[75] “Cabra coja no tenga siesta.”
[76] Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 1.—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 42-45.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 59, 60.
[77] Gomara, Crónica, cap. 44.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 61.—The number of the Indian auxiliaries stated in the text is much larger than that allowed by either Cortés or Diaz. But both these actors in the drama show too obvious a desire to magnify their own prowess, by exaggerating the numbers of their foes and diminishing their own, to be entitled to much confidence in their estimates.
[78] “No teniamos otro socorro, ni ayuda sino el de Dios; porque ya no teniamos nauíos para ir á Cuba, salvo nuestro buen pelear y coraçones fuertes.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 59.
[79] “Y todos á vna le respondímos, que hariamos lo que ordenasse, que echada estaua la suerte de la buena ó mala ventura.” Loc. cit.
[80] Jalap, Convolvulus jalapa. The x and j are convertible consonants in the Castilian.{**}
{**} [Jalapa means “Spring in the Sand.”—M.]
[81] The heights of Xalapa are crowned with a convent dedicated to St. Francis, erected in later days by Cortés, showing, in its solidity, like others of the period built under the same auspices, says an agreeable traveller, a military as well as religious design. Tudor’s Travels in North America (London, 1834), vol. ii. p. 186.
[82] Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 1.—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 40.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 44.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83.—“Every hundred yards of our route,” says the traveller last quoted, speaking of this very region, “was marked by the melancholy erection of a wooden cross, denoting, according to the custom of the country, the commission of some horrible murder on the spot where it was planted.” (Travels in North America, vol. ii. p. 188.)—[Señor Alaman stoutly defends his countrymen from this gross exaggeration, as he pronounces it, of Mr. Tudor. For although it is unhappily true, he says, that travellers were formerly liable to be attacked in going from the city of Mexico to Vera Cruz, and that the diligence which passes over this road is still frequently stopped, yet it is very seldom that personal violence is offered. “Foreign tourists are prone to believe all the stories of atrocities that are related to them, and generally, at inns, fall into the society of persons who take delight in furnishing a large supply of such materials. The crosses that are to be met with in the country are not so numerous as is pretended; nor are all of them memorials of assassinations committed in the places where they have been erected. Many are merely objects of devotion, and others indicate the spot where two roads diverge from each other. We must, nevertheless, confess that this matter is one that demands all the attention of the government; while the candid foreigner will doubtless admit that it is not easy to exercise police supervision over roads on which the central points of population lie far apart, as in countries like ours, instead of being so near that a watch can be maintained from them over the intermediate spaces, as is the case in most countries of Europe and in a great part of the United States.” Conquista de Méjico (trad. de Vega), tom. i. p. 251.]
[83] El Paso del Obispo. Cortés named it Puerto del Nombre de Dios. Viaje, ap. Lorenzana, p. ii.
[84] The Aztec name is Nauhcampatepetl, from nauhcampa, “anything square,” and tepetl, “a mountain.”—Humboldt, who waded through forests and snows to its summit, ascertained its height to be 4089 metres, = 13,414 feet, above the sea. See his Vues des Cordillères, p. 234, and Essai politique, vol. i. p. 266.
[85] The same mentioned in Cortés’ Letter as the Puerto de la Leña. Viaje, ap. Lorenzana, p. iii.
[86] Now known by the euphonious Indian name of Tlatlanquitepec. (Viaje, ap. Lorenzana, p. iv.) It is the Cocotlan of Bernal Diaz. (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 61.) The old Conquerors made sorry work with the Aztec names, both of places and persons, for which they must be allowed to have had ample excuse.
[87] “Puestos tantos rimeros de calaueras de muertos, que se podian bien contar, segun el concierto con que estauan puestas, que me parece que eran mas de cien mil, y digo otra vez sobre cien mil.” Ibid., ubi supra.
[88] “El qual casi admirado de lo que le preguntaba, me respondió, diciendo; ¿que quién no era vasallo de Muctezuma? queriendo decir, que allí era Señor del Mundo.” Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 47.
[89] “Tiene mas de 30 Príncipes á sí subjectos, que cada uno dellos tiene cient mill hombres é mas de pelea.” (Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 1.) This marvellous tale is gravely repeated by more than one Spanish writer, in their accounts of the Aztec monarchy, not as the assertion of this chief, but as a veritable piece of statistics. See, among others, Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 12.—Solís, Conquista, lib. 3, cap. 16.
[90] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 61.—There is a slight ground-swell of glorification in the Captain’s narrative, which may provoke a smile,—not a sneer, for it is mingled with too much real courage and simplicity of character.
[91] For the preceding pages, besides authorities cited in course, see Peter Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 1,—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 44.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 26.
[92] The general clearly belonged to the church militant, mentioned by Butler:
[93] “Arbol grande, dicho ahuehuete.” (Viaje, ap. Lorenzana, p. iii.) The cupressus disticha of Linnæus. See Humboldt, Essai politique, tom. ii. p. 54, note.
[94] It is the same taste which has made the Castiles, the table-land of the Peninsula, so naked of wood. Prudential reasons, as well as taste, however, seem to have operated in New Spain. A friend of mine on a visit to a noble hacienda, but uncommonly barren of trees, was informed by the proprietor that they were cut down to prevent the lazy Indians on the plantation from wasting their time by loitering in their shade!
[95] It confirms the observations of M. de Humboldt. “Sans doute lors de la première arrivée des Espagnols, toute cette côte, depuis la rivière de Papaloapan (Alvarado) jusqu’à Huaxtecapan, était plus habitée et mieux cultivée qu’elle ne l’est aujourd’hui. Cependant à mesure que les conquérans montèrent au plateau, ils trouvèrent les villages plus rapprochés les uns des autres, les champs divisés en portions plus petites, le peuple plus policé.” Humboldt, Essai politique, tom. ii. p. 202.
[96] The correct Indian name of the town, Yxtacamaxtitlan, Yztacmastitan of Cortés, will hardly be recognized in the Xalacingo of Diaz. The town was removed, in 1601, from the top of the hill to the plain. On the original site are still visible remains of carved stones of large dimensions, attesting the elegance of the ancient fortress or palace of the cacique. Viaje, ap. Lorenzana, p. v.
[97] “Estas cosas y otras de gran persuasion contenia la carta, pero como no sabian leer no pudieron entender lo que contenia.” Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.
[98] For an account of the diplomatic usages of the people of Anahuac, see ante, p. 57.
[99] “Mira, señores compañeros, ya veis que somos pocos, hemos de estar siempre tan apercebidos, y aparejados, como si aora viessemos venir los contrarios á pelear, y no solamente vellos venir, sino hazer cuenta que estamos ya en la batalla con ellos.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 62.
[100] According to the writer last cited, the stones were held by a cement so hard that the men could scarcely break it with their pikes. (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 62.) But the contrary statement, in the general’s letter, is confirmed by the present appearance of the wall. Viaje, ap. Lorenzana, p. vii.
[101] Viaje, ap. Lorenzana, p. vii.—The attempts of the Archbishop to identify the route of Cortés have been very successful. It is a pity that his map illustrating the itinerary should be so worthless.
[102] Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 44, 45.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83.—Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 3.—Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 2.—Peter Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 1.
[103] The Indian chronicler, Camargo, considers his nation a branch of the Chichimec. (Hist. de Tlascala, MS.) So, also, Torquemada. (Monarch. Ind., lib. 3, cap. 9.) Clavigero, who has carefully investigated the antiquities of Anahuac, calls it one of the seven Nahuatlac tribes. (Stor. del Messico, tom. i. p. 153, nota.) The fact is not of great moment, since they were all cognate races, speaking the same tongue, and, probably, migrated from their country in the far North at nearly the same time.
[104] The descendants of these petty nobles attached as great value to their pedigrees as any Biscayan or Asturian in Old Spain. Long after the Conquest, they refused, however needy, to dishonor their birth by resorting to mechanical or other plebeian occupations, oficios viles y bajos. “Los descendientes de estos son estimados por hombres calificados, que aunque sean pobrísimos no usan oficios mecánicos ni tratos bajos ni viles, ni jamas se permiten cargar ni cabar con coas y azadones, diciendo que son hijos Idalgos en que no han de aplicarse á estas cosas soeces y bajas, sino servir en guerras y fronteras, como Idalgos, y morir como hombres peleando.” Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.
[105] “Cualquier Tecuhtli que formaba un Tecalli, que es casa de Mayorazgo, todas aquellas tierras que le caian en suerte de repartimiento, con montes, fuentes, rios, ó lagunas tomase para la casa principal la mayor y mejor suerte ó pagos de tierra, y luego las demas que quedaban se partian por sus soldados amigos y parientes, igualmente, y todos estos están obligados á reconocer la casa mayor y acudir á ella, á alzarla y repararla, y á ser continuos en reconocer á ella de aves, caza, flores, y ramos para el sustento de la casa del Mayorazgo, y el que lo es está obligado á sustentarlos y á regalarlos como amigos de aquella casa y parientes de ella.” Ibid., MS.
[106] Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.
[107] “Los grandes recibimientos que hacian á los capitanes que venian y alcanzaban victoria en las guerras, las fiestas y solenidades con que se solenizaban á manera de triunfo, que los metian en andas en su puebla, trayendo consigo á los vencidos; y por eternizar sus hazañas se las cantaban publicamente, y ansí quedaban memoradas y con estatuas que les ponian en los templos.” Ibid., MS.
[108] For the whole ceremony of inauguration,—though, as it seems, having especial reference to the merchant-knights,—see Appendix, No. 9, where the original is given from Camargo.
[109] “Ha bel paese,” says the Anonymous Conqueror, speaking of Tlascala at the time of the invasion, “di pianure et motagne, et è provincia popolosa et vi si raccoglie molto pane.” Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. p. 308.
[110] A full account of the manners, customs, and domestic policy of Tlascala is given by the national historian, throwing much light on the other states of Anahuac, whose social institutions seem to have been all cast in the same mould.
[111] Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 2, cap. 70.
[112] Camargo (Hist. de Tlascala, MS.) notices the extent of Montezuma’s conquests,—a debatable ground for the historian.
[113] Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 3, cap. 16.—Solís says, “The Tlascalan territory was fifty leagues in circumference, ten long, from east to west, and four broad, from north to south.” (Conquista de Méjico, lib. 3, cap. 3.) It must have made a curious figure in geometry!
[114] Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.
[115] “Los Señores Mejicanos y Tezcucanos en tiempo que ponian treguas por algunas temporadas embiaban á los Señores de Tlaxcalla grandes presentes y dádivas de oro, ropa, y cacao, y sal, y de todas las cosas de que carecian, sin que la gente plebeya lo entendiese, y se saludaban secretamente, guardándose el decoro que se debian; mas con todos estos trabajos la órden de su república jamas se dejaba de gobernar con la rectitud de sus costumbres guardando inviolablemente el culto de sus Dioses.” Ibid., MS.
[116] The Tlascalan chronicler discerns in this deep-rooted hatred of Mexico the hand of Providence, who wrought out of it an important means for subverting the Aztec empire. Hist. de Tlascala, MS.
[117] “Si bien os acordais, como tenemos de nuestra antigüedad como han de venir gentes á la parte donde sale el sol, y que han de emparentar con nosotros, y que hemos de ser todos unos; y que han de ser blancos y barbudos.” Ibid., MS.
[118] To the ripe age of one hundred and forty! if we may credit Camargo. Solís, who confounds this veteran with his son, has put a flourishing harangue in the mouth of the latter, which would be a rare gem of Indian eloquence,—were it not Castilian. Conquista, lib. 2, cap. 16.
[119] Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.—Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 3.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 27.—There is sufficient contradiction, as well as obscurity, in the proceedings reported of the council, which it is not easy to reconcile altogether with subsequent events.
[120] “—— Dolus an virtus, quis in hoste requirat?”
[121] “I les matáron dos caballos, de dos cuchilladas, i segun algunos, que lo viéron, cortáron á cercen de un golpe cada pescueço, con riendas, i todas.” Gomara, Crónica, cap. 45.{*}
{*} [The Mexican sword was a horrible affair. On two sides of a stick three feet and a half long and four inches wide were fastened a number of obsidian razors about three inches long and one or two inches wide. These razors were the thickness of a sword blade. They were at first wonderfully sharp,—so sharp that once a horse was beheaded at one stroke,—but soon lost their edge. The sword was tied to the arm by a string that it should not be lost in battle.—M.]
[122] Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 50.—Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 62.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 45.—Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 3, 41.—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 10.
[123] “Que quando rompiessemos por los esquadrones, que lleuassen las lanças por las caras, y no parassen á dar lançadas, porque no les echassen mano dellas.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 62.
[124] “Entonces dixo Cortés, ‘Santiago, y á ellos.’” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 63.
[125] “Una gentil contienda,” says Gomara of this skirmish. Crónica, cap. 46.
[126] Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 51. According to Gomara (Crónica, cap. 46), the enemy mustered 80,000. So, also, Ixtlilxochitl. (Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83.) Bernal Diaz says, more than 40,000. (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 63.) But Herrera (Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 5) and Torquemada (Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 20) reduce them to 30,000. One might as easily reckon the leaves in a forest, as the numbers of a confused throng of barbarians. As this was only one of several armies kept on foot by the Tlascalans, the smallest amount is, probably, too large. The whole population of the state, according to Clavigero, who would not be likely to underrate it, did not exceed half a million at the time of the invasion. Stor. del Messico, tom. i. p. 156.
[127] “La divisa y armas de la casa y cabecera de Titcala es una garga blanca sobre un peñasco.” (Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.) “El capitan general,” says Bernal Diaz, “que se dezia Xicotenga, y con sus diuisas de blanco y colorado, porque aquella diuisa y librea era de aquel Xicotenga.” Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 63.
[128] “Llaman Teponaztle ques de un trozo de madero concavado y de una pieza rollizo y, como decimos, hueco por de dentro, que suena algunas veces mas de media legua y con el atambor hace estraña y suave consonancia.” (Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.) Clavigero, who gives a drawing of this same drum, says it is still used by the Indians, and may be heard two or three miles. Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 179.
[129] “Una illis fuit spes salutis, desperâsse de salute.” (P. Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 1, cap. 1.) It is said with the classic energy of Tacitus.
[130] “Respondióle Marina, que no tuviese miedo, porque el Dios de los Christianos, que es muy poderoso, i los queria mucho, los sacaria de peligro.” Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 5.
[131] Ibid., ubi supra.
[132] Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 3, 45.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83.—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 51.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 63.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 40.
[133] Viaje de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. ix.
[134] According to Cortés, not a Spaniard fell—though many were wounded—in this action so fatal to the infidel! Diaz allows one. In the famous battle of Navas de Tolosa, between the Spaniards and Arabs, in 1212, equally matched in military science at that time, there were left 200,000 of the latter on the field; and, to balance this bloody roll, only five-and-twenty Christians! See the estimate in Alfonso IX.’s veracious letter, ap. Mariana (Hist. de España, lib. 2, cap. 24). The official returns of the old Castilian crusaders, whether in the Old World or the New, are scarcely more trustworthy than a French imperial bulletin in our day.
[135] Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 52.—Oviedo, who made free use of the manuscripts of Cortés, writes thirty-nine houses. (Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 3.) This may perhaps be explained by the sign for a thousand, in Spanish notation, bearing great resemblance to the figure 9. Martyr, who had access, also, to the Conqueror’s manuscript, confirms the larger and, a priori, less probable number.
[136] “Que fuessemos á su pueblo adonde está su padre, q allá harian las pazes cō hartarse de nuestras carnes, y honrar sus dioses con nuestros coraçones, y sangre, é que para otro dia de mañana veriamos su respuesta.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 64.
[137] More than one writer repeats a story of the Tlascalan general’s sending a good supply of provisions, at this time, to the famished army of the Spaniards; to put them in stomach, it may be, for the fight. (Gomara, Crónica, cap. 46.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83.) This ultra-chivalrous display from the barbarian is not very probable, and Cortés’ own account of his successful foray may much better explain the abundance which reigned in his camp.
[138] Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 52.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 46, 47.—Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 3.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 64.
[139] Through the magnifying lens of Cortés, there appeared to be 150,000 men (Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 52); a number usually preferred by succeeding writers.
[141] The standards of the Mexicans were carried in the centre, those of the Tlascalans in the rear of the array. (Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, vol. ii. p. 145.) According to the Anonymous Conqueror, the banner-staff was attached to the back of the ensign, so that it was impossible to be torn away. “Ha ogni copagnia il suo Alfiere con la sua insegna inhastata, et in tal modo ligata sopra le spalle, che non gli da alcun disturbo di poter combattere ne far ció che vuole, et la porta cosi ligata bene al corpo, che se no fanno del suo corpo pezzi, non se gli puo sligare, ne torgliela mai.” Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 305.
[142] Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.—Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 6.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 46.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 64.—Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 45.—The last two authors speak of the device of “a white bird like an ostrich,” as that of the republic. They have evidently confounded it with that of the Indian general. Camargo, who has given the heraldic emblems of the four great families of Tlascala, notices the white heron as that of Xicotencatl.
[143] “Portano in testa,” says the Anonymous Conqueror, “per difesa una cosa come teste di serpeti, ò di tigri, ò di leoni, ò di lupi, che ha le mascelle, et è la testa dell’ huomo messa nella testa di qsto animale come se lo volesse diuorare: sono di legno, et sopra vi é la pena, et di piastra d’oro et di pietre preciose copte, che è cosa marauigliosa da vedere.” Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 305.
[144] “I saw one day an Indian make a thrust at the horse of a cavalier with whom he was fighting, which pierced its breast, and penetrated so deep that it immediately fell dead; and the same day I saw another Indian cut the neck of a horse, which fell dead at his feet.” Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 305.
[145] Particular notices of the military dress and appointments of the American tribes on the plateau may be found in Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.,—Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 101, et seq.,—Acosta, lib. 6, cap. 26,—Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 305, et auct. al.
[146] “Que granizo de piedra de los honderos! Pues flechas todo el suelo hecho parva de varas todas de á dos gajos, que passan qualquiera arma, y las entrañas adonde no ay defensa.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 65.
[147] So says Bernal Diaz; who at the same time, by the epithets los muertos, los cuerpos, plainly contradicts his previous boast that only one Christian fell in the fight. (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 65.) Cortés has not the grace to acknowledge that one.
[148] Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 3.—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 52.—Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 6.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 46.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 32.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 65, 66.—The warm, chivalrous glow of feeling which colors the rude composition of the last chronicler makes him a better painter than his more correct and classical rivals. And, if there is somewhat too much of the self-complacent tone of the quorum pars magna fui in his writing, it may be pardoned in the hero of more than a hundred battles and almost as many wounds.
[149] The Anonymous Conqueror bears emphatic testimony to the valor of the Indians, specifying instances in which he had seen a single warrior defend himself for a long time against two, three, and even four Spaniards! “Sono fra loro di valētissimi huomini et che ossano morir ostinatissimamēte. Et io ho veduto un d’ essi difendersi valetemente da duoi caualli leggieri, et un altro da tre, et quattro.” Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 305.
[150] The appalling effect of the cavalry on the natives reminds one of the confusion into which the Roman legions were thrown by the strange appearance of the elephants in their first engagements with Pyrrhus, as told by Plutarch in his life of that prince.
[151] Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 53, 54.—Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 3.—P. Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 2, cap. 2.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 32.—Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 8.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 66.
[152] “Though she heard them every day talk of killing us and eating our flesh, though she had seen us surrounded in past battles, and knew that we were now all of us wounded and suffering, yet we never saw any weakness in her, but a courage far beyond that of woman.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 66.
[153] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 67.—Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83.
[154] The effect of the medicine—though rather a severe dose, according to the precise Diaz—was suspended during the general’s active exertions. Gomara, however, does not consider this a miracle. (Crónica, cap. 49.) Father Sandoval does. (Hist. de Cárlos Quinto, tom. i. p. 127.) Solís, after a conscientious inquiry into this perplexing matter, decides—strange as it may seem—against the father! Conquista, lib. 2, cap. 20.
[155] “Dios es sobre natura.” Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 54.
[156] Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 64.—Not so Cortés, who says, boldly, “I burned more than ten towns.” (Ibid., p. 52.) His reverend commentator specifies the localities of the Indian towns destroyed by him in his forays. Viaje, ap. Lorenzana, pp. ix-xi.
[157] [Lorenzana speaks of two standards as borne by Cortés in the Conquest, one having the image of the Virgin emblazoned on it, the other that of the Cross. It may be the latter which is still preserved in the Museum of Artillery at Madrid. (Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 52, nota.) In a letter written to me from that capital, a few years since, by my friend Mr. George Summer, he remarks, “In Madrid, in the Museum of Artillery, is a small mahogany box, about a foot square, locked and sealed, which contains, as the inscription above it states, the pendon which Hernan Cortés carried to the conquest of Mexico. On applying to the Brigadier Leon de Palacio, the director of the museum, he was so kind as not only to order this to be opened, but to come himself with me to examine it. The standard is probably the same which Lorenzana, in 1770, speaks of as being then in the Secretario de Gobierno. It is of red Damascus silk, and has marks of the painting once upon it, but is now completely in rags.”]
[158] “E como trayamos la Bandera de la Cruz, y puñabamos por nuestra Fe, y por servicio de Vuestra Sacra Magestad, en su muy Real ventura nos dió Dios tanta victoria, que les matámos mucha gente, sin que los nuestros recibiessen daño.” Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 52.
[159] “It was a notable thing,” exclaims Herrera, “to see with what humility and devotion all returned praising God, who gave them victories so miraculous, by which it was clearly apparent that they were favored with the divine assistance.”
[160] “Porque entrar en México, teníamoslo por cosa de risa, á causa de sus grandes fuerças.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 66.
[161] Diaz indignantly disclaims the idea of mutiny, which Gomara 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.