FOOTNOTES

[1] Fernando De Alva Iztlilzochitl.

[2] The goddess Cioacoatl, called “Our Lady and Mother.” Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva Esp.

[3] Carrier slaves, or porters.

[4] In Aztec mythology, God of the Air.

[5] Equivalent to Pontiff or Pope.

[6] Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva Esp.

[7] Ixtlilxochitl, son of Nezahualpilli, king of Tezcuco.

[8] King of Tezcuco.

[9] See Prescott’s Conq. of Mexico.

[10] Guatamozin, nephew to Montezuma. Of him Bernal Diaz says: “This monarch was between twenty-three and twenty-four years of age, and could in all truth be called a handsome man, both as regards his countenance and figure. His face was rather of an elongated form, with a cheerful look; his eye had great expression, both when he assumed a majestic expression, or when he looked pleasantly around; the color of his face inclined to white more than to the copper-brown tint of the Indians in general.”—Diaz, Conquest of Mexico, Lockhart’s Trans., Vol. IV., p. 110.

[11] Prescott’s Conq. of Mexico, Vol. I., p. 417.

[12] The God of War,—aptly called the “Mexican Mars.”

[13] There was a fire for each altar in the temples which was inextinguishable; and so numerous were the altars, and so brilliant their fires, that they kept the city illuminated throughout the darkest nights. Prescott, Conq. of Mexico, Vol. I., p 72.

[14] The Aztec currency consisted of bits of tin, in shape like a capital T, of quills of gold-dust, and of bags of cocoa, containing a stated number of grains. Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva Esp.

[15] Temple. The term appears to have applied particularly to the temples of the god Huitzil’.—Tr.

[16] Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva Esp.

[17] The Mexican Hell. The owl was the symbol of the Devil, whose name signifies “the rational owl.”

[18] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista.

[19] The Divine Book, or Bible. Ixtlil’s Relaciones M.S.

[20] A kind of emerald, used altogether by the nobility. Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva Esp.

[21] Or capilli,—the king’s crown. A panache was the head-dress of a warrior.

[22] A garment of coarse white material, made from the fibre of the aloe, and by court etiquette required to be worn by courtiers and suitors in the king’s presence. The rule appears to have been of universal application.

[23] ’Tzin was a title equivalent to lord in English. Guatamotzin, as compounded, signifies Lord Guatamo.

[24] The great market-place or square of Tlateloco. The Spaniards called it tianguez. For description, see Prescott, Conq. of Mexico, Vol. II., Book IV. Bernal Diaz’s Work, Hist. de la Conq.

[25] Iztacoihuatl.

[26] Popocatepetl.

[27] Cortes’ squadron reached the mouth of the river Tabasco on the 12th of March, 1519.

[28] Prescott, Conq. of Mexico.

[29] God of the sea.

[30] The allusion was doubtless to the expeditions of Hernandez de Cordova, in 1517, and Juan de Grijalva, in 1518.

[31] These are the proper names of the queens. MSS of Muñoz. Also, note to Prescott, Conq. of Mexico, Vol. II., p. 351.

[32] A species of fig.

[33] Prescott, Conq. of Mexico.

[34] A household god.

[35] The fifth and sixth verses of the famous Spanish ballad, “The Lamentation of Don Roderic.” The translation I have borrowed from Lockhart’s Spanish Ballads.—Tr.

[36] Gods.

[37] Prescott, Conq. of Mexico, Vol. I. p. 33.

[38] A thief might be punished with slavery: death was the penalty for prodigalism and drunkenness.

[39] The authorities touching the military orders of the Aztecs are full and complete. Prescott, Conq. of Mexico, Vol. I. p. 45; Acosta, Book VI. ch. 26; Mendoza’s Collec. Antiq. of Mexico, Vol. I, p. 65.

[40] Tezcatlipoca, a god next in rank to the Supreme Being. Supposed creator of the world.

[41] Bernal Diaz, Hist. of the Conq. of Mexico.

[42] Ib.

[43] Bernal Diaz, Hist. of the Conq. of Mexico.

[44] Ib.

[45] The University.

[46] Household god of the lowest grade.

[47] Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva Esp. Gomara, Cronica. Prescott, Conq. of Mexico.

[48] The monarchy was elective.—Prescott, Conq. of Mexico, Vol. I., p. 24

[49] Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

[50] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conq.

[51] The crown.

[52] A reputed soothsayer.

[53] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conq.

Transcriber’s Note

There were a number of issues in the original text, including obvious printer’s errors, or those due to the condition of the text itself, especially on the margins.

Where the issue is very clear, they have been corrected here. Many hyphenation characters on the right margin are illegible, and those words have been joined here—unless the hyphen itself appears in the same word elsewhere in the text.

In general, punctuation errors, especially those involving single or double quotation marks, were quite frequent, and in the interest of keeping the narrative flowing, they have been corrected. The use of the single quotation as a abbreviating mark in proper names (e.g. “Huitzil’”)seems to have confused the printer more than once when other punctuation directly follows, on pp. 135, 509, and 525.

There were several questionable spelling issues (e.g., “beseiged”, “rodoubted”, “massage”) which were retained. The name “Cortez” (vs. “Cortes”) appears only in the table of contents. “’Hualpilli” appears once as “’Huapill”.

Some compound words appear both with and without hyphens. Where the hyphenation occurs at a line break, the hyphen is retained (or removed) if there are other mid-line examples.

The following list contains the details of corrections made to the text or spelling variants to be noted.

p. 13the moment of reply wa allowed to passAdded.
p. 28his canoe wil[l] be full of blessingsAdded.
p. 35Look well to this, O king[.]Added. May have been ‘!’.
p. 40and the time is very quiet[.]Added.
p. 54[F]ail me not, my children.Added.
p. 91I promised I[tz/zt]lil’Reversed.
p. 109I am told you wish to enter my service[.]Added.
p. 143[t]he glinting of the jewelsAdded.
p. 157Temple over many chambers.[”]Removed.
p. 178he is not a trai[tor.]”Added.
p. 202nor on what grounds[.]Added.
p. 236[“/‘]Come, the victim is ready![”/’]Should have been single quotes.
p. 241“That is Diaz’s [massage].”Sic.
p. 290Alvarado continued[./,] “which I couldAdded.
p. 302in trust for the god.[’]Added.
p. 311and all things else yet undiscovered.[”]Added.
p. 334Go with them, I pray you.[’/”]Corrected.
p. 341The hours were long[.]Added.
p. 342What wonder that I fled?[”]Added.
p. 402To the Mother the praise![’\”]Corrected.
p. 406has been toilsome and dreadful[.] Ah me, I shudder at the thought![”]Added.
“Have you never been elsewhere[?]”Added.
have they been denied you, poor girl?[”]Added.
p. 488Yonder is the temple we seek[.]Added.
p. 499“Al templo! Adelante, adelante! —forward![”]Added.
p. 500to the palace, the palace![”]Added.
p. 504Then the [’]tzin, recalled to himselfAdded.
p. 512The footnote reference for #49 was missing.Added.
p. 513and all the saints![”]Added.
p. 537If he fail—if he fail—[”]Added.
p. 543and gave himself to sombre thought[.]Added.
p. 552What didst thou?[”]Added.