Release captives, 206.
Enter Mexico, 247.
Aztec hatred of, 256, 335.
Join Cortés against Narvaez, iii. 50;
on his return, 80.
Connection of, with the massacre by Alvarado, 90, _note_, 93.
Under Alvarado, 95, _note_.
Quarters of, 108.
In the retreat, 111, 162.
Guide Cortés, 185.
Their fidelity, 188.
In the battle of Otumba, 202.
Return to Tlascala, 208.
Co-operate, 224-229, 253, 302.
Imitate Spaniards, 252.
Burn records, 267.
At the sack of Iztapalapan, 285.
Convey brigantines, 299.
Their hostility to Aztecs, 300.
Booty demanded by, 315.
Noticed, 326, 335, 366.
Efficiency of, at Mexico, iv. 23, 39.
Desertion of, 56.
Their return to, 60.
See _Maxixca_.
Tlascalans, their early history, ii. 104.
Their institutions, 105.
Refuse tribute, and fight, 110.
Their battles with Montezuma, 111.
Battles with the, 116-125, 135-138.
Their treatment of the Cempoallan envoys, 117.
Effect of cannon and fire-arms on the, 124, 136.
Embassies to the camp of, 127, 141, 144.
Treason among the, 138.
Night attack by them, 143, 144.
Embassy from, stopped by Xicotencatl, 145, 146.
Spies from the, 154.
Reception of Spaniards by, 165.
Their character, 168, 169.
Their representations of Montezuma, 176.
Exempted from slavery, iv. 161.
Tlatelolco, i. 116, 157, _note_.
Movements for possessing the market-place of, iv. 35, 37, 40, 46.
Occupied by the besieged, 73, 79.
Distress there, 73.
Entered by Cortés, 79.
Modern name of, 81.
Murderous assault there, 93.
Purification of, 107.
Rebuilt, 152.
See _Market_.
Tlaxcallan, i. 111.
See _Tlascala_.
Tobacco, i. 168, 169, _note_, ii. 304.
Tobillos, lances and, iii. 51.
Toledo in Spain, Cortés at, iv. 218.
Tollan, or Tula, supposed original seat of the Toltecs, i. 12, _note_.
Etymology of the name, 13, _note_.
Toltecs, account of the, i. 12, 100.
Doubtful accounts of their migrations, 20, 253, 267.
Tonatiuh, iii. 172.
See _Alvarado_.
Tools, i. 155, 260.
Toribio de Benavente, i. 132, _note_, ii. 248, _note_, 251,
_note_, 265, _note_.
Account of, and of his writings and labors, 274-276.
Cited, 297, _note_, 321, _note_, 322, _note_, 367, _note_, iii. 234.
Torquemada, i. 11, _note_, 15, _note_.
Notice of, and of his writings, 64, _note_.
Cited, 76, _note_, 81, _note_, 82, _note_, 84, _note_, 86,
_note_, 91, _note_, 93, _note_, 94, _note_, 95, _note_.
Avails himself of a manuscript copy of Sahagun’s Universal
History, 103.
On Mexican intercalation, 129, _note_.
On women, 149, _note_.
Cited, 156, 172, 191, _note_, 194, _note_.
On the Mexican Eve, 236, _note_.
His Aztec and Israelitish analogies, 242, _note_.
On pilgrims to Cholula, ii. 185, _note_.
On the baptism of Montezuma, iii. 148, _note_.
Torres, Juan de, teacher of Totonac converts, ii. 56.
Tortillas, iv. 32, and _note_.
Tortures, i. 91, iii. 345, _note_.
See _Guatemozin_.
Totonacs, ii. 25.
Their fondness for flowers, 37.
Their feelings towards Montezuma, 42.
Exactions of, by Aztec tax-gatherers, 44.
Cortes’ policy as to, 45.
Join Cortés, 46.
Effect on, of Cortés’ interview with Montezuma’s embassy, 51.
Defend their idols, 54.
Their conversion, 55.
Join Cortés’ expedition, 85, 86, _note_.
Trade, i. 164, ii. 312.
See _Traffic_.
Trades, Aztec, i. 161.
Traditions, instances of similar, in the two continents, i. 233.
Argument from, for the Asiatic origin of Aztec civilization, 251.
As authorities, 268.
See _Oral traditions_ and _Predictions_.
Traffic, i. 161, ii. 108.
See _Barter_.
Transportation of vessels, iii. 302, _note_.
See _Brigantines_.
Transubstantiation, ii. 267, _note_.
Travelling, i. 110.
See _Couriers_.
Treasure, Axayacatl’s, discovered,
ii. 333;
disposition of it, iii. 7, 11, 160.
Found after the siege, iv. 109.
See _Gold_.
Trees, size and duration of, in Mexico and Central America, i. 265.
See _Forests_.
Trials, among the Aztecs, i. 45.
Tribes, i. 52, _note_.
Tribute, kinds of, i. 52, 149.
Items of, furnished by different cities, 52, _note_.
Roll respecting, 53, _note_.
Maps for the, 54.
Burdensome exactions of, prepare the way for the Spaniards, 54.
Montezuma’s exaction of, ii. 7, 44.
Tlascalans, refuse, 110.
Collected for the Castilian sovereign, iii. 6.
Trinidad de Cuba, i. 321.
Truth, punishment for violating, i. 186.
Truxillo, Cortés at, iv. 196.
Tudor, William, ii. 89, _note_, 90, _note_, iii. 190, _note_, 259, _note_.
Tula, capital of the Toltecs, i. 15.
Arrival of the Aztecs at, 20.
See _Tollan_.
Tula, the Lady of, i. 215.
Turkeys, i. 169, 191, _note_, ii. 35.
Tylor, Edward B., his account of Mexican remains, ii. 290, _note_.
Cited, i. 14, _note_, 16, _note_, 70, _note_, 77, _note_, ii. 228, _note_.
Tzin, the termination, iii. 249, _note_.
Tzompach, Hill of, ii. 125, 162.
Tzompanco, or Zumpango, iii. 185.
U
Ulloa, discoveries by, iv. 235.
Uxmal, i. 258-266.
V
Valley of Mexico, i. 11, ii. 187, 229, iii. 347.
Vanilla, cultivated, i. 150.
Vater, i. 234, _note_, 249, _note_, 254, _note_, 256, _note_.
Vega, Manuel de la, collection of manuscripts by, iv. 272.
Velasquez, Don Diego, i. 288.
Conqueror and governor of Cuba, 288.
Sends Cordova on an expedition, 289.
Despatches Juan de Grijalva to Yucatan, 291.
Censures Grijalva, 294.
Despatches Olid in search of Grijalva, 295.
Armament of, under Cortés, 296, 311, 313.
Difficulties of, with Cortés, 304-308.
His instructions to Cortés, 315, iv. 284.
Jealous and dissatisfied, i. 317.
Orders the seizure of Cortés, 323, 326.
Partisans of, oppose Cortés, ii. 27, 32, 150.
Tries to intercept despatches, 64.
Gets no redress, 64.
Fits out a fleet against Cortés, 65, iii. 29.
Chaplain of, in Spain, complains against Cortes’ envoys, iii. 25.
Sends to Spain an account of Cortés’ doings, 28, _note_.
His vexation with Cortés, 29.
Made adelantado, 29.
Intrusts his fleet to Narvaez, 30.
Interference with, of the Royal Audience of St. Domingo, 31.
Sustained by Duero, in Spain, 236.
Capture of forces sent to Vera Cruz by, 237.
Ignorant of the fate of his armament, 242.
State of things in Spain, in relation to him and Cortés,
iii. 355, iv. 139, 144, 149.
Fate of, 149.
His character, 149.
See _Narvaez_.
Venezuela, ii. 241, _note_.
Venice, Mexico and, ii. 287.
Vera Cruz, New, i. 365, ii. 48, _note_.
Natives flock to, i. 365.
Built at San Juan de Ulua, iii. 33.
Narvaez at, 33.
Narvaez’s plans for a colony there, 34, 40.
The removal to, iv. 156.
Vera Cruz Vieja, or Antigua, ii. 48, _note_, iv. 156.
See _Villa Rica_.
Verdugo, i. 323, iii. 357.
Vessels, Aztecs aid in building, iii. 21.
See _Armada_.
Vestal fires. See _Fires_.
Veytia, i. 14, _note_, 26, _note_, 130,
_note_, 186, _note_, ii. 180, _note_, 189, _note_.
Villafaña, conspiracy of, iii. 356.
Villa Rica de Vera Cruz, colonization of, ii. 30, 48, iv. 296.
Remarks on, ii. 48, _note_.
Arrival of a Spanish vessel at, 56.
Despatches to Spain from, 57, 62.
Garrisoned, 86.
Grado succeeds Escalante at, 358.
Sandoval commander at, 359.
Rangre commander at, iii. 79.
Reinforcements from, cut off, 210.
Messenger to, 211.
Troops ordered from, 212.
Desire to return to, 213.
Departure from, for Cuba, 236.
Capture of troops sent to, by Velasquez, 237.
Ships at, 237, 238, 323, iv. 62.
Harbor of, iv. 156.
See _Sandoval_ and _Vera Cruz_.
Virgin Mary, i. 71, _note_.
Appears in battle, ii. 340, iii. 145, 203, _note_.
Image of, iii. 16, 132, _note_, 184.
Interposition of, in 1833, 184, _note_.
Volante, escape of, iii. 311.
Volcanoes, remains of, i. 7.
The Orizaba, ii. 34, 89, 187.
The Cofre de Perote, ii. 91.
Popocatepetl, 187, 223, 224.
Use of the word, 224, _note_.
Region of, iii. 332.
Voltaire, i. 99, _note_, iii. 147, _note_.
Anecdote by, of Charles V. and Cortés, iv. 240, _note_.
Vómito, or bilious fever, i. 7, 366, _note_, ii. 48, _note_, 88.
W
Waldeck, i. 258, 259, _note_, 265, _note_, 290, _note_, iii. 224.
Wall of serpents, ii. 320, iii. 87, iv. 14.
War, Aztec ideas respecting, i. 56.
Mode of declaring and conducting, 56, 57.
Great object of, 95.
Tlascalan love of, ii. 107.
Cholulans disqualified for, 182.
Warburton, William, i. 106, _note_, 110, _note_.
War-god. See _Huitzilopochtli_.
Warren, John C., i. 255, _note_.
Water, ablution with, at table, i. 168, ii. 303.
Basins of, at Tezcotzinco, i. 197, 198.
Use of, for religious purification, 241, _note_.
Want of, iii. 336.
See _Aqueducts_ and _Tezcuco lake_.
Water-fowl, ii. 297.
Weeks, division by, i. 126.
Weights, no Mexican, ii. 318, iii. 9.
Wheat, yield of, ii. 188, _note_.
Wheels, chronological, i. 132, _note_.
Gold and silver, ii. 17, 59, _note_.
White, Blanco, ii. 267, _note_.
Wild turkeys, i. 169, 191, _note_, ii. 35.
Wilkinson, J. G., i. 86, 271, _note_.
Wives of Montezuma, ii. 299, iii. 155, iv. 302.
Women, employment and treatment of, in Mexico, i. 149, 167, 172, ii. 311.
Torquemada on, i. 149, _note_.
Sophocles on Egyptian men and, 149, _note_.
Their appearance, 167.
Asiatic, 172.
Sacrificed, 218, _note_.
Totonac, ii. 37.
Protected at the Cholulan massacre, 205, 212.
Dress of, 311.
Accompany the Christian camp, iii. 168.
Heroism of, iv. 58.
Heroism of the Mexican, iv. 75, 93.
Efforts to spare, 94, 99;
to bring into New Spain, 156.
See _Daughters_.
Wooden ware, Mexican, i. 159.
World, tradition of the destruction of the, i. 75, 140.
Wounds, want of medicaments for, iv. 32, _note_.
X
Xalacingo, ii. 100, _note_.
Xalapa, Spaniards at, ii. 88.
Xaltocan, assault on, iii. 305.
Xaramillo, Don Juan, iv. 191.
Xicotencatl, the elder, ii. 114, 165, iii. 220.
Converted, iii. 244.
Ominous words of, cited, iv. 55.
Xicotencatl, the younger, a Tlascalan commander, ii. 114, 121, 124, 128.
His standard, 132.
Facts respecting, 138, 141, 145, 146, 154, 156, 157.
Countenances jealousies, iii. 216.
Favors an embassy from Mexico, 221.
Leads against Tepeacans, 224.
Imitates Spaniards, 253.
Joins Cortés, iii. 366.
Leaves the army, 369.
Hung, 371.
Remarks on, 372.
Ximenes, Cardinal, destruction of manuscripts by, i. 116.
His administration, 279, iii. 355.
Commission by, to redress Indian grievances, i. 286, ii. 73.
Xochicalco, lake, ii. 240.
Xochicalco, ruins of the temple or fortress of, i. 257, 261, _note_, 263.
Xochimilco, iii. 338, 346, iv. 19.
Xoloc, Fort, ii. 249.
Stormed, iii. 348.
Fleet at, iv. 6.
Headquarters at, 7.
Barracks built there, 31.
Xuarez, Catalina, intimacy and marriage of Cortés with, i. 304, 308.
Joins her husband, iv. 158.
Fate of, 159, _note_, 226, and _note_.
Y
Years, Aztec, i. 126.
On divisions of time into, 128.
Hieroglyphics for, 129-131, _note_.
On the names of, 247, _note_.
Yucatan, mentioned, i. 258, iv. 178.
Resemblances to the architecture of, i. 261.
Expedition to, 290.
The word, 290, and _note_.
Called New Spain, 292.
Ordaz despatched to, to liberate Christians, 333, 339.
Canoe from, with Aguilar, 339.
See _Tabasco_.
Yxtacamaxtitlán, ii. 100, and _note_.
Z
Zacatecas, silver from, iv. 232.
Zacatula, fleet at, iv. 155, 169.
Zacotollan, copper from, i. 154.
Zahuatl, the river, ii. 167.
Zodiacal signs, coincidences as to, i. 246.
Zoltepec, massacre at, iii. 210, 298.
Zuazo, i. 87, _note_, 151, _note_.
On mantles of feathers, ii. 311, _note_.
On the Aztec _cuisine_, 316, _note_.
Urges Cortés to return to Mexico, iv. 200.
Zumárraga, Don Juan de, i. 94.
First archbishop of Mexico, destroys manuscripts, 115.
Image destroyed by, 197, _note_.
Demolishes the Statue of the Sun, iii. 193.
Zumpango, or Tzompanco, iii. 185.
Zuñiga, Doña Juana de, second wife of Cortés, iv. 223, 235.
Zurita, i. 39, _note_, 43, _note_, 62, _note_, 185 _note_.
THE END
FOOTNOTES:
[1] “It was a beautiful victory,” exclaims the Conqueror. “É
entrámoslos de tal manera, que ninguno de ellos se escapó, excepto
las Mugeres, y Niños; y en este combate me hiriéron veinte y cinco
Españoles, pero fué muy hermosa Victoria.” Rel. Terc., ap. Lorenzana,
p. 241.
[2] About five hundred boats, according to the general’s own estimate
(Ibid., loc. cit.); but more than four thousand, according to Bernal
Diaz (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 150); who, however, was not present.
[3] “Y como yo deseaba mucho, que el primer reencuentro, que con ellos
obiessemos, fuesse de mucha victoria; y se hiciesse de manera, que
ellos cobrassen mucho temor de los bergantines, porque la llave de toda
la Guerra estaba en ellos.” Rel. Terc., ap. Lorenzana, pp. 241, 242.
[4] “Plugo á nuestro Señor, que estándonos mirando los unos á los
otros, vino un viento de la Tierra muy favorable para embestir con
ellos.” Ibid., p. 242.
[5] Rel. Terc., ap. Lorenzana, loc. cit.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind.,
MS., lib. 33, cap. 48.--Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib 12,
cap. 32.--I may be excused for again quoting a few verses from a
beautiful description in “Madoc,” and one as pertinent as beautiful:
“Their thousand boats, and the ten thousand oars,
From whose broad bowls the waters fall and flash,
And twice ten thousand feathered helms, and shields,
Glittering with gold and scarlet plumery.
Onward they come with song and swelling horn;
... On the other side
Advance the _British_ barks; the freshening breeze
Fills the broad sail; around the rushing keel
The waters sing, while proudly they sail on,
Lords of the water.”
MADOC, Part 2, canto 25.
[6] “Y era tanta la multitud,” says Cortés, “que por el Agua, y por la
Tierra no viamos sino Gente, y daban tantas gritas, y alaridos, que
parecia que se hundia el Mundo.” Rel. Terc., p. 245.--Oviedo, Hist, de
las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 23.--Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS.,
cap. 95.--Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 32.
[7] Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 246, 247.--Bernal Diaz,
Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 150.--Herrera, Hist, de las Ind., dec. 3,
lib. 1, cap. 17.--Defensa, MS., cap. 28.
[8] Así como fué de dia se dixo vna misa de Espíritu Santo, que todos
los Christianos oyéron con mucha devocion; é aun los Indios, como
simples, é no entendientes de tan alto misterio, con admiracion estaban
atentos notando el silencio de los cathólicos y el acatamiento que
al altar, y al sacerdote los Christianos toviéron hasta recevir la
benedicion.” Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 24.
[9] [This street, which is now called the Calle del Rastro, and
traverses the whole city from north to south, leading from the Calle
del Relox to the causeway of Guadalupe or Tepeyacac, was known at the
period immediately following the Conquest as the Calle de Iztapalapa,
which name was given to it through its whole extent. In the time of the
ancient Mexicans its course was intercepted by the great temple, the
principal door of which fronted upon it. After this edifice had been
demolished, the street was opened from one end to the other. Conquista
de Méjico (trad. de Vega), tom. ii. p. 157.]
[10] Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap.
32.--Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 95.--Oviedo, Hist. de las
Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 23.--Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp.
247, 248.
[11] Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ubi supra.--Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich.,
MS., cap. 95.--Here terminates the work last cited of the Tezcucan
chronicler; who has accompanied us from the earliest period of our
narrative down to this point in the final siege of the capital.
Whether the concluding pages of the manuscript have been lost, or
whether he was interrupted by death, it is impossible to say. But
the deficiency is supplied by a brief sketch of the principal events
of the siege, which he has left in another of his writings. He had,
undoubtedly, uncommon sources of information in his knowledge of the
Indian languages and picture-writing, and in the oral testimony which
he was at pains to collect from the actors in the scenes he describes.
All these advantages are too often counterbalanced by a singular
incapacity for discriminating--I will not say, between historic truth
and falsehood (for what is truth?)--but between the probable, or
rather the possible, and the impossible. One of the generation of
primitive converts to the Romish faith, he lived in a state of twilight
civilization, when, if miracles were not easily wrought, it was at
least easy to believe them.
[12] [In the street of Santa Teresa. Conquista de Méjico (trad. de
Vega), tom. ii. p. 158.]
[13] [Which forms what is called “El Empedradillo.” Ibid.]
[14] [This wall, adorned with serpents, and crowned with the heads,
strung together on stakes, of the human victims sacrificed in the
temple, formed the front of the Plaza on the south side, extending
from the corner of the Calle de Plateros east, towards the chains that
enclose the cemetery of the cathedral. Ibid.]
[15] “I con todo eso no se determinaban los Christianos de entrar en
la Plaça; por lo qual diciendo Hernando Cortés, que no era tiempo de
mostrar cansancio, ni cobardía, con vna Rodela en la mano, appellidando
Santiago, arremetió el primero.” Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 3, lib.
1, cap. 18.
[16] Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 32.
[17] Ixtlilxochitl, in his Thirteenth Relacion, embracing among other
things a brief notice of the capture of Mexico, of which an edition
has been given to the world by the industrious Bustamante, bestows
the credit of this exploit on Cortés himself. “En la capilla mayor
donde estaba Huitzilopoxctli, que llegáron Cortés é Ixtlilxuchitl á
un tiempo, y ambos embistiéron con el ídolo. _Cortés cogió la máscara
de oro que tenia puesta este ídolo_ con ciertas piedras preciosas que
estaban engastadas en ella.” Venida de los Españoles, p. 29.
[18] “Los de Caballo revolvian sobre ellos, que siempre alanceaban, ó
mataban algunos; é como la Calle era muy larga, hubo lugar de hacerse
esto quatro, ó cinco veces. É aunque los Enemigos vian que recibian
daño, venian los Perros tan rabiosos, que en ninguna manera los
podiamos detener, ni que nos dejassen de seguir.” Rel. Terc. de Cortés,
ap. Lorenzana, p. 250.--Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 1, cap.
18.--Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 32.--Oviedo,
Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 23.
[19] The great mass of the Otomies were an untamed race, who roamed
over the broad tracts of the plateau, far away to the north. But many
of them, who found their way into the Valley, became blended with the
Tezcucan, and even with the Tlascalan nation, making some of the best
soldiers in their armies.
[20] [The Otomies inhabited all the country of Tula on the west, where
their language is well preserved. Conquista de Méjico (trad. de Vega),
tom. ii. p. 161.]
[21] “Istrisuchil [Ixtlilxochitl], que es de edad de veinte y tres,
ó veinte y quatro años, muy esforzado, amado, y temido de todos.”
(Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 251.) The greatest obscurity
prevails among historians in respect to this prince, whom they seem
to have confounded very often with his brother and predecessor on the
throne of Tezcuco. It is rare that either of them is mentioned by any
other than his baptismal name of Hernando; and, if Herrera is correct
in the assertion that this name was assumed by both, it may explain in
some degree the confusion. (Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 1, cap. 18.) I
have conformed in the main to the old Tezcucan chronicler, who gathered
his account of his kinsman, as he tells us, from the records of his
nation, and from the oral testimony of the contemporaries of the prince
himself. Venida de los Españoles, pp. 30, 31.
[22] “Daban ocasion, y nos forzaban á que totalmente les
destruyessemos. É de esta postrera tenia mas sentimiento, y me pesaba
en el alma, y pensaba que forma ternia para los atemorizar, de
manera, que viniessen en conocimiento de su yerro, y de el daño, que
podian recibir de nosotros, y no hacia sino quemalles, y derrocalles
las Torres de sus Ídolos, y sus Casas.” Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap.
Lorenzana, p. 254.
[23] [The ruins of this building were brought to light in the process
of laying the foundations of the houses recently constructed on the
southern side of the street of Santa Teresa, adjoining the convent of
the Conception. Conquista de Méjico (trad. de Vega), tom. ii. p. 162.].
[24] “Y desde las azoteas deshonrarle llamándole de traidor contra su
patria y deudos, y otras razones pesadas, que á la verdad _á ellos
les sobraba la razon_; mas Ixtlilxuchitl callaba y peleaba, que mas
estimaba la amistad y salud de los Cristianos que todo esto.” Venida de
los Españoles, p. 32.
[25] Ibid., p. 29.
[26] For the preceding pages relating to this second assault, see
Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 254-256,--Sahagun, Hist. de
Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 33,--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS.,
lib. 33, cap. 24,--Defensa, MS., cap. 28.
[27] Rel. Terc., ap. Lorenzana, p. 259.
[28] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 151.--According to
Herrera, Alvarado and Sandoval did not conceal their disapprobation
of the course pursued by their commander in respect to the breaches:
“I Alvarado, i Sandoval, por su parte, tambien lo hiciéron mui bien,
culpando á Hernando Cortés por estas retiradas, queriendo muchos que
se quedara en lo ganado, por no bolver tantas veces á ello.” Hist.
general, dec. 3, lib. 1, cap. 19.
[29] “Porque como era de noche, no aguardauan mucho, y desta manera
que he dicho velauamos, que ni porque llouiesse, ni vientos, ni frios,
y aunque estauamos metidos en medio de grandes lodos, y heridos, allí
auiamos de estar.” Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 151.
[30] [That is to say, the more violent part of the rainy season, which
lasts, in fact, from May or June to October. Conquista de Méjico (trad.
de Vega), tom. ii. p. 165.]
[31] “Porque nouenta y tres dias estuuímos sobre esta tan fuerte
ciudad, cada dia é de noche teniamos guerras, y combates; é no lo
pongo aquí por capítulos lo que cada dia haziamos, porque me parece
que seria gran proligidad, é seria cosa para nunca acabar, y pareceria
á los libros de Amadis, é de otros corros de caualleros.” Hist. de la
Conquista, ubi supra.
[32] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, ubi supra.--Sahagun, Hist. de
Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 33.
[33] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 151.--Sahagun, Hist. de
Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 34.
[34] I recollect meeting with no estimate of their numbers; nor, in the
loose arithmetic of the Conquerors, would it be worth much. They must,
however, have been very great, to enable them to meet the assailants so
promptly and efficiently on every point.
[35] Defensa, MS., cap. 28.--Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib.
12, cap. 34.--The principal cities were Mexicaltzinco, Cuitlahuac,
Iztapalapan, Mizquiz, Huitzilopochco, Colhuacan.
[36] “Y como aquel dia llevabamos mas de ciento y cincuenta mil Hombres
de Guerra.” Rel. Terc., ap. Lorenzana, p. 280.
[37] “Y vea Vuestra Magestad,” says Cortés to the emperor, “que tan
ancha puede ser la Calzada, que va por lo mas hondo de la Laguna, que
de la una parte, y de la otra iban estas Casas, y quedaba en medio
hecha Calle, que muy á placer á pie, y á caballo ibamos, y veniamos por
ella.” Rel. Terc., ap. Lorenzana, p. 260.
[38] The greatest difficulty under which the troops labored, according
to Diaz, was that of obtaining the requisite medicaments for their
wounds. But this was in a great degree obviated by a Catalan soldier,
who by virtue of his prayers and incantations wrought wonderful cures
both on the Spaniards and their allies. The latter, as the more
ignorant, flocked in crowds to the tent of this military Æsculapius,
whose success was doubtless in a direct ratio to the faith of his
patients. Hist. de la Conquista, ubi supra.
[39] Diaz mourns over this unsavory diet. (Hist. de la Conquista, loc.
cit.) Yet the Indian fig is an agreeable, nutritious fruit; and the
_tortilla_, made of maize flour, with a slight infusion of lime, though
not precisely a _morceau friand_, might pass for very tolerable camp
fare. According to the lively Author of “Life in Mexico,” it is made
now precisely as it was in the days of the Aztecs. If so, a cooking
receipt is almost the only thing that has not changed in this country
of revolutions.{*}
{*} [Corn is placed in water, to which a little lime is added, and
soaked over night. Or it is allowed to simmer over a slow fire. The
husk is then easily separated and the grain is mashed or ground. The
paste is then formed with the hands into a very thin cake which is
cooked on an earthen pan placed over the fire. It is eaten with boiled
beans and a mixture of Chile and lard.
Another common article of diet is the _tamale_. This is a mixture of
chopped meat, Chile, and onions, covered with corn paste, then wrapped
in corn or plantain leaves and boiled or baked.--M.]
[40] “Quo strages,” says Martyr, “erat crudelior, eo magis copiose ac
opipare cœnabant Guazuzingui & Tascaltecani, cæterique prouinciales
auxiliarii, qui soliti sunt hostes in prœlio cadentes intra suos
ventres sepelire; nec vetare ausus fuisset Cortesius.” (De Orbe
Novo, dec. 5, cap. 8.) “Y los otros les mostraban los de su Ciudad
hechos pedazos, diciéndoles, que los habian de cenar aquella noche, y
almorzar otro dia, como de hecho lo hacian.” (Rel. Terc. de Cortés,
ap. Lorenzana, p. 256.) Yet one may well be startled by the assertion
of Oviedo, that the carnivorous monsters fished up the bloated bodies
of those drowned in the lake to swell their repast! “Ni podian ver los
ojos de los Christianos, é Cathólicos, mas espantable é aborrecida
cosa, que ver en el Real de los Amigos confederados el continuo
exercicio de comer carne asada, ó cocida de los Indios enemigos, é aun
de los que mataban en las canoas, ó se ahogaban, é después el agua los
echaba en la superficie de la laguna, ó en la costa, no los dexaban de
pescar, é aposentar en sus vientres.” Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33,
cap. 24.
[41] “I confidently expected both on that and the preceding day that
they would come with proposals of peace, as I had myself, whether
victorious or otherwise, constantly made overtures to that end. But on
their part we never perceived a sign of such intention.” Rel. Terc. de
Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 261.
[42] Such is the account explicitly given by Cortés to the emperor.
(Rel. Terc., ap. Lorenzana, p. 264.) Bernal Diaz, on the contrary,
speaks of the assault as first conceived by the general himself. (Hist.
de la Conquista, cap. 151.) Yet Diaz had not the best means of knowing;
and Cortés would hardly have sent home a palpable misstatement that
could have been so easily exposed.
[43] This punctual performance of mass by the army, in storm and in
sunshine, by day and by night, among friends and enemies, draws forth a
warm eulogium from the archiepiscopal editor of Cortés: “En el Campo,
en una Calzada, entre Enemigos, trabajando dia, y noche, nunca se
omitia la Missa, páraque toda la obra se atribuyesse á Dios, y mas en
unos Meses, en que incomodan las Aguas de el Cielo; y encima del Agua
las Habitaciones, ó malas Tiendas.” Lorenzana, p. 266, nota.
[44] In the treasurer’s division, according to the general’s Letter,
there were 70 Spanish foot, 7 or 8 horse, and 15,000 or 20,000 Indians;
in Tápia’s, 80 foot, and 10,000 allies; and in his own, 8 horse, 100
infantry, and “an infinite number of allies.” (Ibid., ubi supra.) The
looseness of the language shows that a few thousands more or less were
of no great moment in the estimate of the Indian forces.
[45] “Otro dia de mañana acordé de ir á su Real para le reprehender
lo pasado.... Y visto, no les imputé tanta culpa, como antes parecia
tener, y platicado cerca de lo que habia de hacer, yo me bolví á
nuestro Real aquel dia.” Rel. Terc, de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 263,
264.
[46] “Y hallé, que habian pasado una quebrada de la Calle, que era de
diez, ó doce pasos de ancho; y el Agua, que por ella pasaba, era de
hondura de mas de dos estados, y al tiempo que la pasáron habian echado
en ella madera, y cañas de carrizo, y como pasaban pocos á pocos, y con
tiento, no se habia hundido la madera y cañas.” Rel. Terc. de Cortés,
ap. Lorenzana, p. 268.--See also Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib.
33, cap. 48.
[47] Gomara, Crónica, cap. 138.--Ixtlilxochitl, Venida de los
Españoles, p. 37.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap.
26.--Guatemozin’s horn rang in the ears of Bernal Diaz for many a
day after the battle. “Quatemuz, y manda tocar su corneta, [~q]
era vna señal q quando aquella se tocasse, era q auian de pelear
sus Capitanes de manera, q hiziessen presa, ó morir sobre ello; y
retumbaua el sonido, q se metia en los oidos, y de q lo oyéro aquellos
sus esquadrones, y Capitanes: saber yo aquí dezir aora, con q rabia,
y esfuerço se metian entre nosotros á nos echar mano, es cosa de
espanto.” Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 152.
[48] “É como el negocio fué tan de súpito, y ví que mataban la Gente
determiné de me quedar allí, y morir peleando.” Rel. Terc., ap.
Lorenzana, p. 268.
[49] Ixtlilxochitl, who would fain make his royal kinsman a sort of
residuary legatee for all unappropriated, or even doubtful, acts of
heroism, puts in a sturdy claim for him on this occasion. A painting,
he says, on one of the gates of a monastery of Tlatelolco, long
recorded the fact that it was the Tezcucan chief who saved the life of
Cortés. (Venida de los Éspañoles, p. 38.) But Camargo gives the full
credit of it to Olea, on the testimony of “a famous Tlascalan warrior,”
present in the action, who reported it to him. (Hist. de Tlascala,
MS.) The same is stoutly maintained by Bernal Diaz, townsman of Olea,
to whose memory he pays a hearty tribute, as one of the best men and
bravest soldiers in the army. (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 152, 204.)
Saavedra, the poetic chronicler,--something more of a chronicler than
poet,--who came on the stage before all that had borne arms in the
Conquest had left it, gives the laurel also to Olea, whose fate he
commemorates in verses that at least aspire to historic fidelity:
“Túvole con las manos abraçado,
Y Francisco de Olea el valeroso,
Vn valiente Español, y su criado
Le tiró vn tajo brauo y riguroso:
Las dos manos á cercen le ha cortado,
Y él le libró del trance trabajoso
Huuo muy gran rumor, porque dezian,
Que ya en prision amarga le tenian.
“Llegáron otros Indios arriscados,
Y á Olea matáron en vn punto,
Cercáron á Cortés por todos lados,
Y al miserable cuerpo ya difunto;
Y viendo sus sentidos recobrados,
Puso mano á la espada y daga junto.
Antonio de Quiñones llegó luego,
Capitan de la guarda ardiendo en fuego.”
EL PEREGRINO INDIANO, Canto 20.
[50] “É aquel Capitan que estaba con el General, que se decia Antonio
de Quiñones, díxole: Vamos, Señor, de aquí, y salvemos vuestra Persona,
pues que ya esto está de manera, que es morir desesperado atender; é
sin vos, ninguno de nosotros puede escapar, que no es esfuerzo, sino
poquedad, porfiar aquí otra cosa.” Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib.
33, cap. 26.
[51] It may have been the same banner which is noticed by Mr. Bullock
as treasured up in the Hospital of Jesus, “where,” says he, “we beheld
the identical embroidered standard under which the great captain
wrested this immense empire from the unfortunate Montezuma.” Six Months
in Mexico, vol. i. chap. 10.
[52] For this disastrous affair, besides the Letter of Cortés,
and the Chronicle of Diaz, so often quoted, see Sahagun, Hist. de
Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 33,--Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala,
MS.,--Gomara, Crónica, cap. 138,--Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4,
cap. 94,--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 26, 48.
[53] “El resonido de la corneta de Guatemuz.”--Astolfo’s magic horn was
not more terrible:
“Dico che ’l corno è di sì orribil suono,
Ch’ ovunque s’ oda, fa fuggir la gente.
Non può trovarsi al mondo un cor sì buono,
Che possa non fuggir come lo sente.
Rumor di vento e di tremuoto, e ’l tuono,
A par del suon di questo, era niente.”
ORLANDO FURIOSO, Canto 15, st. 15.
[54] “Por [~q] yo no lo sé aquí escriuir [~q] aora [~q] me pongo á
pensar en ello, es como si visiblemente lo viesse, mas bueluo á dezir,
y ansí es verdad, [~q] si Dios no nos diera esfuerço, segun estauamos
todos heridos: él nos saluo, [~q] de otra manera no nos podiamos llegar
á nuestros ranchos.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 152.
[55] This renowned steed, who might rival the Babieca of the Cid,
was named Motilla, and, when one would pass unqualified praise on a
horse, he would say, “He is as good as Motilla.” So says that prince of
chroniclers, Diaz, who takes care that neither beast nor man shall be
defrauded of his fair guerdon in these campaigns against the infidel.
He was of a chestnut color, it seems, with a star in his forehead,
and, luckily for his credit, with only one foot white. See Hist. de la
Conquista, cap. 152, 205.
[56] The cavaliers might be excused for not wantonly venturing their
horses, if, as Diaz asserts, they could only be replaced at an expense
of eight hundred or a thousand dollars apiece: “Porque costaua en
aquella sazon vn cauallo ochocientos pesos, y aun algunos costauan á
mas de mil.” Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 151. See, also, _ante_, Book
II. chap. 3, note 14.
[57] “Mira pues veis que yo no puedo ir á todas partes, á vos os
encomiendo estos trabajos, pues veis [~q] estoy herido y coxo; ruego os
pongais cobro en estos tres reales; bien sé [~q] Pedro de Alvarado, y
sus Capitanes, y soldados aurán batallado, y hecho como caualleros, mas
temo el gran poder destos perros no les ayan desbaratado.” Bernal Diaz,
Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 152.
[58] “Vn atambor de muy triste sonido, enfin como instrumento de
demonios, y retumbaua tanto, que se oia dos, ó tres leguas.” Bernal
Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, loc. cit.
[59] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, ubi supra.--Oviedo, Hist. de
las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 48.--“Sacándoles los corazones, sobre
una piedra que era como un pilar cortado, tan grueso como un hombre
y algo mas, y tan alto como medio estadio; allí á cada uno echado de
espaldas sobre aquella piedra, que se llama Techcatl, uno le tiraba
por un brazo, y otro por el otro, y tambien por las piernas otros dos,
y venia uno de aquellos Sátrapas, con un pedernal, como un hierro de
lanza enhastado, en un palo de dos palmos de largo, le daba un golpe
con ambas manos en el pecho; y sacando aquel pedernal, por la misma
llaga metia la mano, y arrancábale el corazón, y luego fregaba con él
la boca del Ídolo; y echaba á rodar el cuerpo por las gradas abajo, que
serian como cinquenta ó sesenta gradas, por allí abajo iba quebrando
las piernas y los brazos, y dando cabezasos con la cabeza, _hasta que
llegaba abajo aun vivo_.” Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12,
cap. 35.
[60] At least, such is the honest confession of Captain Diaz, as
stouthearted a soldier as any in the army. He consoles himself,
however, with the reflection that the tremor of his limbs intimated
rather an excess of courage than a want of it, since it arose from a
lively sense of the great dangers into which his daring spirit was
about to hurry him! The passage in the original affords a good specimen
of the inimitable _naïveté_ of the old chronicler: “Digan agora
todos aquellos caualleros, que desto del militar entienden, y se han
hallado en trances peligrosos de muerte, á que fin echarán mi temor,
si es á mucha flaqueza de animo, ó á mucho esfuerço, porque como he
dicho, sentia yo en mi pensamiento, que auia de poner por mi persona,
batallando en parte que por fuerça auia de temer la muerte mas que
otras vezes, y por esto me temblaua el coraçon, y temia la muerte.”
Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 156.
[61] Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 2, cap. 20.--Ixtlilxochitl,
Venida de los Españoles, pp. 41, 42.--“Y nos dezian, que de aí á ocho
dias no auia de quedar ninguno de nosotros á vida, porque assí se lo
auian prometido la noche antes sus Dioses.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la
Conquista, cap. 153.
[62] Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap.
36.--Ixtlilxochitl, Venida de los Españoles, pp. 41, 42.--The Castilian
scholar will see that I have not drawn on my imagination for the
picture of these horrors: “Digamos aora lo que los Mexicanos hazian
de noche en sus grandes, y altos Cues; y es, [~q] tañian su maldito
atambor, que dixe otra vez que era el de mas maldito sonido, y mas
triste [~q] se podia inuētar, y sonaua muy lexos; y tañian otros peores
instrumentos. En fin, cosas diabólicas, y teniā grandes lumbres, y dauā
grādíssimos gritos, y siluos, y en aquel instāte estauan sacrificando
de nuestros cōpañeros, de los [~q] tomárō á Cortés, que supímos [~q]
sacrificáron diez dias arreo, hasta que los acabáron, y el postrero
dexárō á Christoual de Guzman, [~q] viuo lo tuuiéron diez y ocho dias,
segun dixérō tres Capitanes Mexicanos [~q] prēdímos.” Bernal Diaz,
Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 153.
[63] “Que no era bien, que Mugeres Castellanas dexasen á sus Maridos,
iendo á la Guerra, i que adonde ellos muriesen, moririan ellas.”
(Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 1, cap. 22.) The historian has
embalmed the names of several of these heroines in his pages, who are,
doubtless, well entitled to share the honors of the Conquest: Beatriz
de Palacios, María de Estrada, Juana Martin, Isabel Rodriguez, and
Beatriz Bermudez.
[64] Ibid., ubi supra.
[65] And yet the priests were not so much to blame, if, as Solís
assures us, “the Devil went about very industriously in those days,
insinuating into the ears of his flock what he could not into their
hearts.” Conquista, lib. 5, cap. 22.
[66] “Y teniamos necesidad antes de ser socorridos, que de dar
socorro.” Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 272.
[67] “God knows,” says the general, “the peril in which we all stood;
pero como nos convenia mostrar mas esfuerzo y ánimo, que nunca, y morir
peleando, disimulabamos nuestra flaqueza assí con los Amigos como con
los Enemigos.” Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 275.
[68] Tápia’s force consisted of 10 horse and 80 foot; the chief
alguacil, as Sandoval was styled, had 18 horse and 100 infantry. Ibid.,
loc. cit.--Also Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 26.
[69] “Pólvora y Ballestas, de que teniamos muy estrema necesidad.”
(Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 278.) It was probably the
expedition in which Ponce de Leon lost his life; an expedition to the
very land which the chivalrous cavalier had himself first visited
in quest of the Fountain of Health. The story is pleasantly told by
Irving, as the reader may remember, in his “Companions of Columbus.”
[70] The calm and simple manner in which the _Conquistador_, as usual,
states this in his _Commentaries_, has something appalling in it from
its very simplicity: “Acordé de tomar un medio para nuestra seguridad,
y para poder mas estrechar á los Enemigos; y fué, que como fuessemos
ganando por las Calles de la Ciudad, que fuessen derrocando todas las
Casas de ellas, del un lado, y del otro; por manera, que no fuessemos
un paso adelante, sin lo dejar todo asolado, y lo que era Agua, hacerlo
Tierra-firme, aunque hobiesse toda la dilacion, que se pudiesse
seguir.” Rel. Terc., ap. Lorenzana, p. 279.
[71] “Porque era la mas hermosa cosa del Mundo.” Ibid., p. 278.
[72] “Mas antes en el pelear, y en todos sus ardides, los hallabamos
con mas ánimo, que nunca.” Ibid., p. 279.
[73] Yet we shall hardly credit the Tezcucan historian’s assertion
that a hundred thousand Indians flocked to the camp for this purpose:
“Viniesen todos los labradores con sus coas para este efecto con toda
brevedad: ... llegáron _mas de cien mil de ellos_.” Ixtlilxochitl,
Venida de los Españoles, p. 42.
[74] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 153.
[75] Sahagun, who gathered the story from the actors, and from the
aspect of the scene before the devastation had been wholly repaired,
writes with the animation of an eye-witness: “La guerra por agua y por
tierra fué tan porfiada y tan sangrienta, que era espanto de verla, y
no hay posibilidad, para decir las particularidades que pasaban; eran
tan espesas las saetas, y dardos, y piedras, y palos, que se arrojavan
los unos á los otros, que quitavan la claridad del sol; era tan grande
la vocería, y grita, de hombres y mugeres, y niños que voceaban y
lloraban, que era cosa de grima; era tan grande la polvareda, y ruido,
en derrocar y quemar casas, y robar lo que en ellas habia, y cautivar
niños y mugeres, _que parecia un juicio_.” Hist. de Nueva-España, MS.,
lib. 12, cap. 38.
[76] The flesh of the Christians failed to afford them even the
customary nourishment, since the Mexicans said it was intolerably
bitter; a miracle considered by Captain Diaz as expressly wrought for
this occasion. Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 153.
[77] Ibid., ubi supra.--When dried in the sun, this slimy deposit had
a flavor not unlike that of cheese, and formed part of the food of the
poorer classes at all times, according to Clavigero. Stor. del Messico,
tom. ii. p. 222.{*}
{*} [This was the _ahuahutle_ before described. See _ante_, vol. ii. p.
290, note.--M.]
[78] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 154.
[79] “Mas como el Guatemuz era mancebo, _y muy gentil-hombre_ y de
buena disposicion.” Ibid., ubi supra.
[80] “Mira primero lo que nuestros Dioses te han prometido, toma buen
consejo sobre ello y no te fies de Malinche, ni de sus palabras, que
mas vale que todos muramos en esta ciudad peleando, que no vernos en
poder de quiē nos harán esclauos, y nos atormentarán.” Bernal Diaz,
Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 154.
[81] “Y entonces el Guatemuz medio enojado les dixo: Pues assi quereis
que sea, guardad mucho el maiz, y bastimentos que tenemos, y muramos
todos peleando: y desde aquí adelante ninguno sea osado á me demandar
pazes, si no yo le mataré: y allí todos prometiéron de pelear noches, y
dias, y morir en la defensa de su ciudad.” Ibid., ubi supra.
[82] “Los de la Ciudad como veian tanto estrago, por esforzarse, decian
á nuestros Amigos, que no ficiessen sino quemar, y destruir, que ellos
se las harian tornar á hacer de nuevo, porque si ellos eran vencedores,
ya ellos sabian, que habia de ser assí, y si no, que las habian de
hacer para nosotros.” Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 286.
[83] Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 282-284.--Herrera,
Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 1, cap. 22; lib. 2, cap. 2.--Gomara,
Crónica, cap. 140.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap.
28.--Ixtlilxochitl, Venida de los Españoles, p. 43.
[84] “No se entendió sino en quemar, y hallanar Casas, que era lástima
cierto de lo ver; pero como no nos convenia hacer otra cosa, eramos
forzado seguir aquella órden.” Rel. Terc. de Cortés, p. 286.
[85] “No tenian agua dulce para beber, ni para de ninguna manera de
comer; bebian del agua salada y hedionda, comian ratones y lagartijas,
y cortezas de árboles, y otras cosas no comestibles; y de esta causa
enfermáron muchos, y muriéron muchos.” Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España,
MS., lib. 12, cap. 39.--Also Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p.
289.
[86] “Y es verdad y juro amen, que toda la laguna, y casas, y barbacoas
estauan llenas de cuerpos, y cabeças de hombres muertos, que yo no
sé de que manera lo escriua.” (Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista,
cap. 156.) Clavigero considers that it was a scheme of the Mexicans
to leave the dead unburied, in order that the stench might annoy and
drive off the Spaniards. (Stor. del Messico, tom. iii. p. 231, nota.)
But this policy would have operated much more to the detriment of the
besieged than of the besiegers, whose presence in the capital was but
transitory. It is much more natural to refer it to the same cause which
has led to a similar conduct under similar circumstances elsewhere,
whether occasioned by pestilence or famine.
[87] Gonzalo de las Casas, Defensa, MS., cap. 28.--Martyr, De Orbe
Novo, dec. 5, cap. 8.--Ixtlilxochitl, Venida de los Españoles, p.
45.--Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 289.--Oviedo, Hist. de las
Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 29.
[88] “Muchas cosas acaeciéron en este cerco, que entre otras
generaciones estobieran discantadas é tenidas en mucho, en especial de
las Mugeres de Temixtitan, de quien ninguna mencion se ha fecho. Y soy
certificado, que fué cosa maravillosa y para espantar, ver la prontitud
y constancia que tobiéron en servir á sus maridos, y en curar los
heridos, é en el labrar de las piedras para los que tiraban con hondas,
é en otros oficios para mas que mugeres.” Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind.,
MS., lib. 33, cap. 48.
[89] Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 29.--Bernal Diaz,
Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 155.--Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana,
pp. 287-289.
[90] _Ante_, vol ii. p. 312.--The _tianguez_ still continued of great
dimensions, though with faded magnificence, after the Conquest, when it
is thus noticed by Father Sahagun: “Entráron en la plaza ó Tianguez de
esta Tlaltilulco (lugar muy espacioso mucho mas de lo que ahora es), el
cual se podia llamar emporio de toda esta nueva España: al cual venian
á tratar gentes de toda esta nueva España, y aun de los Reinos á ella
contiguos, y donde se vendian y compraban todas cuantas cosas hay en
toda esta tierra, y en los Reinos de Quahtimalla y Xalisco (cosa cierto
mucho de ver), yo lo ví por muchos años morando en esta Casa del Señor
Santiago aunque ya no era tanto como antes de la Conquista.” Hist. de
Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 37.
[91] “É yo miré dende aquella Torre, lo que teniamos ganado de la
Ciudad, que sin duda de ocho partes teniamos ganado las siete.” Rel.
Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 289.
[92] Toribio, Hist. de los Ind., MS., Parte 3, cap. 7.--The remains of
the ancient foundations may still be discerned in this quarter, while
in every other _etiam periêre ruinæ_!
[93] Bustamante, the Mexican editor of Sahagun, mentions that he has
now in his possession several of these military spoils. “Toda la
llanura del Santuario de nuestra Señora de los Ángeles y de Santiago
Tlaltilolco se ve sembrada de fragmentos de lanzas cortantes, de
macanas, y flechas de piedra obsidiana, de que usaban los Mexicanos
ó sea Chinapos, y yo he recogido no pocos que conservo en mi poder.”
Hist. de Nueva-España, lib. 12, nota 21.
[94] “Y como comenzó á arder, levantóse una llama tan alta que parecia
llegar al cielo, al espectáculo de esta quema, todos los hombres y
mugeres que se habian acogido á las tiendas que cercaban todo el
Tianguez comenzáron á llorar á voz en grito, que fué cosa de espanto
oirlos; porque quemado aquel delubro satánico luego entendiéron que
habian de ser del todo destruidos y robados.” Sahagun, Hist. de
Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 37.
[95] Vestiges of the work are still visible, according to M. de
Humboldt, within the limits of the porch of the chapel of St. Jago.
Essai politique, tom. ii. p. 44.
[96] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 155.--Rel. Terc. de
Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 290.--Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS.,
lib. 12, cap. 37.
[97] “Estaban los tristes, Mejicanos, hombres y mugeres, niños y
niñas, viejos y viejas, heridos y enfermos, en un lugar bien estrecho,
y bien apretados los unos con los otros, y con grandísima falta de
bastimentos, y al calor del Sol, y al frio de la noche, y cada hora
esperando la muerte.” Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12,
cap. 39.
[98] Torquemada had the anecdote from a nephew of one of the Indian
matrons, then a very old man himself. Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 102.
[99] Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., ubi supra.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la
Conquista, cap. 156.
[100] “De los niños, no quedó nadie, que las mismas madres y padres
los comian (que era gran lástima de ver, y mayormente de sufrir).”
(Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 39.) The historian
derived his accounts from the Mexicans themselves, soon after the
event.--One is reminded of the terrible denunciations of Moses: “The
tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set
the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness,
her eye shall be evil toward ... her children which she shall bear; for
she shall eat them, for want of all things, secretly, in the siege and
straitness wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.”
Deuteronomy, chap. 28, vs. 56, 57.
[101] “No podiamos andar sino entre cuerpos, y cabeças de Indios
muertos.” Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 156.
[102] “No tenian donde estar sino sobre los cuerpos muertos de los
suyos.” Rel. Terc., ap. Lorenzana, p. 291.
[103] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, ubi supra.--Herrera, Hist.
general, dec. 3, lib. 2, cap. 8.--Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS.,
lib. 12, cap. 41.--Gonzalo de las Casas, Defensa, MS., cap. 28.
[104] “Un torbellino de fuego como sangre embuelto en brasas y en
centellas, que partia de hacia Tepeacac (que es donde está ahora
Santa María de Guadalupe) y fué haciendo gran ruido, hacia donde
estaban acorralados los Mejicanos y Tlaltilulcanos; y dió una vuelta
para enrededor de ellos, y no dicen si los empeció algo, sino que
habiendo dado aquella vuelta, se entró por la laguna adelante; y allí
desapareció.” Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 40.
[105] “Inclinatis ad credendum animis,” says the philosophic Roman
historian, “loco ominum etiam fortuita.” Tacitus, Hist., lib. 2, sec. 1.
[106] “Y como lo lleváron delante de Guatimucin su Señor, y él
le comenzó á hablar sobre la Paz, dizque luego lo mandó matar y
sacrificar.” Rel. Terc., ap. Lorenzana, p. 293.
[107] “Que pues ellos me tenian por Hijo del Sol, y el Sol en tanta
brevedad como era en un dia y una noche daba vuelta á todo el Mundo,
que porque yo assí brevemente no los acababa de matar, y los quitaba de
penar tanto, porque ya ellos tenian deseos de morir, y irse al Cielo
para su Ochilobus [Huitzilopochtli], que los estaba esperando para
descansar.” Rel. Terc., ap. Lorenzana, p. 292.
[108] “Y yo les torné á repetir, que no sabia la causa, porque él
se recelaba venir ante mí, pues veia que á ellos, que yo sabia [~q]
habian sido los causadores principales de la Guerra, y que la habian
sustentado, les hacia buen tratamiento, que los dejaba ir, y venir
seguramente, sin recibir enojo alguno; que les rogaba, que le tornassen
á hablar, y mirassen mucho en esto de su venida, pues á él le convenia,
y yo lo hacia por su provecho.” Rel. Terc., ap. Lorenzana, pp. 294, 295.
[109] The testimony is most emphatic and unequivocal to these repeated
efforts on the part of Cortés to bring the Aztecs peaceably to
terms. Besides his own Letter to the emperor, see Bernal Diaz, cap.
155,--Herrera, Hist. general, lib. 2, cap. 6, 7,--Torquemada, Monarch.
Ind., lib. 4, cap. 100,--Ixtlilxochitl, Venida de los Españoles, pp.
44-48,--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 29, 30.
[110] “Corrian Arroios de Sangre por las Calles, como pueden correr
de Agua, quando llueve, y con ímpetu, y fuerça.” Torquemada, Monarch.
Ind., lib. 4, cap. 103.
[111] “Era tanta la grita, y lloro de los Niños, y Mugeres, que no
habia Persona, á quien no quebrantasse el corazon.” (Rel. Terc., ap.
Lorenzana, p. 296.) They were a rash and stiff-necked race, exclaims
his reverend editor, the archbishop, with a charitable commentary!
“_Gens duræ cervicis gens absque consilio._” Nota.
[112] “Como la gente de la Cibdad se salia á los nuestros, habia
el general proveido, que por todas las calles estubiesen Españoles
para estorvar á los amigos, que no matasen aquellos tristes, que
eran sin número. É tambien dixo á todos los amigos capitanes, que no
consintiesen á su gente que matasen á ninguno de los que salian.”
Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 30.
[113] “La qual crueldad nunca en Generacion tan recia se vió, ni tan
fuera de toda órden de naturaleza, como en los Naturales de estas
partes.” Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 296.
[114] Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, ubi supra.--Ixtlilxochitl
says, 50,000 were slain and taken in this dreadful onslaught. Venida de
los Españoles, p. 48.
[115] “Adonde estauan retraidos el Guatemuz con toda la flor de sus
Capitanes, y personas mas nobles que en México auia, y le mandó que no
matasse ni hiriesse á ningunos Indios, saluo si no le diessen guerra, é
que aunque se la diessen, que solamente se defendiesse.” Bernal Diaz,
Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 156.
[116] “Y al fin me dijo, que en ninguna manera el Señor vernia ante mí;
y antes queria por allá morir, y que á él pesaba mucho de esto, que
hiciesse yo lo que quisiesse; y como ví en esto su determinacion, yo le
dije; que se bolviesse á los suyos, y que él, y ellos se aparejassen,
porque los queria combatir, y acabar de matar, y assí se fué.” Rel.
Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 298.
[117] Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 30.--Ixtlilxochitl,
Venida de los Españoles, p. 48.--Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 3, lib.
2, cap. 7.--Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 297, 298.--Gomara,
Crónica, cap. 142.
[118] Ixtlilxochitl, Venida de los Españoles, p. 49.--“No me tiren,
que yo soy el Rey de México, y desta tierra, y lo que te ruego es,
que no me llegues á mi muger, ni á mis hijos; ni á ninguna muger, ni
á ninguna cosa de lo que aquí traygo, sino que me tomes á mi, y me
lleues á Malinche.” (Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 156.) M.
de Humboldt has taken much pains to identify the place of Guatemozin’s
capture,--now become dry land,--which he considers to have been
somewhere between the Garita de Peralvillo, the square of Santiago,
Tlatelolco, and the bridge of Amaxac. Essai politique, tom. ii. p.
76.{*}
{*} [According to an old tradition, it was on the Puente del Cabildo,
which is within the limits designated by Humboldt. Alaman, Conquista de
Méjico (trad. de Vega), tom. ii. p. 209, note.--K.]
[119] For the preceding account of the capture of Guatemozin, told
with little discrepancy, though with more or less minuteness, by
the different writers, see Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, ubi
supra,--Rel. Terc. de Cortés, p. 299,--Gonzalo de las Casas, Defensa,
MS.,--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 30,--Torquemada,
Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 101.
[120] The general, according to Diaz, rebuked his officers for their
ill-timed contention, reminding them of the direful effects of a
similar quarrel between Marius and Sylla respecting Jugurtha. (Hist.
de la Conquista, cap. 156.) This piece of pedantry savors much more of
the old chronicler than his commander. The result of the whole--not an
uncommon one in such cases--was that the emperor granted to neither
of the parties, but to Cortés, the exclusive right of commemorating
the capture of Guatemozin on his escutcheon. He was permitted to bear
three crowns of gold on a sable field, one above the other two, in
token of his victory over the three lords of Mexico, Montezuma, his
brother Cuitlahua, and Guatemozin. A copy of the instrument containing
the grant of the arms of Cortes may be found in the “Disertaciones
históricas” of Alaman, tom. ii. apénd. 2.
[121] Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, lib. 12, cap. 40, MS.
[122] For the portrait of Guatemozin I again borrow the faithful pencil
of Diaz, who knew him--at least his person--well: “Guatemuz era de
muy gentil disposicion, assí de cuerpo, como de fayciones, y la cata
algo larga, y alegre, y los ojos mas parecian que quando miraua, que
eran con grauedad, y halagüeños, y no auia falta en ellos, y era de
edad de veinte y tres, ó veinte y quatro años, y el color tiraua mas á
blanco, que al color, y matiz de essotros Indios morenos.” Hist. de la
Conquista, cap. 156.
[123] “Llegóse á mi, y díjome en su lengua: que ya él habia hecho
todo, lo que de su parte era obligado para defenderse á sí, y á los
suyos, hasta venir en aquel estado; que ahora ficiesse de él lo que
yo quisiesse; y puso la mano en un puñal, que yo tenia, diciéndome,
que le diesse de puñaladas, y le matasse.” (Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap.
Lorenzana, p. 300.) This remarkable account by the Conqueror himself is
confirmed by Diaz, who does not appear to have seen this letter of his
commander. Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 156.
[124] Ibid., cap. 156.--Also Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib.
33, cap. 48,--and Martyr (De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 8), who, by
the epithet of _magnanimo regi_, testifies the admiration which
Guatemozin’s lofty spirit excited in the court of Castile.
[125] The ceremony of marriage, which distinguished the “lawful wife”
from the concubine, is described by Don Thoan Cano, in his conversation
with Oviedo. According to this, it appears that the only legitimate
offspring which Montezuma left at his death was a son and a daughter,
this same princess.--See Appendix, No. 11.
[126] For a further account of Montezuma’s daughter, see Book VII.,
chapter iii. of this History.
[127] The event is annually commemorated--or rather was, under the
colonial government--by a solemn procession round the walls of the
city. It took place on the 13th of August, the anniversary of the
surrender, and consisted of the principal cavaliers and citizens on
horseback, headed by the viceroy, and displaying the venerable standard
of the Conqueror.{*}
{*} [It was the royal standard, not that of Cortés, which was carried
on this occasion. The celebration was suppressed by a decree of the
cortes of Cadiz in 1812. Alaman, Conquista de Méjico, trad. de Vega,
tom. ii. p. 212, note.--K.]
[128] Toribio, Hist. de los Ind., MS., Parte 3, cap. 7.--Sahagun,
Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 42.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de
la Conquista, cap. 156.--“The lord of Mexico having surrendered,” says
Cortés, in his letter to the emperor, “the war, by the blessing of
Heaven, was brought to an end, on Wednesday, the 13th day of August,
1521. So that from the day when we first sat down before the city,
which was the 30th of May, until its final occupation, seventy-five
days elapsed.” (Rel. Terc., ap. Lorenzana, p. 300.) It is not easy
to tell what event occurred on May 30th to designate the beginning
of the siege. Clavigero considers it the occupation of Cojohuacan by
Olid. (Stor. del Messico, tom. iii. p. 196.) But I know not on what
authority. Neither Bernal Diaz, nor Herrera, nor Cortés, so fixes the
date. Indeed, Clavigero says that Alvarado and Olid left Tezcuco May
20th, while Cortés says May 10th. Perhaps Cortés dates from the time
when Sandoval established himself on the northern causeway, and when
the complete investment of the capital began. Bernal Diaz, more than
once, speaks of the siege as lasting three months, computing, probably,
from the time when his own division, under Alvarado, took up its
position at Tacuba.
[129] It did not, apparently, disturb the slumbers of the troops,
who had been so much deafened by the incessant noises of the siege
that, now these had ceased, “we felt,” says Diaz, in his homely way,
“like men suddenly escaped from a belfry, where we had been shut up
for months with a chime of bells ringing in our ears!” Hist. de la
Conquista, ubi supra.
[130] Herrera (Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 2, cap. 7) and Torquemada
(Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 101) estimate them at 30,000.
Ixtlilxochitl says that 60,000 fighting-men laid down their arms
(Venida de los Españoles, p. 49); and Oviedo swells the amount still
higher, to 70,000. (Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 48.)--After
the losses of the siege, these numbers are startling.{*}
{*} [And entirely untrustworthy, as are almost all of the estimates,
made by the Conqueror, of the native inhabitants or warriors.--M.]
[131] “Digo que en tres dias con sus noches iban todas tres calçadas
llenas de Indios, é Indias, y muchachos, llenas de bote en bote,
que nunca dexauan de salir, y tan flacos, y suzios, é amarillos, é
hediondos, que era lástima de los ver.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la
Conquista, cap. 150.
[132] Cortés estimates the losses of the enemy in the three several
assaults at 67,000, which with 50,000 whom he reckons to have perished
from famine and disease would give 117,000. (Rel. Terc., ap. Lorenzana,
p. 298, et alibi.) But this is exclusive of those who fell previously
to the commencement of the vigorous plan of operations for demolishing
the city. Ixtlilxochitl, who seldom allows any one to beat him in
figures, puts the dead, in round numbers, at 240,000, comprehending
the flower of the Aztec nobility. (Venida de los Españoles, p. 51.)
Bernal Diaz observes, more generally, “I have read the story of the
destruction of Jerusalem, but I doubt if there was as great mortality
there as in this siege; for there was assembled in the city an immense
number of Indian warriors from all the provinces and towns subject
to Mexico, the most of whom perished.” (Hist. de la Conquista, cap.
156.) “I have conversed,” says Oviedo, “with many hidalgos and
other persons, and have heard them say that the number of the dead
was incalculable,--greater than that at Jerusalem, as described by
Josephus.” (Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 30, cap. 30.) As the estimate
of the Jewish historian amounts to 1,100,000 (Antiquities of the Jews,
Eng. trans., book vii. chap. xvii.), the comparison may stagger the
most accommodating faith. It will be safer to dispense with arithmetic
where the data are too loose and slippery to afford a foothold for
getting at truth.
[133] Ixtlilxochitl, Venida de los Españoles, p. 51.
[134] Rel. Terc., ap. Lorenzana, p. 301.--Oviedo goes into some further
particulars respecting the amount of the treasure, and especially of
the imperial fifth, to which I shall have occasion to advert hereafter.
Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 31.
[135] Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 2, cap. 8.--Bernal Diaz,
Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 156.--Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España,
MS., lib. 12, cap. 42.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap.
30.--Ixtlilxochitl, Venida de los Españoles, pp. 51, 52.
[136] By none has this obloquy been poured with such unsparing hand on
the heads of the old Conquerors as by their own descendants, the modern
Mexicans. Ixtlilxochitl’s editor, Bustamante, concludes an animated
invective against the invaders with recommending that a monument should
be raised on the spot--now dry land--where Guatemozin was taken,
which, as the proposed inscription itself intimates, should “devote
to eternal execration the detested memory of these banditti!” (Venida
de los Españoles, p. 52, nota.) One would suppose that the pure Aztec
blood, uncontaminated by a drop of Castilian, flowed in the veins
of the indignant editor and his compatriots, or at least that their
sympathies for the conquered race would make them anxious to reinstate
them in their ancient rights. Notwithstanding these bursts of generous
indignation, however, which plentifully season the writings of the
Mexicans of our day, we do not find that the Revolution, or any of its
numerous brood of _pronunciamientos_, has resulted in restoring to them
an acre of their ancient territory.
[137] “¿Estoi yo en algun deleite, ó baño?” (Gomara, Crónica, cap.
145.) The literal version is not so poetical as “the bed of flowers,”
into which this exclamation of Guatemozin is usually rendered.
[138] The most particular account of this disgraceful transaction is
given by Bernal Diaz, one of those selected to accompany the lord of
Tacuba to his villa. (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 157.) He notices the
affair with becoming indignation, but excuses Cortés from a voluntary
part in it.
[139] Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 308.--The simple
statement of the Conqueror contrasts strongly with the pompous
narrative of Herrera (Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 3, cap. 3), and
with that of Father Cavo, who may have drawn a little on his own
imagination. “Cortés en una canoa ricamente entapizada, llevó á el
Rey Vehichilze, y á los nobles de Michoacan á México. Este es uno de
los palacios de Moctheuzoma (les decia); allí está el gran templo de
Huitzilopuctli; estas ruinas son del grande edificio de Quauhtemoc,
aquellos de la gran plaza del mercado. Conmovido Vehichilze de este
espectáculo, se le saltáron las lágrimas.” Los tres Siglos de México
(México, 1836), tom. i. p. 13.
[140] “Que todos los que tienen alguna ciencia, y experiencia en la
Navegacion de las Indias, han tenido por muy cierto, que descubriendo
por estas Partes la Mar del Sur, se habian de hallar muchas Islas
ricas de Oro, y Perlas, y Piedras preciosas, y Especería, y se habian
de descubrir y hallar otros muchos secretos y cosas admirables.” Rel.
Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 302, 303.
[141] “Y crea Vuestra Magestad, que cada dia se irá ennobleciendo en
tal manera, que como antes fué Principal, y Señora de todas estas
Provincias, que lo será tambien de aquí adelante.” Rel. Terc. de
Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 307.
[142] _Ante_, vol. iv., p. 70.
[143] Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 4, cap. 8.--Oviedo, Hist.
de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 32.--Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala,
MS.--Gomara, Crónica, cap. 162.--“En la cual (la edificacion de la
ciudad) los primeros años andaba mas gente que en la edificacion del
templo de Jerusalem, porque era tanta la gente que andaba en las obras,
que apénas podia hombre romper por algunas calles y calzadas, aunque
son muy anchas.” (Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 1.)
Ixtlilxochitl supplies any blank which the imagination might leave, by
filling it up with 400,000, as the number of natives employed in this
work by Cortés! Venida de los Españoles, p. 60.
[144] “Sirviéron al Emperador con muchas piedras, i entre ellas con
una esmeralda fina, como la palma, pero quadrada, i que se remataba en
punta como pirámide.” (Gomara, Crónica, cap. 146.) Martyr confirms the
account of this wonderful emerald, which, he says, “was reported to the
king and council to be nearly as broad as the palm of the hand, and
which those who had seen it thought could not be procured for any sum.”
De Orbe Novo, dec. 8, cap. 4.{*}
{*} [Alaman, however, denies that this stone was an emerald, or
that any true emeralds were found by the Conquerors in Mexico,
notwithstanding the frequent mention of them in contemporary relations.
“There are no emeralds,” he says, “in our republic; and the stones
mistaken for them at the time of the Conquest were jade or serpentine.”
As an evidence of the ignorance on this subject common in Europe at
a former period, he cites the famous instance of the _Sacro Catino_
at Genoa, regarded for ages as an emerald of priceless value, but
now proved to be an imitation. (Disertaciones históricas, tom. i.
p. 161.) It is certain that no emeralds are now found in any part
of North America. Yet the Conquerors would seem to have been more
discriminating than Señor Alaman represents them. They distinguished
the _chalchivitl_, supposed to have been jade, from the emerald, and
rejected as valueless other green stones prized by the natives. The
case of the _Sacro Catino_ does not apply, since it is not pretended
that the Mexicans possessed the art of imitating precious stones
by means of paste. The fact, therefore, that the emeralds sent and
taken to Europe by Cortés were there recognized as genuine affords a
presumptive proof in their favor, which has been generally accepted as
sufficient by modern writers on the subject.--K.]
[145] [Cortés availed himself of the same opportunity by which the
royal fifth was despatched, to send costly or curious presents to
numerous individuals and churches in Spain. For this fact I am indebted
to the kindness of Mr. George Sumner, who, when in Spain, made a visit
to the archives of Simancas, from which he has furnished me with some
interesting particulars for the period on which I am engaged. In a
file endorsed _Papeles de Cortés_ he met with a list, without date,
but evidently belonging to the year 1522, of the gold, plumage, and
ornaments sent by Cortés to the different persons and institutions in
Spain. “The policy of Cortés and his clear-sightedness,” Mr. Sumner
justly remarks, “are well shown by this. Not a church, not a shrine
of any fame, throughout Spain, has been forgotten. To Santa Mariá del
Antigua in Sevilla, a rich offering of gold and of plumage; to Santa
María del Pilar in Zaragoza, the same; another again to San Jago de
Compostella; and one to the Cartuja of Seville, in which the bones of
Columbus were then lying. There are plumages and gold for every place
of importance. Then the bishops and men of power are not forgotten;
for to them also are rich presents sent. In a time when there were no
gazettes to trumpet one’s fame, what surer way to notoriety than this?
What surer way, in Spain, for gaining that security which Cortés so
much needed?”]
[146] Peter Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 8, cap. 4.--Bernal Diaz, Hist.
de la Conquista, cap. 169.
[147] The instrument also conferred similar powers in respect to an
inquiry into Narvaez’s treatment of the licentiate Ayllon. The whole
document is cited in a deposition drawn up by the notary, Alonso de
Vergara, setting forth the proceedings of Tápia and the municipality of
Villa Rica, dated at Cempoalla, December 24, 1521. The MS. forms part
of the collection of Don Vargas Ponçe, in the archives of the Academy
of History at Madrid.
[148] Relación de Vergara, MS.--Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana,
pp. 309-314.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 158.--The
_regidores_ of Mexico and other places remonstrated against Cortés’
leaving the Valley to meet Tápia, on the ground that his presence was
necessary to overawe the natives. (MS., Coyoacan, Dec. 12, 1521.) The
general acquiesced in the force of a remonstrance which it is not
improbable was made at his own suggestion.
[149] “Como ya (loado nuestro Señor) estaba toda la Provincia muy
pacífica, y segura.” Rel. Quarta de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 367.
[150] The Muñoz collection of MSS. contains a power of attorney given
by Cortés to his father, authorizing him to manage all negotiations
with the emperor and with private persons, to conduct all lawsuits on
his behalf, to pay over and receive money, etc.
[151] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 158.
[152] Sayas, Annales de Aragón (Zaragoza, 1666), cap. 63, 78.--It is a
sufficient voucher for the respectability of this court that we find in
it the name of Dr. Galindez de Carbajal, an eminent Castilian jurist,
grown gray in the service of Ferdinand and Isabella, whose confidence
he enjoyed to the highest degree.
[153] Sayas, Annales de Aragon, cap. 78.--Herrera, Hist. general, dec.
3, lib. 4, cap. 3.--Probanza en la Villa Segura, MS.--Declaraciones de
Puertocarrero y de Montejo, MS.
[154] [“É porque soy certificado de lo mucho que vos en ese
descubrimiento é conquista y en tornar á ganar la dicha ciudad é
provincias habeis fecho é trabajado, de que me he tenido é tengo por
muy servido, é tengo la voluntad que es razon para vos favorecer y
hacer la merced que vuestros servicios y trabajos merecen.”--The whole
letter is inserted by Alaman in his Disertaciones históricas, tom. i.
apénd. 2, p. 144, et seq.]
[155] Nombramiento de Governador y Capitan General y Justicia Mayor de
Nueva-España, MS.--Also Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 168.
[156] The character of Fonseca has been traced by the same hand which
has traced that of Columbus. (Irving’s Life and Voyages of Columbus,
Appendix, No. 32.) Side by side they will go down to posterity in the
beautiful page of the historian, though the characters of the two
individuals have been inscribed with pens as different from each other
as the golden and iron pen which Paolo Giovio tells us he employed in
his compositions.
[157] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 158.
[158] [According to Señor Alaman, the cathedral, instead of being
dedicated to Saint Francis, was consecrated to the Assumption of the
Virgin. Conquista de Méjico (trad. de Vega), tom. ii. p. 254.]
[159] Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 4, cap. 8.
[160] Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. i. p. 271.--Humboldt, Essai
politique, tom. ii. p. 58.
[161] Herrera, Hist. general, ubi supra.
[162] Humboldt, Essai politique, tom. ii. p. 72.
[163] Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 309.
[164] [Alaman asserts that there was no cathedral in Tlatelolco, but
a Franciscan convent, dedicated to St. James, which still exists.
Conquista de Méjico (trad. de Vega), tom. ii. p. 255.]
[165] Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, ubi supra.
[166] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 177.
[167] Rel. Quarta de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 376, nota.
[168] For an account of this singular enterprise, see _ante_, vol. ii.
p. 227.
[169] “Cortes, reckoning only the Indian population, says _treinta mil
vecinos_. (Rel. Quarta, ap. Lorenzana, p. 375.) Gomara, speaking of
Mexico some years later, estimates the number of Spanish householders
as in the text. Crónica, cap. 162.
[170] “Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 7.--Yet this is
scarcely stronger language than that of the Anonymous Conqueror: “Così
ben ordinato et di si belle piazze et strade, quanto d’ altre città che
siano al mondo.” Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol.
309.
[171] “Y tengo por cierto, que aquel Pueblo ha de ser, despues de esta
Ciudad, el mejor que obiere en esta Nueva España.” (Rel. Quarta, ap.
Lorenzana, p. 382.) The archbishop confounds this town with the modern
Vera Cruz. But the general’s description of the port refutes this
supposition, and confirms our confidence in Clavigero’s statement that
the present city was founded by the Conde de Monterey, at the time
mentioned in the text. See _ante_, vol. ii. p. 47, note.
[172] Ordenanzas municipales, Tenochtitlan, Marzo, 1524, MS.{*}--The
Ordinances made by Cortés for the government of the country during
his viceroyalty are still preserved in Mexico; and the copy in my
possession was transmitted to me from that capital. They give ample
evidence of the wise and penetrating spirit which embraced every object
worthy of the attention of an enlightened ruler; and I will quote, in
the original, the singular provisions mentioned in the text:
“Item. Por que mas se manifieste la voluntad que los pobladores de
estas partes tienen de residir y permanecer en ellas, mando que todas
las personas que tuvieren Indios, que fueren casados en Castilla ó en
otras partes, que traigan sus mugeres dentro de un año y medio primero
siguientes de como estas ordenanzas fueren pregonadas, so pena de
perder los Indios, y todo lo con ellos adquirido é grangeado; y por
que muchas personas podrian poner por achaque aunque tuviesen aparejo
de decir que no tienen dineros para enviar por ellas, por hende las
tales personas que tuvieran esta necesidad parescan ante el Rᵒ. Pᵉ.
Fray Juan de Tecto y ante Alonso de Estrada, tesorero de su Magestad, á
les informar de su necesidad, para que ellos la comuniquen á mí, y su
necesidad se remedie; y si algunas personas hay que casados y no tienen
sus mugeres en esta tierra, y quisieran traerlas, sepan que trayéndolas
serán ayudadas así mismo para las traer, dando fianzas.
“Item. Por quanto en esta tierra hay muchas personas que tienen Indios
de encomienda y no son casados, por hende por que conviene así para
_la salud de sus conciencias de los tales_ por estar en buen estado,
como por la poblacion é noblecimiento de sus tierras, mando que las
tales personas se casen, traigan y tengan sus mugeres en esta tierra
dentro de un año y medio, despues que fueren pregonadas estas dichas
Ordenanzas, é que no haciendo lo por el mismo caso sean privados y
pierdan los tales Indios que así tienen.”
{*} [The exact date is given at the close of the document--“fecha en
esta dicha ciudad [de Temixtitan] á veinte dias del mes de marzo de mil
y quinientos é veinte y cuatro años.” Sir Arthur Helps says a copy sent
by Cortés to the emperor in October of the same year “has been lost,
but the orders manifestly related to this subject of _encomiendas_.”
The original seems also to have disappeared. But an ancient copy of
these, as well as of subsequent ordinances and instructions of a
similar nature, is preserved in the archives of the duke of Terranova y
Monteleone in the Hospital of Jesus at Mexico, and the whole series was
published, so far back as 1844, by Señor Alaman, in his Disertaciones
históricas, tom. i. pp. 105-143. The contents, therefore, are not a
matter of inference. They do not relate chiefly or directly to the
_encomiendas_, that system having been already established and become,
in the language of Alaman, “the basis of the whole organization of the
country.” The “Ordenanzas,” while they incidentally modify the system,
consist for the most part of regulations suggested by the general
condition and circumstances of a new colony. They make provision for
the military equipment and inspection of the settlers, with a view
to their readiness for service; for their permanent residence in the
country, which is made a condition of their holding _repartimientos_;
for the conversion of the natives, their protection against robbery and
oppression, and the education of the children of their chiefs; for the
cultivation of imported plants and grain, and the raising of cattle,
sheep, and swine; for facilitating traffic by the establishment of
markets, adjustment of prices, etc.; and for the organization of the
municipalities, prescribing their powers and forms of administration.
Some of these provisions are still in force, while others, though
obsolete, indicate the origin of certain existing customs. Taken
together, they contain, in the opinion of Alaman, the foundation of
all the later institutions of the country,--“el fundamento de todas
nuestras instituciones.”--K.]
[173] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 160.
[174] _Ante_, vol. i. p. 310.
[175] Of asthma, according to Bernal Diaz (Hist. de la Conquista, cap.
160); but her death seems to have been too sudden to be attributed to
that disease. I shall return to the subject hereafter.
[176] Rel. Terc., ap. Lorenzana, pp. 319, 320.
[177] Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 5, cap. 1.
[178] Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 4, lib. 6, cap. 5.--Ordenanzas,
MS.--The ordinances prescribe the service of the Indians, the hours
they may be employed, their food, compensation, and the like. They
require the _encomendero_ to provide them with suitable means of
religious instruction and places of worship. But what avail good laws,
which in their very nature imply the toleration of a great abuse?
[179] The whole population of New Spain in 1810 is estimated by Don
Fernando Navarro y Noriega at about 6,000,000; of whom more than half
were pure Indians. The author had the best means for arriving at a
correct result. See Humboldt, Essai politique, tom. i. pp. 318, 319,
note.
[180] Rel. Quarta, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 391-394.--The petition of the
Conquerors was acceded to by the government, which further prohibited
“attorneys and men learned in the law from setting foot in the country,
on the ground that experience had shown they would be sure by their
evil practices to disturb the peace of the community.” (Herrera,
Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 5, cap. 2.) These enactments are but an
indifferent tribute to the character of the two professions in Castile.
[181] Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 1.--Camargo,
Hist. de Tlascala, MS. [My views of the character of the Spanish
missionaries find favor with Señor Alaman, who warmly eulogizes the
spirit of self-sacrifice and the untiring zeal which they showed in
propagating the gospel among the natives: “El Sr. Prescott hace de los
misioneros el justo aprecio que sus virtudes merecieron, y sus elogios
son tanto mas recomendables, cuanto que sus opiniones religiosas parece
deberian hacerle contrario á ellos. En efecto, solo la iglesia católica
ha producido misioneros inflamados de un verdadero celo religioso, que
los ha hecho sacrificar su vida por la propagacion de la religion y en
beneficio de la humanidad.” Conquista de Méjico (trad. de Vega), tom.
ii. p. 255. Mr. Gallatin, also, in his “Notes on the Semi-civilized
Nations of America,” pays a hearty tribute to the labors of the Roman
Catholic missionaries in the New World: “The Dominican monks, though
inquisitors and relentless persecutors in Spain, became in America the
protectors of the Indians.... The praise must be extended to all the
Catholic priests, whether Franciscans or Jesuits, monks or curates.
All, from the beginning, were, have ever been, and continue to be, the
protectors and the friends of the Indian race.” Transactions of the
American Ethnological Society, i. 213.]
[182] “Cuyo hecho del rotísimo y humilde recebimiento fué uno de los
heroicos hechos que este Capitan hizo, porque fué documento para que
con mayor fervor los naturales desta tierra viniesen á la conversion de
nuestra fee.” (Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.--See also Bernal Diaz,
Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 171.) Archbishop Lorenzana falls nothing
short of the Tlascalan historian in his admiration of the religious
zeal of the great _Conquistador_, which, he assures us, “entirely
overwhelms him, as savoring so much more of the apostolic missionary
than of the soldier!” Lorenzana, p. 393, nota.
[183] Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 1.--Father
Sahagun, who has done better service in this way than any other of his
order, describes with simple brevity the rapid process of demolition.
“We took the children of the caciques,” he says, “into our schools,
where we taught them to read and write, and to chant. The children
of the poorer natives were brought together in the court-yard, and
instructed there in the Christian faith. After our teaching, one or
two brethren took the pupils to some neighboring _teocalli_, and,
by working at it for a few days, they levelled it to the ground. In
this way they demolished, in a short time, all the Aztec temples,
great and small, _so that not a vestige of them remained_.” (Hist. de
Nueva-España, tom. iii. p. 77.) This passage helps to explain why so
few architectural relics of the Indian era still survive in Mexico.
[184] “De manera que á mi juicio y verdaderamente serán bautizados en
este tiempo que digo, que serán quince años, mas de nueve millones de
ánimas de Indios.” Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 2, cap. 3.
[185] Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. i. p. 43.--Humboldt, Essai
politique, tom. iii. pp. 115, 145.--Esposicion de Don Lucás Alaman
(México, 1828), p. 59.
[186] “Páraque cada Navío traiga cierta cantidad de Plantas, y que no
pueda salir sin ellas, porque será mucha causa para la Poblacion, y
perpetuacion de ella.” Rel. Quarta de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 397.{*}
{*} [The first wheat came from three grains which were found in a sack
of rice. Other wheat had been received, but it was all more or less
damaged by the voyage. See Tapia, Relacion.--M.]
[187] “Item, que cualquier vecino que tubiere Indios de repartimiento
sea obligado á poner en ellos en cada un año con cada cien Indios
de los que tuvieren de repartimiento mil sarmientos aunque sean de
la planta de su tierra, escogiendo la mejor que pudiesse hallar.”
Ordenanzas municipales, año de 1524, MS.
[188] Ordenanzas municipales, año de 1524, MS.
[189] [“No general interest would attach to the private undertakings of
Cortés, if the sole object of them had been the aggrandizement of his
own fortune. But they were in fact the germs of what are now the most
important branches of the national wealth; and they prove the grandeur
of those views which in the times of the Conquest gave an impulse to
whatever promised to contribute to the prosperity of the country.”
Alaman, Disertaciones históricas, tom. ii. p. 63.]
[190] “Tengo de ser causa, que Vuestra Cesarea Magestad sea en estas
partes Señor de mas Reynos, y Señoríos que los que hasta hoy en nuestra
Nacion se tiene noticia.” Rel. Quarta de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 374.
[191] “Much as I esteem Hernando Cortés,” exclaims Oviedo, “for the
greatest captain and most practised in military matters of any we have
known, I think such an opinion shows he was no great cosmographer.”
(Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 41.) Oviedo had lived to see its
fallacy.
[192] Martyr, Opus Epist., ep. 811.
[193] Rel. Quarto, ap. Lorenzana, p. 385.
[194] The illusion at home was kept up, in some measure, by the
dazzling display of gold and jewels remitted from time to time, wrought
into fanciful and often fantastic forms. One of the articles sent
home by Cortés was a piece of ordnance, made of gold and silver, of
very fine workmanship, the metal of which alone cost 25,000 _pesos de
oro_. Oviedo, who saw it in the palace, speaks with admiration of this
magnificent toy. Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 41.
[195] Among these may be particularly mentioned the Letters of Alvarado
and Diego de Godoy, transcribed by Oviedo in his Hist. de las Ind.,
MS. (lib. 33, cap. 42-44), and translated by Ramusio for his rich
collection, Viaggi, tom. iii.
[196] See, among others, his orders to his kinsman, Francisco
Cortés,--“Instruccion civil y militar por la Expedicion de la Costa
de Colima.” The paper is dated in 1524, and forms part of the Muñoz
collection of MSS.
[197] Rel. Quarta, ap. Lorenzana, p. 371.--“Well may we wonder,”
exclaims his archiepiscopal editor, “that Cortés and his soldiers could
have overrun and subdued, in so short a time, countries, many of them
so rough and difficult of access that even at the present day we can
hardly penetrate them!” Ibid., nota.
[198] Carta Quinta de Cortés, MS.
[199] Carta de Albornos, MS., Mexico, Dec. 15, 1525.--Carta Quinta de
Cortés, MS.--The authorities do not precisely agree as to the numbers,
which were changing, probably, with every step of their march across
the table-land.
[200] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 175.
[201] Among these was Captain Diaz, who, however, left the pleasant
farm, which he occupied in the province of Coatzacualco, with a very
ill grace, to accompany the expedition. “But Cortés commanded it, and
we dared not say no,” says the veteran. Ibid., cap. 174.
[202] This celebrated Letter, which has never been published, is
usually designated as the _Carta Quinta_, or “Fifth Letter,” of
Cortés. It is nearly as long as the longest of the printed letters of
the Conqueror, is written in the same clear, simple, business-like
manner, and is as full of interest as any of the preceding. It gives
a minute account of the expedition to Honduras, together with events
that occurred in the year following. It bears no date, but was probably
written in that year from Mexico. The original manuscript is in the
Imperial Library at Vienna, which, as the German sceptre was swayed
at that time by the same hand which held the Castilian, contains many
documents of value for the illustration of Spanish history.{*}
{*} [It is scarcely credible that a long and important document in an
official form should have borne no date, and we may therefore suspect
that the manuscript at Vienna, if unmutilated, is _not_ the original.
A copy in the Royal Library at Madrid, purporting to have been made
“from the original” by Alonso Diaz, terminates as follows: “De la
cibdad de Temixtitan, desta Nueva España á _tres del mes de setiembre
del nascimiento de nuestro Señor é Salvador Jesu-Cristo de 1526_.” This
date is confirmed by a passage in a letter which will be found cited
in the notes in the next chapter with the date of Sept. 11, but of
which there are in fact two originals, the duplicate being dated Sept.
3. It gives a summary, for the emperor’s own perusal, of the matters
narrated at length in the _Carta Quinta_, which it thus describes: “Así
mesmo _envio agora_ á V. M. _con lo presente_ una relacion bien larga
y particular de todo lo que me subcedió en el camino que hice á las
Hibueras, y al cabo della hago saber á V. M. muy por extenso lo que ha
pasado y se ha hecho en esta Nueva España despues que yo parté de la
isla de Cuba para ella.” See Col. de Doc. inéd. para la Historia de
España, tom. i.--K.]
[203] “Es tierra mui baja y de muchas sienegas, tanto que en tiempo de
invierno no se puede andar, ni se sirve sino en canoas, y con pasarla
yo en tiempo de seca, desde la entrada hasta la salida de ella, que
puede aver veinti leguas, se hiziéron mas de cinquenta puentes, que sin
se hazer fuera imposible pasar.” Carta Quinta de Cortés, MS.
[204] I have examined some of the most ancient maps of the country,
by Spanish, French, and Dutch cosmographers, in order to determine
the route of Cortés. An inestimable collection of these maps, made by
the learned German Ebeling, is to be found in the library of Harvard
University. I can detect on them only four or five of the places
indicated by the general. They are the places mentioned in the text,
and, though few, may serve to show the general direction of the march
of the army.
[205] “Donde se ponian los pies en el suelo açia arriba la claridad del
cielo no se veia, tanta era la espesura y alteza de los árboles, que
aunque se subian en algunos, no podian descubrir un tiro de piedra.”
Carta Quinta de Cortés, MS.
[206] “Porque lleva mas que mil bigas, que la menor es casi tan gorda
como un cuerpo de un hombre, y de nueve y diez brazas en largo.” Carta
Quinta de Cortés, MS.
[207] “Pasada toda la gente y cavallos de la otra parte del alcon dímos
luego en una gran çienega, que durava bien tres tiros de ballesta,
la cosa mas espantosa que jamas las gentes viéron, donde todos los
cavallos desençillados se sumiéron hasta las orejas sin parecerse
otra cosa, y querer forçeiar á salir, sumianse mas, de manera que
allí perdímos toda la esperanza de poder escapar cavallos ningunos,
pero todavía comenzámos á trabajar y componerles haçes de yerba y
ramas grandes de bajo, sobre que se sostuviesen y no se sumiesen,
remediávanse algo, y andando trabajando y yendo y viniendo de la una
parte á la otra, abrióse por medio de un calejon de agua y çieno, que
los cavallos comenzáron algo á nadar, y con esto plugo á nuestro Señor
que saliéron todos sin peligro ninguno.” Carta Quinta de Cortés, MS.
[208] Carta Quinta de Cortés, MS.
[209] Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 177.
[210] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, ubi supra.
[211] According to Diaz, both Guatemozin and the prince of Tacuba had
embraced the religion of their conquerors, and were confessed by a
Franciscan friar before their execution. We are further assured by the
same authority that “they were, _for Indians_, very good Christians,
and believed well and truly.” (Ibid., loc. cit.) One is reminded of the
last hours of Caupolican, converted to Christianity by the same men who
tied him to the stake. See the scene, painted in the frightful coloring
of a master-hand, in the Araucana, Canto 34.
[212] Guatemozin’s beautiful wife, the princess Tecuichpo, the daughter
of Montezuma, lived long enough after his death to give her hand to
four Castilians, all of noble descent. (See _ante_, vol. iii. p. 155,
note 36.) She is described as having been as well instructed in the
Catholic faith as any woman in Castile, as most gracious and winning in
her deportment, and as having contributed greatly, by her example, and
the deference with which she inspired the Aztecs, to the tranquillity
of the conquered country. This pleasing portrait, it may be well
enough to mention, is by the hand of her husband, Don Thoan Cano. See
Appendix, No. 11.
[213] The Indian chroniclers regard the pretended conspiracy of
Guatemozin as an invention of Cortés. The informer himself, when
afterwards put to the torture by the cacique of Tezcuco, declared that
he had made no revelation of this nature to the Spanish commander.
Ixtlilxochitl vouches for the truth of this story. (Venida de los
Españoles, pp. 83-93.) But who will vouch for Ixtlilxochitl?
[214] “Y fué esta muerte que les diéron muy injustamente dada, y
pareció mal á todos los que ibamos aquella jornada.” Hist. de la
Conquista, cap. 177.
[215] “Guatemozin, Señor que fué de esta Ciudad de Temixtitan, á quien
yo despues que la gané he tenido siempre preso, teniéndole por hombre
bullicioso, y le llevé conmigo.” Carta Quinta, MS.
[216] “Y le hacian aquella mesma reverencia, i ceremonias, que á
Moteçuma, i creo que por eso le llevaba siempre consigo por la Ciudad á
Caballo si cavalgaba, i sino á pie como él iba.” Crónica, cap. 170.
[217] “I Cortés debiera guardarlo vivo, como Oro en paño, que era el
triumpho, i gloria de sus Victorias.” Crónica, cap. 170.
[218] Hist. de la Conquista, ubi supra.
[219] Ibid., cap. 178.
[220] Diaz, who was present, attests the truth of this account by
the most solemn adjuration: “Y todo esto que digo, se lo oí muy
certificadamente y se lo juro, amen.” Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 37.
[221] [Alaman, from an examination of the municipal archives of Mexico,
finds that Juan de Jaramillo was commander of one of the brigantines
in the siege of Mexico. He subsequently filled the office of royal
standard-bearer of the city, and was several times chosen to represent
it in the assemblies of the cities of New Spain. Conquista de Méjico
(trad. de Vega), tom. ii. p. 269.]
[222] [The Spanish government showed its sense of the services of
Marina by the grant of several estates both in the town and country.
The house in which she usually resided in Mexico was in the street of
Medinas, as it is now called, which then bore the name of her husband,
Jaramillo. She had a pleasure-house at Chapoltepec, and in Cuyoacan
a garden that had belonged to Montezuma. She lived in the enjoyment
of wealth and much consideration from her countrymen; and, as we see
mention made of her grandchild during her lifetime, we may presume she
reached a good old age. Conquista de Méjico (trad. de Vega), tom. ii.
p. 269.--Alaman, Disertaciones históricas, tom. ii. p. 293.]
[223] Life in Mexico, let. 8.--The fair author does not pretend to have
been favored with a sight of the apparition.
[224] Villagutierre says that the Iztacs, by which name the inhabitants
of these islands were called, did not destroy their idols while the
Spaniards remained there. (Historia de la Conquista de la Provincia
de el Itza (Madrid, 1701), pp. 49, 50.) The historian is wrong, since
Cortés expressly asserts that the images were broken and burnt in his
presence. Carta Quinta, MS.
[225] The fact is recorded by Villagutierre, Conquista de el Itza, pp.
100-102, and Cojullado, Hist. de Yucathan, lib. 1, cap. 16.
[226] “Y querer dezir la aspereza y fragosidad de este Puerto y
sierras, ni quien lo dixese lo sabria significar, ni quien lo oyese
podria entender, sino que sepa V. M. que en ocho leguas que duró hasta
este puerto estuvímos en las andar doze dias, digo los postreros
en llegar al cabo de él, en que muriéron sesenta y ocho cavallos
despeñados y desxaretados, y todos los demas viniéron heridos y tan
lastimados que no pensámos aprovecharnos de ninguno.” Carta Quinta de
Cortés, MS.
[227] “If any unhappy wretch had become giddy in this transit,” says
Cortés, “he must inevitably have been precipitated into the gulf and
perished. There were upwards of twenty of these frightful passes.”
Carta Quinta, MS.
[228] “Espantáronse en gran manera, y como supiéron que era Cortés [~q]
tan nombrado era en todas estas partes de las Indias, y en Castilla, no
sabiā que se hazer de placer.” Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 179.
[229] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 179, et seq.--Herrera,
Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 8, cap. 3, 4.--Carta Quinta de Cortés, MS.
[230] Carta Quinta de Cortés, MS.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista,
cap. 185.--Relacion del Tesorero Strada, MS., México, 1526.
[231] Carta Quinta de Cortés, MS.
[232] Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 184, et seq.--Carta Quinta de Cortés,
MS.
[233] Carta Quinta de Cortés, MS.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista,
cap. 189, 190.--Carta de Cortés al Emperador, MS., México, Sept. 11,
1526.
[234] Carta de Ocaña, MS., Agosto 31, 1526.--Carta Quinta de Cortés, MS.
[235] “What Cortés suffered,” says Dr. Robertson, “on this march,--a
distance, according to Gomara, of 3000 miles” (the distance must be
greatly exaggerated),--“from famine, from the hostility of the natives,
from the climate, and from hardships of every species, has nothing
in history parallel to it, but what occurs in the adventures of the
other discoverers and conquerors of the New World. Cortés was employed
in this dreadful service above two years; and, though it was not
distinguished by any splendid event, he exhibited, during the course of
it, greater personal courage, more fortitude of mind, more perseverance
and patience, than in any other period or scene in his life.” (Hist.
of America, note 96.) The historian’s remarks are just; as the passage
which I have borrowed from the extraordinary record of the Conqueror
may show. Those who are desirous of seeing something of the narrative
told in his own way will find a few pages of it translated in the
Appendix, No. 14.
[236] “Y esto yo lo oí dezir á los del Real Consejo de Indias, estando
presente el señor Obispo Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, que se descuidó
mucho Cortés en ello, y se lo tuviéron á floxedad.” Bernal Diaz, Hist.
de la Conquista, cap. 190.
[237] Memorial de Luis Cardenas, MS.--Carta de Diego de Ocaña,
MS.--Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 8, cap. 14, 15.
[238] Carta del Emperador, MS., Toledo, Nov. 4, 1525.
[239] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 192.--Carta de Cortés al
Emperador, MS., México, Set. 11, 1526.
[240] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 194.--Carta de Cortés al
Emperador, MS., Set. 11, 1526.
[241] Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 4, lib. 2, cap. 1; and lib. 3, cap.
8.
[242] “Todas estas entradas están ahora para partir casi á una, plega
á Dios de los guiar como él se sirva, que yo aunque V. M. mas me mande
desfavoreçer no tengo de dejar de servir, que no es posible que por
tiempo V. M. no conosca mis servicios, y ya que esto no sea, yo me
satisfago con hazer lo que debo, y con saber que á todo el mundo tengo
satisfecho, y les son notorios mis servicios, y lealdad, con que los
hago, y no quiero otro mayorazgo sino este.” Carta Quinta, MS.
[243] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 194.--Carta de Ocaña,
MS., Agosto 31, 1526.
[244] The Pope, who was of the joyous Medici family, Clement VII., and
the cardinals, were greatly delighted with the feats of the Indian
jugglers, according to Diaz; and his Holiness, who, it may be added,
received at the same time from Cortés a substantial donative of gold
and jewels, publicly testified, by prayers and solemn processions, his
great sense of the services rendered to Christianity by the Conquerors
of Mexico, and generously requited them by bulls granting plenary
absolution from their sins. Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 195.
[245] “Y en fin venia como gran Señor.” Hist. gen., dec. 4, lib. 3,
cap. 8.
[246] Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 4, lib. 4, cap. 1.--Cavo, Los tres
Siglos de México, tom. i. p. 78.
[247] Pizarro y Orellana, Varones ilustres, p. 121.
[248] See the conclusion of Rogers’s Voyage of Columbus.
[249] Bernal Diaz says that Sandoval was twenty-two years old when he
first came to New Spain, in 1519.--Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 205.
[250] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 195.
[251] “Vino de las Indias despues de la conquista de Mexico, con
tanto acompañamiento y magestad, que mas parecia de Príncipe, ó señor
poderosíssimo, que de Capitan y vasallo de algun Rey ó Emperador.”
Lanuza, Historias ecclesiásticas y seculares de Aragon (Zaragoza,
1622), lib. 3, cap. 14.
[252] Gomara, Crónica, cap. 183.--Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 4, lib.
4, cap. 1.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 195.
[253] Título de Marques, MS., Barcelona, 6 de Julio, 1529.
[254] Humboldt, Essai politique, tom. ii. p. 30, note.--According
to Lanuza, he was offered by the emperor the Order of St. Jago, but
declined it, because no _encomienda_ was attached to it. (Hist. de
Aragon, tom. i. lib. 3, cap. 14.) But Caro de Torres, in his History of
the Military Orders of Castile, enumerates Cortés among the members of
the Compostellan fraternity. Hist. de las Órdenes militares (Madrid,
1629), fol. 103, et seq.
[255] Merced de Tierras inmediatas á Mexico, MS., Barcelona, 23 de
Julio, 1529.--Merced de los Vasallos, MS., Barcelona, 6 de Julio, 1529
[256] “É nos habemos recibido y tenemos de vos por bien servido en
ello, y acatando los grandes provechos que de vuestros servicios han
redundado, ansí para el servicio de Nuestro Señor y aumento de su santa
fé católica, y en las dichas tierras que estaban sin conocimiento ni
fé se han plantado, como el acrecentamiento que dello ha redundado á
nuestra corona real destos reynos, y los trabajos que en ello habeis
pasado, y la fidelidad y obediencia con que siempre nos habeis servido
como bueno é fiel servidor y vasallo nuestro, de que somos ciertos y
confiados.” Merced de los Vasallos, MS.
[257] “The benignant reception which I experienced, on my return,
from your Majesty,” says Cortés, “your kind expressions and generous
treatment, make me not only forget all my toils and sufferings, but
even cause me regret that I have not been called to endure more in your
service.” (Carta de Cortés al Lic. Nuñez, MS., 1535.) This memorial,
addressed to his agent in Castile, was designed for the emperor.
[258] Título de Capitan General de la Nueva-España y Costa del Sur,
MS., Barcelona, 6 de Julio, 1529.
[259] Asiento y Capitulacion que hízo con el Emperador Don H. Cortés,
MS., Madrid, 27 de Oct., 1529.
[260] “Que, segun se dezia, excedia en las hazañas á Alexandro Magno, y
en las riquezas á Crasso.” (Lanuza, Hist. de Aragon, lib. 3, cap. 14.)
The rents of the marquis of the Valley, according to L. Marineo Siculo,
who lived at the court at this time, were about 60,000 ducats a year.
Cosas memorables de España (Alcalá de Henares, 1539), fol. 24.
[261] Doña Juana was of the house of Arellano, and of the royal lineage
of Navarre. Her father was not a very wealthy noble. L. Marineo Siculo,
Cosas memorables, fol. 24, 25.
[262] One of these precious stones was as valuable as Shylock’s
turquoise. Some Genoese merchants in Seville offered Cortés, according
to Gomara, 40,000 ducats for it. The same author gives a more
particular account of the jewels, which may interest some readers. It
shows the ingenuity of the artist, who, without steel, could so nicely
cut so hard a material. One emerald was in the form of a rose; the
second, in that of a horn; a third, like a fish, with eyes of gold; the
fourth was like a little bell, with a fine pearl for the tongue, and on
the rim was this inscription, in Spanish: _Blessed is he who created
thee_. The fifth, which was the most valuable, was a small cup with a
foot of gold, and with four little chains, of the same metal, attached
to a large pearl as a button. The edge of the cup was of gold, on which
was engraven this Latin sentence: _Inter natos mulierum non surrexit
major_. Gomara, Crónica, cap. 184.
[263] Carta de Cortés al Emperador, MS., Tezcuco, 10 de Oct., 1530.
[264] Doña Catalina’s death happened so opportunely for the rising
fortunes of Cortés, that this charge of murder by her husband has found
more credit with the vulgar than the other accusations brought against
him. Cortés, from whatever reason, perhaps from the conviction that
the charge was too monstrous to obtain credit, never condescended to
vindicate his innocence. But, in addition to the arguments mentioned in
the text for discrediting the accusations generally, we should consider
that this particular charge attracted so little attention in Castile,
where he had abundance of enemies, that he found no difficulty, on
his return there seven years afterwards, in forming an alliance with
one of the noblest houses in the kingdom; that no writer of that day
(except Bernal Diaz, who treats it as a base calumny), not even Las
Casas, the stern accuser of the Conquerors, intimates a suspicion of
his guilt; and that, lastly, no allusion whatever is made to it in
the suit instituted, some years after her death, by the relatives of
Doña Catalina, for the recovery of property from Cortés pretended to
have been derived through her marriage with him,--a suit conducted
with acrimony and protracted for several years. I have not seen the
documents connected with this suit, which are still preserved in the
archives of the house of Cortés, but the fact has been communicated to
me by a distinguished Mexican who has carefully examined them, and I
cannot but regard it as of itself conclusive that the family at least
of Doña Catalina did not attach credit to the accusation. Yet so much
credit has been given to this in Mexico, where the memory of the old
Spaniards is not held in especial favor at the present day, that it has
formed the subject of an elaborate discussion in the public periodicals
of that city.
[265] This remarkable paper, forming part of the valuable collection of
Don Vargas Ponçe, is without date. It was doubtless prepared in 1529,
during the visit of Cortés to Castile. The following Title is prefixed
to it:
“Pesquisa secreta.
“Relacion de los cargos que resultan de la pesquisa secreta contra
Don Hernando Cortés, de los quales no se le dió copia ni traslado á
la parte del dicho Don Hernando, así por ser los dichos cargos de la
calidad que son, como por estar la persona del dicho Don Hernando
ausente como está. Los quales yo Gregorio de Saldaña, escribano de
S. M. y escribano de la dicha Residencia, saqué de la dicha pesquisa
secreta por mandado de los Señores, Presidente y Oidores de la
Audiencia y Chancillería Real que por mandado de S. M. en esta Nueva
España reside. Los quales dichos Señores, Presidente y Oidores, envian
á S. M. para que los mande ver, y vistos mande proveer lo que á su
servicio convenga.” MS.
[266] MS., Tordelaguna, 22 de Marzo, 1530.
[267] The principal grievance alleged was that slaves, many of
them held temporarily by their masters, according to the old Aztec
usage, were comprehended in the census. The complaint forms part of
a catalogue of grievances embodied by Cortés in a memorial to the
emperor. It is a clear and business-like paper. Carta de Cortés á
Nuñez, MS.
[268] Ibid., MS.
[269] [“Dominando una vista muy extensa sobre el valle hácia el Sur,
lo que al Norte y Oriente se termina con la magestuosa cordillera que
separa el valle de Cuernavaca del de Méjico.” Alaman, Disertaciones
históricas, tom. ii. p. 35.]
[270] The palace has crumbled into ruins, and the spot is now only
remarkable for its natural beauty and its historic associations. “It
was the capital,” says Madame de Calderon, “of the Tlahuica nation,
and, after the Conquest, Cortés built here a splendid palace, a
church, and a convent for Franciscans, believing that he had laid
the foundation of a great city.... It is, however, a place of little
importance, though so favored by nature; and the Conqueror’s palace
is a half-ruined barrack, though a most picturesque object, standing
on a hill, behind which starts up the great white volcano.” Life in
Mexico, vol. ii. let. 31. [The beautiful church of San Francisco, now
the parish church, was constructed by Cortés, and enriched with jewels
and sacred vessels by his wife, manifesting, says Alaman, the good
taste and the piety of _the marquis_ and _the marchioness_,--as, in
consequence of their being the first and at that time the only persons
who bore the title in Mexico, they were styled and always subscribed
themselves. Disertaciones históricas, tom. ii. p. 35.]
[271] These particulars respecting the agricultural economy of Cortés I
have derived in part from a very able argument, prepared, in January,
1828, for the Mexican Chamber of Deputies, by Don Lúcas Alaman,
in defence of the territorial rights possessed at this day by the
Conqueror’s descendant, the duke of Monteleone.
[272] Navarrete, Coleccion de los Viages y Descubrimientos (Madrid,
1837), tom. v., Viages al Maluco.
[273] Instruccion que dió el Marques del Valle á Juan de Avellaneda,
etc., MS.
[274] Provision sobre los Descubrimientos del Sur, MS., Setiembre, 1534.
[275] The river Huasacualco furnished great facilities for transporting
across the isthmus, from Vera Cruz, materials to build vessels on the
Pacific. Humboldt, Essai politique, tom. iv. p. 50.
[276] Instruccion del Marques del Valle, MS.--The most particular and
authentic account of Ulloa’s cruise will be found in Ramusio. (Tom.
iii. pp. 340-354.) It is by one of the officers of the squadron. My
limits will not allow me to give the details of the voyages made by
Cortés, which, although not without interest, were attended with no
permanent consequences.{*} A good summary of his expeditions in the
Gulf has been given by Navarrete in the Introduction to his Relacion
del Viage hecho por las Goletas Sutil y Mexicana (Madrid, 1802), pp.
vi.-xxvi.; and the English reader will find a brief account of them
in Greenhow’s valuable Memoir on the Northwest Coast of North America
(Washington, 1840), pp. 22-27.
{*} [The restless and determined spirit with which Cortés pursued his
mainly ineffectual projects of discovery is exemplified by a letter to
the Council of the Indies, September 20, 1538, begging that body to
assist his agents in procuring pilots for him. He has at present, he
says, nine vessels, very good and well equipped, and is only waiting
for pilots, having tried in vain to obtain some from Panamá and Leon.
Though he has not yet secured the fruits he had expected from his
expeditions, he trusts in God that they will be henceforth attended
with better fortune. Col. de Doc. inéd. relativos al Descubrimiento,
Conquista y Colonizacion de las Posesiones españolas en América y
Oceanía, tom. iii.--K.]
[277] Memorial al Rey del Marques del Valle, MS., 25 de Junio, 1540.
[278] Provision sobre los Descubrimientos del Sur, MS.
[279] See the map prepared by the pilot Domingo del Castillo, in 1541,
ap. Lorenzana, p. 328.
[280] In the collection of Vargas Ponçe is a petition of Cortés,
setting forth his grievances, and demanding an investigation of the
viceroy’s conduct. It is without date. Peticion contra Don Antonio de
Mendoza Virrey, pediendo residencia contra él, MS.
[281] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 200.
[282] Gomara, Crónica, cap. 237.
[283] Sandoval, Hist. de Cárlos V., lib. 12, cap. 25.--Ferreras (trad.
d’Hermilly), Hist. d’Espagne, tom. ix. p. 231.
[284] Voltaire tells us that, one day, Cortés, unable to obtain an
audience of the emperor, pushed through the press surrounding the
royal carriage, and mounted the steps; and, when Charles inquired
“who that man was,” he replied, “One who has given you more kingdoms
than you had towns before.” (Essai sur les Mœurs, chap. 147.) For
this most improbable anecdote I have found no authority whatever. It
served, however, very well to point a moral,--the main thing with the
philosopher of Ferney.
[285] The Letter, dated February 3, 1544, Valladolid, may be found
entire, in the original, in Appendix, No. 15.
[286] “Item. Porque acerca de los esclavos naturales de la dicha
Nueva España, así de guerra como de rescate, ha habido y hay muchas
dudas y opiniones sobre si se han podido tener con buena conciencia
ó no, y hasta ahora no está determinado: Mando que todo aquello que
generalmente se averiguare, que en este caso se debe hacer para
descargo de las conciencias en lo que toca á estos esclavos de la
dicha Nueva España, que se haya y cumpla en todos los que yo tengo,
é encargo y mando á D. Martin mi hijo subcesor, y á los que despues
dél subcedieren en mi Estado, que para averiguar esto hagan todas
las diligencias que combengan al descargo de mi conciencia y suyas.”
Testamento de Hernán Cortés, MS.
[287] This is the argument controverted by Las Casas in his elaborate
Memorial addressed to the government, in 1542, on the best method of
arresting the destruction of the aborigines.
[288] This interesting document is in the Royal Archives of Seville;
and a copy of it forms part of the valuable collection of Don Vargas
Ponçe.
[289] [My friend Mr. Picard has furnished me with the copy of an
inscription which may be seen, or could a few years since, on the house
in which Cortés expired. “Here died, on the second of September, 1544,
victim of sorrow and misfortune, the renowned Hernan Cortés, the glory
of our country and the conqueror of the Mexican empire.” It is strange
that the author of the inscription should have made a blunder of more
than three years in the date of the hero’s death.]
[290] Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, p. 504.--Gomara, Crónica, cap.
237.--In his last letter to the emperor, dated in February, 1544, he
speaks of himself as being “sixty years of age.” But he probably did
not mean to be exact to a year. Gomara’s statement, that he was born
in the year 1485 (Crónica, cap. 1), is confirmed by Diaz, who tells
us that Cortés used to say that when he first came over to Mexico, in
1519, he was thirty-four years old. (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 205.)
This would coincide with the age mentioned in the text.
[291] Noticia del Archivero de la Santa Eclesia de Sevilla, MS.
[292] The full particulars of the ceremony described in the text may be
found in Appendix, No. 16, translated into English from a copy of the
original document, existing in the Archives of the Hospital of Jesus,
in Mexico.
[293] [The bust of Cortés and the arms of gilt bronze were secretly
removed from his monument, and sent to his descendant, the duke of
Monteleone, at Palermo. The remains of the Conqueror were soon after
sent in the same direction, according to Doctor Mora, cited by Alaman,
who does not contradict it: “Aun se habrian profanado las cenizas del
héroe, sin la precaucion de personas despreocupadas, que deseando
evitar el deshonor de su patria por tan reprensible é irreflexivo
procedimiento, lograron ocultarlas de pronto y despues las remitieron á
Italia á su familia.” Disertaciones históricas, tom. ii. p. 61.]
[294] Essai politique, tom. ii. p. 60.
[295] [They entertained, says Alaman, the rather extravagant idea that,
as descendants of the conquering nation, they were the heirs of the
rights of the conquered, and bound to avenge their wrongs. Conquista de
Méjico (trad. de Vega), tom. ii. p. 309.]
[296] Don Martin Cortés, second marquis of the Valley, was accused,
like his father, of an attempt to establish an independent sovereignty
in New Spain. His natural brothers, Don Martin and Don Luis, were
involved in the same accusation with himself, and the former--as I
have elsewhere remarked--was in consequence subjected to the torture.
Several others of his friends, on charge of abetting his treasonable
designs, suffered death. The marquis was obliged to remove with his
family to Spain, where the investigation was conducted; and his
large estates in Mexico were sequestered until the termination of
the process, a period of seven years, from 1567 to 1574, when he was
declared innocent. But his property suffered irreparable injury, under
the wretched administration of the royal officers, during the term of
sequestration.
[297] [The illegitimate children were Don Martin Cortés, Don Luis
Cortés, Doña Catalina Pizarro (daughter of Doña Leonor Pizarro), also
two other daughters, Leonor and Maria, born of two Indian women of
noble birth. Alaman, Disertaciones históricas, tom. ii. p. 48.]
[298] [Señor Alaman, in reference to this passage, says, “It is a
mistake to suppose that the heirs of Cortés and Gonsalvo de Cordova
were ever united by marriage. The fact appears to be that the title
of duke of Terranova was held by the descendants of both; but the
Terranova assigned to the Great Captain was in Calabria, while the
place from which the descendants of Cortés took the title was in
Sicily. Conquista de Méjico (trad. de Vega), tom. ii. p. 308.]
[299] “Yo me ofresco á descubrir por aquí toda la espeçería, y otras
Islas si huviere cerca de Moluco, ó Melaca, y la China, y aun de dar
tal órden que V. M. no aiga la espeçería por via de rescate, como la ha
el Rey de Portugal, sino que la tenga por cosa propria, y los naturales
de aquellas Islas le reconoscan y sirvan como á su Rey y señor natural,
porque yo me ofresco con el dicho additamento de embiar á ellas tal
armada, _ó ir yo con mi persona por manera que la sojusge y pueble_.”
Carta Quinta de Cortés, MS.
[300] The comparison to Hannibal is better founded than the old soldier
probably imagined. Livy’s description of the Carthaginian warrior has
a marvellous application to Cortés,--better, perhaps, than that of the
imaginary personage quoted a few lines below in the text. “Plurimum
audaciæ ad pericula capessenda, plurimum consilii inter ipsa pericula
erat: nullo labore aut corpus fatigari, aut animus vinci poterat.
Caloris ac frigoris patientia par: cibi potionisque desiderio naturali,
non voluptate, modus finitus: vigiliarum somnique nec die, nec nocte
discriminata tempora. Id, quod gerendis rebus superesset, quieti datum;
ea neque molli strato, neque silentio arcessita. Multi sæpe militari
sagulo opertum, humi jacentem, inter custodias stationesque militum,
conspexerunt. Vestitus nihil inter æquales excellens; arma atque equi
conspiciebantur. Equitum peditumque idem longe primus erat; princeps
in prœlium ibat; ultimus conserto prœlio excedebat.” (Hist., lib. xxi.
sec. 5.) The reader who reflects on the fate of Guatemozin may possibly
think that the extract should have embraced the “perfidia plus quám
Punica,” in the succeeding sentence.
[301] Testamento de Hernan Cortés, MS.
[302] Humboldt, Essai politique, tom. ii. p. 267.
[303] An extraordinary anecdote is related by Cavo of this bigotry
(shall we call it policy?) of Cortés. “In Mexico,” says the historian,
“it is commonly reported that after the Conquest he commanded that
on Sundays and holidays all should attend, under pain of a certain
number of stripes, to the expounding of the Scriptures. The general
was himself guilty of an omission on one occasion, and, after having
listened to the admonition of the priest, submitted, with edifying
humility, to be chastised by him, to the unspeakable amazement of the
Indians.” Hist. de los tres Siglos, tom. i. p. 151.
[304]
“Al Rey infinitas tierras,
_Y á Dios infinitas almas_,”
says Lope de Vega, commemorating in this couplet the double glory of
Cortés. It is the light in which the Conquest was viewed by every
devout Spaniard of the sixteenth century.
[305] _Ante_, vol. i. p. 325.
[306] So Gomara: “He dressed neatly rather than richly, and was always
scrupulously clean.” Crónica, cap. 238.
[307] “Fué mui gran comedor, i templado en el beber, teniendo
abundancia. Sufria mucho la hambre con necesidad.” Ibid, ubi supra.
[308] He dispensed a thousand ducats every year in his ordinary
charities, according to Gomara. “Grandísimo limosnero; daba cada un año
mil ducados de limosna ordinaria.” Crónica, cap. 238.
[309] Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 203.