[458] Las Casas says that very old women were admitted to war councils. 'Nunca movian guerra sin dar parte al pueblo, y sin mucho consejo de los mas ancianos y caballeros ejercitados en la guerra, al cual consejo se admitian las mujeres muy viejas como personas que habian visto y oido muchas cosas y asi esperimentadas de lo pasado.' Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxvi. According to the Chevalier Boturini the first ambassadors were accredited to the king or lord of the province, the second were dispatched to the nobility requiring them to persuade their lord, and the third convoked the people and advised them of the motives their monarch had for waging war against them. Boturini, Idea, pp. 162-3. See also Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 424-7; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., pp. 246-7; Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Id., pp. 40, 73; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 382-3, 534-5.
[459] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 423; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 75; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. vi.
[460] 'A estas Espias, que embiaban delante, llamaban Ratones, que andan de noche, ò escondidos, y à hurtadillas.' Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 538.
[461] Camargo says: 'L'armée était divisée par bataillons de cent hommes.' Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 134. 'Quando l'esercito era numeroso, si contava per Xiquipilli: ed ogni Xiquipilli si componeva d'otto mila uomini.' Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 147.
[462] Also spelt quiahtlale, jaotlalli, meaning a place for war. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 147-3; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 322; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 538.
[463] Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 31, 41, 50, 147.
[464] For further account of their manner of conducting a war, see: Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 147-9; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 311-12; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxvii.; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 129-31; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 322-3; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 598-601; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 537-40; Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., pp. 313-14; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 86-8.
[465] Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 11; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xvii.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 87; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 34; Gage's New Survey, p. 77; Bussierre, L'Empire Mex., p. 230.
[466] Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 51, 60-1.
[467] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 313; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxvii.