[1208] One being killed and two horses wounded. Bernal Diaz, loc. cit.
[1209] Sahagun, Hist. Conq. (ed. 1840), 213. The editor Bustamante speaks of a similar phenomenon in Michoacan in 1829. Id. (ed. 1829), 68.
[1210] ‘De los niños no quedó nadie, que las mismas madres y padres los comian,’ is the statement of the native records. Id., 210. Yet Torquemada, i. 572, assumes that the Mexicans would not eat of their own race. Thousands had already died of starvation without touching the flesh of countrymen, though priests partook of children sacrificed during ordinary festivals; but at last the scruple among the masses was overcome by despair. See Native Races, ii. passim.
[1211] ‘Porque no acabas cõ el que nos acabe?... Desseamos la muerte por yr a descansar cõ Quetçalcouatlh,’ adds Gomara, Hist. Mex., 210-11.
[1212] The chroniclers call him an uncle of the Tezcucan king, but this appears to be a misinterpretation of Cortés’ text, wherein he says that such an uncle had captured the prisoner.
[1213] Cortés, Cartas, 251. This was partly in accordance with the law against nobles who returned from captivity, as already instanced.
[1214] ‘Tenia mucho miedo de parecer ante mí, y tambien estaba malo.’ Cortés, Cartas, 253. ‘Empacho,’ explains Herrera, dec. iii. lib. ii. cap. vii. He feared to be shot. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 164.
[1215] ‘Ni tenian ni hallaban flechas ni varas ni piedras con que nos ofender.... No tenian paso por donde andar sino por encima de los muertos y por las azoteas.’ Cortés, Cartas, 254.
[1216] ‘Mataron y prendieron mas de cuarenta mil ánimas.’ Id. Ixtlilxochitl, Hor. Crueldades, 48, raises the number to 50,000, while Duran states that over 40,000 men and women perished while fleeing. Hist. Ind., MS., ii. 510. What pained the conquerors most, however, was the sight and knowledge of what immense quantity of booty eluded them to pass into the hands of these marauders.
[1217] ‘Entre la Garita del Peralvillo, la place de Santiago de Tlatelolco et le pont d’Amaxac.’ So says Pichardo. Humboldt, Essai Pol., i. 193. ‘Donde se embarcaban para Atzlapotzalco,’ adds Bustamante. Ixtlilxochitl, Hor. Crueldades, 50.