remittance of war material was small, and the men who convoyed it numbered less than a dozen, men stricken by disease, and led by Lencero, who became the butt of the drôles de corps.[1]
Every attention and comfort was tendered at Tlascala to the Spaniards while caring for their wounds and awaiting the development of projects. Hardly a man had arrived scathless, and quite a number had received injuries which maimed them for life or resulted in death.[2] Cortés' wounds were most serious. The indomitable spirit which sustained him so far now yielded with the failing body. Severe scalp cuts brought on fever,[3] which caused his life to hang in the balance for some time. Finally his strong constitution and the excellent empiric methods of the native herb doctors prevailed, to the joy, not alone of Spaniards, but of Tlascaltecs, who had shown the utmost anxiety during the crisis.
During this period of Spanish inaction the Mexicans were energetically striving to follow up their blow against the invaders. The first act after ridding the capital of their presence was one of purgation, in which the victorious party fell on those whose lukewarmness, or whose friendly disposition toward Montezuma and his guests, had hindered the siege operations and aided the enemy. A tumult was soon raised, wherein perished four royal princes, brothers and sons of Montezuma,[4] whose death may be at-
- ↑ Bernal Diaz intimates that only two vessels remained of Narvaez' fleet, and one of these was now destroyed so that the crew might be sent to Tlascala. The reinforcements numbered four soldiers and three sailors, two of whom suffered from swollen stomachs, and the rest from venereal diseases. Hist. Verdad., 109.
- ↑ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 109, mentions only four deaths.
- ↑ Se le pasmo la cabeça, o porque no le curaron bien, sacādo le cascos: 0 por el demasiado trabajó.' Gomara, Hist. Mex., 162. Solis describes the progress of the cure with a minuteness that would do credit to a medical journal. Hist. Mex., ii. 212-14.
- ↑ The Cihuacohuatl, Tzihuacpopocatzin, Cipocatli, and Tencuecuenotzin. The account of this tumult is given in a memorial on the conquest by an Indian, possessed by Torquemada. i. 509-10. Brasseur de Bourbourg assumes Tzihuacpopocatzin and the Cihuacohuatl to be sons of Tizoc, and the last two
