[904] Herrera places the number of the party at 50 or 60. dec. ii. lib. x. cap. xv. Bernal Diaz speaks of the slaughter in Tochtepec of 72 men and 5 women, and he leaves the impression that they were a part of the Narvaez force which had followed the army at their leisure. Hist. Verdad., 108. This is no doubt the party described in the text. Yet Herrera, in cap. xvii., refers to the destruction at Tochtepec of a force of 80 men under Captain Salcedo, who was sent to reduce this province a few months later. This incident, mentioned by no other original authority, may be identical with the preceding. Had the party in question belonged to the original force of Narvaez it would have accompanied Yuste and Alcántara. Such not being the case, it must have arrived after their departure. This receives confirmation from Gomara’s statement that several small parties, who had been attracted to New Spain by Cortés’ conquests, were killed in Tepeaca and Xalacinco. Hist. Mex., 173. The narratives of Bernal Diaz and Cortés specify some of these, numbering from ten to eighteen men, who fell at Quecholac, Tepeaca, and other places. It is not likely that so many small parties could have arrived on the coast during the short interval of Cortés’ departure from Cempoala and his retreat to Tlascala; nor that they would have ventured in small numbers into a strange country, during so unquiet a period; nor would a mere dozen have been allowed to penetrate so far as Tepeaca ere they met their fate. Hence they must have belonged to the large party spoken of in the text, whose members, dead or captive, were distributed among the different towns which had aided in their defeat. This appears to be the only way to reconcile the differing statements, which have so confused every writer as to lead them into apparent blunders or into the omission of facts. See Robertson’s Hist. Am., ii. 99; Prescott’s Mex., ii. 409-10; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 353-5.
[905] Bernal Diaz intimates that only two vessels remained of Narvaez’ fleet, and one of these was now destroyed so that the crew might be sent to Tlascala. The reinforcements numbered four soldiers and three sailors, two of whom suffered from swollen stomachs, and the rest from venereal diseases. Hist. Verdad., 109.
[906] Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 109, mentions only four deaths.
[907] ‘Se le pasmo la cabeça, o porque no le curaron bien, sacãdole cascos: o por el demasiado trabajo.’ Gomara, Hist. Mex., 162. Solis describes the progress of the cure with a minuteness that would do credit to a medical journal. Hist. Mex., ii. 212-14.
[908] The Cihuacohuatl, Tzihuacpopocatzin, Cipocatli, and Tencuecuenotzin. The account of this tumult is given in a memorial on the conquest by an Indian, possessed by Torquemada. i. 509-10. Brasseur de Bourbourg assumes Tzihuacpopocatzin and the Cihuacohuatl to be sons of Tizoc, and the last two to be the sons of Montezuma, the last named a bastard. Cipocatli, accepted by him as the other name for Asupacaci, the legitimate heir of the emperor, he assumes with Cano to have been murdered by Quauhtemotzin. Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 345. But we have seen that Cortés appears more correct in saying that the prince fell with him during the Noche Triste. Brasseur de Bourbourg’s assumption serves merely to show how hasty and untrustworthy his statements often are.
[909] Cortés assumes only two rivals, the natural sons of Montezuma, ‘el uno diz que es loco y el otro perlático.’ Cartas, 153.
[910] Twenty days after Montezuma’s death. Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, 413, 304.
[911] Of which Sahagun gives some account. Hist. Conq. (ed. 1840), 137. See also Torquemada, i. 511.
[912] ‘Él les hace gracia por un año de todos los tributos y servicios que son obligados á le hacer.’ Cortés, Cartas, 155; Gomara, Hist. Mex., 173.
[913] Beaumont, Crón. Mich., MS., 68 etc.; Native Races, ii. 107-8; v. 508 et seq.