When the collectors returned, Montezuma summoned the Spanish leaders, and surrendered what they had brought. In addition to this, he offered them the treas-
course deeply grieved, but dared not say anything. Guided by another brother, Tepacxochitzin, the Spaniards reached Tezcuco, and behaved outrageously. With the aid of Ixtlilxochitl they seized the contents of the royal treasury, filling with the gold a chest two fathoms in height and length, and one in width. After this they compelled the chiefs to contribute as much more. Ixtlilxochitl assumes that Cacama is the king, and that the deed occurred before allegiance was sworn, and seven weeks after the Spaniards' arrival at Mexico. Hist. Chich., 298; Id., Rel., 388-9, 411-12. Brasseur de Bourbourg repeats this story in substance, though he corrects it by stating that Montezuma interfered and saved the prince. Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 252-3. Herrera writes that 'the servant' sent to guide the Spaniards disappeared on the way. He was caught and hanged by order of Cacama, who gave them a more trusty attendant. They were received at Tezcuco with great pomp, and presented with female slaves. A large amount of gold, pearls, and other valuables was obtained, and 80 carriers were sent to Mexico laden with honey, which Cortés distributed, while he kept the treasures. dec. ii. lib. ix. cap. i. According to Vazquez de Tapia, 15,000 pesos in gold were obtained from Tezcuco, beside some jewels and cloth. Not satisfied with this, Cortés sent Cacama in charge of Alvarado to exact more. But little being obtained, boiling pitch was applied to the stomach of Cacama before he was sent back to Mexico. Alvarado denies this outrage. Ramirez, Proceso contra Alvarado, 3, 35-6, 65.
Fernando de Alva Cortés Ixtlilxochitl claims our attention as a native historian who has labored zealously to vindicate the glorious antecedents of his race, particularly the Acolhuas, whose loyal devotion to the Spanish invaders he advocates with an enthusiasm as unblushing as it is inconsistent. The chief hero of the theme is his ancestor and namesake, King Ixtlilxochitl, his great great grandfather, according to Muñoz' genealogic list. Little good was derived from this calculated zeal, for at Alva's birth, in about 1568, the family estate had dwindled to small proportions, while the tribute exemption which testified to royal descent expired not many years later. After a course at the Santa Cruz College Alva figured as interpreter to the native tribunal of the viceroy. The death of the eldest brother brought lawsuits which threatened to impoverish him, but urgent representation procured, in 1602, a cedula recognizing him as heir to the family property. Florencia, La Estrella, 103 etc.; Bezerra Tanco, Felicidad Mex., 49; Guadalupe, Col., 551; Panes, Teatro Nueva-España, MSS. The requirements of the suit called forth more than one of his writings, which had in view to establish both his own title and the claims of his family. Their research and style attracted the attention of the viceroy, who encouraged him to continue a task for which he was so well fitted, not only by his Spanish and Aztec studies, but as a native to whom his countrymen would readily communicate their views and traditions, and as the possessor of a vast family archive. The command accorded with his inclination and improved fortune, and a number of pieces were produced, which after his death, about 1648, passed to the Jesuit college, Clavigero, Storia Mess., i. 10, and thence to the Archivo General, where they form volumes iv. and xiii.
The most complete list of his works is given in Dicc. Univ., iv.; that by Boturini is nearly as full, Catalogo, 2 etc.; Beristain, Bibl., 'Alva,' gives it less so, and Clavigero's is still briefer, while Pinelo, Epitome, ii. 608, makes merely a general allusion. Kingsborough, on the other hand, offers an almost complete reproduction of the writings in volume ix. of his Mex. Antiq. The longest and most important is the Historia Chichimeca, dedicated to the viceroy, in 95 chapters, of which the first 76 treat of the rise and progress of the Chichimec empire, represented at the conquest by the Acolhuas, and of
