BOOK I.
CHAPTER I.
1511 TO 1519.
DISCOVERIES OF CORDOVA AND GRIJALVA.—CORTÉZ APPOINTED BY VELASQUEZ.—BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF CORTÉZ.—CORTÉZ CAPTAIN GENERAL OF THE ARMADA.—EQUIPMENT OF THE EXPEDITION.—QUARREL OF VELASQUEZ—FIRMNESS OF CORTÉZ.—EXPEDITION DEPARTS UNDER CORTÉZ.
There is perhaps no page in modern history so full of dramatic incidents and useful consequences, as that which records the discovery, conquest and development of America by the Spanish and Anglo Saxon races. The extraordinary achievements of Columbus, Cortéz, Pizarro, and Washington, have resulted in the acquisition of broad lands, immense wealth, and rational liberty; and the names of these heroes are thus indissolubly connected with the physical and intellectual progress of mankind.
In the following pages we propose to write the history, and depict the manners, customs and condition of Mexico. Our narrative begins with the first movements that were made for the conquest of the country; yet, we shall recount, fully and accurately, the story of those Indian princes,—the splendor of whose courts, and the misery of whose tragic doom, enhance the picturesque grandeur and solemn lessons that are exhibited in the career of Hernando Cortéz.
Cuba was the second island discovered, in the West Indies; but it was not until 1511, that Diego, son of the gallant admiral, who had hitherto maintained the seat of government in Hispaniola, resolved to occupy the adjacent isle of Fernandina,—as it was then called,—amid whose virgin mountains and forests he hoped to find new mines to repair the loss of those which were rapidly failing in Hispaniola. [1]
For the conquest of this imagined El Dorado, he prepared a small armament, under the command of Diego Velasquez, an ambitious and covetous leader, who, together with his lieutenant, Narvaez, soon established the Spanish authority in the island, of which he was appointed Governor.
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Columbus, after coasting the shores of Cuba for a great distance, had always believed that it constituted a portion of the continent, but it was soon discovered that the illustrious admiral had been in error, and that Cuba, extensive as it appeared to be, was, in fact, only an island.
In February, 1517, a Spanish hidalgo, Hernandez de Cordova, set sail, with three vessels, towards the adjacent Bahamas in search of slaves. He was driven by a succession of severe storms on coasts which had hitherto been unknown to the Spanish adventurers, and finally landed on that part of the continent which forms the north-eastern end of the peninsula of Yucatan, and is known as Cape Catoché. Here he first discovered the evidence of a more liberal civilization than had been hitherto known among his adventurous countrymen in the New World. Large and solid buildings, formed of stone;—cultivated fields;—delicate fabrics of cotton and precious metals,—indicated the presence of a race that had long emerged from the semi-barbarism of the Indian Isles. The bold but accidental explorer continued his voyage along the coast of the peninsula until he reached the site of Campeché; and then, after an absence of seven months and severe losses among his men, returned to Cuba, with but half the number of his reckless companions. He brought back with him, however, numerous evidences of the wealth and progress of the people he had fortuitously discovered on the American main; but he soon died, and left to others the task of completing the enterprise he had so auspiciously begun. The fruits of his discoveries remained to be gathered by Velasquez, who at once equipped four vessels and entrusted them to the command of his nephew, Juan de Grijalva, and on the 1st of May, 1518, this new commander left the port of St. Jago de Cuba. The first land he touched on his voyage of discovery, was the Island of Cozumel, whence he passed to the continent, glancing at the spots that had been previously visited by Cordova. So struck was he by the architecture, the improved agriculture, the civilized tastes, the friendly character and demeanor of the inhabitants, and, especially, by the sight of "large stone crosses, evidently objects of worship," that, in the enthusiasm of the moment, he gave to the land the name of Nueva España-or New Spain,—a title which has since been extended from the peninsula of Yucatan to even more than the entire empire of Montezuma and the Aztecs.
Grijalva did not content himself with a mere casual visit to the continent, but pursued his course along the coast, stopping at the Rio de Tabasco. Whilst at Rio de Vanderas, he enjoyed the first intercourse that ever took place between the Spaniards and Mexicans. The Cacique of the Province sought from the strangers a full account of their distant country and the motives of their visit, in order that he might convey the intelligence to his Aztec master. Presents were interchanged, and Grijalva received, in return for his toys and tinsel, a mass of jewels, together with ornaments and vessels of gold, which satisfied the adventurers that they had reached a country whose resources would repay them for the toil of further exploration. Accordingly, he despatched to Cuba with the joyous news, Pedro de Alvarado, one of his captains,—a man who was destined to play a conspicuous part in the future conquest,—whilst he, with the remainder of his companies, continued his coasting voyage to San Juan de Ulua, the Island of Sacrificios, and the northern shores, until he reached the Province of Panuco; whence, after an absence of six months, he set sail for Cuba, having been the first Spanish adventurer who trod the soil of Mexico.
But his return was not hailed even with gratitude. The florid reports of Pedro de Alvarado had already inflamed the ambition and avarice of Velasquez, who, impatient of the prolonged absence of Grijalva, had despatched a vessel under the command of Olid in search of his tardy officer. Nor was he content with this jealous exhibition of his temper; for, anxious to secure to himself all the glory and treasure to be derived from the boundless resources of a continent, he solicited authority from the Spanish crown to prosecute the adventures that had been so auspiciously begun; and, in the meanwhile, after considerable deliberation, resolved to fit out another armament on a scale, in some degree, commensurate with the military subjugation of the country, should he find himself opposed by its sovereign and people. After considerable doubt, difficulty and delay, he resolved to entrust this expedition to the command of Hernando Cortéz; "the last man," says Prescott, "to whom Velasquez,—could he have foreseen the results,—would have confided the enterprise."
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It will not be foreign to our purpose to sketch, briefly, the previous life of a man who subsequently became so eminent in the history of both worlds. Seven years before Columbus planted the standard of Castile and Arragon in the West Indies, Hernando Cortéz, was born, of a noble lineage, in the town of Medellin, in the Province of Estremadura, in Spain. His infancy was frail and delicate, but his constitution strengthened as he grew, until, at the age of fourteen, he was placed in the venerable university of Salamanca, where his parents, who rejoiced in the extreme vivacity of his talents, designed to prepare him for the profession of law, the emoluments of which were, at that period, most tempting in Spain. But the restless spirit of the future conqueror was not to be manacled by the musty ritual of a tedious science whose pursuit would confine him to a quiet life. He wasted two years at the college, and, like many men who subsequently became renowned either for thought or action, was finally sent home in disgrace. Nevertheless, in the midst of his recklessness, and by the quickness of his genius, he had learned "a little store of Latin," and acquired the habit of writing good prose, or of versifying agreeably. His father,—Don Martin Cortéz de Monroy, and his mother, Doña Catalina Pizarro Altamirano,—seem to have been accomplished people, nor is it improbable, that the greater part of their son's information was obtained under the influence of the domestic circle. At college he was free from all restraint,—giving himself up to the spirit of adventure, the pursuit of pleasure, and convivial intercourse,—so that no hope was entertained of his further improvement from scholastic studies. His worthy parents were, moreover, people of limited fortune, and unable to prolong these agreeable but profitless pursuits. Accordingly, when Cortéz attained the age of seventeen, they yielded to his proposal to enlist under the banner of Gonsalvo of Cordova, and to devote himself, heart and soul, to the military life which seemed most suitable for one of his wild, adventurous and resolute disposition. It was well for Spain and for himself, that the chivalric wish of Cortéz was not thwarted,—and that one of the ablest soldiers produced by Castile at that period, was not dwarfed by parental control into a bad lawyer or pestilent pettifogger.
The attention of our hero was soon directed towards the New World,—the stories of whose wealth had now for upwards of twenty years been pouring into the greedy ear of Spain,—and he speedily determined to embark in the armament which Nicolas de Ovando, the successor of Columbus, was fitting out for the West Indies. This design was frustrated, however, for two years longer, by an accident which occurred in one of his amours; nor did another opportunity present itself, until, at the age of nineteen, in 1504, he bade adieu to Spain in a small squadron bound to the Islands.
As soon as Cortéz reached Hispaniola, he visited the Governor, whom he had formerly known at home. Ovando was absent, but his secretary received the emigrant kindly, and assured him "a liberal grant of land." "I come for gold," replied Cortéz, sneeringly, "and not to toil like a peasant!" Ovando, however, was more fortunate than the secretary, in prevailing upon the future conqueror to forego the lottery of adventure, for no sooner had he returned to his post, than Cortéz was persuaded to accept a grant of land, a repartimiento of Indians, and the office of notary in the village of Açua. Here he seems to have dwelt until 1511, varying the routine of notarial and agricultural pursuits by an occasional adventure, of an amorous character, which involved him in duels. Sometimes he took part in the military expeditions under Diego Velasquez for the suppression of Indian insurrections in the interior. This was the school in which he learned his tactics, and here did he study the native character until he joined Velasquez for the conquest of Cuba.
As soon as this famous Island was reduced to Spanish authority, Cortéz became high in favor with Velasquez, who had received the commission of Governor. But love, intrigues, jealousy and ambition, quickly began to chequer the wayward life of our hero, and estranged him from Velasquez, for the new Governor found it difficult to satisfy the cravings of those rapacious adventurers who flocked in crowds to the New World, and, in all probability, clustered around Cortéz as the nucleus of discontent. It was soon resolved by these men to submit their complaints against Velasquez to the higher authorities in Hispaniola, and the daring Cortéz was fixed on as the bearer of the message in an open boat, across the eighteen intervening leagues. But the conspiracy was detected,—the rash ambassador confined in chains,—and only saved from hanging by the interposition of powerful friends.
Cortéz speedily contrived to relieve himself of the fetters with which he was bound, and, forcing a window, escaped from his prison to the sanctuary of a neighboring church. A few days after, however, he was seized whilst standing carelessly in front of the sacred edifice, and conveyed on board a vessel bound for Hispaniola, where he was to be tried. But his intrepidity and skill did not forsake him even in this strait. Ascending cautiously from the vessel's hold to the deck, he dropped into a boat and pulled near ashore, when dreading to risk the frail bark in the breakers, he abandoned his skiff,—plunged boldly into the surf,—and landing on the sands, sought again the sanctuary, whence he had been rudely snatched by the myrmidons of the Governor.
One of the causes of his quarrel with Velasquez had been an intrigue with a beautiful woman, in whose family the Governor was, perhaps, personally interested. The fickle Cortéz cruelly abandoned the fair Catalina Xuares at a most inauspicious moment of her fate, and was condemned for his conduct by all the best people in the Island; but now, under the influence of penitence or policy, his feelings suddenly experienced a strange revulsion. He expressed a contrite desire to do justice to the injured woman by marriage, and thus, at once obtained the favor of her family and the pardon of the Governor, who becoming permanently reconciled to Cortéz, presented him a liberal repartimiento of Indians together with broad lands in the neighborhood of St. Jago, of which he was soon made alcalde.
The future conqueror devoted himself henceforth to his duties with remarkable assiduity. Agriculture,—the introduction of cattle of the best breeds,—and the revenues of a share of the mines which he wrought,—soon began to enrich the restless adventurer who had settled down for a while into the quiet life of a married man. His beautiful wife fulfilled her share of the cares of life with remarkable fidelity, and seems to have contented the heart even of her liege lord, who declared himself as happy with his bride as if she had been the daughter of a duchess.
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At this juncture Alvarado returned with the account of the discoveries, the wealth, and the golden prospects of continental adventure which we have already narrated. Cortéz and Velasquez were alike fired by the alluring story. The old flame of enterprise was rekindled in the breast of the wild boy of Medellin, and when the Governor looked around for one who could command the projected expedition, he found none, among the hosts who pressed for service, better fitted for the enterprise by personal qualities and fortune, than Hernando Cortéz, whom he named Captain General of his Armada.
The high office and the important task imposed on him seem to have sobered the excitable, and heretofore fickle, mind of our hero. His ardent animal spirits, under the influence of a bold and lofty purpose, became the servants rather than the masters of his indomitable will, and he at once proceeded to arrange all the details of the expedition which he was to lead to Mexico. The means that he did not already possess in his own coffers, he raised by mortgage, and he applied the funds, thus obtained, to the purchase of vessels, rations, and military stores, or to the furnishing of adequate equipments for adventurers who were too poor to provide their own outfit. It is somewhat questionable whether Velasquez, the Governor, was very liberal in his personal and pecuniary contributions to this expedition, the cost of which amounted to about twenty thousand gold ducats. It has been alleged that Cortéz was the chief support of the adventure, and it is certain, that in later years, this question resulted in bitter litigation between the parties.
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Six ships and three hundred followers were soon prepared for the enterprise under Cortéz, and the Governor proceeded to give instructions to the leader, all of which are couched in language of unquestionable liberality.
The captain of the Armada was first to seek the missing Grijalva, after which the two commanders were to unite in their quest of gold and adventure. Six Christians, supposed to be lingering in captivity in Yucatan, were to be sought and released. Barter and traffic, generally, with the natives were to be encouraged and carried on, so as to avoid all offence against humanity or kindness. The Indians were to be christianized;—for the conversion of heathens was one of the dearest objects of the Spanish king. The aborigines, in turn, were to manifest their good will by ample gifts of jewels and treasure. The coasts and adjacent streams were to be surveyed,—and the productions of the country, its races, civilization, and institutions, were to be noted with minute accuracy, so that a faithful report might be returned to the crown, to whose honor and the service of God, it was hoped the enterprise would certainly redound.
Such was the state of things in the port of St. Jago, when jealous fears began to interrupt the confidence between Velasquez and Cortéz. The counsel of friends who were companions of the Governor, and his own notice of that personage's altered conduct, soon put the new Captain General of the Armada on his guard. Neither his equipment nor his crew was yet complete; nevertheless, he supplied his fleet with all the provisions he could hastily obtain at midnight; and, paying the provider with a massive chain which he had worn about his neck,—the last available remnant, perhaps, of his fortune,—he hastened with his officers on board the vessels.
On the 18th of November, 1518, he made sail for the port of Macaca, about fifteen leagues distant, and thence he proceeded to Trinidad, on the southern coast of Cuba. Here he obtained stores from the royal farms, whilst he recruited his forces from all classes, but especially from the returned troops and sailors of Grijalva's expedition. Pedro de Alvarado and his brothers; Cristoval de Olid, Alonzo de Avila, Juan Velasquez de Leon, Hernandez de Puerto Carrero, and Gonzalo de Sandoval, united their fortunes to his, and thus identified themselves forever with the conquest of Mexico. He added considerably to his stock by the seizure of several vessels and cargoes; and prudently got rid of Diego de Ordaz, whom he regarded as a spy of the estranged Velasquez.
At Trinidad, Cortéz was overtaken by orders for detention from his former friend and patron. These commands, however, were not enforced by the cautious official who received them; and Cortéz, forthwith, despatched Alvarado, by land, to Havana, whilst he prepared to follow with his fleet around the coast and western part of the island. At Havana he again added to his forces,—prepared arms and quilted armor as a defence against the Indian arrows,—and distributed his men into eleven companies under the command of experienced officers. But, before all his arrangements were completed, the commander of the place, Don Pedro Barba, was ordered, by express from Velasquez, to arrest Cortéz, whilst the Captain General of the Armada himself received a hypocritical letter from the same personage, "requesting him to delay his voyage till the governor could communicate with him in person!" Barba, however, knew that the attempt to seize the leader of such an enterprise and of such a band, would be vain;—whilst Cortéz, in reply to Velasquez, "implored his Excellency to rely on his boundless devotion to the interests of his Governor, but assured him, nevertheless, that he and his fleet, by divine permission, would sail on the following day!"
Accordingly, on the 18th of February, 1519, the little squadron weighed anchor, with one hundred and ten mariners, sixteen horses, five hundred and fifty-three soldiers, including thirty-two crossbowmen and thirteen arquebusiers, besides two hundred Indians of the island and a few native women, for menial offices. The ordnance consisted of ten heavy guns, four lighter pieces or falconets, together with a good supply of ammunition.
With this insignificant command and paltry equipment, Hernando Cortéz, at the age of thirty-three, set sail for the conquest of Mexico. He invoked on his enterprise the blessing of his patron, Saint Peter;—he addressed his followers in the language of encouragement and resolution;—he unfurled a velvet banner on which was emblazoned the figure of a crimson cross amid flames of blue and white, and he pointed to the motto which was to be the presage of victory: "Friends, let us follow the Cross: and under this sign, if we have faith, we shall conquer!"
Footnote
[1] In 1525, the gold washings of Hispaniola were already exhausted; and sugar and hides are alone mentioned as exports. Petri Mart: Ep. 806, Kal. Mart. 1525.
CHAPTER II.
1519.
OLMEDO PREACHES TO THE INDIANS.—AGUILAR AND MARIANA—INTERPRETERS.—CORTÉZ LANDS—INTERVIEW WITH THE AZTECS.—DIPLOMACY—MONTEZUMA'S PRESENTS.—MONTEZUMA REFUSES TO RECEIVE CORTÉZ.
Soon after the adventurers departed from the coast of Cuba, the weather, which had been hitherto fine, suddenly changed, and one of those violent hurricanes which ravage the Indian Isles during the warm season, scattered and dismantled the small squadron, sweeping it far to the south of its original destination. Cortéz was the last to reach the Island of Cozumel, having been forced to linger in order to watch for the safety of one of his battered craft. But, immediately on landing, he was pained to learn that the impetuous Pedro de Alvarado had rashly entered the temples, despoiled them of their ornaments, and terrified the natives into promiscuous flight. He immediately devoted himself to the task of obliterating this stain on Spanish humanity, by kindly releasing two of the captives taken by Alvarado. Through an interpreter he satisfied them of the pacific purpose of his voyage, and despatched them to their homes with valuable gifts. This humane policy appears to have succeeded with the natives, who speedily returned from the interior, and commenced a brisk traffic of gold for trinkets.
The chief objection of Cortéz to the headlong destruction which Alvarado had committed in the temples, seems rather to have been against the robbery than the religious motive, if such existed in the breast of his impetuous companion. We have already said that the conversion of the heathen was one of the alleged primary objects of this expedition, for the instructions of the Governor of Cuba were full of zeal for the spread of Christianity; yet, in the diffusion of this novel creed among the aborigines, it sometimes happened that its military propagandists regarded the sword as more powerful than the sermon. The idolatrous practices of the inhabitants of Cozumel shocked the sensibility of the commander, and he set about the work of christianization through the labors of the licentiate Juan Diaz and Bartolomé de Olmedo, the latter of whom,—who remained with the army during the whole expedition,—was, indeed, a mirror of zeal and charity. The discourses of these worthy priests were, however, unavailing;—the Indians, who of course could not comprehend their eloquent exhortations or pious logic, refused to abandon their idols; and our hero resolved at once to convince them, by palpable arguments, of the inefficiency of those hideous emblems, either to save themselves from destruction, or to bestow blessings on the blind adorers. An order was, therefore, forthwith given for the immediate destruction of the Indian images; and, in their place, the Virgin and her Son were erected on a hastily constructed altar. Olmedo and his companion were thus the first to offer the sacrifice of the mass in New Spain, where they, finally, induced numbers of the aborigines to renounce idolatry and embrace the Catholic faith.
In spite of this marauding crusade against their property and creed, the Indians kindly furnished the fleet with provisions, which enabled the squadron to sail in the ensuing March. But a leak in one of the vessels compelled the adventurers to return to port,—a circumstance which was regarded by many as providential,—inasmuch as it was the means of restoring to his countryman, a Spaniard, named Aguilar, who had been wrecked on the coast of Yucatan eight years before. The long residence of this person in the country made him familiar with the language of the inhabitants of that neighborhood, and thus a valuable interpreter,—one of its most pressing wants,—was added to the expedition.
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After the vessels were refitted, Cortéz coasted the shores of Yucatan until he reached the Rio de Tabasco or Grijalva, where he encountered the first serious opposition to the Spanish arms. He had a severe conflict, in the vicinity of his landing, with a large force of the natives; but the valor of his men, the terror inspired by fire arms, and the singular spectacle presented to the astonished Indians by the extraordinary appearance of cavalry, soon turned the tide of victory in his favor. The subdued tribes appeased his anger by valuable gifts, and forthwith established friendly relations with their dreaded conqueror. Among the presents offered upon this occasion by the vanquished, were twenty female slaves;—and after one of the holy fathers had attempted, as usual, to impress the truths of christianity upon the natives, and had closed the ceremonies of the day by a pompous procession, with all the impressive ceremonial of the Roman church, the fleet again sailed towards the empire Cortéz was destined to penetrate and subdue.
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In Passion week, of the year 1519, the squadron dropped anchor under the lee of the Island or reef of St. Juan de Ulua. The natives immediately boarded the vessel of the Captain General; but their language was altogether different from that of the Mayan dialects spoken in Yucatan and its immediate dependencies. In this emergency Cortéz learned that, among the twenty female slaves who had been recently presented him, there was one who knew the Mexican language, and, in fact, that she was an Aztec by birth. This was the celebrated Marina or Mariana, who accompanied the conqueror throughout his subsequent adventures, and was so useful as a sagacious friend and discreet interpreter. Acquainted with the languages of her native land and of the Yucatecos, she found it easy to translate the idiom of the Aztecs into the Mayan dialect which Aguilar, the Spaniard, had learned during his captivity. Through this medium, Cortéz was apprised that these Mexicans or Aztecs were the subjects of a powerful sovereign who ruled an empire bounded by two seas, and that his name was Montezuma.
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On the 21st of April the Captain General landed on the sandy and desolate beach whereon is now built the modern city of Vera Cruz. Within a few days the native Governor of the province arrived to greet him, and expressed great anxiety to learn whence the "fair and bearded strangers" had come? Cortéz told him that he was the "subject of a mighty monarch beyond the sea who ruled over an immense empire and had kings and princes for his vassals;—that, acquainted with the greatness of the Mexican emperor, his master desired to enter into communication with so great a personage, and had sent him, as an envoy, to wait on Montezuma with a present in token of his good will, and a friendly message which he must deliver in person." The Indian Governor expressed surprise that there was another king as great as his master, yet assured Cortéz that as soon as he learned Montezuma's determination, he would again converse with him on the subject. Teuhtle then presented the Captain General ten loads of fine cottons; mantles of curious feather work, beautifully dyed; and baskets filled with golden ornaments. Cortéz, in turn, produced the gifts for the emperor, which were comparatively insignificant; but, when the Aztec Governor desired to receive the glittering helmet of one of the men, it was readily given as an offering to the emperor, with the significant request that it might be returned filled with gold, which Cortéz told him was "a specific remedy for a disease of the heart with which his countrymen, the Spaniards, were sorely afflicted!"
During this interview between the functionaries it was noticed by the adventurers that men were eagerly employed among the Indians in sketching every thing they beheld in the ranks of the strangers,—for, by this picture-writing, the Mexican monarch was to be apprised in accurate detail of the men, horses, ships, armor, force, and weapons of this motley band of invaders.
These pictorial missives were swiftly borne by the Mexican couriers to the Aztec capital among the mountains, and, together with the oral account of the landing of Cortéz and his demand for an interview, were laid before the Imperial Court. It may well be imagined that the extraordinary advent of the Captain General and his squadron was productive of no small degree of excitement and even tremor, among this primitive people; for, not only were they unnerved by the dread which all secluded races feel for innovation, but an ancient prophecy had foretold the downfall of the empire through the instrumentality of beings, who, like these adventurers, were to "come from the rising sun." Montezuma, who was then on the throne, had been elected to that dignity in 1502 in preference to his brothers, in consequence of his superior qualifications as a soldier and a priest. His reign commenced energetically; and whilst he, at first, administered the interior affairs of his realm with justice, capacity, and moderation, his hand fell heavily on all who dared to raise their arms against his people. But, as he waxed older and firmer in power, and as his empire extended, he began to exhibit those selfish traits which so often characterize men who possess, for a length of time, supreme power untrammelled by constitutional restraints. His court was sumptuous, and his people were grievously taxed to support its unbounded extravagance. This, in some degree, alienated the loyalty of his subjects, while continued oppression finally led to frequent insurrection. In addition to these internal discontents of the Aztec empire, Montezuma had met in the nominal republic of Tlascala,—lying midway between the valley of Mexico and the seacoast,—a brave and stubborn foe, whose civilization, unimpaired resources, and martial character, enabled it to resist the combined forces of the Aztecs for upwards of two hundred years.
Such was the state of the empire when the news of Cortéz's arrival became the subject of discussion in Mexico. Some were for open or wily resistance. Others were oppressed with superstitious fears. But Montezuma, adopting a medium but fatal course, resolved, without delay, to send an embassy with such gifts as he imagined would impress the strangers with the idea of his magnificence and power, whilst, at the same time, he courteously commanded the adventurers to refrain from approaching his capital.
Meanwhile the Spaniards restlessly endured the scorching heats and manifold annoyances of the coast, and were amusing themselves by a paltry traffic with the Indians, whose offerings were generally of but trifling value. After the expiration of a week, however, the returned couriers and the embassy approached the camp. The time is seemingly short when we consider the difficulty of transportation through a mountain country, and recollect that the Mexicans, who were without horses, had been obliged to traverse the distance on foot. But it is related on ample authority,—so perfectly were the posts arranged among these semi-civilized people,—that tidings were borne in the short period of twenty-four hours from the city to the sea, and, consequently, that three or four days were ample for the journey of the envoys of Montezuma, upon a matter of so much national importance.
The two Aztec nobles, accompanied by the Governor of the province, Teuhtle, did not approach with empty hands the men whom they hoped to bribe if they could not intimidate. Gold and native fabrics of the most delicate character; shields, helmets, cuirasses, collars, bracelets, sandals, fans, pearls, precious stones; loads of cotton cloth, extraordinary manufactures of feathers, circular plates of gold and silver as large as carriage wheels, and the Spanish helmet filled with golden grains; were all spread out, as a free gift from the Emperor to the Spaniards!
With these magnificent presents, Montezuma replied to the request of Cortéz, that it would give him pleasure to communicate with so mighty a monarch as the king of Spain, whom he respected highly, but that he could not gratify himself by according the foreign envoy a personal interview, inasmuch as the distance to his capital was great, and the toilsome journey among the mountains was beset with dangers from formidable enemies. He could do no more, therefore, than bid the strangers farewell, and request them to return to their homes over the sea with these proofs of his perfect friendship.
It may well be supposed that this naïve system of diplomacy could have but little effect on men who were bent on improving their fortunes, and whose rapacity was only stimulated by the evidences of unbounded wealth which the simple-minded king had so lavishly bestowed on them. Montezuma was the dupe of his own credulity, and only inflamed, by the very means he imagined would assuage the avarice or ambition of his Spanish visitors. Nor was Cortéz less resolved than his companions. Accordingly he made another pacific effort, by means of additional presents and a gentle message, to change the resolution of the Indian emperor. Still the Aztec sovereign was obstinate in his refusal of a personal interview, although he sent fresh gifts by the persons who bore to the Spaniards his polite but firm and peremptory denial.
Cortéz could hardly conceal his disappointment at this second rebuff; but, as the vesper bell tolled, whilst the ambassadors were in his presence, he threw himself on his knees with his soldiers, and, after a prayer, Father Olmedo expounded to the Aztec chiefs, by his interpreters, the doctrines of Christianity, and putting into their hands an image of the Virgin and Saviour, he exhorted them to abandon their hideous idolatry, and to place these milder emblems of faith and hope on the altars of their bloody gods. That very night the Indians abandoned the Spanish camp and the neighborhood, leaving the adventurers without the copious supplies of food that hitherto had been bountifully furnished. Cortéz, nevertheless, was undismayed by these menacing symptoms, and exclaimed to his hardy followers: "It shall yet go hard, but we will one day pay this powerful prince a visit in his gorgeous capital!"
CHAPTER III.
1519.
CORTÉZ FOUNDS LA VILLA RICA DE LA VERA CRUZ.—FLEET DESTROYED—MARCH TO MEXICO.—CONQUEST OF TLASCALA—CHOLULA.—SLAUGHTER IN CHOLULA—VALLEY OF MEXICO.—CORTÉZ ENTERS THE VALLEY—GIGANTIC CAUSEWAY.—LAKE OF TEZCOCO—RECEPTION BY MONTEZUMA.—SPANIARDS ENTER THE CAPITAL.
It is impossible, in a work like the present, which is designed to cover the history of a country during three hundred years, to present the reader with as complete a narrative of events as we would desire. Happily, the task of recording the story of the conquest, has fallen into the hands of the classic historians of Spain, England and America; and the astonishing particulars of that mighty enterprise may be found, minutely recounted, in the works of De Solis, Robertson and Prescott. We shall therefore content ourselves with as rapid a summary as is consistent with the development of the modern Mexican character, and shall refer those who are anxious for more explicit and perfect details to the writings of the authors we have mentioned.
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Cortéz was not long idle after the withdrawal of the Aztec emissaries and the surly departure of the Indians, who, as we have related in the last chapter, quitted his camp and neighborhood on the same night with the ambassadors of Montezuma. He forthwith proceeded to establish a military and civil colony, of which he became Captain General and Chief Justice; he founded the Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz in order to secure a base on the coast for future military operation, by means of which he might be independent of Velasquez; and he formed an alliance with the Totonacos of Cempoalla, whose loyalty,—though they were subjects of Montezuma,—was alienated from him by his merciless exactions. We shall not dwell upon the skill with which he fomented a breach between the Totonacos and the ambassadors of Montezuma, nor upon the valuable gifts, and discreet despatches he forwarded to the Emperor Charles V., in order to secure a confirmation of his proceedings. The most daring act of this period was the destruction of the squadron which had wafted him to Mexico. It was a deed of wise policy, which deliberately cut off all hope of retreat,—pacified, in some degree, the querulous conspirators who lurked in his camp,—and placed before all who were embarked in the enterprise the alternative of conquest or destruction. But one vessel remained. Nine out of the ten were dismantled and sunk. When his men murmured for a moment, and imagined themselves betrayed, he addressed them in that language of bland diplomacy which he was so well skilled to use whenever the occasion required. "As for me," said he, "I will remain here whilst there is one to bear me company! Let the cravens shrink from danger and go home in the single vessel that remains. Let them hasten to Cuba, and relate how they deserted their commander and comrades; and there let them wait in patience till we return laden with the spoils of Mexico!"
This was an appeal that rekindled the combined enthusiasm and avarice of the despondent murmurers; and the reply was a universal shout: "To Mexico! to Mexico!"
*****
On the 16th of August, 1519, Cortéz set out with his small army of about four hundred men, now swelled by the addition of thirteen hundred Indian warriors and a thousand porters, and accompanied by forty of the chief Totonacs as hostages and advisers. From the burning climate of the coast the army gradually ascended to the cooler regions of the tierra templada, and tierra fria, encountering all degrees of temperature on the route. After a journey of three days, the forces arrived at a town on one of the table lands of the interior, whose chief magistrate confirmed the stories of the power of Montezuma. Here Cortéz tarried three days for repose, and then proceeded towards the Republic of Tlascala, which lay directly in his path, and with whose inhabitants he hoped to form an alliance founded on the elements of discontent which he knew existed among these inveterate foes of the central Aztec power. But he was mistaken in his calculations. The Tlascalans were not so easily won as his allies, the Totonacs, who, dwelling in a warmer climate, had not the hardier virtues of these mountaineers. The Tlascalans entertained no favorable feeling towards Montezuma, but they nourished quite as little cordiality for men whose characters they did not know, and whose purposes they had cause to dread. A deadly hostility to the Spaniards was consequently soon manifested. Cortéz was attacked by them on the borders of their Republic, and fought four sharp battles with fifty thousand warriors who maintained, in all the conflicts, their reputation for military skill and hardihood. At length the Tlascalans were forced to acknowledge the superiority of the invaders, whom they could not overcome either by stratagem or battle, and, after the exchange of embassies and gifts, they honored our hero with a triumphal entry into their capital.
*****
The news of these victories as well as of the fatal alliance which ensued with the Tlascalans, was soon borne to the court of Montezuma, who began to tremble for the fate of his empire when he saw the fall of the indomitable foes who had held him so long at bay. Two embassies to Cortéz succeeded each other, in vain. Presents were no longer of avail. His offer of tribute to the Spanish king was not listened to. All requests that the conqueror should not advance towards his capital were unheeded. "The command of his own emperor," said Cortéz, "was the only reason which could induce him to disregard the wishes of an Aztec prince, for whom he cherished the profoundest respect!" Soon after, another embassy came from Montezuma with magnificent gifts and an invitation to his capital, yet with a request that he would break with his new allies and approach Mexico through the friendly city of Cholula. The policy of this request on the part of Montezuma, will be seen in the sequel. Our hero, accompanied by six thousand volunteers from Tlascala, advanced towards the sacred city,—the site of the most splendid temple in the empire, whose foundations yet remain in the nineteenth century. The six intervening leagues were soon crossed, and he entered Cholula with his Spanish army, attended by no other Indians than those who accompanied him from Cempoalla. At first, the General and his companions were treated hospitably, and the suspicions which had been instilled into his mind by the Tlascalans were lulled to sleep. However, he soon had cause to become fearful of treachery. Messengers arrived from Montezuma, and his entertainers were observed to be less gracious in their demeanor. It was noticed that several important streets had been barricaded or converted into pitfalls, whilst stones, missiles and weapons were heaped on the flat roofs of houses. Besides this, Mariana had become intimate with the wife of one of the Caciques, and cunningly drew from her gossiping friend the whole conspiracy that was brewing against the adventurers. Montezuma, she learned, had stationed twenty thousand Mexicans near the city, who, together with the Cholulans, were to assault the invaders in the narrow streets and avenues, as they quitted the town; and, thus, he hoped, by successful treachery, to rid the land of such dangerous visitors either by slaughter in conflict, or to offer them, when made captive, upon the altars of the sacred temple in Cholula and on the teocallis of Mexico, as proper sacrifices to the bloody gods of his country.
Cortéz, however, was not to be so easily outwitted and entrapped. He, in turn, resorted to stratagem. Concentrating all his Spanish army, and concerting a signal for co-operation with his Indian allies, he suddenly fell upon the Cholulans at an unexpected moment. Three thousand of the citizens perished in the frightful massacre that ensued; and Cortéz pursued his uninterrupted way towards the fated capital of the Aztecs, after this awful chastisement, which was perhaps needful to relieve him from the danger of utter annihilation in the heart of an enemy's country with so small a band of countrymen in whom he could confide.
*****
From the plain of Cholula,—which is now known as the fruitful vale of Puebla,—the conqueror ascended the last ridge of mountains that separated him from the city of Mexico; and, as he turned the edge of the Cordillera, the beautiful valley was at once revealed to him in all its indescribable loveliness. [2] It lay at his feet, surrounded by the placid waters of Tezcoco. The sight that burst upon the Spaniards from this lofty eminence, in the language of Prescott, was that of the vale of Tenochtitlan, as it was 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 coloring and a distinctness of outline which seems 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, belted with the same grove of gigantic cypresses, which at this day fling their broad shadows over the land. In the distance, to the north, 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, girdling the valley around, like a rich setting which Nature had devised for the fairest of her jewels."
*****
Cortéz easily descended with his troops by the mountain road towards the plain of the valley; and as he passed along the levels, or through the numerous villages and hamlets, he endeavored to foster and foment the ill feeling which he found secretly existing against the government of the Mexican Emperor. When he had advanced somewhat into the heart of the valley he was met by an embassy of the chief lords of the Aztec court, sent to him by Montezuma, with gifts of considerable value; but he rejected a proffered bribe of "four loads of gold to the General, and one to each of his captains, with a yearly tribute to their sovereign," provided the Spanish troops would quit the country. Heedless of all menaced opposition as well as appeals to his avarice, he seems, at this period, to have cast aside the earlier and sordid motives which might then have been easily satisfied had his pursuit been gold alone. The most abundant wealth was cast at his feet; but the higher qualities of his nature were now allowed the fullest play, and strengthened him in his resolution to risk all in the daring and glorious project of subjecting a splendid empire to his control. Accordingly, he advanced though Amaquemecan, a town of several thousand inhabitants, where he was met by a nephew of the Emperor, the Lord of Tezcoco, who had been despatched by his vacillating uncle, at the head of a large number of influential personages, to welcome the invaders to the capital. The friendly summons was of course not disregarded by Cortéz, who forthwith proceeded along the most splendid and massive structure of the New World—a gigantic causeway, five miles in length, constructed of huge stones, which passed along the narrow strait of sand that separated the waters of Chalco from those of Tezcoco. The lakes were covered with boats filled with natives. Floating islands, made of reeds and wicker-work, covered with soil, brimmed with luxuriant vegetation whose splendid fruits and odorous petals rested on the waters. Several large towns were built on artificial foundations in the lake. And, every where, around the Spaniards, were beheld the evidences of a dense population, whose edifices, agriculture, and labors denoted a high degree of civilization and intelligence. As the foreign warriors proceeded onwards towards the city, which rose before them with its temples, palaces and shrines, covered with hard stucco that glistened in the sun, they crossed a wooden drawbridge in the causeway; and, as they passed it, they felt that now, indeed, if they faltered, they were completely in the grasp of the Mexicans, and more effectually cut off from all retreat than they had been when the fleet was destroyed at Vera Cruz.
Near this spot they were encountered by Montezuma with his court, who came forth in regal state to salute his future conqueror. Surrounded by all the pageantry and splendor of an oriental monarch, he descended from the litter in which he was borne from the city, and, leaning on the shoulders of the Lords of Tezcoco and of Iztapalapan,—his nephew and brother,—he advanced towards the Spaniards, under a canopy and over a cotton carpet, whilst his prostrate subjects manifested, by their abject demeanor, the fear or respect which the presence of their sovereign inspired.
"Montezuma was at this time about forty years of age. His person was tall and slender, but not ill-made. His hair, which was black and straight, was not very long. His beard was thin; his complexion somewhat paler than is often found in his dusky, or rather copper-colored race. His features, though serious in their expression, did not wear the look of melancholy, or dejection, which characterizes his portrait, and which may well have settled on them at a later period. He moved with dignity, and his whole demeanor, 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 picture left to us of the celebrated Indian Emperor in this his first interview with the white men." [3]
*****
As this mighty prince approached, Cortéz halted his men, and, advancing with a few of his principal retainers, was most courteously welcomed by Montezuma, who, adroitly concealing his chagrin, diplomatically expressed the uncommon delight he experienced at this unexpected visit of the strangers to his capital. Our hero thanked him for his friendly welcome and bounteous gifts,—and hung around his neck a chain set with colored crystal. Montezuma then opened his gates to the Spaniards and appointed his brother to conduct the General with his troops, to the city.
Here he found a spacious edifice, surrounded by a wall, assigned for his future residence; and, having stationed sentinels, and placed his cannon on the battlements so as to command all the important avenues to his palace, he proceeded to examine the city and to acquaint himself with the character, occupations, and temper of the people.[4]
Footnotes
[2] Between nine and ten thousand feet above the level of the sea, at this point of the road.
[3] Prescott.
[4] "The province which constitutes the principal territory of Montezuma," (says Cortéz in his letter to Charles the V.,) "is circular, and entirely surrounded by lofty and rugged mountains, and the circumference of it is full seventy leagues. In this plain there are two lakes which nearly occupy the whole of it, as the people use canoes for more than fifty leagues round. One of these lakes is of fresh water, and the other, which is larger, is of salt water. They are divided, on one side, by a small collection of high hills, which stand in the centre of the plain, and they unite in a level strait formed between these hills and the high mountains, which strait is a gun-shot wide, and the people of the cities and other settlements which are in these lakes, communicate together in their canoes by water, without the necessity of going by land. And as this great salt lake ebbs and flows with the tide, as the sea does, in every flood the water flows from it into the other fresh lake as impetuously as if it were a large river, and consequently at the ebb, the fresh lake flows into the salt.
"This great city of Temixtitlan, (meaning Tenochtitlan, Mexico,) is founded in this salt lake; and from terra firma to the body of the city, the distance is two leagues on whichever side they please to enter it.
"It has four entrances, or causeways, made by the hand of man, as wide as two horsemen's lances.
"The city is as large as Seville and Cordova. The streets (I mean the principal ones,) are very wide, and others very narrow; and some of the latter and all the others are one-half land and the other half water, along which the inhabitants go in their canoes; and all the streets, at given distances, are open, so that the water passes from one to the other; and in all their openings, some of which are very wide, there are very wide bridges, made of massive beams joined together and well wrought; and so wide that ten horsemen may pass abreast over many of them."—Letters of Cortéz to Charles V.
CHAPTER IV.
1519–1520.
DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY OF TENOCHTITLAN.—MONTEZUMA'S WAY OF LIFE—MARKET-PLACE.—CORTÉZ AT THE GREAT TEMPLE—DESCRIPTION OF IT.—PLACE OF SACRIFICE—SANCTUARIES—HUITZILOPOTCHTLI.—TEZCATLIPOCA— DANGER OF CORTÉZ—MONTEZUMA SEIZED.—MONTEZUMA A PRISONER—HIS SUBMISSIVENESS.—ARRIVAL OF NARVAEZ—CORTÉZ'S DIPLOMACY.—CORTÉZ OVERCOMES NARVAEZ, AND RECRUITS HIS FORCES.
The city of Mexico, or Tenochtitlan, was, as we have already said, encompassed by the lake of Tezcoco, over which three solid causeways formed the only approaches. This inland sea was, indeed, "an archipelago of wandering islands." The whole city was penetrated throughout its entire length by a principal street, which was intersected by numerous canals, crossed by drawbridges; and, wherever the eye could reach, long vistas of low stone buildings rose on every side among beautiful gardens or luxuriant foliage. The quadrangular palaces of the nobles who Montezuma encouraged to reside at his court, were spread over a wide extent of ground, embellished with beautiful fountains which shot their spray amid porticoes and columns of polished porphyry. The palace of Montezuma was so vast a pile, that one of the conquerors alleges its terraced roof afforded ample room for thirty knights to tilt in tournament. A royal armory was filled with curious and dangerous weapons, and adorned with an ample store of military dresses, equipments and armor. Huge granaries contained the tributary supplies which were brought to the Prince by the provinces for the maintenance of the royal family, and there was an aviary in which three hundred attendants fed and reared birds of the sweetest voice or rarest plumage; whilst, near it, rose a menagerie, filled with specimens of all the native beasts, together with a museum, in which, with an oddity of taste unparalleled in history, there had been collected a vast number of human monsters, cripples, dwarfs, Albinos and other freaks and caprices of nature. The royal gardens are described by eye-witnesses as spots of unsurpassed elegance, adorned with rare shrubs, medicinal plants, and ponds, supplied by aqueducts and fountains, wherein, amid beautiful flowers, the finest fish and aquatic birds were seen forever floating in undisturbed quiet. The interior of the palace was equally attractive for its comfort and elegance. Spacious halls were covered with ceilings of odoriferous wood, while the lofty walls were hung with richly tinted fabrics of cotton, the skins of animals, or feather work wrought in mosaic imitation of birds, reptiles, insects and flowers. Nor was the Emperor alone amid the splendid wastes of his palace. A thousand women thronged these royal chambers, ministering to the tastes and passions of the elegant voluptuary. The rarest viands, from far and near, supplied his table, the service of which was performed by numerous attendants on utensils and equipage of the choicest material and shape. Four times, daily, the Emperor changed his apparel, and never put on again the dress he once had worn, or defiled his lips twice with the same vessels from which he fed.
Such was the sovereign's palace and way of life, nor can we suppose that this refinement of luxury was to be found alone in the dwelling of Montezuma and his nobles. It is to be regretted that we are not more fully informed of the condition of property, wealth and labor among the masses of this singular empire. The conquerors did not trouble themselves with acquiring accurate statistical information, nor do they seem to have counted numbers carefully, except when they had enemies to conquer or spoil to divide. In all primitive nations, however, the best idea of a people is to be attained from visiting the market-place,—or rather the fair,—in which it is their custom to sell or barter the products of their industry; and, to this rendezvous of the Aztecs, Cortéz, with the astuteness that never forsook him during his perilous enterprise, soon betook himself after his arrival in the city.
The market of Tenochtitlan was a scene of commercial activity as well as of humble thrift. It was devoted to all kinds of native traffic. In the centre of the city the conqueror found a magnificent square surrounded by porticoes, in which, it is alleged, that sixty thousand traders were engaged in buying and selling every species of merchandize produced in the realm; jewels, goldware, toys, curious imitations of natural objects, wrought with the utmost skill of deception; weapons of copper alloyed with tin, pottery of all degrees of fineness, carved vases, bales of richly dyed cotton; beautifully woven feather-work, wild and tame animals, grain, fish, vegetables, all the necessaries of life and all its luxuries, together with restaurateurs and shops for the sale of medical drugs, confectionery, or stimulating drinks. It was, in fact, an immense bazaar, which, at a glance, gave an insight into the tastes, wants and productive industry of the nation.
Satisfied with this inspection of the people and their talents, the next visit of the General was, doubtless, made with the double object of becoming acquainted with that class of men, who in all countries so powerfully influence public opinion, whilst, from the top of their tall temple, situated on their lofty central Teocalli or pyramid, he might, with a military eye, scan the general topography of the city.
This pyramidal structure, or Great Temple, as it is generally called, was perhaps rather the base of a religious structure, than the religious edifice itself. We possess no accurate drawing of it among the contemporary or early relics of the conquest, that have descended to us; but it is known to have been pyramidal in shape, over one hundred and twenty feet in altitude, with a base of three hundred and twenty. It stood in a large area, surrounded by a wall eight feet high, sculptured with the figures of serpents in relief. From one end of the base of this structure, a flight of steps rose to a terrace at the base of the second story of the pyramid. Around this terrace, a person, in ascending, was obliged to pass until he came to the corner immediately above the first flight, where he encountered another set of steps, up which he passed to the second terrace, and so on, continuously, to the third and fourth terraces, until, by a fifth flight, he attained the summit platform of the Teocalli. These spaces or terraces, at each story, are represented to have been about six feet in width, so that three or four persons could easily ascend abreast. It will be perceived that in attaining the top of the edifice it was necessary to pass round it entirely four times and to ascend five stairways. Within the enclosure, built of stone and crowned with battlements, a village of five hundred houses might have been built. Its area was paved with smooth and polished stones, and the pyramid that rose in its centre seems to have been constructed as well for military as religious purposes, inasmuch as its architecture made it fully capable of resistance as a citadel; and we may properly assume this opinion as a fact, from the circumstance that the enclosing walls were entered by four gates, facing the cardinal points, while over each portal was erected a military arsenal filled with immense stores of warlike equipments.
RESTORATION OF GREAT TEMPLE.
When Cortéz arrived in front of this truncated pyramid, two priests and several caciques were in attendance, by order of Montezuma, to bear him in their arms to its summit. But the hardy conqueror declined this effeminate means of transportation, and marched up slowly at the head of his soldiers. On the paved and level area at the top, they found a large block of jasper, the peculiar shape of which showed it was the stone on which the bodies of the unhappy victims were stretched for sacrifice. Its convex surface, rising breast high, enabled the priest to perform more easily his diabolical task of removing the heart. Besides this, there were two sanctuaries erected on the level surface of the Teocalli; two altars, glowing with a fire that was never extinguished; and a large circular drum, which was struck only on occasions of great public concern.
Such was the Teocalli or House of God. There were other edifices, having the name of Teopan, or Places of God. Some writers allege that there were two towers erected on the great Teocalli of Tenochtitlan; but it may be safely asserted that there was at least one of these, which rose to the height of about fifty-six feet, and was divided into three stories, the lower being of stone, while the others were constructed of wrought and painted wood. In the basement of these towers were the sanctuaries, where two splendid altars had been erected to Huitzilopotchtli and Tezcatlipoca, over which the idol representatives of these divinities were placed in state.
Within the enclosure of the Teocalli there were forty other temples dedicated to various Aztec gods. Besides these, there were colleges or residences and seminaries of the priests, together with a splendid house of entertainment, devoted to the accommodation of eminent strangers who visited the temple and the court. All these sumptuous ecclesiastical establishments were grouped around the pyramid, protected by the quadrangular wall, and built amid gardens and groves.
Cortéz asked leave of the Emperor, who accompanied him on his visit, to enter the sanctuaries of the Aztec deities. In a spacious stuccoed saloon, roofed with carved and gilt timber, stood the gigantic idol of Huitzilopotchtli, the Mexican Mars. His countenance was harsh and menacing. In his hands he grasped a bow and golden arrows. He was girt with the folds of a serpent, formed of precious materials, whilst his left foot was feathered with the plumage of the humming-bird, from which he took his name. Around his throat hung suspended a massive necklace of alternate gold and silver hearts; and on the altar before him, three human hearts which had recently been torn from living breasts, were still quivering and bleeding, fresh from the immolated victims.
In the other chamber, or sanctuary, were the milder emblems of Tezcatlipoca, who "created the world and watched it with providential care." The lineaments of this idol were those of a youth, whose image, carved in black and polished stone, was adorned with discs of burnished gold, and embellished with a brilliant shield. Nevertheless, the worship of this more benign deity was stained with homicide, for on its altar, in a plate of gold, the conqueror found five human hearts; and, in these dens of inhumanity, Bernal Diaz tells us, that the "stench was more intolerable than in the slaughter houses of Castile!"
*****
Such is a brief summary of the observations made by the Spaniards during a week's residence in the city. They found themselves in the heart of a rich and populous empire, whose civilization, however, was, by a strange contradiction for which we shall hereafter endeavor to account, stained with the most shocking barbarity under the name of religion. The unscrupulous murder, which was dignified with the associations and practice of national worship, was by no means consolatory to the minds of men who were really in the power of semi-civilized rulers and bloody priests. They discovered, from their own experience, that the sovereign was both fickle and feeble, and that a caprice, a hope, or a fear, might suffice to make him free his country from a handful of dangerous guests by offering them as sacrifices to his gods. The Tlascalans were already looked upon with no kind feelings by their hereditary foes. A spark might kindle a fatal flame. It was a moment for bold and unscrupulous action, and it was needful to obtain some signal advantage by which the Spaniards could, at least, effect their retreat, if not ensure an ultimate victory.
*****
News just then was brought to Cortéz that four of his countrymen, whom he left behind at Cempoalla, had been treacherously slain by one of the tributary caciques of Montezuma; and this at once gave him a motive, or at least a pretext, for seizing the Emperor himself, as a hostage for the good faith of his nation. Accordingly, he visited Montezuma with a band of his most reliable followers, who charged the monarch with the treachery of his subordinate, and demanded the apprehension of the cacique to answer for the slaughter of their inoffensive countrymen. Montezuma, of course, immediately disavowed the treason and ordered the arrest of the Governor; but Cortéz would not receive an apology or verbal reparation of the injury,—although he professed to believe the exculpation of Montezuma himself,—unless that sovereign would restore the Spaniard's confidence in his fidelity by quitting his palace and changing his residence to the quarters of the invaders!
This was, indeed, an unexpected blow. It was one of those strokes of unparalleled boldness which paralyzed their victim by sheer amazement. After considerable discussion and useless appeals, the entrapped Emperor tamely submitted to the surprising demand, for he saw, in the resolved faces of his armed and steel-clad foes, that resistance was useless, if he attempted to save his own life, with the small and unprepared forces that were at hand.
For a while the most ceremonious respect was paid by the conqueror and his men to their royal prisoner, who, under strict surveillance, maintained his usual courtly pomp, and performed all the functions of Emperor. But Cortéz soon became his master. The will of an effeminate king was no match for the indomitable courage, effrontery and genius of the Spanish knight. The offending cacique of Cempoalla was burned alive, either to glut his vengeance or inspire dread; and when the traitor endeavored to compromise Montezuma in his crime, fetters were placed for an hour on the limbs of the imprisoned sovereign. Every day the disgraced Emperor became, more and more, the mere minister of Cortéz. He was forced to discountenance publicly those who murmured at his confinement, or to arrest the leading conspirators for his deliverance. He granted a province to the Castilian crown and swore allegiance to it. He collected the tribute and revenue from dependant cities or districts in the name of the Spanish king; and, at last, struck a blow even at his hereditary and superstitious faith by ordering the great Teocalli to be purged of its human gore and the erection of an altar on its summit, on which, before the cross and the images of the Virgin and her Son, the Christian mass might be celebrated in the presence of the Aztec multitude.
*****
It was at this moment, when Cortéz tried the national nerve most daringly by interfering with the religious superstitions of a dissatisfied town, and when every symptom of a general rebellion was visible, that the conqueror received the startling news of the arrival on the coast of Don Pamphilo de Narvaez, with eighteen vessels and nine hundred men, who had been sent, by the revengeful Velasquez, to arrest the hero and send him in chains to St. Jago.
A more unfortunate train of circumstances can scarcely be conceived. In the midst of an enemy's capital, with a handful of men,—menaced by a numerous and outraged nation, on the one hand, and, with a Spanish force sent, in the name of law by authorities to whom he owed loyal respect, to arrest him, on the other,—it is indeed difficult to imagine a situation better calculated to try the soul and task the genius of a general. But it was one of those perilous emergencies which, throughout his whole career, seem to have imparted additional energy, rather than dismay, to the heart of Cortéz, and which prove him to have been, like Nelson, a man who never knew the sensation of fear. Nor must it be imagined that difficulty made him rash. Seldom has a hero appeared in history more perfectly free from precipitancy after he undertook his great enterprise;—and, in the period under consideration, this is fully exhibited in the diplomacy with which he approached the hostile Spaniards on the coast who had been despatched to dislodge and disgrace him. He resolved, at once, not to abandon what he had already gained in the capital; but, at the same time, he endeavored to tranquilize or foil Narvaez if he could not win him over to his enterprise; for it was evidently the policy of the newly arrived general to unite in a spoil which was almost ready for division rather than to incur the perils and uncertainty of another conquest.
Accordingly Cortéz addressed a letter to Narvaez requesting him not to kindle a spirit of insubordination among the natives by proclaiming his enmity. Yet this failed to affect his jealous countryman. He then desired Narvaez to receive his band as brothers in arms, and to share the treasure and fame of the conquest. But this, also, was rejected; while the loyal tool of Velasquez diligently applied himself to fomenting the Aztec discontent against his countrymen, and proclaimed his design of marching to Mexico to release the Emperor from the grasp of his Spanish oppressor.
There was now no other opening for diplomacy, nor was delay to be longer suffered. Cortéz, therefore, leaving the mutinous capital in the hands of Pedro de Alvarado, with a band of but one hundred and fifty men to protect the treasure he had amassed,—departed for the shores of the Gulf with only seventy soldiers, but was joined, on his way, by one hundred and twenty men who had retreated from the garrison at Vera Cruz. He was not long in traversing the plains and Cordilleras towards the eastern sea; and falling suddenly on the camp of Narvaez, in the dead of night, he turned the captured artillery against his foe, seized the general, received the capitulation of the army of nine hundred well equipped men, and soon healed the factions which of course existed between the conquerors and the conquered. He had acquired the prestige which always attends extraordinary success or capacity; and men preferred the chances of splendid results under such a leader to the certainty of moderate gain under a general who did not possess his matchless genius. Thus it was that the lordly spirit and commanding talents of Cortéz enabled him to convert the very elements of disaster into the means of present strength and future success!
CHAPTER V.
1520.
CORTÉZ RETURNS TO THE CAPITAL—CAUSES OF THE REVOLT AGAINST THE SPANIARDS.—CORTÉZ CONDEMNS ALVARADO—HIS CONDUCT TO MONTEZUMA.—BATTLE IN THE CITY—MONTEZUMA MEDIATES.—FIGHT ON THE GREAT TEMPLE OR TEOCALLI.—RETREAT OF THE SPANIARDS—NOCHE TRISTE.—FLIGHT OF THE SPANIARDS TO TACUBA.
Whilst Cortéz was beset with the difficulties recounted in our last chapter, and engaged in overcoming Narvaez on the coast, the news reached him of an insurrection in the capital, towards which he immediately turned his steps. On approaching the city, intelligence was brought that the active hostilities of the natives had been changed, for the last fortnight, into a blockade, and that the garrison had suffered dreadfully during his absence. Montezuma, too, despatched an envoy who was instructed to impress the conqueror with the Emperor's continued fidelity, and to exculpate him from all blame in the movement against Alvarado.
On the 24th June, 1520, Cortéz reached the capital. On all sides he saw the melancholy evidences of war. There were neither greeting crowds on the causeways, nor boats on the lake; bridges were broken down; the brigantines or boats he had constructed to secure a retreat over the waters of these inland seas, were destroyed; the whole population seemed to have vanished, and silence brooded over the melancholy scene.
*****
The revolt against the lieutenant Alvarado was generally attributed to his fiery impetuosity, and to the inhuman and motiveless slaughter committed by the Spanish troops, under his authority, during the celebration of a solemn Aztec festival, called the "incensing of Huitzilopotchtli." Six hundred victims, were, on that occasion, slain by the Spaniards, in cold blood, in the neighborhood of the Great Temple; nor was a single native, engaged in the mysterious rites, left alive to tell the tale of the sudden and brutal assault.
Alvarado, it is true, pretended that his spies had satisfactorily proved the existence of a well founded conspiracy, which was designed to explode upon this occasion; but the evidence is not sufficient to justify the disgraceful and horrid deed that must forever tarnish his fame. It is far more probable that rapacity was the true cause of the onslaught, and that the reckless companion of the conqueror, who had been entrusted with brief authority during his absence, miscalculated the power of his Indian foe, and confounded the warlike Mexican of the valley with the weaker soldiers, dwelling in more emasculating climates, whom he had so rapidly confounded and overthrown in his march to the capital.
It may well be supposed that this slaughter, combined with the other causes of discontent already existing among the Aztecs, served to kindle the outraged national feeling with intense hatred of the invaders. The city rose in arms, and the Spaniards were hemmed within their defences. Montezuma himself addressed the people from the battlements, and stayed their active assault upon the works of Alvarado; but they strictly blockaded the enemy in his castle, cut off all supplies, and entrenched themselves in hastily constructed barricades thrown up around the habitation of the Spaniards, resolved to rest behind these works until despair and famine would finally and surely throw the helpless victims into their power. Here the invaders, with scant provisions and brackish water, awaited the approach of Cortéz, who received the explanations of Alvarado with manifest disgust:—"You have been false to your trust," said he, "you have done badly, indeed, and your conduct has been that of a madman!"
Yet this was not a moment to break entirely with Alvarado, whose qualities, and perhaps, even, whose conduct, rendered him popular with a large class of the Spanish adventurers. The newly recruited forces of Cortéz gave the conqueror additional strength, for he was now at the head of no less than twelve hundred and fifty Spaniards, and eight thousand auxiliaries, chiefly Tlascalans. Yet, under the untoward circumstances, the increase of his forces augmented the difficulties of their support. Montezuma hastened to greet him. But the Spaniard was in no mood to trust the Emperor; and, as his Mexican subjects made no sign of reconciliation or submission, he refused the proferred interview:—"What have I," exclaimed he, haughtily, "to do with this dog of a king who suffers us to starve before his eyes!" He would receive no apology from his countrymen who sought to exculpate the sovereign, or from the mediating nobles of the court:—"Go tell your master," was his reply, "to open the markets, or we will do it for him, at his cost!"
But the stern resistance of the natives was not intermitted. On the contrary, active preparations were made to assault the irregular pile of stone buildings which formed the Palace of Axayacatl, in which the Spaniards were lodged. The furious populace rushed through every avenue towards this edifice, and encountered with wonderful nerve and endurance, the ceaseless storm of iron hail which its stout defenders rained upon them from every quarter. Yet the onset of the Aztecs was almost too fierce to be borne much longer by the besieged, when the Spaniards resorted to the lingering authority of Montezuma to save them from annihilation. The pliant Emperor, still their prisoner, assumed his royal robes, and, with the symbol of sovereignty in his hand, ascended the central turret of the palace. Immediately, at this royal apparition, the tumult of the fight was hushed whilst the king addressed his subjects in the language of conciliation and rebuke. Yet the appeal was not satisfactory or effectual. "Base Aztec,"—shouted the chiefs,—"the white men have made you a woman, fit only to weave and spin!"—whilst a cloud of stones, spears and arrows fell upon the monarch, who sank wounded to the ground, though the bucklers of the Spaniards were promptly interposed to shield his person from violence. He was borne to his apartments below; and, bowed to the earth by the humiliation he had suffered alike from his subjects and his foes, he would neither receive comfort nor permit his wounds to be treated by those who were skilled in surgery. He reclined, in moody silence, brooding over his ancient majesty and the deep disgrace which he felt he had too long survived.
*****
Meanwhile the war without continued to rage. The great Teocalli or Mound-Temple, already described, was situated at a short distance opposite the Spanish defences; and, from this elevated position, which commanded the invader's quarters, a body of five or six hundred Mexicans, began to throw their missiles into the Spanish garrison, whilst the natives, under the shelter of the sanctuaries, were screened from the fire of the besieged. It was necessary to dislodge this dangerous armament. An assault, under Escobar, was hastily prepared, but the hundred men who composed it, were thrice repulsed, and obliged finally to retreat with considerable loss. Cortéz had been wounded and disabled in his left hand, in the previous fight, but he bound his buckler to the crippled limb, and, at the head of three hundred chosen men, accompanied by Alvarado, Sandoval, Ordaz and others of his most gallant cavaliers, he sallied from the besieged palace. It was soon found that horses were useless in charging the Indians over the smooth and slippery pavements of the town and square, and accordingly Cortéz sent them back to his quarters; yet he managed to repulse the squadrons in the court-yard of the Teocalli, and to hold them in check by a file of arquebusiers. The singular architecture of this Mound-Temple will be recollected by the reader, and the difficulty of its ascent, by means of five stairways and four terraces, was now increased by the crowds that thronged these narrow avenues. From stair to stair, from gallery to gallery, the Spaniards fought onward and upward with resistless courage, incessantly flinging their Indian foes, by main strength, over the narrow ledges. At length they reached the level platform of the top, which was capable of containing a thousand warriors. Here, at the shrine of the Aztec war-god, was a site for the noblest contest in the empire. The area was paved with broad and level stones. Free from all impediments, it was unguarded at its edges by battlements, parapets, or, any defences which could protect the assailants from falling if they approached the sides too closely. Quarter was out of the question. The battle was hand to hand, and body to body. Combatants grappled and wrestled in deadly efforts to cast each other from the steep and sheer ledges. Indian priests ran to and fro with streaming hair and sable garments, urging their superstitious children to the contest. Men tumbled headlong over the sides of the area, and even Cortéz himself, by superior agility, alone, was saved from the grasp of two warriors who dragged him to the brink of the lofty pyramid and were about to dash him to the earth.
For three hours the battle raged until every Indian combatant was either slain on the summit or hurled to the base. Forty-five of the Spaniards were killed, and nearly all wounded. A few Aztec priests, alone, of all the Indian band, survived to behold the destruction of the sanctuaries, which had so often been desecrated by the hideous rites and offerings of their bloody religion.
For a moment the natives were panic-struck by this masterly and victorious manœuvre, whilst the Spaniards passed unmolested to their quarters, from which, at night, they again sallied to burn three hundred houses of the citizens.
Cortéz thought that these successes would naturally dismay the Mexicans, and proposed, through Mariana,—his faithful interpreter, who had continued throughout his adventures the chief reliance of the Spaniards for intercourse with the Indians,—that this conflict should cease at once, for the Aztecs must be convinced that a soldier who destroyed their gods, laid a part of their capital in ruins, and was able to inflict still more direful chastisement, was, indeed, invincible.
But the day of successful threats had passed. The force of the Aztecs was still undiminished; the bridges were destroyed; the numbers of the Spaniards were lessened; hunger and thirst were beginning to do their deadly work on the invaders; "there will be only too few of you left," said they in reply,—"to satisfy the revenge of our gods."
*****
There was no longer time for diplomacy or delay, and, accordingly, Cortéz resolved to quit the city as soon as practicable, and prepared the means to accomplish this desirable retreat; but, on his first attempt he was unable to reach the open country through the easily defended highway of the capital or the enfilading canals and lanes. From house tops and cross streets, innumerable Indians beset his path wherever he turned. Yet it was essential for the salvation of the Spaniards that they should evacuate the city. No other resource remained, and, desperate as it was, the conqueror persevered, unflinchingly, amid the more hazardous assaults of the Mexicans, and all the internal discords of his own band, whom a common danger did not perfectly unite. He packed the treasure, gathered during the days of prosperous adventure, on his stoutest horses, and, with a portable bridge, to be thrown hastily over the canals, he departed from his stronghold on the dark and rainy evening which has become memorable in American history, as the noche triste, or "melancholy night." The Mexicans were not usually alert during the darkness, and Cortéz hoped that he might steal off unperceived in this unwatchful period. But he was mistaken in his calculations. The Aztecs had become acquainted with Spanish tactics and were eager for the arrival of the moment, by day or night, when the expected victims would fall into their hands. As soon as the Spanish band had advanced a short distance along the causeway of Tlacopan, the attack began by land and water; for the Indians assaulted them from their boats, with spears and arrows, or quitting their skiffs, grappled with the retreating soldiers in mortal agony, and rolled them from the causeway into the waters of the lake. The bridge was wedged inextricably between the sides of a dyke, whilst ammunition wagons, heavy guns, bales of rich cloths, chests of gold, artillery, and the bodies of men or horses, were piled in heaps on the highway or rolled into the water. Forty-six of the cavalry were cut off and four hundred and fifty of the Christians killed, whilst four thousand of the Indian auxiliaries perished. [5] The General's baggage, papers, and minute diary of his adventures, were swallowed in the waters. The ammunition, the artillery, and every musket were lost. Meanwhile Montezuma had perished from his wounds some days before the sortie was attempted, and his body had been delivered to his subjects with suitable honors. Alvarado,—Tonatiuh, the "child of the sun," as the natives delighted to call him, escaped during the noche triste by a miraculous leap with the aid of his lance-staff over a canal, to whose edge he had been pursued by the foe. And when Cortéz, at length, found himself with his thin and battered band, on the heights of Tacuba, west of the city, beyond the borders of the lake, it may be said, without exaggeration, that nothing was left to reassure him but his indomitable heart and the faithful Indian girl whose lips, and perhaps whose counsel, had been so useful in his service.
Footnote
[5] These numbers are variously stated by different authorities.—See Prescott, vol. 2d, p. 377.
CHAPTER VI.
1520.
RETREAT TO OTUMBA.—CORTÉZ IS ENCOUNTERED BY A NEW ARMY OF AZTECS AND AUXILIARIES.—VICTORY OF THE SPANIARDS AT OTUMBA.—PROPOSED RE-ALLIANCE OF AZTECS AND TLASCALANS.—FORAYS OF CORTÉZ—REDUCTION OF THE EASTERN REGIONS.—CORTÉZ PROPOSES THE RECONQUEST—SENDS OFF THE DISAFFECTED.—CORTÉZ SETTLES THE TLASCALAN SUCCESSION.
After the disasters and fatigues of the noche triste, the melancholy and broken band of Cortéz rested for a day at Tacuba, whilst the Mexicans returned to their capital, probably to bury the dead and purify their city. It is singular, yet it is certain, that they did not follow up their successes by a death blow at the disarmed Spaniards. But this momentary paralysis of their efforts was not to be trusted, and accordingly Cortéz began to retreat eastwardly, under the guidance of the Tlascalans, by a circuitous route around the northern limits of lake Zumpango. The flying forces and their auxiliaries were soon in a famishing condition, subsisting alone on corn or on wild cherries gathered in the forest, with occasional refreshment and support from the carcase of a horse that perished by the way. For six days these wretched fragments of the Spanish army continued their weary pilgrimage, and, on the seventh, reached Otumba on the way from Mexico to Tlascala. Along the whole of this march the fainting and dispirited band was, ever and anon, assailed by detached squadrons of the enemy, who threw stones and rolled rocks on the men as they passed beneath precipices, or assaulted them with arrows and spears. As Cortéz advanced, the enemy gathered in his rear and bade him "Go on whither he should meet the vengeance due to his robbery and his crimes," for the main body of the Aztecs had meanwhile passed by an eastern route across the country, and placed itself in a position to intercept the Spaniards on the plains of Otumba. As the army of the conqueror crossed the last dividing ridge that overlooked the vale of Otompan, it beheld the levels below filled, as far as eye could reach, with the spears and standards of the Aztec victors, whose forces had been augmented by levies from the territory of the neighboring Tezcoco. Cortéz presented a sorry array to be launched from the cliffs upon this sea of lances. But he was not the man to tremble or hesitate. He spread out his main body as widely as possible, and guarded the flanks by the twenty horsemen who survived the noche triste, and the disastrous march from Tacuba. He ordered his cavalry not to cast away their lances, but to aim them constantly at the faces of the Indians, whilst the infantry were to thrust and not to strike with their swords;—the leaders of the enemy were especially to be selected as marks; and he, finally, bade his men trust in God, who would not permit them to perish by the hands of infidels. The signal was given for the charge. Spaniard and Tlascalan fought hand to hand with the foe. Long and doubtfully the battle raged on both sides, until every Spaniard was wounded. Suddenly Cortéz descried the ensignia of the enemy's commanding general, and knowing that the fortunes of the day, in all probability, depended upon securing or slaying that personage, he commanded Sandoval, Olid, Alvarado, and Avila to follow and support him as he dashed towards the Indian chief. The Aztecs fell back as he rushed on, leaving a lane for the group of galloping cavaliers. Cortéz and his companions soon reached the fatal spot, and the conqueror driving his lance through the Aztec leader, left him to be dispatched by Juan de Salamanca. This was the work of a moment. The death of the general struck a panic into the combined forces of Tenochtitlan and Tezcoco, and a promiscuous flight began on all sides. At sunset, on the 8th of July, 1520, the Spaniards were victors on the field of Otumba, and gathering together in an Indian temple, which they found on an eminence overlooking the plain, they offered up a Te Deum for their miraculous preservation as well as for the hope with which their success reinspired them.[6]
*****
The next day the invaders quitted their encampment on the battle field and hastened towards the territory of their friends, the Tlascalans. The Spaniards now presented themselves to the rulers of their allies in a different guise from that they wore when they first advanced towards Mexico. Fully equipped, mounted, and furnished with ammunition, they had then compelled the prompt submission of the Tlascalans, and, assuring their alliance, had conquered the Cholulans, and obtained the control even of the capital and person of the Aztec Emperor himself. But now they returned defeated, plundered, unarmed, poor, scarcely clad, and with the loss of a large part of those Indian allies who had accompanied the expedition. There was reason for disheartening fear in the breast of Cortéz, had it been susceptible of such an emotion. But the Lord of Tlascala reassured him, when he declared that their "cause was common against Mexico, and, come weal, come woe, they would prove loyal to the death!"
The Spaniards were glad to find a friendly palace in Tlascala, in which to shelter themselves after the dreadful storms that had recently broken on their head. Yet, in the quiet of their retreat, and in the excitement of their rallying blood, they began to reflect upon the past and the disheartening aspect of the future. Murmurs, which were at first confined to the barrack, at length assumed public significance, and a large body of the men, chiefly the soldiers of Narvaez, presented to Cortéz a petition which was headed by his own secretary, demanding permission to retreat to La Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz. Just at this moment, too, Cuitlahua, who mounted the throne of Mexico on the death of Montezuma, despatched a mission to the Tlascalans, proposing to bury the hatchet, and to unite in sweeping the Spaniards from the realm. The hours which were consumed by the Tlascalans in deliberating on this dread proposal were full of deep anxiety to Cortéz; for, in the present feeble condition of his Spanish force, his whole reliance consisted in adroitly playing off one part of the Indian population against another. If he lost the aid, alliance, or neutrality of the Tlascalans, his cause was lost, and all hope of reconquest, or perhaps even of retreat, was gone forever.
The promised alliance of the Mexicans was warmly and sternly supported in the debates of the Tlascalan council by some of the nobles; yet, after full and even passionate discussion, which ended in personal violence between two of the chiefs, it was unanimously resolved to reject the proposal of their hereditary foes, who had never been able to subdue them as a nation in battle, but hoped to entrap them into alliance in the hour of common danger. These discussions, together with the positive rejection by Cortéz of the Spanish petition, seem to have allayed the anxiety of the invaders to return to Vera Cruz. With the assured friendship of the Tlascalans they could rely upon some good turn in fortune, and, at length, the vision of the conquest might be realized under the commander who had led them through success and defeat with equal skill.
Accordingly Cortéz did not allow his men to remain long in idle garrisons, brooding over the past, or becoming moody and querulous. If he could not conquer a nation by a blow, he might perhaps subdue a tribe by a foray, while the military success, or golden plunder, would serve to keep alive the fire of enterprise in the breasts of his troopers. His first attack, after he had recruited the strength of his men, was on the Tepeacans, whom he speedily overthrew, and in whose chief town of Tepeaca, on the Mexican frontier, he established his head quarters, in the midst of a flourishing and productive district, whence his supplies were easily gathered. Here he received an invitation from the cacique of Quauhquechollan,—a town of thirty thousand inhabitants, whose chief was impatient of the Mexican yoke,—to march to his relief. Olid was despatched on this expedition; but getting entangled in disputes and frays with the Cholulans, whose people he assaulted and took prisoners, Cortéz himself assumed command of the expedition. In fact, the conqueror was singularly unfortunate in the conduct of his subordinates, for all his disasters arose from confidence in men whose judgment or temper was unequal to the task and discipline of control. In the assault and capture of this town, Cortéz and his men obtained a rich booty. They followed up the blow by taking the strong city of Itzocan, which had also been held by a Mexican garrison; and here, too, the captors seized upon rich spoils, while the Indian auxiliaries were soon inflamed by the reports of booty, and hastened in numbers to the chief who led them to victory and plunder.
*****
Cortéz returned to Tepeaca from these expeditions, which were not alone predatory in their character, but were calculated to pave the way for his military approach once more to the city of Mexico, as soon as his schemes ripened for the conquest. The ruling idea of ultimate success never for a moment left his mind. From Tepeaca he despatched his officers on various expeditions, and marched Sandoval against a large body of the enemy lying between his camp and Vera Cruz. These detachments defeated the Mexicans in two battles; reduced the whole country which is now known as lying between Orizaba and the western skirts of the plain of Puebla, and thus secured the communication with the seacoast. Those who are familiar with the geography of Mexico, will see at a glance, with what masterly generalship the dispositions of Cortéz were made to secure the success of his darling project. Nor can we fail to recognize the power of a single indomitable will over masses of Christians and Indians, in the wonderful as well as successful control which the conqueror obtained in his dealings with his countrymen as well as the natives at this period of extreme danger. When Mexico was lost after the noche triste, the military resources of Cortéz were really nothing, for his slender band was deprived of its most effective weapons, was broken in moral courage and placed on an equality, as to arms, with the Indians. The successes he obtained at Otumba, Tlascala, Tepeaca, and elsewhere, not only re-established the prestige of his genius among his countrymen, but affected even the Indians. The native cities and towns in the adjacent country appealed to him to decide in their difficulties, and his discretion and justice, as an arbitrator, assured him an ascendancy which it is surprising that a stranger who was ignorant of their language could acquire among men who were in the semi-civilized and naturally jealous state in which he found the Aztec and Tlascalan tribes. Thus it is that, under the influence of his will and genius, "a new empire grew up, in the very heart of the land, forming a counterpoise to the colossal power which had so long overshadowed it."
*****
In the judgment of Cortéz, the moment had now arrived when he was strong enough, and when it was proper, that he should attempt the reconquest of the capital. His alliance with the Tlascalans reposed upon a firm basis, and consequently he could rely upon adequate support from the Indians who would form the majority of his army. Nor were his losses of military equipments and stores unrepaired. Fortune favored him by the arrival of several vessels at Vera Cruz, from which he obtained munitions of war and additional troops. One hundred and fifty well provided men and twenty horses were joined to his forces by these arrivals.
Before his departure, however, he despatched the few discontented men from his camp and gave them a vessel with which they might regain their homes. He wrote an account of his adventures, moreover, to his government in Spain, and besought his sovereign to confirm his authority in the lands and over the people he might add to the Spanish crown. He addressed, also, the Royal Audiencia at St. Domingo to interest its members in his cause, and when he despatched four vessels from Vera Cruz for additional military supplies, he freighted them with specimens of gold and Indian fabrics to inflame the cupidity of new adventurers.
In Tlascala, he settled the question of succession in the government; constructed new arms and caused old ones to be repaired; made powder with sulphur obtained from the volcano of Popocatopetl; and, under the direction of his builder, Lopez, prepared the timber for brigantines, which he designed to carry, in pieces, and launch on the lake at the town of Tezcoco. At that port, he resolved to prepare himself fully for the final attack, and, this time, he determined to assault the enemy's capital by water, as well as by land.
Footnote
[6] We have no accurate estimate of the numbers engaged in this battle, or of the slain.
CHAPTER VII.
1520–1521.
DEATH OF CUITLAHUA—HE IS SUCCEEDED BY GUATEMOZIN.—AZTECS LEARN THE PROPOSED RECONQUEST—CORTÉZ's FORCES FOR THIS ENTERPRISE.—CORTÉZ AT TEZCOCO—HIS PLANS AND ACTS.—MILITARY EXPEDITIONS OF CORTÉZ IN THE VALLEY.—OPERATIONS AT CHALCO AND CUERNAVACA.—XOCHIMILCO—RETURN TO TACUBA.—CORTÉZ RETURNS TO TEZCOCO AND IS REINFORCED.
After a short and brilliant reign of four months, Cuitlahua, the successor of Montezuma, died of small pox, which, at that period, raged throughout Mexico, and he was succeeded by Guauhtemotzin, or, Guatemozin, the nephew of the two last Emperors. This sovereign ascended the Aztec throne in his twenty-fifth year, yet he seems to have been experienced as a soldier and firm as a patriot.
It is not to be imagined that the Aztec court was long ignorant of the doings of Cortéz. It was evident that the bold and daring Spaniard had not only been unconquered in heart and resolution, but that he even meditated a speedy return to the scene of his former successful exploits. The Mexicans felt sure that, upon this occasion, his advent and purposes would be altogether undisguised, and that when he again descended to the valley in which their capital nestled, he would, in all probability, be prepared to sustain himself and his followers in any position his good fortune and strong arm might secure to him. The news, moreover, of his firm alliance with the Tlascalans and all the discontented tributaries of the Aztec throne, as well as of the reinforcements and munitions he received from Vera Cruz, was quickly brought to the city of Mexico; and every suitable preparation was made, by strengthening the defences, encouraging the vassals, and disciplining the troops, to protect the menaced empire from impending ruin.
*****
Nor was Cortéz, in his turn, idle in exciting the combined forces of the Spaniards and Indians for the last effort which it was probable he could make for the success of his great enterprise. His Spanish force consisted of nigh six hundred men, forty of whom were cavalry, together with eighty arquebusiers and crossbowmen. Nine cannon of small calibre, supplied with indifferent powder, constituted his train of artillery. His army of Indian allies is estimated at the doubtless exaggerated number of over one hundred thousand, armed with the maquahuatil, pikes, bows, arrows, and divided into battalions, each with its own banners, insignia and commanders. His appeal to all the members of this motley array was couched in language likely to touch the passions, the bigotry, the enthusiasm and avarice of various classes; and, after once more crossing the mountains, and reaching the margin of the lakes, he encamped on the 31st of December, 1520, within the venerable precincts of Tezcoco, "the place of rest."
*****
At Tezcoco, Cortéz was firmly planted on the eastern edge of the valley of Mexico, in full sight of the capital which lay across the lake, near its western shore, at the distance of about twelve miles. Behind him, towards the seacoast, he commanded the country, as we have already related, while, by passes through lower spurs of the mountains, he might easily communicate with the valleys of which the Tlascalans and Cholulans were masters.
Fortifying himself strongly in his dwelling and in the quarters of his men, in Tezcoco, he at once applied himself to the task of securing such military positions in the valley and in the neighborhood of the great causeway between the lakes as would command an outlet from the capital by land, and enable him to advance across the waters of Tezcoco without the annoyance of enemies who might sally forth from strongholds on his left flank. On his right, the chain of lakes, extending farther than the eye can reach, furnished the best protection he could desire. Accordingly, he first of all reduced and destroyed the ancient city of Iztapalapan,—a place of fifty thousand inhabitants, distant about six leagues from the town of Tezcoco,—which was built on the narrow isthmus dividing the lake of that name from the waters of Chalco. He next directed his forces against the city of Chalco, lying on the eastern extremity of the lake that bore its name, where his army was received in triumph by the peaceful citizens after the evacuation of the Mexican garrison. Such were the chief of his military and precautionary expeditions, until the arrival of the materials for the boats or brigantines which Martin Lopez, and his four Spanish assistant carpenters, had already put together and tried on the waters of Zahuapan; and which, after a successful experiment, they had taken to pieces again and borne in fragments to Tezcoco.
*****
Early in the spring of 1521, Cortéz entrusted his garrison at Tezcoco to Sandoval, and, with three hundred and fifty Spaniards, and nearly all his Indian allies, departed on an expedition designed to reconnoitre the capital. He passed from his stronghold northwardly around the head of the lakes north of Tezcoco,—one of which is now called San Cristoval,—and took possession of the insular town of Xaltocan. Passing thence along the western edge of the vale of Anahuac or Mexico, he reached the city of Tacuba, west of the capital, with which so many disastrous recollections were connected on his first sad exit from the imperial city. During this expedition the troops of the conqueror were almost daily engaged in skirmishes with the guerilla forces of the Aztecs; yet, notwithstanding their constant annoyance and stout resistance, the Spaniards were invariably successful and even managed to secure some booty of trifling value. After a fortnight of rapid marching, fighting and reconnoitering, Cortéz and his men returned to Tezcoco. Here he was met by an embassy from the friendly Chalcans and pressed for a sufficient force to sustain them against the Mexicans, who despatched the warriors of certain neighboring and loyal strongholds to annoy the inhabitants of a town which had exhibited a desire to fraternize with the invading Spaniards. Indeed, the Aztecs saw the importance of maintaining the control of a point which commanded the most important avenue to their capital from the Atlantic coast. The wearied troops of Cortéz were in no plight to respond to the summons of the Chalcans at that moment, for their hurried foray and incessant conflicts with the enemy had made them anxious for the repose they might justly expect in Tezcoco. Nevertheless, Cortéz did not choose to rely upon his naval enterprise alone; but, conscious as he was of holding the main key of the land as well as water, he despatched, without delay, his trusty Sandoval with three hundred Spanish infantry and twenty horse to protect the town of Chalco and reduce the hostile fortifications in its vicinity. This duty he soon successfully performed. But the Aztecs renewed the assault on Chalco with a fleet of boats, and were again beaten off with the loss of a number of their nobles, who were delivered by the victors to Sandoval whom Cortéz had sent back to support the contested town as soon as the news of the fresh attack reached him.
By this time the brigantines were nearly completed, and the canal dug by which they were to be carried to the waters of the lake, for, at that time, the town of Tezcoco was distant from its margin. He dared not trust these precious materials for his future success beyond the shelter of his citadel in Tezcoco, since every effort had been already made by hostile and marauding parties to destroy them; and he was therefore obliged to undergo the trouble of digging this canal, about half a league in length, in order to launch his vessels when the moment for final action arrived.
Nor was his heart uncheered by fresh arrivals from the old world. Two hundred men, well provided with arms and ammunition, and with upwards of seventy horses,—coming most probably from Hispaniola,—found their way from Vera Cruz to Tezcoco, and united themselves with the corps of Cortéz.
In the meantime the Emperor again directed his arms against his recreant subjects of Chalco, which he seemed resolved to subdue and hold at all hazards, so as effectually to cut off the most important land approach to his capital. Envoys arrived in the Spanish camp with reports of the danger that menaced them, and earnest appeals for efficient support. This time, Cortéz resolved to lead the party destined for this service, and, on the 5th of April, set out with thirty horsemen, three hundred infantry and a large body of Tlascalans and Tezcocans, to succor a city whose neutrality, at least, it was important, as we have already shown, should eventually be secured. He seems to have effected, by his personal influence in Chalco and its neighborhood, what his lieutenant Sandoval had been unable to do by arms, so that, he not only rendered a large number of loyal Aztecs passive, but even secured the co-operation of additional auxiliaries from among the Chalcans and the tribes that dwelt on the borders of their lake.
Cortéz was not, however, content with this demonstration against his near neighbors, but, resolved, now that he was once more in the saddle, to cross the sierra that hemmed in the vale of Anahuac, on the south, and to descend its southern slopes on a visit to the warmer regions that basked at their feet. Accordingly he prosecuted his southern march through large bodies of harrassing skirmishers, who hung upon the rear and flanks of his troop, and annoyed it with arrows and missiles, which they hurled from the crags as his men threaded the narrow defiles of the mountains. Passing through Huaxtepec and Jauhtepec, he arrived on the ninth day of his march, before the strong town of Guauhnahuac, or Cuernavaca, as it is now known in the geography of Mexico. It was the capital of the Tlahuicas, and an important and wealthy tributary of the Aztecs. Here too he encountered hostile resistance which he quickly overcame. His name as a successful warrior had preceded him among these more effeminate races, and the trembling lords of the territory soon submitted to his mercy. Departing from Cuernavaca, Cortéz turned again northwards, and ascending the sierra in a new direction re-entered the valley of Anahuac or Mexico, by the main route which now penetrates the southern portion of its rim. From the summits of these mountains, where the cool air of the temperate clime sings through the limbs and tassels of hardy pines, Cortéz swooped down upon Xochimilco, or the "field of flowers," where he was again encountered by guerillas and more formidable squadrons from the Aztec capital which was but twelve miles distant. Here, again, after several turns in the tide of fortune, the Spaniards were triumphant and obtained a rich booty. From Xochimilco the little band and the auxiliaries advanced, among continual dangers, around the western margin of the lakes, and, skirting the feet of the mountains, attained, once more, the town of Tacuba.
*****
The conqueror had thus circled the valley, and penetrated the adjacent southern vale, in his two expeditions. Wherever he went, the strange weapons of his Spaniards, the singular appearance of his mounted men, and his uniform success, served to inspire the natives with a salutary dread of his mysterious power. He now knew perfectly the topography of the country,—for he was forced to be his own engineer as well as general. He had become acquainted with the state of the Aztec defences, as well as with the slender hold the central power of the empire retained over the tributary tribes, towns, and districts which had been so often vexed by taxation to support a voluptuous sovereign and avaricious aristocracy. He found the sentiment of patriotic union and loyalty but feeble among the various populations he visited. The ties of international league had every where been adroitly loosened by the conqueror, either through his eloquence or his weapons; and, from all his careful investigations, both of character and country, he had reason to believe that the realm of Mexico was at length almost within his grasp. The capital was now encircled with a cordon of disloyal cities. Every place of importance had been visited, conquered, subdued, or destroyed in its moral courage or natural allegiance. But Tacuba was too near the capital to justify him in trusting his jaded band within so dangerous a neighborhood. Accordingly, he did not delay a day in that city, but, gathering his soldiers as soon as they were refreshed, he departed for Tezcoco by the northern journey around the lakes. His way was again beset with difficulties. The season of rain and storm in those lofty regions had just set in. The road was flooded, and the soldiers were forced to plough through mud in drenched garments. But as they approached their destination, Sandoval came forth to meet them, with companions who had freshly arrived from the West Indies; and, besides, he bore the cheering news that the brigantines were ready to be launched for the last blow at the heart of the empire.
CHAPTER VIII.
1521.
CORTÉZ RETURNS—CONSPIRACY AMONG HIS MEN DETECTED.—EXECUTION OF VILLAFAÑA—BRIGANTINES LAUNCHED.—XICO TENCATL'S TREASON AND EXECUTION.—DISPOSITION OF FORCES TO ATTACK THE CITY.—SIEGE AND ASSAULTS ON THE CITY.—FIGHT AND REVERSES OF THE SPANIARDS.—SACRIFICE OF CAPTIVES—FLIGHT OF ALLIES.—CONTEST RENEWED—STARVATION.
The return of Cortéz to his camp, after all the toils of his arduous expedition, was not hailed with unanimous delight by those who had hitherto shared his dangers and successes, since the loss of the capital. There were persons in the small band of Spaniards,—especially among those who had been added from the troops of Narvaez,—who still brooded over the disaffection and mutinous feelings which had been manifested at Tlascala before the march to Tezcoco. They were men who eagerly flocked to the standard of the conqueror for plunder; whose hearts were incapable of appreciating the true spirit of glorious adventure in the subjugation of an empire, and who despised victories that were productive of nothing but fame.
These discontented men conspired, about this period, under the lead of Antonio Villafaña, a common soldier; and it was the design of the recreant band to assassinate Sandoval, Olid and Alvarado, together with Cortéz, and other important men who were known to be deepest in the General's councils or interests. After the death of these leaders,—with whose fall the enterprise would doubtless have perished,—a brother-in-law of Velasquez, by name Francisco Verdugo, who was altogether ignorant of the designs of the conspirators, was to be placed in command of the panic-stricken troop, which, it was supposed, would instantly unite under the new general.
It was the project of these wretched dastards to assault and despatch the conqueror and his officers whilst engaged in opening despatches, which were to be suddenly presented, as if just arrived from Castile. But, a day before the consummation of the treachery, one of the party threw himself at the feet of Cortéz and betrayed the project, together with the fact, that, in the possession of Villafaña, would be found a paper containing the names of his associates in infamy.
Cortéz immediately summoned the leaders whose lives were threatened, and, after a brief consultation, the party hastened to the quarters of Villafaña accompanied by four officers. The arch conspirator was arrested, and the paper wrested from him as he attempted to swallow it. He was instantaneously tried by a military court,—and, after brief time for confession and shrift, was swung by the neck from the casement of his quarters. The prompt and striking sentence was executed before the army knew of the crime; and the scroll of names being destroyed by Cortéz, the memory of the meditated treachery was forever buried in oblivion. The commander, however, knew and marked the men whose participation had been so unexpectedly revealed to him; but he stifled all discontent by letting it be understood that the only persons who suffered for the shameful crime had made no confession! He could not spare men from his thin ranks even at the demand of justice; for even the felons who sought his life were wanted in the toils and battles of his great and final enterprise.
*****
It was on the 28th of April, 1521, amid the solemn services of religion, and in the presence of the combined army of Spaniards and Indians, that the long cherished project of launching the brigantines was finally accomplished. They reached the lake safely through the canal which had been dug for them from the town of Texcoco.
The Spanish forces, designed to operate in this last attack, consisted of eighty-seven horse and eight hundred and eighteen infantry, of which one hundred and eighteen were arquebusiers and crossbowmen. Three large iron field pieces and fifteen brazen falconets formed the ordnance. A plentiful supply of shot and balls, together with fifty thousand copper-headed arrows, composed the ammunition. Three hundred men were sent on board the twelve vessels which were used in the enterprise, for unfortunately, one of the thirteen that were originally ordered to be built, proved useless upon trial. The navigation of these brigantines, each one of which carried a piece of heavy cannon, was, of course, not difficult, for although the waters of the lake have evidently shrunken since the days of the conquest, it is not probable that it was more than three or four feet deeper than at present. [7] The distance to be traversed from Tezcoco to the capital was about twelve miles, and the subsequent service was to be rendered in the neighborhood of the causeways, and under the protection of the walls of the city.
The Indian allies from Tlascala came up in force at the appointed time. These fifty thousand well equipped men were led by Xicotencatl, who, as the expedition was about to set forth by land and water for the final attack, seems to have been seized with a sudden panic, and deserted his standard with a number of followers. There was no hope for conquest without the alliance and loyal support of the Tlascalans. The decision of Cortéz upon the occurrence of this dastardly act of a man in whose faith he had religiously confided, although he knew he was not very friendly to the Spaniards, was prompt and terribly severe. A chosen band was directed to follow the fugitive even to the walls of Tlascala. There, the deserter was arrested, brought back to Tezcoco, and hanged on a lofty gallows in the great square of that city. This man, says Prescott, "was the only Tlascalan who swerved from his loyalty to the Spaniards."
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All being now prepared, Cortéz planned his attack. It will be recollected that the city of Mexico rose, like Venice, from the bosom of the placid waters, and that its communication with the main land was kept up by the great causeways which were described in the earlier portion of this narrative. The object of the conqueror, therefore, was to shut up the capital, and cut off all access to the country by an efficient blockade of the lake, with his brigantines, and of the land with his infantry and cavalry. Accordingly he distributed his forces into three bodies or separate camps. The first of these, under Pedro de Alvarado, consisting of thirty horse, one hundred and sixty-eight Spanish infantry, and twenty-five thousand Tlascalans, was to command the causeway of Tacuba. The second division, of equal magnitude, under Olid, was to be posted at Cojohuacan, so as to command the causeways that led eastwardly into the city. The third equal corps of the Spanish army was entrusted to Sandoval, but its Indian force was to be drawn from native allies at Chalco. Alvarado and Olid were to proceed around the northern head of the lake of Tezcoco, whilst Sandoval, supported by Cortéz with the brigantines, passed around the southern portion of it, to complete the destruction of the town of Iztapalapan, which was deemed by the conqueror altogether too important a point to be left in the rear. In the latter part of May, 1521, all these cavaliers got into their assigned military positions, and it is from this period that the commencement of the siege of Mexico is dated, although Alvarado had previously had some conflicts with the people on the causeway that led to his head quarters in Tacuba, and had already destroyed the pipes that fed the water-tanks and fountains of the capital.
At length Cortéz set sail with his flotilla in order to sustain Sandoval's march to Iztapalapan. As he passed across the lake and under the shadow of the "rock of the Marquis," he descried from his brigantines several hundred canoes of the Mexicans filled with soldiers and advancing rapidly over the calm lake. There was no wind to swell his sails or give him command of his vessels' motion, and the conqueror was obliged to await the arrival of the canoes without making such disposition for action as was needful in the emergency. But as the Indian squadron approached, a breeze suddenly sprang up, and Cortéz, widening his line of battle, bore down upon the frail skiffs, overturning, crushing and sinking them by the first blow of his formidable prows, whilst he fired to the right and left amid the discomfitted flotilla. But few of these Indian boats returned to the canals of the city, and this signal victory made Cortéz, forever after, the undisputed master of the lake.
The conqueror took up his head quarters at Xoloc, where the causeway of Cojohuacan met the great causeway of the south. The chief avenues to Mexico had been occupied for some time, as has been already related, but either through ignorance or singular neglect, there was the third great causeway, of Tepejacac, on the north, which still afforded the means of communication with the people of the surrounding country. This had been altogether neglected. Alvarado was immediately ordered to close this outlet, and Sandoval took up his position on the dyke. Thus far the efforts of the Spaniards and auxiliaries had been confined to precautionary movements rather than to decisive assaults upon the capital. But it soon became evident that a city like Mexico might hold out long against a blockade alone. Accordingly an attack was ordered by Cortéz to be made by the two commanders at the other military points nearest their quarters. The brigantines sailed along the sides of the causeways, and aided by their enfilading fires, the advance of the squadrons on land. The infantry and cavalry advanced upon the great avenue that divided the town from north to south. Their heavy guns were brought up and soon mowed a path for the musketeers and crossbowmen. The flying enemy retreated towards the great square in the centre of the city, and were followed by the impetuous Spaniards and their Indian allies. The outer wall of the Great Temple, itself, was soon passed by the hot-blooded cavaliers, some of whom rushed up the stairs and circling corridors of the Teocalli, whence they pushed the priests over the sides of the pyramid and tore off the golden mask and jewels of the Aztec war-god. But the small band of invaders had, for a moment only, appalled the Mexicans, who rallied in numbers at this daring outrage, and sprang vindictively upon the sacrilegious assailants. The Spaniards and their allies fled; but the panic with which they were seized deprived their retreat of all order or security. Cortéz, himself, was unable to restore discipline, when suddenly, a troop of Spanish horsemen dashed into the thick of the fight, and intimidating the Indians, by their superstitious fears of cavalry, they soon managed to gather and form the broken files of their Spanish and Indian army, so that, soon after the hour of vespers, the combined forces drew off with their artillery and ammunition to the barrack at Xoloc.
About this period, the inhabitants of Xochimilco and some tribes of rude but valiant Otomies gave in their adhesion to the Spaniards. The Prince of Tezcoco, too, despatched fifty thousand levies to the aid of Cortéz. Thus strengthened, another attack was made upon the city. Most of the injuries which had been done to the causeways in the first onslaught had been repaired, so that the gates of the capital, and finally the great square, were reached by the Spaniards with nearly as great difficulty as upon their former attempt. But this time the invaders advanced more cautiously into the heart of the city, where they fired and destroyed their ancient quarters in the old palace of Axayacatl and the edifices adjoining the royal palace on the other side of the square. These incursions into the capital were frequently repeated by Cortéz, nor were the Mexicans idle in their systematic plans to defeat the Spaniards. All communication with the country, by the causeways was permanently interrupted; yet the foe stealthily, and in the night, managed to evade the vigilance of the twelve cruisers whose numbers were indeed insufficient to maintain a stringent naval blockade of so large a city as Mexico. But the success of Cortéz, in all his engagements by land and water, his victorious incursions into the very heart of the city, and the general odium which was cherished against the central power of the empire by all the tributary tribes and dependant provinces, combined, at this moment, to aid the efforts of the conqueror in cutting off supplies from the famishing capital. The great towns and small villages in the neighborhood threw off their allegiance, and the camps of the Spanish leaders thronged with one hundred and fifty thousand auxiliaries selected from among the recreants. The Spaniards were amply supplied with food from these friendly towns, and never experienced the sufferings from famine that were soon to overtake the beleaguered capital.
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At length the day was fixed for a general assault upon the city by the two divisions under Alvarado and Cortéz. As usual, the battle was preceded by the celebration of mass, and the army then advanced in three divisions up the most important streets. They entered the town, cast down the barricades which had been erected to impede their progress, and, with remarkable ease, penetrated even to the neighborhood of the market-place. But the very facility of their advance alarmed the cautious mind of Cortéz, and induced him to believe that this slack resistance was but designed to seduce him farther and farther within the city walls until he found himself beyond the reach of succor or retreat. This made him pause. His men, more eager for victory and plunder than anxious to secure themselves by filling up the canals and clearing the streets of their impediments, had rushed madly on without taking proper precaution to protect their rear, if the enemy became too hot in front. Suddenly the horn of Guatemozin was heard from a neighboring Teocalli, and the flying Indians, at the sacred and warning sound, turned upon the Spaniards with all the mingled feeling of reinspired revenge and religion. For a while the utmost disorder prevailed in the ranks of the invaders, Spaniards, Tlascalans, Tezcocans and Otomies, were mixed in a common crowd of combatants. From the tops of houses; from converging streets; from the edges of canals,—crowds of Aztecs swarmed and poured their vollies of javelins, arrows and stones. Many were driven into the lake. Cortéz himself had nigh fallen a victim in the dreadful melee, and was rescued with difficulty. Meanwhile, Alvarado and Sandoval had penetrated the city from the western causeway, and aided in stemming the onslaught of the Aztecs. For a while the combined forces served to check the boiling tide of battle sufficiently to enable those who were most sorely pressed to be gradually withdrawn, yet not until sixty-two Spaniards and a multitude of allies, besides many killed and wounded, had fallen captives and victims in the hands of their implacable enemies.
It was yet day when the broken band withdrew from the city, and returned to the camps either on the first slopes of the hills, or at the terminations of the causeways. But sad, indeed, was the spectacle that presented itself to their eyes, as they gazed towards the city, through the clear atmosphere of those elevated regions, when they heard the drum sound from the top of the Great Teocalli. It was the dread signal of sacrifice. The wretched Spaniards, who had been captured in the fight, were, one after another, stretched on the stone in front of the hideous idols, and their reeking hearts, torn from their bosoms, thrown as propitiating morsels into the flames before the deities. The mutilated remains of the captives were then flung down the steep sides of the pyramid, to glut the crowds at its base with a "cannibal repast."
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Whilst these repulses and dreadful misfortunes served to dispirit the Spaniards and elate the Aztecs, they were not without their signally bad effects upon the auxiliaries. Messages were sent to these insurgent bodies by the Emperor. He conjured them to return to their allegiance. He showed them how bravely their outraged gods had been revenged. He spoke of the reverses that had befallen the white men in both their invasions, and warned them that a parricidal war like this could "come to no good for the people of Anahuac." Otomies, Cholulans, Tepeacans, Tezcocans, and even the loyal Tlascalans, the hereditary enemies of the Montezumas and Guatemozins, stole off secretly under the cover of night. There were of course exceptions in this inglorious desertion; but it seems that perhaps the majority of the tribes departed for their homes with the belief that the tide had turned against the Spanish conqueror and that it was best to escape before it was too late, the scandal or danger of open treason against their lawful Emperor. But, amid all these disasters, the noble heart of Cortéz remained firm and true to his purpose. He placed his artillery again in position upon the causeways, and, never wasting his ammunition, contrived to husband it carefully until the assaulting Aztecs swarmed in such numbers on the dykes that his discharges mowed them down like grass as they advanced to attack him. It was a gloomy time, requiring vigilance by day and by night—by land and by water. The brigantines were still secure. They swept the lake continually and cut off supplies designed for the capital. The Spaniards hermetically sealed the causeways with their cannon, and thus, at length, was the city that would not yield to storm given over to starvation.
Footnote
[7] The writer sounded the lake in the channel from Mexico to Tezcoco in 1842, and did not find more than 2½1/2 feet in the deepest path. The Indians, at present, wade over all parts of the lake.
CHAPTER IX.
1521.
AZTEC PREDICTION—IT IS NOT VERIFIED.—CORTÉZ REINFORCED BY FRESH ARRIVALS.—FAMINE IN THE CITY.—CORTÉZ LEVELS THE CITY TO ITS FOUNDATION.—CONDITION OF THE CAPITAL—ATTACK RENEWED.—CAPTURE OF GUATEMOZIN—SURRENDER OF THE CITY.—FRIGHTFUL CONDITION OF THE CITY.
The desertion of numerous allies, which we have noticed in the last chapter, was not alone prompted by the judgment of the flying Indians, but was stimulated in a great degree by the prophecy of the Aztec priests, that, within eight days from the period of prediction, the beleaguered city would be delivered from the Spaniards. But the sun rose on the ninth over the inexorable foes still in position on the causeways and on the lake. The news was soon sent by the allies who had remained faithful, to those who had fled, and the deficient ranks were quickly restored by the numbers who flocked back to the Spanish standard as soon as they were relieved from superstitious fear.
About this time, moreover, a vessel that had been destined for Ponce de Leon, in his romantic quest of Florida, put into Vera Cruz with ammunition and military stores, which were soon forwarded to the valley. Thus strengthened by his renerved Indian auxiliaries, and reinforced with Spanish powder and guns, Cortéz was speedily again in train to assail the capital; for he was not content to be idle except when the most serious disasters forced him to endure the slow and murderous process of subduing the city by famine. There may, perhaps, be something noble and chivalrous in this feeling of the Castilian hero. His heart revolted at the sight of misery inflicted without a chance of escape, and it delighted in those conflicts which matched man with man, and gave the ultimate victory to valor and not to stratagem.
Accordingly the conqueror resolved again to commence active hostilities. But, this time, he designed to permit no hazards of the moment, and no personal carelessness of his officers to obstruct his entry or egress from the city. As he advanced the town was to be demolished; the canals filled up; the breaches in the dykes perfectly repaired; and, as he moved onwards to the north and west, he determined that his path should be over a level and solid surface on which he might encounter none of the dangers that had hitherto proved so disastrous. The necessity of this course will be evident when it is recollected that all the houses were terraced with flat roofs and protecting parapets, which sheltered the assailants, whilst the innumerable canals bisecting the streets served as so many pitfalls for cavalry, footmen and Indians, when they became confused in the hurry of a promiscuous onset or retreat.
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Meanwhile the Aztecs within the city suffered the pangs of famine. The stores that had been gathered for the siege were gone. Human bodies, roots, rats, reptiles, served for a season, to assuage the famished stomachs of the starving crowds;—when suddenly, Cortéz despatched three Aztec nobles to Guatemozin, who were instructed to praise his defence, to assure him he had saved the honor of himself and soldiery, and to point out the utter uselessness of longer delay in submitting to inevitable fate. The message of the conqueror was weighed by the court with more favor than by the proud and spirited Emperor, whose patriotic bosom burned at the disgraceful proposal of surrender. The priests turned the tide against the white men; and, after two days, the answer to the summons came in a warlike sortie from the city which well nigh swept the Spanish defenders from the dykes. But cannon and musketry were too strong for mere numbers. The vessels poured in their volumes of iron hail on the flanks, and the last dread effort of defensive despair expired before the unflinching firmness of the Castilian squadrons. At length, Cortéz believed that the moment for final action had arrived. He gave orders for the advance of the several corps of the army simultaneously by their several causeways; and although it pained him greatly to destroy a capital which he deemed "the gem of the world," yet he put into execution his resolve to raze the city to its foundation unless it surrendered at discretion. The number of laborers was increased daily by the hosts that flocked like vultures to the carcase of an expiring victim. The palaces, temples and dwellings were plundered, thrown down, and cast into the canals The water was entirely excluded from the city. On all sides there was fast and level land. But the Mexicans were not mere idle, contemptible spectators of their imperial city's ruin. Day after day squadrons sallied from the remains of the capital, and engaged the harrassed invaders. Yet the indomitable constancy of the Spaniards was not to be resisted. Cortéz and Alvarado had toiled onward towards each other, from opposite sides, till they met. The palace of Guatemozin fell and was burned. The district of Tlatelolco, in the north of the city, was reached, and the great market-place secured. One of the great Teocallis, in this quarter, was stormed, its sanctuaries burned, and the standard of Castile placed on its summit. Havoc, death, ruin, starvation, despair, hatred, were every where manifest. Every hour added to the misery of the numerous and retreating Aztecs who were pent up, as the besieging circle narrowed and narrowed by its advances. Women remained three days and nights up to their necks in water among the reeds. Hundreds died daily. Others became insane from famine and thirst.
The conqueror hoped, for several days, that this disastrous condition of the people would have induced the Emperor to come to terms; but, failing in this, he resolved upon a general assault. Before he resorted to this dreadful alternative, which his chivalrous heart taught him could result only in the slaughter of men so famished, dispirited and broken, he once more sought an interview with the Emperor. This was granted; but, at the appointed time, Guatemozin did not appear. Again the appeal was renewed, and, again, was Cortéz disappointed in the arrival of the sovereign. Nothing, then, remained for him but an assault, and, as may readily be imagined, the carnage in this combined attack of Spaniards and confederate Indians was indescribably horrible. The long endurance of the Aztecs; their prolonged resistance and cruelty to the Spaniards; the dreadful sacrifice of the captives during the entire period of the siege; the memory of the first expulsion, and the speedy hope of golden rewards, nerved the arms and hearts of these ferocious men, and led them on, in the work of revenge and conquest, until the sun sunk and night descended on the tragic scene.
On the 13th of August, 1521, the last appeal was made by Cortéz to the Emperor for a surrender of his capital. After the bloody scenes of the preceding day, and the increased misery of the last night, it was not to be imagined that even insane patriotism or savage madness could induce the sovereign to refrain from saving, at least, the unfortunate non-combatants who still were loyal to his throne and person. But the judgment of the conqueror was wrong. "Guatemozin would die where he was!" was the reply of the royal stoic.
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Again the infuriate troops were let loose, and again were the scenes of the day before re-enacted on the bloody theatre. Many escaped in boats by the lake; but the brave or reckless Guatemozin, who seems, at the last moment, to have changed his mind as to perishing, was taken prisoner and brought, with his family, into the presence of Cortéz. As soon as his noble figure and dignified face were seen on the azotéa or terraced roof, beside the conqueror, the battle ceased. The Indians beheld their monarch captive! And she who had witnessed the beginning of these adventures,—who had followed the fortunes of the General through all their vicissitudes—the gentle but brave Indian girl—Mariana—stood by the intrepid Cortéz to act as his interpreter in this last scene of the splendid and eventful drama.
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It was on the following day that the Mexicans who still survived the slaughter and famine, evacuated the city. It was a desert—but a desert covered with dead. The men who rushed in to plunder,—plundered as if robbing graves. Between one and two hundred thousand people perished during the three months' siege, and their festering bodies tainted the air. The booty, though considerable, was far beneath the expectations of the conquerors; yet there was doubtless enough to reward amply the stout men at arms who had achieved a victory unparalleled in the annals of modern warfare.
"What I am going to say is truth, and I swear, and say Amen to it!"—exclaims Bernal Diaz del Castillo, in his quaint style—"I have read of the destruction of Jerusalem, but I cannot conceive that the mortality there exceeded that of Mexico; for all the people from the distant provinces, which belonged to this empire, had concentrated themselves here, where they mostly died. The streets, and squares, and houses, and the courts of the Tlatelolco were covered with dead bodies; we could not step without treading on them; the lake and canals were filled with them, and the stench was intolerable.
"When all those who had been able, quitted the city, we went to examine it, which was as I have described; and some poor creatures were crawling about in different stages of the most offensive disorders, the consequences of famine and improper food. There was no water; the ground had been torn up and the roots gnawed. The very trees were stripped of their bark; yet, notwithstanding they usually devoured their prisoners, no instance occurred when, amidst all the famine and starvation of this siege, they preyed upon each other. [8] The remnant of the population went, at the request of the conquered Guatemozin, to the neighboring villages, until the town could be purified and the dead removed."
Footnote
[8] This fact, as stated by Bernal Diaz, is doubted by some other writers, and seems, unfortunately, not fully sustained by authority.
CHAPTER X.
1521.
DUTY OF A HISTORIAN.—MOTIVES OF THE CONQUEST.—CHARACTER AND DEEDS OF CORTÉZ.—MATERIALS OF THE CONQUEST.—ADVENTURERS—PRIESTS—INDIAN ALLIES.—HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF THE CONQUEST.
It is perhaps one of the most difficult duties of a historian, who desires to present a faithful picture of a remote age, to place himself in such a position as to draw the moral from his story with justice to the people and the deeds he has described. He is obliged to forget, not only his individuality and all the associations or prejudices with which he has grown up surrounded, but he must, in fact, endeavor to make himself a man and an actor in the age of which he writes. He must sympathize justly, but impartially, with the past, and estimate the motives of his fellow beings in the epoch he describes. He must measure his heroes, not by the standard of advanced Christian civilization under which he has been educated, but by the scale of enlightened opinion which was then acknowledged by the most respectable and intellectual classes of society.
When we approach the Conquest of Mexico with these impartial feelings, we are induced to pass lighter judgments on the prominent men of that wonderful enterprise. The love of adventure or glory, the passion of avarice, and the zeal of religion,—all of which mingled their threads with the meshes of this Indian web, were, unquestionably, the predominant motives that led the conquerors to Mexico. In some of them, a single one of these impulses was sufficient to set the bold adventurer in motion;—in others, perhaps, they were all combined. The necessary rapidity of our narrative has confined us more to the detail of prominent incidents than we would have desired had it been our task to disclose the wondrous tale of the conquest alone; but it would be wrong, even in the briefest summary of the enterprise, to pass from the topic without awarding to the moving spirit of the romantic drama the fair estimate which his character and deeds demand.
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We have ever regarded Hernando Cortéz as the great controlling spirit and embodiment of the conquest, regardless of the brilliant and able men who were grouped around him, all of whom, tempered and regulated by his genius, moved the military machine, step by step, and act by act, until the capital fell before the united armies of discontented Indians and invading Spaniards. It was in the mind of this remarkable personage that every scheme appears to have originated and ripened. This is the report of the most authentic contemporaries. He took counsel, it is true, of his captains, and heard the reports of Sandoval, Olid, and Alvarado; but whenever a great enterprise, in all the wonderful and varied combinations of this adventure, was to be carried into successful execution, it was Cortéz himself who planned it, placed himself at its head, and fought in its midst. The rash youth whom we saw either idling over his tasks at school, or a reckless stripling as he advanced in life, seems to have mellowed suddenly into greatness under the glow of Indian suns which would have emasculated a character of less rude or nervous strength. As soon as a project, worthy of the real power of his genius, presented itself to his mind and opened to his grasp, he became a sobered, steadfast, serious, discreet man. He was at once isolated by his superiority, and contrived to retain, by his wisdom in command, the superiority which was so perfectly manifested by this isolation. This alone, was no trifling task. His natural adroitness not only taught him quickly the value of every man in his command, but also rendered keener the tact by which he strove to use those men when their talents, for good or evil, were once completely ascertained. There were jealousies of Cortéz, but no rivalries. Men from the ranks conspired to displace him, but no leader ever ventured, or perhaps even conceived the idea, whilst under his orders, of superceding the hero of the Mexican conquest. The skill with which he won the loyal heart of that clever Indian girl—his mistress and companion through all the warfare,—discloses to us his power of attaching a sex which is always quickest to detect merit and readiest to discard conceit. We speak now of Cortéz during that period of his career when he was essentially the soul of the conquest, and in which the stern demands of war upon his intellect and heart, did not allow him to sleep for a moment on his post, or to tamper with the elements upon which he relied for success. In all this time he made but few mistakes. The loss of the capital during the first visit is not to be attributed to him. The stain of that calamity must rest forever upon the escutcheon of Alvarado, for the irreparable harm was already done when Cortéz returned from the subjugation of Narvaez.
Nor is it alone as a soldier, at this time, that we are called on to appreciate the talents of our hero. Whilst he planned, fought, travelled, retreated, and diplomatised, he kept an accurate account of the adventures of his troop; and, in his celebrated letters to the Emperor, he has presented us a series of military memoirs, which, after three hundred years, furnish, in reality, the best, but least pretending, narrative of the conquest. Other contemporaries, looking upon the scenes from a variety of points, may serve to add interesting details and more copious illustration to the story; but they support without diminishing the value and truth of the despatches of Cortéz.
The conqueror, in truth, was one of those men whose minds seem to reach results intuitively. Education often ripens genius, as the genial sun and air mature the fruits of the earth which would languish without them. But we sometimes find individuals whose dealings on earth are to be chiefly in energetic and constant action with their fellow creatures, and who are gifted with a finer tact which enables them to penetrate the hearts of all they approach, and by this skilful detection of character are empowered to mould them to their purposes. There are, it is true, many subordinate qualities, besides the mere perceptive faculties, that are needful in such a person. He must possess self-control and discrimination in a remarkable degree. His courage and self-reliance must be unquestionable. He must be able to win by gentleness as well as to control by command or to rule by stratagem; for there are persons whom neither kindness, reason nor authority can lead, but who are nevertheless too important to be disregarded in such an enterprise as that of the conquest of Mexico.
Nor is our admiration of the characteristics we have endeavored to sketch, diminished when we examine the elements of the original army that flocked to the standard of Cortéz. The Spanish court and camps,—the Spanish towns and sea-ports,—had sent forth a motley band to the islands. The sedate and worthier portions of Castilian society were not wooed abroad by the alluring accounts of the New World and its prolific wealth. They did not choose to leave hereditary homes and comfortable emoluments which made those homes the permanent abodes of contentment if not of luxury. But there were others in the dense crowds of Spain whose habits, disposition and education, fostered in them all the love of ease and elegance, without bestowing the means of gratifying their desires. These men regarded the New World as a short and easy road to opulence and distinction. There were others too, whose reckless or dissipated habits had wasted their fortunes and blasted their names in their native towns, and who could not bear to look upon the scenes of their youth, or the companions of their more fortunate days, whilst poverty and disgrace deprived them of the rights of free and equal social intercourse. These were the poor and proud;—the noisy and the riotous;—the soldier, half bandit, half warrior;—the sailor, half mutineer, half pirate;—the zealot whose bigotry magnified the dangers of Indian life into the glory of martyrdom; and the avaricious man who dreamed that the very sands of the Indian Isles were strewn with gems and gold. Among all this mass of wayward lust and ambition, there were some lofty spirits whose love of glory, whose passionate devotion to adventure, and whose genuine anxiety to spread the true word of God among the infidels, sanctified and adorned the enterprise, whilst their personal efforts and influence were continually directed towards the noble purpose of redeeming it from cruelty. These men recollected that posterity would set its seal upon their deeds, whilst many of them acted from a higher and purer Christian motive, devoid of all that narrow selfishness with which others kept their eyes fixed on the present and the future for the popular opinion that was to disgrace or dignify them on the pages of history.
*****
Such were the Spanish materials of the armies with which Cortéz invaded Mexico; and yet, even with all the masterly genius he possessed to mould and lead such discordant elements, what could he have substantially effected, against the Aztec Empire, with his handful of men,—armed, mounted and equipped as they were,—without his Indian allies? These he had to conquer, to win, to control, to bind to him, forever, with the chains of an indestructible loyalty. He did not even know their language, but relied on the double interpretation of an Indian girl and a Spanish soldier. Nor is it less remarkable that he not only gained these allies, but preserved their fealty, not in success alone, but under the most disheartening disaster, when it was really their interest to destroy rather than to sustain him, and when not only their allegiance but their religion invoked a dreadful vengeance on the sacreligious hands that despoiled their temples, overthrew their Gods, and made a jest of their most sacred rites. It was, indeed, not only a victory over the judgments, but over the superstitions, of an excitable, ardent and perhaps unreflective nation; and, in whatever aspect we regard the man who effected it solely by the omnipotence of his will, we are more and more forced to admire the majesty of his genius and the fortune or providence that made him a chosen and conspicuous instrument in the development of our continent.
*****
The conquest of Mexico,—in its relation to the rest of the world,—has a double aspect, worthy of examination. The subsequent history and condition of the country, which we design to treat in the following pages, will develope one of these topics;—the condition of the country, at the period of the conquest, will disclose another, whilst it palliates, if it does not altogether apologize for the cruelties and apparent rapine by which the subjugation of the empire was effected.
CHAPTER XI.
1521–1522.
DISCONTENT AT NOT FINDING GOLD—TORTURE OF GUATEMOZIN.—RESULTS OF THE FALL OF THE CAPITAL.—MISSION FROM MICHOACAN.—REBUILDING OF THE CAPITAL.—LETTERS TO THE KING.—INTRIGUES AGAINST CORTÉZ—FONSECA—NARVAEZ—-TAPIA.—CHARLES V. PROTECTS CORTÉZ AND CONFIRMS HIS ACTS.
The capital had no sooner fallen and the ruins been searched in vain for the abundant treasures which the conquerors imagined were hoarded by the Aztecs, than murmurs of discontent broke forth in the Spanish camp against Cortéz for his supposed concealment of the plunder. There was a mingled sentiment of distrust both of the conqueror and Guatemozin; and, at last, the querulousness and taunts rose to such an offensive height, that it was resolved to apply the torture to the dethroned prince in order to wrest from him the secret hiding place of his ancestral wealth. We blush to record that Cortéz consented to this iniquity, but it was probably owing to an avaricious and mutinous spirit in his ranks which he was unable at the moment to control. The same Indian stoicism that characterised the unfortunate prince during the war, still nerved him in his hours of abject disaster. He bore the pangs without quivering or complaint and without revealing any thing that could gratify the Spanish lust of gold, save that vast quantities of the precious metal had been thrown into the lake,—from which but little was ultimately recovered even by the most expert divers.
*****
The news of the fall of Mexico was soon spread from sea to sea, and couriers were despatched by distant tribes and princes to ascertain the truth of the prodigious disaster. The independent kingdom of Michoacan, lying between the vale of Anahuac or Mexico and the Pacific, was one of the first to send its envoys, and finally even its king, to the capital;—and two small detachments of Spaniards returned with the new visitors, penetrating their country and passing with them even to the waters of the western ocean itself, on whose shores they planted the cross in token of rightful possession. They returned by the northern districts, and brought with them the first specimens of gold and pearls from the region now known as California.
*****
It was not long, however, before Cortéz resolved to make his conquest available by the reconstruction of the capital that he had been forced reluctantly to mutilate and partly level during the siege. The ancient city was nearly in ruins. The massive relics of idolatry, and the huge stones of which the chief palaces had been constructed, were cast into the canals. The desolation was complete on the site of the ancient imperial residence. And the Indians, who had served in the work of dilapidation, were even compelled by their Spanish leader and his task masters to be the principal laborers in the toil of building up a city which should surpass in splendor the ancient pride of Anahuac.
Meanwhile the sagacious mind of Cortéz was not only busy with the present duties and occupations of his men in Mexico, but began to dwell,—now that the intense excitement of active war was over,—upon the condition of his relations with the Spanish Court and the government in the islands. He despatched to Castile, letters, presents, and the "royal fifth," together with an enormous emerald whose base was as broad as the palm of his hand. With the General's missives, went a letter from his army, commending the heroic leader, and beseeching its royal master to confirm Cortéz in his authority and to ratify all his proceedings. Quinoñes and Avila, the two envoys, sailed for home; but one of them, lucklessly, perished in a brawl at the Azores, whilst Avila, who resumed the voyage to Spain, after the loss of his companion, was taken by a French privateer, who bore the spoils of the Mexicans to the Court of Francis the First. The letters and despatches of Cortéz and his army, however, were saved, and Avila, privately and safely forwarded them to the Spanish sovereign.
At the Court of Charles the Fifth there were, of course, numerous intrigues against the successful conqueror. The hatred of Velasquez had not been suffered to slumber in the breast of that disappointed governor, and Fonseca, Bishop of Burgos, who was chief of the colonial department, and doubtless adroitly plied and stimulated by Velasquez, managed to obtain from the churchman, Adrian, who was Regent whilst the Emperor resided in Germany, an order for the seizure of Cortéz and the sequestration of his property until the will of the court should be finally made known.
But, the avaricious Velasquez, the vindictive Fonseca, and the Veedor Cristoval de Tapia, whom they employed to execute so delicate and dangerous a commission against a man who at that moment, was surrounded by faithful soldiers and whose troops had been augmented by recent arrivals at Vera Cruz,—reasoned with but little judgment when they planned their unjust and ungrateful measures against Cortéz. The commissioner, himself, seems to have soon arrived at the same conclusion, for, scarcely had he landed, before the danger of the enterprise and the gold of the conqueror, persuaded him prudently to decline penetrating into the heart of the country as the bearer of so ungrateful a reply to the wishes of a hero whose genius and sword had given an empire, and almost a world, to Spain.
*****
Thus, at last, was Cortéz, for a time, freed from the active hostility of the Spanish Court, whilst he retained his authority over his conquest merely by military right and power of forcible occupation. But he did not remain idly contented with what he had already done. His restless heart craved to compass the whole continent, and to discover, visit, explore, whatever lay within the reach of his small forces and of all who chose to swell them. He continually pressed his Indian visitors for information concerning the empire of the Montezumas and the adjacent territories of independent kings or tributaries. Wherever discontent lifted its head, or rebellious manifestations were made, he despatched sufficient forces to whip the mutineers into contrite submission. The new capital progressed apace, and stately edifices rose on the solid land which his soldiers had formed out of the fragments of ancient Mexico.
Whilst thus engaged in his newly-acquired domain, Narvaez, his old enemy, and Tapia, his more recent foe, had reached the Spanish Court, where, aided by Fonseca, they once more bestirred themselves in the foul labor of blasting the fame of Cortéz, and wresting from his grasp the splendid fruits of his valor. Luckily, however, the Emperor returned, about this period, from eastern Europe, and, from this moment the tide of intrigue seems to have been stayed if not altogether turned. Reviled as he had hitherto been in the purlieus of the court, Cortéz was not without staunch kinsmen and warm friends who stood up valiantly in his behalf, both before councils and king. His father, Don Martin, and his friend, the Duke of Bejar, had been prominent among many in espousing the cause of the absent hero, even before the sovereign's return;—and now, the monarch, whose heart was not indeed ungrateful for the effectual service rendered his throne by the conqueror, and whose mind probably saw not only the justice but the policy of preserving, unalienated, the fidelity and services of so remarkable a personage,—soon determined to look leniently upon all that was really censurable in the early deeds of Cortéz. Whilst Charles confirmed his acts in their full extent, he moreover constituted him "Governor, Captain General and Chief Justice of New Spain, with power to appoint to all offices, civil and military, and to order any person to leave the country whose residence there might be deemed prejudicial to the crown."
On the 15th of October, 1522, this righteous commission was signed by Charles V., at Valladolid. A liberal salary was assigned the Captain General; his leading officers were crowned with honors and emoluments, and the troops were promised liberal grants of land. Thus, the wisdom of the king, and of the most respectable Spanish nobility, finally crushed the mean, jealous, or avaricious spirits who had striven to leave their slimy traces on the fame of the conqueror; whilst the Emperor, himself, with his own hand, acknowledged the services of the troops and their leader, in a letter to the Spanish army in Mexico.
Among the men who felt severely the censure implied by this just and wise conduct of Charles V., was the ascetic Bishop of Burgos, Fonseca, whose baleful influence had fallen alike upon the discoveries of Columbus, and the conquests of Cortéz. His bigoted and narrow soul,—schooled in forms, and trained by early discipline, into a querulousness which could neither tolerate anything that did not accord with his rules or originate under his orders,—was unable to comprehend the splendid glory of the enterprises of these two heroic chieftains. Had it been his generous policy to foster them, history would have selected this son of the church as the guardian angel over the cradle of the New World; but he chose to be the shadow rather than the shining light of his era, and, whether from age or chagrin, he died in the year after this kingly rebuff from a prince whose councils he had long and unwisely served.
CHAPTER XII.
1522–1547.
CORTÉZ COMMISSIONED BY THE EMPEROR.—VELASQUEZ—HIS DEATH.—MEXICO REBUILT.—IMMIGRATION—REPARTIMIENTOS OF INDIANS.—HONDURAS—GUATEMOZIN—MARIANA.—CORTÉZ ACCUSED—ORDERED TO SPAIN FOR TRIAL.—HIS RECEPTION, HONORS AND TITLES—HE MARRIES—HIS RETURN TO MEXICO—RESIDES AT TEZCOCO.—EXPEDITIONS OF CORTÉZ—CALIFORNIA—QUIVARA.—RETURNS TO SPAIN—DEATH—WHERE ARE HIS BONES?
The royal commission, of which we have spoken in the last chapter, was speedily borne to New Spain, where it was joyfully received by all who had participated in the conquest or joined the original forces since that event. Men not only recognized the justice of the act, but they felt that if the harvest was rightfully due to him who had planted the seed, it was also most probable that no one could be found in Spain or the Islands more capable than Cortéz of consolidating the new empire. Velasquez, the darling object of whose latter years had been to circumvent, entrap or foil the conqueror, was sadly stricken by the defeat of his machinations. The reckless but capable soldier, whom he designed to mould into the pliant tool of his avarice and glory, had suddenly become his master. Wealth, renown, and even royal gratitude, crowned his labors; and the disobedience, the errors, and the flagrant wrongs he was charged with whilst subject to gubernatorial authority, were passed by in silence or forgotten in the acclamation that sounded his praise throughout Spain and Europe. Even Fonseca,—the chief of the council,—had been unable to thwart this darling of genius and good fortune. Velasquez, himself, was nothing. The great error of his life had been in breaking with Cortéz before he sailed for Mexico. He was straitened in fortune, foiled in ambition, mocked by the men whose career of dangerous adventure he had personally failed to share; and, at last, disgusted with the time and its men, he retired to brood over his melancholy reverses until death soon relieved him of his earthly jealousies and annoyances.
Four years had not entirely elapsed since the fall of Mexico, when a new and splendid city rose from its ruins and attracted the eager Spaniards, of all classes, from the old world and the islands. Cortéz designed this to be the continental nucleus of population. Situated on the central plateau of the realm, midway between the two seas, in a genial climate whose heat never scorched and whose cold never froze, it was, indeed, an alluring region to which men of all temperaments might resort with safety. Strongholds, churches, palaces, were erected on the sites of the royal residences of the Aztecs and their blood-stained Teocallis. Strangers were next invited to the new capital, and, in a few years, the Spanish quarter contained two thousand families, while the Indian district of Tlatelolco, numbered not less than thirty thousand inhabitants. The city soon assumed the air and bustle of a great mart. Tradesmen, craftsmen and merchants, thronged its streets and remaining canals.
Cortéz was not less anxious to establish, in the interior of the old Aztec empire, towns or points of rendezvous, which in the course of time, would grow up into important cities. These were placed with a view to the future wants of travel and trade in New Spain. Liberal grants of land were made to settlers who were compelled to provide themselves with wives under penalty of forfeiture within eighteen months. Celibacy was too great a luxury for a young country. [9] The Indians were divided among the Spaniards by the system of repartimientos, which will be more fully discussed in a subsequent part of this work. The necessities and cupidity of the early settlers in so vast a region rendered this necessary perhaps, though it was promptly discountenanced but never successfully suppressed by the Spanish crown. The scene of action was too remote, the subjects too selfish, and the ministers too venal or interested to carry out, with fidelity, the benign ordinances of the government at home. From this apportionment of Indians, which subjected them, in fact, to a species of slavery, it is but just to the conquerors to state that the Tlascalans, upon whom the burden of the fighting had fallen, were entirely exempted at the recommendation of Cortéz.
Among all the tribes the work of conversion prospered, for the ceremonious ritual of the Aztec religion easily introduced the native worshippers to the splendid forms of the Roman Catholic. Agriculture and the mines were not neglected in the policy of Cortéz, and, in fact he speedily set in motion all the machinery of civilization, which was gradually to operate upon the native population whilst it attracted the overflowing, industrious or adventurous masses of his native land. Various expeditions, too, for the purpose of exploration and extension, were fitted out by the Captain General of New Spain; so that, within three years after the conquest, Cortéz had reduced to the Spanish sway, a territory of over four hundred leagues, or twelve hundred miles on the Atlantic coast, and of more than five hundred leagues or fifteen hundred miles on the Pacific. [10]
This sketch of a brief period after the subjugation of Mexico developes the constructive genius of Cortéz, as the preceding chapters had very fully exhibited his destructive abilities. It shows, however, that he was not liable justly to the censure which has so often been cast upon him,—of being, only, a piratical plunderer who was seduced into the conquest by the spirit of rapine alone.
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In a historical narrative which is designed to treat exclusively of Mexico, it might perhaps be considered inappropriate to relate that portion of the biography of Cortéz which is covered by his expedition to Honduras, whither he marched after he learned the defection of his lieutenant Olid whom he had sent to that distant region with a body of Spanish soldiers to found a dependant colony. It was whilst on this disastrous march that the report of a conspiracy to slay the Spaniards, in which Guatemozin was implicated, reached his ears, and that the dethroned monarch, together with several princes and inferior nobles, was hanged, by his orders, on the branches of a tree. There is a difference of opinion among contemporary writers as to the guilt of Guatemozin and the Aztec nobles; but it is probable that the unfortunate prince had become a dangerous and formidable captive and that the grave was a safer prison for such a personage, than the tents and bivouacs of a menaced army.
Another renowned character in this drama—the serviceable and gentle Indian girl Doña Mariana,—was no longer needed and was disposed of during this expedition, by marriage with Don Martin Xamarillo, to whom she brought a noble dowry of estates, which were assigned her by the conqueror in her native province, where, in all likelihood she ended her romantic career. Her son by Cortéz, named after his grand-father Don Martin, became distinguished in the annals of the colony and of Spain, but in 1568, he was cruelly treated in the capital which had been won by the valor and fidelity of his parents.
*****
From this digression in his Mexican career, Cortéz was suddenly recalled by the news of disturbances in the capital, which he reached after a tempestuous and dangerous voyage. His journey from the coast to the valley was a continued scene of triumphs; and, from Tezcoco, in June, 1526, he made his stately entrance into the city of Mexico amid brilliant cavalcades, decorated streets, and lakes and canals covered with the fanciful skiffs of Indians.
A month later, the joy of his rapturous reception was disturbed by the announcement that the Spanish Court had sent a commissioner to supercede him temporarily in the government. The work of sapping his power and influence had long been carried on at home; and false reports, involving Cortéz in extreme dishonesty not only to the subjects but to the crown of Spain itself, at length infused suspicions into the sovereign's mind. The Emperor resolved to search the matter fairly to its core, and, accordingly, despatched Don Luis Ponce de Leon, a young, but able nobleman to perform this delicate task, at the same time that he wrote with his own hand to the conqueror, assuring him that his sole design was not to distrust or deprive him of his honors, but to afford him the opportunity of placing his integrity in a clear light before the world.
De Leon, and the delegate chosen on his death bed, died within a few months, and were succeeded by Estrada, the royal treasurer, who was hostile to Cortéz, and whose malicious mismanagement of the investigation soon convinced even the Spanish court that it was unjust to leave so delicate and tangled a question in his hands. Accordingly the affair was transferred from Estrada to a commission styled the Audiencia Real de España, and Cortéz was commanded to hasten across the Atlantic in order to vindicate himself from the aspersions before this august body, which sat in the midst of his countrymen.
Cortéz resolved to go at once; and, loyal to the last, rejected all the offers that were made him to reassume the reins of power, independently of Spain. He carried with him a number of natives, together with specimens of all the natural and artificial products of his viceroyalty; nor did he forget a plentiful supply of gold, silver, and jewels, with which he might maintain, in the eyes of his luxurious countrymen, the state that was appropriate for one whose conquests and acquisitions were so extensive. Sandoval and Tapia, too, departed with their beloved companion in arms, the former of whom, only, lived to land once more on his native land.
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As he journeyed from the sea-port towards Toledo, the curious crowds poured out on the way side to behold and welcome the hero of the New World; and from the gates of the city a gallant crowd of cavaliers poured forth, with the Duke de Bejar and the Count de Aguilar, to attend him to his dwelling.
The Emperor received him with marked respect on the following day, and from the bountiful gifts and splendid titles which were showered upon Cortéz before the close of 1529, it seems that his sovereign was soon personally satisfied in his frequent and frank interviews with the conqueror, that the tales he had heard from across the sea were mere calumnies unworthy his notice. The title of "Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca" was bestowed on him. Lands in the rich province of Oaxaca, and estates in the city of Mexico and other places, were also ceded to him. "The princely domain thus granted him," says Prescott, "comprehended more than twenty towns and villages and twenty-three thousand vassals." The court and sovereign vied with each other in honoring and appreciating his services, and every privilege was no sooner demanded than granted, save that of again assuming the government of New Spain!
It was the policy of the Spanish court not to entrust the rule of conquered countries to the men who had subdued them. There was fancied, and perhaps real danger in confiding such dearly acquired jewels to ambitious and daring adventurers who might ripen into disloyal usurpers.
Cortéz bowed submissively to the will of the Emperor. He was grateful for what had been graciously conceded to his merits and services; nor was he unwilling to enjoy the luxury of careless repose after so many years of toil. His first wife,—wedded as we have related in the Islands,—died a short time after she joined him in the capital after the conquest. Cortéz was yet young, nor was he ill favored or indisposed to slight the charms of the sex. A fair relative of the Aguilars and Bejars, Doña Juana Zuñiga, at this moment attracted his attention and was soon won. Her dower of jewels, wrested from the Aztecs, and carved by their most skilful workmen, was indescribably magnificent, and, after her splendid nuptials, she embarked, in 1530, with the conqueror and his aged mother to return to the Indian Islands, and finally to New Spain.
At Hispaniola he met an Audiencia Real, which was still to have jurisdiction of his case, if it ever came to trial, and at whose head was an avowed enemy of the conqueror, Nuño de Guzman. The evidence was taken upon eight scandalous charges against Cortéz, and is of so suspicious a character that it not only disgusts the general reader, but also failed in its effect upon the Spanish court by which no action was finally taken in regard to it.
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Cortéz remained two months in the island before he set sail for Vera Cruz, in July 1530; and, in the meantime, the Bishop of San Domingo was selected to preside over a new Audiencia, inasmuch as the conduct of the late Audiencia, and of Guzman especially, in relation to the Indians, had become so odiously oppressive that fears were entertained of an outbreak. The bishop and his coadjutors were men of a different stamp, who inspired the conqueror with better hopes for the future prosperity of the Indian colonies.
So jealous was the home government of the dangerous influence of Cortéz,—a man so capable of establishing for himself an independent empire in the New World,—that he had been inhibited from approaching the capital nearer than thirty leagues. But this did not prevent the people from approaching him. He returned to the scene of his conquest, with all the personal resentments and annoyances that had been felt by individuals of old, softened by the lapse of time during his prolonged absence in Spain. He came back, too, with all the prestige of his Emperor's favor; and, thus, both by the new honors he had won at court, and the memory of his deeds, the masses felt disposed to acknowledge, at the moment of joyous meeting, that it was alone to him they owed their possessions, their wealth, their comfort, and their importance in New Spain.
Accordingly, Mexico was deserted by the courtiers, and Tezcoco, where he established his headquarters was thronged by eager crowds who came not only to visit but to consult the man whose wit and wisdom were as keen as his sword, and who revisited Mexico, ripened into an astute statesman.
Nevertheless, the seeming cordiality between the magistrates of the capital and the partly exiled Captain General, did not long continue. Occasions arose for difference of opinion and for disputes of even a more bitter character, until, at length, he turned his back on the glorious valley,—the scene of his noblest exploits,—forever, and took up his abode in his town of Cuernavaca, which, it will be recollected, he captured from the Aztecs before the capital fell into his hands. This was a place lying in the lap of a beautiful valley, sheltered from the north winds and fronting the genial sun of the south, and here he once more returned to the cares of agriculture,—introducing the sugar cane from Cuba, encouraging the cultivation of flax and hemp, and teaching the people the value of lands, cattle and husbandry which they had never known or fully appreciated. Gold and silver he drew from Zacatecas and Tehuantepec; but he seems to have wisely thought that the permanent wealth and revenue of himself and his heirs would best be found in tillage.
Our limits will not permit us to dwell upon the agricultural, mineral and commercial speculations of Cortéz, nor upon his various adventures in Mexico. It is sufficient to say that he planned several expeditions, the most important of which, was unsuccessful in consequence of his necessary absence in Spain, whither he had been driven, as we have seen, to defend himself against the attacks of his enemies. Immediately, however, upon his return to Mexico, he not only sent forth various navigators, to make further discoveries, but departed himself for the coast of Jalisco, which he visited in 1534 and 1535. He recovered a ship, which had been seized by Nuño de Guzman; and having assembled the vessels he had commanded to be built in Tehuantepec, he embarked every thing needful to found a colony. The sufferings he experienced in this expedition were extraordinarily great; his little fleet was assailed by famine and tempests, and, so long was he unheard of, in Mexico, that, at the earnest instance of his wife, the viceroy Mendoza sent two vessels to search for him. He returned, at length, to Acapulco; but not content with his luckless efforts, he made arrangements for a new examination of the coasts, by Francisco de Ulloa, which resulted in the discovery of California, as far as the Isle de Cedros, and of all that gulf, to which geographers have given the name of the "Sea of Cortéz."
His expenses in these expeditions exceeded three hundred thousand castellanos of gold, which were never returned to him by the government of Spain. Subsequently, a Franciscan missionary, Fray Marcos de Niza, reported the discovery, north of Sonoma, of a rich and powerful nation called Quivara, whose capital he represented as enjoying an almost European civilization. Cortéz claimed his right to take part in or command an expedition which the viceroy Mendoza was fitting out for its conquest. But he was baulked in his wishes, and was obliged to confine his future efforts for Mexico to works of beneficence in the capital.
That portion of the conqueror's life which impressed its powerful characteristics upon New Spain was now over. The rest of his story belongs rather to biography and the Old World than to a compressed narrative of Mexican history, for although he remained long in the country, and afterwards fought successfully under the Emperor's banner in other lands, it appears that he was unable to win the Spanish crown to grant him authority over the empire he had subdued. He died at Castilleja de la Cuesta, near Seville, on the 2d of December, 1547.
Cortéz provided in his will that his body should be interred in the place where he died, if that event occurred in Spain, and that, within ten years, his bones should be removed to New Spain and deposited in a convent of Franciscan nuns, which, under the name of La Concepcion, he ordered to be founded in Cuyoacan. Accordingly, his corpse was first of all laid in the convent of San Isidro, outside the walls of Seville, whence it was carried to Mexico and deposited in the church of San Francisco, at Tezcoco, inasmuch as the convent of Cuyoacan was not yet built. Thence the ashes of the hero were carried, in 1629, to the principal chapel of the church of San Francis, in the capital; and, at last, were translated, on the 8th of November, 1794, to the church of the Hospital of Jesus, which Cortéz had founded. When the revolution broke out, a vindictive feeling prevailed not only against the living Spaniards, but against the dead, and men were found, who invoked the people to tear these honored relics from their grave, and after burning them at San Lazaro, to scatter the hated ashes to the winds. But, in the government and among the principal citizens, there were many individuals who eagerly sought an opportunity to save Mexico from this disgraceful act. These persons secretly removed the monument, tablet, and remains of the conqueror from their resting place in the Church of Jesus, and there is reason to believe, that at length they repose in peaceful concealment in the vaults of the family in Italy. Past generations deprived him, whilst living, of the right to rule the country he had won by his valor. Modern Mexico has denied his corpse even the refuge of a grave. [11]
Footnotes
[9] Prescott 3d, 261.
[10] Prescott, vol. 3, 274.
[11] See Alaman, Disertaciones sobre la historia de la Republica Mexicana, vol. 2, p. 93 Appendix.
CHAPTER XIII.
650–1500.
ARCHBISHOP ZUMARRAGA'S DESTRUCTION OF MEXICAN MONUMENTS, WRITINGS, DOCUMENTS—MR. GALLATIN'S OPINION OF THEM.—TRADITIONS—TWO SOURCES OF ACCURATE KNOWLEDGE.—SPECULATIONS ON ANTIQUITY.—AZTECS—TOLTECS—NAHUATLACS—ACOLHUANS, ETC.—AZTECS EMIGRATE FROM AZTLAN—SETTLE IN ANAHUAC.—TABLES OF EMIGRATION OF THE ORIGINAL TRIBES—OTHER TRIBES IN THE EMPIRE.
One of the most disgraceful destructions of property, recorded in history, is that which was accomplished in Mexico by the first Archbishop of New Spain, Juan de Zumarraga. He collected from all quarters, but especially from Tezcoco, where the national archives were deposited, all the Indian manuscripts he could discover, and causing them to be piled in a great heap in the market place of Tlatelolco, he burned all these precious records, which under the skilful interpretation of competent natives, might have relieved the early history of the Aztecs from the obscurity with which it is now clouded. The superstitious soldiery eagerly imitated the pious example of this prelate, and emulated each other in destroying all the books, charts, and papers, which bore hieroglyphic signs, whose import, they had been taught to believe was as sacrilegiously symbolic and pernicious as that of the idols they had already hurled from the Indian temples.
And yet, it may be questioned, whether these documents, had they been spared even as the curious relics of the literature or art of a semi-civilized people, would have enlightened the path of the historical student. "It has been shown," says Mr. Gallatin, "that those which have been preserved contain but a meagre account of the Mexican history for the one hundred years preceding the conquest, and hardly anything that relates to prior events. The question naturally arises—from what source those writers derived their information, who have attempted to write not only the modern history of Mexico, but that of ancient times? It may, without hesitation, be answered, that their information was traditional. The memory of important events is generally preserved and transmitted by songs and ballads, in those nations which have attained a certain degree of civilization, and had not the use of letters. Unfortunately, if we except the hymns of the great monarch of Tezcoco, which are of recent date, and allude to no historical fact of an earlier epoch than his own times, no such Mexican remnants have been transmitted to us, or published. On the other hand the recollection and oral transmission of events may have been aided by the hieroglyphics imperfect as they were; thus, those of the significant names of a king and of a city, together with the symbol of the year, would remind the Mexicans of the history of the war of that king against that city which had been early taught him whilst a student in the temple." [12]
It is thus, perhaps, that the virtuoso rather than the historical student has been the sufferer by the superstitious conflagrations of Zumarraga and the Spanish soldiers. We have unquestionably lost most of the minute events of early Aztec history. We have remained ignorant of much of the internal policy of the realm, and have been obliged to play the antiquarian in the discussion of dates and epochs, whose perfect solution, even, would not cast a solitary ray of light upon the grand problem of this continent's development or population. But amid all this obscurity, ignorance, and diffuseness, we have the satisfaction to know that some valuable facts escaped the grasp of these destroyers, and that the grand historical traditions of the empire were eagerly listened to and recorded by some of the most enlightened Europeans who hastened after the conquest to New Spain. The song, the story, and the anecdote, handed down from sire to son in a nation which possessed no books, no system of writing, no letters, no alphabet,—formed in reality the great chain connecting age with age, king with king, family with family;—and, as the gigantic bond lengthened with time, some of its links were adorned with the embellishments of fancy, whilst others, in the dim and distant past, became almost imperceptible. Nor were the conquerors and their successors men devoted to the antiquities of the Mexicans with the generous love of enthusiasts who delight in disclosing the means by which a people emerged from the obscurity of a tribe into the grandeur of a civilized nation. In most cases the only object they had in magnifying, or even in manifesting the real character, genius and works of the Mexicans, is to be found in their desire to satisfy their country and the world that they had indeed conquered an empire, and not waged exterminating war against naked but wealthy savages. It was, in fact, a species of self laudation; and it has, therefore, not been without at least a slight degree of incredulity that we read the glowing early accounts of the palaces, the state and the power of the Mexican emperors. The graphic works of Mr. Stephens on Yucatan and Central America, seem, however, to open new authorities upon this vast problem of civilization. Architecture never lies. It is one of those massive records which require too much labor in order to record a falsehood. The men who could build the edifices of Uxmal, Palenque, Copan and Chichen-Itza, were far removed from the aboriginal condition of Nomadic tribes. Taste and luxury had been long grafted on the mere wants of the natives. They had learned not only to build for protection against weather, but for permanent homes whose internal arrangements should afford them comfort, and whose external appearance should gratify the public taste. Order, symmetry, elegance, beauty of ornament, gracefulness of symbolic imagery, had all combined to exhibit the external manifestations which are always seen among people who are not only anxious to gratify others as well as themselves, but to vie with each other in the exhibition of individual tastes. Here, however, as in Egypt, the architectural remains are chiefly of temples, tombs and palaces. The worship of God,—the safety of the body after death,—and the permanent idea of loyal obedience to authority,—are symbolized by the temple,—tomb,—and the rock-built palace. The masses, who felt they had no constant abiding place on earth, did not in all probability, build for themselves those substantial and beautifully embellished homes, under whose influence modern civilization has so far exceeded the barren humanism of the valley of the Nile. It was useless, they deemed, to enshrine in marble whilst living, the miserable spirit that, after death, might crawl in a crocodile or burrow in a hog. Christianity, alone, has made the Dwelling paramount to the Tomb and the Palace.
We cannot leave the early history of Spanish occupation without naturally casting our eyes over the empire which it was the destiny of Cortéz to conquer. Of its geographical boundaries we know but little. The dominions of the original Aztecs covered but a small part of the territory comprehended in modern Mexico; and although they were enlarged during the empire, they did not even then extend beyond the eighteenth degree and the twenty-first on the Atlantic or Gulf, and beyond the fourteenth and nineteenth degree including a narrow slip on the Pacific.
The seat and centre of the Mexican empire was in the valley of Mexico, in a temperate climate, whose genial mildness is gained by its elevation of over seven thousand feet above the level of the sea. The features of this region,—the same now as at the conquest,—will be more fully described hereafter in those chapters which treat of the geography and statistics of modern Mexico.
On the eastern or western borders of the lake of Tezcoco, facing each other, stood the ancient cities of Tenochtitlan or Mexico, and of Tezcoco. These were the capitals of the two most famous, flourishing and civilized states of Anahuac, the sources of whose population and progress are veiled in the general mystery that overhangs the early history of our continent.
The general, and best received tradition that we possess upon the subject, declares that the original inhabitants of this beautiful valley came from the north; and that perhaps the earliest as well as the most conspicuous in the legends, were the Toltecs, who moved to the south before the end of the seventh century, and settled at Tollan or Tula, north of the Mexican valley, where extensive architectural remains were yet to be found at the period of the conquest. This spot seems to have gradually become the parent hive of civilization and advancement; but, after four centuries, during which they extended their sway over the whole of Anahuac, the Toltecs are alleged to have wasted away by famine, disease, and the slow desolation of unsuccessful wars. This occurred about the year 1051, as the Indian tradition relates,—and the few who escaped the ravages of death, departed for those more southern regions now known as Yucatan and Guatemala, in which we perhaps find the present remains of their civilization displayed in the temples, edifices and tombs of Palenque and Uxmal. During the next century these valleys and mountains were nearly desolate and bare of population, until a rude and altogether uncivilized tribe, known as the Chichimecas, came from Amaquemecan, in the north, and settled in villages among the ruins of their Toltec predecessors. After eight years, six other Indian tribes called Nahuatlacs arrived, and announced the approach of another band from the north, known as the Aztecs, who, soon afterwards, entered Anahuac. About this period the Acolhuans, who are said to have emigrated from Teoacolhucan, near the original territories of the Chichimecas, advanced into the valley and speedily allied themselves with their ancient neighbors. These tribes appear to have been the founders of the Tezcocan government and nation which was once assailed successfully by the Tepanecs, but was finally delivered from thraldom by the signal bravery and talents of the prince Nezahualcoyotl, who was heir of the crown, supported by his Mexican allies.
Our chief concern, however, in groping our way through the tangled labyrinth of tradition, is to ascertain the story of the Aztecs, whose advent has been already announced. It was about the year 1160, that they departed from Aztlan, the original seat of their tribe, on their journey of southern emigration. Their pilgrimage seems to have been interrupted by numerous halts and delays, both on their route through the northern regions now comprehended in the modern Republic of Mexico, as well as in different parts of the Mexican valley which was subsequently to become their home and capital. At length, in 1325, they descried an eagle resting on a cactus which sprang from the crevice of a rock in the lake of Tezcoco, and grasping in his talons a writhing serpent. This had been designated by the Aztec oracles as the site of the home in which the tribe should rest after its long and weary migration; and, accordingly, the city of Tenochtitlan, was founded upon the sacred spot, and like another Venice rose from the bosom of the placid waters.
It was near a hundred years after the founding of the city, and in the beginning of the fifteenth century, that the Tepanecs attacked the Tezcocan monarchy, as has been related in the previous part of this chapter. The Tezcocans and the Aztecs or Mexicans united to put down the power of the spoiler, and as a recompense for the important services of the allies, the supreme dominion of the territory of the royal house of Tezcoco was transferred to the Aztecs. The Tezcocan sovereigns thus became, in a measure, mediatized princes of the Mexican throne; and the two states, together with the neighboring small kingdom of Tlacopan, south of the lake of Chalco, formed an offensive and defensive league which was sustained with unwavering fidelity through all the wars and assaults which ensued during the succeeding century. The bold leaguers united in that spirit of plunder and conquest which characterizes a martial people, as soon as they are surrounded by the necessaries, comforts, and elegances of life in their own country, and whenever the increase of population begins to require a vent through which it may expand those energies that would destroy the state by rebellions or civil war, if pent up within the narrow limits of so small a realm as the valley of Mexico. Accordingly we find that the sway of this small tribe, which had but just nestled among the reeds, rocks and marshes of the lake, was quickly spread beyond the mountain barrier that hemmed in the valley. Like the Hollanders, they became great by the very wretchedness of their site, and the vigilant industry it enforced. The Aztec arms were triumphant throughout all the plains that swept downward towards the Atlantic, and, as we have seen, even maintained dominion on the shores of the Pacific, or penetrated, under the bloody Ahuitzotl, the remotest corners of Guatemala and Nicaragua.
Such was the extent of Aztec power at the beginning of the 16th century, at the period of the Spanish incursion.
Note.—The discrepancies in the dates assigned by several writers as to the periods of the emigration of various tribes and the reigns of their sovereigns, are carefully presented in the following table, given by Albert Gallatin, in his essay on the Mexican nations—1 vol. Ethnol. Soc. Transac. 162.
| Column Headings: A: Alva. B: Sahagun. C: Veytia. D: Clavigero. | ||||
| Toltecs. | ||||
| A | B | C | D | |
| Arrived at Huehuetlalpallan | 387 | |||
| Departed from do | 596 | 544 | ||
| They found Tula | 498 | 713 | 720 | |
| Monarchy begins | 510 | 667 | ||
| Monarchy ends | 959 | 1116 | 1051 | |
| Chichimecas and Acolhuans or Tezcocans. | ||||
| Xolotl, 1st King occupies the valley of Mexico | 963 | 1120 | about 1170 | |
| Napoltzin, 2d King ascends the throne | 1075 | 1232 | 13 cen | |
| Huetzin Tlotzin 3rd King, so called erroneously, ascends the throne | 1107 | 1263 | 14 cen | |
| Quinantzin, 4th King ascends the throne | 1141 | 1298 | 14 cen | |
| Tlaltecatzin 1st King according to Sahagun ascends the throne | 1246 | |||
| Techotlalatzin 5th (2d, Sahagun) ascends the throne | 1253 | 1271 | 1357 | 14 cen |
| Ixtlilxochitl 6th (3d, Sahagun) " " " | 1357 | 1331 | 1409 | 1406 |
| Netzahual-Coyotzin 7th (4th, Sahagun) ascends the throne | 1418 | 1392 | 1418 | 1426 |
| Netzahual-Pilzintli 8th (5th, Sahagun) ascends the throne | 1462 | 1463 | 1470 | |
| Netzahual-Pilzintli dies | 1515 | 1516 | 1516 | |
| Tepanecs, or Tecpanecs of Acapulco. | ||||
| Acolhua arrives | 1011 | 1158 | ||
| Acolhua 2d son of Acolhua 1st arrives | 1239 | |||
| Tezozomac son according to D'Alva, grandson according to Veytia of the 1st Acolhua arrives | 1299 | 1348 | 1343 | |
| Maxtlan, son of Tezozomac arrives | 1427 | 1427 | 1422 | |
| Mexicans or Aztecs. | ||||
| Mexicans leave Aztlan | 1064 | 1160 | ||
| " arrive at Huelcolhuacan | 1168 | |||
| " " at Chicomotzoc | 1168 | |||
| " " at valley of Mexico | 1141 | 1227 | 1216 | |
| " " at Chapultepec | {1248 {1276 | 1245 |
| Column Headings: A: Mendoza's Collection. B: Codex Tellurianus. C: Acosta. D: Siguenza. E: D'Alva. F: Sahagun. G: Veytia. H: Clavigero. | ||||||||
| Mexicans or Aztecs. | ||||||||
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | |
| Foundation of Mexico or Tenochtitlan | 1324 | 1325 | 1220 | 1325 | 1325 | |||
| Acamapichtli, elected King | 1375 | 1399 | 1384 | 1361 | 1141 | 1384 | 1361 | 1352 |
| Huitzilihuitl, accession | 1396 | 1406 | 1424 | 1403 | 1353 | 1402 | 1389 | |
| Chimalpopoca | 1417 | 1414 | 1427 | 1414 | 1357 | 1414 | 1409 | |
| Ytzcoatl | 1427 | 1426 | 1437 | 1427 | 1427 | 1427 | 1423 | |
| Montezuma 1st | 1440 | 1440 | 1449 | 1440 | 1440 | 1436 | ||
| Acayacatl | 1469 | 1469 | 1481 | 1468 | 1469 | 1464 | ||
| Tizoc | 1482 | 1483 | 1487 | 1481 | 1483 | 1477 | ||
| Ahuitzol | 1486 | 1486 | 1492 | 1486 | 1486 | 1482 | ||
| Montezuma 2d | 1502 | 1502 | 1503 | 1502 | 1503 | 1502 | ||
| Duration of reigns of Mexican Kings. | ||||||||
| Acamapichtli | 21 | 7 | 40 | 42 | 150 | 21 | 41 | 37 |
| Huitzilihuitl | 21 | 8 | 3 | 11 | 50 | 21 | 12 | 20 |
| Chimalpopoca | 10 | 12 | 10 | 13 | 70 | 10 | 13 | 14 |
| Ytzcoatl | 13 | 14 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 14 | 13 | |
| Montezuma 1st | 29 | 29 | 32 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 28 | |
| Acayacatl | 13 | 14 | 6 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 13 | |
| Tizoc | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| Ahuitzol | 16 | 16 | 11 | 16 | 17 | 8 | 16 | |
| Montezuma 2d | 17 | 17 | 16 | 17 | 17 | 19 | 17 |
The writers and documents cited in the preceding columns are esteemed the highest authority upon Mexican history and antiquities.
This is perhaps the best comparative table of Mexican Chronology,—up to the period of the conquest,—that has ever been compiled; and the great discrepancy between the dates assigned by various authorities, exhibits the guess work upon which the earlier Mexican history is founded.
In addition to the tribes or States enumerated in the preceding tables as constituting the nucleus of the Mexican empire under Montezuma, at the period of the Spanish conquest, it must be recollected that there were numerous other Indian States,—such as the Tlascalans, Cholulans, &c., whose origin is more obscure even than that of the Aztecs. Besides these, there were, on the territories now comprehended within the Mexican republic, the Tarascos who inhabited Michoacan, an independent sovereignty;—the barbarous Ottomies; the Olmecs; the Xicalancas; the Miztecas, and Zapotecas. The last named are supposed by Baron Humboldt to have been superior, in civilization, to the Mexicans, and probably preceded the Toltecs in the date of their emigration. Their architectural remains are found in Oaxaca. If we consider the comparatively small space in which the original tribes were gathered together in the valley of Mexico, which is not probably over two hundred and fifty miles in circumference, we cannot but be surprised that such remarkable results were achieved from such paltry beginnings and upon so narrow a theatre. The subjugation of so large a territory and such numerous tribes, by the Aztecs and Tezcocans is perhaps quite as wonderful an achievement, as the final subjugation of those victorious nations by the Spaniards. But in all our estimates of Spanish valor and generalship, in the splendid campaigns of Cortéz, we should never forget,—as we have remarked in the text,—the material assistance he received from his Indian allies—the Tlascalans.
Footnote
[12] 1 vol. Trans. Am. Ethnol. Soc., p. 145. Art. Mexican Hist. Chron., &c. &c., by Albert Gallatin.
AZTEC COSTUMES AND ARMS.
CHAPTER XIV.
1521.
DIFFICULTY OF ESTIMATING THE CIVILIZATION OF THE AZTECS.—NATIONS IN YUCATAN.—VALUE OF CONTEMPORARY HISTORY.—THE AZTEC MONARCHY—ELECTIVE.—ROYAL STYLE IN TENOCHTITLAN.—MONTEZUMA'S WAY OF LIFE.—DESPOTIC POWER OF THE EMPEROR OVER LIFE AND LAW.—THEFT—INTEMPERANCE— MARRIAGE—SLAVERY—WAR.—MILITARY SYSTEM AND HOSPITALS—COIN—REVENUES.—AZTEC MYTHOLOGY.—IMAGE OF TEOYAOMIQUI.—TEOCALLI—TWO KINDS OF SACRIFICE.—WHY THE AZTECS SACRIFICED THEIR PRISONERS.—COMMON SACRIFICE—GLADIATORIAL SACRIFICE—SACRIFICIAL STONE.—AZTEC CALENDAR—WEEK, MONTH, YEAR, CYCLE.—PROCESSION OF THE NEW FIRE—ASTRONOMICAL SCIENCE.—AZTEC CALENDAR.—TABLES.
It is perhaps altogether impossible to judge, at this remote day, of the absolute degree of civilization, enjoyed at the period of the conquest, by the inhabitants not only of the valley of Mexico and Tezcoco, but also of Oaxaca, Tlascala, Michoacan, Yucatan, and their various dependencies. In studying this subject carefully, even in the classical pages of Mr. Prescott, and in the laborious criticisms of Mr. Gallatin, we find ourselves frequently bewildered in the labyrinth of historical details and picturesque legends, which have been carefully gathered and grouped to form a romantic picture of the Aztec nation. Yet facts enough have survived, not only the wreck of the conquest, but also the comparative stagnation of the viceroyalty, to satisfy us that there was a large class of people, at least in the capitals and their vicinity, whose tastes, habits, and social principles, were nearly equal to the civilization of the Old World at that time. There were strange inconsistences in the principles and conduct of the Mexicans, and strange blendings of softness and brutality, for the savage was as yet but rudely grafted on the citizen and the wandering or predatory habits of a tribe were scarcely tamed by the needful restraints of municipal law.
It is probable that the Aztec refinement existed chiefly in the city of Tenochtitlan or Mexico; or, that the capital of the empire, like the capital of France, absorbed the greater share of the genius and cultivation of the whole country. Our knowledge of Yucatan, and of the wonderful cities which have been revealed in its forests by the industry of Mr. Stephens, is altogether too limited to allow any conjectures, at this period, in regard to their inhabitants. It is likely that they were offshoots from the same race as the Aztecs, and that they all owed the first germs of their separate civilizations to the Toltecs, who, according to the legends, were the great traditionary ancestors of all the progressive races that succeeded each other in emigrating from the north, and finally nestled in the lovely vale of Anahuac.
It is in the examination of such a period that we feel sensibly the want of careful contemporary history, and learn to value those narratives which present us the living picture of an age, even though they are sometimes tainted with the intolerance of religious sectarianism and bigotry, or by the merciless rancor of party malice. They give us, at least, certain material facts, which are independent of the spirit or context of the story. Posterity, which is now eager for details, infinitely prefers a sketch like this, warm and breathing with the vitality of the beings in whose presence and from whose persons it is drawn, to the cold mosaics, made up by skilful artizans, from the disjointed chips which they are forced to discover, harmonize, and polish, amid the discordant materials left by a hundred writers. Such labors, when undertaken by patient men, may sometimes reanimate the past and bring back its scenes, systems and people, with wonderful freshness; yet, after all, they are but mere restorations, and often depend essentially on the vivid imagination which supplies the missing fragments and fills them, for a moment, with an electrical instead of a natural life.
After a careful review of nearly all the historians and writers upon the ancient history of Mexico, we have never encountered a satisfactory view of the Aztec empire, except in the history of the conquest, by our countryman Prescott. His chapters upon the Mexican civilization, are the best specimens in our literature, since the days of Gibbon, of that laborious, truthful, antiquarian temper, which should always characterize a historian who ventures upon the difficult task of portraying the distant past.
*****
In our rapid sketch of the conquest, we have been compelled to present, occasionally, a few descriptive glimpses of the Aztec architecture, manners, customs and institutions, which have already acquainted the reader with some of the leading features of national character. But it will not be improper, in a work like this, to combine in a separate chapter such views of the whole structure of Mexican society, under the original empire, as may not only afford an idea of the advancement of the nation which Cortéz conquered, but, perhaps, will present the student with some national characteristics of a race that still inhabits Mexico jointly with the Spanish emigrants, and which is the lawful descendant of the wandering tribes who founded the city of Tenochtitlan.
*****
The Aztec government was a monarchy, but the right to the throne did not fall by the accident of descent upon a lineal relative of the last king, whose age would have entitled him, by European rule, to the royal succession. The brothers of the deceased prince, or his nephews, if he had no nearer kin, were the individuals from whom the new sovereign was chosen by four nobles who had been selected as electors by their own aristocratic body during the preceding reign. These electors, together with the two royal allies of Tezcoco and Tlacopan, who were united in the college as merely honorary personages, decided the question as to the candidate, whose warlike and intellectual qualities were always closely scanned by these severe judges.
The elevation of the new monarch to the throne was pompous: yet, republican and just as was the rite of selection, the ceremony of coronation was not performed until the new king had procured, by conquest in war, a crowd of victims to grace his assumption of the crown with their sacrifice at the altar. The palaces of these princes and their nobles were of the most sumptuous character, according to the description that has been left us by the conquerors themselves.
The royal state and style of these people may be best described in the artless language of Bernal Diaz del Castillo, a soldier of the conquest, whose simple narrative, though sometimes colored with the superstitions of his age, is one of the most valuable and veritable relics of that great event that has been handed down to posterity.
In describing the entrance of the Spaniards into the city—Diaz declares, with characteristic energy, that the whole of what he saw on that occasion appeared to him as if he had beheld it but yesterday;—and he fervently exclaims: "Glory be to our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave us courage to venture on such dangers and brought us safely through them!"
The Spaniards, as we have already said in a preceding chapter, were lodged and entertained at the expense of Montezuma, who welcomed them as his guests, and unwisely attempted to convince them of his power by exhibiting his wealth and state. Two hundred of his nobility stood as guards in his ante-chamber.
"Of these," says Diaz, "only certain persons could speak to him, and when they entered, they took off their rich mantles and put on others of less ornament, but clean. They approached his apartment barefooted, their eyes fixed on the ground and making three inclinations of the body as they approached him. In addressing the king they said, "Lord—my lord—great lord!" When they had finished, he dismissed them with a few words, and they retired with their faces toward him and their eyes fixed on the ground. I also observed, that when great men came from a distance about business, they entered his palace barefooted, and in plain habit; and also, that they did not come in by the gate directly, but took a circuit in going toward it.
"His cooks had upward of thirty different ways of dressing meats, and they had earthen vessels so contrived as to keep them constantly hot. For the table of Montezuma himself, above three hundred dishes were dressed, and for his guards above a thousand. Before dinner, Montezuma would sometimes go out and inspect the preparations, and his officers would point out to him which were the best, and explain of what birds and flesh they were composed; and of those he would eat. But this was more for amusement than anything else.
"It is said, that at times the flesh of young children was dressed for him; but the ordinary meats were domestic fowls, pheasants, geese, partridges, quails, venison, Indian hogs, pigeons, hares and rabbits, with many other animals and birds peculiar to the country. This is certain—that after Cortéz had spoken to him relative to the dressing of human flesh, it was not practised in his palace. At his meals, in the cold weather, a number of torches of the bark of a wood which makes no smoke, and has an aromatic smell, were lighted; and, that they should not throw too much heat, screens, ornamented with gold and painted with figures of idols, were placed before them.
"Montezuma was seated on a low throne or chair, at a table proportioned to the height of his seat. The table was covered with white cloths and napkins, and four beautiful women presented him with water for his hands, in vessels which they call xicales, with other vessels under them, like plates, to catch the water. They also presented him with towels.
"Then two other women brought small cakes of bread, and, when the king began to eat, a large screen of gilded wood was placed before him, so that during that period people should not behold him. The women having retired to a little distance, four ancient lords stood by the throne, to whom Montezuma, from time to time, spoke or addressed questions, and as a mark of particular favor, gave to each of them a plate of that which he was eating. I was told that these old lords, who were his near relations, were also counsellors and judges. The plates which Montezuma presented to them they received with high respect, eating what was on them without taking their eyes off the ground. He was served in earthenware of Cholula, red and black. While the king was at the table, no one of his guards in the vicinity of his apartment dared, for their lives, make any noise. Fruit of all kinds produced in the country, was laid before him; he ate very little; but, from time to time, a liquor prepared from cocoa, and of a stimulative quality, as we were told, was presented to him in golden cups. We could not, at that time, see whether he drank it or not; but I observed a number of jars, above fifty, brought in, filled with foaming chocolate, of which he took some that the women presented him.
"At different intervals during the time of dinner, there entered certain Indians, humpbacked, very deformed, and ugly, who played tricks of buffoonery; and others who, they said, were jesters. There was also a company of singers and dancers, who afforded Montezuma much entertainment. To these he ordered the vases of chocolate to be distributed. The four female attendants then took away the cloths, and again, with much respect, presented him with water to wash his hands, during which time Montezuma conferred with the four old noblemen formerly mentioned, after which they took their leave with many ceremonies.
"One thing I forgot (and no wonder,) to mention in its place, and that is, during the time that Montezuma was at dinner, two very beautiful women were busily employed making small cakes, [13] with eggs and other things mixed therein. These were delicately white, and, when made, they presented them to him on plates covered with napkins. Also another kind of bread was brought to him in long leaves, and plates of cakes resembling wafers.
"After he had dined, they presented to him three little canes, highly ornamented, containing liquid-amber, mixed with an herb they call tobacco; and when he had sufficiently viewed and heard the singers, dancers, and buffoons, he took a little of the smoke of one of these canes, and then laid himself down to sleep.
"The meal of the monarch ended, all his guards and domestics sat down to dinner; and, as near as I could judge, above a thousand plates of those eatables that I have mentioned, were laid before them, with vessels of foaming chocolate and fruit in immense quantity. For his women, and various inferior servants, his establishment was of a prodigious expense; and we were astonished, amid such a profusion, at the vast regularity that prevailed.
"His major domo kept the accounts of Montezuma's rents in books which occupied an entire house.
"Montezuma had two buildings filled with every kind of arms, richly ornamented with gold and jewels; such as shields, large and small clubs like two-handed swords, and lances much larger than ours, with blades six feet in length, so strong that if they fix in a shield they do not break; and sharp enough to use as razors.
"There was also an immense quantity of bows and arrows, and darts, together with slings, and shields which roll up into a small compass and in action are let fall, and thereby cover the whole body. He had also much defensive armor of quilted cotton, ornamented with feathers in different devices, and casques for the head, made of wood and bone, with plumes of feathers, and many other articles too tedious to mention." [14]
Besides this sumptuous residence in the city, the Emperor is supposed to have had others at Chapultepec, Tezcoco and elsewhere, which will be spoken of when we describe the ancient remains of Mexico in the valley of Mexico.
If the sovereign lived, thus, in state befitting the ruler of such an empire, it may be supposed that his courtiers were not less sumptuous in their style of domestic arrangements. The great body of the nobles and caciques, possessed extensive estates, the tenures of which were chiefly of a military character;—and, upon these large possessions, surrounded by warlike natives and numerous slaves, they lived, doubtless, like many of the independent, powerful chieftains in Europe, who, in the middle ages, maintained their feudal splendor, both in private life and in active service whenever summoned by their sovereigns to give aid in war.
The power of the Emperor over the laws of the country as well as over the lives of the people, was perfectly despotic. There were supreme judges in the chief towns, appointed by the Emperor who possessed final jurisdiction in civil and criminal causes; and there were, besides, minor courts in each province, as well as subordinate officers, who performed the duty of police officers or spies over the families that were assigned to their vigilance. Records were kept in these courts of the decisions of the judges; and the laws of the realm were likewise perpetuated and made certain, in the same hieroglyphic or picture writing. "The great crimes against society," says Prescott, "were all made capital;—even the murder of a slave was punished with death. Adulterers, as among the Jews, were stoned to death. Thieving, according to the degree of the offence, was punished with slavery or death. It was a capital offence to remove the boundaries of another's lands; to alter the established measures; and for a guardian not to be able to give a good account of his ward's property. Prodigals who squandered their patrimony were punished in like manner. Intemperance was visited with the severest penalties, as if they had foreseen in it the consuming canker of their own as well as of the other Indian races in later times. It was punished in the young with death, and in older persons with loss of rank and confiscation of property.
"The rites of marriage were celebrated with as much formality as in any Christian country; and the institution was held in such reverence, that a tribunal was established for the sole purpose of determining questions in regard to it. Divorces could not be obtained, until authorized by a sentence of this court after a patient hearing of the parties." [15]
Slavery seems to have always prevailed in Mexico. The captives taken in war were devoted to the gods under the sacrificial knife; but criminals, public debtors, extreme paupers, persons who willingly resigned their freedom, and children who were sold by their parents,—were allowed to be held in bondage and to be transferred from hand to hand, but only in cases in which their masters were compelled by poverty to part with them.
A nation over which the god of war presided and whose king was selected, mainly, for his abilities as a chieftain, naturally guarded and surrounded itself with a well devised military system. Religion and war were blended in the imperial ritual. Montezuma, himself had been a priest before he ascended the throne. This dogma of the Aztec policy, originated, perhaps, in the necessity of keeping up a constant military spirit among a people whose instincts were probably civilized, but whose geographical position exposed them, in the beginning, to the attacks of unquiet and annoying tribes. The captives were sacrificed to the bloody deity in all likelihood, because it was necessary to free the country from dangerous Indians, who could neither be imprisoned, for they were too numerous, nor allowed to return to their tribes, because they would speedily renew the attack on their Aztec liberators.
Accordingly we find that the Mexican armies were properly officered, divided, supported and garrisoned, throughout the empire;—that there were military orders of merit;—that the dresses of the leaders, and even of some of the regiments, were gaudily picturesque;—that their arms were excellent;—and that the soldier who died in combat, was considered by his superstitious countrymen, as passing at once to "the region of ineffable bliss in the bright mansions of the sun." Nor were these military establishments left to the caprice of petty officers for their judicial system. They possessed a set of recorded laws which were as sure and severe as the civil or criminal code of the empire;—and, finally, when the Aztec soldier became too old to fight, or was disabled in the national wars, he was provided for in admirable hospitals which were established in all the principal cities of the realm.
But all this expensive machinery of state and royalty, was not supported without ample revenues from the people. There was a currency of different values regulated by trade, which consisted of quills filled with gold dust; of pieces of tin cut in the form of a T; of balls of cotton, and bags of cacao containing a specified number of grains. The greater part of Aztec trade was, nevertheless, carried on by barter; and, thus, we find that the large taxes which were derived by Montezuma from the crown lands, agriculture, manufactures, and the labors or occupations of the people generally, were paid in "cotton dresses and mantles of feather-work; ornamented armor; vases of gold; gold dust, bands and bracelets; crystal, gilt and varnished jars and goblets; bells, arms and utensils of copper; reams of paper; grain; fruits, copal, amber, cochineal, cacao, wild animals, birds, timber, lime, mats," and a general medley in which the luxuries and necessaries of life were strangely mixed. It is not a little singular that silver, which since the conquest has become the leading staple export of Mexico, is not mentioned in the royal inventories which escaped destruction. [16]
The Mexican Mythology was a barbarous compound of spiritualism and idolatry. The Aztecs believed in and relied on a supreme God whom they called Teotl, "God," or Ipalnemoani—"he by whom we live," and Tloque Nahuaque,—"he who has all in himself;" while their counter-spirit or demon, who was ever the enemy and seducer of their race bore the inauspicious title of Tlaleatecolototl, or the "Rational Owl." The dark, nocturnal deeds of this ominous bird, probably indicated its greater fitness for the typification of wickedness than of wisdom, of which the Greeks had flatteringly made it the symbol, as the pet of Minerva. These supreme spiritual essences were surrounded by a numerous court of satellites or lesser deities, who were perhaps the ministerial agents by which the behests of Teotl were performed. There was Huitzilopotchtli, the god of war, and Teoyaomiqui, his spouse, whose tender duties were confined to conducting the souls of warriors who perished in defence of their homes and shrines, into the "house of the sun," which was the Aztec heaven. The image in the plate, presented in front and in profile, is alleged to represent this graceful female, though it gives no idea of her holy offices. Tetzcatlipoca was the shining mirror, the god of providence, the soul of the world, creator of heaven and earth, and master of all things. Ometcuctli and Omecihuatl, a god and goddess presided over new born children, and, reigning in Paradise, benignantly granted the wishes of mortals. Cihuacohuatl, or, woman-serpent, was regarded as the mother of human beings. Tonatricli and Meztli were deifications of the sun and moon. Quetzalcoatl and Tlaloc were deities of the air and of water, whilst Xiuhteuctli was the god of fire to whom the first morsel and the first draught at table were always devoted by the Aztecs. Mictlanteuctli and Joalteuctli were the gods of hell and night, while the generous goddess of the earth and grain who was worshipped by the Totonacos as an Indian Ceres, enjoyed the more euphonious title of Centeotl. Huitzilopotchtli or Mexitli, the god of war, was an especial favorite with the Aztecs, for it was this divinity according to their legends who had led them from the north, and protected them during their long journey until they settled in the valley of Mexico. Nor did he desert them during the rise and progress of their nation. Addicted as they were to war, this deity was always invoked before battle and was recompensed for the victories he bestowed upon his favorite people by bloody hecatombs of captives taken from the enemies of the empire. We have already spoken of this personage in the portion of this work which treats of the Spanish conquest of Mexico.
*****
If the Mexicans had their gods, so also had they their final abodes of blessedness and misery. Soldiers who were slain in conflict for their country or who perished in captivity, and the spirits of women who died in child-birth, went at once to the "house of the sun" to enjoy a life of eternal pleasure. At dawn they hailed the rising orb with song and dances, and attended him to the meridian and his setting with music and festivity. The Aztecs believed that, after some years spent amid these pleasures, the beatified spirits of the departed were changed into clouds or birds of beautiful plumage, though they had power to ascend again whenever they pleased to the heaven they had left. There was another place called Tlalocan the dwelling place of Tlaloc, the deity of water, which was also an Aztec elysium. It was the spirit-home of those who were drowned or struck by lightning,—of children sacrificed in honor of Tlaloc,—and of those who died of dropsy, tumors, or similar diseases. Last of all, was Mictlan, a gloomy hell of perfect darkness, in which, incessant night, unilluminated by the twinkling of a single ray, was the only punishment, and the probable type of annihilation.
TEOYAOMIQUI. (FRONT.)
TEOYAOMIQUI. (PROFILE.)
*****
The figure which is delineated in the plate representing Teoyaomiqui, is cut from a single block of basalt, and is nine feet high and five and a half broad. It is a horrid assemblage of hideous emblems. Claws, fangs, tusks, skulls and serpents, writhe and hang in garlands around the shapeless mass. Four open hands rest, apparently without any purpose, upon the bared breasts of a female. In profile, it is not unlike a squatting toad, whose glistening eyes and broad mouth expand above the cincture of skulls and serpents. Seen in this direction it appears to have more shape and meaning than in front. On the top of the statue there is a hollow, which was probably used as the receptacle of offerings or incense during sacrifice. The bottom of this mass is also sculptured in relief, and as it will be observed in the plate, that there are projections of the body near the waist, it is supposed that this frightful idol was suspended by them aloft on pillars, so that its worshippers might pass beneath the massive stone.
*****
In 1790, this idol was found buried in the great square of Mexico, whence it was removed to the court of the university; but as the priests feared that it might again tempt the Indians to their ancient worship, it was interred until the year 1821, since which time it has been exhibited to the public.
BOTTOM OF TEOYAOMIQUI.
The reader who has accompanied us from the beginning of this volume and perused the history of the Spanish conquest, has doubtless become somewhat familiar with the great square of ancient Tenochtitlan, its Teocalli, or pyramidal temple, and the bloody rites that were celebrated upon it, by the Aztec priests and princes. It served as a place of sacrifice, not only for the Indian victims of war, but streamed with the blood of the unfortunate Spaniards who fell into the power of the Mexicans when Cortéz was driven from the city.
This Teocalli is said to have been completed in the year 1486, during the reign of the eighth sovereign of Tenochtitlan or Mexico, and occupied that portion of the present city upon which the cathedral stands and which is occupied by some of the adjacent streets and buildings. Its massive proportions and great extent may be estimated from the restoration of this edifice, which we have attempted to form from the best authorities, and have presented in a plate in the preceding portion of this work.
*****
The Mexican theology indulged in two kinds of sacrifice, one of which was an ordinary offering of a common victim, while the other, or gladiatorial sacrifice, was only used for captives of extraordinary courage and bravery.
When we recollect the fact that the Aztec tribe was an intruder into the valley of Anahuac, and that it laid the foundations of its capital in the midst of enemies, we are not surprised that so hardy a race, from the northern hive, was both warlike in its habits and sanguinary in its religion. With a beautiful land around it on all sides,—level, fruitful, but incapable of easy defence,—it was forced to quit the solid earth and to build its stronghold in the waters of the lake. We can conceive no other reason for the selection of such a site. The eagle may have been seen on a rock amid the water devouring the serpent; but we do not believe that this emblem of the will of heaven, in guiding the wanderers to their refuge in the lake of Tezcoco, was known to more than the leaders of the tribe until it became necessary to control the band by the interposition of a miracle. Something more was needed than mere argument, to plant a capital in the water, and, thus, we doubt not, that the singular omen, in which the modern arms of Mexico have originated, was contrived or invented by the priests or chiefs of the unsettled Aztecs.
Surrounded by enemies, with nothing that they could strictly call their own, save the frail retreat among the reeds and rushes of their mimic Venice, it undoubtedly became necessary for the Aztecs to keep no captives taken in war. Their gardens, like their town, were constructed upon the Chinampas, or floating beds of earth and wicker work, which were anchored in the lake. They could not venture, at any distance from its margin, to cultivate the fields. When they sallied from their city, they usually left it for the battle field; and, when they returned, it is probable that it seemed to them not only a propitiation of their gods, but a mercy to the victims, to sacrifice their numerous captives, who if retained in idleness as prisoners would exact too large a body for their custody, or, if allowed to go at large, might rise against their victors, and, in either case, would soon consume the slender stores they were enabled to raise by their scant horticulture. In examining the history of the Aztecs, and noticing the mixture of civilization which adorned their public and private life, and the barbarism which characterized their merciless religion, we have been convinced that the Aztec rite of sacrifice originated, in the infancy of the state in a national necessity, and, at length, under the influence of superstition and policy, grew into an ordinance of faith and worship.
The Common Sacrifice, offered in the Aztec temples was performed by a chief priest, and six assistants. The principal flamen, habited in a red scapulary fringed with cotton, and crowned with a circlet of green and yellow plumes, assumed, for the occasion, the name of the deity to whom the offering was made. His acolytes,—clad in white robes embroidered with black; their hands covered with leathern thongs; their foreheads filleted with parti-colored papers; and their bodies dyed perfectly black,—prepared the victim for the altar, and having dressed him in the insignia of the deity to whom he was to be sacrificed, bore him through the town begging alms for the temple. He was then carried to the summit of the Teocalli, where four priests extended him across the curving surface of an arched stone placed on the sacrificial stone, while another held his head firmly beneath the yoke which is represented elsewhere. The chief priest,—the topiltzin or sacrificer, then stretched the breast of the victim tightly by bending his body back as far as possible, and, seizing the obsidian knife of sacrifice, cut a deep gash across the region of the captive's heart. The extreme tension of the flesh and muscles, at once yielded beneath the blade, and the heart of the victim lay palpitating in the bloody gap. The sacrificer immediately thrust his hand into the wound, and, tearing out the quivering vital, threw it at the feet of the idol,—inserted it with a golden spoon into its mouth,—or, after offering it to the deity, consumed it in fire and preserved the sacred ashes with the greatest reverence. When these horrid rites were finished in the temple, the victim's body was thrown from the top of the Teocalli, whence it was borne to the dwelling of the individual who offered the sacrifice, where it was eaten by himself and his friends, or, was devoted to feed the beasts in the royal menagerie.
Numerous cruel sacrifices were practised by the Indians of Mexico, and especially among the Quauhtitlans, who, every four years, slew eight slaves or captives, in a manner almost too brutal for description. Sometimes the Aztecs contented themselves with other and more significant oblations; and flowers, fruits, bread, meat, copal, gums, quails, and rabbits, were offered on the altars of their gods. The priests, no doubt, approved these gifts far more than the tough flesh of captives or slaves!
The Gladiatorial Sacrifice was reserved, as we have already said for noble and courageous captives. According to Clavigero, a circular mass, three feet high, resembling a mill stone, was placed within the area of the great temple upon a raised terrace about eight feet from the wall. The captive was bound to this stone by one foot, and was armed with a sword or maquahuitl and shield. In this position, and thus accoutred, he was attacked by a Mexican soldier or officer, who was better prepared with weapons for the deadly encounter. If the prisoner was conquered he was immediately borne to the altar of common sacrifice. If he overcame six assailants he was rewarded with life and liberty, and permitted once more to return to his native land with the spoils that had been taken from him in war. Clavigero supposes that for many years, twenty thousand victims were offered on the Mexican teocallis, in the "common sacrifice;" and in the consecration of the great temple, sixty thousand persons were slain in order to baptise the pyramid with their blood.
SACRIFICIAL STONE.
An excellent idea of the sacrificial stone, will be obtained from the plates which are annexed. Neat and graceful ornaments, are raised in relief on the surface, and in the centre is a deep bowl, whence a canal or gutter leads to the edge of the cylinder. It is a mass of basaltic rock nine feet in diameter and three in height, and was found in the great square in 1790, near the site of the large teocalli or pyramid. On its sides are repeated, all round the stone, the same two figures which are drawn in the second plate. They evidently represent a victor and a prisoner. The conqueror is in the act of tearing the plumes from the crest of the vanquished, who bows beneath the blow and lowers his weapons. The similarity of these figures to some that are delineated in the first volume of Stephens' Yucatan is remarkable.
SIDE OF SACRIFICIAL STONE.
The Aztec Calendar Stone, another monument of Mexican antiquity, was found in December, 1790, buried under ground in the great square of the capital. Like the idol image of Teoyaomiqui, and the sacrificial stone, it is carved from a mass of basalt, and is eleven feet eight inches in diameter, the depth of its circular edge being about seven and a half inches from the fractured square of rock out of which it was originally cut. It is supposed, from the fact that it was found beneath the pavement of the present plaza, that it was part of the fixtures of the great Teocalli of Tenochtitlan, or that it was placed in some of the adjoining edifices on palaces surrounding the temple. It is now walled into the west side of the cathedral, and is a remarkable specimen of the talent of the Indians for sculpture, at the same time that its huge mass, together with those of the sacrificial stone and the idol Teoyaomiqui, denote the skill of their inventors in the movement of immense weights, without the aid of horses.
*****
The Aztecs calculated their civil year by the solar; they divided it into eighteen months of twenty days each, and added five complimentary days, as in Egypt, to make up the complete number of three hundred and sixty-five. After the last of these months the five nemontemi or "useless days" were intercalated, and, belonging to no particular month, were regarded as unlucky, by the superstitious natives. Their week consisted of five days, the last of which was the market day; and a month was composed of four of these weeks. As the tropical year is composed of about six hours more than three hundred and sixty-five days, they lost a day every fourth year, which they supplied, not at the termination of that period, but at the expiration of their cycle of fifty-two years, when they intercalated the twelve days and a half that were lost. Thus it was found, at the period of the Spanish conquest, that their computation of time corresponded with the European, as calculated by the most accurate astronomers.
At the end of the Aztec or Toltec cycle of fifty-two years,—for it is not accurately ascertained to which of the tribes the astronomical science of Tenochtitlan is to be attributed,—these primitive children of the New World believed that the world was in danger of instant destruction. Accordingly, its termination became one of their most serious and awful epochs, and they anxiously awaited the moment when the sun would be blotted out from the heavens, and the globe itself once more resolved unto chaos. As the cycle ended in the winter, the season of the year, with its drearier sky and colder air, in the lofty regions of the valley, added to the gloom that fell upon the hearts of the people. On the last day of the fifty-two years, all the fires in temples and dwellings were extinguished, and the natives devoted themselves to fasting and prayer. They destroyed alike their valuable and worthless wares; rent their garments; put out their lights, and hid themselves, for awhile in solitude. Pregnant women seem to have been the objects of their especial dread at this moment. They covered their faces with masks and imprisoned them securely, for they imagined, that on the occurrence of the grand and final catastrophe, these beings, who, elsewhere, are always the objects of peculiar interest and tenderness, would be suddenly turned into beasts of prey and would join the descending legions of demons, to revenge the injustice or cruelty of man.
At dark, on the last dread evening,—as soon as the sun had set, as they imagined, forever,—a sad and solemn procession of priests and people marched forth from the city to a neighboring hill, to rekindle the "New Fire." This mournful march was called the "procession of the gods," and was supposed to be their final departure from their temples and altars.
As soon as the melancholy array reached the summit of the hill, it reposed in fearful anxiety until the Pleiades reached the zenith in the sky, whereupon the priests immediately began the sacrifice of a human victim, whose breast was covered with a wooden shield, which the chief flamen kindled by friction. When the sufferer received the fatal stab from the sacrificial knife of obsidian, the machine was set in motion on his bosom, until the blaze had kindled. The anxious crowd stood round with fear and trembling. Silence reigned over nature and man. Not a word was uttered among the countless multitude that thronged the hill-sides and plains, whilst the priest performed his direful duty to the gods. At length, as the first sparks gleamed faintly from the whirling instrument, low sobs and ejaculations were whispered among the eager masses. As the sparks kindled into a blaze, and the blaze into a flame, and the flaming shield and victim were cast together on a pile of combustibles which burst at once into the brightness of a conflagration, the air was rent with the joyous shouts of the relieved and panic stricken Indians. Far and wide over the dusky crowds beamed the blaze like a star of promise. Myriads of upturned faces greeted it from hills, mountains, temples, terraces, teocallis, house tops and city walls; and the prostrate multitudes hailed the emblem of light, life and fruition as a blessed omen of the restored favor of their gods and the preservation of the race for another cycle. At regular intervals, Indian couriers held aloft brands of resinous wood, by which they transmitted the "New Fire" from hand to hand, from village to village, and town to town, throughout the Aztec empire. Light was radiated from the imperial or ecclesiastical centre of the realm. In every temple and dwelling it was rekindled, from the sacred source; and when the sun rose again on the following morning, the solemn procession of priests, princes and subjects, which had taken up its march from the capital on the preceding night, with solemn steps, returned once more to the abandoned capital, and restoring the gods to their altars, abandoned themselves to joy and festivity in token of gratitude and relief from impending doom.
AZTEC CALENDAR STONE.
We have thought it proper and interesting to preface the description of the calendar stone by the preceding account of the Aztec festival of the New Fire, which illustrates the mingled elements of science and superstition that so largely characterized the empire of Montezuma. The stone itself has engaged the attention, for years, of numerous antiquarians in Mexico, Europe and America, but it has received from none so perfect a description, as from the late Albert Gallatin, who devoted a large portion of his declining years to the study of the ancient Mexican chronology and languages. In the first volume of the Transactions of the American Ethnological Society he has contributed an admirable summary of his investigations of the semi-civilized nations of Mexico, Yucatan and Central America, and from this we shall condense the portion which relates to this remarkable monument.
Around the principal central figure, representing the sun, are delineated in a circular form the twenty days of the month; which are marked from 1 to 20, with figures in the plates, and, in this order, are the following:
- 1 Cipactli.
- 2 Xochitl.
- 3 Quiahuitl.
- 4 Tecpatl.
- 5 Ollin.
- 6 Cozcaquauhitli.
- 7 Quauhtli.
- 8 Ocelotl.
- 9 Acatl.
- 10 Malinalli.
- 11 Ozomatli.
- 12 Itzeuinitli.
- 13 Atl.
- 14 Tochtli.
- 15 Mazatl.
- 16 Miquiztli.
- 17 Cohualt.
- 18 Cuetzpalni.
- 19 Calli.
- 20 Ehecatl.
The triangular figure I, above the circle enclosing the emblem of the sun, denotes the beginning of the year. Around the circumference which bounds the symbols of the days and months are found the places of fifty-two small squares, of which only forty are actually visible, the other twelve being covered by the four principal rays of the sun marked R. These doubtless denote the cycle of 52 years; and each of these squares contains five small oblongs, making in all 260 for the 52 squares. They are presumed to represent the 260 days or the period of the twenty first series of thirteen days. All the portion, included between the outer circumference of these 260 days and the external zone, has not been decyphered accurately. The external zone consists, except at the extremities, of a symbol twenty times repeated, and is alleged by Gama, a Mexican who first described and attempted to interpret the stone, to represent the milky way. The waving lines connected with it are supposed by this writer to represent clouds, while others imagine them to be the symbols of the mountains in which clouds and storms originated. These fanciful interpretations, however, are unavailable in all scientific descriptions, and Mr. Gallatin supposes the figures to be altogether ornamental.
The whole circle is divided into eight equal parts by the eight triangles R, which designate the rays of the sun. The intervals between these are each divided into two equal parts by the small circles indicated by the letter L. At the top of the vertical ray is found the hieroglyphic 13 Acatl, which shows that this stone applies to that year. It must be recollected that, although this Mexican calendar is in its arrangement the same for every year in the cycle, there was a variation at the rate of a day for every four years, between the several years of the cycle and the corresponding solar years. Gama presumes that this date of 13 Acatl was selected on account of its being the twenty-sixth year of the cycle and equally removed from its beginning and termination. Beneath this hieroglyphic, in correct drawings of the stone—but not in that of Gama which has been reproduced by Mr. Gallatin—will be found, between the letters Y and G, the distinct sign of 2, Acatl, and the ray above it points to the sign of the year 13 Acatl, which coincides with our 21st of December, and is undoubtedly the hitherto undetermined date of the winter solstice in the Mexican calendar. [17]
The smaller interior circle, we have already said, contains the image of the sun, as usually painted by the Indians; and to it are united the four parallelograms A, B, C, D, which are supposed by some writers to denote the four weeks into which the twenty days of the month were divided, but which contain the hieroglyphics, A, of 4 Ocelotl; B, of 4 Ehecatl; C, of 4 Quiahuitl; and D, of 4 Atl. The lateral figures E and F, according to Gama denote claws, which are symbolical of two great Indian astrologers who were man and wife, and were represented as eagles or owls.
The representations in these parallelograms, are believed to have originated in the Mexican fable of the suns, which will be hereafter noticed. The Aztecs believed that this luminary had died four times, and that the one which at present lights the earth, was the fifth, but which nevertheless was doomed to destruction like the preceding orbs. From the creation, the first age or sun, lasted 676 years, comprising 13 cycles, when the crops failed, men perished of famine and their bodies were consumed by the beasts of the field. This occurred in the year 1 Acatl, and on the day 4 Ocelotl, and the ruin lasted for thirteen years. The next age and sun endured 364 years or 7 cycles, and terminated in the year 1 Tecpatl on the day 4 Ehecatl, when hurricanes and rain desolated the globe and men were metamorphosed into monkeys. The third age continued for 312 years, or 6 cycles, when fire or earthquakes rent the earth and human beings were converted into owls in the year 1 Tecpatl, on the day 4 Quiahuitl;—while the fourth age or sun lasted but for a single cycle of 52 years, and the world was destroyed by a flood, which either drowned the people or changed them into fishes, in the year 1 Calli, on the day 4 Atl. The four epochs of destruction are precisely the days typified by the hieroglyphics in the four parallelograms A, B, C and D.
It will be seen by adding the several periods together that the Aztecs counted 1469 years from the creation of the world to the flood; yet there is an incongruity in this imaginary antediluvian history. If the fourth age had lasted only 52 years, it would have terminated in the year 1 Tecpatl instead of 1 Calli. Bustamante, the publisher and annotator of Gama, states that some authorities contend for only three antecedent periods, and that the present age is expected to end by fire. But Mr. Gallatin alleges that the four ages and five suns have been generally adopted, and are sustained by the ancient Aztec paintings contained in the Codex Vaticanus, plates 7 to 10. Like most of the Mexican antiquities, this branch of the Chronology is admitted to be exceedingly obscure, for it is asserted in the Appendix to Mr. Gallatin's essay that the hieroglyphics annexed to these paintings, may be interpreted as giving to the four ages respectively the duration of either 682, 530, 576, and 582, or of 5206, 2010, 4404, and 4008 years.
"This would appear to be purely mythological, but the fact that all these imaginary antediluvian periods consist of a certain number of cycles, shows that this fable was invented subsequent to the time when the Mexicans had attained a knowledge of cycles, years and of the approximate length of the solar year. It seems, therefore, probable that the mythological representation is in some way connected with celestial phenomena, and it is accordingly, found that the days designated in the parallelograms A and C, as 4 Ocelotl, and 4 Quiahuitl, correspond respectively, (on the assumption that the first year of the cycle corresponds with the 31st of December,) with the 13th of May and 17th of July, old style, or 22d of May and 26th of July, new style. And these two days 22d of May and 26th of July, are those, according to Gama, of the transit of the sun by the zenith of the city of Mexico, which, by the observations of Humboldt, lies in 19° 25' and 57" north latitude and in 101° 25' 20" west longitude from Paris. The two other days 4 Ehecatl, and 4 Atl, do not correspond either in the first year of the cycle or in the year 13 Acatl, with any station of the sun or any other celestial phenomena.
"There are three other hieroglyphics contained within the interior circumference or representation of the sun, which indicate the dates of some celebrated feasts of the Aztecs. The three following indications or hieroglyphics are found immediately below the figure of the sun. The first of these, designated by the letter H, is placed between the parallelograms C and D, and consists of two squares of five oblongs each, indicating the Aztec numeral 10. The symbol of the day is not annexed, but the whole of the central figure is itself the sign Olin Tonatiah, and the hieroglyphic of the day Olin, as delineated on the stone among the other emblems of the days, is on a small scale and abbreviated form of that central and principal figure of the stone. The day designated here, is consequently, 10 Olin. Below this, and on each side respectively of the great vertical ray of the sun, are found the hieroglyphics of the days 1 Quiahuitl, and 2 Ozomatli. Of the last mentioned days,—10 Olin corresponds in the first year of the cycle, with the 22d day of September, new style;—1 Quiahuitl with the 28th of March, and 2 Ozomatli with the 28th of June, as will be seen by the table at the end of this description of the calendar.
"We find, therefore, delineated on this stone all the dates of the principal positions of the sun, and it thus appears that the Aztecs had ascertained with considerable precision the respective days of the two passages of the sun by the zenith of Mexico, of the two equinoxes, and of the summer and winter solstices. They had therefore six different means of ascertaining and verifying the length of the solar year by counting the number of days elapsed till the sun returned to each of these six points,—the two solstices, the two equinoxes, and the two passages by the zenith." [18]
MEXICAN ALMANAC,
ACCORDING TO GAMA.
| Column Headings: A: Names of the months. B: Tititl. C: Itzcalli. D: Xilomanaliztli. E: Tlacaxipehnaliztli. F: Tozoztontli. G: Hueytozoztli. H: Toxcall. I: Etzalqualiztli. J: Tecuilhuitontli. K: Heuytecuilhuitl. L: Miccailhuitonili. M: Heuymiccailhuitl. N: Ochpaniztli. O: Pachtli. P: Heuypachtli. Q: Quecholli. R: Panquetzaliztli. S: Atenioztli. T: The five Nemontemi. | |||||||||||
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | |
| Months. | 1st | 2d | 3d | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | |
| Day of the Julian year, N. S., on which each month begins. | Jan. 9 | Jan. 29 | Feb. 18 | Mar. 10 | Mar. 30 | Apr. 19 | May 9 | May 29 | June 18 | July 8 | |
| 1 Sea Animal | Cipactli | 1 a | 8 c | 2 e | 9 g | 3 i | 10 b | 4 d | 11 f | 5 h | 12 a |
| 2 Wind | Ehecatl | 2 b | 9 d | 3 f | 10 h | 4 a | 11 c | 5 e | 12 g | 6 i | 13 b |
| 3 House | Calli | 3 c | 10 e | 4 g | 11 i | 5 b | 12 d | 6 f | 13 h | 7 a | 1 c |
| 4 Small Lizard | Cuetzpalin | 4 d | 11 f | 5 h | 12 a | 6 c | 13 e | 7 g | 1 i | 8 b | 2 d |
| 5 Serpent | Cohuatl | 5 e | 12 g | 6 i | 13 b | 7 d | 1 f | 8 h | 2 a | 9 c | 3 e |
| 6 Death | Miquiztli | 6 f | 13 h | 7 a | 1 c | 8 e | 2 g | 9 i | 3 b | 10 d | 4 f |
| 7 Deer | Mazatl | 7 g | 1 i | 8 b | 2 d | 9 f | 3 h | 10 a | 4 c | 11 e | 5 g |
| 8 Rabbit | Tochtli | 8 h | 2 a | 9 c | 3 e | 10 g | 4 i | 11 b | 5 d | 12 f | 6 h |
| 9 Water | Atl | 9 i | 3 b | 10 d | 4 f | 11 h | 5 a | 12 c | 6 e | 13 g | 7 i |
| 10 Dog | Itzcuintli | 10 a | 4 c | 11 e | 5 g | 12 i | 6 b | 13 d | 7 f | 1 h | 8 a |
| 11 Ape | Ozomatli | 11 b | 5 d | 2 f | 6 h | 13 a | 7 c | 1 e | 8 g | 2 i | 9 b |
| 12 Twisted Grass | Malinalli | 12 c | 6 e | 13 g | 7 i | 1 b | 8 d | 2 f | 9 h | 3 a | 10 c |
| 13 Reed | Acatl | 13 d | 7 f | 1 h | 8 a | 2 c | 9 e | 3 g | 10 i | 4 b | 11 d |
| 14 Tiger | Ocelotl | 1 e | 8 g | 2 i | 9 b | 3 d | 10 f | 4 h | 11 a | 5 c | 12 e |
| 15 Eagle | Quauhtli | 2 f | 9 h | 3 a | 10 c | 4 e | 11 g | 5 i | 12 b | 6 d | 13 f |
| 16 Bird (Aura) | Cozcaquauhtli | 3 g | 10 i | 4 b | 11 d | 5 f | 12 h | 6 a | 13 c | 7 e | 1 g |
| 17 Motion of Sun | Ollin | 4 h | 11 a | 5 c | 12 e | 6 g | 13 i | 7 b | 1 d | 8 f | 2 h |
| 18 Pedestal Silex | Tecpatl | 5 i | 12 b | 6 d | 13 f | 7 h | 1 a | 8 c | 2 e | 9 g | 3 i |
| 19 Rain | Quiahuitl | 6 a | 13 c | 7 e | 1 g | 8 i | 2 b | 9 d | 3 f | 10 h | 4 a |
| 20 Flower | Xochitl | 7 b | 1 d | 8 f | 2 h | 9 a | 3 c | 10 e | 4 g | 11 i | 5 b |
| Day of the year corresponding with last day of each month. | 20 | 40 | 60 | 80 | 100 | 120 | 140 | 160 | 180 | 200 | |
| Day of the Julian year, N. S., on which each month ends. | Jan. 28 | Feb. 17 | Mar. 9 | Mar. 29 | Apr. 18 | May 8 | May 28 | June 17 | July 7 | July 27 | |
MEXICAN ALMANAC,
ACCORDING TO GAMA. (Cont'd)
| Column Headings: A: Names of the months. B: Tititl. C: Itzcalli. D: Xilomanaliztli. E: Tlacaxipehnaliztli. F: Tozoztontli. G: Hueytozoztli. H: Toxcall. I: Etzalqualiztli. J: Tecuilhuitontli. K: Heuytecuilhuitl. L: Miccailhuitonili. M: Heuymiccailhuitl. N: Ochpaniztli. O: Pachtli. P: Heuypachtli. Q: Quecholli. R: Panquetzaliztli. S: Atenioztli. T: The five Nemontemi. | |||||||||||
| A | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | ||
| Months. | 11th | 12th | 13th | 14th | 15th | 16th | 17th | 18th | |||
| Day of the Julian year, N. S., on which each month begins. | July 28 | Aug. 17 | Sept. 6 | Sept. 26 | Oct. 16 | Nov. 5 | Nov. 25 | Dec. 15 | Jan. 4 | ||
| 1 Sea Animal | Cipactli | 6 c | 13 e | 7 g | 1 i | 8 b | 2 d | 9 f | 3 h | 10 | |
| 2 Wind | Ehecatl | 7 d | 1 f | 8 h | 2 a | 9 c | 3 e | 10 g | 4 i | 11 | |
| 3 House | Calli | 8 e | 2 g | 9 i | 3 b | 10 d | 4 f | 11 h | 5 a | 12 | |
| 4 Small Lizard | Cuetzpalin | 9 f | 3 h | 10 a | 4 c | 11 e | 5 g | 12 i | 6 b | 13 | |
| 5 Serpent | Cohuatl | 10 g | 4 i | 11 b | 5 d | 12 f | 6 h | 13 a | 7 c | ||
| 6 Death | Miquiztli | 11 h | 5 a | 12 c | 6 e | 13 g | 7 i | 1 b | 8 d | ||
| 7 Deer | Mazatl | 12 i | 6 b | 13 d | 7 f | 1 h | 8 a | 2 c | 9 e | ||
| 8 Rabbit | Tochtli | 13 a | 7 c | 1 e | 8 g | 2 i | 9 b | 3 d | 10 f | ||
| 9 Water | Atl | 1 b | 8 d | 2 f | 9 h | 3 a | 10 c | 4 e | 11 g | ||
| 10 Dog | Itzcuintli | 2 c | 9 e | 3 g | 10 i | 4 b | 11 d | 5 f | 12 h | ||
| 11 Ape | Ozomatli | 3 d | 10 f | 4 h | 11 a | 5 c | 12 e | 6 g | 13 i | ||
| 12 Twisted Grass | Malinalli | 4 e | 11 g | 5 i | 12 b | 6 d | 13 f | 7 h | 1 a | ||
| 13 Reed | Acatl | 5 f | 12 h | 6 a | 13 c | 7 e | 1 g | 8 i | 2 b | ||
| 14 Tiger | Ocelotl | 6 g | 13 i | 7 b | 1 d | 8 f | 2 h | 9 a | 3 c | ||
| 15 Eagle | Quauhtli | 7 h | 1 a | 8 c | 2 e | 9 g | 3 i | 10 b | 4 d | ||
| 16 Bird (Aura) | Cozcaquauhtli | 8 i | 2 b | 9 d | 3 f | 10 h | 4 a | 11 c | 5 e | ||
| 17 Motion of Sun | Ollin | 9 a | 3 c | 10 e | 4 g | 11 i | 5 b | 12 d | 6 f | ||
| 18 Pedestal Silex | Tecpatl | 10 b | 4 d | 11 f | 5 h | 12 a | 6 c | 13 e | 7 g | ||
| 19 Rain | Quiahuitl | 11 c | 5 e | 12 g | 6 i | 13 b | 7 d | 1 f | 8 h | ||
| 20 Flower | Xochitl | 12 d | 6 f | 13 h | 7 a | 1 c | 8 e | 2 g | 9 i | ||
| Day of the year corresponding with last day of each month. | 220 | 240 | 260 | 280 | 300 | 320 | 340 | 360 | 365 | ||
| Day of the Julian year, N. S., on which each month ends. | Aug. 16 | Sept. 5 | Sept. 25 | Oct. 15 | Nov. 4 | Nov. 24 | Dec. 14 | Jan. 3 | Jan. 8 | ||
In this perpetual almanac, each day in the year is designated by three characteristics derived from the combination of three series, viz.: That of the 20 days of the month, each of which has a distinct name and hieroglyphic, from Cipactli to Xochitl; and as these names are the same and in the same order in every month, the column in which they are set down answers for every month. The series of 13 days, designed by its proper numeral from 1 to 13. And the series of the 9 night companions, designated in this Table by the letters a, b, ... h, i, viz.:
- a. {Xiuhteuctli.
- {Tletl.
- b. Tecpatl.
- c. Xochitl.
- d. Cinteotl.
- e. Miquiztli.
- f. Atl.
- g. Tlazolteotl.
- h. Tepeyolotli.
- i. Quiahuitl.
Thus every day in the year is so distinguished that it can never be confounded with any other. The day 4 Ollin is the 17th day of both the first and the fourteenth month; but in the first instance it is distinguished by the letter h, and in the second by the letter g. If the characteristics of the 9th day of the 10th month be required, the Table shows that it is 7 Atl i; and thus also the 13th day of the 16th month (Quecholli) is shown to be 1 Acatl g, and the 313th of the year.
But it is only for the first year of the cycle (1 Tochtli) that the Mexican year corresponds with ours in the manner stated in the Table. For, on account of our intercalation of one day every bissextile year, the Mexican year receded, as compared with ours, one day every four years. This correction must therefore be made, whenever a comparison of the dates is wanted for any other than the first year of the cycle. The Mexican intercalation of 13 days at the end of the cycle of 52 years made again the first year of every cycle correspond with our year, in the manner stated in the Table.
Another correction is again necessary, when we have a Tescocan instead of a Mexican date. For the first year of the Mexican cycle was 1 Tochtli, and that of Tescoco was 1 Acatl; which caused a difference now of three, now of ten days in their calendars, which in every other respect were the same. Both corrections appear in the second Table.—Trans. Amer. Ethnol. Soc., vol. i, p. 114. Tables C1, and C2.
| Julian Year. | ||||||
| Mexican | A. D. | Old Style. | New Style. | |||
| year. | Mexico. | Tescoco. | Mexico. | Tescoco. | ||
| 1st year of Mexican Cycle | 1 Tochtli | 1454 | Dec. 31 | Dec. 21 | Jan. 9 | Dec. 30 |
| Bissextile year | 3 Tecpatl | 1456 | 30 | 20 | 8 | 29 |
| do. | 7 do. | 1460 | 29 | 19 | 7 | 28 |
| do. | 11 do. | 1464 | 28 | 18 | 6 | 27 |
| Tescocan inter'n 13 days | ||||||
| 1st year of Tesco'n Cycle | 1 Acatl | 1467 | 28 | 31 | 6 | Jan. 9 |
| Bissextile year | 2 Tecpatl | 1468 | 27 | 30 | 5 | 8 |
| do. | 6 do. | 1472 | 26 | 29 | 4 | 7 |
| do. | 10 do. | 1476 | 25 | 28 | 3 | 6 |
| do. | 1 do. | 1480 | 24 | 27 | 2 | 5 |
| do. | 5 do. | 1484 | 23 | 26 | 1 | 4 |
| do. | 9 do. | 1488 | 22 | 25 | Dec. 31 | 3 |
| do. | 13 do. | 1492 | 21 | 24 | 30 | 2 |
| do. | 4 do. | 1496 | 20 | 23 | 29 | 1 |
| do. | 8 do. | 1500 | 19 | 22 | 28 | Dec. 31 |
| do. | 12 do. | 1504 | 18 | 21 | 27 | 30 |
| Mexican intercal 13 days | ||||||
| 1st year of Mexic'n Cycle | 1 Tochtli | 1506 | 31 | 21 | Jan. 9 | 30 |
| Bissextile year | 3 Tecpatl | 1508 | 30 | 20 | 8 | 29 |
| do. | 7 do. | 1512 | 29 | 19 | 7 | 28 |
| do. | 11 do. | 1516 | 28 | 18 | 6 | 27 |
| Tescocan inter'n 13 days | ||||||
| 1st year Tesco'n Cycle Cortéz enters Mexico | 1 Acatl | 1519 | 28 | 31 | 6 | Jan. 9 |
| Bissextile year | 2 Tecpatl | 1520 | 27 | 30 | 5 | 8 |
| Capture of Mexico | 3 Calli | 1521 | 27 | 30 | 5 | 8 |
MEXICAN CYCLE OF 52 YEARS.
| 1st year. | 14th year. | 27th year. | 40th year. |
| 1 Tochtli | 1 Acatl | 1 Tecpatl | 1 Calli |
| 2 Acatl | 2 Tecpatl | 2 Calli | 2 Tochtli |
| 3 Tecpatl | 3 Calli | 3 Tochtli | 3 Acatl |
| 4 Calli | 4 Tochtli | 4 Acatl | 4 Tecpatl |
| 5 Tochtli | 5 Acatl | 5 Tecpatl | 5 Calli |
| 6 Acatl | 6 Tecpatl | 6 Calli | 6 Tochtli |
| 7 Tecpatl | 7 Calli | 7 Tochtli | 7 Acatl |
| 8 Calli | 8 Tochtli | 8 Acatl | 8 Tecpatl |
| 9 Tochtli | 9 Acatl | 9 Tecpatl | 9 Calli |
| 10 Acatl | 10 Tecpatl | 10 Calli | 10 Tochtli |
| 11 Tecpatl | 11 Calli | 11 Tochtli | 11 Acatl |
| 12 Calli | 12 Tochtli | 12 Acatl | 12 Tecpatl |
| 13 Tochtli | 13 Acatl | 13 Tecpatl | 13 Calli |
See 1st vol. Ethnol. Trans. ut antea page 63.
Footnotes
[13] No doubt tortillias, or maize cakes—still the staff of life with all the Indians and, indeed, a favorite and daily food of all classes of Mexicans.
[14] Bernal Diaz Del Castillo's Hist. Conq. Mexico.
[15] Prescott, vol. 1, p. 35.
[16] Prescott, vol. 1, p. 39, and compare Lorenzana's edition of Cortéz's letters.
[17] See Ethnological Trans. 1 vol., p. 96, and Am. Journal of Science and Arts, second series, vol. vii., p. 155. March No. for 1849.
[18] See Trans. Amer. Ethnol. Soc'y., vol. 1, p. 94. We should remark that the letters Q. Q., X. Z., P. P., S. Y., on the edge of the stone, denote holes cut into it, in which it is asserted that gnomons were placed whose shadows on the calendar converted it into a dial.