FOOTNOTES
[1143] ‘Eran esclavos del señor de Tenuxtitan,’ is Cortés’ definition of their vassalage to Mexico. Cartas, 220.
[1144] A service which employed 20,000 carriers, 1000 canoes, and 32,000 convoy warriors, all at the expense of Tezcuco, says Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, 314.
[1145] His biographer admits to a certain extent the truth of the invectives, but eager to please his Spanish masters he seeks rather to extol the self-sacrifice and loyalty of his kinsman. He claims that with this reënforcement the Tezcucan auxiliaries reached the improbable number of 250,000 men, of whom 5000 wounded were now sent home. ‘Next to God, Cortés owed to Tezcucan aid the conquest and the planting of the faith.’ He further assumes that Ixtlilxochitl was already king, and had been with Cortés since the fleet set sail, while his brother Ahuaxpictzoctzin remained at Tezcuco to provide supplies. Hor. Crueldades, 21-33. He contradicts himself on several points in his Relaciones, 314 et seq. Duran also, as may be expected from a compiler of native records, extols the hero, ‘à quien dió una espada dorada que Don Hernando Cortes traia y una rodela.’ Hist. Ind., MS., ii. 493. With Ixtlilxochitl came half a dozen out of his hundred brothers. Gomara, Hist. Mex., 198; Chimalpain, Hist. Conq., ii. 55. Torquemada, i. 548, sends Cohuanacoch as general of the forces, while Clavigero allows King Fernando Ixtlilxochitl to send his brother Cárlos Ixtlilxochitl. Storia Mess., iii. 202. He is evidently confused with respect to the surname.
[1146] Sahagun, Hist. Conq. (ed. 1840), 177-8. Torquemada places the incident earlier, i. 547. Cortés admits no losses of Spaniards this day.
[1147] Cartas, 222-3. ‘Los combidauan a çena, mostrando les piernas y braços.’ Gomara, Hist. Mex., 199.
[1148] Bernal Diaz speaks of a bridge attack which cost the lives of four Spaniards, besides numerous wounded. Hist. Verdad., 145.
[1149] He enumerates also the cities of Mexicalcinco and Vitzilopuchtli. Hist. Mex., 202. Herrera adds Mizquic. dec. iii. lib. i. cap. xix.
[1150] Mazeoatzi, as Sahagun calls the cacique, sacrificed four chiefs, Quauhtemotzin four more; the rest fell by the hands of priests. Hist. Conq. (ed. 1840), 187. He does not speak of a premeditated plan like Torquemada, i. 551-2, and since the account comes from native sources it may be merely an exaggerated version of a flotilla raid.
[1151] This was the lieutenant of Velazquez at Habana, who joined Cortés during the Tepeaca campaign. Portillo was a soldier from the Italian wars. Bernal Diaz adds that one brig was captured, but this is doubtful. Hist. Verdad., 143; Clavigero, Storia Mess., iii. 214; Sahagun, Hist. Conq., 46.