The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Vol 1 (of 2) / Written by Himself Containing a True and Full Account of the Discovery and Conquest of Mexico and New Spain.

by Bernal Díaz del Castillo

All the reinforcement we received, on this occasion, consisted in seven men, of whom three were sailors. They arrived in Tlascalla under the command of a certain Lencero, to whom the tavern belonged, known to this day by the name of Venta de Lencero. Every one of these men were in bad health; five of them were covered with sore swellings, and the two others limped helplessly about with their bellies enormously swollen, so that the succours brought by Lencero became quite a byword among us.

I must now, however, relate something of a more serious nature. The reader cannot have forgotten the younger Xicotencatl, who commanded the whole armed power of Tlascalla against us, and who had always shown his hatred of us. This feeling was again aroused in him when the news of our flight from Mexico, and of the number of troops we had lost arrived in Tlascalla; and how we were marching towards the latter place to seek protection and assistance. Xicotencatl now, therefore, assembled his relations and friends, with all those whom he thought would enter into his views, and proposed that they should select some favorable opportunity, either in the day or night-time to fall upon us unawares and destroy us all. "He would," he said, "form a friendly alliance with the Mexican monarch, for which the present moment was particularly favorable, as the Mexicans had just elected a new monarch in the person of Cuitlahuatzin. We had," he continued, "left quantities of cotton stuffs and gold behind us in Tlascalla, and had brought an additional quantity with us, and they would all become wealthy personages by such a booty."

When the elder Xicotencatl received information of this rebellious movement, he grew excessively angry, and commanded his son to banish all such thoughts from his mind. Such a step as that, he said, would be altogether unjustifiable, and he might be sure, if Maxixcatzin and Chichimeclatecl got intelligence of it, they would certainly order him to be put to death, to which he himself would give his consent. Old Xicotencatl, however, might say what he liked, his son remained firm to his purpose, and set earnestly about to make the necessary preparations, when Chichimeclatecl, who was at enmity with the younger Xicotencatl, got secret information of his intentions, which he instantly communicated to Maxixcatzin, and both determined to call a meeting of the chief personages of the town, with the elder Xicotencatl and the caziques of Huexotzinco, and commanded the younger Xicotencatl to appear before them.

After all had been assembled, Maxixcatzin addressed the meeting as follows: "I ask you, do you yourselves think, or have you ever heard others say that such riches or so much prosperity was ever known for the last hundred years in the land of Tlascalla as since the time these teules have appeared among us? Were we ever so much respected by all our neighbours? It is only since their arrival we possess abundance of gold and cotton stuffs; it is since that time only we eat salt again, of which we had been deprived for such a length of time. Wherever our troops have shown themselves with these teules, they have been treated with the utmost respect; and if many of our countrymen have lately perished in Mexico, they certainly fared no worse than the teules themselves. All of you must likewise bear in mind the ancient tradition handed down to us by our forefathers, that, at some period or other, a people would come from where the sun rises, to whom the dominion of these countries was destined. How dare Xicotencatl, taking all this into consideration, contemplate this horrible treachery, from which nothing can flow but war and our destruction? Is this not a crime which ought not to be pardoned? Is it not exactly in accordance with the evil designs with which this man's head always runs full? Now that misfortune has led these teules to us for protection, and that we may assist them with our troops to renew the war with Mexico, are we to act treacherously to these our friends?"

To these reproaches, in which his own blind father joined, the younger Xicotencatl replied, that he persevered in his opinion that, under the present circumstances, it would be most politic to form an alliance with the Mexicans; and allowed himself many other impudent expressions, which so enraged the old chiefs that Maxixcatzin, Chichimeclatecl, and the elder Xicotencatl, notwithstanding his blindness, rose up from their seats, then fell upon the young man, and pushed him down the steps of the building, under the most abusive language. He would certainly have been killed on the spot, if respect for his aged father had not withheld them. In the meantime they imprisoned all those who had sided with him. To punish Xicotencatl himself, this was not exactly the time, and Cortes refused in any way to meddle in the matter. I have mentioned this circumstance to convince the reader how loyal and honest the Tlascallans were towards us, and how much we were indebted to them, particularly to the elder Xicotencatl, who, it is even said, had given orders for his son to be put to death, as soon as he had been informed of all his intrigues and treacherous designs.[98]

We had now rested twenty-two days, and had patiently awaited the cure of our wounds; and Cortes now determined upon making an incursion into the neighbouring province of Tepeaca, where several of Narvaez's men and some of ours had been killed on their march to Mexico. He accordingly told our officers what his plan was; but when Narvaez's men heard of a new campaign, they became quite low-spirited. The latter were not accustomed to war, and had had a sufficient taste of it in our overthrow at Mexico, the carnage at the bridges, and in the battle of Otumpan; and were very clamorous in their requests to our general to return to their commendaries and their gold mines in Cuba. They peremptorily refused to obey him any longer, and declared they would take no further part in his conquests; and Duero, who, from the very beginning, had been in secret understanding with Cortes, protested most loudly against this contemplated invasion of Tepeaca. They cursed the gold Cortes had given them, which had all been lost again in their flight from Mexico, and assured him they were glad enough to have escaped with their lives from that terrific battle. They were unanimously determined to return to Cuba, and said they were not desirous of suffering any further losses than they already had in this expedition.

Cortes, however, did not so soon give up all hopes of persuading them to join him in this campaign. He spoke to them in a very quiet and kind manner, and made many very excellent remarks, but all to no purpose; and when they found that Cortes persevered in his determination, they desired one of the royal secretaries to draw up a formal protest, in which they gave a circumstantial account of our present position, how we were in want of horses, muskets, crossbows, and even cords for the latter; in short, of everything necessary to carry on a war. They further went on to say, that the whole of us were covered with wounds, and that only 440 men remained of the united troops of Narvaez and Cortes; the Mexicans occupied every pass and every mountain, and the vessels would rot away with the worm if they lay any longer in the harbour; and so on.

After they had presented this protest in form to our general, he altogether objected to it, and we others of his old troops begged of him most earnestly not to allow any of Narvaez's men to return to Cuba, as it would every way prove injurious to the cause of God and the interest of our emperor.

When they found that all the steps they had taken were fruitless, and that we maintained they were imperatively called upon to remain, both for the service of God and of our emperor, they at last consented to stay, and declared their willingness to join us in the contemplated campaign; but Cortes was obliged to promise that he would allow them to depart for Cuba as soon as ever circumstances would permit. This, however, did not put an end to their murmurs. We heard nothing but complaints against Cortes and his conquests,—how dearly they had paid for all this, left comfortable homes, and peace and security, to serve in a country where they lived in constant danger of losing their lives. They likewise considered it would be unpardonable in us to commence a second war with the Mexicans, with whom we should never be able to cope in the open field for any length of time, after what we had seen of their vast power both in Mexico and at Otumpan. Cortes, they continued, would not relinquish his purpose as long as his ambition to command was satisfied, and we others merely stuck to him because we had nothing to lose but our lives. Many similar reproaches did they throw out against Cortes, who, under the present circumstances, thought it was best to leave them unnoticed; and he was glad, a few months after, to send them home, as will be related in the proper place.

Here again I am bound to notice a number of errors in Gomara's history; in order, however, not to go too much into detail, I will confine myself to the following remarks.