Chapter I [1519]
PROCEEDINGS AT CEMPOALLA- THE SPANIARDS CLIMB THE TABLELAND-
TRANSACTIONS WITH THE NATIVES- EMBASSY TO TLASCALA
WHILE at Cempoalla, Cortes received a message from Escalante, his
commander at Villa Rica, informing him there were four strange ships
hovering off the coast, and that they took no notice of his repeated
signals. This intelligence greatly alarmed the general, who feared they
might be a squadron sent by the governor of Cuba to interfere with his
movements. In much haste, he set out at the head of a few horsemen, and,
ordering a party of light infantry to follow, posted back to Villa
Rica. The rest of the army he left in charge of Alvarado and of Gonzalo
de Sandoval, a young officer, who had begun to give evidence of the
uncommon qualities which have secured to him so distinguished a rank
among the conquerors of Mexico. Escalante would have persuaded the
general, on his reaching the town, to take some rest, and allow him to
go in search of the strangers; but Cortes replied with the homely
proverb, "A wounded hare takes no nap," and, without stopping to refresh
himself or his men, pushed on three or four leagues to the north, where
he understood the ships were at anchor. On the way, he fell in with
three Spaniards, just landed from them. To his eager inquiries whence
they came, they replied that they belonged to a squadron fitted out by
Francisco de Garay, governor of Jamaica. This person, the year previous,
had visited the Florida coast, and obtained from Spain- where he had
some interest at court- authority over the countries he might discover
in that vicinity. The three men, consisting of a notary and two
witnesses, had been sent on shore to warn their countrymen under Cortes
to desist from what was considered an encroachment on the territories of
Garay. Probably neither the governor of Jamaica, nor his officers, had
any very precise notion of the geography and limits of these
territories. Cortes saw at once there was nothing to apprehend from this
quarter. He would have been glad, however, if he could, by any means
have induced the crews of the ships to join his expedition. He found no
difficulty in persuading the notary and his companions. But when he came
in sight of the vessels, the people on board, distrusting the good
terms on which their comrades appeared to be with the Spaniards, refused
to send their boat ashore. In this dilemma, Cortes had recourse to a
stratagem. He ordered three of his own men to exchange dresses with the
new comers. He then drew off his little band in sight of the vessels,
affecting to return to the city. In the night, however, he came back to
the same place, and lay in ambush, directing the disguised Spaniards,
when the morning broke, and they could be discerned, to make signals to
those on board. The artifice succeeded. A boat put off, filled with
armed men, and three or four leaped on shore. But they soon detected the
deceit, and Cortes, springing from his ambush, made them prisoners.
Their comrades in the boat, alarmed, pushed off at once for the vessels,
which soon got under weigh, leaving those on shore to their fate. Thus
ended the affair. Cortes returned to Cempoalla, with the addition of
half a dozen able-bodied recruits, and, what was of more importance,
relieved in his own mind from the apprehension of interference with his
operations. He now made arrangements for his speedy departure from the
Totonac capital. The forces reserved for the expedition amounted to
about four hundred foot and fifteen horse, with seven pieces of
artillery. He obtained, also, thirteen hundred Indian warriors, and a
thousand tamanes, or porters, from the cacique of Cempoalla, to drag the
guns, and transport the baggage. He took forty more of their principal
men as hostages, as well as to guide him on the way, and serve him by
their counsels among the strange tribes he was to visit. They were of
essential service to him throughout the march. The remainder of his
Spanish force he left in garrison at Villa Rica de Vera Cruz, the
command of which he had intrusted to the alguacil, Juan de Escalante, an
officer devoted to his interests. The selection was judicious. It was
important to place there a man who would resist any hostile interference
from his European rivals, on the one hand, and maintain the present
friendly relations with the natives, on the other. Cortes recommended
the Totonac chiefs to apply to his officer, in case of any difficulty,
assuring them that, so long as they remained faithful to their new
sovereign and religion, they should find a sure protection in the
Spaniards. Before marching, the general spoke a few words of
encouragement to his own men. He told them they were now to embark in
earnest, on an enterprise which had been the great object of their
desires; and that the blessed Saviour would carry them victorious
through every battle with their enemies. "Indeed," he added, "this
assurance must be our stay, for every other refuge is now cut off, but
that afforded by the providence of God, and your own stout hearts." He
ended by comparing their achievements to those of the ancient Romans,
"in phrases of honeyed eloquence far beyond anything I can repeat," says
the brave and simple-hearted Bernal Diaz, who heard them. Cortes was,
indeed, master of that eloquence which went to the soldiers' hearts. For
their sympathies were his, and he shared in that romantic spirit of
adventure which belonged to them. "We are ready to obey you," they cried
as with one voice. "Our fortunes, for better or worse, are cast with
yours." Taking leave, therefore, of their hospitable Indian friends, the
little army, buoyant with high hopes and lofty plans of conquest, set
forward on the march to Mexico, the sixteenth of August, 1519. After
some leagues of travel over roads made nearly impassable by the summer
rains, the troops began the gradual ascent- more gradual on the eastern
than the western declivities of the Cordilleras- which leads up to the
tableland of Mexico. At the close of the second day, they reached
Xalapa, a place still retaining the same Aztec name that it has
communicated to the drug raised in its environs, the medicinal virtues
of which are now known throughout the world.* Still winding their way
upward, the army passed through settlements containing some hundreds of
inhabitants each, and on the fourth day reached a "strong town," as
Cortes terms it, standing on a rocky eminence, supposed to be that now
known by the Mexican name of Naulinco. Here they were hospitably
entertained by the inhabitants, who were friends of the Totonacs. Cortes
endeavoured, through Father Olmedo, to impart to them some knowledge of
Christian truths, which were kindly received, and the Spaniards were
allowed to erect a cross in the place, for the future adoration of the
natives. Indeed, the route of the army might be tracked by these emblems
of man's salvation, raised wherever a willing population of Indians
invited it. * Jalap, Convolvulus jalapa. The x and j are convertible
consonants in the Castilian. The troops now entered a rugged defile, the
Bishop's Pass, as it is called, capable of easy defence against an
army. Very soon they experienced a most unwelcome change of climate.
Cold winds from the mountains, mingled with rain, and, as they rose
still higher, with driving sleet and hail, drenched their garments, and
seemed to penetrate to their very bones. The Spaniards, indeed,
partially covered by their armour and thick jackets of quilted cotton,
were better able to resist the weather, though their long residence in
the sultry regions of the valley made them still keenly sensible to the
annoyance. But the poor Indians, natives of the tierra caliente, with
little protection in the way of covering, sunk under the rude assault of
the elements, and several of them perished on the road. The aspect of
the country was as wild and dreary as the climate. Their route wound
along the spur of the huge Cofre of Perote, which borrows its name from
the coffer-like rock on its summit. It is one of the great volcanoes of
New Spain. It exhibits now, indeed, no vestige of a crater on its top,
but abundant traces of volcanic action at its base, where acres of lava,
blackened scoriae, and cinders, proclaim the convulsions of nature,
while numerous shrubs and mouldering trunks of enormous trees, among the
crevices, attest the antiquity of these events. Working their toilsome
way across this scene of desolation, the path often led them along the
border of precipices, down whose sheer depths of two or three thousand
feet the shrinking eye might behold another climate, and see all the
glowing vegetation of the tropics choking up the bottom of the ravines.
After three days of this fatiguing travel, the way-worn army emerged
through another defile, the Sierra del Agua. They soon came upon an open
reach of country, with a genial climate, such as belongs to the
temperate latitudes of southern Europe. They had reached the level of
more than seven thousand feet above the ocean, where the great sheet of
tableland spreads out for hundreds of miles along the crests of the
Cordilleras. The country showed signs of careful cultivation, but the
products were, for the most part, not familiar to the eyes of the
Spaniards. Fields and hedges of the various tribes of the cactus, the
towering organum, and plantations of aloes with rich yellow clusters of
flowers on their tall stems, affording drink and clothing to the Aztec,
were everywhere seen. The plants of the torrid and temperate zones had
disappeared, one after another, with the ascent into these elevated
regions. The glossy and dark-leaved banana, the chief, as it is the
cheapest, aliment of the countries below, had long since faded from the
landscape. The hardy maize, however, still shone with its golden
harvests in all the pride of cultivation, the great staple of the higher
equally with the lower terraces of the plateau. Suddenly the troops
came upon what seemed the environs of a populous city, which, as they
entered it, appeared to surpass even that of Cempoalla in the size and
solidity of its structures. These were of stone and lime, many of them
spacious and tolerably high. There were thirteen teocallis in the place;
and in the suburbs they had seen a receptacle, in which, according to
Bernal Diaz, were stored a hundred thousand skulls of human victims, all
piled and ranged in order! He reports the number as one he had
ascertained by counting them himself. Whatever faith we may attach to
the precise accuracy of his figures, the result is almost equally
startling. The Spaniards were destined to become familiar with this
appalling spectacle, as they approached nearer to the Aztec capital. The
lord of the town ruled over twenty thousand vassals. He was tributary
to Montezuma, and a strong Mexican garrison was quartered in the place.
He had probably been advised of the approach of the Spaniards, and
doubted how far it would be welcome to his sovereign. At all events, he
gave them a cold reception, the more unpalatable after the extraordinary
sufferings of the last few days. To the inquiry of Cortes, whether he
were subject to Montezuma, he answered with real or affected surprise,
"Who is there that is not a vassal to Montezuma?" The general told him,
with some emphasis, that he was not. He then explained whence and why he
came, assuring him that he served a monarch who had princes for his
vassals as powerful as the Aztec monarch himself. The cacique in turn
fell nothing short of the Spaniard in the pompous display of the
grandeur and resources of the Indian emperor. He told his guest that
Montezuma could muster thirty great vassals, each master of a hundred
thousand men! His revenues were immense, as every subject, however poor,
paid something. They were all expended on his magnificent state, and in
support of his armies. These were continually in the field, while
garrisons were maintained in most of the large cities of the empire.
More than twenty thousand victims, the fruit of his wars, were annually
sacrificed on the altars of his gods! His capital, the cacique said,
stood in a lake in the centre of a spacious valley. The lake was
commanded by the emperor's vessels, and the approach to the city was by
means of causeways, several miles long, connected in parts by wooden
bridges, which, when raised, cut off all communication with the country.
Some other things he added, in answer to queries of his guest, in which
as the reader may imagine, the crafty or credulous cacique varnished
over the truth with a lively colouring of romance. Whether romance or
reality, the Spaniards could not determine. The particulars they gleaned
were not of a kind to tranquillise their minds, and might well have
made bolder hearts than theirs pause, ere they advanced. But far from
it. "The words which we heard," says the stout old cavalier, so often
quoted, "however they may have filled us with wonder, made us- such is
the temper of the Spaniard- only the more earnest to prove the
adventure, desperate as it might appear." In a further conversation
Cortes inquired of the chief whether his country abounded in gold, and
intimated a desire to take home some, as specimens to his sovereign. But
the Indian lord declined to give him any, saying it might displease
Montezuma. "Should he command it," he added, "My gold, my person, and
all I possess, shall be at your disposal." The general did not press the
matter further. The curiosity of the natives was naturally excited by
the strange dresses, weapons, horses, and dogs of the Spaniards. Marina,
in satisfying their inquiries, took occasion to magnify the prowess of
her adopted countrymen, expatiating on their exploits and victories, and
stating the extraordinary marks of respect they had received from
Montezuma. This intelligence seems to have had its effect; for soon
after, the cacique gave the general some curious trinkets of gold, of no
great value, indeed, but as a testimony of his good will. He sent him,
also, some female slaves to prepare bread for the troops, and supplied
the means of refreshment and repose, more important to them, in the
present juncture, than all the gold of Mexico. The Spanish general, as
usual, did not neglect the occasion to inculcate the great truths of
revelation on his host, and to display the atrocity of the Indian
superstitions. The cacique listened with civil, but cold indifference.
Cortes, finding him unmoved, turned briskly round to his soldiers,
exclaiming that now was the time to Plant the Cross! They eagerly
seconded his pious purpose, and the same scenes might have been enacted
as at Cempoalla, with, perhaps, very different results, had not Father
Olmedo, with better judgment, interposed. He represented that to
introduce the Cross among the natives, in their present state of
ignorance and incredulity, would be to expose the sacred symbol to
desecration, so soon as the backs of the Spaniards were turned. The only
way was to wait patiently the season when more leisure should be
afforded to instil into their minds a knowledge of the truth. The sober
reasoning of the good father prevailed over the passions of the martial
enthusiasts. The Spanish commander remained in the city four or five
days to recruit his fatigued and famished forces. Their route now opened
on a broad and verdant valley, watered by a noble stream,- a
circumstance of not too frequent occurrence on the parched tableland of
New Spain. All along the river, on both sides of it, an unbroken line of
Indian dwellings, "so near as almost to touch one another," extended
for three or four leagues; arguing a population much denser than at
present. On a rough and rising ground stood a town, that might contain
five or six thousand inhabitants, commanded by a fortress, which, with
its walls and trenches, seemed to the Spaniards quite "on a level with
similar works in Europe." Here the troops again halted, and met with
friendly treatment. Cortes now determined his future line of march. At
the last place he had been counselled by the natives to take the route
of the ancient city of Cholula, the inhabitants of which, subjects of
Montezuma, were a mild race, devoted to mechanical and other peaceful
arts, and would be likely to entertain him kindly. Their Cempoalla
allies, however, advised the Spaniards not to trust the Cholulans, "a
false and perfidious people," but to take the road to Tlazcala, that
valiant little republic which had so long maintained its independence
against the arms of Mexico. The people were frank as they were fearless,
and fair in their dealings. They had always been on terms of amity with
the Totonacs, which afforded a strong guarantee for their amicable
disposition on the present occasion. The arguments of his Indian allies
prevailed with the Spanish commander, who resolved to propitiate the
good will of the Tlascalans by an embassy. He selected four of the
principal Cempoallans for this, and sent by them a martial gift,- a cap
of crimson cloth, together with a sword and a crossbow, weapons which,
it was observed, excited general admiration among the natives. He added a
letter, in which he asked permission to pass through their country. He
expressed his admiration of the valour of the Tlascalans, and of their
long resistance to the Aztecs, whose proud empire he designed to humble.
It was not to be expected that this epistle, indited in good Castilian,
would be very intelligible to the Tlascalans. But Cortes communicated
its import to the ambassadors. It mysterious characters might impress
the natives with an idea of superior intelligence, and the letters serve
instead of those hieroglyphical missives which formed the usual
credentials of an Indian ambassador. The Spaniards remained three days
in this hospitable place, after the departure of the envoys, when they
resumed their progress. Although in a friendly country, they marched
always as if in a land of enemies, the horse and light troops in the
van, with the heavy-armed and baggage in the rear, all in battle array.
They were never without their armour, waking or sleeping, lying down
with their weapons by their sides. This unintermitting and restless
vigilance was, perhaps, more oppressive to the spirits than even bodily
fatigue. But they were confident in their superiority in a fair field,
and felt that the most serious danger they had to fear from Indian
warfare was surprise. "We are few against many, brave companions,"
Cortes would say to them; "be prepared, then, not as if you were going
to battle, but as if actually in the midst of it!" The road taken by the
Spaniards was the same which at present leads to Tlazcala; not that,
however, usually followed in passing from Vera Cruz to the capital,
which makes a circuit considerably to the south, towards Puebla, in the
neighbourhood of the ancient Cholula. They more than once forded the
stream that rolls through this beautiful plain, lingering several days
on the way, in hopes of receiving an answer from the Indian republic.
The unexpected delay of the messengers could not be explained and
occasioned some uneasiness. As they advanced into a country of rougher
and bolder features, their progress was suddenly arrested by a
remarkable fortification. It was a stone wall nine feet in height, and
twenty in thickness, with a parapet a foot and a half broad, raised on
the summit for the protection of those who defended it. It had only one
opening, in the centre, made by two semicircular lines of wall,
overlapping each other for the space of forty paces, and affording a
passageway between, ten paces wide, so contrived, therefore, as to be
perfectly commanded by the inner wall. This fortification, which
extended more than two leagues, rested at either end on the bold natural
buttresses formed by the sierra. The work was built of immense blocks
of stones nicely laid together without cement; and the remains still
existing, among which are rocks of the whole breadth of the rampart,
fully attest its solidity and size. This singular structure marked the
limits of Tlazcala, and was intended, as the natives told the Spaniards,
as a barrier against the Mexican invasions. The army paused, filled
with amazement at the contemplation of this Cyclopean monument, which
naturally suggested reflections on the strength and resources of the
people who had raised it. It caused them, too, some painful solicitude
as to the probable result of their mission to Tlazcala, and their own
consequent reception there. But they were too sanguine to allow such
uncomfortable surmises long to dwell in their minds. Cortes put himself
at the head of his cavalry, and calling out, "Forward, soldiers, the
Holy Cross is our banner, and under that we shall conquer," led his
little army through the undefended passage, and in a few moments they
trod the soil of the free republic of Tlazcala.
Chapter II [1519]
REPUBLIC OF TLASCALA- ITS INSTITUTIONS- ITS EARLY HISTORY- THE
DISCUSSIONS IN THE SENATE- DESPERATE BATTLES
BEFORE advancing further with the Spaniards into the territory of
Tlazcala, it will be well to notice some traits in the character and
institutions of the nation, in many respects the most remarkable in
Anahuac. The Tlascalans belonged to the same great family with the
Aztecs. They came on the grand plateau about the same time with the
kindred races, at the close of the twelfth century, and planted
themselves on the western borders of the lake of Tezcoco. Here they
remained many years engaged in the usual pursuits of a bold and
partially civilised people. From some cause or other, perhaps their
turbulent temper, they incurred the enmity of surrounding tribes. A
coalition was formed against them; and a bloody battle was fought on the
plains of Poyauhtlan, in which the Tlascalans were completely
victorious. Disgusted, however, with residence among nations with whom
they found so little favour, the conquering people resolved to migrate.
They separated into three divisions, the largest of which, taking a
southern course by the great volcan of Mexico, wound round the ancient
city of Cholula, and finally settled in the district of country
overshadowed by the sierra of Tlazcala. The warm and fruitful valleys
locked up in the embraces of this rugged brotherhood of mountains,
afforded means of subsistence for an agricultural people, while the bold
eminences of the sierra presented secure positions for their towns.
After the lapse of years, the institutions of the nation underwent an
important change. The monarchy was divided first into two, afterwards
into four separate states, bound together by a sort of federal compact,
probably not very nicely defined. Each state, however, had its lord or
supreme chief, independent in his own territories, and possessed of
co-ordinate authority with the others in all matters concerning the
whole republic. The affairs of government, especially all those relating
to peace and war, were settled in a senate or council, consisting of
the four lords with their inferior nobles. The lower dignitaries held of
the superior, each in his own district, by a kind of feudal tenure,
being bound to supply his table, and enable him to maintain his state in
peace, as well as to serve him in war. In return he experienced the aid
and protection of his suzerain. The same mutual obligations existed
between him and the followers among whom his own territories were
distributed. Thus a chain of feudal dependencies was established, which,
if not contrived with all the art and legal refinements of analogous
institutions in the Old World, displayed their most prominent
characteristics in its personal relations, the obligations of military
service on the one hand, and protection on the other. This form of
government, so different from that of the surrounding nations, subsisted
till the arrival of the Spaniards. And it is certainly evidence of
considerable civilisation, that so complex a polity should have so long
continued undisturbed by violence or faction in the confederate states,
and should have been found competent to protect the people in their
rights, and the country from foreign invasion. The lowest order of the
people, however, do not seem to have enjoyed higher immunities than
under the monarchical governments; and their rank was carefully defined
by an appropriate dress, and by their exclusion from the insignia of the
aristocratic orders. The nation, agricultural in its habits, reserved
its highest honours, like most other rude-unhappily also,
civilised-nations, for military prowess. Public games were instituted,
and prizes decreed to those who excelled in such manly and athletic
exercises as might train them for the fatigues of war. Triumphs were
granted to the victorious general, who entered the city, leading his
spoils and captives in long procession, while his achievements were
commemorated in national songs, and his effigy, whether in wood or
stone, was erected in the temples. It was truly in the martial spirit of
republican Rome. An institution not unlike knighthood was introduced,
very similar to one existing also among the Aztecs. The aspirant to the
honours of this barbaric chivalry watched his arms and fasted fifty or
sixty days in the temple, then listened to a grave discourse on the
duties of his new profession. Various whimsical ceremonies followed,
when his arms were restored to him; he was led in solemn procession
through the public streets, and the inauguration was concluded by
banquets and public rejoicings. The new knight was distinguished
henceforth by certain peculiar privileges, as well as by a badge
intimating his rank. It is worthy of remark, that this honour was not
reserved exclusively for military merit; but was the recompense, also,
of public services of other kinds, as wisdom in council, or sagacity and
success in trade. For trade was held in as high estimation by the
Tlascalans as by the other people of Anahuac. The temperate climate of
the tableland furnished the ready means for distant traffic. The
fruitfulness of the soil was indicated by the name of the country,-
Tlazcala signifying the "land of bread." Its wide plains, to the slopes
of its rocky hills, waved with yellow harvests of maize, and with the
bountiful maguey, a plant which, as we have seen, supplied the materials
for some important fabrics. With these, as well as the products of
agricultural industry, the merchant found his way down the sides of the
Cordilleras, wandered over the sunny regions at their base, and brought
back the luxuries which nature had denied to his own. The various arts
of civilisation kept pace with increasing wealth and public prosperity;
at least these arts were cultivated to the same limited extent,
apparently, as among the other people of Anahuac. The Tlascalan tongue,
says the national historian, simple as beseemed that of a mountain
region, was rough compared with the polished Tezcocan, or the popular
Aztec dialect, and, therefore, not so well fitted for composition. But
they made like proficiency with the kindred nations in the rudiments of
science. Their calendar was formed on the same plan. Their religion,
their architecture, many of their laws and social usages were the same,
arguing a common origin for all. Their tutelary deity was the same
ferocious war-god as that of the Aztecs, though with a different name;
their temples, in like manner, were drenched with the blood of human
victims, and their boards groaned with the same cannibal repasts. Though
not ambitious of foreign conquest, the prosperity of the Tlascalans, in
time, excited the jealousy of their neighbours, and especially of the
opulent state of Cholula. Frequent hostilities arose between them, in
which the advantage was almost always on the side of the former. A still
more formidable foe appeared in later days in the Aztecs; who could ill
brook the independence of Tlazcala, when the surrounding nations had
acknowledged, one after another, their influence or their empire. Under
the ambitious Axayacatl, they demanded of the Tlascalans the same
tribute and obedience rendered by other people of the country. If it
were refused, the Aztecs would raze their cities to their foundations,
and deliver the land to their enemies. To this imperious summons, the
little republic proudly replied, "Neither they nor their ancestors had
ever paid tribute or homage to a foreign power, and never would pay it.
If their country was invaded, they knew how to defend it, and would pour
out their blood as freely in defence of their freedom now, as their
fathers did of yore, when they routed the Aztecs on the plains of
Poyauhtlan!" This resolute answer brought on them the forces of the
monarchy. A pitched battle followed, and the sturdy republicans were
victorious. From this period hostilities between the two nations
continued with more or less activity, but with unsparing ferocity. Every
captive was mercilessly sacrificed. The children were trained from the
cradle to deadly hatred against the Mexicans; and, even in the brief
intervals of war, none of those intermarriages took place between the
people of the respective countries which knit together in social bonds
most of the other kindred races of Anahuac. In this struggle, the
Tlascalans received an important support in the accession of the
Othomis, or Otomies,- as usually spelt by Castilian writers,- a wild and
warlike race originally spread over the tableland north of the Mexican
valley. A portion of them obtained a settlement in the republic, and
were speedily incorporated in its armies. Their courage and fidelity to
the nation of their adoption showed them worthy of trust, and the
frontier places were consigned to their keeping. The mountain barriers,
by which Tlazcala is encompassed, afforded many strong natural positions
for defence against invasion. The country was open towards the east,
where a valley, of some six miles in breadth, invited the approach of an
enemy. But here it was, that the jealous Tlascalans erected the
formidable rampart which had excited the admiration of the Spaniards,
and which they manned with a garrison of Otomies. Efforts for their
subjugation were renewed on a greater scale, after the accession of
Montezuma. His victorious arms had spread down the declivities of the
Andes to the distant provinces of Vera Paz and Nicaragua, and his
haughty spirit was chafed by the opposition of a petty state, whose
territorial extent did not exceed ten leagues in breadth by fifteen in
length. He sent an army against them under the command of a favourite
son. His troops were beaten and his son was slain. The enraged and
mortified monarch was roused to still greater preparations. He enlisted
the forces of the cities bordering on his enemy, together with those of
the empire, and with this formidable army swept over the devoted valleys
of Tlazcala. But the bold mountaineers withdrew into the recesses of
their hills, and, coolly awaiting their opportunity, rushed like a
torrent on the invaders, and drove them back, with dreadful slaughter,
from their territories. Still, notwithstanding the advantages gained
over the enemy in the field, the Tlascalans were sorely pressed by their
long hostilities with a foe so far superior to themselves in numbers
and resources. The Aztec armies lay between them and the coast, cutting
off all communication with that prolific region, and thus limited their
supplies to the products of their own soil and manufacture. For more
than half a century they had neither cotton, nor cacao, nor salt.
Indeed, their taste had been so far affected by long abstinence from
these articles, that it required the lapse of several generations after
the Conquest to reconcile them to the use of salt at their meals. During
the short intervals of war, it is said, the Aztec nobles, in the true
spirit of chivalry, sent supplies of these commodities as presents, with
many courteous expressions of respect, to the Tlascalan chiefs. This
intercourse, we are assured by the Indian chronicler, was unsuspected by
the people. Nor did it lead to any further correspondence, he adds,
between the parties, prejudicial to the liberties of the republic,
"which maintained its customs and good government inviolate, and the
worship of its gods." Such was the condition of Tlazcala, at the coming
of the Spaniards; holding, it might seem, a precarious existence under
the shadow of the formidable power which seemed suspended like an
avalanche over her head, but still strong in her own resources, stronger
in the indomitable temper of her people; with a reputation established
throughout the land for good faith and moderation in peace, for valour
in war, while her uncompromising spirit of independence secured the
respect even of her enemies. With such qualities of character, and with
an animosity sharpened by long, deadly hostility with Mexico, her
alliance was obviously of the last importance to the Spaniards, in their
present enterprise. It was not easy to secure it. The Tlascalans had
been made acquainted with the advance and victorious career of the
Christians, the intelligence of which had spread far and wide over the
plateau. But they do not seem to have anticipated the approach of the
strangers to their own borders. They were now much embarrassed by the
embassy demanding a passage through their territories. The great council
was convened, and a considerable difference of opinion prevailed in its
members. Some, adopting the popular superstition, supposed the
Spaniards might be the white and bearded men foretold by the oracles. At
all events, they were the enemies of Mexico, and as such might
co-operate with them in their struggle with the empire. Others argued
that the strangers could have nothing in common with them. Their march
throughout the land might be tracked by the broken images of the Indian
gods, and desecrated temples. How did the Tlascalans even know that they
were foes to Montezuma? They had received his embassies, accepted his
presents, and were now in the company of his vassals on the way to his
capital. These last were the reflections of an aged chief, one of the
four who presided over the republic. His name was Xicontecatl. He was
nearly blind, having lived, as is said, far beyond the limits of a
century. His son, an impetuous young man of the same name with himself,
commanded a powerful army of Tlascalan and Otomie warriors, near the
eastern frontier. It would be best, the old man said, to fall with this
force at once on the Spaniards. If victorious, the latter would then be
in their power. If defeated, the senate could disown the act as that of
the general, not of the republic. The cunning counsel of the chief found
favour with his hearers, though assuredly not in the spirit of
chivalry, nor of the good faith for which his countrymen were
celebrated. But with an Indian, force and stratagem, courage and deceit,
were equally admissible in war, as they were among the barbarians of
ancient Rome.- The Cempoallan envoys were to be detained under pretence
of assisting at a religious sacrifice. Meanwhile, Cortes and his gallant
band, as stated in the preceding chapter, had arrived before the rocky
rampart on the eastern confines of Tlazcala. From some cause or other,
it was not manned by its Otomie garrison, and the Spaniards passed in,
as we have seen, without resistance. Cortes rode at the head of his body
of horse, and, ordering the infantry to come on at a quick pace, went
forward to reconnoitre. After advancing three or four leagues, he
descried a small party of Indians, armed with sword and buckler, in the
fashion of the country. They fled at his approach. He made signs for
them to halt, but, seeing that they only fled the faster, he and his
companions put spurs to their horses, and soon came up with them. The
Indians, finding escape impossible, faced round, and, instead of showing
the accustomed terror of the natives at the strange and appalling
aspect of a mounted trooper, they commenced a furious assault on the
cavaliers. The latter, however, were too strong for them, and would have
cut their enemy to pieces without much difficulty, when a body of
several thousand Indians appeared in sight, and coming briskly on to the
support of their countrymen. Cortes, seeing them, despatched one of his
party, in all haste, to accelerate the march of his infantry. The
Indians, after discharging their missiles, fell furiously on the little
band of Spaniards. They strove to tear the lances from their grasp, and
to drag the riders from the horses. They brought one cavalier to the
ground, who afterwards died of his wounds, and they killed two of the
horses, cutting through their necks with their stout broadswords- if we
may believe the chronicler- at a blow. In the narrative of these
campaigns, there is sometimes but one step- and that a short one- from
history lo romance. The loss of the horses, so important and so few in
number, was seriously felt by Cortes, who could have better spared the
life of the best rider in the troop. The struggle was a hard one. But
the odds were as overwhelming as any recorded by the Spaniards in their
own romances, where a handful of knights is arrayed against legions of
enemies. The lances of the Christians did terrible execution here also;
but they had need of the magic lance of Astolpho, that overturned
myriads with a touch, to carry them safe through so unequal a contest.
It was with no little satisfaction, therefore, that they beheld their
comrades rapidly advancing to their support. No sooner had the main body
reached the field of battle, than, hastily forming, they poured such a
volley from their muskets and crossbows as staggered the enemy.
Astounded, rather than intimidated, by the terrible report of the
firearms, now heard for the first time in these regions, the Indians
made no further effort to continue the fight, but drew off in good
order, leaving the road open to the Spaniards. The latter, too well
satisfied to be rid of the annoyance, to care to follow the retreating
foe, again held on their way. Their route took them through a country
sprinkled over with Indian cottages, amidst flourishing fields of maize
and maguey, indicating an industrious and thriving peasantry. They were
met here by two Tlascalans envoys, accompanied by two of the
Cempoallans. The former, presenting themselves before the general,
disavowed the assault on his troops as an unauthorised act, and assured
him of a friendly reception at their capital. Cortes received the
communication in a courteous manner, affecting to place more confidence
in its good faith than he probably felt. It was now growing late, and
the Spaniards quickened their march, anxious to reach a favourable
ground for encampment before nightfall. They found such a spot on the
borders of a stream that rolled sluggishly across the plain. A few
deserted cottages stood along the banks, and the fatigued and famished
soldiers ransacked them in quest of food. All they could find was some
tame animals resembling dogs. These they killed and dressed without
ceremony, and, garnishing their unsavoury repast with the fruit of the
tuna, the Indian fig, which grew wild in the neighbourhood, they
contrived to satisfy the cravings of appetite. A careful watch was
maintained by Cortes, and companies of a hundred men each relieved each
other in mounting guard through the night. But no attack was made.
Hostilities by night were contrary to the system of Indian tactics. By
break of day on the following morning, it being the 2nd of September,
the troops were under arms. Besides the Spaniards, the whole number of
Indian auxiliaries might now amount to three thousand; for Cortes had
gathered recruits from the friendly places on his route; three hundred
from the last. After hearing mass, they resumed their march. They moved
in close array; the general had previously admonished the men not to lag
behind, or wander from the ranks a moment, as stragglers would be sure
to be cut off by their stealthy and vigilant enemy. The horsemen rode
three abreast, the better to give one another support; and Cortes
instructed them in the heat of fight to keep together, and never to
charge singly. He taught them how to carry their lances, that they might
not be wrested from their hands by the Indians, who constantly
attempted it. For the same reason they should avoid giving thrusts, but
aim their weapons steadily at the faces of their foes. They had not
proceeded far, when they were met by the two remaining Cempoallan
envoys, who with looks of terror informed the general, that they had
been treacherously seized and confined, in order to be sacrificed at an
approaching festival of the Tlascalans, but in the night had succeeded
in making their escape. They gave the unwelcome tidings, also, that a
large force of the natives was already assembled to oppose the progress
of the Spaniards. Soon after, they came in sight of a body of Indians,
about a thousand, apparently all armed and brandishing their weapons, as
the Christians approached, in token of defiance. Cortes, when he had
come within hearing, ordered the interpreters to proclaim that he had no
hostile intentions; but wished only to be allowed a passage through
their country, which he had entered as a friend. This declaration he
commanded the royal notary, Godoy, to record on the spot, that, if blood
were shed, it might not be charged on the Spaniards. This pacific
proclamation was met, as usual on such occasions, by a shower of darts,
stones, and arrows, which fell like rain on the Spaniards, rattling on
their stout harness, and in some instances penetrating to the skin.
Galled by the smart of their wounds, they called on the general to lead
them on, till he sounded the well-known battle-cry, "St. Jago, and at
them!" The Indians maintained their ground for a while with spirit, when
they retreated with precipitation, but not in disorder. The Spaniards,
whose blood was heated by the encounter, followed up their advantage
with more zeal than prudence, suffering the wily enemy to draw them into
a narrow glen or defile, intersected by a little stream of water, where
the broken ground was impracticable for artillery, as well as for the
movements of cavalry. Pressing forward with eagerness, to extricate
themselves from their perilous position, to their great dismay, on
turning an abrupt angle of the pass, they came in presence of a numerous
army choking up the gorge of the valley, and stretching far over the
plains beyond. To the astonished eyes of Cortes, they appeared a hundred
thousand men, while no account estimates them at less than thirty
thousand.* * As this was only one of several armies kept on foot by the
Tlascalans, the smallest amount is, 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. They presented a confused assemblage of helmets, weapons, and
many-coloured plumes, glancing bright in the morning sun, and mingled
with banners, above which proudly floated one that bore as a device the
heron on a rock. It was the well-known ensign of the house of Titcala,
and, as well as the white and yellow stripes on the bodies, and the like
colours on the feather-mail of the Indians, showed that they were the
warriors of Xicotencatl. As the Spaniards came in sight, the Tlascalans
set up a hideous war-cry, or rather whistle, piercing the ear with its
shrillness, and which, with the beat of their melancholy drums, that
could be heard for half a league or more, might well have filled the
stoutest heart with dismay. This formidable host came rolling on towards
the Christians, as if to overwhelm them by their very numbers. But the
courageous band of warriors, closely serried together and sheltered
under their strong panoplies, received the shock unshaken, while the
broken masses of the enemy, chafing and heaving tumultuously around
them, seemed to recede only to return with new and accumulated force.
Cortes, as usual, in the front of danger, in vain endeavoured, at the
head of the horse, to open a passage for the infantry. Still his men,
both cavalry and foot, kept their array unbroken, offering no assailable
point to their foe. A body of the Tlascalans, however, acting in
concert, assaulted a soldier named Moran, one of the best riders in the
troop. They succeeded in dragging him from his horse, which they
despatched with a thousand blows. The Spaniards, on foot, made a
desperate effort to rescue their comrade from the hands of the enemy,-
and from the horrible doom of the captive. A fierce struggle now began
over the body of the prostrate horse. Ten of the Spaniards were wounded,
when they succeeded in retrieving the unfortunate cavalier from his
assailants, but in so disastrous a plight that he died on the following
day. The horse was borne off in triumph by the Indians, and his mangled
remains were sent, a strange trophy, to the different towns of Tlazcala.
The circumstance troubled the Spanish commander, as it divested the
animal of the supernatural terrors with which the superstition of the
natives had usually surrounded it. To prevent such a consequence, he had
caused the two horses, killed on the preceding day, to be secretly
buried on the spot. The enemy now began to give ground gradually, borne
down by the riders, and trampled under the hoofs of their horses.
Through the whole of this sharp encounter, the Indian allies were of
great service to the Spaniards. They rushed into the water, and grappled
their enemies, with the desperation of men who felt that "their only
safety was in the despair of safety." "I see nothing but death for us,"
exclaimed a Cempoallan chief to Marina; "we shall never get through the
pass alive." "The God of the Christians is with us," answered the
intrepid woman; "and He will carry us safely through." Amidst the din of
battle the voice of Cortes was heard, cheering on his soldiers. "If we
fail now," he cried, "the cross of Christ can never be planted in the
land. Forward, comrades! When was it ever known that a Castilian turned
his back on a foe?" Animated by the words and heroic bearing of their
general, the soldiers, with desperate efforts, at length succeeded in
forcing a passage through the dark columns of the enemy, and emerged
from the defile on the open plain beyond. Here they quickly recovered
their confidence with their superiority. The horse soon opened a space
for the manoeuvres of artillery. The close files of their antagonists
presented a sure mark; and the thunders of the ordnance vomiting forth
torrents of fire and sulphurous smoke, the wide desolation caused in
their ranks, and the strangely mangled carcasses of the slain, filled
the barbarians with consternation and horror. They had no weapons to
cope with these terrible engines, and their clumsy missiles, discharged
from uncertain hands, seemed to fall ineffectual on the charmed heads of
the Christians. What added to their embarrassment was, the desire to
carry off the dead and wounded from the field, a general practice among
the people of Anahuac, but which necessarily exposed them, while thus
employed, to still greater loss. Eight of their principal chiefs had now
fallen; and Xicotencatl, finding himself wholly unable to make head
against the Spaniards in the open field, ordered a retreat. Far from the
confusion of a panic-struck mob, so common among barbarians, the
Tlascalan force moved off the ground with all the order of a
well-disciplined army. Cortes, as on the preceding day, was too well
satisfied with his present advantage to desire to follow it up. It was
within an hour of sunset, and he was anxious before nightfall to secure a
good position, where he might refresh his wounded troops, and bivouac
for the night. Gathering up his wounded, he held on his way, without
loss of time; and before dusk reached a rocky eminence, called
Tzompachtepetl, or "the hill of Tzompach," crowned by a sort of tower or
temple. His first care was given to the wounded, both men and horses.
Fortunately, an abundance of provisions was found in some neighbouring
cottages; and the soldiers, at least all who were not disabled by their
injuries, celebrated the victory of the day with feasting and rejoicing.
As to the number of killed or wounded on either side, it is matter of
loosest conjecture. The Indians must have suffered severely, but the
practice of carrying off the dead from the field made it impossible to
know to what extent. The injury sustained by the Spaniards appears to
have been principally in the number of their wounded. The great object
of the natives of Anahuac in their battles was to make prisoners, who
might grace their triumphs, and supply victims for sacrifice. To this
brutal superstition the Christians were indebted, in no slight degree,
for their personal preservation. To take the reports of the Conquerors,
their own losses in action were always inconsiderable. But whoever has
had occasion to consult the ancient chroniclers of Spain in relation to
its wars with the infidel, whether Arab or American, will place little
confidence in numbers.* * According to Cortes not a Spaniard fell-
though many were wounded- in this action so fatal to the infidel! Diaz
allows one. The events of the day had suggested many topics for painful
reflection to Cortes. He had nowhere met with so determined a resistance
within the borders of Anahuac; nowhere had he encountered native troops
so formidable for their, weapons, their discipline, and their valour.
Far from manifesting the superstitious terrors felt by the other Indians
at the strange arms and aspect of the Spaniards, the Tlascalans had
boldly grappled with their enemy, and only yielded to the inevitable
superiority of his military science. How important would the alliance of
such a nation be in a struggle with those of their own race- for
example, with the Aztecs! But how was he to secure this alliance?
Hitherto, all overtures had been rejected with disdain; and it seemed
probable, that every step of his progress in this populous land was to
be fiercely contested. His army, especially the Indians, celebrated the
events of the day with feasting and dancing, songs of merriment, and
shouts of triumph. Cortes encouraged it, well knowing how important it
was to keep up the spirits of his soldiers. But the sounds of revelry at
length died away; and in the still watches of the night, many an
anxious thought must have crowded on the mind of the general, while his
little army lay buried in slumber in its encampment around the Indian
hill.
Chapter III [1519]
DECISIVE VICTORY- INDIAN COUNCIL- NIGHT ATTACK- NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE
ENEMY- TLASCALAN HERO
THE Spaniards were allowed to repose undisturbed the following day, and
to recruit their strength after the fatigue and hard fighting on the
preceding. They found sufficient employment, however, in repairing and
cleaning their weapons, replenishing their diminished stock of arrows,
and getting everything in order for further hostilities, should the
severe lesson they had inflicted on the enemy prove insufficient to
discourage him. On the second day, as Cortes received no overtures from
the Tlascalans, he determined to send an embassy to their camp,
proposing a cessation of hostilities, and expressing his intention to
visit their capital as a friend. He selected two of the principal chiefs
taken in the late engagement as the bearers of the message. Meanwhile,
averse to leaving his men longer in a dangerous state of inaction, which
the enemy might interpret as the result of timidity or exhaustion, he
put himself at the head of the cavalry and such light troops as were
most fit for service, and made a foray into the neighbouring country. It
was a montainous region, formed by a. ramification of the great sierra
of Tlazcala, with verdant slopes and valleys teeming with maize and
plantations of maguey, while the eminences were crowned with populous
towns and villages. In one of these, he tells us, he found three
thousand dwellings. In some places he met with a resolute resistance,
and on these occasions took ample vengeance by laying the country waste
with fire and sword. After a successful inroad he returned laden with
forage and provisions, and driving before him several hundred Indian
captives. He treated them kindly, however, when arrived in camp,
endeavouring to make them understand that these acts of violence were
not dictated by his own wishes, but by the unfriendly policy of their
countrymen. In this way he hoped to impress the nation with the
conviction of his power on the one hand, and of his amicable intentions,
if met by them in the like spirit, on the other. On reaching his
quarters, he found the two envoys returned from the Tlascalan camp. They
had fallen in with Xicotencatl at about two leagues' distance, where he
lay encamped with a powerful force. The cacique gave them audience at
the head of his troops. He told them to return with the answer, "That
the Spaniards might pass on as soon as they chose to Tlazcala; and, when
they reached it, their flesh would be hewn from their bodies, for
sacrifice to the gods! If they preferred to remain in their own
quarters, he would pay them a visit there the next day." The ambassadors
added, that the chief had an immense force with him, consisting of five
battalions of ten thousand men each. They were the flower of the
Tlascalan and Otomie warriors, assembled under the banners of their
respective leaders, by command of the senate, who were resolved to try
the fortunes of the state in a pitched battle, and strike one decisive
blow for the extermination of the invaders. This bold defiance fell
heavily on the ears of the Spaniards, not prepared for so pertinacious a
spirit in their enemy. They had had ample proof of his courage and
formidable prowess. They were now, in their crippled condition, to
encounter him with a still more terrible array of numbers. The war, too,
from the horrible fate with which it menaced the vanquished, wore a
peculiarly gloomy aspect that pressed heavily on their spirits. "We
feared death," says the lion-hearted Diaz, with his usual simplicity,
"for we were men." There was scarcely one in the army that did not
confess himself that night to the reverend Father Olmedo, who was
occupied nearly the whole of it with administering absolution, and with
the other solemn offices of the Church. Armed with the blessed
sacraments, the Catholic soldier lay tranquilly down to rest, prepared
for any fate that might betide him under the banner of the Cross. As a
battle was now inevitable, Cortes resolved to march out and meet the
enemy in the field. This would have a show of confidence, that might
serve the double purpose of intimidating the Tlascalans, and inspiriting
his own men, whose enthusiasm might lose somewhat of its heat, if
compelled to await the assault of their antagonists, inactive in their
own intrenchments. The sun rose bright on the following morning, the 5th
of September, 1519, an eventful day in the history of Spanish Conquest.
The general reviewed his army, and gave them, preparatory to marching, a
few words of encouragement and advice. The infantry he instructed to
rely on the point rather than the edge of their swords, and to endeavour
to thrust their opponents through the body. The horsemen were to charge
at half speed, with their lances aimed at the eyes of the Indians. The
artillery the arquebusiers, and crossbowmen, were to support one
another, some loading while others discharged their pieces, that there
should be an unintermitted firing kept up through the action. Above all,
they were to maintain their ranks close and unbroken, as on this
depended their preservation. They had not advanced a quarter of a
league, when they came in sight of the Tlascalan army. Its dense array
stretched far and wide over a vast plain or meadow ground, about six
miles square. Its appearance justified the report which had been given
of its numbers. Nothing could be more picturesque than the aspect of
these Indian battalions, with the naked bodies of the common soldiers
gaudily painted, the fantastic helmets of the chiefs glittering with
gold and precious stones, and the glowing panoplies of feather-work
which decorated their persons. Innumerable spears and darts tipped with
points of transparent itztli or fiery copper, sparkled bright in the
morning sun, like the phosphoric gleams playing on the surface of a
troubled sea, while the rear of the mighty host was dark with the
shadows of banners, on which were emblazoned the armorial bearings of
the great Tlascalan and Otomie chieftains. Among these, the white heron
on the rock, the cognisance of the house of Xicotencatl, was
conspicuous, and, still more, the golden eagle with outspread wings, in
the fashion of a Roman signum, richly ornamented with emeralds and
silver work, the great standard of the republic of Tlazcala. The common
file wore no covering except a girdle round the loins. Their bodies were
painted with the appropriate colours of the chieftain whose banner they
followed. The feather-mail of the higher class of warriors exhibited,
also, a similar selection of colours for the like object, in the same
manner as the colour of the tartan indicates the peculiar clan of the
Highlander. The caciques and principal warriors were clothed in a
quilted cotton tunic, two inches thick, which, fitting close to the
body, protected also the thighs and the shoulders. Over this the
wealthier Indians wore cuirasses of thin gold plate, or silver. Their
legs were defended by leathern boots or sandals, trimmed with gold. But
the most brilliant part of their costume was a rich mantle of the
plumaje or feather-work, embroidered with curious art, and furnishing
some resemblance to the gorgeous surcoat worn by the European knight
over his armour in the Middle Ages. This graceful and picturesque dress
was surmounted by a fantastic head-piece made of wood or leather,
representing the head of some wild animal, and frequently displaying a
formidable array of teeth. With this covering the warrior's head was
enveloped, producing a most grotesque and hideous effect. From the crown
floated a splendid panache of the richly variegated plumage of the
tropics, indicating, by its form and colours, the rank and family of the
wearer. To complete their defensive armour, they carried shields or
targets, made sometimes of wood covered with leather, but more usually
of a light frame of reeds quilted with cotton, which were preferred, as
tougher and less liable to fracture than the former. They had other
bucklers, in which the cotton was covered with an elastic substance,
enabling them to be shut up in a more compact form, like a fan or
umbrella. These shields were decorated with showy ornaments, according
to the taste or wealth of the wearer, and fringed with a beautiful
pendant of feather-work. Their weapons were slings, bows and arrows,
javelins, and darts. They were accomplished archers, and would discharge
two or even three arrows at a time. But they most excelled in throwing
the javelin. One species of this, with a thong attached to it, which
remained in the slinger's hand, that he might recall the weapon, was
especially dreaded by the Spaniards. These various weapons were pointed
with bone, or the mineral itztli (obsidian), the hard vitreous substance
already noticed, as capable of taking an edge like a razor, though
easily blunted. Their spears and arrows were also frequently headed with
copper. Instead of a sword, they bore a two-handed staff, about three
feet and a half long, in which, at regular distances, were inserted,
transversely, sharp blades of itztli,- a formidable weapon, which, an
eye-witness assures us, he had seen fell a horse at a blow. Such was the
costume of the Tlascalan warrior, and, indeed, of that great family of
nations generally, who occupied the plateau of Anahuac. Some parts of
it, as the targets and the cotton mail or escaupil, as it was called in
Castilian, were so excellent, that they were subsequently adopted by the
Spaniards, as equally effectual in the way of protection, and superior,
on the score of lightness and convenience, to their own. They were of
sufficient strength to turn an arrow, or the stroke of a javelin,
although impotent as a defence against firearms. But what armour is not?
Yet it is probably no exaggeration to say that, in convenience,
gracefulness, and strength, the arms of the Indian warrior were not very
inferior to those of the polished nations of antiquity. As soon as the
Castilians came in sight, the Tlascalans set up their yell of defiance,
rising high above the wild barbaric minstrelsy of shell, atabal, and
trumpet, with which they proclaimed their triumphant anticipations of
victory over the paltry forces of the invaders. When the latter had come
within bowshot, the Indians hurled a tempest of missiles, that darkened
the sun for a moment as with a passing cloud, strewing the earth around
with heaps of stones and arrows. Slowly and steadily the little band of
Spaniards held on its way amidst this arrowy shower, until it had
reached what appeared the proper distance for delivering its fire with
full effect. Cortes then halted, and, hastily forming his troops, opened
a general well-directed fire along the whole line. Every shot bore its
errand of death; and the ranks of the Indians were mowed down faster
than their comrades in the rear could carry off their bodies, according
to custom, from the field. The balls in their passage through the
crowded files, bearing splinters of the broken harness and mangled limbs
of the warriors, scattered havoc and desolation in their path. The mob
of barbarians stood petrified with dismay, till, at length, galled to
desperation by their intolerable suffering, they poured forth
simultaneously their hideous war-shriek, and rushed impetuously on the
Christians. On they came like an avalanche, or mountain torrent, shaking
the solid earth, and sweeping away every obstacle in its path. The
little army of Spaniards opposed a bold front to the overwhelming mass.
But no strength could withstand it. They faltered, gave way, were borne
along before it, and their ranks were broken and thrown into disorder.
It was in vain the general called on them to close again and rally. His
voice was drowned by the din of fight and the fierce cries of the
assailants. For a moment, it seemed that all was lost. The tide of
battle had turned against them, and the fate of the Christians was
sealed. But every man had that within his bosom which spoke louder than
the voice of the general. Despair gave unnatural energy to his arms. The
naked body of the Indian afforded no resistance to the sharp Toledo
steel; and with their good swords, the Spanish infantry at length
succeeded in staying the human torrent. The heavy guns from a distance
thundered on the flank of the assailants, which, shaken by the iron
tempest, was thrown into disorder. Their very numbers increased the
confusion, as they were precipitated on the masses in front. The horse
at the same moment, charging gallantly under Cortes, followed up the
advantage, and at length compelled the tumultuous throng to fall back
with greater precipitation and disorder than that with which they had
advanced. More than once in the course of the action, a similar assault
was attempted by the Tlascalans, but each time with less spirit, and
greater loss. They were too deficient in military science to profit by
their vast superiority in numbers. They were distributed into companies,
it is true, each serving under its own chieftain and banner. But they
were not arranged by rank and file, and moved in a confused mass,
promiscuously heaped together. They knew not how to concentrate numbers
on a given point, or even how to sustain an assault, by employing
successive detachments to support and relieve one another. A very small
part only of their array could be brought into contact with an enemy
inferior to them in amount of forces. The remainder of the army,
inactive and worse than useless in the rear, served only to press
tumultuously on the advance, and embarrass its movements by mere weight
of numbers, while, on the least alarm, they were seized with a panic and
threw the whole body into inextricable confusion. It was, in short, the
combat of the ancient Greeks and Persians over again. Still, the great
numerical superiority of the Indians might have enabled them, at a
severe cost of their own lives, indeed, to wear out, in time, the
constancy of the Spaniards, disabled by wounds, and incessant fatigue.
But, fortunately for the latter, dissensions arose among their enemies. A
Tlascalan chieftain, commanding one of the great divisions, had taken
umbrage at the haughty demeanour of Xicotencatl, who had charged him
with misconduct or cowardice in the late action. The injured cacique
challenged his rival to single combat. This did not take place. But,
burning with resentment, he chose the present occasion to indulge it, by
drawing off his forces, amounting to ten thousand men, from the field.
He also persuaded another of the commanders to follow his example. Thus
reduced to about half his original strength, and that greatly crippled
by the losses of the day, Xicotencatl could no longer maintain his
ground against the Spaniards. After disputing the field with admirable
courage for four hours, he retreated and resigned it to the enemy. The
Spaniards were too much jaded, and too many were disabled by wounds, to
allow them to pursue; and Cortes, satisfied with the decisive victory he
had gained, returned in triumph to his position on the hill of
Tzompach. The number of killed in his own ranks had been very small,
notwithstanding the severe loss inflicted on the enemy. These few he was
careful to bury where they could not be discovered, anxious to conceal
not only the amount of the slain, but the fact that the whites were
mortal. But very many of the men were wounded, and all the horses. The
trouble of the Spaniards was much enhanced by the want of many articles
important to them in their present exigency. They had neither oil, nor
salt, which, as before noticed, was not to be obtained in Tlazcala.
Their clothing, accommodated to a softer climate, was ill adapted to the
rude air of the mountains; and bows and arrows, as Bernal Diaz
sarcastically remarks, formed an indifferent protection against the
inclemency of the weather. Still, they had much to cheer them in the
events of the day; and they might draw from them a reasonable ground for
confidence in their own resources, such as no other experience could
have supplied. Not that the results could authorise anything like
contempt for their Indian foe. Singly and with the same weapons, he
might have stood his ground against the Spaniards. But the success of
the day established the superiority of science and discipline over mere
physical courage and numbers. It was fighting over again, as we have
said, the old battle of the European and the Asiatic. But the handful of
Greeks who routed the hosts of Xerxes and Darius, it must be
remembered, had not so obvious an advantage on the score of weapons, as
was enjoyed by the Spaniards in these wars. The use of firearms gave an
ascendency which cannot easily be estimated; one so great, that a
contest between nations equally civilised, which should be similar in
all other respects to that between the Spaniards and the Tlascalans,
would probably be attended with a similar issue. To all this must be
added the effect produced by the cavalry. The nations of Anahuac had no
large domesticated animals, and were unacquainted with any beast of
burden. Their imaginations were bewildered when they beheld the strange
apparition of the horse and his rider moving in unison and obedient to
one impulse, as if possessed of a common nature; and as they saw the
terrible animal, with his "neck clothed in thunder," bearing down their
squadrons and trampling them in the dust, no wonder they should have
regarded him with the mysterious terror felt for a supernatural being. A
very little reflection on the manifold grounds of superiority, both
moral and physical, possessed by the Spaniards in this contest, will
surely explain the issue, without any disparagement to the courage or
capacity of their opponents. Cortes, thinking the occasion favourable,
followed up the important blow he had struck by a new mission to the
capital, bearing a message of similar import with that recently sent to
the camp. But the senate was not yet sufficiently humbled. The late
defeat caused, indeed, general consternation. Maxixcatzin, one of the
four great lords who presided over the republic, reiterated with greater
force the arguments before urged by him for embracing the proffered
alliance of the strangers. The armies of the state had been beaten too
often to allow any reasonable hope of successful resistance; and he
enlarged on the generosity shown by the politic Conqueror to his
prisoners,- so unusual in Anahuac,- as an additional motive for an
alliance with men who knew how to be friends as well as foes. But in
these views he was overruled by the war-party, whose animosity was
sharpened, rather than subdued, by the late discomfiture. Their hostile
feelings were further exasperated by the younger Xicotencatl, who burned
for an opportunity to retrieve his disgrace, and to wipe away the stain
which had fallen for the first time on the arms of the republic. In
their perplexity they called in the assistance of the priests whose
authority was frequently invoked in the deliberations of the American
chiefs. The latter inquired, with some simplicity, of these interpreters
of fate, whether the strangers were supernatural beings, or men of
flesh and blood like themselves. The priests, after some consultation,
are said to have made the strange answer, that the Spaniards, though not
gods, were children of the sun; that they derived their strength from
that luminary, and, when his beams were withdrawn, their powers would
also fail. They recommended a night attack, therefore, as one which
afforded the best chance of success. This apparently childish response
may have had in it more of cunning than credulity. It was not improbably
suggested by Xicotencatl himself, or by the caciques in his interest,
to reconcile the people to a measure which was contrary to the military
usages,- indeed, it may be said, to the public law of Anahuac. Whether
the fruit of artifice or superstition, it prevailed; and the Tlascalan
general was empowered, at the head of a detachment of ten thousand
warriors, to try the effect of an assault by night. The affair was
conducted with such secrecy that it did not reach the ears of the
Spaniards. But their general was not one who allowed himself, sleeping
or waking, to be surprised on his post. Fortunately the night appointed
was illumined by the full beams of an autumnal moon; and one of the
videttes perceived by its light, at a considerable distance, a large
body of Indians moving towards the Christian lines. He was not slow in
giving the alarm to the garrison. The Spaniards slept, as has been said,
with their arms by their side; while their horses, picketed near them,
stood ready saddled, with the bridle hanging at the bow. In five minutes
the whole camp was under arms, when they beheld the dusky columns of
the Indians cautiously advancing over the plain, their heads just
peering above the tall maize with which the land was partially covered.
Cortes determined not to abide the assault in his intrenchments, but to
sally out and pounce on the enemy when he had reached the bottom of the
hill. Slowly and stealthily the Indians advanced, while the Christian
camp, hushed in profound silence, seemed to them buried in slumber. But
no sooner had they reached the slope of the rising ground, than they
were astounded by the deep battle-cry of the Spaniards, followed by the
instantaneous apparition of the whole army, as they sallied forth from
the works, and poured down the sides of the hill. Brandishing aloft
their weapons, they seemed to the troubled fancies of the Tlascalans
like so many spectres or demons hurrying to and fro in mid air, while
the uncertain light magnified their numbers, and expanded the horse and
his rider into gigantic and unearthly dimensions. Scarcely waiting the
shock of their enemy, the panic-struck barbarians let off a feeble
volley of arrows, and, offering no other resistance, fled rapidly and
tumultuously across the plain. The horse easily overtook the fugitives,
riding them down and cutting them to pieces without mercy, until Cortes,
weary with slaughter, called off his men, leaving the field loaded with
the bloody trophies of victory. The next day, the Spanish commander,
with his usual policy after a decisive blow had been struck, sent a new
embassy to the Tlascalan capital. The envoys received their instructions
through the interpreter, Marina. That remarkable woman had attracted
general admiration by the constancy and cheerfulness with which she
endured all the privations of the camp. Far from betraying the natural
weakness and timidity of her sex, she had shrunk from no hardship
herself, and had done much to fortify the drooping spirits of the
soldiers; while her sympathies, whenever occasion offered, had been
actively exerted in mitigating the calamities of her Indian countrymen.
Through his faithful interpreter, Cortes communicated the terms of his
message to the Tlascalan envoys. He made the same professions of amity
as before, promising oblivion of all past injuries; but, if this proffer
were rejected, he would visit their capital as a conqueror, raze every
house in it to the ground, and put every inhabitant to the sword! He
then dismissed the ambassadors with the symbolical presents of a letter
in one hand, and an arrow in the other. The envoys obtained respectful
audience from the council of Tlazcala, whom they found plunged in deep
dejection by their recent reverses. The failure of the night attack had
extinguished every spark of hope in their bosoms. Their armies had been
beaten again and again, in the open field and in secret ambush.
Stratagem and courage, all their resources, had alike proved ineffectual
against a foe whose hand was never weary, and whose eye was never
closed. Nothing remained but to submit. They selected four principal
caciques, whom they intrusted with a mission to the Christian camp. They
were to assure the strangers of a free passage through the country, and
a friendly reception in the capital. The proffered friendship of the
Spaniards was cordially embraced, with many awkward excuses for the
past. The envoys were to touch at the Tlascalan camp on their way, and
inform Xicotencatl of their proceedings. They were to require him, at
the same time, to abstain from all further hostilities, and to furnish
the white men with an ample supply of provisions. But the Tlascalan
deputies, on arriving at the quarters of that chief, did not find him in
the humour to comply with these instructions. His repeated collisions
with the Spaniards, or, it may be, his constitutional courage, left him
inaccessible to the vulgar terrors of his countrymen. He regarded the
strangers not as supernatural beings, but as men like himself. The
animosity of a warrior had rankled into a deadly hatred from the
mortifications he had endured at their hands, and his head teemed with
plans for recovering his fallen honours, and for taking vengeance on the
invaders of his country. He refused to disband any of the force, still
formidable, under his command; or to send supplies to the enemy's camp.
He further induced the ambassadors to remain in his quarters, and
relinquish their visit to the Spaniards. The latter, in consequence,
were kept in ignorance of the movements in their favour which had taken
place in the Tlascalan capital. The conduct of Xicotencatl is condemned
by Castilian writers as that of a ferocious and sanguinary barbarian. It
is natural they should so regard it. But those who have no national
prejudice to warp their judgments may come to a different conclusion.
They may find much to admire in that high, unconquerable spirit, like
some proud column, standing alone in its majesty amidst the fragments
and ruins around it. They may see evidences of a clearsighted sagacity,
which, piercing the thin veil of insidious friendship proffered by the
Spaniards, and penetrating the future, discerned the coming miseries of
his country; the noble patriotism of one who would rescue that country
at any cost, and, amidst the gathering darkness, would infuse his own
intrepid spirit into the hearts of his nation, to animate them to a last
struggle for independence.
Chapter IV [1519]
DISCONTENTS IN THE ARMY- TLASCALAN SPIES- PEACE WITH THE REPUBLIC-
EMBASSY FROM MONTEZUMA
DESIROUS to keep up the terror of the Castilian name, by leaving the
enemy no respite, Cortes on the same day that he despatched the embassy
to Tlazcala, put himself at the head of a small corps of cavalry and
light troops to scour the neighbouring country. He was at that time so
ill from fever, aided by medical treatment, that he could hardly keep
his seat in the saddle. It was a rough country, and the sharp winds from
the frosty summits of the mountains pierced the scanty covering of the
troops, and chilled both men and horses. Four or five of the animals
gave out, and the general, alarmed for their safety, sent them back to
the camp. The soldiers, discouraged by this ill omen, would have
persuaded him to return. But he made answer, "We fight under the banner
of the Cross; God is stronger than nature," and continued his march. It
led through the same kind of chequered scenery of rugged hill and
cultivated plain as that already described, well covered with towns and
villages, some of them the frontier posts occupied by the Otomies.
Practising the Roman maxim of lenity to the submissive foe, he took full
vengeance on those who resisted, and, as resistance too often occurred,
marked his path with fire and desolation. After a short absence, he
returned in safety, laden with the plunder of a successful foray. It
would have been more honourable to him had it been conducted with less
rigour. The excesses are imputed by Bernal Diaz to the Indian allies,
whom in the heat of victory it was found impossible to restrain. On
whose head soever they fall, they seem to have given little uneasiness
to the general, who declares in his letter to the Emperor Charles the
Fifth, "As we fought under the standard of the Cross, for the true
Faith, and the service of your Highness, Heaven crowned our arms with
such success, that, while multitudes of the infidel were slain, little
loss was suffered by the Castilians." The Spanish Conquerors, to judge
from, their writings, unconscious of any worldly motive lurking in the
bottom of their hearts, regarded themselves as soldiers of the Church,
fighting the great battle of Christianity; and in the same edifying and
comfortable light are regarded by most of the national historians of a
later day. On his return to the camp, Cortes found a new cause of
disquietude in the discontents which had broken out among the soldiery.
Their patience was exhausted by a life of fatigue and peril, to which
there seemed to be no end. The battles they had won against such
tremendous odds had not advanced them a jot. The idea of their reaching
Mexico, says the old soldier so often quoted, "was treated as jest by
the whole army"; and the indefinite prospect of hostilities with the
ferocious people among whom they were now cast, threw a deep gloom over
their spirits. Among the malcontents were a number of noisy, vapouring
persons, such as are found in every camp, who, like empty bubbles, are
sure to rise to the surface and make themselves seen in seasons of
agitation. They were, for the most part, of the old faction of
Velasquez, and had estates in Cuba, to which they turned many a wistful
glance as they receded more and more from the coast. They now waited on
the general, not in a mutinous spirit of resistance,- for they
remembered the lesson in Villa Rica,- but with the design of frank
expostulation, as with a brother adventurer in a common cause. The tone
of familiarity thus assumed was eminently characteristic of the footing
of equality on which the parties in the expedition stood with one
another. Their sufferings, they told him, were too great to be endured.
All the men had received one, most of them two or three wounds. More
than fifty had perished, in one way or another, since leaving Vera Cruz.
There was no beast of burden but led a life preferable to theirs. For
when the night came, the former could rest from his labours; but they,
fighting or watching, had no rest, day nor night. As to conquering
Mexico, the very thought of it was madness. If they had encountered such
opposition from the petty republic of Tlazcala, what might they not
expect from the great Mexican empire? There was now a temporary
suspension of hostilities. They should avail themselves of it to retrace
their steps to Vera Cruz. It is true, the fleet there was destroyed;
and by this act, unparalleled for rashness even in Roman annals, the
general had become responsible for the fate of the whole army. Still
there was one vessel left. That might be despatched to Cuba, for
reinforcements and supplies; and, when these arrived, they would be
enabled to resume operations with some prospect of success. Cortes
listened to this singular expostulation with perfect composure. He knew
his men, and, instead of rebuke or harsher measures, replied in the same
frank and soldier-like vein which they had affected. There was much
truth, he allowed, in what they said. The sufferings of the Spaniards
had been great; greater than those recorded of any heroes in Greek or
Roman story. So much the greater would be their glory. He had often been
filled with admiration as he had seen his little host encircled by
myriads of barbarians, and felt that no people but Spaniards could have
triumphed over such formidable odds. Nor could they, unless the arm of
the Almighty had been over them. And they might reasonably look for His
protection hereafter; for was it not in His cause they were fighting?
They had encountered dangers and difficulties, it was true; but they had
not come here expecting a life of idle dalliance and pleasure. Glory,
as he had told them at the outset, was to be won only by toil and
danger. They would do him the justice to acknowledge that he had never
shrunk from his share of both. "This was a truth," adds the honest
chronicler, who heard and reports the dialogue,- which no one could
deny. But, if they had met with hardships, he continued, they had been
everywhere victorious. Even now they were enjoying the fruits of this,
in the plenty which reigned in the camp. And they would soon see the
Tlascalans, humbled by their late reverses, suing for peace on any
terms. To go back now was impossible. The very stones would rise up
against them. The Tlascalans would hunt them in triumph down to the
water's edge. And how would the Mexicans exult at this miserable issue
of their vainglorious vaunts! Their former friends would become their
enemies; and the Totonacs, to avert the vengeance of the Aztecs, from
which the Spaniards could no longer shield them, would join in the
general cry. There was no alternative, then, but to go forward in their
career. And he besought them to silence their pusillanimous scruples,
and, instead of turning their eyes towards Cuba, to fix them on Mexico,
the great object of their enterprise. While this singular conference was
going on, many other soldiers had gathered round the spot; and the
discontented party, emboldened by the presence of their comrades, as
well as by the general's forbearance, replied, that they were far from
being convinced. Another such victory as the last would be their ruin.
They were going to Mexico only to be slaughtered. Until, at length, the
general's patience being exhausted, he cut the argument short by quoting
a verse from an old song, implying that it was better to die with
honour, than to live disgraced; a sentiment which was loudly echoed by
the greater part of his audience, who, notwithstanding their occasional
murmurs, had no design to abandon the expedition, still less the
commander, to whom they were passionately devoted. The malcontents,
disconcerted by this rebuke, slunk back to their own quarters, muttering
half-smothered execrations on the leader who had projected the
enterprise, the Indians who had guided him, and their own countrymen who
supported him in it. Such were the difficulties that lay in the path of
Cortes: a wily and ferocious enemy; a climate uncertain, often
unhealthy; illness in his own person, much aggravated by anxiety as to
the manner in which his conduct would be received by his sovereign;
last, not least, disaffection among his soldiers, on whose constancy and
union he rested for the success of his operations,- the great lever by
which he was to overturn the empire of Montezuma. On the morning
following this event, the camp was surprised by the appearance of a
small body of Tlascalans, decorated with badges, the white colour of
which intimated peace. They brought a quantity of provisions, and some
trifling ornaments, which, they said, were sent by the Tlascalan
general, who was weary of the war, and desired an accommodation with the
Spaniards. He would soon present himself to arrange this in person. The
intelligence diffused general joy, and the emissaries received a
friendly welcome. A day or two elapsed, and while a few of the party
left the Spanish quarters, the others, about fifty in number, who
remained, excited some distrust in the bosom of Marina. She communicated
her suspicions to Cortes that they were spies. He caused several of
them, in consequence, to be arrested, examined them separately, and
ascertained that they were employed by Xicotencatl to inform him of the
state of the Christian camp, preparatory to a meditated assault, for
which he was mustering his forces. Cortes, satisfied of the truth of
this, determined to make such an example of the delinquents as should
intimidate his enemy from repeating the attempt. He ordered their hands
to be cut off, and in that condition sent them back to their countrymen,
with the message, "that the Tlascalans might come by day or night; they
would find the Spaniards ready for them." The doleful spectacle of
their comrades returning in this mutilated state filled the Indian camp
with horror and consternation. The haughty crest of their chief was
humbled. From that moment, he lost his wonted buoyancy and confidence.
His soldiers, filled with superstitious fear, refused to serve longer
against a foe who could read their very thoughts, and divine their plans
before they were ripe for execution. The punishment inflicted by Cortes
may well shock the reader by its brutality. But it should be considered
in mitigation, that the victims of it were spies, and, as such, by the
laws of war, whether among civilised or savage nations, had incurred the
penalty of death. The amputation of the limbs was a milder punishment,
and reserved for inferior offences. If we revolt at the barbarous nature
of the sentence, we should reflect that it was no uncommon one at that
day; not more uncommon, indeed, than whipping and branding with a hot
iron were in our own country at the beginning of the present century, or
than cropping the ears was in the preceding one. A higher civilisation,
indeed, rejects such punishments as pernicious in themselves, and
degrading to humanity. But in the sixteenth century, they were openly
recognised by the laws of the most polished nations in Europe. And it is
too much to ask of any man, still less one bred to the iron trade of
war, to be in advance of the refinement of his age. We may be content,
if, in circumstances so unfavourable to humanity, he does not fall below
it. All thoughts of further resistance being abandoned, the four
delegates of the Tlascalan republic were now allowed to proceed on their
mission. They were speedily followed by Xicotencatl himself, attended
by a numerous train of military retainers. As they drew near the Spanish
lines, they were easily recognised by the white and yellow colours of
their uniforms, the livery of the house of Titcala. The joy of the army
was great at this sure intimation of the close of hostilities; and it
was with difficulty that Cortes was enabled to restore the men to
tranquillity, and the assumed indifference which it was proper to
maintain in the presence of an enemy. The Spaniards gazed with curious
eye on the valiant chief who had so long kept his enemies at bay, and
who now advanced with the firm and fearless step of one who was coming
rather to bid defiance than to sue for peace. He was rather above the
middle size, with broad shoulders, and a muscular frame intimating great
activity and strength. His head was large, and his countenance marked
with the lines of hard service rather than of age, for he was but
thirty-five. When he entered the presence of Cortes, he made the usual
salutation, by touching the ground with his hand, and carrying it to his
head; while the sweet incense of aromatic gums rolled up in clouds from
the censers carried by his slaves. Far from a pusillanimous attempt to
throw the blame on the senate, he assumed the whole responsibility of
the war. He had considered the white men, he said, as enemies, for they
came with the allies and vassals of Montezuma. He loved his country, and
wished to preserve the independence which she had maintained through
her long wars with the Aztecs. He had been beaten. They might be the
strangers who, it had been so long predicted, would come from the east,
to take possession of the country. He hoped they would use their victory
with moderation, and not trample on the liberties of the republic. He
came now in the name of his nation, to tender their obedience to the
Spaniards, assuring them they would find his countrymen as faithful in
peace as they had been firm in war. Cortes, far from taking umbrage, was
filled with admiration at the lofty spirit which thus disdained to
stoop beneath misfortunes. The brave man knows how to respect bravery in
another. He assumed, however, a severe aspect, as he rebuked the chief
for having so long persisted in bostilities. Had Xicotencatl believed
the word of the Spaniards, and accepted their proffered friendship
sooner, he would have spared his people much suffering, which they well
merited by their obstinacy. But it was impossible, continued the
general, to retrieve the past. He was willing to bury it in oblivion,
and to receive the Tlascalans as vassals to the emperor, his master. If
they proved true, they should find him a sure column of support; if
false, he would take such vengeance on them as he had intended to take
on their capital, had they not speedily given in their submission.- It
proved an ominous menace for the chief to whom it was addressed. The
cacique then ordered his slaves to bring forward some trifling ornaments
of gold and feather embroidery, designed as presents. They were of
little value, he said, with a smile, for the Tlascalans were poor. They
had little gold, not even cotton, nor salt; the Aztec emperor had left
them nothing but their freedom and their arms. He offered this gift only
as a token of his good will. "As such I receive it," answered Cortes,
"and coming from the Tlascalans, set more value on it than I should from
any other source, though it were a house full of gold"; a politic, as
well as magnanimous reply, for it was by the aid of this good will that
he was to win the gold of Mexico. Thus ended the bloody war with the
fierce republic of Tlazcala, during the course of which, the fortunes of
the Spaniards, more than once, had trembled in the balance. Had it been
persevered in but a little longer, it must have ended in their
confusion and ruin, exhausted as they were by wounds, watching, and
fatigues, with the seeds of disaffection rankling among themselves. As
it was, they came out of the fearful contest with untarnished glory. To
the enemy, they seemed invulnerable, bearing charmed lives, proof alike
against the accidents of fortune and the assaults of man. No wonder that
they indulged a similar conceit in their own bosoms, and that the
humblest Spaniard should have fancied himself the subject of a special
interposition of providence, which shielded him in the hour of battle,
and reserved him for a higher destiny. While the Tlascalans were still
in the camp, an embassy was announced from Montezuma. Tidings of the
exploits of the Spaniards had spread far and wide over the plateau. The
emperor, in particular, had watched every step of their progress, as
they climbed the steeps of the Cordilleras, and advanced over the broad
tableland on their summit. He had seen them, with great satisfaction,
take the road to Tlazcala, trusting that, if they were mortal men, they
would find their graves there. Great was his dismay, when courier after
courier brought him intelligence of their successes, and that the most
redoubtable warriors on the plateau had been scattered like chaff by the
swords of this handful of strangers. His superstitious fears returned
in full force. He saw in the Spaniards "the men of destiny" who were to
take possession of his sceptre. In his alarm and uncertainty, he sent a
new embassy to the Christian camp. It consisted of five great nobles of
his court, attended by a train of two hundred slaves. They brought with
them a present, as usual, dictated partly by fear, and, in part, by the
natural munificence of his disposition. It consisted of three thousand
ounces of gold, in grains, or in various manufactured articles, with
several hundred mantles and dresses of embroidered cotton, and the
picturesque feather-work. As they laid these at the feet of Cortes, they
told him, they had come to offer the congratulations of their master on
the late victories of the white men. The emperor only regretted that it
would not be in his power to receive them in his capital, where the
numerous population was so unruly, that their safety would be placed in
jeopardy. The mere intimation of the Aztec emperor's wishes, in the most
distant way, would have sufficed with the Indian nations. It had very
little weight with the Spaniards; and the envoys, finding this puerile
expression of them ineffectual, resorted to another argument, offering a
tribute in their master's name to the Castilian sovereign, provided the
Spaniards would relinquish their visit to his capital. This was a
greater error; it was displaying the rich casket with one hand, which he
was unable to defend with the other. Yet the author of this
pusillanimous policy, the unhappy victim of superstition, was a monarch
renowned among the Indian nations for his intrepidity and enterprise,-
the terror of Anahuac! Cortes, while he urged his own sovereign's
commands as a reason for disregarding the wishes of Montezuma, uttered
expressions of the most profound respect for the Aztec prince, and
declared that if he had not the means of requiting his munificence, as
he could wish, at present, he trusted to repay him, at some future day,
with good works! The Mexican ambassadors were not much gratified with
finding the war at an end, and a reconciliation established between
their mortal enemies and the Spaniards. The mutual disgust of the two
parties with each other was too strong to be repressed even in the
presence of the general, who saw with satisfaction the evidences of a
jealousy, which, undermining the strength of the Indian emperor, was to
prove the surest source of his own success. Two of the Aztec mission
returned to Mexico, to acquaint their sovereign with the state of
affairs in the Spanish camp. The others remained with the army, Cortes
being willing that they should be personal spectators of the deference
shown him by the Tlascalans. Still he did not hasten his departure for
their capital. Not that he placed reliance on the injurious intimations
of the Mexicans respecting their good faith. Yet he was willing to put
this to some longer trial, and, at the same time, to re-establish his
own health more thoroughly, before his visit. Meanwhile, messengers
daily arrived from the city, pressing his journey, and were finally
followed by some of the aged rulers of the republic, attended by a
numerous retinue, impatient of his long delay. They brought with them a
body of five hundred tamanes, or men of burden, to drag his cannon, and
relieve his own forces from this fatiguing part of their duty. It was
impossible to defer his departure longer; and after mass, and a solemn
thanksgiving to the great Being who had crowned their arms with triumph,
the Spaniards bade adieu to the quarters which they had occupied for
nearly three weeks on the hill of Tzompach.
Chapter V [1519]
SPANIARDS ENTER TLASCALA- A DEscriptTION OF THE CAPITAL- ATTEMPTED
CONVERSION- AZTEC EMBASSY- INVITED TO CHOLULA
THE city of Tlazcala, the capital of the republic of the same name, lay
at the distance of about six leagues from the Spanish camp. The road led
into a hilly region, exhibiting in every arable patch of ground the
evidence of laborious cultivation. Over a deep barranca, or ravine, they
crossed on a bridge of stone, which, according to tradition- a slippery
authority- is the same still standing, and was constructed originally
for the passage of the army. They passed some considerable towns on
their route, where they experienced a full measure of Indian
hospitality. As they advanced, the approach to a populous city was
intimated by the crowds who flocked out to see and welcome the
strangers; men and women in their picturesque dresses, with bunches and
wreaths of roses, which they gave to the Spaniards, or fastened to the
necks and caparisons of their horses, in the manner as at Cempoalla.
Priests, with their white robes, and long matted tresses floating over
them, mingled in the crowd, scattering volumes of incense from their
burning censers. In this way, the multitudinous and motley procession
defiled through the gates of the ancient capital of Tlazcala. It was the
23rd of September, 1519. The press was now so great, that it was with
difficulty the police of the city could clear a passage for the army;
while the azoteas, or flat-terraced roofs of the buildings, were covered
with spectators, eager to catch a glimpse of the wonderful strangers.
The houses were hung with festoons of flowers, and arches of verdant
boughs, intertwined with roses and honeysuckle, were thrown across the
streets. The whole population abandoned itself to rejoicing; and the air
was rent with songs and shouts of triumph mingled with the wild music
of the national instruments, that might have excited apprehensions in
the breasts of the soldiery, had they not gathered their peaceful import
from the assurance of Marina, and the joyous countenances of the
natives. With these accompaniments, the procession moved along the
principal streets to the mansion of Xicotencatl, the aged father of the
Tlascalan general, and one of the four rulers of the republic. Cortes
dismounted from his horse, to receive the old chieftain's embrace. He
was nearly blind; and satisfied, as far as he could, a natural curiosity
respecting the person of the Spanish general, by passing his hand over
his features. He then led the way to a spacious hall in his palace,
where a banquet was served to the army. In the evening, they were shown
to their quarters, in the buildings and open ground surrounding one of
the principal teocallis; while the Mexican ambassadors, at the desire of
Cortes, had apartments assigned them next to his own, that he might the
better watch over their safety, in this city of their enemies. Tlazcala
was one of the most important and populous towns on the tableland.
Cortes, in his letter to the emperor, compares it to Granada, affirming
that it was larger, stronger, and more populous than the Moorish
capital, at the time of the conquest, and quite as well built. But
notwithstanding we are assured by a most respectable writer at the close
of the last century that its remains justify the assertion, we shall be
slow to believe that its edifices could have rivalled those monuments
of Oriental magnificence, whose light, aerial forms still survive after
the lapse of ages, the admiration of every traveller of sensibility and
taste. The truth is, that Cortes, like Columbus, saw objects through the
warm medium of his own fond imagination, giving them a higher tone of
colouring and larger dimensions than were strictly warranted by the
fact. It was natural that the man who had made such rare discoveries
should unconsciously magnify their merits to his own eyes and to those
of others. The houses were, for the most part, of mud or earth; the
better sort of stone and lime, or bricks dried in the sun. They were
unprovided with doors or windows, but in the apertures for the former
hung mats fringed with pieces of copper or something which, by its
tinkling sound, would give notice of any one's entrance. The streets
were narrow and dark. The population must have been considerable if, as
Cortes asserts, thirty thousand souls were often gathered in the market
on a public day. These meetings were a sort of fairs, held, as usual in
all the great towns, every fifth day, and attended by the inhabitants of
the adjacent country, who brought there for sale every description of
domestic produce and manufacture with which they were acquainted. They
peculiarly excelled in pottery, which was considered as equal to the
best in Europe. It is a further proof of civilised habits, that the
Spaniards found barbers' shops, and baths, both of vapour and hot water,
familiarly used by the inhabitants. A still higher proof of refinement
may be discerned in a vigilant police which repressed everything like
disorder among the people. The city was divided into four quarters,
which might rather be called so many separate towns, since they were
built at different times, and separated from each other by high stone
walls, defining their respective limits. Over each of these districts
ruled one of the four great chiefs of the republic, occupying his own
spacious mansion, and surrounded by his own immediate vassals. Strange
arrangement,- and more strange that it should have been compatible with
social order and tranquillity! The ancient capital, through one quarter
of which flowed the rapid current of the Zahuatl, stretched along the
summits and sides of hills, at whose base are now gathered the miserable
remains of its once flourishing population. Far beyond, to the
south-west, extended the bold sierra of Tlazcala, and the huge Malinche,
crowned with the usual silver diadem of the highest Andes, having its
shaggy sides clothed with dark green forests of firs, gigantic
sycamores, and oaks whose towering stems rose to the height of forty or
fifty feet, unencumbered by a branch. The clouds, which sailed over from
the distant Atlantic, gathered round the lofty peaks of the sierra,
and, settling into torrents, poured over the plains in the neighbourhood
of the city, converting them, at such seasons, into swamps.
Thunderstorms, more frequent and terrible here than in other parts of
the tableland, swept down the sides of the mountains, and shook the
frail tenements of the capital to their foundations. But, although the
bleak winds of the sierra gave an austerity to the climate, unlike the
sunny skies and genial temperature of the lower regions, it was far more
favourable to the development of both the physical and moral energies. A
bold and hardy peasantry was nurtured among the recesses of the hills,
fit equally to cultivate the land in peace and to defend it in war.
Unlike the spoiled child of Nature, who derives such facilities of
subsistence from her too prodigal hand, as supersede the necessity of
exertion on his own part, the Tlascalan earned his bread- from a soil
not ungrateful, it is true- by the sweat of his brow. He led a life of
temperance and toil. Cut off by his long wars with the Aztecs from
commercial intercourse, he was driven chiefly to agricultural labour,
the occupation most propitious to purity of morals and sinewy strength
of constitution. His honest breast glowed with the patriotism,- or local
attachment to the soil, which is the fruit of its diligent culture;
while he was elevated by a proud consciousness of independence, the
natural birthright of the child of the mountains.- Such was the race
with whom Cortes was now associated for the achievement of his great
work. Some days were given by the Spaniards to festivity, in which they
were successively entertained at the hospitable boards of the four great
nobles, in their several quarters of the city. Amidst these friendly
demonstrations, however, the general never relaxed for a moment his
habitual vigilance, or the strict discipline of the camp; and he was
careful to provide for the security of the citizens by prohibiting,
under severe penalties, any soldier from leaving his quarters without
express permission. Indeed, the severity of his discipline provoked the
remonstrance of more than one of his officers, as a superfluous caution;
and the Tlascalan chiefs took some exception at it, as inferring an
unreasonable distrust of them. But, when Cortes explained it, as in
obedience to an established military system, they testified their
admiration, and the ambitious young general of the republic proposed to
introduce it, if possible, into his own ranks. The Spanish commander,
having assured himself of the loyalty of his new allies, next proposed
to accomplish one of the great objects of his mission- their conversion
to Christianity. By the advice of Father Olmedo, always opposed to
precipitate measures, he had deferred this till a suitable opportunity
presented itself for opening the subject. Such a one occurred when the
chiefs of the state proposed to strengthen the alliance with the
Spaniards, by the intermarriage of their daughters with Cortes and his
officers. He told them this could not be, while they continued in the
darkness of infidelity. Then, with the aid of the good friar, he
expounded as well as he could the doctrines of the Faith; and,
exhibiting the image of the Virgin with the infant Redeemer, told them
that there was the God, in whose worship alone they would find
salvation, while that of their own false idols would sink them in
eternal perdition. It is unnecessary to burden the reader with a
recapitulation of his homily, which contained, probably, dogmas quite as
incomprehensible to the untutored Indian as any to be found in his own
rude mythology. But, though it failed to convince his audience, they
listened with a deferential awe. When he had finished, they replied,
they had no doubt that the God of the Christians must be a good and a
great God, and as such they were willing to give him a place among the
divinities of Tlazcala. The polytheistic system of the Indians, like
that of the ancient Greeks, was of that accommodating kind which could
admit within its elastic folds the deities of any other religion,
without violence to itself. But every nation, they continued, must have
its own appropriate and tutelary deities. Nor could they, in their old
age, abjure the service of those who had watched over them from youth.
It would bring down the vengeance of their gods, and of their own
nation, who were as warmly attached to their religion as their
liberties, and would defend both with the last drop of their blood! It
was clearly inexpedient to press the matter further, at present. But the
zeal of Cortes, as usual, waxing warm by opposition, had now mounted
too high for him to calculate obstacles; nor would he have shrunk,
probably, from the crown of martyrdom in so good a cause. But
fortunately, at least for the success of his temporal cause, this crown
was not reserved for him. The good monk, his ghostly adviser, seeing the
course things were likely to take, with better judgment interposed to
prevent it. He had no desire, he said, to see the same scenes acted over
again as at Cempoalla. He had no relish for forced conversions. They
could hardly be lasting. The growth of an hour might well die with the
hour. Of what use was it to overturn the altar, if the idol remained
enthroned in the heart? or to destroy the idol itself, if it were only
to make room for another? Better to wait patiently the effect of time
and teaching to soften the heart and open the understanding, without
which there could be no assurance of a sound and permanent conviction.
These rational views were enforced by the remonstrances of Alvarado,
Velasquez de Leon, and those in whom Cortes placed most confidence;
till, driven from his original purpose, the military polemic consented
to relinquish the attempt at conversion, for the present, and to refrain
from a repetition of the scenes, which, considering the different
mettle of the population, might have been attended with very different
results from those at Cozumel and Cempoalla. But though Cortes abandoned
the ground of conversion for the present, he compelled the Tlascalans
to break the fetters of the unfortunate victims reserved for sacrifice;
an act of humanity unhappily only transient in its effects, since the
prisons were filled with fresh victims on his departure. He also
obtained permission for the Spaniards to perform the services of their
own religion unmolested. A large cross was erected in one of the great
courts or squares. Mass was celebrated every day in the presence of the
army and of crowds of natives, who, if they did not comprehend its full
import, were so far edified, that they learned to reverence the religion
of their conquerors. The direct interposition of Heaven, however,
wrought more for their conversion than the best homily of priest or
soldier. Scarcely had the Spaniards left the city,- the tale is told on
very respectable authority,- when a thin, transparent cloud descended
and settled like a column on the cross, and, wrapping it round in its
luminous folds, continued to emit a soft, celestial radiance through the
night, thus proclaiming the sacred character of the symbol, on which
was shed the halo of divinity! The principle of toleration in religious
matters being established, the Spanish general consented to receive the
daughters of the caciques. Five or six of the most beautiful Indian
maidens were assigned to as many of his principal officers, after they
had been cleansed from the stains of infidelity by the waters of
baptism. They received, as usual, on this occasion, good Castilian
names, in exchange for the barbarous nomenclature of their own
vernacular. Among them, Xicotencatl's daughter, Dona Luisa, as she was
called after her baptism, was a princess of the highest estimation and
authority in Tlazcala. She was given by her father to Alvarado, and
their posterity intermarried with the noblest families of Castile. The
frank and joyous manners of this cavalier made him a great favourite
with the Tlascalans; and his bright open countenance, fair complexion,
and golden locks, gave him the name of Tonatiuh, the "Sun." The Indians
often pleased their fancies by fastening a sobriquet, or some
characteristic epithet, on the Spaniards. As Cortes was always attended,
on public occasions, by Dona Marina, or Malinche, as she was called by
the natives, they distinguished him by the same name. By these epithets,
originally bestowed in Tlazcala, the two Spanish captains were
popularly designated among the Indian nations. While these events were
passing, another embassy arrived from the court of Mexico. It was
charged, as usual, with a costly donative of embossed gold plate, and
rich embroidered stuffs of cotton and feather-work. The terms of the
message might well argue a vacillating and timid temper in the monarch,
did they not mask a deeper policy. He now invited the Spaniards to his
capital, with the assurance of a cordial welcome. He besought them to
enter into no alliance with the base and barbarous Tlascalans; and he
invited them to take the route of the friendly city of Cholula, where
arrangements, according to his orders, were made for their reception.
The Tlascalans viewed with deep regret the general's proposed visit to
Mexico. Their reports fully confirmd all he had before heard of the
power and ambition of Montezuma. His armies, they said, were spread over
every part of the continent. His capital was a place of great strength,
and as, from its insular position, all communication could be easily
cut off with the adjacent country, the Spaniards, once entrapped there,
would be at his mercy. His policy, they represented, was as insidious as
his ambition was boundless. "Trust not his fair words," they said, "his
courtesies, and his gifts. His professions are hollow, and his
friendships are false." When Cortes remarked, that he hoped to bring
about a better understanding between the emperor and them, they replied,
it would be impossible; however smooth his words, he would hate them at
heart. They warmly protested, also, against the general's taking the
route of Cholula. The inhabitants, not brave in the open field, were
more dangerous from their perfidy and craft. They were Montezuma's
tools, and would do his bidding. The Tlascalans seemed to combine with
this distrust a superstitious dread of the ancient city, the
headquarters of the religion of Anahuac. It was here that the god
Quetzalcoatl held the pristine seat of his empire. His temple was
celebrated throughout the land, and the priests were confidently
believed to have the power, as they themselves boasted, of opening an
inundation from the foundations of his shrine, which should bury their
enemies in the deluge. The Tlascalans further reminded Cortes, that
while so many other and distant places had sent to him at Tlazcala, to
testify their good will, and offer their allegiance to his sovereign,
Cholula, only six leagues distant, had done neither. The last suggestion
struck the general more forcibly than any of the preceding. He
instantly despatched a summons to the city requiring a formal tender of
its submission. Among the embassies from different quarters which had
waited on the Spanish commander, while at Tlazcala, was one from
Ixtlilxochitl, son of the great Nezahualpilli, and an unsuccessful
competitor with his elder brother- as noticed in a former part of our
narrative- for the crown of Tezcoco. Though defeated in his pretensions,
he had obtained a part of the kingdom, over which he ruled with a
deadly feeling of animosity towards his rival, and to Montezuma, who had
sustained him. He now offered his services to Cortes, asking his aid,
in return, to place him on the throne of his ancestors. The politic
general returned such an answer to the aspiring young prince, as might
encourage his expectations, and attach him to his interests. It was his
aim to strengthen his cause by attracting to himself every particle of
disaffection that was floating through the land. It was not long before
deputies arrived from Cholula, profuse in their expressions of good
will, and inviting the presence of the Spaniards in their capital. The
messengers were of low degree, far beneath the usual rank of
ambassadors. This was pointed out by the Tlascalans; and Cortes regarded
it as a fresh indignity. He sent in consequence a new summons,
declaring, if they did not instantly send him a deputation of their
principal men, he would deal with them as rebels to his own sovereign,
the rightful lord of these realms! The menace had the desired effect.
The Cholulans were not inclined to contest, at least for the present,
his magnificent pretensions. Another embassy appeared in the camp,
consisting of some of the highest nobles; who repeated the invitation
for the Spaniards to visit their city, and excused their own tardy
appearance by apprehensions for their personal safety in the capital of
their enemies. The explanation was plausible, and was admitted by
Cortes. The Tlascalans were now more than ever opposed to his projected
visit. A strong Aztec force, they had ascertained, lay in the
neighbourhood of Cholula, and the people were actively placing their
city in a posture of defence. They suspected some insidious scheme
concerted by Montezuma to destroy the Spaniards. These suggestions
disturbed the mind of Cortes, but did not turn him from his purpose. He
felt a natural curiosity to see the venerable city so celebrated in the
history of the Indian nations. He had, besides, gone too far to recede,-
too far, at least, to do so without a show of apprehension, implying a
distrust in his own resources, which could not fail to have a bad effect
on his enemies, his allies, and his own men. After a brief consultation
with his officers, he decided on the route to Cholula. It was now three
weeks since the Spaniards had taken up their residence within the
hospitable walls of Tlazcala; and nearly six since they entered her
territory. They had been met on the threshold as an enemy, with the most
determined hostility. They were now to part with the same people, as
friends and allies; fast friends, who were to stand by them, side by
side, through the whole of their arduous struggle. The result of their
visit, therefore, was of the last importance, since on the co-operation
of these brave and warlike republicans, greatly depended the ultimate
success of the expedition.
Chapter VI [1519]
CITY OF CHOLULA- GREAT TEMPLE- MARCH TO CHOLULA- RECEPTION ACCORDED THE
SPANIARDS- CONSPIRACY DETECTED
THE ancient city of Cholula, capital of the republic of that name, lay
nearly six leagues south of Tlazcala, and about twenty east, or rather
south-east of Mexico. It was said by Cortes to contain twenty thousand
houses within the walls, and as many more in the environs. Whatever was
its real number of inhabitants, it was unquestionably, at the time of
the Conquest, one of the most populous and flourishing cities in New
Spain. It was of great antiquity, and was founded by the primitive races
who overspread the land before the Aztecs. We have few particulars of
its form of government, which seems to have been cast on a republican
model similar to that of Tlazcala. This answered so well, that the state
maintained its independence down to a very late period, when, if not
reduced to vassalage by the Aztecs, it was so far under their control as
to enjoy few of the benefits of a separate political existence. Their
connection with Mexico brought the Cholulans into frequent collision
with their neighbours and kindred, the Tlascalans. But, although far
superior to them in refinement and the various arts of civilisation,
they were no match in war for the bold mountaineers, the Swiss of
Anahuac. The Cholulan capital was the great commercial emporium of the
plateau. The inhabitants excelled in various mechanical arts, especially
that of working in metals, the manufacture of cotton and agave cloths,
and of a delicate kind of pottery, rivalling, it was said, that of
Florence in beauty. But such attention to the arts of a polished and
peaceful community naturally indisposed them to war, and disqualified
them for coping with those who made war the great business of life. The
Cholulans were accused of effeminacy, and were less distinguished- it is
the charge of their rivals- by their courage than their cunning. But
the capital, so conspicuous for its refinement and its great antiquity,
was even more venerable for the religious traditions which invested it.
It was here that the god Quetzalcoatl paused in his passage to the
coast, and passed twenty years in teaching the Toltec inhabitants the
arts of civilisation. He made them acquainted with better forms of
government, and a more spiritualised religion, in which the only
sacrifices were the fruits and flowers of the season. It is not easy to
determine what he taught, since, his lessons have been so mingled with
the licentious dogmas of his own priests, and the mystic commentaries of
the Christian missionary. It is probable that he was one of those rare
and gifted beings, who dissipating the darkness of the age by the
illumination of their own genius, are deified by a grateful posterity,
and placed among the lights of heaven. It was in honour of this
benevolent deity, that the stupendous mound was erected on which the
traveller still gazes with admiration as the most colossal fabric in New
Spain, rivalling in dimensions, and somewhat resembling in form, the
pyramidal structures of ancient Egypt. The date of its erection is
unknown, for it was found there when the Aztecs entered on the plateau.
It had the form common to the Mexican teocallis, that of a truncated
pyramid, facing with its four sides the cardinal points, and divided
into the same number of terraces. Its original outlines, however, have
been effaced by the action of time and of the elements, while the
exuberant growth of shrubs and wild flowers, which have mantled over its
surface, give it the appearance of one of those symmetrical elevations
thrown up by the caprice of nature, rather than by the industry of man.
It is doubtful, indeed, whether the interior be not a natural hill,
though it seems not improbable that it is an artificial composition of
stone and earth, deeply incrusted, as is certain, in every part, with
alternate strata of brick and clay. The perpendicular height of the
pyramid is one hundred and seventy-seven feet. Its base is one thousand
four hundred and twenty-three feet long, twice as long as that of the
great pyramid of Cheops. It may give some idea of its dimensions to
state, that its base, which is square, covers about forty-four acres,
and the platform on its truncated summit, embraces more than one. It
reminds us of those colossal monuments of brickwork, which are still
seen in ruins on the banks of the Euphrates, and, in much higher
preservation, on those of the Nile. On the summit stood a sumptuous
temple, in which was the image of the mystic deity, "god of the air,"
with ebon features, unlike the fair complexion which he bore upon earth,
wearing a mitre on his head waving with plumes of fire, with a
resplendent collar of gold round his neck, pendants of mosaic turquoise
in his ears, a jewelled sceptre in one hand, and a shield curiously
painted, the emblem of his rule over the winds, in the other. The
sanctity of the place, hallowed by hoary tradition, and the magnificence
of the temple and its services, made it an object of veneration
throughout the land, and pilgrims from the furthest corners of Anahuac
came to offer up their devotions at the shrine of Quetzalcoatl. The
number of these was so great, as to give an air of mendicity to the
motley population of the city; and Cortes, struck with the novelty,
tells us that he saw multitudes of beggars such as are to be found in
the enlightened capitals of Europe;- a whimsical criterion of
civilisation which must place our own prosperous land somewhat low in
the scale. Cholula was not the resort only of the indigent devotee. Many
of the kindred races had temples of their own in the city, in the same
manner as some Christian nations have in Rome, and each temple was
provided with its own peculiar ministers for the service of the deity to
whom it was consecrated. In no city was there seen such a concourse of
priests, so many processions, such pomp of ceremonial sacrifice, and
religious festivals. Cholula was, in short, what Mecca is among
Mahometans, or Jerusalem among Christians; it was the Holy City of
Anahuac. The religious rites were not performed, however, in the pure
spirit originally prescribed by its tutelary deity. His altars, as well
as those of the numerous Aztec gods, were stained with human blood; and
six thousand victims are said to have been annually offered up at their
sanguinary shrines. The great number of these may be estimated from the
declaration of Cortes, that he counted four hundred towers in the city;
yet no temple had more than two, many only one. High above the rest rose
the great "Pyramid of Cholula," with its undying fires flinging their
radiance over the capital, and proclaiming to the nations that there was
the mystic worship- alas! how corrupted by cruelty and superstition- of
the good deity who was one day to return and resume his empire over the
land. But it is time to return to Tlazcala. On the appointed morning
the Spanish army took up its march to Mexico by the way of Cholula. It
was followed by crowds of the citizens, filled with admiration at the
intrepidity of men who, so few in number, would venture to brave the
great Montezuma in his capital. Yet an immense body of warriors offered
to share the dangers of the expedition; but Cortes, while he showed his
gratitude for their good will, selected only six thousand of the
volunteers to bear him company. He was unwilling to encumber himself
with an unwieldy force that might impede his movements; and probably did
not care to put himself so far in the power of allies whose attachment
was too recent to afford sufficient guaranty for their fidelity. After
crossing some rough and hilly ground, the army entered on the wide plain
which spreads out for miles around Cholula. At the elevation of more
than six thousand feet above the sea they beheld the rich products of
various climes growing side by side, fields of towering maize, the juicy
aloe, the chilli or Aztec pepper, and large plantations of the cactus,
on which the brilliant cochineal is nourished. Not a rood of land but
was under cultivation; and the soil- an uncommon thing on the tableland-
was irrigated by numerous streams and canals, and well shaded by woods,
that have disappeared before the rude axe of the Spaniards. Towards
evening they reached a small stream, on the banks of which Cortes
determined to take up his quarters for the night, being unwilling to
disturb the tranquillity of the city by introducing so large a force
into it at an unseasonable hour. Here he was soon joined by a number of
Cholulan caciques and their attendants, who came to view and welcome the
strangers. When they saw their Tlascalan enemies in the camp, however,
they exhibited signs of displeasure, and intimated an apprehension that
their presence in the town might occasion disorder. The remonstrance
seemed reasonable to Cortes, and he accordingly commanded his allies to
remain in their present quarters, and to join him as he left the city on
the way to Mexico. On the following morning he made his entrance at the
head of his army into Cholula, attended by no other Indians than those
from Cempoalla, and a handful of Tlascalans to take charge of the
baggage. His allies, at parting, gave him many cautions respecting the
people he was to visit, who, while they affected to despise them as a
nation of traders, employed the dangerous arms of perfidy and cunning.
As the troops drew near the city, the road was lined with swarms of
people of both sexes and every age,- old men tottering with infirmity,
women with children in their arms, all eager to catch a glimpse of the
strangers, whose persons, weapons, and horses were objects of intense
curiosity to eyes which had not hitherto ever encountered them in
battle. The Spaniards, in turn, were filled with admiration at the
aspect of the Cholulans, much superior in dress and general appearance
to the nations they had hitherto seen. They were particularly struck
with the costume of the higher classes, who wore fine embroidered
mantles, resembling the graceful albornoz, or Moorish cloak, in their
texture and fashion. They showed the same delicate taste for flowers as
the other tribes of the plateau, decorating their persons with them, and
tossing garlands and bunches among the soldiers. An immense number of
priests mingled. with the crowd, swinging their aromatic censers, while
music from various kinds of instruments gave a lively welcome to the
visitors, and made the whole scene one of gay, bewildering enchantment.
If it did not have the air of a triumphal procession so much as at
Tlazcala, where the melody of instruments was drowned by the shouts of
the multitude, it gave a quiet assurance of hospitality and friendly
feeling not less grateful. The Spaniards were also struck with the
cleanliness of the city, the width and great regularity of the streets,
which seemed to have been laid out on a settled plan, with the solidity
of the houses, and the number and size of the pyramidal temples. In the
court of one of these, and its surrounding buildings, they were
quartered. They were soon visited by the principal lords of the place,
who seemed solicitous to provide them with accommodations. Their table
was plentifully supplied, and, in short, they experienced such
attentions as were calculated to dissipate their suspicions, and made
them impute those of their Tlascalan friends to prejudice and old
national hostility. In a few days the scene changed. Messengers arrived
from Montezuma, who, after a short and unpleasant intimation to Cortes
that his approach occasioned much disquietude to their master, conferred
separately with the Mexican ambassadors still in the Castilian camp,
and then departed, taking one of the latter along with them. From this
time, the deportment of their Cholulan hosts underwent a visible
alteration. They did not visit the quarters as before, and, when invited
to do so, excused themselves on pretence of illness. The supply of
provisions was stinted, on the ground that they were short of maize.
These symptoms of alienation, independently of temporary embarrassment,
caused serious alarm in the breast of Cortes, for the future. His
apprehensions were not allayed by the reports of the Cempoallans, who
told him, that in wandering round the city they had seen several streets
barricaded; the azoteas, or flat roofs of the houses, loaded with huge
stones and other missiles, as if preparatory to an assault; and in some
places they had found holes covered over with branches, and upright
stakes planted within, as if to embarrass the movements of the cavalry.
Some Tlascalans coming in also from their camp, informed the general
that a great sacrifice, mostly of children, had been offered up in a
distant quarter of the town, to propitiate the favour of the gods,
apparently for some intended enterprise. They added, that they had seen
numbers of the citizens leaving the city with their women and children,
as if to remove them to a place of safety. These tidings confirmed the
worst suspicions of Cortes, who had no doubt that some hostile scheme
was in agitation. If he had felt any, a discovery by Marina, the good
angel of the expedition, would have turned these doubts into certainty.
The amiable manners of the Indian girl had won her the regard of the
wife of one of the caciques, who repeatedly urged Marina to visit her
house, darkly intimating that in this way she would escape the fate that
awaited the Spaniards. The interpreter, seeing the importance of
obtaining further intelligence at once, pretended to be pleased with the
proposal, and affected, at the same time, great discontent with the
white men, by whom she was detained in captivity. Thus throwing the
credulous Cholulan off her guard, Marina gradually insinuated herself
into her confidence, so far as to draw from her a full account of the
conspiracy. It originated, she said, with the Aztec emperor, who had
sent rich bribes to the great caciques, and to her husband among others,
to secure them in his views. The Spaniards were to be assaulted as they
marched out of the capital, when entangled in its streets, in which
numerous impediments had been placed to throw the cavalry into disorder.
A force of twenty thousand Mexicans was already quartered at no great
distance from the city, to support the Cholulans in the assault. It was
confidently expected that the Spaniards, thus embarrassed in their
movements, would fall an easy prey to the superior strength of their
enemy. A sufficient number of prisoners was to be reserved to grace the
sacrifices of Cholula; the rest were to be led in fetters to the capital
of Montezuma. While this conversation was going on, Marina occupied
herself with putting up such articles of value and wearing apparel as
she proposed to take with her in the evening, when she could escape
unnoticed from the Spanish quarters to the house of her Cholulan friend,
who assisted her in the operation. Leaving her visitor thus employed,
Marina found an opportunity to steal away for a few moments, and, going
to the general's apartment, disclosed to him her discoveries. He
immediately caused the cacique's wife to be seized, and on examination
she fully confirmed the statement of his Indian mistress. The
intelligence thus gathered by Cortes filled him with the deepest alarm.
He was fairly taken in the snare. To fight or to fly seemed equally
difficult. He was in a city of enemies, where every house might be
converted into a fortress, and where such embarrassments were thrown in
the way, as might render the manoeuvres of his artillery and horse
nearly impracticable. In addition to the wily Cholulans, he must cope,
under all these disadvantages, with the redoubtable warriors of Mexico.
He was like a traveller who has lost his way in the darkness among
precipices, where any step may dash him to pieces, and where to retreat
or to advance is equally perilous. He was desirous to obtain still
further confirmation and particulars of the conspiracy. He accordingly
induced two of the priests in the neighbourhood, one of them a person of
much influence in the place, to visit his quarters. By courteous
treatment, and liberal largesses of the rich presents he had received
from Montezuma,- thus turning his own gifts against the giver,- he drew
from them a full confirmation of the previous report. The emperor had
been in a state of pitiable vacillation since the arrival of the
Spaniards. His first orders to the Cholulans were, to receive the
strangers kindly. He had recently consulted his oracles anew, and
obtained for answer, that Cholula would be the grave of his enemies; for
the gods would be sure to support him in avenging the sacrilege offered
to the Holy City. So confident were the Aztecs of success, that
numerous manacles, or poles with thongs which served as such, were
already in the place to secure the prisoners. Cortes, now feeling
himself fully possessed of the facts, dismissed the priests, with
injunctions of secrecy, scarcely necessary. He told them it was his
purpose to leave the city on the following morning, and requested that
they would induce some of the principal caciques to grant him an
interview in his quarters. He then summoned a council of his officers,
though, as it seems, already determined as to the course he was to take.
The members of the council were differently affected by the startling
intelligence, according to their different characters. The more timid,
disheartened by the prospect of obstacles which seemed to multiply as
they drew nearer the Mexican capital, were for retracing their steps,
and seeking shelter in the friendly city of Tlazcala. Others, more
persevering, but prudent, were for taking the more northerly route
originally recommended by their allies. The greater part supported the
general, who was ever of opinion that they had no alternative but to
advance. Retreat would be ruin. Half-way measures were scarcely better;
and would infer a timidity which must discredit them with both friend
and foe. Their true policy was to rely on themselves; to strike such a
blow as should intimidate their enemies, and show them that the
Spaniards were as incapable of being circumvented by artifice, as of
being crushed by weight of numbers and courage in the open field. When
the caciques, persuaded by the priests, appeared before Cortes, he
contented himself with gently rebuking their want of hospitality, and
assured them the Spaniards would be no longer a burden to their city, as
he proposed to leave it early on the following morning. He requested,
moreover, that they would furnish a reinforcement of two thousand men to
transport his artillery and baggage. The chiefs, after some
consultation, acquiesced in a demand which might in some measure favour
their own designs. On their departure, the general summoned the Aztec
ambassadors before him. He briefly acquainted them with his detection of
the treacherous plot to destroy his army, the contrivance of which, he
said, was imputed to their master, Montezuma. It grieved him much, he
added, to find the emperor implicated in so nefarious a scheme, and that
the Spaniards must now march as enemies against the prince, whom they
had hoped to visit as a friend. The ambassadors, with earnest
protestations, asserted their entire ignorance of the conspiracy; and
their belief that Montezuma was equally innocent of a crime, which they
charged wholly on the Cholulans. It was clearly the policy of Cortes to
keep on good terms with the Indian monarch; to profit as long as
possible by his good offices; and to avail himself of his fancied
security- such feelings of security as the general could inspire him
with- to cover his own future operations. He affected to give credit,
therefore, to the assertion of the envoys, and declared his
unwillingness to believe that a monarch, who had rendered the Spaniards
so many friendly offices, would now consummate the whole by a deed of
such unparalleled baseness. The discovery of their twofold duplicity, he
added, sharpened his resentment against the Cholulans, on whom he would
take such vengeance as should amply requite the injuries done both to
Montezuma and the Spaniards. He then dismissed the ambassadors, taking
care, notwithstanding this show of confidence, to place a strong guard
over them, to prevent communication with the citizens. That night was
one of deep anxiety to the army. The ground they stood on seemed
loosening beneath their feet, and any moment might be the one marked for
their destruction. Their vigilant general took all possible precautions
for their safety, increasing the number of the sentinels, and posting
his guns in such a manner as to protect the approaches to the camp. His
eyes, it may well be believed, did not close during the night. Indeed
every Spaniard lay down in his arms, and every horse stood saddled and
bridled, ready for instant service. But no assault was meditated by the
Indians, and the stillness of the hour was undisturbed except by the
occasional sounds heard in a populous city, even when buried in slumber,
and by the hoarse cries of the priests from the turrets of the
teocallis, proclaiming through their trumpets the watches of the night.
Chapter VII [1519]
TERRIBLE MASSACRE- TRANQUILLITY RESTORED- REFLECTIONS ON THE MASSACRE-
FURTHER PROCEEDINGS- ENVOYS FROM MONTEZUMA
WITH the first streak of morning light, Cortes was seen on horseback,
directing the movements of his little band. The strength of his forces
he drew up in the great square or court, surrounded partly by buildings,
as before noticed, and in part by a high wall. There were three gates
of entrance, at each of which he placed a strong guard. The rest of his
troops, with his great guns, he posted without the enclosure, in such a
manner as to command the avenues, and secure those within from
interruption in their bloody work. Orders had been sent the night before
to the Tlascalan chiefs to hold themselves ready, at a concerted
signal, to march into the city and join the Spaniards. The arrangements
were hardly completed, before the Cholulan caciques appeared, leading a
body of levies, tamanes, even more numerous than had been demanded. They
were marched at once into the square, commanded, as we have seen, by
the Spanish infantry, which was drawn up under the walls. Cortes then
took some of the caciques aside. With a stern air, he bluntly charged
them with the conspiracy, showing that he was well acquainted with all
the particulars. He had visited their city, he said, at the invitation
of their emperor; had come as friend; had respected the inhabitants and
their property; and, to avoid all cause of umbrage, had left a great
part of his forces without the walls. They had received him with a show
of kindness and hospitality, and, reposing on this, he had been decoyed
into the snare, and found this kindness only a mask to cover the
blackest perfidy. The Cholulans were thunderstruck at the accusation. An
undefined awe crept over them as they gazed on the mysterious
strangers, and felt themselves in the presence of beings who seemed to
have the power of reading the thoughts scarcely formed in their bosoms.
There was no use in prevarication or denial before such judges. They
confessed the whole, and endeavoured to excuse themselves by throwing
the blame on Montezuma. Cortes, assuming an air of higher indignation at
this, assured them that the pretence should not serve, since, even if
well founded, it would be no justification; and he would now make such
an example of them for their treachery, that the report of it should
ring throughout the wide borders of Anahuac! The fatal signal, the
discharge of an arquebuse was then given. In an instant every musket and
crossbow was levelled at the unfortunate Cholulans in the courtyard,
and a frightful volley poured into them as they stood crowded together
like a herd of deer in the centre. They were taken by surprise, for they
had not heard the preceding dialogue with the chiefs. They made
scarcely any resistance to the Spaniards, who followed up the discharge
of their pieces by rushing on them with their swords; and, as the
half-naked bodies of the natives afforded no protection, they hewed them
down with as much ease as the reaper mows down the ripe corn in harvest
time. Some endeavoured to scale the walls, but only afforded a surer
mark to the arquebusiers and archers. Others threw themselves into the
gateways, but were received on the long pikes of the soldiers who
guarded them. Some few had better luck in hiding themselves under the
heaps of slain with which the ground was soon loaded. While this work of
death was going on, the countrymen of the slaughtered Indians, drawn
together by the noise of the massacre, had commenced a furious assault
on the Spaniards from without. But Cortes had placed his battery of
heavy guns in a position that commanded the avenues, and swept off the
files of the assailants as they rushed on. In the intervals between the
discharges, which, in the imperfect state of the science in that day,
were much longer than in ours, he forced back the press by charging with
the horse into the midst. The steeds, the guns, the weapons of the
Spaniards, were all new to the Cholulans. Notwithstanding the novelty of
the terrific spectacle, the flash of firearms mingling with the
deafening roar of the artillery, as its thunders reverberated among the
buildings, the despairing Indians pushed on to take the places of their
fallen comrades. While this fierce struggle was going forward, the
Tlascalans, hearing the concerted signal, had advanced with quick pace
into the city. They had bound, by order of Cortes, wreaths of sedge
round their heads, that they might the more surely be distinguished from
the Cholulans. Coming up in the very heat of the engagement, they fell
on the defenceless rear of the townsmen, who, trampled down under the
heels of the Castilian cavalry on one side, and galled by their
vindictive enemies on the other, could no longer maintain their ground.
They gave way, some taking refuge in the nearest buildings, which, being
partly of wood, were speedily set on fire. Others fled to the temples.
One strong party, with a number of priests at its head, got possession
of the great teocalli. There was a vulgar tradition, already alluded to,
that, on removal of part of the walls, the god would send forth an
inundation to overwhelm his enemies. The superstitious Cholulans with
great difficulty succeeded in wrenching away some of the stones in the
walls of the edifice. But dust, not water followed. Their false gods
deserted them in the hour of need. In despair they flung themselves into
the wooden turrets that crowned the temple, and poured down stones,
javelins, and burning arrows on the Spaniards, as they climbed the great
staircase, which, by a flight of one hundred and twenty steps, scaled
the face of the pyramid. But the fiery shower fell harmless on the steel
bonnets of the Christians, while they availed themselves of the burning
shafts to set fire to the wooden citadel, which was speedily wrapt in
flames. Still the garrison held out, and though quarter, it is said, was
offered, only one Cholulan availed himself of it. The rest threw
themselves headlong from the parapet, or perished miserably in the
flames. All was now confusion and uproar in the fair city which had so
lately reposed in security and peace. The groans of the dying, the
frantic supplications of the vanquished for mercy, were mingled with the
loud battle-cries of the Spaniards, as they rode down their enemy, and
with the shrill whistle of the Tlascalans, who gave full scope to the
long cherished rancour of ancient rivalry. The tumult was still further
swelled by the incessant rattle of musketry, and the crash of falling
timbers, which sent up a volume of flame that outshone the ruddy light
of morning, making altogether a hideous confusion of sights and sounds,
that converted the Holy City into a Pandemonium. As resistance
slackened, the victors broke into the houses and sacred places,
plundering them of whatever valuables they contained, plate, jewels,
which were found in some quantity, wearing apparel and provisions, the
two last coveted even more than the former by the simple Tlascalans,
thus facilitating a division of the spoil, much to the satisfaction of
their Christian confederates. Amidst this universal licence, it is
worthy of remark, the commands of Cortes were so far respected that no
violence was offered to women or children, though these, as well as
numbers of the men, were made prisoners, to be swept into slavery by the
Tlascalans. These scenes of violence had lasted some hours, when
Cortes, moved by the entreaties of some Cholulan chiefs, who had been
reserved from the massacre, backed by the prayers of the Mexican envoys,
consented, out of regard, as he said, to the latter, the
representatives of Montezuma, to call off the soldiers, and put a stop,
as well as he could, to further outrage. Two of the caciques were also
permitted to go to their countrymen with assurances of pardon and
protection to all who would return to their obedience. These measures
had their effect. By the joint efforts of Cortes and the caciques, the
tumult was with much difficulty appeased. The assailants, Spaniards and
Indians, gathered under their respective banners, and the Cholulans,
relying on the assurance of their chiefs, gradually returned to their
homes. The first act of Cortes was, to prevail on the Tlascalan chiefs
to liberate their captives. Such was their deference to the Spanish
commander, that they acquiesced, though not without murmurs, contenting
themselves, as they best could, with the rich spoil rifled from the
Cholulans, consisting of various luxuries long since unknown in
Tlazcala. His next care was to cleanse the city from its loathsome
impurities, particularly from the dead bodies which lay festering in
heaps in the streets and great square. The general, in his letter to
Charles the Fifth, admits three thousand slain; most accounts say six,
and some swell the amount yet higher. As the eldest and principal
cacique was among the number, Cortes assisted the Cholulans in
installing a successor in his place. By these pacific measures,
confidence was gradually restored. The people in the environs,
reassured, flocked into the capital to supply the place of the
diminished population. The markets were again opened; and the usual
avocations of an orderly, industrious community were resumed. Still, the
long piles of black and smouldering ruins proclaimed the hurricane
which had so lately swept over the city, and the walls surrounding the
scene of slaughter in the great square, which were standing more than
fifty years after the event, told the sad tale of the Massacre of
Cholula. This passage in their history is one of those that have left a
dark stain on the memory of the Conquerors. Nor can we contemplate at
this day, without a shudder, the condition of this fair and flourishing
capital thus invaded in its privacy, and delivered over to the excesses
of a rude and ruthless soldiery. But, to judge the action fairly, we
must transport ourselves to the age when it happened. The difficulty
that meets us in the outset is, to find a justification of the right of
conquest at all. But it should be remembered, that religious infidelity,
at this period, and till a much later, was regarded- no matter whether
founded on ignorance or education, whether hereditary or acquired,
heretical or pagan- as a sin to be punished with fire and faggot in this
world, and eternal suffering in the next. Under this code, the
territory of the heathen, wherever found, was regarded as a sort of
religious waif, which, in default of a legal proprietor, was claimed and
taken possession of by the Holy See, and as such was freely given away,
by the head of the church, to any temporal potentate whom he pleased,
that would assume the burden of conquest. Thus, Alexander the Sixth
generously granted a large portion of the Western Hemisphere to the
Spaniards, and of the Eastern to the Portuguese. These lofty pretensions
of the successors of the humble fisherman of Galilee, far from being
nominal, were acknowledged and appealed to as conclusive in
controversies between nations. With the right of conquest, thus
conferred, came also the obligation, on which it may be said to have
been founded, to retrieve the nations sitting in darkness from eternal
perdition. This obligation was acknowledged by the best and the bravest,
the gownsman in his closet, the missionary, and the warrior in the
crusade. However much it may have been debased by temporal motives and
mixed up with worldly considerations of ambition and avarice, it was
still active in the mind of the Christian conqueror. We have seen how
far paramount it was to every calculation of personal interest in the
breast of Cortes. The concession of the pope then, founded on and
enforcing the imperative duty of conversion, was the assumed basis- and,
in the apprehension of that age, a sound one- of the right of conquest.
The right could not, indeed, be construed to authorise any unnecessary
act of violence to the natives. The present expedition, up to the period
of its history at which we are now arrived, had probably been stained
with fewer of such acts than almost any similar enterprise of the
Spanish discoverers in the New World. Throughout the campaign, Cortes
had prohibited all wanton injuries to the natives, in person or
property, and had punished the perpetrators of them with exemplary
severity. He had been faithful to his friends, and, with perhaps a
single exception, not unmerciful to his foes. Whether from policy or
principle, it should be recorded to his credit, though, like every
sagacious mind, he may have felt that principle and policy go together.
He had entered Cholula as a friend, at the invitation of the Indian
emperor, who had a real, if not avowed, control over the state. He had
been received as a friend, with every demonstration of good will; when,
without any offence of his own or his followers, he found they were to
be the victims of an insidious plot,- that they were standing on a mine
which might be sprung at any moment, and bury them all in its ruins. His
safety, as he truly considered, left no alternative but to anticipate
the blow of his enemies. Yet who can doubt that the punishment thus
inflicted was excessive,- that the same end might have been attained by
directing the blow against the guilty chiefs, instead of letting it fall
on the ignorant rabble, who but obeyed the commands of their masters?
But when was it ever seen, that fear, armed with power, was scrupulous
in the exercise of it? or that the passions of a fierce soldiery,
inflamed by conscious injuries, could be regulated in the moment of
explosion? But whatever be thought of this transaction in a moral view,
as a stroke of policy it was unquestionable. The nations of Anahuac had
beheld, with admiration mingled with awe, the little band of Christian
warriors steadily advancing along the plateau in face of every obstacle,
overturning army after army with as much ease, apparently, as the good
ship throws off the angry billows from her bows; or rather like the
lava, which rolling from their own volcanoes, holds on its course
unchecked by obstacles, rock, tree, or building, bearing them along, or
crushing and consuming them in its fiery path. The prowess of the
Spaniards- "the white gods," as they were often called- made them to be
thought invincible. But it was not till their arrival at Cholula that
the natives learned how terrible was their vengeance,- and they
trembled! None trembled more than the Aztec emperor on his throne among
the mountains. He read in these events the dark character traced by the
finger of Destiny. He felt his empire melting away like a morning mist.
He might well feel so. Some of the most important cities in the
neighbourhood of Cholula, intimidated by the fate of that capital, now
sent their envoys to the Castilian camp, tendering their allegiance, and
propitiating the favour of the strangers by rich presents of gold and
slaves. Montezuma, alarmed at these signs of defection, took counsel
again of his impotent deities; but, although the altars smoked with
fresh hecatombs of human victims, he obtained no cheering response. He
determined, therefore, to send another embassy to the Spaniards,
disavowing any participation in the conspiracy of Cholula. Meanwhile
Cortes was passing his time in that capital. He thought that the
impression produced by the late scenes, and by the present restoration
of tranquillity, offered a fair opportunity for the good work of
conversion. He accordingly urged the citizens to embrace the Cross, and
abandon the false guardians who had abandoned them in their extremity.
But the traditions of centuries rested on the Holy City, shedding a halo
of glory around it as "the sanctuary of the gods," the religious
capital of Anahuac. It was too much to expect that the people would
willingly resign this preeminence, and descend to the level of an
ordinary community. Still Cortes might have pressed the matter, however
unpalatable, but for the renewed interposition of the wise Olmedo, who
persuaded him to postpone it till after the reduction of the whole
country. During the occurrence of these events, envoys arrived from
Mexico. They were charged, as usual, with a rich present of plate and
ornaments of gold; among others, artificial birds in imitation of
turkeys, with plumes of the same precious metal. To these were added
fifteen hundred cotton dresses of delicate fabric. The emperor even
expressed his regret at the catastrophe of Cholula, vindicated himself
from any share in the conspiracy, which, he said, had brought deserved
retribution on the heads of its authors, and explained the existence of
an Aztec force in the neighbourhood, by the necessity of repressing some
disorders there. One cannot contemplate this pusillanimous conduct of
Montezuma without mingled feelings of pity and contempt. It is not easy
to reconcile his assumed innocence of the plot with many circumstances
connected with it. But it must be remembered here and always, that his
history is to be collected solely from Spanish writers, and such of the
natives as flourished after the Conquest, when the country had become a
colony of Spain. It is the hard fate of this unfortunate monarch, to be
wholly indebted for his portraiture to the pencil of his enemies. More
than a fortnight had elapsed since the entrance of the Spaniards into
Cholula, and Cortes now resolved, without loss of time, to resume his
march towards the capital. His rigorous reprisals had so far intimidated
the Cholulans, that he felt assured he should no longer leave an active
enemy in his rear, to annoy him in case of retreat. He had the
satisfaction, before his departure, to heal the feud- in outward
appearance, at least- that had so long subsisted between the Holy City
and Tlazcala, and which, under the revolution which so soon changed the
destinies of the country, never revived. It was with some disquietude
that he now received an application from his Cempoallan allies to be
allowed to withdraw from the expedition, and return to their own homes.
They had incurred too deeply the- resentment of the Aztec emperor, by
their insults to his collectors, and by their co-operation with the
Spaniards, to care to trust themselves in his capital. It was in vain
Cortes endeavoured to re-assure them by promises of his protection.
Their habitual distrust and dread of "the great Montezuma" were not to
be overcome. The general learned their determination with regret, for
they had been of infinite service to the cause by their staunch fidelity
and courage. All this made it the more difficult for him to resist
their reasonable demand. Liberally recompensing their services,
therefore, from the rich wardrobe and treasures of the emperor, he took
leave of his faithful followers, before his own departure from Cholula.
He availed himself of their return to send letters to Juan de Escalante,
his lieutenant at Vera Cruz, acquainting him with the successful
progress of the expedition. He enjoined on that officer to strengthen
the fortifications of the place, so as the better to resist any hostile
interference from Cuba,- an event for which Cortes was ever on the
watch,- and to keep down revolt among the natives. He especially
commended the Totonacs to his protection, as allies whose fidelity to
the Spaniards exposed them, in no slight degree, to the vengeance of the
Aztecs.
Chapter VIII [1519] MARCH RESUMED- VALLEY OF MEXICO- IMPRESSION ON THE
SPANIARDS- CONDUCT OF MONTEZUMA- THEY DESCEND INTO THE VALLEY
EVERYTHING being now restored to quiet in Cholula, the allied army of
Spaniards and Tlascalans set forward in high spirits, and resumed the
march on Mexico. The road lay through the beautiful savannas and
luxuriant plantations that spread out for several leagues in every
direction. On the march they were met occasionally by embassies from the
neighbouring places, anxious to claim the protection of the white men,
and to propitiate them by gifts, especially of gold, for which their
appetite was generally known throughout the country. Some of these
places were allies of the Tlascalans, and all showed much discontent
with the oppressive rule of Montezuma. The natives cautioned the
Spaniards against putting themselves in his power by entering his
capital; and they stated, as evidence of his hostile disposition, that
he had caused the direct road to it to be blocked up, that the strangers
might be compelled to choose another, which, from its narrow passes and
strong positions, would enable him to take them at great disadvantage.
The information was not lost on Cortes, who kept a strict eye on the
movements of the Mexican envoys, and redoubled his own precautions
against surprise. Cheerful and active, he was ever where his presence
was needed, sometimes in the van, at others in the rear, encouraging the
weak, stimulating the sluggish, and striving to kindle in the breasts
of others the same courageous spirit which glowed in his own. At night
he never omitted to go the rounds, to see that every man was at his
post. On one occasion his vigilance had well nigh proved fatal to him.
He approached so near a sentinel that the man, unable to distinguish his
person in the dark, levelled his crossbow at him, when, fortunately, an
exclamation of the general, who gave the watchword of the night,
arrested a movement which might else have brought the campaign to a
close, and given a respite for some time longer to the empire of
Montezuma. The army came at length to the place mentioned by the
friendly Indians, where the road forked, and one arm of it was found, as
they had foretold, obstructed with large trunks of trees and huge
stones which had been strewn across it. Cortes inquired the meaning of
this from the Mexican ambassadors. They said it was done by the
emperor's orders, to prevent their taking a route which, after some
distance, they would find nearly impracticable for the cavalry. They
acknowledged, however, that it was the most direct road; and Cortes,
declaring that this was enough to decide him in favour of it, as the
Spaniards made no account of obstacles, commanded the rubbish to be
cleared away. The event left little doubt in the general's mind of the
meditated treachery of the Mexicans. But he was too politic to betray
his suspicions. They were now leaving the pleasant champaign country, as
the road wound up the bold sierra which separates the great plateaus of
Mexico and Puebla. The air, as they ascended, became keen and piercing;
and the blasts, sweeping down the frozen sides of the mountains, made
the soldiers shiver in their thick harness of cotton, and benumbed the
limbs of both men and horses. They were passing between two of the
highest mountains on the North American continent, Popocatepetl, "the
hill that smokes," and Iztaccihuatl, or "white woman,"- a name
suggested, doubtless, by the bright robe of snow spread over its broad
and broken surface. A puerile superstition of the Indians regarded these
celebrated mountains as gods, and Iztaccihuatl as the wife of her more
formidable neighbour. A tradition of a higher character described the
northern volcano as the abode of the departed spirits of wicked rulers,
whose fiery agonies in their prison-house caused the fearful bellowings
and convulsions in times of eruption. The army held on its march through
the intricate gorges of the sierra. The route was nearly the same as
that pursued at the present day by the courier from the capital to
Puebla, by the way of Mecameca. It was not that usually taken by
travellers from Vera Cruz, who follow the more circuitous road round the
northern base of Iztaccihuatl, as less fatiguing than the other, though
inferior in picturesque scenery and romantic points of view. The icy
winds, that now swept down the sides of the mountains, brought with them
a tempest of arrowy sleet and snow, from which the Christians suffered
even more than the Tlascalans, reared from infancy among the wild
solitudes of their own native hills. As night came on, their sufferings
would have been intolerable, but they luckily found a shelter in the
commodious stone buildings which the Mexican government had placed at
stated intervals along the roads for the accommodation of the traveller
and their own couriers. The troops, refreshed by a night's rest,
succeeded, early on the following day, in gaining the crest of the
sierra of Ahualco, which stretches like a curtain between the two great
mountains on the north and south. Their progress was now comparatively
easy, and they marched forward with a buoyant step, as they felt they
were treading the soil of Montezuma. They had not advanced far, when,
turning an angle of the sierra, they suddenly came on a view which more
than compensated the toils of the preceding day. It was that of the
Valley of Mexico, or Tenochtitlan, as more commonly called by the
natives; which, with its picturesque assemblage of water, woodland, and
cultivated plains, its shining cities and shadowy hills, was spread out
like some gay and gorgeous panorama before them. In the highly rarefied
atmosphere of these upper regions, even remote objects have a brilliancy
of colouring and distinctness of outline which seem to annihilate
distance. Stretching far away at their feet were seen noble forests of
oak, sycamore, and cedar, and beyond, yellow fields of maize and the
towering maguey, intermingled with orchards and blooming gardens; for
flowers, in such demand for their religious festivals, were even more
abundant in this populous valley than in other parts of Anahuac. In the
centre of the great basin were beheld the lakes, occupying then a much
larger portion of its surface than at present; their borders thickly
studded with towns and hamlets, and, in the midst,- like some Indian
empress with her coronal of pearls,- the fair city of Mexico, with her
white towers and pyramidal temples, reposing, as it were, on the bosom
of the waters,- the far-famed "Venice of the Aztecs." High over all rose
the royal hill of Chapultepec, the residence of the Mexican monarchs,
crowned with the same grove of gigantic cypresses which at this day
fling their broad shadows over the land. In the distance beyond the blue
waters of the lake, and nearly screened by intervening foliage, was
seen a shining speck, the rival capital of Tezcoco, and, still further
on, the dark belt of porphyry, girding the Valley around, like a rich
setting which Nature had devised for the fairest of her jewels. Such was
the beautiful vision which broke on the eyes of the Conquerors. And
even now, when so sad a change has come over the scene; when the stately
forests have been laid low, and the soil, unsheltered from the fierce
radiance of a tropical sun, is in many places abandoned to sterility;
when the waters have retired, leaving a broad and ghastly margin white
with the incrustation of salts, while the cities and hamlets on their
borders have mouldered into ruins;- even now that desolation broods over
the landscape, so indestructible are the lines of beauty which Nature
has traced on its features, that no traveller, however cold, can gaze on
them with any other emotions than those of astonishment and rapture.
What, then, must have been the emotions of the Spaniards, when, after
working their toilsome way into the upper air, the cloudy tabernacle
parted before their eyes, and they beheld these fair seenes in all their
pristine magnificence and beauty! It was like the spectacle which
greeted the eyes of Moses from the summit of Pisgah, and, in the warm
glow of their feelings, they cried out, "It is the promised land!" But
these feelings of admiration were soon followed by others of a very
different complexion; as they saw in all this the evidences of a
civilisation and power far superior to anything they had yet
encountered. The more timid, disheartened by the prospect, shrunk from a
contest so unequal, and demanded, as they had done on some former
occasions, to be led back again to Vera Cruz. Such was not the effect
produced on the sanguine spirit of the general. His avarice was
sharpened by the display of the dazzling spoil at his feet; and, if he
felt a natural anxiety at the formidable odds, his confidence was
renewed, as he gazed on the lines of his veterans, whose weather-beaten
visages and battered armour told of battles won and difficulties
surmounted, while his bold barbarians, with appetites whetted by the
view of their enemy's country, seemed like eagles on the mountains,
ready to pounce upon their prey. By argument, entreaty, and menace, he
endeavoured to restore the faltering courage of the soldiers, urging
them not to think of retreat, now that they had reached the goal for
which they had panted, and the golden gates were open to receive them.
In these efforts he was well seconded by the brave cavaliers, who held
honour as dear to them as fortune; until the dullest spirits caught
somewhat of the enthusiasm of their leaders, and the general had the
satisfaction to see his hesitating columns, with their usual buoyant
step, once more on their march down the slopes of the sierra. With every
step of their progress, the woods became thinner; patches of cultivated
land more frequent; and hamlets were seen in the green and sheltered
nooks, the inhabitants of which, coming out to meet them, gave the
troops a kind reception. Everywhere they heard complaints of Montezuma,
especially of the unfeeling manner in which he carried off their young
men to recruit his armies, and their maidens for his harem. These
symptoms of discontent were noticed with satisfaction by Cortes, who saw
that Montezuma's "Mountain throne," as it was called, was indeed seated
on a volcano, with the elements of combustion so active within, that it
seemed as if any hour might witness an explosion. He encouraged the
disaffected natives to rely on his protection, as he had come to redress
their wrongs. He took advantage, moreover, of their favourable
dispositions to scatter among them such gleams of spiritual light as
time and the preaching of Father Olmedo could afford. He advanced by
easy stages, somewhat retarded by the crowd of curious inhabitants
gathered on the highways to see the strangers, and halting at every spot
of interest or importance. On the road he was met by another embassy
from the capital. It consisted of several Aztec lords, freighted, as
usual, with a rich largess of gold, and robes of delicate furs and
feathers. The message of the emperor was couched in the same deprecatory
terms as before. He even condescended to bribe the return of the
Spaniards, by promising, in that event, four loads of gold to the
general, and one to each of the captains, with a yearly tribute to their
sovereign. So effectually had the lofty and naturally courageous spirit
of the barbarian monarch been subdued by the influence of superstition!
But the man whom the hostile array of armies could not daunt, was not
to be turned from his purpose by a woman's prayers. He received the
embassy with his usual courtesy, declaring, as before, that he could not
answer it to his own sovereign, if he were now to return without
visiting the emperor in his capital. It would be much easier to arrange
matters by a personal interview than by distant. negotiation. The
Spaniards came in the spirit of peace. Montezuma would so find it, but,
should their presence prove burdensome to him, it would be easy for them
to relieve him of it. The Aztec monarch, meanwhile, was a prey to the
most dismal apprehensions. It was intended that the embassy above
noticed should reach the Spaniards before they crossed the mountains.
When he learned that this was accomplished, and that the dread strangers
were on their march across the valley, the very threshold of his
capital, the last spark of hope died away in his bosom. Like one who
suddenly finds himself on the brink of some dark and yawning gulf, he
was too much bewildered to be able to rally his thoughts, or even to
comprehend his situation. He was the victim of an absolute destiny,
against which no foresight or precautions could have availed. It was as
if the strange beings, who had thus invaded his shores, had dropped from
some distant planet, so different were they from all he had ever seen,
in appearance and manners; so superior- though a mere handful in
numbers- to the banded nations of Anahuac in strength and science, and
all the fearful accompaniments of war! They were now in the valley. The
huge mountain-screen, which nature had so kindly drawn around it for its
defence, had been overleaped. The golden visions of security and
repose, in which he had so long indulged, the lordly sway descended from
his ancestors, his broad imperial domain, were all to pass away. It
seemed like some terrible dream,- from which he was now, alas! to awake
to a still more terrible reality. In a paroxysm of despair he shut
himself up in his palace, refused food, and sought relief in prayer and
in sacrifice. But the oracles were dumb. He then adopted the more
sensible expedient of calling a council of his principal and oldest
nobles. Here was the same division of opinion which had before
prevailed. Cacama, the young king of Tezcoco, his nephew, counselled him
to receive the Spaniards courteously, as ambassadors, so styled by
themselves, of a foreign prince. Cuitlahua, Montezuma's more warlike
brother, urged him to muster his forces on the instant, and drive back
the invaders from his capital, or die in its defence. But the monarch
found it difficult to rally his spirits for this final struggle. With
downcast eye and dejected mien he exclaimed, "Of what avail is
resistance when the gods have declared themselves against us! Yet I
mourn most for the old and infirm, the women and children, too feeble to
fight or to fly. For myself and the brave men around me, we must bare
our breasts to the storm, and meet it as we may!" Such are the sorrowful
and sympathetic tones in which the Aztec emperor is said to have
uttered the bitterness of his grief. He would have acted a more glorious
part had he put his capital in a posture of defence, and prepared, like
the last of the Palaeologi, to bury himself under its ruins. He
straightway prepared to send a last embassy to the Spaniards, with his
nephew, the lord of Tezcoco, at its head, to welcome them to Mexico. The
Christian army, meanwhile, had advanced as far as Amaquemecan, a
well-built town of several thousand inhabitants. They were kindly
received by the cacique, lodged in large commodious stone buildings, and
at their departure presented, among other things, with gold to the
amount of three thousand castellanos. Having halted there a couple of
days, they descended among flourishing plantations of maize and of
maguey, the latter of which might be called the Aztec vineyards, towards
the lake of Chalco. Their first resting-place was Ajotzinco, a town of
considerable size, with a great part of it then standing on piles in the
water. It was the first specimen which the Spaniards had seen of this
maritime architecture. The canals, which intersected the city instead of
streets, presented an animated scene from the number of barks which
glided up and down, freighted with provisions and other articles for the
inhabitants. The Spaniards were particularly struck with the style and
commodious structure of the houses, built chiefly of stone, and with the
general aspect of wealth, and even elegance which prevailed there.
Though received with the greatest show of hospitality, Cortes found some
occasion for distrust in the eagerness manifested by the people to see
and approach the Spaniards. Not content with gazing at them in the
roads, some even made their way stealthily into their quarters, and
fifteen or twenty unhappy Indians were shot down by the sentinels as
spies. Yet there appears, as well as we can judge at this distance of
time, to have been no real ground for such suspicion. The undisguised
jealousy of the court, and the cautions he had received from his allies,
while they very properly put the general on his guard, seem to have
given an unnatural acuteness, at least in the present instance, to his
perceptions of danger. Early on the following morning, as the army was
preparing to leave the place, a courier came, requesting the general to
postpone his departure till after the arrival of the king of Tezcoco,
who was advancing to meet him. It was not long before he appeared, borne
in a palanquin or litter, richly decorated with plates of gold and
precious stones, having pillars curiously wrought, supporting a canopy
of green plumes, a favourite colour with the Aztec princes. He was
accompanied by a numerous suite of nobles and inferior attendants. As he
came into the presence of Cortes, the lord of Tezcoco descended from
his palanquin, and the obsequious officers swept the ground before him
as he advanced. He appeared to be a young man of about twenty-five years
of age, with a comely presence, erect and stately in his deportment. He
made the Mexican salutation usually addressed to persons of high rank,
touching the earth with his right hand, and raising it to his head.
Cortes embraced him as he rose, when the young prince informed him that
he came as the representative of Montezuma, to bid the Spaniards welcome
to his capital. He then presented the general with three pearls of
uncommon size and lustre. Cortes, in return, threw over Cacama's neck a
chain of cut glass, which, where glass was a rare as diamonds, might be
admitted to have a value as real as the latter. After this interchange
of courtesies, and the most friendly and respectful assurances on the
part of Cortes, the Indian prince withdrew, leaving the Spaniards
strongly impressed with the superiority of his state and bearing over
anything they had hitherto seen in the country. Resuming its march, the
army kept along the southern borders of the lake of Chalco, overshadowed
at that time by noble woods, and by orchards glowing with autumnal
fruits, of unknown names, but rich and tempting hues. More frequently it
passed through cultivated fields waving with the yellow harvest, and
irrigated by canals introduced from the neighbouring lake; the whole
showing a careful and economical husbandry, essential to the maintenance
of a crowded population. Leaving the main land, the Spaniards came on
the great dike or causeway, which stretches some four or five miles in
length, and divides lake Chalco from Xochimilco on the west. It was a
lance in breadth in the narrowest part, and in some places wide enough
for eight horsemen to ride abreast. It was a solid structure of stone
and lime, running directly through the lake, and struck the Spaniards as
one of the most remarkable works which they had seen in the country. As
they passed along, they beheld the gay spectacle of multitudes of
Indians darting up and down in their light pirogues, eager to catch a
glimpse of the strangers, or bearing the products of the country to the
neighbouring cities. They were amazed, also, by the sight of the
chinampas, or floating gardens,- those wandering islands of verdure, to
which we shall have occasion to return hereafter,- teeming with flowers
and vegetables, and moving like rafts over the waters. All round the
margin, and occasionally far in the lake, they beheld little towns and
villages, which, half concealed by the foliage, and gathered in white
clusters round the shore, looked in the distance like companies of wild
swans riding quietly on the waves. A scene so new and wonderful filled
their rude hearts with amazement. It seemed like enchantment; and they
could find nothing to compare it with, but the magical pictures in the
Amadis de Gaula. Few pictures, indeed, in that or any other legend of
chivalry, could surpass the realities of their own experience. The life
of the adventurer in the New World was romance put into action. What
wonder, then, if the Spaniard of that day, feeding his imagination with
dreams of enchantment at home, and with its realities abroad, should
have displayed a Quixotic enthusiasm,- a romantic exaltation of
character, not to be comprehended by the colder spirits of other lands!
Midway across the lake the army halted at the town of Cuitlahuac, a
place of moderate size, but distinguished by the beauty of the
buildings,- the most beautiful, according to Cortes, that he had yet
seen in the country. After taking some refreshment at this place, they
continued their march along the dike. Though broader in this northern
section, the troops found themselves much embarrassed by the throng of
Indians, who, not content with gazing on them from the boats, climbed up
the causeway, and lined the sides of the roads. The general, afraid
that his ranks might be disordered, and that too great familiarity might
diminish a salutary awe in the natives, was obliged to resort not
merely to command but menace, to clear a passage. He now found, as he
advanced, a considerable change in the feelings shown towards the
government. He heard only of the pomp and magnificence, nothing of the
oppressions of Montezuma. Contrary to the usual fact, it seemed that the
respect for the court was greatest in its immediate neighbourhood. From
the causeway, the army descended on that narrow point of land which
divides the waters of the Chalco from the Tezcocan lake, but which in
those days was overflowed for many a mile, now laid bare. Traversing
this peninsula, they entered the royal residence of Iztapalapan, a place
containing twelve or fifteen thousand houses, according to Cortes. It
was governed by Cuitlahua, the emperor's brother, who, to do greater
honour to the general, had invited the lords of some neighbouring
cities, of the royal house of Mexico, like himself, to be present at the
interview. This was conducted with much ceremony, and, after the usual
presents of gold and delicate stuffs, a collation was served to the
Spaniards in one of the great halls of the palace. The excellence of the
architecture here, also, excited the admiration of the general, who
does not hesitate, in the glow of his enthusiasm, to pronounce some of
the buildings equal to the best in Spain. They were of stone, and the
spacious apartments had roofs of odorous cedar-wood, while the walls
were tapestried with fine cottons stained with brilliant colours. But
the pride of Iztapalapan, on which its lord had freely lavished his care
and his revenues, was its celebrated gardens. They covered an immense
tract of land; were laid out in regular squares, and the paths
intersecting them were bordered with trellises, supporting creepers and
aromatic shrubs, that loaded the air with their perfumes. The gardens
were stocked with fruit-trees, imported from distant places, and with
the gaudy family of flowers which belong to the Mexican Flora,
scientifically arranged, and growing luxuriant in the equable
temperature of the tableland. The natural dryness of the atmosphere was
counteracted by means of aqueducts and canals, that carried water into
all parts of the grounds. In one quarter was an aviary, filled with
numerous kinds of birds, remarkable in this region both for brilliancy
of plumage and of song. The gardens were intersected by a canal
communicating with the lake of Tezcoco, and of sufficient size for
barges to enter from the latter. But the most elaborate piece of work
was a huge reservoir of stone, filled to a considerable height with
water, well supplied with different sorts of fish. This basin was
sixteen hundred paces in circumference, and was surrounded by a walk,
made also of stone, wide enough for four persons to go abreast. The
sides were curiously sculptured, and a flight of steps led to the water
below, which fed the aqueducts above noticed, or, collected into
fountains, diffused a perpetual moisture. Such are the accounts
transmitted of these celebrated gardens, at a period when similar
horticultural establishments were unknown in Europe; and we might well
doubt their existence in this semi-civilised land, were it not a matter
of such notoriety at the time, and so explicitly attested by the
invaders. But a generation had scarcely passed after the Conquest before
a sad change came over these scenes so beautiful. The town itself was
deserted, and the shore of the lake was strewed with the wreck of
buildings which once were its ornament and its glory. The gardens shared
the fate of the city. The retreating waters withdrew the means of
nourishment, converting the flourishing plains into a foul and unsightly
morass, the haunt of loathsome reptiles; and the water-fowl built her
nest in what had once been the palaces of princes! In the city of
Iztapalapan, Cortes took up his quarters for the night. We may imagine
what a crowd of ideas must have pressed on the mind of the Conqueror,
as, surrounded by these evidences of civilisation, he prepared, with his
handful of followers, to enter the capital of a monarch, who, as he had
abundant reason to know, regarded him with distrust and aversion. This
capital was now but a few miles distant, distinctly visible from
Iztapalapan. And as its long lines of glittering edifices, struck by the
rays of the evening sun, trembled on the dark blue waters of the lake,
it looked like a thing of fairy creation, rather than the work of mortal
hands. Into this city of enchantment Cortes prepared to make his entry
on the following morning.
Chapter IX [1519]
ENVIRONS OF MEXICO- INTERVIEW WITH MONTEZUMA- ENTRANCE INTO THE CAPITAL-
HOSPITABLE RECEPTION- VISIT TO THE EMPEROR
WITH the first faint streak of dawn, the Spanish general was up,
mustering his followers. They gathered, with beating hearts, under their
respective banners as the trumpet sent forth its spirit-stirring sounds
across water and woodland, till they died away in distant echoes among
the mountains. The sacred flames on the altars of numberless teocallis,
dimly seen through the grey mists of morning, indicated the site of the
capital, till temple, tower, and palace were fully revealed in the
glorious illumination which the sun, as he rose above the eastern
barrier, poured over the beautiful valley. It was the 8th of November; a
conspicuous day in history, as that on which the Europeans first set
foot in the capital of the Western World. Cortes, with his little body
of horse formed a sort of advanced guard to the army. Then came the
Spanish infantry, who in a summer campaign had acquired the discipline
and the weather-beaten aspect of veterans. The baggage occupied the
centre; and the rear was closed by the dark files of Tlascalan warriors.
The whole number must have fallen short of seven thousand; of which
less than four hundred were Spaniards. For a short distance, the army
kept along the narrow tongue of land that divides the Tezcocan from the
Chalcan waters, when it entered the great dike which, with the exception
of an angle near the commencement, stretches in a perfectly straight
line across the salt floods of Tezcoco to the gates of the capital. It
was the same causeway, or rather the basis of that which still forms the
great southern avenue of Mexico. The Spaniards had occasion more than
ever to admire the mechanical science of the Aztecs, in the geometrical
precision with which the work was executed, as well as the solidity of
its construction. It was composed of huge stones well laid in cement;
and wide enough, throughout its whole extent, for ten horsemen to ride
abreast. They saw, as they passed along, several large towns, resting on
piles, and reaching far into the water,- a kind of architecture which
found great favour with the Aztecs, being in imitation of that of their
metropolis. The busy population obtained a good subsistence from the
manufacture of salt, which they extracted from the waters of the great
lake. The duties on the traffic were a considerable source of revenue to
the crown. Everywhere the Conquerors beheld the evidence of a. crowded
and thriving population, exceeding all they had yet seen. The temples
and principal buildings of the cities were covered with a hard white
stucco, which glistened like enamel in the level beams of the morning.
The margin of the great basin was more thickly gemmed, than that of
Chalco, with towns and hamlets. The water was darkened by swarms of
canoes filled with Indians, who clambered up the sides of the causeway,
and gazed with curious astonishment on the strangers. And here, also,
they beheld those fairy islands of flowers, overshadowed occasionally by
trees of considerable size, rising and falling with the gentle
undulation of the billows. At the distance of half a league from the
capital, they encountered a solid work, or curtain of stone, which
traversed the dike. It was twelve feet high, was strengthened by towers
at the extremities, and in the centre was a battlemented gateway, which
opened a passage to the troops. It was called the Fort of Xoloc, and
became memorable in after times as the position occupied by Cortes in
the famous siege of Mexico. Here they were met by several hundred Aztec
chiefs, who came out to announce the approach of Montezuma, and to
welcome the Spaniards to his capital. They were dressed in the fanciful
gala costume of the country, with the Maxtlatl, or cotton sash, around
their loins, and a broad mantle of the same material, or of the
brilliant feather-embroidery, flowing gracefully down their shoulders.
On their necks and arms they displayed collars and bracelets of
turquoise mosaic, with which delicate plumage was curiously mingled,
while their ears, under-lips, and occasionally their noses, were
garnished with pendants formed of precious stones, or crescents of fine
gold As each cacique made the usual formal salutation of the country
separately to the general, the tedious ceremony delayed the march more
than an hour. After this, the army experienced no further interruption
till it reached a bridge near the gates of the city. It was built of
wood, since replaced by one of stone, and was thrown across an opening
of the dike, which furnished an outlet to the waters, when agitated by
the winds, or swollen by a sudden influx in the rainy season. It was a
drawbridge; and the Spaniards, as they crossed it, felt how truly they
were committing themselves to the mercy of Montezuma, who, by thus
cutting off their communications with the country, might hold them
prisoners in his capital. In the midst of these unpleasant reflections,
they beheld the glittering retinue of the emperor emerging from the
great street which led through the heart of the city. Amidst a crowd of
Indian nobles, preceded by three officers of state, bearing golden
wands, they saw the royal palanquin blazing with burnished gold. It was
borne on the shoulders of nobles, and over it a canopy of gaudy
feather-work, powdered with jewels, and fringed with silver, was
supported by four attendants of the same rank. They were bare-footed,
and walked with a slow, measured pace, and with eyes bent on the ground.
When the train had come within a convenient distance, it halted, and
Montezuma, descending from his litter, came forward leaning on the arms
of the lords of Tezcoco and Iztapalapan, his nephew and brother, both of
whom, as we have seen, had already been made known to the Spaniards. As
the monarch advanced under the canopy, the obsequious attendants
strewed the ground with cotton tapestry, that his imperial feet might
not be contaminated by the rude soil. His subjects of high and low
degree, who lined the sides of the causeway, bent forward with their
eyes fastened on the ground as he passed, and some of the humbler class
prostrated themselves before him. Such was the homage paid to the Indian
despot, showing that the slavish forms of oriental adulation were to be
found among the rude inhabitants of the Western World. Montezuma wore
the girdle and ample square cloak, tilmatli, of his nation. It was made
of the finest cotton, with the embroidered ends gathered in a knot round
his neck. His feet were defended by sandals having soles of gold, and
the leathern thongs which bound them to his ankles were embossed with
the same metal. Both the cloak and sandals were sprinkled with pearls
and precious stones, among which the emerald and the chalchiuitl- a
green stone of higher estimation than any other among the Aztecs- were
conspicuous. On his head he wore no other ornament than a panache of
plumes of the royal green, which floated down his back, the badge of
military rather than of regal rank. He was at this time about forty
years of age. His person was tall and thin, but not ill made. His hair,
which was black and straight, was not very long; to wear it short was
considered unbecoming persons of rank. His beard was thin; his
complexion somewhat paler than is often found in his dusky, or rather
copper-coloured race. His features, though serious in their expression,
did not wear the look of melancholy, indeed, of dejection, which
characterises his portrait, and which may well have settled on them at a
later period. He moved with dignity, and his whole demeanour, tempered
by an expression of benignity not to have been anticipated from the
reports circulated of his character, was worthy of a great prince. Such
is the portrait left to us of the celebrated Indian emperor, in this
first interview with the white men. The army halted as he drew near.
Cortes, dismounting, threw his reins to a page, and, supported by a few
of the principal cavaliers, advanced to meet him. The interview must
have been one of uncommon interest to both. In Montezuma Cortes beheld
the lord of the broad realms he had traversed, whose magnificence and
power had been the burden of every tongue. In the Spaniard, on the other
hand, the Aztec prince saw the strange being whose history seemed to be
so mysteriously connected with his own; the predicted one of his
oracles; whose achievements proclaimed him something more than human.
But, whatever may have been the monarch's feelings, he so far suppressed
them as to receive his guest with princely courtesy, and to express his
satisfaction at personally seeing him in his capital. Cortes responded
by the most profound expressions of respect, while he made ample
acknowledgments for the substantial proofs which the emperor had given
the Spaniards of his munificence. He then hung round Montezuma's neck a
sparkling chain of coloured crystal, accompanying this with a movement
as if to embrace him, when he was restrained by the two Aztec lords,
shocked at the menaced profanation of the sacred person of their master.
After the interchange of these civilities, Montezuma appointed his
brother to conduct the Spaniards to their residence in the capital, and
again entering his litter, was borne off amidst prostrate crowds in the
same state in which he had come. The Spaniards quickly followed, and
with colours flying and music playing, soon made their entrance into the
southern quarter of Tenochtitlan. Here, again, they found fresh cause
for admiration in the grandeur of the city, and the superior style of
its architecture. The dwellings of the poorer class were, indeed,
chiefly of reeds and mud. But the great avenue through which they were
now marching was lined with the houses of the nobles, who were
encouraged by the emperor to make the capital their residence. They were
built of a red porous stone drawn from quarries in the neighbourhood,
and, though they rarely rose to a second story, often covered a large
space of ground. The flat roofs, azoteas, were protected by stone
parapets, so that every house was a fortress. Sometimes these roofs
resembled parterres of flowers, so thickly were they covered with them,
but more frequently these were cultivated in broad terraced gardens,
laid out between the edifices. Occasionally a great square or
market-place intervened, surrounded by its porticoes of stone and
stucco; or a pyramidal temple reared its colossal bulk, crowned with its
tapering sanctuaries, and altars blazing with inextinguishable fires.
The great street facing the southern causeway, unlike most others in the
place, was wide, and extended some miles in nearly a straight line, as
before noticed, through the centre of the city. A spectator standing at
one end of it, as his eye ranged along the deep vista of temples,
terraces, and gardens, might clearly discern the other, with the blue
mountains in the distance, which, in the transparent atmosphere of the
tableland, seemed almost in contact with the buildings. But what most
impressed the Spaniards was the throngs of people who swarmed through
the streets and on the canals, filling every doorway and window, and
clustering on the roofs of the buildings. "I well remember the
spectacle," exclaims Bernal Diaz; "it seems now, after so many years, as
present to my mind as if it were but yesterday." But what must have
been the sensations of the Aztecs themselves, as they looked on the
portentous pageant! as they heard, now for the first time, the
well-cemented pavement ring under the iron tramp of the horses,- the
strange animals which fear had clothed in such supernatural terrors; as
they gazed on the children of the East, revealing their celestial origin
in their fair complexions; saw the bright falchions and bonnets of
steel, a metal to them unknown, glancing like meteors in the sun, while
sounds of unearthly music- at least, such as their rude instruments had
never wakened- floated in the air! But every other emotion was lost in
that of deadly hatred, when they beheld their detested enemy, the
Tlascalan, stalking in defiance as it were through their streets, and
staring around with looks of ferocity and wonder, like some wild animal
of the forest, who had strayed by chance from his native fastnesses into
the haunts of civilisation. As they passed down the spacious street,
the troops repeatedly traversed bridges suspended above canals, along
which they saw the Indian barks gliding swiftly with their little
cargoes of fruits and vegetables for the markets of Tenochtitlan. At
length, they halted before a broad area near the centre of the city,
where rose the huge pyramidal pile dedicated to the patron war-god of
the Aztecs, second only in size, as well as sanctity, to the temple of
Cholula, and covering the same ground now in part occupied by the great
cathedral of Mexico. Facing the western gate of the inclosure of the
temple stood a low range of stone buildings, spreading over a wide
extent of ground, the palace of Axayacatl, Montezuma's father, built by
that monarch about fifty years before. It was appropriated as the
barracks of the Spaniards. The emperor himself was in the courtyard,
waiting to receive them. Approaching Cortes, he took from a vase of
flowers, borne by one of his slaves, a massy collar, in which the shell
of a species of craw-fish, much prized by the Indians, was set in gold,
and connected by heavy links of the same metal. From this chain depended
eight ornaments, also of gold, made in resemblance of the same
shellfish, a span in length each, and of delicate workmanship; for the
Aztec goldsmiths were confessed to have shown skill in their craft, not
inferior to their brethren of Europe. Montezuma, as he hung the gorgeous
collar round the general's neck, said, "This palace belongs to you,
Malinche" (the epithet by which he always addressed him), "and your
brethren. Rest after your fatigues, for you have much need to do so, and
in a little while I will visit you again." So saying, he withdrew with
his attendants, evincing, in this act, a delicate consideration not to
have been expected in a barbarian. Cortes' first care was to inspect his
new quarters. The building, though spacious, was low, consisting of one
floor, except indeed in the centre, where it rose to an additional
story. The apartments were of great size, and afforded accommodations,
according to the testimony of the Conquerors themselves, for the whole
army! The hardy mountaineers of Tlazcala were, probably, not very
fastidious, and might easily find a shelter in the out-buildings, or
under temporary awnings in the ample courtyards. The best apartments
were hung with gay cotton draperies, the floors covered with mats or
rushes. There were, also, low stools made of single pieces of wood
elaborately carved, and in most of the apartments beds made of the
palm-leaf, woven into a thick mat, with coverlets, and sometimes
canopies of cotton. These mats were the only beds used by the natives,
whether of high or low degree. After a rapid survey of this gigantic
pile, the general assigned to his troops their respective quarters, and
took as vigilant precautions for security, as if he had anticipated a
siege, instead of a friendly entertainment. The place was encompassed by
a stone wall of considerable thickness, with towers or heavy buttresses
at intervals, affording a good means of defence. He planted his cannon
so as to command the approaches, stationed his sentinels along the
works, and, in short, enforced in every respect as strict military
discipline as had been observed in any part of the march. He well knew
the importance to his little band, at least for the present, of
conciliating the good will of the citizens; and to avoid all possibility
of collision he prohibited any soldier from leaving his quarters
without orders, under pain of death. Having taken these precautions, he
allowed his men to partake of the bountiful collation which had been
prepared for them. They had been long enough in the country to become
reconciled to, if not to relish, the peculiar cooking of the Aztecs. The
appetite of the soldier is not often dainty, and on the present
occasion it cannot be doubted that the Spaniards did full justice to the
savoury productions of the royal kitchen. During the meal they were
served by numerous Mexican slaves, who were indeed, distributed through
the palace, anxious to do the bidding of the strangers. After the repast
was concluded, and they had taken their siesta, not less important to a
Spaniard than food itself, the presence of the emperor was again
announced. Montezuma was attended by a few of his principal nobles. He
was received with much deference by Cortes; and, after the parties had
taken their seats, a conversation commenced between them through the aid
of Dona Marina, while the cavaliers and Aztec chieftains stood around
in respectful silence. Montezuma made many inquiries concerning the
country of the Spaniards, their sovereign, the nature of his government,
and especially their own motives in visiting Anahuac. Cortes explained
these motives by the desire to see so distinguished a monarch, and to
declare to him the true Faith professed by the Christians. With rare
discretion, he contented himself with dropping this hint for the
present, allowing it to ripen in the mind of the emperor till a future
conference. The latter asked, whether those white men, who in the
preceding year had landed on the eastern shores of his empire, were
their countrymen. He showed himself well-informed of the proceedings of
the Spaniards from their arrival in Tabasco to the present time,
information of which had been regularly transmitted in the
hieroglyphical paintings. He was curious, also, in regard to the rank of
his visitors in their own country; inquiring, if they were the kinsmen
of the sovereign. Cortes replied, they were kinsmen of one another, and
subjects of their great monarch, who held them all in peculiar
estimation. Before his departure, Montezuma made himself acquainted with
the names of the principal cavaliers, and the position they occupied.
in the army. At the conclusion of the interview, the Aztec prince
commanded his attendants to bring forward the presents prepared for his
guests. They consisted of cotton dresses, enough to supply every man, it
is said, including the allies, with a suit! And he did not fail to add
the usual accompaniment of gold chains and other ornaments, which he
distributed in profusion among the Spaniards. He then withdrew with the
same ceremony with which he had entered, leaving every one deeply
impressed with his munificence and his affability, so unlike what they
had been taught to expect by what they now considered an invention of
the enemy. That evening, the Spaniards celebrated their arrival in the
Mexican capital by a general discharge of artillery. The thunders of the
ordnance reverberating among the buildings and shaking them to their
foundations, the stench of the sulphureous vapour that rolled in volumes
above the walls of the encampment, reminding the inhabitants of the
explosions of the great volcan, filled the hearts of the superstitious
Aztecs with dismay. It proclaimed to them, that their city held in its
bosom those dread beings whose path had been marked with desolation, and
who could call down the thunderbolts to consume their enemies! It was
doubtless the policy of Cortes to strengthen this superstitious feeling
as far as possible, and to impress the natives, at the outset, with a
salutary awe of the supernatural powers of the Spaniards. On the
following morning, the general requested permission to return the
emperor's visit, by waiting on him in his palace. This was readily
granted, and Montezuma sent his officers to conduct the Spaniards to his
presence. Cortes dressed himself in his richest habit, and left the
quarters attended by Alvarado, Sandoval, Velasquez, and Ordaz, together
with five or six of the common file. The royal habitation was at no
great distance. It was a vast, irregular pile of low stone buildings,
like that garrisoned by the Spaniards. So spacious was it indeed, that,
as one of the Conquerors assures us, although he had visited it more
than once, for the express purpose, he had been too much fatigued each
time by wandering through the apartments ever to see the whole of it. It
was built of the red porous stone of the country, tetzontli, was
ornamented with marble, and on the facade over the principal entrance
were sculptured the arms or device of Montezuma, an eagle bearing an
ocelot in his talons. In the courts through which the Spaniards passed,
fountains of crystal water were playing, fed from the copious reservoir
on the distant hill of Chapultepec, and supplying in their turn more
than a hundred baths in the interior of the palace. Crowds of Aztec
nobles were sauntering up and down in these squares, and in the outer
halls, loitering away their hours in attendance on the court. The
apartments were of immense size, though not lofty. The ceilings were of
various sorts of odoriferous wood ingeniously carved; the floors covered
with mats of the palm-leaf. The walls were hung with cotton richly
stained, with the skins of wild animals, or gorgeous draperies of
feather-work wrought in imitation of birds, insects, and flowers, with
the nice art and glowing radiance of colours that might compare with the
tapestries of Flanders. Clouds of incense rolled up from censers, and
diffused intoxicating odours through the apartments. The Spaniards might
well have fancied themselves in the voluptuous precincts of an Eastern
harem, instead of treading the halls of a wild barbaric chief in the
Western World. On reaching the hall of audience, the Mexican officers
took off their sandals, and covered their gay attire with a mantle of
nequen, a coarse stuff made of the fibres of the maguey, worn only by
the poorest classes. This act of humiliation was imposed on all, except
the members of his own family, who approached the sovereign. Thus
bare-footed, with downcast eyes, and formal obeisance, they ushered the
Spaniards into the royal presence. They found Montezuma seated at the
further end of a spacious saloon, and surrounded by a few of his
favourite chiefs. He received them kindly, and very soon Cortes, without
much ceremony, entered on the subject which was uppermost in his
thoughts. He was fully aware of the importance of gaining the royal
convert, whose example would have such an influence on the conversion of
his people. The general, therefore, prepared to display the whole store
of his theological science, with the most winning arts of rhetoric he
could command, while the interpretation was conveyed through the silver
tones of Marina, as inseparable from him, on these occasions, as his
shadow. He set forth, as clearly as he could, the ideas entertained by
the Church in regard to the holy mysteries of the Trinity, the
Incarnation, and the Atonement. From this he ascended to the origin of
things, the creation of the world, the first pair, paradise, and the
fall of man. He assured Montezuma, that the idols he worshipped were
Satan under different forms. A sufficient proof of it was the bloody
sacrifices they imposed, which he contrasted with the pure and simple
rite of the mass. Their worship would sink him in perdition. It was to
snatch his soul, and the souls of his people, from the flames of eternal
fire by opening to them a purer faith, that the Christians had come to
his land. And he earnestly besought him not to neglect the occasion, but
to secure his salvation by embracing the Cross, the great sign of human
redemption. The eloquence of the preacher was wasted on the insensible
heart of his royal auditor. It doubtless lost somewhat of its efficacy,
strained through the imperfect interpretation of so recent a neophyte as
the Indian damsel. But the doctrines were too abstruse in themselves to
be comprehended at a glance by the rude intellect of a barbarian. And
Montezuma may have, perhaps, thought it was not more monstrous to feed
on the flesh of a fellow-creature, than on that of the Creator himself.
He was, besides, steeped in the superstitions of his country from his
cradle. He had been educated in the straitest sect of her religion; had
been himself a priest before his election to the throne; and was now the
head both of the religion and the state. Little probability was there
that such a man would be open to argument or persuasion, even from the
lips of a more practised polemic than the Spanish commander. How could
he abjure the faith that was intertwined with the dearest affections of
his heart, and the very elements of his being? How could he be false to
the gods who had raised him to such prosperity and honours, and whose
shrines were intrusted to his especial keeping? He listened, however,
with silent attention, until the general had concluded his homily. He
then replied, that he knew the Spaniards, had held this discourse
wherever they had been. He doubted not their God was, as they said, a
good being. His gods, also, were good to him. Yet what his visitor said
of the creation of the world was like what he had been taught to
believe. It was not worth while to discourse further of the matter. His
ancestors, he said, were not the original proprietors of the land. They
had occupied it but a few ages, and had been led there by a great Being,
who; after giving them laws and ruling over the nation for a time, had
withdrawn to the regions where the sun rises. He had declared, on his
departure, that he or his descendants would again visit them and resume
his empire. The wonderful deeds of the Spaniards, their fair
complexions, and the quarter whence they came, all showed they were his
descendants. If Montezuma had resisted their visit to his capital, it
was because he had heard such accounts Of their cruelties,- that they
sent the lightning to consume his people, or crushed them to pieces
under the hard feet of the ferocious animals on which they rode. He was
now convinced that these were idle tales; that the Spaniards were kind
and generous in their natures; they were mortals of a different race,
indeed, from the Aztecs, wiser, and more valiant,- and for this he
honoured them. "You, too," he added, with a smile, "have been told,
perhaps, that I am a god, and dwell in palaces of gold and silver. But
you see, it is false. My houses, though large, are of stone and wood
like those of others; and as to my body," he said, baring his tawny arm,
"you see it is flesh and bone like yours. It is true, I have a great
empire, inherited from my ancestors; lands, and gold, and silver. But
your sovereign beyond the waters is, I know, the rightful lord of all. I
rule in his name. You, Malinche, are his ambassador; you and your
brethren shall share these things with me. Rest now from your labours.
You are here in your own dwellings, and everything shall be provided for
your subsistence. I will see that your wishes shall be obeyed in the
same way as my own." As the monarch concluded these words, a few natural
tears suffused his eyes, while the image of ancient independence,
perhaps, flitted across his mind. Cortes, while he encouraged the idea
that his own sovereign was the great Being indicated by Montezuma,
endeavoured to comfort the monarch by the assurance that his master had
no desire to interfere with his authority, otherwise than, out of pure
concern for his welfare, to effect his conversion and that of his people
to Christianity. Before the emperor dismissed his visitors he consulted
his munificent spirit, as usual, by distributing rich stuffs and
trinkets of gold among them, so that the poorest soldier, says Bernal
Diaz, one of the party, received at least two heavy collars of the
precious metal for his share. The iron hearts of the Spaniards were
touched with the emotion displayed by Montezuma, as well as by his
princely spirit of liberality. As they passed him, the cavaliers, with
bonnet in hand, made him the most profound obeisance, and, "on the way
home," continues the same chronicler, "we could discourse of nothing but
the gentle breeding and courtesy of the Indian monarch, and of the
respect we entertained for him." Speculations of a graver complexion
must have pressed on the mind of the general, as he saw around him the
evidences of a civilisation, and consequently power, for which even the
exaggerated reports of the natives- discredited from their apparent
exaggeration- had not prepared him. In the pomp and burdensome
ceremonial of the court, he saw that nice system of subordination and
profound reverence for the monarch which characterise the semi-civilised
empires of Asia. In the appearance of the capital, its massy, yet
elegant architecture, its luxurious social accommodations, its activity
in trade, he recognised the proofs of the intellectual progress,
mechanical skill, and enlarged resources, of an old and opulent
community; while the swarms in the streets attested the existence of a
population capable of turning these resources to the best account. In
the Aztec he beheld a being unlike either the rude republican Tlascalan,
or the effeminate Cholulan; but combining the courage of the one with
the cultivation of the other. He was in the heart of a great capital,
which seemed like an extensive fortification, with its dikes and its
drawbridges, where every house might be easily converted into a castle.
Its insular position removed it from the continent, from which, at the
mere nod of the sovereign, all communication might be cut off, and the
whole warlike population be at once precipitated on him and his handful
of followers. What could superior science avail against such odds? As to
the subversion of Montezuma's empire, now that he had seen him in his
capital, it must have seemed a more doubtful enterprise than ever. The
recognition which the Aztec prince had made of the feudal supremacy, if I
may so say, of the Spanish sovereign, was not to be taken too
literally. Whatever show of deference he be disposed to pay the latter,
under the influence of his present- perhaps temporary-delusion, it was
not to be supposed that he would so easily relinquish his actual power
and possessions, or that his people would consent to it. Indeed, his
sensitive apprehensions in regard to this very subject, on the coming of
the Spaniards, were sufficient proof of the tenacity with which he
clung to his authority. It is true that Cortes had a strong lever for
future operations in the superstitious reverence felt for himself both
by prince and people. It was undoubtedly his policy to maintain this
sentiment unimpaired in both, as far as possible. But, before settling
any plan of operations, it was necessary to make himself personally
acquainted with the topography and local advantages of the capital, the
character of its population, and the real nature and amount of its
resources. With this view, he asked the emperor's permission to visit
the principal public edifices.
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