[352] In order to obtain by them a race of heroes. Most writers, following Bernal Diaz and the less explicit chroniclers, allow Xicotencatl to give only one daughter, but Ixtlilxochitl names two, Hist. Chich., 294. and Juarros, in his biography of the Alvarados, enumerates their different wives, and among them the two sisters, with their full names and their descendants. Pedro de Alvarado’s only surviving issue, he says, was a daughter Leonor, by Luisa, who married first Pedro Puertocarrero and afterward Francisco de la Cueva, nephew of the Duke of Alburquerque. The other sister also left a daughter. Hist. Guat., 347-8. Bernal Diaz mentions also a son, Pedro, by Luisa. Hist. Verdad., 54; Clavigero, Storia Mess., iii. 54. According to Camargo, 300 young and pretty slave girls, destined for the sacrifices, were the first women offered. They were at first declined, but finally accepted for the suite of Marina. Finding that they were well treated, the lords offered their own daughters in marriage. Hist. Tlax., 148-50. A number of women were added to the suite of Marina and of the new wives, from the first families in the state, another authority intimates. Gomara, Hist. Mex., 86; Herrera, dec. ii. lib. vi. cap. xi.
[353] Camargo, Hist. Tlax., 150-1. They opened a road to Cempoala, and brought effects from Villa Rica, including presents for the lords. Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., 294.
[354] Tapia writes, ‘Yo que esto escribo pregunté á Muteczuma y á otros sus capitanes,’ and was told that the Mexicans could readily have subdued little Tlascala, but they preferred to use her as a means, close at hand, for exercising their youth and armies in warfare, and for supplying war captives for the sacrifices! Tapia, Rel., in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., ii. 572. ‘Juntaua dozientos y trezientos mil hombres para vna batalla.’ Gomara, Hist. Mex., 89. The Tlascaltecs spoke of their descent from giants, and produced gigantic bones in evidence thereof. Some of these were sent to Spain by Cortés, together with the report. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 55.
[355] Torquemada places the arrival of this embassy immediately after Cortés’ entry into Tlascala, Monarq. Ind., i. 433, while Clavigero dates it at Tecohuatzinco. Storia Mess., iii. 51-2. Brasseur de Bourbourg calls it the second embassy, Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 165, for he accepts the statement of Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., 288, that the first envoys saw Cortés at his camp by San Juan de Ulua. For Ixtlilxochitl’s career, see Native Races, v. 474-7.
[356] Bernal Diaz relates that Cortés detained these men as hostages, while he sent Alvarado and Bernardino Vazquez de Tapia to Mexico to communicate with Montezuma, and to examine the route and approaches to the city. They had hardly left before the company began to censure the rashness of sending two valuable men on so risky a mission, and Cortés accordingly sent to recall them. Tapia having fallen sick on the road, they gladly returned, but left the guides to proceed to Mexico.
[357] ‘Me dijeron ... que para ello habia enviado Muteczuma de su tierra ... cincuenta mil hombres, y que los tenia en guarnicion á dos leguas de la dicha ciudad ... é que tenian cerrado el camino real por donde solian ir, y hecho otro nuevo de muchos hoyos, y palos agudos hincados y encubiertos para que los caballos cayesen y se mancasen, y que tenian muchas de las calles tapiadas, y por las azoteas de las casas muchas piedras.’ Cortés, Cartas, 70. The stream within the temple was a myth, which the Cholultecs sought to maintain in order to frighten their enemies. Oviedo and Gomara relate that Xicotencatl junior was concerned in these plots, and that, warned by his sister, the wife of Alvarado, Cortés had him quietly seized and choked to death, iii. 497; Hist. Mex., 90. Whoever may have been throttled, it certainly was not the general, for he met his fate at a later date. According to Bernal Diaz the whole army was consulted as to whether all were prepared to start for Mexico. Many of those owning estates in Cuba raised objections, but Cortés firmly declared that there was no other way open than the one to Mexico, and so they yielded. Hist. Verdad., 56.
[358] ‘Y dar la obediencia â nuestro Rey, y Señor, sino que los ternia por de malas intenciones.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist Verdad., 56. According to Camargo, Patlahuatzin of Tlascala was sent with the message. The Cholultecs seized and flayed his face and arms, cutting off the hands, so that they were left dangling by the skin from the neck. In this guise they sent him back with the reply that thus would they receive the white gods whose prowess he had extolled. The Tlascaltecs demanded that Cortés should avenge the cruelty and the insult, and he did so in the massacre of Cholula. This, continues the narrator, is commemorated in Tlascalan song, but the account is evidently mixed, and probably refers chiefly to some earlier occurrence. Hist. Tlax., 161-2. Brasseur de Bourbourg assumes that Patlahuatzin is merely insulted and ill-treated. The two peoples had once been friends and allies, but during the last battle which they fought against their common enemy, the Aztecs, the Cholultecs had suddenly changed sides and fallen on the rear of their unsuspecting allies, inflicting great slaughter. Herrera, dec. ii. lib. vi. cap. xviii.
[359] Three of the members are imprisoned for favoring an alliance with the Spaniards, but they escape and come to Cortés, says Herrera, Id.
[360] Cortés, Cartas, 71, says that he sent this message by the Cholultec messengers.
[361] ‘É así lo asentó un escribano.’ Id., 72. ‘Otro dia vinieron muchos señores y capitanes de Chololla.’ Gomara, Hist. Mex., 91. According to Brasseur de Bourbourg, Cortés is already en route for Cholula when the friendly council members appear to bring excuses and invitations. Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 169-70. Bernal Diaz, indeed, appears to say that the Cholultecs sent to excuse themselves from appearing before Cortés so long as he remained in hostile territory. Hist. Verdad., 57.