THE PEST-HOLES EVACUATED.
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headed by the viceroy and the alférez mayor bearing a banner commemorative of the conquest.[1] For seventy-five days consecutively, says Cortés,[2] the siege had been wreathing its coils midst almost hourly scenes of bloodshed, wherein nearly one thousand Spaniards and two hundred times that number of allies had taken part, one hundred or thereabout of the former falling, and many thousands among the latter.[3]
As for the Mexicans, most of the early authorities assert that fully one hundred thousand perished, besides those who died from pest and famine.[4] At the order of their sovereign, after the proclamation of peace, the miserable remnant began to evacuate their
- ↑ Made a few years later by order of the city council. It was not, as many suppose, the original standard, for this was hidden during two centuries among rubbish in the university, as stated in its records. It now exists in the museum, forming a piece about a yard square, which shows on one side the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception with hands joined in prayer, and bearing on her head a crown of gold surrounded by a halo and a circle of stars; on the other are the royal arms. Boturini, Idea, 157. In his Catálogo, 75, this author assumes it to be the standard given to the Tlascaltecs, but Carbajal states that at Tlascala exists another standard of Cortés', with royal arms, Hist. Mex., ii. 637, with a picture of the above named virgin. See also Beaumont, Crón. Mich., ii. 345-6. By order of July 31, 1528, the city council orders bull-fights and other entertainments in honor of the day, 'e q todos cabalguen los q tovieren bestias.' Libro de Cabillo, MS., 127, 234. Mexicans are never seen to share in the procession. "Tan profundo está en sus ánimos la herida.' Cavo, Tres. Siglos, i. 3; Humboldt, Essai Pol., i. 192. A minute account of the ceremonies on the occasion is given in Monumentos Hist. Admin. Colon., MS., 365, copied from the Archivo General.
- ↑ Counting from May 30th, Cartas, 257, and so it is stated in the grant to Cortés of Escudo de Armas. Duran and Ixtlilxochitl extend it to 80 and and Bernal Diaz to 93 days. 'Despues de muchos combates, y mas de sessenta peleas peligrosisimas.' Acosta, Hist. Nat. Ind., 525.
- ↑ Over 60 soldiers were lost in the great defeat, and small numbers now and then, while the auxiliaries, less skilled in fighting and chiefly unarmored, succumbed in hordes. Gomara says about 50 soldiers, 6 horses, and not many Indians; Herrera modifies to 'a little over' 50; Torquemada advances to less than 100,' and Clavigero to 'more than 100 Spaniards.' Hernandez, in his Estadist. Méj., 232, computes such curiously exact figures as 107 Spaniards, 18,915 Tlascaltecs, and 33,240 Aztecs. Ixtlilxochitl, ever eager to enlarge upon the services of his race, claims that 30,000 Tezcucans fell out of 200,000 employed, Hor. Crueldades, 51; but this is evidently exaggerated.
- ↑ 'En que murieron infinitos.' Gomara, Hist. Mex., 213; Herrera, dec. iii. lib. ii. cap. viii.; Clavigero, Storia Mess., iii. 232-3. Bustamante raises the number killed to 150,000 at least.' Chimalpain, Hist. Conq., ii. 74; Ixtlilxochitl, loc. cit., to 240,000, including most of the nobles; while Torquemada, i. 577, observes 'que de veinte partes, no quedò vna, aviendo perecido, y muerto las diez y nueve,' he and several others allowing the estimate of fully 300,000 inhabitants. The survivors are estimated at from 30,000 persons by Torquemada to 70,000 warriors by Oviedo, iii. 516.
