rites, and upon the altar stains from the blackened hands of the temple attendants.[1] In the adjoining chapel the war-god was found reinstalled in all its glittering hideousness. Some consolation for this sacrilegious intrusion was offered to the victors in despoiling it of the rich ornaments, while the cacao and other provisions stored here by the garrison proved a prize to the half-famished Spaniards. The Tlascaltecs, so long deprived of meat, pounced upon the bodies of the slain heroes to secure them for a feast, which should not only satisfy the cravings of hunger, but infuse their hearts and minds with some of the qualities of the valiant dead.[2] The chapels were then fired. The upper portion of the structure being of wood, the flames rose in columns heavenward, heralding the triumph of the Spaniard, and striking the Indian with awe. It was a great and thrilling feat, this fight upon the temple top; and so the natives regarded it, their heart, and mind, and paintings being all stained sanguine over its remembrance.[3]
- ↑ It was related afterward that when the natives first sought to remove the virgin image their hands clove powerlessly to it for some time, and left their marks upon it. Oviedo, iii. 510. Montezuma, being told of this miracle, ordered the image to be left in its place. Afterward, 'pareciò, segun supimos, que el gran Monteçuma tenia ó deuocion en ella, ó miedo, y la mandó guardar.' Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 104, 102. Others, as will be shown, suppose it to have been saved by its owner, Villafuerte, perhaps when Cortés withdrew the troops from the temple, or to have fled by its own miraculous power to the shrine at Remedios.
- ↑ 'Comierõ de los caualleros Mexicanos muertos.' Herrera, dec. ii. lib. x. сар. іх.
- ↑ Cortés, Cartas, 130-1. According to Bernal Diaz the sally with the engines was directed against the temple, which he appears to place at some distance. It was held by 3000 or 4000 Indians, 'all chiefs,' and cost the Spaniards 46 lives, every man being beside wounded. They returned hard pressed by the enemy. 'Se mostrò Cortes mui varõ, como siēpre.' Hist. Verdad., 103-4. 'Murieron todos quinientos Indios, como valientes.' Gomara, Hist. Mex, 157. 'En trecientos caualleros que alli estauan no quedaron seys viuos.' Herrera, loc. cit. This author describes on a later occasion the capture of a tower attached to Montezuna's own palace, from which missiles fell with telling effect. Cortés goes with 200 men to reduce it, and is hotly received; yet the Indians, relying upon the execution to be made by some loose beams which are to be rolled down upon the assailants at a favorable moment, allow the Spaniards to rush forward and gain the tower, putting almost every occupant to the sword. This story is probably a version of the temple fight.
