CHAPTER XII.
NEW SPAIN.
THE work accomplished by the army since leaving Cuba might well encourage Cortez to hope that his expedition, so far as missionary work was concerned, would be entirely successful. The idols of Cozumel, that famous heathen shrine, had been demolished, the Virgin and saints had been set up in their places, and the people had consented to sacrifice to them rather than to their old gods.
Leaving this hospitable place, the fleet sailed for Tabasco. Grijalva's reception here not long before had been very cordial, but the natives seemed to have changed their minds after he had gone. They eyed the Spaniards suspiciously through the loopholes of a strong timber wall which surrounded their town, and took all night to consider the polite request which Cortez sent, to be allowed to land to get water and provisions. Meanwhile, the women and the children had been stealthily carried to a safe place in the mountains, and the warriors of the tribe rallied to defend the place.
Finding that he was not welcome in the town, Cortez landed a short distance below it, on a small wooded island. Here, on a great ceyba tree, he made three cuts with his sword, to signify that he had taken possession of the country for his sovereign and the pope of Rome. The next morning the natives came in several boats to this spot, bringing as a gift fowls, fruit and vegetables, with a request from the chiefs that the visitors would "take these things and go away, never to trouble their country any more."
"It is shameful in you to leave us to perish with hunger and thirst," said Aguilar.
"You are strangers to us," replied the Indian spokesman; "your faces and your voices are frightful to us. We do not want any of you in our houses. If you need water, dip it up out of the river, or dig wells as we do." "Tell them," said Cortez to Aguilar, "that we shall never go away without seeing their town. I have been sent here by the greatest lord in the world, and I cannot return without a full account of this country. If they do not receive me as a friend, I shall commend myself to God and fight them."
"You had better not boast in a country which does not belong to you," retorted the chief. "As to entering our town, we shall never permit it; we will kill you all first."
Both parties now prepared for battle. The Indians came out with defiant yells. Although evidently terrified at the roar of the guns and the sight of "four-footed, two-headed beasts" (as they called the horses and their riders), they fought bravely until they were attacked on the land-side of the town, when they fled. Cortez and his men slept that night in the spacious temple.
After another attempt to dislodge the invaders, the Indians came bringing a tribute of provisions, gold and a number of victims for sacrifice, in token that they had given up the contest. While they were in the camp some of the horses stabled near by began to neigh. The Indians, very much frightened, asked anxiously what they said, supposing that these strange creatures were gifted with speech. Some wag of a soldier replied, "The horses are angry because your people have been fighting their masters."
Upon this, the simple-minded natives made a humble apology to the animals, offering them flowers and turkey-hens to eat.
As the army was in Tabasco over Palm Sunday, Cortez took occasion to give these heathen people a lesson in Christianity. He marched his men in solemn procession through the streets, each soldier bearing a palm-branch in his hand. The scene ended on the high platform of the temple. Here, in view of the awestruck multitude, the idols were taken down and a Virgin and Child put in their sacred places. The priests then celebrated mass and baptized the natives who had been given to them as tribute.
A more cordial welcome awaited the fleet at its next landing on the coast of Mexico. The place of landing received from Cortez the name of San Juan d'Ulua. The people flocked to the beach and with smiles and gestures invited the ships to land. Before the anchor could be dropped two canoes were alongside the flagship with a message from the "governor." The new comers asked to see the leader of the squadron; and when shown into his presence, they bowed low and said, "Teuthile has sent to ask what people you are, what is your business here and what he can do for you." The language was so different from that which Aguilar had learned in Yucatan that it was necessary to keep up the conversation by signs. With the help of a good supper, it was not very hard to make the messengers stand that the Spaniards were friendly and would call on their master the next day.
Cortez landed on Good Friday, April 21, 1519. With the help of their Cuban slaves and the natives the army were soon sheltered in booths and tents, while a great cross of wood was raised in the centre of the camp. The people, determined to see all that was going on, began to put up huts for themselves, brought beds, provisions and cooking-utensils, and prepared to stay while the great show lasted. Many a dainty dish cooked in native style found its way into the Spanish camp from the ovens and the kettles of these thrifty Indian dames. Yet Cortez ordered that a strict watch should be kept against Indian treachery—a precaution which the lawless character of many of his own men rendered necessary.
Teuthile did not wait for the promised visit from Cortez. He was a representative of the Aztec council—probably one of their collectors of tribute—and he knew that it was his duty to look well after these strangers. He came into the camp the next morning with a number of attendants, some of whom were porters laden with provisions and other gifts for the visitors. He paid his respects to Cortez by burning incense before him, and little straws which had been touched with his own blood. In return for the rich ornaments in gold and silver and feather-work which he received, Cortez gave a robe of silk, a glittering necklace of glass, curious beads, scissors, mirrors and articles made of iron and wool—materials of which the Mexicans knew nothing.
So far it had not been necessary to use words, but now there might have been awkward pauses but for a conversation which was observed between one of the deputy's attendants and Marina, an Indian girl who had been given, among other articles of tribute, to the Spaniards at Tabasco. On inquiry, it was found that this girl was an Aztec by birth, of the tribe Teuthile represented, a chiefs daughter, who after her father's death had been sold by her mother, and had been taken south to Tabasco. She was the first person baptized at Tabasco, and was thus the first nominal Christian Indian in all America. She soon brought Gortez and Teuthile into conversation, and afterward became chief interpreter between her people and their conquerors.
It was on Easter Sunday that this first visit of the Aztecs to the Spanish camp took place. Cortez and his men, having first attended mass, invited their Indian guests to a Spanish dinner.
As they were viewing the camp Teuthile saw a gilt helmet belonging to Cortez, and expressed a wish that Montezuma might have one like it. Cortez immediately handed it to him, saying,
"Take it to your master, and may he soon return it to me full of his gold! I wish to compare it with some we have in Spain."
The helmet was not the only thing sent to Montezuma on that eventful day. Some of the Spanish officers, observing a group of Aztecs busy in one corner, went to see what they were doing, and were surprised to find that they were official reporters getting up the despatches which their chief was obliged to send to Mexico. Pencil in hand, these men were sketching the camp, the Spanish soldiers in their helmets and coats of mail, the horses—in gala-array, to do honor to the occasion—the black-throated guns, the tall-masted ships riding at anchor not far away, with many other things which they did not comprehend, but which gave the Mexican council an exact idea of the numbers and the probable strength of these visitors.
Here was a fine opportunity for Cortez. He determined that these despatches should make a sensation such as was never before known in all Mexico. He ordered out his men for a full-dress parade. The drums beat and the bugles sounded an alarm. Instantly the troops formed in order of battle, and the horses, inspirited not only by the music, but by the roar of the cannon, pranced about, while the heavy shot, aimed at the dense forest back of the camp, splintered the tree-branches like thunderbolts from the sky. Some of the Indians fell to the earth and cowered in the dust, while others took to their heels. A chieftain's dignity was for the moment forgotten in that wild rush for the woods. All that the Aztecs had ever heard of gods descending to the earth in human form was now revived. Had not three hundred of them just arrived and taken possession of the country? The effect which Cortez desired having been produced, he soothed his terror-stricken guests with gentle tones and reassuring smiles, while Marina, who had heard the guns at Tabasco, did what she could to quiet their fears, telling them they were safe from the power of these terrible black monsters, which were now in the hands of their friends. When the confusion was over and the painters were at work again on their despatches, they had some new and startling facts to report, and perhaps nothing more so than an Aztec stampede.
In a few days ambassadors from the City of Mexico made their appearance in camp with a splendid array of presents and a message from Montezuma. They said he did not want the white men to brave the dangers and fatigue of the long road to Mexico, neither did it suit the dignity of his office to come and see the strangers. The presents he had sent would express his good-will, and he desired that they might soon return with safety to their own country.
If anything more was needed to excite the army to press on and examine the treasures of Mexico for themselves, the gifts just brought to their camp from that wonderful city over the mountains would be all that was necessary. The helmet sent to Montezuma was returned at this time filled with gold, as Cortez had requested.
A troop of Indian servitors had spread mats on the ground and piled thereon in great heaps the goods they had brought. Among them were cotton mantles plaided in gay colors. Others were shaggy on the outside, with a white lining, woven in one thickness; enough garments of this description were given to clothe Cortez and all his men. There were also deerskin shoes embroidered with gold thread and having white and blue soles, gilded shields adorned with brilliant feathers and seed-pearls, crowns of feathers and gold mitres set with precious stones in curious patterns, rich plumes fretted with gold and pearls, fans in magnificent variety, golden fishes, birds, animals, sea-shells of gold and silver, so skillfully wrought as exactly to imitate these productions of nature, the feathers, skins and hair being superior to any European workmanship. The most remarkable objects in this collection were two large wheels, or disks, one of gold and the other of silver, representing the sun and the moon. Both were formed of plates of these metals, on which animals and other objects in nature were wrought in raised figures and exquisitely finished. These were Aztec calendars, representing their divisions of time, and were worth two hundred and twenty thousand dollars. When these articles were sent to Spain, they were accompanied by four Mexican chiefs and two native women. These appeared before the emperor Charles V. dressed in their native costume. The warriors had jewels set in gold hanging from their ears and lips—a fashion which the Spanish courtiers thought very unbecoming in men, but one which these Indians considered altogether ornamental. This exhibition took place in one of the northern cities in Spain. The emperor, after questioning about the climate, was considerate enough to send his visitors to the warmest corner of Spain, where they need not be exposed to sudden changes of temperature. Montezuma's gifts only whetted the Spaniards' appetite for gold. However, the next embassy from Mexico, which came in a few days, brought more gifts, but a firm refusal from the council of chiefs to allow the army to approach any nearer to the city.
That evening, as the sun sank behind the woods and the Aztec officials were preparing to leave, the bell rang for vespers. There was a sudden dispersion of the group which always gathered about the presents. Every man hurried to the large wooden cross which had been set up in camp, and, kneeling on the sand, began to pray with the most ostentatious devotion. So religious a people as the Aztecs could not fail to understand such movements, although they did not know what god was addressed. Father Olmedo told them that the chief object of this visit of Europeans to their coast was to bring to its people a knowledge of the one true God and Jesus Christ, whom he had sent to be the Saviour of the world, showing them, at the same time, an image of the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus. When the address was finished, this image was formally presented to the Aztec chiefs, with the request that they would set it up in their temple instead of those of the bloodthirsty gods which they worshiped. The Aztecs accepted this gift very gravely, thinking, perhaps, it was not safe to dispute with preachers who could back their arguments with horses and cannon.
The next morning the Spanish sentinel, when he looked in the direction of the Indian huts by which the camp was surrounded, found that they were all deserted; the natives had stolen away in the night. The venders of fruit, vegetables and poultry on which the army had depended for its supplies had vanished, and the invaders were left between the sea and the woods with no certain prospect of sustenance from either. The outlook was very gloomy. The low, hot, unhealthy beach where they were encamped became a place of graves for the Spaniards. Many an ambitious adventurer was laid under the shadow of those tall trees while they were there. The survivors became more and more discontented and despondent.
Cortez resolved not only to seek a better situation, but, when it was found, to build a city which would serve as a base of supplies for his army and show the people of the country that he had come to stay. Most of his men had but one idea: they had come to make what money they could in a short visit, and to go back to Cuba with their spoils. Cortez, who had heard of the rich and prosperous tribes in the interior, believed he had only to cross the mountains rising behind the camp like a wall to reach a land of fabulous wealth and fertility. He determined not to wait for any invitation from Montezuma, but to push his way to the capital, see the famous chief in his own palace, bring him into subjection to the pope and the king of Spain, convert the people to the true faith, settle the country, and, best of all, turn into the coffers of his own land the stream of gold which he believed to be flowing into those of Mexico. He saw that the greatest difficulty would be to bring his own army so to appreciate the grandeur of such an enterprise as to forget personal ambition in this splendid conquest for Church and State. His first step was to send a party northward along the coast to explore the country, and to find, if possible, a good harbor and a navigable river which would furnish a path into the interior. After an absence of three weeks his men came back with the report that, although they could find no good harbor, they saw a spot sheltered by a high rock where two rivers emptied into the Gulf. There was plenty of fine timber, good stone for building, pasture for cattle and tillable lands. Cortez decided to send his vessels up to this point with the stores, while he, with four hundred men and the horses, went by land.
Before camp was broken five Indian visitors came in one morning who quite turned the current of thought for the homesick men and made it much easier for Cortez to carry out his plans. In dress, manner and appearance these Indians were quite different from any the Spaniards had seen, although they were red like other Indians, with straight black hair. But their faces were curiously decorated with gold-leaf, put on in patches, and bright blue stones and gold rings in ears and nostrils. Two of these five men understood enough of the Aztec language to tell the girl Marina that they were Totonacs, of a powerful tribe at Cempoalla, a place twenty-five miles distant toward the north. Not long before the arrival of the Spaniards this tribe had been beaten in battle by the Aztecs, and the heavy tribute exacted from them by the victors was a great grievance. Their distress at this particular time was very evident. They spoke bitterly of children who had just been claimed for sacrifice on Aztec altars, and seemed very anxious to throw off the intolerable burdens which had been laid upon them. Would these powerful white men come to their own country and become their allies?
Nothing could have pleased the wily Spaniard better than such a proposal. He had supposed that the Aztecs were a united people, and that Montezuma, seated on an imperial throne, had only to lift his sceptre for an obedient nation to prostrate itself before him. But here, ripe for revolt, was a tributary people that he could by skillful management separate from Mexico and use as the thin edge of the wedge which would finally disrupt the Aztec empire.