attached to this proceeding. “What they said to him was by way of
counsel, and because they believed it were well said, and not with any
other intent, since they followed him ever, bravely and loyally; nor is
it strange that in an army some good soldiers should offer counsel to
their captain, especially when such hardships have been endured as were
by us.” Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 71.
[162] This conference is reported, with some variety, indeed, by nearly
every historian. (Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 55.--Oviedo,
Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 3.--Gomara, Crónica, cap. 51,
52,--Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 80.--Herrera, Hist.
general, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 9.--P. Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5,
cap. 2.) I have abridged the account given by Bernal Diaz, one of the
audience, though not one of the parties to the dialogue,--for that
reason the better authority.
[163] Diaz says only seventeen lost their hands, the rest their
thumbs. (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 70.) Cortés does not flinch from
confessing, the hands of the whole fifty: “I ordered that all the fifty
should have their hands cut off; and I sent them to tell their lord
that let him come when he would, by night or day, they should see who
we were.” Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 53.
[164] “De que los Tlascaltecas se admiráron, entendiendo que Cortés les
entendia sus pensamientos.” Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83.
[165] Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 56, 57.--Oviedo, Hist.
de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 3.--Gomara, Crónica, cap. 53.--Bernal
Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 71, et seq.--Sahagun, Hist. de
Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 11.
[166] “Cortés recibió con alegría aquel presente, y dixo que se lo
tenia en merced, y que él lo pagaria al señor Monteçuma en buenas
obras.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 73.
[167] He dwells on it in his letter to the emperor. “Seeing the discord
and division between them, I felt not a little pleasure, for it
appeared to me to suit well with my design, and that through this means
I might the more easily subjugate them. Moreover I remembered a text
of the Evangelist, which says, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself
is brought to desolation.’ I treated therefore with both parties, and
thanked each in secret for the intelligence it had given me, professing
to regard it with greater friendship than the other.” Rel. Seg. de
Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 61.
[168] Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 10.--Oviedo, Hist.
de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 4.--Gomara, Crónica, cap. 54.--Martyr,
De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 2.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap.
72-74.--Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83.
[169] “Á distancia de un quarto de legua caminando á esta dicha ciudad
se encuentra una barranca honda, que tiene para pasar _un Puente de cal
y canto de bóveda_, y es tradicion en el pueblo de San Salvador, que se
hizo en aquellos dias, que estubo allí Cortés para que pasase.” (Viaje,
ap. Lorenzana, p. xi.) If the antiquity of this _arched_ stone bridge
could be established, it would settle a point much mooted in respect to
Indian architecture. But the construction of _so_ solid a work in _so_
short a time is a fact requiring a better voucher than the villagers of
San Salvador.
[170] Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. iii. p. 53.--“Recibimiento
el mas solene y famoso que en el mundo se ha visto,” exclaims the
enthusiastic historian of the republic. He adds that “more than a
hundred thousand men flocked out to receive the Spaniards; a thing
that appears impossible,” _que parece cosa imposible_! It does indeed.
Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.
[171] Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 11.--Rel.
Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 59.--Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala,
MS.--Gomara, Crónica, cap. 54.--Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 6,
cap. 11.
[172] “La qual ciudad es tan grande, y de tanta admiracion, que aunque
mucho de lo, que de ella podria decir, dexe, lo poco que diré creo es
casi increible, porque es muy mayor que Granada, y muy mas fuerte, y de
tan buenos Edificios, y de muy murcha mas gente, que Granada tenia al
tiempo que se ganó.” Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 58.
[173] “En las Ruinas, que aun hoy se vén en Tlaxcala, se conoce, que no
es ponderacion.” Rel. Seg. de Cortés, p. 58. Nota del editor, Lorenzana.
[174] “Nullum est fictile vas apud nos, quod arte superet ab illis vasa
formata.” Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 2.
[175] Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.--Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap.
Lorenzana, p. 59.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap.
4.--Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83.--The last historian
enumerates such a number of contemporary Indian authorities for his
narrative as of itself argues no inconsiderable degree of civilization
in the people.
[176] Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 12.--The population
of a place which Cortés could compare with Granada had dwindled by the
beginning of the present century to 3400 inhabitants, of whom less than
a thousand were of the Indian stock. See Humboldt, Essai politique,
tom. ii. p. 158.
[177] Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 11.--Camargo,
Hist. de Tlascala, MS.--Gomara, Crónica, cap. 54, 55.--Herrera, Hist.
general, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 13.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista,
cap. 75.
[178] Camargo notices this elastic property in the religions of
Anahuac: “Este modo de hablar y decir que les querrá dar otro Dios, es
saber que cuando estas gentes tenian noticia de algun Dios de buenas
propiedades y costumbres, que le rescibiesen admitiéndole por tal,
porque otras gentes advenedizas trujéron muchos ídolos que tubiéron
por Dioses, y á este fin y propósito decian, que Cortés les traia otro
Dios.” Hist. de Tlascala, MS.
[179] Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 84.--Gomara, Crónica,
cap. 56.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 76, 77.--This
is not the account of Camargo. According to him, Cortés gained his
point: the nobles led the way by embracing Christianity, and the
idols were broken. (Hist. de Tlascala, MS.) But Camargo was himself
a Christianized Indian, who lived in the next generation after the
Conquest, and may very likely have felt as much desire to relieve his
nation from the reproach of infidelity as a modern Spaniard would to
scour out the stain--_mala raza y mancha_--of Jewish or Moorish lineage
from his escutcheon.
[180] The miracle is reported by Herrera (Hist. general, dec. 2, lib.
6, cap. 15), and _believed_ by Solís. Conquista de Méjico, lib. 3, cap.
5.
[181] To avoid the perplexity of selection, it was common for the
missionary to give the same names to all the Indians baptized on the
same day. Thus, one day was set apart for the Johns, another for
the Peters, and so on; an ingenious arrangement, much more for the
convenience of the clergy than of the converts. See Camargo, Hist. de
Tlascala, MS.
[182] Ibid., MS.--Bernal Diaz. Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 74,
77.--According to Camargo, the Tlascalans gave the Spanish commander
three hundred damsels to wait on Marina; and the kind treatment and
instruction they received led some of the chiefs to surrender their
own daughters, “con propósito de que _si acaso_ algunas se empreñasen
quedase entre ellos generacion de hombres tan valientes y temidos.”
[183] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 80.--Rel. Seg. de
Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 60.--Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap.
2.--Cortés notices only one Aztec mission, while Diaz speaks of three.
The former, from brevity, falls so much short of the whole truth, and
the latter, from forgetfulness perhaps, goes so much beyond it, that
it is not always easy to decide between them. Diaz did not compile
his narrative till some fifty years after the Conquest; a lapse of
time which may excuse many errors, but must considerably impair our
confidence in the minute accuracy of his details. A more intimate
acquaintance with his chronicle does not strengthen this confidence.
[184] _Ante_, p. 306.
[185] “Si no viniessen, iria sobre ellos, y los destruíria, y
procederia contra ellos como contra personas rebeldes; diciéndoles,
como todas estas Partes, y otras muy mayores Tierras, y Señoríos eran
de Vuestra Alteza.” (Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 63.)
“Rebellion” was a very convenient term, fastened in like manner by the
countrymen of Cortés on the Moors for defending the possessions which
they had held for eight centuries in the Peninsula. It justified very
rigorous reprisals. (See the History of Ferdinand and Isabella, Part
I., chap. 13, et alibi.)
[186] Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 62, 63.--Oviedo, Hist.
de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 4.--Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS.,
cap. 84.--Gomara, Crónica, cap. 58.--Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap.
2.--Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 18.--Sahagun, Hist. de
Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 11.
[187] Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 67.--According to Las Casas, the
place contained 30,000 _vecinos_, or about 150,000 inhabitants.
(Brevissima Relatione della Distruttione dell’ Indie Occidentale
(Venetia, 1643)). This latter, being the smaller estimate, is _a
priori_ the more credible; especially--a rare occurrence--when in the
pages of the good Bishop of Chiapa.
[188] Humboldt, Essai politique, tom. iii. p. 159.
[189] Veytia carries back the foundation of the city to the Ulmecs, a
people who preceded the Toltecs. (Hist. antig., tom. i. cap. 13, 20.)
As the latter, after occupying the land several centuries, have left
not a single written record, probably, of their existence, it will be
hard to disprove the licentiate’s assertion,--still harder to prove it.
[190] Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 2.{*}
{*} [“We find that, according to tradition, the territory of Cholula
was, up to the year 1519, necessarily occupied by at least three
different stocks. The modes of burial, so far as ascertained, reveal
an equal number of distinct customs. The architecture, so far as it
is possible to investigate it, shows at least two separate types....
Finally we may ask if the facts, that the adobe bricks of the great
mound contain pottery and obsidian, and that skulls have been found
beneath its projecting western apron, do not hint at a still older
population, with perhaps a different style of architecture.” Bandelier,
Archæological Tour, p. 261.--M.]
[191] Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.--Gomara, Crónica, cap.
58.--Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 3, cap. 19.
[192] Veytia, Hist. antig., tom. i. cap. 15, et seq.--Sahagun, Hist. de
Nueva-España, lib. 1, cap. 5; lib. 3.
[193] Later divines have found in these teachings of the Toltec god, or
high-priest, the germs of some of the great mysteries of the Christian
faith, as those of the Incarnation, and the Trinity, for example.
[194] Such, on the whole, seems to be the judgment of M. de Humboldt,
who has examined this interesting monument with his usual care. (Vues
des Cordillères, p. 27, et seq.--Essai politique, tom. ii. p. 150,
et seq.) The opinion derives strong confirmation from the fact that
a road, cut some years since across the tumulus, laid open a large
section of it, in which the alternate layers of brick and clay are
distinctly visible. (Ibid., loc. cit.) The present appearance of
this monument, covered over with the verdure and vegetable mould of
centuries, excuses the scepticism of the more superficial traveller.
[195] Several of the pyramids of Egypt, and the ruins of Babylon,
are, as is well known, of brick. An inscription on one of the former,
indeed, celebrates this material as superior to stone. (Herodotus,
Euterpe, sec. 136.)--Humboldt furnishes an apt illustration of the size
of the Mexican _teocalli_, by comparing it to a mass of bricks covering
a square four times as large as the Place Vendôme, and of twice the
height of the Louvre. Essai politique, tom. ii. p. 152.
[196] A minute account of the costume and insignia of Quetzalcoatl is
given by Father Sahagun, who saw the Aztec gods before the arm of the
Christian convert had tumbled them from “their pride of place.” See
Hist. de Nueva-España, lib. 1, cap. 3.
[197] They came from the distance of two hundred leagues, says
Torquemada. Monarch. Ind., lib. 3, cap. 19.
[198] “Hay mucha gente pobre, y que piden entre los Ricos por las
Calles, y por las Casas, y Mercados, como hacen los Pobres en España,
y en otras partes que hay _Gente de razon_.” Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana,
pp. 67, 68.
[199] Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 3, cap. 19.--Gomara, Crónica,
cap. 61.--Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.
[200] Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 2.--Torquemada,
Monarch. Ind., ubi supra.
[201] “E certifico á Vuestra Alteza, que yo conté desde una Mezquita
quatrocientas, y tantas Torres en la dicha Ciudad, y todas son de
Mezquitas.” Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 67.
[202] The city of Puebla de los Angeles was founded by the Spaniards
soon after the Conquest, on the site of an insignificant village in the
territory of Cholula, a few miles to the east of that capital. It is,
perhaps, the most considerable city in New Spain, after Mexico itself,
which it rivals in beauty. It seems to have inherited the religious
preëminence of the ancient Cholula, being distinguished, like her, for
the number and splendor of its churches, the multitude of its clergy,
and the magnificence of its ceremonies and festivals. These are fully
displayed in the pages of travellers who have passed through the place
on the usual route from Vera Cruz to the capital. (See, in particular,
Bullock’s Mexico, vol. i. chap. 6.) The environs of Cholula, still
irrigated as in the days of the Aztecs, are equally remarkable for
the fruitfulness of the soil. The best wheat-lands, according to a
very respectable authority, yield in the proportion of eighty for one.
Ward’s Mexico, vol. ii. p. 270.--See, also, Humboldt, Essai politique,
tom. ii. p. 158; tom. iv. p. 330.
[203] According to Cortés, a hundred thousand men offered their
services on this occasion! “And although I forbade it, and requested
that they would not go, since there was no necessity for it, yet I was
followed by as many as a hundred thousand men well fitted for war, who
came with me to the distance of nearly two leagues from the city, and
then through my pressing importunities were induced to return, with the
exception of five or six thousand, who continued in my company.” (Rel.
Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 64.) This, which must have been nearly the
whole fighting force of the republic, does not startle Oviedo (Hist. de
las Ind., MS., cap. 4) nor Gomara, Crónica, cap. 58.
[204] The words of the _Conquistador_ are yet stronger. “There is not
a _hand’s-breadth_ of land that is not cultivated.” Rel. Seg., ap.
Lorenzana, p. 67.
[205] “All the inhabitants of rank wear, besides their other clothing,
_albornoces_, differing from those of Africa inasmuch as they have
pockets, but very similar in form, in material, and in the bordering.”
Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 67.
[206] Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 67.--Ixtlilxochitl,
Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 84.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33,
cap. 4.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 82.--The Spaniards
compared Cholula to the beautiful Valladolid, according to Herrera,
whose description of the entry is very animated: “Saliéronle otro dia
á recibir mas de diez mil ciudadanos en diversas tropas, con rosas,
flores, pan, aves, i frutas, i mucha música. Llegaba vn esquadron
á dar la bien llegada á Hernando Cortés, i con buena órden se iba
apartando, dando lugar á que otro llegase.... En llegando á la ciudad,
que pareció mucho á los Castellanos, en el asiento, i perspectiva, á
Valladolid, salió la demas gente, quedando mui espantada de ver las
figuras, talles, i armas de los Castellanos. Saliéron los sacerdotes
con vestiduras blancas, como sobrepellices, i algunas cerradas por
delante, los braços defuera, con fluecos de algodon en las orillas.
Unos llevaban figuras de ídolos en las manos, otros sahumerios;
otros tocaban cornetas, atabalejos, i diversas músicas, i todos iban
cantando, i llegaban á encensar á los Castellanos. Con esta pompa
entráron en Chulula.” Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 1.
[207] Cortés, indeed, noticed these same alarming appearances on
his entering the city, thus suggesting the idea of a premeditated
treachery. “On the road we noticed many indications such as the natives
of this province had told us of; for we found the royal road barred
up and another opened, and some holes dug,--though not many,--and
some of the streets of the city barricadoed, and many stones upon the
roofs; which put us more upon our guard and caused us to exercise great
caution.” Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 64.
[208] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 83.--Gomara, Crónica,
cap. 59.--Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 65.--Torquemada,
Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 39.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib.
83, cap. 4.--Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 2.--Herrera, Hist.
general, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 1.--Argensola, Anales, lib. 1, cap. 85.
[209] “Las horas de la noche las regulaban por las estrellas, y tocaban
los ministros del templo que estaban destinados para este fin, ciertos
instrumentos como vocinas, con que hacian conocer al pueblo el tiempo.”
Gama, Descripcion, Parte 1, p. 14.
[210] “Usáron los de Tlaxcalla de un aviso muy bueno y les dió Hernando
Cortés porque fueran conocidos y no morir entre los enemigos por
yerro, porque sus armas y divisas eran casi de una manera; ... y ansí
se pusiéron en las cabezas unas guirnaldas de esparto á manera de
torzales, y con esto eran conocidos los de nuestra parcialidad que no
fué pequeño aviso.” Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.
[211] Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind.,
MS., lib. 33, cap. 4, 45.--Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap.
40.--Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 84.--Gomara, Crónica, cap.
60.
[212] “They killed nearly six thousand persons, but touched neither
women nor children, for so it had been ordered.” Herrera, Hist.
general, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 2.
[213] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 83.--Ixtlilxochitl,
Hist. Chich., MS., ubi supra.
[214] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 83.--The descendants
of the principal Cholulan cacique are living at this day in Puebla,
according to Bustamante. See Gomara, Crónica, trad. de Chimalpain
(México, 1820), tom. i. p. 98, nota.
[215] Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 66.--Camargo, Hist. de
Tlascala, MS.--Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 84.--Oviedo,
Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 4, 45.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de
la Conquista, cap. 83.--Gomara, Crónica, cap. 60.--Sahagun, Hist.
de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 11.--Las Casas, in his printed
treatise on the Destruction of the Indies, garnishes his account
of these transactions with some additional and rather startling
particulars. According to him, Cortés caused a hundred or more of the
caciques to be impaled or roasted at the stake! He adds the report
that, while the massacre in the court-yard was going on, the Spanish
general repeated a scrap of an old _romance_, describing Nero as
rejoicing over the burning ruins of Rome:
“Mira Nero de Tarpeya,
A Roma como se ardia.
Gritos dan ninos y viejos,
Y él de nada se dolia.”
(Brevísima Relacion, p. 46.)
This is the first instance, I suspect, on record of any person being
ambitious of finding a parallel for himself in that emperor! Bernal
Diaz, who had seen “the interminable narrative,” as he calls it, of Las
Casas, treats it with great contempt. His own version--one of those
chiefly followed in the text--was corroborated by the report of the
missionaries, who after the Conquest, visited Cholula, and investigated
the affair with the aid of the priests and several old survivors who
had witnessed it. It is confirmed in its substantial details by the
other contemporary accounts. The excellent Bishop of Chiapa wrote with
the avowed object of moving the sympathies of his countrymen in behalf
of the oppressed natives; a generous object, certainly, but one that
has too often warped his judgment from the strict line of historic
impartiality. He was not an eye-witness of the transactions in New
Spain, and was much too willing to receive whatever would make for
his case, and to “over-red,” if I may so say, his argument with such
details of blood and slaughter as, from their very extravagance, carry
their own refutation with them.
[216] For an illustration of the above remark the reader is referred to
the closing pages of chap. 7, Part II., of the “History of Ferdinand
and Isabella,” where I have taken some pains to show how deep-settled
were these convictions in Spain at the period with which we are now
occupied. The world has gained little in liberality since the age of
Dante, who could coolly dispose of the great and good of antiquity in
one of the circles of Hell because--no fault of theirs, certainly--they
had come into the world too soon. The memorable verses, like many
others of the immortal bard, are a proof at once of the strength and
weakness of the human understanding. They may be cited as a fair
exponent of the popular feeling at the beginning of the sixteenth
century:
“Ch’ ei non peccaro, e, s’egli hanno mercedi,
Non basta, perchè _non ebber battesmo_,
Ch’ è parte della fede che tu credi.
E, se furon dinanzi al Cristianesmo,
Non adorar debitamente Dio;
E di questi cotai son io medesmo
Per tai difetti, e non per altro rio,
Semo perduti, e sol di tanto offesi
Che sanza speme vivemo in disio.”
INFERNO, canto 4.
[217] It is in the same spirit that the laws of Oleron, the maritime
code of so high authority in the Middle Ages, abandon the property of
the infidel, in common with that of pirates, as fair spoil to the true
believer! “S’ilz sont pyrates, pilleurs, ou escumeurs de mer, ou Tures,
_et autres contraires et ennemis de nostredicte foy catholicque_,
chascun peut prendre sur telles manieres de gens, _comme sur chiens,
si peut l’on les desrobber et spoiler de leurs biens sans pugnition_.
C’est le jugement.” Jugemens d’Oleron, Art. 45, ap. Collection de Lois
maritimes, par J. M. Pardessus (ed. Paris, 1828), tom. i. p. 351.
[218] The famous bull of partition became the basis of the treaty
of Tordesillas, by which the Castilian and Portuguese governments
determined the boundary line of their respective discoveries; a line
that secured the vast empire of Brazil to the latter, which from
priority of occupation should have belonged to their rivals. See the
“History of Ferdinand and Isabella,” Part I. chap. 18; Part II. chap.
9,--the closing pages of each.
[219] It is the condition, unequivocally expressed and reiterated,
on which Alexander VI., in his famous bulls of May 3d and 4th, 1493,
conveys to Ferdinand and Isabella full and absolute right over all
such territories in the Western World as may not have been previously
occupied by Christian princes. See these precious documents _in
extenso_, apud Navarrete, Coleccion de los Viages y Descubrimientos
(Madrid, 1825), tom. ii. Nos. 17, 18.
[220] The ground on which Protestant nations assert a natural right to
the fruits of their discoveries in the New World is very different.
They consider that the earth was intended for cultivation, and that
Providence never designed that hordes of wandering savages should
hold a territory far more than necessary for their own maintenance,
to the exclusion of civilized man. Yet it may be thought, as far
as improvement of the soil is concerned, that this argument would
afford us but an indifferent tenure for much of our own unoccupied
and uncultivated territory, far exceeding what is demanded for our
present or prospective support. As to a right founded on difference
of civilization, this is obviously a still more uncertain criterion.
It is to the credit of our Puritan ancestors that they did not avail
themselves of any such interpretation of the law of nature, and
still less relied on the powers conceded by King James’s patent,
asserting rights as absolute, nearly, as those claimed by the Roman
See. On the contrary, they established their title to the soil by
fair purchase of the aborigines; thus forming an honorable contrast
to the policy pursued by too many of the settlers on the American
continents. It should be remarked that, whatever difference of
opinion may have subsisted between the Roman Catholic--or rather the
Spanish and Portuguese--nations and the rest of Europe, in regard
to the true foundation of their titles in a moral view, they have
always been content, in their controversies with one another, to rest
them exclusively on priority of discovery. For a brief view of the
discussion, see Vattel (Droit des Gens, sec. 209), and especially
Kent (Commentaries on American Law, vol. iii. lec. 51), where it is
handled with much perspicuity and eloquence. The argument, as founded
on the law of nations, may be found in the celebrated case of Johnson
v. McIntosh. (Wheaton, Reports of Cases in the Supreme Court of the
United States, vol. iii. p. 543, et seq.) If it were not treating a
grave discussion too lightly, I should crave leave to refer the reader
to the renowned Diedrich Knickerbocker’s History of New York (book 1,
chap. 5) for a luminous disquisition on this knotty question. At all
events, he will find there the popular arguments subjected to the test
of ridicule; a test showing, more than any reasoning can, how much, or
rather how little, they are really worth.
[221] _Los Dioses blancos._--Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala,
MS.--Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 40.
[222] Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 11.--In an
old Aztec harangue, made as a matter of form on the accession of a
prince, we find the following remarkable prediction: “Perhaps ye are
dismayed at the prospect of the terrible calamities that are one day
to overwhelm us, calamities foreseen and foretold, though not felt,
by our fathers!... when the destruction and desolation of the empire
shall come, when all shall be plunged in darkness, when the hour shall
arrive in which they shall make us slaves throughout the land, and we
shall be condemned to the lowest and most degrading offices!” (Ibid.,
lib. 6, cap. 16.) This random shot of prophecy, which I have rendered
literally, shows how strong and settled was the apprehension of some
impending revolution.
[223] Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 3.
[224] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 83.
[225] Veytia, Hist. antig., tom. i. cap. 13.
[226] Humboldt, Vues des Cordillères, p. 32.
[227] Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 69.--Gomara, Crónica, cap.
63.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 5.--Ixtlilxochitl,
Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 84.
[228] The language of the text may appear somewhat too unqualified,
considering that three Aztec codices exist with interpretations. (See
_ante_, vol. i. pp. 117-119.) But they contain very few and general
allusions to Montezuma, and these strained through commentaries of
Spanish monks, oftentimes manifestly irreconcilable with the genuine
Aztec notions. Even such writers as Ixtlilxochitl and Camargo,
from whom, considering their Indian descent, we might expect more
independence, seem less solicitous to show this, than their loyalty to
the new faith and country of their adoption. Perhaps the most honest
Aztec record of the period is to be obtained from the volumes, the
twelfth book particularly, of Father Sahagun, embodying the traditions
of the natives soon after the Conquest. This portion of his great
work was rewritten by its author, and considerable changes were made
in it, at a later period of his life. Yet it may be doubted if the
reformed version reflects the traditions of the country as faithfully
as the original, which is still in manuscript, and which I have chiefly
followed.
[229] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 84, 85.--Rel. Seg. de
Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 67.--Gomara, Crónica, cap. 60.--Oviedo, Hist.
de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 5.
[230] “We walked,” says Diaz, in the homely but expressive Spanish
proverb, “with our beards over our shoulders”--_la barba sobre el
ombro_. Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 86.
[231] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 86.--Rel. Seg. de
Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 70.--Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap.
41.
[232] “Llamaban al volcan Popocatépetl, y á la sierra nevada
Iztaccihuatl, que quiere decir la sierra que humea, y la blanca muger.”
Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.
[233] “La Sierra nevada y el volcan los tenian por Dioses; y que el
volcan y la Sierra nevada eran marido y muger.” Ibid., MS.
[234] Gomara, Crónica, cap. 62.
“Ætna Giganteos nunquam tacitura triumphos,
Enceladi bustum, qui saucia terga revinctus
Spirat inexhaustum flagranti pectore sulphur.”
CLAUDIAN, De Rapt. Pros., lib. 1, v. 152.
[235] The old Spanish called any lofty mountain by that name, though
never having given signs of combustion. Thus, Chimborazo was called
a _volcan de nieve_, or “snow volcano” (Humboldt, Essai politique,
tom. i. p. 162); and that enterprising traveller, Stephens, notices
the _volcan de agua_, “water volcano,” in the neighborhood of Antigua
Guatemala. Incidents of Travel in Chiapas, Central America, and Yucatan
(New York, 1841), vol. i. chap. 13.
[236] Mont Blanc, according to M. de Saussure, is 15,670 feet high. For
the estimate of Popocatepetl, see an elaborate communication in the
“Revista Mexicana,” tom. ii. No. 4.
[237] Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 70.--Oviedo, Hist. de las
Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 5.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap.
78.--The latter writer speaks of the ascent as made when the army lay
at Tlascala, and of the attempt as perfectly successful. The general’s
letter, written soon after the event, with no motive for misstatement,
is the better authority. See, also, Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2,
lib. 6, cap. 18.--Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. p.
308.--Gomara, Crónica, cap. 62.
[238] [Montaño’s family remained in Mexico after the Conquest, and his
daughter received a pension from the government. Alaman, Disertaciones
históricas, tom. i. apénd. 2.]
[239] Rel. Ter. y Quarta de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 318,
380.--Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 3, cap. 1.--Oviedo, Hist.
de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 41.--M. de Humboldt doubts the fact
of Montaño’s descent into the crater, thinking it more probable that
he obtained the sulphur through some lateral crevice in the mountain.
(Essai politique, tom. i. p. 164.){*} No attempt--at least, no
successful one--was made to gain the summit of Popocatepetl, since this
of Montaño, till the present century. In 1827 it was reached in two
expeditions, and again in 1833 and 1834. A very full account of the
last, containing many interesting details and scientific observations,
was written by Federico de Gerolt, one of the party, and published in
the periodical already referred to. (Revista Mexicana, tom. i. pp.
461-482.) The party from the topmost peak, which commanded a full view
of the less elevated Iztaccihuatl, saw no vestige of a crater in that
mountain, contrary to the opinion usually received.
{*} [There would seem to have been no grounds for the doubt expressed
by Humboldt, as the sulphur is now nearly exhausted, having been
regularly collected by Indian laborers, lowered into the crater by
means of a rope of hide attached to a windlass. Tylor, Anahuac, p.
269.--K.]
[240] Humboldt, Essai politique, tom. iv. p. 17.
[241] The lake of Tezcuco, on which stood the capital of Mexico,
is 2277 metres--nearly 7500 feet--above the sea. Humboldt, Essai
politique, tom. ii. p. 45.
[242] It is unnecessary to refer to the pages of modern travellers,
who, however they may differ in taste, talent, or feeling, all concur
in the impressions produced on them by the sight of this beautiful
valley.{*}
{*} [Modern civilization has, according to Bandelier, made Mexico much
more beautiful than it was in the days of Montezuma. He says, “The city
of Mexico, with its domes and spires glistening in the noonday sun, is
certainly a finer sight than was the old pueblo, resting on the dull
waters of the lagune, like an adobe patch, surmounted by the clumsy
mounds of worship.” He forgets, however, that the adobe was plastered
over with gypsum, and that “the walls were so well whitened, polished,
and shining that they appeared to the Spaniards when at a distance to
have been silver.” Clavigero, Mexico, ii. p. 232.--M.]
[243] Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 41.--It may call to the
reader’s mind the memorable view of the fair plains of Italy which
Hannibal displayed to his hungry barbarians after a similar march
through the wild passes of the Alps, as reported by the prince of
historic painters. Livy, Hist., lib. 21, cap. 35.
[244] Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., ubi supra.--Herrera, Hist. general,
dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 3.--Gomara, Crónica, cap. 64.--Oviedo, Hist. de
las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 5.
[245] A load for a Mexican _tamane_ was about fifty pounds, or eight
hundred ounces. Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 69, nota.
[246] Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 12.--Rel. Seg.
de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 73.--Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib.
7, cap. 3.--Gomara, Crónica, cap. 64.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS.,
lib. 33, cap. 5.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 87.
[247] This was not the sentiment of the Roman hero:
“Victrix causa Diis placuit, sed victa Catoni!”
LUCAN, lib. 1, v. 128.
[248] Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap.
13.--Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 44.--Gomara, Crónica, cap.
63.
[249] “El señor de esta provincia y pueblo me dió hasta quarenta
esclavas, y tres mil castellanos; y dos dias que allí estuve nos
proveyó muy cumplidamente de todo lo necesario para nuestra comida.”
Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 74.
[250] “De todas partes era infinita la gente que de un cabo é de otro
concurrian á mirar á los Españoles, é maravillábanse mucho de los ver.
Tenian grande espacio é atención en mirar los caballos; decian, ‘Estos
son Teules,’ que quiere decir Demonios.” Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind.,
MS., lib. 33, cap. 45.
[251] Cortés tells the affair coolly enough to the emperor. “And that
night I kept such guard that of the spies--as well those who came
across the water in canoes as those who descended from the sierra to
watch for an opportunity of accomplishing their design--fifteen or
twenty were discovered in the morning that had been killed by our men;
so that few returned with the information they had come to get.” Rel.
Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 74.{*}
{*} [Cortés cannot be blamed for adopting such precautions as any good
general would have thought it culpable to neglect; while his repeated
warnings to the natives not to approach the camp after sunset show his
anxiety to impress them with a sense of the danger. “Sabed,” he said
to the chiefs, “que estos que conmigo vienen no duermen de noche, é si
duermen es un poco cuando es de dia; é de noche están con sus armas,
é cualquiera que ven que anda en pié ó entra do ellos están, luego lo
matan; é yo no basto á lo resistir; por tanto, haceldo así saber á toda
vuestra gente, é decildes que despues de puesto el sol ninguna venga
do estamos, porque morirá, _é á mí me pesará de los que murieren_.”
Relacion hecha por el Señor Andrés de Tápia sobre la Conquista de
México.--K.]
[252] Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 75.--Gomara, Crónica, cap.
64.--Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 85.--Oviedo, Hist. de las
Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 5.--“We esteemed it a great matter, and said
amongst ourselves, If this cacique appeared in such state, what must
be that displayed by the great Montezuma?” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la
Conquista, cap. 87.
[253] “Nos quedámos admirados,” exclaims Diaz, with simple wonder, “y
deziamos que parecia á las casas de encantamento, que cuentan en el
libro de Amadis!” Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 87. An edition of this
celebrated romance in its Castilian dress had appeared before this
time, as the prologue to the second edition of 1521 speaks of a former
one in the reign of the “Catholic Sovereigns.” See Cervantes, Don
Quixote, ed. Pellicer (Madrid, 1797), tom. i., Discurso prelim.
[254] “Una ciudad, la mas hermosa, aunque pequeña, que hasta entonces
habiamos visto, assí de muy bien obradas Casas, y Torres, como de la
buena órden, que en el fundamento de ella habia por ser armada toda
sobre Agua.” (Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 76.) The Spaniards
gave this aquatic city the name of Venezuela, or Little Venice.
Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 2, cap. 4.
[255] M. de Humboldt has dotted the _conjectural_ limits of the
ancient lake in his admirable chart of the Mexican Valley. (Atlas
géographique et physique de la Nouvelle-Espagne (Paris, 1811), carte
3.) Notwithstanding his great care, it is not easy always to reconcile
his topography with the itineraries of the Conquerors, so much has the
face of the country been changed by natural and artificial causes. It
is still less possible to reconcile their narratives with the maps of
Clavigero, Lopez, Robertson, and others, defying equally topography and
history.
[256] Several writers notice a visit of the Spaniards to Tezcuco on
the way to the capital. (Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap.
42.--Solís, Conquista, lib. 3, cap. 9.--Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2,
lib. 7, cap. 4.--Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 74.) This
improbable episode--which, it may be remarked, has led these authors
into some geographical perplexities, not to say blunders--is altogether
too remarkable to have been passed over in silence in the minute
relation of Bernal Diaz, and that of Cortés, neither of whom alludes to
it.
[257] “E me diéron,” says Cortés, “hasta tres, ó quatro mil
Castellanos, y algunas Esclavas, y Ropa, é me hiciéron muy buen
acogimiento.” Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 76.
[258] “Tiene el Señor de ella unas Casas nuevas, que aun no están
acabadas, que son tan buenas como las mejores de España, digo de
grandes y bien labradas.” Ibid., p. 77.
[259] The earliest instance of a Garden of Plants in Europe is said to
have been at Padua, in 1545. Carli, Lettres Américaines, tom. i. let.
21.
[260] Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ubi supra.--Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2,
lib. 7, cap. 44.--Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap.
13.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 5.--Bernal Diaz,
Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 87.
“There Aztlan stood upon the farther shore;
Amid the shade of trees its dwellings rose,
Their level roofs with turrets set around,
And battlements all burnished white, which shone
Like silver in the sunshine. I beheld
The imperial city, her far-circling walls,
Her garden groves and stately palaces,
Her temples mountain size, her thousand roofs;
And when I saw her might and majesty,
My mind misgave me then.”
SOUTHEY’S Madoc, Part 1, canto 6.
[261] [Alaman objects to my speaking of the “gray mists of morning”
in connection with the Aztec capital. “In the beginning of November,”
he says, “there is no such thing as a mist to be seen in the morning,
or indeed in any part of the day, in the Valley of Mexico, where the
weather is uncommonly bright and beautiful. The historian,” he adds,
“has confounded the climate of Mexico with that of England or the
United States.” Conquista de Méjico (trad. de Vega), tom. i. p. 337.]
[262] [A Spanish translator incorrectly renders the words “dark files”
by _indisciplinadas filas_, “undisciplined files.” Señor Alaman,
correcting, in this instance at least, the translation instead of the
original, objects to this language. We may talk, says the critic, of
the different kind of discipline peculiar to the Tlascalans, but not of
their want of discipline, a defect which can hardly be charged on the
most warlike nation of Anahuac. Conquista de Méjico (trad. de Vega),
tom. i. p. 337.]
[263] He took about 6000 warriors from Tlascala; and some few of the
Cempoallan and other Indian allies continued with him. The Spanish
force on leaving Vera Cruz amounted to about 400 foot and 15 horse.
In the remonstrance of the disaffected soldiers, after the murderous
Tlascalan combats, they speak of having lost fifty of their number
since the beginning of the campaign. _Ante_, vol. ii. p. 150.
[264] “La calzada d’Iztapalapan est fondée sur cette même digue
ancienne, sur laquelle Cortéz fit des prodiges de valeur dans ses
rencontres avec les assiégés.” (Humboldt, Essai politique, tom. ii. p.
57.) [At present the road of Tlalplan, or St. Augustine of the Caves
(San Augustin de las Cuevas). Conquista de Méjico (trad. de Vega), tom.
i. p. 338.]
[265] Among these towns were several containing from three to five
or six thousand dwellings, according to Cortés, whose barbarous
orthography in proper names will not easily be recognized by Mexican or
Spaniard. Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 78.
[266] Father Toribio Benavente does not stint his panegyric in speaking
of the neighborhood of the capital, which he saw in its glory. “Creo,
que en toda nuestra Europa hay pocas ciudades que tengan tal asiento
y tal comarca, con tantos pueblos á la redonda de sí y tan bien
asentados.” Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 7.
[267] It is not necessary, however, to adopt Herrera’s account of
50,000 canoes, which, he says, were constantly employed in supplying
the capital with provisions! (Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 14.)
The poet-chronicler Saavedra is more modest in his estimate:
“Dos mil y mas canoas cada dia
Bastecen el gran pueblo Mexicano
De la mas y la menos niñería
Que es necesario al alimento humano.”
EL PEREGRINO INDIANO, canto 11.
[268] “Usaban unos brazaletes de musaico, hechos de turquezas con unas
plumas ricas que salian de ellos, que eran mas altas que la cabeza, y
bordadas con plumas ricas y con oro, y unas bandas de oro, que subian
con las plumas.” Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, lib. 8, cap. 9.
[269] Gonzalo de las Casas, Defensa, MS., Parte 1, cap. 24.--Gomara,
Crónica, cap. 65.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap.
88.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 5.--Rel. Seg. de
Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 78, 79.--Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS.,
cap. 85.
[270] Cardinal Lorenzana says, the street intended was, probably, that
crossing the city from the Hospital of San Antonio. (Rel. Seg. de
Cortés, p. 79, nota.) This is confirmed by Sahagun. “Y así en aquel
trecho que está desde la Iglesia de San Antonio (que ellos llaman
Xuluco) que va por cave las casas de Alvarado, hácia el Hospital de la
Concepcion, salió Moctezuma á recibir de paz á D. Hernando Cortés.”
Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 16. [The present Calle del
Rastro, which continues, under different names, from the guard-house
of San Antonio Abad to the Plaza. According to an early tradition,
Montezuma and Cortés met in front of the spot where the Hospital of
Jesus now stands, and the site for the building was chosen on that
account. Conquista de Méjico (trad. de Vega), tom. i. p. 339.]
[271] Carta del Lic. Zuazo, MS.
[272] “Toda la gente que estaba en las calles se le humiliaban y hacian
profunda reverencia y grande acatamiento sin levantar los ojos á le
mirar, sino que todos estaban hasta que él era pasado, _tan inclinados
como frayles en Gloria Patri_.” Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS.,
Parte 3, cap. 7.
[273] For the preceding account of the equipage and appearance of
Montezuma, see Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 88,--Carta
de Zuazo, MS.,--Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 85,--Gomara,
Crónica, cap. 65,--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., ubi supra, et
cap. 45,--Acosta, lib. 7, cap. 22,--Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España,
MS., lib. 12, cap. 16,--Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3,
cap. 7.--The noble Castilian or rather Mexican bard, Saavedra, who
belonged to the generation after the Conquest, has introduced most of
the particulars in his rhyming chronicle. The following specimen will
probably suffice for the reader:
“Y va el gran Moteçuma atauiado
De manta açul y blanca con gran falda,
De algodon muy sutil y delicado,
Y al remate vna concha de esmeralda;
En la parte que el nudo tiene dado,
Y una tiara á modo de guirnalda,
Zapatos que de oro son las suelas
Asidos con muy ricas correhuelas.”
EL PEREGRINO INDIANO, canto 11.
[274] “Satis vultu læto,” says Martyr, “an stomacho sedatus, et an
hospites per vim quis unquam libens susceperit, experti loquantur.” De
Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 3.
[275] Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 79.
[276] “Entráron en la ciudad de Méjico á punto de guerra, tocando
los atambores, y con banderas desplegadas,” etc. Sahagun, Hist. de
Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 15.
[277] “Et giardini alti et bassi, che era cosa maravigliosa da vedere.”
Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 309.
[278] “¿Quien podrá,” exclaims the old soldier, “dezir la multitud de
hombres, y mujeres, y muchachos, que estauan en las calles, é açuteas,
y en Canoas en aquellas acequias, que nos salian á mirar? Era cosa
de notar, que agora que lo estoy escriuiendo, se me representa todo
delante de mis ojos, como si ayer fuera quando esto passó.” Hist. de la
Conquista, cap. 88.
[279] “Ad spectaculum,” says the penetrating Martyr, “tandem Hispanis
placidum, quia diu optatum, Tenustiatanis prudentibus forte aliter,
quia verentur fore, vt hi hospites quietem suam Elysiam veniant
perturbaturi; de populo secus, qui nil sentit æque delectabile, quàm
res novas ante oculos in presentiarum habere, de futuro nihil anxius.”
De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 3.
[280] The euphonious name of _Tenochtitlan_ is commonly derived
from Aztec words signifying “the _tuna_, or cactus, on a rock,” the
appearance of which, as the reader may remember, was to determine the
site of the future capital. (Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, Parte 3,
cap. 7.--Esplic. de la Coleccion de Mendoza, ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vol.
iv.) Another etymology derives the word from _Tenoch_, the name of one
of the founders of the monarchy.
[281] [“Por algunos manuscritos que he consultado é investigaciones
que he hecho, me inclino á creer, que el templo se estendia desde
la esquina de la calle de _Plateros_ y _Empedradillo_ hasta la de
_Cordobanes_; y de P. á O., desde el tercio ó cuarto de la placeta del
_Empedradillo_, hasta penetrar unas cuantas varas hácia el O., dentro
de las aceras que miran al P., y forman las calles del _Seminario_ y
del _Relox_.” Ramirez, Notas y Esclarecimientos, p. 103.]
[282] Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. iii. p. 78.--It occupied what
is now the corner of the streets “Del Indio Triste” and “Tacuba.”{*}
Humboldt, Vues des Cordillères, p. 7, et seq.
{*} [Consequently, says Alaman, it must have faced the east, not the
west gate of the Temple. Conquista de Méjico, tom. i. p. 343.--K.]
[283] Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 88.--Gonzalo de las Casas,
Defensa, MS., Parte 1, cap. 24.
[284] Boturini says, greater, by the acknowledgment of the goldsmiths
themselves. “Los plateros de Madrid, viendo algunas Piezas, y
Brazaletes de oro, con que se armaban en guerra los Reyes, y Capitanes
Indianos, confessáron, que eran inimitables en Europa.” (Idea, p.
78.) And Oviedo, speaking of their work in jewelry, remarks, “Io ví
algunas piedras jaspes, calcidonias, jacintos, corniolas, é plasmas de
esmeraldas, é otras de otras especies labradas é fechas, cabezas de
Aves, é otras hechas animales é otras figuras, que dudo haber en España
ni en Italia quien las supiera hacer con tanta perficion.” Hist. de las
Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 11.
[285] _Ante_, vol. ii. p. 175.
[286] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 88.--Rel. Seg. de
Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 80.
[287] Bernal Diaz, Ibid., loc. cit.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS.,
lib. 83, cap. 5.--Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 16.
[288] “Muchas y diversas Joyas de Oro, y Plata, y Plumajes, y con
fasta cinco ó seis mil Piezas de Ropa de Algodon muy ricas, y de
diversas maneras texida, y labrada.” (Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap.
Lorenzana, p. 80.) Even this falls short of truth, according to Diaz.
“Tenia apercebido el gran Monteçuma muy ricas joyas de oro, y de
muchas hechuras, que dió á nuestro Capitan, é assí mismo á cada vno
de nuestros Capitanes dió cositas de oro, y tres cargas de mantas de
labores ricas de pluma, y entre todos los soldados tambien nos dio á
cada vno á dos cargas de mantas, con alegría, y en todo parecia gran
señor.” (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 89.) “Sex millia vestium, aiunt
qui eas vidêre.” Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 3.
[289] Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 85.--Gomara, Crónica, cap.
66.--Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 6.--Bernal Diaz,
Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 88.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib.
33, cap. 5.
[290] “La noche siguiente jugáron la artillería por la solemnidad de
haber llegado sin daño á donde deseaban; pero los Indios como no usados
á los truenos de la artillería, mal edor de la pólvora, recibiéron
grande alteracion y miedo toda aquella noche.” Sahagun, Hist. de
Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 17.
[291] “C’est là que la famille construisit le bel édifice dans
lequel se trouvent les archives del Estado, et qui est passé avec
tout l’héritage au duc Napolitain de Monteleone.” (Humboldt, Essai
politique, tom. ii. p. 72.) The inhabitants of modern Mexico have large
obligations to this inquisitive traveller for the care he has taken to
identify the memorable localities of their capital. It is not often
that a philosophical treatise is also a good _manuel du voyageur_.
[292] [The palace of Montezuma, according to Ramirez, “occupied the
site where the national palace now stands, including that of the
university and the adjacent houses, and extending to the Plaza del
Volador, or new market-place. This was the ordinary residence of the
last Montezuma, and the place where he was actually made prisoner.”
Notas y Esclarecimientos, p. 103.]
[293] “Et io entrai più di quattro volte in una casa del gran Signor
non per altro effetto che per vederla, et ogni volta vi camminauo tanto
che mi stancauo, et mai la fini di vedere tutta.” Rel. d’un gentil’
huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 309.
[294] Gomara, Crónica, cap. 71.--Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib.
7, cap. 9.--The authorities call it “tiger,” an animal not known in
America. I have ventured to substitute the “ocelot,” _tlalocelotl_ of
Mexico, a native animal, which, being of the same family, might easily
be confounded by the Spaniards with the tiger of the Old Continent.
[295] Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 7.--Herrera,
Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 9.--Gomara, Crónica, cap.
71.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 91.--Oviedo, Hist. de las
Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 5, 46.--Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana,
pp. 111-114.
[296] “Para entrar en su palacio, á que ellos llaman Tecpa, todos se
descalzaban, y los que entraban á negociar con él habian de llevar
mantas groseras encima de si, y si eran grandes señores ó en tiempo de
frio, sobre las mantas buenas que llevaban vestidas, ponian una manta
grosera y pobre; y para hablarle, estaban muy humiliados y sin levantar
los ojos.” (Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 7.) There
is no better authority than this worthy missionary for the usages of
the ancient Aztecs, of which he had such large personal knowledge.
[297] The ludicrous effect--if the subject be not too grave to
justify the expression--of a literal belief in the doctrine of
transubstantiation in the mother-country, even at this day, is well
illustrated by Blanco White, Letters from Spain (London, 1822), let. 1.
[298] “Y en esso de la creacion del mundo assí lo tenemos nosotros
creido muchos tiempos passados.” (Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista,
cap. 90.) For some points of resemblance between the Aztec and Hebrew
traditions, see Book 1, chap. 3, and the essay on The Origin of the
Mexican Civilization, at the end of the first book of this History.
[299] “E siempre hemos tenido, que de los que de él descendiessen
habian de venir á sojuzgar esta tierra, y á nosotros como á sus
Vasallos.” Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 81.
[300] “Y luego el Monteçuma dixo riendo, porque en todo era muy
regozijado en su hablar de gran señor: Malinche, bien sé que te han
dicho essos de Tlascala, con quien tanta amistad aueis tomado, que yo
que soy como Dios, ó Teule, que quanto ay en mis casas es todo oro, é
plata, y piedras ricas.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 90.
[301] “E por tanto Vos sed cierto, que os obedecerémos, y ternémos por
señor en lugar de esse gran señor que decis, y que en ello no habia
falta, ni engaño alguno; é bien podeis en toda la tierra, digo, que en
la que yo en mi Señorío poseo, mandar á vuestra voluntad, porque será
obedecido y fecho, y todo lo que nosotros tenemos es para lo que Vos de
ello quisieredes disponer.” Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ubi supra.
[302] Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 3.--Gomara, Crónica, cap.
66.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 5.--Gonzalo de las
Casas, MS., Parte 1, cap. 24.--Cortés, in his brief notes of this
proceeding, speaks only of the interview with Montezuma in the Spanish
quarters, which he makes the scene of the preceding dialogue. Bernal
Diaz transfers this to the subsequent meeting in the palace. In the
only fact of importance, the dialogue itself, both substantially agree.
[303] “Assí nos despedímos con grandes cortesías dél, y nos fuýmos á
nuestros aposentos, é ibamos platicando de la buena manera é criança
que en todo tenia, é que nosotros en todo le tuuiessemos mucho acato,
é con las gorras de armas colchadas quitadas, quando delante dél
passassemos.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 90.
[304] “Y assí,” says Toribio de Benavente, “estaba tan fuerte esta
ciudad, que parecia no bastar poder humano para ganarla; porque ademas
de su fuerza y municion que tenia, era cabeza y Señoría de toda la
tierra, y el Señor de ella (Moteczuma) gloriábase en su silla y en la
fortaleza de su ciudad, y en la muchedumbre de sus vassallos.” Hist. de
los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 8.
[305] “Many are of opinion,” says Father Acosta, “that, if the
Spaniards had continued the course they began, they might easily have
disposed of Montezuma and his kingdom, and introduced the law of
Christ, without much bloodshed.” Lib. 7, cap. 25.
[306] The lake, it seems, had perceptibly shrunk before the Conquest,
from the testimony of Motolinia, who entered the country soon after.
Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 6.
[307] Humboldt, Essai politique, tom. ii. p. 95.--Cortés supposed
there were regular tides in this lake. (Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p.
101.) This sorely puzzles the learned Martyr (De Orbe Novo, dec. 5,
cap. 3); as it has more than one philosopher since, whom it has led to
speculate on a subterraneous communication with the ocean! What the
general called “tides” was probably the periodical swells caused by the
prevalence of certain regular winds.
[308] Humboldt has given a minute account of this tunnel, which he
pronounces one of the most stupendous hydraulic works in existence,
and the completion of which, in its present form, does not date
earlier than the latter part of the eighteenth century. See his Essai
politique, tom. ii. p. 105, et seq.
[309] Humboldt, Essai politique, tom. ii. p. 87, et seq.--Clavigero,
Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 153.
[310] Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 8.--Cortés,
indeed, speaks of four causeways. (Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 102.)
He may have reckoned an arm of the southern one leading to Cojohuacan,
or possibly the great aqueduct of Chapoltepec.
[311] _Ante_, vol. i. p. 23.
[312] Martyr gives a particular account of these dwellings, which shows
that even the poorer classes were comfortably lodged. “Populares vero
domus cingulo virili tenus lapideæ sunt et ipsæ, ob lacunæ incrementum
per fluxum aut fluviorum in ea labentium alluvies. Super fundamentis
illis magnis, lateribus tum coctis, tum æstivo sole siccatis, immixtis
trabibus reliquam molem construunt; uno sunt communes domus contentæ
tabulato. In solo parum hospitantur propter humiditatem, tecta non
tegulis sed bitumine quodam terreo vestiunt; ad solem captandum
commodior est ille modus, breviore tempore consumi debere credendum
est.” De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 10.
[313] Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 8.--Rel. Seg. de
Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 108.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib.
33, cap. 10, 11.--Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol.
309.
[314] Martyr was struck with the resemblance. “Uti de illustrissima
civitate Venetiarum legitur, ad tumulum in ea sinus Adriatici parte
visum, fuisse constructam.” Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 10.
[315] May we not apply, without much violence, to the Aztec capital,
Giovanni della Casa’s spirited sonnet, contrasting the origin of Venice
with its meridian glory?
“Questi Palazzi e queste logge or colte
D’ostro, di marmo e di figure elette,
Fur poche e basse case insieme accolte
Deserti lidi e povere Isolette.
Ma genti ardite d’ogni vizio sciolte
Premeano il mar con picciole barchette,
Che qui non per domar provincie molte,
Ma fuggir servitù s’ eran ristrette
Non era ambizion ne’ petti loro;
Ma ’l mentire abborrian più che la morte,
Nè vi regnava ingorda fame d’oro.
Se ’l Ciel v’ ha dato piu beata sorte,
Non sien quelle virtù che tanto onoro,
Dalle nuove ricchezze oppresse e morte.”
[316] “Le lac de Tezcuco n’a généralement que trois à cinq mètres de
profondeur. Dans quelques endroits le fond se trouve même déjà à moins
d’un mètre.” Humboldt, Essai politique, tom. ii. p. 49.
[317] “Y cada dia entran gran multitud de Indios cargados de
bastimentos y tributos, así por tierra como por agua, en acales ó
barcas, que _en lengua de las Islas llaman Canoas_.” Toribio, Hist. de
los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 6.
[318] “Esta la cibdad de Méjico ó _Teneztutan_, que será de sesenta
mil vecinos.” (Carta del Lic. Zuazo, MS.) “Tenustitanam ipsam inquiunt
sexaginta circiter esse millium domorum.” (Martyr, De Orbe Novo,
dec. 5, cap. 3.) “Era Méjico, quando Cortés entró, pueblo de sesenta
mil casas.” (Gomara, Crónica, cap. 78.) Toribio says, vaguely, “Los
moradores y gente era innumerable.” (Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte
3, cap. 8.) The Italian translation of the “Anonymous Conqueror,”
who survives only in translation, says, indeed, “meglio di sessanta
mila _habitatori_” (Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii.
fol. 309); owing, probably, to a blunder in rendering the word
_vecinos_, the ordinary term in Spanish statistics, which, signifying
_householders_, corresponds with the Italian _fuochi_. See, also,
Clavigero. (Stor. del Messico, tom. iii. p. 86, nota.) Robertson rests
_exclusively_ on this Italian translation for his estimate. (History
of America, vol. ii. p. 281.) He cites, indeed, two other authorities
in the same connection; Cortés, who says nothing of the population,
and Herrera, who confirms the popular statement of “sesenta mil
casas.” (Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 13.) The fact is of some
importance.
[319] “In the smallest houses, with few exceptions, two, four, and even
six families resided together.” Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 7,
cap. 13.
[320] Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 309.
[321] “C’est sur le chemin qui mène a Tanepantla et aux Ahuahuetes
que l’on peut marcher plus d’une heure entre les ruines de l’ancienne
ville. On y reconnaît, ainsi que sur la route de Tacuba et
d’Iztapalapan, combien Mexico, rebâti par Cortéz, est plus petit que
l’était Tenochtitlan sous le dernier des Montezuma. L’énorme grandeur
du marché de Tlatelolco, dont on reconnaît encore les limites, prouve
combien la population de l’ancienne ville doit avoir été considerable.”
Humboldt, Essai politique, tom. ii. p. 43.
[322] A common food with the lower classes was a glutinous scum found
in the lakes, which they made into a sort of cake, having a savor not
unlike cheese. (Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 92.)--[This
“scum” consists in fact of the eggs of aquatic insects, with which
cakes are made, in the same manner as with the spawn of fishes.
Conquista de Méjico (trad. de Vega), tom. i. p. 366.{*}]
{*} [Little can be inferred, in regard to the difference of population,
from the use of the _ahuähutle_, as these cakes are called, since it
is still a favorite article of food at Tezcuco, where the eggs are
found in great abundance, and sold in the market both in the prepared
state and in lumps as collected at the edge of the lake. “The flies
which produce these eggs are called by the Mexicans _axayacatl_,
or _water-face_,--_Corixa femorata_, and _Notonecta unifasciata_,
according to MM. Meneville and Virlet d’Aoust.” Tylor, Anahuac, p.
156.--K.]
[323] One is confirmed in this inference by comparing the two maps at
the end of the first edition of Bullock’s “Mexico;” one of the modern
city, the other of the ancient, taken from Boturini’s museum, and
showing its regular arrangement of streets and canals; as regular,
indeed, as the squares on a chess-board.{**}
{**} [The doubts so often excited by the descriptions of ancient
Mexico in the accounts of the Spanish discoverers, like the similar
incredulity formerly entertained in regard to the narrations of
Herodotus, are dispelled by a critical investigation in conjunction
with the results of modern explorations. Among recent travellers, Mr.
Edward B. Tylor, whose learning and acumen have been displayed in
various ethnological studies, is entitled to especial confidence. In
company with Mr. Christy, the well-known collector, he examined the
ploughed fields in the neighborhood of Mexico, making repeated trials
whether it was possible to stand in any spot where no relic of the
former population was within reach. “But this,” he says, “we could not
do. Everywhere the ground was full of unglazed pottery and obsidian.”
“We noticed by the sides of the road, and where ditches had been cut,
numbers of old Mexican stone floors covered with stucco. The earth
has accumulated above them to the depth of two or three feet, so that
their position is like that of the Roman pavements so often found in
Europe; and we may guess, from what we saw exposed, how great must be
the number of such remains still hidden, and how vast a population must
once have inhabited this plain, now almost deserted.” “When we left
England,” he adds, “we both doubted the accounts of the historians
of the Conquest, believing that they had exaggerated the numbers of
the population, and the size of the cities, from a natural desire to
make the most of their victories, and to write as wonderful a history
as they could, as historians are prone to do. But our examination of
Mexican remains soon induced us to withdraw this accusation, and even
made us inclined to blame the chroniclers for having had no eyes for
the wonderful things that surrounded them. I do not mean by this that
we felt inclined to swallow the monstrous exaggeration of Solís and
Gomara and other Spanish chroniclers, who seemed to think that it
was as easy to say a thousand as a hundred, and that it sounded much
better. But when this class of writers are set aside, and the more
valuable authorities severely criticised, it does not seem to us that
the history thus extracted from these sources is much less reliable
than European history of the same period. There is, perhaps, no better
way of expressing this opinion than to say that what we saw of Mexico
tended generally to confirm Prescott’s History of the Conquest, and but
seldom to make his statements appear to us improbable.” Anahuac, p.
147.--K.]
[324] Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. i. p. 274.
[325] “Era tan barrido y el suelo tan asentado y liso, que aunque la
planta del pie fuera tan delicada como la de la mano no recibiera
el pie detrimento ninguno en andar descalzo.” Toribio, Hist. de los
Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 7.
[326] Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 108.--Carta del Lic.
Zuazo, MS.--Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 309.
[327] These immense masses, according to Martyr, who gathered his
information from eye-witnesses, were transported by means of long files
of men, who dragged them with ropes over huge wooden rollers. (De
Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 10.) It was the manner in which the Egyptians
removed their enormous blocks of granite, as appears from numerous
reliefs sculptured on their buildings.
[328] Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 309.
[329] “Ricos edificios,” says the Licentiate Zuazo, speaking of the
buildings in Anahuac generally, “ecepto que no se halla alguno con
_bóveda_.” (Carta, MS.) The writer made large and careful observation,
the year after the Conquest. His assertion, if it be received, will
settle a question much mooted among antiquaries.
[330] “His residence within the city was so marvellous for its beauty
and vastness that it seems to me almost impossible to describe it. I
shall therefore say no more of it than that there is nothing like it in
Spain.” Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 111.
[331] Herrera’s account of these feathered insects, if one may so style
them, shows the fanciful errors into which even men of science were led
in regard to the new tribes of animals discovered in America: “There
are some birds in the country of the size of butterflies, with long
beaks, brilliant plumage, much esteemed for the curious works made of
them. Like the bees, they live on flowers, and the dew which settles on
them; and when the rainy season is over, and the dry weather sets in,
they fasten themselves to the trees by their beaks and soon die. But in
the following year, when the new rains come, they come to life again”!
Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 10, cap. 21.
[332] “Pues mas tenian,” says the honest Captain Diaz, “en aquella
maldita casa muchas Víboras, y Culebras emponçoñadas, que traen en las
colas vnos que suenan como cascabeles; estas son las peores Víboras de
todas.” Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 91.
[333] “Digamos aora,” exclaims Captain Diaz, “las cosas infernales que
hazian, quando bramauan los Tigres y Leones, y aullauan los Adiues y
Zorros, y silbauan las Sierpes, era grima oirlo, y parecia infierno.”
Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 91.
[334] Ibid., ubi supra.--Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp.
111-113.--Carta del Lic. Zuazo, MS.--Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS.,
Parte 3, cap. 7.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 11, 46.
[335] Montezuma, according to Gomara, would allow no fruit-trees,
considering them as unsuitable to pleasure-grounds. (Crónica, cap.
75.) Toribio says, to the same effect, “Los Indios Señores no procuran
árboles de fruta, porque se la traen sus vasallos, sino árboles de
floresta, de donde cojan rosas, y adonde se crian aves, así para gozar
del canto, como para las tirar con Cerbatana, de la cual son grandes
tiradores.” Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 6.
[336] Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 6.--Rel. Seg. de
Cortés, ubi supra.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 11.
[337] [It is used at the present day for a military school. Conquista
de Méjico (trad. de Vega), tom. i. p. 370.]
[338] Gomara, a competent critic, who saw them just before their
destruction, praises their execution. Gama, Descripcion, Parte 2, pp.
81-83.--Also, _ante_, vol. i. p. 157.
[339] [Yet the whole of this beautiful grove was not spared. The axes
of the Conquerors levelled such of the trees as grew round the fountain
of Chapoltepec and dropped their decayed leaves into its waters. The
order of the municipality, dated February 28, 1527, is quoted by
Alaman, Disertaciones históricas, tom. ii. p. 290.]
[340] No less than one thousand, if we believe Gomara; who adds the
edifying intelligence, “que huvo vez, que tuvo ciento i cincuenta
preñadas á un tiempo!”
[341] “Vestíase todos los dias quatro maneras de vestiduras todas
nuevas, y nunca mas se las vestia otra vez.” Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap.
Lorenzana, p. 114.
[342] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 91.--Gomara, Crónica,
cap. 67, 71, 76.--Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 113,
114.--Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 7.--“Á la puerta
de la sala estaba vn patio mui grande en que habia cien aposentos de 25
ó 30 pies de largo cada vno sobre sí en torno de dicho patio, é allí
estaban los Señores principales aposentados como guardas del palacio
ordinarias, y estos tales aposentos se llaman galpones, los quales á
la contina ocupan mas de 600 hombres, que jamas se quitaban de allí,
é cada vno de aquellos tenian mas de 30 servidores de manera que á lo
menos nunca faltaban 3000 hombres de guerra en esta guarda cotediana
del palacio.” (Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 46.) A
very curious and full account of Montezuma’s household is given by
this author, as he gathered it from the Spaniards who saw it in its
splendor. As Oviedo’s history still remains in manuscript, I have
transferred the chapter in the original Castilian to Appendix, No. 10.
[343] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 91.--Rel. Seg. de
Cortés, ubi supra.
[344] “Y porque la Tierra es fria trahian debaxo de cada plato y
escudilla de manjar un braserico con brasa, porque no se enfriasse.”
Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 113.
[345] Bernal Diaz has given us a few items of the royal _carte_. The
first cover is rather a startling one, being a fricassee or stew of
little children! “_carnes de muchachos de poca edad_.”{*} He admits,
however, that this is somewhat apocryphal. Ibid., ubi supra.
{*} [The story of Bernal Diaz is not at all improbable. Young children
were frequently sacrificed in order to obtain the auspices. As the
flesh of human victims was always eaten, it goes without saying that
“dishes of tender children” must have appeared at times upon the
tables. Bancroft (Native Races, vol. ii. p. 176, Note) explains that
Torquemada (Monarq. Ind.) “regrets that certain persons, out of the
ill-will they bore the Mexicans, have falsely imputed to Montezuma the
crime of eating human flesh, _without its being well seasoned_, but
he admits that when properly cooked and disguised, the flesh of those
sacrificed to the gods appeared at the royal board.”--M.]
[346] “_Lo que yo ví_,” says Diaz, speaking from his own observation,
“que traian sobre cincuenta jarros grandes hechos de buen cacao con su
espuma, y de lo que bebia.” Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 91.
[347] Ibid., ubi supra.--Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 113,
114.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 11, 46.--Gomara,
Crónica, cap. 67.
[348] “Tambien le ponian en la mesa tres cañutos muy pintados, y
dorados, y dentro traian liquidámbar, rebuelto con vnas yervas _que se
dize tabaco_.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 91.
[349] The feats of jugglers and tumblers were a favorite diversion with
the Grand Khan of China, as Sir John Maundeville informs us. (Voiage
and Travaille, chap. 22.) The Aztec mountebanks had such repute, that
Cortés sent two of them to Rome to amuse his Holiness Clement VII.
Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 186.
[350] “Ninguno de los Soldanes, ni otro ningun señor infiel, de los que
hasta agora se tiene noticia, no creo, que tantas, ni tales ceremonias
en servicio tengan.” Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 115.
[351] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 91.--Carta del Lic.
Zuazo, MS.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., ubi supra.--Toribio,
Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 7.--Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap.
Lorenzana, pp. 110-115.--Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom.
iii. fol. 306.
[352] If the historian will descend but a generation later for his
authorities, he may find materials for as good a chapter as any in Sir
John Maundeville or the Arabian Nights.
[353] “Referre in tanto rege piget superbam mutationem vestis, et
desideratas humi jacentium adulationes.” (Livy, Hist., lib. 9, cap.
18.) The remarks of the Roman historian in reference to Alexander,
after he was infected by the manners of Persia, fit equally well the
Aztec emperor.
[354] “La Gente de esta Ciudad es de mas manera y primor en su vestido,
y servicio, que no la otra de estas otras Provincias, y Ciudades;
porque como allí estaba siempre este Señor Muteczuma, y todos los
Señores sus Vasallos ocurrian siempre á la Ciudad, había en ella mas
manera, y policía en todas las cosas.” Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 109.
[355] Zuazo, speaking of the beauty and warmth of this national fabric,
says, “Ví muchas mantas de á dos haces labradas de plumas de papos de
aves tan suaves, que trayendo la mano por encima á pelo y á pospelo,
no era mas que vna manta zebellina mui bien adobada: hice pesar vna
dellas; no pesó mas de seis onzas. Dicen que en el tiempo del Ynbierno
una abasta para encima de la camisa sin otro cobertor ni mas ropa
encima de la cama.” Carta, MS.
[356] “Sono lunghe & large, lauorate di bellisimi, & molto gentili
lauori sparsi per esse, cō le loro frangie, ò orletti ben lauorati che
compariscono benissimo.” Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom.
iii. fol. 305.
[357] Ibid., fol. 305.
[358] Ibid., fol. 309.
[359] “Quivi concorrevano i Pentolai ed i Giojellieri di Cholulla,
gli Orefici d’ Azcapozalco, i Pittori di Tezcuco, gli Scarpellini di
Tenajocan, i Cacciatori di Xilotepec, i Pescatori di Cuitlahuac, i
fruttajuoli de’ paesi caldi, gli artefici di stuoje, e di scranne di
Quauhtitlan ed i coltivatori de’ fiori di Xochimilco.” Clavigero, Stor.
del Messico, tom. ii. p. 165.
[360] “Oro y plata, piedras de valor, con otros plumajes é argenterías
maravillosas, y con tanto primor fabricadas que excede todo ingenio
humano para comprenderlas y alcanzarlas.” (Carta del Lic. Zuazo, MS.)
The licentiate then enumerates several of these elegant pieces of
mechanism. Cortés is not less emphatic in his admiration: “Contrahechas
de oro, y plata, y piedras y plumas, tan al natural lo de Oro, y
Plata, que no ha Platero en el Mundo que mejor lo hiciesse, y lo de
las Piedras, que no baste juicio comprehender con que Instrumentos
se hiciesse tan perfecto, y lo de Pluma, que ni de Cera, ni en
ningun broslado se podria hacer tan maravillosamente.” (Rel. Seg.,
ap. Lorenzana, p. 110.) Peter Martyr, a less prejudiced critic than
Cortés, who saw and examined many of these golden trinkets afterwards
in Castile, bears the same testimony to the exquisite character of the
workmanship, which, he says, far surpassed the value of the material.
De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 10.
[361] Herrera makes the unauthorized assertion, repeated by Solís, that
the Mexicans were unacquainted with the value of the cochineal till
it was taught them by the Spaniards. (Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 4,
lib. 8, cap. 11.) The natives, on the contrary, took infinite pains
to rear the insect on plantations of the cactus, and it formed one
of the staple tributes to the crown from certain districts. See the
tribute-rolls, ap. Lorenzana, Nos. 23, 24.--Hernandez, Hist. Plantarum,
lib. 6, cap. 116.--Also, Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. i. p. 114,
nota.
[362] _Ante_, vol. i. p. 155.
[363] Zuazo, who seems to have been nice in these matters, concludes
a paragraph of dainties with the following tribute to the Aztec
_cuisine_: “Vendense huebos asados, crudos, en tortilla, é diversidad
de guisados que se suelen guisar, con otras cazuelas y pasteles, que en
el mal cocinado de Medina, ni en otros lugares de Tlamencos dicen que
hai ni se pueden hallar tales trujamanes.” Carta, MS.
[364] Ample details--many more than I have thought it necessary to
give--of the Aztec market of Tlatelolco may be found in the writings
of all the old Spaniards who visited the capital. Among others, see
Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 103-105.--Toribio, Hist. de los
Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 7.--Carta del Lic. Zuazo, MS.--Rel. d’un
gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 309.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de
la Conquista, cap. 92.
[365] Zuazo raises it to 80,000! (Carta, MS.) Cortés to 60,000. (Rel.
Seg., ubi supra.) The most modest computation is that of the “Anonymous
Conqueror,” who says from 40,000 to 50,000. “Et il giorno del mercato,
che si fa di cinque in cinque giorni, vi, sono da quaranta ò cinquanta
mila persone” (Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol.
309); a confirmation, by the by, of the supposition that the estimated
population of the capital, found in the Italian version of this author,
is a misprint. (See the preceding chapter, note 13.) He would hardly
have crowded an amount equal to the whole of it into the market.{*}
{*} [And yet, even now, the number of “persone,” _i.e._, shoppers or
transient visitors, in a Mexican or Peruvian plaza on a great fair
day, not infrequently equals the number of “habitatori,” or permanent
inhabitants of the city.--M.]
[366] [From the description of the coin, Ramirez infers that it was not
stamped, but cut, in the form mentioned in the text. This is confirmed
by one or two specimens of the kind still preserved in the National
Museum at Mexico. Ramirez, Notas y Esclarecimientos, p. 102.]
[367] _Ante_, vol. i. p. 161.
[368] Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 7.--Rel. Seg.,
ap. Lorenzana, p. 104.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap.
10.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, loc. cit.
[369] “There were amongst us,” says Diaz, “soldiers who had been in
many parts of the world,--in Constantinople and in Rome and through all
Italy,--and who said that a market-place so large, so well ordered and
regulated, and so filled with people, they had never seen.” Hist. de la
Conquista, loc. cit.
[370] Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 27.
[371] _Ante_, vol. i. p. 94.--[A minute account of the site and
extent of the ground covered by the great temple is given by Alaman
(Disertaciones históricas, tom. ii. pp. 246-248). The Mexicans are
largely indebted to this eminent scholar for his elaborate researches
into the topography and antiquities of the Aztec capital.]
[372] “Et di più v’ hauea vna guarnigione di dieci mila huomini di
guerra, tutti eletti per huomini valenti, & questi accompagnauano
& guardauano la sua persona, & quando si facea qualche rumore ò
ribellione nella città ò nel paese circumuicino, andauano questi, ò
parte d’ essi per Capitani.” Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom.
iii. fol. 309.
[373] Humboldt, Essai politique, tom. ii. p. 40.--On paving the square,
not long ago, round the modern cathedral, there were found large blocks
of sculptured stone buried between thirty and forty feet deep in the
ground. Ibid., loc. cit.
[374] Clavigero calls it oblong, on the alleged authority of the
“Anonymous Conqueror.” (Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 27, nota.) But
the latter says not a word of the shape, and his contemptible woodcut
is too plainly destitute of all proportion to furnish an inference of
any kind. (Comp. Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol.
307.) Torquemada and Gomara both say it was square (Monarch. Ind., lib.
8, cap. 11;--Crónica, cap. 80); and Toribio de Benavente, speaking
generally of the Mexican temples, says they had that form. Hist. de los
Ind., MS., Parte 1, cap. 12.
[375] See the essay on the Origin of the Mexican Civilization. _Ante._
[376] Clavigero, calling it oblong, adopts Torquemada’s estimate--not
Sahagun’s, as he pretends, which he never saw, and who gives no
measurement of the building--for the length, and Gomara’s estimate,
which is somewhat less, for the breadth. (Stor. del Messico, tom. ii.
p. 28, nota.) As both his authorities make the building square, this
spirit of accommodation is whimsical enough. Toribio, who did measure
a _teocalli_ of the usual construction in the town of Tenayuca, found
it to be forty _brazas_, or two hundred and forty feet, square. (Hist.
de los Ind., MS., Parte 1, cap. 12.) The great temple of Mexico was
undoubtedly larger, and, in the want of better authorities, one may
accept Torquemada, who makes it a little more than three hundred and
sixty Toledan, equal to three hundred and eight French feet square.
(Monarch. Ind., lib. 8, cap. 11.) How can M. de Humboldt speak of the
“great concurrence of testimony” in regard to the dimensions of the
temple? (Essai politique, tom. ii. p. 41.) No two authorities agree.
[377] Bernal Diaz says he counted one hundred and fourteen steps.
(Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 92.) Toribio says that more than one
person who had numbered them told him they exceeded a hundred. (Hist.
de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 12.) The steps could hardly have
been less than eight or ten inches high, each; Clavigero assumes that
they were a foot, and that the building, therefore, was a hundred and
fourteen feet high, precisely. (Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. pp. 28,
29.) It is seldom safe to use anything stronger than _probably_ in
history.
[378] “Tornámos á ver la gran plaça, y la multitud de gente que en
ella auia, vnos comprado, y otros vendiendo, que solamente el rumor, y
zumbido de las vozes, y palabras que allí auia, sonaua mas que de vna
legua!” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 92.
[379] “Y por honrar mas sus templos sacaban los caminos muy derechos
por cordel de una y de dos leguas que era cosa harto de ver, desde lo
Alto del principal templo, como venian de todos los pueblos menores y
barrios; salian los caminos muy derechos y iban á dar al patio de los
teocallis.” Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 12.
[380] “No se contentaba el Demonio con los [Teucales] ya dichos, sino
que en cada pueblo, en cada barrio, y á cuarto de legua, tenian otros
patios pequeños adonde habia tres ó cuatro teocallis, y en algunos mas,
en otras partes solo uno, y en cada Mogote ó Cerrejon uno ó dos, y por
los caminos y entre los Maizales, habia otros muchos pequeños, y todos
estaban blancos y encalados, que parecian y abultaban mucho, que en la
tierra bien poblada parecia que todo estaba lleno de casas, en especial
de los patios del Demonio, que eran muy de ver.” Toribio, Hist. de los
Indios, MS., ubi supra.
[381] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, ubi supra.
[382] _Ante_, vol. i. p. 70.
[383] “Y tenia en las paredes tantas costras de sangre, y el suelo todo
bañado dello, que en los mataderos de Castilla no auia tanto hedor.”
Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, ubi supra.--Rel. Seg. de Cortés,
ap. Lorenzana, pp. 105, 106.--Carta del Lic. Zuazo, MS.--See, also, for
notices of these deities, Sahagun, lib. 3, cap. 1, et seq.--Torquemada,
Monarch. Ind., lib. 6, cap. 20, 21.--Acosta, lib. 5, cap. 9.
[384] Bernal Diaz, Ibid., ubi supra.--Whoever examines Cortés’ great
letter to Charles V. will be surprised to find it stated that, instead
of any acknowledgment to Montezuma, he threw down his idols and erected
the Christian emblems in their stead. (Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p.
106.) This was an event of much later date. The _Conquistador_ wrote
his despatches too rapidly and concisely to give heed always to exact
time and circumstance. We are quite as likely to find them attended to
in the long-winded, gossiping,--inestimable chronicle of Diaz.
[385] “Quarenta torres muy altas y bien obradas.” Rel. Seg. de Cortés,
ap. Lorenzana, p. 105.
[386] “Delante de todos estos altares habia braçeros que toda la noche
hardian, y en las salas tambien tenian sus fuegos.” Toribio, Hist. de
los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 12.
[387] Bernal Diaz, Ibid., ubi supra.--Toribio, also, notices this
temple with the same complimentary epithet. “La boca hecha como de
infierno y en ella pintada la boca de una temerosa Sierpe con terribles
colmillos y dientes, y en algunas de estas los colmillos eran de
bulto, que verlo y entrar dentro ponia gran temor y grima, en especial
el infierno que estaba en México, que parecia traslado del verdadero
infierno.” Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 4.
[388] Bernal Diaz, ubi supra.--“Andres de Tapia, _que me lo dijo_, i
Gonçalo de Umbria, las contáron vn Dia, i halláron ciento i treinta
i seis mil Calaberas, en las Vigas, i Gradas.” Gomara, Crónica, cap.
82.{*}
{*} [Gomara is so often accused of exaggeration and falsehood that
it is satisfactory to find his exactness, in the present instance,
established by the evidence of Tápia himself, who thus describes the
manner in which the estimate was made: “E quien esto escribe, y un
Gonzalo de Umbréa, contaron los palos que habie, é multiplicando á
cinco cabezas cada palo de los que entre viga y viga estaban, ...
hallamos haber ciento treinta y seis mill cabezas, _sin las de las
torres_.” (Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc. para la Hist. de México, tom.
iii.) The original of this “Relacion,” recently discovered, is in
the library of the Academy of History at Madrid. It is an unfinished
narrative, valuable as the production of one of the chief companions of
Cortés, and for the confirmation it affords of other contemporaneous
accounts of the Conquest.--K.]
[389] “Three collections, thus fancifully disposed, of these grinning
horrors--in all 230,000--are noticed by Gibbon!” (Decline and Fall, ed.
Milman, vol. i. p. 52; vol. xii. p. 45.) A _European_ scholar commends
“the conqueror’s piety, his moderation, and his justice”! Rowe’s
Dedication of “Tamerlane.”
[390] _Ante_, vol. i. pp. 83, 84.--The desire of presenting the reader
with a complete view of the actual state of the capital at the time of
its occupation by the Spaniards has led me in this and the preceding
chapter into a few repetitions of remarks on the Aztec institutions in
the Introductory Book of this History.
[391] Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 12.--Gomara,
Crónica, cap. 80.--Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol.
309.
[392] “Es tan grande que dentro del circuito de ella, que es todo
cercado de Muro muy alto, se podia muy bien facer una Villa de
quinientos Vecinos.” Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 105.
[393] “Todas estas mugeres,” says Father Toribio, “estaban aquí
sirviendo al demonio por sus propios intereses; las unas porque el
Demonio las hiciese modestas,” etc. Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 1,
cap. 9.
[394] See essay on the Origin of the Mexican Civilization. _Ante._
[395] “Y luego lo supímos entre todos los demas Capitanes, y soldados,
y lo entrámos á ver muy secretamente, y como yo lo ví, digo que me
admiré, é como en aquel tiempo era mancebo, y no auia visto en mi vida
riquezas como aquellas, tuue por cierto, que en el mundo no deuiera
auer otras tantas!” Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 93.
[396] Ibid., loc. cit.
[397] “We Spaniards,” says Cortés, frankly, “are apt to be somewhat
unmanageable and troublesome.” Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 84.
[398] Gomara, Crónica, cap. 83.--There is reason to doubt the truth
of these stories. “Segun una carta original que tengo en mi poder
firmada de las tres cabezas de la Nueva-España en donde escriben á
la Magestad del Emperador Nuestro Señor (que Dios tenga en su Santo
Reyno) disculpan en ella á Motecuhzoma y á los Mexicanos de esto, y de
lo demas que se les argulló, que lo cierto era que fué invencion de
los Tlascaltecas, y de algunos de los Españoles que veian la hora de
salirse de miedo de la Ciudad, y poner en cobro innumerables riquezas
que habian venido á sus manos.” Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap.
85.
[399] Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 84.--Ixtlilxochitl,
Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 85.--P. Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap.
3.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 6.--Bernal Diaz gives
a very different report of this matter. According to him, a number
of officers and soldiers, of whom he was one, suggested the capture
of Montezuma to the general, who came into the plan with hesitation.
(Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 93.) This is contrary to the character of
Cortés, who was a man to lead, and not to be led, on such occasions.
It is contrary to the general report of historians, though these, it
must be confessed, are mainly built on the general’s narrative. It is
contrary to anterior probability; since, if the conception seems almost
too desperate to have seriously entered into the head of any one man,
how much more improbable is it that it should have originated with a
number! Lastly, it is contrary to the positive written statement of
Cortés to the emperor, publicly known and circulated, confirmed in
print by his chaplain, Gomara, and all this when the thing was fresh
and when the parties interested were alive to contradict it. We cannot
but think that the captain here, as in the case of the burning of the
ships, assumes rather more for himself and his comrades than the facts
will strictly warrant; an oversight for which the lapse of half a
century--to say nothing of his avowed anxiety to show up the claims of
the latter--may furnish some apology.
[400] Even Gomara has the candor to style it a “pretext,”--_achaque_.
Crónica, cap. 83.
[401] Bernal Diaz states the affair, also, differently. According to
him, the Aztec governor was enforcing the payment of the customary
tribute from the Totonacs, when Escalante, interfering to protect his
allies, now subjects of Spain, was slain in an action with the enemy.
(Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 93.) Cortés had the best means of knowing
the facts, and wrote at the time. He does not usually shrink from
avowing his policy, however severe, towards the natives; and I have
thought it fair to give him the benefit of his own version of the story.
[402] Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 5.--Rel. Seg. de
Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 83, 84. The apparition of the Virgin was
seen only by the Aztecs, who, it is true, had to make out the best case
for their defeat they could to Montezuma; a suspicious circumstance,
which, however, did not stagger the Spaniards. “Assuredly all of us
soldiers who accompanied Cortés held the belief that the divine mercy
and Our Lady the Virgin Mary were always with us, and this was the
truth.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 94.
[403] “Paseóse vn gran rato solo, i cuidadoso de aquel gran hecho, que
emprendia, i que aun á él mesmo le parecia temerario, pero necesario
para su intento, andando.” Gomara, Crónica, cap. 83.
[404] Diaz says, “All that night we spent in prayer, beseeching the
Father of Mercies that he would so direct the matter that it should
contribute to his holy service.” Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 95.
[405] According to Ixtlilxochitl, it was his own portrait. “Se quitó
del brazo una rica piedra, donde está esculpido su rostro (que era lo
mismo que un sello Real).” Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 85.
[406] Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 86.
[407] “Quando Io lo consintiera, los mios no pasarian por ello.”
Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 85.
[408] “¿Que haze v. m. ya con tantas palabras? O le lleuemos preso, ó
le darémos de estocadas, por esso tornadle á dezir, que si da vozes,
ó haze alboroto, que le mataréis, porque mas vale que desta vez
asseguremos nuestras vidas, ó las perdamos.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la
Conquista, cap. 95.
[409] Oviedo has some doubts whether Montezuma’s conduct is to be
viewed as pusillanimous or as prudent. “Al coronista le parece, segun
lo que se puede colegir de esta materia, que Montezuma era, ó mui falto
de ánimo, ó pusilánimo, ó mui prudente, aunque en muchas cosas, los que
le viéron lo loan de mui señor y mui liberal; y en sus razonamientos
mostraba ser de buen juicio.” He strikes the balance, however, in favor
of pusillanimity. “Un Príncipe tan grande como Montezuma no se habia de
dexar incurrir en tales términos, ni consentir ser detenido de tan poco
número de Españoles, ni de otra generacion alguna; mas como Dios tiene
ordenado lo que ha de ser, ninguno puede huir de su juicio.” Hist. de
las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 6.
[410] The story of the seizure of Montezuma may be found, with the
usual discrepancies in the details, in Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap.
Lorenzana, pp. 84-86,--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap.
95,--Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 85,--Oviedo, Hist. de las
Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 6,--Gomara, Crónica, cap. 83,--Herrera, Hist.
general, dec. 2, lib. 8, cap. 2, 3,--Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap.
3.
[411] “Siempre que ante él passauamos, y aunque fuesse Cortés, le
quitauamos los bonetes de armas ó cascos, que siempre estauamos
armados, y él nos hazia gran mesura, y honra á todos.... Digo que no se
sentauan Cortés, ni ningun Capitan, hasta que el Monteçuma les mandaua
dar sus assentaderos ricos, y les mandaua assentar.” Bernal Diaz, Hist.
de la Conquista, cap. 95, 100.
[412] Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 8, cap. 3.
[413] On one occasion, three soldiers, who left their posts without
orders, were sentenced to run the gauntlet,--a punishment little short
of death. Ibid., ubi supra.
[414] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 97.
[415] [The patriotic sensibilities of Señor Ramirez are somewhat
disturbed by my application of the term _barbarians_ to his Aztec
countrymen.{*} This word, with the corresponding epithet of _savages_,
forms the key, he seems to think, to my description of the ancient
Mexicans. “Regarded from this point of view,” he says, “the astounding
examples of heroism and self-devotion so rarely met with in the history
of the world are interpreted not as a voluntary sacrifice inspired
by the holy love of country and of freedom, but as the effect of a
brutish hatred and stupid ferocity.” There may be some foundation for
these strictures, though somewhat too highly colored. And one cannot
deny that, as he reflects on the progress made by the Aztecs in the
knowledge of the useful arts, and, indeed, to a certain extent, of
science, he must admit their claim to a higher place in the scale of
civilization than that occupied by barbarians,--to one, in truth,
occupied by the semi-civilized races of China and Hindostan. But there
is another side of the picture, not presented by the Eastern nations,
in those loathsome abominations which degraded the Aztec character to
a level with the lowest stages of humanity, and makes even the term
_barbarian_ inadequate to express the ferocity of his nature.]
{*} [This sensibility is the more natural that Señor Ramirez claims
descent not from the conquering but from the conquered race,--a fact
which may also account for his rigorous judgments on the acts and
character of Cortés.--K.]
[416] “Y despues que confesáron haber muerto los Españoles, les hice
interrogar si ellos eran Vasallos de Muteczuma? Y el dicho Qualpopoca
respondió, que si habia otro Señor, de quien pudiesse serlo? casi
diciendo, que no habia otro, y que si eran.” Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap.
Lorenzana, p. 87.
[417] “E assimismo les pregunte, si lo que allí se habia hecho si habia
sido por su mandado? y dijéron que no, aunque despues, al tiempo que en
ellos se executó la sentencia, que fuessen quemados, todos á una voz
dijéron, que era verdad que el dicho Muteczuma se lo habia embiado á
mandar, y que por su mandado lo habian hecho.” Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap.
Lorenzana, loc. cit.
[418] Gomara, Crónica, cap. 89.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib.
33, cap. 6.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 95.--One may
doubt whether pity or contempt predominates in Martyr’s notice of
this event. “Infelix tunc Muteczuma re adeo noua perculsus, formidine
repletur, decidit animo, neque iam erigere caput audet, aut suorum
auxilia implorare. Ille vero pœnam se meruisse fassus est, vti agnus
mitis. Æquo animo pati videtur has regulas grammaticalibus duriores,
imberbibus pueris dictatas, omnia placide fert, ne seditio ciuium et
procerum oriatur.” De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 3.
[419] Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 18.
[420] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, ubi supra.
[421] Archbishop Lorenzana, as late as the close of the last century,
finds good Scripture warrant for the proceeding of the Spaniards.
“Fué grande prudencia, y Arte militar haber asegurado á el Emperador,
porque sino quedaban expuestos Hernan Cortés, y sus soldados á perecer
á traycion, y teniendo seguro á el Emperador se aseguraba á sí mismo,
pues los Españoles no se confian ligeramente: Jonathas fué muerto, y
sorprendido por haberse confiado de Triphon.” Rel. Seg. de Cortés, p.
84, nota.
[422] See Puffendorf, De Jure Naturæ et Gentium, lib. 8, cap. 6, sec.
10.--Vattel, Law of Nations, book 3, chap. 8, sec. 141.
[423] “Osar quemar sus Capitanes delante de sus Palacios, y echalle
grillos entre tanto que se hazia la Justicia, que muchas vezes aora que
soy viejo me paro á considerar las cosas heroicas que en aquel tiempo
passámos, que me parece las veo presentes: Y digo que nuestros hechos,
que no los haziamos nosotros, sino que venian todos encaminados por
Dios.... Porque ay mucho que ponderar en ello.” Hist. de la Conquista,
cap. 95.
[424] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 96.
[425] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 97.
[426] Gomara, Crónica, cap. 84.--Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib.
8, cap. 4.
[427] Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 8, cap. 5.
[428] “En esto era tan bien mirado, que todos le queriamos con gran
amor, porque verdaderamente era gran señor en todas las cosas que le
viamos hazer.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 100.
[429] “Y él bien conocia á todos, y sabia nuestros nombres, y aun
calidades, y era tan bueno que á todos nos daua joyas, á otros mantas é
Indias hermosas.” Ibid., cap. 97.
[430] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 98.
[431] According to Solís, the Devil closed his heart against these good
men; though, in the historian’s opinion, there is no evidence that this
evil counsellor actually appeared and conversed with Montezuma after
the Spaniards had displayed the Cross in Mexico. Conquista, lib. 3,
cap. 20.
[432] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 99.--Rel. Seg. de
Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 88.
[433] He sometimes killed his game with a tube, a sort of air-gun,
through which he blew little balls at birds and rabbits. “La Caça á
que Moteçuma iba por la Laguna, era á tirar á Pájaros, á Conejos, con
Cerbatana, de la qual era diestro.” Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2,
lib. 8, cap. 4.
[434] _Ante_, book I. chap. 6.
[435] “E llámase esta Ciudad Tezcuco, y será de hasta treinta mil
Vecinos.” (Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 94.) According to the
licentiate Zuazo, double that number,--_sesenta mil Vecinos_. (Carta,
MS.) Scarcely probable, as Mexico had no more. Toribio speaks of it as
covering a league one way by six another! (Hist. de los Indios, MS.,
Parte 3, cap. 7.) This must include the environs to a considerable
extent. The language of the old chroniclers is not the most precise.
[436] A description of the capital in its glory is thus given by an
eyewitness. “Esta Ciudad era la segunda cosa principal de la tierra, y
así habia en Tezcuco muy grandes edificios de templos del Demonio, y
muy gentiles casas y aposentos de Señores, entre los cuales, fué muy
cosa de ver la casa del Señor principal, así la vieja con su huerta
cercada de mas de mil cedros muy grandes y muy hermosos, de los cuales
hoy dia están los mas en pie, aunque la casa está asolada, otra casa
tenia que se podia aposentar en ella un egército, con muchos jardines,
y un muy grande estanque, que por debajo de tierra solian entrar á él
con barcas.” (Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 7.) The
last relics of this palace were employed in the fortifications of the
city in the revolutionary war of 1810. (Ixtlilxochitl, Venida de los
Esp., p. 78, nota.) Tezcuco is now an insignificant little place, with
a population of a few thousand inhabitants. Its architectural remains,
as still to be discerned, seem to have made a stronger impression on
Mr. Bullock than on most travellers. Six Months in Mexico, chap. 27.
[437] “Cacama reprehendió asperamente á la Nobleza Mexicana porque
consentia hacer semejantes desacatos á quatro Estrangeros y que no
les mataban; se escusaban con decirles les iban á la mano y no les
consentian tomar las Armas para libertarlo, y tomar sí una tan gran
deshonra como era la que los Estrangeros les habian hecho en prender á
su señor, y quemar á Quauhpopocatzin, los demas sus Hijos y Deudos sin
culpa, con las Armas y Municion que tenian para la defenza y guarda de
la ciudad, y de su autoridad tomar para sí los tesoros del Rey, y de
los Dioses, y otras libertades y desvergüenzas que cada dia pasaban, y
aunque todo esto vehian lo disimulaban por no enojar á Motecuhzoma que
tan amigo y casado estaba con ellos.” Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS.,
cap. 86.
[438] It is the language of Cortés. “Y este señor _se rebeló_, assí
contra el servicio de Vuestra Alteza, á quien se habia ofrecido, como
contra el dicho Muteczuma.” Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 95.--Voltaire,
with his quick eye for the ridiculous, notices this arrogance in his
tragedy of Alzire:
“Tu vois de ces tyrans la fureur despotique:
Ils pensent que pour eux le Ciel fit l’Amérique,
Qu’ils en sont nés les Rois; et Zamore à leurs yeux,
Tout souverain qu’il fut, n’est qu’un sêditieux.”
ALZIRE, act 4, sc. 3.
[439] Gomara, Crónica, cap. 91.
[440] “I que para reparar la Religion, i restituir los Dioses, guardar
el Reino, cobrar la fama, i libertad á él, i á México, iria de mui
buena gana, mas no las manos en el seno, sino en la Espada, para matar
los Españoles, que tanta mengua, i afrenta havian hecho á la Nacion de
Culhúa.” Ibid., cap. 91.
[441] “Pero que él tenia en su Tierra de el dicho Cacamazin muchas
Personas Principales, que vivian con él, y les daba su salario.” Rel.
Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 95.
[442] Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 95, 96.--Oviedo, Hist.
de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 8.--Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS.,
cap. 86.--The latter author dismisses the capture of Cacama with the
comfortable reflection “that it saved the Spaniards much embarrassment,
and greatly facilitated the introduction of the Catholic faith.”
[443] Cortés calls the name of this prince Cucuzca. (Rel. Seg., ap.
Lorenzana, p. 96.) In the orthography of Aztec words, the general was
governed by his ear, and was wrong nine times out of ten.--Bustamante,
in his catalogue of Tezcucan monarchs, omits him altogether. He
probably regards him as an intruder, who had no claim to be ranked
among the rightful sovereigns of the land. (Galería de antiguos
Príncipes (Puebla, 1821), p. 21.) Sahagun has, in like manner, struck
his name from the royal roll of Tezcuco. Hist. de Nueva-España, lib. 8,
cap. 3.
[444] The exceeding lenity of the Spanish commander, on this occasion,
excited general admiration, if we are to credit Solís, throughout the
Aztec empire! “Tuvo notable aplauso en todo el imperio este género
de castigo sin sangre, que se atribuyó al superior juicio de los
Españoles, porque no esperaban de Montezuma semejante moderacion.”
Conquista, lib. 4, cap. 2.
[445] Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 91.
[446] “Damus quæ dant,” says Martyr, briefly, in reference to this
valuation. (De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 3.) Cortés notices the reports
made by his people, of large and beautiful edifices in the province of
Oaxaca. (Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 89.) It is here, also, that some
of the most elaborate specimens of Indian architecture are still to be
seen, in the ruins of Mitla.