CHAPTER XV.
MEXICO REACHED AT LAST.
IT was on the morning of November 8, 1519, that from the top of Ilhuatca the army of Cortez saw what seemed to their dazzled eyes a landscape in Fairyland. Snow-capped mountains enclosed a valley rich in bloom and verdure, with clear lakes laughing through the endless summer of a tropical year. In this crystal setting rose a capital worthy of any dream of the far-famed Atlantis. Miles of wide, clean streets radiating from the gates of the colossal temple were lined with massive stone edifices having walls of glittering stucco and terraced roofs abloom with flowers. These houses were the homes of at least three hundred thousand people. A fringe of beautiful island-gardens were seen dotting the lakes, spacious and well-ordered market-places, canals alive with boats, aqueducts whose ruins still attest the superior skill of those ancient masons, parks and pleasure-grounds, and, towering above all, the great pyramidal temple, altar-crowned and smoking day and night like the lofty peaks which marked the sky-line of the landscape.
In spite of the cringing terror which Montezuma had lately betrayed in his messages to them, the soldiers of Cortez, gazing at all this splendor, dreaded to grapple with a people whose civilization seemed not only to equal, but to exceed, their own. Nothing but his own indomitable courage and towering ambition upheld Cortez as he led the little band of his countrymen over these mountain-walls, whose gates now seemed to close behind him and to shut out all hope of rescue should help be needed. Looking westward from their lofty perch, the soldiers saw the Lake of Chalco, with its island-city and numerous white-walled hamlets peeping out from embowering trees or half hidden amid the luxuriant fields of corn and maguey.
It was daybreak when the army began to descend into the Valley of Mexico. They soon reached a well-built town on the mountain-side, now called Amaquemeca. Here they were kindly received by an Aztec official, who kept them two days and supplied them with abundance of provisions and with the gold which they coveted more than all else. Envoys from Mexico received them here, and went with them a march of twelve miles to their first resting-place in the valley. This was in Ajotzineo, a town built partly on the shelving side of the mountain and partly on piles in the lake. The streets of this lower part were all canals, and were alive with the canoes of market-men bringing provisions into the city from suburban gardens, and of others who ministered to the needs of a large population.
The night spent in Ajotzineo was one of great anxiety to the vigilant general. Indian friends had informed him that an attack might be looked for here, and pointed to villagers who came down the mountains or entered by the canal, eager to see the strangers. Cortez professed to take them all for spies, and, probably intending to create a wholesome awe at the outset, ordered the guard to shoot fifteen or twenty of these over-curious visitors. "But few of them," he coolly says, "returned to give the information they were sent to obtain."
At Ajotzineo, as the army were about to leave, they were asked to wait, as Cacama, the young chief of Tezcuco, was on his way to give the strangers a formal welcome to the valley. He was a young man of about twenty-five years of age, erect and proud, as became an Indian chief, coming in a splendid litter borne on the shoulders of men. As he alighted his attendants began to gather the stones which strewed his path, and to sweep it clean for his richly-sandaled feet.[1] As he advanced into the presence of the general he bowed to touch the earth, and then raised his right hand to his head—a Mexican token of respect to a person of high rank now common in Oriental lands. Cacama was bearer of another chilling message from Montezuma. It was Montezuma's earnest wish that the strangers would be satisfied to stay away; but if they were still determined to visit him, he would receive them at his home, as he was too ill to come to meet them.
After an exchange of presents and of brief speeches through Marina as interpreter the Spaniards marched out of Ajotzinco to the causeway across Lake Chalco, a well-built structure wide enough in some places for eight horsemen to ride abreast. The lake was alive with canoes, in most of which were sightseers gliding in and out from among the chinampas, or floating gardens, which lined the causeway.
About three miles out in Lake Chalco, Cortez spied a fortress rising out of the water; it was well defended with towers and capable of holding from one to two thousand people. No gates were visible. Access to the interior was probably gained by ladders, which were drawn up in case of threatened danger. This fortress commanded the approaches to a small but beautiful city built wholly in the water. As the army passed through this place an
excellent supper was given to the soldiers, with an invitation to stay all night; but their Aztec escort advised that they should go a few miles farther, to Iztapalapa, the home of Montezuma's brother,[2] on the southern border of the salt lake Tezcuco. This city lay within full view of Mexico, only six miles distant. From Iztapalapa a broad stone causeway led westward through the lake to the island-capital. Very near the city this causeway was intersected by another, which led southward to the mainland. At the junction of these two causeways was a very strong fort with two high towers, surrounded by a double parapetted wall twelve feet high. This was Fort Xoloc, afterward so famous in the siege of Mexico.
After a night's rest in the halls of Iztapalapa the army was met by a large party of Aztec chiefs and warriors gayly dressed in mantles of embroidered cotton or costly feather-work, their faces sparkling with gems set in wrought gold, which hung from lips, ears and noses. As each one came within speaking distance he saluted the general by touching the ground and then lifting his hand to his head. The long procession was an hour passing Cortez with this tedious ceremony. This over, the Spaniards took up their line of march into the city. The streets swarmed with an eager crowd, which covered the house-roofs and filled every doorway and loophole from which a view could be obtained.
As the Spaniards crossed one of the movable wooden bridges which spanned the canals of the city, Montezuma, in a splendid litter and attended by a brilliant retinue, came down a broad avenue to meet them. With him marched two hundred chiefs in single file, in two processions, one on each side of the way and close to the houses. When near the strangers, Montezuma alighted and came forward supported on the arm of his brother-chiefs of Tezcuco and Iztapalapa. Tapestry was spread for his richly-sandaled feet, and a canopy gay with feathers and glittering with gold and jewels was held over his head. Cortez alighted from his horse and advanced alone to meet the chieftain whom he had so long desired to see. As the representative of his king he would have given to Montezuma those brotherly greetings common among the European sovereigns of that day, but the attendant chiefs instantly checked what they considered undue familiarity. A glittering collar of pearls and crystal which Cortez took from his own neck and threw over Montezuma's shoulders was graciously accepted, however.
In the Mexican ceremony of touching the ground which followed, Montezuma headed the long procession that filed by the Spanish commander. Not an eye was lifted from the ground as with measured step and great dignity the natives passed the strangers whose mighty exploits and mysterious errand to their shores had been for months the theme of every tongue. Montezuma soon returned, and after directing his brother to remain with Cortez he at once re-entered his litter and was borne away.
A spacious building in the centre of the city and opposite the great temple had been assigned to the Spaniards for their use during their stay; here the great chieftain awaited his guests. Taking Cortez by the hand, he led him into a saloon and seated him on a piece of rich carpeting with which the floor was spread, telling him to wait until he should return.
Montezuma soon reappeared accompanied by attendants laden with many costly and substantial gifts, among which, says Cortez, were "five or six thousand pieces of cotton cloth very rich and of varied texture and finish." The soldiers had all been dismissed to their quarters, and, with a few of his officers, Cortez was alone. Taking his seat on another piece of carpet, near his guest, Montezuma through an interpreter made his first formal speech of welcome. He was a man in the prime of life, tall and well formed, paler in color than his brethren, with a careworn look which was easily explained when we remember the harassing anxiety of the past months. His beard was thin and his hair was long, black and straight, short hair being considered by Mexicans very undignified in a person of rank. He wore a large embroidered mantle sprinkled with precious stones, a heavily-fringed scarf about his loins and sandals with golden soles. Several rich plumes of green towered above his head.
Sitting there on the floor beside Cortez, Montezuma gave the history of his forefathers, going back to days when other white men had come from some far land at the east and gained possessions in Anahuac.[3] Their chief afterward went back to his own country, but came again after many years. Those of his people who had remained had intermarried with the natives and built towns, but they would not acknowledge him as their ruler. The disowned chief went away to the east, promising to come again and bring the people into subjection. "From what you tell us of your country toward the sunrising," said Montezuma, "and of your chief the master of the whole earth, who has known of us and sent you hither to see us, we believe that he is our natural lord, and as such we desire to obey him. We pay our tribute to you in his place. You shall rule this land for him. All we have is at your disposal. We will not deceive you. Since you are in your own country and your own house, rest and refresh yourselves after the toils of the journey. I believe that the Totonacs and Tlascalans have told you much evil of us, but do not believe them. They are our enemies. They have told you that my house and my furniture are of gold, that I myself am a god. But you see it is not so;" and he opened his robes as he spoke. "You see that I am flesh and blood like yourselves."
Once more assuring Cortez with much apparent sincerity that he was in his own home and, with his army, would be bountifully supplied with all that he needed, Montezuma concluded his long address and went away.
The quarters assigned to the army were in one of the communal dwellings already described, which, with its hundreds of rooms, was large enough to hold them all. It was very near the great temple, was two stories high in the centre, with many spacious apartments, and had loopholed towers along its walls. Some of these great rooms were hung with gayly-tinted draperies and had inlaid floors and ceilings of smoothly-polished wood. But little furniture was required, since bed and bedding commonly consisted of a mat wrapped about the sleeper, who stretched himself on the stone floor. Other beds were canopied and had soft cotton coverlets.
The Aztecs provided well for their unwelcome guests. A hot supper was spread for all, and the men turned in for the night after taking every precaution against attack. Cannon were planted at each entrance, and the sentinels had orders to shoot any man who left the quarters without permission from the general. It was usual to fire an evening-gun, but the first night which the Spaniards spent in Mexico was celebrated by the most thunderous discharge of artillery it was in their power to make. The whole city, just quieted after the feverish excitement of the day was roused again, as though the burning mountain on whose hearthstone the city seemed to stand had suddenly belched out fire and brimstone in its very streets.
The next day Cortez and his suite obtained permission to visit Montezuma's palace, which was not far away. Many questions were asked and answered on both sides in this interview. Montezuma showed particular interest in the personal rank of his visitors, and soon made himself acquainted with their names and titles.
It was during these peaceful days of his stay in Mexico that Cortez made his first effort to teach the Aztecs the true faith. He always declared that this was the chief object of his visit, and he would never entrust it wholly even to the priests who accompanied him. As he was always obliged to speak through his interpreter, the Aztec girl Marina, we may suppose that her gentle manner gave a softer tone to the lecture than the zealous general would have wished. How much of the truth the newly-converted Marina could communicate to the devout and thoughtful chief we cannot say, but we know that the story of the cross is thrilling no matter how simply it may be told. No one can listen to the fact that "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life," without hearing the gospel in its wondrous fullness. But it is not likely that this proud soldier put the meek and lowly Saviour first in his word-picture of redemption. It was not Jesus with his compassion on the multitude, but the cross on which he died—not the salvation he purchased for a lost world, but the Church he had commissioned to proclaim it—that were most prominent in all these discussions. Montezuma was willing to admit that the Christians' God was good and great and worthy of a place among Mexican deities, but a pious horror filled his mind when it was suggested that he should set these aside and worship one just imported into the country. Had not his people gained all their prosperity since they chose Humming-Bird for their guide and protector? For more than one hundred years they had marched to victory behind his image. On the other hand, if Feathered Serpent was about to assert his old supremacy, could they not win his favor by giving to the Toltec rites which had always been observed in the temple the leading place in its ceremonies? But Cortez insisted on something more than this, and Montezuma was sorely perplexed.
There were two parties not only in the council as such, but among its priestly members. Those who were most loyal to the war-god would have marched to the coast on the first appearance of the white men and swept them out of the country; the other party would do nothing which would offend the hero of the nation's dreams should he be hidden under a Spaniard's armor. To this latter party Montezuma belonged. It must have had considerable strength from the first, or the strangers would not have been received by relays of tribute-bearers. But it is not probable that, with all the superstitious awe with which they were regarded, they would have been allowed without resistance to interfere with the service of the temple. Yet in one of the stories with which Cortez seeks to win his monarch's favor he pictures himself as so full of missionary zeal that the first time he went to the temple with Montezuma he tore down the war-god and his associates from their pedestal and sent them tumbling down the temple-stairs. He afterward cleansed the darkened shrines where these idols stood, and, forbidding Montezuma ever to pollute them again with human blood, put up in their places images of Our Lady and the saints, which, he coolly adds, "excited not a little feeling with Montezuma and the inhabitants. They at first remonstrated, declaring that if my proceedings were known throughout the country the people would rise against me." Upon this, Cortez preached a sermon on the great sin of idolatry. He represents Montezuma as meekly responding that no doubt he and his people had fallen into many errors, and that Cortez, having so recently come from the home of their ancestors at the East, must know more of the religion they taught than those could who had been so long absent from it, and if he would instruct them in these matters and make, them understand the true faith they would follow his directions. He also says, "Afterward, Montezuma and many of the principal citizens remained with me until I had removed the idols, purified the chapels and placed the images in them, manifesting apparent pleasure in the change."
Cortez had from the beginning given his religion a foremost place. However early he might set out, the matin-bell was rung and mass was performed before the troops left their camp. Their march was marked by the crosses they set up on every campground. One of his first orders, therefore, on arriving in Mexico was that a suitable room should be fitted up in their quarters as a chapel. While the carpenters were arranging for an altar they found what seemed to be a doorway recently plastered up. Visions of hidden treasure filled the minds of those who made short work of opening this secret room. Their suspicions proved to be correct: they found themselves in a large hall filled with rich stuffs, costly ornaments and gold, silver and precious stones. "I was a young man when I saw it," says Bernal Diaz, "and it seemed to me as if all the treasures of the world were in that room." "Hands off!" was a hard command in the face of such a treasure, but Cortez was able to enforce it. He gave orders that the hole should be sealed up, and that for the present no one should mention what he knew of Montezuma's secret hoards.