THE VALE OF ANAHUAC.
The time is four hundred years ago; the place, the present site of the
City of Mexico. In its stead was Tenochtitlan. In this beautiful valley
were four kingdoms, three aristocratic republics, a number of minor
states and the independent monarchy of Yucatan. Of the four kingdoms in
the valley, the Aztec or Mexican was chief, and dictated terms to the
other three--Colhuacan, Tlascopan and Michoacan. The three republics
were Tlaxcala, Cholula and Huexotzinco, the ancient enemies of the
Aztecs, and with whose combined aid Cortez finally conquered them.
On the shores of Lake Texcoco, the Athens of Mexico, stand Cortez and
his band of pirates, gazing across the blue waters of the lake towards
an island on its bosom, twenty-five miles away. Upon that island is a
city, Tenochtitlan, the Rome of Mexico, and the capital of the Aztecs,
which the Spaniards called “the most beautiful city on earth.”
Upon the bosom of that lake float thousands of boats, and connecting the
city to the mainland are two mighty causeways, guarded by drawbridges
and portcullis. According to Spanish authority, within that city were
two thousand temples, one hundred palaces and a thousand sumptuous
dwellings and hanging gardens, aqueducts and irrigating canals,
sculpture and architecture, an elaborate system of religion and
philosophy, a priesthood, a written language by means of ideographic
paintings, artistic jewelers and a hundred other elements of
civilization that have since been swept away by the bigoted Spaniards as
the dewdrops before the _sirocco_.
Within the great plaza there arose a mighty temple, the teocalli,
erected to the war-god Huitziloptchli. This temple was a truncated
pyramid, whose base was three hundred and eight feet each way, and whose
height was one hundred feet, and was reached by a spiral stairway
passing four times around. Five thousand priests officiated in this
temple, and on its summit was a block of jasper, the sacrificial stone,
which is now in the national museum. Upon this stone were sacrificed
daily, human victims taken in war, and offered to appease the war-god
who had made them successful against their enemies, and twenty thousand
victims a year had their hearts cut out by the priests and laid smoking
on this altar.
Each morning as the sun rose behind Popocatapetl, the huge drum of
serpent skins resounded, the white-robed priests with their wild
minstrelsy wound slowly round the pyramid in sight of every inhabitant
in the city, and, arriving at the top, turned their faces to the rising
sun, stretched their victims across the convex surface of the
sacrificial stone, tore the palpitating hearts from the writhing bodies,
and, having first offered them to the sun, laid them smoking upon the
altar and hurled the bodies down the sides of the pyramid.
Before the altar in the sanctuary stood the colossal image of
Huitziloptchli, or Mexitle the “left-handed warrior,” the tutelary deity
and war-god of the Aztecs. In his right hand he wielded a bow, and in
his left a bunch of golden arrows to denote their victories. Around his
waist were the huge folds of a serpent, consisting of pearls and
precious stones, and the same ornaments were sprinkled all over his
body. Upon the left foot were the feathers of a humming bird whose name
the dread deity bore. Around his neck was suspended a chain of alternate
gold and silver hearts, to denote the sacrifice in which he most
delighted.
The invisible God, the Cause of Causes, was represented by no image and
was confined by no temple. The adjoining sanctuary was dedicated to a
milder deity who stood next to God. This was Tezcatlipoca, the creator
of the world. His image was represented by a young man, richly garnished
with gold ornaments and holding a shield, burnished like a mirror, and
in it he saw reflected the doings of the world. In a golden platter he
received the bleeding hearts of the sacrifice as his offering. Before
these altars burn perpetual fires, attended by Vestal Virgins who took
their training in the temple, and whose heads were the price of
unchastity. At the birth of a female child, its parents dedicated it to
the service of some divinity, and Tepantlohuatzin, the superior general
of that district, took charge of her education. Two months after birth
she was taken to the temple, and a passion flower, a small censer and a
little incense were placed in her hand as a symbol of her future
occupation. At five years of age she was placed in the seminary to learn
the intricacies of the religion, and those who took the vow had to
sacrifice their hair.
Boys dedicated to the priesthood were consecrated to Quetzaleoatl, god
of the air. At two years of age, the superior made an incision in the
breast, which was a sign of consecration. If a priest was guilty of
unchastity, he was beaten to death, and his limbs were cut off and
presented to his successor as a warning.
Thirty miles from the city was Teotihuacan, the hill of the gods, where
stand the pyramid to Tonateuh the sun, and one to Meztle, the moon. Here
kings and priests were elected, ordained and buried, and hither flocked
pilgrims from every direction to consult the oracles, to worship in the
temples of the sun and moon, and to place sacrificial offerings on the
altars of their deities.
The priests were separated by several hierarchical degrees. The first of
the supreme pontiffs bore the title of Teoteucli “Divine Lord,” and the
next was Hueitcopixqui “High Priest,” and was conferred upon those only
of illustrious birth. These high priests were oracles, and war was never
undertaken without consulting them. Then came the superior-general of
the seminary, the steward of the sanctuary, the hymn-laureate of the
feast, sacrificers, diviners and chanters.
Four times a day were the priests required to incense the altars, and
burn incense to the sun four times a day and five times at night, The
perfumes were liquid styrax, (_Liquidambar styraciflua_), and copal
resin (_rhus copallina_). The custom of human sacrifice, however, was
not always a trait of the Aztec. According to the picture-writing of the
Aztecs, the race began its existence somewhere in the misty past, but
when and where the deponent sayeth not. It was in 648 A.D., that seven
of the Nahuatl tribes left their fatherland, and the other six tribes
covered the valley with kingdoms, while the Aztecs in the year 1160,
came, in their wanderings, to the shores of the lakes, and stopped at
different places, cultivating the soil and building reed huts, but
having no place to permanently locate their city. In 1216 they reached
Tzompango, (place of bones) which city they afterwards gave the name of
Mexicatl, their war-god, and changed their own name from Aztecs to
Mexicatls.
Xolotl, king of the Chicimecs, seeing he had nothing to fear from them,
permitted them to sojourn in his territory. Not long afterwards an Aztec
priest carried off a daughter of a Chicimec general, and they were
compelled to leave the country. They fled to the land of the Colhuas,
where now stands the castle of Chapultepec. A few years afterwards the
Colhuas demanded tribute, and, being unable to pay, the Colhuas reduced
them to abject slavery. The Colhuas were soon afterwards conquered by
the Xochimilcos, and in desperation called upon their Aztec slaves for
assistance. Animated with the hope of their own freedom, the Aztecs
completely conquered the Xochimilcos, and celebrated their victory with
human sacrifice. The Colhuas, alarmed at the prowess and future
possibilities of their slaves, gave them their liberty, and bade them
depart from the country. Happy to regain their liberty, they once more
set out and settled near the lakes, Tezcoco, Xochimilco, Chalco, and
Xaltocan, from which they were never to depart.
Tenoch, their chief, saw a cactus growing upon a rock in an island, and
on the cactus an eagle perched, and holding in his talons a serpent.
Thinking this a propitious sign they immediately founded a city (1325)
and called it Tenochtitlan, “stone and cactus,” and to this day the
emblem and coat of arms of Mexico is the eagle on a cactus and holding a
serpent in his talons. Here they erected a temple to their war god and
went out in search of a victim to sacrifice to offer upon the altar. The
only animal found was a Colhuan Indian, and, recognizing in him only one
of their old oppressors, they tore out his heart and offered it upon the
altar. This led to a war of retaliation and expiation which for two
hundred years stained the new capital with blood.
Shut in upon the island, and cut off from the mainland by their enemies,
the Aztecs, having no land to cultivate, no textures to make clothing,
went naked and ate fish and aquatic plants. In their extremity they made
rafts and floored them with reeds, and dug up the mud from the lake and
spread it upon the reeds and began the cultivation of flowers and the
necessities of life upon these _chinampas_ or floating gardens, which
are to be seen to this day. Towed by his canoe, the Aztec gardener could
move his farm whenever a quarrelsome neighbor made life a burden.
That was six hundred years ago, when the Mexican nation was small, but
they soon outgrew the confines of the island, and, driven to
desperation, resolved to conquer the mainland. In 1357 there were
thirty powerful cities in the valley, united by a sort of feudal bond,
each striving to get the mastery, which was finally gained by the
Colhuas. The Mexicans now elected a warrior king, Huitzilihuitl “feather
of the humming bird,” who was unmarried. Being a politician, he went to
Azcapozalco, (now a suburb of the capital) the capital of the Tepanecs,
and asked the king of the Tepanecs for his daughter in marriage, and the
formation of an offensive and defensive alliance. This the Tepanec king
was glad to do, as he knew the fighting quality of the Mexican. No
sooner was this accomplished than the Mexican king went to the principal
chiefs in the valley and married into all their families, and the Aztec
supremacy had its birth.
Released from the islands, the Mexicans secured cotton cloth for their
naked bodies, and carried on a rapid commerce. In 1427, the Mexicans won
a naval battle over their enemies on lake Chalco, and built the great
causeway across the lake as a military road to Tlacotalpan which exists
today. Then they resolved to conquer the city of Azcapozalco, the
capital of the Tepanecs, and to do so allied themselves with the
Acolhuas in 1428, and in a battle which lasted two days the Mexicans
completely subjugated the Tepanecs, and made them allies, subject to the
order of their masters.
Itzacoatl “The Great” was king and died in 1440, having served his
country thirty years as a general and thirteen as king. His nephew
Montezuma I. succeeded him. In 1449 the city was swept by a flood, and
he built an immense dike nine miles long to protect the city from the
lake. This dike at the present day is called Albarredo Vieja. He also
had his portrait sculptured on the rocks at Chapultepec. Montezuma I.
was the ablest of the Aztec kings and built and fortified the outposts
of the city and died in 1469 after a reign of twenty years.
It had become a custom for each king to prove his right to be king by
conquering his enemies and bringing the prisoners home to be sacrificed
at his coronation. This was to make and keep the young men as warriors.
Axayacatl was the sixth king and he immediately set out against the
kingdom of Tehuantepec to capture prisoners for his coronation
sacrifice. He added their territory to his own and returned home laden
with spoil, and had his portrait sculptured on the rock of Chapultepec
by the side of Montezuma I. He died in 1481 and his son Tizoc succeeded.
In his short reign of five years, he conquered fourteen cities and built
more temples in the capital. Ahuitzotl was his successor, and
immediately began work on the great temple begun in previous years. He
began war to get victims for his coronation, which he postponed till the
temple should be completed, which was four years. When the dedication
day arrived, festivities lasted four days, and fifteen thousand
prisoners were sacrificed upon the altar of the war-god. This king
extended the Mexican empire to its present limits and died in 1502. He
was liberal, and when he received tribute from his vassal states, he
called the people together and distributed it among them. To his
soldiers he gave bars of gold and silver, and precious stones.
His successor was Montezuma II. whom Cortez so foully murdered in later
years. Montezuma was an oriental despot, and he made his capital the
fairest city in the new world. His predecessors had guaranteed the
integrity of their island city by every means in their power. The temple
occupied the great place now covered by the Cathedral and Plaza Mayor.
It was surrounded by a wall of stone and lime, ornamented by figures of
serpents raised in relief which had the name of _cotepantla_, wall of
serpents. This quadrangled wall was pierced with huge battlemented
gateways, opening upon the four principal streets of the city. Over
these gates were arsenals, and within the walls were barracks of
thousands of soldiers.
Throughout the city were canals by the side of the streets in this new
world Venice, so that canoes from their trading excursions could
traverse any part of the city. Great military causeways led to the
mainland across the lakes, and were guarded by drawbridges, to shut the
enemy out or shut themselves in. The city could not be entered by any
other way than these causeways. The southern one was called Iztapalapan
and was seven miles long. The northern one was Tepejecac, three miles
long, which now leads to Guadalupe. The other two were Tlacopam and
Chapultepec and were each two miles long, They were broad enough to
allow ten men abreast on horseback, and are all in use today. The city
was nine miles in circumference and was guarded at every point.
No sooner was Montezuma elected, than he waged war upon the Otomites to
get victims for his inaugural, and returned with five thousand prisoners
which were promptly slaughtered to the war-god, and then he became a
very tyrant. He immediately dismissed all ordinary servants, and
compelled six hundred princes of the royal blood in his conquered
provinces to be his servants, and they had to approach him barefooted
and in common apparel. On the streets his subjects must close their eyes
when he passed and not look upon his dazzling greatness. He drank from
gold vessels and no vessel was ever used the second time. Swift runners
by relays, brought him fresh fish and fruits each day from the gulf, a
distance of two hundred miles. A thousand women were in his harem, and
when a favorite prince deserved a favor, he made him a present of one of
his houris.
Menageries and aviaries, representing all the birds and animals of his
kingdom from New Mexico to Guatemala, were provided for, and fed daily
with the food each was accustomed to. In the midst of his extravagances,
Cortez appeared on the other side of the lake with a hundred and fifty
thousand Indian allies of the valley, who were only too anxious to see
their ancient enemy humbled.
Montezuma was the only Aztec king who was no soldier. He allowed the
crafty Spaniards to fill his capital, and to buy their departure, filled
their room to the ceiling with gold and silver, which only whetted the
appetites of the treasure-seekers and they asked for more. Montezuma was
treacherously imprisoned and was afterwards murdered by Cortez, then the
Mexicans rose in their might on that terrible July night in 1520 and
drove them from the city, and Guatemotzin was made king. He was a
soldier from the old stock, and had he been king at first, the
Spaniards would never have set foot in Tenochtitlan. He immediately put
the city in defense for the return of the Spaniards. Meanwhile Cortez
built a fleet of boats for the lake and got men and cannon from Cuba,
and spent a year in organizing the disaffected Indians in the valley
against their ancient enemy.
The next year, in May 1521, he appeared again with Indians from every
nation in the valley, according to the exaggerated Spanish authority,
five hundred and twenty thousand men, and laid siege to the city by land
and by water, for three months, and then occurred a scene that has never
been exceeded in history for bravery.
The Mexicans were born warriors to a man. The besieging army was armed
with cannon and muskets and sword and horse, and was clad in steel coats
of mail, yet for three months there were daily hand-to-hand combats,
where Mexicans fought with short obsidian knives against the blades of
Toledo. The great city, nine miles in circumference, was filled with
people to the brim, their food supply cut off, the aqueduct which
brought them fresh water from Chapultepec across the lake, destroyed;
forced to drink the brackish salt water from the lake, and to eat the
bark and roots from trees, yet they asked no quarter. Mothers would sit
and see their starved children die at their breasts, and then ravenously
devour their dead bodies. Men wounded unto death, would still hurl
defiance at the invaders when too weak to hurl their weapons.
Cortez had succeeded so well in his blockade that all the timorous
nations in the valley, like wolves around a wounded bison, severed
their allegiance to the Aztec king and flocked to the Spaniards, till he
had, by his own figures, nearly half a million men around the doomed
city. He sent embassadors to Guatemotzin to surrender, as resistance was
hopeless. Guatemotzin ordered the messengers to be sacrificed. Then
Cortez ordered his men to tear the city down as they went, as every
house contained Mexican warriors. For days they fought and destroyed.
The Mexicans resisted every inch of the ground, and when a Spaniard was
captured, would take him to the temple and sacrifice him in full view of
the Spanish army. The city was reeking with the unburied dead, and the
Mexicans were eating the flesh of their comrades, but they asked no
quarter. Cortez hated to destroy so beautiful a city, and after twelve
days of fighting and seven-eighths of the houses had been destroyed and
the canals filled with the rubbish, he sent another commission to treat
with Guatemotzin. “Tell Malinche the Aztecs are men and not children,”
was his answer. Thus angered, Cortez turned his savage Indian allies
upon the starving emaciated Mexicans, and butchered forty thousand more
that night before they stopped to rest, and then waited till morning and
sent another embassy to the proud king. “Tell Malinche I am prepared to
die where I am,” was all his answer; and the stench and steam from the
putrifying bodies was terrible, but no man, woman or child begged for
mercy, so Cortez ordered the destruction of the rest of the city. All
day long they tore down walls upon weak and dead and dying Mexicans, but
met defiance from everyone like a wounded tiger, tracked to his lair by
the trailing huntsman. To the Indian allies they would say: “Aye,
destroy, but the more you tear down the more you will have to build up.
If we conquer, we will make you rebuild; if the white man conquer, he
will make you rebuild;” and still the destruction went on.
The Mexicans had stripped the bark from all the trees and had dug up the
roots and eaten them, and were still eating their dead companions and
drinking salt water, but not one asked for quarter or begged for mercy.
All the houses had been destroyed but a small cluster which were still
filled by dying Mexicans. The Spaniards and Indians were wading in mire
caused by the pools of blood, and closed upon the last remaining
Mexicans. Thirteen days of slaughter and starvation had reduced them to
skeletons, but they hurled stones with their weak arms at their enemies.
As their enemies closed upon them, many plunged into the canal to commit
suicide. Twenty Spaniards closed around Guatemotzin and the brave king
with buckler and sword stood to receive them all. His subjects begged
the conquerors to spare his life. His only remark was that he hoped they
would spare his wife and child. When he was taken before Cortez, he
proudly walked up to him and said: “Malinche, I have done all a brave
man can do, now do what you will.” Then touching a knife in the belt of
Cortez, he said: “You had better use that on me.” Cortez afterwards
tortured him to make him disclose his wealth and then murdered him.
Of all that mighty host, not one had proved a traitor or begged for
mercy, or acted a coward. They had lived by the sword and died by it
without a murmur. Probably thirty thousand were left alive on that last
day, too weak to fight, and not quite dead from hunger, and that was all
that was left of the great Mexican Empire. Of the beautiful dream city,
not one stone was left above another and today, only the four causeways
are left in the city of Mexico that was a part of Tenochtitlan.
“Here didst thou fall, and here thy hunters stand
Signed in thy spoil, and crimsoned in thy lethe.”
The siege of the city of Tenochtitlan lasted seventy five days.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: CHURCH OF SAN AUGUSTIN.]