[24] (This note refers to the last sentence of the chapter.) To this custom of the Tlascallans of carrying off their killed and wounded from the field of battle, the historian de Solis partially attributes Cortes' great success in these battles; for as a great number of the enemy were constantly occupied in this work, they naturally offered a less formidable front, and considerable openings were made in their ranks. (p. [147].)
[25] This is a very remarkable observation of Bernal Diaz, for the ostrich with outspread wings is also found on the ancient Persian monuments; and this bird, it is well known, is not common to the New World. If we add to this circumstance the repeated questions which were put to the Spaniards by the inhabitants of New Spain, as to whether they came from the region where the sun rises, there is reason for supposing that the tradition which came down to them from their forefathers was not altogether vague; namely, that a people would come from the east and take possession of their country. (p. [150].)
[26] During this war the Tlascallans frequently sent provisions to Cortes' troops. This they did partly out of pride, that it might not be said they conquered the Spaniards by famine; partly that the latter might not become meagre in body, but that their flesh might taste savoury when they sacrificed them to their gods, so sure were these brave warriors of victory! (p. [165].)
[27] This name Oviedo gives to the fruit of a tree, which he calls macanna, growing in Cuba. (Hippomane Mancinella of Linn.) From the same fruit, according to this historian, the inhabitants prepare the deadly poison in which they dip the points of their arrows. (p. [170].)
[28] These figs, Bernal Diaz calls Tuna, which is the Cactus Tuna of Linnæus. (p. [173].)
[29] For Marina, as appears from several passages in Torquemada and other writers, was called by the inhabitants Malintziu. (p. [176].)
[30] In all the conferences which Cortes had with the Tlascallan chiefs, they showed an excessive hatred to the Mexicans, from which the Spaniards derived great advantages: Gomara, however, would make it appear that the Mexicans could at any time have given the Tlascallans a total overthrow if they had felt so inclined, but that they considered it better policy to attack them from time to time, when they wanted victims for their sacrifices; and then also the younger warriors of Mexico could have frequent opportunities of learning the art of war near to the metropolis, without marching to the distant boundaries of the empire for that purpose. This supposition of Gomara, however, is not founded on anything like fact. (p. [188].)
[31] The name which the Mexicans gave to Alvarado was Tonatiuh, the sun. It may naturally be supposed that when the Spaniards first arrived in New Spain, they did not catch the true sound of names. Torquemada, who spent nearly the whole of his life in New Spain, is considered the most correct in this respect. (p. [191].)
[32] Bernal Diaz writes, incorrectly, Macegales. By this word the Mexicans denoted the country people, who formed the great mass of the population, who also tilled the ground, and paid to the landowners a third part of the produce. Landed proprietors in Greece, at the present day, are not so generous, for they take two thirds of the produce and allow the tenant only one. (p. [192].)
[33] A small kind of cloak, a part of the old Moorish dress, still worn in Spain during festivals. (p. [194].)