Chapter XXXIV: Letter 5 (2)

[358] So says the _Conquistador_. (Rel. Terc., ap. Lorenzana, p. 215.) Diaz, who will allow no one to hyperbolize but himself, says, “For as long as one might take to say an Ave Maria!” (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 142.) Neither was present.

[359] The gallant Captain Diaz, who affects a sobriety in his own estimates, which often leads him to disparage those of the chaplain Gomara, says that the force consisted of 20,000 warriors in 2000 canoes. Hist. de la Conquista, loc. cit.

[360] “El Cortés no le quiso escuchar á Sandoual de enojo, creyendo que por su culpa, ó descuido, recibía mala obra nuestros amigos los de Chalco; y luego sin mas dilacion, ni le oyr, le mandó bolver.” Ibid., ubi supra.

[361] Besides the authorities already quoted for Sandoval’s expedition, see Gomara, Crónica, cap. 126,--Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 92,--Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 86.

[362] “Ixtlilxochitl procuraba siempre traer á la devocion y amistad de los Cristianos no tan solamente á los de el Reyno de Tezcuco sino aun los de las Provincias remotas, rogándoles que todos se procurasen dar de paz al Capitan Cortés, y que aunque de las guerras pasadas algunos tuviesen culpa, era tan afable y deseaba tanto la paz que luego al punto los reciviria en su amistad.” Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 92.

[363] Cortés speaks of these vessels as coming at the same time, but does not intimate from what quarter. (Rel. Terc., ap. Lorenzana, p. 216.) Bernal Diaz, who notices only one, says it came from Castile. (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 143.) But the old soldier wrote long after the events he commemorates, and may have confused the true order of things. It seems hardly probable that so important a reinforcement should have arrived from Castile, considering that Cortés had yet received none of the royal patronage, or even sanction, which would stimulate adventurers in the mother country to enlist under his standard.

[364] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 143.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 21.--Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 1, cap. 6.

[365] “Viniéron tantos, que en todas las entradas que yo auia ido, despues que en la Nueua España entré, nunca ví tanta gente de guerra de nuestros amigos, como aora fuéron en nuestra compañía.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 144.

[366] “Todos descalabrados, y corriendo sangre, y las vanderas rotas, y ocho muertos.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, ubi supra.

[367] For the assault on the rocks,--the topography of which it is impossible to verify from the narratives of the Conquerors,--see Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 144,--Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 218-221,--Gomara, Crónica, cap. 127,--Ixtlilxochitl, Venida de los Españolés, pp. 16, 17,--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 21.

[368] Cortés, according to Bernal Diaz, ordered the troops who took possession of the second fortress “not to meddle with a grain of maize belonging to the besieged.” Diaz, giving this a very liberal interpretation, proceeded forthwith to load his Indian _tamanes_ with everything but maize, as fair booty. He was interrupted in his labors, however, by the captain of the detachment, who gave a more narrow construction to his general’s orders, much to the dissatisfaction of the latter, if we may trust the doughty chronicler. Ibid., ubi supra.

[369] “Adonde estaua la huerta que he dicho, que es la mejor que auia visto en toda mi vida, y ansí lo torno á dezir, que Cortés, y el Tesorero Alderete, desque entonces la viéron, y passeáron algo de ella, se admiráron, y dixéron, que mejor cosa de huerta no auian visto en Castilla.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 144.

[370] This barbarous Indian name is tortured into all possible variations by the old chroniclers. The town soon received from the Spaniards the name which it now bears, of Cuernavaca, and by which it is indicated on modern maps. “Prevalse poi quello di _Cuernabaca_, col quale è presentemente conosciuta dagli Spagnuoli.” Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. iii. p. 185, nota.

[371] The stout-hearted Diaz was one of those who performed this dangerous feat, though his head swam so, as he tells us, that he scarcely knew how he got on. “Porque de mí digo, que verdaderamete quando passaua, q lo ví mui peligroso, é malo de passar, y se me desvanecia la cabeça, y todavía passé yo, y otros veinte, ó treinta soldados, y muchos Tlascaltecas.” Hist. de la Conquista, ubi supra.

[372] For the preceding account of the capture of Cuernavaca, see Bernal Diaz, ubi supra,--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 21,--Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 93,--Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 1, cap. 8,--Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 87,--Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 223, 224.

[373] “Una Tierra de Pinales, despoblada, y sin ninguna agua, la qual y un Puerto pasámos con grandíssimo trabajo, y sin beber: tanto, que muchos de los Indios que iban con nosotros pereciéron de sed.” Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 224.

[374] The city of Cuernavaca was comprehended in the patrimony of the dukes of Monteleone, descendants and heirs of the _Conquistador_.--The Spaniards, in their line of march towards the north, did not deviate far, probably, from the great road which now leads from Mexico to Acapulco, still exhibiting in this upper portion of it the same characteristic features as at the period of the Conquest.

[375] Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. iii. p. 187, nota.

[376] “Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 226.--Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 1, cap. 8.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 21.--This is the general’s own account of the matter. Diaz, however, says that he was indebted for his rescue to a Castilian, named Olea, supported by some Tlascalans, and that his preserver received three severe wounds himself on the occasion. (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 145.) This was an affair, however, in which Cortés ought to be better informed than any one else, and one, moreover, not likely to slip his memory. The old soldier has probably confounded it with another and similar adventure of his commander.

[377] “Otro Dia buscó Cortés al Indio, que le socorrió, i muerto, ni vivo no pareció; i Cortés, por la devocion de San Pedro, juzgo que él le avia aiudado.” Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 1, cap. 8.

[378] “Por el Agua á una muy grande flota de Canoas, que creo, que pasaban de dos mil; y en ellas venian mas de doce mil Hombres de Guerra; é por la Tierra llegó tanta multitud de Gente, que todos los Campos cubrian.” Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 227.

[379] “Y acordóse que huviesse mui buena vela en todo nuestro Real, repartida á los puertos, é azequias por donde auian de venir á desembarcar, y los de acauallo mui á punto toda la noche ensillados y enfrenados, aguardando en la calçada, y tierra firme, y todos los Capitanes, y Cortés con ellos, haziendo vela y ronda toda la noche.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 145.

[380] Diaz, who had an easy faith, states, as a fact, that the limbs of the unfortunate men were cut off _before_ their sacrifice: “Manda cortar pies y braços á los tristes nuestros compañeros, y las embia por muchos pueblos nuestros amigos de los [~q] nos auian venido de paz, y les embia á dezir, que antes que bolvamos á Tezcuco, piensa no quedará ninguno de nosotros á vida, y con los coraçones y sangre hizo sacrificio á sus ídolos.” (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 145.)--This is not very probable. The Aztecs did not, like our North American Indians, torture their enemies from mere cruelty, but in conformity to the prescribed regulations of their ritual. The captive was a religious victim.

[381] “Y al cabo dejándola toda quemada y asolada nos partímos; y cierto era mucho para ver, porque tenia muchas Casas, y Torres de sus Ídolos de cal y canto.” Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 228.

[382] For other particulars of the actions at Xochimilco, see Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 23, cap. 21,--Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 1, cap. 8, 11,--Ixtlilxochitl, Venida de los Españoles, p. 18,--Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 87, 88,--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 145.--The Conqueror’s own account of these engagements has not his usual perspicuity, perhaps from its brevity. A more than ordinary confusion, indeed, prevails in the different reports of them, even those proceeding from contemporaries, making it extremely difficult to collect a probable narrative from authorities not only contradicting one another, but themselves. It is rare, at any time, that two accounts of a battle coincide in all respects; the range of observation for each individual is necessarily so limited and different, and it is so difficult to make a cool observation at all, in the hurry and heat of conflict. Any one who has conversed with the survivors will readily comprehend this, and be apt to conclude that, wherever he may look for truth, it will hardly be on the battle-ground.

[383] This place, recommended by the exceeding beauty of its situation, became, after the Conquest, a favorite residence of Cortés, who founded a nunnery in it, and commanded in his will that his bones should be removed thither from any part of the world in which he might die: “Que mis huesos--los lleven á la mi Villa de Coyoacan, y allí les den tierra en el Monesterio de Monjas, que mando hacer y edificar en la dicha mi Villa.” Testamento de Hernan Cortés, MS.

[384] This, says Archbishop Lorenzana, was the modern _calzada de la Piedad_. (Rel. Terc. de Cortés, p. 229, nota.) But it is not easy to reconcile this with the elaborate chart which M. de Humboldt has given of the Valley. A short arm, which reached from this city in the days of the Aztecs, touched obliquely the great southern avenue by which the Spaniards first entered the capital. As the waters which once entirely surrounded Mexico have shrunk into their narrow basin, the face of the country has undergone a great change, and, though the foundations of the principal causeways are still maintained, it is not always easy to discern vestiges of the ancient avenues.{*}

{*} La calzada de Iztapalapan,” says Alaman, who has made a minute study of the topography, “es la de San Antonio Abad, que conduce á San Augustin de las Cuevas ó Tlalpam.”--K.]

[385] “We came to a wall which they had built across the causeway, and the foot-soldiers began to attack it; and though it was very thick and stoutly defended, and ten Spaniards were wounded, at length they gained it, killing many of the enemy, although the musketeers were without powder and the bowmen without arrows.” Rel. Terc., ubi supra.

[386] “Y estando en esto viene Cortés, con el qual nos alegrámos, puesto que él venia muy triste y como lloroso.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 145.

[387] “Pues quando viéron la gran ciudad de México, y la laguna, y tanta multitud de canoas que vnas ivan cargadas con bastimentos, y otras ivan á pescar, y otras valdías, mucho mas se espantáron, porque no las auian visto, hasta en aquella saçon: y dixéron, que nuestra venida en esta Nueua España, que no eran cosas de hombres humanos, sino que la gran misericordia de Dios era quiē nos sostenia.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 145.

[388] “En este instante suspiró Cortés cō vna muy grā tristeza, mui mayor [~q] la [~q] de antes traia.” Ibid., loc. cit.

[389] “Y Cortés le dixo, que ya veia quantas vezes auia embiado á México á rogalles con la paz, y que la tristeza no la tenia por sola vna cosa, sino en pensar en los grandes trabajos en que nos auiamos de ver, hasta tornar á señorear; y que con la ayuda de Dios presto lo porniamos por la obra.” Ibid., ubi supra.

[390] Diaz gives the opening _redondillas_ of the _romance_, which I have not been able to find in any of the printed collections:

“En Tacuba está Cortés,
cō su esquadron esforçado,
triste estaua, y muy penoso,
triste, y con gran cuidado,
la vna mano en la mexilla,
y la otra en el costado,” etc.

It may be thus done into pretty literal doggerel:

In Tacuba stood Cortés,
With many a care opprest,
Thoughts of the past came o’er him,
And he bowed his haughty crest.
One hand upon his cheek he laid,
The other on his breast,
While his valiant squadrons round him, etc.

[391] Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 1, cap. 15.--Relacion de Alonso de Verzara, Escrivano Público de Vera Cruz, MS., dec. 21.

[392] “Haziā Alguazil mayor é Alférez, y Alcaldes, y Regidores, y Contador, y Tesorero, y Ueedor, y otras cosas deste arte, y aun repartido entre ellos nuestros bienes, y cauallos.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 146.

[393] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 146.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 48.--Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 1, cap. 1.

[394] Herrera, Hist. general, ubi supra.

[395] So says M. de Barante in his picturesque _rifacimento_ of the ancient chronicles: “Les procès du connétable et de monsieur de Némours, bien d’autres révélations, avaient fait éclater leur mauvais vouloir, ou du moins leur peu de fidélité pour le roi; ils ne pouvaient donc douter qu’il désirât ou complotât leur ruine.” Histoire des Ducs de Bourgogne (Paris, 1838), tom. xi. p. 169.

[396] “Y desde allí adelante, aunque mostraua gran voluntad á las personas que eran en la cōjuraciō, siempre se rezelaua dellos.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 146.

[397] Ixtlilxochitl, Venida de los Españoles, p. 19.--Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 234.--“Obra grandíssima,” exclaims the Conqueror, “y mucho para ver.”--“Fuéron en guarde de estos bergantines,” adds Camargo, “mas de diez mil hombres de guerra con los maestros dellas, hasta que los armáron y echáron en el agua y laguna de Méjico, que fué obra de mucho efecto para tomarse Méjico.” Hist. de Tlascala, MS.

[398] The brigantines were still to be seen, preserved, as precious memorials, long after the conquest, in the dock-yards of Mexico. Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 1.

[399] “Dada la señal, soltó la Presa, fuéron saliendo los Vergantines, sin tocar vno á otro, i apartándose por la Laguna, desplegáron las Vanderas, tocó la Música, disparáron su Artillería, respondió la del Exército, así de Castellanos, como de Indios.” Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 1, cap. 6.

[400] Ibid., ubi supra.--Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 234.--Ixtlilxochitl, Venida de los Españoles, p. 19.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 48.--The last-mentioned chronicler indulges in no slight swell of exultation at this achievement of his hero, which in his opinion throws into shade the boasted exploits of the great Sesostris. “Otras muchas é notables cosas, cuenta este actor que he dicho de aqueste Rey Sesori, en que no me quiero detener, ni las tengo en tanto como esta tranchea, ó canja que es dicho, y los Vergantines de que tratamos, los quales diéron ocasion á que se oviesen mayores Thesoros é Provincias, é Reynos, que no tuvo Sesori, para la corona Real de Castilla por la industria de Hernando Cortés.” Ibid., lib. 33, cap. 22.

[401] Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 234.

[402] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 147.

[403] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, ubi supra.--_Hidalguía_, besides its legal privileges, brought with it some fanciful ones to its possessor; if, indeed, it be considered a privilege to have excluded him from many a humble, but honest, calling, by which the poor man might have gained his bread. (For an amusing account of these, see Doblado’s Letters from Spain, let. 2.) In no country has the _poor gentleman_ afforded so rich a theme for the satirist, as the writings of Le Sage, Cervantes, and Lope de Vega abundantly show.

[404] “Y los Capitanes de Tascaltecal con toda su gente, muy lúcida, y bien armada, ... y segun la cuenta, que los Capitanes nos diéron, pasaban de cinquenta mil Hombres de Guerra.” (Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 236.) “I toda la Gente,” adds Herrera, “tardó tres Dias en entrar, segun en sus Memoriales dice Alonso de Ojeda, ni con ser Tezcuco tan gran Ciudad, cabian en ella.” Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 1, cap. 13.

[405] “Y sus vaderas tēdidas, y el aue blāca [~q] tienen por armas, [~q] parece águila, con sus alas tendidas.” (Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 149.) A spread eagle of gold, Clavigero considers as the arms of the republic. (Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 145.) But, as Bernal Diaz speaks of it as “white,” it may have been the white heron, which belonged to the house of Xicotencatl.

[406] The precise amount of each division, as given by Cortés, was,--in that of Alvarado, 30 horse, 168 Castilian infantry, and 25,000 Tlascalans; in that of Olid, 33 horse, 178 infantry, 20,000 Tlascalans; and in Sandoval’s, 24 horse, 167 infantry, 30,000 Indians. (Rel. Terc., ap. Lorenzana, p. 236.) Diaz reduces the number of native troops to one-third. Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 150.

[407] “Que se alegrassen, y esforzassen mucho, pues que veian, que nuestro Señor nos encaminaba para haber victoria de nuestros Enemigos: porque bien sabian, que quando habiamos entrado en Tesaico, no habiamos trahido mas de quarenta de Caballo, y que Dios nos habia socorrido mejor, que lo habiamos pensado.” Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 235.

[408] Oviedo expands what he nevertheless calls the “brebe é substancial oracion” of Cortés into treble the length of it as found in the general’s own pages; in which he is imitated by most of the other chroniclers. Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 22.

[409] “Y con estas últimas palabras cesó; y todos respondiéron sin discrepancia, é á una voce dicentes: Sirvanse Dios y el Emperador nuestro Señor de tan buen capitan, y de nosotros, que así lo harémos todos como quien somos, y como se debe esperar de buenos Españoles, y con tanta voluntad, y deseo, dicho que parecia que cada hora les era perder vn año de tiempo por estar ya á las manos con los Enemigos.” Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., ubi supra.

[410] According to Diaz, the desire to possess himself of the lands of his comrade Chichemecatl, who remained with the army (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 150); according to Herrera, it was an amour that carried him home. (Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 1, cap. 17.) Both and all agree on the chief’s aversion to the Spaniards and to the war.

[411] “Y la respuesta que le embió á dezir fué, que si el viejo de su padre, y Masse Escaci le huvieran creido, que no se huvieran señoreado tanto dellos, que les haze hazer todo lo que quiere: _y por no gastar mas palabras, dixo, que no queria venir_.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 150.

[412] So says Herrera, who had in his possession the memorial of Ojeda, one of the Spaniards employed to apprehend the chieftain. (Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 1, cap. 17, and Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 90.) Bernal Diaz, on the other hand, says that the Tlascalan chief was taken and executed on the road. (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 150.) But the latter chronicler was probably absent at the time with Alvarado’s division, in which he served. Solís, however, prefers his testimony, on the ground that Cortés would not have hazarded the execution of Xicotencatl before the eyes of his own troops. (Conquista, lib. 5, cap. 19.) But the Tlascalans were already well on their way towards Tacuba. A very few only could have remained in Tezcuco, which was occupied by the citizens and the Castilian army,--neither of them very likely to interfere in the prisoner’s behalf. His execution there would be an easier matter than in the territory of Tlascala, which he had probably reached before his apprehension.

[413] Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 1, cap. 17.--Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 90.

[414] “Y sobre ello ya auiamos echado mano á las armas los de nuestra Capitanía contra los de Christóual de Oli, y aun los Capitanes desafiados.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 150.{*}

{*} [As they were approaching the town, Olid sent a squad of soldiers ahead to secure quarters. When Alvarado entered he found every house in the place already decorated with the green branch upon its roof, which indicated that it was already occupied. According to Bancroft, Alvarado and Olid began their march on the 22d of May. He insists that Prescott was misled by an error in Cortés, Cartas, 208.--M.]

[415] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 150.--Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 237.--Gomara, Crónica, cap. 130.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 22.

[416] The Tepanec capital, shorn of its ancient splendors, is now only interesting from its historic associations. “These plains of Tacuba,” says the spirited author of “Life in Mexico,” “once the theatre of fierce and bloody conflicts, and where, during the siege of Mexico, Alvarado ‘of the leap’ fixed his camp, now present a very tranquil scene. Tacuba itself is now a small village of mud huts, with some fine old trees, a very few old ruined houses, a ruined church, and some traces of a building, which ---- assured us had been the palace of their last monarch; whilst others declare it to have been the site of the Spanish encampment.” Vol. i. let. 13.

[417] Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 237-239.--Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 94.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 22.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 50.--Gomara, Crónica, cap. 130.--Clavigero settles this date at the day of Corpus Christi, May 30th. (Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. iii. p. 196.) But the Spaniards left Tezcuco May 10th, according to Cortés; and three weeks could not have intervened between their departure and their occupation of Cojohuacan. Clavigero disposes of this difficulty, it is true, by dating the beginning of their march on the 20th instead of the 10th of May; following the chronology of Herrera, instead of that of Cortés. Surely the general is the better authority of the two.