[468] Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 131-4; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 541-2; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 149.
[469] Camargo says the prisoner was given his choice of every kind of offensive and defensive weapons. Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 188-9, but all other authors state that he was only given a short sword and shield. Boturini says a servant who was under the stone drew the cord and so controlled the prisoner that he could not move. Idea, p. 164. Duran says: 'El modo que en celebrarlo tenian; que era atar á los Presos con una soga al pie por un ahugero que aquella piedra tenia por medio, y desnudo en cueros le daban una rodela y una espada de solo palo emplumado en las manos, y unas pelotas de palo con que se defendian de los que salian á combatir con él, que eran cuatro muy bien armados.' Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. 36.
[470] Relatione fatta per vn gentil'huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 305; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 47-8.
[471] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 536.
[472] Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 121-2; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 333-5; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xviii.; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 242.
[473] Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., p. 134.
[474] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 51; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 423. For further reference to treatment of prisoners, see: Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 250-1; Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Id., p. 164; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 102-3; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 634; Fossey, Mexique, pp. 215-16; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. viii.
[475] Instances of how the Mexicans received their victorious armies are given in Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 39, 61, 177-8; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 321-2. See further, Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., p. 136; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xvii.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 574; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 489-90.
[476] 'El govierno y las leyes quasi no diferian, por manera que por lo que de unas partes dijeremos, y adonde tuvimos mayor noticia, se podra entender, y quiza sera mejor, decirlo en comun y generalmente.' Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii. It is also stated that many Mexican cases, presenting more than ordinary difficulty, were tried in the Tezcucan law-courts; see Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 95; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 354. Speaking of Mexico, Tezcuco, and Tlacopan, Zurita says: 'Les lois et la procédure étaient les mêmes dans ces trois états, de sorte qu'en exposant les usages établis dans l'un d'eux, on fera connaître ce qui se passait dans les autres.' Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 93-4.
[477] The title cihuacoatl, meaning 'serpent-woman,' appears incomprehensible as applied to a judge, but M. l'Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 579-80, sees reason to believe that the Mexicans, when they succeeded to the rights of the Toltec kings of Culhuacan, adopted also the titles of the court, and that the name cihuacoatl had been given to the prime minister in memory of Cihuacoatl, the sister of Camaxtli, who cared for the infancy of Quetzalcoatl. The learned Abbé translates cihuacoatl, serpent femelle, which is literally a serpent of the female sex. Molina, however, in his Vocabulario, gives 'ciua' as a substantive, meaning 'women' (mugeres), and 'coatl' as another substantive, meaning 'serpent' (culebra), the two as a compound he does not give. I translate the word 'serpent-woman,' because the sister of Camaxtli would more probably be thus distinguished among women, than among serpents as the 'woman-serpent.'