their conquerors. If the Caribs had had historians to record their
wrongs, and their resistance to an overwhelming tyranny, they would
have set the matter in a very different light. They would have
expressed the sentiment which the conduct of their countrymen so
steadily exemplified,--that it was better to die free than to live
slaves.
So determined was their resistance to all kinds of authority, that it
became a proverb among the Europeans, that to show displeasure to a
Carib was the same as beating him, and to beat him was the same as to
kill him. If they did any thing, it was only what they chose, how they
chose, and when they chose; and when they were most wanted, it often
happened that they would not do what was required, nor any thing else.
The French missionaries made many attempts to convert the Caribs to
Christianity, but without success. It is true that some were apparently
converted; they learned the catechism and prayers, and were baptized;
but they always returned to their old habits.
A man of family and fortune, named Chateau Dubois, settled in
Guadaloupe, and devoted a great part of his life to the conversion of
the Caribs, particularly those of Dominica. He constantly entertained
a number of them, and taught them himself. He died in the exercise of
these pious and charitable offices, without the consolation of having
made one single convert.
As we have said, several had been baptized, and, as he hoped, they
were well instructed, and apparently well grounded in the Christian
religion; but after they returned to their own people, they soon
resumed all the Indian customs, and their natural indifference to all
religion.
Some years after the death of Dubois, one of these Carib apostates was
at Martinico. He spoke French correctly, could read and write, had
been baptized, and was then upwards of fifty years old. When reminded
of the truths he had been taught, and reproached for his apostasy,
he replied, “that if he had been born of Christian parents, or if he
had continued to live among the French, he would still have professed
Christianity; but that, having returned to his own country and his own
people, he could not resolve to live in a manner differing from their
way of life, and by so doing expose himself to the hatred and contempt
of his relations.” Alas! it is small matter of wonder that the Carib
thought the Christian religion was only a _profession_. Had those who
bore that name always been Christians in reality, and treated the poor
ignorant savages with the justice, truth, and mercy which the gospel
enjoins, what a different tale the settlement of the New World would
have furnished!
The Caribs, who spread themselves over the main land contiguous to
their islands, were similar in characteristics to those of the West
Indies, of whom they are supposed to have been the original stock.
They formed an alliance with the English under Sir Walter Raleigh,
in one of his romantic expeditions on that coast, in 1595, and for a
long time preserved the English colors which were presented to them
on that occasion. The Caribs of the continent are said to have been
divided into the Maritimos and the Mediterraneos. The former lived in
plains, and upon the coast of the Atlantic, and are said to have been
the most hostile of any of the Indians who infest the settlements of
the missions of the River Orinoco, and have been sometimes called the
Galibis. The Mediterraneos inhabited the south side of the source of
the River Caroni, and are described as of a more pacific nature, and
began to receive the Jesuit missionaries and embrace the Christian
faith in 1738.
[Illustration]
FOOTNOTE:
[1] For an account of these, see “Manners and Customs of the Indians”
in “The Cabinet Library.”
EARLY MEXICAN HISTORY.
According to the annals preserved by the Mexicans, the country embraced
in the vale of Mexico was formerly called Anahuac. The rest of the
territory contained the kingdoms of Mexico, Acolhuacan, Tlacopan,
Michuacan, and the republics of Tlaxcallan or Tlascala, Cholollan, and
Huexotzinco. The people who settled the country came from the north.
The first inhabitants were called Toltecs or Toltecas, who came from a
distant country at the northwest in the year 472. They migrated slowly,
cultivating and settling as they proceeded, so that it was 104 years
before they reached a place fifty miles east of the situation where
Mexico was afterwards built; there they remained for twenty years, and
built a city called Tollantzinco. Thence they removed forty miles to
the westward, and built another city called Tollan or Tula.
When they first commenced their migration, they had a number of chiefs,
who, by the time they reached Tollantzinco, were reduced to seven. This
form of government was afterwards changed to a monarchy; why, we know
not, but probably some one of the chiefs was more valiant or cunning
than his associates, and supplanted them. This monarchy began A. D.
607, and lasted 384 years, in which time they are said to have had only
eight princes. This fact, however, is accounted for by the custom which
prevailed, of keeping up the name of each king for fifty-two years.
They remained prosperous for 400 years, when a famine succeeded,
occasioned by a severe drought, which was followed by a pestilence that
destroyed many of them. Tradition says, that a demon appeared once at a
festival ball, and with giant arms embraced the people, and suffocated
them; that he appeared again as a child with a putrid head, and brought
the plague; and that, by his persuasion, they abandoned Tula, and
scattered themselves among various nations, by whom they were well
received.
A hundred years afterwards, succeeded a more barbarous people from
Amaquemecan. Who or what they were is not known, as there is no trace
of them among the American nations; nor is there any reason given why
they left their own country. They are said to have been eight months on
their way, led by a son of their monarch, called Xolotl, who sent his
son to survey the country, which he took possession of by shooting four
arrows to the four winds. He chose for his capital Tenayuca, six miles
north of the site of Mexico; in which direction most of the people
settled. It is asserted that their numbers amounted to 1,000,000; as
ascertained by twelve piles of stones which were thrown up at a review
of the people; but this is probably an exaggeration.
This barbarous people formed alliances with the relics of the Toltecan
race, and their prince, Nopaltzin, married a descendant of the
Toltecan royal family. The effect of these intermarriages on them was a
happy one, as they were civilized by the Toltecas, who were much their
superiors in a knowledge of the arts. Heretofore they had subsisted
only on roots and fruits, and by hunting; sucking the blood of the
animals they killed, and taking their skins for clothing; but now they
began to dig up and sow the ground, to work metals, and attempt other
useful arts. About eighteen years after their arrival, six persons made
their appearance as an embassy from a people living near Amaquemecan; a
place was assigned them, and in a few years three princes came with a
large army of Acolhuans, who received three princesses in marriage. The
two nations gradually coalesced in one, and took the name of the new
comers; the name Chechemecas being left to the ruder and more barbarous
tribes who lived by hunting and on roots. These latter joined the
Otomies, a barbarous people who lived farther north, in the mountains.
Xolotl divided his dominions into three states, namely, Azcapozalco,
eighteen miles west of Tezcuco, Xaltocan, and Coatlichan, which he
conferred, in fief, on his three sons-in-law. As was natural, various
civil wars afterwards occurred during the reigns of the sovereigns who
succeeded Xolotl. Nopaltzin reigned thirty-two years, and is said to
have died at the advanced age of ninety-two. After him came Tlotzin,
who reigned thirty-six years, and was a good prince. He was succeeded
by Quinatzin, a luxurious tyrant, who, on the removal of his court from
Tenayuca to Tezcuco, caused himself to be borne thither in a litter by
four lords, while a fifth held an umbrella over him to keep off the
sun; he is said to have reigned sixty years. In his reign, there were
many rebellions, and on his death he was succeeded by a prince named
Techotlala.
In the year 1160, the Mexicans, Aztecas, or Aztecs made their
appearance. They are said to have come from the region north of the
Gulf of California, and were induced to migrate from the country where
they lived by the persuasion of Huitziton, a man of great influence
among them. He is said to have observed a little singing-bird, whose
notes sounded like _Tihui_, which in their language meant, _Let us go_.
He led another person, also a man of influence, to observe this, and
they persuaded the people to obey the suggestion, as they said, of the
secret divinity. This was no difficult matter in a partially civilized
and superstitious community. They proceeded, as their tradition
relates, to the River Gila, where they stopped for a time, and where,
it is affirmed, remains have been found at a somewhat recent date.
They then removed to a place about 250 miles from Chihuahua, toward
the north-northwest, now called in Spanish _Casas Grandes_, on account
of a large building found there, on the plan of those in New Mexico,
having three floors with a terrace above them, the door for entrance
opening on the second floor, to which the ascent was by a ladder. Other
remains, also, of a fortress, and various utensils, have been found
there. From this spot they proceeded southward, crossed the mountains,
and stopped at Culiacan, a place on the Gulf of California in Lat. 24°
N. Here they made a wooden image, called Huitzilopochtli, which they
carried on a chair of reeds, and appointed priests for its service.
When they left their country, on their migration, they consisted of
seven different tribes; but here the Mexicans were left with their god
by the others, called the Xochimilcas, Tepanecas, Chalchese, Colhuas,
Tlahuicas, and Tlascalans, who proceeded onwards. The reason of this
separation is not mentioned, except that it was at the command of the
god, from which it may be conjectured that some quarrel had arisen with
respect to his worship.
On their way to Tula, the Mexicans became divided into two factions;
yet they kept together, for the sake of the god, while they built
altars, and left their sick in different places. They remained in
Tula nine years, and spent eleven more in the countries adjoining.
In 1216, they reached Tzompanco, a city in the vale of Mexico, and
were hospitably received by the lord of the district; his son, named
Ilhuitcatl, married among them. From him have descended all the Mexican
monarchs. The people continued to migrate along the Lake Tezcuco
during the reign of Xolotl, but in the reign of Nopaltzin they were
persecuted, and obliged, in 1245, to go to Chapoltepec, a mountain two
miles from Mexico. They then took refuge in the small islands Acocolco,
at the southern extremity of the Lake of Mexico. Here they lived
miserably for 52 years, till the year 1314, when they were reduced to
slavery by a petty king of Colhuacan, by whom they were treacherously
entrapped and cruelly oppressed.
Some years after, on the occasion of a war between the Colhuas and
the Xochimilcas, in which the latter were victorious, the Colhuas
were obliged to release their slaves, who fought with great bravery,
cutting off the ears of the enemies they had killed, which they
produced on being reproached with cowardice. The effect of this was to
excite such a detestation of them, that they were desired to leave the
country. They did so, and went north till they came to a place called
Acatzitzintlan, and afterwards Mexicaltzinco; but not liking this,
they went on to Iztacalco, still nearer to the site of Mexico. Here
they remained two years, and then went to a place on the lake, where
they found the _nopal_ growing on a stone, and over it the foot of an
eagle; this was the place marked out by the oracle. Here they ended
their wanderings, and erected an altar to their god; one of them went
for a victim, and found a Colhuan, whom they killed, and offered as
a sacrifice to the idol. Here, too, they built their rush huts, and
formed a city, which was called Tenochtitlan, and afterwards Mexico, or
the place of Mexitli, their god of war.
This was in 1325; the city was situated on a small island in the middle
of a great lake, without ground sufficient for cultivation, or even to
build upon. It was necessary, therefore, to enlarge it; and for this
purpose they drove down piles and palisades, and with stones, turf,
&c., thus united the other small islands to the larger one. To procure
stone and wood, they exchanged fish and water-fowl with some other
nations, and made, with incredible industry, floating gardens, on which
they raised vegetable products. They here remained thirteen years at
peace, but afterwards quarrels ensued, and the factions separated; one
of them went to a small island a little northward, named Xaltilolco,
afterwards Tlatelolco.
These divided their city into four parts, each quarter having its
tutelar deity. In the midst of the city, Mexitli was worshipped
with horrible rites, and the sacrifice of prisoners. Under pretence
of consecrating her to be the mother of their god, they sought the
presence of a Colhuan princess at their rites; and when the request
was granted, they put her to death, flayed her body, and dressed one
of their brave men in her skin. The father was invited to be present
and officiate as the priest. All was darkness, till, on lighting the
copal in his censer to begin the rites of worship, he saw the horrible
spectacle of his immolated daughter.
In 1352, the Mexicans changed their aristocracy of twenty lords for a
monarchy, and elected as their king Acamapitzin, who married a daughter
of the lord of Coatlichan. The Tlatelolcos also chose a king, who was
a son of the king of the Tepanecas. The king of the Tepanecas was
persuaded by them to double the tributes of the Mexicans, and oppress
them. They were commanded to transport to his capital, Azcapozalco,
a great floating garden, producing every kind of vegetable known
in Anahuac; when this was done, the next year, another garden was
required, with a duck and a swan in it sitting on their eggs, ready to
hatch on arriving at Azcapozalco; and then again, a garden was exacted
from them having a live stag, which they were obliged to hunt in the
mountains, among their enemies.
Acamapitzin, the king of Mexico, reigned thirty-seven years, and
died in 1389, and, after an interregnum of four months, his son
Huitzilihuitl succeeded him. He requested, for a wife, one of the
daughters of the king of Azcapozalco, on which occasion the ambassadors
are said to have made the following speech: “We beseech you, with
the most profound respect, to take compassion on our master and your
servant, Huitzilihuitl. He is without a wife, and we are without
a queen. Vouchsafe, Sire, to part with one of your jewels or most
precious feathers. Give us one of your daughters, who may come and
reign over us in a country which belongs to you.” This request was
granted.
It will be recollected that the Acolhuans were under the government of
Techotlala, son of Quinatzin. After a thirty years’ peace, a revolt
was begun by a prince called Tzompan, a descendant of one of the three
original Acolhuan princes. The rebel was defeated and put to death. The
Mexicans, in this war, were the allies of Techotlala, and showed great
valor.
The son of the king of the Tepanecas, Maxtlaton, fearing that his
sister’s son by the Mexican king might obtain the Tepanecan crown,
began to oppress the Mexicans, and sent assassins to murder his nephew.
The Mexicans, however, were too weak to resent this baseness.
The rival Mexicans and Tlatelolcos advanced together in wealth and
power. Techotlala, the Acolhuan king, was succeeded by Ixtlilxochitl in
1406. The king of Azcapozalco, his vassal, sought to stir up rebellion,
but he was defeated, and compelled to sue for peace. The same year in
which this occurred, the Mexican king died, and his son, Chimalpopoca,
was chosen his successor.
The king of the Acolhuans, mentioned above, was driven from his
kingdom, and both he and one of his grandsons were cut off by the
treachery of the Tepanecas. The rebels, led on by their king,
Tezozomoc, poured in, and conquered Acolhuacan. Tezozomoc then gave
Tezcuco to the Mexican king, Chimalpopoca, and other portions to the
king of Tlatelolco, and proclaimed his own capital, Azcapozalco, the
metropolis of all the kingdoms of Acolhuacan. He was a great tyrant,
and was tormented with dreams, that the son of the murdered king of the
Acolhuans, Nezahualcoyotl, transformed into an eagle, had eaten out his
heart, or, in the shape of a lion, had sucked his blood. He enjoined
it, therefore, on his sons, to put the prince, of whom he had dreamed,
to death. He survived his dreams but a year, and died in 1422.
He was succeeded by his son Tajatzin, but the throne was at once
usurped by another son, Maxtlaton, and Tajatzin took refuge with
Chimalpopoca, who advised him to invite his brother to a feast, and
murder him. This being overheard and told to Maxtlaton, he pretended
not to believe it, but took the same means to get rid of Tajatzin.
The king of Mexico declined the invitation, and escaped for a time;
but his wife having been ravished by Maxtlaton, he resolved not to
survive his dishonor, but to offer himself in sacrifice to his god,
Huitzilopochtli. In the midst of the ceremonies, Maxtlaton burst in,
took him, carried him off, and caged him like a criminal.
This success excited afresh in the mind of Maxtlaton the desire to get
the Acolhuan prince, Nezahualcoyotl, into his power. He, discovering
the designs of the tyrant, went boldly to him and told him he had
heard that he wished his life also, and he had therefore come to offer
it. Maxtlaton, struck by his conduct, assured him he had no designs
against him, nor was it his purpose to put the king of Mexico to death.
He then gave orders that he should be hospitably entertained, and even
allowed him to visit Chimalpopoca in prison. The Mexican king, however,
soon after, hanged himself with his girdle; and Nezahualcoyotl,
suspecting the sincerity of Maxtlaton’s professions, left the court.
After wandering about for some time, exposed to various dangers from
his inveterate foe, he finally took refuge among the Cholulans, who
agreed to assist him with an army for the purpose of overthrowing
Maxtlaton, and restoring him to the throne, which had been usurped by
the father of the tyrant.
On the death of their king, the Mexicans raised to the throne Itzcoatl,
a son of their first monarch, Acamapitzin, a brave, prudent, and just
prince. This choice was offensive to Maxtlaton,--but to Nezahualcoyotl,
on the contrary, it afforded the highest satisfaction. The new monarch,
immediately on his elevation to the throne, resolved to unite all his
forces with this prince against the tyrant Maxtlaton. On a certain
occasion, he sent an ambassador to Nezahualcoyotl, named Montezuma,
who, with another nobleman, was taken captive on the way, and carried
to Chalco. They were then sent to the Huexotzincas to be sacrificed.
This people, however, spurned the barbarous proposal. Maxtlaton was
then informed of their capture; but he commanded the lord of Chalco,
whom he called a double-minded traitor, to set them both at liberty.
Before this, however, they had escaped, by the connivance of the man to
whom they had been intrusted, and returned to Mexico. Maxtlaton then
made war against Mexico. Montezuma offered to challenge him, which
he did by presenting to him certain defensive weapons, anointing his
head, and fixing feathers on it. Maxtlaton, in turn, commissioned him
in like manner to bear a challenge from himself to the king of Mexico.
A terrible battle ensued; the tyrant was defeated, his city taken, and
himself killed, being beaten to death while attempting to escape. His
people, the Tepanecas, were entirely subdued.
The Mexican king now replaced the Acolhuan prince on the throne of his
ancestors, and carried on his conquests by his general, Montezuma.
On his death in 1436, he was succeeded by Montezuma the First. This
monarch was the greatest that ever sat on the throne of Mexico. He
engaged in a war with Chalco, the king of which city had taken three
Mexican lords, and two sons of the king of Tezcuco, put them to
death, salted and dried their bodies, and placed them in his hall as
supporters to torches! Montezuma took the city, and executed vengeance
on the barbarous people. He then reduced Tlatelolco, whose king
had conspired against the late king of Mexico. He also subdued the
Mixtecas, and thus enlarged his dominions.
In 1457, he sent an expedition against the Cotastese, and took 6,200
prisoners, whom he sacrificed to his god. He also took signal vengeance
again on the Chalchese, who had rebelled, and had sought to make one
of his brothers king in his stead. The brother pretended to comply;
but mounting a scaffold which he ordered to be erected, and taking a
bunch of flowers in his hand, then urging his attendant Mexicans to
be faithful to their king, he threw himself from the scaffold. This
enraged the Chalchese so much that they put the Mexicans to death, for
which Montezuma made war against them till he had almost exterminated
them. He finally, however, proclaimed a general amnesty. He constructed
a dike, nine miles long and eleven cubits broad, to prevent the
recurrence of an inundation which had happened, and which was followed
by a famine. He died in 1464.
Montezuma the First was succeeded by Axayacatl, who pursued the
conquests so successfully begun by the late king. A war broke out
between the Mexicans and Tlatelolcos, which ended in the final
subjection of the latter. Their king was killed, and carried to the
Mexican monarch, who, with his own hand, cut open his breast, and
tore out his heart. He also fought the Otomies, and gained a complete
victory, making 11,060 prisoners, among whom were three chiefs.
He died in 1477, and was succeeded by his oldest brother, Tizoc,
who was probably cut off by poison. Tizoc was succeeded by another
brother, named Ahuitzotl, who finished the great temple begun by his
predecessor, and, having reserved the prisoners taken in his wars for
this purpose, he sacrificed, at its dedication, as Torquemada asserts,
72,344; others say, 64,060. This was in the year 1486. He carried on
his conquests even as far as Guatemala, 900 miles south of Mexico. He
was only once defeated; this was in 1496, by Toltecatl, a Huexotzincan
chief. He died in 1502, in consequence of striking his head against a
door. Two years previous to his death there was an inundation, which
was followed by a famine, proceeding, it is said, from the decay of the
grain.
Ahuitzotl was succeeded by Montezuma the Second, a man of great
bravery, and also a priest, but excessively haughty. His coronation
was attended with the greatest display and pomp. He lived in exceeding
splendor; lords were his servants, and no one was permitted to enter
his palace without putting off his shoes and stockings. Even the
meanest utensils of his service were of gold plate and sea-shell.
His dinner was carried in by 300 or 400 of his young nobles, and he
pointed with a rod to such dishes as he chose. He was served with
water for washing by four of his most beautiful women. The vast
expenses necessary to support such luxury displeased his subjects. He
was, however, munificent in rewarding his generals, by which means he
retained their services, and still further secured the soldiery by
appointing a hospital for invalids. Unsuccessful for a time in a war
with the Tlascalans, he finally took captive a brave Tlascalan general,
named Tlahuicol, and put him into a cage. When, however, he gave him
his liberty to return home, Tlahuicol wished to sacrifice himself, and
perished in a gladiatorial combat, after having killed eight men, and
wounded twenty more.