Chapter XXVI: Appendix: Original Documents (7)

[115] “Adonde estauan retraidos el Guatemuz con toda la flor de sus Capitanes, y personas mas nobles que en México auia, y le mandó que no matasse ni hiriesse á ningunos Indios, saluo si no le diessen guerra, é que aunque se la diessen, que solamente se defendiesse.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 156.

[116] “Y al fin me dijo, que en ninguna manera el Señor vernia ante mí; y antes queria por allá morir, y que á él pesaba mucho de esto, que hiciesse yo lo que quisiesse; y como ví en esto su determinacion, yo le dije; que se bolviesse á los suyos, y que él, y ellos se aparejassen, porque los queria combatir, y acabar de matar, y assí se fué.” Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 298.

[117] Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 30.--Ixtlilxochitl, Venida de los Españoles, p. 48.--Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 2, cap. 7.--Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 297, 298.--Gomara, Crónica, cap. 142.

[118] Ixtlilxochitl, Venida de los Españoles, p. 49.--“No me tiren, que yo soy el Rey de México, y desta tierra, y lo que te ruego es, que no me llegues á mi muger, ni á mis hijos; ni á ninguna muger, ni á ninguna cosa de lo que aquí traygo, sino que me tomes á mi, y me lleues á Malinche.” (Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 156.) M. de Humboldt has taken much pains to identify the place of Guatemozin’s capture,--now become dry land,--which he considers to have been somewhere between the Garita de Peralvillo, the square of Santiago, Tlatelolco, and the bridge of Amaxac. Essai politique, tom. ii. p. 76.{*}

{*} [According to an old tradition, it was on the Puente del Cabildo, which is within the limits designated by Humboldt. Alaman, Conquista de Méjico (trad. de Vega), tom. ii. p. 209, note.--K.]

[119] For the preceding account of the capture of Guatemozin, told with little discrepancy, though with more or less minuteness, by the different writers, see Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, ubi supra,--Rel. Terc. de Cortés, p. 299,--Gonzalo de las Casas, Defensa, MS.,--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 30,--Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 101.

[120] The general, according to Diaz, rebuked his officers for their ill-timed contention, reminding them of the direful effects of a similar quarrel between Marius and Sylla respecting Jugurtha. (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 156.) This piece of pedantry savors much more of the old chronicler than his commander. The result of the whole--not an uncommon one in such cases--was that the emperor granted to neither of the parties, but to Cortés, the exclusive right of commemorating the capture of Guatemozin on his escutcheon. He was permitted to bear three crowns of gold on a sable field, one above the other two, in token of his victory over the three lords of Mexico, Montezuma, his brother Cuitlahua, and Guatemozin. A copy of the instrument containing the grant of the arms of Cortes may be found in the “Disertaciones históricas” of Alaman, tom. ii. apénd. 2.

[121] Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, lib. 12, cap. 40, MS.

[122] For the portrait of Guatemozin I again borrow the faithful pencil of Diaz, who knew him--at least his person--well: “Guatemuz era de muy gentil disposicion, assí de cuerpo, como de fayciones, y la cata algo larga, y alegre, y los ojos mas parecian que quando miraua, que eran con grauedad, y halagüeños, y no auia falta en ellos, y era de edad de veinte y tres, ó veinte y quatro años, y el color tiraua mas á blanco, que al color, y matiz de essotros Indios morenos.” Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 156.

[123] “Llegóse á mi, y díjome en su lengua: que ya él habia hecho todo, lo que de su parte era obligado para defenderse á sí, y á los suyos, hasta venir en aquel estado; que ahora ficiesse de él lo que yo quisiesse; y puso la mano en un puñal, que yo tenia, diciéndome, que le diesse de puñaladas, y le matasse.” (Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 300.) This remarkable account by the Conqueror himself is confirmed by Diaz, who does not appear to have seen this letter of his commander. Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 156.

[124] Ibid., cap. 156.--Also Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 48,--and Martyr (De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 8), who, by the epithet of _magnanimo regi_, testifies the admiration which Guatemozin’s lofty spirit excited in the court of Castile.

[125] The ceremony of marriage, which distinguished the “lawful wife” from the concubine, is described by Don Thoan Cano, in his conversation with Oviedo. According to this, it appears that the only legitimate offspring which Montezuma left at his death was a son and a daughter, this same princess.--See Appendix, No. 11.

[126] For a further account of Montezuma’s daughter, see Book VII., chapter iii. of this History.

[127] The event is annually commemorated--or rather was, under the colonial government--by a solemn procession round the walls of the city. It took place on the 13th of August, the anniversary of the surrender, and consisted of the principal cavaliers and citizens on horseback, headed by the viceroy, and displaying the venerable standard of the Conqueror.{*}

{*} [It was the royal standard, not that of Cortés, which was carried on this occasion. The celebration was suppressed by a decree of the cortes of Cadiz in 1812. Alaman, Conquista de Méjico, trad. de Vega, tom. ii. p. 212, note.--K.]

[128] Toribio, Hist. de los Ind., MS., Parte 3, cap. 7.--Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 42.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 156.--“The lord of Mexico having surrendered,” says Cortés, in his letter to the emperor, “the war, by the blessing of Heaven, was brought to an end, on Wednesday, the 13th day of August, 1521. So that from the day when we first sat down before the city, which was the 30th of May, until its final occupation, seventy-five days elapsed.” (Rel. Terc., ap. Lorenzana, p. 300.) It is not easy to tell what event occurred on May 30th to designate the beginning of the siege. Clavigero considers it the occupation of Cojohuacan by Olid. (Stor. del Messico, tom. iii. p. 196.) But I know not on what authority. Neither Bernal Diaz, nor Herrera, nor Cortés, so fixes the date. Indeed, Clavigero says that Alvarado and Olid left Tezcuco May 20th, while Cortés says May 10th. Perhaps Cortés dates from the time when Sandoval established himself on the northern causeway, and when the complete investment of the capital began. Bernal Diaz, more than once, speaks of the siege as lasting three months, computing, probably, from the time when his own division, under Alvarado, took up its position at Tacuba.

[129] It did not, apparently, disturb the slumbers of the troops, who had been so much deafened by the incessant noises of the siege that, now these had ceased, “we felt,” says Diaz, in his homely way, “like men suddenly escaped from a belfry, where we had been shut up for months with a chime of bells ringing in our ears!” Hist. de la Conquista, ubi supra.

[130] Herrera (Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 2, cap. 7) and Torquemada (Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 101) estimate them at 30,000. Ixtlilxochitl says that 60,000 fighting-men laid down their arms (Venida de los Españoles, p. 49); and Oviedo swells the amount still higher, to 70,000. (Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 48.)--After the losses of the siege, these numbers are startling.{*}

{*} [And entirely untrustworthy, as are almost all of the estimates, made by the Conqueror, of the native inhabitants or warriors.--M.]

[131] “Digo que en tres dias con sus noches iban todas tres calçadas llenas de Indios, é Indias, y muchachos, llenas de bote en bote, que nunca dexauan de salir, y tan flacos, y suzios, é amarillos, é hediondos, que era lástima de los ver.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 150.

[132] Cortés estimates the losses of the enemy in the three several assaults at 67,000, which with 50,000 whom he reckons to have perished from famine and disease would give 117,000. (Rel. Terc., ap. Lorenzana, p. 298, et alibi.) But this is exclusive of those who fell previously to the commencement of the vigorous plan of operations for demolishing the city. Ixtlilxochitl, who seldom allows any one to beat him in figures, puts the dead, in round numbers, at 240,000, comprehending the flower of the Aztec nobility. (Venida de los Españoles, p. 51.) Bernal Diaz observes, more generally, “I have read the story of the destruction of Jerusalem, but I doubt if there was as great mortality there as in this siege; for there was assembled in the city an immense number of Indian warriors from all the provinces and towns subject to Mexico, the most of whom perished.” (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 156.) “I have conversed,” says Oviedo, “with many hidalgos and other persons, and have heard them say that the number of the dead was incalculable,--greater than that at Jerusalem, as described by Josephus.” (Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 30, cap. 30.) As the estimate of the Jewish historian amounts to 1,100,000 (Antiquities of the Jews, Eng. trans., book vii. chap. xvii.), the comparison may stagger the most accommodating faith. It will be safer to dispense with arithmetic where the data are too loose and slippery to afford a foothold for getting at truth.

[133] Ixtlilxochitl, Venida de los Españoles, p. 51.

[134] Rel. Terc., ap. Lorenzana, p. 301.--Oviedo goes into some further particulars respecting the amount of the treasure, and especially of the imperial fifth, to which I shall have occasion to advert hereafter. Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 31.

[135] Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 2, cap. 8.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 156.--Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 42.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 30.--Ixtlilxochitl, Venida de los Españoles, pp. 51, 52.

[136] By none has this obloquy been poured with such unsparing hand on the heads of the old Conquerors as by their own descendants, the modern Mexicans. Ixtlilxochitl’s editor, Bustamante, concludes an animated invective against the invaders with recommending that a monument should be raised on the spot--now dry land--where Guatemozin was taken, which, as the proposed inscription itself intimates, should “devote to eternal execration the detested memory of these banditti!” (Venida de los Españoles, p. 52, nota.) One would suppose that the pure Aztec blood, uncontaminated by a drop of Castilian, flowed in the veins of the indignant editor and his compatriots, or at least that their sympathies for the conquered race would make them anxious to reinstate them in their ancient rights. Notwithstanding these bursts of generous indignation, however, which plentifully season the writings of the Mexicans of our day, we do not find that the Revolution, or any of its numerous brood of _pronunciamientos_, has resulted in restoring to them an acre of their ancient territory.

[137] “¿Estoi yo en algun deleite, ó baño?” (Gomara, Crónica, cap. 145.) The literal version is not so poetical as “the bed of flowers,” into which this exclamation of Guatemozin is usually rendered.

[138] The most particular account of this disgraceful transaction is given by Bernal Diaz, one of those selected to accompany the lord of Tacuba to his villa. (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 157.) He notices the affair with becoming indignation, but excuses Cortés from a voluntary part in it.

[139] Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 308.--The simple statement of the Conqueror contrasts strongly with the pompous narrative of Herrera (Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 3, cap. 3), and with that of Father Cavo, who may have drawn a little on his own imagination. “Cortés en una canoa ricamente entapizada, llevó á el Rey Vehichilze, y á los nobles de Michoacan á México. Este es uno de los palacios de Moctheuzoma (les decia); allí está el gran templo de Huitzilopuctli; estas ruinas son del grande edificio de Quauhtemoc, aquellos de la gran plaza del mercado. Conmovido Vehichilze de este espectáculo, se le saltáron las lágrimas.” Los tres Siglos de México (México, 1836), tom. i. p. 13.

[140] “Que todos los que tienen alguna ciencia, y experiencia en la Navegacion de las Indias, han tenido por muy cierto, que descubriendo por estas Partes la Mar del Sur, se habian de hallar muchas Islas ricas de Oro, y Perlas, y Piedras preciosas, y Especería, y se habian de descubrir y hallar otros muchos secretos y cosas admirables.” Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 302, 303.

[141] “Y crea Vuestra Magestad, que cada dia se irá ennobleciendo en tal manera, que como antes fué Principal, y Señora de todas estas Provincias, que lo será tambien de aquí adelante.” Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 307.

[142] _Ante_, vol. iv., p. 70.

[143] Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 4, cap. 8.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 32.--Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.--Gomara, Crónica, cap. 162.--“En la cual (la edificacion de la ciudad) los primeros años andaba mas gente que en la edificacion del templo de Jerusalem, porque era tanta la gente que andaba en las obras, que apénas podia hombre romper por algunas calles y calzadas, aunque son muy anchas.” (Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 1.) Ixtlilxochitl supplies any blank which the imagination might leave, by filling it up with 400,000, as the number of natives employed in this work by Cortés! Venida de los Españoles, p. 60.

[144] “Sirviéron al Emperador con muchas piedras, i entre ellas con una esmeralda fina, como la palma, pero quadrada, i que se remataba en punta como pirámide.” (Gomara, Crónica, cap. 146.) Martyr confirms the account of this wonderful emerald, which, he says, “was reported to the king and council to be nearly as broad as the palm of the hand, and which those who had seen it thought could not be procured for any sum.” De Orbe Novo, dec. 8, cap. 4.{*}

{*} [Alaman, however, denies that this stone was an emerald, or that any true emeralds were found by the Conquerors in Mexico, notwithstanding the frequent mention of them in contemporary relations. “There are no emeralds,” he says, “in our republic; and the stones mistaken for them at the time of the Conquest were jade or serpentine.” As an evidence of the ignorance on this subject common in Europe at a former period, he cites the famous instance of the _Sacro Catino_ at Genoa, regarded for ages as an emerald of priceless value, but now proved to be an imitation. (Disertaciones históricas, tom. i. p. 161.) It is certain that no emeralds are now found in any part of North America. Yet the Conquerors would seem to have been more discriminating than Señor Alaman represents them. They distinguished the _chalchivitl_, supposed to have been jade, from the emerald, and rejected as valueless other green stones prized by the natives. The case of the _Sacro Catino_ does not apply, since it is not pretended that the Mexicans possessed the art of imitating precious stones by means of paste. The fact, therefore, that the emeralds sent and taken to Europe by Cortés were there recognized as genuine affords a presumptive proof in their favor, which has been generally accepted as sufficient by modern writers on the subject.--K.]

[145] [Cortés availed himself of the same opportunity by which the royal fifth was despatched, to send costly or curious presents to numerous individuals and churches in Spain. For this fact I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. George Sumner, who, when in Spain, made a visit to the archives of Simancas, from which he has furnished me with some interesting particulars for the period on which I am engaged. In a file endorsed _Papeles de Cortés_ he met with a list, without date, but evidently belonging to the year 1522, of the gold, plumage, and ornaments sent by Cortés to the different persons and institutions in Spain. “The policy of Cortés and his clear-sightedness,” Mr. Sumner justly remarks, “are well shown by this. Not a church, not a shrine of any fame, throughout Spain, has been forgotten. To Santa Mariá del Antigua in Sevilla, a rich offering of gold and of plumage; to Santa María del Pilar in Zaragoza, the same; another again to San Jago de Compostella; and one to the Cartuja of Seville, in which the bones of Columbus were then lying. There are plumages and gold for every place of importance. Then the bishops and men of power are not forgotten; for to them also are rich presents sent. In a time when there were no gazettes to trumpet one’s fame, what surer way to notoriety than this? What surer way, in Spain, for gaining that security which Cortés so much needed?”]

[146] Peter Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 8, cap. 4.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 169.

[147] The instrument also conferred similar powers in respect to an inquiry into Narvaez’s treatment of the licentiate Ayllon. The whole document is cited in a deposition drawn up by the notary, Alonso de Vergara, setting forth the proceedings of Tápia and the municipality of Villa Rica, dated at Cempoalla, December 24, 1521. The MS. forms part of the collection of Don Vargas Ponçe, in the archives of the Academy of History at Madrid.

[148] Relación de Vergara, MS.--Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 309-314.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 158.--The _regidores_ of Mexico and other places remonstrated against Cortés’ leaving the Valley to meet Tápia, on the ground that his presence was necessary to overawe the natives. (MS., Coyoacan, Dec. 12, 1521.) The general acquiesced in the force of a remonstrance which it is not improbable was made at his own suggestion.

[149] “Como ya (loado nuestro Señor) estaba toda la Provincia muy pacífica, y segura.” Rel. Quarta de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 367.

[150] The Muñoz collection of MSS. contains a power of attorney given by Cortés to his father, authorizing him to manage all negotiations with the emperor and with private persons, to conduct all lawsuits on his behalf, to pay over and receive money, etc.

[151] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 158.

[152] Sayas, Annales de Aragón (Zaragoza, 1666), cap. 63, 78.--It is a sufficient voucher for the respectability of this court that we find in it the name of Dr. Galindez de Carbajal, an eminent Castilian jurist, grown gray in the service of Ferdinand and Isabella, whose confidence he enjoyed to the highest degree.

[153] Sayas, Annales de Aragon, cap. 78.--Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 4, cap. 3.--Probanza en la Villa Segura, MS.--Declaraciones de Puertocarrero y de Montejo, MS.

[154] [“É porque soy certificado de lo mucho que vos en ese descubrimiento é conquista y en tornar á ganar la dicha ciudad é provincias habeis fecho é trabajado, de que me he tenido é tengo por muy servido, é tengo la voluntad que es razon para vos favorecer y hacer la merced que vuestros servicios y trabajos merecen.”--The whole letter is inserted by Alaman in his Disertaciones históricas, tom. i. apénd. 2, p. 144, et seq.]

[155] Nombramiento de Governador y Capitan General y Justicia Mayor de Nueva-España, MS.--Also Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 168.

[156] The character of Fonseca has been traced by the same hand which has traced that of Columbus. (Irving’s Life and Voyages of Columbus, Appendix, No. 32.) Side by side they will go down to posterity in the beautiful page of the historian, though the characters of the two individuals have been inscribed with pens as different from each other as the golden and iron pen which Paolo Giovio tells us he employed in his compositions.

[157] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 158.

[158] [According to Señor Alaman, the cathedral, instead of being dedicated to Saint Francis, was consecrated to the Assumption of the Virgin. Conquista de Méjico (trad. de Vega), tom. ii. p. 254.]

[159] Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 4, cap. 8.

[160] Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. i. p. 271.--Humboldt, Essai politique, tom. ii. p. 58.

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

[162] Humboldt, Essai politique, tom. ii. p. 72.

[163] Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 309.

[164] [Alaman asserts that there was no cathedral in Tlatelolco, but a Franciscan convent, dedicated to St. James, which still exists. Conquista de Méjico (trad. de Vega), tom. ii. p. 255.]

[165] Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, ubi supra.

[166] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 177.

[167] Rel. Quarta de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 376, nota.

[168] For an account of this singular enterprise, see _ante_, vol. ii. p. 227.

[169] “Cortes, reckoning only the Indian population, says _treinta mil vecinos_. (Rel. Quarta, ap. Lorenzana, p. 375.) Gomara, speaking of Mexico some years later, estimates the number of Spanish householders as in the text. Crónica, cap. 162.

[170] “Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 7.--Yet this is scarcely stronger language than that of the Anonymous Conqueror: “Così ben ordinato et di si belle piazze et strade, quanto d’ altre città che siano al mondo.” Rel. d’un gentil’ huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 309.

[171] “Y tengo por cierto, que aquel Pueblo ha de ser, despues de esta Ciudad, el mejor que obiere en esta Nueva España.” (Rel. Quarta, ap. Lorenzana, p. 382.) The archbishop confounds this town with the modern Vera Cruz. But the general’s description of the port refutes this supposition, and confirms our confidence in Clavigero’s statement that the present city was founded by the Conde de Monterey, at the time mentioned in the text. See _ante_, vol. ii. p. 47, note.

[172] Ordenanzas municipales, Tenochtitlan, Marzo, 1524, MS.{*}--The Ordinances made by Cortés for the government of the country during his viceroyalty are still preserved in Mexico; and the copy in my possession was transmitted to me from that capital. They give ample evidence of the wise and penetrating spirit which embraced every object worthy of the attention of an enlightened ruler; and I will quote, in the original, the singular provisions mentioned in the text:

“Item. Por que mas se manifieste la voluntad que los pobladores de estas partes tienen de residir y permanecer en ellas, mando que todas las personas que tuvieren Indios, que fueren casados en Castilla ó en otras partes, que traigan sus mugeres dentro de un año y medio primero siguientes de como estas ordenanzas fueren pregonadas, so pena de perder los Indios, y todo lo con ellos adquirido é grangeado; y por que muchas personas podrian poner por achaque aunque tuviesen aparejo de decir que no tienen dineros para enviar por ellas, por hende las tales personas que tuvieran esta necesidad parescan ante el Rᵒ. Pᵉ. Fray Juan de Tecto y ante Alonso de Estrada, tesorero de su Magestad, á les informar de su necesidad, para que ellos la comuniquen á mí, y su necesidad se remedie; y si algunas personas hay que casados y no tienen sus mugeres en esta tierra, y quisieran traerlas, sepan que trayéndolas serán ayudadas así mismo para las traer, dando fianzas.

“Item. Por quanto en esta tierra hay muchas personas que tienen Indios de encomienda y no son casados, por hende por que conviene así para _la salud de sus conciencias de los tales_ por estar en buen estado, como por la poblacion é noblecimiento de sus tierras, mando que las tales personas se casen, traigan y tengan sus mugeres en esta tierra dentro de un año y medio, despues que fueren pregonadas estas dichas Ordenanzas, é que no haciendo lo por el mismo caso sean privados y pierdan los tales Indios que así tienen.”

{*} [The exact date is given at the close of the document--“fecha en esta dicha ciudad [de Temixtitan] á veinte dias del mes de marzo de mil y quinientos é veinte y cuatro años.” Sir Arthur Helps says a copy sent by Cortés to the emperor in October of the same year “has been lost, but the orders manifestly related to this subject of _encomiendas_.” The original seems also to have disappeared. But an ancient copy of these, as well as of subsequent ordinances and instructions of a similar nature, is preserved in the archives of the duke of Terranova y Monteleone in the Hospital of Jesus at Mexico, and the whole series was published, so far back as 1844, by Señor Alaman, in his Disertaciones históricas, tom. i. pp. 105-143. The contents, therefore, are not a matter of inference. They do not relate chiefly or directly to the _encomiendas_, that system having been already established and become, in the language of Alaman, “the basis of the whole organization of the country.” The “Ordenanzas,” while they incidentally modify the system, consist for the most part of regulations suggested by the general condition and circumstances of a new colony. They make provision for the military equipment and inspection of the settlers, with a view to their readiness for service; for their permanent residence in the country, which is made a condition of their holding _repartimientos_; for the conversion of the natives, their protection against robbery and oppression, and the education of the children of their chiefs; for the cultivation of imported plants and grain, and the raising of cattle, sheep, and swine; for facilitating traffic by the establishment of markets, adjustment of prices, etc.; and for the organization of the municipalities, prescribing their powers and forms of administration. Some of these provisions are still in force, while others, though obsolete, indicate the origin of certain existing customs. Taken together, they contain, in the opinion of Alaman, the foundation of all the later institutions of the country,--“el fundamento de todas nuestras instituciones.”--K.]

[173] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 160.

[174] _Ante_, vol. i. p. 310.

[175] Of asthma, according to Bernal Diaz (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 160); but her death seems to have been too sudden to be attributed to that disease. I shall return to the subject hereafter.

[176] Rel. Terc., ap. Lorenzana, pp. 319, 320.

[177] Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 5, cap. 1.

[178] Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 4, lib. 6, cap. 5.--Ordenanzas, MS.--The ordinances prescribe the service of the Indians, the hours they may be employed, their food, compensation, and the like. They require the _encomendero_ to provide them with suitable means of religious instruction and places of worship. But what avail good laws, which in their very nature imply the toleration of a great abuse?

[179] The whole population of New Spain in 1810 is estimated by Don Fernando Navarro y Noriega at about 6,000,000; of whom more than half were pure Indians. The author had the best means for arriving at a correct result. See Humboldt, Essai politique, tom. i. pp. 318, 319, note.

[180] Rel. Quarta, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 391-394.--The petition of the Conquerors was acceded to by the government, which further prohibited “attorneys and men learned in the law from setting foot in the country, on the ground that experience had shown they would be sure by their evil practices to disturb the peace of the community.” (Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 5, cap. 2.) These enactments are but an indifferent tribute to the character of the two professions in Castile.

[181] Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 1.--Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS. [My views of the character of the Spanish missionaries find favor with Señor Alaman, who warmly eulogizes the spirit of self-sacrifice and the untiring zeal which they showed in propagating the gospel among the natives: “El Sr. Prescott hace de los misioneros el justo aprecio que sus virtudes merecieron, y sus elogios son tanto mas recomendables, cuanto que sus opiniones religiosas parece deberian hacerle contrario á ellos. En efecto, solo la iglesia católica ha producido misioneros inflamados de un verdadero celo religioso, que los ha hecho sacrificar su vida por la propagacion de la religion y en beneficio de la humanidad.” Conquista de Méjico (trad. de Vega), tom. ii. p. 255. Mr. Gallatin, also, in his “Notes on the Semi-civilized Nations of America,” pays a hearty tribute to the labors of the Roman Catholic missionaries in the New World: “The Dominican monks, though inquisitors and relentless persecutors in Spain, became in America the protectors of the Indians.... The praise must be extended to all the Catholic priests, whether Franciscans or Jesuits, monks or curates. All, from the beginning, were, have ever been, and continue to be, the protectors and the friends of the Indian race.” Transactions of the American Ethnological Society, i. 213.]

[182] “Cuyo hecho del rotísimo y humilde recebimiento fué uno de los heroicos hechos que este Capitan hizo, porque fué documento para que con mayor fervor los naturales desta tierra viniesen á la conversion de nuestra fee.” (Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.--See also Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 171.) Archbishop Lorenzana falls nothing short of the Tlascalan historian in his admiration of the religious zeal of the great _Conquistador_, which, he assures us, “entirely overwhelms him, as savoring so much more of the apostolic missionary than of the soldier!” Lorenzana, p. 393, nota.

[183] Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 1.--Father Sahagun, who has done better service in this way than any other of his order, describes with simple brevity the rapid process of demolition. “We took the children of the caciques,” he says, “into our schools, where we taught them to read and write, and to chant. The children of the poorer natives were brought together in the court-yard, and instructed there in the Christian faith. After our teaching, one or two brethren took the pupils to some neighboring _teocalli_, and, by working at it for a few days, they levelled it to the ground. In this way they demolished, in a short time, all the Aztec temples, great and small, _so that not a vestige of them remained_.” (Hist. de Nueva-España, tom. iii. p. 77.) This passage helps to explain why so few architectural relics of the Indian era still survive in Mexico.

[184] “De manera que á mi juicio y verdaderamente serán bautizados en este tiempo que digo, que serán quince años, mas de nueve millones de ánimas de Indios.” Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 2, cap. 3.

[185] Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. i. p. 43.--Humboldt, Essai politique, tom. iii. pp. 115, 145.--Esposicion de Don Lucás Alaman (México, 1828), p. 59.

[186] “Páraque cada Navío traiga cierta cantidad de Plantas, y que no pueda salir sin ellas, porque será mucha causa para la Poblacion, y perpetuacion de ella.” Rel. Quarta de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 397.{*}

{*} [The first wheat came from three grains which were found in a sack of rice. Other wheat had been received, but it was all more or less damaged by the voyage. See Tapia, Relacion.--M.]

[187] “Item, que cualquier vecino que tubiere Indios de repartimiento sea obligado á poner en ellos en cada un año con cada cien Indios de los que tuvieren de repartimiento mil sarmientos aunque sean de la planta de su tierra, escogiendo la mejor que pudiesse hallar.” Ordenanzas municipales, año de 1524, MS.

[188] Ordenanzas municipales, año de 1524, MS.

[189] [“No general interest would attach to the private undertakings of Cortés, if the sole object of them had been the aggrandizement of his own fortune. But they were in fact the germs of what are now the most important branches of the national wealth; and they prove the grandeur of those views which in the times of the Conquest gave an impulse to whatever promised to contribute to the prosperity of the country.” Alaman, Disertaciones históricas, tom. ii. p. 63.]

[190] “Tengo de ser causa, que Vuestra Cesarea Magestad sea en estas partes Señor de mas Reynos, y Señoríos que los que hasta hoy en nuestra Nacion se tiene noticia.” Rel. Quarta de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 374.

[191] “Much as I esteem Hernando Cortés,” exclaims Oviedo, “for the greatest captain and most practised in military matters of any we have known, I think such an opinion shows he was no great cosmographer.” (Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 41.) Oviedo had lived to see its fallacy.

[192] Martyr, Opus Epist., ep. 811.

[193] Rel. Quarto, ap. Lorenzana, p. 385.

[194] The illusion at home was kept up, in some measure, by the dazzling display of gold and jewels remitted from time to time, wrought into fanciful and often fantastic forms. One of the articles sent home by Cortés was a piece of ordnance, made of gold and silver, of very fine workmanship, the metal of which alone cost 25,000 _pesos de oro_. Oviedo, who saw it in the palace, speaks with admiration of this magnificent toy. Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 41.

[195] Among these may be particularly mentioned the Letters of Alvarado and Diego de Godoy, transcribed by Oviedo in his Hist. de las Ind., MS. (lib. 33, cap. 42-44), and translated by Ramusio for his rich collection, Viaggi, tom. iii.

[196] See, among others, his orders to his kinsman, Francisco Cortés,--“Instruccion civil y militar por la Expedicion de la Costa de Colima.” The paper is dated in 1524, and forms part of the Muñoz collection of MSS.

[197] Rel. Quarta, ap. Lorenzana, p. 371.--“Well may we wonder,” exclaims his archiepiscopal editor, “that Cortés and his soldiers could have overrun and subdued, in so short a time, countries, many of them so rough and difficult of access that even at the present day we can hardly penetrate them!” Ibid., nota.

[198] Carta Quinta de Cortés, MS.

[199] Carta de Albornos, MS., Mexico, Dec. 15, 1525.--Carta Quinta de Cortés, MS.--The authorities do not precisely agree as to the numbers, which were changing, probably, with every step of their march across the table-land.

[200] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 175.

[201] Among these was Captain Diaz, who, however, left the pleasant farm, which he occupied in the province of Coatzacualco, with a very ill grace, to accompany the expedition. “But Cortés commanded it, and we dared not say no,” says the veteran. Ibid., cap. 174.

[202] This celebrated Letter, which has never been published, is usually designated as the _Carta Quinta_, or “Fifth Letter,” of Cortés. It is nearly as long as the longest of the printed letters of the Conqueror, is written in the same clear, simple, business-like manner, and is as full of interest as any of the preceding. It gives a minute account of the expedition to Honduras, together with events that occurred in the year following. It bears no date, but was probably written in that year from Mexico. The original manuscript is in the Imperial Library at Vienna, which, as the German sceptre was swayed at that time by the same hand which held the Castilian, contains many documents of value for the illustration of Spanish history.{*}

{*} [It is scarcely credible that a long and important document in an official form should have borne no date, and we may therefore suspect that the manuscript at Vienna, if unmutilated, is _not_ the original. A copy in the Royal Library at Madrid, purporting to have been made “from the original” by Alonso Diaz, terminates as follows: “De la cibdad de Temixtitan, desta Nueva España á _tres del mes de setiembre del nascimiento de nuestro Señor é Salvador Jesu-Cristo de 1526_.” This date is confirmed by a passage in a letter which will be found cited in the notes in the next chapter with the date of Sept. 11, but of which there are in fact two originals, the duplicate being dated Sept. 3. It gives a summary, for the emperor’s own perusal, of the matters narrated at length in the _Carta Quinta_, which it thus describes: “Así mesmo _envio agora_ á V. M. _con lo presente_ una relacion bien larga y particular de todo lo que me subcedió en el camino que hice á las Hibueras, y al cabo della hago saber á V. M. muy por extenso lo que ha pasado y se ha hecho en esta Nueva España despues que yo parté de la isla de Cuba para ella.” See Col. de Doc. inéd. para la Historia de España, tom. i.--K.]

[203] “Es tierra mui baja y de muchas sienegas, tanto que en tiempo de invierno no se puede andar, ni se sirve sino en canoas, y con pasarla yo en tiempo de seca, desde la entrada hasta la salida de ella, que puede aver veinti leguas, se hiziéron mas de cinquenta puentes, que sin se hazer fuera imposible pasar.” Carta Quinta de Cortés, MS.

[204] I have examined some of the most ancient maps of the country, by Spanish, French, and Dutch cosmographers, in order to determine the route of Cortés. An inestimable collection of these maps, made by the learned German Ebeling, is to be found in the library of Harvard University. I can detect on them only four or five of the places indicated by the general. They are the places mentioned in the text, and, though few, may serve to show the general direction of the march of the army.

[205] “Donde se ponian los pies en el suelo açia arriba la claridad del cielo no se veia, tanta era la espesura y alteza de los árboles, que aunque se subian en algunos, no podian descubrir un tiro de piedra.” Carta Quinta de Cortés, MS.

[206] “Porque lleva mas que mil bigas, que la menor es casi tan gorda como un cuerpo de un hombre, y de nueve y diez brazas en largo.” Carta Quinta de Cortés, MS.

[207] “Pasada toda la gente y cavallos de la otra parte del alcon dímos luego en una gran çienega, que durava bien tres tiros de ballesta, la cosa mas espantosa que jamas las gentes viéron, donde todos los cavallos desençillados se sumiéron hasta las orejas sin parecerse otra cosa, y querer forçeiar á salir, sumianse mas, de manera que allí perdímos toda la esperanza de poder escapar cavallos ningunos, pero todavía comenzámos á trabajar y componerles haçes de yerba y ramas grandes de bajo, sobre que se sostuviesen y no se sumiesen, remediávanse algo, y andando trabajando y yendo y viniendo de la una parte á la otra, abrióse por medio de un calejon de agua y çieno, que los cavallos comenzáron algo á nadar, y con esto plugo á nuestro Señor que saliéron todos sin peligro ninguno.” Carta Quinta de Cortés, MS.

[208] Carta Quinta de Cortés, MS.

[209] Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 177.

[210] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, ubi supra.

[211] According to Diaz, both Guatemozin and the prince of Tacuba had embraced the religion of their conquerors, and were confessed by a Franciscan friar before their execution. We are further assured by the same authority that “they were, _for Indians_, very good Christians, and believed well and truly.” (Ibid., loc. cit.) One is reminded of the last hours of Caupolican, converted to Christianity by the same men who tied him to the stake. See the scene, painted in the frightful coloring of a master-hand, in the Araucana, Canto 34.

[212] Guatemozin’s beautiful wife, the princess Tecuichpo, the daughter of Montezuma, lived long enough after his death to give her hand to four Castilians, all of noble descent. (See _ante_, vol. iii. p. 155, note 36.) She is described as having been as well instructed in the Catholic faith as any woman in Castile, as most gracious and winning in her deportment, and as having contributed greatly, by her example, and the deference with which she inspired the Aztecs, to the tranquillity of the conquered country. This pleasing portrait, it may be well enough to mention, is by the hand of her husband, Don Thoan Cano. See Appendix, No. 11.

[213] The Indian chroniclers regard the pretended conspiracy of Guatemozin as an invention of Cortés. The informer himself, when afterwards put to the torture by the cacique of Tezcuco, declared that he had made no revelation of this nature to the Spanish commander. Ixtlilxochitl vouches for the truth of this story. (Venida de los Españoles, pp. 83-93.) But who will vouch for Ixtlilxochitl?

[214] “Y fué esta muerte que les diéron muy injustamente dada, y pareció mal á todos los que ibamos aquella jornada.” Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 177.

[215] “Guatemozin, Señor que fué de esta Ciudad de Temixtitan, á quien yo despues que la gané he tenido siempre preso, teniéndole por hombre bullicioso, y le llevé conmigo.” Carta Quinta, MS.

[216] “Y le hacian aquella mesma reverencia, i ceremonias, que á Moteçuma, i creo que por eso le llevaba siempre consigo por la Ciudad á Caballo si cavalgaba, i sino á pie como él iba.” Crónica, cap. 170.

[217] “I Cortés debiera guardarlo vivo, como Oro en paño, que era el triumpho, i gloria de sus Victorias.” Crónica, cap. 170.

[218] Hist. de la Conquista, ubi supra.

[219] Ibid., cap. 178.

[220] Diaz, who was present, attests the truth of this account by the most solemn adjuration: “Y todo esto que digo, se lo oí muy certificadamente y se lo juro, amen.” Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 37.

[221] [Alaman, from an examination of the municipal archives of Mexico, finds that Juan de Jaramillo was commander of one of the brigantines in the siege of Mexico. He subsequently filled the office of royal standard-bearer of the city, and was several times chosen to represent it in the assemblies of the cities of New Spain. Conquista de Méjico (trad. de Vega), tom. ii. p. 269.]

[222] [The Spanish government showed its sense of the services of Marina by the grant of several estates both in the town and country. The house in which she usually resided in Mexico was in the street of Medinas, as it is now called, which then bore the name of her husband, Jaramillo. She had a pleasure-house at Chapoltepec, and in Cuyoacan a garden that had belonged to Montezuma. She lived in the enjoyment of wealth and much consideration from her countrymen; and, as we see mention made of her grandchild during her lifetime, we may presume she reached a good old age. Conquista de Méjico (trad. de Vega), tom. ii. p. 269.--Alaman, Disertaciones históricas, tom. ii. p. 293.]

[223] Life in Mexico, let. 8.--The fair author does not pretend to have been favored with a sight of the apparition.

[224] Villagutierre says that the Iztacs, by which name the inhabitants of these islands were called, did not destroy their idols while the Spaniards remained there. (Historia de la Conquista de la Provincia de el Itza (Madrid, 1701), pp. 49, 50.) The historian is wrong, since Cortés expressly asserts that the images were broken and burnt in his presence. Carta Quinta, MS.

[225] The fact is recorded by Villagutierre, Conquista de el Itza, pp. 100-102, and Cojullado, Hist. de Yucathan, lib. 1, cap. 16.

[226] “Y querer dezir la aspereza y fragosidad de este Puerto y sierras, ni quien lo dixese lo sabria significar, ni quien lo oyese podria entender, sino que sepa V. M. que en ocho leguas que duró hasta este puerto estuvímos en las andar doze dias, digo los postreros en llegar al cabo de él, en que muriéron sesenta y ocho cavallos despeñados y desxaretados, y todos los demas viniéron heridos y tan lastimados que no pensámos aprovecharnos de ninguno.” Carta Quinta de Cortés, MS.

[227] “If any unhappy wretch had become giddy in this transit,” says Cortés, “he must inevitably have been precipitated into the gulf and perished. There were upwards of twenty of these frightful passes.” Carta Quinta, MS.

[228] “Espantáronse en gran manera, y como supiéron que era Cortés [~q] tan nombrado era en todas estas partes de las Indias, y en Castilla, no sabiā que se hazer de placer.” Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 179.

[229] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 179, et seq.--Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 8, cap. 3, 4.--Carta Quinta de Cortés, MS.

[230] Carta Quinta de Cortés, MS.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 185.--Relacion del Tesorero Strada, MS., México, 1526.

[231] Carta Quinta de Cortés, MS.

[232] Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 184, et seq.--Carta Quinta de Cortés, MS.

[233] Carta Quinta de Cortés, MS.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 189, 190.--Carta de Cortés al Emperador, MS., México, Sept. 11, 1526.

[234] Carta de Ocaña, MS., Agosto 31, 1526.--Carta Quinta de Cortés, MS.

[235] “What Cortés suffered,” says Dr. Robertson, “on this march,--a distance, according to Gomara, of 3000 miles” (the distance must be greatly exaggerated),--“from famine, from the hostility of the natives, from the climate, and from hardships of every species, has nothing in history parallel to it, but what occurs in the adventures of the other discoverers and conquerors of the New World. Cortés was employed in this dreadful service above two years; and, though it was not distinguished by any splendid event, he exhibited, during the course of it, greater personal courage, more fortitude of mind, more perseverance and patience, than in any other period or scene in his life.” (Hist. of America, note 96.) The historian’s remarks are just; as the passage which I have borrowed from the extraordinary record of the Conqueror may show. Those who are desirous of seeing something of the narrative told in his own way will find a few pages of it translated in the Appendix, No. 14.

[236] “Y esto yo lo oí dezir á los del Real Consejo de Indias, estando presente el señor Obispo Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, que se descuidó mucho Cortés en ello, y se lo tuviéron á floxedad.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 190.

[237] Memorial de Luis Cardenas, MS.--Carta de Diego de Ocaña, MS.--Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 3, lib. 8, cap. 14, 15.

[238] Carta del Emperador, MS., Toledo, Nov. 4, 1525.

[239] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 192.--Carta de Cortés al Emperador, MS., México, Set. 11, 1526.

[240] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 194.--Carta de Cortés al Emperador, MS., Set. 11, 1526.

[241] Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 4, lib. 2, cap. 1; and lib. 3, cap. 8.

[242] “Todas estas entradas están ahora para partir casi á una, plega á Dios de los guiar como él se sirva, que yo aunque V. M. mas me mande desfavoreçer no tengo de dejar de servir, que no es posible que por tiempo V. M. no conosca mis servicios, y ya que esto no sea, yo me satisfago con hazer lo que debo, y con saber que á todo el mundo tengo satisfecho, y les son notorios mis servicios, y lealdad, con que los hago, y no quiero otro mayorazgo sino este.” Carta Quinta, MS.

[243] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 194.--Carta de Ocaña, MS., Agosto 31, 1526.

[244] The Pope, who was of the joyous Medici family, Clement VII., and the cardinals, were greatly delighted with the feats of the Indian jugglers, according to Diaz; and his Holiness, who, it may be added, received at the same time from Cortés a substantial donative of gold and jewels, publicly testified, by prayers and solemn processions, his great sense of the services rendered to Christianity by the Conquerors of Mexico, and generously requited them by bulls granting plenary absolution from their sins. Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 195.

[245] “Y en fin venia como gran Señor.” Hist. gen., dec. 4, lib. 3, cap. 8.

[246] Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 4, lib. 4, cap. 1.--Cavo, Los tres Siglos de México, tom. i. p. 78.

[247] Pizarro y Orellana, Varones ilustres, p. 121.

[248] See the conclusion of Rogers’s Voyage of Columbus.

[249] Bernal Diaz says that Sandoval was twenty-two years old when he first came to New Spain, in 1519.--Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 205.

[250] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 195.

[251] “Vino de las Indias despues de la conquista de Mexico, con tanto acompañamiento y magestad, que mas parecia de Príncipe, ó señor poderosíssimo, que de Capitan y vasallo de algun Rey ó Emperador.” Lanuza, Historias ecclesiásticas y seculares de Aragon (Zaragoza, 1622), lib. 3, cap. 14.

[252] Gomara, Crónica, cap. 183.--Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 4, lib. 4, cap. 1.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 195.

[253] Título de Marques, MS., Barcelona, 6 de Julio, 1529.

[254] Humboldt, Essai politique, tom. ii. p. 30, note.--According to Lanuza, he was offered by the emperor the Order of St. Jago, but declined it, because no _encomienda_ was attached to it. (Hist. de Aragon, tom. i. lib. 3, cap. 14.) But Caro de Torres, in his History of the Military Orders of Castile, enumerates Cortés among the members of the Compostellan fraternity. Hist. de las Órdenes militares (Madrid, 1629), fol. 103, et seq.

[255] Merced de Tierras inmediatas á Mexico, MS., Barcelona, 23 de Julio, 1529.--Merced de los Vasallos, MS., Barcelona, 6 de Julio, 1529

[256] “É nos habemos recibido y tenemos de vos por bien servido en ello, y acatando los grandes provechos que de vuestros servicios han redundado, ansí para el servicio de Nuestro Señor y aumento de su santa fé católica, y en las dichas tierras que estaban sin conocimiento ni fé se han plantado, como el acrecentamiento que dello ha redundado á nuestra corona real destos reynos, y los trabajos que en ello habeis pasado, y la fidelidad y obediencia con que siempre nos habeis servido como bueno é fiel servidor y vasallo nuestro, de que somos ciertos y confiados.” Merced de los Vasallos, MS.

[257] “The benignant reception which I experienced, on my return, from your Majesty,” says Cortés, “your kind expressions and generous treatment, make me not only forget all my toils and sufferings, but even cause me regret that I have not been called to endure more in your service.” (Carta de Cortés al Lic. Nuñez, MS., 1535.) This memorial, addressed to his agent in Castile, was designed for the emperor.

[258] Título de Capitan General de la Nueva-España y Costa del Sur, MS., Barcelona, 6 de Julio, 1529.

[259] Asiento y Capitulacion que hízo con el Emperador Don H. Cortés, MS., Madrid, 27 de Oct., 1529.

[260] “Que, segun se dezia, excedia en las hazañas á Alexandro Magno, y en las riquezas á Crasso.” (Lanuza, Hist. de Aragon, lib. 3, cap. 14.) The rents of the marquis of the Valley, according to L. Marineo Siculo, who lived at the court at this time, were about 60,000 ducats a year. Cosas memorables de España (Alcalá de Henares, 1539), fol. 24.

[261] Doña Juana was of the house of Arellano, and of the royal lineage of Navarre. Her father was not a very wealthy noble. L. Marineo Siculo, Cosas memorables, fol. 24, 25.

[262] One of these precious stones was as valuable as Shylock’s turquoise. Some Genoese merchants in Seville offered Cortés, according to Gomara, 40,000 ducats for it. The same author gives a more particular account of the jewels, which may interest some readers. It shows the ingenuity of the artist, who, without steel, could so nicely cut so hard a material. One emerald was in the form of a rose; the second, in that of a horn; a third, like a fish, with eyes of gold; the fourth was like a little bell, with a fine pearl for the tongue, and on the rim was this inscription, in Spanish: _Blessed is he who created thee_. The fifth, which was the most valuable, was a small cup with a foot of gold, and with four little chains, of the same metal, attached to a large pearl as a button. The edge of the cup was of gold, on which was engraven this Latin sentence: _Inter natos mulierum non surrexit major_. Gomara, Crónica, cap. 184.

[263] Carta de Cortés al Emperador, MS., Tezcuco, 10 de Oct., 1530.