_How the caziques presented their daughters to Cortes and all of us,
and what further happened._
The day following, the old caziques came and brought five young women
with them, who, for Indian females, were in every sense handsome, and
neatly dressed. Each had, in addition, a young woman as maid in waiting,
and all were daughters of caziques. On this occasion, Xicotencatl thus
spoke to Cortes: "Malinche, this is my daughter; she is still a virgin,
and has never been married: take her to yourself, and give the others to
your officers."
Cortes received the young women from his hand, and appeared very
pleased, declaring that he would now consider these females as our own,
but desired that they should, for the present, remain with their
fathers. The caziques inquired the reason of this, when Cortes replied:
"I have no other reason than that I am bound first to fulfil my duty to
the God whom we adore, and to the emperor our master, which is to
require of you to abolish your idols, the human sacrifices, and other
abominations practised among you, and exhort you to believe in him in
whom we believe, who alone is the true God." Besides this, he told them
many other things concerning our holy faith, which Dona Marina and
Aguilar explained right well to them. Similar discourses took place on
every occasion: Cortes at the same time showed them the image of the
holy Virgin, holding her inestimable Son in her arms, and he explained
to them how that represented the blessed Virgin Mary: she was now high
in the heavens above, and was the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom
she held in her arms, conceived by the Holy Ghost; that she was a virgin
before, after, and during his birth. She was our mediator with her
heavenly Son, our God.
To this he added many other things concerning our holy religion, and
concluded by saying: "If you are, indeed, our brothers, and you are
really inclined to conclude a lasting peace with us, and if we are to
take and keep your daughters as affectionate husbands should do, they
must abandon their horrible idols, and believe in the Lord God whom we
adore. They would soon discover the beneficial effect of this; blessings
would be showered down upon them, the seasons would be fruitful, and all
their undertakings would prosper; after death their souls would be
transplanted to heaven, and partake of eternal glory; for, by the human
sacrifices which they made to their idols, who were nothing but devils,
they would be led to hell, where eternal fire would torment their
souls." For the present Cortes said nothing further to them respecting
their idols, as he had often before spoken to them concerning these.
In answer to all this, they said to Cortes: "Malinche, we have heard all
this from you on former occasions, and willingly believe that this your
God and this illustrious woman are right good beings. But you should
reflect how very recently you have arrived in our country, and you have
but just entered our city. You should certainly give us time to learn
more of your doings, manner of behaviour, and nature of your gods; and
when we shall have satisfied ourselves respecting their qualities, we
shall certainly make choice of those we consider best. How can you ask
us to abandon our gods whom we have adored for so many years, and prayed
and sacrificed to them? But if we should even do so to please you, what
would our papas, our young men, yes, even our boys, say to it? Believe
us, they would all rise up in arms. The papas, indeed, have already
spoken to our teules, who have told them not to abolish our human
sacrifices, nor any other of our ancient customs, otherwise they would
destroy our whole country by famine, pestilence, and war."
We might conclude from this straightforward and fearless answer, that it
would be useless to insist any longer on this point, and that they would
rather allow themselves to be killed than abolish their human
sacrifices. Even father Olmedo, who was a profound theologian, found
himself compelled thus to address Cortes on the subject: "My opinion is,
sir, that you should no longer urge this matter with these people. It is
not acting right to force them to become Christians. I could likewise
wish that we had not destroyed the idols at Sempoalla. This I am
convinced ought not to be done until the people have gained some
knowledge of our holy religion. What, indeed, do we gain by pulling down
their idols from the temples? They have merely then to repair to another
temple. But, on the other hand, we should never cease to exhort them
with our pious lessons. In this way the time will certainly arrive, when
they will find that our intentions and our advice are good."
In this same strain the three cavaliers Alvarado, Leon, and Lugo
likewise spoke to Cortes; assuring him that father Olmedo was in the
right, and that they perfectly agreed with him, that it would be
inadvisable again to touch upon this point with the caziques.
Here, accordingly, the subject was dropped, and Cortes confined himself
to ordering the idols to be taken down from a temple which had been
recently built in the neighbourhood. The latter to be cleansed and fresh
plastered, and the image of the blessed Virgin to be placed on it. To
this the caziques readily consented, and when all was finished mass was
said, and the daughters of the caziques were baptized. Xicotencatl's
daughter was named Dona Louisa,--when Cortes took her by the hand and
presented her to Alvarado, saying, at the same time, to Xicotencatl,
that he to whom he had given her was his brother and a chief officer
under him, who would certainly treat her well, and with whom she would
live happily; to this Xicotencatl said he was perfectly agreeable.
The niece or daughter of Maxixcatzin received the name of Dona Elvira.
She was very beautiful, and was presented, if I still remember rightly,
to Leon. The others were given to Oli, Sandoval, and Avila, who all
subjoined their Christian names to theirs as if they had been young
ladies of noble birth.
Upon this it was also explained to the caziques why we always erected
two crosses wherever we formed a camp and passed the night: assuring
them amongst other things that their gods feared them. All this the
caziques listened to with great attention. But before I continue my
narrative I must add a few words about Xicotencatl's daughter, Dona
Louisa, who was given to Alvarado.
The whole of Tlascalla took the greatest interest in her welfare, and
honored her as a woman invested with command. Alvarado, who was a
bachelor, got a son by her, who was named Don Pedro; and also a
daughter, Dona Leonora, who is now the wife of Don Francisco de la
Cueva, a cavalier of distinction, and a relation of the duke of
Albuquerque. She is already the mother of four or five sons, all valiant
cavaliers. She is an excellent lady, and a daughter worthy of such a
father, who, as every one knows, is comptoir of Santjago and chief
justice and viceroy of Guatimala; nor is she less worthy of the house of
Xicotencatl, for the latter ranked very high in Tlascalla, and was
looked upon as a king.