The Story of Extinct Civilizations of the West

by F.A.S. M.A. Robert E. Anderson

Cortés asked Marina, his slave interpreter, who or what they were. "They are Aztec nobles," she replied, "sent by Montezuma to receive tribute." Presently the Totonac chiefs came to Cortés with looks of dire dismay, to inform him of the great Emperor's resentment at the entertainment offered to the Spaniards, and demanding in expiation twenty young men and women for sacrifice to the Aztec gods.

Cortés, with every look of indignation, insisted that the Totonacs should not only refuse to comply, but should seize the Aztec messengers and hold them strictly confined in prison. Unscrupulous to gain his ends, Cortés by lies and cunning duplicity managed to set the Mexican nobles free, dismissing them with a friendly message to Montezuma, while at the same time securing the confidence of the simple-minded Totonacs, urging them to join the Spaniards and make a bold effort to regain their independence. Some thought that Cortés was really the kindly divinity Quetzalcoatl, promised by the prophets to bring freedom and happiness.

As an instance of the religious enthusiasm of the Spanish invaders, we may give the account of the "conversion" of Zempoalla, a city in the Totonac district. When Cortés pressed upon the cazique of Zempoalla that his mission was to turn the Indians from the abominations of their present religion, that prince replied that he could not accept what the Spanish priests had told him about the Creator and Ruler of the Universe; especially that he ever stooped to become a mere man, weak and poor, so as to suffer voluntarily persecution and even death at the hands of some of his own creatures. The cazique added that he "would resist any violence offered to his gods, who would, indeed, avenge the act themselves by the instant destruction of their enemies."

Cortés and his men seized the opportunity. There is no doubt that, after witnessing some of the barbarous sacrifices of human victims followed by cannibal feasts, their souls had naturally been sickened. They now proceeded to force the work of conversion as soon as Cortés had appealed to them and declared that "God and the holy saints would never favor their enterprise, if such atrocities were allowed; and that for his own part, he was resolved the Indian idols should be demolished that very hour if it cost him his life.

"Scarcely waiting for his commands the Spaniards moved toward one of the principal teocallis, or temples, which rose high on a pyramidal foundation with a steep ascent of stone steps in the middle. The cazique, divining their purpose, instantly called his men to arms. The Indian warriors gathered from all quarters, with shrill cries and clashing of weapons, while the priests, in their dark cotton robes, with disheveled tresses matted with blood, rushed frantic among the natives, calling on them to protect their gods from violation! All was now confusion and tumult.... Cortés took his usual prompt measures. Causing the cazique and some of the principal citizens and priests to be arrested, he commanded them to quiet the people, declaring that if a single arrow was shot against a Spaniard, it should cost every one of them his life.... The cazique covered his face with his hands, exclaiming that the gods would avenge their own wrongs.

"The Christians were not slow in availing themselves of his tacit acquiescence. Fifty soldiers, at a signal from their general, sprang up the great stairway of the temple, entered the building on the summit, the walls of which were black with human gore, and dragged the huge wooden idols to the edge of the terrace. Their fantastic forms and features, conveying a symbolic meaning which was lost on the Spaniards, seemed to their eyes only the hideous lineaments of Satan. With great alacrity they rolled the colossal monsters down the steps of the pyramid, amid the triumphant shouts of their own companions and the groans and lamentations of the natives. They then consummated the whole by burning them in the presence of the assembled multitude."

After the temple had been cleansed from every trace of the idol-worship and its horrors, a new altar was raised, surmounted by a lofty cross, and hung with garlands of roses. A reaction having now set in among the Indians, many were willing to become Christians, and some of the Aztec priests even joined in a procession to signify their conversion, wearing white robes instead of their former dark mantles, and carrying lighted candles in their hands, "while an image of the Virgin half smothered under the weight of flowers was borne aloft, and, as the procession climbed the steps of the temple, was deposited above the altar.... The impressive character of the ceremony and the passionate eloquence of the good priest touched the feelings of the motley audience, until Indians as well as Spaniards, if we may trust the chronicler, were melted into tears and audible sobs."

Before finally marching westward toward the temperate "slopes" of the mountains, Cortés had another opportunity of proving his generalship and prompt resource at a critical moment. When Agathocles, the autocratic ruler of Syracuse, sailed over to defeat the Carthaginians, the first thing he did on landing in Africa was to burn his ships, that his soldiers might have no opportunity of retreat, and no hope but in victory. Cortés now acted on exactly the same principle.

After discovering that a number of his soldiers had formed a conspiracy to seize one of the ships and sail to Cuba, Cortés, on conviction, punished two of the ringleaders with death. Soon after, he formed the extraordinary resolution of destroying his ships without the knowledge of his army.

The five worst ships were first ordered to be dismantled; and, soon after, to be sunk. When the rest were inspected, four of them were condemned in the same manner.