_Cortes' further plans after his arrival among the Acallan
townships; how he orders the powerful cazique of Mexico
Quauhtemoctzin, and the king of Tlacupa, to be hung; his reasons for
doing this; and of other matters._
After Cortes had arrived in Gueacala, and had been thus kindly received
by the caziques, he told them all manner of fine things, through our
interpretess, Dona Marina, and he presented them with various kinds of
Spanish toys, all of which appeared vastly to amuse them. They willingly
supplied us with provisions, and Cortes questioned them as to the route
we were next to take, and whether they had seen other people like unto
us, with beards, and riding on horseback, or any strange vessels off the
coast?
To which they replied, that eight days further on there were numbers of
people with beards, who had women of Castile, horses, and three acales
(for so they term vessels) with them. Respecting our inquiries about the
direction in which we were to march, they answered by laying before us a
large piece of cotton cloth, on which were drawn all the rivers, swamps,
morasses, and townships of the country.
Cortes was excessively rejoiced at all this, and he requested the
caziques, as their population was so numerous, to bring their canoes,
and throw bridges across the river for us. To this they answered, that
their townships were indeed above twenty in number, but that the greater
part of these refused obedience to them, particularly those which lay
between the rivers. It would therefore be necessary, they added, for him
to send a number of his teules--so they termed us--thither, and command
them to furnish him with provisions.
Cortes followed their advice, and commissioned Diego de Mazariegos,
cousin to the treasurer Estrada, whom Cortes had appointed governor of
Mexico, to repair to the latter townships. Cortes was very partial to
Mazariegos, and was desirous of distinguishing the man, by conferring
this command upon him. But as Mazariegos had very little experience in
the manners and customs of these countries, Cortes desired him in
confidence to request me to accompany him, and advised him to act upon
my advice in all matters. This hint was not lost upon Mazariegos, who
did not neglect to follow our general's counsel. I have not mentioned
this in praise of myself, for it was well known to the whole of the
troops, and Cortes himself, in his despatches to the emperor respecting
the expedition to the Honduras, and which I read myself, also detailed
this circumstance.
The caziques readily furnished us with the necessary canoes, in which
eighty of us, with Mazariegos, set out. We arrived safely in the
townships above mentioned, met with the most friendly reception, and the
inhabitants gave us as large a quantity of provisions as they could
possibly spare. We therefore loaded one hundred canoes with maise,
fowls, honey, and salt, taking along with us besides ten female slaves,
who had been presented to us, and the caziques accompanied us themselves
on our return, to pay their respects to Cortes. After the lapse of three
days, however, most of the caziques suddenly left, and we had only three
guides remaining, with whom we continued our march. We had two rivers to
pass, one of which we crossed by means of a bridge, that broke down
before we had all stepped on land; the other we ferried over in canoes,
and in this way we reached another of the Acallan townships, which was
quite deserted by its inhabitants; but we found abundance of provisions,
which they had concealed among the hills on our approach.
I have now to relate a circumstance of a very different nature, which
occasioned much grief to us all. Quauhtemoctzin and other Mexican chiefs
who accompanied our army had, it would appear, spoken among themselves,
or secretly determined to put the whole of us to death, then march back
to Mexico, and assemble the whole armed power of the country against the
few remaining Spaniards, and raise an insurrection throughout the whole
of New Spain. This circumstance was discovered to Cortes by two
distinguished Mexican chiefs, one of whom was named Tapia, and the other
Juan Velasquez. This latter personage had been Quauhtemoctzin's
captain-general during our war with Mexico, and his testimony was borne
out by the investigation which Cortes made into the matter, and by the
confession of several of the caziques themselves who were implicated in
the conspiracy. These men fearlessly declared, that seeing how
carelessly and dispiritedly we roamed about; that numbers of the men
were ill from want of food; that four of our musicians, with the buffoon
and five soldiers, had died of hunger; and that three other men had
turned back, more willing to run the risk of reaching Mexico again than
of moving forward, the thought struck them that they could not do better
than fall suddenly upon us while we were crossing some river or marsh,
particularly as they were upwards of 3000 in number, all armed with
lances, and several of them with swords. Quauhtemoctzin did not hesitate
to acknowledge that these men had spoken the truth, but added that the
conspiracy did not emanate with him, and that he himself had never for
a moment contemplated carrying it into effect, but had merely spoken
about it with the other caziques. All the cazique of Tlacupa confessed
was, his having declared to Quauhtemoctzin that it was better to die at
once than daily to have death before their eyes on these fatiguing
marches, and see their countrymen and relations perish with hunger.
These were sufficient proofs for Cortes, and without any further
ceremony he sentenced Quauhtemoctzin and his cousin the king of Tlacupa
to the gallows. Before, however, this sentence was executed, the
Franciscan monks, with the assistance of Dona Marina, strove to comfort
these unfortunate men, and commended their souls to God. When they were
being led to the place of execution, Quauhtemoctzin turned to Cortes,
and said: "Oh Malinche! I have for a long time perceived, from your
false words, that you had destined me for such a death, because I did
not lay violent hands on myself when you entered my city of Mexico! Why
are you thus going to put me unjustly to death? God will one time ask
this of you!"
The king of Tlacupa said, he could only rejoice in a death which he
would be permitted to suffer with his monarch Quauhtemoctzin.
Previous to their being hung, both these unhappy caziques confessed to
father Juan, who understood the Mexican language, and they begged of him
to commend their souls to God. For Indians they were good Christians,
and they died in the true faith, and fully believed in our holy
religion.
The death of these two monarchs grieved me excessively, for I had known
them in all their glory, and on our march they honoured me with their
friendship, and showed me many little attentions; for instance, they
would often order their servants to go in quest of fodder for my horse;
besides which, they were innocent of the guilt imputed to them, and it
was the opinion of all who accompanied this expedition that they were
put to death unjustly.
But I will leave this miserable subject, and return to our march, on
which we henceforth observed the utmost vigilance, for we greatly feared
the Mexicans might rise up in arms against us, after they had thus
beheld their monarch ignominiously hung by the neck from a tree. But
hunger, fatigue, and sickness weighed heavier upon their minds than the
misfortune of Quauhtemoctzin.
On our further march we came up to a river, which we crossed by means of
canoes, and soon after we arrived in a township which was entirely
deserted by its inhabitants. However, in searching for provisions in
some houses lying in the neighbourhood, we discovered eight Indian
papas, who, after a little persuasion, followed us to the township,
where they were brought into the presence of Cortes, who, by means of
Dona Marina, spoke very kindly to them, telling them to banish all fear
from their minds, and to go and call their countrymen. The papas said
they were very willing to fulfil his commands, but they must beg of him
not to allow any one to touch the idols which stood in a building
adjoining Cortes' quarters. Our general promised them faithfully that no
harm should be done the idols, but observed, that they were mere lumps
of clay and wood, wicked things, which were unworthy of the veneration
they paid them, and that the whole of their idolatrous worship was the
work of Satan. The Franciscan monks also put several questions to the
papas respecting their idol worship, to which they returned very
intelligent answers, promising for the future to abolish it altogether.
Thirty loads of maise and some fowls were now soon brought us, and
Cortes inquired of the papas how many suns (that is to say days'
journey) it was from this place to the people with the beards and
horses. They replied, that it was seven suns to the township of Nito,
where the men with the horses had settled, and they would themselves
show us the way to the next township, but that on our road thither we
should have to pass one night in an uninhabited village.
Near to the building in which the idols were placed there stood a ceiba
tree of an immense size, in the bark of which Cortes ordered a large
cross to be cut. Our general had for some time appeared in low spirits,
and very pensive. The thoughts of our fatiguing march, the number of
Spaniards who had fallen ill, the still greater number of our Mexican
troops that died away, and perhaps also the regret he felt for having
put Quauhtemoctzin and the king of Tlacupa to death without any trial,
constantly preyed upon his mind, and left him no peace either night or
day; so that he would rise up from his bed in the depth of night to
stroll about, which also happened to be the case in this township. He
got up in the dark from his bed, in order to pass into an adjoining
large apartment, where a number of idols stood, and where the Indians
were accustomed to hold their meetings. It seems that he forgot the two
steps which led down into it, so that he fell rather heavily, and
bruised his head severely. This wound he had secretly dressed, nor did
he himself ever mention the accident to any one.
The next morning, very early, we again broke up our quarters, and our
guides led us exactly in the direction they had previously described,
and we arrived, without anything happening to us worthy of mention, in
front of a morass, which lay at the foot of very high mountains, where
we encamped for the night. With break of day we again continued our
march, and arrived about the hour of high mass, at a township which lay
in the midst of this extensive morass. This town had every appearance of
having been recently built, and indeed we found that the houses had only
been erected a few days before our arrival. It was surrounded by a
double entrenchment, formed of the trunks of large trees, encircled by
other huge poles stuck in perpendicularly, The approaches were secured
by a deep fosse, and they were protected by a double inclosure of a
circular form: one of which was supplied with a regular battlement,
small towers and loop-holes; the other was very high and strongly built
of large stones, and was likewise provided with a battlement. As the
other side was covered by the morass this place might, in every sense of
the word, be called a fortress.
When we entered the town we did not meet with a single inhabitant, but
were surprised to find in the houses quantities of boiled turkeys and
other fowls, dressed according to Indian fashion, with hot peppers and
maise cakes, which they call tamales. We were perfectly astonished at
this great abundance, and we made all manner of speculations on so
extraordinary a sight. Another large building we found filled with bows
and arrows and small darts. We now carefully searched the surrounding
neighbourhood, but we could nowhere see any maise plantations.
While we were thus looking about us we observed fifteen Indians
approaching from the side of the morass, who, on coming up, touched the
ground with their hands and kissed it. These were the chiefs of the
township, and they begged of Cortes, in a half-crying tone of voice, not
to set fire to their buildings. They had, they said, but recently
settled in this spot, and had been compelled to fortify themselves thus
strongly from fear of their enemies; whom, if I do not mistake, they
termed Lacandones. These people had burnt down their two former towns
which lay on the plain, had plundered them of all they possessed, and
had killed numbers of their countrymen. On our further march we should
pass over the ashes and ruins of their former habitations. These chiefs
then related the cause of their enmity, and described their mode of
warfare. Upon this Cortes inquired of them what had induced them to
dress so large a quantity of turkeys and other fowls? To which the
chiefs replied, that they again expected an attack from the Lacandones,
who would be sure, if victorious, to carry off all their property and
fowls; they had therefore determined to eat up all their provisions
before the enemy arrived; but if they themselves proved victorious,
they would march into the enemy's towns, plunder them in their turn, and
so make up for their recent losses.
Cortes told them he was extremely sorry to hear of their wars, but that
it was not in his power to render them any assistance at present, as he
was obliged to continue his march. This tribe, to whom the two other
large townships also belonged, through which we passed on the following
day, were termed the Mazotecs, a name which, in their language, denotes
the land or the nation of the wild deer, and this was indeed a most
appropriate appellation, as the reader will presently see.
From this place we took two guides with us, who led us over the ruins of
the two townships above mentioned, and gave us some further account of
the Spaniards whom we should find at a considerable distance further on.