It was the place won by his own sword from the Aztecs previous to the

siege of Mexico. It stood on the southern slope of the Cordilleras, and

overlooked a wide expanse of country, the fairest and most flourishing

portion of his own domain.[269] He had erected a stately palace on the

spot, and henceforth made this city his favorite residence.[270] It was

well situated for superintending his vast estates, and he now devoted

himself to bringing them into proper cultivation. He introduced the

sugar-cane from Cuba, and it grew luxuriantly in the rich soil of the

neighboring lowlands. He imported large numbers of merino sheep and

other cattle, which found abundant pastures in the country around

Tehuantepec. His lands were thickly sprinkled with groves of

mulberry-trees, which furnished nourishment for the silk-worm. He

encouraged the cultivation of hemp and flax, and, by his judicious and

enterprising husbandry, showed the capacity of the soil for the culture

of valuable products before unknown in the land; and he turned these

products to the best account, by the erection of sugar-mills, and other

works for the manufacture of the raw material. He thus laid the

foundation of an opulence for his family, as substantial, if not as

speedy, as that derived from the mines. Yet this latter source of wealth

was not neglected by him, and he drew gold from the region of

Tehuantepec, and silver from that of Zacatecas. The amount derived from

these mines was not so abundant as at a later day. But the expense of

working them, on the other hand, was much less in the earlier stages of

the operation, when the metal lay so much nearer the surface.[271]

But this tranquil way of life did not long content his restless and

adventurous spirit; and it sought a vent by availing itself of his new

charter of discovery to explore the mysteries of the great Southern

Ocean. In 1527, two years before his return to Spain, he had sent a

little squadron to the Moluccas. The expedition was attended with some

important consequences; but, as they do not relate to Cortés, an account

of it will find a more suitable place in the maritime annals of Spain,

where it has been given by the able hand which has done so much for the

country in this department.[272]

Cortés was preparing to send another squadron of four vessels in the

same direction, when his plans were interrupted by his visit to Spain;

and his unfinished little navy, owing to the malice of the Royal

Audience, who drew off the hands employed in building it, went to pieces

on the stocks. Two other squadrons were now fitted out by Cortés, in the

years 1532 and 1533, and sent on a voyage of discovery to the

Northwest.[273] They were unfortunate, though in the latter expedition

the Californian peninsula was reached, and a landing effected on its

southern extremity at Santa Cruz, probably the modern port of La Paz.

One of the vessels, thrown on the coast of New Galicia, was seized by

Guzman, the old enemy of Cortés, who ruled over that territory, the crew

were plundered, and the ship was detained as a lawful prize. Cortés,

indignant at the outrage, demanded justice from the Royal Audience; and,

as that body was too feeble to enforce its own decrees in his favor, he

took redress into his own hands.[274]

He made a rapid but difficult march on Chiametla, the scene of Guzman’s

spoliation; and, as the latter did not care to face his incensed

antagonist, Cortés recovered his vessel, though not the cargo. He was

then joined by the little squadron which he had fitted out from his own

port of Tehuantepec,--a port which in the sixteenth century promised to

hold the place since occupied by that of Acapulco.[275] The vessels were

provided with everything requisite for planting a colony in the

newly-discovered region, and transported four hundred Spaniards and

_three hundred negro slaves_, which Cortés had assembled for that

purpose. With this intention he crossed the Gulf, the Adriatic--to

which an old writer compares it--of the Western World.

Our limits will not allow us to go into the details of this disastrous

expedition, which was attended with no important results either to its

projector or to science. It may suffice to say that, in the prosecution

of it, Cortés and his followers were driven to the last extremity by

famine; that he again crossed the Gulf, was tossed about by terrible

tempests, without a pilot to guide him, was thrown upon the rocks, where

his shattered vessel nearly went to pieces, and, after a succession of

dangers and disasters as formidable as any which he had ever encountered

on land, succeeded, by means of his indomitable energy, in bringing his

crazy bark safe into the same port of Santa Cruz from which he had

started.

While these occurrences were passing, the new Royal Audience, after a

faithful discharge of its commission, had been superseded by the arrival

of a viceroy, the first ever sent to New Spain. Cortés, though invested

with similar powers, had the title only of Governor. This was the

commencement of the system, afterwards pursued by the crown, of

intrusting the colonial administration to some individual whose high

rank and personal consideration might make him the fitting

representative of majesty. The jealousy of the court did not allow the

subject clothed with such ample authority to remain long enough in the

same station to form dangerous schemes of ambition, but at the

expiration of a few years he was usually recalled, or transferred to

some other province of the vast colonial empire. The person now sent to

Mexico was Don Antonio de Mendoza, a man of moderation and practical

good sense, and one of that illustrious family who in the preceding

reign furnished so many distinguished ornaments to the Church, to the

camp, and to letters.

The long absence of Cortés had caused the deepest anxiety in the mind of

his wife, the marchioness of the Valley. She wrote to the viceroy

immediately on his arrival, beseeching him to ascertain, if possible,

the fate of her husband, and, if he could be found, to urge his return.

The viceroy, in consequence, despatched two ships in search of Cortés,

but whether they reached him before his departure from Santa Cruz is

doubtful. It is certain that he returned safe, after his long absence,

to Acapulco, and was soon followed by the survivors of his wretched

colony.

Undismayed by these repeated reverses, Cortés, still bent on some

discovery worthy of his reputation, fitted out three more vessels, and

placed them under the command of an officer named Ulloa. This

expedition, which took its departure in July, 1539, was attended with

more important results. Ulloa penetrated to the head of the Gulf, then,

returning and winding round the coast of the peninsula, doubled its

southern point, and ascended as high as the twenty-eighth or

twenty-ninth degree of north latitude on its western borders. After

this, sending home one of the squadron, the bold navigator held on his

course to the north, but was never more heard of.[276]

Thus ended the maritime enterprises of Cortés, sufficiently disastrous

in a pecuniary view, since they cost him three hundred thousand

_castellanos_ of gold, without the return of a ducat.[277] He was even

obliged to borrow money, and to pawn his wife’s jewels, to procure funds

for the last enterprise;[278] thus incurring a debt which, increased by

the great charges of his princely establishment, hung about him during

the remainder of his life. But, though disastrous in an economical view,

his generous efforts added important contributions to science. In the

course of these expeditions, and those undertaken by Cortés previous to

his visit to Spain, the Pacific had been coasted from the Bay of Panamá

to the Rio Colorado. The great peninsula of California had been

circumnavigated as far as to the isle of Cedros, or Cerros, into which

the name has since been corrupted. This vast tract, which had been

supposed to be an archipelago of islands, was now discovered to be a

part of the continent; and its general outline, as appears from the maps

of the time, was nearly as well understood as at the present day.[279]

Lastly, the navigator had explored the recesses of the Californian Gulf,

or _Sea of Cortés_, as, in honor of the great discoverer, it is with

more propriety named by the Spaniards; and he had ascertained that,

instead of the outlet before supposed to exist towards the north, this

unknown ocean was locked up within the arms of the mighty continent.

These were results that might have made the glory and satisfied the

ambition of a common man; but they are lost in the brilliant renown of

the former achievements of Cortés.

Notwithstanding the embarrassments of the marquis of the Valley, he

still made new efforts to enlarge the limits of discovery, and prepared

to fit out another squadron of five vessels, which he proposed to place

under the command of a natural son, Don Luis. But the viceroy Mendoza,

whose imagination had been inflamed by the reports of an itinerant monk

respecting an _El Dorado_ in the north, claimed the right of discovery

in that direction. Cortés protested against this, as an unwarrantable

interference with his own powers. Other subjects of collision arose

between them; till the marquis, disgusted with this perpetual check on

his authority and his enterprises, applied for redress to Castile.[280]

He finally determined to go there to support his claims in person, and

to obtain, if possible, remuneration for the heavy charges he had

incurred by his maritime expeditions, as well as for the spoliation of

his property by the Royal Audience during his absence from the country;

and, lastly, to procure an assignment of his vassals on principles more

conformable to the original intentions of the grant. With these objects

in view he bade adieu to his family, and, taking with him his eldest son

and heir, Don Martin, then only eight years of age, he embarked at

Mexico in 1540, and, after a favorable voyage, again set foot on the

shores of his native land.

The emperor was absent from the country. But Cortés was honorably

received in the capital, where ample accommodations were provided for

him and his retinue. When he attended the Royal Council of the Indies to

urge his suit, he was distinguished by uncommon marks of respect. The

president went to the door of the hall to receive him, and a seat was

provided for him among the members of the Council.[281] But all

evaporated in this barren show of courtesy. Justice, proverbially slow

in Spain, did not mend her gait for Cortés; and at the expiration of a

year he found himself no nearer the attainment of his object than on the

first week after his arrival in the capital.

In the following year, 1541, we find the marquis of the Valley embarked

as a volunteer in the memorable expedition against Algiers. Charles the

Fifth, on his return to his dominions, laid siege to that stronghold of

the Mediterranean corsairs. Cortés accompanied the forces destined to

meet the emperor, and embarked on board the vessel of the Admiral of

Castile. But a furious tempest scattered the navy, and the admiral’s

ship was driven a wreck upon the coast. Cortés and his son escaped by

swimming, but the former, in the confusion of the scene, lost the

inestimable set of jewels noticed in the preceding chapter; “a loss,”

says an old writer, “that made the expedition fall more heavily on the

marquis of the Valley than on any other man in the kingdom, except the

emperor.”[282]

It is not necessary to recount the particulars of this disastrous siege,

in which Moslem valor, aided by the elements, set at defiance the

combined forces of the Christians. A council of war was called, and it

was decided to abandon the enterprise and return to Castile. This

determination was indignantly received by Cortés, who offered, with the

support of the army, to reduce the place himself; and he only expressed

the regret that he had not a handful of those gallant veterans by his

side who had served him in the Conquest of Mexico. But his offers were

derided, as those of a romantic enthusiast. He had not been invited to

take part in the discussions of the council of war. It was a marked

indignity; but the courtiers, weary of the service, were too much bent

on an immediate return to Spain, to hazard the opposition of a man who,

when he had once planted his foot, was never known to raise it again

till he had accomplished his object.[283]

On arriving in Castile, Cortés lost no time in laying his suit before

the emperor. His applications were received by the monarch with

civility,--a cold civility, which carried no conviction of its

sincerity. His position was materially changed since his former visit to

the country. More than ten years had elapsed, and he was now too well

advanced in years to give promise of serviceable enterprise in future.

Indeed, his undertakings of late had been singularly unfortunate. Even

his former successes suffered the disparagement natural to a man of

declining fortunes. They were already eclipsed by the magnificent

achievements in Peru, which had poured a golden tide into the country,

that formed a striking contrast to the streams of wealth that as yet had

flowed in but scantily from the silver mines of Mexico. Cortés had to

learn that the gratitude of a court has reference to the future much

more than to the past. He stood in the position of an importunate suitor

whose claims, however just, are too large to be readily allowed. He

found, like Columbus, that it was possible to deserve too greatly.[284]

In the month of February, 1544, he addressed a letter to the

emperor,--it was the last he ever wrote him,--soliciting his attention

to his suit. He begins by proudly alluding to his past services to the

crown. “He had hoped that the toils of youth would have secured him

repose in his old age. For forty years he had passed his life with

little sleep, bad food, and with his arms constantly by his side. He had

freely exposed his person to peril, and spent his substance in exploring

distant and unknown regions, that he might spread abroad the name of his

sovereign and bring under his sceptre many great and powerful nations.

All this he had done, not only without assistance from home, but in the

face of obstacles thrown in his way by rivals and by enemies who

thirsted like leeches for his blood. He was now old, infirm, and

embarrassed with debt. Better had it been for him not to have known the

liberal intentions of the emperor, as intimated by his grants; since he

should then have devoted himself to the care of his estates, and not

have been compelled, as he now was, to contend with the officers of the

crown, against whom it was more difficult to defend himself than to win

the land from the enemy.” He concludes with beseeching his sovereign to

“order the Council of the Indies, with the other tribunals which had

cognizance of his suits, to come to a decision; since he was too old to

wander about like a vagrant, but ought rather, during the brief

remainder of his life, to stay at home and settle his account with

Heaven, occupied with the concerns of his soul, rather than with his

substance.”[285]

This appeal to his sovereign, which has something in it touching from a

man of the haughty spirit of Cortés, had not the effect to quicken the

determination of his suit. He still lingered at the court from week to

week, and from month to month, beguiled by the deceitful hopes of the

litigant, tasting all that bitterness of the soul which arises from hope

deferred. After three years more, passed in this unprofitable and

humiliating occupation, he resolved to leave his ungrateful country and

return to Mexico.

He had proceeded as far as Seville, accompanied by his son, when he fell

ill of an indigestion, caused, probably, by irritation and trouble of

mind. This terminated in dysentery, and his strength sank so rapidly

under the disease that it was apparent his mortal career was drawing

towards its close. He prepared for it by making the necessary

arrangements for the settlement of his affairs. He had made his will

some time before; and he now executed it. It is a very long document,

and in some respects a remarkable one.

The bulk of his property was entailed to his son, Don Martin, then

fifteen years of age. In the testament he fixes his majority at

twenty-five; but at twenty his guardians were to allow him his full

income, to maintain the state becoming his rank. In a paper accompanying

the will, Cortés specified the names of the agents to whom he had

committed the management of his vast estates scattered over many

different provinces; and he requests his executors to confirm the

nomination, as these agents have been selected by him from a knowledge

of their peculiar qualifications. Nothing can better show the thorough

supervision which, in the midst of pressing public concerns, he had

given to the details of his widely-extended property.

He makes a liberal provision for his other children, and a generous

allowance to several old domestics and retainers in his household. By

another clause he gives away considerable sums in charity, and he

applies the revenues of his estates in the city of Mexico to establish

and permanently endow three public institutions,--a hospital in the

capital, which was to be dedicated to Our Lady of the Conception, a

college in Cojohuacan for the education of missionaries to preach the

gospel among the natives, and a convent, in the same place, for nuns. To

the chapel of this convent, situated in his favorite town, he orders

that his own body shall be transported for burial, in whatever quarter

of the world he may happen to die.

After declaring that he has taken all possible care to ascertain the

amount of the tributes formerly paid by his Indian vassals to their

native sovereigns, he enjoins on his heir that, in case those which they

have hitherto paid shall be found to exceed the right valuation, he

shall restore them a full equivalent. In another clause he expresses a

doubt whether it is right to exact personal service from the natives,

and commands that a strict inquiry shall be made into the nature and

value of such services as he had received, and that in all cases a fair

compensation shall be allowed for them. Lastly, he makes this remarkable

declaration: “It has long been a question whether one can

conscientiously hold property in Indian slaves. Since this point has

not yet been determined, I enjoin it on my son Martin and his heirs that

they spare no pains to come to an exact knowledge of the truth; as a

matter which deeply concerns the conscience of each of them, no less

than mine.”[286]

Such scruples of conscience, not to have been expected in Cortés, were

still less likely to be met with in the Spaniards of a later generation.

The state of opinion in respect to the great question of slavery, in the

sixteenth century, at the commencement of the system, bears some

resemblance to that which exists in our time, when we may hope it is

approaching its conclusion. Las Casas and the Dominicans of the former

age, the abolitionists of their day, thundered out their uncompromising

invectives against the system on the broad ground of natural equity and

the rights of man. The great mass of proprietors troubled their heads

little about the question of right, but were satisfied with the

expediency of the institution. Others, more considerate and

conscientious, while they admitted the evil, found an argument for its

toleration in the plea of necessity, regarding the constitution of the

white man as unequal, in a sultry climate, to the labor of cultivating

the soil.[287] In one important respect the condition of slavery in the

sixteenth century differed materially from its condition in the

nineteenth. In the former, the seeds of the evil, but lately sown, might

have been, with comparatively little difficulty, eradicated. But in our

time they have struck their roots deep into the social system, and

cannot be rudely handled without shaking the very foundations of the

political fabric. It is easy to conceive that a man who admits all the

wretchedness of the institution and its wrong to humanity may

nevertheless hesitate to adopt a remedy until he is satisfied that the

remedy itself is not worse than the disease. That such a remedy will

come with time, who can doubt, that has confidence in the ultimate

prevalence of the right and the progressive civilization of his species?

Cortés names as his executors, and as guardians of his children, the

duke of Medina Sidonia, the marquis of Astorga, and the count of

Aguilar. For his executors in Mexico, he appoints his wife, the

marchioness, the archbishop of Toledo, and two other prelates. The will

was executed at Seville, October 11th, 1547.[288]

Finding himself much incommoded, as he grew weaker, by the presence of

visitors, to which he was necessarily exposed at Seville, he withdrew

to the neighboring village of Castilleja de la Cuesta, attended by his

son, who watched over his dying parent with filial solicitude.[289]

Cortés seems to have contemplated his approaching end with a composure

not always to be found in those who have faced death with indifference

on the field of battle. At length, having devoutly confessed his sins

and received the sacrament, he expired on the 2d of December, 1547, in

the sixty-third year of his age.[290]

The inhabitants of the neighboring country were desirous to show every

mark of respect to the memory of Cortés. His funeral obsequies were

celebrated with due solemnity by a long train of Andalusian nobles and

of the citizens of Seville, and his body was transported to the chapel

of the monastery of San Isidro, in that city, where it was laid in the

family vault of the duke of Medina Sidonia.[291] In the year 1562 it was

removed, by order of his son, Don Martin, to New Spain, not, as

directed by his will, to Cojohuacan,{*} but to the monastery of St.

Francis in Tezcuco, where it was laid by the side of a daughter, and of

his mother, Doña Catalina Pizarro. In 1629 the remains of Cortés were

again removed; and on the death of Don Pedro, fourth marquis of the

Valley, it was decided by the authorities of Mexico to transfer them to

the church of St. Francis, in that capital. The ceremonial was conducted

with the pomp suited to the occasion. A military and religious

procession was formed, with the archbishop of Mexico at its head. He was

accompanied by the great dignitaries of church and state, the various

associations with their respective banners, the several religious

fraternities, and the members of the Audience. The coffin, containing

the relics of Cortés, was covered with black velvet, and supported by

the judges of the royal tribunals. On either side of it was a man in

complete armor, bearing, on the right, a standard of pure white, with

the arms of Castile embroidered in gold, and, on the left, a banner of

black velvet, emblazoned in like manner with the armorial ensigns of the

house of Cortés. Behind the corpse came the viceroy and a numerous

escort of Spanish cavaliers, and the rear was closed by a battalion of

infantry, armed with pikes and arquebuses, and with their banners

trailing on the ground. With this funeral pomp, by the sound of mournful

music, and the slow beat of the muffled drum, the procession moved

forward, with measured pace, till it reached the capital, when the

gates were thrown open to receive the mortal remains of the hero who, a

century before, had performed there such prodigies of valor.

{*} [This may be accounted for by the fact that his intention to found a

convent at Cuyoacan, as the place is now called, had, according to

Alaman, never been carried out.--K.]

Yet his bones were not permitted to rest here undisturbed; and in 1794

they were removed to the Hospital of Jesus of Nazareth. It was a more

fitting place, since it was the same institution which, under the name

of “Our Lady of the Conception,” had been founded and endowed by Cortés,

and which, with a fate not too frequent in similar charities, has been

administered to this day on the noble principles of its foundation. The

mouldering relics of the warrior, now deposited in a crystal coffin

secured by bars and plates of silver, were laid in the chapel, and over

them was raised a simple monument, displaying the arms of the family,

and surmounted by a bust of the Conqueror, executed in bronze by Tolsa,

a sculptor worthy of the best period of the arts.[292]

Unfortunately for Mexico, the tale does not stop here. In 1823, the

patriot mob of the capital, in their zeal to commemorate the era of the

national independence, and their detestation of the “old Spaniards,”

prepared to break open the tomb which held the ashes of Cortés, and to

scatter them to the winds! The authorities declined to interfere on the

occasion; but the friends of the family, as is commonly reported,

entered the vault by night, and, secretly removing the relics, prevented

the commission of a sacrilege which must have left a stain, not easy to

be effaced, on the scutcheon of the fair city of Mexico.[293] Humboldt,

forty years ago, remarked that “we may traverse Spanish America from

Buenos Ayres to Monterey, and in no quarter shall we meet with a

national monument which the public gratitude has raised to Christopher

Columbus or Hernando Cortés.”[294] It was reserved for our own age to

conceive the design of violating the repose of the dead and insulting

their remains! Yet the men who meditated this outrage were not the

descendants of Montezuma, avenging the wrongs of their fathers and

vindicating their own rightful inheritance. They were the descendants of

the old Conquerors, and their countrymen, depending on the right of

conquest for their ultimate title to the soil.[295]

Cortés had no children by his first marriage. By his second he left

four; a son, Don Martin,--the heir of his honors, and of persecutions

even more severe than those of his father,[296]--and three daughters,

who formed splendid alliances. He left, also, five natural children,

whom he particularly mentions in his testament and honorably provides

for. Two of these, Don Martin, the son of Marina, and Don Luis Cortés,

attained considerable distinction, and were created _comendadores_ of

the Order of St. Jago.[297]

The male line of the marquises of the Valley became extinct in the third

generation. The title and estates descended to a female, and by her

marriage were united with those of the house of Terranova, descendants

of the “Great Captain,” Gonsalvo de Cordova.[298] By a subsequent

marriage they were carried into the family of the duke of Monteleone, a

Neapolitan noble. The present proprietor of these princely honors and of

vast domains, both in the Old and the New World, dwells in Sicily, and

boasts a descent--such as few princes can boast--from two of the most

illustrious commanders of the sixteenth century, the “Great Captain,”

and the Conqueror of Mexico.

* * * * *

The personal history of Cortés has been so minutely detailed in the

preceding narrative that it will be only necessary to touch on the more

prominent features of his character. Indeed, the history of the

Conquest, as I have already had occasion to remark, is necessarily that

of Cortés, who is, if I may so say, not merely the soul, but the body,

of the enterprise, present everywhere in person, in the thick of the

fight or in the building of the works, with his sword or with his

musket, sometimes leading his soldiers, and sometimes directing his

little navy. The negotiations, intrigues, correspondence, are all

conducted by him; and, like Cæsar, he wrote his own Commentaries in the

heat of the stirring scenes which form the subject of them. His

character is marked with the most opposite traits, embracing qualities

apparently the most incompatible. He was avaricious, yet liberal; bold

to desperation, yet cautious and calculating in his plans; magnanimous,

yet very cunning; courteous and affable in his deportment, yet

inexorably stern; lax in his notions of morality, yet (not uncommon) a

sad bigot. The great feature of his character was constancy of purpose;

a constancy not to be daunted by danger, nor baffled by disappointment,

nor wearied out by impediments and delays.

He was a knight-errant, in the literal sense of the word. Of all the

band of adventurous cavaliers whom Spain, in the sixteenth century, sent

forth on the career of discovery and conquest, there was none more

deeply filled with the spirit of romantic enterprise than Hernando

Cortés. Dangers and difficulties, instead of deterring, seemed to have a

charm in his eyes. They were necessary to rouse him to a full

consciousness of his powers. He grappled with them at the outset, and,

if I may so express myself, seemed to prefer to take his enterprises by

the most difficult side. He conceived, at the first moment of his

landing in Mexico, the design of its conquest. When he saw the strength

of its civilization, he was not turned from his purpose. When he was

assailed by the superior force of Narvaez, he still persisted in it; and

when he was driven in ruin from the capital, he still cherished his

original idea. How successfully he carried it into execution, we have

seen. After the few years of repose which succeeded the Conquest, his

adventurous spirit impelled him to that dreary march across the marshes

of Chiapa, and, after another interval, to seek his fortunes on the

stormy Californian Gulf. When he found that no other continent remained

for him to conquer, he made serious proposals to the emperor to equip a

fleet at his own expense, with which he would sail to the Moluccas and

subdue the Spice Islands for the crown of Castile![299]

This spirit of knight-errantry might lead us to undervalue his talents

as a general and to regard him merely in the light of a lucky

adventurer. But this would be doing him injustice; for Cortés was

certainly a great general, if that man be one who performs great

achievements with the resources which his own genius has created. There

is probably no instance in history where so vast an enterprise has been

achieved by means apparently so inadequate. He may be truly said to have

effected the Conquest by his own resources. If he was indebted for his

success to the co-operation of the Indian tribes, it was the force of

his genius that obtained command of such materials. He arrested the arm

that was lifted to smite him, and made it do battle in his behalf. He

beat the Tlascalans, and made them his stanch allies. He beat the

soldiers of Narvaez, and doubled his effective force by it. When his own

men deserted him, he did not desert himself. He drew them back by

degrees, and compelled them to act by his will, till they were all as

one man. He brought together the most miscellaneous collection of

mercenaries who ever fought under one standard: adventurers from Cuba

and the Isles, craving for gold; hidalgos, who came from the old country

to win laurels; brokendown cavaliers, who hoped to mend their fortunes

in the New World; vagabonds flying from justice; the grasping followers

of Narvaez, and his own reckless veterans,--men with hardly a common

tie, and burning with the spirit of jealousy and faction; wild tribes of

the natives from all parts of the country, who had been sworn enemies

from their cradles, and who had met only to cut one another’s throats

and to procure victims for sacrifice; men, in short, differing in race,

in language, and in interests, with scarcely anything in common among

them. Yet this motley congregation was assembled in one camp, compelled

to bend to the will of one man, to consort together in harmony, to

breathe, as it were, one spirit, and to move on a common principle of

action! It is in this wonderful power over the discordant masses thus

gathered under his banner that we recognize the genius of the great

commander, no less than in the skill of his military operations.

His power over the minds of his soldiers was a natural result of their

confidence in his abilities. But it is also to be attributed to his

popular manners,--that happy union of authority and companionship which

fitted him for the command of a band of roving adventurers. It would not

have done for him to fence himself round with the stately reserve of a

commander of regular forces. He was embarked with his men in a common

adventure, and nearly on terms of equality, since he held his commission

by no legal warrant. But, while he indulged this freedom and familiarity

with his soldiers, he never allowed it to interfere with their strict

obedience nor to impair the severity of discipline. When he had risen to

higher consideration, although he affected more state, he still

admitted his veterans to the same intimacy. “He preferred,” says Diaz,

“to be called ‘Cortés’ by us, to being called by any title; and with

good reason,” continues the enthusiastic old cavalier, “for the name of

Cortés is as famous in our day as was that of Cæsar among the Romans, or

of Hannibal among the Carthaginians.”[300] He showed the same kind

regard towards his ancient comrades in the very last act of his life.

For he appropriated a sum by his will for the celebration of two

thousand masses for the souls of those who had fought with him in the

campaigns of Mexico.[301]

His character has been unconsciously traced by the hand of a master:

“And oft _the chieftain_ deigned to aid

And mingle in the mirth they made;

For, though with men of high degree

The proudest of the proud was he,

Yet, trained in camps, he knew the art

To win the soldiers’ hardy heart.

They love a captain to obey,

Boisterous as March, yet fresh as May;

With open hand, and brow as free,

Lover of wine and minstrelsy;

Ever the first to scale a tower,

As venturous in a lady’s bower;--

Such buxom chief shall lead his host

From India’s fires to Zembla’s frost.”

Cortés, without much violence, might have sat for this portrait of

Marmion.

Cortés was not a vulgar conqueror. He did not conquer from the mere

ambition of conquest. If he destroyed the ancient capital of the Aztecs,

it was to build up a more magnificent capital on its ruins. If he

desolated the land and broke up its existing institutions, he employed

the short period of his administration in digesting schemes for

introducing there a more improved culture and a higher civilization. In

all his expeditions he was careful to study the resources of the

country, its social organization, and its physical capacities. He

enjoined it on his captains to attend particularly to these objects. If

he was greedy of gold, like most of the Spanish cavaliers in the New

World, it was not to hoard it, nor merely to lavish it in the support of

a princely establishment, but to secure funds for prosecuting his

glorious discoveries. Witness his costly expeditions to the Gulf of

California. His enterprises were not undertaken solely for mercenary

objects; as is shown by the various expeditions he set on foot for the

discovery of a communication between the Atlantic and the Pacific. In

his schemes of ambition he showed a respect for the interests of

science, to be referred partly to the natural superiority of his mind,

but partly, no doubt, to the influence of early education. It is,

indeed, hardly possible that a person of his wayward and mercurial

temper should have improved his advantages at the University; but he

brought away from it a tincture of scholarship seldom found among the

cavaliers of the period, and which had its influence in enlarging his

own conceptions. His celebrated Letters are written with a simple

elegance that, as I have already had occasion to remark, have caused

them to be compared to the military narrative of Cæsar. It will not be

easy to find in the chronicles of the period a more concise yet

comprehensive statement, not only of the events of his campaigns, but of

the circumstances most worthy of notice in the character of the

conquered countries.

Cortés was not cruel; at least, not cruel as compared with most of those

who followed his iron trade. The path of the conqueror is necessarily

marked with blood. He was not too scrupulous, indeed, in the execution

of his plans. He swept away the obstacles which lay in his track; and

his fame is darkened by the commission of more than one act which his

boldest apologists will find it hard to vindicate. But he was not

wantonly cruel. He allowed no outrage on his unresisting foes. This may

seem small praise; but it is an exception to the usual conduct of his

countrymen in their conquests, and it is something to be in advance of

one’s time. He was severe, it may be added, in enforcing obedience to

his orders for protecting their persons and their property. With his

licentious crew, it was, sometimes, not without a hazard that he was so.

After the Conquest, he sanctioned the system of _repartimientos_; but so

did Columbus. He endeavored to regulate it by the most humane laws, and

continued to suggest many important changes for ameliorating the

condition of the natives. The best commentary on his conduct in this

respect is the deference that was shown him by the Indians, and the

confidence with which they appealed to him for protection in all their

subsequent distresses. In private life he seems to have had the power of

attaching to himself warmly those who were near his person. The

influence of his attachment is shown in every page of Bernal Diaz,

though his work was written to vindicate the claims of the soldiers in

opposition to those of the general. He seems to have led a happy life

with his first wife, in their humble retirement in Cuba, and regarded

the second, to judge from the expressions in his testament, with

confidence and love. Yet he cannot be acquitted from the charge of those

licentious gallantries which entered too generally into the character of

the military adventurer of that day. He would seem also, by the frequent

suits in which he was involved, to have been of an irritable and

contentious spirit. But much allowance must be made for the irritability

of a man who had been too long accustomed to independent sway, patiently

to endure the checks and control of the petty spirits who were

incapable of comprehending the noble character of his enterprises. “He

thought,” says an eminent writer, “to silence his enemies by the

brilliancy of the new career on which he had entered. He did not reflect

that these enemies had been raised by the very grandeur and rapidity of

his success.”[302] He was rewarded for his efforts by the

misinterpretation of his motives; by the calumnious charges of

squandering the public revenues and of aspiring to independent

sovereignty. But, although we may admit the foundation of many of the

grievances alleged by Cortés, yet, when we consider the querulous tone

of his correspondence and the frequency of his litigation, we may feel a

natural suspicion that his proud spirit was too sensitive to petty

slights and too jealous of imaginary wrongs.

One trait more remains to be noticed in the character of this remarkable

man; that is, his bigotry, the failing of the age,--for surely it should

be termed only a failing.[303] When we see the hand, red with the blood

of the wretched native, raised to invoke the blessing of Heaven on the

cause which it maintains, we experience something like a sensation of

disgust at the act, and a doubt of its sincerity. But this is unjust.

We should throw ourselves back (it cannot be too often repeated) into

the age,--the age of the Crusades. For every Spanish cavalier, however

sordid and selfish might be his private motives, felt himself to be the

soldier of the Cross. Many of them would have died in defence of it.

Whoever has read the correspondence of Cortés, or, still more, has

attended to the circumstances of his career, will hardly doubt that he

would have been among the first to lay down his life for the Faith. He

more than once perilled life, and fortune, and the success of his whole

enterprise, by the premature and most impolitic manner in which he would

have forced conversion on the natives.[304] To the more rational spirit

of the present day, enlightened by a purer Christianity, it may seem

difficult to reconcile gross deviations from morals with such devotion

to the cause of religion. But the religion taught in that day was one of

form and elaborate ceremony. In the punctilious attention to discipline,

the spirit of Christianity was permitted to evaporate. The mind,

occupied with forms, thinks little of substance. In a worship that is

addressed too exclusively to the senses, it is often the case that

morality becomes divorced from religion, and the measure of

righteousness is determined by the creed rather than by the conduct.

In the earlier part of the History I have given a description of the

person of Cortés.[305] It may be well to close this review of his

character by the account of his manners and personal habits left us by

Bernal Diaz, the old chronicler, who has accompanied us through the

whole course of our narrative, and who may now fitly furnish the

conclusion of it. No man knew his commander better; and, if the avowed

object of his work might naturally lead to a disparagement of Cortés,

this is more than counterbalanced by the warmth of his personal

attachment, and by that _esprit de corps_ which leads him to take a

pride in the renown of his general.

“In his whole appearance and presence,” says Diaz, “in his discourse,

his table, his dress, in everything, in short, he had the air of a great

lord. His clothes were in the fashion of the time; he set little value

on silk, damask, or velvet, but dressed plainly and exceedingly

neat;[306] nor did he wear massy chains of gold, but simply a fine one,

of exquisite workmanship, from which was suspended a jewel having the

figure of our Lady the Virgin and her precious Son, with a Latin motto

cut upon it. On his finger he wore a splendid diamond ring; and from his

cap, which, according to the fashion of that day, was of velvet, hung a

medal, the device of which I do not remember. He was magnificently

attended, as became a man of his rank, with chamberlains and major-domos

and many pages; and the service of his table was splendid, with a

quantity of both gold and silver plate. At noon he dined heartily,

drinking about a pint of wine mixed with water. He supped well, though

he was not dainty in regard to his food, caring little for the

delicacies of the table, unless, indeed, on such occasions as made

attention to these matters of some consequence.[307]

“He was acquainted with Latin, and, as I have understood, was made

Bachelor of Laws; and when he conversed with learned men who addressed

him in Latin, he answered them in the same language. He was also

something of a poet; his conversation was agreeable, and he had a

pleasant elocution. In his attendance on the services of the Church he

was most punctual, devout in his manner, and charitable to the

poor.[308]

“When he swore, he used to say, ‘On my conscience;’ and when he was

vexed with any one, ‘Evil betide you.’ With his men he was very patient;

and they were sometimes impertinent and even insolent. When very angry,

the veins in his throat and forehead would swell, but he uttered no

reproaches against either officer or soldier.

“He was fond of cards and dice, and, when he played, was always in good

humor, indulging freely in jests and repartees. He was affable with his

followers, especially with those who came over with him from Cuba. In

his campaigns he paid strict attention to discipline, frequently going

the rounds himself during the night, and seeing that the sentinels did

their duty. He entered the quarters of his soldiers without ceremony,

and chided those whom he found without their arms and accoutrements,

saying, ‘It was a bad sheep that could not carry its own wool.’ On the

expedition to Honduras he acquired the habit of sleeping after his

meals, feeling unwell if he omitted it; and, however sultry or stormy

the weather, he caused a carpet or his cloak to be thrown under a tree,

and slept soundly for some time. He was frank and exceedingly liberal in

his disposition, until the last few years of his life, when he was

accused of parsimony. But we should consider that his funds were

employed on great and costly enterprises, and that none of these, after

the Conquest, neither his expedition to Honduras nor his voyages to

California, were crowned with success. It was perhaps intended that he

should receive his recompense in a better world; and I fully believe it;

for he was a good cavalier, most true in his devotions to the Virgin, to

the Apostle St. Peter, and to all the other Saints.”[309]

Such is the portrait, which has been left to us by the faithful hand

most competent to trace it, of Hernando Cortés, the Conqueror of

Mexico.

APPENDIX

ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS

No. 1.--See vol. i. p. 166

ADVICE OF AN AZTEC MOTHER TO HER DAUGHTER; TRANSLATED FROM

SAHAGUN’S “HISTORIA DE NUEVA-ESPAÑA,” LIB. VI. CAP. XIX

[I have thought it best to have this translation made in the most

literal manner, that the reader may have a correct idea of the strange

mixture of simplicity, approaching to childishness, and moral sublimity,

which belongs to the original. It is the product of the twilight of

civilization.]

My beloved daughter, very dear little dove, you have already heard

and attended to the words which your father has told you. They are

precious words, and such as are rarely spoken or listened to, and

which have proceeded from the bowels and heart in which they were

treasured up; and your beloved father well knows that you are his

daughter, begotten of him, are his blood, and his flesh; and God

our Lord knows that it is so. Although you are a woman, and are

_the image of your father_, what more can I say to you than has

already been said? What more can you hear than what you have heard

from your lord and father? who has fully told you what it is

becoming for you to do and to avoid; nor is there anything

remaining, which concerns you, that he has not touched upon.

Nevertheless, that I may do towards you my whole duty, I will say

to you some few words.--The first thing that I earnestly charge

upon you is, that you observe and do not forget what your father

has now told you, since it is all very precious; and persons of his

condition rarely publish such things; for they are the words which

belong to the noble and wise,--valuable as rich jewels. See, then,

that you take them and lay them up in your heart, and write them in

your bowels. If God gives you life, with these same words will you

teach your sons and daughters, if God shall give you them.--The

second thing that I desire to say to you is, that I love you much,

that you are my dear daughter. Remember that nine months I bore you

in my womb, that you were born and brought up in my arms. I placed

you in your cradle, and in my lap, and with my milk I nursed you.

This I tell you, in order that you may know that I and your father

are the source of your being; it is we who now instruct you. See

that you receive our words, and treasure them in your breast.--Take

care that your garments are such as are decent and proper; and

observe that you do not adorn yourself with much finery, since this

is a mark of vanity and of folly. As little becoming is it, that

your dress should be very mean, dirty, or ragged; since rags are a

mark of the low, and of those who are held in contempt. Let your

clothes be becoming and neat, that you may neither appear fantastic

nor mean. When you speak, do not hurry your words from uneasiness,

but speak deliberately and calmly. Do not raise your voice very

high, nor speak very low, but in a moderate tone. Neither mince,

when you speak, nor when you salute, nor speak through your nose;

but let your words be proper, of a good sound, and your voice

gentle. Do not be nice in the choice of your words. In walking, my

daughter, see that you behave becomingly, neither going with

haste, nor too slowly; since it is an evidence of being puffed up,

to walk too slowly, and walking hastily causes a vicious habit of

restlessness and instability. Therefore neither walk very fast, nor

very slow; yet, when it shall be necessary to go with haste, do

so,--in this use your discretion. And when you may be obliged to

jump over a pool of water, do it with decency, that you may neither

appear clumsy nor light. When you are in the street, do not carry

your head much inclined, or your body bent; nor as little go with

your head very much raised; since it is a mark of ill breeding;

walk erect, and with your head slightly inclined. Do not have your

mouth covered, or your face, from shame, nor go looking like a

near-sighted person, nor, on your way, make fantastic movements

with your feet. Walk through the street quietly, and with

propriety. Another thing that you must attend to, my daughter, is,

that when you are in the street you do not go looking hither and

thither, nor turning your head to look at this and that; walk

neither looking at the skies nor on the ground. Do not look upon

those whom you meet with the eyes of an offended person, nor have

the appearance of being uneasy; but of one who looks upon all with

a serene countenance; doing this, you will give no one occasion of

being offended with you. Show a becoming countenance; that you may

neither appear morose, nor, on the other hand, too complaisant.

See, my daughter, that you give yourself no concern about the words

you may hear, in going through the street, nor pay any regard to

them, let those that come and go say what they will. Take care that

you neither answer nor speak, but act as if you neither heard nor

understood them; since, doing in this manner, no one will be able

to say with truth that you have said anything amiss. See, likewise,

my daughter, that you never paint your face, or stain it or your

lips with colors, in order to appear well; since this is a mark of

vile and unchaste women. Paints and coloring are things which bad

women use,--the immodest, who have lost all shame and even sense,

who are like fools and drunkards, and are called _rameras_

[prostitutes]. But, that your husband may not dislike you, adorn

yourself, wash yourself, and cleanse your clothes; and let this be

done with moderation; since if every day you wash yourself and your

clothes it will be said of you that you are over-nice--too

delicate; they will call you _tapepetzon tinemaxoch_.--My daughter,

this is the course you are to take; since in this manner the

ancestors from whom you spring brought us up. Those noble and

venerable dames, your grandmothers, told us not so many things as I

have told you,--they said but few words, and spoke thus: “Listen,

my daughters; in this world it is necessary to live with much

prudence and circumspection. Hear this allegory, which I shall now

tell you, and preserve it, and take from it a warning and example

for living aright. Here, in this world, we travel by a very narrow,

steep, and dangerous road, which is as a lofty mountain ridge, on

whose top passes a narrow path; on either side is a great gulf

without bottom; and if you deviate from the path you will fall into

it. There is need, therefore, of much discretion in pursuing the

road.” My tenderly loved daughter, my little dove, keep this

illustration in your heart, and see that you do not forget it,--it

will be to you as a lamp and a beacon so long as you shall live in

this world. Only one thing remains to be said, and I have done. If

God shall give you life, if you shall continue some years upon the

earth, see that you guard yourself carefully, that no stain come

upon you; should you forfeit your chastity and afterwards be asked

in marriage and should marry any one, you will never be fortunate,

nor have true love,--he will always remember that you were not a

virgin, and this will be the cause of great affliction and

distress; you will never be at peace, for your husband will always

be suspicious of you. O my dearly beloved daughter, if you shall

live upon the earth, see that not more than one man approaches you;

and observe what I now shall tell you, as a strict command. When it

shall please God that you receive a husband, and you are placed

under his authority, be free from arrogance, see that you do not

neglect him, nor allow your heart to be in opposition to him. Be

not disrespectful to him. Beware that in no time or place you

commit the treason against him called adultery. See that you give

no favor to another; since this, my dear and much-loved daughter,

is to fall into a pit without bottom, from which there will be no

escape. According to the custom of the world, if it shall be known,

for this crime they will kill you, they will throw you into the

street, for an example to all the people, where your head will be

crushed and dragged upon the ground. Of these says a proverb, “You

will be stoned and dragged upon the earth, and others will take

warning at your death.” From this will arise a stain and dishonor

upon our ancestors, the nobles and senators from whom we are

descended. You will tarnish their illustrious fame, and their

glory, by the filthiness and impurity of your sin. You will,

likewise, lose your reputation, your nobility, and honor of birth;

your name will be forgotten and abhorred. Of you will it be said

that you were buried in the dust of your sins. And remember, my

daughter, that, though no man shall see you, nor your husband ever

know what happens, _God, who is in every place, sees you_, will be

angry with you, and will also excite the indignation of the people

against you, and will be avenged upon you as he shall see fit. By

his command you shall either be maimed, or struck blind, or your

body will wither, or you will come to extreme poverty, for daring

to injure your husband. Or perhaps he will give you to death, and

put you under his feet, sending you to the place of torment. Our

Lord is compassionate; but, if you commit treason against your

husband, God, who is in every place, shall take vengeance on your

sin, and will permit you to have neither contentment, nor repose,

nor a peaceful life; and he will excite your husband to be always

unkind towards you, and always to speak to you with anger. My dear

daughter, whom I tenderly love, see that you live in the world in

peace, tranquillity, and contentment, all the days that you shall

live. See that you disgrace not yourself, that you stain not your

honor, nor pollute the lustre and fame of your ancestors. See that

you honor me and your father, and reflect glory on us by your good

life. May God prosper you, my first-born, and may you come to God,

who is in every place.

No. II.--See vol. i. p. 188

A CASTILIAN AND AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF A POEM ON THE MUTABILITY

OF LIFE, BY NEZAHUALCOYOTL, LORD OF TEZCUCO

[This poem was fortunately rescued from the fate of too many of the

Indian MSS., by the chevalier Boturini, and formed part of his valuable

_Muséo_. It was subsequently incorporated in the extensive collection of

documents made by Father Manuel de la Vega, in Mexico, 1792. This

magnificent collection was made in obedience to an enlightened order of

the Spanish government, “that all such MSS. as could be found in New

Spain, fitted to illustrate the antiquities, geography, civil,

ecclesiastical, and natural history of America, should be copied and

transmitted to Madrid.” This order was obeyed, and the result was a

collection of thirty-two volumes in folio, which, amidst much that is

trivial and of little worth, contains also a mass of original materials,

of inestimable value to the historian of Mexico and of the various races

who occupied the country of New Spain.]

Un rato cantar quiero,

pues la ocasion y el tiempo se ofrece;

ser admitido espero,

si intento lo merece;

y comienzo mi canto,

aunque fuera mejor llamarle llanto.

Y tú, querido Amigo,

goza la amenidad de aquestas flores,

alégrate conmigo;

desechemos de pena los temores,

que el gusto trae medida,

por ser al fin con fin la mala vida.

Io tocaré cantando

el músico instrumento sonoroso,

tú de flores gozando

danza, y festeja á Dios que es Poderoso,

gocemos de esta gloria,

porque la humana vida es transitoria.

De Ocblehacan pusíste

en esta noble Corte, y siendo tuyo,

tus sillas, y quisiste

vestirlas; donde arguyo,

que con grandeza tanta

el Imperio se aumenta y se levanta.

Oyoyotzin prudente,

famoso Rey y singular Monarca,

goza del bien presente,

que lo presente lo florido abarca;

porque vendrá algun dia

que busques este gusto y alegría.

Entonces tu Fortuna

te ha de quitar el Cetro de la mano,

ha de menguar tu Luna,

no te verás tan fuerte y tan ufano;

entonces tus criados

de todo bien serán desamparados.

Y en tan triste suceso

los nobles descendientes de tu nido,

de Príncipes el peso,

los que de nobles Padres han nacido,

faltando tú Cabeza,

gustarán la armargura de pobreza.

Y traerán á la memoria

quien fuíste en pompa de todos envidiada

tus triunfos y victoria;

y con la gloria y Magestad pasada

cotejando pesares,

de lágrimas harán crecidas Mares.

Y estos tus descendientes,

que te sirven de pluma y de corona

de tí viéndose ausentes,

de Culhuacan estrañarán la cuna,

y tenidos por tales

con sus desdichas crecerán sus males.

Y de esta grandeza rara,

digna de mil coronas y blasones,

será la fama avara;

solo se acordarán en las naciones,

lo bien que governáron,

las tres Cabezas que el imperio honráron.

En México famosa

Moctezumá, valor de pecho Indiano;

á Culhuacan dichosa

de Neçahualcoyotl rigió la mano;

Acatlapan la fuerte

Totoquilhuastli le salió por suerte.

Y ningun olvido temo

de lo bien que tu reyno dispusíste,

estando en le supremo

lugar, que de la mano recibíste

de aquel Señor del Mundo,

factor de aquestas cosas sin segundo.

Y goza pues muy gustoso,

O Neçahualcoyotl, lo que agora tienes

con flores de este hermoso

jardin corona tus ilustres sienes;

oye mi canto, y lira

que á darte gustos y placeres tira.

Y los gustos de esta vida,

sus riquezas, y mandos son prestados,

son sustancia fingida,

con apariencias solo matizados;

y es tan gran verdad esta,

que á una pregunta me has de dar respuesta,

¿Y que es de Cihuapan,

y Quantzintecomtzin el valiente,

y Conahuatzin;

que es de toda esa gente?

sus voces; ¡agora acaso!

ya están en la otra vida, este es el caso.

¡Ojala los, que agora

juntos los tiene del amor el hilo,

que amistad atesora,

vieramos de la muerte el duro filo!

porque no hay bien seguro,

que siempre trae mudanza á lo futuro.

----

Now would I sing, since time and place

Are mine,--and oh! with thee

May this my song obtain the grace

My purpose claims for me.

I wake these notes on song intent,

But call it rather a lament.

Do thou, beloved, now delight

In these my flowers, pure and bright,

Rejoicing with thy friend;

Now let us banish pain and fear,

For, if our joys are measured here,

Life’s sadness hath its end.

And I will strike, to aid my voice,

The deep, sonorous chord;

Thou, dancing, in these flowers rejoice

And feast Earth’s mighty Lord;

Seize we the glories of to-day,

For mortal life fleets fast away.--

In Ocblehacan, all thine own,

Thy hand hath placed the noble throne.

Which thou hast richly dressed;

From whence I argue that thy sway

Shall be augmented day by day,

In rising greatness blessed.

Wise Oyoyotzin! prudent king!

Unrivalled Prince, and great!

Enjoy the fragrant flowers that spring

Around thy kingly state;

A day will come which shall destroy

Thy present bliss,--thy present joy,--

When fate the sceptre of command

Shall wrench from out thy royal hand,--

Thy moon diminished rise;

And, as thy pride and strength are quenched,

From thy adherents shall be wrenched

All that they love or prize.

When sorrow shall my truth attest,

And this thy throne decline,--

The birds of thy ancestral nest,

The princes of thy line,--

The mighty of thy race,--shall see

The bitter ills of poverty;--

And then shall memory recall

Thy envied greatness, and on all

Thy brilliant triumphs dwell;

And as they think on by-gone years,

Compared with present shame, their tears

Shall to an ocean swell.

And those who, though a royal band,

Serve thee for crown, or plume,

Remote from Culhuacan’s land

Shall find the exile’s doom.

Deprived of thee,--their rank forgot,

Misfortune shall o’erwhelm their lot.

Then fame shall grudgingly withhold

Her meed to greatness, which of old

Blazons and crowns displayed;

The people will retain alone

Remembrance of that _triple throne_

Which this our land obeyed.

Brave Moctezuma’s Indian land

Was Mexico the great,

And Nezahualcoyotl’s hand

Blessed Culhuacan’s state,

Whilst Totoquil his portion drew

In Acatlapan, strong and true;

But no oblivion can I fear,

Of good by thee accomplished here,

Whilst high upon thy throne;

That station, which, to match thy worth,

Was given by the Lord of Earth,

Maker of good alone.

Then, Nezahualcoyotl,--now,

In what thou _hast_, delight;

And wreathe around thy royal brow

Life’s garden blossoms bright;

List to my lyre and my lay,

Which aim to please thee and obey.

The pleasures which our lives present--

Earth’s sceptres, and its wealth--are lent,

Are shadows fleeting by;

Appearance colors all our bliss;

A truth so great, that now to this

One question, make reply.

What has become of Cihuapan,

Quantzintecomtzin brave,

And Conahuatzin, mighty man;

Where are they? In the grave!

Their names remain, but they are fled,

Forever numbered with the dead.

Would that those now in friendship bound,

We whom Love’s thread encircles round,

Death’s cruel edge might see!

Since good on earth is insecure,

And all things must a change endure

In dark futurity!

No. III.--See vol. i. p. 196

DESCRIPTION OF THE RESIDENCE OF NEZAHUALCOYOTL AT TEZCOTZINCO,

EXTRACTED FROM IXTLILXOCHITL’S “HISTORIA CHICHIMECA,” MS., CAP.

XLII

De los jardines el mas ameno y de curiosidades fué el Bosque de

Tezcotzinco; porque demas de la cerca tan grande que tenia, para

subir á la cumbre de él, y andarlo todo, tenia sus gradas, parte de

ellas de argamasa, parte labrada en la misma peña; y el agua que se

trahia para las Fuentes, Pilas, y Baños, y los caños que se

repartian para el riego de las Flores y arboledas de este Bosque,

para poderla traer desde su Nacimiento, fué menester hacer fuertes

y altíssimas murallas de argamasa desde unas sierras á otras, de

increible grandeza; sobre la qual hizo una Fargea hasta venir á dar

á la mas alta del Bosque, y á las espaldas de la cumbre de él. En

el primer Estanque de Agua estaba una Peña esculpida en ella en

circunferencia los años desde que havia nacido el Rey

Nezahualcoiotzin hasta la edad de aquel tiempo; y por la parte de

afuera los años en fin de cada uno de ellos, así mismo esculpidas

las cosas mas memorables que hizo; y por dentro de la rueda

esculpidas sus Armas, que eran una casa, que estaba ardiendo, en

llamas y desaciéndose; otra que estaba muy ennoblecida de

edificios; y en medio de las dos un pie de venado, atada en él una

piedra preciosa, y salian del pie unos penachos de plumas

preciosas, y así mismo una cierva, y en ella un Brazo asido de un

Arco con unas Flechas, y como un Hombre armado con su Morrion y

oregeras, coselete, y dos tigres á los Lados, de cuias bocas salian

agua y fuego, y por orla, doce cabezas de Reyes y Señores, y otras

cosas que el primer Arzobispo de México, Don Fray Juan de

Zumarraga, mandó hacer pedazos, entendiendo ser algunos Idolos; y

todo lo referido era la etimología de sus Armas. Y de allí se

partia esta agua en dos partes, que la una iba cercando y rodeando

el Bosque por la parte del Norte, y la otra por la parte del Sur.

En la cumbre de este Bosque estaban edificadas unas casas á manera

de torre, y por remate y Chapitel estaba hecha de cantería una como

á manera de Mazeta, y dentra de ella salian unos Penachos y

plumeros, que era la etimología del nombre del Bosque; y luego mas

abajo, hecho de una Peña, un Leon de mas de dos brazas de largo con

sus alas y plumas: estaba hechado y mirando á la parte del Oriente,

en cuia boca asomaba un rostro, que era el mismo retrato del Rey,

el qual Leon estaba de ordinario debajo de un palio hecho de oro y

plumería. Un poquito mas abajo estaban tres Albercas de agua, y en

la de en medio estaban en sus Bordos tres Damas esculpidas y

labradas en la misma Peña, que significaban la gran Laguna y las

Ramas las cabezas del Imperio; y por un lado (que era hacia la

parte del Norte) otra Alberca, y en una Peña esculpido el nombre y

Escudo de Armas de la Ciudad de Tolan, que fué cabecera de los

Tultecas; y por el lado izquierdo, que caia hacia la parte del Sur,

estaba la otra Alberca, y en la peña esculpido el Escudo de Armas y

nombre de la Ciudad de Tenaiocan, que fué la cabecera del Imperio

de los Chichimecas; y de esta Alberca salia un caño de Agua, que

saltando sobre unas peñas salpicaba el Agua, que iba á caer á un

Jardín de todas flores olorosas de Tierra caliente, que parecia que

llovia con la precipitacion y golpe que daba el agua sobra la peña.

Tras este jardin se seguian los Baños hechos y labrados de peña

viva, que con dividirse en dos Baños eran de una pieza; y por aquí

se bajaba por una peña grandísima de unas gradas hechas de la misma

peña, tan bien gravadas y lizas, que parecian Espejos; y por el

pretil de estas gradas estaba esculpido el dia, mes, y año, y hora,

en que se le dió aviso al Rey Nezahualcoiotzin de la muerte de un

Señor de Huexotzinco, á quien quisó y amó notablemente, y le cojió

esta nueva quando se estaban haciendo estas gradas. Luego

consecutivamente estaba el Alcazar y Palacio que el Rey tenia en el

Bosque, en los quales havia, entre otras muchas salas, aposentos, y

retretes, una muy grandísima, y delante de ella un Patio, en la

qual recivia á los Reyes de México y Tlacopan, y á otros Grandes

Señores, quando se iban á holgar con él, y en el Patio se hacian

las Damas, y algunas representaciones de gusto y entretenimiento.

Estaban estos alcazares con tan admirable y maravillosa hechura, y

con tanta diversidad de piedras, que no parecian ser hechos de

industria humana. El Aposento donde el Rey dormia era redondo; todo

lo demas de este Bosque, como dicho tengo, estaba plantado de

diversidad de Árboles, y flores odoríferas, y en ellos diversidad

de Aves, sin las que el Rey tenia en jaulas, traidas de diversas

partes, que hacian una armonia, y canto, que no se oian las Gentes.

Fuera de las florestas, que las dividia, una Pared entraba la

Montaña, en que havia muchos venados, conejos, y liebres, que si de

cada cosa muy particular se describiese, y de los demas Bosques de

este Reyno, era menester hacer Historia muy particular.

No. IV.--See vol. i. p. 215

TRANSLATIONS FROM IXTLILXOCHITL’S “HISTORIA CHICHIMECA,” MS., CAP. LXIV

OF THE EXTRAORDINARY SEVERITY WITH WHICH THE KING NEZAHUALPILLI

PUNISHED THE MEXICAN QUEEN FOR HER ADULTERY AND TREASON

When Axaiacatzin, king of Mexico, and other lords, sent their

daughters to king Nezahualpilli, for him to choose one to be his

queen and lawful wife, whose son might succeed to the inheritance,

she who had highest claims among them, from nobility of birth and

rank, was Chachiuhnenetzin, daughter of the Mexican king. But,

being at that time very young, she was brought up by the monarch in

a separate palace, with great pomp and numerous attendants, as

became the daughter of so great a king. The number of servants

attached to her household exceeded two thousand. Young as she was,

she was yet exceedingly artful and vicious; so that, finding

herself alone, and seeing that her people feared her, on account of

her rank and importance, she began to give way to the unlimited

indulgence of her lust. Whenever she saw a young man who pleased

her fancy, she gave secret orders to have him brought to her, and,

having satisfied her desires, caused him to be put to death. She

then ordered a statue or effigy of his person to be made, and

adorning it with rich clothing, gold, and jewelry, had it placed in

the apartment in which she lived. The number of statues of those

whom she thus put to death was so great as almost to fill the

apartment. When the king came to visit her, and inquired respecting

these statues, she answered that they were her gods; and he,

knowing how strict the Mexicans were in the worship of their false

deities, believed her. But as no iniquity can be long committed

with entire secrecy, she was finally found out in this manner.

Three of the young men, for some reason or other, she had left

alive. Their names were Chicuhcoatl, Huitzilimitzin, and Maxtla,

one of whom was lord of Tesoyucan, and one of the grandees of the

kingdom; and the other two, nobles of high rank. It happened that

one day the king recognized on one of these a very precious jewel,

which he had given to the queen; and, although he had no fear of

treason on her part, it gave him some uneasiness. Proceeding to

visit her that night, her attendants told him that she was asleep,

supposing that the king would then return, as he had done at other

times. But the affair of the jewel made him insist on entering the

chamber in which she slept; and, going to awake her, he found only

a statue in the bed, adorned with her hair, and closely resembling

her. This being seen by the king, and also that the attendants

around were in much trepidation and alarm, he called his guards,

and, assembling all the people of the house, made a general search

for the queen, who was shortly found, at an entertainment with the

three young lords, who were likewise arrested with her. The king

referred the case to the judges of his court, in order that they

might make an inquiry into the matter and examine the parties

implicated. These discovered many individuals, servants of the

queen, who had in some way or other been accessory to her crimes,

workmen who had been engaged in making and adorning the statues,

others who had aided in introducing the young men into the palace,

and others again who had put them to death and concealed their

bodies. The case having been sufficiently investigated, he

despatched ambassadors to the kings of Mexico and Tlacopan, giving

them information of the event, and signifying the day on which the

punishment of the queen and her accomplices was to take place; and

he likewise sent through the empire to summon all the lords to

bring their wives and their daughters, however, young they might

be, to be witnesses of a punishment which he designed for a great

example. He also made a truce with all the enemies of the empire,

in order that they might come freely to see it. The time being

arrived, so great was the concourse of people gathered on the

occasion, that, large as was the city of Tezcuco, they could

scarcely all find room in it. The execution took place publicly, in

sight of the whole city. The queen was put to the _garrote_ [a

method of strangling by means of a rope twisted round a stick], as

well as her three gallants; and, from their being persons of high

birth, their bodies were burned, together with the effigies before

mentioned. The other parties who had been accessory to the crime,

who were more than two thousand persons, were also put to the

_garrote_, and buried in a pit made for the purpose in a ravine

near a temple of the Idol of Adulterers. All applauded so severe

and exemplary a punishment, except the Mexican lords, the relations

of the queen, who were much incensed at so public an example, and,

although for the present they concealed their resentment, meditated

future revenge. It was not without cause that the king experienced

this disgrace in his household, since he was thus punished for the

unworthy means made use of by his father to obtain his mother as a

wife.

No. V.--See vol. i. p. 316

INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN BY VELASQUEZ, GOVERNOR OF CUBA, TO CORTÉS ON HIS

TAKING COMMAND OF THE EXPEDITION; DATED AT FERNANDINA, OCTOBER 23,

1518

[The instrument forms part of the Muñoz collection.]

Por quanto yo Diego Velasquez, Alcalde, capitan general, é

repartidor de los caciques é yndios de esta isla Fernandina por sus

Altezas, &c., embié los dias pasados, en nombre é servicio de sus

Altezas, aver é bojar la ysla de Yucatan Sᵗᵃ María de los remedios,

que nuevamente habia descubierto, é á descobrir lo demas que Dios

Nʳᵒ Sᵒʳ fuese servido, y en nombre de sus Altezas tomar la posesion

de todo, una armada con la gente necesaria, en que fué é nombre por

capitan della á Juan de Grijalva, vezino de la villa de la Trinidad

desta ysla, el qual me embió una caravela de las que llevava,

porque le facia mucha agua, é en ella cierta gente, que los Indios

en la dicha Sᵗᵃ María de los remedios le habian herido, é otros

adolecido, y con la razon de todo lo que le habia ocurrido hasta

otras yslas é tierras que de nuebo descubrió; que la una es una

ysla que se dice Cozumel, é le puso por nombre Sᵗᵃ Cruz; y otra es

una tierra grande, que parte della se llama Ulua, que puso por

nombre Sᵗᵃ María de las Niebes; desde donde me embió la dicha

caravela é gente, é me escribió como iba siguiendo su demanda

principalmente á saber si aquella tierra era Isla, ó tierra firme;

é ha muchos dias que de razon habia de haber sabido nueva dél, de

que se presume, pues tal nueva dél fasta oy no se sabe, que debe de

tener ó estar en alguna ó estrema necesidad de socorro: é así mesmo

porque una caravela, que yo embié al dicho Juan de Grijalva desdel

puerto desta cibdad de Santiago, para que con él é la armada que

lleva se juntase en el puerto de Sⁿ Cristóbal de la Havana, porque

muy mas proveido de todo é como al servicio de sus Altezas convenia

fuesen, quando llegó donde pensó fallarle, el dʰᵒ Juan de Grijalva

se habia fecho á la bela é hera ido con toda la dicha armada,

puesto que dejó abiso del viage que la dʰᵃ carabela habia de

llebar; é como la dʰᵃ carabela, en que iban ochenta, ó noventa

hombres, no falló la dʰᵃ armada, tomó el dicho aviso, y fué en

seguimiento del dʰᵒ Juan de Grijalva; y segun paresze é se ha

sabido por informacion de las personas feridas é dolientes, que el

dʰᵒ Juan de Grijalva me embió, no se habia juntado con él, ni della

habia habido ninguna nueba, ni los dʰᵒˢ dolientes ni feridos la

supiéron á la buelta, puesto que viniéron mucha parte del biage

costa á costa de la ysla de Sᵗᵃ Mª de los remedios por donde habian

ydo; de que se presume que con tiempo forzoso podria de caer acia

tierra firme, ó llegar á alguna parte donde los dichos ochenta ó

noventa ombres españoles corran detrimento por el nabio, ó por ser

pocos, ó por andar perdidos en busca del dʰᵒ Juan de Grijalva,

puesto que iban muy bien pertrechados de todo lo necesario; ademas

de esto porque despues que con el dʰᵒ Juan de Grijalva embié la

dicha armada he sido informado de muy cierto por un yndio de los de

la dʰᵃ ysla de Yucatan Sᵗᵃ María de los remedios, como en poder de

ciertos Caciques principales della están seis cristianos cautibos,

y los tienen por esclabos, é se sirben dellos en sus haciendas, que

los tomáron muchos dias ha de una carabela que con tiempo por allí

diz que aportó perdida, que se cree que alguno dellos deve ser

Nicuesa capitan, que el católico Rey Dⁿ Fernando de gloriosa

memoria mandó ir á tierra firme, é redimirlos seria grandísimo

servicio de Dios Nʳᵒ Sᵒʳ é de sus Altezas: por todo lo qual

pareciéndome que al servicio de Dios Nʳᵒ Sⁿʳ é de sus Altezas

convenia inhiar así en seguimiento é socorro de la dʰᵃ armada quel

dʰᵒ Juan de Grijalva llebó, y busca de la carabela que tras él en

su seguimiento fué como á redimir si posible fuese los dʰᵒˢ

cristianos que en poder de los dʰᵒˢ Indios están cabtivos; acordé,

habiendo muchas veces pensado, é pesado, é platicádolo con personas

cuerdas, de embiar como embié otra armada tal, é también bastecida

é aparejada ansí de nabíos é mantenimientos como de gente è todo lo

demas para semejante negocio necesario; que si por caso á la gente

de la otra primera armada, ó de la dʰᵃ carabela que fué en su

seguimiento hallase en alguna parte cerca de infieles, sea bastante

para los socorrer ó descercar; é si ansí no los hallare, por sí

sola pueda seguramente andar é calar en su busca todas aquellas

yslas tierras, é saber el secreto dellas, y faser todo lo demas que

al servicio è de Dios Nʳᵒ Sᵒʳ cumpla é al de sus Altezas combenga:

é para ello he acordado de la encomendar á vos Fernando Cortés, é

os imbiar por capitan della, por la esperiencia que de vos tengo

del tiempo que ha que en esta ysla en mi compañia habeis servido á

sus Altezas, confiando que soys persona cuerda, y que con toda

pendencia é zelo de su real servicio daréis buena razon é quenta de

todo lo que por mí en nombre de sus Altezas os fuere mandado acerca

de la dicha negociacion, y la guiaréis ó encaminaréis como mas al

servicio de Dios Nʳᵒ Sᵒʳ é de sus Altezas combenga; y porque mejor

guiada la negociacion de todo vaya, lo que habeis de fazer, y

mirar, é con mucha vigilancia y deligencia ynquirir é saber, es lo

siguiente.

1. Hágase el servicio de Dios en todo, y quien saltaré castiga con

rigor.

2. Castigaréis en particular la fornicacion.

3. Proibiréis dados y naipes, ocasion de discordias y otros

excesos.

4. Ya salido la armada del pᵗᵒ desta ciudᵈ de Santiago en los

otros, dotaréis desta esta cuidado no se haga agravio á Españoles

ni Indios.

5. Tomados los bastimentos necesarios en dʰᵒˢ puertos, partiréis á

vʳᵒ destino, haciendo antes alarde de gente ó armas.

6. No consentiréis vaya ningun Indio ni India.

7. Salido al mar y metidas las barcas, en la de vʳᵒ navío

visitaréis los otros, y reconoceréis otra vez la gente con las

copias [las listas] de cada uno.

8. Apercibiréis á los capitanes y Maestres de los otros navíos que

jamas se aparten de vʳᵃ conserva, y haréis quanto convenga para

llegar todos juntos á la ysla de Cozumel Santa Cruz, donde será

vuestra derecha derrota.

9. Si por algun caso llegaren antes que vos, les mandaréis que

nadie sea osado á tratar mal á los Indios, ni les diga la causa

porque vais, ni les demande ó interrogue por los cristianos

captivos en la Isla de Sᵗᵃ María de los remedios: digan solo que

vos hablaréis en llegando.

10. Llegado á dʰᵃ ysla de Sᵗᵃ Cruz veréis y sondearéis los puertos,

entradas, y aguadas, así della como de Sᵗᵃ María de los remedios, y

la punta de Sᵗᵃ María de las Nieves, para dar cumplida relacion de

todo.

11. Diréis á los Indios de Cozumel, Sᵗᵃ Cruz, y demas partes, que

vais por mandado del Rey á visitarles; hablaréis de su poder y

conquistas, individuando las hechas en estas Islas y Tierra firme,

de sus mercedes á quantos le servin; que ellos se vengan á su

obediencia y den muestras dello, regalándole, como los otros han

hecho, con oro, perlas, &c., para que eche de ver su buena voluntad

y les favorezca y defienda: que yo les aseguro de todo en su

nombre, que me pesó mucho de la batalla que con ellos ovo

Francisco Hernandez, y os embió para darles á entender como Su

Alteza quiere que sean bien tratados, &c.

12. Tomaréis entera informacion de las cruces que diz se hallan en

dʰᵃ Isla Sᵗᵃ Cruz adoradas por los Indios, del orígen y causas de

semejante costumbre.

13. En general sabréis quanto concierne á la religion de la tierra.

14. Y cuidad mucho de doctrinarlos en la verdadera fee, pues esta

es la causa principal porque sus Altezas permiten estos

descubrimientos.

15. Inquirid de la armada de Juan de Grijalva, y de la caravela que

llevó en su seguimiento Cristóv. de Olid.

16. Caso de juntaros con la armada, búsquese la caravela, y

concertad donde podréis juntaros otra vez todos.

17. Lo mismo haréis si 1º se halla la caravela.

18. Iréis por la costa de la Isla de Yucatan Sᵗᵃ María de los

remedios, do están seis cristianos en poder de unos caciques á

quienes dice conocer Melchor Indio de allí, que con vos llevais.

Tratadlo con mucho amor, para que os le tenga y sirva fielmente. No

sea que os suceda algun daño, por que los Indios de aquella tierra

en caso de guerra son mañosos.

19. Donde quiera, trataréis muy bien á los Indios.

20. Quantos rescates hicieredes meteréis en arca de tres llaves de

que tendréis vos una, las otras el Veedor y el Tesorero que

nombraredes.

21. Quando se necesite hacer agua, ó leña, &c., embiaréis personas

cuerdas al mando dél de mayor confianza, que ni causen escándalo ni

se pongan en peligro.

22. Si adentro la tierra viereis alguna poblacion de Indios que

ofrecieren amistad, podréis ir á ella con la gente mas pacífica y

bien armada, mirando mucho en que ningun agravio se les haga en sus

bienes y mugeres.

23. En tal caso dejaréis á mui buen recabdo los navíos; estaréis

mui sobre aviso que no os engañen ni se entrometan muchos Indios

entre los Españoles, &c.

24. Avisdo que placiendo á Dios N. S. ayais los Xⁿᵒˢ que en la dʰᵃ

Isla de Sᵗᵃ Mª de los remedios están captivos, y buscado que por

ella ayais la dʰᵃ armada é la dʰᵃ caravela, seguiréis vuestro viage

á la punta llana ques el principio de la tierra grande que agora

nuevamente el dʰᵒ J. de Grijalva descubrió, y correréis en su busca

por la costa della adelante buscando todos los rios é puertos della

fasta llegar á la baia de S. Juan, y Sᵗᵃ Mª de los Nieves, que es

desde donde el dʰᵒ J. de Grijalva me embió los heridos é dolientes,

é me escrivió lo que hasta allí le habia occurrido; é si allí

hallaredes, juntaros é ir con el J.; porque entre los Españoles que

llevais ó allá están no haya diferencias, ... cada uno tenga cargo

de la gente que consigo lleva, ... y entramos mui conformes,

consultaréis lo que mas convenga conforme á esta instruccion, y á

la que Grijalva llevó de sus Paternidades y mias; en tal caso los

rescates todos se harán en presencia de Francisco de Peñalosa,

veedor nombrado por sus Paternidades.

25. Inquiriréis las cosas de las tierras á do llegareis, así

morales como fisicas, si hai perlas, especiería, oro, &c., partᵗᵉ

en Sᵗᵃ Mᵃ de las Nieves, de donde Grijalva me embió ciertos granos

de oro por fundir é fundidos.

26. Quando salteis en tierra sea ante vʳᵒ Sⁿᵒ y muchos testigos, y

tomaréis posesion della con las solemnidades usadas: inquirid la

calidad de las gentes: porque diz que hay gentes de orejas grandes

y anchas, y otras que tienen las caras como perros, ... á que parte

están las Amazonas, que dicen estos Indios que con vos llevais, que

están cerca de allí.

27. Las demas cosas dejo á vʳᵃ prudencia, confiando de vos que en

todo tomeis el cuidadoso cuidado de hacer lo que mas cumpla al

servicio de Dios y de SS. AA.

28. En todos los puertos de esta ysla do hallareis Españoles que

quieran ir con vos, no lleveis á quien tuviere deudas, si antes no

las paga ó da fianzas suficientes.

29. Luego en llegando á Sᵗᵃ Mª de las Nieves, me embiaréis en el

navío que menos falta hiciere, quanto hubieredes rescatado y

hallado de oro, perlas, especería, animales, aves, &c., con

relacion de lo hecho y lo que pensais hacer, pª que yo lo mande y

diga al Rey.

30. Conoceréis conforme á derecho de las causas civiles y

criminales que ocurran, como Capitan desta armada con todos los

poderes, &c. &c. Fʰᵃ en esta cibdad de Santiago puerto desta isla

Fernandina, á 23 Oct., 1518.

No. VI.--See vol. i. p. 338

EXTRACT FROM LAS CASAS’ “HISTORIA GENERAL DE LAS INDIAS,” MS., LIB. III.

CAP. CXVI

[Few Spanish scholars have had access to the writings of Las Casas; and

I have made this short extract from the original, as a specimen of the

rambling but vigorous style of a work the celebrity of which has been

much enhanced by the jealous reserve with which it has been withheld

from publication.]

Esto es uno de los herrores y disparates que muchos han tenido y

echo en estas partes; porque simprimero por mucho tiempo aver á los

yndios y á qualquiera nacion ydolatria dotrinado es gran desvario

quitarles los ýdolos; lo qual nunca se hace por voluntad sino

contra de los ydólatras; porque ninguno puede dexar por su voluntad

é de buena gana aquello que tiene de muchos años por Dios y en la

leche mamado y autorizado por sus mayores, sin que primero tenga

entendido que aquellos que les dan ó en que les comutan su Dios,

sea verdadero Dios. Mirad que doctrina les podian dar en dos ó en

tres ó en quatro ó en diez dias, que allí estuviéron, y que mas

estuvieran, del verdadero Dios, y tampoco les supieran dar para

desarraygalles la opinion erronea de sus dioses, que en yéndose,

que se fuéron, no tornáron á ydolatrar. Primero se han de rraer de

los corazones los ý dolos, conviene á saber el concepto y estima

que tienen de ser aquellos Dios los ydólatras por diuturna y

deligente é continua dotrina, y pintalles en ellos el concepto y

verdad del verdadero Dios, y despues ellos mismos viendo su engaño

y error an de derrocar é destruir, con sus mismas manos y de toda

su voluntad, los ydolos que veneraban por Dios é por dioses. Y así

lo enseña San Agustin en el sermon, _De puero centurionis, de

verbis Domini_. Pero no fué aqueste el postrero disparate que en

estas yndias cerca desta materia se a hecho poner cruces,

ynduciendo á los yndios á la rreverencia dellas. Si ay tiempo para

ello con sinificacion alguna del fruto que pueden sacar dello, si

se lo pueden dar á entender para hacerse y bien hacerse, pero no

aviendo tiempo ni lengua ni sazon, cosa superflua é ynútil parece.

Porque pueden pensar los yndios que les dan algún ýdolo de aquella

figura que tienen por Dios los christianos, y así lo arán ydólatra

adorando por Dios aquel palo. La mas cierta é conveniente regla é

dotrina que por estas tierras y otras de ynfieles semejantes á

estos los christianos deben dar é tener, quando van de pasada como

estos yvan, é quando tambien quisieren morar entre ellas, es dalles

muy buen exemplo de hobras virtuosas y christianas, para que, como

dice nuestro Redemptor, viéndolas alaben y den gloria al Dios é

padre de los cristianos, é por ellas juzguen que quien tales

cultores tiene no puede ser sino bueno é verdadero Dios.

No. VII.--See vol. ii. p. 28

DEPOSITION OF ALONSO HERNANDEZ DE PUERTO-CARRERO, MS.

[Puerto-Carrero and Montejo were the two officers sent home by Cortés

from Villa Rica with despatches to the government. The emissaries were

examined under oath before the venerable Dr. Carbajal, one of the

Council of the Indies, in regard to the proceedings of Velasquez and

Cortés; and the following is the deposition of Puerto-Carrero. He was a

man of good family, superior in this respect to most of those embarked

in the expedition. The original is in the Archives of Simancas.]

En la cibdad de la Coruña, á 30 dias del mes de Abril, de 1520

años, se tomó el dʰᵒ é depusicion de Alonso Hernandez

Puerto-Carrero por mí, Joan de Samano, del qual haviendo jurado en

forma so cargo del juramento dijo lo sigᵗᵉ.

Primeramente dijo, que en ell armada que hizo Franᶜᵒ Hernández de

Cordova é Caycedo é su compañero él no fué en ella; de la qual

armada fué el dʰᵒ Franᶜᵒ Hernandez de Cordova por Capitan General é

principal armador; é que ha oido decir como estos descubrieron la

Isla que se llama de Yucatan.

Item: dijo que en ell armada de que fué Capⁿ General Joan de

Grijalva este testigo no fué; pero que vido un Capⁿ, que se dice

Pedro de Alvarado, que embió Joan de Grijalva en una caravela con

cierto oro é joyas á Diego Velasquez; é que oyó decir, que des que

Diego Velasquez vido que traian tan poco oro, é el Capitan Joan de

Grijalva se queria luego bolver é no hacer mas rescate, acordó de

hablar á Hernandez Cortés para que hiciesen esta armada, por que al

presente en Santiago no havia persona que mejor aparejo tuviese, i

que mas bien quisto en la isla fuese, por que al presente tenia

tres navíos: fuéle preguntado, como savia lo susodʰᵒ; respondió,

que porque lo avia oido decir á muchas personas de la isla.

Dice mas que se pregonó en el pueblo don este testigo vivia, que

todas las personas que quisiesen ir en ell armada, de todo lo que

se oviese ó rescátase habria la una tercera parte, é las otras dos

partes eran para los armadores i navíos.

Fuéle preguntado, quien hizo dar el dʰᵒ pregun, é en cuyo nombre se

hacia, é quien se decia entonces que hacia la dʰᵃ armada;

respondió, que oyó decir, que Hernando Cortés havia escripto una

carta á un Alcᵉ de aquel pueblo para que hiciese á pregonarlo; é

que oyó decir, que Diego Velasquez habló con Hernᵈᵒ Cortés para que

juntamᵗᵉ con él hiciesen la dʰᵃ armada, por que al presente no

habia otra persona que mejor aparejo en la dicha isla para ello

tuviese, porque al presente tenia tres navíos, é era bien quisto en

la isla; é que oyó decir, que si él no fuera por Capitan, que no

fuera la tercera parte de la gente que con él fué; é que no sabe el

concierto que entre sí tienen, mas de que oyó decir, que amvos

hacían aquella armada, é que ponia Hernᵈᵒ Cortés mas de las dos

partes della, é que la otra parte cree este testigo que la puso

Diego Velasquez, porque lo oyó decir, e despues que fué en la dʰᵃ

armada vido ciertos navíos que puso Hernᵈᵒ Cortés, en lo que

gastaba con la gente, que le pareció que ponia las dos partes ó

mas, é que de diez navíos que fueron en ell armada los tres puso

Diego Velasquez, é los siete Cortés suyos é de sus amigos.

Dijo que le dijéron muchas personas que ivan en ell armada como

Hernᵈᵒ Cortés hizo pregonar, que todos los que quisiesen ir en su

compañía, si toviesen nescésida de dineros así para comprar

vestidos como provisiones ó armas para ellos, que fuesen á él, é

que él les socoreria é les daría lo que hoviesen menester, é que á

todos los que á él acodian que lo dava, é que esto sabe, porque

muchas personas á quien el socorría con dineros que lo dijéron; é

que estando en la villa de la Trenidad, vió que él é sus amigos

davan á toda la gente que allí estaba todo lo que havian menester;

é así mesmo estando en la villa de Sant Cristobal en la Havana,

vió hacer lo mismo, é comprar muchos puercos é pan, que podian ser

tres ó cuatro meses.

Fuéle preguntado, á quien tenian por principal armador desta

armada, é quien era público que la hacia; dijo que lo que oyó decir

é vido, que Hernᵈᵒ Cortés gastava las dos partes, é que los dʰᵒˢ

Diego Velasquez é Hernᵈᵒ Cortés la hiciéron como dʰᵒ tiene, é que

no sabe mas en esto de este artículo.

Fuéle preguntado, si sabia quel dʰᵒ Diego Velasquez fuese el

principal por respecto de ser Governador por su Al. en las tierras

é islas que por su industria se descobriesen; que no lo sabe, por

que no le eran entonces llegados Gonzalo de Guzman é Narvaez.

Fuéle preguntado, si sabe el dʰᵒ Diego Velasquez sea lugar teniente

de Governador é capitan de la isla de Cuba; dijo que ha oido decir,

ques teniente de Almirante.

Fuéle preguntado, si sabia dellasiᵗᵒ é capitulacⁿ que el dicho

Diego Velasquez tomó con los Frailes Gerónimos en nombre de S. M.,

é de la instruccion que ellos para el descubrimiento le diéron;

dijo que oyó decir, que les havia fʰᵒ relacion que havia

descovierto una tʳʳᵃ que era mui rica, é les embió á pedir le

diesen licª para vojallá é para rescatar en ella, é los Padres

Gerónimos que la diéron, é que esto sabe por que lo oyó decir:

fuéle preguntado, si vió este asiento ó poderes algunos de los dʰᵒˢ

Padres ó la dʰᵃ instruccion; dijo que bien los puede haver visto,

mas lo que en ellos iva, no se acuerda mas que lo arriva dʰᵒ.

Fuéle preguntado, si vió ó oyó decir, que los dichos poderes é

capitulacⁿ de los dʰᵒˢ Padres Gerónimos fuese nombrado Diego

Velasquez ó el dʰᵒ Cortés; dijo que en los poderes que los Pᵉˢ

Gerónimos embiáron á Diego Velasquez que á él seria, é no há

Hernando Cortés, por que el dʰᵒ Diego Velasquez lo embió á pedir.

Fuéle preguntado, como é porque causa obedecia á Hernᵈᵒ Cortés por

Capⁿ General de aquella armada; dijo que porque Diego Velasquez le

dió su poder en nombre de su Al. para ir hacer aquel rescate; é

que lo sabe, porque vió el poder é lo oyó decir á todos ellos.

Fuéle preguntado, que fué la causa por que no usáron con el dʰᵒ

Hernᵈᵒ Cortés de los poderes que llevaba del dʰᵒ Diego Velasquez;

dijo que esta armada iva en achaque de buscar á Juan de Grijalva;

que oyó decir, que no tenia poder Diego Velasquez de los Pʳᵉˢ

Gerónimos para hacer esta armada; é con este achaque que arriva

dice hiciéron esta armada, é que él usó del poder que Diego

Velasquez le dió, é allí rescató.

Fuéle preguntado, qué fué la causa porque, quando quisiéron poblar,

le nombráron ellos por Capitan General é justicia mayor de nuevo;

dijo que Hernando Cortés, desque havia rescatado é vido que tenia

pocos vastimᵗᵒˢ, que no havia mas de para bolver tasadamente á la

isla de Cuba, dijo que se queria bolver; é entonces toda la gente

se juntaron é le requiriéron qué poblase, pues los Yndios les

tenian buena voluntad é mostravan que holgaban con ellos, é la tʳʳᵃ

era tan aparejada para ello, é S. M. seria dello mui servido; é

respondió, que él no fraia poder para poblar, que él responderia; é

respondió, que pues era servicio de S. M. poblar, otejaba que

poblasen; é hiciéron Alcˢ é Rexidores, é se juntáron en su cabildo,

é le proveyéron de Xusticia mayor é Capitan General en nombre de S.

M.

Fuéle preguntado, que se hiciéron los navíos que llebáron; dijo que

desque pobláron venian los maestres de los navíos, á decir al

capitan que todos los navíos se ivan á fondo, que no los podian

tener encima dell agua; i el dʰᵒ Capitan mandó á ciertos maestres é

pilotos que entrasen en los navíos é viesen los que estavan para

poder navegar, é ver si se podiesen remediar; é los dʰᵒˢ maestres é

pilotos digéron, que no havia mas de tres navíos que pudiesen

navegar é remediarse, é que havia de ser con mucha costa; é que los

demas que no havia medio ninguno en ellos, é que alguno dellos se

undió en la mar, estando echada el ancla; é que con los demas que

no esta van para poder navegar é remediarse, los dejáron ir al

traves; é que esta es la verdad, é firmólo de su nombre.

Dijo que se acuerda que oyó decir, que Hernando Cortés havia

gastado en esta armada cinco mill ducados ó castellanos; é que

Diego Velasquez oyó decir, que havia gastado mill é setecientos,

poco mas ó menos; é que esto que gastó fué en vinos é aceites é

vinagre é ropas de vestir, las que les vendió un factor que allá

está de Diego Velasquez, en que les vendia el arroba de vino á

cuatro castellanos que salia al respecto por una pipa cient.

castellanos, el arroba del aceite á seis castellanos, é alomesmo la

arrova del vinagre, é las camisas á dos pesos, y el par de los

alpargates á castellano, é un mazo de cuentas de valoría á dos

castellanos costándole á él á dos reales, é á este respecto fuéron

todas las otras cosas; é que esto que gastó Diego Velasquez lo

sabe, porque lo vido vender, é este testigo se le vendió hasta

parte dello.--Alonso Hernandez Portocarrero declaró ante mí, Johan

de Samano.

No. VIII.--See vol. ii. p. 31

EXTRACT FROM THE “CARTA DE VERA CRUZ,” MS.

[The following extract from this celebrated letter of the Municipality

of La Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz to the Emperor gives a succinct view of

the foundation of the first colony in Mexico, and of the appointment of

Cortés by that body as Chief Justice and Captain-General. The original

is preserved in the Imperial Library at Vienna.]

Despues de se aver despedido de nosotros el dicho Caçique, y buelto

á su casa, en mucha conformidad, como en esta armada venimos,

personas nobles, cavalleros, hijos dalgo, zelosos del servicio de

nʳᵒ Señor y de Vʳᵃˢ Reales Altezas, y deseosos de ensalzar su

Corona Real, de acrecentar sus Señoríos, y de aumentar sus rentas,

nos juntámos y platicámos con el dicho capitan Fernando Cortés,

diciendo que esta tierra era buena, y que segun la muestra de oro

que aquel Caçique avia traido, se creia que debia de ser mui rica,

y que segun las muestras que el dicho Caçique avia dado, era de

creer que él y todos sus Indios nos tenian muy buena voluntad;

portante que nos pareçia que nos convenia al servicio de Vʳᵃˢ

Magestades, y que en tal tierra se hiziese lo que Diego Velasquez

avia mandado hacer al dicho Capitan Fernando Cortés, que era

rescatar todo el oro que pudiese, y rescatado bolverse con todo

ello á la Isla Fernandina, para gozar solamente de ello el dicho

Diego Velasquez y el dicho Capitan; y que lo mejor que á todos nos

parecia era, que en nombre de Vʳᵃˢ Reales Altezas se poblase y

fundase allí un pueblo en que huviese justicia, para que en esta

tierra tuviesen Señorío, como en sus Reinos y Señoríos lo tienen;

porque siendo esta tierra poblada de Españoles, de mas de

acreçentar los Reinos y Señoríos de Vʳᵃˢ Magestades, y sus rentas,

nos podrian hacer mercedes á nosotros y á los pobladores que de mas

allá viniesen adelante; y acordado esto, nos juntámos todos en

concordes de un ánimo y voluntad, y hizímos un requerimiento al

dicho capitan, en el qual dixímos, que pues él veia quanto al

servicio de Dios nʳᵒ Señor y al de Vʳᵃˢ Magestades convenia, que

esta tierra estuviese poblada, dándole las causas de que arriba á

Vʳᵃˢ Altezas se ha hecho relaçion, que le requerímos que luego

cesase de hacer rescates de la manera que los venia á hacer, porque

seria destruir la tierra en mucha manera, y Vʳᵃˢ Magestades serian

en ellos muy desservidos; y que ansí mismo le pedímos y requerímos

que luego nombrase para aquella villa, que se avia por nosotros de

hacer y fundar, Alcaldes y Regidores, en nombre de Vʳᵃˢ Reales

Altezas, con ciertas protestaciones, en forma que contra él

protestámos si ansí no lo hiziesen; y hecho este requerimiento al

dicho Capitan, dixo que daria su respuesta el dia siguiente; y

viendo pues el dicho Capitan como convenia al servicio de Vʳᵃˢ

Reales Altezas lo que le pediamos, luego otro dia nos respondió

diciendo, que su voluntad estava mas inclinada al servicio de Vʳᵃˢ

Magestades que á otra cosa alguna, y que no mirando al interese que

á él se le siguiese, si prosiguiera en el rescate que traia

propuesto de rehacer los grandes gastos que de su hacienda avia

hecho en aquella armada juntamente con el dicho Diego Velasquez,

antes poniéndolo todo le placia y era contento de hacer lo que por

nosotros le era pedido, pues que tanto convenia al servicio de Vʳᵃˢ

Reales Altezas; y luego comenzó con gran diligencia á poblar y á

fundar una villa la qual puso por nombre la rica Villa de Vera

Cruz, y nombrónos á los que lá delantes subscribímos, por Alcaldes

y Regidores de la dicha Villa, y en nombre de Vʳᵃˢ Reales Altezas

recibió de nosotros el juramento y solendidad que en tal caso se

acostumbra y suele hacer; despues de lo qual otro dia siguiente

entrámos en nuestro cabildo y ajuntamiento, y estando así juntos

embiamos á llamar al dicho Capitan Fernando Cortés, y le pedímos en

nombre de Vʳᵃˢ Reales Altezas que nos mostrase los poderes y

instrucciones que el dicho Diego Velasquez le avia dado para venir

á estas partes, el qual embió luego por ellos y nos los mostró; y

vistos y leidos por nosotros, bien examinados segun lo que pudímos

mejor entender, hallámos á nuestro parecer que por los dichos

poderes y instrucciones no tenia mas poder el dicho capitan

Fernando Cortés, y que por aver ya espirado no podia usar de

justicia ni de Capitan de allí adelante; pareciéndonos, pues, mui

Excellentíssimos Príncipes! que para la pacificacion y concordia de

entre nosotros, y para nos gobernar bien, convenia poner una

persona para su Real servicio, que estuviese en nombre de Vʳᵃˢ

Magestades en la dicha villa y en estas partes por justicia mayor y

capitan y cabeza, á quien todos acatasemos hasta hacer relacion de

ello á Vʳᵃˢ Reales Altezas para que en ello proveyesen lo que mas

servidos fuesen, y visto que á ninguna persona se podria dar mejor

el dicho cargo que al dicho Fernando Cortés, porque demas de ser

persona tal qual para ello conviene, tiene muy gran zelo y deseo

del servicio de Vʳᵃˢ Magestades, y ansí mismo por la mucha

experiencia que de estas partes y Islas tiene, de causa de los

quales ha siempre dado buena cuenta, y por haver gastado todo

quanto tenia por venir como vino con esta armada en servicio de

Vʳᵃˢ Magestades, y por aver tenido en poco, como hemos hecho

relacion, todo lo que podia ganar y interese que se le podia seguir

si rescatara como traia concertado, y le proveimos en nombre de

Vʳᵃˢ Reales Altezas de justicia y Alcalde mayor, del qual recibímos

el juramento que en tal caso se requiere, y hecho como convenia al

Real servicio de Vʳᵃ Magestad, lo recibímos en su Real nombre en

nʳᵒ ajuntamiento y cabildo por Justicia mayor y capitan de Vʳᵃˢ

Reales armas, y ansí está y estará hasta tanto que Vʳᵃˢ Magestades

provean lo que mas á su servicio convenga: hemos querido hacer de

todo esto relaçion á Vʳᵃˢ Reales Altezas, porque sepan lo que acá

se ha hecho, y el estado y manera en que quedamos.

No. IX.--See vol. ii. p. 108

EXTRACT FROM CAMARGO’S “HISTORIA DE TLASCALA,” MS.

[This passage from the Indian chronicler relates to the ceremony of

inauguration of a Tecuhtle, or merchant-knight, in Tlascala. One might

fancy himself reading the pages of Ste.-Palaye, or any other historian

of European chivalry.]

Esta ceremonia de armarse caballeros los naturales de México y

Tlaxcalla y otras provincias de la Laguna Mejicana es cosa muy

notoria; y así no nos detendrémos en ella, mas de pasar

secuntamente. Es de saber, que cualquier Señor, ó hijos de Señores,

que por sus personas habian ganado alguna cosa en la guerra, ó que

hubiesen hecho ó emprendido cosas señaladas y aventajadas, como

tubiese indicios de mucho valor, y que fuese de buen consejo y

aviso en la república, le armaban caballero; que como fuesen tan

ricos que por sus riquezas se enoblecian y hacian negocios de hijos

y dalgo y caballero, los armaban caballeros por dos, diferentemente

que los caballeros de linea recta, porque los llamaban Tepilhuan:

Al Mercader que era armado caballero, y á los finos que por

descendencia lo eran, llamaban Tecuhtles. Estos Tecuhtles se

armaban caballeros con muchas ceremonias. Ante todas cosas, estaban

encerrados 40 ó 60 dias en un templo de sus Ídolos, y ayunaban todo

este tiempo, y no trataban con gente mas que con aquellos que les

servian, y al cabo de los cuales eran llevados al templo mayor, y

allí se les daban grandes doctrinas de la vida que habian de tener

y guardar; y antes de todas estas cosas les daban grandes bejamenes

con muchas palabras afrentosas y satíricas, y les daban de puñadas

con grandes reprensiones, y aun en su propio rostro, segun atrás

dejámos tratado, y les horadaban las narices y labios y orejas; y

la sangre que de ellos salia la ofrecian á sus Ídolos. Allí les

daban publicamente sus arcos y flechas y macanas y todo género de

armas usadas en su arte militar. Del templo era llevado por las

calles y plazas acostumbradas con gran pompa y regocijo y

solemnidad: poníanles en las orejas orejeras de oro, y bezotes de

lo mismo, llevando adelante muchos truhanes y chocarreros que

decian grandes donaires, con que hacian reir las gentes; pero como

vamos tratando, se ponian en las narices piedras ricas, oradábanles

las orejas y narices y bezos, no con yerros ni cosa de oro ni

plata, sino con guesos de Tigres y leones y águilas agudos. Este

armado caballero hacia muy solemnes fiestas y costosas, y daban

muy grandes presentes á los antiguos Señores caballeros así de

ropas como de esclavos, oro y piedras preciosas y plumerías ricas,

y divisas, escudos, rodelas y arcos y flechas, á manera de propinas

cuando se doctoran nuestros letrados. Andan de casa en casa de

estos Tecuhtles dándoles estos presentes y dadivas, y lo propio

hacen con estos armados caballeros despues que lo eran, y se tenia

cuenta con todos ellos. Y era república; y así no se armaban muchos

caballeros hidalgos pobres, por su poca posibilidad, sino eran

aquellos que por sus nobles y loables hechos lo habian merecido,

que en tal caso los caciques cabeceros y los mas supremos Señores

Reyes, pues tenian meromixto imperio con sus tierras, y orca y

cuchillo para ejecutar los casos de justicia, como en efecto era

así. Finalmente, que los que oradaban las orejas, bezos, y narices

de estos, que así se armaban caballeros, eran caballeros ancianos y

muy antiguos, los cuales estaban dedicados para esto; y así como

para en los casos de justicia y consejos de guerra. Servian estos

caballeros veteranos en la república, los cuales eran temidos,

obedecidos, y reverenciados en muy gran veneracion y estima. Y como

atras dejámos dicho, que al cabo de los 40 ó 60 dies de ayuno de

los caballeros nobles los sacaban de allí para llevarlos al templo

mayor donde tenian sus simulacros; no les oradaban entonces las

orejas, narices, ni labios, que son los labios de la parte de

abajo, sino que cuando se ponian en el ayuno, entonces; y ante

todas cosas les hacian estos bestiales espectáculos; y en todo el

tiempo de ayuno estaba en cura, para que el dia de la mayor

ceremonia fuese sano de las heridas, que pudiesen ponerle las

orejeras y bezotes sin ningun detrimento ni dolor; y en todo este

tiempo no se lavaban, antes estaban todo tiznados y embiajados de

negro, y con muestras de gran humildad para conseguir y alcanzar

tan gran merced y premio, velando las armas todo el tiempo del

ayuno segun sus ordenanzas, constitutiones, y usos y costumbres

entre ellos tan celebrados. Tambien usaban tener las puertas donde

estaban ayunando cerradas con ramos de laurel, cuyo árbol entre los

naturales era muy estimado.

No. X.--See vol. ii. p. 300.

EXTRACT FROM OVIEDO’S “HISTORIA DE LAS INDIAS,” MS., LIB. XXXIII. CAP.

XLVI

[This chapter, which has furnished me with many particulars for the

narrative, contains a minute account of Montezuma’s household and way of

life, gathered by the writer, as he tells us, from the testimony of

different individuals of credit, who had the best means of information.

It affords a good specimen of the historian’s manner, and may have

interest to the Castilian scholar, since the original has never been

published, and, to judge from appearances, is not likely to be so.]

Quando este gran Príncipe Montezuma comia, estaba en una gran sala

encalada é mui pintada de pinturas diversas; allí tenia enanos é

chocarreros que le decian gracias é donaires, é otros que jugaban

con vn palo puesto sobre los pies grande, é le traian é meneaban,

con tanta facilidad é ligereza, que parecia cosa imposible; e otros

hacian otros juegos é cosas de mucho para se admirar los hombres. A

la puerta de la sala estaba vn patio mui grande, en que habia cien

aposentos de 25 ó 30 pies de largo, cada uno sobre sí, en torno de

dicho patío, é allí estaban los Señores principales aposentados

como guardas del palacio ordinarias, y estos tales aposentos se

llaman galpones, los quales á la contina ocupan mas de 600 hombres,

que jamas se quitaban de allí, é cada vno de aquellos tenian mas de

30 servidores, de manera que á lo menos nunca faltaban 3000 hombres

de guerra en esta guarda cotidiana del palacio. Quando queria

comer aquel príncipe grande, daban le agua á manos sus Mugeres, é

salian allí hasta 20 dellas las mas queridas é mas hermosas é

estaban en pie en tanto que él comia; É traíale vn Mayordomo ó

Maestre-sala 3000 platos ó mas de diversos manjares de gallinas,

codornices, palomas, tórtolas, é otras aves, é algunos platos de

muchachos tiernos guisados á su modo, é todo mui lleno de axi, é el

comia de lo que las mugeres le trahian ó queria. Despues que habia

acabado de comer se tornaba à labar las manos, é las Mugeres se

iban á su aposento dellas, donde eran mui bien servidas; É luego

ante el señor allegábanse á sus burlas é gracias aquellos

chocarreros é donosos, é mandaba les dar de comer sentados á vn

cabo de la sala; é todo lo restante de la comida mandaba dar á la

otra gente que se ha dicho que estaban en aquel gran patio; y luego

venian 3000 Xicalos i cantaros ó ánforas de brevage, é despues que

el señor habia comido ó bebido, é labádose las manos, íbanse las

Mugeres, é acabadas de salir de la sala, entraban los negociantes

de muchas partes, así de la misma cibdad como de sus señoríos; é

los que le habian de hablar incábanse de rodillas quatro varas de

medir ó mas, apartados dél é descalzos, é sin manta de algodon que

algo valiese; é sin mirarle á la cara decian su razonamiento; é él

proveia lo que le parecia; é aquellos se levantaban é tornaban

atrás retraiéndose sin volver las espaldas vn buen tiro de piedra,

como lo acostumbraban hacer los Moros de Granada delante de sus

señores é príncipes. Allí habia muchos jugadores de diversos

juegos, en especial con vnos fesoles á manera de habas, é apuntadas

como dados, que es cosa de ver; é juegan cuanto tienen los que son

Tahures entrellos. Ivan los Españoles á ver á Montezuma, é

mandábales dar duchos, que son vnos banquillos ó escabeles, en que

se sentasen, mui lindamente labrados, é de gentil madera, é

decíanles que querian, que lo pidiesen é dárselo han. Su persona

era de pocas carnes, pero de buena gracia é afabil, é tenia cinco

ó seis pelos en la barba tan luengos como un geme. Si le parecia

buena alguna ropa que el Español tubiese, pedíasela, é si se la

dada liberalmente sin le pedir nada por ella, luego se la cobria é

la miraba mui particularmente é con placer la loaba; mas si le

pedian precio por ella hacíalo dar luego, é tomaba la ropa é

tornábasela á dar á los christianos sin se la cobrir é como

descontento de la mala crianza dél que pedia el precio, decia: Para

mí no ha de haber precio alguno, porque yo soy señor, é no me han

de pedir nada deso; que yo lo daré sin que me den alguna cosa; que

es mui gran afrenta poner precio de ninguna cosa á los que son

señores, ni ser ellos Mercaderes. Con esto concuerdan las palabras

que de Scipion Africano, que de sí decian aquella contienda de

prestancia, que escrive Luciano, entre los tres capitanes mas

excelentes de los antiguos, que son Alexandro Magno, é Anibal, é

Scipion: Desde que nascí, ni vendí ni compré cosa ninguna. Así que

decia Montezuma quando así le pedian prescio: Otro dia no te pediré

cosa alguna, porque me has hecho mercader; vete con Dios á tu casa,

é lo que obieses menester pídelo, é dársete ha: É no tornes acá,

que no soy amigo desos tratos, ni de los que en ellos entienden,

para mas de dexárselos vsar con otros hombres en mi Señorío. Tenia

Montezuma mas de 3000 señores que le eran subgetos, é aquellos

tenian muchos vasallos cada uno dellos; É cada qual tenia casa

principal en Temixtitan, é habia de residir en ella ciertos meses

del año; É quando se habian de ir á su tierra con licencia de

Montezuma, habia de quedar en la casa su hijo ó hermano hasta quel

señor della tornase. Esto hacia Montezuma por tener su tierra

segura, é que ninguno se le alzase sin ser sentido. Tenia vna seña,

que trahian sus Almoxarifes é Mensageros quando recogian los

tributos, é él que erraba lo mataban á él é á quantos dél venian.

Dábanle sus vasallos en tributo ordinario de tres hijos uno, é él

que no tenia hijos habia de dar vn Indio ó India para sacrificar á

sus Dioses, é sino lo daban, habian de sacrificarle á él: Dábanle

tres hanegas de mahiz vna, é de todo lo que grangeaban, ó comian, ó

bebian; En fin, de todo se le daba el tercio; É él que desto

faltaba pagaba con la cabeza. En cada pueblo tenian Mayordomo con

sus libros del número de la gente é de todo lo demas asentado por

tales figuras é caracteres quellos se entendian sin discrepancia,

como entre nosotros con nuestras letras se entenderia vna cuenta

mui bien ordenada. É aquellos particulares Mayordomos daban quenta

á aquellos que residian en Temixtitan, é tenian sus alholíes é

magazenes é depósitos donde se recogian los tributos, é oficiales

para ello, é ponian en cárceles los que á su tiempo no pagaban, é

dábanles término para la paga, é aquel pasado é no pagado,

justiciaban al tal deudor, ó le hacian esclavo.

* * * * *

Dexemos esta materia, é volvamos á este gran Príncipe Montezuma, el

qual en vna gran sala de 150 pies de largo, é de 50 de ancho, de

grandes vigas é postes de madera que lo sostenian, encima de la

qual, era todo vn terrado é azutea, é tenia dentro desta sala

muchos géneros de aves, é de animales. Havia 50 águilas caudales en

jaolas, tigres, lobos, culebras, tan gruesas como la pierna, de

mucho espanto, é en sus jaolas así mismo, é allí se les llevaba la

sangre de los hombres é mugeres é niños que sacrificaban, é cebaban

con ella aquellas bestias; é habia vn suelo hecho de la mesma

sangre humana en toda la dicha sala, é si se metia vn palo ó vara

temblaba el suelo. En entrando por la sala, el hedor era mucho é

aborrecible é asqueroso; las culebras daban grandes é horribles

silvos, é los gemidos é tonos de los otros animales allí presos era

una melodia infernal, é para poner espanto; tenian 500 gallinas de

racion cada dia para la sustentacion desos animales. En medio de

aquella sala habia vna capilla á manera de vn horno grande, é por

encima chapada de las minas de oro é plata é piedras de muchas

maneras, como ágatas é cornesinas, nides, topacios, planas

desmeraldas, é de otras suertes muchas é mui bien engastadas. Allí

entraba Montezuma é se retrahia á hablar con el Diablo, al qual

nombraban Atezcatepoca, que aquella gente tienen por Dios de la

guerra, y él les daba á entender, que era Señor y criador de todo,

y que en su mano era el vencer; é los Indios en sus arreitos y

cantares é hablas le dan gracias y lo invocan en sus necesidades.

En aquel patio é sala habia continuamente 5000 hombres pintados de

cierto betun ó tinta, los quales no llegan á mugeres é son castos;

llámanlos papas, é aquestos son religiosos.

* * * * *

Tenia Montezuma vna casa mui grande en que estaban sus Mugeres, que

eran mas de 4000 hijas de señores, que se las daban para ser sus

Mugeres, é él lo mandaba hacer así; é las tenia mui guardadas y

servidas; y algunas veces él daba algunas dellas á quien queria

favorecer y honrar de sus principales: Ellos las recibian como vn

don grandísimo. Habia en su casa muchos jardines é 100 vaños, ó

mas, como los que vsan los Moros, que siempre estaban calientes, en

que se bañaban aquellas sus Mugeres, las quales tenian sus guardas,

é otras mugeres como Prioras que las governaban: É á estas mayores,

que eran ancianas, acataban como á Madres, y ellas las trataban

como á hijas. Tuvo su padre de Montezuma 150 hijos é hijas, de los

quales los mas mató Montezuma, y las hermanas casó muchas dellas

con quien le pareció; y él tubo 50 hijos y hijas, ó mas; y acaeció

algunas veces tener 50 mugeres preñadas, y las mas dellas mataban

las criaturas en el cuerpo, porque así dicen que se lo mandaba el

Diablo, que hablaba con ellas y decíales que se sacrificasen ellas

las orejas y las lenguas y sus naturas, é se sacasen mucha sangre é

se la ofreciesen, é así lo hacian en efeto. Parecia la casa de

Montezuma vna cibdad mui poblada. Tenia sus porteros en cada

puerta. Tenia 20 puertas de servicio; entraban muchas calles de

agua á ellas, por las quales entraban é salian las canoas con

mahiz, é otros bastimentos, é leña. Entraba en esta casa vn caño de

agua dulce, que venia de dos leguas de allí, por encima de vna

calzada de piedra, que venia de vna fuente, que se dice

chapictepeque, que nace en vn peñón, que está en la Laguna salada,

de mui excelente agua.

No. XI.--See vol. iii. p. 90, et alibi

DIALOGUE OF OVIEDO WITH DON THOAN CANO, AP. “HISTORIA DE LAS

INDIAS,” MS., LIB. XXXIII. CAP. LIV.

[The most remarkable, in some respects, of Oviedo’s compositions is his

_Quincuagenas_, a collection of imaginary dialogues with the most

eminent persons of his time, frequently founded, no doubt, on the

personal communications which he had held with them. In his “History of

the Indies” he has also introduced a dialogue which he tells us he

actually had with Don Thoan Cano, a Castilian hidalgo, who married

Guatemozin’s widow, the lovely daughter of Montezuma. He came into the

country originally with Narvaez; and, as he was a man of intelligence,

according to Oviedo, and his peculiar position both before and after the

Conquest opened to him the best sources of information, his testimony is

of the highest value. As such I have made frequent use of it in the

preceding pages, and I now transcribe it entire, in the original, as an

important document for the history of the Conquest.]

DIÁLOGO DEL ALCAYDE DE LA FORTALEZA DE LA CIBDAD É PUERTO DE SANTO

DOMINGO DE LA ISLA ESPAÑOLA, AUTOR Y CHRONISTA DESTAS HISTORIAS, DE

LA VNA PARTE, É DE LA OTRA, VN CABALLERO VECINO DE LA GRAND CIBDAD

DE MÉXICO, LLAMADO THOAN CANO

ALC. Señor, ayer supe que Vm. vive en la grand cibdad de México, y

que os llamais Thoan Cano; y porque yo tube amistad con vn

caballero llamado Diego Cano, que fué criado del sereníssimo

Príncipe Don Thoan, mi señor, de gloriosa memoria, deseo saber si

es vivo, é donde sois señor natural, é como quedástes avecindado en

estas partes, é rescibiré merced, que no rescibais pesadumbre de

mis preguntas; porque tengo necesidad de saber algunas cosas de la

Nueva España, y es razon, que para mi satisfaccion yo procure

entender lo que deseo de tales personas é hábito que merezcan

crédito; y ansí, Señor, recibiré mucha merced de la vuestra en lo

que digo.

THOAN CANO. Señor Alcayde, yo soy él que gano mucho en conoceros; y

tiempo ha que deseaba ver vuestra persona, porque os soi

aficionado, y querria que mui de veras me tubiesedes por tan amigo

é servidor como yo os lo seré. É satisfaciendo á lo que Vm. quiere

saber de mí, digo, que Diego Cano, Escribano de Cámara del Príncipe

Don Thoan, y camarero de la Tapicería de su Alteza, fué mi tio, é

ha poco tiempo que murió en la cibdad de Caceres, donde vivia é yo

soy natural: Y quanto á lo demas, yo, Señor, pasé desde la Isla de

Cuba á la Nueva España con el capitan Pámphilo de Narvaez, é aunque

mozo é de poco edad, yo me hallé cerca dél quando fué preso por

Hernando Cortés é sus mañas; é en ese trance le quebráron vn ojo,

peleando él como mui valiente hombre; pero como no le acudió su

gente é con él se halláron mui pocos, quedó preso é herido, é se

hizo Cortes señor del campo, é truxo á su devocion la gente que con

Pámphilo habia ido, é en rencuentros é en batallas de manos en

México; y todo lo que ha sucedido despues yo me he hallado en

ello. Mandais que diga como quedé avecindado en estas partes, y que

no reciba pesadumbre de vuestras preguntas; satisfaciendo á mi

asiento, digo, Señor, que yo me casé con una Señora hija legítima

de Montezuma, llamada doña Isabel, tal persona, que aunque se

hobiera criado en nuestra España, no estobiera mas enseñada é bien

dotrinada é Católica, é de tal conversacion é arte, que os

satisfaria su manera é buena gracia; y no es poco útil é provechosa

al sosiego é contentamientos de los naturales de la tierra; porque,

como es Señora en todas sus cosas é amiga de los christianos, por

su respecto é exemplo mas quietud é reposo se imprime en los ánimos

de los Mexicanos. En lo demas que se me preguntare, é de que yo

tenga memoria, yo, Señor, diré lo que supiere conforme á la verdad.

ALC. Io acepto la merced que en eso recibiré; y quiero comenzar á

decir lo que me ocurre, porque me acuerdo, que fuí informado que su

padre de Montezuma tubo 150 hijos é hijas, ó mas, é que le acaeció

tener 50 mugeres preñadas; É ansí escrebí esto, é otras cosas á

este propósito en el capítulo 46, lo qual si así fué, queria saber,

¿como podeis vos tener por legítima hija de Montezuma a la Sʳᵃ Doña

Isabel vuestra Muger, é que forma tenia vuestro suegro para que se

conociesen los hijos bastardos entre los legítimos ó espurios é

quales eran mugeres legítimas é concubinas?

CAN. Fué costumbre vsada y guardada entre los Mexicanos, que las

mugeres legítimas que tomaban, era de la manera que agora se dirá.

Concertados el hombre é muger que habian de contraer matrimonio,

para le efectuar se juntaban los parientes de ambas partes é hacian

vn areito despues que habian comido ó cenado; é al tiempo que los

Novios se habian de acostar é dormir en vno, tomaban la halda

delantera de la camisa de la Novia é atábanla á la manta de algodon

que tenia cubierto el Novio. É así ligados tomábanlos de las manos

los principales parientes de ambos, é metian los en una camára,

donde los dejaban solos é oscuros por tres dias contiguos sin que

de allí saliesen él ni ella, ni allá entraba mas de vna India á los

proveer de comer é lo que habian menester; en el qual tiempo deste

encerramiento siempre habia bailes ó areitos, que ellos llaman

mitote; é en fin de los tres dias no hai mas fiesta. É los que sin

esta cerimonia se casan no son habidos por matrimonios, ni los

hijos que proceden por legítimos, ni heredan. Ansí como murió

Montezuma, quedáronle solamente por hijos legítimos mi Muger é vn

hermano suio, é muchachos ambos; á causa de lo qual fué elegido por

Señor vn hermano de Montezuma, que se decia Cuitcavaci, Señor de

Iztapalapa, el qual vivió despues de su eleccion solos 60 dias, y

murió de viruelas; á causa de lo qual vn sobrino de Montezuma, que

era Papa ó sacerdote maior entre los Indios, que se llamaba

Guatimuci, mató al primo hijo legítimo de Montezuma, que se decia

Asupacaci, hermano de padre é madre de doña Isabel, é hizose señor,

é fué mui valeroso. Este fué él que perdió á Mexico, é fué preso, é

despues injustamente muerto con otros principales Señores é Indios;

pues como Cortés é los christianos fuéron enseñoreados de México,

ningun hijo quedó legítimo sino bastardos de Montezuma, ecepto mi

Muger, que quedaba viuda, porque Guatimuci señor de Méxíco, su

primo, por fixar mejor su estado, siendo ella mui muchacha, la tubo

por muger con la cerimonia ya dicha del atar la camisa con la

manta; é no obiéron hijos, ni tiempo para procreallos; é ella se

convirtió á nuestra santa fee católica, é casóse con vn hombre de

bien de los conquistadores primeros, que se llamaba Pedro Gallego,

é ovo vn hijo en ella, que se llama Thoan Gallego Montezuma; é

murió el dicho Pedro Gallego, é yo casé con la dicha doña Isabel,

en la qual me ha dado Dios tres hijos é dos hijas, que se llaman

Pedro Cano, Gonzalo Cano de Saavedra, Thoan Cano, doña Isabel, é

doña Catalina.

ALC. Señor Thoan Cano, suplícoos que me digais porque mató

Hernando Cortés á Guatimuci: ¿revelóse despues, ó que hizo para que

muriese?

CAN. Habeis de saber, que así á Guatimuci, como al Rey de Tacuba,

que se decia Tetepanquezal, é al Señor de Tezcuco, el capitan

Hernando Cortés les hizo dar muchos tormentos é crudos, quemándoles

los pies, é untándoles las plantas con aceite, é poniéndoselas

cerca de las brasas, é en otras diversas maneras, porque les diesen

sus tesoros; é teniéndolos en contiguas fatigas, supo como el

capitan Cristóval de Olit se le habia alzado en puerto de Caballos

é Honduras, la qual provincia los Indios llaman Guaimuras, é

determinó de ir á buscar é castigar el dicho Christóval de Olit, é

partió de México por tierra con mucha gente de Españoles, é de los

naturales de la tierra, é llevóse consigo aquellos tres principales

ya dichos, y despues los ahorcó en el camino; é ansí enviudó doña

Isabel, é despues ella se casó de la manera que he dicho con Pedro

Gallego, é despues conmigo.

ALC. Pues en cierta informacion, que se envió al Emperador Nuestro

Señor, dice Hernando Cortés, que habia sucedido Guatimuci en el

Señorío de México tras Montezuma, porque en las puentes murió el

hijo é heredero de Montezuma, é que otros dos hijos que quedáron

vivos, el vno era loco ó mentecapto, é el otro paralítico, é

ináviles por sus enfermedades: É yo lo he escripto así en el

capítulo 16, pensando quello seria así.

CAN. Pues escriba Vm. lo que mandare, y el Marques Hernando Cortés

lo que quisiere, que yo digo en Dios y en mi conciencia la verdad,

y esto es mui notorio.

ALC. Señor Thoan Cano, dígame Vm. ¿de que procedió el alzamiento de

los Indios de México en tanto que Hernando Cortés salió de aquella

cibdad é fué á buscar á Pámphilo de Narvaez, é dexó preso á

Montezuma en poder de Pedro de Alvarado? Porque he oido sobre esto

muchas cosas, é mui diferentes las vnas de las otras; é yo querria

escrebir verdad, así Dios salve mi ánima.

CAN. Señor Alcayde, eso que preguntais es vn paso en que pocos de

los que hai en la tierra sabrán dar razon, aunque ello fué mui

notorio, é mui manifiesta la sinrazon que á los Indios se les hizo,

y de allí tomáron tanto odio con los Christianos que no fiáron mas

dellos, y se siguiéron quantos males ovo despues, é la rebelion de

México, y pienso desta manera: Esos Mexicanos tenian entre las

otras sus idolatrías ciertas fiestas del año en que se juntaban á

sus ritos é cerimonias; y llegado el tiempo de vna de aquellas,

estaba Alvarado en guarda de Montezuma, é Cortés era ido donde

habeis dicho, é muchos Indios principales juntáronse é pidiéron

licencia al capitan Alvarado, para ir á celebrar sus fiestas en los

patios de sus mezquitas ó qq. maiores junto al aposento de los

españoles, porque no pensasan que aguel aiuntamiento se hacia á

otro fin; É el dicho Capitan les dió la licencia. É así los Indios,

todos Señores, mas de 600, desnudos, é con muchas joyas de oro, é

hermosos penachos, é muchas piedras preciosas, é como mas

aderezados é gentiles hombres se pudiéron é supiéron aderezar, é

sin arma alguna defensiva ni ofensiva, bailaban é cantaban é hacian

su areito é fiesta segund su costumbre; é al mejor tiempo que ellos

estaban embebecidos en su regocijo, movido de cobdicia el Alvarado

hizo poner en cinco puertas del patio cada 15 hombres, é en él

entró con la gente restante de los Españoles, é comenzáron á

acuchillar é matar los Indios sin perdonar á vno ni á ninguno,

hasta que á todos los acabáron en poco espacio de hora. I esta fué

la causa porque los de México, viendo muertos é robados aquellos

sobre seguro, é sin haber merecido que tal crueldad en ellos

hobiese fecho, se alzáron é hiciéron la guerra al dicho Alvarado, é

á los christianos que con él estaban en guarda de Montezuma, é con

mucha razon que tenian para ello.

ALC. ¿Montezuma, como murió? porque diversamente lo he entendido, y

ansí lo he yo escripto diferenciadamente.

CAN. Montezuma murió de vna pedrada que los de fuera tiráron, lo

qual no se hiciera, si delante dél no se pusiera vn rodelero,

porque como le vieran ninguno tirara; y ansí por le cubrir con la

rodela, é no creer que allí estaba Montezuma, le diéron vna pedrada

de que murió. Pero quiero que sepais, Señor Alcayde, que desde la

primera revelion de los Indios hasta que el Marques volvió á la

cibdad despues de preso Narvaez, non obstante la pelea ordinaria

que con los christianos tenian, siempre Montezuma les hacia dar de

comer; é despues que el Marques tornó se le hizo grand

recebimiento, é le diéron á todos los Españoles mucha comida. Mas

habeis de saber, que el capitan Alvarado, como le acusaba la

conciencia, é no arrepentido de su culpa, mas queriéndole dar

color, é por aplacar el ánimo de Montezuma, dixo á Hernando Cortés,

que fingiese que le queria prender é castigar, porque Montezuma le

rogase por él, é que se fuesen muertos por muertos; lo qual

Hernando Cortés no quiso hacer, antes mui enojado dixo, que eran

vnos perros, é que no habia necesidad de aquel cumplimiento; é

envió á vn principal á que hiciesen el Franquez ó Mercado; el qual

principal enojado de ver la ira de Cortés y la poca estimacion que

hacia de los Indios vivos, y lo poco que se le daba de los muertos,

desdeñado el principal é determinado en la venganza fué el primero

que renovó la guerra contra los Españoles dentro de vna hora.

ALC. Siempre oí decir que es buena la templanza, é sancta la

piedad, é abominable la soberbia. Dicen que fué grandísimo el

tesoro que Hernando Cortés repartió entre sus mílites todos, quando

determinó de dexar la cibdad é irse fuera della por consejo de vn

Botello, que se preciaba de pronosticar lo que estaba por venir.

CAN. Bien sé quien era ese, y en verdad que él fué de parecer que

Cortés y los Christianos se saliesen; y al tiempo del efectuarlo no

lo hizo saber á todos, antes no lo supiéron, sino los que con él se

halláron á esa plática; é los demas que estaban en sus aposentos é

cuarteles se quedáron, que eran 270 hombres; los quales se

defendiéron ciertos dias peleando hasta que de hambre se diéron á

los Indios, é guardáronles la palabra de la manera que Alvarado la

guardó á los que es dicho; é así los 270 Christianos, é los que

dellos no habian sido muertos peleando todos, quando se rindiéron,

fuéron cruelmente sacrificados: pero habeis, Señor, de saber, que

desa liberalidad que Hernando Cortés vsó, como decis, entre sus

mílites, los que mas parte alcanzáron della; é mas se cargáron de

oro é joyas, mas presto los matáron; porque por salvar el albarda

murió el Asno que mas pesado la tomó; é los que no la quisiéron,

sino sus espaldas é armas, pasáron con menos ocupacion, haciéndose

el camino con el espada.

ALC. Grand lástima fué perderse tanto Thesoro y 154 Españoles, é 45

yeguas, é mas de 2000 Indios, é entrellos al Hijo é Hijas de

Montezuma, é á todos los otros Señores que trahian presos. Io así

lo tengo escripto en el capítulo 14 de esta Historia.

CAN. Señor Alcayde, en verdad quien tal os dixo, ó no lo vidó, ni

supo ó quiso callar la verdad. Io os certifico, que fuéron los

Españoles muertos en eso, con los que como dixe de suso que

quedáron en la cibdad y en los que se perdiéron en el camino

siguiendo á Cortés, y continuándose nuestra fuga, mas de 1170; é

ásí pareció por alarde; é de los Indios nuestros amigos de

Tascaltecle, que decis 2000, sin dubda fuéran mas de 8000.

ALC. Maravíllome como despues que Cortés se acogió, é los que

escapáron á la tierra de Tascaltecle, como no acabáron á él é á los

christianos dexando allá muertos á los amigos; y aun así diz, que

no les daban de comer sino por rescate los de Guaulip, que es ya

término de Tascaltecle, é el rescate no le querian sino era oro.

CAN. Tenedlo, Señor, por falso todo eso; porque en casa de sus

Padres no pudiéron hallar mas buen acogimiento los Christianos, é

todo quanto quisiéron, é aun sin pedirlo, se les dió gracioso é de

mui buena voluntad.

ALC. Para mucho ha sido el Marques é digno es de quanto tiene, é

de mucho mas. É tengo lástima de ver lisiado vn cavallero tan

valeroso é manco de dos dedos de la mano izquierda, como lo escrebí

é saqué de su relacion, é puse en el capítulo 15. Pero las cosas de

la guerra ansí son, é los honores, é la palma de la victoria no se

adquieren durmiendo.

CAN. Sin dubda, Señor, Cortés ha sido venturoso é sagaz capitan, é

los principales suelen hacer mercedes á quien los sirve, y es bien

las hagan á todos los que en su servicio real trabajan; pero

algunos he visto yo que trabajan é sirven é nunca medran, é otros

que no hacen tanto como aquellos son gratificados é aprovechados;

pera ansí fuesen todos remunerados como el Marques lo ha sido en lo

de sus dedos de lo que le habeis lástima. Tubo Dios poco que hacer

en sanarlo; y salid, Señor, de ese cuidado que así como los sacó de

Castilla, quando pasó la primera vez á estas partes, así se los

tiene agora en España; porque nunca fué manco dellos, ni le faltan;

y ansí, ni hubo menester cirujano ni milagro para guarecer de ese

trabajo.

ALC. Señor Thoan Cano, ¿es verdad aquella crueldad que dicen que el

Marques vsó con Chulula, que es vna Cibdad por donde pasó la

primera vez que fué á México?

CAN. Mui grand verdad es, pero eso yo no lo ví, porque aun no era

yo ido á la tierra; pero supe lo despues de muchos que los viéron é

se halláron en esa cruel hazaña.

ALC. ¿Como oístes decir que pasó?

CAN. Lo que oí por cosa mui notoria es, que en aquella cibdad pidió

Hernando Cortés 3000 Indios para que llevasen el fardage, é se los

diéron, é los hizo todos poner á cuchillo sin que escapase ninguno.

ALC. Razon tiene el Emperador Nuestro Señor de mandar quitar los

Indios á todos los Christianos.

CAN. Hágase lo que S. M. mandare é fuese servido, que eso es lo que

es mejor; pero yo no querria que padeciesen justos por pecadores:

¿quien hace crueldades paguelas, mas él que no comete delicto

porque le han de castigar? Esto es materia para mas espacio; y yo

me tengo de envarcar esta noche, é es ya quasi hora del Ave María.

Mirad, Señor Alcayde, si hay en México en que pueda yo emplearme en

vuestro servicio, que yo lo haré con entera voluntad é obra. Y en

lo que toca á la libertad de los Indios, sin dubda á vnos se les

habia de rogar con ellos á que los tuviesen é governasen, é los

industrasen en las cosas de nuestra sancta fee Católica, é á otros

se debian quitar: Pero pues aquí está el Obispo de Chiapa, Fr.

Bartolomé de las Casas, que ha sido el movedor é inventor destas

mudanzas, é va cargado de frailes mancebos de su órden, con él

podeis, Señor Alcayde, desenvolver esta materia de Indios. É yo no

me quiero mas entremeter ni hablar en ella, aunque sabria decir mi

parte.

ALC. Sin duda, Señor Thoan Cano, Vmd. habla como prudente, y estas

cosas deben ser así ordenadas de Dios, y es de pensar, que este

reverendo Obispo de Cibdad Real en la provincia de Chiapa, como

celoso del servicio de Dios é de S. M., se ha movido á estas

peregrinaciones en que anda, y plega á Dios que él y sus Frailes

acierten á servirles; pero él no está tan bien con migo como

pensais, antes se ha quexado de mí por lo que escrebí cerca de

aquellos Labradores é nuevos cavalleros que quiso hacer, y con

sendas cruces, que querian parecer á las de Calatrava, seiendo

labradores é de otras mezclas é género de gente baja, quando fué á

Cubagua é á Cumaná, é lo dixo al Señor Obispo de S. Joan, don

Rodrigo de Bastidas, para que me lo dixese, y ansí me lo dixo; y lo

que yo respondí á su quexa no lo hice por satisfacer al Obispo de

San Joan, é su sancta intencion; fué que le supliqué que le dixese,

que en verdad yo no tube cuenta ni respecto, quando aquello

escreví, á le hacer pesar ni placer, sino á decir lo que pasó; y

que viese vn Libro, que es la primera parte destas Historias de

Indias, que se imprimió el año de 1535, y allí estaba lo que

escrebí; é que holgaba porque estabamos en parte que todo lo que

dixe y lo que dexé de decir se provaria fácilmente; y que supiese

que aquel Libro estaba ya en Lengua Toscana y Francesa é Alemana é

Latina é Griega é Turca é Aráviga, aunque yo le escreví en

Castellana; y que pues él continuaba nuevas empresas, y yo no habia

de cesar de escrebir las materias de Indias en tanto que S. S. M.

M. desto fuesen servidos, que yo tengo esperanza en Dios que le

dexara mejor acertar en lo porvenir que en lo pasado, y ansí

adelante le pareceria mejor mi pluma. Y como el Señor Obispo de San

Joan es tan noble é le consta la verdad, y quan sin pasion yo

escribo, el Obispo de Chiapa quedó satisfecho, aun yo no ando por

satisfacer á su paladar ni otro, sino por cumplir con lo que debo,

hablando con vos, Señor, lo cierto; y por tanto quanto á la carga

de los muchos Frailes me parece en verdad que estas tierras manan,

ó que llueven Frailes, pero pues son sin canas todos y de 30 años

abajo, plega á Dios que todos acierten á servirle. Ya los ví entrar

en esta Cibdad de dos en dos hasta 30 dellos, con sendos bordones,

é sus sayas é escapularios é sombreros é sin capas, é el Obispo

detras dellos. É no parecia vna devota farsa, é agora la comienzan

no sabemos en que parará; el tiempo lo dirá, y esto haga Nuestra

Señor al propósito de su sancto servicio. Pero pues van hacia

aquellos nuevos vulcanes, decidme, Señor, ¿que cosa son, si los

habeis visto, y que cosa es otro que teneis allá en la Nueva

España, que se dice Guaxocingo?

CAN. El Vulcan de Chalco ó Guaxocingo todo es vna cosa, é alumbraba

de noche 3 ó 4 leguas ó mas, é de dia salia continuo humo é á veces

llamas de fuego, lo qual está en vn escollo de la sierra nevada, en

la qual nunca falta perpetua nieve, é está á 9 leguas de México;

pero este fuego é humo que he dicho turó hasta 7 años, poco mas ó

menos, despues que Hernando Cortés pasó á aquellas partes, é ya no

sale fuego alguno de allí; pero ha quedado mucho azufre é mui

bueno, que se ha sacado para hacer pólvora, é hai quanto quisiéron

sacar dello: pero en Guatimala hai dos volcanes é montes fogosos, é

echan piedras mui grandísimas fuera de sí quemadas, é lanzan

aquellas bocas mucho humo, é es cosa de mui horrible aspecto, en

especial como lo viéron quando murió la pecadora de doña Beatriz de

la Cueva, Muger del Adelantado Don Pedro de Alvarado. Plega á

nuestro Señor de quedar con Vmd., Señor Alcaide, é dadme licencia

que atiende la Barca para irme á la Nao.

ALC. Señor Thoan Cano, el Espíritu Sancto vaya con Vm., y os dé tan

próspero viage é navegacion, que en pocos dias y en salvamento

llegueis á Vuestra Casa, y halleis á la Sʳᵃ doña Isabel y los hijos

é hijas con la salud que Vmd. y ellos os deseais.

No. XII.--See vol. iii. p. 149

GRANT OF CORTÉS TO DOÑA ISABEL MONTEZUMA, DAUGHTER OF THE EMPEROR

MONTEZUMA; DATED AT MEXICO, JUNE 27, 1526

[Montezuma, on his death bed, commended, as we have seen in the History,

three favorite daughters to the protection of Cortés. After their

father’s death they were baptized, and after the Conquest were married

to Spaniards of honorable family, and from them have descended several

noble houses in Spain. Cortés granted, by way of dowry, to the eldest,

Doña Isabel, the city of Tacuba and several other places, embracing an

extensive and very populous district. I have given here the instrument

containing this grant, which has a singular degree of interest, from the

notices it contains of Montezuma’s last moments, and the strong

testimony it bears to his unswerving friendship for the Spaniards. Some

allowance must be made by the reader for the obvious endeavor of Cortés

to exhibit Montezuma’s conduct in so favorable a light to the Castilian

government as might authorize the extensive grant to his daughter.

The instrument in the Muñoz collection was taken from an ancient copy in

the library of Don Rafael Floranes of Valladolid.]

PRIVILEGIO DE DOÑA ISABEL, MOTEZUMA, HIJA DEL GRAN MOTEZUMA, ÚLTIMO

REY INDIO DEL GRAN REYNO Y CIBDAD DE MÉXICO, QUE BAUTIZADA Y SIENDO

CHRISTIANA CASÓ CON ALONSO GRADO, NATURAL DE LA VILLA DE ALCANTARA,

HIDALGO, Y CRIADO DE SU MAGESTAD, QUE HABIA SERVIDO Y SERVIA EN

MUCHOS OFFICIOS EN AQUEL REYNO

OTORGADO POR DON HERNANDO CORTÉS, CONQUISTADOR DEL DICHO REYNO, EN

NOMBRE DE SU MAGESTAD, COMO SU CAPITAN GENERAL Y GOVERNADOR DE LA

NUEVA ESPAÑA