The Conquest of Mexico/Volume 1/Notes To Volume 1
NOTES
Page 9 (2).—I have conformed to the limits fixed by Clavigero. He has, probably, examined the subject with more thoroughness and fidelity than most of his countrymen, who differ from him, and who assign a more liberal extent to the monarchy. (See his Storia Antica del Messico [Cesena, 1780], dissert. 7.) The Abbé, however, has not informed his readers on what frail foundations his conclusions rest. The extent of the Aztec empire is to be gathered from the writings of historians since the arrival of the Spaniards, and from the picture-rolls of tribute paid by the conquered cities; both sources extremely vague and defective. See the MSS. of the Mendoza collection, in Lord Kingsborough's magnificent publication (Antiquities of Mexico, comprising Facsimiles of Ancient Paintings and Hieroglyphics, together with the Monuments of New Spain, London, 1830). The difficulty of the inquiry is much increased by the fact of the I conquests having been made, as will be seen hereafter, by the united arms of three powers, so that it is not always easy to tell to which party they eventually belonged. The affair is involved so much uncertainty, that Clavigero, notwithstanding the positive assertions in his text, has not ventured, in his map, to define the precise limits of the empire, either towards the north, where it mingles with the Tezcucan empire, or towards the south, where, indeed, he has fallen into the egregious blunder of asserting that, while the Mexican territory reached to the fourteenth degree, it did not include any portion of Guatemala. (See tom. i. p. 29, and tom. iv. dissert. 7.) The Tezcucan chronicler, Ixtilxochitl, puts in a sturdy claim for the paramount empire of his own nation.—Historia Chichemeca, MS., cap. 39, 53, et alibi.
Page 10 (1).—Eighteen to twenty thousand, according to Humboldt, who considers the Mexican territory to have been the same with that occupied by the modern intendancies of Mexico, Puebla, Vera Cruz, Oaxaca, and Valladolid. (Essai Politique sur le Royaume de Nouvelle Espagne [Paris, 1825], tom. i. p. 196.) This last, however, was all, or nearly all, included in the rival kingdom of Mechoacan, as he himself more correctly states in another part of his work.—Comp. tom. ii. p. 164.
Page 11 (1).—The traveller, who enters the country across the dreary sand-hills of Vera Cruz, will hardly recognise the truth of the above description. He must look for it in other parts of tierra caliente. Of recent tourists, no one has given a more gorgeous picture of the impressions made on his senses by these sunny regions than Latrobe, who came on shore at Tampico (Rambler in Mexico [New York, 1836], chap, i.); a traveller, it may be added, whose descriptions of man 1.1 nature in our own country, where we can judge, are distinguished by a sobriety and fairness that entitle him to confidence in his delineation of other countries.
Page 12 (1).—This long extent of country varies in elevation from 5570 to 8856 feet,—equal to the height of the passes of Mount Cenis, or the Great St. Bernard. The tableland stretches three hundred leagues further before it declines to a level of 2614 feet.—Humboldt, Essai Politique, tom. i. pp. 157, 255. Page 13 (1).—About 62° Fahrenheit, or 17° Réaumur. (Humboldt, Essai Politique, tom. i. p. 273.) The more elevated plateaux of the tableland, as the Valley of Toluca, about 8500 feet above the tea, have a stern climate, in which the thermometer, during a great part of the day, rarely rises beyond 45° F.—Idem. (loc. cit.), and Malte-Brun (Universal Geography, Eng. Trans., book 83), who is, indeed, in this part of his work, but an echo of the former writer.
Page 13 (2).—The elevation of the Castiles, according to the authority repeatedly cited, is about 350 toises, or 2100 feet above the ocean. (Humboldt's Dissertation, apud Laborde, Itinéraire Deicriptif de l'Espagne [Paris, 1817], tom. i. p. 5.) It is rare to find plains in Europe of so great a height.
Page 13 (3).—Archbishop Lorenzana estimates the circuit of the Valley at ninety leagues, correcting at the same time the statement of Cortés, which puts it at seventy, very near the truth, as appears from the result of M. de Humboldt's measurement, cited in the text. Its length is about eighteen leagues, by twelve and a half in breadth. (Humboldt, Essai Politique, tom. ii. p. 29.—Lorenzana, Hist, de Nueva España, p. 102). Humboldt's map of the Valley of Mexico forms the third in his Atlas Géographique et Physique, and, like all the others in the collection, will be found of inestimable value to the traveller, the geologist, and the historian.
Page 14 (1).—Humboldt, Essai Politique, tom. ii. pp. 29, 44-49.—Malte-Brun, book 85. This latter geographer assigns only 6700 feet for the level of the Valley, contradicting himself (comp. book 83), or rather Humboldt, to whose pages he helps himself, plenis manibus, somewhat too liberally, indeed, for the scanty references at the bottom of his page.
Page 14 (2).—Torquemada accounts, in part, for this diminution, by supposing that, as God permitted the waters, which once covered the whole earth, to subside, after mankind had been nearly exterminated for their iniquities, so he allowed the waters of the Mexican lake to subside, in token of goodwill and reconciliation, after the idolatrous races of the land had been destroyed by the Spaniards! (Monarchia Indiana [Madrid, 1723], tom. i. p. 309.) Quite as probable, if not as orthodox an explanation, may be found in the active evaporation of these upper regions, and in the fact of an immense drain having been constructed, during the lifetime of the good father, to reduce the waters of the principal lake, and protect the capital from inundation.
Page 14 (3).—Anahuac, according to Humboldt, comprehended only the country between the 14th and 21st degrees of N. latitude. (Essai Politique, tom. i. p. 197.) According to Clavigero, it included nearly all since known as New Spain. (Stor. del Messico, tom. i. p. 27.) Veytia uses it, also, as synonymous with New Spain. (Historia Antigua de Mejico [Mejico, 1836], tom. L cap. 12.) The first of these writers probably allows too little, as the latter do too much, for its boundaries. Ixtlilxochitl says it extended four hundred leagues south of the Otomie country. (Hist. Chichemeca, MS., cap. 73.) The word Anahuac signifies near the water. It was, probably, first applied to the country around the lakes in the Mexican Valley, and gradually extended to the remoter regions occupied by the Aztecs, and the other semi-civilised races. Or, possibly, the name may have been intended, as Veytia suggests (Hist. Antig., lib. i, cap. l), to denote the land between the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific.
Page 14 (4).—Clavigero talk of Boturini's having written "on the faith of the Toltec historians." (Stor. del Messico, tom. i. p. 1 28.) But that scholar does not pretend to have ever met with a Toltec manuscript himself, and had heard of only one in the possession of Ixtlilxochitl. (See his Idea de una Nueva Historia General de la America Septentrional [Madrid, 1746], p. 110.) The latter writer tells us, that his account of the Toltec and Chichimec races was "derived from interpretation" (probably, of the Tezcucan paintings), "and from the traditions of old men"; poor authority for events which had passed centuries before. Indeed, he acknowledges that their narratives were so full of absurdity and falsehood that he was obliged to reject nine-tenths of them. (See his Relaciones, MS., No. 5.) The cause of truth would not have suffered much, probably, if he had rejected nine-tenths of the remainder. Page 14 (5).—Description de l'Egypte (Paris, 1809)), Antiquités tom. i. cap. i. Veytia has traced the migrations of the Toltecs with sufficient industry, scarcely rewarded by the necessarily doubtful credit of the results.—Hist. Antig., lib. 1, cap. 21-33.
Page 14 (6).—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 73.
Page 14 (7).—Veytia, Hist. Antig., lib. i, cap. 33.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 3.— Idem, Relaciones, MS., No. 4, 5.—Father Torquemada—perhaps misinterpreting the Tescucan hieroglyphics—has accounted for this mysterious disappearance of the Toltecs by such foe-few-fun stories of giants and demons, as show his appetite for the marvellous was fully equal to that of any of his calling.—See his Monarch. Ind., lib. 1, cap. 14.
Page 15 (1).—Tezcuco signifies "place of detention"; as several of the tribes who successively occupied Anahuac were said to have halted some time at the spot.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich. MS., cap. 10.
Page 15 (2).—The historian speaks, in one page, of the Chichimecs' burrowing in caves, or, at best, in cabins of straw;—and, in the next, talks gravely of their senoras, infantas, and caballeros!—Ibid., cap. 9, et seq.—Veytia, Hist. Antig., lib. 2, cap 1-10.—Camargo, Historia de Tlascala, MS.
Page 16 (1).—These were the Colhuans, not Acolhuans, with whom Humboldt, and most writers since, have confounded them.—See his Essai Politique, tom. i. p. 414; ii. p. 37.
Page 16 (2).—Clavigero gives good reasons for preferring the etymology of Mexico above noticed, to various others. (See his Stor. del. Messico, tom. i. p. 168, nota.) The name Tenochtitlan signifies tunal (a cactus) on a stone.—Esplicacion de la Col. de Mendoza, apud Antiq. of Mexico, vol. iv.
Page 16 (3).—"Datur hæc venia antiquitati," says Livy, "ut misecndo humana divinis primordia urbium augustiora faciat."—-(Hist. Præf.) See, for the above paragraph. Col. de Mendoza, plate I, apud Antiq. of Mexico, vol. i.—IxtlilxochitI, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 10.—Toribio, Historia de las Indias, MS., Parte 3, cap. 8.—Veytia, Hist. Antig., lib. 2, cap. 15. Clavigero, after a laborious examination, assigns the following dates to some of the prominent events noticed in the text. No two authorities agree on them; and this is not strange, considering that Clavigero—the most inquisitive of all—does not always agree with himself. (Compare his dates for the coming of the Acolhuans; tom. i. p. 147, and tom. iv. dissert. 2.)
| a.n. | |
| The Toltecs arrived in Anahuac | 648 |
| They abandoned the country | 1051 |
| The Chichimecs arrived | 1170 |
| The Acolhuans arrived about | 1200 |
| The Mexicans reached Tula | 1196 |
| They founded Mexico | 1325 |
See his Dissert. 2, Sec. 12. In the last date, the one of most importance, he is confirmed by the learned Veytia, who differs from him in all the others.—Hist. Antig., lib. 2. cap. 15.
Page 17 (1).—The loyal Tezcucan chronicler claims the supreme dignity for his own sovereign if not the greatest share of the spoil, by this imperial compact. (Hist. Chich., cap. 32.) Torquemada, on the other hand, claims one half of all the conquered lands for Mexico. (Monarch. Ibid 2, cap. 40.) All agree in assigning only one fifth to Tlacopan; and Veytia (Hist. Ag. Ibid 3, cap. 3) and Zurita (Rapport sur les Différentes Classes de Chefs de la Nouvelle Espagne, rad de Ternaux [Paris, 1840], p. 11), both very competent critics, acquiesce in an equal division between the two principal states in the confederacy. An ode, still extant, of Nezahualcoyotl, in its Castilian version, bears testimony to the singular union of the three powers. "The people will remember only the good deeds of the three-headed government that ennobled the Empire.”—Cantares del Emperador. Nezahualcoyotl, MS.
Page 18 (1).—See the plans of the ancient and modern capital, in Bullock's Mexico, first edition. The original of the ancient map was obtained by that traveller from the collection of the unfortunate Boturini: if, as seems probable, it is the one indicated on page 13 of his Catalogue, I find no warrant for Mr. Bullock's statement, that it wat the one prepared for Cortés by the order of Montezuma.
Page 18 (1).—Clavigero, Stor. Del Messico, tom. i. lib. 2.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., tom. i. lib. 2.—Boturini, Idea, p. 146.—Col. of Mendoza, part i. and Codex Telleriano-Remensis, apud Antiq. of Mexico, vol. i., vi. Machiavelli has noticed it as one great cause of the military successes of the Romans, “that they associated themselves, in their wars, with other states, as the principal;” and expresses his astonishment that a similar policy should not have been adopted by ambitious republics in later times. (See his Discorsi sopra T. Livio, lib. 2, cap. 4, apud Opere.) [Geneva, 1798.] This, as we have seen above, was the very course pursued by the Mexicans.
Page 20 (1).—Page 20 (>).—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 36.
Page 20 (2).—This was an exception.—In Egypt, also, the king was frequently taken from the warrior caste, though obliged afterwards to be instructed in the mysteries of the priesthood: "Though accounted as belonging to the military class, he became henceforth a member of the priestly confraternity."—Plutarch, de Isid. et Osir., sec. 9.
Page 20 (3).—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 2, cap. 18; lib. 11, cap. 27.—Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 112.—Acosta, Naturall and Morall Historie of the East and West Indies, Eng. trans. (London, 1604.) According to Zurita, an election by the nobles took place only in default of heirs of the deceased monarch. (Rapport, p. 15.) The minute historical investigation of Clavigero may be permitted to outweigh this general assertion.
Page 21 (1).—Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva España, lib. 6, cap. 9, 10, 14; lib. 8, cap. 31, 34.—See also Zurita, Rapport, pp. 20-23. Ixtlilxochitl stoutly claims this supremacy for his own nation. (Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 34.)—His assertions are at variance with facts stated by himself elsewhere, and are not countenanced by any other writer whom I have consulted.
Page 21 (2).—Sahagun, who places the elective power in a much larger body, speaks of four senators, who formed a state council. (Hist, de Nueva España, lib. 8, cap. 30.) Acosta enlarges the council beyond the number of the electors. (Lib. 6, ch. 26.) No two writers agree.
Page 21 (3).—Zurita enumerates four orders of chiefs, all of whom were exempted from imposts, and enjoyed very considerable privileges. He does not discriminate the several ranks with much precision.—Rapport, pp. 47 et seq.
Page 22 (1).—See, in particular, Herrera, Historia General de los Hechos de los Castellanos en las Islas y Tierra Firme del Mar Océano (Madrid, 1730), dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 12.
Page 22 (2).—Carta de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, Hist, de Nueva España, p. 110.—Torquemad Monarch, Ind., lib. 2, cap. 89; lib. 14, cap. 6.—Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 121.Zurita, Rapport, pp. 48, 65. Ixtlilxochitl (Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 34) speaks of thirty great feudal chiefs, some of them Tezcucan and Tlacopan, whom he styles "grandees of the empire!" He says nothing of the great tail of 100,000 vassals to each mentioned by Torquemada and Herrera.
Page 22 (3).—Macehual,—a word equivalent to the French word roturier. Nor could fiefs originally be held by plebeians in France.—See Hallam's Middle Ages (London, 1819), vol. ii. p. 207. Page 22 (4).—Ixtlixochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., ubi supra.—Zurita, Rapport, ubi lupra.—Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. pp. 121-114.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 14, cap. 17—Gomara, Crónica de Nueva España, cap. 199, ap. Barcia, tom, ii.—Boturini (Idea, p. 165) carries back the origin of fiefs in Anahuac, to the twelfth century. Carli says, "Le système politique ètait fèodal." In the next page he tells us, "Personal merit alone made the distinction of the nobility!" (Lettres Amèricaines, trad. Fr. [Paris, 1788], tom. i. let. ii.) Carly was a writer of a lively imagination.
Page 23 (1).—This magistrate, who was called cihuacoatl, was also to audit the accounts of the collectors of the taxes in his district. (Clavigero, Stor. de Messico, tom. ii. p. 127.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. II, cap. 25.) The Mendoza Collection contains a painting of the courts of justice, under Montezuma, who introduced great changes in them. (Antiq. of Mexico, vol. i, Plate 70.) According to the interpreter, an appeal lay from them, in certain cases to the king's council.—Ibid. vol. vi. p. 79.
Page 23 (2).—Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. pp. 127, 128.—Torquemada, Monarch Ind., ubi supra.—In this arrangement of the more humble magistrates we are reminded of the Anglo-Saxon hundreds and tithings, especially the latter, the members of which were to watch over the conduct of the families in their districts, and bring the offenders to justice. The hard penalty of mutual responsibility was not known to the Mexicans.
Page 23 (3).—Zurita, so temperate, usually, in his language, remarks that, in the capital. "Tribunals were instituted which might compare in their organisation with the royal audience of Castile." (Rapport, p. 93.) His observations are chiefly drawn from the Tezcucan courts, which, in their forms of procedure, he lays, were like the Aztec.—(Loc. cit.)
Page 23 (4).—Boturini, Idea, p. 87.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 11, cap. 26.—Zurita compares this body to the Castilian córtes. It would seem, however, according to him, to have consisted only of twelve principal judges, besides the king. His meaning is somewhat doubtful. (Rapport, pp. 94, l01, 106.) M. de Humboldt, in his account of the Aztec courts, has confounded them with the Tezcucan.—Comp. Vues des Cordillères et Monumens des Peuples Indigènes de l'Amerique (Paris, 1810), p. 55, and Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. pp. 128, 129.
Page 25 (1).—Zurita, Rapport, pp. 95, 100, 103.—Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva España, loc. cit.— Humboldt, Vues des Cordilleres, pp. 55, 56.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. ii, cap. 25. Clavigero says, the accused might free himself by oath: "il reo poteva purgarsi col giuramento." (Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 129.) What rogue, then, could ever have been convicted?
Page 25 (2).—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 36. These various objects had a symbolical meaning, according to Boturini, Idea, p. 84.
Page 27 (1).—Paintings of the Mendoza Collection, Plate 72, and Interpretation ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vol. vi. p. 87.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 12, cap. 7.—Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. pp. 130-134.—Camargo, Hist, de Tlascala, MS. They could scarcely have been an intemperate people, with these heavy penalties hanging over them. Indeed, Zurita bears testimony that those Spaniards, who thought they were, greatly erred. (Rapport, p. 112.) Mons. Ternaux's translation of a passage of the Anonymous Conqueror, "aucun peuple n'est aussi sobre" (Recueil de Pièces Rélatives à la Conquéte du Mexique, ap. Voyages, etc. [Paris, 1838], p. 44), may give a more favourable impression, however, than that intended by his original, whose remark is confined to abstemiousness in eating.—See the Relatione, ap. Ramusio, Raccolta delle Navigationi et Viaggi. (Venetia, 1554-1565.)
Page 27 (2).—In Ancient Egypt the child of a slave was born free, if the father were free, (Diodorus, Bibl. Hist., lib. i, sec. 80.) This, though more liberal than the code of most countries, fell short of the Mexican. Page 27 (3).—In Egypt the same penalty was attached to the murder of a slave as to that of a freeman. (Diod., Bibl. Hist., lib. i, sec. 77.) Robertson speaks of a class of slaves held so cheap in the eye of the Mexican law, that one might kill them with impunity. (History of America [ed. London, 1776], vol. iii. p. 164.) This, however, was not in Mexico, but in Nicaragua (see his own authority, Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 3, lib. 4, cap. 2), a distant country, not incorporated in the Mexican empire, and with laws and institutions very different from those of the latter.
Page 27 (4).—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 38, and Relaciones, MS. The Tezcucan code, indeed, as digested under the great Nezahualcoyotl, formed the basis of the Mexican, in the latter days of the empire.—Zurita, Rapport, p. 95.
Page 28 (1).—In this, at least, they did not resemble the Romans; of whom their countryman could boast, "Gloriari licet, nulli gentium mitiores placuisse pœnas."—Livy, Hist., lib. 1, cap. 28.
Page 28 (2).—The Tezcucan revenues were, in like manner, paid in the produce of the country. The various branches of the royal expenditure were defrayed by specified towns and districts; and the whole arrangements here, and in Mexico, bore a remarkable resemblance to the financial regulations of the Persian empire, as reported by the Greek writers (see Herodotus, Clio, sec. 192); with this difference, however, that the towns of Persia proper were not burdened with tributes, like the conquered cities.—(Idem, Thalia, sec. 97.)
Page 28 (3).—Lorenzana, Hist, de Nueva España, p. 172.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind. lib. 2, cap. 89; lib. 14, cap. 7.—Boturini, Idea, p. 166.—Camargo, Hist, de Tlascala, MS.—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 13. The people of the provinces were distributed into calpulli, or tribes, who held the lands of the neighbourhood in common. Officers of their own appointment parcelled out these lands among the several families of the calpulli; and, on the extinction or removal of a family, its lands reverted to the common stock, to be again distributed. The individual proprietor had no power to alienate them. The laws regulating these matters were very precise, and had existed ever since the occupation of the country by the Aztecs.—Zurita, Rapport, pp. 51-62.
Page 28 (4).—The following items of the tribute furnished by different cities will give a more precise idea of its nature:—20 chests of ground chocolate; 40 pieces of armour, of a particular device; 2400 loads of large mantles, of twisted cloth; 800 loads of small mantles, of rich wearing apparel; 5 pieces of armour, of rich feathers; 60 pieces of armour, of common feathers; a chest of beans; a chest of chian; a chest of maize; 8000 reams of paper; likewise 2000 loaves of very white salt, refined in the shape of a mould, for the consumption only of the lords of Mexico: 8000 lumps of unrefined copal; 400 small baskets of white refined copal; 100 copper axes; 80 loads of red chocolate; 800 xicaras, out of which they drank chocolate; a little vessel of small turquoise stones; 4 chests of timber full of maize; 4000 loads of lime; tiles of gold, of the size of an oyster, and as thick as the finger; 40 bags of cochineal; 20 bags of gold-dust, of the finest quality; a diadem of gold, of a specified pattern; 20 lip-jewels of clear amber, ornamented with gold; 200 loads of chocolate; 100 pots or jars of liquid-amber; 8000 handfuls of rich scarlet feathers; 40 tiger-skins; 1600 bundles of cotton, etc., etc.—Col. de Mendoza, part. 2, ap. Antiq. of Mexico, volst, i., vi.
Page 28 (5).—Mapa de Tributos, ap. Lorenzana, Hist. Nueva España.—Tribute-roll, ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vol. i., and Interpretation, vol. vi. pp. 17-44. The Mendoza Collection, in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, contains a roll of the cities of the Mexican empire, with the specific tributes exacted from them. It is a copy made after the Conquest, with a pen, on European paper. (See Foreign Quarterly Review, No. xvii. Art. 4.) An original painting of the tame roll was in Boturini's museum. Lorenzana has given us engravings of it, in which the outlines of the Oxford copy are filled up, though somewhat rudely. Clavigero considers the explanations in Lorenzana's edition very inaccurate (Stor. del Messico, tom. i. p. 25), a judgment confirmed by Aglio, who hat transcribed the entire collection of the Mendoza papers, in the first volume of the Antiquities of Mexico. It would have much facilitated reference to his plates, if they had been numbered— a strange omission!
Page 29 (1).— The caciques, who submitted to the allied arms, were usually confirmed in their authority, and the conquered places allowed to retain their laws and usages. (Zurita, Rapport, p. 67.) The conquests were not always partitioned, but sometimes, singularly enough, were held in common by the three powers.—Ibid., p. 1 1.
Page 29 (2).— The Hon. C. A. Murray, whose imperturbable good humour under real troubles forms a contrast, rather striking, to the sensitiveness of some of his predecessors to imaginary ones, tells us, among other marvels, that an Indian of his party travelled a hundred miles in four-and-twenty hours. (Travels in N. America [New York, 1839), vol. i. p. 193.) The Greek, who, according to Plutarch, brought the news of victory at Platea, a hundred and twenty-five miles, in a day, was a better traveller still. Some interesting facts on the pedestrian capabilities of a man in the savage state are collected by Buffon, who concludes, truly enough, "L'homme civilisé ne connait pas ses forces."—(Histoire Naturelle; De la Jeunesse.)
Page 29 (3).— Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 14, cap. 1. The same wants led to the same expedients in ancient Rome, and still more ancient Persia. "Nothing in the world is borne so swiftly," says Herodotus, "as messages by the Persian couriers;" which his commentator, Valckenaer, prudently qualifies by the exception of the carrier pigeon. (Herodotus, Hist., Urania, sec. 98, nec non Adnot. ed. Schweighäuser.) Couriers are noticed, in the thirteenth century, in China, by-Marco Polo. Their stations were only three miles apart, and they accomplished five days' journey in one. (Viaggi di Marco Polo, lib. 2, cap. 20, ap. Ramusio, tom. ii.) A similar arrangement for posts subsists there at the present day, and excited the admiration of a modern traveller. (Anderson, British Embassy to China [London, 1796], p. 282.) In all these cases, the posts were for the use of government only.
Page 30 (1).— Sahagun, Mist, de Nueva España, lib. 3. Apend., cap. 3.
Page 30 (2).— Zurita, Rapport, pp. 68, 120.—Col. of Mendoza, ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vol. i. Pl. 67; vol. vi. p. 74.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 14, cap. i. The reader will find a remarkable resemblance to these military usages in those of the early Romans.—Comp. Liv. Hist., lib. I, cap. 32; lib. 4, cap. 30, et abili.
"Their mail, if mail it may be called, was woven
Of vegetable down, like finest flax.
Bleached to the whiteness of new-fallen snow."
••••••
"Others, of higher office, were arrayed
In feathery breastplates, of more gorgeous hue
Than the gay plumage of the mountain cock.
Than the pheasant's glittering pride. But what were these,
Or what the thin gold hauberk, when opposed
To arms like ours in battle?"
Beautiful painting! One may doubt, however, the propriety of the Welshman's vaunt, before the use of firearms.
Page 32 (1).— Col. of Mendoza, ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vol. i. Plates 65, 66; vol. vi. p. 73.—Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva España, lib. 8, cap. 12.—Toribio, Hist, de los Indios, MS., Parte i, cap. v—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 14, cap. 3.—Relatione d'un gentil' huomo, ap. Ramusio, loc cit. Scalping may claim high authority, or, at least, antiquity. The Father of History gives an account of it among the Scythians, showing that they performed the operation, and wore the hideous trophy, in the same manner at our North American Indians. (Herodot,. Hist., Melpomene, sec. 64.) Traces of the same savage custom are also found in the laws of the Visigoths, among the Franks, and even the Anglo-Saxons.—See Guizot, Cours d'Histoire Moderne (Paris, 1819), tom. i. p. 283.
Page 32 (1).—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 12, cap. 6; lib. 14, cap. 3.—Ixtlixochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 36.
Page 32 (2).—Zurita is indignant at the epithet of barbarians bestowed on the Aztecs; an epithet, he says, "which could come from no one who had personal knowledge of the capacity of the people, or their institutions, and which, in some respects, is quite as well merited by the European nations."—(Rapport, pp. 200 et seq.) This is strong language. Yet no one had better means of knowing than this eminent jurist, who, for nineteen years, held a post in the royal audiences of New Spain. During his long residence in the country he had ample opportunity of acquainting himself with its usages, both through his own personal observation and intercourse with the natives, and through the first missionaries who came over after the Conquest. On his return to Spain, probably about 1560, he occupied himself with an answer to queries which had been propounded by the government, on the character of the Aztec laws and institutions, and on that of the modifications introduced by the Spaniards. Much of his treatise is taken up with the latter subject. In what relates to the former he is more brief than could be wished, from the difficulty, perhaps, of obtaining full and satisfactory information as to the details. As far as he goes, however, he manifests a sound and discriminating judgment. He is very rarely betrayed into the extravagance of expression so visible in the writers of the time; and this temperance, combined with his uncommon sources of information, makes his work one of highest authority on the limited topics within its range. The original manuscript was consulted by Clavigero, and, indeed, has been used by other writers. The work is now accessible to all, as one of the series of translations from the pen of the indefatigable Ternaux.
Page 36 (1).—Ποιπεαντές θιογονίην Ἔλλην. Herodotus, Euterpe, sec. 53.—Heeren hazards a remark equally strong, respecting the epic poets of India, "who," says he, "have supplied the numerous gods that fill her pantheon."—Historical Researches, Eng. trans. (Oxford, 1833), vol. iii. p. 19.
Page 37 (1).—The Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone has fallen into a similar train of thought, in a comparison of the Hindoo and Greek Mythology, in his History of India, published since the remarks in the text were written.—(See book i, ch. 4.) The same chapter of this truly philosophic work suggests some curious points of resemblance to the Aztec religious institutions, that may furnish pertinent illustrations to the mind bent on tracing the affinities of the Asiatic and American races.
Page 38 (1).—Ritter has well shown, by the example of the Hindoo system, how the idea of unity suggests, of itself, that of plurality.—History of Ancient Philosophy, Eng. trans. (Oxford. 1838), book 2, ch. I.
Page 38 (2).—Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva España, lib. 6, passim.—Acosta, lib. 5, ch. 9.—Boturini, Idea, p. 8, et seq.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS. cap. 1.—Camargo, Hist, de Tlascala, MS. The Mexicans, according to Clavigero, believed in an evil Spirit, the enemy of the human race, whose barbarous name signified "Rational Owl."—(Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 2.) The curate Bernaldez speaks of the Devil being embroidered on the dresses of Columbus's Indians, in the likeness of an owl.—(Historia de los Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 131.) This must not be confounded, however, with the evil Spirit in the mythology of the North American Indians (see Heckewelder's account, ap. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, vol. i. p. 205), still less, with the evil Principle of the Oriental nations of the Old World. It was only one among many deities, for evil was found too liberally mingled in the natures of most of the Aztec gods,— in the same manner as with the Greeks,—to admit of its personification by any one.
Page 38 (3).—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 3, cap. i, et seq. Acosta, lib. 5, ch. 9.— Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 6, cap. 21.—Boturini, Idea, pp. 17, 28. Huitzilopoichli is compounded of two words, signifying "humming-bird," and "left," from his image having the feathers of this bird on its left foot; (Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 17); an amiable etymology for so ruffian a deity. The fantastic forms of the Mexican idols were in the highest degree symbolical. See Gama's learned exposition of the devices on the statue of the goddess found in the great square of Mexico.—(Description de las Dos Piedras [Mexico, 1832], parte 1, pp. 34-44.) The tradition respecting the origin of this god, or at least, his appearance on earth, is curious. He was born of a woman. His mother, a devout person, one day, in her attendance on the temple, saw a ball of bright-coloured feathers floating in the air. She took it, and deposited it in her bosom. She soon after found herself pregnant, and the dread deity was born, coming into the world, like Minerva, all armed,—with a spear in the right hand, a shield in the left, and his head surmounted by a crest of green plumes.—(See Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 19, et seq.) A similar notion in respect to the incarnation of their principal deity existed among the people of India beyond the Ganges, of China, and of Thibet. "Budh," says Milman, in his learned and luminous work on the History of Christianity, "according to a tradition known in the West, was born of a virgin. So were the Fohi of China, and the Schaka of Thibet, no doubt the same, whether a mythic or a real personage. "The Jesuits in China, says Barrow," were appalled at finding in the mythology of that country the counterpart of the Virgo Deipara."—(Vol. i. p. 99, note.) The existence of similar religious ideas in remote regions, inhabited by different races, is an interesting subject of study; furnishing, as it does, one of the most important links in the great chain of communication which binds together the distant families of nations.
Page 39 (1).—Codex Vaticanus, PI. 15, and Codex Telleriano-Remensis, Part 2, PI. 2, ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vols, i., vi.—Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva España, lib. 3, cap. 3, 4, 13, 14.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 6, cap. 24.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 1.—Gomara, Crónica de la Nueva España, cap. 222, ap. Barcia, Historiadores Primitivos de las Indias Occidentales (Madrid, 1749), tom. ii. Quetzalcoatl signifies "feathered serpent." The last syllable means likewise, a "twin"; which furnished an argument for Dr. Siguenza to identify this god with the apostle Thomas (Didymus signifying also a twin), who, he supposes, came over to America to preach the gospel. In this rather startling conjecture he is supported by several of his devout countrymen, who appear to have as little doubt of the fact as of the advent of St. James, for a similar purpose, in the mother country. See the various authorities and arguments set forth with becoming gravity in Dr. Mier's dissertation in Bustamente's edition of Sahagun (lib. 3, Suplem. [and Veytia], tom. i, pp. 160-200). Our Ingenious countryman, M'Culloch, carries the Aztec god up to a still more respectable antiquity, by identifying him with the patriarch Noah.— Researches, Philosophical and Antiquarian, concerning the Aboriginal History of America (Baltimore, 1829), p. 233.
Page 39 (2).—Cod. Vat., PI. 7-10, ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vols, i., vi.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. I. M. de Humboldt has been at some pains to trace the analogy between the Aztec cosmogony and that of Eastern Asia. He has tried, though in vain, to find a multiple which might serve as the key to the calculations of the former. (Vues des Cordillères, pp. 202-212.) In truth, there seems to be a material discordance in the Mexican statements, both in regard to the number of revolutions and their duration. A manuscript before me, of Ixtlilxochitl, reduced them to three, before the present state of the world, and allows only 4394 years for them (Sumaria Relacion, MS., No. 1); Gama, on the faith of an ancient Indian MS., in Boturini's Catalogue 13), reduces the duration still lower (Descripcion de las Dos Piedras, parte 1, p. 49, et seq.); while the cycles of the Vatican paintings take up near 18,000 years.—It is interesting to observe how the wild conjectures of an ignorant age have been confirmed by the more recent discoveries in geology, making it probable that the earth has experienced a number of convulsions, possibly thousands of years distant from each other, which have swept away the races then existing, and given a new aspect to the globe.
Page 40 (1).—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 3, Apend.—Cod. Vat., ap. Antiq. of Mexico, Pl. 1–5.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 13, cap. 48. The last writer assures us, "that, as to what the Aztecs said of their going to hell, they were right; for, as they died in ignorance of the true faith, they have, without question, all gone there to suffer everlasting punishment!" Ubi supra.
Page 40 (2).—It conveys but a poor idea of these pleasures, that the shade of Achilles can say "he had rather be the slave of the meanest man on earth, than sovereign among the dead" (Odyss. A. 488–490). The Mahometans believe that the souls of martyrs pass, after death, into the bodies of birds, that haunt the sweet waters and bowers of Paradise. (Sale's Koran [London, 1825], vol. i. p. 106.)—The Mexican heaven may remind one of Dante's in its material enjoyments; which, in both, are made up of light, music, and motion. The sun, it must also be remembered, was a spiritual conception with the Aztec:—
"He sees with other eyes than theirs; where they
Behold a sun, he spies a deity."
Page 40 (3).—It is singular that the Tuscan bard, while exhausting his invention in devising modes of bodily torture, in his Inferno, should have made so little use of the moral source of misery. That he has not done so might be reckoned a strong proof of the rudeness of the time, did we not meet with examples of it in a later day; in which a serious and sublime writer, like Dr. Watts, does not disdain to employ the same coarse machinery for moving the conscience of the reader.
Page 40 (4).—Carta del Lic. Zuazo (Nov., 1521), MS.—Acosta, lib. 5, cap. 8.—Torquemada Monarch. Ind., lib. 13, cap. 45.—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 3, Apend. Sometimes the body was buried entire, with valuable treasures, if the deceased was rich. The "Anonymous Conqueror," as he is called, saw gold to the value of 3000 castellanos drawn from one of these tombs.—Relacione d'un gentil' huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. p. 310.
Page 40 (5).—This interesting rite, usually solemnised with great formality, in the presence of the assembled friends and relatives, is detailed with minuteness by Sahagun (Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 6, cap. 37), and by Zuazo (Carta MS.), both of them eye-witnesses. For a version of part of Sahagun's account, see Appendix, Part 1. No. 1.
Page 42 (1).—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 2, Apend.; lib. 3, cap. 9.—Torquemada Monarch. Ind., lib. 8, cap. 20; lib. 9, cap. 3, 56.—Gomara, Crón., cap. 215, ap. Barcia, tom. ii.—Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 4. Clavigero says that the high-priest was necessarily a person of rank. (Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 37.) I find no authority for this, not even in his oracle, Torquemada, who expressly says, "There is no warrant for the assertion, however probable the fact may be." (Monarch. Ind., lib. 9, cap.5.) It is contradicted by Sahagun, whom I have followed as the highest authority in these matters. Clavigero had no other knowledge of Sahagun's work than what was filtered through the writings of Torquemada, and later authors.
Page 42 (2).—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 1, cap. 12; lib. 6, cap. 7. The address of the confessor, on these occasions, contains some things too remarkable to be omitted. "O merciful Lord," he says, in his prayer, "thou who knowest the secrets of all hearts, let thy forgiveness and favour descend, like the pure waters of heaven, to wash away the stains from the soul. Thou knowest that this poor man has sinned, not from his own free will, but from the influence of the sign under which he was born." After a copious exhortation to the penitent, enjoining a variety of mortifications and minute ceremonies by way of penance, and particularly urging the necessity of instantly procuring a slave for sacrifice to the Deity, the priest concludes with inculcating charity to the poor. "Clothe the naked and feed the hungry, whatever privations it may cost thee: for remember their flesh is like thine, and they are man like thee.” Such is the strange medley of truly Christian benevolence and heathenish abominations which pervades the Aztec litany,—intimating sources widely different.
Page 43 (1).—The Egyptian gods were also served by priestesses. (See Herodotus, Euterpe, sec. 54.) Tales of scandal similar to those which the Greeks circulated respecting them, have been told of the Aztec virgins. (See Le Noir's dissertation, ap. Antiquités Mexicaines [Paris, 1834], tom. ii. page 7, note.) The early missionaries, credulous enough certainly, give no countenance to such reports; and father Acosta, on the contrary, exclaims, "In truth, it is very strange to see that this false opinion of religion hath so great force among these young men and maidens of Mexico, that they will serve the Divell with so great rigour and austerity, which many of us doe not in the service of the most high God; the which is a great shame and confusion." —Eng. Trans., lib. 5, cap. 18.
Page 43 (2).—Toribio, Hist, de los Indios, MS., Parte i, cap. 9.—Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva España, lib. 2, Apend.; lib. 3, cap. 4-8.—Zurita, Rapport, pp. 113-126.—Acosta, lib. 5, cap. 15, 16.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 9, cap. 11-14, 30, 31. "They were taught," says the good father last cited, "to eschew vice, and cleave to virtue,— according to their notions of them; namely, to abstain from wrath, to offer violence and do wrong to no man,—in short, to perform the duties plainly pointed out by natural religion."
Page 44 (1).—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 8, cap. 20, 21.—Camargo, Hist, de Tlascala, MS. It is impossible not to be struck with the great resemblance, not merely in a few empty forms, but in the whole way of life, of the Mexican and Egyptian priesthood. Compare Herodotus (Euterpe, passim) and Diodorus (lib. i, sec. 73, 81). The English reader may consult, for the same purpose, Heeren (Hist. Res., vol. v. chap. 2), Wilkinson (Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians [London, 1837], vol. i. pp. 257-279), the last writer especially,—who has contributed, more than all others, towards opening to us the interior of the social life of this interesting people.
Page 45 (1).—Rel. d'un gent., ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 307.—Camargo, Hist, de Tlascala, MS—Acosta, lib. 5, cap. 13.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 80, ap. Barcia, tom. ii.—Toribio, Hist, de los Indios, MS., Parte i, cap. 4.—Carta del Lic. Zuazo, MS. This last writer, who visited Mexico immediately after the Conquest in 1521, assures us that some of the smaller temples, or pyramids, were filled with earth impregnated with odoriferous gums and gold-dust; the latter, sometimes in such quantities as probably to be worth a million of castellanos; (Ubi supra.) These were the temples of Mammon, indeed! But I find no confirmation of such golden reports.
Page 46 (1).—Cod. Tel.-Rem., Pl. 1, and Cod. Vat., passim, ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vols. i. vi.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 10, cap. 10, et seq.—Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva España, lib. 2, passim. Among the offerings, quails may be particularly noticed, for the incredible quantities of them sacrificed and consumed at many of the festivals.
Page 46 (2).—The traditions of their origin have somewhat of a fabulous tinge. But, whether true or false, they are equally indicative of unparalleled ferocity in the people who could be the subject of them.—Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. i. p. 167, et seq.; also Humboldt (who does not appear to doubt them), Vues des Cordillères, p. 95.
Page 48 (1).—Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva España, lib. 2, cap. 2, 5, 24, et alibi.—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 3, lib. 2, cap. 16.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 7, cap. 19; lib. 10, cap. 14.—Rel. d'un gent., ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 307.—Acosta, lib. 5, cap. 9-21.—Carta del Lic. Zuazo, MS.—Relacion por el Regimiento dc Vera Cruz (Julio, 1519), MS. Few readers, probably, will sympathise with the sentence of Torquemada, who concludes his tale of woe by coolly dismissing" the soul of the victim, to sleep with those of his false gods, in hell!"—Lib. 10, cap. 23. Page 48 (2).—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 2, cap. 10, 29.—Gomara, Crón., cap. 219, ap. Barcia, tom. ii.—Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 6-11. The reader will find a tolerably exact picture of the nature of these tortures in the twenty-first canto of the Inferno. The fantastic creations of the Florentine poet were nearly realised, at the very time he was writing, by the barbarians of an unknown world. One sacrifice of a less revolting character deserves to be mentioned. The Spaniards called it the "gladiatorial sacrifice," and it may remind one of the bloody games of antiquity. A captive of distinction was sometimes furnished with arms, and brought against a number of Mexicans in succession. If he defeated them all, as did occasionally happen, he was allowed to escape. If vanquished, he was dragged to the block and sacrificed in the usual manner. The combat was fought on a huge circular stone, before the assembled capital.—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, lib. i, cap. 21.—Rel. d'un gent., ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 305.
Page 49 (1).—To say nothing of Egypt, where, notwithstanding the indications on the monuments, there is strong reason for doubting it.—(Comp. Herodotus, Euterpe, sec. 45.) It was of frequent occurrence among the Greeks, as every schoolboy knows. In Rome, it was so common as to require to be interdicted by an express law, less than a hundred years before the Christian era,—a law recorded in a very honest strain of exultation by Pliny (Hist. Nat., lib. 30, sec. 3, 4); notwithstanding which, traces of the existence of the practice may be discerned to a much later period. See, among others, Horace, Epod., In Canidiam.
Page 49 (2).—See Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 49. Bishop Zumarraga, in a letter written a few years after the Conquest, states that 20,000 victims were yearly slaughtered in the capital. Torquemada turns this into 20,000 infants.—(Monarch. Ind., lib. 7, cap. 21.) Herrera, following Acosta, says 20,000 victims on a specified day of the year, throughout the kingdom.— (Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 2, cap. 16). Clavigero, more cautious, infers that this number may have been sacrificed annually throughout Anahuac.—(Ubi supra). Las Casas, however, in his reply to Sepulveda's assertion, that no one who had visited the New World put the number of yearly sacrifices at less than 20,000, declares that "this is the estimate of brigands, who with to find an apology for their own atrocities, and that the real number was not above 50!"—((Euvres, ed. Llorente [Paris, 1821], tom. i. pp. 365, 386.) Probably the good Bishop's arithmetic, here, as in most other instances, came more from his heart than his head. With such loose and contradictory data, it is clear that any specific number is mere conjecture, undeserving the name of calculation.
Page 49 (3).—I am within bounds. Torquemada states the number, more precisely, at 72,344.—(Monarch. Ind., lib. 2, cap. 63.) Ixtlilxochitl, with equal precision, at 80,400.—(Hist. Chich. MS.) Quien sabe? The latter adds, that the captives massacred in the capital, in the course of that memorable year, exceeded 100,000!—(Loc. cit.) One, however, has to read but a little way, to find out that the science of numbers—at least, where the party was not an eyewitness is anything but an exact science with these ancient chroniclers. The Codex Tel.-Remensis, written some fifty years after the Conquest, reduces the amount to 20,000.—(Antiq. of Mexico, vol. i. Plate 19; vol. vi. p. 141, Eng. note.) Even this hardly warrants the Spanish interpreter, in calling king Ahuitzotl a man "of a mild and moderate disposition," templada y benigna condicion! —Ibid. vol. v. p. 49.
Page 49 (4).—Gomara states the number on the authority of two soldiers, whose names he gives, who took the trouble to count the grinning horrors in one of these Golgothas, where they were so arranged as to produce the most hideous effect. The existence of these conservatories is attested by every writer of the time.
Page 49 (5).—The "Anonymous Conqueror" assures us, as a fact beyond dispute, that the devil introduced himself into the bodies of the idols, and persuaded the silly priests that his only diet was human hearts! It furnishes a very satisfactory solution, to his mind, of the frequency of sacrifices in Mexico.—Rel. d'un gent., ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 307. Page 50 (1).—The Tezcucan priest would fain have persuaded the good king Nezahualcoyotl, on occasion of a pestilence, to appease the gods by the sacrifice of some of their own subjects, instead of his enemies; on the ground that, no only they would be obtained more easily, but would fresher victims, and more acceptable.—(Ixtlixochitl, Hist. Chich., MS. Cap. 41.) This writer mentions a cool arrangement entered into by the by the allied monarchs with the republic of Tlascala and her confederates. A battlefield was marked out, on which the troops of the hostile nations were to engage at stated seasons, and thus supply themselves with subjects for sacrifice. The victorious party was not to pursue his advantage by invading the others' territory and they were to continue, in all other respects, on the most amicable footing.—(Ubi supra.) The historian, who follows in the track of the Tezcucan chronicler, may often find occasion to shelter himself, like Ariosto, with
"Mettendolo Turpin, to metto anch'io."
Page 51 (1).—Rel. d'un gent., ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 307. Among other instances, is that of Chimalpopoca, third king of Mexico, who doomed himself, with a number of his lords, to his death, to wipe off an indignity offered him by a brother monarch.—(Torquemada, Monarch. Ind. lib. 2, cap. 28.) This was the law of honour with the Aztecs.
Page 51 (2).—Voltaire, doubtless intends this when he says, "Ils n'étaient point anthropophages, comme un tres petit nombre de peuplades Américaines."—(Essai sur les lei Mœurs, chap. 148.)
Page 52 (1).—No doubt the ferocity of character engendered by their sanguinary rites greatly facilitated their conquests. Machiavelli attributes to a similar cause, in part, the military successes of the Romans. (Diacorsi topra T. Livio, lib. 2, cap. 2.) The same chapter contains some ingenious reflections—much more ingenious than candid—on the opposite tendencies of Christianity.
Page 55 (1).—"An Egyptian temple," says Denon, strikingly, "is an open volume, in which the teachings of science, morality, and the arts are recorded. Everything seems to speak one and the same language, and breathes one and the same spirit." The passage is cited by Herrera, Hist. Res., vol. V. p. 178.
Page 56 (1).—Divine Legation, ap. Works (London, 1811), vol. iv. b. 4, sec. 4. The bishop of Gloucester, in his comparison of the various hieroglyphical systems of the world, shows his characteristic sagacity and boldness by announcing opinions little credited then, though since established. He affirmed the existence of an Egyptian alphabet, but was not aware of the phonetic property of hieroglyphics,—the great literary discovery of our age.
Page 57 (1).—It appears that the hieroglyphics on the most recent monuments of Egypt contain no larger infusion of phonetic characters than those which existed eighteen centuries before Christ; showing no advance, in this respect, for twenty-two hundred years!—(See Champollion, Précis du Système Hiéroglyphique des Anciens Egyptiens [Paris, 1824], pp. 242, 281.) It may seem more strange that the enchorial alphabet, so much more commodious, should not have been substituted. But the Egyptians were familiar with their hieroglyphics from infancy, which, moreover, took the fancies of the most illiterate, probably in the same manner as our children are attracted and taught by the picture-alphabets in an ordinary spelling-book.
Page 57 (2).—Descripcion Histórica y Cronológica de las Dos Piedras (Mexico, 1832), Parte 2, P-39
Page 58 (1).—Ibid., pp. 32, 44.—Acosta, lib. 6, cap. 7. The continuation of Gama's work, recently edited by Bustamente, in Mexico, contains, among other things, some interesting remarks on the Aztec hieroglyphics. The editor has rendered a good service by this further publication of the writings of this estimable scholar, who has done more than any of hit countrymen to explain the mysteries of Aztec science. Page 58 (2).—Gama, Descripcion, Parte 2, p. 31. Warburton, with his usual penetration, rejects the idea of mystery in the figurative hieroglyphics. (Divine Legation, b. 4, sec. 4.) I there was any mystery reserved for the initiated, Champollion thinks it may have been the system of the anaglyphs. (Précia, p. 360.) Why may not this be true, likewise, of the monstrous symbolical combinations which represented the Mexican deities?
Page 58 (3).—Boturini, Idea, pp. 77-83.—Gama, Descripcion, Parte 2, pp. 34-43. Heeren is not aware, or does not allow, that the Mexicans used phonetic characters of any kind. (Hist. Res., vol. V. p. 4;.) They, indeed, reversed the usual order of proceeding, and, instead of adapting the hieroglyphic to the name of the object, accommodated the name of the object to the hieroglyphic. This, of course, could not admit of great extension. We find phonetic characters, however, applied, in some instances, to common, as well as proper names.
Page 58 (4).—Boturini, Idea, ubi supra.
Page 59 (1).—Clavigero has given a catalogue of the Mexican historians of the sixteenth century,—some of whom are often cited in this history,—which bears honourable testimony to the literary ardour and intelligence of the native races.—Stor. del Messico, tom. i., Pref.—Also, Gama, Descripcion, Parte i, passim.
Page 59 (2).—M. de Humboldt's remark, that the Aztec annals, from the close of the eleventh century, "exhibit the greatest method and astonishing minuteness" (Vues des Cordilléres, p. 137), must be received with some qualification. The reader would scarcely understand from it, that there are rarely more than one or two facts recorded in any year, and sometimes not one in a dozen or more. The necessary looseness and uncertainty of these historical records are made apparent by the remarks of the Spanish interpreter of the Mendoza Codex, who tells us that the natives, to whom it was submitted, were very long in coming to an agreement about the proper signification of the paintings.—Antiq. of Mexico, vol. vi. p. 87.
Page 59 (3).—According to Boturini, the ancient Mexicans were acquainted with the Peruvian method of recording events, by means of the quippus,—knotted strings of various colours,—which were afterwards superseded by hieroglyphical painting.—(Idea, p. 86.) He could discover, however, but a single specimen, which he met with in Tlascala, and that had nearly fallen to pieces with age. M'Culloch suggests that it may have been only a wampum belt, such as is common among our North American Indians. (Researches, p. 201.) The conjecture is plausible enough. Strings of wampum, of various colours, were used by the latter people for the smiilar purpose of registering events. The insulated fact, recorded by Boturini, is hardly sufficient—unsupported, as far as I know, by any other testimony—to establish the existence of quippus among the Aztecs, who had but little in common with the Peruvians.
Page 59 (4).—Pliny, who gives a minute account of the papyrus reed of Egypt, notices the various manufactures obtained from it, as ropes, cloth, paper, etc. It also served as a thatch for the roofs of houses, and as food and drink for the natives.—-(Hist. Nat., lib. 11, cap. 20-22.) It is singular that the American agave, a plant so totally different, should also have been applied to all these various uses.
Page 60 (1).—Lorenzana, Hist, de Nueva España, p. 8.—Boturini, Idea, p. 96.—Humboldt, Vues des Cordilléres, p. 52.—Peter Martyr Anglerius, De Orbe Novo (Compluti, 1530), dec. 3, cap. 8; dec. 5, cap. 10.—Martyr has given a minute description of the Indian maps, sent home soon after the invasion of New Spain. His inquisitive mind was struck with the evidence they afforded of a positive civilisation. Ribera, the friend of Cortés, brought back a story, that the paintings were designed as patterns for embroiderers and jewellers. But Martyr had been in Egvpt, and he felt little hesitation in placing the Indian drawings in the same class with those he had teen on the obelisks and temples of that country.
Page 60 (2).—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., Prólogo.— Idem, Sum. Relac. MS. Writers are not agreed whether the conflagration took place in the square of Tlateloco or Tezcuco. Comp. Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 188, and Bustamente's Pref. to Ixtlixochitl, Cruautésdes Conquérans, Trad. De Ternaux, p. xvii
Page 60 (3).—It has been my lot to record both these displays of human infirmity, so humbling to the pride of intellect.—See the History of Ferdinand and Isabella, Part 2. Chap. 6.
Page 61 (1). — Very many of the documents thus painfully amassed in the archives of the Audience of Mexico, were sold, according to Bustamente, as wrapping-paper, to apothecaries shopkeepers, and rocket-makers! Boturini's noble collection has not fared much better.
Page 62 (1).—The history of this famous collection is familiar to scholars. It was sent to the Emperor Charles the Fifth, not long after the Conquest, by the Viceroy Mendoza, Marques de Mondejar. The vessel fell into the hands of a French cruiser, and the manuscript was taken to Paris. It was afterwards bought by the chaplain of the English embassy, and, coming into the possession of the antiquary Purchas, was engraved, in extenso, by him, in the third volume of his Pilgrimage. After its publication, in 1625, the Aztec original lost its importance, and fell into oblivion so completely, that, when at length the public curiosity was excited in regard to its fate, no trace of it could be discovered. Many were the speculations of scholars, at home and abroad, respecting it, and Dr. Robertson settled the question as to its existence in England, by declaring that there was no Mexican relic in that country except a golden goblet of Montezuma. — (History of America [London, 1796], vol. iii. p. 370.) Nevertheless, the identical Codex, and several other Mexican paintings, have been since discovered in the Bodleian library. The circumstance has brought some obloquy on the historian who, while prying into the collections of Vienna and the Escurial, could be so blind to those under his own eyes. The oversight will not appear so extraordinary to a thorough-bred collector, whether of manuscripts, or medals, or any other rarity. The Mendoza Codex is, after all, but a copy, coarsely done with a pen on European paper. Another copy, from which Archbishop Lorenzana engraved his tribute-rolls in Mexico, existed in Boturini's collection. A third is in the Escurial, according to the Marquis of Spineto. — (Lectures on the Elements of Hieroglyphics [London], Lect. 7.) This may possibly be the original painting. The entire Codex, copied from the Bodleian maps, with its Spanish and English interpretations, is included in the noble compilation of Lord Kingsborough.— (Vols. i., v., vi.) It is distributed into three parts; embracing the civil history of the nation, the tributes paid by the cities, and the domestic economy and discipline of the Mexicans; and, from the fulness of the interpretation, is much importance in regard to these several topics.
Page 62 (2).—It formerly belonged to the Giustiniani family; but was so little cared for, that it was suffered to fall into the mischievous hands of the domestics' children, who made sundry attempts to burn it. Fortunately it was painted on deerskin, and, though somewhat singed, was not destroyed. — (Humboldt, Vues des Cordillères, p. 89, et seq.) It is impossible to cast the eye over this brilliant assemblage of forms and colours without feeling how hopeless must be the attempt to recover a key to the Aztec mythological symbols; which are here distributed with the symmetry indeed, but in all the endless combinations of the kaleidoscope. It is in the third volume of Lord Kingsborough's work.
Page 62 (3).—Humboldt, who has copied some pages of it in his Atlas Pittoresque, intimates no doubt of its Aztec origin.—(Vues des Cordillères, pp. 266, 267.) M. Le Noir even reads in it an exposition of Mexican Mythology, with occasional analogies to that of Egypt and of Hindostan.—(Antiquités Mexicaines, tom, ii., introd.) The fantastic forms of hieroglyphic symbols may afford analogies for almost anything.
Page 62 (4).—The history of this Codex, engraved entire in the third volume of the Antiquities of Mexico, goes no further back than 1739, when it was purchased at Vienna for the Dresden library. It is made of the American agave. The figures painted on it bear little resemblance, it was sent to the Emperor Charles the Fifth, not long after the Conquest, by the Viceroy Mendoza, Marques de Mondejar. The vessel fell into the hands of a French cruiser, and the manuscript was taken to Paris. It was afterwards bought by the chaplain of the English embassy, and, coming into the possession of the antiquary Purchas, was engraved, in extenso, by him, in the third volume of his Pilgrimage. After its publication, in 1625, the Aztec original lost its importance, and fell into oblivion so completely, that, when at length the public curiosity was excited in regard to its fate, no trace of it could be discovered. Many were the speculations of scholars, at home and abroad, respecting it, and Dr. Robertson settled the question as to its existence in England, by declaring that there was no Mexican relic in that country except a golden goblet of Montezuma. — (History of America [London, 1796], vol. iii. p. 370.) Nevertheless, the identical Codex, and several other Mexican paintings, have been since discovered in the Bodleian library. The circumstance has brought some obloquy on the historian who, while prying into the collections of Vienna and the Escurial, could be so blind to those under his own eyes. The oversight will not appear so extraordinary to a thorough-bred collector, whether of manuscripts, or medals, or any other rarity. The Mendoza Codex is, after all, but a copy, coarsely done with a pen on European paper. Another copy, from which Archbishop Lorenzana engraved his tribute-rolls in Mexico, existed in Boturini's collection. A third is in the Escurial, according to the Marquis of Spineto. — (Lectures on the Elements of Hieroglyphics [London], Lect. 7.) This may possibly be the original painting. The entire Codex, copied from the Bodleian maps, with its Spanish and English interpretations, is included in the noble compilation of Lord Kingsborough.— (Vols. i., v., vi.) It is distributed into three parts; embracing the civil history of the nation, the tributes paid by the cities, and the domestic economy and discipline of the Mexicans; and, from the fulness of the interpretation, is much importance in regard to these several topics.
Page 62 (2)]].—It formerly belonged to the Giustiniani family; but was so little cared for, that it was suffered to fall into the mischievous hands of the domestics' children, who made sundry attempts to burn it. Fortunately it was painted on deerskin, and, though somewhat singed, was not destroyed. — (Humboldt, Vues des Cordillères, p. 89, et seq.) It is impossible to cast the eye over this brilliant assemblage of forms and colours without feeling how hopeless must be the attempt to recover a key to the Aztec mythological symbols; which are here distributed with the symmetry indeed, but in all the endless combinations of the kaleidoscope. It is in the third volume of Lord Kingsborough's work.
Page 62 (3)]].—Humboldt, who has copied some pages of it in his Atlas Pittoresque, intimates no doubt of its Aztec origin.—(Vues des Cordillères, pp. 266, 267.) M. Le Noir even reads in it an exposition of Mexican Mythology, with occasional analogies to that of Egypt and of Hindostan.—(Antiquités Mexicaines, tom, ii., introd.) The fantastic forms of hieroglyphic symbols may afford analogies for almost anything.
Page 62 (4)]].—The history of this Codex, engraved entire in the third volume of the Antiquities of Mexico, goes no further back than 1739, when it was purchased at Vienna for the Dresden library. It is made of the American agave. The figures painted on it bear little resemblance, either in feature or form, to the Mexican. They are surmounted by a short of headgear, which looks something like a modern peruke. On the chin of one we may notice a beard, a sign often used after the Conquest, to denote a European. Many of the persons are sitting cross-legged. The profiles of the faces, and the whole contour of the limbs, are sketched with a spirit and freedom very unlike the hard angular outlines of the Aztecs. The characters also are delicately traced, generally in an irregular, but circular form, and are very minute. They are arranged, like the Egyptian, both horizontally and perpendicularly, mostly in the former manner, and, from the prevalent direction of the profiles, would seem to have been read from right to left. Whether phonetic or ideographic, they are of that compact and purely conventional sort which belongs to a well-digested system for the communication of thought. One cannot but regret that no trace should exist of the quarter whence this MS. was obtained; perhaps some part of Central America; from the region of the mysterious races who built the monuments of Mitla and Palenque. Though in truth, there seems scarcely more resemblance in the symbols to the Palenque bas-reliefs than to the Aztec paintings.
Page 62 (5).—There are three of these: the Mendoza Codex ; the Telleriano-Remensis, formerly the property of Archbishop Tellier, in the Royal Library of Paris; and the Vatican MS., No. 3738. The interpretation of the last bears evident marks of its recent origin; probably as late as the close of the sixteenth, or the beginning of the seventeenth century, when the ancient hieroglyphics were read with the eye of faith, rather than of reason. Whoever was the commentator (comp. Vues des Cordillères, pp. 203, 204; and Antiq. of Mexico, vol. vi., pp. 155, 222), he has given such an exposition as shows the old Aztecs to have been as orthodox Christians as any subjects of the Pope.
Page 62 (6).—The total number of Egyptian hieroglyphics discovered by Champollion amounts to 864; and of these 130 only are phonetic, notwithstanding that this kind of character is used far more frequently than both the others. — Précis p. 263; also Spineto, Lectures, lect. 3.
Page 62 (7).—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., Dedic. — Boturini, who travelled through every part of the country, in the middle of the last century, could not meet with an individual who could afford him the least clue to the Aztec hieroglyphics. So completely had every vestige of their ancient language been swept away from the memory of the natives. (Idea, p. 116.) If we are to believe Bustamente, however, a complete key to the whole system is, at this moment, some-where in Spain. It was carried home at the time of the process against Father Myer, in 1795. The name of the Mexican Champollion who discovered it is Borunda. — Gama, Descripcion, tom. ii. p. 33, nota.
Page 63 (1).—Teoamoxtli, "the divine book," as it was called. According to Ixtlixochitl, it was composed by a Tezcucan doctor, named Huematzin, towards the close of the seventh century — (Relaciones, MS.). It gave an account of the migrations of his nation from Asia, of the various stations on their journey, of their social and religious institutions, their science, arts, etc., etc., good deal too much for one book. Ignotum pro magnifico. It has never been seen by a European. A copy is said to have been in possession of the Tezcucan chroniclers, on the taking of their capital. — (Bustamente, Crónica Mexicana [Mexico, 1822], carta 3.) Lord Kingsborough, who can scent out a Hebrew root, be it buried never so deep, has discovered that the Teoamotli was the Pentateuch. Thus,—Teo means "divine," amotl "paper," or "book," and moxtli "appears to be Moses,"—"Divine book of Moses!"—Antiq. of Mexico, vol. vi. p. 204, nota.
Page 63 (2).—Boturini, Idea, pp. 90-97.—Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. pp. 174-178.
Page 63 (3).—See some account of these mummeries in Acosta (lib. 5, cap. 30),—also Clavigero (Stor. del Messico, ubi supra). Stone models of masks are sometimes found among the Indian ruins, and engravings of them are both in Lord Kingsborough's works, and in the Antiquités Mexicaines.
Page 64 (1).—Gama, Descripcion, Parte 2, Apend. 2. Gama, in comparing the language of Mexican notation with the decimal system of the Europeans, and the ingenious binary system of Leibnitz, confounds oral with written arithmetic.
Page 64 (2).—Gama, ubi supra. This learned Mexican has given a very satisfactory treatise on the arithmetic of the Aztec, in his second part.
Page 64 (3).—Herodotus, Euterpe, sec. 4.
Page 64 (4).—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 4, Apend. According to Clavigero, the fairs were held on the days bearing the sign of the year. Stor del Messico, tom. ii. p. 62.
Page 64 (5).—The people of Java, according to Sir Stamford Raffles, regulated their markets also by a week of five days. They had, besides, our week of seven. (History of Java [London 1830], vol. i. pp. 531, 532.) The latter division of time, of general use throughout the east, is the oldest monument existing of astronomical science. — See La Place, Exposition du Système du Monde (Paris, 1808), liv. 5, chap. 1.
Page 64 (6).—Sahagun intimates doubts of this. "Another festival was celebrated every four years in honour of the fire, and it is a reasonable conjecture that at this festival they introduced their correction by counting six nemonteni days." (Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 4, Apend.) But this author, however good an authority for the superstitions, is an indifferent one for the science of the Mexicans.
Page 64 (7).—The Persians had a cycle of one hundred and twenty years, of three hundred and sixty-five days each, at the end of which they intercalated thirty days. (Humboldt, Vues de Cordillères, p. 177.) This was the same as thirteen after the cycle of fifty-two years of the Mexicans; but was less accurate than their probable intercalation of twelve days and a half. It is obviously indifferent, as far as accuracy is concerned, which multiple of four is selected to form the cycle; though the shorter the interval of intercalation, the less, of course, will be the temporary departure from the true time.
Page 65 (1).—This is the conclusion to which Gama arrives, after a very careful investigation of the subject. He supposes that the "bundles," or cycles, of fifty-two years, — by which, as we shall see, the Mexicans computed time, — ended alternately at midnight and midday. — (Descripcion, Parte I, p. 52, et seq.) He finds some warrant for this in Acosta's account (lib. 6, cap. 2), though contradicted by Torquemada (Monarch. Ind., lib. 5, cap. 33), and, as it appears, by Sahagun, — whose work, however, Gama never saw, (Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 7, cap. 9), both of whom place the close of the year at midnight. Gama's hypothesis derives confirmation from a circumstance I have not seen noticed. Besides the "bundle" of fifty-two years, the Mexicans had a larger cycle of one hundred and four years, called "an old age." As this was not used in their reckonings, which were carried on by their "bundles," it seems highly probable that it was designed to express the period which would bring round the commencement of the smaller cycles to the same hour, and in which the intercalary days, amounting to twenty-five, might be comprehended without a fraction.
Page 65 (2).—This length, as computed by Zach, at 365 d. 5 h. 48 m. 48 sec, is only 2 m. 39 sec. longer than the Mexican; which corresponds with the celebrated calculation of the astronomer of the Caliph Almamon, that fell short about two minutes of the true time. — See La Place, exposition, p. 350.
Page 65 (3).—"The small excess of 4 hours, 38 minutes, 40 seconds, over 25 days in each period of 104 years, would not amount to an entire day until the lapse of five of these periods, i.e. 538 years.”—(Gama, Descripcion, Parte i, p. 23.) Gama estimates the solar year at 365 d. 5 h. 48 m. 48 sec.
Page 65 (4).—The ancient Etruscans arranged their calendar in cycles of 110 solar years, and reckoned the year at 365 d. 5 h. 40 m.; at least, this seems probable, says Niebuhr. (History of Rome, Eng. trans. [Cambridge, 1828], vol. i. pp. 113, 238.) The early Romans had not wit enough to avail themselves of this accurate measurement, which came within nine minutes of the true time. The Julian reform, which assumed 365 d. 514 h. as the length of the year, erred as much, or rather more, on the other side. And when the Europeans, who adopted this calendar, landed in Mexico, their reckoning was nearly eleven days in advance of the exact time,—or, in other words, of the reckoning of the barbarous Aztecs; a remarkable fact. Gama's researches led to the conclusion that the year of the new cycle began with the Aztecs on the ninth of January ; a date considerably earlier than that usually assigned by the Mexican writers.—(Descripcion, Parte 1, pp. 49-52.) By postponing the intercalation to the end of fifty-two years, the annual loss of six hours made every fourth year begin a day earlier. Thus, the cycle commencing on the ninth of January, the fifth year of it began on the eighth, the ninth year on the seventh, and so on; so that the last days of the series of fifty-two years fell on the twenty-sixth of December, when the intercalation of thirteen days rectified the chronology, and carried the commencement of the new year to the ninth of January again. Torquemada, puzzled by the irregularity of the new year's day, asserts that the Mexicans were unacquainted with the annual excess of six hours, and therefore never intercalated!—(Monarch. Ind., lib. 10, cap. 36.) The interpreter of the Vatican Codex has fallen into a series of blunders on the same subject, still more ludicrous.—(Antiq. of Mexico, vol. vi. PI. 16.) So soon bad Aztec science fallen into oblivion, after the Conquest!
Page 65 (5).—These hieroglyphics were a "rabbit," a "reed," a "flint," a "house." They were taken as symbolical of the four elements, air, water, fire, earth, according to Veytia. — (Hist. Antig., tom. i. cap. 5.) It is not easy to see the connection between the terms "rabbit" and "air," which lead the respective series.
Page 67 (1).—The table of two of the four indictions of thirteen years each will make the text more clear. The first column shows the actual year of the great cycle, or "bundle"; the second, the numerical dots used in their arithmetic. The third it composed of their hieroglyphics for rabbit, reed, flint, house, in their regular order. By pursuing the combinations through the two remaining indictions, it will be found that the same number of dots will never coincide with the same hieroglyphic. These tables are generally thrown into the form of wheels, as are those also of their months and days, having a very pretty effect. Several have been published, at different times, from the collections of Siguenza and Boturini. The wheel of the cycle of fifty-two years is encompassed by a serpent, which was also the symbol of "an age," both with the Persians and Egyptians. Father Toribio seems to misapprehend the nature of chronological wheels: "Tenian rodelas y escudos, y en ellas pintadas las figuras y armas de Demonios con su blason." — Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 4.
Page 67 (2).—Among the Chinese, Japanese, Moghols, Mantchous, and other families of the Tartar race. Their series are composed of symbols of their five elements, and the twelve zodiacal signs, making a cycle of sixty years' duration. Their several systems are exhibited in connection with the Mexican, in the luminous pages of Humboldt (Vues des Cordillères, p. 149), who draws important consequences from the comparison, to which we shall have occasion to return hereafter
Page 67 (3).—In this calendar, the months of the tropical year were distributed into cycles of thirteen days, which being repeated twenty times, — the number of days in a solar month,-completed the lunar or astrological year of 260 days; when the reckoning began again, “By the contrivance of these trecenas (terms of thirteen days) and the cycle of fifty-two years” says Gama, "they formed a luni-solar period, most exact for astronomical purposes." —(Descripcion, Parte i, p. 27.) He adds, that these trecenas were suggested by the periods in which the moon is visible before and after conjunction. — (Loc. cit.) It seems hardly possible that a people, capable of constructing a calendar so accurately on the true principles of solar time, should so grossly err as to suppose, that in this reckoning they really "represented the daily revolutions of moon" “The whole Eastern world," says the learned Niebuhr, " has followed the moon in its calendar; the free scientific division of a vast portion of time is peculiar to the West. Connected with the West is that primeval extinct world which we call the New."—History of Rome, Vol. i. p. 239.
Page 67 (4).—They were named "companions," and "lords of the night," and were supposed to preside over the night, as the other signs did over the day. —Boturini, Idea, p. 57.
Page 67 (5).—Thus, their astrological year was divided into months of thirteen days; there were thirteen years in their indictions, which contained each three hundred and sixty-five periods of thirteen days, etc. It is a curious fact, that the number of lunar months of thirteen days, contained in a cycle of fifty-two years, with the intercalation, should correspond precisely with the number of years in the great Sothic period of the Egyptians, namely, 1491; a period in which the seasons and festivals came round to the same place in the year again. The coincidence may be accidental. But a people employing periodical series, and astrological calculations, have generally some meaning in the numbers they select and the combinations to which they lead.
Page 67 (6).—According to Gama (Descripcion, Parte i, pp. 75, 76), because 360 can be divided by nine without a fraction; the nine "companions" not being attached to the five complementary days. But 4, a mystic number much used in their arithmetical combinations, would have answered the same purpose equally well. In regard to this, M'Culloch observes, with much shrewdness, "It seems impossible that the Mexicans, so careful in constructing their cycle, should abruptly terminate it with 360 revolutions, whose natural period of termination is 2340." And he supposes the nine "companions" were used in connection with the cycles of 260 days, in order to throw them into the larger ones of 2340; eight of which, with a ninth of 260 days, he ascertains to be equal to the great solar period of 52 years.—(Researches, pp. 207, 208.) This is very plausible. But in fact the combinations of the two first series, forming the cycle of 260 days, were always interrupted at the end of the year, since each new year began with the same hieroglyphic of the days. The third series of the "companions" was intermitted, as above stated, on the five unlucky days which closed the year, in order, if we may believe Boturini, that the first days of the solar year might have annexed to it the first of the nine "companions," which signified "lord of the year" (Idea, p. 57); a result which might have been equally well secured, without any intermission at all, by taking 5, another favourite number, instead of 9, as the divisor. As it was, however, the cycle as far as the third series was concerned, did terminate with 360 revolutions. The subject is a perplexing one; and I can hardly hope to have presented it in such a manner as to make it perfectly clear to the reader.
Page 67 (7).—Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 4, Introd.
"It is a gentle and affectionate thought,
That, in immeasurable heights above us.
At our first birth the wreath of love was woven
With sparkling stars for flowers."
Schiller is more true to poetry than history, when he tells us, in the beautiful passage of which this is part, that the worship of the stars took the place of classic mythology. It existed long before it.
Page 69 (1).—Gama has given us a complete almanac of the astrological year, with the appropriate signs and divisions, showing with what scientific skill it was adapted to its various uses.—Descripcion, Parte 1, pp. 25-31; 62-76.) Sahagun has devoted a whole book to explaining the mystic import and value of these signs, with a minuteness that may enable one to cast up a scheme of nativity for himself.—(Hist. de Nueva España, Lib. 4.) It is evident he fully believed the magic wonders which he told. "It was a deceitful art," he says, "pernicious and idolatrous; and was never contrived by human reason." The good father was certainly no philosopher.
Page 69 (2).—See, among others, the Cod. Tel.-Rem., Part 4, PI. 22, ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vol. i.
Page 69 (3).—"It can hardly be doubted," says Lord Kingsborough, "that the Mexicans were acquainted with many scientifical instruments of strange invention, as compared with our own; whether the telescope may not have been of the number is uncertain; but the thirteenth plate of M. Dupaix's Monuments, Part Second, which represents a man holding something of a similar nature to his eye, affords reason to suppose that they knew how to improve the powers of vision."—(Antiq. of Mexico, vol. vi. p. 15, note.) The instrument alluded to is rudely carved on a conical rock. It is raised no higher than the neck of the person who holds it, and looks, to my thinking, as much like a musket as a telescope; though I shall not infer the use of fire-arms among the Aztecs from this circumstance.—(See vol. iv. PI. 15.) Captain Dupaix, however, in his commentary on the drawing, sees quite as much in it as his lordship.—Ibid. vol. v., p. 241.
Page 69 (4).—Gama, Descripcion, Parte i, sec. 4 ; Parte 2, Apend. Besides this colossal fragment, Gama met with some others, designed, probably, for similar scientific uses, at Chaoltepec. Before he had leisure to examine them, however, they were broken up for materials to build a furnace! A fate not unlike that which has too often befallen the monuments of ancient art in the Old World.
Page 69 (5).—In his second treatise on the cylindrical stone, Gama dwells more at large on its scientific construction, as a vertical sun-dial, in order to dispel the doubts of some sturdy sceptics on this point.—(Descripcion, Parte 2, Apend. i.) The civil day was distributed by the Mexicans into sixteen parts; and began, like that of most of the Asiatic nations, with sunrise. M. de Humboldt, who probably never saw Gama's second treatise, allows only eight intervals.—Vues des Cordillères, p. 128.
[[Page:The Conquest of Mexico Volume 1.djvu/114#114 -1|Page 70 (1)]].—La Place, who suggests the analogy, frankly admits the difficulty.—Système du Monde, liv. 5. ch. 3.
Page 70 (2).—M. Jomard errs in placing the new fire, with which ceremony the old cycle properly concluded, at the winter solstice. It was not till the 26th of December, if Gama is right. The cause of M. Jomard's error is his fixing it before, instead of after, the complementary days—See his sensible letter on the Aztec calendar, in the Vue des Cordillères, p. 309.
Page 71 (1).—At the actual moment of their culmination, according to both Sahagun (Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 4, Apend.) and Torquemada (Monarch. Ind., lib. 10, cap. 33, 36). But this could not be, as that took place at midnight, in November; so late as the last secular festival, which was early in Montezuma's reign, in 1507.—(Gama, Descripcion, Parte i, p. 50, nota.—Humboldt, Vues des Cordillères, pp. 181, 182.) The longer we postpone the beginning of the new cycle, the greater still must be the discrepancy.
"On his bare breast the cedar boughs are laid;
On his bare breast, dry sedge and odorous gums
Laid ready to receive the sacred spark.
And blaze to herald the ascending Sun,
Upon his living altar."
Page 72 (1).—I borrow the words of the summons by which the people were called to the ludi seculares, the secular games of ancient Rome, "quos nec spectasset qusiquam, nec spectasset esset. "—(Suetonius, Vita Tib. Claudii, lib. 5.) The old Mexican chroniclers warm into something like eloquence in their descriptions of the Aztec festival.—(Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 10, cap. 33.—Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 5.—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 7, cap. 9-12. See, also, Gama, Descripcion, Parte i, pp. 52-54.—Clavigero, Stor. Del Messico tom. ii. pp. 84-86.) The English reader will find more brilliant colouring of the same scene in the canto of Madoc, above cited,—On the Close of the Century.
Page 76 (1).—This latter grain, according to Humboldt, was found by the Europeans in the New World, from the south of Chili to Pennsylvania (Essai Politique, tom. ii. p. 408); he might have added, to the St. Lawrence. Our puritan fathers found it in abundance on the New England coast, wherever they landed. See Morton, New England's Memorial. (Boston, 1826), p. 68.—Gookin, Massachusetts Historical Collections, chap. 3.
Page 77 (1).—Torquemada, Monarch, Ind., lib. 13, cap. 31. "Admirable example for our times," exclaims the good father, "when women are not only unfit for the labours of the field, but have too much levity to attend to their own household!"
Page 77 (2).—A striking contrast also to the Egyptians, with whom some antiquaries ire disposed to identify the ancient Mexicans. Sophocles notices the effiminacy of the men in Egypt, who stayed at home tending the loom, while their wives were employed in severe labours out of doors. "They twain, so little in nature and way of life to the usage of Egypt, where the men sit within the house, working at the loom, while their consorts in the fields tend the produce which provides sustenance."—Sophocl., (Œdip. Col., v. 337-341.
Page 77 (3).—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 3, cap. 23.—Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. pp. 153-155. "Jamas padeciéron hambre," says the former writer, "sino en pocas ocasiones." If these famines were rare, they were very distressing, however, and lasted very long.—Comp. Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 41, 71, et alibi.
Page 77 (4).—Oviedo considers the musa an important plant; and Hernandez, in hit copious catalogue, makes no mention of it at all. But Humboldt, who has given much attention to it, concludes, that if some species were brought into the country, others were indigenous.—(Essai Politique, tom. ii. pp. 382-388.) If we may credit Clavigero, the banana was the forbidden fruit that tempted our poor mother Eve!—Stor. del Messico, tom. i. p. 49, nota.
Page 78 (1).—Rel. d'un gent., ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 306.—Hernandez, De Historia Plantarum Novæ Hispaniæ (Matriti, 1790), lib. 6, cap. 87.
Page 78 (2).—Carta del Lic. Zuazo, MS. He extols the honey of the maize, as equal to that of the bees. (Also Oviedo, Hist. Natural de las Indias, cap. 4, ap. Barcia, tom. i.) Hernandez, who celebrates the manifold ways in which the maize was prepared, derives it from the Haytian word mabiz.—Hist. Plantarum, lib. 6, cap. 44, 45.
Page 78 (3).—And is still, in one spot at least, San Angel,—three leagues from the capital. Another mill was to have been established a few years since in Puebla. Whether this has actually been done I am ignorant.—See the Report of the Committee on Agriculture to the Senate of the United States, March 12, 1838.
Page 78 (4).—Before the Revolution, the duties on the pulque formed so important a branch of revenue, that the cities of Mexico, Puebla, and Toluca alone paid 8817,739 to government. (Humboldt, Essai Politique, tom. ii. p. 47.) It requires time to reconcile Europeans to the peculiar flavour of this liquor, on the merits of which they are consequently much divided. There is but one opinion among the natives. The English reader will find a good account of its manufacture in Ward's Mexico, vol. ii. pp. 55-60.
Page 79 (1).—Hernandez enumerates the several species of the maguey, which are turned to these manifold uses, in his learned work, De Hist. Plantarum. (Lib. 7, cap. 71, et seq.) M. de Humboldt considers them all varieties of the agave Americana, familiar in the southern parts, both of the United States and Europe. (Essai Politique, tom. ii. p. 487 et seq.) This opinion has brought on him a rather sour rebuke from our countryman, the late Dr. Perrine, who pronounces them a distinct species from the American agave; and regards one of the kinds, the pita, from which the fine thread is obtained, as a totally distinct genus. (See the Report of the Committee on Agriculture.) Yet the Baron may find authority for all the properties ascribed by him to the maguey in the most accredited writers who have resided more or less time in Mexico.—See among others, Hernandez, ubi supra.—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 9, cap. 2; lib. 11, cap. 7.—Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 19.—Carta del Lic. Zuazo, MS. The last, speaking of the maguey which produces the fermented drink, says expressly, "From the residuum of the said leaves they prepare a thread as fine as that of Holland linen, from which they make a textile, excellent for clothing and very delicate." It cannot be denied, however, that Dr. Perrine shows himself intimately acquainted with the structure and habits of the tropical plants, which, with such patriotic spirit, he proposed to introduce into Florida.
Page 79 (2).—The first regular establishment of this kind, according to Carli, was at Padua, in 1545.—Lettres Améric, tom. i. chap. 21.
Page 79 (3).—P. Martyr, De Orbe Novo, Decades (Compluti, 1530), dec. 5, p. 191.—Acosta lib. 4, cap. 3.—Humboldt, Essai Politique, tom. iii. pp. 114-125.—Torquemada, Monarch, Ind lib. 13, cap. 34. "Men wrought in brass," says Hesiod, "when iron did not exist."
Χαλᾂ δ έργάζοννο ' μέλας δ οὑη ῖεπε εῖὅηρος
The Abbé Raynal contends that the ignorance of iron must necessarily have kept the Mexican in a low state of civilisation, since without it "they could have produced no work in metal worth looking at, no masonry nor architecture, engraving nor sculpture."—(History of the Indies, Eng. trans., vol. iii. b. 6.) Iron, however, if known, was little used by the ancient Egyptians, whose mighty monuments were hewn with bronze tools, while their weapons and domestic utensils were of the same material, at appear from the green colour given to them in their paintings.
Page 80 (1).—Gama, Descripcion, Parte 2, pp. 25-29.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., ubi supra.
Page 80 (2).—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 9, cap. 15-17.—Boturini, Idea, p. 77.—Torquemada, Monarch, Ind., loc. cit. Herrera, who says they could also enamel, commends the skill of the Mexican goldsmiths in making birds and animals with movable wings and limbs, in a most curious fashion. (Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 15.) Sir John Maundeville, as usual,
"with his hair on end
At his own wonders,"
notices the "gret marvayle" of similar pieces of mechanism, at the court of the grand Chane of Cathay.—See his Voiage and Travaile, chap. 20.
Page 80 (3).—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 11.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind. lib. 13, cap. 34.—Gama, Descripcion, Parte 2, pp. 27, 28.
Page 80 (4).—"It seems that, by the will of God, the shape of their bodies conformed to the aspect of their souls, by reason of the state of sin in which they lived."—Monarch. Ind., lib. 13. cap. 34.
Page 80 (5).—Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 195.
Page 81 (1).—Gama, Descripcion, Parte 1, p. 1. Besides the Plaza Mayor, Gama points out the Square of Tlatelolco, as a great cemetery of ancient relics. It was the quarter to which the Mexicans retreated, on the siege of the capital.
Page 81 (2).—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 13, cap. 34.—Gama, Descripcion, Parte 2, pp. 81-83. These statues are repeatedly noticed by the old writers. The last was destroyed in 1754, when it was seen by Gama, who highly commends the execution of it.
Page 81 (3).—This wantonness of destruction provokes the bitter animadversion of Martyr whose enlightened mind respected the vestiges of civilisation wherever found. "The conquerors” he says, "seldom repaired the buildings that were defaced. They would rather sack twenty stately cities than erect one good edifice."—De Orbe Novo, dec.;, cap. 10.
Page 81 (4).—Gama, Descripcion, Parte 1, pp. 110-114.—Humboldt, Essai Politique, tom. ii. p. 40. Ten thousand men were employed in the transportation of this enormous mass, according to Tezozomoc, whose narrative, with all the accompanying prodigies, is minutely transcribed by Bustamente. The Licentiate shows an appetite for the marvellous, which might excite the envy of a monk of the Middle Ages.—(See Descripcion, nota, loc. clt.) The English traveller Latrobe, accommodates the wonders of nature and art very well to each other, by suggesting, that these great masses of stone were transported by means of the mastodon, whose remains are occasionally disinterred in the Mexican Valley.—Rambler in Mexico, p. 145.
Page 81 (5).—A great collection of ancient pottery, with various other specimens of Aztec art, the gift of Messrs. Poinsett and Keating, is deposited in the cabinet of the American Philosophical Society, at Philadelphia. See the Catalogue, ap. Transactions, vol. iii. p. 510.
Page 81 (6.—Hernandez, Hist. Plantarum, lib. 6, cap. 116.
Page 82 (1).—Carta del Lic. Zuazo, MS.—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 15.— Boturini, Idea, p. 77. It is doubtful how far they were acquainted with the manufacture of silk. Carli supposes that what Cortés calls silk was only the fine texture of hair or down, mentioned in the text. (Lettres Améric, tom. i. lett. 21.) But it is certain they had a species of caterpillar, unlike our silkworm, indeed, which spun a thread that was sold in the markets of ancient Mexico. See the Essai Politique (tom. iii. pp. 66-69), where M. de Humboldt has collected some interesting facts in regard to the culture of silk by the Aztecs. Still, that the fabric should be a matter of uncertainty at all shows that it could not have reached any great excellence or extent.
Page 82 (2).—Carta del Lic. Zuazo, MS.—Acosta, lib. 4, cap. 37.—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 9, cap. 18-21.—Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 15.—Rel. d'un gent, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 306. Count Carli is in raptures with a specimen of feather-painting which he saw in Strasbourg. "Never did I behold anything so exquisite," he says, "for brilliancy and nice gradation of colour, and for beauty of design. No European artist could have made such a thing." (Lettres Améric. Lett. 21, note.) There is still one place, Patzquaro, where, according to Bustamente, they preserve some knowledge of this interesting art, though it is practised on a very limited scale, and at great cost.—Sahagun, ubi supra, nota.
Page 82 (3).—"O felicem monetam, quæ suavem utilemque præbet humano generi potum et a tartareã peste avatitiæ suos immunes servat possessores, quod suffodi aut diu servari nequeat! (De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 4.—See also, Carta de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 100 et seq.—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 8, cap. 36.—Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 8.—Carta del Lic. Zuazo, MS.) The substitute for money throughout the Chinese empire was equally simple in Marco Polo's time, consisting of bits of stamped paper, made from the inner bark of the mulberry tree.—See Viaggi di Messer Marco Polo, gentil' huomo Venetiano, lib. 2, cap. 18, ap. Ramusio, tom. ii.
Page 83 (1).—Col. de Mendoza, ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vol. i. Pl. 71; vol. vi. p. 36.—Torquemada. Monarch. Ind., lib. 2, cap. 41.
Page 83 (2).—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 9, cap. 4, 10-14.
Page 83 (3).—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 9, cap. 2.
Page 84 (1).—Ibid., lib. 9, cap. 2, 4. In the Mendoza Codex is a painting, representing the execution of a cacique and his family, with the destruction of hit city, for maltreating the persons of some Aztec merchants.—Antiq. of Mexico, vol. i. Pl. 67.
Page 84 (2).—.Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 2, cap. 41. Ixtlilxochitl gives a curious story of one of the royal family of Tezcuco, who offered, with two other merchants, otros mercaderes, to visit the court of a hostile cacique, and bring him dead or alive to the capital. They availed themselves of a drunken revel, at which they were to have been sacrificed, to effect their object.— Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 62.
Page 84 (3).—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 9, cap. 2, 5. The ninth book it taken up with an account of the merchants, their pilgrimages, the religious rites on their departure, and the sumptuous way of living on their return. The whole presents a very remarkable picture, showing they enjoyed a consideration, among the half-civilised nations of Anahuac, to which there is no parallel, unless it be that possessed by the merchant-princes of an Italian republic, or the princely merchants of our own.
Page 85 (1).—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 6, cap. 23-37.—Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS. These complimentary attentions were paid at stated seasons, even during pregnancy. The details are given with abundant gravity and minuteness by Sahagun, who descends to particulars, which his Mexican editor, Bustamente, has excluded, as somewhat too unreserved for the public eye. If they were more so than some of the editor's own notes, they must have been very communicative indeed.
Page 85 (2).—Zurita, Rapport, pp. 112-134. The Third Part of the Col. de Mendoza (Antiq. of Mexico, vol. i.) exhibits the various ingenious punishments devised for the refractory child. The flowery path of knowledge was well strewed with thorns for the Mexican tyro.
Page 85 (3).—Zurita, Rapport, pp. 151-160. Sahagun has given us the admonitions of both father and mother to the Aztec maiden, on her coming to years of discretion. What can be more tender than the beginning of the mother's exhortation? "Hija mia muy amada, muy querida palmita: ya has oido y notado las palabras que tu señor padre te ha dicho; ellas son palabras preciosas, y que raramente se dicen ni se oyen, las quales han procedido de las entrañas y corazon en que estaban atesoradas; y tu muy amado padre bien sabe que eres su hija, engendrada de él, eres su sangre y su carne, y sabe Dios nuestro señor que es así; aunque eres muger, é imágen de tu padre? que mas te puedo decir, hija mia, de lo que ya esta dicho? "(Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 6, cap. 19.) The reader will find this interesting document, which enjoins so much of what is deemed most essential among civilised nations, translated entire in the Appendix, Vol. II. p. 401.
Page 85 (4).—Yet we find the remarkable declaration, in the counsels of a father to his son, that, for the multiplication of the species, God ordained one man only for one woman. "Nota hijo mio, lo que te digo, mira que el mundo ya tiene este estilo de engendrar multiplicar, y para esta generacion, y multiplicacion, ordenó Diot que una muger usase de un varon, y un varon de una muger."—Ibid., lib. 6, cap. 21.
Page 85 (5).—.Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 6, cap. 21-23; lib. 8, cap. 23.—Rel. d'un gent., ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 305.—Carta del Lic. Zuazo, MS.
Page 85 (6).—As old at the heroic age of Greece, at least. We may fancy ourselves at the table of Penelope, where water in golden ewers was poured into silver basins for the accommodation of her guests before beginning the repast: "And a handmaid bearing water for his hands in a fair golden ewer poured it forth over a silver bowl, that he might wash withal; and by him set a polished table."—(Odyssey, A.) The feast affords many other points of analogy to the Aztec, inferring a similar stage of civilisation in the two nations. One may be surprised, however, to find a greater profusion of the precious metals in the barren isle of Ithaca than in Mexico. But the poet's fancy was a richer mine than either, than either.
Page 85 (7).—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 6, cap. 22. Amidst some excellent advice of a parent to his son, on his general deportment, we find the latter punctiliously enjoined not to take his seat at the board till he has washed his face and hands, and not to leave it till he has repeated the same thing, and cleansed his teeth. The directions are given with a precision worthy of an Asiatic. "Al principio de la comida labarte has las manos y la boca, y donde te juntares con otros á comer, no te sientes luego; mas antes tomarás el agua y la jicara para que se laven los otros, y echarles hás agua á los manos, y despues de esto, cojerás lo que se ha caido por el suelo y barrerás el lugar de la comida, y tambien despues de comer lavarás et las manos y la boca, y limpiarás los dientes."—Ibid., loc. cit.
Page 86 (1).—Rel. d'un gent., ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 306.—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 4, cap. 37.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 13, cap. 23.—Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 227. The Aztecs used to smoke after dinner, to prepare for the siesta, in which they indulged themselves as regularly as an old Castilian. Tobacco in Mexican yetl is derived from a Haytien word, tabaco. The natives of Hispaniola, being the first with whom the Spaniards had much intercourse, have supplied Europe with the names of several important plants. Tobacco, in some form or other, was used by almost all the tribes of the American continent, from the North-west coast to Patagonia. (See M'Culloch, Researches, pp. 91-94.) Its manifold virtues, both social and medicinal, are profusely panegyrised by Hernandez, in his Hist. Plantarum, lib. 2, cap. 109.
Page 86 (2).—This noble bird was introduced into Europe from Mexico. The Spaniards called it gallopavo, from its resemblance to the peacock.—See Rel. d'un gent., ap. Ramusio (tom iii. fol. 306); also Oviedo (Rel. Sumaria, cap. 38), the earliest naturalist who gives an account of the bird, which he saw, soon after the Conquest, in the West Indies, whither it had been brought, as he says, from New Spain. The Europeans, however, soon lost sight of its origin, and the name "turkey" intimated the popular belief of its Eastern origin. Several eminent writers have maintained its Asiatic or African descent; but they could not impose on the sagacious and better instructed Buffon. (See Histoire Naturelle, Art. Dindon.) The Spaniards saw immense numbers of turkeys in the domesticated state, on their arrival in Mexico, where they were more common than any other poultry. They were found wild, not only in New Spain, but all along the continent, in the less frequented places, from the North-western territory of the United States to Panamá. The wild turkey is larger, more beautiful, and every way an incomparably finer bird, than the tame. Franklin, with some point, as well as pleasantry, insists on his preference to the bald eagle, as the national emblem. (See his Works, vol. x. p. 63, in Sparkes's excellent edition.) Interesting notices of the history and habits of the wild turkey may be found in the Ornithology both of Buonaparte and of that enthusiastic lover of nature, Audubon, vox Meleagris, Gallopavo.
Page 86 (3).—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 4, cap. 37; lib. 8, cap. 13; lib. 9, cap. 10-14.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 13, cap. 23.—Rel. d'un gent., ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 306. Father Sahagun has gone into many particulars of the Aztec cuisine, and the mode of preparing sundry savoury messes, making, all together, no despicable contribution to the noble science of gastronomy.
Page 87 (1).—The froth, delicately flavoured with spices and some other ingredients, was taken cold by itself. It had the consistency almost of a solid; and the "Anonymous Conqueror" is very careful to inculcate the importance of "opening the mouth wide, in order to facilitate deglutition, that the foam may dissolve gradually, and descend imperceptibly, as it were, into the stomach." It was so nutritious, that a single cup of it was enough to sustain a man through the longest day's march. (Fol. 306.) The old soldier discusses the beverage con amore.
Page 87 (2).—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 8.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 14, cap. 11. The Mexican nobles entertained minstrels in their houses, who composed ballads suited to the times, or the achievements of their lord, which they chanted to the accompaniment of instruments at the festivals and dances. Indeed, there was more or less dancing at most of the festivals, and it was performed in the courtyards of the houses, or in the open squares of the city (Ibid., ubi supra.) The principal men had also buffoons and jugglers in their service, who amused them, and astonished the Spaniards by their feats of dexterity and strength (Acosta, lib. 6, cap. 28); also Clavigero (Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. pp. 179-186), who has designed several representations of their exploits, truly surprising. It is natural that a people of limited refinement should find their enjoyment in material, rather than intellectual pleasures, and, consequently, should excel in them. The Asiatic nations, as the Hindoos and Chinese, for example, surpass the more polished Europeans in displays of agility and legerdemain.
Page 90 (1).—For a criticism on this writer, see the Postscript to this Chapter.
Page 90 (2).—See Chapter First of this Introduction, p. 15.
Page 91 (1).—Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, MS., No. 9.—Idem, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 19.
Page 91 (2).—The adventures of the former hero are told with his usual spirit by Sismondi (Républiques Italiennes, chap. 79). It is hardly necessary, for the latter, to refer the English reader to Chambers's History of the Rebellion of 1745; a work which proves how thin is the partition in human life which divides romance from reality.
Page 91 (3).—Idem, Relaciones, MS., No. 10.—Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 20-24.
Page 91 (4).—Idem, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 25. The contrivance was effected by means of an extraordinary personal resemblance of the parties; a fruitful source of comic,—as every reader of the drama knows,—though rarely of tragic interest.
Page 92 (1).—It is customary, on entering the presence of a great lord, to throw aromatics into the censer. "Incense and copal was cast into the brazier, which was their usage and custom in the presence of kings and lords; each time that servants entered their presence with great respect and reverence, they sprinkled incense upon the brazier, whereby the room became clouded with smoke."—Ixthlxochitl, Relaciones, MS., No. 11.
Page 92 (2).—Idem, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 26.—Relaciones, MS., No. 11.—Veytia, Hist. Antig., lib. 2, cap. 47.
Page 94 (1).—See page 15.
Page 94 (2).—See Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. i. p. 247. Nezahualcoyotl's code consisted of eighty laws, of which thirty-four only have come down to us, according to Veytia. (Hist. Antig., tom. iii. p. 224, nota.) Ixtlilxochitl enumerates several of them.—Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 38, and Relaciones, MS., Ordenanzas.
Page 94 (3).—Nowhere are these principles kept more steadily in view than in the various writings of our adopted countryman. Dr. Lieber, having more or less to do with the theory of legislation. Such works could not have been produced before the nineteenth century.
Page 95 (1).—Ixtliliochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 36.—Veytia, Hist. Antig., lib. 3, cap. 7. According to Zurita, the principal judges, at their general meetings every four months, constituted also a sort of parliament or córtes, for advising the king on matters of state.—See his Rapport, p. 106; also ante, p. 20.
Page 96 (1).—Veytia, Hist. Antig., lib. 3, cap. 7.—Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom., i. p. 247. The latter author enumerates four historians, some of much repute, on the royal house of Tezcuco, descendants of the great Nezahualcoyotl.—See his Account of Writers, tom. i. pp. 6-21.
Page 96 (2).—"In the city of Tezcuco were preserved the royal records of everything to which I have referred, because this was the metropolis of all science, fashion, end elegance, and its rulers prided themselves upon this fact." (Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., Prólogo.) It was from the poor wreck of these documents, once to carefully preserved by his ancestors, that the historian gleaned the materials, as he informs us, for his own works.
Page 96 (3).—"He composed six songs, say the author last quoted, "which have perhaps also perhaps perished at the incendiary hands of the ignorant." (Idea, p. 79.) Boturini had translations of two of these in his museum (Catálogo, p. 8), and another has since come to light.
Page 96 (4).—Difficult as the task may be, it has been executed by the hand of a fair friend, who, while she has adhered to the Castilian with singular fidelity, has shown a grace and flexibility in her poetical movements, which the Castilian version, and probably the Mexican original, cannot boast.—See Appendix, Vol. ii. p. 403.
Page 96 (5).—Numerous specimens of this may be found in Condé's Dominacion de los Arabes en España. None of them are superior to the plaintive strains of the royal Abderahman on the solitary palm tree, which reminded him of the pleasant land of his birth.—See Parte 2, cap. 9.
Page 97 (1).—"Singing, I will strike the tuneful instrument of music, whilst you dance in the delight of flowers and in praise of almighty God. O let us enjoy this splendour, for human life is fleeting."—MS. de Ixtlilxochitl. The sentiment, which is common enough, is expressed with uncommon beauty by the English poet, Herrick:
"Gather the rosebud while you may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
The fairest flower that blooms to-day,
To-morrow may be dying."
And with still greater beauty, perhaps, by Racine: "Let us laugh and sing," says the impious crowd. "Let us carry our desires from flower to flower, from pleasure to pleasure. Fool is he who trusts to the future! The number of our fleeting years it unknown; let us haste to enjoy life to-day; who knows if to-morrow we be."—Athalie, Acte 2. It is interesting to see under what different forms the same sentiment is developed by different races, and in different languages. It is an Epicurean sentiment, indeed, but its universality proves its truth to nature.
Page 97 (2).—Some of the provinces and places thus conquered were held by the allied powers in common; Tlacopan, however, only receiving one-fifth of the tribute. It was more usual to annex the vanquished territory to that one of the two great states to which it lay nearest.—See Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 38.—Zurita, Rapport, p. 11.
Page 97 (3).—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 41. The same writer, in another work calls the population of Texcuco, at this period, double of what it wat at the Conquest; founding his estimate on the royal registers, and on the numerous remains of edifices still visible in his day, in places now depopulated.
Page 97 (4).—Torquemada has extracted the particulars of the yearly expenditure of the palace from the royal account-book, which came into the historians's possession. The following are some of the items, namely: 4,900,300 fanegas of maize {the fanega is equal to about one hundred pounds); 2,744,000 fanegas of cacao; 8000 turkeys; 1300 baskets of salt; besides an incredible quantity of game of every kind, vegetables, condiments, etc. (Monarch. Ind., lib. 2, cap. 53).—see also Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 35.
Page 101 (1).—This celebrated naturalist was sent by Philip II. to New Spain, and he employed several years in compiling a voluminous work on its various natural productions, with drawings illustrating them. Although the government is said to have expended sixty thousand ducats in effecting this great object, the volumes were not published till long after the author's death. In 1651, a mutilated edition of the part of the work relating to medical botany appeared at Rome. The original MSS. were supposed to have been destroyed by the great fire in the Escurial, not many years after. Fortunately, another copy, in the author's own hand, was detected by the indefatigable Muñoz, in the library of the Jesuits' College at Madrid, in the latter part of the last century; and a beautiful edition, from the famous press of Ibarra, was published in that capital, under the patronage of government, in 1790. (Hist. Plantarum, Prefatio.—Nic. Antonio Bibliotheca Hispana Nova [.Matriti, 1793], tom. ii. p. 432.) The work of Hernandez is a monument of industry and erudition, the more remarkable as being the first on this difficult subject. And after all the additional light from the labours of later naturalists, it still holds its place at a book of the highest authority, for the perspicuity, fidelity, and thoroughness, with which the multifarious topics in it are discussed.
Page 101 (2).—"Some of the terraces on which it stood," says Mr. Bullock, speaking of this palace, "are still entire, and covered with cement, very hard, and equal in beauty to that found in ancient Roman buildings. . . . The great church, which stands close by, is almost entirely built of the materials taken from the palace, many of the sculptured stones from which may be seen in the walls, though most of the ornaments are turned inwards. Indeed, our guide informed us, that whoever built a house at Tezcuco made the ruins of the palace serve as his quarry." (Six Months in Mexico, chap. 26.) Torquemada notices the appropriation of the materials to the same purpose.—Monarch. Ind., lib. 2, cap. 45.
Page 101 (3).—Thus, to punish the Chalcas for their rebellion, the whole population were compelled, women as well as men, says the chronicler so often quoted, to labour on the royal edifices, for four years together; and large granaries were provided with stores for their maintenance in the meantime.—Idem. Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 46.
Page 101 (4).—If the people in general were not much addicted to polygamy, the sovereign, it must be confessed,—and it was the same, we shall see, in Mexico,—made ample amends for any self-denial on the part of his subjects.
Page 102 (1).—The Egyptian priests managed the affair in a more courtly style, and while they prayed that all sorts of kingly virtues might descend on the prince, they threw the blame of actual delinquencies on his ministers; thus, "not by the bitterness of reproof," says Diodorus, "but by the allurements of praise, enticing him to an honest way of life."—Lib. I, cap. 70.
Page 102 (2).—"Quinientos y veinte escalones." Davilla Padilla, Historia de la Provincia de Santiago (Madrid, 1596), lib. 2, cap. 81. This writer, who lived in the sixteenth century, counted the steps himself. Those which were not cut in the rock were crumbling into ruins, as indeed every part of the establishment was even then far gone to decay.
Page 102 (3).—On the summit of the mount, according to Padilla, stood an image of a coyotl,— an animal resembling a fox,—which, according to tradition, represented an Indian famous for his fasts. It was destroyed by that stanch iconoclast, Bishop Zumarraga, as a relic of idolatry. (Hist. de Santiago, lib. 2, cap. 81.) This figure was, no doubt, the emblem of Nezahualcoyotl himself, whose name, as elsewhere noticed, signified "hungry fox."
Page 103 (1).—Bullock speaks of a "beautiful basin, twelve feet long by eight wide, having a well five feet by four, deep in the centre," etc. etc. Whether truth lies in the bottom of this well, is not so clear. Latrobe describes the baths as "two singular basins, perhaps two feet and a half in diameter, not large enough for any monarch bigger than Oberon to take a duck in." (Comp., Six Months in Mexico, chap. 26; and Rambler in Mexico, let. 7.) Ward speaks much to the same purpose (Mexico in 1827 [London, 1828], vol. ii. p. 196), which agrees with verbal accounts I have received of the same spot.
Page 103 (2).—"Grados hechos de la misma peña tan bien gravadas y lizas que parecían espejos." (Ixtlilxochitl, MS., ubi supra.) The travellers just cited notice the beautiful polish still visible in the porphyry.
Page 103 (3).—Padilla saw entire pieces of cedar among the ruins, ninety feet long, and four in diameter. Some of the massive portals, he observed, were made of a single stone. (Hist. de Santiago, lib. 11, cap. 81.) Peter Martyr notices an enormous wooden beam, used in the construction of the palaces of Tezcuco, which was one hundred and twenty feet long by eight feet in diameter! The accounts of this and similar huge pieces of timber were so astonishing, he adds, that he could not have received them except on the most unexceptionable testimony.—De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 10.
Page 104 (1).—It is much to be regretted that the Mexican government should not take a deeper interest in the Indian antiquities. What might not be effected by a few hands drawn from the idle garrisons of some of the neighbouring towns, and employed in excavating this ground, "the Mount Palatine," of Mexico! But, unhappily, the age of violence has been succeeded by one of apathy.
Page 104 (2).—"They are doubtless," says Mr. Latrobe, speaking of what he calls, "these inexplicable ruins," "rather of Toltec than Aztec origin, and, perhaps, with still more probability, attributed to a people of an age yet more remote." (Rambler in Mexico, let. 7.) "I am of opinion," says Mr. Bullock, "that these were antiquities prior to the discovery of America, and erected by a people whose history was lost even before the building of the city of Mexico.—Who can solve this difficulty? "(Six Months in Mexico, ubi supra.) The reader who takes Ixtlilxochitl for his guide will have no great trouble in solving it. He will find here, as he might probably in some other instances, that one need go little higher than the Conquest for the origin of antiquities which claim to be coeval with Phœnicia and Ancient Egypt.
Page 107 (1).—"Porque las paredes oian." (Ixtlilxochitl.) A European proverb among the American aborigines looks too strange, not to make one suspect the hand of the chronicler.
Page 108 (1).—MS. de Ixtlilxochitl. The manuscript here quoted is one of the many left by the author on the antiquities of his country, and forms part of a voluminous compilation made in Mexico by father Vega, in 1792, by order of the Spanish government.—See Appendix, Part 2, No. 2.
Page 108 (2).—"Al Dios no conocido, Causa de las causas."—MS. de Ixtlilxochitl.
Page 108 (3).—Their earliest temples were dedicated to the Sun. The Moon they worshipped as his wife, and the Stars as his sisters. (Veytia, Hist. Antiq., tom. i. cap. 25.) The ruins still existing at Teotihuacan, about seven leagues from Mexico, are supposed to have been temples raised by this ancient people in honour of the two great deities.—Boturini, Idea, p. 42.
Page 109 (1).—MS. de Ixtlilxochitl. "This was evidently a gong," says Mr. Ranking, who treads with enviable confidence over the "suppositos cineres," in the path of the antiquary.—See his Historical Researches on the Conquest of Peru, Mexico, etc., by the Mongols (London, 1827), p. 310.
Page 110 (1).—"El horror del sepulcro es lisongera cuna para el, y las funestas sombras, brillantes luces para los astros." The original text and a Spanish translation of this poem first appeared, I believe, in a work of Granados y Galvez. (Tardes Americanas [Mexico, 1778], p. 90, et seq.) The original is in the Otomie tongue, and both, together with a French version, have been inserted by M. Ternaux-Compans in the Appendix to his translation of Ixtlilxochitl's Hist. des Chichimèques (tom. i. pp. 359-367). Bustamente, who had also published the Spanish version in his Galeria de Antiguos Principes Mejicanos [Puebla, 1811], (pp. 16, 17), calls it the "Ode of the Flower," which was recited at a banquet of the great Tezcucan nobles. If this last, however, be the same mentioned by Torquemada (Monarch. Ind., lib. 2, cap. 45), it must have been written in the Tezcucan tongue; and, indeed, it is not probable that the Otomie, an Indian dialect, to distinct from the languages of Anahuac, however well understood by the royal poet, could have been comprehended by a miscellaneous audience of his countrymen.
Page 110 (2).—An approximation to a date is the most that one can hope to arrive at with Ixtlilxochitl, who has entangled his chronology in a manner beyond my skill to unravel. Thus, after telling us that Nezahualcoyotl was fifteen years old when his father was slain in 1418, he says he died at the age of seventy-one, in 1462.— Instar omnium.—Comp. Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 18, 19, 49.
Page 110 (3).—MS. de Ixtlilxochitl,—also, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 49.
[[Page:The Conquest of Mexico Volume 1.djvu/155#155-1|Page 111 (1).—Hist. Chich., cap. 49.
Page 112 (1).—The name Nezahualpilli signifies "the prince for whom one has fasted,"—in allusion, no doubt, to the long fast of his father previous to his birth. (See Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 45.) I have explained the meaning of the equally euphonious name of his parent, Nezahualcoyotl. (Ante, ch. 4, p. 65.) If it be true, that
Could ne'er without names have been known to us,"
it is no less certain that such names as those of the two Tezcucan princes, so difficult to be pronounced or remembered by a European, are most unfavourable to immortality.
Page 113 (1).—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 67. The Tezcucan historian records several appalling examples of this severity:—one in particular, in relation to his guilty wife. The story, reminding one of the tales of a Oriental harem, has been translated for the Appendix, Vol. ii. p. 406. See also Torquemada (Monarch. Ind., lib. 2, cap. 66), and Zurita (Rapport, pp. 108, 109). He was the terror, in particular, of all unjust magistrates. They had little favour to expect from the man who could stifle the voice of nature in his own bosom, in obedience to the laws. As Suetonius said of a prince who had not hit virtue, "Vehemens et in coercendis quidem delictis immodicus."—Vita Galbæ, sec. 9.
Page 113 (2).—Torquemada saw the remains of this, or what passed for such, in his day.— Monarch. Ind., lib. 2, cap. 64.
Page 113 (3).—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 73, 74. This sudden transfer of empire from the Tezcucans, at the close of the reigns of two of their ablest monarchs, it so improbable, that one cannot but doubt if they ever possessed it,—at least to the extent claimed by the patriotic historian.—See ante. Chap, 1, p. 15, note, and the corresponding text.
Page 113 (4).—Ibid., cap. 72. The reader will find a particular account of these prodigies, better authenticated than most miracles, in a future page of this History.
Page 113 (5).—Ibid., cap. 75.—Or, rather, at the age of fifty, if the historian is right in placing his birth, as he does in a preceding chapter, in 1465. (See cap. 46.) It is not easy to decide what is true, when the writer does not take the trouble to be true himself.
Page 113 (6).—His obsequies were celebrated with sanguinary pomp. Two hundred male and one hundred female slaves were sacrificed at his tomb. His body was consumed, amidst a heap of jewels, precious stuffs, and incense on a funeral pile; and the ashes deposited in a golden urn, were placed in the great temple of Huitzilopotchli, for whose worship the king, notwithstanding the lessons of his father, had some partiality.—Ixtlilochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 75.
Page 121 (1).—Yet the nobles were not all backward in manifesting their disgust. When Charles would have conferred the famous Burgundian order of the Golden Fleece on the Count of Benavente, that lord refused it, proudly telling him, "I am a Castilian. I desire no honours but those of my own country, in my opinion, quite as good as—indeed, better than—those of any other."—Sandoval, Historia de la Vida y Hechos del Emperador Carlos V. (Amberes, 1681), tom. i. p. 103.
Page 124 (1).—I will take the liberty to refer the reader, who is desirous of being more minutely acquainted with the Spanish colonial administration and the state of discovery previous to Charles V., to the History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella (Part 2, ch. 9, 26), where the subject is treated in extenso.
Page 124 (2).—See the curious document attesting this, and drawn up by order of Columbus, ap. Navarrete, Coleccion dc los Viages y de Descubrimientos (Madrid, 1825), tom. ii. Col. Dipl., No. 76.
Page 124 (3).—The island was originally called, by Columbus, Juana, in honour of prince John, heir to the Castilian crown. After his death it received the name of Fernandina, at the king's desire. The Indian name has survived both.—Herrera, Hist. General, descrip., cap. 6.
Page 124 (4).—The story is told by Las Casas in his appalling record of the cruelties of his countrymen in the New World, which charity—and common sense—may excuse us for believing the good father has greatly overcharged.—Brevissima Relacion de la Destruycion de las Indias (Venetia, 1643), p. 28.
Page 125 (1).—Among the most ancient of these establishments we find the Havana, Puerto del Principe, Trinidad, St. Salvador, and Matanzas, or the Slaughter`, so called from a massacre of the Spaniards there by the Indians.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 8.
Page 125 (2).—Gomara, Historia de las Indias, cap. 52, ap. Barcia, tom. ii. Bernal Diaz says the word came from the vegetable yuca, and tale, the name for a hillock in which it is planted. (Hist de la Conquista, cap. 6.) M. Waldeck finds a much more plausible derivation in the Indian word Ouyouckatan "listen to what they say."—Voyage Pittoresque, p. 25.
Page 125 (3).—Two navigators, Solis and Pinzon, had descried the coast at far back as 1506, according to Herrera, though they had not taken possession of it. (Hist. General, dec. i, lib. 6, cap. 17.) It is, indeed, remarkable it should so long have eluded discovery, considering that it is but two degrees distant from Cuba.
Page 126 (1).—Oviedo, General y Natural Historia de las Indias, MS., lib. 33, cap. 1.—De Rebus Gestia, MS.—Carta del Cabildo de Vera Cruz (July 10, 1519), MS. Bernal Diaz denies that the original object of the expedition, in which he took part, was to procure slaves, though Velasquez had proposed it. (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 2.) But he is contradicted in this by the other contemporary records above cited.
Page 126 (2).—Itinerario de la isola de Juchathan, novamcnte riteovata per il signor Joan de Grijalva, per il suo capellano, MS. The chaplain's word may be taken for the date, which is usually put at the eighth of April.
Page 126 (3).—De Rebus Gestis, MS.—Itinerario del Capellano, MS. Page 127 (1).—According to the Spanish authorities, the cacique was sent with these presents from the Mexican sovereign, who had received previous tidings of the approach of the Spaniards. I have followed Sahagun, who obtained his intelligence directly from the natives.—Historia de la Conquista, MS., cap. 2.
Page 127 (2).—Gomara has given the per and contra of this negotiation, in which gold and jewels, of the value of fifteen or twenty thousand pesos de oro, were exchanged for glass beads, pins, scissors, and other trinkets common in an assorted cargo for savages.—Crónica, cap. 6.
Page 127 (3).—Itinerario de Capellano, MS.—Carta de Vera Cruz, MS.
Page 128 (1).—"A man of formidable temperament," says Herrera, citing the good bishop of Chiapa, . . ." from the point of view of his subordinates and assistants, against whom he was easily roused to anger."—Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 3, cap. 20.
Page 128 (2).—At least, such is the testimony of Las Casas, who knew both the parties well and had often conversed with Grijalva upon his voyage.—Historia General de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 113.
Page 128 (3).—Itinerario del Capellano, MS.—Las Casas, Hist. de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 113. The most circumstantial account of Grijalva's expedition is to be found in the Itinerary of his chaplain above quoted. The original is lost, but an indifferent Italian version was published at Venice, in 1522. A copy, which belonged to Ferdinand Columbus, is still extant in the library of the great church of Seville. The book had become so exceedingly rare, however, that the historiographer, Muñoz, made a transcript of it with his own hand, and from his manuscript that in my possession was taken.
Page 129 (1).—Gomara, Crónica, cap. i. Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 203. I find no more precise notice of the date of his birth; except, indeed, by Pizarro y Orellana, who tells us "that Cortés came into the world the same day that that infernal beast, the false heretic Luther, entered it,—by way of compensation, no doubt, since the labours of the one to pull down the true faith were counterbalanced by those of the other to maintain and extend it!" (Varones Ilustres del Nuevo Mundo [Madrid, 1639], p. 66.) But this statement of the good cavalier, which places the birth of our hero, in 1483, looks rather more like a zeal for "the true faith", than for historic.
Page 129 (2).—Argensola, in particular, has bestowed great pains on the prosapia of the house of Cortés; which he traces up, nothing doubting, to Narnes Cortés, king of Lombardy and Tuscany.—Anales de Aragon (Zaragoza, 1630), pp. 621-625.—Also, Caro de Torres, Historia de las Ordenes Militares (Madrid, 1629), fol. 103.
Page 129 (3).—De Rebus Gestis, MS. Las Casas, who knew the father, bears stronger testimony to his poverty than to his noble birth. "An 'Esquire,'" he says of him, "whom I knew as very poor and unassuming, and yet a good Christian; an old man, and reputed to be of noble birth."—Hist. de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 27.
Page 129 (4).—Argensola, Anales, p. 220. Las Casas and Bernal Diaz both state that he was a Bachelor of Laws at Salamanca. (Hist. de las Indias, MS., ubi supra.—Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 203.) The degree was given probably in later life, when the University might feel a pride in claiming him among her sons.
Page 130 (1).—De Rebus Gestis, MS.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 1.
Page 130 (2).—De Rebus Gestis, MS.—Gomara, Ibid.—Argensola states the cause of his detention concisely enough: "His departure was postponed, by love and fever."—Anales, p. 621.Page 132 (1).—Some thought it was the Holy Ghost in the form of this dove: "That it was the Holy Ghost which had designed to appear in the form of that bird, in order to bring consolation to the sad and afflicted" (De Rebus Gestia, MS.); a conjecture which seems very reasonable to Pizarro y Orellana, since the expedition was to "redound so much to the spread of the Catholic faith, and the Castilian monarchy!"—Varones Ilustres, p. 70.
Page 132 (2).—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 2.
Page 132 (3).—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 203.
Page 134 (1).—De Rebus Gestis, MS.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 3, 4.—Las Casas, Hist. de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 27.
Page 134 (2).—Solis has found a patent of nobility for this lady also,—"doncella noble y recatada." (Historia de la Conquista de Méjico [Paris, 1838], lib. 1, cap. 9.) Las Casas treats her with less ceremony. "Una hermana de un Juan Xuarez, gente pobre."—Hist. de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 17.
Page 135 (1).—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 4.—Las Casas, Hist. de las Indias, MS., ubi supra.—De Rebus Gestis, MS.—Memorial de Benito Martinez, capellan de D. Velasquez contra H. Cortés, MS.
Page 135 (2).—Las Casas, Hist. de las Indias, MS., ubi supra.
Page 136 (1).—Ibid., loc. cit.—Memorial de Martinez, MS.
Page 136 (2).—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 4. Herrera tells a silly story of his being unable to swim, and throwing himself on a plank, which, after being carried out to sea, was washed ashore with him at flood tide.—Hist. General, dec. 1, lib. 9, cap. 8.
Page 137 (1).—Las Casas, who remembered Cortés at this time, "so poor and lowly that he would have gladly received any favour from the least of Velasquez's attendants," treats the story of the bravado with contempt. "For if he (Velasquez) had suspected in Cortés the least trace of contumacy or presumption, he would have hanged him, or at least expelled him from the country and never permitted him to show his face there again."—Hist. de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 27.
Page 138 (1).—The treasurer used to boast he had passed some two-and-twenty years in the wars of Italy. He was a shrewd personage, and Las Casas, thinking that country a slippery school for morals, warned the governor, he says, more than once "to beware of the twenty-two years in Italy."—Hist. de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 113.
Page 139 (1).—Declaracion de Puertocarrero, MS.—Carta de Vera Cruz, MS.—Probanza en Villa Segura, MS. (4 de Oct., 1520).
Page 141 (1).—Declaration de Puertocarrero, MS.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 7.—Velasquez soon after obtained from the crown authority to colonise the new countries, with the title of adelantado over them. The instrument was dated at Barcelona, Nov. 13, 1518. (Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 3, cap. 8.) Empty privileges! Las Casas gives a caustic etymology of the title of adelantado, so often granted to the Spanish discoverers. "Commissioners (Adelantados), in the sense that their commission is one of calamity and destruction to a peaceful people."— Hist. de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 117.
Page 143 (1).—"The character of Cortés," says the anonymous biographer, "greedy of power and strongly self-confident, together with the over-elaborate equipment of the fleet, gave him pause. Consequently Velasquez began to fear that, if Cortés set out with that fleet, neither glory nor gain would accrue to him."—De Rebus Gestis, MS.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 19.—Las Casas, Hist de las Indias, MS., cap. 114.
Page 143 (2).—Las Casas had the story from Cortés' own mouth.—Hist. de Las Indias, MS., cap. 114.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 7.—De Rebus Gestis, MS.
Page 144 (1).—Las Casas, Hist. de las Indias, MS., cap. 114.—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 3, cap. 12. Soils, who follows Bernal Diaz in saying that Cortés parted openly and amicably from Velasquez, seems to consider it a great slander on the character of the former to suppose that he wanted to break with the governor so soon, when he had received so little provocation. (Conquista, lib. 1, cap. 10.) But it is not necessary to suppose that Cortés intended a rupture with his employer by this clandestine movement; but only to secure himself in the command. At all events, the text conforms in every particular to the statement of Las Casas, who, as he knew both the parties well, and resided on the island at the time, had ample means of information.
Page 144 (2).—Hist. de las Indias, MS., cap. 114.
Page 145 (1).—Las Casas had this also from the lips of Cortés in later life. Las Casas. . . "All this Cortés told me himself, with many other things, after he became a Marquis. . . laughing and mocking and saying in so many words; 'Upon my faith, we went away looking like a regular charnel-house.'"—Hist. de las Indias, MS., cap. 115.
Page 146 (1).—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 24.—De Rebus Gestis, MS.—Gomara Crónica, cap. 8.—Las Casas, Hist. de las Indias, MS., cap. 115. The legend on the standard was, doubtless, suggested by that on the labarum,—the sacred banner of Constantine.
Page 148 (1).—The most minute notices of the person and habits of Cortés are to be gathered from the narrative of the old cavalier Bernal Diaz, who served so long under him, and from Gomara, the general's chaplain. See in particular the last chapter of Gomara's Crónica, and cap. 203 of the Hist. de la Conquista.
Page 148 (2).—Las Casas, Hist. de las Indias, MS., cap. 115.
Page 148 (3).—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 24.
Page 148 (4).—Ibid., cap. 24.
Page 149 (1).—Ibid., cap. 26. There is some discrepancy among authorities, in regard to the numbers of the army. The Letter from Vera Cruz, which should have been exact, speaks in round terms of only four hundred soldiers (Carta de Vera Cruz, MS.). Velasquez himself, in a communication to the chief judge of Hispaniola, states the number at six hundred (Carta de Diego Velasquez al Lic. Figueroa, MS.). I have adopted the estimates of Bernal Diaz, who, in his long service seems to have become intimately acquainted with every one of his comrades, their persons, and private history.
Page 149 (2).—"In vos propongo grandes premios, mas embueltos en grandes trabajos; pero la vertud no quiere ociosidad." (Gomara, Crónica, cap. 9.) It is the thought so finely expressed by Thomson:
"For sluggard's brow the laurel never grows;
Renown is not the child of indolent repose."
Page 149 (3).—The text is a very condensed abridgment of the original speech of Cortés, or of his chaplain, as the case may be.—See it in Gomara, Crónica, cap. 9.
Page 150 (1).—Las Casas, Hist. de las Indias, MS., cap. 115.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 10.—De Rebus Gestis, MS. "Such was the warlike equipment," exclaims the author of the last work, by means of which Cortés shattered the other hemisphere in war; with such scanty resources he created so great an empire for Charles; and was the first of all to open up New Spain to Spanish people." The author of this work is unknown. It seems to have been part of a great compilation, De Orbe Novo, written, probably, on the plan of a series of biographical sketches, as the introduction speaks of a life of Columbus preceding this of Cortés. It was composed, as it states, while many of the old conquerors were still surviving, and is addressed to the son of Cortés. The historian, therefore, had ample means of verifying the truth of his own statements, although they too often betray, in his partiality for his hero, influence of the patronage under which the work was produced. It runs into a prolixity of detail, which, however tedious has its uses in a contemporary document. Unluckily, only the first book was finished, or, at least has survived; terminating with the events of this Chapter. It is written in Latin, in a pure and perspicuous style; and is conjectured with some plausibility to be the work of Calvet de Estrella, Chronicler of the Indies. The original exists in the Archives of Simancas, where it was discovered and transcribed by Muños, from whose copy that in my library was taken.
Page 154 (1).—See Appendix, Part 1, No. 1.
Page 154 (2).—Carta de Vera Cruz, MS.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 25, et seq.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 10, 15.—Las Casas, Hist. de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 115.—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 4, cap. 6.—Martyr, de Insulis nuper inventis (Colonis, 1574), p. 344. While these pages were passing through the press, but not till two years after they were written, Mr. Stephens' important and interesting volumes appeared, containing the account of his second expedition to Yucatan. In the latter part of the work he describes his visit to Cozumel, now an uninhabited island covered with impenetrable forests. Near the shore he saw the remains of ancient Indian structures, which he conceives may possibly have been the same that met the eyes of Grijalva and Cortés, and which suggest to him some important inferences. He is led into further reflections on the existence of the cross as a symbol of worship among the islanders. (Incidents of Travel in Yucatan [New York, 1843], vol. ii. chap, 20.) As the discussion of these matters would lead me too far from the track of our narrative, I shall take occasion to return to them hereafter, when I treat of the architectural remains of the country.
Page 155 (1).—See the biographical sketch of the good bishop Las Casas, the "Protector of the Indians," in the Postscript at the close of the present Book.
Page 156 (1).—"The Devil was wont to appear to them in his true likeness, leaving so vivid an impression upon their imaginations that a faithful artistry was able to reproduce his exact portrait in all its hideousness."—Solis, Conquista, p. 39.
Page 156 (2).—Carta de Vera Cruz, MS.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 13.—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 4, cap. 7.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich. MS., cap. 78. Las Casas, whose enlightened views in religion would have done honour to the present age, insists on the futility of these forced conversions, by which it is proposed in a few days to wean men from the idolatry which they had been taught to reverence from the cradle. "The only way of doing this," he says, "is, by long, assiduous, and faithful preaching, until the heathen shall gather some ideas of the true nature of the Deity, and of the doctrines they are to embrace. Above all, the lives of the Christians should be such as to exemplify the truth of these doctrines, that, seeing this, the poor Indian may glorify the Father, and acknowledge him, who has such worshippers, for the true and only God."
Page 157 (1).—They are enumerated by Herrera with a minuteness which may claim, at least, the merit of giving a much higher notion of Aguilar's virtue than the barren generalities of the text. (Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 4, cap. 6-8.) The story is prettily told by Washington Irving.—Voyages and Discoveries of the Companions of Columbus (London, 1833), p. 263, et seq.
Page 159 (1).—"See," exclaims the Bishop of Chiapa, in his caustic vein, "the reasonableness of this 'requisition,' or, to speak more correctly, the folly and insensibility of the Royal Council who could find in the refusal of the Indians to receive it, a good pretext for war." (Hist. de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 118.) In another place, he pronounces an animated invective against the iniquity of those who covered up hostilities under this empty form of words, the import of which was utterly incomprehensible to the barbarians. (Ibid., lib. 3, cap. 57.) The famous formula, used by the Spanish Conquerors on this occasion, was drawn up by Dr. Palacios Reubios, a man of letters, and a member of the King's council. "But I laugh at him and his letters," exclaims Oviedo, "if he thought a word of it could be comprehended by the untutored Indians!" (Hist, de las Ind., MS., lib. 29, cap. 7.) The regular Manifesto, requirimiento, may be found translated in the concluding pages of Irving's Voyages of the Companions of Columbus."
Page 160 (1).—Peter Martyr gives a glowing picture of this Indian capital. "Near the river bank, so runs the account, stretches the town, the size of which I should not venture to define. A mile and a half in extent, states the captain Alaminos, and composed of 25,000 dwellings. Other recorders are more conservative, but all admit that it is very large and populous. Gardens separate the houses, which are admirably built of stone and lime owing to the consummate diligence and skill of their architects."—(De Insulis, p. 349.) With his usual inquisitive spirit, he gleaned all the particulars from the old pilot Alaminos, and from two of the officers of Cortés who revisited Spain in the course of that year. Tabasco was in the neighbourhood of those ruined cities of Yucatan, which have lately been the theme of so much speculation. The encomiums of Martyr are not so remarkable as the apathy of other contemporary chroniclers.
Page 161 (1).—According to Solis, who quotes the address of Cortés on the occasion, he summoned a council of his captains to advise him as to the course he should pursue. (Conquista, cap. 19.) It is possible, but I find no warrant for it anywhere.
Page 163 (1).—Las Casas, Hist. de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 119.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 19, 20.—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 4, cap. 11.—Martyr De Insulis, p. 350.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 79.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 33, 36.—Carta de Vera Cruz, MS.
Page 163 (2).—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 79. "Cortés supposed it was his own tutelar saint, St. Peter," says Pizarro y Orellana; "but the common and indubitable opinion is, that it was our glorious apostle St. James, the bulwark and safeguard of our nation." (Varones Ilustres, p. 73.) "Sinner that I am!" exclaims honest Bernal Diaz, in a more sceptical vein, "it was not permitted to me to see either the one or the other of the Apostles on this occasion." —Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 34.
Page 164 (1).—It was the order—as the reader may remember—given by Cæsar to his followers in his battle with Pompey: "And bids them strike with the steel at the faces of the foe."—Lucan, Pharsalia, lib. 7, v. 575.
Page 164 (2).—Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. iii. p. 11.
Page 165 (1).—"Your Royal Highnesses may well believe that this battle was won more by the blessing of God than by our own strength, because against 40,000 adversaries our 400 formed but a small defence."—(Carta de Vera Cruz, MS.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 20.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 35.) It is Las Casas, who, regulating his mathematics, as usual, by his feelings, rates the Indian loss at the exorbitant amount cited in the text. "This," he concludes dryly, "was the first preaching of the Gospel by Cortés in New Spain! "—Hist. de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 119.
Page 168 (1).—"Behold France, Montesinos; behold the City of Paris, behold the waters of the Duero, running to the sea." They are the words of the popular old ballad, first published, I believe, in the Romancero de Amberes, and lately by Duran, Romances Cabellerescos é Históricos, Parte 1, p. 82.
Page 168 (2).—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 37.
Page 169 (1).—Las Casas notices the significance of the Indian gestures, as implying a most active imagination. "These Indians employ signs and gestures for the intercommunication of ideas far more extensively than other peoples, because their external impressions and their internal conceptions are extremely vivid, owing to the liveliness of their imagination."—Hist. de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 120.
Page 170 (1).—"Hermosa como Diosa," beautiful as a goddess, says Camargo of her. (Hist. de Tlascala, MS.)
Page 171 (1).—Las Casas, Hist. de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 120.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 25, 26.—Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. iii. pp. 12-14.—Oviedo, Hist. de Las Ind., MS., lib. 13, cap. 1.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 79.—Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 37, 38. There is some discordance in the notices of the early life of Marina. I have followed Bernal Diaz,—from his means of observation, the best authority. There is happily no difference in the estimate of her singular merits and services.
Page 171 (2).—The name of the Aztec monarch, like those of most persons and places in New Spain, has been twisted into all possible varieties of orthography. Modern Spanish historians usually call him Montezuma. But as there is no reason to suppose that this is correct, I have preferred to conform to the name by which he is usually known to English readers. It is the one adopted by Bernal Diaz, and by no other contemporary as far as I know.
Page 171 (3).—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS. cap. 79.—Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. iii. p. 16. New Vera Cruz, as the present town is called, is distinct, as we shall see hereafter, from that established by Cortés, and was not founded till the close of the sixteenth century, by the Conde de Monterey, viceroy of Mexico. It received its privileges as a city from Philip III. in 1615.—Ibid., tom. iii. p. 30, nota.
Page 172 (1).—The epidemic of the matlazahuatl, so fatal to the Aztecs, is shown by M. de Humboldt to be essentially different from the vomito, or bilious fever of our day. Indeed, this disease is not noticed by the early conquerors and colonists; and Clavigero asserts was not known in Mexico till 1725. (Stor. del Messico, tom. i. p. 117, nota.) Humboldt, however, arguing that the same physical causes must have produced similar results, carries the disease back to a much higher antiquity, of which he discerns some traditional and historic vestiges. "We must distinguish," he remarks with his usual penetration, "between the date at which a malady is first described, owing to the fact that it has made great ravages in a short space of time, and the date at which it made its first appearance."—Essai Politique, tom. iv. p. 161 et seq., and 179.
Page 177 (1).—His name suited his nature; Montezuma, according to Las Casas, signifying in the Mexican, "sad or severe man."—Hist. de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 120.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 70.—Acosta, lib. 7, cap. 20—Col. de Mendoza, pp. 13-16.—Codex Tel. Rem., p. 143, ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vol. vi.
Page 178 (1).—The address is fully reported by Torquemada (Monarch. Ind., lib. 3, cap. 68), who came into the country little more than half a century after its delivery. It has been recently republished by Bustamente.—Tezcuco en los Ultimos Tiempos (Mexico, 1826), pp. 256-258.
Page 182 (1).—}Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.—The Interpreter of the Codex Tel.-Rem. intimates that this scintillating phenomenon was probably nothing more than an eruption of one of the great volcanoes of Mexico.—Antiq. of Mexico, vol. vi. p. 144.
Page 182 (2).—I omit the most extraordinary miracle of all,—though legal attestations of its truth were furnished the Court of Rome (See Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. i. p. 289),— namely, the resurrection of Montezuma's sister, Papantzin, four days after her burial, to warn the monarch of the approaching ruin of his empire. It finds credit with one writer, at least, in the nineteenth century!—See the note of Sahagun's Mexican editor, Bustamente, Hist. de Nueva España, tom. ii. p. 270.
Page 183 (1).—Lucan gives a fine enumeration of such prodigies witnessed in the Roman capital in a similar excitement. (Pharsalia, lib. i. v. 523 et seq.) Poor human nature is much the same everywhere. Machiavelli has thought the subject worthy of a separate chapter in his Discourses. The philosopher intimates a belief even in the existence of beneficent intelligences who send these portents as a sort of premonitories, to warn mankind of the coming tempest.—Discorsi sopra Tito Livio, lib. 1, cap. 56.
Page 186 (1).—From the chequered figure of some of these coloured cottons, Peter Martyr infers, the Indians were acquainted with chess! He notices a curious fabric made of the hair of animals, feathers, and cotton thread, interwoven together. "These feathers they interweave with the fur of rabbits, and, further, introduce cotton-fibre, producing a textile of so elaborate a technique that the process is very difficult to understand."—De Orbe Novo (Parisiis, 1587), dec. 5, cap. 10.
Page 186 (2).—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 39.—Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. I.—Las Casas, Hist. de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 120.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 27, ap. Barcia, tom. ii.—Carta de Vera Cruz, MS.—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 5, cap. 5. Robertson cites Bernal Diaz as reckoning the value of the silver plate at 20,000 pesos or about £5000. (History of America, vol. ii. note 75.) But Bernal Diaz speaks only of the value of the gold plate, which he estimates at 20,000 pesos de oro, a different affair from the pesos, dollars, or ounces of silver, with which the historian confounds them. As the mention of the pesos de oro will often recur in these pages, it will be well to make the reader acquainted with its probable value. Nothing is more difficult than to ascertain the actual value of the currency of a distant age; so many circumstances occur to embarrass the calculation, besides the general depreciation of the precious metals, such as the adulteration of specific coins and the like. Señor Clemencin, the secretary of the Royal Academy of History, in the sixth volume of its Memorias, has computed with great accuracy the value of the different denominations of the Spanish currency at the close of the fifteenth century, the period just preceding that of the conquest of Mexico. He makes no mention of the peso de oro in his tables. But he ascertains the precise value of the gold ducat, which will answer our purpose as well. (Memorias de la Real Academia de Historia [Madrid, 1821], tom. vi. Ilust. 20.) Oviedo, a contemporary of the Conquerors, informs us that the peso de oro and the castellano were of the same value, and that was precisely one-third greater than the value of the ducat. (Hist. del Ind., lib. 6, cap. 8, ap. Ramusio, Navigationi et Viaggi (Venetia, 1565], tom. iii.) Now the ducat, as appears from Clemencin, reduced to our own currency, would be equal to eight dollars and seventy-five cents. The peso de oro, therefore, was equal to eleven dollars and sixty-seven cents, or two pounds, twelve shillings, and sixpence sterling. Keeping this in mind, it will be easy for the reader to determine the actual value in pesos de oro, of any sum that may be hereafter mentioned.
Page 187 (1).—"In truth a sight to be seen," exclaims Las Casas, who saw them with the Emperor Charles V., in Seville, in 1520. "All who saw those things, so rich, exhibiting so much craftsmanship and beauty that their like was never seen were (amazed)," etc. (Hist. de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 120.) "All this was well worth seeing," says Oviedo, who saw them in Valladolid, and describes the great wheels more minutely. (Hist. de las Indias, MS., loc cit.) The inquisitive Martyr, who examined them carefully, remarks yet more emphatically, "If human ingenuity has ever won honour in such arts, these will rightly bear off the palm. I am not indeed so much astonished by the gold and gems; I am amazed by the industry and application whereby craftsmanship has mastered its material. I have inspected a thousand forms and designs which I cannot describe. I state with conviction that I have never seen works of art which could rival them in drawing men's eyes by their beauty."—De Orbe Novo, dec. 4, cap. 9.
Page 188 (1).—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 40. Father Sahagun thus describes these stones, so precious in Mexico that the use of them was interdicted to any but the nobles. The chalchuites are green, but opaque, and clouded with white; the nobles use them as ornaments, wearing them on their wrists strung on thread; such ornaments are an indication that the wearer is a person of standing."—Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 11, cap. 8.
Page 194 (1).—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 41.—Las Casas, Hist. de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 121.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 28.
Page 195 (1).—The letter from the cabildo of Vera Cruz says nothing of these midnight conferences. Bernal Diaz, who was privy to them, is a sufficient authority.—See Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 42.
Page 195 (2).—Sometimes we find the Spanish writers referring to "the sovereigns," sometimes to "the emperor"; in the former case, intending Queen Joanna, the crazy mother of Charles V., as well as himself. Indeed, all public acts and ordinances ran in the name of both. The title of "Highness," which, until the reign of Charles V., had usually—not uniformly, as Robertson imagines (History of Charles V., vol. ii. p. 59),—been applied to the sovereign, now gradually gave way to that of "Majesty," which Charles affected after his election to the imperial throne. The same title is occasionally found in the correspondence of the Great Captain, and other courtiers of the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella.
Page 196 (1).—According to Robertson, Cortés told his men that he had proposed to establish a colony on the coast before marching into the country; but he abandoned his design, at their entreaties to set out at once on the expedition. In the very next page, we find him organising this same colony. (History of America, vol. ii. pp. 241, 242.) The historian would have been saved this inconsistency, if he had followed either of the authorities whom he cites, Bernal Diaz and Herrera, or the letter from Vera Cruz, of which he had a copy. They all concur in the statement in the text.
Page 196 (2).—Las Casas, Hist. de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 122.—Carta de Vera Cruz, MS.—Declaracion de Montejo, MS.—Declaracion de Puertocarrero, MS. "Our general, after some urging, acquiesced," says the blunt old soldier, Bernal Diaz; "for, as the proverb says, 'You ask me to do what I have already made up my mind to.' "Tu me lo rogas, e yo me lo quiero.— Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 42.
Page 196 (3).—According to Bernal Diaz, the title of "Vera Cruz" was intended to commemorate their landing on Good Friday.—Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 42.
Page 196 (4).—Solis, whose taste for speech-making might have satisfied even the Abbé Mably (see his Treatise, De la Maniére d'écrire l'Histoire), has put a very flourishing harangue on this occasion into the mouth of his hero, of which there is not a vestige in any contemporary account. (Conquista, lib. 2, cap. 7.) Dr. Robertson has transferred it to his own eloquent pages, without citing his author, indeed, who, considering he came a century and a half after the Conquest, must be allowed to be not the best, especially when the only, voucher for a fact.
Page 197 (1).—Carta de Vera Cruz, MS.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 30, 31.—Las Casas, Hist. de Las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 122.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 80.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 42.—Declaraciones de Montejoy Puertocarrero, MSS. In the process of Narvaez against Cortés, the latter is accused of being possessed with the devil, as only Lucifer could have gained him thus the affections of the soldiery. (Demanda de Narvaez, MS.) Solis, on the other hand, sees nothing but good faith and loyalty in the conduct of the general, who acted from a sense of duty! (Conquista. lib. 2, cap. 6, 7.) Solis is even a more steady apologist for his hero, than his own chaplain, Gomara, or the worthy magistrates of Vera Cruz. A more impartial testimony than either, probably, may be gathered from honest Bernal Diaz, so often quoted. A hearty champion of the cause, he was by no means blind to the defects nor the merits of his leader.
Page 198 (1).—This may appear rather indifferent logic to those who consider that Cortés appointed the very body, who, in turn, appointed him to the command. But the affectation of legal forms afforded him a thin varnish for his proceedings, which served his purpose, for the present at least, with the troops. For the future he trusted to his good star,—in other words, to the success of his enterprise, to vindicate his conduct to the Emperor. He did not miscalculate.
Page 198 (2).—The name of the mountain is not given, and probably was not known, but the minute description in the MS. of Vera Cruz leaves no doubt that it was the one mentioned in the text. "Among the mountains is one which overtops in height all the others, for from the summit may be seen and recognized a great part of the sea and of the land. So lofty is it, that if the day it not very clear, the peak cannot be seen, because the upper part is veiled in clouds. Sometimes, in very clear weather, the peak can be seen above the clouds, showing so white that we think it must be snow-clad." (Carta de Vera Cruz, MS.) This huge volcano was called Citlaltepetl or "Starmountain" by the Mexicans. —perhaps from the fire which once issued from its conical summit, far above the clouds. It stands in the intendancy of Vera Cruz, and rises, according to Humboldt's measurement, to the enormous height of 17,368 feet above the ocean. (Essai Politique, tom, i. p. 265.) It is the highest peak but one in the whole range of the Mexican Cordilleras.
Page 198 (3).—Carta de Vera Cruz, MS.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 44.
Page 200 (1).—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 32, ap. Barcia, tom. ii.—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 5, cap. 8.—Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. i, "Fair fields and river banks of such beauty that all Spain had nothing more serene and fruitful to show." (Carta de Vera Cruz, MS.) The following poetical apostrophe, by Lord Morpeth, to the scenery of Cuba, equally applicable to that of the tierra caliente, will give the reader a more animated picture of the glorier of these sunny climes, than my own prose can. The verses, which have never been published, breathe the generous sentiment characteristic of their noble author.
"Ye tropic forests of unfading green,
Where the palm tapers and the orange glows.
Where the light bamboo weaves her feathery screen,
And her far shade the matchless ceiba throws!
"Ye cloudless ethers of unchanging blue.
Save where the rosy streaks of eve give way
To the clear sapphire of your midnight hue.
The burnish'd azure of your perfect day!
"Yet tell me not my native skies are bleak.
That flush'd with liquid wealth no cane fields wave;
For Virtue pines and Manhood dares not speak,
And Nature's glories brighten round the Slave."
Page 200 (2).—"The same love of flowers," observes one of the most delightful of modern travellers, "distinguishes the natives now, as in the times of Cortés. And it presents a strange anomaly," she adds, with her usual acuteness; "this love of flowers having existed along with their sanguinary worship and barbarous sacrifices."—Madame Calderon de la Barca, Life in Mexico, vol. i. let. 12.
Page 201 (1).—This is Las Casas' estimate. (Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 3, cap. 121.) Torquemada hesitates between twenty, fifty, and one hundred and fifty thousand, each of which he names in different times! (Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 27, nota.) The place wat gradually abandoned, after the Conquest, for others, in a more favourable position, probably, for trade. Its ruins were visible at the close of the last century.—See Lorenzana, Hist. de Nueva España, p. 39, nota.
Page 202 (1).—The courteous title of doña is usually given by the Spanish chroniclers to this accomplished Indian.
Page 203 (1).—The historian, with the aid of Clavigero, himself a Mexican, may rectify frequent blunders of former writers in the orthography of Aztec names. Both Robertson and Solis spell the name of this place Quiabislan. Blunders in such a barbarous nomenclature must be admitted to be very pardonable.
Page 207 (1).—Carta de Vera Cruz, MS.—Bernal Diaz, Conquista, cap. 48.—Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 1.—Declaracion de Montejo, MS. Notwithstanding the advantage of its situation, La Villa Rica was abandoned in a few years for a neighbouring position to the south, not far from the mouth of the Antigua. The second settlement was known by the name of Vera Cruz Vieja, "Old Vera Cruz." Early in the seventeenth century this place also was abandoned for the present city, Nueva Vera Cruz, or "New Vera Cruz," at it is called. Of the true cause of these successive migrations we are ignorant. If, at is pretended, it was on account of the vomito, the inhabitants, one would suppose, can have gained little by the exchange. (See Humboldt, Essai Politique, tom. ii. p. 210.) A want of attention to these changes has led to much confusion and inaccuracy in the ancient maps. Lorenzana has not escaped them in his chart and topographical account of the route of Cortés.
Page 210 (1).—Herrera, dec. 2, lib. 5, cap. 13.—Las Casas, Hist. de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 122. Herrera has put a very edifying harangue, on this occasion, into the mouth of Cortés, which savours much more of the priest than the soldier. Does he not confound him with Father Olmedo?
Page 211 (1).—"This," says the Letter of Vera Cruz, "some of us have witnessed, and those who have say that it is truly the most terrible and shocking sight they have ever seen." Still more strongly speaks Bernal Diaz (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 51). The Letter computes that there were fifty or sixty persons thus butchered in each of the teocallis every year, giving an annual consumption, in the countries which the Spaniards had then visited, of three or four thousand victims! (Carta de Vera Cruz, MS.) However loose this arithmetic may be, the general fact is appalling.
Page 215 (1).—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 53.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS. cap. 82.—Carta de Vera Cruz, MS. A complete inventory of the articles received from Montezuma is contained in the Carta de Vera Cruz.—The following are a few of the items:
<poem> Two collars made of gold and precious stones. A hundred ounces of gold ore, that their Highnesses might see in what state the gold came from the mines. Two birds made of green feathers, with feet, beaks, and eyes of gold,—and, in the same piece with them, animals of gold, resembling snails. A large alligator's head of gold A bird of green feathers, with feet, beak, and eyet of gold.
Two birds made of thread and feather work, having the quills of their wings and tails, their feet, eyes, and the ends of their beaks, of gold,—standing upon two reeds covered with gold, which are raised on balls of feather-work and gold embroidery, one white and the other yellow, with seven tassels of feather work hanging from each of them. A large wheel of silver weighing forty marks, and several smaller ones of the same metal.
A box of feather-work embroidered on leather, with a large plate of gold, weighing seventy ounces, in the midst.
Two pieces of cloth woven with feathers; another with variegated colours; and another worked with black and white figures.
A large wheel of gold, with figures of strange animals on it, and worked with tufts of leaves; Weighing three thousand eight hundred ounces.
A fan of variegated feather-work, with thirty-seven rods plated with gold.
Five fans of variegated feathers,—four of which have ten, and the other thirteen rods, embossed with gold.
Sixteen shields of precious stones, with feathers of various colours hanging from their rims.
Two pieces of cotton very richly wrought with black and white embroidery.
Six shields, each covered with a plate of gold, with something resembling a golden mitre in the centre. </poem>
Page 215 (2).—"Una muy larga Carta," says Gomara, in his loose analysis of it.—Crónica, -cap. 40.
Page 215 (3).—Dr. Robertson states that the Imperial Library at Vienna was examined for this document, at his instance, but without success. (History of America, vol. ii. note 70.) I have not been more fortunate in the researches made for me in the British Museum, the Royal Library of Paris, and that of the Academy of History at Madrid. The last is a great depository for the colonial historical documents; but a very thorough inspection of its papers makes it certain that this is wanting to the collection. As the emperor received it on the eve of his embarkation for Germany, and the Letter of Vera Cruz, forwarded at the same time, is in the library of Vienna, this would seem, after all, to be the most probable place of its retreat.
Page 215 (4).—"In a ship," says Cortés, in the very first sentence of his Second Letter to the emperor, "which I despatched from this, your Majesty's New Spain, on the 16th July of the year 1519, I sent to your Highness a very long and detailed account up to date of the events which had occurred from the time that I first landed." (Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 38.) "Cortés wrote," says Bernal Diaz, "an exact account, so he told us, but we never saw the letter." (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 53.) (Also Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 1, and Gomara, et supra.) Were it not for these positive testimonies, one might suppose that the Carta de Vera Cruz had suggested an imaginary letter of Cortés. Indeed, the copy of the former document, belonging to the Spanish Academy of History—and perhaps the original at Vienna—bears the erroneous title of Primera Relacion de Cortés.
Page 215 (5).—This is the imputation of Bernal Diaz, reported on hearsay, as he admits he never saw the letter himself.—Ibid., cap. 54.
Page 215 (6).—This document is of the greatest value and interest, coming as it does from the best instructed persons in the camp. It presents an elaborate record of all then known of the countries they had visited, and of the principal movements of the army, to the time of the foundation of the Villa Rica. The writers conciliate our confidence by the circumspect tone of their narration. "Querer dar," they say, "a Vuestra Magestad todas las particularidades de esta tierra y gente de ella, podria ser que en algo se errase la relacion, porque muchas de ellas no se han visto mas de por informaciones de los naturales de ella, y por esto no nos entremétemos á dar mas de aquello que por muy cierto y verdadero Vras. Reales Altezas podran mandar tener." The account given of Velasquez, however, must be considered as an ex parte testimony, and, as such, admitted with great reserve. It was essential to their own vindication, to vindicate Cortés. The letter has never been printed. The original exists, as above stated, in the Imperial Library at Vienna. The copy in my possession, covering more than sixty pages folio, is taken from that of the Academy of History at Madrid.
Page 216 (1).—Peter Martyr, pre-eminent above his contemporaries for the enlightened views he took of the new discoveries, devotes half a chapter to Indian manuscripts, in which he recognised the evidence of a civilisation analogous to the Egyptian. —De Orbe Novo, dec. 4, cap. 8.
Page 217 (1).—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 54-57.—Gomara, Cronica, cap. 40.— Herrara, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 5, cap. 14.—Carta de Vera Cruz, MS. Martyr copious information was chiefly derived from hit conversations with Alaminos and the two envoys, on their arrival at court.—De Orbe Novo, dec. 4, cap. 6, et alibi; also Idem, Opus Epistolarum (Amastelodami, 1670), ep. 650.
Page 220 (1).—Perhaps the most remarkable of these examples is that of Julian, who, in his unfortunate Assyrian invasion, burnt the fleet which had carried him up the Tigris. The story is told by Gibbon, who shows very satisfactorily that the fleet would have proved a hindrance rather than a help to the emperor in his further progress.—See History of the Decline and Fall (vol. ix. p. 177), of Milman's excellent edition.
Page 220 (2).—The account given in the text of the destruction of the fleet is not that of Bernal Diaz, who states it to have been accomplished, not only with the knowledge, but entire approbation of the army, though at the suggestion of Cortés. (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 58.) This version is sanctioned by Dr. Robertson (History of America, vol. ii. pp. 253, 254). One should be very slow to depart from the honest record of the old soldier, especially when confirmed by the discriminating judgment of the historian of America. But Cortés expressly declares in his letter to the emperor that he ordered the vessels to be sunk, without the knowledge of his men, from the apprehension, that, if the means of escape were open, the timid and disaffected might, at some future time, avail themselves of them. (Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 41.) The cavaliers Montejo y Puertocarrero, on their visit to Spain, stated, in their depositions, that the general destroyed the fleet on information received from the pilots. (Declaraciones, MSS.) Narvaez, in his accusation of Cortés, and Las Casas, speak of the act in terms of unqualified reprobation, charging him, moreover, with bribing the pilots to bore holes in the bottoms of the ships, in order to disable them. (Demanda de Narvaez, MS.—Hist. de las Indias, MS., lib. 3, cap. 122.) The same account of the transaction, though with a very different commentary as to its merits, is repeated by Oviedo (Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 2), Gomara (Crónica, cap. 42), and Peter Martyr (De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 1), all of whom had access to the best sources of information.
The affair, so remarkable as the act of one individual, becomes absolutely incredible, when considered as the result of so many independent wills. It is not improbable, that Bernal Diaz, from his known devotion to the cause, may have been one of the few to whom Cortés confided his purpose. The veteran, in writing his narrative, many years after, may have mistaken a part for the whole, and in his zeal to secure to the army a full share of the glory of the expedition, too exclusively appropriated by the general (a great object, as he tells us, of his history), may have distributed among his comrades the credit of an exploit, which, in this instance, at least, properly belonged to their commander.—Whatever be the cause of the discrepancy, his solitary testimony can hardly be sustained against the weight of contemporary evidence from such competent sources.
Page 229 (1).—"Cabra coja no tenga siesta."
Page 230 (1).—Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 1.—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 42-45.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 59, 60.
Page 231 (1).—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 44.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 33.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 61. The number of the Indian auxiliaries stated in the text is much larger than that allowed by either Cortés or Diaz. But both these actors in the drama show too obvious a desire to magnify their own prowess, by exaggerating the numbers of their foes, and diminishing their own, to be entitled to much confidence in their estimates.
Page 233 (1).—Jalap, Convolvulus jalapa. The x and j are convertible consonants in the Castilian.
Page 233 (2).—The heights of Xalapa are crowned with a convent dedicated to St. Francis, erected in later days by Cortés, showing, in its solidity, like others of the period built under the same auspices, says an agreeable traveller, a military as well as religious design.—Tudor's Travels in North America (London, 1834), vol. ii. p. 186.
Page 234 (1).—Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 1.—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 40.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 44.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83. "Every hundred yards of our route," says the traveller last quoted, speaking of this very region, "was marked by the melancholy erection of a wooden cross, denoting, according to the custom of the country, the commission of some horrible murder on the spot where it was planted."—Travels in North America, vol. ii. p. 188.
Page 234 (2).—El Paso del Obispo. Cortés named it Puerto del Nombre de Dios.—Viaje, ap. Lorenzana, p. 2.
Page 234 (3).—The Aztec name is Nauhcampatepetl, from nauhcampa, "anything square," and tepetl, "a mountain."—Humboldt, who waded through forests and snows to its summit, ascertained its height to be 4089 metres=13,414 feet, above the sea.—See his Vues des Cordillères, p. 234, and Essai Politique, vol. i. p. 266.
Page 235 (1).—The same mentioned in Cortés' letter as the Puerto de la Lena.—Viaje, ap. Lorenzana, p. 3.
Page 235 (2).—Now known by the euphonious Indian name of Tlatlauquitepec. (Viaje, ap. Lorenzana, p. 4.) It is the Cocotlan of Bernal Diaz. (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 61.) The old conquerors made sorry work with the Aztec names, both of places and persons, for which they must be allowed to have had ample apology.
Page 236 (1).—This marvellous tale is gravely repeated by more than one Spanish writer, in their accounts of the Aztec monarchy, not as the assertion of this chief, but as a veritable piece of statistics. See among others, Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 12.—Soils, Conquista, lib. 3, cap. 16.
Page 236 (2).—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 61. There is a slight ground-swell of glorification in the captain's narrative, which may provoke a smile,—not a sneer,—for it is mingled with too much real courage, and simplicity of character.
Page 237 (1).—For the preceding pages, besides authorities cited in course, see Peter Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 1.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 44.—Torquemada,. Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 26.
Page 237 (2).—The general clearly belonged to the church militant mentioned by Butler.
"Such as do build their faith upon
The holy text of pike and gun;
And prove their doctrines orthodox
By apostolic blows and knocks."
Page 238 (1).—"Arbol grande, dicho, ahuehuete." (Viaje, ap. Lorenzana, p. 3.) The cupressus distichia of Linnæus.—See Humboldt, Essai Politique, tom. ii. p. 54, note.
Page 238 (2).—It is the same taste which has made the Castiles, the tableland of the peninsula so naked of wood. Prudential reasons, as well as taste, however, seem to have operated in New Spain. A friend of mine on a visit to a noble hacienda, but uncommonly barren of trees, was informed by the proprietor, that they were cut down to prevent the lazy Indians on the plantation from wasting their time by loitering in their shade!
Page 238 (3).—The correct Indian name of the town, Txiacomoxtitlán, Tatacomostitlán of Cortés, will hardly be recognised in the Xalacingo of Diaz. The town was removed, in 1601, from the top of the hill to the plain. On the original site are still visible remains of carved stones of large dimensions, attesting the elegance of the ancient fortress or palace of the cacique.—Viaje, ap. Lorenzana, p. 14.
Page 239 (1).—For an account of the diplomatic usages of the people of Anahuac, see ante, p. 28.
Page 240 (1).—According to Bernal Diaz, the stones were held by a cement so hard that the men could scarcely break it with their pikes. (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 62.) But the contrary statement, in the general's letter, is confirmed by the present appearance of the wall.—Viaje, ap. Lorenzana, p. vii.
Page 240 (2).—Viaje, ap. Lorenzana, p. vii. The attempts of the archbishop to identify the route of Cortés have been very successful. It is a pity that his map illustrating the itinerary should be so worthless.
Page 240 (3).—Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 44, 45.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83.—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 3.—Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 2.—Peter Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 1.
Page 241 (1).—The Indian chronicler, Camargo, considers his nation a branch of the Chichemec. (Hist. de Tlascala, MS.) So also Torquemada. (Monarch. Ind., lib. 3, cap. 9.) Clavigero, who has carefully investigated the antiquities of Anahuac, calls it one of the seven Nahuatlac tribes. (Stor. del Messico, tom. i. p. 153, nota.) The fact is not of great moment, since they were all cognate races, speaking the same tongue, and, probably, migrated from their country in the far North at nearly the same time.
Page 242 (1).—The descendants of these petty nobles attached as great value to their pedigrees, as any Biscayan or Asturian in Old Spain. Long after the Conquest, they refused, however needy, to dishonour their birth by resorting to mechanical or other plebeian occupations, oficios viles y bajos. "The descendants of these are esteemed as men of standing, who, although they may be very poor, will not engage in manual labour, nor in mean or low occupations. They will not carry nor wield spades and picks, since they say that they are men of family, who may not undertake squalid or menial tasks, but claim service in the field and in camp, and the warrior's death, as their birthright."—Hist. de Tlascala, MS.
Page 243 (1).—A full account of the manners, customs, and domestic policy of Tlascala is given by the national historian, throwing much light on the other states of Anahuac, whose social institutions seem to have been all cast in the same mould.
Page 244 (1).—Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 2, cap. 70.
Page 245 (1).—Camargo (Hist. de Tlascala, MS.) notices the extent of Montezuma's conquests,—a debatable ground for the historian.
Page 245 (2).—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 3, cap. 16. Solis says, "The Tlascalan territory was fifty leagues in circumference, ten long, from east to west, and four broad, from north to south." (Conquista de Méjico, lib. 3, cap. 3.) It must have made a curious figure in geometry!
Page 245 (3).—The Tlascalan chronicler discerns in this deep-rooted hatred of Mexico the hand of Providence, who wrought out of it an important means for subverting the Aztec empire.—Hist. de Tlascala, MS.
Page 246 (1).—To the ripe age of one hundred and forty! if we may credit Camargo. Solis, who confounds this veteran with his son, has put a flourishing harangue in the mouth of the latter, which would be a rare gem of Indian eloquence, were it not Castilian.—Conquista, lib. 2, cap. 16.
Page 246 (2).—Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 3.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 27. There is sufficient contradiction as well as obscurity in the proceedings reported of the council, which it is not easy to reconcile altogether with subsequent events.
Page 246 (3).—"Dolus an virtus, quis in hoste requirat?"
Page 249 (1).—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 51. According to Gomara (Crónica, cap. 46) the enemy mustered 80,000. So, also, Ixtlilxochitl. (Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83.) Bernal Diaz says, more than 40,000. (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 63.) But Herrera (Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 5) and Torquemada (Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 20) reduce them to 30,000. One might as easily reckon the leaves in a forest, as the numbers of a confused throng of barbarians. As this was only one of several armies kept on foot by the Tlascalans, the smallest amount it, probably, too large. The whole population of the state, according to Clavigero, who would not be likely to underrate it, did not exceed half a million at the time of the invasion.— Stor. del Messico, tom. i. p. 156.
Page 250 (1).—"The device and arms of the ruling house of Titcala is a white heron on a rock." (Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.) "The Commander-in-chief," says Bernal Diaz, "named Xicotenga, bore coat-armour of red and white, because that was the device and cognisance of that same Xicotenga."—Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 63.
Page 250 (2).—"They call it Teponaztle; it is a length of wood in the form of a hollow cylinder, and, as we say hueco (hollow) internally. The sound of it can be heard sometimes at the distance of half a league, blending with the notes of the drum in strange and soft harmony." (Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.) Clavigero, who gives a drawing of this same drum, says it is still used by the Indians, and may be heard two or three miles.—Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 179.
Page 254 (1).—According to Cortés not a Spaniard fell—though many were wounded—in this action so fatal to the infidel! Diaz allows one. In the famous battle of Navas de Tolosa, between the Spaniards and Arabs, in 1212, equally matched in military science at that time, there were left 200,000 of the latter on the field; and, to balance this bloody roll, only five-and-twenty Christians! See the estimate in Alfonso IX's veracious letter, ap. Mariana (Hist. de España, lib. 2, cap. 24.) The official returns of the old Castilian crusaders, whether in the Old World or the New, are scarcely more trustworthy than a French imperial bulletin in our day.
Page 255 (1).—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 52. Oviedo, who made free use of the manuscripts of Cortés, writes thirty-nine houses. (Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 3.) This may, perhaps, be explained by the sign for a thousand, in Spanish notation, bearing great resemblance to the figure 9. Martyr, who had access also to the Conqueror's manuscript, confirms the larger, and, à priori, less probable number.
Page 256 (1).—More than one writer repeats a story of the Tlascalan General sending a good supply of provisions, at this time, to the famished army of the Spaniards; to put them in stomach, it may be, for the fight. (Gomara, Crónica, cap. 46.—Ixtlichochitl, Hist. Chich., MS, cap 83) This ultra-chivalrous display from the barbarian is not very probable, and Cortés own account of his successful foray may much better explain the abundance which reigned in his camp.
Page 257 (1).—Through the magnifying lens of Cortés, they appeared to be 150,000 men (Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 52); a number usually preferred by succeeding writers.
"Not half so gorgeous, for their May-day mirth
All wreath's and ribanded, our youths and maids,
As these stern Tlascalans in war attire!
The golden glitt'rance, and the feather-mail
More gay than glitt'ring gold; and round the helm
A coronal of high upstanding plumes,
Green as the spring grass in a sunny shower;
Or scarlet bright, as in the wintry wood
The cluster'd holly; or of purple tint;
Whereto shall that be liken'd? to what gem
Indiadem'd, what flower? what insect's wing?
With war songs and wild music they came on;
We, the while kneeling, raised with one accord
The hymn of supplication."
Southey's Madoc, Part I. canto 7.
Page 257 (3).—The standards of the Mexicans were carried in the centre, those of the Tlascalans in the rear of the army. (Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, vol. ii. p. 145.) According to the Anonymous Conqueror, the banner stall was attached to the back of the ensign, so that it was impossible to be torn away. "Each company had its Ensign, with the colours on a staff, bound in such manner to his shoulders that it did not interfere in the least with his lighting power, nor prevent him from doing whatever he wished. And the support was so well secured to his body that unless he were torn in pieces, it could never be wrested nor snatched from him."—Rel. d'un gent., ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol 305.
Page 257 (4).—Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 6. —Gomara, Crónica, cap. 46.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 64.—Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 45. The last two authors speak of the device of "a white bird like an ostrich," as that of the Republic. They have evidently confounded it with that of the Indian general. Camargo, who has given the heraldic emblems of the four great families of Tlascala, notices the white heron, as that of Xicotencatl.
Page 257 (5).—The accounts of the Tlascalan chronicler are confirmed by the Anonymous Conqueror and by Bernal Diaz, both eye-witnesses; though the latter frankly declares, that, had he not seen them with his own eyes, he should never have credited the existence of orders and badges among the barbarians, like those found among the civilised nations of Europe.—Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 64, et alibi.—Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.—Rel. d'un gent., ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 305.
Page 259 (1).—Particular notices of the military dress and appointments of the American tribes on the plateau may be found in Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS. —Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 101 et seq. —Acosta, lib. 6, cap. 26.—Rel. d'un gent., ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 305, et auct. al.
Page 261 (1).—So says Bernal Diaz; who at the same time, by the epithets, los muertos, los cuerpos, plainly contradicts his previous boast that only one Christian fell in the fight. (Hist. de la Conquista, cap 65.) Cortés has not the grace to acknowledge that one.
Page 261 (2).—Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 3.—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap Lorenzana, p. 52.—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 6.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap 83.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 46.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 32.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 65, 66. The warm and chivalrous glow of feeling, which colours the rude composition of the last chronicler, makes him a better painter than his more correct and classical rivals. And, if there is somewhat too much of the self-complacent tone of the quorum pars magna fui in his writing, it may be pardoned in the hero of more than a hundred battles, and almost as many wounds.
Page 261 (3).—The Anonymous Conqueror bears emphatic testimony to the valour of the Indians, specifying instances in which he had seen a single warrior defend himself for a long time against two, three, and even four Spaniards. "There are among them men of great valour, who in their daring seek a death of glory. I have seen one of these making a valiant defence against two light horsemen, and another against three, and even four."—Rel. d'un gent., ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 305.
Page 262 (1).—The appalling effect of the cavalry on the natives reminds one of the confusion into which the Roman legions were thrown by the strange appearance of the elephants in their first engagements with Pyrrhus, as told by Plutarch in his life of that prince.
Page 267 (1).—The effect of the medicine—though rather a severe dose, according to the precise Diaz—was suspended during the general's active exertions. Gomara, however, does not consider this a miracle. (Crónica, cap. 49.) Father Sandoval does. (Hist. de Carlos Quinto, tom. i. p. 127.) Solis, after a conscientious inquiry into this perplexing matter, decides—strange as it may seem—against the father!—Conquista, lib. 2, cap. 20.
Page 267 (2).—"Dios es sombre natura."—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 54.
Page 267 (3).—Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 64. Not so Cortés, who says boldly, "I burnt more than ten towns." (Ibid., p. 52.) His reverend commentator specifies the localities of the Indian towns destroyed by him, in his forays.—Viaje, ap. Lorenzana, pp. ix.-xi.
Page 267 (4).—The famous banner of the Conqueror, with the Cross emblazoned on it, has been preserved in Mexico to our day.
Page 270 (1).—This conference is reported, with some variety, indeed, by nearly every historian. (Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 55.—Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 3.— Gomara, Crónica, cap. 51, 52.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 80.—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 9. —P. Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 2.) I have abridged the account given by Bernal Diaz, one of the audience, though not one of the parties to the dialogue,—for that reason, the better authority.
Page 277 (1).—He dwells on it in his letter to the Emperor. "Seeing their mutual discord and misunderstanding, I was no little pleased, since it appeared to me to work greatly to my advantage, and to provide me with the means of subjugating them. Moreover, I recalled a passage in Scripture which says, 'A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.' So I played one against the other, sending each in secret my thanks for their information, and pretending to each a greater friendship than towards the others."—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 61.
Page 277 (2).—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 10.—Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind. MS., lib. 33, cap. 4.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 54.—Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 2.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 72-74.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83.
Page 278 (1).—"Following the road a quarter of a league beyond this city, the traveler comes to a ravine crossed by a bridge of cement and vaulted stone; and in the town of Salvador tradition reports that it was constructed during the few days that Cortés was there, so that he might cross."—(Viaje, ap. Lorenzana, p. xi.) If the antiquity of this arched stone bridge could be established, it would settle a point much mooted in respect to Indian architecture. But the construction of so solid a work in so short a time is a fact requiring a better voucher than the villagers of San Salvador.
Page 278 (2).—Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. iii. p. 53, "The most solemn and memorable reception that the world has ever seen," exclaims the enthusiastic Historian of the Republic. He adds, that "more than a hundred thousand men flocked out to receive the Spaniards: a thing that appears impossible," que parece cosa impossible it does indeed.—Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.
Page 280 (1).—"There is no pottery vessel made by us which is artistically superior to the pots moulded by them."—Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 2.
Page 280 (2).—Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 59.— Oviedo, Hist. dc las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 4.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83. The last historian enumerates such a number of contemporary Indian authorities for his narrative, as of itself argues no inconsiderable degree of civilisation in the people.
Page 280 (3).—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 12.—The population of a place, which Cortés could compare with Granada, had dwindled by the beginning of the present century to 3400 inhabitants, of which less than a thousand were of the Indian stock.—See Humboldt, Essai Politique, tom. ii. p. 158.
Page 283 (1).—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 84.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 56.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 76, 77.—This is not the account of Camargo. According to him, Cortés gained his point; the nobles led the way by embracing Christianity and the idols were broken. (Hist. de Tlascala, MS.) But Camargo was himself a Christianised Indian, who lived in the next generation after the Conquest; and may very likely have felt as much desire to relieve his nation from the reproach of infidelity, of a modern Spaniard would to scour out the stain—mala raza y mancha—as Jewish or Moorish lineage from his escutcheon.
Page 284 (1).—The miracle is reported by Herrera (Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 15), and believed by Solis.—Conquista de Mejico, lib. 3, cap. 5.
Page 284 (2).—To avoid the perplexity of selection, it was common for the missionary to give the same names to all the Indians baptised on the same day. Thus, one day was set apart for the Johns, another for the Peters, and so on; an ingenious arrangement, much more for the convenience of the clergy, than of the converts.—See Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.
Page 284 (3).—Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 74, 77. According to Camargo, the Tlascalans gave the Spanish commander three hundred damsels to wait on Marina; and the kind treatment and instruction they received led some of the chiefs to surrender their own daughters, "In the hope that perchance some of them might beget a generation of men as valiant and fearless as a heritage for their race."
Page 284 (4).—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 80.—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 60.—Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 2. Cortés notices only one Aztec mission, while Diaz speaks of three. The former, from brevity, falls so much short of the whole truth, and the latter, from forgetfulness perhaps, goes so much beyond it, that it is not always easy to decide between them. Diaz did not compile his narrative till some fifty years after the Conquest; a lapse of time which may excuse many errors, but must considerably impair our confidence in the minute accuracy of his details. A more intimate acquaintance with his chronicle does not strengthen this confidence.
Page 285 (1).—Ante, p. 165.
Page 286 (1).—"If they would not come to me, I would come to them, and would destroy them, proceeding against them as against rebels; saying to them that all these regions, as well as other greater lands and lordships, were the property of your Highness." (Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 63.) "Rebellion" was a very convenient term, fastened in like manner by the countrymen of Cortés on the Moors, for defending the possessions which they had held for eight centuries in the Peninsula. It justified very rigorous reprisals.—See the History of Ferdinand and Isabella, Part I. chap 13 et alibi.
Page 287 (1).—Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 67.—According to Las Casas, the place contained 30,000 vecinos, or about 150,000 inhabitants. (Brevissima Relatione della Distruttione dell' Indie Occidentale.) [Venetia, 1643.] This latter, being the smaller estimate, is à priori the most credible; especially—a rare occurrence—when in the pages of the good bishop of Chiapa.
Page 287 (2).—Humboldt, Essai Politique, tom. iii. p. 159.
Page 287 (3).—Veytia carries back the foundation of the city to the Ulmecs, a people who preceded the Toltecs. (Hist. Antig., tom. i. cap. 13, 20.) As the latter, after occupying the land several centuries, have left not a single written record, probably, of their existence, it will be hard to disprove the licentiate's assertion,—still harder to prove it.
Page 287 (4).—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 2.
Page 288 (1).—Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 58.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 3, cap. 19.
Page 288 (2).—Veytia, Hist. Antig., tom. i. cap. 15, et seq.—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, lib. I, cap. 5; lib. 3.
Page 288 (3).—Later divines have found in these teachings of the Toltec god, or high priest, the germs of some of the great mysteries of the Christian faith, as those of the Incarnation, and the Trinity, for example. In the teacher himself they recognise no less a person than St. Thomas the Apostle!—See the Dissertation of the irrefragable Dr. Mier, with an edifying commentary by Señor Bustamente, ap. Sahagun. (Hist. de Nueva España, tom. i. Suplemento.) The reader will find further particulars of this matter in Appendix, Part I, of this History.
Page 288 (4).—Such, on the whole, seems to be the judgment of M. de Humboldt, who has examined this interesting monument with his usual care. (Vues des Cordillères, p. 27, et seq.— Essai Politique, tom. ii. p. 150, et seq.) The opinion derives strong confirmation from the fact, that a road, cut some years since across the tumulus, laid open a large section of it, in which the alternate layers of brick and clay are distinctly visible. (Ibid., loc. cit.) The present appearance of this monument, covered over with the verdure and vegetable mould of centuries, excuses the scepticism of the more superficial traveller.
Page 289 (1).—Several of the pyramids of Egypt, and the ruins of Babylon, are, as is well known, of brick. An inscription on one of the former, indeed, celebrates this material as superior to stone. (Herodotus, Euterpe, sec. 136.)—Humboldt furnishes an apt illustration of the size of the Mexican teocalli, by comparing it to a mass of bricks covering a square four times as large as the place Vendôme, and of twice the height of the Louvre.—Essai Politique, tom. ii. p. 152.
Page 289 (2).—A minute account of the costume and insignia of Quetzalcoatl is given by Father Sahagun, who saw the Aztec gods before the arm of the Christian convert had tumbled them from "their pride of place."—See Hist. de Nueva España, lib. I, cap. 3.
Page 289 (2).—They came from the distance of two hundred leagues, says Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 3, cap. 19.
Page 290 (1).—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 2.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., ubi supra.
Page 290 (2).—"And I declare to your Highness that, from the summit of one shrine, I counted more than four hundred towers in this city, and all are the towers of shrines."—Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 67.
Page 290 (3).—The city of Puebla de los Angeles was founded by the Spaniards soon after the Conquest, on the site of an insignificant village in the territory of Cholula, a few miles to the east of that capital. It is, perhaps, the most considerable city in New Spain, after Mexico itself, which it rivals in beauty. It seems to have inherited the religious pre-eminence of the ancient Cholula, being distinguished, like her, for the number and splendour of its churches, the multitude of its clergy, and the magnificence of its ceremonies and festivals. These are fully displayed in the pages of travellers who have passed through the place on the usual route from Vera Cruz to the capital. (See, in particular, Bullock's Mexico, vol. i. chap. 6.) The environs of Cholula, still irrigated as in the days of the Aztecs, are equally remarkable for the fruitfulness of the soil. The best wheat lands, according to a very respectable authority, yield in the proportion of eighty for one.—Ward's Mexico, vol. ii. p. 270.—See also Humboldt, Essai Politique, tom. ii. p. 158; tom. iv. p. 330.
Page 291 (1).—The words of the Conquistador are yet stronger, "There was not a handbreadth of land which was not under cultivation."—Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 67.
Page 307 (1).—Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 83.—Ixtlilxockitl, Hist. Chich., MS., ubi supra.
Page 307 (2).—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 83. The descendants of the principa, Cholulan cacique are living at this day in Puebla, according to Bustamente.—See Gomara, Crónica, trad. de Chimalpain (Mexico, 1826), tom. i. p. 98, nota.
Page 307 (3).—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, 66.—Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.— Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 84.—Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 4, 45.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 83.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 60.—Sagahun, Hist. de Nueva España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 11. Las Casas, in his printed treatise on the Destruction of the Indies, garnishes his account of these transactions with some additional and rather startling particulars. According to him, Cortés caused a hundred or more of the caciques to be impaled or roasted at the stake! He adds the report, that, while the massacre in the courtyard was going on, the Spanish general repeated a scrap of an old romance, describing Nero as rejoicing over the burning ruins of Rome: "Nero from the Tarpeian rock gazed upon Rome as it burned. Old and young alike wept, but he cared not at all."—Brevisima Relacion, p. 46. This is the first instance, I suspect, on record, of any person being ambitious of finding a parallel for himself in that emperor! Bernal Diaz, who had seen "the interminable narrative," as he calls it, of Las Casas, treats it with great contempt. His own version—one of those chiefly followed in the text—was corroborated by the report of the missionaries, who, after the Conquest, visited Cholula, and investigated the affair with the aid of the priests and several old survivors who had witnessed it. It is confirmed in its substantial details by the other contemporary accounts. The excellent bishop of Chiapa wrote with the avowed object of moving the sympathies of his country-men in behalf of the oppressed natives; a generous object, certainly, but one that has too often warped his judgment from the strict line of historic impartiality. He was not an eye-witness of the transactions in New Spain, and was much too willing to receive whatever would make for his case, and to "over-red," if I may so say, his argument with such details of blood and slaughter as, from their very extravagance, carry their own refutation with them.
Page 308 (1).—For an illustration of the above remark the reader is referred to the closing pages of chap. 7, part ii. of the "History of Ferdinand and Isabella," where I have taken some pains to show how deep settled were those convictions in Spain, at the period with which we are now occupied. The world had gained little in liberality since the age of Dante, who could coolly dispose of the great and good of Antiquity in one of the circles of Hell, because—no fault of theirs, certainly—they had come into the world too soon. The memorable lines, like many others of the immortal bard, are a proof at once of the strength and weakness of the human understanding. They may be cited as a fair exponent of the popular feeling at the beginning of the sixteenth century. "They have not sinned; and though they have good works to their account, it sufficeth not, for they knew not baptism, which is the gateway of the faith the which thou dost believe. And as they were before Christ's coming, they failed to worship God aright; and of their number am I myself. For shortcomings such as these, and for no other fault, are we lost: and this our only punishment, that without hope we live in yearning."—Inferno, canto iv.
Page 308 (2).—It is in the same spirit that the laws of Oleron, the maritime code of so high authority in the Middle Ages, abandon the property-of the infidel, in common with that of pirates, as fair spoil to the true believer! "If they be pirates, robbers or sea-rovers, or Turks or other renegades and enemies of our Catholic Faith, all men may regard such folk in the light of dogs, may despoil and deprive them of their goods with impunity. Such is the law."—Jugemens d'Oleron, Art. 45, ap. Collection de Lois Maritimes par J. M. Pardessus (ed. Paris, 1828), tom. i. P-351
Page 308 (3).—The famous bull of partition became the basis of the treaty of Tordesillas, by which the Castilian and Portuguese governments determined the boundary line of their respective discoveries; a line that secured the vast empire of Brazil to the latter, which from priority of occupation should have belonged to their rivals.—See the History of Ferdinand and Isabella, vol. ii. part i. chap. 7; part ii. chap. 9.—the closing pages of each.
Page 308 (4).—It is the condition, unequivocally expressed and reiterated, on which Alexander VI., in his famous bulls of May 3rd and 4th, 1493, conveys to Ferdinand and Isabella full and absolute right over all such territories in the Western World as may not have been previously occupied by Christian princes.—See these precious documents, in extenso, apud Navarrete, Colleccion de los Viages y Descubrimientos (Madrid, 1825), tom. ii. Nos. 17, 18.
Page 308 (5).—The ground on which Protestant nations assert a natural right to the fruits of their discoveries in the New World is very different. They consider that the earth was intended for cultivation; and that Providence never designed that hordes of wandering savages should hold a territory far more than necessary for their own maintenance, to the exclusion of civilised man. Yet it may be thought, as far as improvement of the soil is concerned, that this argument would afford us but an indifferent tenure for much of our own unoccupied and uncultivated territory, far exceeding what is demanded for our present or prospective support. As to a right founded on difference of civilisation, this is obviously a still more uncertain criterion. It is to the credit of our puritan ancestors, that they did not avail themselves of any such interpretation of the law of nature, and still less rely on the powers conceded by King James's patent, asserting rights as absolute, nearly, as those claimed by the Roman See. On the contrary, they established their title to the soil by fair purchase of the aborigines; thus forming an honourable contrast to the policy pursued by too many of the settlers on the American continents. It should be remarked, that, whatever difference of opinion may have subsisted between the Roman Catholic, —or rather the Spanish and Portuguese nations,—and the rest of Europe, in regard to the true foundation of their titles in a moral view, they have always been content, in their controversies with one another, to rest them exclusively on priority of discovery. For a brief view of the discussion, see Vattel (Droit des Gens, sec. 209), and especially Kent (Commentaries on American Law, vol. iii. Lee. 51), where it is handled with much perspicuity and eloquence. The argument as founded on the law of nations, may be found in the celebrated case of Johnson v. M'Intosh. Wheaton, Reports of Cases in the Supreme Court of the United States, vol. viii. pp. 543 et seq.)
If it were not treating a grave discussion too lightly, I should crave leave to refer the reader to the renowned Diedrich Knickerbocker's History of New York (Book 1, chap, 5) for a luminous disquisition on the knotty question. At all events, he will find there the popular arguments subjected to the test of ridicule; a test showing, more than any reasoning can, how much, or rather how little, they are really worth.
Page 310 (1).—Los Dioses blancos.—Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4. cap. 40.
Page 310 (2).—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 11. In an old Aztec harangue, made as a matter of form on the accession of a prince, we find the following remarkable prediction. "Perhaps ye are dismayed at the prospect of the terrible calamities foreseen and foretold, though not felt by our fathers!. . .When the destruction and desolation of the empire shall come, when all shall be plunged in darkness, when the hour shall arrive in which they shall make us slaves throughout the land, and we shall be condemned to the lowest and most degrading offices!" (Ibid., lib. 6, cap. 16.) This random shot of prophecy, which I have rendered literally, shows how strong and settled was the apprehension of some impending revolution.
Page 312 (1).—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 83.
Page 312 (2).—Veytia, Hist. Antiq, tom. i. cap. 13.
Page 312 (3).—Humboldt, Vues des Cordillères, p. 32.
Page 313 (1).—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 69.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 63.—Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 5.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 84.
Page 313 (2).—The language of the text may appear somewhat too unqualified, considering that three Aztec codices exist with interpretations. (See ante, pp. 68, 69.) But they contain very few and general allusions to Montezuma, and these strained through commentaries of Spanish monks, oftentimes manifestly irreconcilable with the genuine Aztec notions. Even such writers as Ixtlilxochitl and Camargo, from whom, considering their Indian descent, we might expect more independence, seem less solicitous to show this, than their loyalty to the new faith and country of their adoption. Perhaps the most honest Aztec record of the period is to be obtained from the volumes, the twelfth book particularly, of father Sahagun embodying the traditions of the natives soon after the Conquest. This portion of his great work was re-written by its author, and considerable changes were made in it at a later period of his life. Yet it may be doubted if the original version reflects the traditions of the country as faithfully as the reformed, which is still in manuscript, and which I have chiefly followed.
Page 314 (1).—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 84, 85.—Rel. Seg. de Cortés ap. Lorenzana, p. 67.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 60.—Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 5.
Page 315 (1).—"Andavamos," says Diaz, in the homely but expresive Spanish proverb," la barba sobre el ombro."—Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 86.
Page 316 (1).—Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 86.—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzna, p. 70.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 41.
Page 316 (2).—"They called the volcano Popocatepetl, and the snow-mountain Iztaccihuatl; that is to say, 'the mountain which smokes,' and 'the white woman.'"—Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.
Page 316 (3).—"They regarded the snow mountain and the volcano as gods, and as wife and husband."—Ibid., MS.Page 316 (4).—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 62. "Etna, proclaiming eternally the victory over the Giants, the tomb of Enceladus, who, wounded in the back and fettered, exhales from his fiery breast unquenched sulphur."—Claudian, De Rapt. Pros., lib. 1, v. 152.
Page 317 (1).—The old Spaniards called any lofty mountain by that name, though never having given signs of combustion. Thus, Chimborazo was called a volcan de nieve, or "snow volcano" (Humboldt, Essai Politique, tom. i. p. 162); and that enterprising traveller, Stephens, notices the volcan de agua, "water volcano," in the neighbourhood of Antigua Guatemala.—Incidents of Travel in Chiapas, Central America, and Yucatan (New York, 1841), vol. i. chap. 13.
Page 317 (2).—Mont Blanc, according to M. de Saussure, is 15,670 feet high. For the estimate of Popocatepetl, see an elaborate communication in the Regista Mexicana, tom. ii. No. 4.
Page 318 (1).—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 70.—Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 5.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 78. The latter writer speaks of the ascent as made when the army lay at Tlascala, and of the attempt as perfectly successful. The general's letter, written soon after the event, with no motive for mis-statement, is the better authority.—See also Herrera, Hist. General, dec 2, lib. 6, cap. 18.—Rel. d'un gent., ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. p. 308.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 62.
Page 319 (1).—Rel. Ter. y Quarta de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 318, 380.—Herrera, Hist. General, dec 3, lib. 3, cap. i.—Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 41. M. de Humboldt doubts the fact of Montaño's descent into the crater, thinking it more probable that he obtained the sulphur through some lateral crevice in the mountain. (Essai Politique, tom. i. p. 164.) No attempt—at least, no successful one—has been made to gain the summit of Popocatepetl, since this of Montaño, till the present century. In 1827 it was reached in two expeditions, and again in 1833 and 1834. A very full account of the last, containing many interesting details and scientific observations, was written by Federico de Gerolt, one of the party, and published in the periodical already referred to. (Revista Mexicana, tom. i. pp. 461-482.) The party from the topmost peak, which commanded a full view of the less elevated Iztaccihuatl, saw no vestige of a crater in that mountain, contrary to the opinion usually received.
Page 319 (2).—Humboldt, Essai Politique, tom. iv. p. 17.
Page 321 (1).—The lake of Tezcuco, on which stood the capital of Mexico, is 2277 metres, nearly 7500 feet, above the sea.—Humboldt, Essai Politique, tom. ii. p. 45.
Page 321 (2).—It is unnecessary to refer to the pages of modern travellers, who, however they may differ in taste, talent, or feeling, all concur in the impressions produced on them by the sight of this beautiful valley.
Page 322 (1).—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 41. It may call to the reader's mind the memorable view of the fair plains of Italy which Hannibal displayed to his hungry barbarians, after a similar march through the wild passes of the Alps, as reported by the prince of historic painters.—Livy, Hist., lib. 21, cap. 35.
Page 322 (2).—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., ubi supra.—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 3.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 64.—Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 5.
Page 323 (1).—A load for a Mexican tamane was about fifty pounds, or eight hundred ounces.— Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. iii. p. 69, nota.
Page 323 (2).—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 12.—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 73.—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 3.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 64.—Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 5.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 87.
Page 324 (1).—This was not the sentiment of the Roman hero: "The gods approved the cause of the conquerors, but Cato was on the side of the conquered."—Lucan, lib. I, v. 128.
Page 327 (1).—"We were astonished," exclaims Diaz, with simple wonder, "and said that they were like the houses of faery which are mentioned in the book of Amadis!" (Ibid., loc. cit.) An edition of this celebrated romance in its Castilian dress had appeared before this time, as the prologue to the second edition of 1521 speaks of a former one in the reign of the "Catholic Sovereigns."—See Cervantes, Don Quixote, ed. Pellicer (Madrid, 1797), tom. i. Discurso Prelim.
Page 328 (1).—M. de Humboldt has dotted the conjectural limits of the ancient lake in his admirable chart of the Mexican Valley (Atlas Géographique et Physique de la Nouvelle Espagne [Paris, 1811] carte 3.) Notwithstanding his great care, it is not easy always to reconcile his topography with the itineraries of the Conquerors, so much has the face of the country been changed by natural and artificial causes. It is still less possible to reconcile their narratives with the maps of Clavigero, Lopez, Robertson, and others, defying equally topography and history.
Page 328 (2).—Several writers notice a visit of the Spaniards to Tezcuco on the way to the capital. (Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 42.—Solis, Conquista, lib. 3, cap. 9.—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 4.—Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. iii. p. 74.) This improbable episode,—which, it may be remarked, has led these authors into some geographical perplexities, not to say blunders,—is altogether too remarkable to have been passed over in silence in the minute relation of Bernal Diaz, and that of Cortés, neither of whom alludes to it.
Page 330 (1).—The earliest instance of a Garden of Plants in Europe is said to have been at Padua, in 1545.—Carli, Lettres Américaines, tom. i. let. 21.
"There Aztlan stood upon the farther shore;
Amid the shade of trees its dwellings rose,
Their level roofs with turrets set around,
And battlements all burnished white, which shone
Like silver in the sunshine. I beheld
The imperial city, her far-circling walls,
Her garden groves and stately palaces.
Her templet mountain size, her thousand roofs;
And when I saw her might and majesty,
My mind misgave me then."
Southey'sMadoc, Part 1, canto 6.
Page 331 (1).—He took about 600 warriors from Tlascala; and some few of the Cempoallan and other Indian allies continued with him. The Spanish force on leaving Vera Cruz amounted to about 400 foot and 15 horse. In the remonstrance of the disaffected soldiers, after the murderous Tlascalan combats, they speak of having lost fifty of their number since the beginning of the campaign.
Page 334 (1).—Among these towns were several containing from three to five or six thousand dwellings, according to Cortés, whose barbarous orthography in proper names will not easily be recognised by Mexican or Spaniard.—Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 78.
Page 334 (2).—It is not necessary, however, to adopt Herrera's account of 50,000 canoes, which, he says, were constantly employed in supplying the capital with provisions! (Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 14.) The poet-chronicler Saavedra is more modest in his estimate: "More than two thousand canoes every day brought to the great city of Mexico every variety of provisions necessary for human sustenance."—El Peregrino Indiano, canto 11.
Page 336 (1).—Cardinal Lorenzana says, the street intended, probably, was that crossing the city from the Hospital of San Antonio. (Rel. Seg. de Cortés, p. 79, nota.) This is confirmed by Sahagun: "Thus it was in that space which runs from the church of San Antonio (which they call Xuluco), past the front of Alvarado's house, to the hospital of La Concepción, that Montezuma came forth to receive Don Hernando Cortés in peace."—Hist. de Nueva España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 16.
Page 337 (1).—For the preceding account of the equipage and appearance of Montezuma, see Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 88.—Carta de Zuazo, MS.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 85.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 65.—Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS. ubi supra, et cap. 45.—Acosta, lib. 7, cap. 22.—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 16.—Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 7. The noble Castilian, or rather Mexican bard, Saavedra, who belonged to the generation after the Conquest, has introduced most of the particulars in his rhyming chronicle. The following specimen will probably suffice for the reader; "And the great Montezuma came robed in a voluminous mantle of blue and white, woven of fine and delicate cotton; and where the edges were drawn together in a knot at his neck, it was clasped by a shell of emerald. He wore a crown like a garland, and sandals with golden soles, fastened with richly adorned thongs."—El Peregrino Indiano, canto 11.
Page 337 (2).—"Looking not unpleased," says Martyr, "but let the wise decide whether his heart was free from all vexation, or whether any man could ever gladly receive guests who were forced upon him."—De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 3.
Page 337 (3).—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 79.
Page 340 (1).—"They entered the city of Mexico in warlike array, with drums beating and flags flying," etc.—Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 15.
Page 340 (2).—"And gardens both above and below, which was a wonderful thing to see."— Rel. d'un gent. ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. Fol. 309.
Page 341 (1).—The euphonious name of Tenochtitlan is commonly derived from Aztec words signifying "the tuna, or cactus, on a rock," the appearance of which, as the reader may remember, was to determine the site of the future capital. (Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, Parte 3, cap. 7.— Esplic. de la Colec: de Mondoza, ap. Antiq. of Mexico, vol. iv.) Another etymology derives the word from Tenoch, the name of one of the founders of the monarchy.
Page 341 (2).—Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. iii. p. 78. It occupied what is now the corner of the streets, "Del Indio Triste" and "Tacuba."—Humboldt, Vues des Cordillères, p. 7, et seq.
Page 341 (3).—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 88.—Gonzalo de las Casas, Defensa, MS., Parte 1, cap. 24.
Page 342 (1).—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 88.—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 80.
Page 342 (2).—Bernal Diaz, Ibid., loc. cit.—Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 5.— Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 16.
Page 344 (1).—"It was there that the family built the fine residence in which are kept the State archives, and which passed, by inheritance, with the rest of the property, into the possession of the Neapolitan Duke of Monteleone." (Humboldt, Essai Politique, tom. ii. p. 72.) The inhabitants of Modern Mexico have large obligations to this inquisitive traveller, for the care he has taken to identify the memorable localities of their capital. It is not often that a philosophical treatise is also a good manuel du voyageur.
Page 344 (2).—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 71.—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 9. The authorities call it "tiger," an animal not known in America. I have ventured to substitute the "ocelotl" tlalocelotl of Mexico, a native animal, which, being of the same family, might easily be confounded by the Spaniards with the tiger of the Old Continent.
Page 345 (1).—Toribio, Hist, de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 7.—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 9.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 71.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 91.—Oviedo, Hist. de Las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 5, 46.—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 111-114.
Page 346 (1).—The ludicrous effect—if the subject be not too grave to justify the expression— of a literal belief in the doctrine of Transubstantiation in the mother country, even at this day, is well illustrated by Blanco White.—Letters from Spain (London, 1822), Lett. 1.
Page 348 (1).—Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 3.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 66.—Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 5.—Gonzalo de las Casas, MS., Parte 1, cap. 24. Cortés, in his brief notes of this proceeding, speaks only of the interview with Montezuma in the Spanish quarters, which he makes the scene of the preceding dialogue.—Bernal Diaz transfers this to the subsequent meeting in the palace. In the only fact of importance, the dialogue itself, both substantially agree.
Page 349 (1).—"Many are of opinion," says Father Acosta, "that, if the Spaniards had continued the course they began, they might easily have disposed of Montezuma and his kingdom, and introduced the law of Christ, without much bloodshed."—Lib. 7, cap. 25.
Page 357 (1).—The lake, it seems, had perceptibly shrunk before the Conquest, from the testimony of Motolinia, who entered the country soon after.—Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 6.
Page 357 (2).—Humboldt, Essai Politique, tom. ii. p. 95. Cortés supposed there were regular tides in this lake. (Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 102.) This sorely puzzles the learned Martyr (De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 3), as it has more than one philosopher since, whom it has led to speculate on a subterraneous communication with the ocean! What the general called "tides" was probably the periodical swells caused by the prevalence of certain regular winds.
Page 358 (1).—Humboldt has given a minute account of this tunnel, which he pronounces one of the most stupendous hydraulic works in existence, and the completion of which, in its present form, does not date earlier than the latter part of the last century.—See his Essai Politique, tom. ii. p. 105 et seq.
Page 358 (2).—Humboldt, tom. ii. p. 875 et seq.—Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 153.
Page 359 (1).—Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS. Parte 3, cap. 8. Cortés, indeed, speaks of four causeways. (Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 102.) He may have reckoned an arm of the southern one leading to Cojohuacan, or possibly the great aqueduct of Chapoltepec.
Page 359 (2).—Ante, p. 15.
Page 360 (1).—Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 8.—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 108.—Oviedo, Hist. de Las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 10, 11.—Rel. d'un gent., ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 309.
Page 360 (2).—Martyr was struck with the resemblance. "As is recorded concerning the famous city of the Venetians, that it was built upon an islet which appeared in that part of the Adriatic gulf."—Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 10.
Page 361 (1).—A common food with the lower classes was a glutinous scum found in the lakes, which they made into a sort of cake, having a savour not unlike cheese.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. dc la Conquista, cap. 92.
Page 361 (2).—One is confirmed in this inference by comparing the two maps at the end of the first edition of Bullock's Mexico; one of the modern city, the other of the ancient, taken from Boturini's museum, and showing its regular arrangement of streets and canals; as regular, indeed, as the squares on a chessboard.
Page 361 (3).—These immense masses, according to Martyr, who gathered his information from eye-witneses, were transported by means of long files of men, who dragged them with ropes over huge wooden rollers. De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 10.) It was the manner in which the Egyptians removed their enormous blocks of granite, as appears from numerous reliefs sculptured on their buildings.
Page 362 (1).—Rel. d'un gent., ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 309.
Page 362 (2).—"Magnificent buildings," says the Licentiate Zuazo, speaking of the buildings in Anahuac generally, "save that not one was seen with a vaulted roof." (Carta, MS.) The writer made large and careful observation, the year after the Conquest. His assertion, if it be received, will settle a question much mooted among antiquaries.
Page 364 (1).—Herrera's account of these feathered insects, if one may so style them, shows the fanciful errors into which even men of science were led in regard to the new tribes of animals discovered in America: "There are some birds in the country of the size of butterflies, with long beaks, brilliant plumage, much esteemed for the curious work made of them. Like the bees, they live on flowers, and the dew which settles on them; and when the rainy season it over, and the dry weather set in, they fasten themselves to the trees by their beaks and soon die. But in the following year, when the new rains come, they come to life again!"—Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 10, cap. 21.
Page 365 (1).—Montezuma, according to Gomara, would allow no fruit trees, considering them as unsuitable to pleasure-grounds. (Crónica, cap. 75.) Toribio says, to the same effect, "The natives of rank did not cultivate fruit trees, since fruit was supplied them by their vassals. But they planted shrubberies, where they grew roses and kept birds, both for the enjoyment of their song, and also to hunt them with the blow-gun, in the use of which they are very expert."— Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 6.
Page 365 (2).—Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 6.—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 111-113.—Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 11.
Page 366 (1).—Gama, a competent critic, who saw them just before their destruction, praises their execution.—Gama, Descripcion, Parte 9, pp. 81-83.—Also ante, p. 81.
Page 366 (2).—No less than one thousand, if we believe Gomara; who adds the edifying intelligence, "It happened that one hundred and fifty of the women were simultaneously with child."
Page 368 (1).—Bernal Diaz has given us a few items of the royal carte. The first cover is rather a startling one, being a fricassee or stew of little children! "carnes de muchachos de poca edad," He admits, however, that this is somewhat apocryphal.
Page 372 (1).—The feats of jugglers and tumblers were a favourite diversion with the Grand Khan of China, as Sir John Mandeville informs us. (Voiage and Travaille, chap. 22.) The Aztec mountebanks had such repute that Cortés sent two of them to Rome to amuse his Holiness Clement VII.—Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 186.
Page 373 (1).—If the Historian will descend but a generation later for his authorities, he may find materials for as good a chapter as any in Sir John Mandeville or the Arabian nights.
Page 374 (1).—"One regrets to record, in connection with so great a sovereign, the vanity exhibited by a constant change of costume, and the desire for flattery only satisfied by the prostration of the crowd." (Livy, Hist., lib. 9, cap. 18.) The remarks of the Roman historian in reference to Alexander, after he was infected by the manners of Persia, fit equally well the Aztec emperor.
Page 377 (1).—"Jewells of gold and silver and precious stones besides feather-works and gold and silver embroidery, wrought with such consummate skill that the comprehension of them, let alone their imitation, is beyond human ingenuity." (Carta del Lic. Zuazo, MS.) The licentiate then enumerates several of these elegant pieces of mechanism. Cortés is not less emphatic in his admiration: "Reproductions of natural forms in gold, silver, hard-stone and feather-work so accurate that, as regards those of gold and silver, no goldsmith in the world could produce better; while, as regards the stone-cutting, the imagination cannot conceive with what instruments they attained such perfection; and as for the feather-work, that such perfection of technic could be produced by wax and brush alone." (Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p 110.) Peter Martyr, a less prejudiced critic than Cortés, and who saw and examined many of these golden trinkets afterwards in Castile, bears the same testimony to the exquisite character of the workmanship, which, he says, far surpassed the value of the material.—De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 10.
Page 377 (2).—Herrera makes the unauthorised assertion, repeated by Solis, that the Mexicans were unacquainted with the value of the cochineal, till it was taught them by the Spaniards. (Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 4, lib. 8, cap. 11.) The natives, on the contrary, took infinite pains to rear the insect on plantations of the cactus, and it formed one of the staple tributes to the crown from certain districts.—See the tribute-rolls, ap. Lorenzana, Nos. 23, 24.—Hernandez, Hist. Plantarum, lib. 6, cap. 116.—Also, Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. i. p. 114, nota.
Page 377 (3).—Ante, p. 69.
Page 378 (1).—Zuazo, who seems to have been nice in these matters, concludes a paragraph of dainties with the following tribute to the Aztec cuisine: "There were on sale eggs, boiled, raw or in omelette form, and a great variety of the stews which they know how to prepare; and many soups besides, and pastry, such do not exist, nor can be found, in the meagre kitchens of Medina, nor elsewhere in Tlamencos, where, so it is said, such merchandise could not be seen."— Carta, MS.
Page 378 (2).—Ample details—many more than I have thought it necessary to give—of the Aztec market of Tlatelolco, may be found in the writings of all the old Spaniards who visited the capital.—Among others, see Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 103-105.—Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 7.—Carta del Lic. Zuazo, MS.—Rel. d'un gent., ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 309.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 92.
Page 378 (3).—Zuazo raises it to 80,000! (Carta, MS.) Cortés to 60,000 (Rel. Seg., ubi supra.) The most modest computation is that of the "Anonymous Conqueror," who says from 40,000 to 50,000. "And on market-day, which is held every five days, between forty and fifty thousand people assemble" (Rel. d'un gent., ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 309); a confirmation, by the bye, of the supposition that the estimated population of the capital, found in the Italian version of this author, is a misprint. He would hardly have crowded an amount equal to the whole of it into the market.
Page 380 (1).—Humboldt, Essai Politique, tom. ii. p. 40. On paving the square, not long ago, round the modern cathedral, there were found large blocks of sculptured stone buried between thirty and forty feet deep in the ground.—Ibid. loc. cit.
Page 380 (2).—Clavigero calls it oblong, on the alleged authority of the "Anonymous Conqueror." (Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 27, nota.) But the latter says not a word of the shape, and his contemptible woodcut if too plainly destitute of all proportion to furnish an inference of any kind. (Comp. Rel. d'un gent., ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 307.) Torquemada and Gomara both say it was square (Monarch. Ind., lib. 8, cap. 11;—Crónica, cap. 80); and Toribio de Benavente, speaking generally of the Mexican temples, says they had that form.—Hist. de los Ind., MS., Parte I, cap. 12.
Page 380 (3).—See Appendix, Part 2, No. 2.
Page 380 (4).—Clavigero, calling it oblong, adopts Torquemada's estimate,—not Sahagun's, as he pretends, which he never saw, and who gives no measurement of the building,—for the length, and Gomara's estimate, which is somewhat less, for the breadth. (Stor. del Messico, tom, ii. p. 38, nota.) As both his authorities make the building square, this spirit of accommodation is whimsical enough. Toribio, who did measure a teocalli of the usual construction in the town of Tenayuca, found it to be forty brazas, or two hundred and forty feet square. (Hist. de los Ind., MS., Parte 1, cap. 12.) The great temple of Mexico was undoubtedly larger, and, in the want of better authorities, one may accept Torquemada, who makes it a little more than three hundred and sixty Toledan, equal to three hundred and eight French feet, square. (Monarch, Ind., lib. 8, cap. II.) How can M. de Humboldt speak of the "great concurrence of testimony" in regard to the dimensions of the temple? (Essai Politique, tom. ii. p. 41.) No two authorities agree.
Page 381 (1).—Bernal Diaz says he counted one hundred and fourteen steps. (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 92.) Toribio says that more than one person who had numbered them told him they exceeded a hundred. (Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte i, cap. 12.) The steps could hardly have been less than eight or ten inches high, each; Clavigero assumes that they were a foot, and that the building, therefore, was a hundred and fourteen feet high, precisely. (Stor. del Messico. tom. ii. pp. 28, 29.) It is seldom safe to use anything stronger than probably in history.
Page 384 (1).—Ante, p. 38.
Page 385 (1).—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 92. Whoever examines Cortés' great letter to Charles V. will be surprised to find it stated, that, instead of any acknowledgment to Montezuma, he threw down his idols and erected the Christian emblems in their stead. (Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 106.) This was an event of much later date. The Conquistador wrote his despatches too rapidly and concisely to give heed always to exact time and circumstance. We are quite as likely to find them attended to in the long-winded, gossiping,—inestimable chronicle of Diaz.
Page 385 (2).—Three collections, thus fancifully disposed, of these grinning horrors—in all 230,000—are noticed by Gibbon! (Decline and Fall, ed. Milman, vol. i. p. 52; vol. xii. p. 45.) A European scholar commends "the conqueror's piety, his moderation, and his justice!"—Rowe's Dedication of Tamerlane.
Page 386 (1).—The desire of presenting the reader with a complete view of the actual state of the capital, at the time of its occupation by the Spaniards, has led me in this and the preceding chapter into a few repetitions of remarks on the Aztec institutions in the Introductory Book of this History.
Page 386 (2).—Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 12.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 80.—Rel. d'un gent., ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 309.
Page 392 (1).—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 84.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 85.—P. Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 3.—-Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 6. Bernal Diaz gives a very different report of this matter. According to him, a number of officers and soldiers, of whom he was one, suggested the capture of Montezuma to the general who came into the plan with hesitation. (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 93.) This is contrary to the character of Cortés, who was a man to lead, not to be led, on such occasions. It is contrary to the general report of Historians, though these, it must be confessed, are mainly built on the general’s narrative. It is contrary to anterior probability; since, if the conception seems almost too desperate to have seriously entered into the head of any one man, how much more improbable is it, that it should have originated with a number! Lastly, it is contrary to the positive written statement of Cortés to the emperor, publicly known and circulated, confirmed in print by his chaplain, Gomara, and all this when the thing wat fresh, and when the parties interested were alive to contradict it. We cannot but think that the captain here, as in the case of the burning of the ships, assumes rather more for himself and his comrades than the facts will strictly warrant; an oversight, for which the lapse of half a century—to say nothing of his avowed anxiety to show up the claims of the latter—may furnish some apology.
Page 392 (2).—Even Gomara has the candour to style it a "pretext"—achaque.—Crónica, cap. 83.
Page 392 (3).—Bernal Diaz states the affair, also, differently. According to him, the Aztec governor was enforcing the payment of the customary tribute from the Totonacs, when Escalante, interfering to protect his allies, now subjects of Spain, was slain in an action with the enemy. (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 93.) Cortés had the best means of knowing the facts, and wrote at the time. He does not usually shrink from avowing his policy, however severe, towards the natives; and I have thought it fair to give him the benefit of his own version of the story.
Page 393 (1).—Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 5.—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 83, 84. The apparition of the Virgin was seen only by the Aztecs, who, it is true, had to make out the best case for their defeat they could to Montezuma; a suspicious circumstance, which, however, did not stagger the Spaniards. "And indeed all we soldiers who went with Cortés believed this firmly; and it is true that the Divine mercy and Our Lady the Virgin Mary were always with us."-—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 93.
Page 399 (1).—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 8, cap. 3.
Page 399 (2).—On one occasion, three soldiers, who left their post without orders, were sentenced to run the gauntlet,—a punishment little short of death.—Ibid., ubi supra.
Page 399 (3).—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 97.
Page 399 (4).—"And after they had owned to the killing of the Spaniards, they were asked if they were vassals of Muteczuma. And the aforesaid Qualpopoca replied, was there any other lord whose vassal he could be? By this implying that there was no other lord and that they were his vassals."—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 87.
Page 407 (1).—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 96.
Page 408 (1).—Ibid. cap. 97.
Page 409 (1).—Ibid., cap. 98.
Page 409 (2).—According to Solis, the devil closed his heart against these good men; though, in the historian's opinion, there is no evidence that this evil counsellor actually appeared and conversed with Montezuma, after the Spaniards had displayed the Cross in Mexico.—Conquista, lib. 3, cap. 20.
Page 410 (1).—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 99.—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 88.
Page 410 (2).—He sometimes killed his game with a tube, a sort of air-gun, through which he blew little balls at birds and rabbits.
Page 411 (1).—Ante, Book I. Chap. VI.
Page 411 (2).—"This city is called Tezcuco, and has about thirty thousand householders." (Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 94.) According to the licentiate Zuazo double that number,—sesenta mil vecinos. (Carta, MS.) Scarcely probable, as Mexico had no more. Toribio speaks of it as covering a league one way, by six another! Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 7.) This must include the environs to a considerable extent. The language of the old chroniclers is not the most precise.
Page 411 (3).—The last relics of this palace were employed in the fortifications of the city in the revolutionary war of 1810. (Ixtlilxochitl, Venida de los Esp., p. 78, nota.) Tezcuco is now an insignificant little place, with a population of a few thousand inhabitants. Its architectural remains, as still to be discerned, seem to have made a stronger impression on Mr. Bullock than on most travellers.—Six Months in Mexico, chap. 27.
Page 415 (1).—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 95, 96.—Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 8.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 86. The latter author dismisses the capture of Cacama with the comfortable reflection, "that it saved the Spaniards much embarrassment, and greatly facilitated the introduction of the Catholic faith."
Page 415 (2).—Cortés calls the name of this prince Cucuzca.—In the orthography of Aztec words, the general was governed by his ear; and was wrong nine times out of ten.—Sahagun, probably regarding him as an intruder, has excluded his name from the royal roll of Tezcuco.— Hist. de Nueva España, lib. 8, cap. 3.
Page 415 (3).—The exceeding lenity of the Spanish commander, on this occasion, excited general admiration, if we are to credit Solis, throughout the Aztec empire! "This bloodless form of punishment won universal approbation throughout the whole realm; and it was attributed to the superior wisdom of the Spaniards, since no such moderation was expected from Montezuma."—Conquista, lib. 4, cap. 2.
Page 415 (4).—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 91.
Page 416 (1).—"I write what is reported," says Martyr, briefly, in reference to this valuation. (De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 3.) Cortés notices the reports made by his people, of large and beautiful edifices in the province of Oaxaca. (Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 89.) It is here, also, that some of the most elaborate specimens of Indian architecture are still to be seen in the ruins of Mitla.