[191] As for the ayuntamiento, the passive recognition accorded to it, confirmed as it was by the popularly elected general, may be regarded as sufficient. Spanish municipal bodies possessed an extensive power conferred upon them during successive reigns, chiefly with a view to afford the sovereign a support against the assuming arrogance of the nobles. Their deliberations were respected; they could appoint members, regulate their expenses, and even raise troops under their own standard. As an instance of the consideration enjoyed by these troops, it is related that Isabella the Catholic, when reviewing the army besieging Moclin, gave a special salute of respect to the banner of Seville. Alaman, Disert., i. 612; Zamacois, Hist. Méj., ii. 401-2.
[192] According to Gomara, Cortés enters the country with 400 men and all the horses, before the election had been mooted. He describes the towns visited. Hist. Mex., 46-8. Bernal Diaz pronounces the number of men and the time of entry false. He also states that Montejo was bought over for 2000 pesos and more. Hist. Verdad., 30.
[193] According to Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 30, gold played an important role in effecting this change of allegiance, termed by Velazquez, in his Memorials to Spain, a witchery. Solis sees nothing but the dignified yet clever traits of his hero in all this.
[194] The soldiers called them Lopelucios, because their first inquiry was Lopelucio, ‘chief,’ whom they wished to see. They had not ventured to approach while the Mexicans were at the camp. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 28.
[195] According to Gomara, followed by Herrera, the Totonacs were about twenty in number, and came while Teuhtlile was absent on his second mission to Mexico, without bringing a direct invitation to the Spaniards. Hist. Mex., 43-4.
[196] See Native Races, v. 475-7.
[197] Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., 288. This author is not very careful, however, and his desire to court the Spaniards has no doubt led him to antedate the event. Brasseur de Bourbourg accepts his story in full. Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 87-8. A similar revelation is claimed to have been made by two Aztec chiefs, Vamapantzin and Atonaltzin, who came to the camp in the retinue of the first messengers from Mexico. Descendants of the early Aztec kings, and discontented with the present ruler, they promised Cortés to deliver certain native paintings foretelling the coming of white men, to reveal the whereabouts of the imperial treasures, and to plot an uprising among native states in aid of Spaniards. For these services they received extensive grants after the conquest, including that of Ajapusco town. The document recording this is a fragment which Zerecero parades in the opening part of his Mem. Rev. Méx., 8-14, as a discovery by him in the Archivo General. It pretends to be a title to Ajapusco lands, and contains on the first pages a letter signed by Cortés at San Juan de Ulua, ‘20 March,’ 1519, as ‘Captain-general and governor of these New Spains.’ Both the date and titles stamp the letter at least as more than suspicious.
[198] The natives called it Citlaltepetl, starry mountain, with reference probably to the sparks issuing from it. For height, etc., see Humboldt, Essai Pol., i. 273. Brasseur de Bourbourg gives it the unlikely name of Ahuilizapan. Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 99. The ending ‘pan’ implies a district or town, not a mountain. The description in Carta del Ayunt., in Cortés, Cartas, 22-3, expresses doubt whether the whiteness of the summit is due to snow or to clouds.
[199] Alvarado chased a deer, and succeeded in wounding it, but the next moment the dense underbrush saved it from pursuit. The Carta del Ayunt., loc. cit., gives a list of birds and quadrupeds; and a descriptive account, founded greatly on fancy, however, is to be found in the curious Erasmi Francisci Guineischer und Americanischer Blumen-Pusch, Nürnberg, 1669, wherein the compiler presents under the title of a nosegay the ‘perfume of the wonders of strange animals, of peculiar customs, and of the doings of the kings of Peru and Mexico.’ The first of its two parts is devoted to the animal kingdom, with particular attention to the marvellous, wherein credulity finds free play, as may be seen also in the flying dragon of one of the crude engravings. In the second part, the aborigines, their history, condition, and customs, are treated of, chiefly under Peru and Mexico, chapter v. relating specially to the latter country. The narrative is quite superficial and fragmentary; the ‘nosegay’ being not only common but faded, even the style and type appearing antiquated for the date. Appended is Hemmersam, Guineische und West-Indianische Reissbeschreibung, with addition by Dietherr, relating to Africa and Brazil.
[200] ‘A tres leguas andadas llego al rio que parte termino con tierras de Montecçuma.’ Gomara, Hist. Mex., 49; Torquemada, i. 395.