twenty-five years at the time of Nezahualpilli's death since Columbus
had set foot on American soil. The strange apparition of white men armed
with thunder and lightning, would be sure to spread from mouth to mouth
and from nation to nation. The fleet-footed messengers of the Mexican
king would be sure to bring such news along with fresh fish and fruit up
from the shores of the Gulf. And while these things were more and more
weighing upon the king's mind, there came the report, swift, certain,
and not to be denied, that men in boats had landed by the river Tabasco.
Twenty years after the discovery of the Antilles by Columbus, these
islands were fully under the control of the Spanish. Cuba, the most
important of them, was a flourishing colony, under the administration of
Diégo Velasquez de Léon.
In 1517, three Spanish adventurers armed three vessels of discovery at
Cuba. The governor Velasquez joined himself to this enterprise. These
explorers discovered the eastern point of Yucatan, which they named Cape
Catoche, after a wood which they heard spoken of by one of the natives.
They were filled with amazement at the civilization of the buildings and
the costumes, and hastened to land, but being received by a shower of
arrows they as quickly went back to their boats. At Campeche they were
received more kindly, and exchanged gifts with the natives. Later,
Cordova, the leader of this expedition, was wounded in an encounter with
the natives, and returning to Havana died ten days after. Velasquez
heard from the others such an account of the wealth and resources of
Yucatan, that he resolved to take possession of it.
He sent out a little squadron in the charge of Juan de Grijalva, one of
his relatives, to make further explorations. They coasted along the
shore of Yucatan, admiring its fertile fields and the cities and
villages in the midst of them, soon arriving at the mouth of the Tabasco
River. At first the natives seemed inclined to give them a rough
reception, but Grijalva propitiated them by friendly messages, and on
disembarking met a brilliant reception. Green copal was burnt before
him, in the way of incense, and the natives brought him game, fish, and
corn-bread. The prince made him a present of some gold necklaces and
ornaments carved in the shape of birds and lizards.
Grijalva and his followers came next into the country belonging to the
Mexican crown, and saw for the first time the royal standard of
Montezuma, with the nopal and the eagle. They now for the first time
began to hear of this great prince, and of the riches of Anahuac.
Such were the tidings brought to the poor Montezuma, already depressed
by vague forebodings. He received the news with positive anguish, as he
contemplated the evidences of their power. Reporters at Tabasco had
already prepared on great maguey canvasses graphic pictures of the ship
of the strangers, their costumes and arms, which were hurried with
telegraphic promptness to the great sovereign in his capital.
The council was assembled. It met in dismay. Finally they decided to
send to the shore an embassy laden with gifts of gold, feathers, and
splendid stuffs, but bearing messages urging them not to penetrate
farther into the country, where they would be exposed to constant
danger. The messengers were charged to lay great stress on the
difficulties and perils of travel in these regions. Thus, while they
tempted with one hand full of gifts, they repulsed with the other.
Temptation and warning were for the moment unheeded. When they reached
the coast, Grijalva, who had no authority from Velasquez to involve him
in negotiations with the Aztec monarch, had sailed away.
XIII.
CORTÉS.
Fernando Cortés was born in 1485 at Medellin, the principal town of the
province of Estramadura, in Spain. His father was a gentleman of old
blood, but poor. He sent his son to the University of Salamanca, but
Fernando had no taste for study, and of his own will entered the army,
with the intention of serving under the great captain Gonsalvo of
Cordova in the campaign of Naples, but an injury caused by falling from
a roof prevented his starting with the fleet. As soon as he was well
enough he set off in quest of adventure for the West Indies, then a new
and tempting discovery, and joined a relative in St. Domingo, who
happened to be governor there. This was in 1504. He passed several years
there, and in 1511 accompanied Diégo Velasquez to Cuba when the latter
was appointed to colonize that island.
The contemporaries of Fernando Cortés draw an attractive portrait of
him. He was well built and skilful in all manly exercises. The wonderful
beauty of his glance enhanced the charm to his fine and regular
features. With unequalled bravery he combined wonderful penetration
which never failed him. He was eloquent and persuasive, with the faculty
of making himself beloved and respected by all who surrounded him, over
whom he exercised an irresistible influence. His conceptions were vast;
he never renounced a project after he had recognized it as practicable,
but he tempered his audacity of design with an extreme prudence in
execution. Reverses he endured with heroism, while he never suffered
himself to be made giddy by his successes. The inviolable fidelity which
Cortés preserved towards his legitimate sovereigns tempered his personal
ambition, great as it was, and his love of money though great did not
prevent his showing liberality when the interest of his glory demanded
it.
This is the bright side of the picture: great defects of character
tarnish it. His acts of cruelty towards his enemies, and his greed of
plunder are not to be overlooked in forming an estimate of this
wonderful man.
Velasquez had already sent an expedition of discovery towards the west,
and Grijalva, its leader, had entered the river of Tabasco, where he
disembarked, but, feeling he had no authority to treat with the natives,
he returned to report what he had seen and ask further instructions.
Velasquez was displeased with Grijalva for this moderation, without
appreciating a loyalty which he regarded as stupidity; and excited by
the accounts of the new country, he resolved upon another undertaking in
the same direction. He sent to Spain to ask for wider powers, and to
obtain for himself the government of the lands he expected to conquer.
He offered the command of this expedition to several of his relatives.
They all refused it. It was then that he addressed himself to Fernando
Cortés.
There is a story that Cortés was in love with a young lady named Doña
Catalina Juarez, who afterwards became his wife, and that the governor,
Velasquez, also devoted to the Doña, subjected his brilliant rival to a
terrible persecution, and even had him seized and put in prison, that
Cortés escaped and took refuge in the church, a few days afterwards he
was again seized, and then incarcerated in a ship with a chain about his
foot. Escaping in a skiff and afterwards by swimming he reached the
shore and again hid himself in a sanctuary. In the end he married Doña
Catalina, goes this tale, was reconciled with the governor, and made
Alcalde of Santiago de Cuba.
However this may have been, Cortés received and accepted the commission
now offered. His reputation for bravery and great popularity gathered
about him young and old, the bold spirits of Cuba, some among them
former companions of Grijalva in his expedition; Bernal Diaz, the first
historian of the Conquest, Olid, Alvarado, and other men of the greatest
bravery, destined to play great parts in the epic of the New World.
Velasquez, even before the departure of his commander, began to distrust
him, jealous again of his great powers, but they parted on good terms,
and Cortés embarked at San Jago de Cuba on the 18th November, 1518. He
had not gone far when an emissary of Velasquez was sent after the
expedition to arrest Cortés, but encouraged by his companions, who
urged him to remain at their head, he sent off the messenger and started
without taking any further notice of the jealousy of his chief.
The squadron of Cortés was composed of eleven small vessels. There were
110 sailors, 553 soldiers, of which thirteen were armed with muskets,
and thirty-two with arquebuses, the others with swords and pikes only.
There were ten little field-pieces, and sixteen horses. Such were the
forces with which the bold adventurer set forth to conquer a vast
empire, defended by large armies, not without courage, according to the
report of Grijalva. But the companions of Cortés were unfamiliar with
fear. Cortés followed the same route as Grijalva. At Cozumel, an island
off Yucatan, he learned by signs from the natives that white captives,
with beards, had been lately seen by them. Cortés left a letter for
these men with a boat and some soldiers, and the result was their
finding a white man named Jérome d' Aguilar, whom they restored to
liberty. He told them that he was a native of Ecija, in Spain,
ship-wrecked in 1511, seven years before. Thirteen of his companions
escaped drowning and starvation, only to be exposed to the danger of
being eaten by Mayas, from which also they escaped by the toleration of
a cacique, who treated them well. All the rest died but one, and this
one refused to join Cortés, having a wife and children, his face
tattoed, and wearing ear-rings. He preferred to continue in the way of
life first forced upon him, but Aguilar gladly joined the adventurers,
and proved a valuable acquisition, for though he knew but little of the
country, he had much to tell of the manners and customs of the people,
and moreover served as interpreter, of which the commander was in sore
need. During his long captivity, Aguilar had acquired the language of
the country, and could now bring Cortés into communication with its
inhabitants.
At the Tabasco River, which the Spanish called Rio de Grijalva, because
that explorer had discovered it, they had a fight with some natives who
resisted their approach. These natives fought bravely, but the
fire-arms, and above all the horses, which they conceived to be of one
piece with their riders, caused them extreme terror, and the rout was
complete. According to Spanish tradition, the Christian soldiers saw at
the opening of the battle their patron, Saint James, mounted on a white
horse, and fighting for them. This not only inspired them with bravery,
but their adversaries with fear, so that they fled in alarm. The native
prince, overcome, sent gifts to the conqueror, and, without much knowing
the extent of his agreement, acknowledged himself as vassal of the king
of Spain, the most powerful monarch of the world.
Cortés passed in this place Palm Sunday, urging Aguilar, who called
himself a deacon of the church, to explain to the prince and the lords
of the land the mysteries of religion, and to make them comprehend the
vanity of worshipping idols. The anniversary was then solemnized, with
high mass, received with grave reverence by the natives, much impressed
by the ceremonies of the strange religion.
Meanwhile a brief calm had settled over the court and capital of
Mexico. The white-faced strangers had left the coast, and it was to be
hoped they might never come back. The nobles took up their train of
pleasure and the common people went on with their peaceable, happy
lives, floating over the canals with their produce-laden, flower-heaped
boats, singing low chants of the past in a melancholy, minor key,
peculiar to the Mexican music.
But one day, in the end of March, 1519, swift messengers came up the
steep ascent between the tropical flat shore and the cool plateau of
Anahuac, and demanded instant audience with the king. Montezuma knew
well what was coming. During the interval since the departure of the
white men, he had felt that it was only a respite, and that the terror
of their presence was only a premonition of worse things to come. So he
received the messengers with a calm smile, and simply said to them:
"Speak." These messengers were wonderfully well informed. Without giving
the precise details we now know, they could describe the conflict, the
terror of the Tabascans, and above all the strange animals, unlike any
thing they had seen before, which bore their riders into battle,
perhaps, in fact, a part of the same machinery, turning, plunging,
advancing as if by magic, and, as they thought, invulnerable to all
weapons. Also the thunder and lightning of the new-comers was something
supernatural, destructive flashes of fire under their control,
accompanied by a bursting sound, and followed by instant death.
These tidings appeared incredible, yet must be believed, and, what was
more, acted upon. The king, after due counsel with his advisers,
resolved to send envoys, as before, to the strangers. The presents
prepared for Grijalva, which had reached the shore too late, were, alas!
all ready. To these were now added the ornaments used in the decoration
of the image of Quetzalcoatl, on days of solemnity, regarded as the most
sacred among all the possessions of the royal house of Mexico.
Cortés accepted the rôle of Quetzalcoatl and allowed himself to be
decorated with the ornaments belonging to that god without hesitation.
The populace were convinced that it was their deity really returned to
them. A feast was served to the envoys, with the accompaniment of some
European wine which they found delicious.
The adventurers landed on Good Friday, and celebrated Easter on shore
with great pomp and solemnity. The intendant of the province brought
offerings to the great stranger, and presents were exchanged. Cortés
sent to Montezuma a gilt helmet with the message that he hoped to see it
back again filled with gold. During the feast native painters were busy
depicting every thing they saw to be shown to their royal master. The
bearer of this gift and communication, returning swiftly to the court,
reported to the monarch that the intention of the stranger was to come
at once to the capital of the empire. Montezuma at once assembled a new
council of all his great vassals, some of whom urged the reception of
Cortés, others his immediate dismissal. The latter view prevailed, and
the monarch sent, with more presents to the unknown invader, benevolent
but peremptory commands that he should go away immediately. Having sent
off the messenger, poor Montezuma retreated to the depths of his palace
and refused to be comforted, foreseeing that the great empire of Anahuac
was about to fall.
Meanwhile the Spanish camp was feasting and reposing in huts of cane,
with fresh provisions, in great joy after the weariness of their voyage.
They accepted with enthusiasm the presents of the emperor, but the
treasures which were sent had an entirely different effect from that
hoped for by Montezuma; they only inflamed the desire of the Spaniard to
have all within his grasp, of which this was but a specimen.
It was now that the great mistake in policy was apparent, by which the
Aztec chieftain had for years been making enemies all over the country,
invading surrounding states, and carrying off prisoners for a horrible
death by sacrifice. These welcomed the strangers, and encouraged their
presence, thinking they might be valuable allies against the oppressive
power of the tyrant. They made a dreadful mistake of course, for Cortés
ruined all the native populations of Mexico, while he grasped at the
wealth of Montezuma; but the extent of his daring and powers were little
imagined at his first coming.
Cortés made himself captain-general of his forces, and established the
site of Vera Cruz, the rich city of the True Cross. While reposing here,
he was delighted to receive an invitation from the cacique of
Cempoallan, "a very fat man, and an enemy of Montezuma," says the
chronicle, to enter his domains as a friend, and visit his capital
city.
The site of this city, a _pueblo_, is now unknown, one or two places
being attributed to it. In fact, the route of Cortés from the coast to
the interior has never been thoroughly traced. The account of the place
and his reception in it by Cortés, is now thought to be greatly
exaggerated; doubtless the satisfaction of finding himself in a place of
any comfort, and in hospitable hands, led him to depict the place with
glowing colors. He accepted the invitation with alacrity, set forth for
Cempoallan, delighted as well as were his men to leave the hot and sandy
shores of the Gulf of Mexico for higher ground, fresher air, and finer
climate. The next day they entered the city, where they were received as
the avengers and liberators of an oppressed country. The first lords of
the court, richly dressed, bearing superb bunches of flowers in their
hands, came to meet them outside the town, begging Cortés to accept the
excuses of their sovereign's health, who would receive them at home,
being obliged to give up the pleasure of coming out on account of his
extreme fatness.
The reporters of the time of the conquest describe Cempoallan as they do
every thing else, with the glow of enthusiasm. They represent themselves
amazed at the beauty of the streets, the dazzling whiteness of the
houses, and the magnificence of the gardens. All the population came
forth to await them, throwing flowers at their feet, presenting garlands
and sometimes more valuable gifts.
At Cempoallan, during his visit, Cortés learned of the existence of the
republic of Tlaxcalla, hostile to Mexico, and immediately resolved to
avail himself of these people if necessary. He determined, in spite of
the repeated requests of Montezuma that he should go away, to
march to Anahuac, and personally visit the monarch, and he set
forth from Cempoallan on the 16th of August, 1519, on his way to
Tlaxcalla,--probably taking the road to Jalapa. Jalapa is an old town,
over four thousand feet above the level of the sea, with a superb view
of the lofty peaks of Orizaba and the Cofre di Perote, covered always
with snow, rising behind hills and valleys and lesser mountains; it is
probable that the Spaniards regarded less the splendor of the prospect
than the difficulties it presented to their passage.
Before leaving the sea-coast, Cortés with great resolution destroyed the
greater part of his ships by beaching them. This was to put an end to
any scheme of retreat which might have sprung up in the breasts of
discontented members of his party. Three months had now passed since he
arrived in Mexico. The ships, with the exception of one of the smallest,
were destroyed. There was no chance to turn back; and the conqueror
boldly prepared for his enterprise.
The body of men which he called his army was composed of 415 infantry,
and 16 horses; they took with them 7 cannon. With this handful of men he
risked himself in a hostile country, inhabited by people wholly unknown
to him in manner and language. He began by destroying his only means of
escape, in case of defeat; relying only on his own courage, and the
devoted bravery of his little band.
XIV.
MALINTZI.
While Cortés and his followers are resting themselves at Cempoallan,
while Montezuma is awaiting their approach with superstitious dread, we
will stop to make the acquaintance of the gentle woman who was so
important to the daring invader of the heights of Anahuac.
She was born at Païnala, now a picturesque village buried in forests on
the borders of the Coatzacoalco River, about 1502. This pueblo, as well
as others in its neighborhood, belonged, it is said, to her father, one
of the great vassals to the crown, then worn by Montezuma II. Thus the
little duchess, for so she might be called, lived until her eleventh
year, in ease and comfort. Then her father died, and her mother,
marrying again, transferred all her maternal care and affection to a
boy, the child of the new union. In order that this boy should inherit
the family wealth and estates, reports were spread of the death of the
other child. The body of a slave who had just died was substituted for
the heiress, and the funeral celebrated with pomp. Meanwhile the
disinherited girl was given over or sold to travelling merchants, who
in their turn transferred her to the chief of the Tabascans, to whom she
became a slave. In the Tabascan kingdom she grew up, and with her great
intelligence acquired readily the Mayan language used at Tabasco without
forfeiting her native tongue, that spoken at the Aztec court.
Like the Aztec maidens of good birth, she had been carefully trained up
to the time when she was abandoned to slavery. Her new position did not
reduce her to humiliating tasks, or forced labor, and she probably led a
happy life in the soft climate of her new home, surrounded by trees
always blossoming, rich vegetation, and new friends, who, although her
keepers, were gentle and indulgent after the manner of the Mayan tribes.
In 1519, just as the pretty maiden was reaching her seventeenth year,
Cortés arrived at Tabasco. After the first fright of their coming was
over, followed by futile efforts at resistance, the Tabascans were
willing to make peace. A treaty of alliance was concluded, as we have
seen, and with the gifts of the chief to the conqueror, came twenty
young slave-girls, whose business it was to grind the corn to make bread
for their new masters. Cortés at once ordered that these women should be
taught the truths of the Christian religion, and among the rest the
heiress of Païnala was converted by Aguilar, and baptized by her new
name, Marina. Marina, for the Indians became Malina, as their tongues do
not accept the _R_. Afterwards Cortés himself acquired the nickname of
Malintzin, that is, the master of Malina, and with them the word
Malintzi, or Malinche, has attached itself to her as well.
When the Spaniards again landed, a grave difficulty presented itself.
Aguilar, the interpreter, knew Mayan, but not one word did he understand
of the Aztec dialect now spoken. Suddenly one of the young women
presented by the Tabascan chief was seen conversing fluently with the
visitors who crowded round the boats of the new-comers. She was
instantly summoned by the commander, and at once became very important
as interpreter, translating for Aguilar what he could easily render into
Spanish. Through her was transmitted the first message of Montezuma to
the dreaded white woman. It makes a pretty picture--this graceful Aztec
girl standing between the two parties: on one side the Indians, richly
dressed, to impress the stranger, in robes of gay colors, adorned with
feathers and ornaments; on the other Cortés, in the armor of the time,
assuming all the haughtiness of demeanor possible; grouped about him his
band of stalwart followers, curiosity on their features, making up by
their eyes for the uselessness of their ears, which were of no use to
them for understanding what was going on. The Aztecs speak and announce
the will of their monarch. Marina, with intelligence in her glance,
listens attentively, then with her grave smile reports the matter to
Aguilar. Aguilar must have been in rags, for his long sojourn with the
Indians had brought him to a low estate. He gathers the Mayan message
from the lips of Marina translated from Nahuatl, and gives it in good
sound Spanish to the captain. His reply is conveyed by the same double
interpreting back to the messengers. The substance of the colloquy is,
on the part of Montezuma, a welcome, and lavish offering of gifts,
through which appears his unconcealed anxiety to speed the parting
guest. From Cortés the reply of scanty thanks for benefits received, and
the determination to press on to the plateau.
If we were allowed to believe good old Bernal Diaz, the visible
testimonials of the conference needed no interpreter. The gifts of the
messengers are described as splendid--shields, helmets, cuirasses
embossed with pure gold ornaments, sandals, fans, crests of gaudy
feathers interwoven with gold and silver threads, and strewed with
pearls and precious stones. The helmet sent back by Cortés had come
again filled to the brim with grains of gold.