two kings. _Hist. Ind._, MS., ii. 274-85. Torquemada
compares the comet to that which, according to Josephus,
lib. vii. cap. xii., presaged the entry of Titus into Judea.
When Nezahualpilli returned to his palace, a hare ran into
the halls, pursued by eager domestics, but he bade them to
leave it, saying that even so would a strange people enter
into Anáhuac without resistance. _Torquemada_, i. 211-12,
214. Bernal Diaz speaks of a round sign in the eastern
sky, of a reddish green, to which was attached a streak
extending eastward. The consequent predictions of war and
pestilence he finds fulfilled in the campaign of Cortés,
and in the smallpox epidemic introduced by Narvaez. _Hist.
Verdad._ (Paris ed. 1837), iv. 460-1. Among the accounts of
celestial signs which may be based on the preceding is one
by Camargo, describing a brightness observed in the east by
the Tlascaltecs, three hours before dawn, accompanied by
a whirlwind of dust from the summit of Mount Matlalcueje.
Remesal refers probably to the same whirlwind under the guise
of a white cloud, like a pillar, which often appeared in the
east before sunrise, and afterward descended upon the cross
erected in Tlascala by the Spaniards. The natives accepted
this as an intimation that the new-comers were heaven’s
chosen people, and received the cross. _Hist. Chyapa_, 304;
_Camargo_, _Hist. Tlax._, 140. Gomara appears to connect
this eastern light with a thick smoke and with the fiery
pyramid, which were followed by a battle in the sky between
bodies of armed men, attended with great slaughter. Some
of the courtiers surrounding Montezuma while he observed
this phenomenon, pointed out that the arms and dress of the
victorious faction resembled those in the chest which had
been washed up on the coast. He declared his conviction,
however, that they must be relics of his divine ancestors,
not of mortal beings who fell on a battle-field, as these
forms appeared to do. He proposed, as a test, that they
should break the divine sword. This they tried, but in
vain, and remained mute with wonder at its flexibility and
strength. _Hist. Mex._, 214; _Herrera_, dec. iii. lib. ii.
cap. ix. Mendieta places this sign in 1511. _Hist. Ecles._,
179. The last celestial sign, as described by Mendieta, is
a large, brilliant comet, which appeared the very year of
the Spaniards’ arrival, and remained immovable in the air
for several days. _Hist. Ecles._, 180. Before Nezahualpilli
returned to his capital, after interpreting the fiery signs,
he was feasted by Montezuma, and the two monarchs thereupon
retired to the diviners’ chamber to search into the legends
of their forefathers for further light upon the omens. From
this circumstance grew the story that the twain had made a
journey to the ancient home of their race. Nezahualpilli,
being a conjurer, took Montezuma through the air to the
Seven Caves, where they conversed with the brethren of
their ancestors. On learning that the first named was a
descendant of the great Chichimecatl Xolotl, he was offered
the government of this region, but declined, promising,
however, to return at a later date. _Torquemada_, i. 212-13.
Duran applies to the reign of Montezuma I. a similar story,
which is more appropriate to the present subject. Eager
to acquaint his ancestors with the glorious achievements
of their progeny, and to learn something of the old home,
this monarch sent a force of sixty sorcerers on a mission
to Chicomoztoc, with numerous presents for Coatlicue, the
mother of the divine Huitzilopochtli. Transforming themselves
into animals, they reached the sacred region occupied by
some Aztecs whom the god had left behind when he set out on
his career of conquest. These venerable settlers were not a
little surprised to behold in the effeminate and ephemeral
specimens before them the descendants of that doughty leader
and of his companions. On reaching the abode of the divine
mother, the sorcerers found an old woman sorrowing over her
lost son. The news of his glorious fate roused her interest,
and she was induced to reveal several prophecies by her son,
among them one concerning the coming of a strange people
to wrest the land from the Mexicans. The messengers were
dismissed with presents of food and clothing, and returned
to their master with twenty of their number missing. _Hist.
Ind._, MS., i. 467-86. Additional facts may be found in
_Native Races_, v. 422-4, etc. Another visit to the spirit
world is attributed to Papantzin, sister of Montezuma II.,
who, shortly after his accession, had married the lord
of Tlatelulco. He soon died, and after ruling for a few
years she, in 1509, followed him to the grave. She was
buried with great pomp in her garden, in a vault closed by
a flag-stone. The next morning she was discovered sitting
on the steps of the bath adjoining the vault. Her niece,
a child of five or six years, was the first to notice her.
Too young to understand what would frighten older heads, she
fearlessly approached the resurrected woman, and was told
to call Papantzin’s mayordoma. This old dame, on receiving
the summons, thought it a child’s prank, and would not
stir, but at last she yielded, and on seeing the form of
her late mistress, swooned with fear. Others proved more
courageous, and carried her into the house. Papantzin now
enjoined silence, and wished to call Montezuma, but no
one daring to appear before the cruel and superstitious
monarch, Nezahualpilli was summoned, and he brought the
brother with him to her dwelling, together with several
attendants. To them she related that, on being released
from her earthly bonds, she had entered a boundless plain,
upon a road which soon divided into several branches. On
one side was a fiercely running stream, which she attempted
to cross, but was motioned back by a youth of fine stature,
dressed in a loose robe of dazzling whiteness. His face,
bright as a star, was of fair complexion, the eyes grey,
and the forehead marked with a cross. Taking her by the
hand, he led her up the valley past heaps of dead men’s
bones, from many of which rose the sound of lament. She
also observed a number of black persons, with horns and
deer legs, building a house. As the sun rose, large vessels
could be seen ascending the river, bearing white and bearded
men in strange attire, with shining head-gear, and standard
borne aloft. They were children of the sun. The youth, in
pointing them out, said that God did not yet wish her to
pass the river, which could never be recrossed, but to wait
and bear testimony to the faith coming with these men, who
were destined to wage great wars with her people and become
their masters. The lamenting bones were her forefathers—‘who
had not received the faith,’ is the uncharitable term used
by Torquemada—suffering for their evil deeds, and the house
building was to hold the bones of those slain in battle by
the fair-faced crews. She must return to earth, await these
men, and guide her people to baptism. On being restored to
her senses from the death or trance, whatever her listeners
chose to term it, she removed the stone from the vault and
returned to her chamber. Many of those present sneered at
the story as originating in the brain of a sick woman, but
Montezuma was more deeply moved than he cared to show. He
never again saw his sister, who lived a retired life till
the arrival of the Spaniards. She then came forward, the
first woman in Tlatelulco to receive baptism, and under the
name of María Papantzin rendered good aid in the missionary
cause. This account, says Torquemada, has been taken from
old native paintings, translated and sent to Spain, and
was regarded as strictly true among the natives, Papantzin
being well known in the town. ‘Esta Señora era del numero
de los Predestinados,’ i. 238-9. Ixtlilxochitl, strangely
enough, does not refer to the resurrection. According to
him, the mother of Ixtlilxochitl, king of Tezcuco, was the
first woman baptized, and this under compulsion from her
husband. She received the name of María. After her came
Papantzin, now wife of this king, who was named Beatriz.
Cortés stood godfather to both. Sahagun refers briefly to
the resurrection of a woman of Tenochtitlan, who issued,
four days after her death, from the garden vault where
she had been deposited. Appearing before Montezuma, she
announced that with him would cease the Mexican empire,
for other people were coming to rule and settle. This woman
lived twenty-one years after this, and bore another child.
_Hist. Gen._, ii. 270-1. At this rate she must have been
alive when Sahagun arrived in the country; yet he fails to
speak of her as a princess. Boturini applies the story to a
sister of King Caltzontzin, of Michoacan, who died at the
time the Spaniards were besieging Mexico, and rose within
four days to warn her brother not to listen to the Mexican
overtures for an alliance against the white invaders. The
new-comers, she said, were destined by heaven to rule the
land, and a testimony hereof would appear on the principal
feast-day in the form of a youth, who, rising in the eastern
sky, with a light in one hand and a sword in the other,
would glide over the city and disappear in the west. This
sign appearing, the king did as she bade him, rejected
the Mexican advances, and received the Spaniards in peace.
_Catálogo_, 27-8. Clavigero censures Boturini’s work, in
this connection, as full of fables, and this after solemnly
observing that the Papantzin incident ‘fu pubblico, e
strepitoso, acaduto in presenza di due Re, e della Nobiltà
Messicana. Trovossi altresi rappresentato in alcune dipinture
di quelle Nazioni, e se ne mandò alla Corte di Spagna un
attestato giuridico.’ _Storia Mess._, i. 289-92. He places
the baptism of Papantzin in 1524. _Veytia_, _Hist. Ant.
Méj._, iii. 348-52; _Vetancvrt_, _Teatro Mex._, pt. iii.
125-6. Torquemada gives the story of what occurred in the
spirit land in her own words; so does Clavigero, though
he differs slightly. See also his English translation by
Cullen. As if in confirmation of her story, ominous signs
became more numerous than ever. The big lake of Mexico began
to boil and foam without apparent cause, the water rising
high within the city and creating great damage. The date
generally accepted for this occurrence is 1509, but Mendieta,
_Hist. Ecles._, 178, says 1499. The lake, like the sky, was
connected with more than one mysterious occurrence. A troop
of Huatuscan conjurers arrived shortly after this in the
imperial city to exhibit tricks, in one of which they cut
off their hands and feet, disclosing bleeding stumps, and
then replaced the members. In order to test whether this
was an illusion or not, the emperor ordered the severed
members to be thrown into boiling water before they were
returned to the performers. This unwarranted curiosity
stirred the magicians to the very core, and before retiring
they predicted that the lake would be tinged with blood, and
that their avengers would soon appear in a strange people,
the conquerors of the empire. Not long after, Montezuma
noticed streaks of blood in the lake, mingled with a number
of human heads and limbs. He called others to witness the
sight, but none save himself could see it. Sending to the
injured conjurers for an explanation, they replied that
the vision denoted great and bloody battles to be waged in
the city by the strange people. _Herrera_, dec. iii. lib.
ii. cap. ix. About the same time some fishermen caught
a grey bird, like a crane, with a round comb or diadem,
resembling a mirror. On being brought before Montezuma,
he was startled by seeing reflected in this mirror the
heavenly bodies, although none appeared in the sky, for it
was yet daylight. The next moment the stars had vanished,
and in their place were seen beings, half man and half deer,
who moved about in battle array. Diviners were called to
give their explanation, but when they came the bird had
disappeared. Torquemada appears to date this as early as
1505, i. 235. _Camargo_, _Hist. Tlasc._, 139-40. Another
great bird is referred to, with a human head, which soared
above the lake uttering the prediction that speedily would
come the new rulers of the empire. Other monsters were found
in the shape of double-bodied and double-headed men, which
dissolved in the air shortly after being brought to the
sorcerers’, or black hall, of Montezuma. A horrible animal
was caught near Tecualoia. _Torquemada_, i. 214. During
all the years of these signs could be heard, at frequent
intervals, a female voice lamenting, ‘Oh, my children, all
is lost to us! My children, whither will you be taken?’
_Id._, 214, 233. A similar voice was heard before the fall
of Jerusalem. _Josephus_, lib. vii. cap. xii.; _Mendieta_,
_Hist. Ecles._, 180; _Veytia_, _Hist. Ant. Méj._, iii. 358;
_Sahagun_, _Hist. Gen._, i. 5. In 1510 the imperial city
was startled, one clear, quiet night, by a fire, which,
bursting from the heart of the timbers in the temple of
Huitzilopochtli, burned all the fiercer under the efforts
made to quench it. A precursor of this had been the fall
of a stone column close to the temple, coming no one knew
whence. ‘El chapitel de un Cú de Vitzilopuchtli, que se
llamaba Tlacoteca, se encendió.’ _Sahagun_, _Hist. Conq._, i.
3-4. Shortly after, the temple of the fire god Xiuhtecutli,
at Zocomolco, was stricken by lightning and burned. This
occurred without the usual accompaniment of thunder, and
with but a sprinkle of rain; many regarded it as done by
a sunbeam, and consequently as particularly ominous. ‘Los
Indios decian ... el Sol ha quemado este Templo; porque ni
hemos visto Relampago, ni hemos oido Trueno.’ _Torquemada_,
i. 214, 234. Believing, or pretending to believe, the city
attacked by enemies, the Tlatelulcans rushed to arms, for
which excess of zeal they were punished by a suspension
of all their townsmen who held positions at court. _Native
Races_, v. 461-67.
[141] Torquemada assumes that the 12,210 victims comprised
also those offered at the consecration of two new temples,
Tlamatzinco and Quauhxicalli. See _Native Races_, v. 471.
Tezozomoc relates that the laborers, after striving in vain
to move the stone from its original site, heard it utter,
in a muffled voice, ‘Your efforts are in vain; I enter not
into Mexico.’ The incident finds a parallel in the vain
effort of Tarquin to remove certain statues of the gods, to
make room for Jupiter’s temple, and in the firm adherence
of Apollo’s head to the ground, shortly before the death
of the Roman ruler. But recovering from their alarm, they
tried again, and now the stone moved almost of its own
accord. Another halt is made, a second oracle delivered, and
finally the stone reaches the bridge, where it disappears
into the water. Amid the invocation of priests, divers
descend in search, only to come back with the report that
no vestige of it is to be found; but there is a fathomless
pit extending toward Chalco. While diviners are cudgelling
their brains for clues, in comes a messenger to announce
that the stone, like the Penates of Æneas, had returned to
its original site, arrayed in all the sacrificial ornaments.
Observing in this occurrence the divine will, Montezuma let
the stone remain, and recognizing at the same time a menace
to himself, perhaps of speedy death, he ordered his statue
to be at once sculptured by the side of his predecessors,
on the rocky face of Chapultepec Hill. Tezozomoc describes
the statue. _Hist. Mex._, ii. 204-7. _Duran_, _Hist. Ind._,
MS., ii. 313-27. _Clavigero_, _Storia Mess._, i. 292-3.
Among the troubles which after this fell upon the doomed
people are mentioned: An earthquake in 1513. _Codex Tell.
Rem._, in _Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq._, v. 154. A locust
plague. ‘Vieronse gran cantidad de mariposas, y langostas,
que passauan de buelo hàzia el Occidente.’ _Herrera_, dec.
iii. lib. ii. cap. ix. A deluge in Tuzapan, and a fall
of snow which overwhelmed the army en route for Amatlan.
While crossing the mountains, rocks and trees came tumbling
down upon them, killing a large number, while others froze
to death. Ixtlilxochitl places this in 1514. Others say
1510. During the Soconusco campaign, see _Native Races_, v.
472, the ground opened near Mexico, and threw up water and
fish. The Indians interpreted this to signify a victory,
but the lord of Culhuacan intimated, with a shake of the
head, that one force expelled another, whereat Montezuma’s
delight somewhat abated. ‘Quando prendio Cortes a entrambos,
se accordò (Montezuma) muy bien de aquellas palabras.’
_Herrera_, ubi sup.
[142] Meanwhile it came to pass that an eagle swooped down
upon a peasant at work in a field not far from Mexico,
and seizing him by the hair in full view of his neighbors,
bore him out of sight. Landed high upon a mountain, the man
found himself led by invisible hands through a dark cave
into a hall of dazzling splendor, where Montezuma lay as
if asleep. Less favored than Ganymede, he was permitted
to see no other form, but voices around explained to him
that this was a representation of the emperor intoxicated
with pride and blinded by vanity. Tezozomoc writes that the
eagle assumed the form of a lord and spoke; but a superior
being can hardly be supposed to have assumed the office
of carrying a low peasant. A lighted pipe with a rose was
placed in his hand, with orders to burn a mark upon the
monarch’s leg, and then proceed to court and relate to him
what had occurred, pointing out the blister in testimony.
The gods were annoyed at his conduct and rule, which had
evoked the ills soon to overthrow him. Let him amend and
use well the short term still allotted to him. The next
moment the peasant found himself borne through the air
by the eagle, which enjoined upon him to obey the command
received. The man did so, and Montezuma, recalling a dream
to the same effect, looked and found a wound, which now
began to burn painfully. Throwing the man into prison as
an evil sorcerer, he sought his doctors for relief. ‘Lo
que vio el labrador, pudo ser que aconteciesse en vision
imaginatiua porque ... no es increyble que Dios por medio
de vn Angel bueno ordenasse ... que aquel auiso se diesse.’
_Herrera_, dec. iii. lib. ii. cap. ix. Montezuma now resolved
to seek a refuge where none of the threatened evils might
reach him. The place selected was Cicalco, ‘house of the
rabbit,’ painted by the myths as an abode of delight,
abounding in every product, sown with flowers, and flowing
with crystal waters, a place where death never entered.
As a preliminary step four human victims were flayed and
their spirits sent to Huemac, the ruler of that region, to
prepare the way for the living messengers. These consisted
of sorcerers, accompanied by dwarfs and hunchbacks to carry
the flayed skins as presents. Two hunchbacks were sent with
the skins of ten flayed men, says Duran. Entering the cave
leading to Cicalco, they were guided by its guardian into
the bowels of the earth, and presented themselves before
the Aztec Pluto. With humble reverence they proffered the
skins with the prayer of Montezuma for admission into that
abode of delight and into his service. Unwilling to make
an exception to the rule for admission through death’s
portals, Huemac sent the messengers back with presents,
giving the evasive reply that their master should confide to
him his sorrows and await relief. On receiving this report
Montezuma angrily ordered the men to be cast into prison,
and sent other messengers with fresh skins, repeating his
request for admission, yet conforming in so far as to ask
for an explanation of the many signs abroad. Huemac, again
avoiding a direct answer, told them that Cicalco was quite
a different place from what they supposed it to be. He
and his comrades stayed not of their own accord, but were
kept there by a superior power, steeped in abject toil
and misery. This unsatisfactory report entailed upon the
messengers the same punishment as before. Two Acolhuan chiefs
were now entrusted with fresh skins and the request that
Huemac should at least explain the signs which threatened
the emperor, if he still refused him admission. Among these
signs is mentioned a white cloud rising at midnight toward
the sky. Propitiated by the higher rank or qualities of
these messengers, or by the earnest perseverance of their
master, Huemac explained that the sufferings and menaces
were the result of his pride and cruelty. Let him amend,
and as a preliminary task begin a fast of eighty days.
This accomplished, Huemac would meet him at Tlachtonco, on
the summit of Chapultepec. Montezuma was so delighted with
this answer that he rewarded the chiefs most liberally, and
made the necessary arrangements for the government of the
empire during his seclusion. Going at the appointed time to
Tlachtonco, a brilliant stone ordered him to make certain
preparations and return in four days, when he would be
conducted to Cicalco. This he did, after enjoining secrecy
upon all who had assisted in the matter. Arrayed in a human
skin adorned with precious stones, gold, and feathers, he
seated himself upon a feathered throne, surrounded by his
richly dressed dwarf and hunchback pages, and in this guise
awaited Huemac. Soon a light in the distance, brilliant as
the sun, announced the approach of the mysterious being,
and hope leaped high in Montezuma’s breast. It stopped,
however, and the emperor was devoured by anxiety. Suddenly
a human voice recalled him from his absorption. It was
that of the guardian of Tzoncoztli temple, who related that
Huemac, interdicted by supreme command from approaching the
emperor, had commissioned him to recall his master to duty.
His presence is needed in Mexico to direct public affairs
and to infuse respect among the hostile nations, who would
rise the moment his disappearance became known. What will
his subjects think? He must obey the divine command, and
remember that he is emperor of the world. Montezuma yielded
reluctantly and reëntered his palace, taking to his side
the faithful Tzoncoztli guardian, and charging all to keep
the secret. _Tezozomoc_, _Hist. Mex._, ii. 213-27; and in
_Kingsborough’s Mex. Ant._, v. 469, et seq.; _Duran_, _Hist.
Ind._, MS., ii. 328-45.
[143] _Codex Chimalpopoca_, in _Brasseur de Bourbourg_,
_Hist. Nat. Civ._, iv. 35-6.
[144] ‘Besaron todos las proas de las naos en señal de
adoracion, pensaron que era el Dios _Quetzalcoatl_ que
volvia.’ _Sahagun_, _Hist. Conq._, i. 5.
[145] According to Tezozomoc, an Indian, with ears, thumbs,
and big toes cut off, arrived from Mictlancuauhtla with the
report that he had seen a round mountain on the sea moving
to and fro without approaching the shore. The informant
was placed under guard, and a chief with an attendant sent
to Pinotl to verify the statement, and to chide him for
neglect to report. They soon returned to say that from a
tree they had seen two such mountains or towers, from one
of which a canoe had set out on a fishing trip. The men on
board had white faces and hands, long, thick beard, long
hair, raiments of varied and brilliant colors, and round
head-covering. The mutilated Indian being now called to
answer further questions, his prison cell was found vacant.
_Hist. Mex._, ii. 232-4; _Duran_, _Hist. Ind._, MS., ii.
359-77.
[146] _Torquemada_, i. 379, names ten members, while Veytia,
_Hist. Ant. Méj._, iii. 378, says there were twelve.
[147] Particularly at Nauhtla, Toztla, Mictla, and Quauhtla.
_Torquemada_, i. 379; Sahagun, _Hist. Conq._, i. 6, calls the
districts Cuextecatl, Naulitlantoztlan, and Mictlanquactla.
_Brasseur de Bourbourg_, _Hist. Nat. Civ._, iv. 49, writes
more correctly Nauthtlan, Tochtlan, and Mictlan-Quauhtla.
[148] Torquemada, i. 379-80, expresses his disapproval of
Gomara and Herrera for following only Spanish versions, and
ignoring the Indian records acquired by himself and others,
including Sahagun. The latter assumes that Montezuma has been
apprised of Grijalva’s departure before the embassy leaves,
and this body is therefore not sent till Cortés arrives.
_Hist. Conq._, i. 7. This is not unlikely, for council
had to be first held and the future course determined,
and messengers were always on the way between the subject
provinces and the capital, ready to convey news. But most
writers, followed by the _Native Races_, take the view
presented in the text. Herrera, dec. ii. lib. iii. cap.
ix., who is very brief on Grijalva’s visit, says, when it
was learned that the Spaniards wanted gold, the governors
on the coast were ordered to barter with it, and to find
out what further object they had in coming. Ixtlilxochitl
states that merchants from the coast fair brought the first
news of Grijalva to Mexico. Veytia, _Hist. Ant. Méj._,
iii. 377-8, is brief on the subject. Tezozomoc describes
the necklace, bracelet, and other jewelry prepared as
presents by four of the leading goldsmiths and lapidaries.
With these the chief who had been to the coast to observe
the floating towers is ordered to seek the white men.
Pinotl must prepare food for them, and if they eat, they
are surely Quetzalcoatl and his suite. ‘But if they prefer
human flesh,’ says Duran, in his version, ‘and wish to eat
you, let them do so; I promise to look to the future of
your children and relatives.’ _Hist. Ind._, MS., ii. 366-7.
‘If you are convinced that it is Quetzalcoatl,’ continued
Montezuma, ‘adorn his person with these jewels made for
the purpose, and say that I beg him humbly to come and take
possession of the throne which I hold for him.’ _Tezozomoc_,
_Hist. Mex._, ii. 236-9. This author confounds Grijalva
and Cortés, but allows the jewels and message to reach the
latter. According to Duran, Montezuma tells the chief to
ask the god for permission to finish his rule; after his
death he is welcome to the throne. ‘Que me dege morir, y
que despues de yo muerto venga muy de norabuena, y tome su
Reyno pues es suyo y lo dejó en guarda á mis antepasados,’
ut supra. Acosta, _Hist. Ind._, 508-14 refers briefly to
this subject, and to the various omens and visions, some
of which he regards as dreams imparted by angels. Meanwhile
fresh messengers arrive to report that the white captain had
spread the wings of his floating mountains and faded away
in the east. They bring later drawings and gifts, including
beads, shirts, a hat, some biscuits and wine. The monarch
crunches the biscuits and admits them to be good, but the
wine, with its penetrating sweetness, lulling the senses and
calling up happy visions, this delights him, and specimens
of both are deposited upon the altar of Quetzalcoatl at
Tula. Finally, on seeing the glass necklace, he declares the
giver to be indeed the Acatl Ynacuitl, the travelling god
of the reed; and deeming himself unworthy of so brilliant
an adornment, he consecrates it to the gods. The best
painters are called to give a superior representation of
the strange visitors from the rude drawings brought by the
messengers, and from their description, while the old and
wise men are asked for recollections and ideas which may
throw light upon the subject. After much search a tradition
is raked up, wherein a race is to come from the east mounted
on serpents or masted mountains, and with them a white,
bearded people, astride of big deers and eagles, who will
land at Tzonapan, and obtain possession of all the land.
They are also described as a one-legged people, with the
face in the middle of the body, of white complexion and
with long beard. In confirmation thereof is produced an
old painting, which agrees with those depicting the late
arrivals. Convinced of the identity, Montezuma orders the
governors of the coast provinces to maintain a close watch
for the return of the strangers, so that he may receive
speedy notice. _Tezozomoc_, _Hist. Mex._, ii. 241-50;
_Duran_, _Hist. Ind._, MS., ii. 359-92.
This chapter presents but a faint picture of the state of
affairs within the Mexican empire at the time of the arrival
of Cortés. As I said at the outset, all this I have given
in my _Native Races_, and can not of course repeat it here.
Further authorities on omens and on the state of the Aztec
empire, most of them, however, of no value, are _Carbajal
Espinosa_, _Hist. Mex._, ii. 5-12; _Beltrami_, _Mexique_,
ii. 137-9 and 142-3; _Zamacois_, _Hist. Méj._, iii. 130-2;
_Vetancvrt_, _Teatro Mex._, pt. iii. 124-6; _Bos_, _Leben
der See-Helden_, 4-5; _Hazart_, _Kirchen-Geschichte_, ii.
505-8; _Touron_, _Hist. Gen. Am._, iii. 127-34; _Viagero
Univ._, xxvi. 192-237; _Larenaudière_, _Mex. et Guat._,
73-5; _Lafond_, _Voy._, i. 105-7; _Eggleston’s Montezuma_,
11-17; _Sammlung aller Reisebesch._, xiii. 289-91; _Russell’s
Hist. Am._, i. 76-9; _Laharpe_, _Abrégé_, ix. 268-73; _Du
Perrier_, _Gen. Hist. Voy._, 332-6; _Burke’s Europ. Set._,
i. 71; _Smollett’s Voy._, i. 214-19; _Chevalier_, _Mexique_,
7-22; _Mexique Études_, 9-10; _Robertson’s Hist. Am._, ii.
17-18; _Bussierre_, _L’Emp. Mex._, 119-30; _Manzi_, _Conq.
di Mess._ 14-19; _Roure_, _Conquête du Mex._, 211-20.