[363] Estimated by Cortés at around 100,000. Others say he was offered 10,000 to 20,000 men.
[364] This is the figure deduced from later references. ‘Quedaron en mi compañía hasta cinco ó seis mil.’ Cortés, Cartas, 72. Dismissing the 100,000 with presents, he retained only 3000. ‘Por no ponerse en manos de gente barbara.’ Herrera, dec. ii. lib. vii. cap. i. ‘Six thousand warriors,’ says Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., 294. He gives the names of their chiefs, which differ wholly from those mentioned in Camargo, Hist. Tlax., 160. ‘Fueron tãbien con el muchos mercaderes a rescatar sal y mantas.’ Gomara, Hist. Mex., 91.
[365] Cartas, 74-5. ‘En el tiempo de la guerra salian en campo ochenta ó noventa mill hombres de guerra.’ Oviedo, iii. 498. ‘Ultra triginta millia familiarum capiebat.’ Las Casas, Regio. Ind. Devastat., 26. ‘Parecio ... en el assiento, y prospetiua a Valladolid.’ Herrera, dec. ii. lib. vii. cap. i.
[366] See Native Races, iii. iv.
[367] Native Races, v. 264; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., 160. ‘Gouernauase por vn capitan general, eligido por la republica, con el consejo de seys nobles, assistian en el sacerdotes.’ Herrera, dec. ii. lib. vii. cap. ii. Gomara mentions only a captain-general or governor. Hist. Mex., 95. Torquemada gives the city four lords, who divided between them the territory, ii. 350-1. The government appears to have undergone several changes since the age of Quetzalcoatl, and at one period four nobles appear to have represented the wards, but these increased in course of time to six, and the council appears also to have been increased by the attendance of other priests beside the pontiff.
[368] Chimalpain, Hist. Conq., 100, 107-8. For history and description of city and temples, see Native Races, ii.-v.
[369] From a vague reference in Camargo, Brasseur de Bourbourg assumes that this party is headed by the three counsellors least friendly to the Spaniards. A little later the other three come to Cortés for protection, after escaping from the imprisonment imposed upon them by their colleagues. Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 174. Herrera places the arrival of the refugees at Tlascala. dec. ii. lib. vi. cap. xviii. But there appears to be no ground for these statements.
[370] ‘Del gran Cú de Quetzalcoatl.’ Sahagun, Hist. Conq., 18.
[371] ‘Les dieron aquella noche a cada vno vn gallipauo.’ Gomara, Hist. Mex., 92.
[372] ‘Lo que traian era agua, y leña,’ says Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 58.