Praise and thanks be to the Lord Jesus Christ, who preserved me in so many perils, and that at present I have the power to write all this with such clearness! And I can, indeed, boast that I have been in as many battles as historians relate of the emperor Henry the Fourth.
CHAPTER CCXIII.
Of the planets and signs in the heavens which prognosticated our arrival in New Spain; how these were interpreted by the Mexicans; and of other matters.
The Mexicans relate that, shortly before our arrival in New Spain, there appeared a figure in the heavens of a circular form, like a carriage wheel, the colours of which were a mixture of green and red. Shortly after a second, of a similar form, made its appearance, which moved towards the rising of the sun, and joined the first. Motecusuma, who at that time sat upon the throne of Mexico, assembled his priests and soothsayers, and desired them to watch, and explain to him these wonderful signs, which had never been seen before. The priests accordingly communicated with their god Huitzilopochtli, who answered, that they portended dreadful wars and horrible pestilence, and that it was necessary to sacrifice some human beings.
Shortly after these signs had been seen in the heavens we arrived in New Spain, and ten months after Narvaez came, and brought with him a negro, who was ill with the smallpox. From this person the disease spread among the inhabitants of Sempoalla, and thence, like a true pestilence, throughout the whole of New Spain.
When, subsequently, we fought the severe battles during the night of sorrows, and lost 550 of our men, who were either killed in our retreat or taken prisoners, and sacrificed to the Mexican idols, the interpretations which the priests had given of the signs were considered perfectly correct. These signs were not seen by any of us, but I have related this exactly as told by the Mexicans, for it is so described in their hieroglyphic writing, which we always found correct.
The following appearance I beheld with my own eyes, which any one else might have seen if he had taken the trouble of looking up. In the year 1527 there appeared in the heavens a sign, which had the shape of a long sword, and seemed as if it stood between the province of Panuco and the town of Tezcuco, and remained unchanged in the heavens for the space of twenty days. The Mexicans and their papas declared it was a sign of some pestilence, and certainly a few days after the measles, and another eruptive disease, like leprosy, broke out, which was accompanied by a very nauseous smell, and carried off numbers of persons, though it did not prove so destructive as the smallpox.
In the year 1528 a very heavy rain fell in Guacasualco, with large clods of earth. But this phenomena differed from what had been seen before of the kind, for as soon as these clods touched the ground they turned into innumerable frogs, a little larger in size than the bluebottle fly. The earth was completely covered with these creatures, which hopped about in various directions, to gain the river, which was not far off. As, however, there were myriads of them, and the sun burning hot, numbers of them perished before they could reach the water. The birds of prey certainly devoured great numbers, yet many of them still remained on the ground, and soon turned putrid, spreading a most dreadful stench around.
I have likewise been assured by credible persons that similar showers of frogs fell at Sempoalla, in the neighbourhood of the sugar mills, belonging to the accountant Albornoz.