Skip to main content

Full text of "The works of William H. Prescott.."

See other formats 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

RIVERSIDE 


fllontc3uma  lEDttion 

THE    WORKS    OF    WILLIAM    H.  PRESCOTT 

M  • 

TWENTY-TWO   VOLUMES 
VOL.    I 


The  Montezuma  Edition  of  William  H.  Prescott's 
Works  is  limited  to  one  thousand  copies,  of  which 
this  is 


HISTORY  OF  THE 


W1LLJAM  H.  PRESCOTT 


EDITED    BY 

WILFRED  HAROLD  MUNRO 

or  IUIOPKAN  HI*TO»Y  IN  »ROWN  UNIVEIIITT 


AND   COMPRISING   THE   NOTES   OF  THE   EDITION   BY 
JOHN  FOSTER  KIRK 


"  Victnces  aquilas  ahum  laturus  in  orbem" 

•  AX.  Pharsalia,  lib.  r.. 


VOL  1 


PHLAOELPH1A  AND  i.-.  -NDUN 
J.   B.    LIPPlNCOn  PANY 

AJUT  TA  aaraoo  to  oxiuMAa  BHT 


"I    *p    I 

^ 


THE    LANDING    OF    CORTES    AT    VKRA    CRUZ 

I  'at:.'  S65 


fllontesuma  ERttlon 
HISTORY  OF  THE 

Conquest  of  Mexico 

\      VvC-        >     >      *   W  S  ft     \          (JL>        M      "F^T  e  s  C,  o  f 


BY     \t   \  l"^^ 

W1LUAM  H.  PRESCOTT 


EDITED    BY 

WILFRED  HAROLD  MUNRO 

PROFESSOR    OF    EUROPEAN    HISTORY    IN    BROWN    UNIVERSITY 

AND    COMPRISING   THE    NOTES    OF   THE    EDITION   BY 
JOHN  FOSTER   KIRK 


"  Victrices  aquilas  alium  laturus  in  orbem" 

LUCAN,  Pharsalia,  lib.  v.,  v.  $38 


VOL.  I 


PHILADELPHIA  AND  LONDON 

J.   B.   L1PP1NCOTT    COMPANY 


7-3 


Copyright,  1848.  by  WILLIAM  H,  PRESCOTT 

Copyright,  1871,  by  WILLIAM  G.  PRESCOTT 

Copyright.  1878,  by  J.  B,  LIPPINCOTT  &  Co 

Copyright,  1904,  by  J.  B  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY 


Electrotyped  and  Printed  by 
J.  B.  Lippincott  Company,  Philadelphia  U.  S.  A. 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE  BY 
THE  EDITOR 

WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT 
was  born  in  Salem,  Massachusetts,  May 
4,  1796.  He  died  in  Boston,  January  28,  1859. 
William  Prescott,  his  father,  a  lawyer  of  great 
ability  and  of  sterling  worth,  was  at  one  time  a 
judge,  and  was  frequently  elected  to  public  posi- 
tions of  trust  and  responsibility.  His  mother  was 
a  daughter  of  Thomas  Hickling,  for  many  years 
United  States  Consul  at  the  Azores.  His  grand- 
father, William  Prescott,  was  in  command  of  the 
American  forces  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill, 
June  17,  1775.  On  both  sides,  therefore,  the 
future  historian  was  descended  from  what  Oliver 
Wendell  Holmes  aptly  termed  the  "  New  Eng- 
land Brahman  Stock."  He  was  prepared  for  col- 
lege by  an  unusually  accomplished  scholar,  John 
Sylvester  John  Gardiner,  for  many  years  the  rec- 
tor of  Trinity  Church,  Boston,  and  entered  Har- 
vard College  as  a  sophomore  in  1811.  Three 
years  later  he  graduated  with  the  Class  of  1814. 

During  his  junior  year  came  the  accident  which 
was  to  change  the  whole  course  of  his  life.  As 
he  was  leaving  the  dining-hall,  in  which  the  stu- 
dents sat  at  "  Commons,"  a  biscuit,  thrown  by  a 
careless  fellow-student,  struck  him  squarely  in 
the  left  eye  and  stretched  him  senseless  upon  the 


vi       INTRODUCTORY    NOTE    BY    EDITOR 

floor.  Paralysis  of  the  retina  was  the  result;  the 
injury  was  beyond  the  reach  of  the  healing  art, 
and  the  sight  of  one  eye  was  utterly  destroyed. 
After  a  period  of  intense  suffering,  spent  in  a 
darkened  room,  he  recovered  sufficiently  to  resume 
his  college  work  and  to  be  graduated  with  his 
class.  For  a  year  and  a  half  the  uninjured  eye 
served  him  fairly  well.  Then,  suddenly,  acute 
rheumatism  attacked  it,  causing,  except  in  occa- 
sional periods  of  intermission,  excruciating  pain 
during  the  rest  of  his  life.  Total  darkness,  for 
weeks  at  a  time,  was  not  infrequently  Prescott's 
lot,  and  work,  except  under  a  most  careful  ad- 
justment of  every  ray  of  light,  was  almost  out 
of  the  question.  Under  these  circumstances  the 
career  at  the  bar  which  his  father  had  planned  for 
him,  and  to  which  he  had  looked  forward  with  so 
much  pleasure  was  no  longer  to  be  thought  of. 
Business  offered  no  attractions,  even  if  a  business 
life  had  been  possible  to  him  in  his  semi-blindness. 
He  turned  his  attention  to  literature,  and  found 
there  his  vocation. 

But  for  this  work  he  felt  that  the  most  careful 
preparation  was  necessary.  In  a  letter,  written 
eighteen  months  before  his  death,  he  says,  "  I  pro- 
posed to  devote  ten  years  of  my  life  to  the  study 
of  ancient  and  modern  literature,  chiefly  the  latter, 
and  to  give  ten  years  more  to  some  historical  work. 
I  have  had  the  good  fortune  to  accomplish  this 
design  pretty  nearly  within  the  limits  assigned. 
In  the  Christmas  of  1837  my  first  work  was  given 
to  the  public." 

During  the  first  ten  years  of  preparation  he  was 


INTRODUCTORY    NOTE    BY    EDITOR      vii 

a  frequent  contributor  to  the  Reviews,  writing 
some  of  the  papers  which  are  printed  in  the  volume 
of  "  Miscellanies  "  which  has  always  formed  part 
of  his  "  works."  His  historical  work  was  accom- 
plished with  the  utmost  difficulty.  American 
scholarship  was  not  then  advanced,  and  it  was 
almost  impossible  to  secure  readers  who  possessed 
a  knowledge  of  foreign  languages.  Pathetically 
Mr.  Prescott  tells  of  the  difficulties  surmounted. 
The  secretary  he  employed  at  first  knew  no  lan- 
guage but  his  own.  "  I  taught  him  to  pronounce 
the  Castilian  in  a  manner  suited,  I  suspect,  much 
more  to  my  ear  than  to  that  of  a  Spaniard;  and 
we  be.gan  our  wearisome  journey  through  Mari- 
ana's noble  history.  I  cannot  even  now  recall  to 
mind  without  a  smile  the  tedious  hours  in  which, 
seated  under  some  old  trees  in  my  country  resi- 
dence, we  pursued  our  slow  and  melancholy  way 
over  pages  which  afforded  no  glimmering  of  light 
to  him,  and  from  which  the  light  came  dimly  strug- 
gling to  me  through  a  half  intelligible  vocabulary. 
But  in  a  few  weeks  the  light  became  stronger,  and 
I  was  cheered  by  the  consciousness  of  my  own 
improvement;  and  when  we  had  toiled  our  way 
through  seven  quartos  I  found  I  could  understand 
the  book  when  read  about  two-thirds  as  fast  as 
ordinary  English."  Having  thus  gathered  the 
ideas  of  his  many  authorities  from  the  mechanical 
lips  of  his  secretary,  Mr.  Prescott  would  ponder 
them  for  a  time,  and  would  then  dictate  the  notes 
for  a  chapter  of  from  forty  to  fifty  pages.  These 
notes  were  read  and  reread  to  him  while  the  sub- 
ject was  still  fresh  in  his  memory.  He  ran  them 


viii     INTRODUCTORY    NOTE    BY    EDITOR 

over  many  times  in  his  mind  before  he  began  to 
dictate  the  final  copy,  and  was  thus  able  to  escape 
errors  into  which  men  with  full  command  of  their 
sight  frequently  fall.  For  the  last  thirty  years 
of  his  life  he  made  use  of  a  writing  instrument 
for  the  blind,  the  noctograph,  by  which  he  was 
able  to  write  his  own  pages  and  partially  to  dis- 
pense with  dictation.  With  the  noctograph  he 
wrote  with  great  rapidity,  but  in  an  almost  illegible 
hand  which  only  the  author  and  his  secretary  could 
read. 

When,  after  twenty  years  of  labor,  the  "  His- 
tory of  the  Reign  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  "  was 
finished,  its  author  was  so  doubtful  respecting  its 
value  that  he  proposed  simply  to  put  it  upon  his 
library  shelf  "  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  should 
come  after."  His  father  wisely  combated  this 
morbid  judgment  and  insisted  upon  its  publica- 
tion. :<  The  man  who  writes  a  book  which  he  is 
afraid  to  publish  is  a  coward,"  he  said  to  his  son. 
The  work  was  given  to  the  world  in  1837  and 
was  immediately  and  immensely  successful.  Its 
author,  who  had  hitherto  been  only  an  obscure 
writer  of  reviews,  took  his  place  at  once  in  the  first 
rank  of  contemporary  historians, — to  use  the 
words  of  Daniel  Webster, — "  like  a  comet  that 
had  blazed  out  upon  the  world  in  full  splendor." 
In  a  very  short  space  of  time  translations  ap- 
peared in  Spanish,  German,  French,  and  Italian. 
Critics  of  many  nationalities  joined  in  concurrent 
praise. 

In  a  way  Mr.  Prescott's  achievement  was  a 
national  triumph.  British  reviewers  were  even 


INTRODUCTORY    NOTE    BY    EDITOR       ix 

more  laudatory  than  were  the  American.  One  of 
the  most  striking  testimonials  came  from  Richard 
Ford,  the  author  of  the  famous  "  Handbook  for 
Spain," — an  English  scholar  whose  knowledge  of 
things  Spanish  was  phenomenal.  Mr.  Ford  wrote, 
"  Mr.  Prescott's  is  by  far  the  first  historical  work 
which  British  America  has  yet  produced,  and  one 
that  need  hardly  fear  a  comparison  with  any  that 
has  issued  from  the  European  press  since  this  cen- 
tury began."  Mr.  Ford  was  not  enthusiastic  over 
American  institutions  and  was  by  no  means  pre- 
pared to  believe  that  the  American  experiment  in 
democratic  government  was  likely  to  result  in  a 
permanent  State.  It  was  with  an  eye  to  posterity, 
therefore,  that  he  cautiously  and  vaguely  assigned 
Mr.  Prescott  not  to  the  United  States,  but  to 
British  America.  The  commendatory  notices  that 
appeared  in  British  publications  showed  that  many 
men  besides  Mr.  Ford  were  astounded  that 
"  British  America  "  could  produce  such  an  excel- 
lent specimen  of  historical  workmanship.  Sydney 
Smith's  praise  was  most  enthusiastic.  He  even 
went  so  far  as  to  promise  the  American  author  a 
"  Caspian  Sea  of  Soup  "  if  he  would  visit  Eng- 
land. 

The  new  historian  was  not  spoiled  by  the  adula- 
tion showered  upon  him.  Rejoicing  in  the  unex- 
pected praise,  he  devoted  himself  with  renewed 
zeal,  and  with  even  greater  care,  to  the  composi- 
tion of  another  work.  This,  "  The  History  of  the 
Conquest  of  Mexico,"  appeared  in  1843,  and  in 
less  than  twelve  months  seven  thousand  copies  of 
it  had  been  sold  in  the  United  States.  The  art  of 

- 


x        INTRODUCTORY    NOTE    BY    EDITOR 

advertising,  in  which  the  publishers  of  to-day  are 
so  proficient,  had  not  then  been  developed;  the 
"  Conquest  of  Mexico  "  made  its  own  way  among 
the  reading  public.  For  the  English  copyright 
Bentley,  the  London  publisher,  paid  £650.  Ten 
editions  were  published  in  England  in  sixteen 
years,  and  twenty-three  were  issued  in  the  United 
States.  Popular  approval  was  even  more  pro- 
nounced than  in  the  case  of  the  "  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella,"  and  the  applause  of  the  reviewers  was 
also  much  more  loud.  The  pure  and  sound  Eng- 
lish appealed  especially  to  scholars  like  Milman. 
That  famous  historian  placed  Prescott  "  in  the 
midst  of  the  small  community  of  really  good  Eng- 
lish writers  of  history  in  modern  times."  Coming 
from  the  editor  of  the  best  edition  of  .Gibbon's 
"  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,"  this 
was  praise  indeed.  The  Edinburgh  Review  said, 
"  Every  reader  of  intelligence  forgets  the  beauty 
of  his  coloring  in  the  grandeur  of  his  outline.  .  .  . 
Nothing  but  a  connected  sketch  of  the  latter  can 
do  justice  to  the  highest  charm  of  the  work." 
Stirling,  author  of  the  "  Cloister  Life  of  the 
Emperor  Charles  the  Fifth,"  wrote,  "The  ac- 
count of  the  Triste  Noche,  the  woeful  night  in 
which,  after  the  death  of  Montezuma,  Cortes  and 
his  band  retreated  across  the  lake  and  over  the 
broken  causeway,  cutting  their  way  through  a 
nation  in  arms,  is  one  of  the  finest  pictures  of 
modern  historical  painting."  The  Spanish  Royal 
Academy  of  History  had  elected  Prescott  to 
membership  in  that  august  body  soon  after  his 
"  History  of  the  Reign  of  Ferdinand  and  Isa- 


INTRODUCTORY    NOTE    BY    EDITOR       xi 

bella "  appeared;  other  historical  societies  and 
learned  bodies  now  heaped  honors  upon  him. 

The  historian  kept  steadily  at  work.  The  task 
to  which  he  had  devoted  himself  was  to  tell  the 
tale  of  Spanish  greatness  when  the  fortunes  of 
Spain  were  at  their  highest  point.  The  "  History 
of  the  Conquest  of  Peru  "  was  published  in  1847, 
four  years  after  the  appearance  of  the  "  Mexico." 
It  reads  like  a  romance  and  has  always  been  the 
most  popular  of  Prescott's  works.  To-day  it  is 
the  only  history  of  the  early  Spanish  achievements 
in  Peru  which  is  regarded  as  an  "  authority  "  on 
the  South  American  republic,  and  is  always  kept 
in  stock  in  Peruvian  bookstores.  For  the  Eng- 
lish copyright  of  this  work  Bentley  paid  £800. 
Seventeen  thousand  copies  were  sold  in  thirteen 
years.  The  demand  for  it  is  constant. 

The  author's  fame  was  now  fully  established. 
He  was  everywhere  regarded  as  one  of  the  great- 
est of  living  historians,  and  honors  and  wealth 
flowed  steadily  towards  him.  His  income  from 
his  books  was  very  large.  Stirling  estimates  it  at 
from  £4000  to  £5000  per  annum.  This,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  fortune  he  had  inherited,  made  Mr. 
Prescott  a  very  wealthy  man  in  the  years  when 
the  enormous  incomes  of  to-day  were  hardly 
dreamed  of.  He  was  as  methodical  and  careful 
in  pecuniary  affairs  as  in  his  literary  work.  A 
most  accurate  account  was  kept  of  his  receipts 
and  expenditures,  and  one-tenth  of  his  income  was 
always  devoted  to  charity. 

In  1850  he  made  a  short  visit  to  Europe,  spend- 
ing some  time  upon  the  Continent  but  more  in 


xii      INTRODUCTORY    NOTE    BY    EDITOR 

England  and  Scotland.  Everywhere  he  was  lion- 
ized in  a  way  that  would  have  turned  the  heads  of 
most  men.  The  University  of  Oxford  made  him 
a  D.C.L.  The  doors  of  the  houses  where  learn- 
ing was  honored  opened  at  his  approach.  His  own 
charming  personality  was,  however,  one  of  the 
greatest  factors  in  his  social  success.  As  a  man 
he  was  most  lovable. 

Upon  his  return  to  America  he  devoted  him- 

/  self  to  writing  the  "  History  of  the  Reign  of 
Philip  the  Second,"  for  which  task  he  had  accu- 
mulated an  extensive  collection  of  documentary 
"  authorities."  This  work  was  to  appear  in  six 
volumes,  and  for  it  the  author  was  offered  .£1000 
a  volume  by  two  publishers.  Two  volumes  were 
published  in  1855  and  a  third  appeared  three 
years  later.  Macaulay  pronounced  "  Philip  the 

r  Second  "  Mr.  Prescott's  best  work.  Its  style  is 
more  finished,  its  use  of  authorities  more  masterly 
than  in  the  previous  volumes.  For  dramatic  in- 
terest, the  chapters  describing  the  defence  of  Malta 
by  the  Knights  of  the  Hospital  of  St.  John  of 
Jerusalem  are  quite  equal  to  the  account  of  the 
'  Triste  Noche,"  of  Cortes  and  his  companions  in 
Mexico,  which  so  excited  the  admiration  of  Stir- 
ling. But  the  work  was  never  to  be  completed. 
After  two  volumes  had  appeared,  there  was  pub- 
lished "  Prescott's  Edition  of  Robertson's  Charles 
the  Fifth."  This  was  simply  a  new  edition  of  the 
Scottish  historian's  work,  with  additions  dealing 
with  the  later  years  of  the  Emperor's  life  which 
Robertson  had  not  treated.  In  it  is  given  the  true 
story  of  the  emperor's  retirement  and  death.  Mr. 


INTRODUCTORY    NOTE    BY    EDITOR     xiii 

Prescott  had  for  Robertson  a  very  great  admira- 
tion. He  always  acknowledged  his  deep  obliga- 
tion to  him,  and  he  felt  that  it  would  be  most  un- 
necessary, and  in  fact  almost  presumptuous,  for 
him  to  attempt  to  re-write  a  history  which  the 
Scottsman  had  written  so  well.  In  these  three 
works,  "  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,"  "  Charles  the 
Fifth,"  and  "  Philip  the  Second,"  a  century  and 
a  half  of  the  most  important  part  of  Spanish 
history  is  presented.  That  Prescott  did  not  live 
to  complete  the  third  must  always  be  regarded 
as  a  great  calamity  by  the  literary  world. 

Besides  the  volumes  already  specified,  another, 
of  "  Miscellaneous  Essays  "  (a  selection  from  his 
earlier  contributions  to  reviews  and  other  periodi- 
cals) has  always  been  included  in  Prescott's  pub- 
lished works.  To  the  historical  student  this  volume 
is  even  more  interesting  than  to  the  general  reader. 
It  illustrates  the  change,  which,  since  its  publica- 
tion, has  taken  place  in  the  methods  of  the  reviewer 
and  of  the  writer  of  history  as  well. 

On  February  4, 1858,  Mr.  Prescott  was  stricken 
with  paralysis.  The  shock  was  a  slight  one. 
He  soon  recovered  from  its  effects  and  continued 
with  undaunted  perseverance  his  literary  work. 
In  less  than  a  year,  January  28,  1859,  while  at 
work  in  his  library  with  his  secretary,  he  fell  back 
speechless  from  a  second  attack  and  died  an  hour 
or  so  afterwards. 

It  is  quite  within  bounds  to  say  that  no  histo- 
rian's death  ever  affected  more  profoundly  the 
community  in  which  he  dwelt.  Other  authors  have 
been  respected  and  admired  by  those  with  whom 


xiv     INTRODUCTORY    NOTE    BY    EDITOR 

they  came  in  contact,  Prescott  was  universally 
loved.  No  American  writer  was  perhaps  more  sin- 
cerely and  more  widely  mourned.  Affable,  gen- 
erous, courtly,  thoughtful  for  others,  singularly 
winning  in  his  personal  appearance,  he  had  drawn 
the  hearts  of  all  his  associates  to  himself,  while 
the  gracious,  kindly  humanity  manifested  in  every 
page  of  his  writings  had  endeared  him  to  thou- 
sands of  readers  in  all  parts  of  the  world. 

Mr.  Prescott's  distinguishing  characteristic  was 
his  intense  love  for  truth.  As  an  author  he  had  no 
thesis  to  establish.  He  never  wasted  time  in  argu- 
ments wherewith  to  demonstrate  the  soundness  of 
his  views.  His  single  desire  was  to  set  forth  with 
scrupulous  accuracy  all  the  facts  which  belonged 
to  his  subject.  Some  critics  will  have  it  that  his 
tendency  towards  hero-worship  occasionally  leads 
him  into  extravagance  of  statement  and  that  his 
gorgeous  descriptions  sometimes  blind  us  to  most 
unpleasant  facts.  This  is  possibly  partly  true  in 
the  case  of  "  Eerdinand  and  Isabella,"  his  first 
work,  but  even  in  those  volumes  the  reader  will 
almost  always  find  footnotes  to  establish  the  au- 
thor's statements  or  to  indicate  the  possibility  of  a 
doubt  which  he  himself  felt.  In  clear  grasp  of 
facts,  in  vivid  powers  of  narration,  combined  with 
artistic  control  of  details,  no  historical  writer  has 
exceeded  him.  The  power  of  philosophical  analy- 
sis he  did  not  possess  in  so  high  a  degree,  but  no 
philosophical  historian  of  the  first  rank  was  ever 
so  widely  read  as  William  Hickling  Prescott  has 
been  and  still  is. 

For  the  additional  knowledge  concerning  the 


INTRODUCTORY    NOTE    BY    EDITOR      xv 

historian,  which  will  unquestionably  be  desired 
after  a  perusal  of  his  writings,  the  reader  is  re- 
ferred to  the  charming  biography,  published  by 
George  Ticknor  in  1864,  and  reissued  with  this 
edition  of  Prescott's  works. 

More  than  thirty  years  have  elapsed  since  the 
last  revised  edition  was  presented  to  the  public. 
Its  editor,  Mr.  John  Foster  Kirk,  was  pre-emi- 
nently fitted  for  his  work.  He  had  been  Mr.  Pres- 
cott's private  secretary  for  eleven  years,  and  was 
perhaps  more  familiar  than  was  any  other  man 
with  the  period  of  Spanish  history  of  which  Pres- 
cott  wrote.  He  had,  moreover,  himself  achieved 
a  most  enviable  international  reputation  by  his 
"  Life  of  Charles  the  Bold."  In  his  notes  he  con- 
densed the  additional  information  which  a  genera- 
tion of  scholars  had  contributed  to  the  subjects 
treated  of  in  Prescott's  pages.  Those  notes  are 
all  incorporated  in  the  present  edition. 

But  since  Kirk's  notes  were  penned  another 
generation  of  students  has  been  investigating  the 
history  of  Spain — a  generation  which  has  enjoyed 
more  abundant  opportunities  for  research  than 
any  scholars  before  had  known.  Numberless 
manuscripts  have  been  rescued  from  monastic 
limbo,  the  caked  dust  of  centuries  has  been 
scraped  away  from  scores  of  volumes  in  the  pub- 
lic archives,  and  the  searchlights  of  modern  scien- 
tific investigation  have  been  turned  upon  places 
that  once  seemed  hopelessly  dark.  As  if  this  were 
not  enough,  explorers  from  many  lands  have 
plunged  into  the  depths  of  the  Mexican  forests, 
and  penetrated  the  quebradas  of  the  Andes,  in 


xvi     INTRODUCTORY    NOTE    BY    EDITOR 

attempts  to  wrest  from  them  the  secrets  of  their 
ancient  history. 

The  result  is  an  immense  number  of  volumes 
filled  with  statements  startlingly  diverse  and  with 
conclusions  widely  conflicting.  Many  of  these 
volumes,  especially  those  that  emanated  from  the 
explorers,  were  written  by  men  unskilled  in  his- 
torical writing,  —  special  pleaders,  and  not  his- 
torians, —  men  who  were  more  anxious  to  demon- 
strate the  soundness  of  their  own  theories  than  to 
arrive  at  absolute  knowledge  concerning  the 
institutions  of  Peru  and  of  Mexico. 

It  has  been  the  task  of  the  editor  of  this  edition 
to  separate  from  this  mass  of  material  the  conclu- 
sions in  which  scholars  for  the  most  part  agree, 
and  to  embody  those  conclusions  in  additional 
footnotes.  He  has  not  ordinarily  deemed  it  neces- 
sary to  specify  the  authors  read.  Because  he 
knows  that  the  average  reader  abhors  quotations 
hurled  at  him  in  unfamiliar  tongues,  he  has,  in 
quoting,  always  used  the  best  known  authority  in 
English. 

In  preparing  these  new  volumes  for  the  press 
the  texts  of  editions  previously  issued  have  been 
carefully  compared  in  order  to  insure  perfect 
accuracy.  In  all  such  matters  the  publishers  have 
aimed  to  put  forth  Prescott's  writings  in  the  form 
that  must  be  regarded  for  many  years  to  come 
as  the  standard  edition  of  America's  most  popular 
historian. 

WILFRED  H.  MUNRO. 


December  20,  1904. 


EDITOR'S  PREFACE 

'  I  ^HE  publication  of  Prescott's  second  work, 
A  "  The  History  of  the  Conquest  of  Mexico," 
was  justly  regarded  as  the  greatest  achievement  in 
American  historical  writing.  The  theme  was  not 
a  new  one.  Other  writers  had  essayed  to  tell  the 
story  of  Hernando  Cortes  and  of  the  marvellous 
empire  which  that  daring  and  resourceful  captain 
haol  converted  into  a  province  of  Spain,  but  never 
before  had  one  attempted  the  task  in  whom  pa- 
tient research,  careful  reflection,  and  brilliant 
historical  imagination  were  so  happily  blended. 
The  result  of  Prescott's  labors  was  hailed  with 
delight  throughout  the  English-speaking  world. 
His  work  was  speedily  translated  into  many 
languages  and  his  subject  acquired  an  interest 
which  it  has  never  since  lost.  To  use  the  words 
of  another  American  scholar,*  who  did  not  agree 
with  Prescott  in  many  of  the  conclusions  he 
reached  respecting  the  so-called  Aztec  civilization, 
"  It  called  into  existence  a  larger  number  of 
works  than  was  ever  before  written  upon  any 
people  of  the  same  number  and  of  the  same  im- 
portance." 

In  order  to  appreciate  the  sensation  the  book 
created  we  must  go  backward  almost  two  genera- 
tions and  place  ourselves  in  a  country  which  num- 

*  Lewis  H.   Morgan,   Houses   and   House-Life   of  the   American 
Aborigines,  p.  222. 

B  rvii 


xviii  EDITOR'S    PREFACE 

bered  hardly  more  than  eighteen  millions  of  in- 
habitants— less  people  than  now  dwell  in  the  New 
England  States  and  in  the  four  neighboring 
Middle  States,— New  York,  New  Jersey,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  Delaware.  These  people  were  for 
the  most  part  scattered  throughout  the  regions 
bordering  upon  the  Atlantic  Ocean  and  the 
Great  Lakes.  Comparatively  few  were  to  be 
found  west  of  the  Mississippi  River.  Texas  was 
an  independent  republic.  California  and  the  lands 
adjacent  belonged  to  Mexico.  The  ownership  of 
the  vast  region  then  vaguely  known  as  Oregon  had 
not  been  settled.  Alaska  was  Russian  territory. 
Between  the  Mississippi  and  the  Sierras  of  Cali- 
fornia stretched  great  wastes  of  prairie  and  desert, 
of  mountain  and  table-land,  which  now  support 
millions  of  people,  but  which  even  so  far-seeing  a 
statesman  as  Daniel  Webster  then  supposed  would 
never  become  fit  for  human  habitation.  Com- 
munication between  even  the  most  thickly-settled 
States  was  exasperatingly  infrequent.  The  first 
public  telegraph  line  had  not  been  constructed; 
the  railway  system  of  the  country  was  still  in 
feeble  infancy;  letters  were  carried  at  so  much  per 
mile  and  at  a  very  heavy  charge ;  the  postage  upon 
books  was  exceedingly  costly.  Only  three  years 
had  elapsed  since  the  first  transatlantic  steamship 
line  (the  Cunard)  had  started  its  pioneer  vessel 
across  the  ocean.  Newspapers  for  a  long  time 
afterwards  headed  their  columns  with  announce- 
ments of  news  so  many  "  days  later  from  Europe." 
Yet  within  a  year  seven  thousand  copies  of  the 
"  Conquest  of  Mexico  "  were  sold  in  this  sparsely- 


EDITOR'S    PREFACE  xix 

settled  country,  notwithstanding  its  slow  methods 
of  communication.  Boston  was  acknowledged  to 
be  the  literary  centre  of  the  nation,  and  Prescott, 
with  the  modesty  which  was  his  marked  character- 
istic, had  supposed  that  the  unlooked-for  success 
which  had  attended  his  first  literary  venture  was 
due  to  the  interest  of  his  personal  friends  in  that 
city  of  culture.  Such  a  supposition  was  no  longer 
tenable.  Nor  was  it  possible  to  ascribe  its  great 
popularity  to  the  influence  of  opinions  expressed 
in  Great  Britain.  The  unprecedented  success  of 
the  book  was  due  not  to  personal  interest  in  its 
author,  not  to  the  favorable  judgment  of  literary 
Boston,  not  to  the  commendation  of  the  English 
reviews,  but  to  the  merits  of  the  work  itself.  A 
wonderful  story  was  told  wonderfully  well.  Men 
read  it  and  commented  upon  it  as  they  do  not  com- 
ment upon  books  at  the  present  time.  They  dis- 
cussed it  not  only  on  those  rare  occasions  when  they 
met  friends  from  far  away,  but  in  the  long  epistles 
they  sent  to  those  friends, — those  letters  from 
which  we  to-day  get  so  many  glimpses  of  the  life 
of  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century.  It  was 
passed  from  hand  to  hand  in  the  communities 
where  only  the  envied  few  were  able  to  buy  books, 
but  where  all  men,  in  those  far  less  strenuous  days, 
were  anxious  to  read  them, — in  those  days  also 
when  the  average  critical  judgment  concerning 
good  literature  was  more  highly  developed  than  it 
now  is,  and  men  were  much  more  given  to  reflec- 
tion and  discussion  than  they  now  are. 

As  has  been  stated  elsewhere,  Mr.  Prescott  was 
a  man  of  considerable  wealth.    He  was  therefore 


xx  EDITOR'S    PREFACE 

able  to  place  upon  his  library  tables  a  much  larger 
amount  of  material  with  which  to  work  than  is 
ordinarily  possible.  Not  only  did  he  purchase 
most  of  the  books  published  upon  his  subject,  but 
he  also  secured  copies  of  more  valuable  docu- 
mentary material  from  the  libraries  and  public 
archives  both  of  Spain  and  of  Mexico, — in  this 
way  gradually  accumulating  that  library  which 
was  at  his  death  the  finest  private  collection  of 
books  in  America. 

His  method  of  composition  has  already  been 
described.  First,  his  hours  of  work  with  his  secre- 
tary were  scrupulously  observed  each  day;  then 
came  the  hours  of  reflection  and  of  careful  sifting 
of  authorities  before  pen  was  placed  upon  paper, 
followed  by  still  more  careful  reflection  before  the 
final  copy  was  written.  The  tendency  to  hero- 
worship  which  he  shared  with  most  American,  and 
indeed  with  most  British,  writers  became  much  less 
marked  as  his  chapters  increased, — though  surely 
he  may  well  be  pardoned  for  rejoicing  as  he  does 
in  the  exploits  of  one  of  the  greatest  generals  in 
European  history.  It  was  perhaps  admiration  for 
that  great  captain^  which  led  him  to  write  the  his- 
tory of  his  conquests. 

In  reading  the  "  Mexico  "  we  must  always  re- 
member that  the  task  to  which  Prescott  devoted 
his  energies  was  to  give  an  accurate  account  of 
the  stupendous  campaigns  through  which  Cortes 
made  himself  master  of  the  lands  of  the  Aztecs, 
and  not  to  describe  minutely  the  institutions 
Cortes  encountered  in  the  Valley  of  Mexico.  An 
account  of  the  habits,  customs,  and  laws  of  the 


EDITOR'S    PREFACE  xxi 

people  of  that  valley  was  essential  to  a  proper 
comprehension  of  the  magnitude  of  the  Con- 
quest. That  account  Prescott  constructed  with 
material  gathered  from  all  available  sources,  real- 
izing all  the  while  how  very  unsatisfactory  those 
sources  were.  It  fills  about  half  a  volume,  but, 
as  he  says  in  his  first  preface,  it  cost  him  as 
much  labor,  and  nearly  as  much  time,  as  all  the 
rest  of  his  history.  This  part  of  the  work  has 
been  subjected  to  much  severe  criticism,  of  which 
mention  is  made  in  the  notes  of  this  edition.^/ 
Not  a  few  of  the  conclusions  therein  set  forth  have 
been  shown  to  be  erroneous.  For  example,  Mr.  \. 
Prescott  did  not  understand  the  institutions  of  the 
Aztecs.  It  would  have  been  most  marvellous  if  he 
had.  And  yet  it  must  be  said  that,  notwithstand- 
ing the  time  spent  in  research  since  Prescott's 
introductory  chapters  were  penned,  surprisingly 
little  more  is  really  known  to-day  concerning  the 
ancient  Aztec  nation  than  was  known  at  that  time. 
Writers  who  rejected  his  conclusions  put  forth 
conjectures  without  number  to  supplant  them,  but 
most  of  those  conjectures  were  not  founded  upon 
facts.  Their  authors  were  for  the  most  part  theo- 
rists, and  not  simply  searchers  for  truth,  as  Pres- 
cott was.  Until  a  larger  number  of  the  so-called 
"  Codices  "  shall  have  been  brought  to  light,  and 
men  shall  have  learned  to  read  them  as  scholars 
have  learned  to  read  the  hieroglyphics  of  the  East, 
little  more  absolute  knowledge  is  likely  to  be  se- 
cured. It  is  hardly  possible,  however,  that  many 
more  "  Codices  "  will  ever  be  found.  If  they  exist, 
they  are  probably  lying  unnoticed  in  some  obscure 


xxii  EDITOR'S    PREFACE 

monastery  in  Spain,  or  under  a  mass  of  material, 
as  yet  unclassified,  in  the  public  archives  of  that 
country.  Of  the  many  agencies  that  have  worked 
for  their  destruction  three  especially  may  be  noted. 
First,  the  climate  of  the  Mexican  land,  with  the  in- 
numerable insects  that  a  tropical  climate  breeds; 
second,  the  stern  determination  of  the  Mexicans 
themselves  to  destroy  the  memorials  of  their  an- 
cient state;  and,  lastly,  the  holocausts  of  Zumar- 
raga,  first  archbishop  of  Mexico,  whose  hand,  as 
Prescott  says,  "  fell  more  heavily  than  that  of 
time  itself  upon  the  Aztec  monuments."  This 
prelate,  emulating  in  his  achievement  the  auto 
da  fe  of  Arabic  manuscripts  which  Archbishop 
Ximenes  had  celebrated  in  Granada  twenty  years 
before,  burned  all  the  manuscripts  and  other  idola- 
trous material  he  could  collect  in  one  great  "  moun- 
tain-heap "  in  the  market-place  of  Tlatelolco.* 

But  when  that  additional  knowledge  shall  have 
been  attained,  it  is  hardly  likely  that  any  man  will 
attempt  to  write  anew  the  history  of  the  Spanish 
Conquest.  The  information  secured  from  the  rude 
pictorial  descriptions  of  the  Aztec  scribes  and  from 
the  chiselled  inscriptions  of  the  Aztec  sculptors  will 
be  incorporated  as  footnotes  in  subsequent  edi- 
tions of  Prescott's  volumes.  For  even  the  critics 
who  arraign  Prescott  most  severely  for  his  miscon- 
ception of  Aztec  institutions  admit  that  in  every- 
thing which  he  wrote  concerning  the  Conquest 
and  the  men  who  took  part  in  it  he  adhered  most 
carefully  to  facts  and  followed  conscientiously 

•See  vol.  i.  chap,  iv.,  and,  for  Ximenes,  Prescott's  "Ferdinand 
and  Isabella,"  part  ii.  chap.  vi. 


EDITOR'S    PREFACE  xxiii 

the  narratives  of  the  participants.  Those  narra- 
tives, as  Prescott's  most  prominent  critic  (Mr. 
Lewis  H.  Morgan)  admits,  "  may  be  trusted  in 
whatever  relates  to  the  acts  of  the  Spaniards  and 
to  the  acts  and  the  personal  characteristics  of  the 
Indians ;  in  whatever  relates  to  their  weapons,  im- 
plements, and  utensils,  fabrics,  food,  and  raiment, 
and  things  of  a  similar  character." 

Because  he  followed  those  contemporary 
writers  so  carefully,  because  with  his  vivid  his- 
torical imagination  he  was  able  to  transport  him- 
self into  the  remote  past,  to  live  with  the  conquer- 
ing Spaniards  the  life  of  toil  and  privation  that 
was  sometimes  almost  beyond  their  iron  en- 
durance, to  share  with  them  their  ever-present 
danger,  to  rejoice  with  them  in  their  final  vic- 
tories, because  so  living,  sharing,  and  rejoicing  he 
was  able  to  translate  their  dull  stories  into  pages 
that  sparkle  with  the  fulness  of  life,  men  will  still 
turn  to  those  pages  for  the  most  graphic  account 
of  the  exploits  of  Cortes  and  his  associates, — for 
generations  yet  to  come  his  work  will  continue  to 
be  read  as  one  of  the  greatest  masterpieces  of 
descriptive  literature. 

W.  H.  M. 


PREFACE 

A3  the  Conquest  of  Mexico  has  occupied  the 
pens  of  Solis  and  of  Robertson,  two  of  the 
ablest  historians  of  their  respective  nations,  it 
might  seem  that  little  could  remain  at  the  present 
day  to  be  gleaned  by  the  historical  inquirer.  But 
Robertson's  narrative  is  necessarily  brief,  form- 
ing only  part  of  a  more  extended  work;  and 
neither  the  British  nor  the  Castilian  author  was 
provided  with  the  important  materials  for  relating 
this  event  which  have  been  since  assembled  by  the 
industry  of  Spanish  scholars.  The  scholar  who 
led  the  way  in  these  researches  was  Don  Juan 
Baptista  Munoz,  the  celebrated  historiographer 
of  the  Indies,  who,  by  a  royal  edict,  was  allowed 
free  access  to  the  national  archives,  and  to  all 
libraries,  public,  private,  and  monastic,  in  the 
kingdom  and  its  colonies.  The  result  of  his  long 
labors  was  a  vast  body  of  materials,  of  which  un- 
happily he  did  not  live  to  reap  the  benefit  him- 
self. His  manuscripts  were  deposited,  after  his 
death,  in  the  archives  of  the  Royal  Academy  of 
History  at  Madrid;  and  that  collection  was  sub- 
sequently augmented  by  the  manuscripts  of  Don 
Vargas  Ponce,  President  of  the  Academy,  ob- 
tained, like  those  of  Munoz,  from  different 
quarters,  but  especially  from  the  archives  of  the 
Indies  at  Seville. 


XXVI 


PREFACE 


On  my  application  to  the  Academy,  in  1838, 
for  permission  to  copy  that  part  of  this  inesti- 
mable collection  relating  to  Mexico  and  Peru,  it 
was  freely  acceded  to,  and  an  eminent  German 
scholar,  one  of  their  own  number,  was  appointed 
to  superintend  the  collation  and  transcription  of 
the  manuscripts;  and  this,  it  may  be  added,  be- 
fore I  had  any  claim  on  the  courtesy  of  that 
respectable  body,  as  one  of  its  associates.  This 
conduct  shows  the  advance  of  a  liberal  spirit  in 
the  Peninsula  since  the  time  of  Dr.  Robertson, 
who  complains  that  he  was  denied  admission  to 
the  most  important  public  repositories.  The  favor 
with  which  my  own  application  was  regarded, 
however,  must  chiefly  be  attributed  to  the  kind 
offices  of  the  venerable  President  of  the  Academy, 
Don  Martin  Fernandez  de  Navarrete;  a  scholar 
whose  personal  character  has  secured  to  him  the 
same  high  consideration  at  home  which  his  liter- 
ary labors  have  obtained  abroad.  To  this  eminent 
person  I  am  under  still  further  obligations,  for 
the  free  use  which  he  has  allowed  me  to  make  of 
his  own  manuscripts, — the  fruits  of  a  life  of 
accumulation,  and  the  basis  of  those  valuable 
publications  with  which  he  has  at  different  times 
illustrated  the  Spanish  colonial  history. 

From  these  three  magnificent  collections,  the 
result  of  half  a  century's  careful  researches,  I 
have  obtained  a  mass  of  unpublished  documents, 
relating  to  the  Conquest  and  Settlement  of 
Mexico  and  of  Peru,  comprising  altogether  about 
eight  thousand  folio  pages.  They  consist  of  in- 
structions of  the  Court,  military  and  private  jour- 


PREFACE  xxvii 

nals,  correspondence  of  the  great  actors  in  the 
scenes,  legal  instruments,  contemporary  chron- 
icles, and  the  like,  drawn  from  all  the  principal 
places  in  the  extensive  colonial  empire  of  Spain, 
as  well  as  from  the  public  archives  in  the  Penin- 
sula. 

I  have  still  further  fortified  the  collection  by 
gleaning  such  materials  from  Mexico  itself  as 
had  been  overlooked  by  my  illustrious  predecessors 
in  these  researches.  For  these  I  am  indebted  to 
the  courtesy  of  Count  Cortina,  and,  yet  more,  to 
that  of  Don  Lucas  Alaman,  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs  in  Mexico ;  but,  above  all,  to  my  excellent 
friend,  Don  Angel  Calderon  de  la  Barca,  late 
Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  that  country  from 
the  court  of  Madrid, — a  gentleman  whose  high 
and  estimable  qualities,  even  more  than  his  station, 
secured  him  the  public  confidence,  and  gained  him 
free  access  to  every  place  of  interest  and  impor- 
tance in  Mexico. 

I  have  also  to  acknowledge  the  very  kind  offices 
rendered  to  me  by  the  Count  Camaldoli  at  Naples ; 
by  the  Duke  of  Serradifalco  in  Sicily,  a  nobleman 
whose  science  gives  additional  lustre  to  his  rank; 
and  by  the  Duke  of  Monteleone,  the  present  rep- 
resentative of  Cortes,  who  has  courteously  opened 
the  archives  of  his  family  to  my  inspection.  To 
these  names  must  also  be  added  that  of  Sir  Thomas 
Phillips,  Bart.,  whose  precious  collection  of  manu- 
scripts probably  surpasses  in  extent  that  of  any 
private  gentleman  in  Great  Britain,  if  not  in  Eu- 
rope ;  that  of  M.  Ternaux-Compans,  the  proprie- 
tor of  the  valuable  literary  collection  of  Don 


XXVU1 


PREFACE 


Antonio  Uguina,  including  the  papers  of  Munoz, 
the  fruits  of  which  he  is  giving  to  the  world  in 
his  excellent  translations;  and,  lastly,  that  of  my 
friend  and  countryman,  Arthur  Middleton,  Esq., 
late  Charge-d' Affaires  from  the  United  States 
at  the  court  of  Madrid,  for  the  efficient  aid  he 
has  afforded  me  in  prosecuting  my  inquiries  in 
that  capital. 

In  addition  to  this  stock  of  original  documents 
obtained  through  these  various  sources,  I  have/ 
diligently  provided  myself  with  such  printed 
works  as  have  reference  to  the  subject,  including 
the  magnificent  publications,  which  have  appeared 
both  in  France  and  England,  on  the  Antiquities 
of  Mexico,  which,  from  their  cost  and  colossal 
dimensions,  would  seem  better  suited  to  a  public 
than  to  a  private  library. 

Having  thus  stated  the  nature  of  my  materials, 
and  the  sources  whence  they  are  derived,  it  remains 
for  me  to  add  a  few  observations  on  the  general 
plan  and  composition  of  the  work.  Among  the 
remarkable  achievements  of  the  Spaniards  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  there  is  no  one  more  striking 
to  the  imagination  than  the  conquest  of  Mexico. 
^The  subversion  of  a  great  empire  by  a  handful 
of  adventurers,  taken  with  all  its  strange  and 
picturesque  accompaniments,  has  the  air  of  ro- 
mance rather  than  of  sober  history; .: and  it  is  not 
easy  to  treat  such  a  theme  according  to  the  severe 
rules  prescribed  by  historical  criticism.  But,  not- 
withstanding the  seductions  of  the  subject,  I  have 
conscientiously  endeavored  to  distinguish  fact 
from  fiction,  and  to  establish  the  narrative  on 


PREFACE  xxix 

as  broad  a  basis  as  possible  of  contemporary  evi- 
dence; and  I  have  taken  occasion  to  corroborate 
the  text  by  ample  citations  from  authorities,  usu- 
ally in  the  original,  since  few  of  them  can  be  very 
accessible  to  the  reader.  In  these  extracts  I  have 
scrupulously  conformed  to  the  ancient  orthog- 
raphy, however  obsolete  and  even  barbarous, 
rather  than  impair  in  any  degree  the  integrity 
of  the  original  document. 

Although  the  subject  of  the  work  is,  properly, 
only  the  Conquest  of  Mexico,  I  have  prepared  the 
way  for  it  by  such  a  view  of  the  civilization  of 
the  ancient  Mexicans  as  might  acquaint  the  reader 
with  the  character  of  this  extraordinary  race,  and  V 
enable  him  to  understand  the  difficulties  which  the 
Spaniards  had  to  encounter  in  their  subjugation. 
This  Introductory  part  of  the  work,  with  the 
essay  in  the  Appendix  which  properly  belongs  to 
the  Introduction,*  although  both  together  making 
only  half  a  volume,  has  cost  me  as  much  labor, 
and  nearly  as  much  time,  as  the  remainder  of  the 
history.  If  I  shall  have  succeeded  in  giving  the 
reader  a  just  idea  of  the  true  nature  and  extent 
of  the  civilization  to  which  the  Mexicans  had 
attained,  it  will  not  be  labor  lost. 

The  story  of  the  Conquest  terminates  with  the 
fall  of  the  capital.  Yet  I  have  preferred  to  con- 
tinue the  narrative  to  the  death  of  Cortes,  relying 
on  the  interest  which  the  development  of  his  char- 
acter in  his  military  career  may  have  excited  in 
the  reader.  I  am  not  insensible  to  the  hazard  I 
incur  by  such  a  course.  The  mind,  previously 

*  In  this  edition  placed  immediately  after  the  Introduction. 


xxx  PREFACE 

occupied  with  one  great  idea,  that  of  the  sub- 
version of  the  capital,  may  feel  the  prolongation 
of  the  story  beyond  that  point  superfluous,  if  not 
tedious,  and  may  find  it  difficult,  after  the  excite- 
ment caused  by  witnessing  a  great  national  catas- 
trophe, to  take  an  interest  in  the  adventures  of 
a  private  individual.  Solis  took  the  more  politic 
course  of  concluding  his  narrative  with  the  fall 
of  Mexico,  and  thus  leaves  his  readers  with  the 
full  impression  of  that  memorable  event,  undis- 
turbed, on  their  minds.  To  prolong  the  narrative 
is  to  expose  the  historian  to  the  error  so  much 
censured  by  the  French  critics  in  some  of  their 
most  celebrated  dramas,  where  the  author  by  a 
premature  denouement  has  impaired  the  interest 
of  his  piece.  It  is  the  defect  that  necessarily 
attaches,  though  in  a  greater  degree,  to  the  his- 
tory of  Columbus,  in  which  petty  adventures 
among  a  group  of  islands  make  up  the  sequel 
of  a  life  that  opened  with  the  magnificent  dis- 
covery of  a  World,— a  defect,  in  short,  which  it 
has  required  all  the  genius  of  Irving  and  the 
magical  charm  of  his  style  perfectly  to  overcome. 
Notwithstanding  these  objections,  I  have  been 
induced  to  continue  the  narrative,  partly  from 
deference  to  the  opinion  of  several  Spanish  schol- 
ars, who  considered  that  the  biography  of  Cortes 
had  not  been  fully  exhibited,  and  partly  from  the 
circumstance  of  my  having  such  a  body  of  original 
materials  for  this  biography  at  my  command. 
And  I  cannot  regret  that  I  have  adopted  this 
course;  since,  whatever  lustre  the  Conquest  may 
reflect  on  Cortes  as  a  military  achievement,  it  gives 


PREFACE  xxxi 

but  an  imperfect  idea  of  his  enlightened  spirit  and 
of  his  comprehensive  and  versatile  genius. 

To  the  eye  of  the  critic  there  may  seem  some 
incongruity  in  a  plan  which  combines  objects  so 
dissimilar  as  those  embraced  by  the  present  his- 
tory, where  the  Introduction,  occupied  by  the 
antiquities  and  origin  of  a  nation,  has  somewhat 
the  character  of  a  philosophic  theme,  while  the 
conclusion  is  strictly  biographical,  and  the  two 
may  be  supposed  to  match  indifferently  with  the 
main  body,  or  historical  portion  of  the  work.  But 
I  may  hope  that  such  objections  will  be  found  to 
have  less  weight  in  practice  than  in  theory;  and, 
if  properly  managed,  that  the  general  views  of 
the  Introduction  will  prepare  the  reader  for  the 
particulars  of  the  Conquest,  and  that  the  great 
public  events  narrated  in  this  will,  without  vio- 
lence, open  the  way  to  the  remaining  personal 
history  of  the  hero  who  is  the  soul  of  it.  What- 
ever incongruity  may  exist  in  other  respects,  I  may 
hope  that  the  unity  of  interest,  the  only  unity  held 
of  much  importance  by  modern  critics,  will  be 
found  still  to  be  preserved. 

The  distance  of  the  present  age  from  the  period 
of  the  narrative  might  be  presumed  to  secure  the 
historian  from  undue  prejudice  or  partiality.  Yet 
by  the  American  and  the  English  reader,  acknowl- 
edging so  different  a  moral  standard  from  that 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  I  may  possibly  be  thought 
too  indulgent  to  the  errors  of  the  Conquerors; 
while  by  a  Spaniard,  accustomed  to  the  undiluted 
panegyric  of  Solis,  I  may  be  deemed  to  have  dealt 
too  hardly  with  them.  To  such  I  can  only  say 


xxxii  PREFACE 

that,  while,  on  the  one  hand,  I  have  not  hesitated 
to  expose  in  their  strongest  colors  the  excesses  of 
the  Conquerors,  on  the  other,  I  have  given  them 
the  benefit  of  such  mitigating  reflections  as  might 
be  suggested  by  the  circumstances  and  the  period 
in  which  they  lived.  I  have  endeavored  not  only 
to  present  a  picture  true  in  itself,  but  to  place  it 
in  its  proper  light,  and  to  put  the  spectator  in  a 
proper  point  of  view  for  seeing  it  to  the  best  ad- 
vantage. I  have  endeavored,  at  the  expense  of 
some  repetition,  to  surround  him  with  the  spirit 
of  the  times,  and,  in  a  word,  to  make  him,  if  I 
may  so  express  myself,  a  contemporary  of  the 
sixteenth  century.  Whether,  and  how  far,  I  have 
succeeded  in  this,  he  must  determine. 

For  one  thing,  before  I  conclude,  I  may  reason- 
ably ask  the  reader's  indulgence.  Owing  to  the 
state  of  my  eyes,  I  have  been  obliged  to  use  a 
writing-case  made  for  the  blind,  which  does  not 
permit  the  writer  to  see  his  own  manuscript.  Nor 
have  I  ever  corrected,  or  even  read,  my  own  orig- 
inal draft.  As  the  chirography,  under  these  dis- 
advantages, has  been  too  often  careless  and  ob- 
scure, occasional  errors,  even  with  the  utmost  care 
of  my  secretary,  must  have  necessarily  occurred 
in  the  transcription,  somewhat  increased  by  the 
barbarous  phraseology  imported  from  my  Mexi- 
can authorities.  I  cannot  expect  that  these  errors 
have  always  been  detected  even  by  the  vigilant 
eye  of  the  perspicacious  critic  to  whom  the  proof- 
sheets  have  been  subjected. 

In  the  Preface  to  the  "  History  of  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella,"  I  lamented  that,  while  occupied 


PREFACE  xxxiii 

with  that  subject,  two  of  its  most  attractive  parts 
had  engaged  the  attention  of  the  most  popular 
of  American  authors,  Washington  Irving.  By  a 
singular  chance,  something  like  the  reverse  of 
this  has  taken  place  in  the  composition  of  the 
present  history,  and  I  have  found  myself  uncon- 
sciously taking  up  ground  which  he  was  preparing 
to  occupy.  It  was  not  till  I  had  become  master  of 
my  rich  collection  of  materials  that  I  was  ac- 
quainted with  this  circumstance ;  and,  had  he  per- 
severed in  his  design,  I  should  unhesitatingly  have 
abandoned  my  own,  if  not  from  courtesy,  at  least 
from  policy ;  for,  though  armed  with  the  weapons 
of  Achilles,  this  could  give  me  no  hope  of  success 
in  a  competition  with  Achilles  himself.  But  no 
sooner  was  that  distinguished  writer  informed  of 
the  preparations  I  had  made,  than,  with  the  gen- 
tlemanly spirit  which  will  surprise  no  one  who  has 
the  pleasure  of  his  acquaintance,  he  instantly  an- 
nounced to  me  his  intention  of  leaving  the  subject 
open  to  me.  While  I  do  but  justice  to  Mr.  Irving 
by  this  statement,  I  feel  the  prejudice  it  does  to 
myself  in  the  unavailing  regret  I  am  exciting  in 
the  bosom  of  the  reader. 

I  must  not  conclude  this  Preface,  too  long  pro- 
tracted as  it  is  already,  without  a  word  of  acknowl- 
edgment to  my  friend  George  Ticknor,  Esq.,  the 
friend  of  many  years, — for  his  patient  revision  of 
my  manuscript ;  a  labor  of  love,  the  worth  of  which 
those  only  can  estimate  who  are  acquainted  with 
his  extraordinary  erudition  and  his  nice  critical 
taste.  If  I  have  reserved  his  name  for  the  last 
in  the  list  of  those  to  whose  good  offices  I  am 


XXXIV 


PREFACE 


indebted,  it  is  most  assuredly  not  because  I  value 
his  services  least. 

WILLIAM  H.  PRESCOTT. 

BOSTON,  October  1,  1843. 

NOTE. — The  author's  emendations  of  this  history  include  many 
additional  notes,  which,  being  often  contradictory  to  the  text,  have 
been  printed  between  brackets.  They  were  chiefly  derived  from  the 
copious  annotations  of  Don  Jose"  F.  Ramirez  and  Don  Lucas  Alaman 
to  the  two  Spanish  translations  published  in  Mexico.  There  could  be 
no  stronger  guarantee  of  the  value  and  general  accuracy  of  the  work 
than  the  minute  labor  bestowed  upon  it  by  these  distinguished 
scholars. — K. 


GENERAL    CONTENTS 


BOOK    I 

INTRODUCTION VIEW    OF    THE   AZTEC    CIVILIZATION 

BOOK    II 

DISCOVERY    OF    MEXICO 

BOOK    III 

MARCH    TO    MEXICO 

BOOK    IV 

RESIDENCE    IN    MEXICO 

BOOK   V 

EXPULSION    FROM    MEXICO 

BOOK    VI 

SIEGE    AND    SURRENDER    OF    MEXICO 

BOOK    VII 

CONCLUSION SUBSEQUENT    CAREER    OF    CORTES 

APPENDIX 


CONTENTS    OF    VOL.  I 


BOOK   I 

INTRODUCTION VIEW    OF   THE   AZTEC    CIVILIZATION 

CHAPTER    I 

ANCIENT  MEXICO — CLIMATE  AND  PRODUCTS — PRIMITIVE   RACES — 
AZTEC  EMPIRE 

PAGE 

Extent  of  the  Aztec  Territory 4 

The  Hot  Region 5 

Volcanic  Scenery 7 

Cordillera  of  the  Andes .8 

Table-land  in  the  Days  of  the  Aztecs 9 

Valley  of  Mexico 10 

The   Toltecs 12 

Their  mysterious  Disappearance 16 

Races  from  the  Northwest 17 

Their   Hostilities 1? 

Foundation  of  Mexico 21 

Domestic  Feuds 22 

League  of  the  kindred  Tribes 23 

Rapid  Rise  of  Mexico 25 

Prosperity  of  the  Empire 26 

Criticism  on  Veytia's  History 27 

CHAPTER    II 

SUCCESSION  TO  THE  CROWN — AZTEC  NOBILITY — JUDICIAL  SYSTEM 
— LAWS  AND  REVENUES — MILITARY  INSTITUTIONS 

Election  of  the  Sovereign 84 

His  Coronation 37 

Aztec  Nobles 88 

Their  barbaric  Pomp 39 

Tenure  of  their  Estates 40 

Legislative  Power 41 

Judicial   System 42 

xxxvii 


xxxviii        CONTENTS    OF    VOLUME    I 

PAGE 

Independent  Judges 43 

Their   Mode  of  Procedure 44 

Showy  Tribunal 4-5 

Hieroglyphical  Paintings 46 

Marriage  Rites 4*9 

Slavery  in  Mexico 4*9 

Royal  Revenues 51 

Burdensome  Imposts 54 

Public  Couriers 55 

Military  Enthusiasm 56 

Aztec  Ambassadors 57 

Orders  of  Knighthood 57 

Gorgeous  Armor 58 

National  Standard 59 

Military  Code 60 

Hospitals  for  the  Wounded 61 

Influence  of  Conquest  on  a  Nation 63 

Criticism  on  Torquemada's  History 64 

Abb£  Clavigero 65 


CHAPTER    III 

MEXICAN   MYTHOLOGY — THE   SACERDOTAL  ORDER — THE   TEMPLES 
— HUMAN  SACRIFICES 

Systems  of  Mythology 67 

Mythology  of  the  Aztecs 68 

Ideas  of  a  God 69 

Sanguinary  War-god 70 

God  of  the  Air 71 

Mystic  Legends 72 

Division  of  Time 75 

Future  State 76 

Funeral  Ceremonies 77 

Baptismal  Rites 78 

Monastic  Orders 80 

Feasts  and  Flagellation 82 

Aztec  Confessional 82 

Education  of  the  Youth 83 

Revenue  of  the  Priests 85 

Mexican  Temples 86 

Religious  Festivals 88 

Human  Sacrifices 89 

The  Captive's  Doom 90 

Ceremonies  of  Sacrifice 91 

Torturing  of  the  Victim 92 

Sacrifice  of  Infants  .  92 


CONTENTS    OF    VOLUME    I  xxxix 

PiGE 

Cannibal  Banquets 93 

Number  of  Victims 94 

Houses  of  Skulls 95 

Cannibalism  of  the  Aztecs 99 

Criticism  on  Sahagun's  History 101 


CHAPTER   IV 

MEXICAN     HIEROGLYPHICS — MANUSCRIPTS — ARITHMETIC — CHRON- 
OLOGY— ASTRONOMY 

Dawning  of  Science 105 

Picture-writing 105 

Aztec  Hieroglyphics 108 

Manuscripts  of  the  Mexicans 109 

Emblematic  Symbols 110 

Phonetic  Signs Ill 

Materials  of  the  Aztec  Manuscripts 114 

Form  of  their  Volumes 115 

Destruction  of  most  of  them 116 

Remaining  Manuscripts 117 

Difficulty  of  deciphering  them 120 

Minstrelsy  of  the  Aztecs 123 

Theatrical  Entertainments 124 

System  of  Notation 124 

Their  Chronology 126 

The  Aztec  Era 129 

Calendar  of  the  Priests 132 

Science  of  Astrology 135 

Astrology  of  the  Aztecs *  136 

Their  Astronomy 137 

Wonderful  Attainments  in  this  Science 138 

Remarkable  Festival 140 

Carnival  of  the  Aztecs 142 

Lord  Kingsborough's  Work 143 

Criticism  on  Gama 144 


CHAPTER   V 

AZTEC    AGRICULTTTRE  —  MECHANICAL    ARTS  —  MERCHANTS  — 
DOMESTIC  MANNERS 

Mechanical  Genius 146 

Agriculture 147 

Mexican  Husbandry 148 

Vegetable  Products 150 

Mineral  Treasures .  .  153 


xl  CONTENTS    OF    VOLUME    I 

PAGE 

Skill  of  the  Aztec  Jewellers    .        . 155 

Sculpture 156 

Huge  Calendar-stone 157 

Aztec  Dyes 159 

Beautiful  Feather-work 160 

Fairs  of  Mexico        » 161 

National  Currency 161 

Trades 162 

Aztec   Merchants 163 

Militant  Traders       .  163 

Domestic  Life 165 

Kindness  to  Children 166 

Polygamy 166 

Condition  of  the  Sex        . 167 

Social  Entertainments 167 

Use  of  Tobacco 168 

Culinary  Art 169 

Agreeable  Drinks 170 

Dancing 171 

Intoxication 172 

Criticism  on  Boturini's  Work          ...  .173 


CHAPTER   VI 

TEZCUCANS — THEIE  GOLDEN  AGE — ACCOMPLISHED  PRINCES — DE- 
CLINE    OF    THEIR    MONARCHY 

The  Alcolhuans  or  Tezcucans 176 

Prince  Nezahualcoyotl 177 

His  Persecution 178 

His  Hair-breadth  Escapes 179 

His  wandering  Life 180 

Fidelity  of  his  Subjects 181 

Triumphs  over  his  Enemies 182 

Remarkable  League 183 

General  Amnesty 183 

The  Tezcucan  Code 184 

Departments  of  Government 184 

Council  of  Music 185 

Its  Censorial  Office 185 

Literary  Taste 186 

Tezcucan  Bards 188 

Royal  Ode 188 

Resources  of  Nezahualcoyotl 191 

His  magnificent  Palace    .  192 

His  Gardens  and  Villas 193 

Address  of  the  Priest      ...  .  195 


CONTENTS    OF    VOLUME    I  xli 

PAGE 

His  Baths 197 

Luxurious  Residence 198 

Existing  Remains  of  it 199 

Royal  Amours 200 

Marriage  of  the  King 202 

Forest  Laws 203 

Strolling  Adventures ^  204 

Munificence  of  the  Monarch 205 

His  Religion 206 

Temple  to  the  Unknown  God 208 

Philosophic  Retirement 209 

His  plaintive  Verses 209 

Last  Hours  of  Nezahualcoyotl 211 

His  Character 213 

Succeeded   by  Nezahualpilli 214 

The  Lady  of  Tula 215 

Executes  his  Son 216 

Effeminacy  of  the  King 217 

His  consequent  Misfortunes .  217 

Death  of  Nezahualpilli 218 

Tezcucan  Civilization 219 

Criticism  on  Ixtlilxochitl's  Writings 220 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    MEXICAN    CIVILIZATION ANALOGIES 

WITH    THE    OLD    WORLD 
PRELIMINARY  NOTICE 

Speculations  on  the  New  World 225 

Manner  of  its  Population 225 

Plato's  Atlantis 226 

Modern  Theory 227 

Communication  with  the  Old  World 228 

Origin  of  American  Civilization 230 

Plan  of  the  Essay 231 

Analogies  suggested  by  the  Mexicans  to  the  Old  World     .        .  232 

Their  Traditions  of  the  Deluge 233 

Resemble  the  Hebrew  Accounts 234 

Temple  of  Cholula 234 

Analogy  to  the  Tower  of  Babel 235 

The  Mexican  Eve     .         .         .         .        ....        .         .236 

The  God  Quetzalcoatl      .        . 236 

Natural  Errors  of  the  Missionaries 237 


xlii  CONTENTS    OF    VOLUME    I 

FACE 

The  Cross  in  Anahuac 238 

Eucharist  and  Baptism 239 

Chroniclers  strive  for  Coincidences 241 

Argument  drawn  from  these 242 

Resemblance  of  social  Usages 245 

Analogies  from  Science 246 

Chronological  System 247 

Hieroglyphics  and  Symbols 24T 

Adjustment  of  Time 248 

Affinities  of  Language 248 

Difficulties  of  Comparison 251 

Traditions  of  Migration 252 

Tests  of  their  Truth 253 

Physical  Analogies 254 

Architectural  Remains 256 

Destructive  Spirit  of  the  Spaniards 257 

Ruins  in  Chiapa  and  Yucatan 258 

Works  of  Art 259 

Tools  for  Building 260 

Little  Resemblance  to  Egyptian  Art 261 

Sculpture 262 

Hieroglyphics  263 

Probable  Age  of  these  Monuments 265 

Their  probable  Architects 267 

Difficulties  in  forming  a  Conclusion 269 

Ignorance  of  Iron  and  of  Milk 270 

Unsatisfactory  Explanations 271 

General  Conclusions         ...  .  .  272 


BOOK    II 

DISCOVERY    OF    MEXICO 
CHAPTER    I 

SPAIH  UNDER  CHARLES  V. — PROGRESS  OF   DISCOVERT — COLONIAL 
POLICY — CONQUEST  OF  CUBA — EXPEDITIONS  TO  YUCATAN 

Condition  of  Spain 277 

Increase  of  Empire 278 

Cardinal  Xim£nes 279 

Arrival  of  Charles  the  Fifth  .  .  279 


CONTENTS    OF    VOLUME    I  xliii 

PAGE 

Swarm  of  Flemings 280 

Opposition  of  the  Cortes 281 

Colonial  Administration  .........  282 

Spirit  of  Chivalry 283 

Progress   of  Discovery 284 

Advancement  of  Colonization 285 

System  of  Repartimientos 285 

Colonial    Policy 286 

Discovery  of  Cuba 287 

Its  Conquest  by  Velasquez 288 

Cordova's  Expedition  to  Yucatan 289 

His  Reception  by  the  Natives 291 

Grijalva's   Expedition 292 

Civilization  in  Yucatan 292 

Traffic  with  the  Indians 293 

His  Return  to  Cuba 294 

His  cool   Reception 294 

Ambitious  Schemes  of  the  Governor 295 

Preparations  for  an  Expedition 296 


CHAPTER    II 

HERNANDO  CORTES — His  EARLY  LIFE — VISITS  THE  NEW  WORLD 
— His  RESIDENCE  IN  CUBA — DIFFICULTIES  WITH  VELASQUEZ — 
ARMADA  INTRUSTED  TO  CORTES 

Hernando   Cortes 297 

His    Education 298 

Choice  of  a  Profession 299 

Departure  for  America 300 

Arrival   at   Hispaniola 301 

His  Mode  of  Life 302 

Enlists  under  Velasquez 303 

Habits  of  Gallantry 304 

Disaffected  towards   Velasquez 304 

Cortes  in  Confinement 305 

Flies  into  a  Sanctuary 306 

Again  put  in  Irons 307 

His  perilous  Escape 307 

His  Marriage 308 

Reconciled  with  the  Governor 308 

Retires  to  his  Plantation 309 

Armada  intrusted  to  Cortes    .        .        .        .        .  .  -     .        .        .311 

Preparations  for  the  Voyage 813 

Instructions  to  Cortes  314 


xliv 


CHAPTER    III 


JEALOUSY  OF  VELASQUEZ — CORTES  EMBARKS — EQUIPMENT  OF  HIS 
FLEET — His  PERSON  AND  CHARACTER — RENDEZVOUS  AT  HAVANA 
— STRENGTH  OF  HIS  ARMAMENT 

PAGE 

Jealousy  of  Velasquez 317 

Intrigues  against  Cortes 318 

His  clandestine  Embarkation 319 

Arrives  at  Macaca 320 

Accession  of  Volunteers 321 

Stores  and  Ammunition 322 

Orders  from  Velasquez  to  arrest  Cortds 323 

He  raises  the  Standard  at  Havana 324 

Person  of  Cortes 325 

His  Character 326 

Strength  of  Armament 327 

Stirring  Address  to  his  Troops 329 

Fleet  weighs  Anchor 330 

Remarks  on  Estrella's  Manuscript 331 


CHAPTER    IV 

VOYAGE  TO  COZUMEL — CONVERSION  OF  THE  NATIVES — JERONIMO 
DE  AGUILAH  —  ARMY  ARRIVES  AT  TABASCO  —  GREAT  BATTLE 
WITH  THE  INDIANS — CHRISTIANITY  INTRODUCED 

Disastrous  Voyage  to  Cozumel 332 

Humane  Policy  of  Corte"s 833 

Cross  found  in  the  Island 334 

Religious  Zeal  of  the  Spaniards 335 

Attempts  at  Conversion 336 

Overthrow  of  the  Idols 338 

Jer6nimo  de  Aguilar 339 

His  Adventures 340 

Employed  as  an  Interpreter 342 

Fleet  arrives  at  Tabasco 342 

Hostile  Reception 343 

Fierce  Defiance  of  the  Natives 344 

Desperate  Conflict 345 

Effect  of  the  Fire-arms 345 

Cortes  takes  Tabasco 846 

Ambush  of  the  Indians  .        .        . 348 

The  Country  in  Arms 348 

Preparations  for  Battle 349 

March  on  the  Enemy .  350 


CONTENTS    OF    VOLUME    I  xlv 

PAGE 

Joins  Battle  with  the  Indians 851 

Doubtful  Struggle 352 

Terror  at  the  War-horse 352 

Victory  of  the  Spaniards 354 

Number  of  Slain 355 

Treaty  with  the  Natives 356 

Conversion  of  the  Heathen      ........  357 

Catholic  Communion 357 

Spaniards  embark  for  Mexico         .        .        .        .        .        .        .  358 


CHAPTER   V 

VOYAGE  ALONG  THE  COAST — DONA  MARINA — SPANIARDS  LAND  IN 
MEXICO — INTERVIEW  WITH  THE   AZTECS 

Voyage  along  the  Coast 359 

Natives  come  on  Board 360 

Dona  Marina 361 

Her  History .361 

Her  Beauty  and  Character 362 

First  Tidings  of  Montezuma 364 

Spaniards  land  in  Mexico 365 

First  Interview  with  the  Aztecs 366 

Their  magnificent  Presents .        .  868 

Cupidity  of  the  Spaniards 369 

Cort6s  displays  his  Cavalry 370 

Aztec  Paintings 370 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


THE  LANDING  OF  CORTES  AT  VERA  CRUZ  Frontispiece 

From  a  painting  especially  made  for  this  edition  by  L.  Kowalsky. 

MAP  OF  THE  COUNTRY  TRAVERSED  BY  THE   SPANIARDS  ON  THEIR 

MARCH  TO  MEXICO 1 

FRA  BARTOLOME  DE  LAS  CASAS 94 

After  an  engraving  in  "Ritratos  de  los  Espagnoles  illustres, 
1791." 

OUR  LADY  OF  GUADALOUPE    172 

From  a  photograph  by  Waite,  of  Mexico. 

PORTRAIT  OF  CHARLES  V 276 

After  the  painting  by  Titian  at  Munich. 

PORTRAIT  OF  HERNANDO  CORTES 296 

From  an  engraving  by  Masson,  after  the  painting  by  Ant.  Moro. 


Mexico — I 

xlvii 


BOOK  I 

INTRODUCTION 
VIEW  OF  THE  AZTEC  CIVILIZATION 


;\L\l-:i    !! 


rn  K 


CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 


CHAPTER  I 

ANCIENT  MEXICO — CLIMATE  AND  PRODUCTS — 
PRIMITIVE  RACES— AZTEC  EMPIRE 

OF  all  that  extensive  empire  which  once  ac- 
knowledged the  authority  of  Spain  in  the 
New  World,  no  portion,  for  interest  and  impor- 
tance, can  be  compared  with  Mexico; — and  this 
equally,  whether  we  consider  the  variety  of  its  soil 
and  climate ;  the  inexhaustible  stores  of  its  mineral 
wealth;  its  scenery,  grand  and  picturesque  beyond 
example;  the  character  of  its  ancient  inhabitants, 
not  only  far  surpassing  in  intelligence  that  of  the 
other  North  American  races,  but  reminding  us,  by 
their  monuments,  of  the  primitive  civilization  of 
Egypt  and  Hindostan;  or,  lastly,  the  peculiar  cir- 
cumstances of  its  Conquest,  adventurous  and  ro- 
mantic as  any  legend  devised  by  Norman  or  Italian 
bard  of  chivalry.  It  is  the  purpose  of  the  present 
narrative  to  exhibit  the  history  of  this  Conquest, 
and  that  of  the  remarkable  man  by  whom  it  was 
achieved. 

But,  in  order  that  the  reader  may  have  a  better 
understanding  of  the  subject,  it  will  be  well,  before 
entering  on  it,  to  take  a  general  survey  of  the  po- 


4  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

litical  and  social  institutions  of  the  races  who  occu- 
pied the  land  at  the  time  of  its  discovery. 

The  country  of  the  ancient  Mexicans,  or  Aztecs 
as  they  were  called,  formed  but  a  very  small  part 
of  the  extensive  territories  comprehended  in  the 
modern  republic  of  Mexico.1  Its  boundaries  can- 
not be  defined  with  certainty.  They  were  much 
enlarged  in  the  latter  days  of  the  empire,  when  they 
may  be  considered  as  reaching  from  about  the  eigh- 
teenth degree  north,  to  the  twenty-first,  on  the 
Atlantic;  and  from  the  fourteenth  to  the  nine- 
teenth, including  a  very  narrow  strip,  on  the 
Pacific.2  In  its  greatest  breadth,  it  could  not  ex- 

1  Extensive  indeed,  if  we  may  trust  Archbishop  Lorenzana,  who 
tells  us,  "  It  is  doubtful  if  the  country  of  new  Spain  does  not  border 
on  Tartary  and  Greenland; — by  the  way  of  California,  on  the 
former,  and  by  New  Mexico,  on  the  latter " !  Historia  de  Nueva- 
Espana  (Mexico,  1770),  p.  38,  nota.* 

2 1  have  conformed  to  the  limits  fixed  by  Clavigero.  He  has,  prob- 
ably, examined  the  subject  with  more  thoroughness  and  fidelity  than 
most  of  his  countrymen,  who  differ  from  him,  and  who  assign  a  more 
liberal  extent  to  the  monarchy.  (See  his  Storia  antica  del  Messico 
(Cesena,  1780),  dissert.  7.)  The  abb6,  however,  has  not  informed 
his  readers  on  what  frail  foundations  his  conclusions  rest.  The  ex- 
tent of  the  Aztec  empire  is  to  be  gathered  from  the  writings  of  his- 
torians since  the  arrival  of  the  Spaniards,  and  from  the  picture- 
rolls  of  tribute  paid  by  the  conquered  cities;  both  sources  extremely 
vague  and  defective.  See  the  MSS.  of  the  Mendoza  collection,  in 
Lord  Kingsborough's  magnificent  publication  (Antiquities  of  Mex- 

*  [The  limits  fixed  by  historical  writers  to  the  territories  of  the 
Aztec  Confederacy  vary  startlingly.  Prescott's  estimate  is  too  large. 
Lewis  H.  Morgan  (Houses  and  House  Life  of  the  American 
Aborigines,  p.  223)  considers  its  land  area  to  have  been  about  that 
of  Rhode  Island— the  smallest  State  in  the  American  Union— i.e., 
about  1250  square  miles.  Medio  tutissimus  ibis.  The  term  Empire 
is  misleading.  The  states  of  Quer6taro,  Guanajuato,  Michoacdn, 
Guerrero,  and  much  of  La  Puebla,  in  modern  Mexico,  almost  sur- 
round the  so-called  Empire  of  Montezuma.  Possibly  the  tributary 
pueblos  may  have  covered  an  area  equal  to  that  of  the  State  of 
Massachusetts. — M.  ] 


ANCIENT  MEXICO  5 

ceed  five  degrees  and  a  half,  dwindling,  as  it 
approached  its  southeastern  limits,  to  less  than  two. 
It  covered,  probably,  less  than  sixteen  thousand 
square  leagues.3  Yet  such  is  the  remarkable  for- 
mation of  this  country,  that,  though  not  more  than 
twice  as  large  as  New  England,  it  presented  every 
variety  of  climate,  and  was  capable  of  yielding 
nearly  every  fruit,  found  between  the  equator  and 
the  Arctic  circle. 

All  along  the  Atlantic,  the  country  is  bordered 
by  a  broad  tract,  called  the  tierra  caliente,  or  hot 
region,  which  has  the  usual  high  temperature  of 
equinoctial  lands.  Parched  and  sandy  plains  are 
intermingled  with  others,  of  exuberant  fertility, 
almost  impervious  from  thickets  of  aromatic  shrubs 
and  wild  flowers,  in  the  midst  of  which  tower  up 

ico,  comprising  Facsimiles  of  Ancient  Paintings  and  Hieroglyphics, 
together  with  the  Monuments  of  New  Spain.  London,  1830).  The 
difficulty  of  the  inquiry  is  much  increased  by  the  fact  of  the  con- 
quests having  been  made,  as  will  be  seen  hereafter,  by  the  united 
arms  of  three  powers,  so  that  it  is  not  always  easy  to  tell  to  which 
party  they  eventually  belonged.  The  affair  is  involved  in  so  much 
uncertainty  that  Clavigero,  notwithstanding  the  positive  assertions 
in  his  text,  has  not  ventured,  in  his  map,  to  define  the  precise  limits 
of  the  empire,  either  towards  the  north,  where  it  mingles  with  the 
Tezcucan  empire,  or  towards  the  south,  where,  indeed,  he  has  fallen 
into  the  egregious  blunder  of  asserting  that,  while  the  Mexican 
territory  reached  to  the  fourteenth  degree,  it  did  not  include  any 
portion  of  Guatemala.  (See  torn.  i.  p.  29,  and  torn.  iv.  dissert.  7.) 
The  Tezcucan  chronicler  Ixtlilxochitl  puts  in  a  sturdy  claim  for  the 
paramount  empire  of  his  own  nation.  Historia  Chichimeca,  MS., 
cap.  39,  53,  et  alibi. 

1  Eighteen  to  twenty  thousand,  according  to  Humboldt,  who  con- 
siders the  Mexican  territory  to  have  been  the  same  with  that  occupied 
by  the  modern  intendancies  of  Mexico,  Puebla,  Vera  Cruz,  Oaxaca, 
and  Valladolid.  (Essai  politique  sur  le  Royaume  de  Nouvelle- 
Espagne  (Paris,  1825),  torn.  i.  p.  196.)  This  last,  however,  was  all, 
or  nearly  all,  included  in  the  rival  kingdom  of  Michoacan,  as  he 
himself  more  correctly  states  in  another  part  of  his  work.  Comp. 
torn.  ii.  p.  164. 


6  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

trees  of  that  magnificent  growth  which  is  found 
only  within  the  tropics.  In  this  wilderness  of 
sweets  lurks  the  fatal  malaria,  engendered,  proba- 
bly, by  the  decomposition  of  rank  vegetable  sub- 
stances in  a  hot  and  humid  soil.*  The  season  of  the 
bilious  fever, — vomito,  as  it  is  called, — which 
scourges  these  coasts,  continues  from  the  spring 
to  the  autumnal  equinox,  when  it  is  checked  by  the 
cold  winds  that  descend  from  Hudson's  Bay. 
These  winds  in  the  winter  season  frequently 
freshen  into  tempests,  and  sweeping  down  the  At- 
lantic coast  and  the  winding  Gulf  of  Mexico,  burst 
with  the  fury  of  a  hurricane  on  its  unprotected 
shores,  and  on  the  neighboring  West  India  islands. 
Such  are  the  mighty  spells  with  which  Nature  has 
surrounded  this  land  of  enchantment,  as  if  to  guard 
the  golden  treasures  locked  up  within  its  bosom. 
The  genius  and  enterprise  of  man  have  proved 
more  potent  than  her  spells. 

After  passing  some  twenty  leagues  across  this 
burning  region,  the  traveller  finds  himself  rising 
into  a  purer  atmosphere.  His  limbs  recover  their 
elasticity.  He  breathes  more  freely,  for  his  senses 
are  not  now  oppressed  by  the  sultry  heats  and  in- 
toxicating perfumes  of  the  valley.  The  aspect  of 
nature,  too,  has  changed,  and  his  eye  no  longer 
revels  among  the  gay  variety  of  colors  with  which 
the  landscape  was  painted  there.  The  vanilla,  the 
indigo,  and  the  flowering  cacao-groves  disappear 
as  he  advances.  The  sugar-cane  and  the  glossy- 
leaved  banana  still  accompany  him ;  and,  when  he 

*  [Immediate  decay  follows  death.     All  traces  of  a  buried  corpse 
vanish  in  three  or  four  years.— M.] 


CLIMATE   AND   PRODUCTS  7 

has  ascended  about  four  thousand  feet,  he  sees  in 
the  unchanging  verdure,  and  the  rich  foliage  of  the 
liquid-amber  tree,  that  he  has  reached  the  height 
where  clouds  and  mists  settle,  in  their  passage 
from  the  Mexican  Gulf.  This  is  the  region  of  per- 
petual humidity ;  but  he  welcomes  it  with  pleasure, 
as  announcing  his  escape  from  the  influence  of  the 
deadly  vomito*  He  has  entered  the  tierra  tem- 
plada,  or  temperate  region,  whose  character  re- 
sembles that  of  the  temperate  zone  of  the  globe. 
The  features  of  the  scenery  become  grand,  and 
even  terrible.  His  road  sweeps  along  the  base  of 
mighty  mountains,  once  gleaming  with  volcanic 
fires,  and  still  resplendent  in  their  mantles  of  snow, 
which  serve  as  beacons  to  the  mariner,  for  many  a 
league  at  sea.  All  around  he  beholds  traces  of  their 
ancient  combustion,  as  his  road  passes  along  vast 
tracts  of  lava,  bristling  in  the  innumerable  fantas- 
tic forms  into  which  the  fiery  torrent  has  been 
thrown  by  the  obstacles  in  its  career.  Perhaps,  at 
the  same  moment,  as  he  casts  his  eye  down  some 
steep  slope,  or  almost  unfathomable  ravine,  on  the 
margin  of  the  road,  he  sees  their  depths  glowing 
with  the  rich  blooms  and  enamelled  vegetation  of 
the  tropics.  Such  are  the  singular  contrasts  pre- 

4  The  traveller  who  enters  the  country  across  the  dreary  sand-hills 
of  Vera  Cruz  will  hardly  recognize  the  truth  of  the  above  descrip- 
tion. He  must  look  for  it  in  other  parts  of  the  tierra  caliente.  Of 
recent  tourists,  no  one  has  given  a  more  gorgeous  picture  of  the 
impressions  made  on  his  senses  by  these  sunny  regions  than  Latrobe, 
who  came  on  shore  at  Tampico  (Rambler  in  Mexico  (New  York, 
1836),  chap.  1),— a  traveller,  it  may  be  added,  whose  descriptions  of 
man  and  nature  in  our  own  country,  where  we  can  judge,  are  distin- 
guished by  a  sobriety  and  fairness  that  entitle  him  to  confidence  in 
his  delineation  of  other  countries. 


8  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

sented,  at  the  same  time,  to  the  senses,  in  this  pic- 
turesque region! 

Still  pressing  upwards,  the  traveller  mounts  into 
other  climates,  favorable  to  other  kinds  of  cultiva- 
tion. The  yellow  maize,  or  Indian  corn,  as  we  usu- 
ally call  it,  has  continued  to  follow  him  up  from  the 
lowest  level;  but  he  now  first  sees  fields  of  wheat, 
and  the  other  European  grains  brought  into  the 
country  by  the  Conquerors.  Mingled  with  them, 
he  views  the  plantations  of  the  aloe  or  maguey 
(agave  Americana),  applied  to  such  various  and 
important  uses  by  the  Aztecs.  The  oaks  now  ac- 
quire a  sturdier  growth,  and  the  dark  forests  of 
pine  announce  that  he  has  entered  the  tierra  fria, 
or  cold  region, — the  third  and  last  of  the  great 
natural  terraces  into  which  the  country  is  divided. 
When  he  has  climbed  to  the  height  of  between 
seven  and  eight  thousand  feet,  the  weary  traveller 
sets  his  foot  on  the  summit  of  the  Cordillera  of  the 
Andes, — the  colossal  range  that,  after  traversing 
South  America  and  the  Isthmus  of  Darien,  spreads 
out,  as  it  enters  Mexico,  into  that  vast  sheet  of 
table-land  which  maintains  an  elevation  of  more 
than  six  thousand  feet,  for  the  distance  of  nearly 
two  hundred  leagues,  until  it  gradually  declines  in 
the  higher  latitudes  of  the  north.5 

Across  this  mountain  rampart  a  chain  of  vol- 

'  This  long  extent  of  country  varies  in  elevation  from  5570  to  8856 
feet,— equal  to  the  height  of  the  passes  of  Mount  Cenis  or  the  Great 
St.  Bernard.  The  table-land  stretches  still  three  hundred  leagues 
farther,  before  it  declines  to  a  level  of  2624  feet.  Humboldt,  Essai 
politique,  torn.  i.  pp.  157,  255.* 

*  ["The  Continental  range  of  Humboldt  does  not  exist.  The  An- 
dean system  ends  in  northern  Colombia.  The  Rocky  Mountain  system 


CLIMATE   AND    PRODUCTS  9 

canic  hills  stretches,  in  a  westerly  direction,  of  still 
more  stupendous  dimensions,  forming,  indeed, 
some  of  the  highest  land  on  the  globe.  Their 
peaks,  entering  the  limits  of  perpetual  snow,  dif- 
fuse a  grateful  coolness  over  the  elevated  plateaus 
below;  for  these  last,  though  termed  "  cold,"  enjoy 
a  climate  the  mean  temperature  of  which  is  not 
lower  than  that  of  the  central  parts  of  Italy.6  The 
air  is  exceedingly  dry;  the  soil,  though  naturally 
good,  is  rarely  clothed  with  the  luxuriant  vegeta- 
tion of  the  lower  regions.  It  frequently,  indeed, 
has  a  parched  and  barren  aspect,  owing  partly  to 
the  greater  evaporation  which  takes  place  on  these 
lofty  plains,  through  the  diminished  pressure  of 
the  atmosphere,  and  partly,  no  doubt,  to  the  want 
of  trees  to  shelter  the  soil  from  the  fierce  influence 
of  the  summer  sun.  In  the  time  of  the  Aztecs,  the 
table-land  was  thickly  covered  with  larch,  oak,  cy- 
press, and  other  forest  trees,  the  extraordinary  di- 
mensions of  some  of  which,  remaining  to  the  pres- 
ent day,  show  that  the  curse  of  barrenness  in  later 
times  is  chargeable  more  on  man  than  on  nature. 

'About  62°  Fahrenheit,  or  17°  Re'aumur.  (Humboldt,  Essai  po- 
litique,  torn.  i.  p.  273.)  The  more  elevated  plateaus  of  the  table- 
land, as  the  Valley  of  Toluca,  about  8500  feet  above  the  sea,  have  a 
stern  climate,  in  which  the  thermometer,  during  a  great  part  of  the 
day,  rarely  rises  beyond  45°  F.  Idem  (loc.  cit.),  and  Malte-Brun 
(Universal  Geography,  Eng.  trans.,  book  83),  who  is,  indeed,  in  this 
part  of  his  work,  but  an  echo  of  the  former  writer. 

ends  in  the  plateau  south  of  the  City  of  Mexico.  The  system  be- 
tween lies  across  the  trend  of  the  other  two  systems  and  differs  from 
them  in  origin.  It  belongs  to  the  same  chain  which  crops  up  in  the 
Antilles,  i.e.,  to  the  system  appearing  in  Martinique  and  Santa 
Lucia."— Robert  T.  Hill,  of  U.  S.  Geological  Survey,  in  Century 
Magazine,  July,  1902.— M.] 


10  CONQUEST   OF   MEXICO 

Indeed,  the  early  Spaniards  made  as  indiscriminate 
war  on  the  forest  as  did  our  Puritan  ancestors, 
though  with  much  less  reason.  After  once  con- 
quering the  country,  they  had  no  lurking  ambush 
to  fear  from  the  submissive,  semi-civilized  Indian, 
and  were  not,  like  our  forefathers,  obliged  to  keep 
watch  and  ward  for  a  century.  This  spoliation  of 
the  ground,  however,  is  said  to  have  been  pleasing 
to  their  imaginations,  as  it  reminded  them  of  the 
plains  of  their  own  Castile, — the  table-land  of  Eu- 
rope ; 7  where  the  nakedness  of  the  landscape  forms 
the  burden  of  every  traveller's  lament  who  visits 
that  country. 

Midway  across  the  continent,  somewhat  nearer 
the  Pacific  than  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  at  an  elevation 
of  nearly  seven  thousand  five  hundred  feet,  is  the 
celebrated  Valley  of  Mexico.  It  is  of  an  oval  form, 
about  sixty-seven  leagues  in  circumference,8  and 
is  encompassed  by  a  towering  rampart  of  porphy- 
ritic  rock,  which  nature  seems  to  have  provided, 
though  ineffectually,  to  protect  it  from  invasion. 

The  soil,  once  carpeted  with  a  beautiful  verdure 

'The  elevation  of  the  Castiles,  according  to  the  authority  repeat- 
edly cited,  is  about  350  toises,  or  2100  feet  above  the  ocean.  (Hum- 
boldt's  Dissertation,  apud  Laborde,  Itindraire  descriptif  de  1'Es- 
pagne  (Paris,  1827),  torn.  i.  p.  5.)  It  is  rare  to  find  plains  in  Europe 
of  so  great  a  height. 

'Archbishop  Lorenzana  estimates  the  circuit  of  the  Valley  at 
ninety  leagues,  correcting  at  the  same  time  the  statement  of  Cortes, 
which  puts  it  at  seventy,  very  near  the  truth,  as  appears  from  the 
result  of  M.  de  Humboldt's  measurement,  cited  in  the  text.  Its 
length  is  about  eighteen  leagues,  by  twelve  and  a  half  in  breadth. 
(Humboldt,  Essai  politique,  torn.  ii.  p.  29.— Lorenzana,  Hist,  de 
Nueva-Espana,  p.  101.)  Humboldt's  map  of  the  Valley  of  Mexico 
forms  the  third  in  his  "  Atlas  gdographique  et  physique,"  and,  like 
all  the  others  in  the  collection,  will  be  found  of  inestimable  value 
to  the  traveller,  the  geologist,  and  the  historian. 


PRIMITIVE    RACES  11 

and  thickly  sprinkled  with  stately  trees,  is  often 
bare,  and,  in  many  places,  white  with  the  incrusta- 
tion of  salts  caused  by  the  draining  of  the  waters. 
Five  lakes  are  spread  over  the  Valley,  occupying 
one-tenth  of  its  surface.9  On  the  opposite  borders 
of  the  largest  of  these  basins,  much  shrunk  in  its 
dimensions  10  since  the  days  of  the  Aztecs,  stood  the 
cities  of  Mexico  and  Tezcuco,  the  capitals  of  the 
two  most  potent  and  flourishing  states  of  Anahuac, 
whose  history,  with  that  of  the  mysterious  races 
that  preceded  them  in  the  country,*  exhibits  some 

'  Humboldt,  Essai  politique,  torn.  ii.  pp.  29,  44-49.— Malte-B run, 
book  85.  This  latter  geographer  assigns  only  6700  feet  for  the  level 
of  the  Valley,  contradicting  himself  (comp.  book  83),  or  rather 
Humboldt,  to  whose  pages  he  helps  himself  plenis  manibus,  somewhat 
too  liberally,  indeed,  for  the  scanty  references  at  the  bottom  of  his 
page. 

10  Torquemada  accounts  in  part  for  this  diminution  by  supposing 
that,  as  God  permitted  the  waters,  which  once  covered  the  whole 
earth,  to  subside  after  mankind  had  been  nearly  exterminated  for 
their  iniquities,  so  he  allowed  the  waters  of  the  Mexican  lake  to  sub- 
side, in  token  of  good  will  and  reconciliation,  after  the  idolatrous 
races  of  the  land  had  been  destroyed  by  the  Spaniards!  (Mo- 
narchfa  Indiana  (Madrid,  1723),  torn.  i.  p.  309.)  Quite  as  probable, 
if  not  as  orthodox,  an  explanation,  may  be  found  in  the  active 
evaporation  of  these  upper  regions,  and  in  the  fact  of  an  immense 
drain  having  been  constructed,  during  the  lifetime  of  the  good  father, 
to  reduce  the  waters  of  the  principal  lake  and  'protect  the  capital 
from  inundation. 

*  [It  is  perhaps  to  be  regretted  that,  instead  of  a  meagre  notice  of 
the  Toltecs  with  a  passing  allusion  to  earlier  races,  the  author  did  not 
give  a  separate  chapter  to  the  history  of  the  country  during  the  ages 
preceding  the  Conquest.  That  history,  it  is  true,  resting  on  tradition 
or  on  questionable  records  mingled  with  legendary  and  mythological 
relations,  is  full  of  obscurity  and  doubt.  But  whatever  its  uncer- 
tainty in  regard  to  details,  it  presents  a  mass  of  general  facts  sup- 
ported by  analogy  and  by  the  stronger  evidence  of  language  and  of 
the  existing  relics  of  the  past.  The  number  and  diversity  of  the 
architectural  and  other  remains  found  on  the  soil  of  Mexico  and  the 
adjacent  regions,  and  the  immense  variety  of  the  spoken  languages, 
with  the  vestiges  of  others  that  have  passed  out  of  use,— all  per- 


12  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

of  the  nearest  approaches  to  civilization  to  be  met 
with  anciently  on  the  North  American  continent. 
Of  these  races  the  most  conspicuous  were  the  Tol- 
tecs.  Advancing  from  a  northerly  direction,  but 
from  what  region  is  uncertain,*  they  entered  the 

haps  derived  originally  from  a  common  stock,  but  exhibiting  differ- 
ent stages  of  development  or  decay,  and  capable  of  being  classified 
into  several  distinct  families,— point  to  conclusions  that  render  the 
subject  one  of  the  most  attractive  fields  for  critical  investigation. 
These  concurrent  testimonies  leave  no  doubt  that,  like  portions  of 
the  Old  World  similarly  favored  in  regard  to  climate,  soil,  and 
situation,  the  central  regions  of  America  were  occupied  from  a  very 
remote  period  by  nations  which  made  distinct  advances  in  civiliza- 
tion, and  passed  through  a  cycle  of  revolutions  comparable  to  that 
of  which  the  Valley  of  the  Euphrates  and  other  parts  of  Asia  were 
anciently  the  scene.  The  useful  arts  were  known  and  practised, 
wealth  was  accumulated,  social  systems  exhibiting  a  certain  refine- 
ment and  a  peculiar  complexity  were  organized,  states  were  estab- 
lished which  flourished,  decayed, — either  from  the  effects  of  isola- 
tion or  an  inherent  incapacity  for  continuance, — and  were  finally 
overthrown  by  invaders,  by  whom  the  experiment  was  repeated, 
though  not  always  with  equal  success.  Some  of  these  nations  passed 
away,  leaving  no  trace  but  their  names ;  others,  whose  very  names  are 
unknown,  left  mysterious  monuments  imbedded  in  the  soil  or  records 
that  are  undecipherable.  Of  those  that  still  remain,  comprising 
about  a  dozen  distinct  races  speaking  a  hundred  and  twenty  different 
dialects,  we  have  the  traditions  preserved  either  in  their  own  records 
or  in  those  of  the  Spanish  discoverers.  The  task  of  constructing 
out  of  these  materials  a  history  shorn  of  the  adornments  of  mythol- 
ogy and  fable  has  been  attempted  by  the  Abb£  Brasseur  de  Bour- 
bourg  (Histoire  des  Nations  civilise'es  du  Mexique  et  de  PAmdrique- 
Centrale,  durant  les  Siecles  ante>ieurs  a  Christophe  Colomb,  4  vols., 
Paris,  1857-59),  and,  whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  method  he  has 
pursued,  his  research  is  unquestionable,  and  his  views — very  differ- 
ent from  those  which  he  has  since  put  forth— merit  attention.  A 
more  practical  effort  has  been  made  by  Don  Manuel  Orozco  y  Berra 
to  trace  the  order,  diffusion,  and  relations  of  the  various  races  by  the 
differences,  the  intermixtures,  and  the  geographical  limits  of  their 
languages.  (Geograffa  de  las  Lenguas  y  Carta  etnogrdfica  de 
Mexico,  precedidas  de  un  Ensayo  de  Clasificacion  de  las  mismas  Len- 
guas y  de  Apuntes  para  las  Inmigraciones  de  las  Tribus,  Mexico, 
1864.)— K.] 

*  [The  uncertainty  is  not  diminished  by  our  being  told  that  Tollan, 
Tullan,  Tulan,  or  Tula  (called  also  Tlapallan  and  Huehuetlapallan) 


PRIMITIVE    RACES  13 

territory  of  Anahuac,11  probably  before  the  close 
of  the  seventh  century.  Of  course,  little  can  be 

11  Anahuac,  according  to  Humboldt,  comprehended  only  the  coun- 
try between  the  fourteenth  and  twenty-first  degrees  of  north  lati- 

was  the  original  seat  of  this  people,  since  we  are  still  left  in  doubt 
whether  the  country  so  designated— like  Aztlan,  the  supposed  point 
of  departure  of  the  Aztecs — is  to  be  located  in  New  Mexico,  Cali- 
fornia, the  northwestern  extremity  of  America,  or  in  Asia.  M.  Bras- 
seur  de  Bourbourg  (whose  later  speculations,  in  which  the  name 
plays  a  conspicuous  part,  will  be  noticed  more  appropriately  in  the 
Appendix)  found  in  the  Quiche  manuscripts  mention  of  four  Tol- 
lans,  one  of  them  "  in  the  east,  on  the  other  side  of  the  sea."  "  But," 
he  adds,  "in  what  part  of  the  world  is  it  to  be  placed?  C'est  Id 
encore  une  question  bien  difficile  a  resoudre."  (Hist,  des  Nations 
civilisees  du  Mexique,  torn.  i.  pp.  167,  168.)  Nor  will  the  etymology 
much  help  us.  According  to  Buschmann,  Tollan  is  derived  from 
tolin,  reed,  and  signifies  "  place  of  reeds," — "  Ort  der  Binsen,  Platz 
mit  Binsen  gewachsen,  juncetum."  (Uber  die  aztekischen  Ortsnamen, 
S.  682.)  He  refers,  however,  to  a  different  derivation,  suggested 
by  a  writer  who  has  made  it  the  basis  of  one  of  those  extraordinary 
theories  which  are  propounded  from  time  to  time,  to  account  for  the 
first  diffusion  of  the  human  race,  and  more  particularly  for  the 
original  settlement  of  America.  According  to  this  theory,  the  cradle 
of  mankind  was  the  Himalayan  Mountains.  "  But  the  collective 
name  of  these  lofty  regions  was  very  anciently  designated  by  ap- 
pellations the  roots  of  which  were  Tal,  Tol,  Tul,  meaning  tall,  high, 
...  as  it  does  yet  in  many  languages,  the  English,  Chinese,  and 
Arabic  for  instance.  Such  were  Tolo,  Thala,  Talaha,  Tulan,  etc., 
in  the  old  Sanscrit  and  primitive  languages  of  Asia.  Whence  came 
the  Asiatic  Atlas  and  also  the  Atlantes  of  the  Greeks,  who,  spreading 
through  the  world  westerly,  gave  these  names  to  many  other  places 
and  notions.  .  .  .  The  Talas  or  Atlantes  occupied  or  conquered 
Europe  and  Africa,  nay,  went  to  America  in  very  early  times.  .  .  . 
In  Greece  they  became  Atalantes,  Talautians  of  Epirus,  Aetoliang. 
.  .  .  They  gave  name  to  Italy,  Aitala  meaning  land  eminent,  .  .  . 
to  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and  to  the  great  Atlantis,  or  America,  called 
in  the  Hindu  books  Atala  or  Tala-tolo,  the  fourth  world,  where 
dwelt  giants  or  powerful  men.  .  .  .  America  is  also  filled  with  their 
names  and  deeds  from  Mexico  and  Carolina  to  Peru:  the  Tol-tecas, 
people  of  Tol,  and  Aztlan,  Otolum  near  Palenque,  many  towns  of 
Tula  and  Tolu;  the  Talas  of  Michuacan,  the  Matalans,  Atalans,  Tu- 
lukis,  etc.,  of  North  America."  (C.  S.  Rafinesque,  Atlantic  Journal, 
Philadelphia,  1832-33.)  It  need  hardly  be  added  that  Tula  has  also 
been  identified  with  the  equally  unknown  and  long-sought-for  ultima 


14  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

gleaned  with  certainty  respecting  a  people  whose 
written  records  have  perished,  and  who  are  known 
to  us  only  through  the  traditionary  legends  of  the 
nations  that  succeeded  them.12  By  the  general 
agreement  of  these,  however,  the  Toltecs  were  well 

tude.  (Essai  politique,  torn.  i.  p.  197.)  According  to  Clavigero,  it 
included  nearly  all  since  known  as  New  Spain.  (Stor.  del  Messico, 
torn.  i.  p.  27.)  Veytia  uses  it,  also,  as  synonymous  with  New  Spain. 
(Historia  antigua  de  Mejico  (Mejico,  1836),  torn.  i.  cap.  12.)  The 
first  of  these  writers  probably  allows  too  little,  as  the  latter  do  too 
much,  for  its  boundaries.  Ixtlilxochitl  says  it  extended  four  hundred 
leagues  south  of  the  Otomi  country.  (Hist.  Chichimeca,  MS.,  cap. 
73.)  The  word  Anahuac  signifies  near  the  water.  It  was,  probably, 
first  applied  to  the  country  around  the  lakes  in  the  Mexican  Valley, 
and  gradually  extended  to  the  remoter  regions  occupied  by  the  Az- 
tecs and  the  other  semi-civilized  races.  Or  possibly  the  name  may 
have  been  intended,  as  Veytia  suggests  (Hist,  antig.,  lib  1,  cap.  1), 
to  denote  the  land  between  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific.* 
12  Clavigero  talks  of  Boturini's  having  written  "  on  the  faith  of  the 
Toltec  historians."  (Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  i.  p.  128.)  But  that 
scholar  does  not  pretend  to  have  ever  met  with  a  Toltec  manuscript 
himself,  and  had  heard  of  only  one  in  the  possession  of  Ixtlilxochitl. 
(See  his  Idea  de  una  nueva  Historia  general  de  la  America  Sep- 
tentrional (Madrid,  1746),  p.  110.)  The  latter  writer  tells  us  that 
his  account  of  the  Toltec  and  Chichimec  races  was  "  derived  from 
interpretation"  (probably  of  the  Tezcucan  paintings),  "and  from 

Thule,  with  the  simplifying  effect  of  bringing  two  streams  of  inquiry 
into  one  channel.  Meanwhile,  by  a  different  kind  of  criticism,  the 
whole  question  is  dissipated  into  thin  air,  Tollan  and  Azllan  being 
resolved  into  names  of  mere  mythical  import,  and  the  regions  thus 
designated  transferred  from  the  earth  to  the  bright  domain  of  the 
sky,  from  which  the  descriptions  in  the  legends  appear  to  have  been 
borrowed.  See  Brinton,  Myths  of  the  New  World,  pp.  88,  89.— K.] 
*  [This  suggestion  of  Veytia  is  unworthy  of  attention,— refuted  by 
the  actual  application  and  appropriateness  of  the  name,  and  by  the 
state  of  geographical  knowledge  and  ideas  at  the  period  when  it  must 
have  originated.  A  modern  traveller,  describing  the  appearance  of 
the  great  plains  as  seen  from  the  summit  of  Popocatepetl,  remarks, 
"  Even  now  that  the  lakes  have  shrunk  to  a  fraction  of  their  former 
size,  we  could  see  the  fitness  of  the  name  given  in  old  times  to  the 
Valley  of  Mexico,  Anahuac,  that  is,  By  the  water-side."  Tylor,  Ana- 
huac; or  Mexico  and  the  Mexicans,  Ancient  and  Modern  (London, 
1861),  p.  270.— K.] 


PRIMITIVE   RACES  15 

instructed  in  agriculture  and  many  of  the  most 
useful  mechanic  arts;  were  nice  workers  of  met- 
als; invented  the  complex  arrangement  of  time 
adopted  by  the  Aztecs ;  and,  in  short,  were  the  true 
fountains  of  the  civilization  which  distinguished 
this  part  of  the  continent  in  later  times.13  They 
established  their  capital  at  Tula,  north  of  the 
Mexican  Valley,  and  the  remains  of  extensive 
buildings  were  to  be  discerned  there  at  the  time  of 
the  Conquest.14  The  noble  ruins  of  religious  and 
other  edifices,  still  to  be  seen  in  various  parts  of 
New  Spain,  are  referred  to  this  people,  whose 
name,  Toltec,  has  passed  into  a  synonym  for  archi- 
tect.15 Their  shadowy  history  reminds  us  of  those 
primitive  races  who  preceded  the  ancient  Egyp- 

the  traditions  of  old  men;"  poor  authority  for  events  which  had 
passed  centuries  before.  Indeed,  he  acknowledges  that  their  nar- 
ratives were  so  full  of  absurdity  and  falsehood  that  he  was  obliged 
to  reject  nine-tenths  of  them.  (See  his  Relaciones,  MS.,  no.  5.) 
The  cause  of  truth  would  not  have  suffered  much,  probably,  if  he 
had  rejected  nine-tenths  of  the  remainder.* 

13  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  2. — Idem,  Relaciones,  MS., 
no.  2. — Sahagun,  Historia  general   de  las  Cosas  de   Nueva-Espana 
(Mexico,  1829),  lib.  10,  cap.  29.— Veytia,  Hist,  antig.,  lib.  1,  cap.  27. 

14  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  10,  cap.  29. 

15  Sahagun,  ubi  supra. — Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  1,  cap.  14. 

*  [  Ixtlilxochitl's  language  does  not  necessarily  imply  that  he  con- 
sidered any  of  the  relations  he  had  received  as  false  or  absurd,  nor 
does  he  say  that  he  had  rejected  nine-tenths  of  them.  What  he  has 
written  is,  he  asserts,  "  the  true  history  of  the  Toltecs,"  though  it 
does  not  amount  to  nine-tenths  of  the  whole  ("de  lo  que  ello  fu6"), 
i.e.,  of  what  had  been  contained  in  the  original  records;  these  records 
having  perished,  and  he  himself  having  abridged  the  accounts  he  had 
been  able  to  obtain  of  their  contents,  as  well  for  the  sake  of  brevity 
as  because  of  the  marvellous  character  of  the  relations  ("son  tan 
estranas  las  cosas  y  tan  peregrinas  y  nunca  oidas  " ) .  The  sources 
of  his  information  are  also  incorrectly  described;  but  a  further 
mention  of  them  will  be  found  in  a  note  at  the  end  of  this 
Book.— K.] 


16  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

tians  in  the  march  of  civilization;  fragments  of 
whose  monuments,  as  they  are  seen  at  this  day,  in- 
corporated with  the  buildings  of  the  Egyptians 
themselves,  give  to  these  latter  the  appearance  of 
almost  modern  constructions.16 

After  a  period  of  four  centuries,  the  Toltecs, 
who  had  extended  their  sway  over  the  remotest  bor- 
ders of  Anahuac,17  having  been  greatly  reduced,  it 
is  said,  by  famine,  pestilence,  and  unsuccessful 
wars,  disappeared  from  the  land  as  silently  and 
mysteriously  as  they  had  entered  it.  A  few  of  them 
still  lingered  behind,  but  much  the  greater  num- 
ber, probably,  spread  over  the  region  of  Central 
America  and  the  neighboring  isles;  and  the  trav- 
eller now  speculates  on  the  majestic  ruins  of  Mitla 
and  Palenque,  as  possibly  the  work  of  this  extraor- 
dinary people.18  * 

After  the  lapse  of  another  hundred  years,  a  nu- 
merous and  rude  tribe,  called  the  Chichimecs,  en- 

18  Description  de  1'figypte  (Paris,  1890),  Antiquites,  torn.  i.  cap.  1. 
Veytia  has  traced  the  migrations  of  the  Toltecs  with  sufficient  in- 
dustry, scarcely  rewarded  by  the  necessarily  doubtful  credit  of  the 
results.  Hist,  antig.,  lib.  2,  cap.  21-33. 

17  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  73. 

"Veytia,  Hist,  antig.,  lib.  1,  cap.  33.— Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich., 
MS.,  cap  3.— Idem,  Relaciones,  MS.,  nos.  4,  5.— Father  Torquemada 
—perhaps  misinterpreting  the  Tezcucan  hieroglyphics— has  ac- 
counted for  this  mysterious  disappearance  of  the  Toltecs  by  such 
fee-faw-fum  stories  of  giants  and  demons  as  show  his  appetite  for 
the  marvellous  was  fully  equal  to  that  of  any  of  his  calling.  See  his 
Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  1,  cap.  14. 

h  [This  supposition,  neither  adopted  nor  rejected  in  the  text,  was, 
as  Mr.  Tylor  remarks,  "quite  tenable  at  the  time  that  Prescott 
wrote,"  being  founded  on  the  statements  of  early  writers  and  par- 
tially supported  by  the  conclusions  of  Mr.  Stephens,  who  believed 
that  the  ruined  cities  of  Oaxaca,  Chiapas,  Yucatan,  and  Guatemala 


PRIMITIVE   RACES  17 

tered  the  deserted  country  from  the  regions  of  the 
far  Northwest.  They  were  speedily  followed  by 
other  races,  of  higher  civilization,  perhaps  of  the 
same  family  with  the  Toltecs,  whose  language 
they  appear  to  have  spoken.  The  most  noted  of 
these  were  the  Aztecs  or  Mexicans,  and  the  Acol- 
huans.  The  latter,  better  known  in  later  times  by 
the  name  of  Tezcucans,  from  their  capital,  Tez- 

dated  from  a  comparatively  recent  period,  and  were  still  flourishing 
at  the  time  of  the  Spanish  Conquest;  and  that  their  inhabitants,  the 
ancestors,  as  he  contends,  of  the  degenerate  race  that  now  occupies 
the  soil,  were  of  the  same  stock  and  spoke  the  same  language  as 
the  Mexicans.  (Incidents  of  Travel  in  Central  America,  Chiapas, 
and  Yucatan.)  But  these  opinions  have  been  refuted  by  later  inves- 
tigators. Orozco  y  Berra,  in  an  elaborate  and  satisfactory  examination 
of  the  question,  discusses  all  the  evidence  relating  to  it,  compares  the 
remains  in  the  southern  provinces  with  those  of  the  Valley  of  Mex- 
ico, points  out  the  essential  differences  in  the  architecture,  sculpture, 
and  inscriptions,  and  arrives  at  the  conclusion  that  there  was  "  no 
point  of  contact  or  resemblance  "  between  the  two  civilizations.  He 
considers  that  of  the  southern  provinces,  though  of  a  far  higher 
grade,  as  long  anterior  in  time  to  the  Toltec  domination, — the 
work  of  a  people  which  had  passed  away,  under  the  assaults  of  bar- 
barism, at  a  period  prior  to  all  traditions,  leaving  no  name  and  no 
trace  of  their  existence  save  those  monuments  which,  neglected  and 
forgotten  by  their  successors,  have  become  the  riddle  of  later  genera- 
tions.* Geograffa  de  las  Lenguas  de  Mexico,  pp.  122-131.  See  also 
Tylor,  Anahuac,  p.  189,  et  seq.— K.] 

*  [Charnay  (Ancient  Cities  of  the  New  World)  holds  that  both 
Mitla  and  Palenque  are  of  Toltec  origin.  He  has  no  doubt  whatso- 
ever concerning  Palenque.  This  he  thinks  was  a  Holy  City  whose 
inhabitants  dispersed  at  the  first  alarm  of  the  Conquest  (p.  245). 
(See,  further,  p.  246.)  Dr.  Brinton  holds  that  Father  Duran,  His- 
toria  de  las  Indias  de  Nueva  Espafia,  Tezozomoc,  Cronfca  Mexicana, 
and  the  Codex  Ramirez  identify  the  Toltecs  with  the  Aztecs.  As 
John  Fiske  puts  it,  "  it  is  well  to  beware,  however,  about  meddling 
much  with  these  Toltecs."  Mr.  Fiske  urges  like  caution  concerning 
the  Chichimecs.  Bandelier  (Archaeological  Tour,  p.  192)  points  out 
that  Ixtlilxochitl,  the  historian  of  the  Chichimecs,  "wrote  for  an 
interested  object,  and  with  a  view  of  sustaining  tribal  claims  in  the 
eyes  of  the  Spanish  government."— M.] 


18  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

cuco,19  on  the  eastern  border  of  the  Mexican  lake, 
were  peculiarly  fitted,  by  their  comparatively  mild 
religion  and  manners,  for  receiving  the  tincture 
of  civilization  which  could  be  derived  from  the 
few  Toltecs  that  still  remained  in  the  country.* 
This,  in  their  turn,  they  communicated  to  the  bar- 
barous Chichimecs,  a  large  portion  of  whom  be- 
came amalgamated  with  the  new  settlers  as  one 
nation.20 

Availing  themselves  of  the  strength  derived,  not 

a  Tezcuco  signifies  "  place  of  detention ; "  as  several  of  the  tribes 
who  successively  occupied  Anahuac  were  said  to  have  halted  some 
time  at  the  spot.  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  lO.f 

m  The  historian  speaks,  in  one  page,  of  the  Chichimecs  burrowing 
in  caves,  or,  at  best,  in  cabins  of  straw,  and,  in  the  next,  talks  gravely 

*  [It  is  difficult  to  reconcile  the  two  statements  that  the  Toltecs 
"  were  the  true  fountains  of  the  civilization  which  distinguished  this 
part  of  the  continent  in  later  times,"  and  that  they  "  disappeared 
from  the  land  as  silently  and  mysteriously  as  they  had  entered  it," 
leaving  an  interval  of  more  than  a  century  before  the  appearance 
of  the  Aztecs  and  the  Acolhuans.  If  the  latter  received  from  the 
former  the  knowledge  of  those  arts  in  which  they  speedily  rivalled 
them,  it  must  have  been  by  more  direct  communication  and  trans- 
mission than  can  be  inferred  from  the  mention  of  a  small  fraction 
of  the  Toltec  population  as  remaining  in  the  country, — a  fact  which 
has  itself  the  appearance  of  having  been  invented  to  meet  the  dif- 
ficulty. Orozco  y  Berra  compares  this  transitional  period  with  that 
which  followed  the  overthrow  of  the  Roman  Empire;  but  if  in  the 
former  case  there  was,  in  his  own  words,  "  no  conquest,  but  only 
an  occupation,  no  war  because  no  one  to  contend  with,"  the  analogy 
altogether  fails.  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  reduces  the  interval  be- 
tween the  departure  of  the  Toltecs  and  the  arrival  of  the  Chichi- 
mecs to  a  few  years,  and  supposes  that  a  considerable  number  of  the 
former  inhabitants  remained  scattered  through  the  Valley.  If,  how- 
ever, it  be  allowable  to  substitute  probabilities  for  doubtful  relations, 
it  is  an  easier  solution  to  believe  that  no  interval  occurred  and  that 
no  emigration  took  place.— K.] 

t  ["  tJber  die  Etymologic  lasst  sich  nichts  sicheres  sagen,"  says 
Buschmann,  "  so  zuversichtlich  auch  Prescott,  wohl  nach  Ixtlilxochitl, 
den  Namen  durch  place  of  detention  iibersetzt."  Uber  die  aztek- 
ischen  Ortsnamen,  S.  697.— K.] 


PRIMITIVE    RACES  19 

only  from  this  increase  of  numbers,  but  from  their 
own  superior  refinement,  the  Acolhuans  gradually 
stretched  their  empire  over  the  ruder  tribes  in  the 
north;  while  their  capital  was  filled  with  a  numer- 
ous population,  busily  employed  in  many  of  the 
more  useful  and  even  elegant  arts  of  a  civilized 
community.  In  this  palmy  state,  they  were  sud- 
denly assaulted  by  a  warlike  neighbor,  the  Te- 
panecs,  their  own  kindred,  and  inhabitants  of  the 
same  valley  as  themselves.  Their  provinces  were 
overrun,  their  armies  beaten,  their  king  assassi- 
nated, and  the  flourishing  city  of  Tezcuco  became 
the  prize  of  the  victor.  From  this  abject  condition 
the  uncommon  abilities  of  the  young  prince,  Neza- 
hualcoyotl,  the  rightful  heir  to  the  crown,  backed 
by  the  efficient  aid  of  his  Mexican  allies,  at  length 
redeemed  the  state,  and  opened  to  it  a  new  career 
of  prosperity,  even  more  brilliant  than  the  for- 


mer.21 


The  Mexicans,  with  whom  our  history  is  princi- 
pally concerned,  came  also,  as  we  have  seen,  from 
the  remote  regions  of  the  North, — the  populous 
hive  of  nations  in  the  New  World,  as  it  has  been  in 


of  their  senoras,  infantas,  and  caballeros!*  Ibid.,  cap.  9,  et  seq. — 
Veytia,  Hist,  antig.,  lib.  2,  cap.  1-10. — Camargo,  Historia  de  Tlas- 
cala,  MS. 

21  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  9-20.— Veytia,  Hist,  antig., 
lib.  2,  cap.  29-54. 

*  [The  confusion  arises  from  the  fact  that  the  name  of  Chichimecs, 
originally  that  of  a  single  tribe,  and  subsequently  of  its  many  off- 
shoots, was  also  used,  like  the  term  barbarians  in  mediaeval  Italy,  to 
designate  successive  hordes,  of  whatever  race,  being  sometimes  em- 
ployed as  a  mark  of  contempt,  and  sometimes  assumed  as  an  honor- 
able appellation.  It  is  found  applied  to  the  Otomies,  the  Toltecs, 
and  many  other  races.— K.] 


20  CONQUEST   OF  MEXICO 

the  Old.*  They  arrived  on  the  borders  of  Anahuac 
towards  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
some  time  after  the  occupation  of  the  land  by  the 
kindred  races.  For  a  long  time  they  did  not  estab- 
lish themselves  in  any  permanent  residence,  but 
continued  shifting  their  quarters  to  different  parts 
of  the  Mexican  Valley,  enduring  all  the  casualties 
and  hardships  of  a  migratory  life.  On  one  occa- 
sion they  were  enslaved  by  a  more  powerful  tribe ; 
but  their  ferocity  soon  made  them  formidable  to 
their  masters.22  After  a  series  of  wanderings  and 
adventures  which  need  not  shrink  from  comparison 

M  These  were  the  Colhuans,  not  Acolhuans,  with  whom  Humboldt, 
and  most  writers  since,  have  confounded  them.f  See  his  Essai  poli- 
tique,  torn.  i.  p.  414;  ii.  p.  37. 

*  [Some  recent  writers  have  contended  that  Mexico  must  have  been 
peopled  originally  by  migrations  from  the  South.  Aztec  names  and 
communities,  and  traces  of  Toltec  settlements  long  anterior  to  the 
occupation  of  Anahuac  by  the  same  people,  are  found  in  several 
parts  of  Central  America.  The  most  primitive  traditions,  as  well 
as  the  remains  of  the  earliest  civilization,  belong  also  to  the  same 
quarter.  This  latter  fact,  however,  is  considered  by  Orozco  y  Berra 
as  itself  an  evidence  of  the  migrations  having  been  from  the  North, 
the  first  comers  having  been  naturally  attracted  southward  by  a 
warmer  climate  and  more  fertile  soil,  or  pushed  onward  in  this  di- 
rection by  successive  invasions  from  behind.  Contradictory  infer- 
ences have  in  like  manner  been  drawn  from  the  existence  of  Aztec 
remains  and  settlements  in  New  Mexico  and  Arizona.  All  that  can 
be  said  with  confidence  is  that  neither  of  the  opposing  theories  rests 
on  a  secure  and  sufficient  basis. — K.] 

t  [Humboldt,  strictly  speaking,  has  not  confounded  the  Colhuans 
with  the  Acolhuans,  but  has  written,  in  the  places  cited,  the  latter 
name  for  the  former.  "  Letzterer  Name,"  says  Buschmann,  "  ist 
der  erstere  mit  dem  Zusatz  von  all  Wasser,— Wasser  Colhuer." 
(Uber  die  aztekischen  Ortsnamen,  S.  690.)  Yet  the  two  tribes,  ac- 
cording to  the  same  authority,  were  entirely  distinct,  one  alone— 
though  which,  he  is  unable  to  determine— being  of  the  Nahuatlac 
race.  Orozco  y  Berra,  however,  makes  them  both  of  this  stock,  the 
Acolhuans  being  one  of  the  main  branches,  the  Colhuans  merely  the 
descendants  of  the  Toltec  remnant  in  Anahuac.— K.] 


PRIMITIVE   RACES  21 

with  the  most  extravagant  legends  of  the  heroic 
ages  of  antiquity,  they  at  length  halted  on  the 
southwestern  borders  of  the  principal  lake,  in  the 
year  1325.  They  there  beheld,  perched  on  the  stem 
of  a  prickly  pear,  which  shot  out  from  the  crevice 
of  a  rock  that  was  washed  by  the  waves,  a  royal 
eagle  of  extraordinary  size  and  beauty,  with  a  ser- 
pent in  his  talons,  and  his  broad  wings  opened  to 
the  rising  sun.  They  hailed  the  auspicious  omen, 
announced  by  an  oracle  as  indicating  the  site  of 
their  future  city,  and  laid  its  foundations  by  sink- 
ing piles  into  the  shallows;  for  the  low  marshes 
were  half  buried  under  water.  On  these  they 
erected  their  light  fabrics  of  reeds  and  rushes,  and 
sought  a  precarious  subsistence  from  fishing,  and 
from  the  wild  fowl  which  frequented  the  waters,  as 
well  as  from  the  cultivation  of  such  simple  vegeta- 
bles as  they  could  raise  on  their  floating  gardens. 
The  place  was  called  Tenochtitlan,  in  token  of  its 
miraculous  origin,  though  only  known  to  Euro- 
peans by  its  other  name  of  Mexico,*  derived  from 
their  war-god,  Mexitli.23  The  legend  of  its  foun- 
dation is  still  further  commemorated  by  the  device 
of  the  eagle  and  the  cactus,  which  form  the  arms 

3  Clavigero  gives  good  reasons  for  preferring  the  etymology  of 
Mexico  above  noticed,  to  various  others.  (See  his  Stor.  del  Mes- 
sico,  torn.  i.  p.  168,  nota.)  The  name  Tenochtitlan  signifies  tunal 
(a  cactus)  on  a  stone.  Esplicacion  de  la  Col.  de  Mendoza,  apud 
Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  iv. 

*  [This  is  not  quite  correct,  since  the  form  used  in  the  letters  of 
Cortes  and  other  early  documents  is  Temixtitan,  which  is  explained 
as  a  corruption  of  Tenochtitlan.  The  letters  x  and  ch  are  convert- 
ible, and  have  the  same  sound,— that  of  the  English  th.  Mexico  is 
Mexitl  with  the  place-designation  co,  tl  final  being  dropped  before 
an  affix. — K.] 


22  CONQUEST   OF   MEXICO 

of  the  modern  Mexican  republic.  Such  were  the 
humble  beginnings  of  the  Venice  of  the  Western 
World.24  * 

The  forlorn  condition  of  the  new  settlers  was 
made  still  worse  by  domestic  feuds.  A  part  of  the 
citizens  seceded  from  the  main  body,  and  formed  a 
separate  community  on  the  neighboring  marshes. 
Thus  divided,  it  was  long  before  they  could  aspire 
to  the  acquisition  of  territory  on  the  main  land. 
They  gradually  increased,  however,  in  numbers, 
and  strengthened  themselves  yet  more  by  various 
improvements  in  their  polity  and  military  disci- 
pline, while  they  established  a  reputation  for  cour- 
age as  well  as  cruelty  in  war  which  made  their 

24 "  Datur  haec  venia  antiquitati,"  says  Livy,  "  ut,  miscendo  hu- 
mana  divinis,  primordia  urbium  augustiora  faciat."  Hist.  Praef. — 
See,  for  the  above  paragraph,  Col.  de  Mendoza,  plate  1,  apud  Antiq. 
of  Mexico,  vol.  i.,— Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  10,— Toribio, 
Historia  de  los  Indios,  MS.,  Parte  3,  cap.  8,— Veytia,  Hist,  antig., 
lib.  2,  cap.  15.— Clavigero,  after  a  laborious  examination,  assigns  the 
following  dates  to  some  of  the  prominent  events  noticed  in  the 
text.  No  two  authorities  agree  on  them;  and  this  is  not  strange, 
considering  that  Clavigero— the  most  inquisitive  of  all— does  not 
always  agree  with  himself.  (Compare  his  dates  for  the  coming  of 
the  Acolhuans,  torn.  i.  p.  147,  and  torn,  iv.,  dissert.  2:) — 

A.  D. 

The  Toltecs  arrived  in  Anahuac 648 

They  abandoned  the  country 1051 

The  Chichimecs  arrived 1170 

The  Acolhuans  arrived  about 1200 

The  Mexicans  reached  Tula 1196 

They  founded  Mexico 1325 

See  his  dissert.  2,  sec.  12.  In  the  last  date,  the  one  of  most  im- 
portance, he  is  confirmed  by  the  learned  Veytia,  who  differs  from 
him  in  all  the  others.  Hist,  antig.,  lib.  2,  cap.  15. 

*  [In  a  somewhat  similar  way  was  founded  the  Italian  Venice. 
It  was  the  fear  of  death  at  the  hands  of  Attila  and  his  Huns  that 
caused  the  peopling  of  the  islands  among  the  lagoons  of  the  Adri- 
atic. It  was  the  easy  subsistence  the  lagoons  afforded  that  caused 
the  steady  growth  of  the  Italian  village.— M.] 


AZTEC  EMPIRE  23 

name  terrible  throughout  the  Valley.  In  the  early 
part  of  the  fifteenth  century,  nearly  a  hundred 
years  from  the  foundation  of  the  city,  an  event  took 
place  which  created  an  entire  revolution  in  the  cir- 
cumstances and,  to  some  extent,  in  the  character 
of  the  Aztecs.  This  was  the  subversion  of  the  Tez- 
cucan  monarchy  by  the  Tepanecs,  already  noticed. 
When  the  oppressive  conduct  of  the  victors  had  at 
length  aroused  a  spirit  of  resistance,  its  prince, 
Nezahualcoyotl,  succeeded,  after  incredible  perils 
and  escapes,  in  mustering  such  a  force  as,  with  the 
aid  of  the  Mexicans,  placed  him  on  a  level  with  his 
enemies.  In  two  successive  battles,  these  were  de- 
feated with  great  slaughter,  their  chief  slain,  and 
their  territory,  by  one  of  those  sudden  reverses 
which  characterize  the  wars  of  petty  states,  passed 
into  the  hands  of  the  conquerors.  It  was  awarded 
to  Mexico,  in  return  for  its  important  services.* 

Then  was  formed  that  remarkable  league,  which, 
indeed,  has  no  parallel  in  history.  It  was  agreed 
between  the  states  of  Mexico,  Tezcuco,  and  the 
neighboring  little  kingdom  of  Tlacopan,  that  they 
should  mutually  support  each  other  in  their  wars, 
offensive  and  defensive,  and  that  in  the  distribution 
of  the  spoil  one-fifth  should  be  assigned  to  Tlaco- 
pan, and  the  remainder  be  divided,  in  what  propor- 
tions is  uncertain,  between  the  other  powers.  The 
Tezcucan  writers  claim  an  equal  share  for  their 
nation  with  the  Aztecs.  But  this  does  not  seem  to 

*  [This  confederacy  occupied  one  of  the  strongest  defensive  posi- 
tions ever  held  by  Indians.  It  gradually  extended  its  sway  over  a 
large  part  of  the  Mexican  territory.  This  "  sway,"  however,  as  Fiske 
points  out,  was  not  a  military  occupation  of  the  country.  It  was 
a  "system  of  plunder  enforced  by  terror." — M.] 


24  CONQUEST   OF   MEXICO 

be  warranted  by  the  immense  increase  of  territory 
subsequently  appropriated  by  the  latter.  And  we 
may  account  for  any  advantage  conceded  to  them 
by  the  treaty,  on  the  supposition  that,  however  in- 
ferior they  may  have  been  originally,  they  were, 
at  the  time  of  making  it,  in  a  more  prosperous  con- 
dition than  their  allies,  broken  and  dispirited  by 
long  oppression.  What  is  more  extraordinary 
than  the  treaty  itself,  however,  is  the  fidelity  with 
which  it  was  maintained.  During  a  century  of  un- 
interrupted warfare  that  ensued,  no  instance  oc- 
curred where  the  parties  quarrelled  over  the  divi- 
sion of  the  spoil,  which  so  often  makes  shipwreck 
of  similar  confederacies  among  civilized  states.25 

The  allies  for  some  time  found  sufficient  occu- 
pation for  their  arms  in  their  own  valley ;  but  they 
soon  overleaped  its  rocky  ramparts,  and  by  the 
middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  under  the  first 
Montezuma,  had  spread  down  the  sides  of  the 
table-land  to  the  borders  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
Tenochtitlan,  the  Aztec  capital,  gave  evidence  of 
the  public  prosperity.  Its  frail  tenements  were 

18  The  loyal  Tezcucan  chronicler  claims  the  supreme  dignity  for  his 
own  sovereign,  if  not  the  greatest  share  of  the  spoil,  by  this  im- 
perial compact.  (Hist.  Chich.,  cap.  32.)  Torquemada,  on  the  other 
hand,  claims  one-half  of  all  the  conquered  lands  for  Mexico.  (Mo- 
narch. Ind.,  lib.  2,  cap.  40.)  All  agree  in  assigning  only  one-fifth 
to  Tlacopan;  and  Veytia  ( Hist,  antig.,  lib.  3,  cap.  3)  and  Zurita  (Rap- 
port sur  les  differentes  Classes  de  Chefs  de  la  Nouvelle-Espagne,  trad. 
de  Ternaux  (Paris,  1840),  p.  11),  both  very  competent  critics,  ac- 
quiesce in  an  equal  division  between  the  two  principal  states  in  the 
confederacy.  An  ode,  still  extant,  of  Nezahualcoyotl,  in  its  Castilian 
version,  bears  testimony  to  the  singular  union  of  the  three  powers: 

"  solo  se  acordardn  en  las  Naciones 
lo  bien  que  goberndron 
las  tret  Cabezas  que  el  Imperio  honra'ron." 

Can  tares  del  Emperador 


AZTEC   EMPIRE  25 

supplanted  by  solid  structures  of  stone  and  lime. 
Its  population  rapidly  increased.  Its  old  feuds 
were  healed.  The  citizens  who  had  seceded  were 
again  brought  under  a  common  government  with 
the  main  body,  and  the  quarter  they  occupied  was 
permanently  connected  with  the  parent  city;  the 
dimensions  of  which,  covering  the  same  ground, 
were  much  larger  than  those  of  the  modern  capital 
of  Mexico.26  * 

Fortunately,  the  throne  was  filled  by  a  succes- 
sion of  able  princes,  who  knew  how  to  profit  by 
their  enlarged  resources  and  by  the  martial  enthu- 
siasm of  the  nation.  Year  after  year  saw  them  re- 
turn, loaded  with  the  spoils  of  conquered  cities,  and 
with  throngs  of  devoted  captives,  to  their  capital. 
No  state  was  able  long  to  resist  the  accumulated 
strength  of  the  confederates.  At  the  beginning 

26  See  the  plans  of  the  ancient  and  modern  capital,  in  Bullock's 
"  Mexico,"  first  edition.  The  original  of  the  ancient  map  was  ob- 
tained by  that  traveller  from  the  collection  of  the  unfortunate 
Boturini;  if,  as  seems  probable,  it  is  the  one  indicated  on  page  13 
of  his  Catalogue,  I  find  no  warrant  for  Mr.  Bullock's  statement 
that  it  was  the  one  prepared  for  Cortes  by  the  order  of  Montezuma. 

*  [The  first  man  chosen  to  be  the  chief  of  men  (tlacatecuhtli), 
or  superior  officer  of  the  confederacy,  was  Acamapichtli.  His  elec- 
tion took  place  in  1375,  and  he  is  sometimes  called  by  European 
writers  the  "  founder  of  the  confederacy."  His  name,  translated, 
was  "  Handful  of  Reeds."  The  succession  of  "  chiefs  of  men  "  was  as 
follows: 

1.  Acamapichtli  (Handful  of  Reeds) 1575 

2.  Huitzilihuitl  (Humming  Bird) 1403 

8.  Chimalpopoca  (Smoking  Shield) 1414 

4.  Izcoatzin  (Obsidian  Snake) 1427 

5.  Montezuma  I  (Angry  Chief) 1436 

8.  Axayacatl  (Face  in  the  Water) 1464 

7.  Tizoc  (Wounded  Leg") 1477 

8.  Ahuitzotl  (Water  Rat) I486 

0.  Montezuma  II 1502 

10.  Cuitlahuatzin 1520 

11.  Guatemotzin 1520 

M.) 


26  CONQUEST  OF   MEXICO 

of  the  sixteenth  century,  just  before  the  arrival 
of  the  Spaniards,  the  Aztec  dominion  reached 
across  the  continent,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pa- 
cific, and,  under  the  bold  and  bloody  Ahuitzotl,  its 
arms  had  been  carried  far  over  the  limits  already 
noticed  as  defining  its  permanent  territory,  into 
the  farthest  corners  of  Guatemala  and  Nicaragua. 
This  extent  of  empire,  however  limited  in  com- 
parison with  that  of  many  other  states,  is  truly 
wonderful,  considering  it  as  the  acquisition  of  a 
people  whose  whole  population  and  resources  had 
so  recently  been  comprised  within  the  walls  of 
their  own  petty  city,  and  considering,  moreover, 
that  the  conquered  territory  was  thickly  settled  by 
various  races,  bred  to  arms  like  the  Mexicans,  and 
little  inferior  to  them  in  social  organization.  The 
history  of  the  Aztecs  suggests  some  strong  points 
of  resemblance  to  that  of  the  ancient  Romans,  not 
only  in  their  military  successes,  but  in  the  policy 
which  led  to  them.27 

"Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  i.  lib.  2. — Torquemada,  Mo- 
narch. Ind.,  torn.  i.  lib.  2.— Boturini,  Idea,  p.  146.— Col.  of  Mendoza, 
Part  1,  and  Codex  Telleriano-Remensis,  apud  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vols. 
i.,  vi. — Machiavelli  has  noticed  it  as  one  great  cause  of  the  military 
successes  of  the  Romans,  "  that  they  associated  themselves,  in  their 
wars,  with  other  states,  as  the  principal,"  and  expresses  his  aston- 
ishment that  a  similar  policy  should  not  have  been  adopted  by  ambi- 
tious republics  in  later  times.  (See  his  Discorsi  sopra  T.  Livio,  lib.  2, 
cap.  4,  apud  Opere  (Geneva,  1798).)  This,  as  we  have  seen  above, 
was  the  very  course  pursued  by  the  Mexicans. 

The  most  important  contribution,  of  late  years,  to  the  early  his- 
tory of  Mexico  is  the  Historia  antigua  of  the  Lie.  Don.  Mariano 
Veytia,  published  in  the  city  of  Mexico,  in  1836.  This  scholar  was 
born  of  an  ancient  and  highly  respectable  family  at  Puebla,  1718. 
After  finishing  his  academic  education,  he  went  to  Spain,  where  he 
was  kindly  received  at  court.  He  afterwards  visited  several  other 
countries  of  Europe,  made  himself  acquainted  with  their  languages, 


VEYTIA  27 

and  returned  home  well  stored  with  the  fruits  of  a  discriminating 
observation  and  diligent  study.  The  rest  of  his  life  he  devoted  to 
letters;  especially  to  the  illustration  of  the  national  history  and 
antiquities.  As  the  executor  of  the  unfortunate  Boturini,  with  whom 
he  had  contracted  an  intimacy  in  Madrid,  he  obtained  access  to  his 
valuable  collection  of  manuscripts  in  Mexico,  and  from  them,  and 
every  other  source  which  his  position  in  society  and  his  eminent 
character  opened  to  him,  he  composed  various  works,  none  of  which, 
however,  except  the  one  before  us,  has  been  admitted  to  the  honors 
of  the  press.  The  time  of  his  death  is  not  given  by  his  editor,  but 
it  was  probably  not  later  than  1780. 

Veytia's  history  covers  the  whole  period  from  the  first  occupation 
of  Anahuac  to  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  at  which  point 
his  labors  were  unfortunately  terminated  by  his  death.  In  the  early 
portion  he  has  endeavored  to  trace  the  migratory  movements  and 
historical  annals  of  the  principal  races  who  entered  the  country. 
Every  page  bears  testimony  to  the  extent  and  fidelity  of  his  re- 
searches; and,  if  we  feel  but  moderate  confidence  in  the  results,  the 
fault  is  not  imputable  to  him,  so  much  as  to  the  dark  and  doubtful 
nature  of  the  subject.  As  he  descends  to  later  ages,  he  is  more 
occupied  with  the  fortunes  of  the  Tezcucan  than  with  those  of  the 
Aztec  dynasty,  which  have  been  amply  discussed  by  others  of  his 
countrymen.  The  premature  close  of  his  labors  prevented  him, 
probably,  from  giving  that  attention  to  the  domestic  institutions  of 
the  people  he  describes,  to  which  they  are  entitled  as  the  most  im- 
portant subject  of  inquiry  to  the  historian.  The  deficiency  has  been 
supplied  by  his  judicious  editor,  Orteaga,  from  other  sources.  In 
the  early  part  of  his  work,  Veytia  has  explained  the  chronological 
system  of  the  Aztecs,  but,  like  most  writers  preceding  the  accurate 
Gama,  with  indifferent  success.  As  a  critic,  he  certainly  ranks 
much  higher  than  the  annalists  who  preceded  him,  and,  when  his 
own  religion  is  not  involved,  shows  a  discriminating  judgment. 
When  it  is,  he  betrays  a  full  measure  of  the  credulity  which  still 
maintains  its  hold  on  too  many  even  of  the  well-informed  of  his 
countrymen.  The  editor  of  the  work  has  given  a  very  interesting 
letter  from  the  Abbe  Clavigero  to  Veytia,  written  when  the  former 
was  a  poor  and  humble  exile,  and  in  the  tone  of  one  addressing 
a  person  of  high  standing  and  literary  eminence.  Both  were  em- 
ployed on  the  same  subject.  The  writings  of  the  poor  abb£,  pub- 
lished again  and  again,  and  translated  into  various  languages,  have 
spread  his  fame  throughout  Europe;  while  the  name  of  Veytia, 
whose  works  have  been  locked  up  in  their  primitive  manuscript,  is 
scarcely  known  beyond  the  boundaries  of  Mexico. 

[The  opinions  set  forth  by  Mr.  Prescott  respecting  the  Mexican 
empire  were  attacked  with  much  vigor  by  Lewis  H.  Morgan.  Mr. 
Morgan  demonstrated  conclusively  that  many  of  those  opinions  were 
erroneous.  But,  as  Payne  says  in  his  History  of  the  New  World 
called  America,  vol  i.  p.  306,  "  his  results  cannot  be  regarded 


28  CONQUEST   OF   MEXICO 

as  satisfactory,  much  less  as  final."  The  Spanish  chroniclers  Pres- 
cott  consulted  were  correct  ordinarily  in  their  statement  of  facts, 
but  were  misleading  in  their  conclusions  because  of  their  inability 
to  comprehend  the  Aztec  institutions. 

On  the  pueblo  as  the  unit  of  aboriginal  history,  see  Payne,  vol.  i. 
pp.  36-47. 

In  his  Ancient  Society,  p.  186,  Mr.  Morgan  says:  "The  his- 
tories of  Spanish  America  may  be  trusted  in  whatever  relates  to  the 
acts  of  the  Spaniards,  and  to  the  acts  and  personal  characteristics 
of  the  Indians;  in  whatever  relates  to  their  weapons,  implements 
and  utensils,  fabrics,  food  and  raiment,  and  things  of  a  similar 
character.  But  in  whatever  relates  to  Indian  society  and  government, 
their  social  relations  and  plan  of  life,  they  are  nearly  worthless, 
because  they  learned  nothing  and  knew  nothing  of  either.  We  are 
at  full  liberty  to  reject  them  in  these  respects  and  commence 
anew,  using  any  facts  they  may  contain  which  harmonize  "with  what 
is  known  of  Indian  society."  He  does  not,  however,  always  observe 
his  own  rules  if  those  rules  seem  to  militate  against  the  thesis  he 
is  endeavoring  to  establish.  Moreover,  he  is  so  dogmatic  in  his  state- 
ments and  so  confident  in  the  infallibility  of  his  own  judgment, 
that  the  reader  who  is  seeking  simply  to  ascertain  the  truth  about 
the  whole  matter  is  oftentimes  intensely  exasperated  with  him.  This 
is  especially  true  with  respect  to  the  famous  essay  on  "  Montezuma's 
Dinner,"  where  he  writes  almost  as  though  he  had  been  a  guest 
at  the  banquet  and  had  partaken  of  the  viands  which  were  there 
consumed.  As  Mr.  Morgan  may  justly  be  regarded  as  the  founder 
of  a  school,  it  is  well  to  state  his  views  at  length. 

According  to  him,  then,  there  was  no  kingdom  or  empire  of 
Mexico.  There  was  simply  a  confederacy  of  three  tribes,  and  this 
confederacy  was  a  military  democracy.  The  governmental  powers 
were  vested  in  a  council  of  chiefs  with  a  general  commander. 
The  council  exercised  all  civil  power,  the  military  power  being 
left  in  the  hands  of  the  war  chief.  There  were  no  feudal  castles 
inhabited  by  lawless  lords.  There  were  only  great  communal  houses 
tenanted  by  clans. 

In  his  brilliant  work  on  Ancient  Society,  Mr.  Morgan  places 
below  civilization  two  stages  of  development — savagery  and  bar- 
barism. The  invention  of  pottery  marks  the  difference  between 
these  two  stages.  The  savage  makes  no  pottery.  When  the  women 
of  the  savage  tribes  used  vessels  of  fire-hardened  clay  for  boiling 
their  food  they  had  passed  into  the  first  stage  of  barbarism. 
Elsewhere  there  were  pastoral  stages  of  development.  In  North 
America  there  were  none.  The  only  domesticated  animal  its  inhabi- 
tants possessed  when  the  Europeans  landed  on  the  continent  was 
the  dog.  The  first  stage  of  barbarism  in  North  America  was 
marked  by  the  cultivation  of  maize  or  Indian  corn.  This  grain 
can  be  cultivated  more  easily  than  any  other  cereal.  No  other  yields 
such  enormous  returns.  In  virgin  soil  it  is  only  necessary  to  drop 


MORGAN  29 

the  seed  into  the  earth.  Nature  cares  for  its  complete  development. 
But  virgin  soil  becomes  exhausted  in  a  few  years.  As  population 
becomes  denser  and  migrations  cease  to  be  practicable,  the  land  must 
be  more  carefully  tilled,  and,  where  rains  are  comparatively  infre- 
quent, must  be  irrigated.  Irrigation  and  the  use  of  adobe  (sun- 
dried  brick)  and  stone  in  building  mark  the  beginning  of  the  second 
period  of  barbarism.  In  this  period  also  tools  of  stone  give  place 
to  those  of  metal,  the  metal  used  in  America  being  copper.  The 
Aztecs,  the  Mayas,  and,  in  South  America,  the  Peruvians  were  in 
the  second  period.  But  to  the  third  period,  when  the  smelting  of 
iron  ore  was  invented,  these  people  never  passed. 

The  invention  of  a  phonetic  alphabet  and  the  use  of  written 
records,  Mr.  Morgan  thinks,  mark  the  beginning  of  civilization.  But, 
as  John  Fiske  points  out,  it  will  not  do  to  insist  too  narrowly  upon 
the  phonetic  alphabet.  Hieroglyphics  have  perpetuated  much  his- 
toric record  in  Egypt  and  China.  Although  the  Mexicans  and  Cen- 
tral Americans  did  not  smelt  iron  ore,  they  yet  possessed  historic 
records  in  their  hieroglyphics  (hieroglyphics  which  may  still  be 
read).  They  were  then  enjoying  civilization  of  an  extremely  rude 
type,  combined  with  a  marvellously  developed  barbarism.  For 
though  their  barbarism  was  marked  by  human  sacrifices  and  by 
cannibalism,  yet,  according  to  testimony  which  Mr.  Morgan  says  may 
be  taken  at  its  face  value,  these  barbarians  had  pleasure-gardens 
and  fountains,  baths,  menageries,  feather-work  that  was  marvel- 
lously beautiful,  pottery  that  showed  admirable  taste,  vessels  of  gold 
and  silver,  and  many  other  accessories  of  an  advanced  civilization. 

Mr.  Morgan  was  adopted  into  the  Seneca  tribe  of  North  American 
Indians,  and  he  was  able  to  study  Indian  institutions  from  an  inside 
point  of  view.  Unquestionably  he  had  a  more  profound  knowledge 
of  those  institutions  than  any  other  scholar  of  his  time.  But  he  went 
too  far  when  he  confined  the  Aztecs  to  the  narrow  limits  in  de- 
velopment to  which  the  Senecas  had  attained.  Moreover,  he  does  not 
make  due  allowance  for  the  changes  in  development  which  the  more 
favorable  climate  of  the  Mexican  table-lands  brought  about.  The 
"  long  house "  of  the  Iroquois  may  have  been  constructed  on  the 
same  general  plan,  but  it  could  hardly  have  been  mistaken  for  the 
building  in  which  Montezuma  quartered  Cortes  and  his  allies.  The 
one  meal,  freshly  cooked  and  eaten  about  midday,  bore  but  little 
resemblance  to  the  banquets  in  Mexico  described  with  such  watery 
appreciation  by  the  Spanish  chroniclers.  (Morgan  admits  that 
these  same  chroniclers  may  be  trusted  when  they  write  of  food  and 
other  such  palpable  matters.) 

But  Mr.  Morgan  is  unquestionably  right  in  saying  that  Monte- 
zuma's  so-called  "  empire  "  was  really  a  confederacy  of  tribes— living 
in  pueblos,  governed  by  a  council  of  chiefs,  and  levying  tribute 
upon  other  pueblos.  The  Aztec  confederacy  dominated  the  Mexi- 
can land  as  the  Iroquois  confederacy  dominated  the  region  between 
the  Connecticut  and  the  Mississippi.  To  assert  that  otherwise  the 


30  CONQUEST   OF  MEXICO 

two  nations  were  alike  both  in  their  institutions  and  in  their  de- 
velopment is  as  unwarranted  as  to  say  that  the  governmental  insti- 
tutions and  the  political  development  of  the  United  States  and 
Venezuela  are  identical. 

How  did  this  confederacy  come  to  be  formed? 

The  earliest  family  group  was  the  clan.  As  Sir  Henry  Maine 
points  out  in  his  Ancient  Law,  the  individual  was  nothing  in 
ancient  society,  the  state  was  nothing,  the  family  was  everything. 
This  statement  holds  good  everywhere,  for  America  as  well  as  for 
India.  A  group  of  clans  made  up  a  phratry  or  brotherhood;  a  group 
of  phratries  made  a  tribe.  This  threefold  grouping  was  universal. 
The  Greek  phratry,  the  Roman  curia,  the  Teutonic  hundred  were 
analogous  institutions.  In  the  clans  kinship  was  always  derived 
through  the  female  line.  The  Mutterrecht  everywhere  prevailed.* 

pfirrip  fiev  T'  kfii  ijnjai  Tov  1/i/j.evat  avrap  eyurye 
OVK  bid,  bv  -yap  nu  TI?  eov  y6vov  avrbq  avsyvu 

Odyssey,  I,  215-6. 

In  that  middle  stage  of  barbarism  when  men  began  to  acquire 
property,  when  warriors  of  valor  converted  to  their  uses  what  had 
once  been  common  property, — herds  of  cattle,  wives,  etc., — when 
polygamy  became  a  custom,  kinship  came  to  be  reckoned  through 
the  male  line.  In  this  way  relationship  was  mightily  changed. 
But  in  aboriginal  America  where  domesticated  animals  were  un- 
known this  change  did  not  take  place  as  early  as  it  did  elsewhere. 
In  Mexico  the  change  did  not  probably  come  much  before  the  cen- 
tury of  the  Conquest.  Kinship  was  through  females  only.  The  ex- 
ogamous  clan  (the  system  which  required  that  the  spouse  should  be 
taken  from  another  clan)  was  the  unit  of  the  social  structure,  not 
the  family. 

House  life  found  expression  in  architecture.  One  underlying 
principle  was  everywhere  apparent — namely,  adaptation  to  communal 
living.  Gradations  in  culture  were  evident  from  the  buildings.* 
Thus,  the  "  long  house  "  of  the  Iroquois,  from  fifty  to  one  hundred 
feet  long,  divided  into  compartments  every  six  or  eight  feet,  and 
roughly  constructed  from  timber  and  bark,  betokened  very  differ- 
ent conditions  from  those  which  prevailed  among  the  pueblos  of  the 
Zuni  Indians,  with  their  immense  structures  of  adobe  and  of  stone. 

In  the  communal  house  woman  ruled.  To  her  belonged  the  per- 
sonal property.  Because  it  was  derived  through  her,  this  property 
remained  always  with  the  exogamous  clan.  Thus,  marriage  made 
very  little  difference  to  woman's  maintenance.  If  the  husband  who 
had  come  into  the  house  proved  to  be  lazy  and  otherwise  worthless, 
divorce  was  easy,  and  he  was  sent  back  to  his  own. 

*  [This  subject  Mr.  Morgan  treats  with  a  master's  hand  in  his 
Houses  and  House  Life  of  the  American  Aborigines.] 


PHRATRIES  31 

From  its  own  members  the  clan  elected  a  sachem  to  attend  to 
civil  matters,  and  a  chief  to  direct  its  military  affairs. 

The  son  could  not  succeed  his  father  in  these  offices,  but  a  bro- 
ther might  succeed  a  brother.  (This  was  true  of  the  Indian  tribe  to 
which  Powhatan  belonged.  Had  James  I  of  England  been  aware 
of  this  fact,  he  would  not  have  looked  with  such  jealous  eyes  upon 
his  subject  Rolfe  who  had  married  the  Indian  princess  Pocahontas.) 
The  clan  was  always  known  by  some  distinctive  name,  usually  that 
of  some  animal — beaver,  fox,  wolf,  etc. 

When  the  clan  became  so  large  as  to  be  unwieldy,  it  split  up 
into  phratries.  The  "  phratry "  was  at  first  a  religious  and  social 
organization;  and  one  of  its  chief  duties  was  the  prosecution  of  crim- 
inals. (The  Teutonic  hundred  was  ever  ready  to  exact  "wehrgeld.") 
"  The  tribe "  was  usually  the  highest  attainment  in  organization 
of  which  the  aborigines  of  America  were  capable.  The  Mexican 
confederacy  was  the  most  interesting  and  important  of  their  per- 
manent organizations.  The  Spaniards  did  not  understand  the  prin- 
ciples on  which  this  confederacy  was  founded,  because  it  was 
entirely  unlike  anything  with  which  they  were  familiar. — M.] 


CHAPTER  II 

SUCCESSION  TO  THE  CROWN — AZTEC  NOBILITY 
— JUDICIAL  SYSTEM — LAWS  AND  REVENUES — 
MILITARY  INSTITUTIONS 

fTlHE  form  of  government  differed  in  the  dif- 
J.  ferent  states  of  Anahuac.  With  the  Aztecs 
and  Tezcucans  it  was  monarchical  and  nearly  ab- 
solute. The  two  nations  resembled  each  other 
so  much  in  their  political  institutions  that  one  of 
their  historians  has  remarked,  in  too  unqualified  a 
manner  indeed,  that  what  is  told  of  one  may  be 
always  understood  as  applying  to  the  other.1  I 
shall  direct  my  inquiries  to  the  Mexican  polity, 
borrowing  an  illustration  occasionally  from  that 
of  the  rival  kingdom.* 

1  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  36. 

*  [Robertson,  in  his  History  of  America,  was  the  first  man  to 
question  the  correctness  of  the  judgment  passed  by  the  Spanish 
chroniclers  upon  the  Aztec  institutions.  Subsequent  American 
writers  gave  louder  expression  to  his  doubts.  As  has  been  said  in  the 
notes  upon  the  preceding  chapter,  Mr.  Morgan  proved  conclusively 
that  the  so-called  "empire"  was  no  empire  at  all,  but  only  a  con- 
federacy of  three  tribes.  Mr.  Morgan,  however,  was  sometimes 
led  into  inaccuracy  and  extravagance  of  statement  because  of  his 
desire  to  place  all  the  American  aborigines  on  the  same  institutional 
plane. 

Adolf  Bandelier,  pupil  and  disciple  of  Morgan,  persevering  and 
accurate  scholar,  investigated  the  subject  in  an  entirely  unpreju- 

32 


SUCCESSION   TO   THE    CROWN  33 

The  government  was  an  elective  monarchy. 
Four  of  the  principal  nobles,  who  had  been  chosen 
by  their  own  body  in  the  preceding  reign,  filled  the 

diced  way  and  with  a  thoroughness  which  forces  men  to  place  almost 
implicit  confidence  in  his  conclusions.  It  is  well  here  to  summarize 
those  conclusions. 

The  Mexican  confederacy  was  made  up  of  three  tribes,  the  Aztecs, 
the  Tezcucans,  and  the  Tlacopans,  who  dwelt  in  neighboring  pueblos. 

Of  these  tribes  the  Aztecs  and  Tezcucans  were  superior  to  the 
Tlacopans.  Spoils  of  war  were  always  divided  into  five  portions. 
The  Tlacopans  took  one,  their  allies  shared  equally  the  other  four 
parts.  The  Indian  pueblos  generally  were  designed  to  withstand 
a  protracted  siege,  but  the  Mexican  pueblos  were  almost  impreg- 
nable. It  is  not  likely  that  any  other  Indian  tribes  could  have  cap- 
tured them.  Dwelling  securely  in  these  great  communal  houses,  which 
were  also  fortresses,  the  Aztec  confederacy  held  many  other  tribes 
in  subjection.  It  was  only  necessary  for  it  to  send  its  agents  to 
other  pueblos  to  secure  at  once  the  specified  tribute.  Failure  to  pay 
this  tribute  brought  summary  punishment  at  fhe  hands  of  the  war- 
riors of  the  confederacy.  The  "  empire  "  was  "  only  a  partnership 
formed  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  on  the  business  of  warfare,  and 
that  intended,  not  for  the  extension  of  territorial  ownership,  but 
only  for  an  increase  of  the  means  of  subsistence."  The  subject 
peoples  were  never  incorporated  into  the  confederacy.  The  tribe  re- 
mained intact.  The  houses  the  tribe  occupied  were  common  prop- 
erty, and  so  was  the  land  cultivated.  Neither  land  nor  houses  could 
be  sold,  and  as  the  tribe  increased  in  numbers  new  communal  houses 
were  built  to  accommodate  the  increase.  The  great  fortress-dwell- 
ings in  a,  for  savages,  well-cultivated  land  prevented  the  subdivi- 
sion of  tribes  which  was  constantly  taking  place  in  wilder  North 
America. 

Twenty  clans,  organized  into  four  phratries,  made  up  of  the  Aztec 
tribe.  The  clans  were  called  "  calpullis."  They  were  governed  by 
a  council  of  chiefs,  "  tecuhtli,"  elected  by  the  clan.  There  was  an 
official  head,  the  "  calpullac,"  whose  duties  were  mainly  civil,  and 
also  a  military  leader,  the  "ohcacautin"  ("elder  brother").  Pain- 
ful religious  ordeals  accompanied  the  initiation  of  these  men  into 
office.  Clan  officers  held  their  places  during  good  behavior.  Medicine- 
men, or  priests,  were  members  of  the  clan  council.  To  the  four 
phratries  into  which  the  clan  was  divided  four  quarters  of  the 
city  of  Mexico,  each  under  its  own  captain,  were  assigned.  Their 
titles  were  "  man  of  the  house  of  darts,"  "  chief  of  the  eagle 
and  cactus,"  "  blood-shedder,"  and  "  cutter  of  men."  Of  these  cap- 
tains the  "  chief  of  the  eagle  and  cactus "  was  chief  executioner. 
Their  principal  duty  was  to  maintain  order  both  within  and  without 


34  CONQUEST    OF    MEXICO 

office  of  electors,  to  whom  were  added,  with  merely 
an  honorary  rank,  however,  the  two  royal  allies  of 
Tezcuco  and  Tlacopan.  The  sovereign  was  se- 

the  pueblo.  In  each  of  these  four  quarters  was  an  armory  ("house 
of  darts"),  in  which  the  weapons  of  the  phratry  were  kept  when  its 
warriors  were  not  engaged  in  warfare.  The  phratry  was  in  Mexico 
primarily  a  military  organization. 

Twenty  members,  one  from  each  clan,  made  up  the  tribal  council 
which  exercised  supreme  control  over  the  Aztec  tribe.  The  member 
who  was  chosen  to  represent  the  clan  was  called  "  tlatoani,"  the 
"  speaker,"  and  the  council  was  called  "  tlatocan,"  the  "  place  of 
speech."  Sessions  of  the  council  were  regularly  held  every  ten  days, 
and  every  eighty  days  an  extra  session  was  convened,  to  which  the 
twenty  "  ohcacautins,"  the  four  captains  of  the  phratries,  the  two 
civil  executives  of  the  tribe,  and  some  others  were  summoned.  Its 
decisions  were  final. 

As  the  clan  had  its  civil  head,  or  calpullac,  so  the  tribe  had  a  cor- 
responding officer,  the  cihuacoatl,  or  "  female  snake."  The  "  snake 
woman  "  was  always  a  man.  He  was  chief  j  udge  of  the  clan  and  was 
elected  for  life  by  the  tribal  council.  The  "  snake  woman "  was 
second  in  command  to  the  "  chief  of  men,"  or  tlacatecuhtli,  the 
head  war  chief.  While  at  first  head  war  chief  of  the  Aztecs,  about 
the  year  1430  the  tlacatecuhtli  was  made  head  war  chief  and  com- 
mander of  the  confederacy.  Montezuma  was  "  chief  of  men,"  and 
the  Spaniards  saw  him  surrounded  with  such  state  that  they  not 
unnaturally  supposed  him  to  be  king  of  the  Aztecs.  Montezuma's 
position,  however,  was  not  at  all  that  of  a  king,  and  most  of  the 
royal  functions  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  "  snake  woman."  Bandelier 
thinks  the  "chief  of  men"  was  only  the  chief  military  officer.  He 
was  elected  by  the  "  elder  brothers  "  (ohcacautins)  of  the  clans,  the 
tribal  council,  and  the  leading  priests,  sitting  in  assembly.  A  prin- 
ciple of  succession  seems  to  have  confined  the  election  to  mem- 
bers of  a  special  clan.  Moreover,  from  four  officers — namely,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  priesthood  called  the  "  man  of  the  dark  house,"  and 
the  phratry  captains  called  respectively  "man  of  the  house  of 
darts,"  "  blood-shedder,"  and  "  cutter  of  men  "—the  "  chief  of  men  " 
was  always  chosen.  He  exercised  certain  priestly  functions  after 
his  election.  His  first  official  act  was  to  offer  incense  to  the  war 
god  Huitzilopochtli.*  Montezuma  was  "  priest  commander  "  as  well 
as  "chief  of  men." 

The  "chief  of  men"  held  office  during  good  behavior.  He  was, 
ex  officio,  a  member  of  the  tribal  council,  but  he  had  little  to  do 
within  the  tribe  limits.  His  functions  were  exercised  outside  the 
confederacy,  and  his  special  duty  was  to  superintend  the  collection 

*  [Bancroft,  Native  Races  of  the  Pacific  States,  vol.  ii.  p.  145.] 


SUCCESSION   TO   THE   CROWN  35 

lected  from  the  brothers  of  the  deceased  prince, 
or,  in  default  of  them,  from  his  nephews.  Thus 
the  election  was  always  restricted  to  the  same  f  am- 

of  tribute.  His  agents,  called  "crop-gatherers"  (calpixqui),  were 
appointed  by  the  tribal  council.  It  was  their  duty  to  visit  the 
subject  pueblos  and  to  gather  the  tribute — maize,  weapons,  pottery, 
feather-work,  female  slaves,  victims  for  sacrifice,  or  anything  else 
which  suited  the  victor's  fancy.  The  prisoners  were  forced  to 
carry  the  other  tribute  to  the  tecpan,  or  tribal  house,  and  were  ac- 
companied by  couriers  who  saw  that  the  tribute  was  duly  delivered 
according  to  the  directions  given  in  picture-writing  by  the  "  crop- 
gatherers."  The  office  of  ealpixqui  was  most  dangerous,  being  prac- 
tically that  of  spy.  All  these  institutions  the  Spanish  historians 
noted  without  understanding.  They  supposed  that  there  was  a 
standing  army;  but  every  male  was  born  a  warrior,  and  so  the 
people  were  the  army.  There  was  no  nobility  of  any  kind  in 
Mexico.  Merit  alone  determined  the  appointment  to  office.  "  No 
office  whatever,  no  kind  of  dignity,  was  among  the  Mexicans  trans- 
missible by  inheritance." 

Above  the  common  warriors  of  the  clan  were  two  higher  classes, 
the  "  distinguished  braves "  and  the  war  chiefs  proper.  Among 
the  "  distinguished  braves "  were  three  classes,  arranged  according 
to  attainments,  none  of  the  braves  being  elected,  but  all  winning 
their  place  by  valor.  The  war  chiefs  were  elected.  The  "  snake 
woman,"  or  "  female  snake,"  acted  as  a  check  upon  the  head  war 
chief,  or  "  chief  of  men."  The  two  alternately  took  charge  of 
forays.  The  elaborate  decorations  which  adorned  the  "  chief  of 
men "  in  his  official  capacity  may  be  seen  represented  in  the  sculp- 
tures at  Palenque,  especially  upon  the  "tablet  of  the  cross." 

The  Aztecs  conducted  no  long  campaigns,  and  were  not  successful 
in  protracted  sieges,  while  they  were  always  able  to  make  a  suc- 
cessful defence  against  enemies  of  their  own  class.  Their  pyramidal 
temples — teocalli — were  admirable  fortresses.  In  Mexico  itself  the 
causeways  were  essentially  military  constructions,  and  not  simply 
roads  to  connect  the  city  with  the  mainland.  Captives  taken  in 
forays  were  "  collared,"  that  is,  they  were  secured  by  wooden  col- 
lars fastened  upon  their  necks.  If  they  were  specially  unruly,  and 
were  continually  striving  to  escape,  the  tendons  of  their  feet  were 
cut. 

As  the  tribes  increased  new  "  calpullis  "  were  formed  and  new  com- 
munal houses  were  built.  The  Spaniards  took  it  for  granted  that  the 
tribal  government  which  exercised  authority  over  tribal  soil  could 
alienate  that  soil,  but  this  was  not  the  case.  It  was  not  until  com- 
munal soil  was  done  away  with  that  private  ownership  was  estab- 
lished. 


36  CONQUEST   OF   MEXICO 

ily.  The  candidate  preferred  must  have  distin- 
guished himself  in  war,  though,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  last  Montezuma,  he  were  a  member  of  the 
priesthood.2  This  singular  mode  of  supplying  the 
throne  had  some  advantages.  The  candidates  re- 
ceived an  education  which  fitted  them  for  the  royal 
dignity,  while  the  age  at  which  they  were  chosen 
not  only  secured  the  nation  against  the  evils  of 
minority,  but  afforded  ample  means  for  estimating 
their  qualifications  for  the  office.  The  result,  at 
all  events,  was  favorable;  since  the  throne,  as  al- 
ready noticed,  was  filled  by  a  succession  of  able 
princes,  well  qualified  to  rule  over  a  warlike  and 
ambitious  people.  The  scheme  of  election,  how- 

3  This  was  an  exception.—  In  Egypt,  also,  the  king  was  frequently 
taken  from  the  warrior  caste,  though  obliged  afterwards  to  be  in- 
structed in  the  mysteries  of  the  priesthood:  6  6s  EK  paxiftuv  cnrods- 
ev&vc  kyivero  ruv  iepuv.  Plutarch,  de  Isid.  et  Osir.,  sec.  9. 


Mr.  Bandelier  reaches  the  following  conclusions: 

1.  Abstract  ownership  either  by  the  state  or  the  individual  was 
unknown. 

2.  Right  of  possession  was  vested  in  the  kin,  or  clan.    The  idea  of 
alienation  was  never  entertained. 

3.  Individuals  only  held  the  right  to  use  certain  lots. 

4.  No  rights  of  possession  were  attached  to  any  office  or  chief- 
taincy. 

5.  For  tribal  business  certain  lands  were  set  apart  independent 
of  persons. 

6.  Conquest  was    followed  not   by  annexation   or   apportionment, 
but  by  tribute. 

7.  Feudalism  could  not  prevail  under  these  conditions. 

Of  the  kin,  or  clan,  it  should  be  noted  that,  first,  the  kin  claimed 
the  right  to  name  its  members;  second,  it  was  the  duty  of  the 
kin  to  educate  its  members;  third,  it  was  accustomed  to  regulate 
marriage;  fourth,  one  attribute  of  the  kin  was  the  right  of  common 
burial;  fifth,  the  kin  had  to  protect  its  members;  sixth,  it  exercised 
the  right  of  electing  its  officers  and  of  deposing  them.  (Montezuma, 
"chief  of  men,"  was  deposed  before  he  died.)—  M.] 


SUCCESSION   TO   THE   CROWN  37 

ever  defective,  argues  a  more  refined  and  calculat- 
ing policy  than  was  to  have  been  expected  from 
a  barbarous  nation.3 

The  new  monarch  *  was  installed  in  his  regal 
dignity  with  much  parade  of  religious  ceremony, 
but  not  until,  by  a  victorious  campaign,  he  had  ob- 
tained a  sufficient  number  of  captives  to  grace  his 
triumphal  entry  into  the  capital  and  to  furnish 
victims  for  the  dark  and  bloody  rites  which  stained 
the  Aztec  superstition.  Amidst  this  pomp  of  hu- 
man sacrifice  he  was  crowned.  The  crown,  resem- 
bling a  mitre  in  its  form,  and  curiously  ornamented 
with  gold,  gems,  and  feathers,  was  placed  on  his 
head  by  the  lord  of  Tezcuco,  the  most  powerful  of 
his  royal  allies.  The  title  of  King,  by  which  the 
earlier  Aztec  princes  are  distinguished  by  Spanish 
writers,  is  supplanted  by  that  of  Emperor  in  the 
later  reigns,  intimating,  perhaps,  his  superiority 
over  the  confederated  monarchies  of  Tlacopan  and 
Tezcuco.4 

The  Aztec  princes,  especially  towards  the  close 
of  the  dynasty,  lived  in  a  barbaric  pomp,  truly  Ori- 

3  Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  2,  cap.  18;  lib.  11,  cap.  27. — 
Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  p.  112.— Acosta,  Naturall  and 
Morall  Historic  of  the  East  and  West  Indies,  Eng.  trans.  (London, 
1604). — According  to  Zurita,  an  election  by  the  nobles  took  place  only 
in  default  of  heirs  of  the  deceased  monarch.  (Rapport,  p.  15.)  The 
minute  historical  investigation  of  Clavigero  may  be  permitted  to  out- 
weigh this  general  assertion. 

*Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  6,  cap.  9,  10,  14;  lib.  8,  cap. 
31,  34.— See,  also,  Zurita,  Rapport,  pp.  20-23.— Ixtlilxochitl  stoutly 
claims  this  supremacy  for  his  own  nation.  (Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap. 
34.)  His  assertions  are  at  variance  with  facts  stated  by  himself  else- 
where, and  are  not  countenanced  by  any  other  writer  whom  I  have 
consulted. 

*  ["  Chief  of  men."-M.] 


38  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

ental.  Their  spacious  palaces  *  were  provided  with 
halls  for  the  different  councils  who  aided  the  mon- 
arch in  the  transaction  of  business.  The  chief  of 
these  was  a  sort  of  privy  council,  composed  in  part, 
probably,  of  the  four  electors  chosen  by  the  nobles 
after  the  accession,  whose  places,  when  made  va- 
cant by  death,  were  immediately  supplied  as  be- 
fore. It  was  the  business  of  this  body,  so  far  as 
can  be  gathered  from  the  very  loose  accounts  given 
of  it,  to  advise  the  king,  in  respect  to  the  govern- 
ment of  the  provinces,  the  administration  of  the 
revenues,  and,  indeed,  on  all  great  matters  of  pub- 
lic interest.5 

In  the  royal  buildings  were  accommodations, 
also,  for  a  numerous  body-guard  t  of  the  sovereign, 
made  up  of  the  chief  nobility.  It  is  not  easy  to 
determine  with  precision,  in  these  barbarian  gov- 
ernments, the  limits  of  the  several  orders.  It  is 
certain  there  was  a  distinct  class  of  nobles,  with 
large  landed  possessions,  who  held  the  most  impor- 

5  Sahagun,  who  places  the  elective  power  in  a  much  larger  body, 
speaks  of  four  senators,  who  formed  a  state  council.  (Hist,  de 
Nueva-Espana,  lib.  8,  cap.  30.)  Acosta  enlarges  the  council  beyond 
the  number  of  the  electors.  (Lib.  6,  ch.  26.)  No  two  writers  agree. 

*  [The  spacious  palace  in  which  the  "chief  of  men"  lived  was  the 
chief  communal  house  of  the  clan.  The  "  privy  council "  was  made 
up  of  the  clan  officers  specified  on  page  33.— M.] 

t  [There  was,  according  to  Bandelier,  no  such  thing  as  a  "  body- 
guard." Guards  were  unknown.  This  was  evidenced  when  Monte- 
zuma  was  captured.  No  "  body-guard  "  attempted  his  rescue.  Ban- 
delier's  conclusions  should  be  kept  steadily  in  mind  in  reading 
this  chapter.  The  "  distinct  class  of  nobles,  with  large  landed  pos- 
sessions," were  only  the  principal  officers  of  the  tribe,  who  were 
of  course  of  the  same  "  kin  "  as  the  so-called  Aztec  monarch.  The 
great  caciques,  with  thousands  of  vassals,  were  tribal  officers  leading 
tribal  warriors.  The  "  estates  "  were  all  held  by  the  tribe,  and  were 
all  subject  to  tribute.— M.] 


AZTEC    NOBILITY  39 

tant  offices  near  the  person  of  the  prince,  and  en- 
grossed the  administration  of  the  provinces  and 
cities.6  Many  of  these  could  trace  their  descent 
from  the  founders  of  the  Aztec  monarchy.  Ac- 
cording to  some  writers  of  authority,  there  were 
thirty  great  caciques,  who  had  their  residence,  at 
least  a  part  of  the  year,  in  the  capital,  and  who 
could  muster  a  hundred  thousand  vassals  each  on 
their  estates.7  Without  relying  on  such  wild  state- 
ments, it  is  clear,  from  the  testimony  of  the 
Conquerors,  that  the  country  was  occupied  by 
numerous  powerful  chieftains,  who  lived  like  inde- 
pendent princes  on  their  domains.  If  it  be  true  that 
the  kings  encouraged,  or,  indeed,  exacted,  the  resi- 
dence of  these  nobles  in  the  capital,  and  required 
hostages  in  their  absence,  it  is  evident  that  their 
power  must  have  been  very  formidable.8 

Their  estates  appear  to  have  been  held  by  various 
tenures,  and  to  have  been  subject  to  different  re- 
strictions. Some  of  them,  earned  by  their  own 
good  swords  or  received  as  the  recompense  of 
public  services,  were  held  without  any  limitation, 


8  Zurita  enumerates  four  orders  of  chiefs,  all  of  whom  were  ex- 
empted from  imposts  and  enjoyed  very  considerable  privileges.  He 
does  not  discriminate  the  several  ranks  with  much  precision.  Rap- 
port, p.  47,  et  seq. 

7  See,  in  particular,  Herrera,  Historia  general  de  los  Hechos  de  los 
Castellanos  en  las  Islas  y  Tierra  firme  del  Mar  Oc6ano    (Madrid, 
1730),  dec.  2,  lib.  8,  cap.  12. 

8  Carta  de  Cortes,  ap.  Lorenzana,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  p.  110.— 
Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  2,  cap.  89;  lib.  14,  cap.  6.— Clavi- 
gero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  p.   121.— Zurita,  Rapport,  pp.  48, 
65.— Ixtlilxochitl  (Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  34)  speaks  of  thirty  great 
feudal  chiefs,  some  of  them  Tezcucan  and  Tlacopan,  whom  he  styles 
"  grandees  of  the  empire " !     He  says  nothing  of  the  great  tail  of 
100,000  vassals  to  each,  mentioned  by  Torquemada  and  Herrera. 


40  CONQUEST  OF   MEXICO 

except  that  the  possessors  could  not  dispose  of  them 
to  a  plebeian.9  Others  were  entailed  on  the  eldest 
male  issue,  and,  in  default  of  such,  reverted  to  the 
crown.  Most  of  them  seem  to  have  been  burdened 
with  the  obligation  of  military  service.  The  prin- 
cipal chiefs  of  Tezcuco,  according  to  its  chronicler, 
were  expressly  obliged  to  support  their  prince  with 
their  armed  vassals,  to  attend  his  court,  and  aid  him 
in  the  council.  Some,  instead  of  these  services, 
were  to  provide  for  the  repairs  of  his  buildings, 
and  to  keep  the  royal  demesnes  in  order,  with  an 
annual  offering,  by  way  of  homage,  of  fruits 
and  flowers.  It  was  usual,  if  we  are  to  believe 
historians,  for  a  new  king,  on  his  accession,  to 
confirm  the  investiture  of  estates  derived  from  the 
crown.10 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  we  recognize,  in  all  this, 
several  features  of  the  feudal  system,*  which,  no 

*  Macehual, — a  word  equivalent  to  the  French  word  roturier.    Nor 
could  fiefs  originally  be  held  by  plebeians  in  France.     See  Hallam's 
Middle  Ages  (London,  1819),  vol.  ii.  p.  207. 

10  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  ubi  supra.— Zurita,  Rapport,  ubi 
supra. — Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  pp.  122-124. — Torque- 
mada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  14,  cap.  7. — Gomara,  Cr6nica  de  Nueva- 
Espana,  cap.  199,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  ii. — Boturini  (Idea,  p.  165)  car- 
ries back  the  origin  of  fiefs  in  Anahuac  to  the  twelfth  century. 
Carli  says,  "  Le  systeme  politique  y  etoit  f e"odal."  In  the  next  page 
he  tells  us,  "  Personal  merit  alone  made  the  distinction  of  the  no- 
bility"! (Lettres  Ame>icaines,  trad.  Fr.  (Paris,  1788),  torn.  i.  let. 
11.)  Carli  was  a  writer  of  a  lively  imagination. 

*  [There  was  no  such  thing  as  feudalism  among  the  Aztecs.    There 
could  not  be  where  the  communism  which  the  clan  system  implies 
prevailed.    Feudalism  was  a  social-political  system  based  upon  land. 
Under  it  there  was  a  well-defined   gradation   of  ranks,   and   each 
lower  was  bound  to  the  next  higher  order  by  protection  given  in 
return  for  service  rendered.     Moreover,  where  feudalism  prevailed 
the  ownership  of  the  land  was  vested  in  one  person  while  the  occu- 


JUDICIAL   SYSTEM  41 

doubt,  lose  nothing  of  their  effect  under  the  hands 
of  the  Spanish  writers,  who  are  fond  of  tracing 
analogies  to  European  institutions.  But  such 
analogies  lead  sometimes  to  very  erroneous  conclu- 
sions. The  obligation  of  military  service,  for  in- 
stance, the  most  essential  principle  of  a  fief,  seems 
to  be  naturally  demanded  by  every  government 
from  its  subjects.  As  to  minor  points  of  resem- 
blance, they  fall  far  short  of  that  harmonious  sys- 
tem of  reciprocal  service  and  protection  which  em- 
braced, in  nice  gradation,  every  order  of  a  feudal 
monarchy.  The  kingdoms  of  Anahuac  were  in 
their  nature  despotic,  attended,  indeed,  with  many 
mitigating  circumstances  unknown  to  the  despot- 
isms of  the  East;  but  it  is  chimerical  to  look  for 
much  in  common— beyond  a  few  accidental  forms 
and  ceremonies — with  those  aristocratic  institu- 
tions of  the  Middle  Ages  which  made  the  court  of 
every  petty  baron  the  precise  image  in  miniature 
of  that  of  his  sovereign. 

The  legislative  power,  both  in  Mexico  and  Tez- 
cuco,  resided  wholly  with  the  monarch.*  This  fea- 
ture of  despotism,  however,  was  in  some  measure 
counteracted  by  the  constitution  of  the  judicial 
tribunals, — of  more  importance,  among  a  rude 

pancy  belonged  to  another.  Feudalism  exalted  the  individual  and  as- 
sured to  each  man  his  rights.  The  clan  knew  nothing  whatever  of 
individual  rights.  When  the  conception  of  personal  ownership  was 
developed,  and  kinship  ceased  to  be  the  bond  which  held  men  to- 
gether, the  clan  system  of  communal  living  of  necessity  passed 
away.  But  among  the  Aztecs  the  feudal  conception  of  personal 
property  never  was  developed.  The  Spaniards,  knowing  no  civiliza- 
tion but  their  own,  naturally  supposed  that  the  Aztec  institutions 
were  similar  to  the  Spanish,  and  historians  generally  accepted  that 
Tiew.— M.] 

*  [See  summary  of  Bandelier's  studies,  p.  36.— M.] 


42  CONQUEST   OF   MEXICO 

people,  than  the  legislative,  since  it  is  easier  to 
make  good  laws  for  such  a  community  than  to  en- 
force them,  and  the  best  laws,  badly  administered, 
are  but  a  mockery.  Over  each  of  the  principal 
cities,  with  its  dependent  territories,  was  placed  a 
supreme  judge,  appointed  by  the  crown,  with 
original  and  final  jurisdiction  in  both  civil  and 
criminal  cases.  There  was  no  appeal  from  his  sen- 
tence to  any  other  tribunal,  nor  even  to  the  king. 
He  held  his  office  during  life;  and  any  one  who 
usurped  his  ensigns  was  punished  with  death.11 

Below  this  magistrate  was  a  court,  established  in 
each  province,  and  consisting  of  three  members. 
It  held  concurrent  jurisdiction  with  the  supreme 
judge  in  civil  suits,  but  in  criminal  an  appeal  lay 
to  his  tribunal.  Besides  these  courts,  there  was  a 
body  of  inferior  magistrates,  distributed  through 
the  country,  chosen  by  the  people  themselves  in 
their  several  districts.  Their  authority  was  limited 
to  smaller  causes,  while  the  more  important  were 
carried  up  to  the  higher  courts.  There  was  still 
another  class  of  subordinate  officers,  appointed  also 
by  the  people,  each  of  whom  was  to  watch  over  the 


"•  This  magistrate,  who  was  called  cihuacoatl*  was  also  to  audit 
the  accounts  of  the  collectors  of  the  taxes  in  his  district.  (Clavigero, 
Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  p.  127.— Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib. 
11,  cap.  25.)  The  Mendoza  Collection  contains  a  painting  of  the 
courts  of  justice  under  Montezuma,  who  introduced  great  changes 
in  them.  (Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  i.,  Plate  70.)  According  to  the 
interpreter,  an  appeal  lay  from  them,  in  certain  cases,  to  the  king's 
council.  Ibid.,  vol.  vi.  p.  79. 

*  [This  word,  a  compound  of  cihuatl,  woman,  and  coatl,  serpent, 
was  the  name  of  a  divinity,  the  mythical  mother  of  the  human  spe- 
cies. Its  typical  application  may  have  had  reference  to  justice,  or 
law,  as  the  source  of  social  order.— K.] 


JUDICIAL    SYSTEM  43 

conduct  of  a  certain  number  of  families  and  report 
any  disorder  or  breach  of  the  laws  to  the  higher 
authorities.12 

In  Tezcuco  the  judicial  arrangements  were  of  a 
more  refined  character; 13  and  a  gradation  of  tri- 
bunals finally  terminated  in  a  general  meeting  or 
parliament,  consisting  of  all  the  judges,  great  and 
petty,  throughout  the  kingdom,  held  every  eighty 
days  in  the  capital,  over  which  the  king  presided 
in  person.  This  body  determined  all  suits  which, 
from  their  importance  or  difficulty,  had  been  re- 
served for  its  consideration  by  the  lower  tribunals. 
It  served,  moreover,  as  a  council  of  state,  to  assist 
the  monarch  in  the  transaction  of  public  business.14 

Such  are  the  vague  and  imperfect  notices  that 
can  be  gleaned,  respecting  the  Aztec  tribunals, 
from  the  hieroglyphical  paintings  still  preserved, 
and  from  the  most  accredited  Spanish  writers. 

"Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  pp.  127,  128.— Torquemada, 
Monarch.  Ind.,  ubi  supra. — In  this  arrangement  of  the  more  humble 
magistrates  we  are  reminded  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  hundreds  and 
tithings,  especially  the  latter,  the  members  of  which  were  to  watch 
over  the  conduct  of  the  families  in  their  districts  and  bring  the 
offenders  to  justice.  The  hard  penalty  of  mutual  responsibility  was 
not  known  to  the  Mexicans. 

13  Zurita,  so  temperate,  usually,  in  his  language,  remarks  that,  in 
the  capital,  "  Tribunals  were  instituted  which  might  compare  in  their 
organization  with  the  royal  audiences  of  Castile."     (Rapport,  p.  93.) 
His  observations  are  chiefly  drawn  from  the  Tezcucan  courts,  which 
in  their  forms  of  procedure,  he  says,  were  like  the  Aztec.     (Lac.  cit.) 

14  Boturini,  Idea,  p.  87.— Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  11,  cap. 
26. — Zurita  compares  this  body  to  the  Castilian  cortes.     It  would 
seem,  however,  according  to  him,  to  have  consisted  only  of  twelve 
principal  judges,  besides  the  king.    His  meaning  is  somewhat  doubt- 
ful.    (Rapport,  pp.  94,  101,  106.)     M.  de  Humboldt,  in  his  account 
of  the  Aztec  courts,  has  confounded  them  with  the  Tezcucan.   Comp. 
Vues  des  Cordilleres  et  Monumens  des  Peuples  indigenes  de  l'Am£- 
rique  (Paris,  1810),  p.  55,  and  Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii. 
pp.  128,  129. 


44  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

These,  being  usually  ecclesiastics,  have  taken  much 
less  interest  in  this  subject  than  in  matters  con- 
nected with  religion.  They  find  some  apology,  cer- 
tainly, in  the  early  destruction  of  most  of  the 
Indian  paintings,  from  which  their  information 
was,  in  part,  to  be  gathered. 

On  the  whole,  however,  it  must  be  inferred  that 
the  Aztecs  were  sufficiently  civilized  to  evince  a 
solicitude  for  the  rights  both  of  property  and  of 
persons.  The  law,  authorizing  an  appeal  to  the 
highest  judicature  in  criminal  matters  only,  shows 
an  attention  to  personal  security,  rendered  the 
more  obligatory  by  the  extreme  severity  of  their 
penal  code,  which  would  naturally  have  made  them 
more  cautious  of  a  wrong  conviction.  The  exis- 
tence of  a  number  of  co-ordinate  tribunals,  without 
a  central  one  of  supreme  authority  to  control  the 
whole,  must  have  given  rise  to  very  discordant  in- 
terpretations of  the  law  in  different  districts.  But 
this  is  an  evil  which  they  shared  in  common  with 
most  of  the  nations  of  Europe. 

The  provision  for  making  the  superior  judges 
wholly  independent  of  the  crown  was  worthy  of 
an  enlightened  people.  It  presented  the  strongest 
barrier  that  a  mere  constitution  could  afford 
against  tyranny.  It  is  not,  indeed,  to  be  supposed 
that,  in  a  government  otherwise  so  despotic,  means 
could  not  be  found  for  influencing  the  magistrate. 
But  it  was  a  great  step  to  fence  round  his  authority 
with  the  sanction  of  the  law;  and  no  one  of  the 
Aztec  monarchs,  so  far  as  I  know,  is  accused  of  an 
attempt  to  violate  it. 

To  receive  presents  or  a  bribe,  to  be  guilty  of 


JUDICIAL    SYSTEM  45 

collusion  in  any  way  with  a  suitor,  was  punished, 
in  a  judge,  with  death.  Who,  or  what  tribunal, 
decided  as  to  his  guilt,  does  not  appear.  In  Tez- 
cuco  this  was  done  by  the  rest  of  the  court.  But 
the  king  presided  over  that  body.  The  Tezcucan 
prince  Nezahualpilli,  who  rarely  tempered  justice 
with  mercy,  put  one  judge  to  death  for  taking  a 
bribe,  and  another  for  determining  suits  in  his  own 
house,— a  capital  offence,  also,  by  law.15 

The  judges  of  the  higher  tribunals  were  main- 
tained from  the  produce  of  a  part  of  the  crown 
lands,  reserved  for  this  purpose.  They,  as  well  as 
the  supreme  judge,  held  their  offices  for  life.  The 
proceedings  in  the  courts  were  conducted  with  de- 
cency and  order.  The  judges  wore  an  appropriate 
dress,  and  attended  to  business  both  parts  of  the 
day,  dining  always,  for  the  sake  of  despatch,  in  an 
apartment  of  the  same  building  where  they  held 
their  session;  a  method  of  proceeding  much  com- 
mended by  the  Spanish  chroniclers,  to  whom  de- 
spatch was  not  very  familiar  in  their  own  tribunals. 
Officers  attended  to  preserve  order,  and  others 
summoned  the  parties  and  produced  them  in 
court.  No  counsel  was  employed;  the  parties 
stated  their  own  case  and  supported  it  by  their 
witnesses.  The  oath  of  the  accused  was  also  ad- 
mitted in  evidence.*  The  statement  of  the  case,  the 
testimony,  and  the  proceedings  of  the  trial  were 

15 "  If  this  should  be  done  now,  what  an  excellent  thing  it  would 
be ! "  exclaims  Sahagun's  Mexican  editor.  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espafia, 
torn.  ii.  p.  304,  nota. — Zurita,  Rapport,  p.  102. — Torquemada,  Mo- 
narch. Ind.,  ubi  supra.— Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  67. 

*  [There  is  a  hint  here  of  the  "  Compurgators  "  of  the  Germanic 
tribes.— M.] 


46  CONQUEST   OF  MEXICO 

all  set  forth  by  a  clerk,  in  hieroglyphical  paintings, 
and  handed  over  to  the  court.  The  paintings  were 
executed  with  so  much  accuracy  that  in  all  suits 
respecting  real  property  they  were  allowed  to  be 
produced  as  good  authority  in  the  Spanish  tri- 
bunals, very  long  after  the  Conquest;  and  a  chair 
for  their  study  and  interpretation  was  established 
at  Mexico  in  1553,  which  has  long  since  shared  the 
fate  of  most  other  provisions  for  learning  in  that 
unfortunate  country.16 

A  capital  sentence  was  indicated  by  a  line  traced 
with  an  arrow  across  the  portrait  of  the  accused. 
In  Tezcuco,  where  the  king  presided  in  the  court, 
this,  according  to  the  national  chronicler,  was  done 
with  extraordinary  parade.  His  description,  which 
is  of  rather  a  poetical  cast,  I  give  in  his  own  words. 
"  In  the  royal  palace  of  Tezcuco  was  a  court -yard, 
on  the  opposite  sides  of  which  were  two  halls  of 
justice.  In  the  principal  one,  called  the  '  tribunal 
of  God/  was  a  throne  of  pure  gold,  inlaid  with 
turquoises  and  other  precious  stones.  On  a  stool 
in  front  was  placed  a  human  skull,  crowned  with 
an  immense  emerald  of  a  pyramidal  form,  and 
surmounted  by  an  aigrette  of  brilliant  plumes  and 
precious  stones.  The  skull  was  laid  on  a  heap  of 
military  weapons,  shields,  quivers,  bows,  and  ar- 
rows. The  walls  were  hung  with  tapestry,  made 
of  the  hair  of  different  wild  animals,  of  rich  and 

"Zurita,  Rapport,  pp.  95,  100,  103.— Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva- 
Espafla,  loc.  cit.— Humboldt,  Vues  des  Cordilleres,  pp.  55,  56.— 
Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  11,  cap.  25.— Clavigero  says  the 
accused  might  free  himself  by  oath:  "il  reo  poteva  purgarsi  col 
giuramento."  (Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  p.  129.)  What  rogue, 
then,  could  ever  have  been  convicted? 


LAWS  AND  REVENUES  47 

various  colors,  festooned  by  gold  rings  and  em- 
broidered with  figures  of  birds  and  flowers.  Above 
the  throne  was  a  canopy  of  variegated  plumage, 
from  the  centre  of  which  shot  forth  resplendent 
rays  of  gold  and  jewels.  The  other  tribunal, 
called  '  the  King's,'  was  also  surmounted  by  a  gor- 
geous canopy  of  feathers,  on  which  were  emblaz- 
oned the  royal  arms.  Here  the  sovereign  gave 
public  audience  and  communicated  his  despatches. 
But  when  he  decided  important  causes,  or  con- 
firmed a  capital  sentence,  he  passed  to  the  '  tribunal 
of  God,'  attended  by  the  fourteen  great  lords  of 
the  realm,  marshalled  according  to  their  rank. 
Then,  putting  on  his  mitred  crown,  incrusted  with 
precious  stones,  and  holding  a  golden  arrow,  by 
way  of  sceptre,  in  his  left  hand,  he  laid  his  right 
upon  the  skull,  and  pronounced  judgment." 1T 
All  this  looks  rather  fine  for  a  court  of  justice,  it 
must  be  owned.  But  it  is  certain  that  the  Tezcu- 
cans,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  possessed  both  the 
materials  and  the  skill  requisite  to  work  them  up 
in  this  manner.  Had  they  been  a  little  further 
advanced  in  refinement,  one  might  well  doubt  their 
having  the  bad  taste  to  do  so. 

The  laws  of  the  Aztecs  were  registered,  and  ex- 
hibited to  the  people,  in  their  hieroglyphical  paint- 
ings. Much  the  larger  part  of  them,  as  in  every 
nation  imperfectly  civilized,  relates  rather  to  the 
security  of  persons  than  of  property.*  The  great 


17  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  36.— These  various  objects 
had  a  symbolical  meaning,  according  to  Boturini,  Idea,  p.  84. 

*  [Compare  the  "  codes  "  of  the  Germanic  races.— M.] 


48  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

crimes  against  society  were  all  made  capital.  Even 
the  murder  of  a  slave  was  punished  with  death. 
Adulterers,  as  among  the  Jews,  were  stoned  to 
death.  Thieving,  according  to  the  degree  of  the 
offence,  was  punished  by  slavery  or  death.  Yet 
the  Mexicans  could  have  been  under  no  great  ap- 
prehension of  this  crime,  since  the  entrances  to 
their  dwellings  were  not  secured  by  bolts  or  fasten- 
ings of  any  kind.  It  was  a  capital  offence  to  re- 
move the  boundaries  of  another's  lands;  to  alter 
the  established  measures;  and  for  a  guardian  not 
to  be  able  to  give  a  good  account  of  his  ward's 
property.  These  regulations  evince  a  regard  for 
equity  in  dealings,  and  for  private  rights,  which 
argues  a  considerable  progress  in  civilization. 
Prodigals,  who  squandered  their  patrimony,  were 
punished  in  like  manner;  a  severe  sentence,  since 
the  crime  brought  its  adequate  punishment  along 
with  it.  Intemperance,  which  was  the  burden, 
moreover,  of  their  religious  homilies,  was  visited 
with  the  severest  penalties ;  as  if  they  had  foreseen 
in  it  the  consuming  canker  of  their  own  as  well  as 
of  the  other  Indian  races  in  later  times.  It  was 
punished  in  the  young  with  death,  and  in  older 
persons  with  loss  of  rank  and  confiscation  of  prop- 
erty. Yet  a  decent  conviviality  was  not  meant  to 
be  proscribed  at  their  festivals,  and  they  possessed 
the  means  of  indulging  it,  in  a  mild  fermented 
liquor,  called  pulque,  which  is  still  popular,  not 
only  with  the  Indian,  but  the  European  population 
of  the  country.18 

18  Paintings  of  the  Mendoza  Collection,  PI.  72,  and  Interpretation, 
ap.  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  vi.  p.  87. *—  Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind., 


LAWS  AND  REVENUES  49 

The  rites  of  marriage  were  celebrated  with  as 
much  formality  as  in  any  Christian  country;  and 
the  institution  was  held  in  such  reverence  that  a 
tribunal  was  instituted  for  the  sole  purpose  of 
determining  questions  relating  to  it.  Divorces 
could  not  be  obtained  until  authorized  by  a  sen- 
tence of  this  court,  after  a  patient  hearing  of  the 
parties. 

But  the  most  remarkable  part  of  the  Aztec  code 
was  that  relating  to  slavery.  There  were  several 
descriptions  of  slaves :  prisoners  taken  in  war,  who 
were  almost  always  reserved  for  the  dreadful  doom 
of  sacrifice ;  criminals,  public  debtors,  persons  who, 
from  extreme  poverty,  voluntarily  resigned  their 
freedom,  and  children  who  were  sold  by  their  own 
parents.  In  the  last  instance,  usually  occasioned 
also  by  poverty,  it  was  common  for  the  parents, 
with  the  master's  consent,  to  substitute  others  of 
their  children  successively,  as  they  grew  up;  thus 
distributing  the  burden  as  equally  as  possible 
among  the  different  members  of  the  family.  The 
willingness  of  freemen  to  incur  the  penalties  of 
this  condition  is  explained  by  the  mild  form  in 
which  it  existed.  The  contract  of  sale  was  exe- 
cuted in  the  presence  of  at  least  four  witnesses. 

lib.  12,  cap.  7.— Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  pp.  130-134.— 
Camargo,  Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS. — They  could  scarcely  have  been  an 
intemperate  people,  with  these  heavy  penalties  hanging  over  them. 
Indeed,  Zurita  bears  testimony  that  those  Spaniards  who  thought 
they  were  greatly  erred.  (Rapport,  p.  112.)  M.  Ternaux's  transla- 
tion of  a  passage  of  the  Anonymous  Conqueror,  "  aucun  peuple  n'est 
aussi  sobre"  (Recueil  de  Pieces  relatives  a  la  Conquete  du  Mexique, 
ap.  Voyages,  etc.  (Paris,  1838),  p.  54),  may  give  a  more  favorable 
impression,  however,  than  that  intended  by  his  original,  whose  remark 
is  confined  to  abstemiousness  in  eating.  See  the  Relatione,  ap.  Ra- 
musio,  Raccolta  delle  Navigation!  et  Viaggi  (Venetia,  1554-1565). 


50  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

The  services  to  be  exacted  were  limited  with  great 
precision.  The  slave  was  allowed  to  have  his  own 
family,  to  hold  property,  and  even  other  slaves. 
His  children  were  free.  No  one  could  be  born  to 
slavery  in  Mexico; 10  an  honorable  distinction,  not 
known,  I  believe,  in  any  civilized  community  where 
slavery  has  been  sanctioned.20  Slaves  were  not  sold 
by  their  masters,  unless  when  these  were  driven  to 
it  by  poverty.  They  were  often  liberated  by  them 
at  their  death,  and  sometimes,  as  there  was  no 
natural  repugnance  founded  on  difference  of 
blood  and  race,  were  married  to  them.  Yet  a 
refractory  or  vicious  slave  might  be  led  into 
the  market,  with  a  collar  round  his  neck,*  which 
intimated  his  bad  character,  and  there  be  pub- 
licly sold,  and,  on  a  second  sale,  reserved  for 
sacrifice.21 

Such  are  some  of  the  most  striking  features 
of  the  Aztec  code,  to  which  the  Tezcucan  bore 

u  In  ancient  Egypt  the  child  of  a  slave  was  born  free,  if  the 
father  were  free.  (Diodorus,  Bibl.  Hist.,  lib.  1,  sec.  80.)  This,  though 
more  liberal  than  the  code  of  most  countries,  fell  short  of  the 
Mexican. 

20  In  Egypt  the  same  penalty  was  attached  to  the  murder  of  a  slave 
as  to  that  of  a  freeman.     (Ibid.,  lib.  1,  sec.  77.)     Robertson  speaks 
of  a  class  of  slaves  held  so  cheap  in  the  eye  of  the  Mexican  law  that 
one  might  kill  them  with  impunity.     (History  of  America  (ed.  Lon- 
don, 1776),  vol.  iii.  p.  164.)     This,  however,  was  not  in  Mexico,  but 
in  Nicaragua   (see  his  own  authority,  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec. 
3,  lib.  4,  cap.  2),  a  distant  country,  not  incorporated  in  the  Mexican 
empire,  and  with  laws  and  institutions  very  different  from  those  of 
the  latter. 

21  Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  12,  cap.  15;  lib.  14,  cap.  16,  17. 
— Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  8,  cap.  14.— Clavigero,  Stor. 
del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  pp.  134-136. 

*  [  A  "  collared "  slave  was  fastened  at  night  to  a  wall  by  his 
wooden  collar. — M.] 


LAWS   AND  REVENUES  51 

great  resemblance.22  With  some  exceptions,  it  is 
stamped  with  the  severity,  the  ferocity  indeed,  of 
a  rude  people,  hardened  by  familiarity  with  scenes 
of  blood,  and  relying  on  physical  instead  of  moral 
means  for  the  correction  of  evil.23  Still,  it  evinces 
a  profound  respect  for  the  great  principles  of  mo- 
rality, and  as  clear  a  perception  of  these  principles 
as  is  to  be  found  in  the  most  cultivated  nations. 

The  royal  revenues  were  derived  from  various 
sources.  The  crown  lands,*  which  appear  to  have 
been  extensive,  made  their  returns  in  kind.  The 
places  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  capital  were 
bound  to  supply  workmen  and  materials  for  build- 
ing the  king's  palaces  and  keeping  them  in  repair. 
They  were  also  to  furnish  fuel,  provisions,  and 
whatever  was  necessary  for  his  ordinary  domestic 
expenditure,  which  was  certainly  on  no  stinted 
scale.24  The  principal  cities,  which  had  numerous 
villages  and  a  large  territory  dependent  on  them, 
were  distributed  into  districts,  with  each  a  share 

22  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  38,  and  Relaciones,  MS.— 
The  Tezcucan  code,  indeed,  as  digested  under  the  great  Nezahual- 
coyotl,  formed  the  basis  of  the  Mexican,  in  the  latter  days  of  the 
empire.     Zurita,  Rapport,  p.  95. 

23  In  this,  at  least,  they  did  not  resemble  the  Romans ;  of  whom 
their  countryman  could   boast,  "  Gloriari  licet,  nulli  gentium  miti- 
ores  placuisse  posnas."     Livy,  Hist.,  lib.  1,  cap.  28. 

24  The  Tezcucan  revenues  were,  in  like  manner,  paid  in  the  produce 
of  the  country.    The  various  branches  of  the  royal  expenditure  were 
defrayed  by  specified  towns  and  districts;  and  the  whole  arrange- 
ments here,  and  in  Mexico,  bore  a  remarkable  resemblance  to  the 
financial  regulations  of  the  Persian  empire,  as  reported  by  the  Greek 
writers  (see  Herodotus,  Clio,  sec.  192) ;  with  this  difference,  however, 
that  the  towns  of  Persia  proper  were  not  burdened  with  tributes, 
like  the  conquered  cities.     Idem,  Thalia,  sec.  97. 

*  [For  "crown  lands"  read  "subject  tribes";  for  "king's  pal- 
aces," "communal  houses."— M.] 


52  CONQUEST   OF   MEXICO 

of  the  lands  allotted  to  it,  for  its  support.  The  in- 
habitants paid  a  stipulated  part  of  the  produce  to 
the  crown.  The  vassals  of  the  great  chiefs,  also, 
paid  a  portion  of  their  earnings  into  the  public 
treasury;  an  arrangement  not  at  all  in  the  spirit 
of  the  feudal  institutions.25 

In  addition  to  this  tax  on  all  the  agricultural 
produce  of  the  kingdom,  there  was  another  on  its 
manufactures.  The  nature  and  the  variety  of  the 
tributes  will  be  best  shown  by  an  enumeration  of 
some  of  the  principal  articles.  These  were  cotton 
dresses,  and  mantles  of  feather-work  exquisitely 
made;  ornamented  armor;  vases  and  plates  of 
gold;  gold  dust,  bands  and  bracelets;  crystal,  gilt, 
and  varnished  jars  and  goblets;  bells,  arms,  and 
utensils  of  copper;  reams  of  paper;  grain,  fruits, 
copal,  amber,  cochineal,  cacao,  wild  animals  and 
birds,  timber,  lime,  mats,  etc.26  In  this  curious 

25  Lorenzana,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  p.  172. — Torquemada,  Mo- 
narch. Ind.,  lib.  2,  cap.  89;  lib.  14,  cap.  7.— Boturini,  Idea,  p.  166.— 
Camargo,  Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS. — Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  2, 
lib.  7,  cap.  13. — The  people  of  the  provinces  were  distributed  into 
calpulli,  or  tribes,  who  held  the  lands  of  the  neighborhood  in  common. 
Officers  of  their  own  appointment  parcelled  out  these  lands  among 
the  several  families  of  the  calpulli;  and  on  the  extinction  or  removal 
of  a  family  its  lands  reverted  to  the  common  stock,  to  be  again  dis- 
tributed. The  individual  proprietor  had  no  power  to  alienate  them. 
The  laws  regulating  these  matters  were  very  precise,  and  had  existed 
ever  since  the  occupation  of  the  country  by  the  Aztecs.  Zurita,  Rap- 
port, pp.  51-62. 

16  The  following  items  of  the  tribute  furnished  by  different  cities 
will  give  a  more  precise  idea  of  its  nature: — 20  chests  of  ground 
chocolate;  40  pieces  of  armor,  of  a  particular  device;  2400  loads  of 
large  mantles,  of  twisted  cloth;  800  loads  of  small  mantles,  of  rich 
wearing-apparel;  5  pieces  of  armor,  of  rich  feathers;  60  pieces  of 
armor,  of  common  feathers;  a  chest  of  beans;  a  chest  of  chian;  a 
chest  of  maize;  8000  reams  of  paper;  likewise  2000  loaves  of  very 
white  salt,  refined  in  the  shape  of  a  mould,  for  the  consumption  only 
of  the  lords  of  Mexico;  8000  lumps  of  unrefined  copal;  400  small 


LAWS  AND   REVENUES  53 

medley  of  the  most  homely  commodities  and  the 
elegant  superfluities  of  luxury,  it  is  singular  that 
no  mention  should  be  made  of  silver,  the  great  sta- 
ple of  the  country  in  later  times,  and  the  use  of 
which  was  certainly  known  to  the  Aztecs.27 

Garrisons  were  established  in  the  larger  cities, — 
probably  those  at  a  distance  and  recently  con- 
quered,— to  keep  down  revolt,  and  to  enforce  the 

baskets  of  white  refined  copal;  100  copper  axes;  80  loads  of  red 
chocolate;  800  xicaros,  out  of  which  they  drank  chocolate;  a  little 
vessel  of  small  turquoise  stones;  4  chests  of  timber,  full  of  maize; 
4000  loads  of  lime;  tiles  of  gold,  of  the  size  of  an  oyster,  and  as 
thick  as  the  finger;  40  bags  of  cochineal;  20  bags  of  gold  dust,  of 
the  finest  quality;  a  diadem  of  gold,  of  a  specified  pattern;  20  lip- 
jewels  of  clear  amber,  ornamented  with  gold;  200  loads  of  choco- 
late; 100  pots  or  jars  of  liquid-amber;  8000  handfuls  of  rich  scarlet 
feathers;  40  tiger-skins;  1600  bundles  of  cotton,  etc.,  etc.  Col.  de 
Mendoza,  part  2,  ap.  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vols.  i.,  vi.* 

*  Mapa   de   Tributos,   ap.   Lorenzana,   Hist,   de   Nueva-Espana. — 
Tribute-roll,  ap.  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  i.,  and  Interpretation,  vol.  vi., 
pp.    17-44. — The   Mendoza   Collection,   in   the    Bodleian   Library   at 
Oxford,  contains  a  roll  of  the  cities  of  the  Mexican  empire,  with  the 
specific  tributes  exacted  from  them.    It  is  a  copy  made  after  the  Con- 
quest, with  a  pen,  on  European  paper.     (See  Foreign  Quarterly  Re- 
view, No.  XVII.  Art.  4.)     An  original  painting  of  the  same  roll  was 
in  Boturini's  museum.     Lorenzana  has   given   us  engravings  of  it, 
in  which  the  outlines  of  the  Oxford  copy  are  filled  up,  though  some- 
what rudely.     Clavigero  considers  the  explanations  in  Lorenzana's 
edition  very  inaccurate   (Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  i.  p.  25),  a  judg- 
ment confirmed  by  Aglio,  who  has  transcribed  the  entire  collection 
of  the  Mendoza  papers,  in  the  first  volume  of  the  Antiquities  of 
Mexico.     It  would  have  much  facilitated  reference  to  his  plates  if 
they  had  been  numbered; — a  strange  omission! 

*  [From  those  too  poor  to  pay  the  regular  taxes,  snakes,  scorpions, 
centipedes,  and  vermin  were  exacted.     "  It  is  related  that  soon  after 
Cortes  arrived  in  the  city  of  Mexico  certain  cavaliers  of  his  force 
.  .  .  were  roaming  through  the  royal  palace,  .  .  .  when  they  came 
across  some  bags  filled  with  some  soft,  fine,  and  weighty  material. 
.  .  .  They  hastened  to  untie  one  of  the  sacks  and  found  its  contents 
to  consist  of  nothing  but  lice,  which  had  been  paid  as  a  tribute  by 
the  poor."     Bancroft,  Native  Races,  vol.  ii.  p.  235.     Torquemada, 
Monarch.  Ind.,  torn.  i.  p.  461.— M.] 


54  CONQUEST   OF   MEXICO 

payment  of  the  tribute.28  *  Tax-gatherers  were 
also  distributed  throughout  the  kingdom,  who  were 
recognized  by  their  official  badges,  and  dreaded 
from  the  merciless  rigor  of  their  exactions.  By  a 
stern  law,  every  defaulter  was  liable  to  be  taken 
and  sold  as  a  slave.  In  the  capital  were  spacious 
granaries  and  warehouses  for  the  reception  of  the 
tributes.  A  receiver-general  was  quartered  in 
the  palace,  who  rendered  in  an  exact  account  of 
the  various  contributions,  and  watched  over  the 
conduct  of  the  inferior  agents,  in  whom  the  least 
malversation  was  summarily  punished.  This  func- 
tionary was  furnished  with  a  map  of  the  whole 
empire,  with  a  minute  specification  of  the  imposts 
assessed  on  every  part  of  it.  These  imposts,  mod- 
erate under  the  reigns  of  the  early  princes,  became 
so  burdensome  under  those  at  the  close  of  the  dy- 
nasty, being  rendered  still  more  oppressive  by  the 

28  The  caciques  who  submitted  to  the  allied  arms  were  usually  con- 
firmed in  their  authority,  and  the  conquered  places  allowed  to  retain 
their  laws  and  usages.  (Zurita,  Rapport,  p.  67.)  The  conquests 
were  not  always  partitioned,  but  sometimes,  singularly  enough,  were 
held  in  common  by  the  three  powers.  Ibid.,  p.  11. 

*  [Very  few  garrisons  were  ever  quartered  in  subject  pueblos.  The 
warriors  Cort6s  encountered  in  his  second  attack  upon  Mexico  were 
not  the  garrisons  of  the  cities,  but  special  bodies  sent  out  to  meet  the 
Spaniards.  The  "  calpixqui,"  or  tax-gatherers,  were  spies  as  well  as 
officers,  and  were  hated  as  were  the  "  publicans  "  in  all  lands  where 
the  taxes  were  "  farmed."  The  "  chief  of  men  "  had  many  subor- 
dinates. His  couriers  were  not  infrequently  outcasts.  Bearing  in 
mind  the  class  of  persons  with  whom  he  had  to  deal  officially,  and 
the  fact  that  it  was  his  function  to  represent  the  majesty  of  the 
clan  on  all  public  occasions,  it  is  not  remarkable  that  he  should  have 
conducted  himself  with  such  haughtiness  as  to  lead  the  Spaniards 
to  suppose  that  he  was  an  absolute  king.  That  he  had  really  no 
kingly  power  was  manifested  when  Montezuma  was  a  prisoner  in 
the  hands  of  the  Spaniards.  His  special  duty  was  to  execute  the 
commands  of  the  tribal  council.— M.] 


LAWS   AND    REVENUES  55 

manner  of  collection,  that  they  bred  disaffection 
throughout  the  land,  and  prepared  the  way  for  its 
conquest  by  the  Spaniards.29 

Communication  was  maintained  with  the  re- 
motest parts  of  the  country  by  means  of  couriers. 
Post-houses  were  established  on  the  great  roads, 
about  two  leagues  distant  from  each  other.  The 
courier,  bearing  his  despatches  in  the  form  of  a 
hieroglyphical  painting,  ran  with  them  to  the  first 
station,  where  they  were  taken  by  another  mes- 
senger and  carried  forward  to  the  next,  and  so  on 
till  they  reached  the  capital.  These  couriers, 
trained  from  childhood,  travelled  with  incredible 
swiftness, — not  four  or  five  leagues  an  hour,  as  an 
old  chronicler  would  make  us  believe,  but  with  such 
speed  that  despatches  were  carried  from  one  to 
two  hundred  miles  a  day.30  Fresh  fish  was  fre- 
quently served  at  Montezuma's  table  in  twenty- 
four  hours  from  the  time  it  had  been  taken  in 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  two  hundred  miles  from  the 
capital.  In  this  way  intelligence  of  the  move- 
ments of  the  royal  armies  was  rapidly  brought  to 

28  Col.  of  Mendoza,  ap.  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  vi.  p.  17. — Carta  de 
Cortes,  ap.  Lorenzana,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  p.  110. — Torquemada, 
Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  14,  cap.  6,  8. — Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib. 
7,  cap.  13.— Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  8,  cap.  18,  19. 

30  The  Hon.  C.  A.  Murray,  whose  imperturbable  good  humor  under 
real  troubles  forms  a  contrast,  rather  striking,  to  the  sensitiveness  of 
some  of  his  predecessors  to  imaginary  ones,  tells  us,  among  other 
marvels,  that  an  Indian  of  his  party  travelled  a  hundred  miles  in 
four-and-twenty  hours.  (Travels  in  North  America  (New  York, 
1839),  vol.  i.  p.  193.)  The  Greek  who,  according  to  Plutarch, 
brought  the  news  of  victory  to  Plataea,  a  hundred  and  twenty-five 
miles,  in  a  day,  was  a  better  traveller  still.  Some  interesting  facts 
on  the  pedestrian  capabilities  of  man  in  the  savage  state  are  col- 
lected by  Buffon,  who  concludes,  truly  enough,  "  L'homme  civilis£ 
ne  connait  pas  ses  forces."  (Histoire  naturelle:  De  la  Jeunesse.) 


56  CONQUEST   OF  MEXICO 

court;  and  the  dress  of  the  courier,  denoting  by 
its  color  the  nature  of  his  tidings,  spread  joy 
or  consternation  in  the  towns  through  which  he 
passed.31 

But  the  great  aim  of  the  Aztec  institutions,  to 
which  private  discipline  and  public  honors  were 
alike  directed,  was  the  profession  of  arms.  In 
Mexico,  as  in  Egypt,  the  soldier  shared  with  the 
priest  the  highest  consideration.  The  king,  as  we 
have  seen,  must  be  an  experienced  warrior.  The 
tutelary  deity  of  the  Aztecs  was  the  god  of  war. 
A  great  object  of  their  military  expeditions  was  to 
gather  hecatombs  of  captives  for  his  altars.  The 
soldier  who  fell  in  battle  was  transported  at  once 
to  the  region  of  ineffable  bliss  in  the  bright  man- 
sions of  the  Sun.32  Every  war,  therefore,  became 
a  crusade ;  and  the  warrior,  animated  by  a  religious 
enthusiasm  like  that  of  the  early  Saracen  or  the 
Christian  crusader,  was  not  only  raised  to  a  con- 
tempt of  danger,  but  courted  it,  for  the  imperish- 
able crown  of  martyrdom.  Thus  we  find  the  same 
impulse  acting  in  the  most  opposite  quarters  of  the 

81  Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  14,  cap.  1. — The  same  wants 
led  to  the  same  expedients  in  ancient  Rome,  and  still  more  ancient 
Persia.  "  Nothing  in  the  world  is  borne  so  swiftly,"  says  Herodo- 
tus, "  as  messages  by  the  Persian  couriers ; "  which  his  commentator 
Valckenaer  prudently  qualifies  by  the  exception  of  the  carrier-pigeon. 
(Herodotus,  Hist.,  Urania,  sec.  98,  nee  non  Adnot.  ed.  Schweig- 
hauser.)  Couriers  are  noticed,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  in  China,  by 
Marco  Polo.  Their  stations  were  only  three  miles  apart,  and  they 
accomplished  five  days'  journey  in  one.  (Viaggi  di  Marco  Polo,  lib. 
2,  cap.  20,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn,  ii.)  A  similar  arrangement  for  posts 
subsists  there  at  the  present  day,  and  excites  the  admiration  of  a 
modern  traveller.  (Anderson,  British  Embassy  to  China  (London, 
1796),  p.  282.)  In  all  these  cases,  the  posts  were  for  the  use  of  gov- 
ernment only. 

M  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espafia,  lib.  3,  Apend.,  cap.  3. 


MILITARY  INSTITUTIONS  57 

globe,  and  the  Asiatic,  the  European,  and  the 
American,  each  earnestly  invoking  the  holy  name 
of  religion  in  the  perpetration  of  human  butchery. 

The  question  of  war  was  discussed  in  a  council 
of  the  king  and  his  chief  nobles.*  Ambassadors 
were  sent,  previously  to  its  declaration,  to  require 
the  hostile  state  to  receive  the  Mexican  gods  and 
to  pay  the  customary  tribute.  The  persons  of  am- 
bassadors were  held  sacred  throughout  Anahuac. 
They  were  lodged  and  entertained  in  the  great 
towns  at  the  public  charge,  and  were  everywhere 
received  with  courtesy,  so  long  as  they  did  not  de- 
viate from  the  high-roads  on  their  route.  When 
they  did,  they  forfeited  their  privileges.  If  the 
embassy  proved  unsuccessful,  a  defiance,  or  open 
declaration  of  war,  was  sent;  quotas  were  drawn 
from  the  conquered  provinces,  which  were  always 
subjected  to  military  service,  as  well  as  the  pay- 
ment of  taxes;  and  the  royal  army,  usually  with 
the  monarch  at  its  head,  began  its  march.33 

The  Aztec  princes  made  use  of  the  incentives 
employed  by  European  monarchs  to  excite  the 
ambition  of  their  followers.  They  established 
various  military  orders,  each  having  its  privileges 
and  peculiar  insignia.  There  seems,  also,  to  have 
existed  a  sort  of  knighthood  of  inferior  degree,  f 
It  was  the  cheapest  reward  of  martial  prowess,  and 

M  Zurita,  Rapport,  pp.  68,  120.— Col.  of  Mendoza,  ap.  Antiq.  of 
Mexico,  vol.  i.  PI.  67;  vol.  vi.  p.  74. — Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind., 
lib.  14,  cap.  1. — The  reader  will  find  a  remarkable  resemblance  to 
these  military  usages  in  those  of  the  early  Romans.  Com.  Liv.,  Hist., 
lib.  1,  cap.  32;  lib.  4,  cap.  30,  et  alibi. 

*  [The  general  council  of  the  tribe.— M.] 

t  ["  Distinguished  braves,"  see  note,  p.  35.— M.] 


58  CONQUEST   OF   MEXICO 

whoever  had  not  reached  it  was  excluded  from 
using  ornaments  on  his  arms  or  his  person,  and 
obliged  to  wear  a  coarse  white  stuff,  made  from 
the  threads  of  the  aloe,  called  nequen.  Even  the 
members  of  the  royal  family  were  not  excepted 
from  this  law,  which  reminds  one  of  the  occasional 
practice  of  Christian  knights,  to  wear  plain  armor, 
or  shields  without  device,  till  they  had  achieved 
some  doughty  feat  of  chivalry.  Although  the  mili- 
tary orders  were  thrown  open  to  all,  it  is  probable 
that  they  were  chiefly  filled  with  persons  of  rank, 
who,  by  their  previous  training  and  connections, 
were  able  to  come  into  the  field  under  peculiar  ad- 
vantages.34 

The  dress  of  the  higher  warriors  was  picturesque 
and  often  magnificent.  Their  bodies  were  covered 
with  a  close  vest  of  quilted  cotton,  so  thick  as  to  be 
impenetrable  to  the  light  missiles  of  Indian  war- 
fare. This  garment  was  so  light  and  serviceable 
that  it  was  adopted  by  the  Spaniards.  The 
wealthier  chiefs  sometimes  wore,  instead  of  this 
cotton  mail,  a  cuirass  made  of  thin  plates  of  gold 
or  silver.  Over  it  was  thrown  a  surcoat  of  the  gor- 
geous feather-work  in  which  they  excelled.35 

84  Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  14,  cap.  4,  5.— Acosta,  lib.  6,  ch. 
26. — Col.  of  Mendoza,  ap.  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  i.  PI.  65;  vol.  vi. 
p.  72.— Camargo,  Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS. 

35  "  Theirmail,  if  mail  it  may  be  called,  was  woven 
Of  vegetable  down,  like  finest  flax, 
Bleached  to  the  whiteness  of  new-fallen  snow. 

****** 
Others,  of  higher  office,  were  arrayed 
In  feathery  breastplates,  of  more  gorgeous  hue 
Than  the  gay  plumage  of  the  mountain-cock, 
Than  the  pheasant's  glittering  pride.    But  what  were  these, 
Or  what  the  thin  gold  hauberk,  when  opposed 
To  arms  like  ours  in  battle  ?  " 

Madoc,  Part  1,  canto  7. 

Beautiful  painting!  One  may  doubt,  however,  the  propriety  of 
the  Welshman's  vaunt,  before  the  use  of  fire-arms. 


MILITARY  INSTITUTIONS  59 

Their  helmets  were  sometimes  of  wood,  fashioned 
like  the  heads  of  wild  animals,  and  sometimes  of 
silver,  on  the  top  of  which  waved  a  panache  of  va- 
riegated plumes,  sprinkled  with  precious  stones 
and  ornaments  of  gold.  They  wore  also  collars, 
bracelets,  and  ear-rings  of  the  same  rich  mate- 
rials.36 

Their  armies  were  divided  into  bodies  of  eight 
thousand  men ;  and  these,  again,  into  companies  of 
three  or  four  hundred,  each  with  its  own  com- 
mander. The  national  standard,  which  has  been 
compared  to  the  ancient  Roman,  displayed,  in  its 
embroidery  of  gold  and  feather-work,  the  armo- 
rial ensigns  of  the  state.  These  were  significant 
of  its  name,  which,  as  the  names  of  both  persons 
and  places  were  borrowed  from  some  material  ob- 
ject, was  easily  expressed  by  hieroglyphical  sym- 
bols. The  companies  and  the  great  chiefs  had  also 
their  appropriate  banners  and  devices,  and  the 
gaudy  hues  of  their  many-colored  plumes  gave  a 
dazzling  splendor  to  the  spectacle. 

Their  tactics  were  such  as  belong  to  a  nation 
with  whom  war,  though  a  trade,  is  not  elevated  to 
the  rank  of  a  science.  They  advanced  singing,  and 
shouting  their  war-cries,  briskly  charging  the 
enemy,  as  rapidly  retreating,  and  making  use  of 
ambuscades,  sudden  surprises,  and  the  light  skir- 
mish of  guerilla  warfare.  Yet  their  discipline  was 
such  as  to  draw  forth  the  encomiums  of  the  Spanish 
conquerors.  "  A  beautiful  sight  it  was,"  says  one 
of  them,  "  to  see  them  set  out  on  their  march,  all 

"Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espafia,  lib.  2,  cap.  27;  lib.  8,  cap.  12. 
— Relatione  d'un  gentil'  huomo,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  p.  305.— 
Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  ubi  supra. 


60  CONQUEST   OF  MEXICO 

moving  forward  so  gayly,  and  in  so  admirable 
order!  "  37  In  battle  they  did  not  seek  to  kill  their 
enemies,  so  much  as  to  take  them  prisoners ;  *  and 
they  never  scalped,  like  other  North  American 
tribes.  The  valor  of  a  warrior  was  estimated  by 
the  number  of  his  prisoners;  and  no  ransom  was 
large  enough  to  save  the  devoted  captive.38 

Their  military  code  bore  the  same  stern  features 
as  their  other  laws.  Disobedience  of  orders  was 
punished  with  death.  It  was  death,  also,  for  a 
soldier  to  leave  his  colors,  to  attack  the  enemy  be- 
fore the  signal  was  given,  or  to  plunder  another's 
booty  or  prisoners.  One  of  the  last  Tezcucan 
princes,  in  the  spirit  of  an  ancient  Roman,  put  two 
sons  to  death— after  having  cured  their  wounds— 
for  violating  the  last-mentioned  law.39 

I  must  not  omit  to  notice  here  an  institution  the 
introduction  of  which  in  the  Old  World  is  ranked 
among  the  beneficent  fruits  of  Christianity.  Hos- 
pitals were  established  in  the  principal  cities,  for 
the  cure  of  the  sick  and  the  permanent  refuge  of 

87  Relatione  d'un  gentiF  huomo,  ubi  supra. 

38  Col.  of  Mendoza,  ap.  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  i.  PI.  65,  66 ;  vol.  vi. 
p.  73.— Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  8,  cap.  12.— Toribio, 
Hist,  de  los  Indios,  MS.,  Parte  I.  cap.  7.— Torquemada,  Monarch. 
Ind.,  lib.  14,  cap.  3. — Relatione  d'un  gentiP  huomo,  ap.  Ramusio, 
loc.  cit. — Scalping  may  claim  high  authority,  or,  at  least,  antiquity. 
The  Father  of  History  gives  an  account  of  it  among  the  Scythians, 
showing  that  they  performed  the  operation,  and  wore  the  hideous 
trophy,  in  the  same  manner  as  our  North  American  Indians.  (Hero- 
dot.,  Hist.,  Melpomene,  sec.  64.)  Traces  of  the  same  savage  custom 
are  also  found  in  the  laws  of  the  Visigoths,  among  the  Franks,  and 
even  the  Anglo-Saxons.  (See  Guizot,  Cours  d'Histoire  moderne 
(Paris,  1829),  torn.  i.  p.  283.) 

»  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  67. 

*  [That  they  might  offer  them  as  living  sacrifices  to  their  gods.— M.] 


AZTEC   CIVILIZATION  61 

the  disabled  soldier ;  *  and  surgeons  were  placed 
over  them,  "  who  were  so  far  better  than  those  in 
Europe,"  says  an  old  chronicler,  "that  they  did 
not  protract  the  cure  in  order  to  increase  the 
pay."  40 

Such  is  the  brief  outline  of  the  civil  and  military 
polity  of  the  ancient  Mexicans;  less  perfect  than 
could  be  desired  in  regard  to  the  former,  from  the 
imperfection  of  the  sources  whence  it  is  drawn. 
Whoever  has  had  occasion  to  explore  the  early  his- 
tory of  modern  Europe  has  found  how  vague  and 
unsatisfactory  is  the  political  information  which 
can  be  gleaned  from  the  gossip  of  monkish  annal- 
ists. How  much  is  the  difficulty  increased  in  the 
present  instance,  where  this  information,  first  re- 
corded in  the  dubious  language  of  hieroglyphics, 
was  interpreted  in  another  language,  with  which 
the  Spanish  chroniclers  were  imperfectly  ac- 
quainted, while  it  related  to  institutions  of  which 
their  past  experience  enabled  them  to  form  no  ade- 
quate conception!  Amidst  such  uncertain  lights, 
it  is  in  vain  to  expect  nice  accuracy  of  detail.  All 
that  can  be  done  is  to  attempt  an  outline  of  the 
more  prominent  features,  that  a  correct  impression, 
so  far  as  it  goes,  may  be  produced  on  the  mind  of 
the  reader. 

Enough  has  been  said,  however,  to  show  that  the 
Aztec  and  Tezcucan  races  were  advanced  in  civili- 
zation very  far  beyond  the  wandering  tribes  of 

40  Torquemada,  Monarch.   Ind.,  lib.   12,  cap.   6;  lib.   14,  cap.  3. — 
Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  36. 

*  [The  sick  and  the  disabled  were  quartered  and  cared  for  in  some 
of  the  great  communal  houses. — M.] 


62  CONQUEST   OF   MEXICO 

North  America.41  The  degree  of  civilization  which 
they  had  reached,  as  inferred  by  their  political  in- 
stitutions, may  be  considered,  perhaps,  not  much 
short  of  that  enjoyed  by  our  Saxon  ancestors  under 
Alfred.  In  respect  to  the  nature  of  it,  they  may 
be  better  compared  with  the  Egyptians;  and  the 
examination  of  their  social  relations  and  culture 
may  suggest  still  stronger  points  of  resemblance  to 
that  ancient  people. 

Those  familiar  with  the  modern  Mexicans  will 
find  it  difficult  to  conceive  that  the  nation  should 
ever  have  been  capable  of  devising  the  enlightened 
polity  which  we  have  been  considering.  But  they 
should  remember  that  in  the  Mexicans  of  our  day 

41  Zurita  is  indignant  at  the  epithet  of  barbarians  bestowed  on  the 
Aztecs ;  an  epithet,  he  says,  "  which  could  come  from  no  one  who 
had  personal  knowledge  of  the  capacity  of  the  people,  or  their 
institutions,  and  which  in  some  respects  is  quite  as  well  merited  by 
the  European  nations."  (Rapport,  p.  200,  et  seq.)  This  is  strong 
language.  Yet  no  one  had  better  means  of  knowing  than  this  emi- 
nent jurist,  who  for  nineteen  years  held  a  post  in  the  royal  audi- 
ences of  New  Spain.  During  his  long  residence  in  the  country  he 
had  ample  opportunity  of  acquainting  himself  with  its  usages,  both 
through  his  own  personal  observation  and  intercourse  with  the  na- 
tives, and  through  the  first  missionaries  who  came  over  after  the 
Conquest.  On  his  return  to  Spain,  probably  about  1560,  he  occupied 
himself  with  an  answer  to  queries  which  had  been  propounded  by  the 
government,  on  the  character  of  the  Aztec  laws  and  institutions,  and 
on  that  of  the  modifications  introduced  by  the  Spaniards.  Much 
of  his  treatise  is  taken  up  with  the  latter  subject.  In  what  relates 
to  the  former  he  is  more  brief  than  could  be  wished,  from  the  diffi- 
culty, perhaps,  of  obtaining  full  and  satisfactory  information  as  to 
the  details.  As  far  as  he  goes,  however,  he  manifests  a  sound  and 
discriminating  judgment.  He  is  very  rarely  betrayed  into  the  extrava- 
gance of  expression  so  visible  in  the  writers  of  the  time;  and  this 
temperance,  combined  with  his  uncommon  sources  of  information, 
makes  his  work  one  of  highest  authority  on  the  limited  topics  within 
its  range.  The  original  manuscript  was  consulted  by  Clavigero,  and, 
indeed,  has  been  used  by  other  writers.  The  work  is  now  accessible 
to  all,  as  one  of  the  series  of  translations  from  the  pen  of  the 
indefatigable  Ternaux. 


AZTEC   CIVILIZATION  63 

they  see  only  a  conquered  race;  as  different 
from  their  ancestors  as  are  the  modern  Egyptians 
from  those  who  built, — I  will  not  say,  the  tasteless 
pyramids,— but  the  temples  and  palaces  whose 
magnificent  wrecks  strew  the  borders  of  the  Nile, 
at  Luxor  and  Karnac.  The  difference  is  not  so 
great  as  between  the  ancient  Greek,  and  his  degen- 
erate descendant,  lounging  among  the  master- 
pieces of  art  which  he  has  scarcely  taste  enough  to 
admire,— speaking  the  language  of  those  still  more 
imperishable  monuments  of  literature  which  he  has 
hardly  capacity  to  comprehend.  Yet  he  breathes 
the  same  atmosphere,  is  warmed  by  the  same  sun, 
nourished  by  the  same  scenes,  as  those  who  fell  at 
Marathon  and  won  the  trophies  of  Olympic  Pisa. 
The  same  blood  flows  in  his  veins  that  flowed  in 
theirs.  But  ages  of  tyranny  have  passed  over  him ; 
he  belongs  to  a  conquered  race. 

The  American  Indian  has  something  peculiarly 
sensitive  in  his  nature.  He  shrinks  instinctively 
from  the  rude  touch  of  a  foreign  hand.  Even 
when  this  foreign  influence  comes  in  the  form 
of  civilization,  he  seems  to  sink  and  pine  away 
beneath  it.  It  has  been  so  with  the  Mexicans. 
Under  the  Spanish  domination,  their  numbers 
have  silently  melted  away.  Their  energies  are 
broken.  They  no  longer  tread  their  mountain 
plains  with  the  conscious  independence  of  their 
ancestors.  In  their  faltering  step  and  meek  and 
melancholy  aspect  we  read  the  sad  characters  of 
the  conquered  race.  The  cause  of  humanity,  in- 
deed, has  gained.  They  live  under  a  better  system 
of  laws,  a  more  assured  tranquillity,  a  purer  faith. 


64  CONQUEST    OF   MEXICO 

But  all  does  not  avail.  Their  civilization  was  of 
the  hardy  character  which  belongs  to  the  wilder- 
ness. The  fierce  virtues  of  the  Aztec  were  all  his 
own.  They  refused  to  submit  to  European  cul- 
ture,—to  be  engrafted  on  a  foreign  stock.  His 
outward  form,  his  complexion,  his  lineaments,  are 
substantially  the  same ;  but  the  moral  characteris- 
tics of  the  nation,  all  that  constituted  its  individu- 
ality as  a  race,  are  effaced  forever. 

Two  of  the  principal  authorities  for  this  chapter  are  Torquemada 
and  Clavigero.  The  former,  a  Provincial  of  the  Franciscan  order, 
came  to  the  New  World  about  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
As  the  generation  of  the  Conquerors  had  not  then  passed  away,  he 
had  ample  opportunities  of  gathering  the  particulars  of  their  enter- 
prise from  their  own  lips.  Fifty  years,  during  which  he  continued 
in  the  country,  put  him  in  possession  of  the  traditions  and  usages  of 
the  natives,  and  enabled  him  to  collect  their  history  from  the  earliest 
missionaries,  as  well  as  from  such  monuments  as  the  fanaticism  of 
his  own  countrymen  had  not  then  destroyed.  From  these  ample 
sources  he  compiled  his  bulky  tomes,  beginning,  after  the  approved 
fashion  of  the  ancient  Castilian  chroniclers,  with  the  creation  of  the 
world,  and  embracing  the  whole  circle  of  the  Mexican  institutions, 
political,  religious,  and  social,  from  the  earliest  period  to  his  own 
time.  In  handling  these  fruitful  themes,  the  worthy  father  has 
shown  a  full  measure  of  the  bigotry  which  belonged  to  his  order  at 
that  period.  Every  page,  too,  is  loaded  with  illustrations  from  Scrip- 
ture or  profane  history,  which  form  a  whimsical  contrast  to  the  bar- 
baric staple  of  his  story;  and  he  has  sometimes  fallen  into  serious 
errors,  from  his  misconception  of  the  chronological  system  of  the 
Aztecs.  But,  notwithstanding  these  glaring  defects  in  the  composi- 
tion of  the  work,  the  student,  aware  of  his  author's  infirmities,  will 
find  few  better  guides  than  Torquemada  in  tracing  the  stream  of 
historic  truth  up  to  the  fountain-head ;  such  is  his  manifest  integrity, 
and  so  great  were  his  facilities  for  information  on  the  most  curious 
points  of  Mexican  antiquity.  No  work,  accordingly,  has  been  more 
largely  consulted  and  copied,  even  by  some  who,  like  Herrera,  have 
affected  to  set  little  value  on  the  sources  whence  its  information 
was  drawn.  (Hist,  general,  dec.  6,  lib.  6,  cap.  19.)  The  Monar- 
chic Indiana  was  first  published  at  Seville,  1615  (Nic.  Antonio, 
Bibliotheca  Nova  (Matriti,  1783),  torn.  ii.  p.  787),  and  since,  in 
a  better  style,  in  three  volumes  folio,  at  Madrid,  in  1723. 

The  other  authority,  frequently  cited  in  the  preceding  pages,  is  the 
Abb£  Clavigero's  Storia  antica  del  Messico.  It  was  originally  printed 


TORQUEMADA  65 

towards  the  close  of  the  last  century,  in  the  Italian  language,  and  in 
Italy,  whither  the  author,  a  native  of  Vera  Cruz,  and  a  member 
of  the  order  of  the  Jesuits,  had  retired,  on  the  expulsion  of  that 
body  from  Spanish  America,  in  1767.  During  a  residence  of  thirty- 
five  years  in  his  own  country,  Clavigero  had  made  himself  intimately 
acquainted  with  its  antiquities,  by  the  careful  examination  of  paint- 
ings, manuscripts,  and  such  other  remains  as  were  to  be  found  in  his 
day.  The  plan  of  his  work  is  nearly  as  comprehensive  as  that  of 
his  predecessor,  Torquemada;  but  the  later  and  more  cultivated 
period  in  which  he  wrote  is  visible  in  the  superior  address  with  which 
he  has  managed  his  complicated  subject.  In  the  elaborate  disquisi- 
tions in  his  concluding  volume,  he  has  done  much  to  rectify  the  chro- 
nology and  the  various  inaccuracies  of  preceding  writers.  Indeed,  an 
avowed  object  of  his  work  was  to  vindicate  his  countrymen  from 
what  he  conceived  to  be  the  misrepresentations  of  Robertson,  Ray- 
nal,  and  De  Pau.  In  regard  to  the  last  two  he  was  perfectly  suc- 
cessful. Such  an  ostensible  design  might  naturally  suggest  unfavor- 
able ideas  of  his  impartiality.  But,  on  the  whole,  he  seems  to  have 
conducted  the  discussion  with  good  faith;  and,  if  he  has  been  led 
by  national  zeal  to  overcharge  the  picture  with  brilliant  colors,  he 
will  be  found  much  more  temperate,  in  this  respect,  than  those  who 
preceded  him,  while  he  has  applied  sound  principles  of  criticism, 
of  which  they  were  incapable.  In  a  word,  the  diligence  of  his  re- 
searches has  gathered  into  one  focus  the  scattered  lights  of  tradition 
and  antiquarian  lore,  purified  in  a  great  measure  from  the  mists  of 
superstition  which  obscure  the  best  productions  of  an  earlier  period. 
From  these  causes,  the  work,  notwithstanding  its  occasional  prolixity, 
and  the  disagreeable  aspect  given  to  it  by  the  profusion  of  uncouth 
names  in  the  Mexican  orthography,  which  bristle  over  every  page, 
has  found  merited  favor  with  the  public,  and  created  something  like 
a  popular  interest  in  the  subject.  Soon  after  its  publication  at  Ce- 
sena,  in  1780,  it  was  translated  into  English,  and  more  lately  into 
Spanish  and  German. 


CHAPTER  III 

MEXICAN     MYTHOLOGY  —  THE     SACERDOTAL    ORDER 
—THE   TEMPLES—  HUMAN   SACRIFICES 


civil  polity  of  the  Aztecs  is  so  closely 
JL  blended  with  their  religion  that  without  un- 
derstanding the  latter  it  is  impossible  to  form  cor- 
rect ideas  of  their  government  or  their  social  insti- 
tutions. I  shall  pass  over,  for  the  present,  some 
remarkable  traditions,  bearing  a  singular  resem- 
blance to  those  found  in  the  Scriptures,  and  en- 
deavor to  give  a  brief  sketch  of  their  mythology 
and  their  careful  provisions  for  maintaining  a  na- 
tional worship. 

Mythology  may  be  regarded  as  the  poetry  of 
religion,  or  rather  as  the  poetic  development  of  the 
religious  principle  in  a  primitive  age.  It  is  the 
effort  of  untutored  man  to  explain  the  mysteries 
of  existence,  and  the  secret  agencies  by  which  the 
operations  of  nature  are  conducted.  Although  the 
growth  of  similar  conditions  of  society,  its  char- 
acter must  vary  with  that  of  the  rude  tribes  in 
which  it  originates  ;  and  the  ferocious  Goth,  quaf- 
fing mead  from  the  skulls  of  his  slaughtered  ene- 
mies, must  have  a  very  different  mythology  from 
that  of  the  effeminate  native  of  Hispaniola,  loiter- 

66 


MEXICAN  MYTHOLOGY  67 

ing  away  his  hours  in  idle  pastimes,  under  the 
shadow  of  his  bananas. 

At  a  later  and  more  refined  period,  we  sometimes 
find  these  primitive  legends  combined  into  a  reg- 
ular system  under  the  hands  of  the  poet,  and  the 
rude  outline  moulded  into  forms  of  ideal  beauty, 
which  are  the  objects  of  adoration  in  a  credulous 
age,  and  the  delight  of  all  succeeding  ones.  Such 
were  the  beautiful  inventions  of  Hesiod  and  Ho- 
mer, "  who,"  says  the  Father  of  History,  "  created 
the  theogony  of  the  Greeks  ;  "  an  assertion  not  to 
be  taken  too  literally,  since  it  is  hardly  possible  that 
any  man  should  create  a  religious  system  for  his 
nation.1  They  only  filled  up  the  shadowy  outlines 
of  tradition  with  the  bright  touches  of  their  own 
imaginations,  until  they  had  clothed  them  in  beauty 
which  kindled  the  imaginations  of  others.  The 
power  of  the  poet,  indeed,  may  be  felt  in  a  similar 
way  in  a  much  riper  period  of  society.  To  say 
nothing  of  the  "  Divina  Commedia,"  who  is  there 
that  rises  from  the  perusal  of  "  Paradise  Lost  " 
without  feeling  his  own  conceptions  of  the  angelic 
hierarchy  quickened  by  those  of  the  inspired  artist, 
and  a  new  and  sensible  form,  as  it  were,  given  to 
images  which  had  before  floated  dim  and  unde- 
fined before  him? 

The  last-mentioned  period  is  succeeded  by  that 
of  philosophy;  which,  disclaiming  alike  the  le- 
gends of  the  primitive  age  and  the  poetical  embel- 


^eoyovirfv  "E/l^<tt.  Herodotus,  Euterpe,  sec.  53.  —  Hee- 
ren  hazards  a  remark  equally  strong,  respecting  the  epic  poets 
of  India,  "  who,"  says  he,  "  have  supplied  the  numerous  gods  that 
fill  her  Pantheon."  Historical  Researches,  Eng.  trans.  (Oxford, 
1833),  vol.  iii.  p.  139. 


68  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

lishments  of  the  succeeding  one,  seeks  to  shelter 
itself  from  the  charge  of  impiety  by  giving  an 
allegorical  interpretation  to  the  popular  mythol- 
ogy, and  thus  to  reconcile  the  latter  with  the 
genuine  deductions  of  science. 

The  Mexican  religion  had  emerged  from  the 
first  of  the  schools  we  have  been  considering,  and, 
although  little  affected  by  poetical  influences,  had 
received  a  peculiar  complexion  from  the  priests, 
who  had  digested  as  thorough  and  burdensome  a 
ceremonial  as  ever  existed  in  any  nation.  They 
had,  moreover,  thrown  the  veil  of  allegory  over 
early  tradition,  and  invested  their  deities  with  at- 
tributes savoring  much  more  of  the  grotesque  con- 
ceptions of  the  Eastern  nations  in  the  Old  World, 
than  of  the  lighter  fictions  of  Greek  mythology,  in 
which  the  features  of  humanity,  however  exagger- 
ated, were  never  wholly  abandoned.2 

In  contemplating  the  religious  system  of  the 
Aztecs,  one  is  struck  with  its  apparent  incongruity, 
as  if  some  portion  of  it  had  emanated  from  a  com- 
paratively refined  people,  open  to  gentle  influ- 
ences, while  the  rest  breathes  a  spirit  of  unmiti- 
gated ferocity.  It  naturally  suggests  the  idea  of 
two  distinct  sources,  and  authorizes  the  belief  that 
the  Aztecs  had  inherited  from  their  predecessors 
a  milder  faith,  on  which  was  afterwards  engrafted 

1  The  Hon.  Mountstuart  Elphinstone  has  fallen  into  a  similar 
train  of  thought,  in  a  comparison  of  the  Hindoo  and  Greek  mythol- 
ogy, in  his  History  of  India,  published  since  the  remarks  in  the 
text  were  written.  (See  Book  I.  ch.  4.)  The  same  chapter  of  this 
truly  philosophic  work  suggests  some  curious  points  of  resemblance 
to  the  Aztec  religious  institutions,  that  may  furnish  pertinent  illus- 
trations to  the  mind  bent  on  tracing  the  affinities  of  the  Asiatic  and 
American  races. 


MEXICAN  MYTHOLOGY  69 

their  own  mythology.  The  latter  soon  became 
dominant,  and  gave  its  dark  coloring  to  the  creeds 
of  the  conquered  nations, — which  the  Mexicans, 
like  the  ancient  Romans,  seem  willingly  to  have 
incorporated  into  their  own, — until  the  same  fu- 
nereal superstition  settled  over  the  farthest  borders 
of  Anahuac. 

The  Aztecs  recognized  the  existence  of  a  su- 
preme Creator  and  Lord  of  the  universe.  They 
addressed  him,  in  their  prayers,  as  "  the  God  by 
whom  we  live,"  "  omnipresent,  that  knoweth  all 
thoughts,  and  giveth  all  gifts,"  "  without  whom 
man  is  as  nothing,"  "  invisible,  incorporeal,  one 
God,  of  perfect  perfection  and  purity,"  "  under 
whose  wings  we  find  repose  and  a  sure  defence." 
These  sublime  attributes  infer  no  inadequate  con- 
ception of  the  true  God.  But  the  idea  of  unity — 
of  a  being  with  whom  volition  is  action,  who  has 
no  need  of  inferior  ministers  to  execute  his  pur- 
poses— was  too  simple,  or  too  vast,  for  their  under- 
standings; and  they  sought  relief,  as  usual,  in  a 
plurality  of  deities,  who  presided  over  the  ele- 
ments, the  changes  of  the  seasons,  and  the  various 
occupations  of  man.3  Of  these,  there  were  thir- 
teen principal  deities,  and  more  than  two  hundred 
inferior;  to  each  of  whom  some  special  day  or 
appropriate  festival  was  consecrated.4 


1  Hitter  has  well  shown,  by  the  example  of  the  Hindoo  system,  how 
the  idea  of  unity  suggests,  of  itself,  that  of  plurality.  History  of 
Ancient  Philosophy,  Eng.  trans.  (Oxford,  1838),  Book  II.  ch.  1. 

4  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  6,  passim.— Acosta,  lib.  5, 
ch.  9.— Boturini,  Idea,  p.  8,  et  seq.— Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS., 
cap.  1.— Camargo,  Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS.— The  Mexicans,  according 
to  Clavigero,  believed  in  an  evil  Spirit,  the  enemy  of  the  human  race, 


70  CONQUEST  OF   MEXICO 

At  the  head  of  all  stood  the  terrible  Huitzilo- 
pochtli,  the  Mexican  Mars;  although  it  is  doing 
injustice  to  the  heroic  war-god  of  antiquity  to 
identify  him  with  this  sanguinary  monster.  This 
was  the  patron  deity  of  the  nation.  His  fantastic 
image  was  loaded  with  costly  ornaments.  His 
temples  were  the  most  stately  and  august  of  the 
public  edifices;  and  his  altars  reeked  with  the 
blood  of  human  hecatombs  in  every  city  of  the  em- 
pire. Disastrous  indeed  must  have  been  the  influ- 
ence of  such  a  superstition  on  the  character  of  the 
people.5 

whose  barbarous  name  signified  "  Rational  Owl."  (Stor.  del  Messico, 
torn.  ii.  p.  2.)  The  curate  Bernaldez  speaks  of  the  Devil  being  em- 
broidered on  the  dresses  of  Columbus's  Indians,  in  the  likeness  of 
an  owl.  (Historia  de  los  Reyes  Cat61icos,  MS.,  cap.  131.)  This  must 
not  be  confounded,  however,  with  the  evil  Spirit  in  the  mythology  of 
the  North  American  Indians  (see  Heckewelder's  Account,  ap.  Trans- 
actions of  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  Philadelphia,  vol.  i.  p. 
205),  still  less  with  the  evil  Principle  of  the  Oriental  nations  of  the 
Old  World.  It  was  only  one  among  many  deities,  for  evil  was  found 
too  liberally  mingled  in  the  natures  of  most  of  the  Aztec  gods — in 
the  same  manner  as  with  the  Greeks — to  admit  of  its  personification 
by  any  one. 

8  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  3,  cap.  1,  et  seq.— Acosta, 
lib.  5.  ch.  9. — Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  6,  cap.  21. — Botu- 
rini,  Idea,  pp.  27,  28. — Huitzilopochtli  is  compounded  of  two  words, 
signifying  "  humming-bird,"  and  "  left,"  from  his  image  having  the 
feathers  of  this  bird  on  its  left  foot  (Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico, 
torn.  ii.  p.  17) ;  an  amiable  etymology  for  so  ruffian  a  deity.* — The 

*  [The  name  may  possibly  have  referred  to  the  whispered  oracles 
and  intimations  in  dreams — such  as  "  a  little  bird  of  the  air "  is 
still  fabled  to  convey — by  which,  according  to  the  legend,  the  deity 
had  guided  his  people  in  their  migrations  and  conquests.  That  it  had 
a  symbolical  meaning  will  hardly  be  doubted,  and  M.  Brasseur  de 
Bourbourg,  who  had  originally  explained  it  as  "  Huitzil  the  Left- 
handed," — the  proper  name  of  a  deified  hero  with  the  addition  of 
a  descriptive  epithet, — has  since  found  one  of  too  deep  an  import 
to  be  briefly  expounded  or  easily  understood.  (Quatre  Lettres  sur 
le  Mexique  (Paris,  1868),  p.  201,  et  al.)  Mexitl,  another  name  of  the 


MEXICAN  MYTHOLOGY  71 

A  far  more  interesting  personage  in  their  my- 
thology was  Quetzalcoatl,  god  of  the  air,  a  divinity 
who,  during  his  residence  on  earth,  instructed  the 

fantastic  forms  of  the  Mexican  idols  were  in  the  highest  degree 
symbolical.  See  Gama's  learned  exposition  of  the  devices  on  the 
statue  of  the  goddess  found  in  the  great  square  of  Mexico.  (De- 
scripcion  de  las  Dos  Piedras  (Mexico,  1832),  Parte  1,  pp.  34r-44.) 
The  tradition  respecting  the  origin  of  this  god,  or,  at  least,  his  ap- 
pearance on  earth,  is  curious.  He  was  born  of  a  woman.  His 
mother,  a  devout  person,  one  day,  in  her  attendance  on  the  temple, 
saw  a  ball  of  bright-colored  feathers  floating  in  the  air.  She  took  it, 
and  deposited  it  in  her  bosom.  She  soon  after  found  herself  preg- 
nant, and  the  dread  deity  was  born,  coming  into  the  world,  like 
Minerva,  all  armed, — with  a  spear  in  the  right  hand,  a  shield  in 
the  left,  and  his  head  surmounted  by  a  crest  of  green  plumes.  (See 
Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  p.  19,  et  seq.)  A  similar  no- 
tion in  respect  to  the  incarnation  of  their  principal  deity  existed 
among  the  people  of  India  beyond  the  Ganges,  of  China,  and  of 
Thibet.  "  Budh,"  says  Milman,  in  his  learned  and  luminous  work 
on  the  history  of  Christianity,  "  according  to  a  tradition  known  in 
the  West,  was  born  of  a  virgin.  So  were  the  Fohi  of  China,  and 
the  Schakaof  of  Thibet,  no  doubt  the  same,  whether  a  mythic  or  a 
real  personage.  The  Jesuits  in  China,  says  Barrow,  were  appalled 
at  finding  in  the  mythology  of  that  country  the  counterpart  of  the 
Virgo  Deipara."  (Vol.  i.  p.  99,  note.)  The  existence  of  similar 
religious  ideas  in  remote  regions,  inhabited  by  different  races,  is 
an  interesting  subject  of  study,  furnishing,  as  it  does,  one  of  the 
most  important  links  in  the  great  chain  of  communication  which 
binds  together  the  distant  families  of  nations. 

same  deity,  is  translated  "  the  hare  of  the  aloes."  In  some  accounts 
the  two  are  distinct  personages.  Mythological  science  rejects  the 
legend,  and  regards  the  Aztec  war-god  as  a  "  nature-deity,"  a  per- 
sonification of  the  lightning,  this  being  a  natural  type  of  warlike 
might,  of  which  the  common  symbol,  the  serpent,  was  represented 
among  the  decorations  of  the  idol.  (Myths  of  the  New  World,  p. 
118.)  More  commonly  he  has  been  identified  with  the  sun,  and  Mr. 
Tylor,  while  declining  "  to  attempt  a  general  solution  of  this  inex- 
tricable compound  parthenogenetic  deity,"  notices  the  association  of 
his  principal  festival  with  the  winter's  solstice,  and  the  fact  that 
his  paste  idol  was  then  shot  through  with  an  arrow,  as  tending  to 
show  that  the  life  and  death  of  the  deity  were  emblematic  of  the 
year's,  "while  his  functions  of  war-god  may  have  been  of  later  ad- 
dition." Primitive  Culture,  torn.  iL  p.  279.— K.] 


72  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

natives  in  the  use  of  metals,  in  agriculture,  and 
in  the  arts  of  government.  He  was  one  of  those 
benefactors  of  their  species,  doubtless,  who  have 
been  deified  by  the  gratitude  of  posterity.  Under 
him,  the  earth  teemed  with  fruits  and  flowers,  with- 
out the  pains  of  culture.  An  ear  of  Indian  corn 
was  as  much  as  a  single  man  could  carry.  The 
cotton,  as  it  grew,  took,  of  its  own  accord,  the  rich 
dyes  of  human  art.  The  air  was  filled  with  intox- 
icating perfumes  and  the  sweet  melody  of  birds. 
In  short,  these  were  the  halcyon  days,  which  find 
a  place  in  the  mythic  systems  of  so  many  nations 
in  the  Old  World.  It  was  the  golden  age  of  Ana- 
huac.* 

From  some  cause,  not  explained,  Quetzalcoatl 
incurred  the  wrath  of  one  of  the  principal  gods, 
and  was  compelled  to  abandon  the  country.  On 
his  way  he  stopped  at  the  city  of  Cholula,  where  a 

*  [For  the  Aztec  myths  our  most  valuable  authority  is  the  His- 
toria  de  los  Mexicanos  por  sus  Pinturas,  by  Ramirez  de  Fuen-leal. 
This  is  taken  directly  from  the  sacred  books  of  the  Aztecs  as  ex- 
plained by  survivors  of  the  Conquest.  Bandelier,  Archaeological 
Tour,  calls  it  the  earliest  statement  of  the  Nahua  myths.  The 
other  "  sources  "  are  Motolinfa,  Mendieta,  Sahagun,  Ixtlilxochitl,  and 
Torquemada.  Bancroft,  Native  Races,  vol.  iii.  ch.  7,  sums  them  up 
admirably. 

Brinton,  Myths  of  the  New  World,  thinks  Quetzalcoatl  "a  pure 
creature  of  the  fancy."  Bandelier,  whose  presentation  of  the  subject 
is  most  full  and  complete  (Archaeological  Tour),  agrees  with  Pres- 
cott  that  Quetzalcoatl  began  his  career  as  leader  of  a  migration 
southward.  His  principal  sojourn  was  at  Cholula.  See  also  Payne, 
New  World  Called  America,  vol.  i.  pp.  588-596.  P.  de  Roo,  His- 
tory of  America  before  Columbus,  vol.  i.  ch.  xxii  and  xxiii,  gives 
a  very  full  presentation  of  the  legend.  He  writes  from  the  point 
of  view  of  a  priest  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  His  conclusion 
is  that  Quetzalcoatl  was  a  Christian  prelate,  and  that  Christian 
doctrines  were  introduced  into  aboriginal  America  by  European 
immigrants. — M.] 


MEXICAN   MYTHOLOGY  73 

temple  was  dedicated  to  his  worship,  the  massy 
ruins  of  which  still  form  one  of  the  interesting 
relics  of  antiquity  in  Mexico.  When  he  reached 
the  shores  of  the  Mexican  Gulf,  he  took  leave  of 
his  followers,  promising  that  he  and  his  descend- 
ants would  revisit  them  hereafter,  and  then,  enter- 
ing his  wizard  skiff,  made  of  serpents'  skins,  em- 
barked on  the  great  ocean  for  the  fabled  land  of 
Tlapallan.  He  was  said  to  have  been  tall  in  stat- 
ure, with  a  white  skin,  long,  dark  hair,  and  a 
flowing  beard.  The  Mexicans  looked  confidently 
to  the  return  of  the  benevolent  deity;  and  this 
remarkable  tradition,  deeply  cherished  in  their 
hearts,  prepared  the  way,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter, 
for  the  future  success  of  the  Spaniards.6 

8  Codex  Vaticanus,  PI.  15,  and  Codex  Telleriano-Remensis,  Part  2, 
PI.  2,  ap.  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vols.  i.,  vi. — Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva- 
Espana,  lib.  3,  cap.  3,  4,  13,  14.— Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  6, 
cap.  24.— Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  1.— Gomara,  Cr6nica 
de  la  Nueva-Espana,  cap.  222,  ap.  Barcia,  Historiadores  primitives  de 
las  Indias  Occidentales  (Madrid,  1749),  torn.  ii. — Quetzalcoatl  signi- 
fies "  feathered  serpent."  The  last  syllable  means,  likewise,  a  "  twin;  " 
which  furnished  an  argument  for  Dr.  Siguenza  to  identify  this  god 
with  the  apostle  Thomas  (Didymus  signifying  also  a  twin),  who,  he 
supposes,  came  over  to  America  to  preach  the  gospel.  In  this  rather 
startling  conjecture  he  is  supported  by  several  of  his  devout  coun- 
trymen, who  appear  to  have  as  little  doubt  of  the  fact  as  of  the 
advent  of  St.  James,  for  a  similar  purpose,  in  the  mother-country. 
See  the  various  authorities  and  arguments  set  forth  with  becoming 
gravity  in  Dr.  Mier's  dissertation  in  Bustamante's  edition  of  Saha- 
gun (lib.  3,  Suplem.),  and  Veytia  (torn.  i.  pp.  160-200).  Our  inge- 
nious countryman  McCulloh  carries  the  Aztec  god  up  to  a  still  more 
respectable  antiquity,  by  identifying  him  with  the  patriarch  Noah. 
Researches,  Philosophical  and  Antiquarian,  concerning  the  Aborigi- 
nal History  of  America  (Baltimore,  1829),  p.  233.* 

*  [Under  the  modern  system  of  mythical  interpretation,  which  has 
been  applied  by  Dr.  Brinton  with  singular  force  and  ingenuity  to 
the  traditions  of  the  New  World,  Quetzalcoatl,  "the  central  figure 
of  Toltec  mythology,"  with  the  corresponding  figures  found  in  the 


74  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

We  have  not  space  for  further  details  respecting 
the  Mexican  divinities,  the  attributes  of  many  of 
whom  were  carefully  defined,  as  they  descended, 

legends  of  the  Mayas,  Quiches,  Peruvians,  and  other  races,  loses  all 
personal  existence,  and  becomes  a  creation  of  that  primitive  religious 
sentiment  which  clothed  the  uncomprehending  powers  of  nature  with 
the  attributes  of  divinity.  His  name,  "  Bird-Serpent,"  unites  the 
emblems  of  the  wind  and  the  lightning.  "  He  is  both  lord  of  the 
eastern  light  and  the  winds.  As  the  former,  he  was  born  of  a  virgin 
in  the  land  of  Tula  or  Tlapallan,  in  the  distant  Orient,  and  was  high- 
priest  of  that  happy  realm.  The  morning  star  was  his  symbol.  .  .  . 
Like  all  the  dawn  heroes,  he  too  was  represented  as  of  white  com- 
plexion, clothed  in  long  white  robes,  and,  as  most  of  the  Aztec  gods, 
with  a  full  and  flowing  beard.  When  his  earthly  work  was  done,  he 
too  returned  to  the  east,  assigning  as  a  reason  that  the  sun,  the  ruler 
of  Tlapallan,  demanded  his  presence.  But  the  real  motive  was  that 
he  had  been  overcome  by  Tezcatlipoca,  otherwise  called  Yoalliehecatl, 
the  wind  or  spirit  of  the  night,  who  had  descended  from  heaven  by 
a  spider's  web  and  presented  his  rival  with  a  draught  pretended  to 
confer  immortality,  but,  in  fact,  producing  uncontrollable  longing  for 
home.  For  the  wind  and  the  light  both  depart  when  the  gloaming 
draws  near,  or  when  the  clouds  spread  their  dark  and  shadowy  webs 
along  the  mountains  and  pour  the  vivifying  rain  upon  the  fields.  .  .  . 
Wherever  he  went,  all  manner  of  singing  birds  bore  him  company, 
emblems  of  the  whistling  breezes.  When  he  finally  disappeared  in 
the  far  east,  he  sent  back  four  trusty  youths,  who  had  ever  shared 
his  fortunes,  incomparably  swift  and  light  of  foot,  with  directions  to 
divide  the  earth  between  them  and  rule  it  till  he  should  return  and 
resume  his  power."  (The  Myths  of  the  New  World,  p.  180,  et  seq.) 
So  far  as  mere  physical  attributes  are  concerned,  this  analysis  may 
be  accepted  as  a  satisfactory  elucidation  of  the  class  of  figures  to 
which  it  relates.  But  the  grand  and  distinguishing  characteristic  of 
these  figures  is  the  moral  and  intellectual  eminence  ascribed  to 
them.  They  are  invested  with  the  highest  qualities  of  humanity, — 
attributes  neither  drawn  from  the  external  phenomena  of  nature 
nor  born  of  any  rude  sentiment  of  wonder  and  fear.  Their  lives  and 
doctrines  are  in  strong  contrast  with  those  of  the  ordinary  divinities 
of  the  same  or  other  lands,  and  they  are  objects  not  of  a  propitiatory 
worship,  but  of  a  pious  veneration.  Can  we,  then,  assent  to  the  con- 
clusion that  under  this  aspect  also  they  were  "  wholly  mythical," 
"  creations  of  the  religious  fancy,"  "  ideals  summing  up  in  them- 
selves the  best  traits,  the  most  approved  virtues,  of  whole  nations  "  ? 
(Ibid.,  pp.  293,  294.)  This  would  seem  to  imply  that  nations  may 
attain  to  lofty  conceptions  of  moral  truth  and  excellence  by  a  pro- 
cess of  selection,  without  any  standard  or  point  of  view  furnished 


MEXICAN  MYTHOLOGY  75 

in  regular  gradation,  to  the  penates  or  household 
gods,  whose  little  images  were  to  be  found  in  the 
humblest  dwelling. 

The  Aztecs  felt  the  curiosity,  common  to  man 
in  almost  every  stage  of  civilization,  to  lift  the  veil 
which  covers  the  mysterious  past  and  the  more 
awful  future.  They  sought  relief,  like  the  nations 
of  the  Old  Continent,  from  the  oppressive  idea  of 
eternity,  by  breaking  it  up  into  distinct  cycles,  or 
periods  of  time,  each  of  several  thousand  years' 
duration.  There  were  four  of  these  cycles,  and 
at  the  end  of  each,  by  the  agency  of  one  of  the 
elements,  the  human  family  was  swept  from  the 
earth,  and  the  sun  blotted  out  from  the  heavens, 
to  be  again  rekindled.7 

TCod.  Vat.,  PI.  7-10,  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vols.  i.,  vi.— Ixtlilxochitl, 
Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  1. — M.  de  Humboldt  has  been  at  some  pains 
to  trace  the  analogy  between  the  Aztec  cosmogony  and  that  of  East- 
ern Asia.  He  has  tried,  though  in  vain,  to  find  a  multiple  which 
might  serve  as  the  key  to  the  calculations  of  the  former.  (Vues 
des  Cordilleres,  pp.  202-212.)  In  truth,  there  seems  to  be  a  material 
discordance  in  the  Mexican  statements,  both  in  regard  to  the  number 
of  revolutions  and  their  duration.  A  manuscript  before  me,  of 

by  living  embodiments  of  the  ideal.  But  this  would  be  as  impossible 
as  to  arrive  at  conceptions  of  the  highest  forms  and  ideas  of  art 
independently  of  the  special  genius  and  actual  productions  of  the 
artist.  In  the  one  case,  as  in  the  other,  the  ideal  is  derived  originally 
from  examples  shaped  by  finer  and  deeper  intuitions  than  those 
of  the  masses.  "  Im  Anfang  war  die  That."  The  mere  fact,  there- 
fore, that  the  Mexican  people  recognized  an  exalted  ideal  of  purity 
and  wisdom  is  a  sufficient  proof  that  men  had  existed  among  them 
who  displayed  these  qualities  in  an  eminent  degree.  The  status  of 
their  civilization,  imperfect  as  it  was,  can  be  accounted  for  only  in 
the  same  way.  Comparative  mythology  may  resolve  into  its  original 
elements  a  personification  of  the  forces  of  nature  woven  by  the 
religious  fancy  of  primitive  races,  but  it  cannot  sever  that  chain  of 
discoverers  and  civilizers  by  which  mankind  has  been  drawn  from  the 
abysses  of  savage  ignorance,  and  by  which  its  progress,  when  unin- 
terrupted, has  been  always  maintained.— K.] 


76  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

They  imagined  three  separate  states  of  existence 
in  the  future  life.  The  wicked,  comprehending 
the  greater  part  of  mankind,  were  to  expiate  their 
sins  in  a  place  of  everlasting  darkness.  Another 
class,  with  no  other  merit  than  that  of  having  died 
of  certain  diseases,  capriciously  selected,  were  to 
enjoy  a  negative  existence  of  indolent  content- 
ment. The  highest  place  was  reserved,  as  in  most 
warlike  nations,  for  the  heroes  who  fell  in  battle, 
or  in  sacrifice.  They  passed  at  once  into  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Sun,  whom  they  accompanied  with 
songs  and  choral  dances  in  his  bright  progress 
through  the  heavens;  and,  after  some  years,  their 
spirits  went  to  animate  the  clouds  and  singing- 
birds  of  beautiful  plumage,  and  to  revel  amidst  the 
rich  blossoms  and  odors  of  the  gardens  of  para- 
dise.8 Such  was  the  heaven  of  the  Aztecs;  more 
refined  in  its  character  than  that  of  the  more  pol- 
ished pagan,  whose  elysium  reflected  only  the 
martial  sports  or  sensual  gratifications  of  this 

Ixtlilxochitl,  reduces  them  to  three,  before  the  present  'state  of  the 
world,  and  allows  only  4394  years  for  them  (Sumaria  Relacion, 
MS.,  No.  1);  Gama,  on  the  faith  of  an  ancient  Indian  MS.  in  Bo- 
turini's  Catalogue  (viii.  13),  reduces  the  duration  still  lower  (De- 
scripcion  de  las  Dos  Piedras,  Parte  1,  p.  49,  et  seq.);  while  the 
cycles  of  the  Vatican  paintings  take  up  near  18,000  years. — It  is 
interesting  to  observe  how  the  wild  conjectures  of  an  ignorant  age 
have  been  confirmed  by  the  more  recent  discoveries  in  geology,  mak- 
ing it  probable  that  the  earth  has  experienced  a  number  of  con- 
vulsions, possibly  thousands  of  years  distant  from  each  other,  which 
have  swept  away  the  races  then  existing,  and  given  a  new  aspect 
to  the  globe. 

8  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  3,  Apend. — Cod.  Vat.,  ap. 
Antiq.  of  Mexico,  PI.  1-5. — Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  13,  cap. 
48.— The  last  writer  assures  us  "that,  as  to  what  the  Aztecs  said  of 
their  going  to  hell,  they  were  right;  for,  as  they  died  in  ignorance  of 
the  true  faith,  they  have,  without  question,  all  gone  there  to  suffer 
everlasting  punishment"!  Ubi  supra. 


MEXICAN  MYTHOLOGY  77 

life.9  In  the  destiny  they  assigned  to  the  wicked, 
we  discern  similar  traces  of  refinement;  since  the 
absence  of  all  physical  torture  forms  a  striking 
contrast  to  the  schemes  of  suffering  so  ingeniously 
devised  by  the  fancies  of  the  most  enlightened  na- 
tions.10 In  all  this,  so  contrary  to  the  natural  sug- 
gestions of  the  ferocious  Aztec,  we  see  the  evi- 
dences of  a  higher  civilization,*  inherited  from 
their  predecessors  in  the  land. 

Our  limits  will  allow  only  a  brief  allusion  to  one 
or  two  of  their  most  interesting  ceremonies.  On 
the  death  of  a  person,  his  corpse  was  dressed  in  the 
peculiar  habiliments  of  his  tutelar  deity.  It  was 
strewed  with  pieces  of  paper,  which  operated  as 

1  It  conveys  but  a  poor  idea  of  these  pleasures,  that  the  shade  of 
Achilles  can  say  "  he  had  rather  be  the  slave  of  the  meanest  man  on 
earth,  than  sovereign  among  the  dead."  (Odyss.,  A.  488-490.)  The 
Mahometans  believe  that  the  souls  of  martyrs  pass,  after  death,  into 
the  bodies  of  birds,  that  haunt  the.  sweet  waters  and  bowers  of  Para- 
dise. (Sale's  Koran  (London,  1825),  vol.  i.  p.  106.)— The  Mexican 
heaven  may  remind  one  of  Dante's,  in  its  material  enjoyments; 
which,  in  both,  are  made  up  of  light,  music,  and  motion.  The  sun, 
it  must  also  be  remembered,  was  a  spiritual  conception  with  the 
Aztec : 

"  He  sees  with  other  eyes  than  theirs;  where'they 
Behold  a  sun,  he  spies  a  deity." 

10  It  is  singular  that  the  Tuscan  bard,  while  exhausting  his  inven- 
tion in  devising  modes  of  bodily  torture,  in  his  "  Inferno,"  should 
have  made  so  little  use  of  the  moral  sources  of  misery.  That  he  has 
not  done  so  might  be  reckoned  a  strong  proof  of  the  rudeness  of 
time,  did  we  not  meet  with  examples  of  it  in  a  later  day;  in  which  a 
serious  and  sublime  writer,  like  Dr.  Watts,  does  not  disdain  to  em- 
ploy the  same  coarse  machinery  for  moving  the  conscience  of  the 
reader. 

*  [It  should  perhaps  be  regarded  rather  as  evidence  of  a  low  civili- 
zation, since  the  absence  of  any  strict  ideas  of  retribution  is  a  charac- 
teristic of  the  notions  in  regard  to  a  future  life  entertained  by 
savage  races.  See  Tylor,  Primitive  Culture,  vol.  ii.  p.  76,  et  seq.— K.J 


78  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

charms  against  the  dangers  of  the  dark  road  he 
was  to  travel.  A  throng  of  slaves,  if  he  were  rich, 
was  sacrificed  at  his  obsequies.  His  body  was 
burned,  and  the  ashes,  collected  in  a  vase,  were 
preserved  in  one  of  the  apartments  of  his  house. 
Here  we  have  successively  the  usages  of  the  Ro- 
man Catholic,  the  Mussulman,  the  Tartar,  and  the 
ancient  Greek  and  Roman;  curious  coincidences, 
which  may  show  how  cautious  we  should  be  in 
adopting  conclusions  founded  on  analogy.11 

A  more  extraordinary  coincidence  may  be  traced 
with  Christian  rites,  in  the  ceremony  of  naming 
their  children.  The  lips  and  bosom  of  the  infant 
were  sprinkled  with  water,  and  "  the  Lord  was  im- 
plored to  permit  the  holy  drops  to  wash  away  the 
sin  that  was  given  to  it  before  the  foundation  of 
the  world;  so  that  the  child  might  be  born 
anew."  12  We  are  reminded  of  Christian  morals, 
in  more  than  one  of  theft*  prayers,  in  which  they 
used  regular  forms.  '  Wilt  thou  blot  us  out,  O 
Lord,  forever?  Is  this  punishment  intended,  not 

"Carta  del  Lie.  Zuazo  (Nov.  1521),  MS.— Acosta,  lib.  5,  cap.  8.— 
Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  13,  cap.  45.— Sahagun,  Hist,  de 
Nueva-Espana,  lib.  3,  Apend. — Sometimes  the  body  was  buried  en- 
tire, with  valuable  treasures,  if  the  deceased  was  rich.  The  "  Anony- 
mous Conqueror,"  as  he  is  called,  saw  gold  to  the  value  of  3000  cas- 
tellanos  drawn  from  one  of  these  tombs.  Relatione  d'un  gentil' 
huomo,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  p.  310. 

"This  interesting  rite,  usually  solemnized  with  great  formality,  in 
the  presence  of  the  assembled  friends  and  relatives,  is  detailed  with 
minuteness  by  Sahagun  (Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  6,  cap.  37), 
and  by  Zuazo  (Carta,  MS.),  both  of  them  eye-witnesses.  For  a  ver- 
sion of  part  of  Sahagun's  account,  see  Appendix,  Part  1,  note  26.* 

*  [A  similar  rite  of  baptism,  founded  on  the  natural  symbolism  of 
the  purifying  power  of  water,  was  practised  by  other  races  in  Amer- 
ica, and  had  existed  in  the  East,  as  the  reader  need  hardly  be  told, 
long  anterior  to  Christianity.— K.] 


MEXICAN  MYTHOLOGY  79 

for  our  reformation,  but  for  our  destruction? " 
Again,  "  Impart  to  us,  out  of  thy  great  mercy,  thy 
gifts,  which  we  are  not  worthy  to  receive  through 
our  own  merits."  "  Keep  peace  with  all,"  says  an- 
other petition;  "  bear  injuries  with  humility;  God, 
who  sees,  will  avenge  you."  But  the  most  strik- 
ing parallel  with  Scripture  is  in  the  remarkable 
declaration  that  "  he  who  looks  too  curiously  on  a 
woman  commits  adultery  with  his  eyes."  13  These 
pure  and  elevated  maxims,  it  is  true,  are  mixed  up 
with  others  of  a  puerile,  and  even  brutal,  character, 
arguing  that  confusion  of  the  moral  perceptions 
which  is  natural  in  the  twilight  of  civilization.  One 
would  not  expect,  however,  to  meet,  in  such  a  state 
of  society,  with  doctrines  as  sublime  as  any  incul- 
cated by  the  enlightened  codes  of  ancient  phi- 
losophy.14 

u"«Es  posible  que  este  azote  y  este  castigo  no  se  nos  dd  para 
nuestra  correccion  y  enmienda,  sino  para  total  destruccion  y  aso- 
lamiento?"  (Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  6,  cap.  1.)  "Y 
esto  por  sola  vuestra  liberalidad  y  magnificencia  lo  habeis  de  hacer, 
que  ninguno  es  digno  ni  merecedor  de  recibir  vuestra  larguezas  por 
su  dignidad  y  merecimiento,  sino  que  por  vuestra  benignidad." 
(Ibid.,  lib.  6,  cap.  2.)  "  Sed  sufridos  y  reportados,  que  Dios  bien 
os  v6  y  respondera  por  vosotros,  y  el  os  vengara  (d)  sed  humildes 
con  todos,  y  con  esto  os  hard  Dios  merced  y  tambien  honra,"  (Ibid., 
lib.  6,  cap.  17.)  "Tampoco  mires  con  curiosidad  el  gesto  y  dispo- 
sicion  de  la  gente  principal,  mayormente  de  las  mugeres,  y  sobre 
todo  de  las  casadas,  porque  dice  el  refran  que  el  que  curiosamente 
mira  d  la  muger  adultera  con  la  vista."  (Ibid.,  lib.  6,  cap.  22.) 

14  [On  reviewing  the  remarkable  coincidences  shown  in  the  above 
pages  with  the  sentiments  and  even  the  phraseology  of  Scripture,  we 
cannot  but  admit  there  is  plausible  ground  for  Mr.  Gallatin's  con- 
jecture that  the  Mexicans,  after  the  Conquest,  attributed  to  their 
remote  ancestors  ideas  which  more  properly  belonged  to  a  generation 
coeval  with  the  Conquest,  and  brought  into  contact  with  the  Euro- 
peans. "The  substance,"  he  remarks,  "may  be  true;  but  several  of 
the  prayers  convey  elevated  and  correct  notions  of  a  Supreme  Be- 
ing, which  appear  to  me  altogether  inconsistent  with  that  which  we 


80  CONQUEST   OF   MEXICO 

But  although  the  Aztec  mythology  gathered 
nothing  from  the  beautiful  inventions  of  the  poet 
or  from  the  refinements  of  philosophy,  it  was  much 
indebted,  as  I  have  noticed,  to  the  priests,  who  en- 
deavored to  dazzle  the  imagination  of  the  people 
by  the  most  formal  and  pompous  ceremonial.  The 
influence  of  the  priesthood  must  be  greatest  in  an 
imperfect  state  of  civilization,  where  it  engrosses 
all  the  scanty  science  of  the  time  in  its  own  body. 
This  is  particularly  the  case  when  the  science  is  of 
that  spurious  kind  which  is  less  occupied  with  the 
real  phenomena  of  nature  than  with  the  fanciful 
chimeras  of  human  superstition.  Such  are  the 
sciences  of  astrology  and  divination,  in  which  the 
Aztec  priests  were  well  initiated;  and,  while  they 
seemed  to  hold  the  keys  of  the  future  in  their  own 
hands,  they  impressed  the  ignorant  people  with  sen- 
timents of  superstitious  awe,  beyond  that  which  has 
probably  existed  in  any  other  country, — even  in 
ancient  Egypt. 

The  sacerdotal  order  was  very  numerous ;  as  may 
be  inferred  from  the  statement  that  five  thousand 
priests  were,  in  some  way  or  other,  attached  to  the 

know  to  have  been  their  practical  religion  and  worship."  *     Trans- 
actions of  the  American  Ethnological  Society,  i.  210.] 

*  [It  is  evident  that  an  inconsistency  such  as  belongs  to  all  reli- 
gions, and  to  human  nature  in  general,  affords  no  sufficient  ground 
for  doubting  the  authenticity  of  the  prayers  reported  by  Sahagun. 
Similar  specimens  of  prayers  used  by  the  Peruvians  have  been  pre- 
served, and,  like  those  of  the  Aztecs,  exhibit,  in  their  recognition  of 
spiritual  as  distinct  from  material  blessings,  a  contrast  to  the 
forms  of  petition  employed  by  the  wholly  uncivilized  races  of  the 
north.  They  are  in  harmony  with  the  purer  conceptions  of  morality 
which  those  nations  are  admitted  to  have  possessed,  and  which  formed 
the  real  basis  of  their  civilization.— K.] 


SACERDOTAL   ORDER  81 

principal  temple  in  the  capital.  The  various  ranks 
and  functions  of  this  multitudinous  body  were  dis- 
criminated with  great  exactness.  Those  best  in- 
structed in  music  took  the  management  of  the 
choirs.  Others  arranged  the  festivals  conformably 
to  the  calendar.  Some  superintended  the  educa- 
tion of  youth,  and  others  had  charge  of  the  hiero- 
glyphical  paintings  and  oral  traditions;  while  the 
dismal  rites  of  sacrifice  were  reserved  for  the  chief 
dignitaries  of  the  order.  At  the  head  of  the  whole 
establishment  were  two  high-priests,  elected  from 
the  order,  as  it  would  seem,  by  the  king  and  prin- 
cipal nobles,  without  reference  to  birth,  but  solely 
for  their  qualifications,  as  shown  by  their  previous 
conduct  in  a  subordinate  station.  They  were  equal 
in  dignity,  and  inferior  only  to  the  sovereign,  who 
rarely  acted  without  their  advice  in  weighty  mat- 
ters of  public  concern.15 

The  priests  were  each  devoted  to  the  service  of 
some  particular  deity,  and  had  quarters  provided 
within  the  spacious  precincts  of  their  temple;  at 
least,  while  engaged  in  immediate  attendance 
there,— for  they  were  allowed  to  marry,  and  have 
families  of  their  own.  In  this  monastic  residence 

15  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  2,  Apend.;  lib.  3,  cap.  9. 
— Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  8,  cap.  20;  lib.  9,  cap.  3,  56.— 
Gomara,  Cr6n.,  cap.  215,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  ii. — Toribio,  Hist,  de  los 
Indies,  MS.,  Parte  1,  cap.  4. — Clavigero  says  that  the  high-priest  was 
necessarily  a  person  of  rank.  (Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  p.  37.)  I 
find  no  authority  for  this,  not  even  in  his  oracle,  Torquemada,  who 
expressly  says,  "  There  is  no  warrant  for  the  assertion,  however 
probable  the  fact  may  be."  (Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  9,  cap.  5.)  It  is 
contradicted  by  Sahagun,  whom  I  have  followed  as  the  highest  au- 
thority in  these  matters.  Clavigero  had  no  other  knowledge  of  Saha- 
gun's  work  than  what  was  filtered  through  the  writings  of  Torque- 
mada and  later  authors. 


82  CONQUEST   OF  MEXICO 

they  lived  in  all  the  stern  severity  of  conventual 
discipline.  Thrice  during  the  day,  and  once  at 
night,  they  were  called  to  prayers.  They  were  fre- 
quent in  their  ablutions  and  vigils,  and  mortified 
the  flesh  by  fasting  and  cruel  penance,— drawing 
blood  from  their  bodies  by  flagellation,  or  by  pierc- 
ing them  with  the  thorns  of  the  aloe;  in  short,  by 
practising  all  those  austerities  to  which  fanaticism 
(to  borrow  the  strong  language  of  the  poet)  has 
resorted,  in  every  age  of  the  world, 

"  In  hopes  to  merit  heaven  by  making  earth  a  hell.'"16 

The  great  cities  were  divided  into  districts, 
placed  under  the  charge  of  a  sort  of  parochial 
clergy,  who  regulated  every  act  of  religion  within 
their  precincts.  It  is  remarkable  that  they  admin- 
istered the  rites  of  confession  and  absolution.  The 
secrets  of  the  confessional  were  held  inviolable,  and 
penances  were  imposed  of  much  the  same  kind  as 
those  enjoined  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 
There  were  two  remarkable  peculiarities  in  the 
Aztec  ceremony.  The  first  was,  that,  as  the  repeti- 
tion of  an  offence  once  atoned  for  was  deemed  in- 
expiable, confession  was  made  but  once  in  a  man's 
life,  and  was  usually  deferred  to  a  late  period  of 
it,  when  the  penitent  unburdened  his  conscience 
and  settled  at  once  the  long  arrears  of  iniquity.* 
Another  peculiarity  was,  that  priestly  absolution 

16  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  ubi  supra. — Torquemada, 
Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  9,  cap.  25. — Gomara,  Cron.,  ap.  Barcia,  ubi  supra. 
— Acosta,  lib.  5,  cap.  14,  17. 

*  [So,  in  the  fourth  century,  the  Roman  Emperor  Constantine  de- 
ferred his  baptism  until  he  felt  that  his  end  was  approaching. — M.J 


SACERDOTAL   ORDER  83 

was  received  in  place  of  the  legal  punishment  of 
offences,  and  authorized  an  acquittal  in  case  of  ar- 
rest. Long  after  the  Conquest,  the  simple  natives, 
when  they  came  under  the  arm  of  the  law,  sought 
to  escape  by  producing  the  certificate  of  their  con- 
fession.17 

One  of  the  most  important  duties  of  the  priest- 
hood was  that  of  education,  to  which  certain  build- 
ings were  appropriated  within  the  enclosure  of  the 
principal  temple.  Here  the  youth  of  both  sexes, 
of  the  higher  and  middling  orders,  were  placed  at 
a  very  tender  age.  The  girls  were  intrusted  to  the 
care  of  priestesses ;  for  women  were  allowed  to  ex- 
ercise sacerdotal  functions,  except  those  of  sacri- 
fice.18 In  these  institutions  the  boys  were  drilled 

"  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  1,  cap.  12;  lib.  6,  cap.  7. 
— The  address  of  the  confessor,  on  these  occasions,  contains  some 
things  too  remarkable  to  be  omitted.  "  O  merciful  Lord,"  he  says,  in 
his  prayer,  "  thou  who  knowest  the  secrets  of  all  hearts,  let  thy  for- 
giveness and  favor  descend,  like  the  pure  waters  of  heaven,  to  wash 
away  the  stains  from  the  soul.  Thou  knowest  that  this  poor  man  has 
sinned,  not  from  his  own  free  will,  but  from  the  influence  of  the 
sign  under  which  he  was  born."  After  a  copious  exhortation  to  the 
penitent,  enjoining  a  variety  of  mortifications  and  minute  ceremonies 
by  way  of  penance,  and  particularly  urging  the  necessity  of  in- 
stantly procuring  a  slave  for  sacrifice  to  the  Deity,  the  priest  con- 
cludes with  inculcating  charity  to  the  poor.  "  Clothe  the  naked  and 
feed  the  hungry,  whatever  privations  it  may  cost  thee;  for  remem- 
ber, their  flesh  is  like  thine,  and  they  are  men  like  thee."  Such  is  the 
strange  medley  of  truly  Christian  benevolence  and  heathenish  abomi- 
nations which  pervades  the  Aztec  litany, — intimating  sources  widely 
different. 

18  The  Egyptian  gods  were  also  served  by  priestesses.  (See  Herod- 
otus, Euterpe,  sec.  54.)  Tales  of  scandal  similar  to  those  which  the 
Greeks  circulated  respecting  them,  have  been  told  of  the  Aztec  vir- 
gins. (See  Le  Noir's  dissertation,  ap.  Antiquite"s  Mexicaines  (Paris, 
1834),  torn.  ii.  p.  7,  note.)  The  early  missionaries,  credulous  enough 
certainly,  give  no  countenance  to  such  reports;  and  Father  Acosta, 
on  the  contrary,  exclaims,  "  In  truth,  it  is  very  strange  to  see  that  this 
false  opinion  of  religion  hath  so  great  force  among  these  yoong  men 


84  CONQUEST   OF   MEXICO 

in  the  routine  of  monastic  discipline;  they  deco- 
rated the  shrines  of  the  gods  with  flowers,  fed  the 
sacred  fires,  and  took  part  in  the  religious  chants 
and  festivals.  Those  in  the  higher  school — the 
Calmecac,  as  it  was  called— were  initiated  in  their 
traditionary  lore,  the  mysteries  of  hieroglyphics, 
the  principles  of  government,  and  such  branches 
of  astronomical  and  natural  science  as  were  within 
the  compass  of  the  priesthood.  The  girls  learned 
various  feminine  employments,  especially  to  weave 
and  embroider  rich  coverings  for  the  altars  of  the 
gods.  Great  attention  was  paid  to  the  moral  dis- 
cipline of  both  sexes.  The  most  perfect  decorum 
prevailed;  and  offences  were  punished  with  ex- 
treme rigor,  in  some  instances  with  death  itself. 
Terror,  not  love,  was  the  spring  of  education  with 
the  Aztecs.19 

At  a  suitable  age  for  marrying,  or  for  enter- 
ing into  the  world,  the  pupils  were  dismissed, 
with  much  ceremony,  from  the  convent,  and  the 
recommendation  of  the  principal  often  intro- 
duced those  most  competent  to  responsible  situa- 
tions in  public  life.  Such  was  the  crafty  policy 

and  maidens  of  Mexico,  that  they  will  serve  the  Divell  with  so  great 
rigor  and  austerity,  which  many  of  us  doe  not  in  the  service  of  the 
most  high  God;  the  which  is  a  great  shame  and  confusion."  Eng. 
trans.,  lib.  5,  cap.  16. 

18  Toribio,  Hist,  de  los  Indios,  MS.,  Parte  1,  cap.  9. — Sahagun, 
Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  2,  Apend. ;  lib.  3,  cap.  4-8. — Zurita,  Rap- 
port, pp.  123-126.— Acosta,  lib.  5,  cap.  15,  16.— Torquemada,  Monarch. 
Ind.,  lib.  9,  cap.  11-14,  30,  31.— "They  were  taught,"  says  the  good 
father  last  cited,  "  to  eschew  vice,  and  cleave  to  virtue, — according  to 
their  notions  of  them;  namely,  to  abstain  from  wrath  to  offer  vio- 
lence and  do  wrong  to  no  man, — in  short,  to  perform  the  duties 
plainly  pointed  out  by  natural  religion." 


TEMPLES  85 

of  the  Mexican  priests,  who,  by  reserving  to 
themselves  the  business  of  instruction,  were 
enabled  to  mould  the  young  and  plastic  mind 
according  to  their  own  wills,  and  to  train  it 
early  to  implicit  reverence  for  religion  and  its 
ministers;  a  reverence  which  still  maintained 
its  hold  on  the  iron  nature  of  the  warrior,  long 
after  every  other  vestige  of  education  had  been 
effaced  by  the  rough  trade  to  which  he  was 
devoted. 

To  each  of  the  principal  temples,  lands  were  an- 
nexed for  the  maintenance  of  the  priests.  These 
estates  were  augmented  by  the  policy  or  devotion 
of  successive  princes,  until,  under  the  last  Monte- 
zuma,  they  had  swollen  to  an  enormous  extent,  and 
covered  every  district  of  the  empire.  The  priests 
took  the  management  of  their  property  into  their 
own  hands;  and  they  seem  to  have  treated  their 
tenants  with  the  liberality  and  indulgence  charac- 
teristic of  monastic  corporations.  Besides  the  large 
supplies  drawn  from  this  source,  the  religious 
order  was  enriched  with  the  first-fruits,  and  such 
other  offerings  as  piety  or  superstition  dictated. 
The  surplus  beyond  what  was  required  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  national  worship  was  distributed  in 
alms  among  the  poor;  a  duty  strenuously  pre- 
scribed by  their  moral  code.  Thus  we  find  the 
same  religion  inculcating  lessons  of  pure  philan- 
thropy, on  the  one  hand,  and  of  merciless  exter- 
mination, as  we  shall  soon  see,  on  the  other.  The 
inconsistency  will  not  appear  incredible  to  those 
who  are  familiar  with  the  history  of  the  Roman 


86  CONQUEST   OF   MEXICO 

Catholic  Church,  in  the  early  ages  of  the  Inqui- 
sition.20 

The  Mexican  temples— teocallis,  "  houses  of 
God,"  as  they  were  called  *— were  very  numerous. 
There  were  several  hundreds  in  each  of  the  prin- 
cipal cities,  many  of  them,  doubtless,  very  humble 
edifices.  They  were  solid  masses  of  earth,  cased 
with  brick  or  stone,  and  in  their  form  somewhat 
resembled  the  pyramidal  structures  of  ancient 
Egypt.  The  bases  of  many  of  them  were  more 
than  a  hundred  feet  square,  and  they  towered  to 
a  still  greater  height.  They  were  distributed  into 
four  or  five  stories,  each  of  smaller  dimensions 
than  that  below.  The  ascent  was  by  a  flight  of 
steps,  at  an  angle  of  the  pyramid,  on  the  outside. 
This  led  to  a  sort  of  terrace,  or  gallery,  at  the  base 
of  the  second  story,  which  passed  quite  round  the 
building  to  another  flight  of  stairs,  commencing 
also  at  the  same  angle  as  the  preceding  and  di- 
rectly over  it,  and  leading  to  a  similar  terrace;  so 

20  Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  8,  cap.  20,  21.— Camargo,  Hist, 
de  Tlascala,  MS. — It  is  impossible  not  to  be  struck  with  the  great 
resemblance,  not  merely  in  a  few  empty  forms,  but  in  the  whole  way 
of  life,  of  the  Mexican  and  Egyptian  priesthood.  Compare  Herod- 
otus (Euterpe,  passim)  and  Diodorus  (lib.  1,  sec.  73,  81).  The  Eng- 
lish reader  may  consult,  for  the  same  purpose,  Heeren  (Hist.  Res., 
vol.  v.  chap.  2),  Wilkinson  (Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Ancient 
Egyptians  (London,  1837),  vol.  i.  pp.  257-279),  the  last  writer  es- 
pecially,— who  has  contributed,  more  than  all  others,  towards  open- 
ing to  us  the  interior  of  the  social  life  of  this  interesting  people. 

*  [Humboldt  has  noticed  the  curious  similarity  of  the  word  teocalli 
with  the  Greek  compound— actual  or  possible— ^e6xa^ia;  and  Busch- 
mann  observes,  "  Die  Ubereinstimmung  des  mex.  teotl  und  &e6gt 
arithmetisch  sehr  hoch  anzuschlagen  wegen  des  Doppelvocals,  zeigt 
wie  weit  es  der  Zufall  in  Wortahnlichkeiten  zwischen  ganz  verschie- 
denen  Sprachen  bringen  kann."  Uber  die  aztekischen  Ortsnamen, 
S.  627.— K.] 


TEMPLES  87 

that  one  had  to  make  the  circuit  of  the  temple  sev- 
eral times,  before  reaching  the  summit.  In  some 
instances  the  stairway  led  directly  up  the  centre  of 
the  western  face  of  the  building.  The  top  was  a 
broad  area,  on  which  were  erected  one  or  two  tow- 
ers, forty  or  fifty  feet  high,  the  sanctuaries  in  which 
stood  the  sacred  images  of  the  presiding  deities. 
Before  these  towers  stood  the  dreadful  stone  of 
sacrifice,  and  two  lofty  altars,  on  which  fires  were 
kept,  as  inextinguishable  as  those  in  the  temple  of 
Vesta.  There  were  said  to  be  six  hundred  of  these 
altars,  on  smaller  buildings  within  the  enclosure  of 
the  great  temple  of  Mexico,  which,  with  those  on 
the  sacred  edifices  in  other  parts  of  the  city,  shed 
a  brilliant  illumination  over  its  streets,  through  the 
darkest  night.21  * 

From  the  construction  of  their  temples,  all  re- 
ligious services  were  public.  The  long  processions 
of  priests,  winding  round  their  massive  sides,  as 
they  rose  higher  and  higher  towards  the  summit, 
and  the  dismal  rites  of  sacrifice  performed  there, 
were  all  visible  from  the  remotest  corners  of  the 
capital,  impressing  on  the  spectator's  mind  a  su- 

11  Rel.  d'un  gentiP  huomo,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  307.— Ca- 
margo,  Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS. — Acosta,  lib.  5,  cap.  13. — Gomara, 
Cr6n.,  cap.  80,  ap.  Barcia,  torn,  ii.— Toribio,  Hist,  de  los  Indies,  MS., 
Parte  1,  cap.  4. — Carta  del  Lie.  Zuazo,  MS. — This  last  writer,  who 
visited  Mexico  immediately  after  the  Conquest,  in  1521,  assures  us 
that  some  of  the  smaller  temples,  or  pyramids,  were  filled  with  earth 
impregnated  with  odoriferous  gums  and  gold  dust;  the  latter  some- 
times in  such  quantities  as  probably  to  be  worth  a  million  of  cas- 
tellanos!  (Ubi  supra.)  These  were  the  temples  of  Mammon,  indeed ! 
But  I  find  no  confirmation  of  such  golden  reports. 

*  [The  teocallis  could  be  used  as   fortresses,  as  the  Spaniards 
ascertained  to  their  sorrow.] 


88  CONQUEST   OF   MEXICO 

perstitious  veneration  for  the  mysteries  of  his  re- 
ligion, and  for  the  dread  ministers  by  whom  they 
were  interpreted. 

This  impression  was  kept  in  full  force  by  their 
numerous  festivals.  Every  month  was  consecrated 
to  some  protecting  deity;  and  every  week,  nay,  al- 
most every  day,  was  set  down  in  their  calendar  for 
some  appropriate  celebration;  so  that  it  is  difficult 
to  understand  how  the  ordinary  business  of  life 
could  have  been  compatible  with  the  exactions  of 
religion.  Many  of  their  ceremonies  were  of  a  light 
and  cheerful  complexion,  consisting  of  the  na- 
tional songs  and  dances,  in  which  both  sexes  joined. 
Processions  were  made  of  women  and  children 
crowned  with  garlands  and  bearing  offerings  of 
fruits,  the  ripened  maize,  or  the  sweet  incense  of 
copal  and  other  odoriferous  gums,  while  the  altars 
of  the  deity  were  stained  with  no  blood  save  that  of 
animals.22  These  were  the  peaceful  rites  derived 
from  their  Toltec  predecessors,  on  which  the  fierce 
Aztecs  engrafted  a  superstition  too  loathsome  to 
be  exhibited  in  all  its  nakedness,  and  one  over 
which  I  would  gladly  draw  a  veil  altogether,  but 
that  it  would  leave  the  reader  in  ignorance  of  their 
most  striking  institution,  and  one  that  had  the 
greatest  influence  in  forming  the  national  char- 
acter. 

Human  sacrifices  were  adopted  by  the  Aztecs 
early  in  the  fourteenth  century,  about  two  hundred 

"  Cod.  Tel.-Rem.,  PI.  1,  and  Cod.  Vat.,  passim,  ap.  Antiq.  of  Mex- 
ico, vols.  i.,  vi. — Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  10,  cap.  10,  et  seq. 
— Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  2,  passim.— Among  the  offer- 
ings, quails  may  be  particularly  noticed,  for  the  incredible  quanti- 
ties of  them  sacrificed  and  consumed  at  many  of  the  festivals. 


HUMAN    SACRIFICES  89 

years  before  the  Conquest.23  Rare  at  first,  they 
became  more  frequent  with  the  wider  extent  of 
their  empire;  till,  at  length,  almost  every  festival 
was  closed  with  this  cruel  abomination.  These  re- 
ligious ceremonials  were  generally  arranged  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  afford  a  type  of  the  most 
prominent  circumstances  in  the  character  or  his- 
tory of  the  deity  who  was  the  object  of  them.  A 
single  example  will  suffice. 

One  of  their  most  important  festivals  was  that 
in  honor  of  the  god  Tezcatlipoca,*  whose  rank  was 
inferior  only  to  that  of  the  Supreme  Being.  He 
was  called  "  the  soul  of  the  world,"  and  supposed 
to  have  been  its  creator.  He  was  depicted  as  a 
handsome  man,  endowed  with  perpetual  youth.  A 
year  before  the  intended  sacrifice,  a  captive,  distin- 
guished for  his  personal  beauty,  and  without  a 
blemish  on  his  body,  was  selected  to  represent  this 
deity.  Certain  tutors  took  charge  of  him,  and  in- 

n  The  traditions  of  their  origin  have  somewhat  of  a  fabulous 
tinge.  But,  whether  true  or  false,  they  are  equally  indicative  of  un- 
paralleled ferocity  in  the  people  who  could  be  the  subject  of  them. 
Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  i.  p.  167,  et  seq.;  also  Humboldt 
(who  does  not  appear  to  doubt  them),  Vues  des  Cordilleres,  p.  95. 

*  [According  to  Payne,  New  World  Called  America,  i.  p.  78, 
Tezcatlipoca,  or  Fiery  Mirror,  was  so  called  because  of  the  shield  of 
polished  metal  which  was  almost  always  a  conspicuous  adjunct  of  the 
idol  which  represented  him.  Probably  the  correct  form  of  his  name 
is  Tezcatlipopoca,  or  Fiery  Smoking  Mirror.  He  had  many  names: 
"Night  Wind," — "whose  servants  we  are," — "The  Impatient," — 
"The  Provident  Disposer,"— "  who  does  what  he  will."  His  best- 
known  appellation  was  Telpochtli,  or  "  Youthful  Warrior,"  because 
his  vital  force  was  never  diminished.  He  was  also  called  the  "  Ene- 
my," and  the  "  Hungry  Chief." — He  always  had  a  living  representa- 
tive; when  one  was  sacrificed  another  took  his  place,  and  this  repre- 
sentative was  invested  with  the  dress,  functions,  and  attributes  of 
the  God  himself.— M.J 


90  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

structed  him  how  to  perform  his  new  part  with 
becoming  grace  and  dignity.  He  was  arrayed  in 
a  splendid  dress,  regaled  with  incense  and  with  a 
profusion  of  sweet-scented  flowers,  of  which  the 
ancient  Mexicans  were  as  fond  as  their  descendants 
at  the  present  day.  When  he  went  abroad,  he  was 
attended  by  a  train  of  the  royal  pages,  and,  as  he 
halted  in  the  streets  to  play  some  favorite  melody, 
the  crowd  prostrated  themselves  before  him,  and 
did  him  homage  as  the  representative  of  their  good 
deity.  In  this  way  he  led  an  easy,  luxurious  life, 
till  within  a  month  of  his  sacrifice.  Four  beautiful 
girls,  bearing  the  names  of  the  principal  god- 
desses, were  then  selected  to  share  the  honors  of  his 
bed ;  and  with  them  he  continued  to  live  in  idle  dal- 
liance, feasted  at  the  banquets  of  the  principal 
nobles,  who  paid  him  all  the  honors  of  a  divinity. 

At  length  the  fatal  day  of  sacrifice  arrived.  The 
term  of  his  short-lived  glories  was  at  an  end.  He 
was  stripped  of  his  gaudy  apparel,  and  bade  adieu 
to  the  fair  partners  of  his  revelries.  One  of  the 
royal  barges  transported  him  across  the  lake  to  a 
temple  which  rose  on  its  margin,  about  a  league 
from  the  city.  Hither  the  inhabitants  of  the  capi- 
tal flocked,  to  witness  the  consummation  of  the 
ceremony.  As  the  sad  procession  wound  up  the 
sides  of  the  pyramid,  the  unhappy  victim  threw 
away  his  gay  chaplets  of  flowers,  and  broke  in 
pieces  the  musical  instruments  with  which  he  had 
solaced  the  hours  of  captivity.  On  the  summit  he 
was  received  by  six  priests,  whose  long  and  matted 
locks  flowed  disorderly  over  their  sable  robes,  cov- 
ered with  hieroglyphic  scrolls  of  mystic  import. 


HUMAN   SACRIFICES  91 

They  led  him  to  the  sacrificial  stone,  a  huge  block 
of  jasper,  with  its  upper  surface  somewhat  convex. 
On  this  the  prisoner  was  stretched.  Five  priests 
secured  his  head  and  his  limbs ;  while  the  sixth,  clad 
in  a  scarlet  mantle,  emblematic  of  his  .bloody  office, 
dexterously  opened  the  breast  of  the  wretched  vic- 
tim with  a  sharp  razor  of  itztli,, — a  volcanic  sub- 
stance, hard  as  flint, — and,  inserting  his  hand  in 
the  wound,  tore  out  the  palpitating  heart.  The 
minister  of  death,  first  holding  this  up  towards  the 
sun,  an  object  of  worship  throughout  Anahuac, 
cast  it  at  the  feet  of  the  deity  to  whom  the  temple 
was  devoted,  while  the  multitudes  below  pros- 
trated themselves  in  humble  adoration.  The  tragic 
story  of  this  prisoner  was  expounded  by  the  priests 
as  the  type  of  human  destiny,  which,  brilliant  in  its 
commencement,  too  often  closes  in  sorrow  and  dis- 
aster.24 

Such  was  the  form  of  human  sacrifice  usually 
practised  by  the  Aztecs.  It  was  the  same  that 
often  met  the  indignant  eyes  of  the  Europeans  in 
their  progress  through  the  country,  and  from  the 
dreadful  doom  of  which  they  themselves  were  not 
exempted.  There  were,  indeed,  some  occasions 
when  preliminary  tortures,  of  the  most  exquisite 
kind, — with  which  it  is  unnecessary  to  shock  the 

"Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  2,  cap.  2,  5,  24,  et  alibi.— 
Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  3,  .lib.  2,  cap.  16.— Torquemada,  Mo- 
narch. Ind.,  lib.  7,  cap.  19;  lib.  10,  cap.  14.— Rel.  d'un  gentiP  huomo, 
ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  307.— Acosta,  lib.  5,  cap.  9-21.— Carta  del 
Lie.  Zuazo,  MS.— Relacion  por  el  Regimiento  de  Vera  Cruz  (Julio, 
1519),  MS.— Few  readers,  probably,  will  sympathize  with  the  sen- 
tence of  Torquemada,  who  concludes  his  tale  of  woe  by  coolly  dis- 
missing "  the  soul  of  the  victim,  to  sleep  with  those  of  his  false  gods, 
in  hell!"  Lib.  10,  cap.  23. 


92  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

reader, — were  inflicted,  but  they  always  terminated 
with  the  bloody  ceremony  above  described.  It 
should  be  remarked,  however,  that  such  tortures 
were  not  the  spontaneous  suggestions  of  cruelty,  as 
with  the  North  American  Indians,  but  were  all 
rigorously  prescribed  in  the  Aztec  ritual,  and 
doubtless  were  often  inflicted  with  the  same  com- 
punctious visitings  which  a  devout  familiar  of  the 
Holy  Office  might  at  times  experience  in  executing 
its  stern  decrees.25  Women,  as  well  as  the  other 
sex,  were  sometimes  reserved  for  sacrifice.  On 
some  occasions,  particularly  in  seasons  of  drought, 
at  the  festival  of  the  insatiable  Tlaloc,  the  god  of 
rain,  children,  for  the  most  part  infants,  were  of- 
fered up.  As  they  were  borne  along  in  open  litters, 
dressed  in  their  festal  robes,  and  decked  with  the 
fresh  blossoms  of  spring,  they  moved  the  hardest 
heart  to  pity,  though  their  cries  were  drowned  in 
the  wild  chant  of  the  priests,  who  read  in  their 
tears  a  favorable  augury  for  their  petition.  These 
innocent  victims  were  generally  bought  by  the 

M  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  2,  cap.  10,  29.— Gomara, 
Cr6n.,  cap.  219,  ap.  Barcia,  torn,  ii.— Toribio,  Hist,  de  los  Indies, 
MS.,  Parte  1,  cap.  6-11. — The  reader  will  find  a  tolerably  exact  pic- 
ture of  the  nature  of  these  tortures  in  the  twenty-first  canto  of  the 
"  Inferno."  The  fantastic  creations  of  the  Florentine  poet  were 
nearly  realized,  at  the  very  time  he  was  writing,  by  the  barbarians 
of  an  unknown  world.  One  sacrifice,  of  a  less  revolting  character, 
deserves  to  be  mentioned.  The  Spaniards  called  it  the  "  gladiatorial 
sacrifice,"  and  it  may  remind  one  of  the  bloody  games  of  antiquity. 
A  captive  of  distinction  was  sometimes  furnished  with  arms,  and 
brought  against  a  number  of  Mexicans  in  succession.  If  he  defeated 
them  all,  as  did  occasionally  happen,  he  was  allowed  to  escape.  If 
vanquished,  he  was  dragged  to  the  block  and  sacrificed  in  the  usual 
manner.  The  combat  was  fought  on  a  huge  circular  stone,  before 
the  assembled  capital.  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  2,  cap. 
21. — Rel.  d'un  gentiF  huomo,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  305. 


HUMAN    SACRIFICES  93 

priests  of  parents  who  were  poor,  but  who  sti- 
fled the  voice  of  nature,  probably  less  at  the  sug- 
gestions of  poverty  than  of  a  wretched  super- 
stition.26 

The  most  loathsome  part  of  the  story — the  man- 
ner in  which  the  body  of  the  sacrificed  captive  was 
disposed  of —remains  yet  to  be  told.  It  was  deliv- 
ered to  the  warrior  who  had  taken  him  in  battle, 
and  by  him,  after  being  dressed,  was  served  up  in 
an  entertainment  to  his  friends.  This  was  not  the 
coarse  repast  of  famished  cannibals,  but  a  banquet 
teeming  with  delicious  beverages  and  delicate 
viands,  prepared  with  art,  and  attended  by  both 
sexes,  who,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  conducted 
themselves  with  all  the  decorum  of  civilized  life. 
Surely,  never  were  refinement  and  the  extreme  of 
barbarism  brought  so  closely  in  contact  with  each 
other.27 

Human  sacrifices  have  been  practised  by  many 
nations,  not  excepting  the  most  polished  nations  of 
antiquity ; 28  but  never  by  any,  on  a  scale  to  be  com- 

M  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  2,  cap.  1,  4,  21,  et  alibi.— 
Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  10,  cap.  10. — Clavigero,  Stor.  del 
Messico,  torn.  ii.  pp.  76,  82. 

'"  Carta  del  Lie.  Zuazo,  MS. — Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  7, 
cap.  19. — Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  3,  lib.  2,  cap.  17. — Sahagun, 
Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  2,  cap.  21,  et  alibi.— Toribio,  Hist,  de 
los  Indies,  MS.,  Parte  1,  cap.  2. 

23  To  say  nothing  of  Egypt,  where,  notwithstanding  the  indica- 
tions on  the  monuments,  there  is  strong  reason  for  doubting  it. 
(Comp.  Herodotus,  Euterpe,  sec.  45.)  It  was  of  frequent  occur- 
rence among  the  Greeks,  as  every  schoolboy  knows.  In  Rome,  it  was 
so  common  as  to  require  to  be  interdicted  by  an  express  law,  less 
than  a  hundred  years  before  the  Christian  era,— a  law  recorded  in 
a  very  honest  strain  of  exultation  by  Pliny  (Hist.  Nat.,  lib.  30,  sec. 
3,  4) ;  notwithstanding  which,  traces  of  the  existence  of  the  prac- 
tice may  be  discerned  to  a  much  later  period.  See,  among  others, 
Horace,  Epod.,  In  Canidiam. 


94  CONQUEST   OF   MEXICO 

pared  with  those  in  Anahuac.  The  amount  of  vic- 
tims immolated  on  its  accursed  altars  would  stag- 
ger the  faith  of  the  least  scrupulous  believer. 
Scarcely  any  author  pretends  to  estimate  the 
yearly  sacrifices  throughout  the  empire  at  less  than 
twenty  thousand,  and  some  carry  the  number  as 
high  as  fifty  thousand ! 29 

On  great  occasions,  as  the  coronation  of  a  king 
or  the  consecration  of  a  temple,  the  number  be- 
comes still  more  appalling.  At  the  dedication  of  the 
great  temple  of  Huitzilopochtli,  in  1486,  the  pris- 
oners, who  for  some  years  had  been  reserved  for  the 
purpose,  were  drawn  from  all  quarters  to  the  capi- 
tal. They  were  ranged  in  files,  forming  a  proces- 
sion nearly  two  miles  long.  The  ceremony  con- 
sumed several  days,  and  seventy  thousand  captives 
are  said  to  have  perished  at  the  shrine  of  this  ter- 
rible deity !  But  who  can  believe  that  so  numerous 
a  body  would  have  suffered  themselves  to  be  led 
unresistingly  like  sheep  to  the  slaughter?  Or  how 
could  their  remains,  too  great  for  consumption  in 

29  See  Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  p.  49. — Bishop  Zumar- 
raga,  in  a  letter  written  a  few  years  after  the  Conquest,  states  that 
20,000  victims  were  yearly  slaughtered  in  the  capital.  Torquemada 
turns  this  into  20,000  infants.  (Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  7,  cap.  21.)  Her- 
rera,  following  Acosta,  says  20,000  victims  on  a  specified  day  of  the 
year,  throughout  the  kingdom.  (Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib.  2,  cap.  16.) 
Clavigero,  more  cautious,  infers  that  this  number  may  have  been 
sacrificed  annually  throughout  Anahuac.  (Ubi  supra.)  Las  Casas, 
however,  in  his  reply  to  Sepulveda's  assertion,  that  no  one  who  had 
visited  the  New  World  put  the  number  of  yearly  sacrifices  at  less 
than  20,000,  declares  that  "  this  is  the  estimate  of  brigands,  who  wish 
to  find  an  apology  for  their  own  atrocities,  and  that  the  real  number 
was  not  above  50"!  (CEuvres,  ed.  Llorente  (Paris,  1822),  torn.  i. 
pp.  365,  386.)  Probably  the  good  Bishop's  arithmetic  here,  as  in 
most  other  instances,  came  more  from  his  heart  than  his  head.  With 
such  loose  and  contradictory  data,  it  is  clear  that  any  specific  num- 
ber is  mere  conjecture,  undeserving  the  name  of  calculation. 


FRA    BARTOLOME    DE    LAS    CA8AS 


94  KXICO 

I  with  those  in  Anahuac.  The  amount  of  vic- 
tims immolated  on  its  accursed  altars  would  stag- 
ger the  faith  of  the  least  scrupulous  believer. 
Scarcely  any  author  mate  the 

yearly  sacri  <  pi  re  at  less  than 

twenty  the  number  as 

high  as  inisand!" 

On  i-vasio* 

or  ii  ;   :,  r  be. 

At  the  .  >n  of  the 

'chtli,  }'.  pris- 

•ine  years  had  been  reserved  for  the 

Here  drawn  from  all  quarters  to  the  capi- 

were  ranged  in  files,  forming  a  proces- 

rty  two  miles  long.     The  ceremony  con- 

vi-ral  days,  an.  ty  thousand  captives 

to  have  perished  at  the  shrine  of  this  ter- 

iy!    But  who  c.  :erous 

ly  would  have  sut  e  ]e(j 

ugly  likes!  how 

•   UM  ir  r<:m;m».«>.  t< 


'!ITT...  Stor.  del  .M«*ur..  torn.  ii.  p.  4»,~  Uishop  Zumdr- 

.  irquei 
,     21.)    Her- 

'ra'  f<  •  ified  day  of  the 

>t'"r-'h'  ,  Hb.  2,  cap.  16.) 

Uav.gero,  niorr  «H«fioia,  infers   th,r  ,    may   have  been 

MCriflcad  arnuMlh    !j.r,,-,i^h«mt  Anahua.-  ,,r,i.)     Las  Casas, 

however,  in  his  reph   t«  Sepulveda's  tliat  no  one  who  had 

visited  the  New  World  put  the  nun,  ,,-iy  sacrifices  at  less 

than  20,000,  declares  that  "  this  is  the  estimate  of  brigands,  who  wish 
to  find  an  apology  for  their  own  atrocities,  and  that  the  real  number 
«*•  not  above  50"!  (CEuvres,  ed.  l.lorente  (Paris,  19  > 

*W,  386.  )     ProbabiiA|^jj-  jy  ^  ^^^etati  tan  ,  in 

."I'    H:,!....     •    - 

wtch  loose  and  control 

ber  is  mere  conjecture,  intd^ciiluj- 


With 
num- 


HUMAN  SACRIFICES  95 

the  ordinary  way,  be  disposed  of,  without  breeding 
a  pestilence  in  the  capital?  Yet  the  event  was  of 
recent  date,  and  is  unequivocally  attested  by  the 
best-informed  historians.30  One  fact  may  be  con- 
sidered certain.  It  was  customary  to  preserve  the 
skulls  of  the  sacrificed,  in  buildings  appropriated 
to  the  purpose.  The  companions  of  Cortes  counted 
one  hundred  and  thirty-six  thousand  in  one  of  these 
edifices!31  Without  attempting  a  precise  calcu- 
lation, therefore,  it  is  safe  to  conclude  that  thou- 
sands were  yearly  offered  up,  in  the  different  cities 
of  Anahuac,  on  the  bloody  altars  of  the  Mexican 
divinities.32 

Indeed,  the  great  object  of  war,  with  the  Aztecs, 
was  quite  as  much  to  gather  victims  for  their  sac- 

30 1  am  within  bounds.  Torquemada  states  the  number,  most  pre- 
cisely, at  72,344  (Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  2,  cap.  63);  Ixtlilxochitl,  with 
equal  precision,  at  80,400.  (Hist.  Chich.,  MS.)  iQuien  sabe?  The 
latter  adds  that  the  captives  massacred  in  the  capital,  in  the  course 
of  that  memorable  year,  exceeded  100,000!  (Loc.  cit.)  One,  how- 
ever, has  to  read  but  a  little  way,  to  find  out  that  the  science  of 
numbers — at  least  where  the  party  was  not  an  eyewitness — is  any- 
thing but  an  exact  science  with  these  ancient  chroniclers.  The  Co- 
dex Telleriano-Remensis,  written  some  fifty  years  after  the  Con- 
quest, reduces  the  amount  to  20,000.  (Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  i.  PI. 
19;  vol.  vi.  p.  141,  Eng.  note.)  Even  this  hardly  warrants  the  Span- 
ish interpreter  in  calling  king  Ahuitzotl  a  man  "  of  a  mild  and 
moderate  disposition,"  templada  y  benigna  condition!  Ibid.,  vol. 
v.  p.  49. 

31  Gomara  states  the  number  on  the  authority  of  two  soldiers,  whose 
names  he  gives,  who  took  the  trouble  to  count  the  grinning  horrors 
in  one  of  these  Golgothas,  where  they  were  so  arranged  as  to  produce 
the  most  hideous  effect.     The  existence  of  these  conservatories  is 
attested  by  every  writer  of  the  time. 

32  The  "  Anonymous  Conqueror  "  assures  us,  as  a  fact  beyond  dis- 
pute, that  the  Devil  introduced  himself  into  the  bodies  of  the  idols, 
and  persuaded  the  silly  priests  that  his  only  diet  was  human  hearts! 
It  furnishes  a  very  satisfactory  solution,  to  his  mind,  of  the  fre- 
quency of  sacrifices  in  Mexico.    Rel.  d'un  gentiF  huomo,  ap.  Ramusio, 
torn.  iii.  fol.  307. 


96  CONQUEST   OF  MEXICO 

rifices  as  to  extend  their  empire.  Hence  it  was 
that  an  enemy  was  never  slain  in  battle,  if  there 
were  a  chance  of  taking  him  alive.  To  this  circum- 
stance the  Spaniards  repeatedly  owed  their  preser- 
vation. When  Montezuma  was  asked  "  why  he 
had  suffered  the  republic  of  Tlascala  to  maintain 
her  independence  on  his  borders,"  he  replied,  "  that 
she  might  furnish  him  with  victims  for  his  gods  " ! 
As  the  supply  began  to  fail,  the  priests,  the  Do- 
minicans of  the  New  World,  bellowed  aloud  for 
more,  and  urged  on  their  superstitious  sovereign 
by  the  denunciations  of  celestial  wrath.  Like  the 
militant  churchmen  of  Christendom  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  they  mingled  themselves  in  the  ranks,  and 
were  conspicuous  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight,  by 
their  hideous  aspect  and  frantic  gestures.  Strange, 
that,  in  every  country,  the  most  fiendish  passions 
of  the  human  heart  have  been  those  kindled  in  the 
name  of  religion ! 33 

The  influence  of  these  practices  on  the  Aztec 
character  was  as  disastrous  as  might  have  been  ex- 

53  The  Tezcucan  priests  would  fain  have  persuaded  the  good  king 
Nezahualcoyotl,  on  occasion  of  a  pestilence,  to  appease  the  gods  by 
the  sacrifice  of  some  of  his  own  subjects,  instead  of  his  enemies;  on 
the  ground  that  they  would  not  only  be  obtained  more  easily,  but 
would  be  fresher  victims,  and  more  acceptable.  ( Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist. 
Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  41.)  This  writer  mentions  a  cool  arrangement 
entered  into  by  the  allied  monarchs  with  the  republic  of  Tlascala  and 
her  confederates.  A  battle-field  was  marked  out,  on  which  the  troops 
of  the  hostile  nations  were  to  engage  at  stated  seasons,  and  thus 
supply  themselves  with  subjects  for  sacrifice.  The  victorious  party 
was  not  to  pursue  his  advantage  by  invading  the  other's  territory, 
and  they  were  to  continue,  in  all  other  respects,  on  the  most  amicable 
footing.  (Ubi  supra.)  The  historian,  who  follows  in  the  track  of 
the  Tezcucan  Chronicler,  may  often  find  occasion  to  shelter  himself, 
like  Ariosto,  with 

"  Mettendolo  Turpin,  lo  metto  anch'  10." 


HUMAN    SACRIFICES  97 

pected.  Familiarity  with  the  bloody  rites  of  sacri- 
fice steeled  the  heart  against  human  sympathy,  and 
begat  a  thirst  for  carnage,  like  that  excited  in  the 
Romans  by  the  exhibitions  of  the  circus.  The  per- 
petual recurrence  of  ceremonies,  in  which  the  peo- 
ple took  part,  associated  religion  with  their  most 
intimate  concerns,  and  spread  the  gloom  of  super- 
stition over  the  domestic  hearth,  until  the  character 
of  the  nation  wore  a  grave  and  even  melancholy 
aspect,  which  belongs  to  their  descendants  at  the 
present  day.  The  influence  of  the  priesthood,  of 
course,  became  unbounded.  The  sovereign  thought 
himself  honored  by  being  permitted  to  assist  in  the 
services  of  the  temple.  Far  from  limiting  the  au- 
thority of  the  priests  to  spiritual  matters,  he  often 
surrendered  his  opinion  to  theirs,  where  they  were 
least  competent  to  give  it.  It  was  their  opposition 
that  prevented  the  final  capitulation  which  would 
have  saved  the  capital.  The  whole  nation,  from 
the  peasant  to  the  prince,  bowed  their  necks  to  the 
worst  kind  of  tyranny,  that  of  a  blind  fanaticism. 
In  reflecting  on  the  revolting  usages  recorded  in 
the  preceding  pages,  one  finds  it  difficult  to  recon- 
cile their  existence  with  anything  like  a  regular 
form  of  government,  or  an  advance  in  civiliza- 
tion.34 Yet  the  Mexicans  had  many  claims  to  the 

84  [Don  Jos£  F.  Ramirez,  the  distinguished  Mexican  scholar,  has 
made  this  sentence  the  text  for  a  disquisition  of  fifty  pages  or  more, 
one  object  of  which  is  to  show  that  the  existence  of  human  sacrifices 
is  not  irreconcilable  with  an  advance  in  civilization.  This  leads  him 
into  an  argument  of  much  length,  covering  a  broad  range  of  his- 
torical inquiry,  and  displaying  much  learning  as  well  as  a  careful 
consideration  of  the  subject.  In  one  respect,  however,  he  has  been 
led  into  an  important  error  by  misunderstanding  the  drift  of  my 
remarks,  where,  speaking  of  cannibalism,  I  say,  "  It  is  impossible 


98  CONQUEST   OF    MEXICO 

character  of  a  civilized  community.  One  may,  per- 
haps, better  understand  the  anomaly,  by  reflecting 
on  the  condition  of  some  of  the  most  polished  coun- 
tries in  Europe  in  the  sixteenth  century,  after  the 
establishment  of  the  modern  Inquisition, — an  in- 
stitution which  yearly  destroyed  its  thousands,  by 
a  death  more  painful  than  the  Aztec  sacrifices; 
which  armed  the  hand  of  brother  against  brother, 
and,  setting  its  burning  seal  upon  the  lip,  did  more 
to  stay  the  march  of  improvement  than  any  other 
scheme  ever  devised  by  human  cunning. 

Human  sacrifice,  however  cruel,  has  nothing  in 
it  degrading  to  its  victim.  It  may  be  rather  said 
to  ennoble  him  by  devoting  him  to  the  gods.  Al- 
though so  terrible  with  the  Aztecs,  it  was  sometimes 
voluntarily  embraced  by  them,  as  the  most  glorious 
death  and  one  that  opened  a  sure  passage  into 

the  people  who  practise  it  should  make  any  great  progress  in  moral 
or  intellectual  culture"  (p.  100).  This  observation,  referring  solely 
to  cannibalism,  the  critic  cites  as  if  applied  by  me  to  human  sacri- 
fices. Whatever  force,  therefore,  his  reasoning  may  have  in  respect 
to  the  latter,  it  cannot  be  admitted  to  apply  to  the  former.  The 
distance  is  wide  between  human  sacrifices  and  cannibalism;  though 
Seftor  Ramirez  diminishes  this  distance  by  regarding  both  one  and 
the  other  simply  as  religious  exercises,  springing  from  the  devo- 
tional principle  in  our  nature.*  He  enforces  his  views  by  a  multi- 
tude of  examples  from  history,  which  show  how  extensively  these 
revolting  usages  of  the  Aztecs — on  a  much  less  gigantic  scale  in- 
deed— have  been  practised  by  the  primitive  races  of  the  Old  World, 
some  of  whom,  at  a  later  period,  made  high  advances  in  civiliza- 
tion. Ramirez,  Notas  y  Esclarecimientos  &  la  Historia  del  Con- 
quista  de  Mexico  del  Sefior  W.  Prescott,  appended  to  Navarro's 
translation.] 

*  [The  practise  of  eating,  or  tasting,  the  victim  has  been  generally 
associated  with  sacrifice,  from  the  idea  either  of  the  sacredness  of 
the  offering  or  of  the  deity's  accepting  the  soul,  the  immaterial  part, 
or  the  blood  as  containing  the  principle  of  life  and  leaving  the  flesh 
to  his  worshippers. — K.] 


HUMAN    SACRIFICES  99 

paradise.35  The  Inquisition,  on  the  other  hand, 
branded  its  victims  with  infamy  in  this  world,  and 
consigned  them  to  everlasting  perdition  in  the 
next. 

One  detestable  feature  of  the  Aztec  superstition, 
however,  sunk  it  far  below  the  Christian.  This  was 
its  cannibalism,*  though,  in  truth,  the  Mexicans 
were  not  cannibals  in  the  coarsest  acceptation  of 
the  term.  They  did  not  feed  on  human  flesh 
merely  to  gratify  a  brutish  appetite,  but  in  obedi- 
ence to  their  religion.  Their  repasts  were  made  of 
the  victims  whose  blood  had  been  poured  out  on 
the  altar  of  sacrifice.  This  is  a  distinction  worthy 
of  notice.36  Still,  cannibalism,  under  any  form  or 
whatever  sanction,  cannot  but  have  a  fatal  influ- 
ence on  the  nation  addicted  to  it.  It  suggests  ideas 
so  loathsome,  so  degrading  to  man,  to  his  spiritual 

15  Rel.  d'un  gentil'  huomo,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  307. — Among 
other  instances  is  that  of  Chimalpopoca,  third  king  of  Mexico,  who 
doomed  himself,  with  a  number  of  his  lords,  to  this  death,  to  wipe 
off  an  indignity  offered  him  by  a  brother  monarch.  (Torquemada, 
Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  2,  cap.  28.)  This  was  the  law  of  honor  with  the 
Aztecs. 

18  Voltaire,  doubtless,  intends  this,  when  he  says,  "  Us  n'6taient 
point  anthropophages,  comme  un  tres-petit  nombre  de  peuplades 
Ame>icaines."  (Essai  sur  les  Moeurs,  chap.  147.) 

*  ["  The  advancement  of  Mexico  rested  for  support  on  ...  a  system 
of  perpetual  war,  remorselessly  maintained  against  neighboring  peo- 
ples, ostensibly  to  procure  victims  for  sacrifice,  but  really  to  pro- 
vide animal  food  for  consumption  by  the  privileged  class  engaged 
in  it;  and  the  religious  ritual  had  been  so  expanded  as  to  ensure 
for  them,  by  a  sacred  and  permanent  sanction,  an  almost  continuous 
cannibal  carnival."  Payne,  New  World  Called  America,  vol.  i.  p. 
500.  Mr.  Payne  shows  that  this  continuous  cannibalism  prevailed 
because  Anahuac  possessed  no  large  animals  capable  of  furnishing 
a  regular  food  supply.  "  Organized  cannibalism,  fortified  by  its 
religious  sanction,  was  in  fact  a  natural  if  not  a  necessary  out- 
growth of  circumstances."— M.] 


100  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

and  immortal  nature,  that  it  is  impossible  the  peo- 
ple who  practise  it  should  make  any  great  progress 
in  moral  or  intellectual  culture.  The  Mexicans 
furnish  no  exception  to  this  remark.  The  civiliza- 
tion which  they  possessed  descended  from  the  Tol- 
tecs,  a  race  who  never  stained  their  altars,  still  less 
their  banquets,  with  the  blood  of  man.37  All  that 
deserved  the  name  of  science  in  Mexico  came  from 
this  source;  and  the  crumbling  ruins  of  edifices  at- 
tributed to  them,  still  extant  in  various  parts  of 
New  Spain,  show  a  decided  superiority  in  their 
architecture  over  that  of  the  later  races  of  Ana- 
huac.  It  is  true,  the  Mexicans  made  great  profi- 
ciency in  many  of  the  social  and  mechanic  arts,  in 
that  material  culture, — if  I  may  so  call  it, — the 
natural  growth  of  increasing  opulence,  which  min- 
isters to  the  gratification  of  the  senses.  In  purely 
intellectual  progress  they  were  behind  the  Tezcu- 
cans,  whose  wise  sovereigns  came  into  the  abomi- 
nable rites  of  their  neighbors  with  reluctance  and 
practised  them  on  a  much  more  moderate  scale.38 

37  [The  remark  in  the  text  admits  of  some  qualification.  According 
to  an  ancient  Tezcucan  chronicler,  quoted  by  Senor  Ramirez,  the 
Toltecs  celebrated  occasionally  the  worship  of  the  god  Tlaloc  with 
human  sacrifices.  The  most  important  of  these  was  the  offering 
up  once  a  year  of  five  or  six  maidens,  who  were  immolated  in  the 
usual  horrid  way  of  tearing  out  their  hearts.  It  does  not  appear 
that  the  Toltecs  consummated  the  sacrifice  by  devouring  the  flesh  of 
the  victim.  This  seems  to  have  been  the  only  exception  to  the  blame- 
less character  of  the  Toltec  rites.  Tlaloc  was  the  oldest  deity  in  the 
Aztec  mythology,  in  which  he  found  a  suitable  place.  Yet,  as  the 
knowledge  of  him  was  originally  derived  from  the  Toltecs,  it  cannot 
be  denied  that  this  people,  as  Ramirez  says,  possessed  in  their  pecu- 
liar civilization  the  germs  of  those  sanguinary  institutions  which  ex- 
isted on  so  appalling  a  scale  in  Mexico.  See  Ramirez,  Notas  y  Es- 
clarecimientos,  ubi  supra.] 

48  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  45,  et  alibi. 


HUMAN    SACRIFICES  101 

In  this  state  of  things,  it  was  beneficently 
ordered  by  Providence  that  the  land  should  be  de- 
livered over  to  another  race,  who  would  rescue  it 
from  the  brutish  superstitions  that  daily  extended 
wider  and  wider  with  extent  of  empire.39  The 
debasing  institutions  of  the  Aztecs  furnish  the  best 
apology  for  their  conquest.  It  is  true,  the  con- 
querors brought  along  with  them  the  Inquisition. 
But  they  also  brought  Christianity,  whose  benign 
radiance  would  still  survive  when  the  fierce  flames 
of  fanaticism  should  be  extinguished;  dispelling 
those  dark  forms  of  horror  which  had  so  long 
brooded  over  the  fair  region  of  Anahuac. 

*•  No  doubt  the  ferocity  of  character  engendered  by  their  sangui- 
nary rites  greatly  facilitated  their  conquests.  Machiavelli  attributes 
to  a  similar  cause,  in  part,  the  military  successes  of  the  Romans. 
(Discorsi  sopra  T.  Livio,  lib.  2,  cap.  2.)  The  same  chapter  contains 
some  ingenious  reflections — much  more  ingenious  than  candid — on 
the  opposite  tendencies  of  Christianity. 

*  ["  It  was  high  time  that  an  end  should  be  put  to  those  hecatombs 
of  human  victims,  slashed,  torn  open,  and  devoured  on  all  the  little 
occasions  of  life.  It  sounds  quite  pithy  to  say  that  the  Inquisition, 
as  conducted  in  Mexico,  was  as  great  an  evil  as  the  human  sacrifices 
and  the  cannibalism;  but  it  is  not  true."  Fiske,  The  Discovery  of 
America,  vol.  ii.  p.  293.— M.] 

The  most  important  authority  in  the  preceding  chapter,  and,  in- 
deed, wherever  the  Aztec  religion  is  concerned,  is  Bernardino  de 
Sahagun,  a  Franciscan  friar,  contemporary  with  the  Conquest.  His 
great  work,  Historia  universal  de  Nueva-Espana,  has  been  recently 
printed  for  the  first  time.  The  circumstances  attending  its  compila- 
tion and  subsequent  fate  form  one  of  the  most  remarkable  passages  in 
literary  history. 

Sahagun  was  born  in  a  place  of  the  same  name,  in  old  Spain.  He 
was  educated  at  Salamanca,  and,  having  taken  the  vows  of  St.  Fran- 
cis, came  over  as  a  missionary  to  Mexico  in  the  year  1529.  Here  he 
distinguished  himself  by  his  zeal,  the  purity  of  his  life,  and  his  un- 
wearied exertions  to  spread  the  great  truths  of  religion  among  the 
natives.  He  was  the  guardian  of  several  conventual  houses,  succes- 
sively, until  he  relinquished  these  cares,  that  he  might  devote  himself 


102  CONQUEST  OF   MEXICO 

more  unreservedly  to  the  business  of  preaching,  and  of  compiling 
various  works  designed  to  illustrate  the  antiquities  of  the  Aztecs. 
For  these  literary  labors  he  found  some  facilities  in  the  situation 
which  he  continued  to  occupy,  of  reader,  or  lecturer,  in  the  College 
of  Santa  Cruz,  in  the  capital. 

The  "  Universal  History "  was  concocted  in  a  singular  manner. 
In  order  to  secure  to  it  the  greatest  possible  authority,  he  passed  some 
years  in  a  Tezcucan  town,  where  he  conferred  daily  with  a  number 
of  respectable  natives  unacquainted  with  Castilian.  He  propounded 
to  them  queries,  which  they,  after  deliberation,  answered  in  their 
usual  method  of  writing,  by  hieroglyphical  paintings.  These  he  sub- 
mitted to  other  natives,  who  had  been  educated  under  his  own  eye  in 
the  College  of  Santa  Cruz;  and  the  latter,  after  a  consultation  among 
themselves,  gave  a  written  version,  in  the  Mexican  tongue,  of  the 
hieroglyphics.  This  process  he  repeated  in  another  place,  in  some 
part  of  Mexico,  and  subjected  the  whole  to  a  still  further  revision  by 
a  third  body  in  another  quarter.  He  finally  arranged  the  combined 
results  into  a  regular  history,  in  the  form  it  now  bears;  composing  it 
in  the  Mexican  language,  which  he  could  both  write  and  speak  with 
great  accuracy  and  elegance,— greater,  indeed,  than  any  Spaniard  of 
the  time. 

The  work  presented  a  mass  of  curious  information,  that  attracted 
much  attention  among  his  brethren.  But  they  feared  its  influence  in 
keeping  alive  in  the  natives  a  too  vivid  reminiscence  of  the  very  super- 
stitions which  it  was  the  great  object  of  the  Christian  clergy  to  eradi- 
cate. Sahagun  had  views  more  liberal  than  those  of  his  order,  whose 
blind  zeal  would  willingly  have  annihilated  every  monument  of  art 
and  human  ingenuity  which  had  not  been  produced  under  the  influ- 
ence of  Christianity.  They  refused  to  allow  him  the  necessary  aid  to 
transcribe  his  papers,  which  he  had  been  so  many  years  in  preparing, 
under  the  pretext  that  the  expense  was  too  great  for  their  order  to 
incur.  This  occasioned  a  further  delay  of  several  years.  What  was 
worse,  his  provincial  got  possession  of  his  manuscripts,  which  were 
soon  scattered  among  the  different  religious  houses  in  the  country. 

In  this  forlorn  state  of  his  aifairs,  Sahagun  drew  up  a  brief  state- 
ment of  the  nature  and  contents  of  his  work,  and  forwarded  it  to 
Madrid.  It  fell  into  the  hands  of  Don  Juan  de  Ovando,  president  of 
the  Council  for  the  Indies,  who  was  so  much  interested  in  it  that  he 
ordered  the  manuscripts  to  be  restored  to  their  author,  with  the  re- 
quest that  he  would  at  once  set  about  translating  them  into  Castilian. 
This  was  accordingly  done.  His  papers  were  recovered,  though  not 
without  the  menace  of  ecclesiastical  censures;  and  the  octogenarian 
author  began  the  work  of  translation  from  the  Mexican,  in  which 
they  had  been  originally  written  by  him  thirty  years  before.  He  had 
the  satisfaction  to  complete  the  task,  arranging  the  Spanish  version  in 
a  parallel  column  with  the  original,  and  adding  a  vocabulary,  ex- 
plaining the  difficult  Aztec  terms  and  phrases;  while  the  text  was 
supported  by  the  numerous  paintings  on  which  it  was  founded.  In 


SAHAGUN  103 

this  form,  making  two  bulky  volumes  in  folio,  it  was  sent  to  Ma- 
drid. There  seemed  now  to  be  no  further  reason  for  postponing  its 
publication,  the  importance  of  which  could  not  be  doubted.  But 
from  this  moment  it  disappears;  and  we  hear  nothing  further  of  it, 
for  more  than  two  centuries,  except  only  as  a  valuable  work,  which 
had  once  existed  and  was  probably  buried  in  some  one  of  the  numer- 
ous cemeteries  of  learning  in  which  Spain  abounds. 

At  length,  towards  the  close  of  the  last  century,  the  indefatigable 
Munoz  succeeded  in  disinterring  the  long-lost  manuscript  from  the 
place  tradition  had  assigned  to  it, — the  library  of  a  convent  at  To- 
losa,  in  Navarre,  the  northern  extremity  of  Spain.  With  his  usual 
ardor,  he  transcribed  the  whole  work  with  his  own  hands,  and  added 
it  to  the  inestimable  collection,  of  which,  alas !  he  was  destined  not  to 
reap  the  full  benefit  himself.  From  this  transcript  Lord  Kingsbor- 
ough  was  enabled  to  procure  the  copy  which  was  published  in  1830, 
in  the  sixth  volume  of  his  magnificent  compilation.  In  it  he  ex- 
presses an  honest  satisfaction  at  being  the  first  to  give  Sahagun's 
works  to  the  world.  But  in  this  supposition  he  was  mistaken.  The 
very  year  preceding,  an  edition  of  it,  with  annotations,  appeared  in 
Mexico,  in  three  volumes  octavo.  It  was  prepared  by  Bustamante, — 
a  scholar  to  whose  editorial  activity  his  country  is  largely  indebted, — 
from  a  copy  of  the  Munoz  manuscript  which  came  into  his  possession. 
Thus  this  remarkable  work,  which  was  denied  the  honors  of  the  press 
during  the  author's  lifetime,  after  passing  into  oblivion,  reappeared, 
at  the  distance  of  nearly  three  centuries,  not  in  his  own  country,  but 
in  foreign  lands  widely  remote  from  each  other,  and  that  almost 
simultaneously.  The  story  is  extraordinary,  though  unhappily  not  so 
extraordinary  in  Spain  as  it  would  be  elsewhere. 

Sahagun  divided  his  history  into  twelve  books.  The  first  eleven 
are  occupied  with  the  social  institutions  of  Mexico,  and  the  last  with 
the  Conquest.  On  the  religion  of  the  country  he  is  particularly  full. 
His  great  object  evidently  was,  to  give  a  clear  view  of  its  mythology, 
and  of  the  burdensome  ritual  which  belonged  to  it.  Religion  entered 
so  intimately  into  the  most  private  concerns  and  usages  of  the  Az- 
tecs, that  Sahagun's  work  must  be  a  text-book  for  every  student  of 
their  antiquities.  Torquemada  availed  himself  of  a  manuscript  copy, 
which  fell  into  his  hands  before  it  was  sent  to  Spain,  to  enrich  his 
own  pages, — a  circumstance  more  fortunate  for  his  readers  than  for 
Sahagun's  reputation,  whose  work,  now  that  it  is  published,  loses 
much  of  the  originality  and  interest  which  would  otherwise  attach 
to  it.  In  one  respect  it  is  invaluable;  as  presenting  a  complete  col- 
lection of  the  various  forms  of  prayer,  accommodated  to  every  pos- 
sible emergency,  in  use  by  the  Mexicans.  They  are  often  clothed  in 
dignified  and  beautiful  language,  showing  that  sublime  speculative 
tenets  are  quite  compatible  with  the  most  degrading  practices  of 
superstition.  It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  we  have  not  the  eigh- 
teen hymns  inserted  by  the  author  in  his  book,  which  would  have 
particular  interest,  as  the  only  specimen  of  devotional  poetry  pre- 


104  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

served  of  the  Aztecs.  The  hieroglyphical  paintings,  which  accom- 
panied the  text,  are  also  missing.  If  they  have  escaped  the  hands  of 
fanaticism,  both  may  reappear  at  some  future  day. 

Sahagun  produced  several  other  works,  of  a  religious  or  philologi- 
cal character.  Some  of  these  were  voluminous,  but  none  have  been 
printed.  He  lived  to  a  very  advanced  age,  closing  a  life  of 
activity  and  usefulness,  in  1590,  in  the  capital  of  Mexico.  His  re- 
mains were  followed  to  the  tomb  by  a  numerous  concourse  of  his 
own  countrymen,  and  of  the  natives,  who  lamented  in  him  the  loss 
of  unaffected  piety,  benevolence,  and  learning. 


CHAPTER  IV 

MEXICAN    HIEROGLYPHICS— MANUSCRIPTS — 
ARITHMETIC  —  CHRONOLOGY —ASTRONOMY 

IT  is  a  relief  to  turn  from  the  gloomy  pages  of 
the  preceding  chapter  to  a  brighter  side  of  the 
picture,  and  to  contemplate  the  same  nation  in  its 
generous  struggle  to  raise  itself  from  a  state  of 
barbarism  and  to  take  a  positive  rank  in  the  scale  of 
civilization.  It  is  not  the  less  interesting,  that  these 
efforts  were  made  on  an  entirely  new  theatre  of 
action,  apart  from  those  influences  that  operate 
in  the  Old  World ;  the  inhabitants  of  which,  form- 
ing one  great  brotherhood  of  nations,  are  knit 
together  by  sympathies  that  make  the  faintest 
spark  of  knowledge,  struck  out  in  one  quarter, 
spread  gradually  wider  and  wider,  until  it  has  dif- 
fused a  cheering  light  over  the  remotest.  It  is 
curious  to  observe  the  human  mind,  in  this  new  po- 
sition, conforming  to  the  same  laws  as  on  the 
ancient  continent,  and  taking  a  similar  direction  in 
its  first  inquiries  after  truth,— so  similar,  indeed, 
as,  although  not  warranting,  perhaps,  the  idea  of 
imitation,  to  suggest  at  least  that  of  a  common 
origin. 

In  the  Eastern  hemisphere  we  find  some  nations, 
as  the  Greeks,  for  instance,  early  smitten  with  such 
a  love  of  the  beautiful  as  to  be  unwilling  to  dis- 

105 


106  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

pense  with  it  even  in  the  graver  productions  of 
science;  and  other  nations,  again,  proposing  a  se- 
verer end  to  themselves,  to  which  even  imagination 
and  elegant  art  were  made  subservient.  The  pro- 
ductions of  such  a  people  must  be  criticised,  not  by 
the  ordinary  rules  of  taste,  but  by  their  adaptation 
to  the  peculiar  end  for  which  they  were  designed. 
Such  were  the  Egyptians  in  the  Old  World,1  and 
the  Mexicans  in  the  New.  We  have  already  had 
occasion  to  notice  the  resemblance  borne  by  the 
latter  nation  to  the  former  in  their  religious  econo- 
my. We  shall  be  more  struck  with  it  in  their 
scientific  culture,  especially  their  hieroglyphical 
writing  and  their  astronomy. 

To  describe  actions  and  events  by  delineating 
visible  objects  seems  to  be  a  natural  suggestion, 
and  is  practised,  after  a  certain  fashion,  by  the  rud- 
est savages.  The  North  American  Indian  carves 
an  arrow  on  the  bark  of  trees  to  show  his  followers 
the  direction  of  his  march,  and  some  other  sign  to 
show  the  success  of  his  expeditions.  But  to  paint 
intelligibly  a  consecutive  series  of  these  actions — 
forming  what  Warburton  has  happily  called  pic- 
ture-writing 2 —requires  a  combination  of  ideas 

1 "  An  Egyptian  temple,"  says  Denon,  strikingly,  "  is  an  open  vol- 
ume, in  which  the  teachings  of  science,  morality,  and  the  arts  are  re- 
corded. Every  thing  seenu  to  speak  one  and  the  same  language, 
and  breathes  one  and  the  same  spirit."  The  passage  is  cited  by 
Heeren,  Hist.  Res.,  vol.  v.  p.  178. 

'Divine  Legation,  ap.  Works  (London,  1811),  vol.  iv.  b.  4,  sec.  4. 
— The  Bishop  of  Gloucester,  in  his  comparison  of  the  various  hiero- 
glyphical systems  of  the  world,  shows  his  characteristic  sagacity  and 
boldness  by  announcing  opinions  little  credited  then,  though  since 
established.  He  affirmed  the  existence  of  an  Egyptian  alphabet,  but 
was  not  aware  of  the  phonetic  property  of  hieroglyphics,— the  great 
literary  discovery  of  our  age. 


MEXICAN    HIEROGLYPHICS  107 

that  amounts  to  a  positively  intellectual  effort. 
Yet  further,  when  the  object  of  the  painter,  instead 
of  being  limited  to  the  present,  is  to  penetrate  the 
past,  and  to  gather  from  its  dark  recesses  lessons 
of  instruction  for  coming  generations,  we  see  the 
dawnings  of  a  literary  culture,  and  recognize  the 
proof  of  a  decided  civilization  in  the  attempt  itself, 
however  imperfectly  it  may  be  executed.  The  lit- 
eral imitation  of  objects  will  not  answer  for  this 
more  complex  and  extended  plan.  It  would  oc- 
cupy too  much  space,  as  well  as  time  in  the  execu- 
tion. It  then  becomes  necessary  to  abridge  the 
pictures,  to  confine  the  drawing  to  outlines,  or  to 
such  prominent  parts  of  the  bodies  delineated  as 
may  readily  suggest  the  whole.  This  is  the  repre- 
sentative or  figurative  writing,  which  forms  the 
lowest  stage  of  hieroglyphics. 

But  there  are  things  which  have  no  type  in  the 
material  world;  abstract  ideas,  which  can  only  be 
represented  by  visible  objects  supposed  to  have 
some  quality  analogous  to  the  idea  intended.  This 
constitutes  symbolical  writing,  the  most  difficult  of 
all  to  the  interpreter,  since  the  analogy  between  the 
material  and  immaterial  object  is  often  purely 
fanciful,  or  local  in  its  application.  Who,  for  in- 
stance, could  suspect  the  association  which  made  a 
beetle  represent  the  universe,  as  with  the  Egyp- 
tians, or  a  serpent  typify  time,  as  with  the  Aztecs? 

The  third  and  last  division  is  the  phonetic,  in 
which  signs  are  made  to  represent  sounds,  either 
entire  words,  or  parts  of  them.  This  is  the  nearest 
approach  of  the  hieroglyphical  series  to  that  beau- 
tiful invention,  the  alphabet,  by  which  language  is 


108  CONQUEST   OF  MEXICO 

resolved  into  its  elementary  sounds,  and  an  appa- 
ratus supplied  for  easily  and  accurately  express- 
ing the  most  delicate  shades  of  thought. 

The  Egyptians  were  well  skilled  in  all  three 
kinds  of  hieroglyphics.  But,  although  their  pub- 
lic monuments  display  the  first  class,  in  their  ordi- 
nary intercourse  and  written  records  it  is  now 
certain  that  they  almost  wholly  relied  on  the 
phonetic  character.  Strange  that,  having  thus 
broken  down  the  thin  partition  which  divided  them 
from  an  alphabet,  their  latest  monuments  should 
exhibit  no  nearer  approach  to  it  than  their  earliest.3 
The  Aztecs,  also,  were  acquainted  with  the  several 
varieties  of  hieroglyphics.  But  they  relied  on  the 
figurative  infinitely  more  than  on  the  others.  The 
Egyptians  were  at  the  top  of  the  scale,  the  Aztecs 
at  the  bottom. 

In  casting  the  eye  over  a  Mexican  manuscript, 
or  map,  as  it  is  called,  one  is  struck  with  the  gro- 
tesque caricatures  it  exhibits  of  the  human  figure; 
monstrous,  overgrown  heads,  on  puny,  misshapen 
bodies,  which  are  themselves  hard  and  angular  in 
their  outlines,  and  without  the  least  skill  in  com- 
position. On  closer  inspection,  however,  it  is  ob- 
vious that  it  is  not  so  much  a  rude  attempt  to 

*  It  appears  that  the  hieroglyphics  on  the  most  recent  monuments 
of  Egypt  contain  no  larger  infusion  of  phonetic  characters  than 
those  which  existed  eighteen  centuries  before  Christ;  showing  no  ad- 
vance, in  this  respect,  for  twenty-two  hundred  years!  (See  Cham- 
pollion,  Precis  du  Systeme  hie>oglyphique  des  anciens  Egyptiens 
(Paris,  1824),  pp.  242,  281.)  It  may  seem  more  strange  that  the 
enchorial  alphabet,  so  much  more  commodious,  should  not  have  been 
substituted.  But  the  Egyptians  were  familiar  with  their  hieroglyph- 
ics from  infancy,  which,  moreover,  took  the  fancies  of  the  most 
[literate,  probably  in  the  same  manner  as  our  children  are  attracted 
and  taught  by  the  picture-alphabets  in  an  ordinary  spelling-book. 


MEXICAN    HIEROGLYPHICS  109 

delineate  nature,  as  a  conventional  symbol,  to 
express  the  idea  in  the  most  clear  and  forcible  man- 
ner ;  in  the  same  way  as  the  pieces  of  similar  value 
on  a  chess-board,  while  they  correspond  with  one 
another  in  form,  bear  little  resemblance,  usually, 
to  the  objects  they  represent.  Those  parts  of  the 
figure  are  most  distinctly  traced  which  are  the 
most  important.  So,  also,  the  coloring,  instead  of 
the  delicate  gradations  of  nature,  exhibits  only 
gaudy  and  violent  contrasts,  such  as  may  produce 
the  most  vivid  impression.  "  For  even  colors,"  as 
Gama  observes,  "  speak  in  the  Aztec  hieroglyph- 


ics." 4 


But  in  the  execution  of  all  this  the  Mexicans 
were  much  inferior  to  the  Egyptians.  The  draw- 
ings of  the  latter,  indeed,  are  exceedingly  defec- 
tive, when  criticised  by  the  rules  of  art;  for  they 
were  as  ignorant  of  perspective  as  the  Chinese,  and 
only  exhibited  the  head  in  profile,  with  the  eye  in 
the  centre,  and  with  total  absence  of  expression. 
But  they  handled  the  pencil  more  gracefully  than 
the  Aztecs,  were  more  true  to  the  natural  forms 
of  objects,  and,  above  all,  showed  great  superiority 
in  abridging  the  original  figure  by  giving  only  the 
outline,  or  some  characteristic  or  essential  feature. 
This  simplified  the  process,  and  facilitated  the 
communication  of  thought.  An  Egyptian  text 
has  almost  the  appearance  of  alphabetical  writing 
in  its  regular  lines  of  minute  figures.  A  Mexican 
text  looks  usually  like  a  collection  of  pictures,  each 
one  forming  the  subject  of  a  separate  study.  This 

*Descripcion  histdrica  y  cronoltfgica  de  las  Dos  Piedras  (Mexico, 
1832),  Parte  2,  p.  39. 


110  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

is  particularly  the  case  with  the  delineations  of 
mythology;  in  which  the  story  is  told  by  a  con- 
glomeration of  symbols,  that  may  remind  one  more 
of  the  mysterious  anaglyphs  sculptured  on  the  tem- 
ples of  the  Egyptians,  than  of  their  written 
records. 

The  Aztecs  had  various  emblems  for  expressing 
such  things  as,  from  their  nature,  could  not  be  di- 
rectly represented  by  the  painter ;  as,  for  example, 
the  years,  months,  days,  the  seasons,  the  elements, 
the  heavens,  and  the  like.  A  "  tongue  "  denoted 
speaking;  a  "footprint,"  travelling;  a  "man  sit- 
ting on  the  ground,"  an  earthquake.  These  sym- 
bols were  often  very  arbitrary,  varying  with  the 
caprice  of  the  writer;  and  it  requires  a  nice  dis- 
crimination to  interpret  them,  as  a  slight  change  in 
the  form  or  position  of  the  figure  intimated  a  very 
different  meaning.5  An  ingenious  writer  asserts 
that  the  priests  devised  secret  symbolic  characters 
for  the  record  of  their  religious  mysteries.  It  is 
possible.  But  the  researches  of  Champollion  lead 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  similar  opinion  formerly 
entertained  respecting  the  Egyptian  hieroglyphics 
is  without  foundation.6 

Lastly,  they  employed,  as  above  stated,  phonetic 

5Gama,  Description,  Parte  2,  pp.  32,  44.— Acosta,  lib.  6,  cap.  7.— 
The  continuation  of  Gama's  work,  recently  edited  by  Bustamante, 
in  Mexico,  contains,  among  other  things,  some  interesting  remarks 
on  the  Aztec  hieroglyphics.  The  editor  has  rendered  a  good  service 
by  this  further  publication  of  the  writings  of  this  estimable  scholar, 
who  has  done  more  than  any  of  his  countrymen  to  explain  the  mys- 
teries of  Aztec  science. 

"Gama,  Descripcion,  Parte  2,  p.  32.— Warburton,  with  his  usual 
penetration,  rejects  the  idea  of  mystery  in  the  figurative  hieroglyph- 
ics. (Divine  Legation,  b.  4,  sec.  4.)  If  there  was  any  mystery 
reserved  for  the  initiated,  Champollion  thinks  it  may  have  been  the 


MEXICAN    HIEROGLYPHICS  111 

signs,  though  these  were  chiefly  confined  to  the 
names  of  persons  and  places ;  which,  being  derived 
from  some  circumstance  or  characteristic  quality, 
were  accommodated  to  the  hieroglyphical  system. 
Thus,  the  town  Cimatlan  was  compounded  of 
citnatl,  a  "  root,"  which  grew  near  it,  and  tlan,  sig- 
nifying "  near;  "  Tlaxcallan  meant  "  the  place  of 
bread,"  from  its  rich  fields  of  corn;  Huexotzinco, 
"  a  place  surrounded  by  willows."  The  names  of 
persons  were  often  significant  of  their  adventures 
and  achievements.  That  of  the  great  Tezcucan 
prince  Nezahualcoyotl  signified  "  hungry  fox," 
intimating  his  sagacity,  and  his  distresses  in  early 
life.7  The  emblems  of  such  names  were  no  sooner 
seen,  than  they  suggested  to  every  Mexican  the 
person  and  place  intended,  and,  when  painted  on 
their  shields  or  embroidered  on  their  banners,  be- 
came the  armorial  bearings  by  which  city  and  chief- 
tain were  distinguished,  as  in  Europe  in  the  age  of 
chivalry.8 

But,  although  the  Aztecs  were  instructed  in  all 
the  varieties  of  hieroglyphical  painting,  they 
chiefly  resorted  to  the  clumsy  method  of  direct  rep- 
resentation. Had  their  empire  lasted,  like  the 

system  of  the  anaglyphs.  (Precis,  p.  360.)  Why  may  not  this  be 
true,  likewise,  of  the  monstrous  symbolical  combinations  which  rep- 
resented the  Mexican  deities? 

7  Boturini,  Idea,  pp.  77-83. — Gama,  Descripcion,  Parte  2,  pp.  34- 
43. — Heeren  is  not  aware,  or  does  not  allow,  that  the  Mexicans  used 
phonetic  characters  of  any  kind.  (Hist.  Res.,  vol.  v.  p.  45.)  They, 
indeed,  reversed  the  usual  order  of  proceeding,  and,  instead  of  adapt- 
ing the  hieroglyphic  to  the  name  of  the  object,  accommodated  the 
name  of  the  object  to  the  hieroglyphic.  This,  of  course,  could  not 
admit  of  great  extension.  We  find  phonetic  characters,  however, 
applied  in  some  instances  to  common  as  well  as  proper  names. 

*  Boturini,  Idea,  ubi  supra. 


112  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

Egyptian,  several  thousand  years,  instead  of  the 
brief  space  of  two  hundred,  they  would  doubtless, 
like  them,  have  advanced  to  the  more  frequent  use 
of  the  phonetic  writing.  But,  before  they  could 
be  made  acquainted  with  the  capabilities  of  their 
own  system,  the  Spanish  Conquest,  by  introducing 
the  European  alphabet,  supplied  their  scholars 
with  a  more  perfect  contrivance  for  expressing 
thought,  which  soon  supplanted  the  ancient  pic- 
torial character.9 

Clumsy  as  it  was,  however,  the  Aztec  picture- 
writing  seems  to  have  been  adequate  to  the  de- 
mands of  the  nation,  in  their  imperfect  state  of 
civilization.  By  means  of  it  were  recorded  all  their 
laws,  and  even  their  regulations  for  domestic 
economy;  their  tribute-rolls,  specifying  the  im- 
posts of  the  various  towns;  their  mythology,  cal- 
endars, and  rituals;  their  political  annals,  carried 
back  to  a  period  long  before  the  foundation  of  the 
city.  They  digested  a  complete  system  of  chro- 
nology, and  could  specify  with  accuracy  the  dates 
of  the  most  important  events  in  their  history;  the 
year  being  inscribed  on  the  margin,  against  the 
particular  circumstance  recorded.  It  is  true,  his- 
tory, thus  executed,  must  necessarily  be  vague  and 
fragmentary.  Only  a  few  leading  incidents  could 
be  presented.  But  in  this  it  did  not  differ  much 
from  the  monkish  chronicles  of  the  dark  ages, 
which  often  dispose  of  years  in  a  few  brief  sen- 

9  Clavigero  has  given  a  catalogue  of  the  Mexican  historians  of  the 
sixteenth  century,— some  of  whom  are  often  cited  in  this  history,— 
which  bears  honorable  testimony  to  the  literary  ardor  and  intelligence 
of  the  native  races.  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn,  i.,  Pref.— Also,  Gama, 
Descripcion,  Parte  1,  passim. 


MANUSCRIPTS  113 

tences,  —  quite  long  enough  for  the  annals  of  bar- 
barians.10 

In  order  to  estimate  aright  the  picture-writing 
of  the  Aztecs,  one  must  regard  it  in  connection  with 
oral  tradition,  to  which  it  was  auxiliary.  In  the 
colleges  of  the  priests  the  youth  were  instructed  in 
astronomy,  history,  mythology,  etc. ;  and  those  who 
were  to  follow  the  profession  of  hieroglyphical 
painting  were  taught  the  application  of  the  char- 
acters appropriated  to  each  of  these  branches.  In 
an  historical  work,  one  had  charge  of  the  chronol- 
ogy, another  of  the  events.  Every  part  of  the 
labor  was  thus  mechanically  distributed.11  The 
pupils,  instructed  in  all  that  was  before  known  in 
their  several  departments,  were  prepared  to  extend 
still  further  the  boundaries  of  their  imperfect 
science.  The  hieroglyphics  served  as  a  sort  of 

10  M.  de  Humboldt's  remark,  that  the  Aztec  annals,  from  the  close 
of  the  eleventh  century,  "  exhibit  the  greatest  method  and  astonish- 
ing minuteness"    (Vues  des  Cordilleres,  p.  137),  must  be  received 
with  some  qualification.    The  reader  would  scarcely  understand  from 
it  that  there  are  rarely  more  than  one  or  two  facts  recorded  in  any 
year,  and  sometimes  not  one  in  a  dozen  or  more.     The  necessary 
looseness  and  uncertainty  of  these  historical  records  are  made  appar- 
ent by  the  remarks  of  the  Spanish  interpreter  of  the  Mendoza  Codex, 
who  tells  us  that  the  natives,  to  whom  it  was  submitted,  were  very 
long  in  coming  to  an  agreement  about  the  proper  signification  of  the 
paintings.     Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  vi.  p.  87. 

11  Gama,   Descripcion,   Parte   2,   p.   30. — Acosta,   lib.   6,   cap.   7. — 
"  Tenian  para  cada  genero,"  says  Ixtlilxochitl,  "  sus  Escritores,  unos 
que  trataban  de  los  Anales,  poniendo  por  su  6rden  las  cosas  que  aca- 
ecian  en  cada  un  afio,  con  dia,  mes,  y  hora ;  otros  tenian  &  su  cargo  las 
Genealogias,  y  descendencia  de  los  Reyes,  Sefiores,  y  Personas  de 
linaje,  asentando  por  cuenta  y  razon  los  que  nacian,  y  borraban  los 
que  morian  con  la  misma  cuenta.    Unos  tenian  cuidado  de  las  pintu- 
ras,  de  los  t6rminos,  Ifmites,  y  mojoneras  de  las  Ciudades,  Provincias, 
Pueblos,  y  Lugares,  y  de  las  suertes,  y  repartimiento  de  las  tierras 
cuyas  eran,  y  &  quien  pertenecian;  otros  de  los  libros  de  Leyes,  ritos, 
y  ceremonias  que  usaban."      Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  Prdlogo. 


114  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

stenography,  a  collection  of  notes,  suggesting  to 
the  initiated  much  more  than  could  be  conveyed  by 
a  literal  interpretation.  This  combination  of  the 
written  and  the  oral  comprehended  what  may  be 
called  the  literature  of  the  Aztecs.12 

Their  manuscripts  were  made  of  different  mate- 
rials,—of  cotton  cloth,  or  skins  nicely  prepared;  of 
a  composition  of  silk  and  gum;  but,  for  the  most 
part,  of  a  fine  fabric  from  the  leaves  of  the  aloe, 
agave  Americana,  called  by  the  natives  maguey, 
which  grows  luxuriantly  over  the  table-lands  of 
Mexico.  A  sort  of  paper  was  made  from  it,  resem- 
bling somewhat  the  Egyptian  papyrus™  which, 
when  properly  dressed  and  polished,  is  said  to  have 
been  more  soft  and  beautiful  than  parchment. 
Some  of  the  specimens,  still  existing,  exhibit  their 
original  freshness,  and  the  paintings  on  them  retain 
their  brilliancy  of  colors.  They  were  sometimes 


11  According  to  Boturini,  the  ancient  Mexicans  were  acquainted 
with  the  Peruvian  method  of  recording  events  by  means  of  the  quip- 
pus, — knotted  strings  of  various  colors, — which  were  afterwards  su- 
perseded by  hieroglyphical  painting.  (Idea,  p.  86.)  He  could  dis- 
cover, however,  but  a  single  specimen,  which  he  met  with  in  Tlascala, 
and  that  had  nearly  fallen  to  pieces  with  age.  McCulloh  suggests 
that  it  may  have  been  only  a  wampum  belt,  such  as  is  common 
among  our  North  American  Indians.  (Researches,  p.  201.)  The 
conjecture  is  plausible  enough.  Strings  of  wampum,  of  various  col- 
ors, were  used  by  the  latter  people  for  the  similar  purpose  of  regis- 
tering events.  The  insulated  fact,  recorded  by  Boturini,  is  hardly 
sufficient— unsupported,  so  far  as  I  know,  by  any  other  testimony— 
to  establish  the  existence  of  quippux  among  the  Aztecs,  who  had  but 
little  in  common  with  the  Peruvians. 

"  Pliny,  who  gives  a  minute  account  of  the  papyrus  reed  of  Egypt, 
notices  the  various  manufactures  obtained  from  it,  as  ropes,  cloth, 
paper,  etc.  It  also  served  as  a  thatch  for  the  roofs  of  houses,  and  as 
food  and  drink  for  the  natives.  (Hist.  Nat.,  lib.  11,  cap.  20-22.)  It 
is  singular  that  the  American  agave,  a  plant  so  totally  different, 
should  also  have  been  applied  to  all  these  various  uses. 


MANUSCRIPTS  115 

done  up  into  rolls,  but  more  frequently  into  vol- 
umes, of  moderate  size,  in  which  the  paper  was 
shut  up,  like  a  folding  screen,  with  a  leaf  or  tablet 
of  wood  at  each  extremity,  that  gave  the  whole, 
when  closed,  the  appearance  of  a  book.  The 
length  of  the  strips  was  determined  only  by  con- 
venience. As  the  pages  might  be  read  and  referred 
to  separately,  this  form  had  obvious  advantages 
over  the  rolls  of  the  ancients.14 

At  the  time  of  the  arrival  of  the  Spaniards,  great 
quantities  of  these  manuscripts  were  treasured  up 
in  the  country.  Numerous  persons  were  employed 
in  painting,  and  the  dexterity  of  their  operations 
excited  the  astonishment  of  the  Conquerors.  Un- 
fortunately, this  was  mingled  with  other  and  un- 
worthy feelings.  The  strange,  unknown  charac- 
ters inscribed  on  them  excited  suspicion.  They 
were  looked  on  as  magic  scrolls,  and  were  regarded 
in  the  same  light  with  the  idols  and  temples,  as  the 
symbols  of  a  pestilent  superstition,  that  must  be 
extirpated.  The  first  archbishop  of  Mexico,  Don 
Juan  de  Zumarraga, — a  name  that  should  be  as 
immortal  as  that  of  Omar,— collected  these  paint- 
ings from  every  quarter,  especially  from  Tezcuco, 
the  most  cultivated  capital  in  Anahuac,  and  the 

14  Lorenzana,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espafia,  p.  8.— Boturini,  Idea,  p.  96. 
— Humboldt,  Vues  des  Cordilleres,  p.  52.— Peter  Martyr  Anglerius, 
De  Orbe  Novo  (Compluti,  1530),  dec.  3,  cap.  8;  dec.  5,  cap  10.— 
Martyr  has  given  a  minute  description  of  the  Indian  maps  sent  home 
soon  after  the  invasion  of  New  Spain.  His  inquisitive  mind  was 
struck  with  the  evidence  they  afforded  of  a  positive  civilization.  Ri- 
bera,  the  friend  of  Cortes,  brought  back  a  story  that  the  paintings 
were  designed  as  patterns  for  embroiderers  and  jewellers.  But  Mar- 
tyr had  been  in  Egypt,  and  he  felt  little  hesitation  in  placing  the 
Indian  drawings  in  the  same  class  with  those  he  had  seen  on  the 
obelisks  and  temples  of  that  country. 


116  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

great  depository  of  the  national  archives.  He  then 
caused  them  to  be  piled  up  in  a  "  mountain-heap  " 
—as  it  is  called  by  the  Spanish  writers  themselves 
—in  the  market-place  of  Tlatelolco,  and  reduced 
them  all  to  ashes!15  His  greater  countryman, 
Archbishop  Ximenes,  had  celebrated  a  similar 
auto-da-fe  of  Arabic  manuscripts,  in  Granada, 
some  twenty  years  before.  Never  did  fanaticism 
achieve  two  more  signal  triumphs  than  by  the  an- 
nihilation of  so  many  curious  monuments  of  human 
ingenuity  and  learning! 16 

The  unlettered  soldiers  were  not  slow  in  imitat- 
ing the  example  of  their  prelate.  Every  chart  and 
volume  which  fell  into  their  hands  was  wantonly 
destroyed ;  so  that,  when  the  scholars  of  a  later  and 
more  enlightened  age  anxiously  sought  to  recover 
some  of  these  memorials  of  civilization,  nearly  all 
had  perished,  and  the  few  surviving  were  jealously 
hidden  by  the  natives.17  Through  the  indefati- 
gable labors  of  a  private  individual,  however,  a 

15  Ixtlilxochitl,   Hist.    Chich.,   MS.,    Pr61ogo.— Idem,   Sum.    Relac., 
MS.  —  ["The  name  of  Zumarraga,"  says  Senor  Alaman,  "has  other 
and  very  different  titles  to  immortality  from  that  mentioned  by  Mr. 
Prescott, — titles  founded  on  his  virtues  and  apostolic  labors,  espe- 
cially on  the  fervid  zeal  with  which  he  defended  the  natives  and  the 
manifold  benefits  he  secured  to  them.    The  loss  that  history  suffered 
by  the  destruction  of  the  Indian  manuscripts  by  the  missionaries  has 
been  in  a  great  measure  repaired  by  the  writings  of  the  missionaries 
themselves."     Conquista  de  Mejico   (trad,  de  Vega),  torn.  i.  p.  60.] 
— Writers  are  not  agreed  whether  the  conflagration  took  place  in  the 
square  of  Tlatelolco  or  Tezcuco.    Comp.  Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico, 
torn.  ii.  p.  188,  and  Bustamante's  Pref.  to  Ixtlilxochitl,  Cruaute"s  des 
Conquerans,  trad,  de  Ternaux,  p.  xvii. 

16  It  has  been  my  lot  to  record  both  these  displays  of  human  in- 
firmity, so  humbling  to  the  pride  of  intellect.     See  the  History  of 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  Part  2,  chap.  6. 

17  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  10,  cap.  27.— Bustamante, 
Mananas  de  Alameda  (Mexico,  1836),  torn,  ii.,  Pr61ogo. 


MANUSCRIPTS  117 

considerable  collection  was  eventually  deposited  in 
the  archives  of  Mexico,*  but  was  so  little  heeded 
there  that  some  were  plundered,  others  decayed 
piecemeal  from  the  damps  and  mildews,  and  others, 
again,  were  used  up  as  waste  paper! 18  We  con- 
template with  indignation  the  cruelties  inflicted  by 
the  early  conquerors.  But  indignation  is  qualified 
with  contempt  when  we  see  them  thus  ruthlessly 
trampling  out  the  spark  of  knowledge,  the  common 
boon  and  property  of  all  mankind.  We  may  well 
doubt  which  has  the  stronger  claim  to  civilization, 
the  victor  or  the  vanquished. 

A  few  of  the  Mexican  manuscripts  have  found 
their  way,  from  time  to  time,  to  Europe,  and  are 
carefully  preserved  in  the  public  libraries  of  its 
capitals.  They  are  brought  together  in  the  mag- 
nificent work  of  Lord  Kingsborough ;  but  not  one 
is  there  from  Spain.  The  most  important  of  them, 
for  the  light  it  throws  on  the  Aztec  institutions,  is 
the  Mendoza  Codex;  which,  after  its  mysterious 
disappearance  for  more  than  a  century,  has  at 
length  reappeared  in  the  Bodleian  Library  at  Ox- 
ford. It  has  been  several  times  engraved.19  The 

18  Very  many  of  the  documents  thus  painfully  amassed  in  the 
archives  of  the  Audience  of  Mexico  were  sold,  according  to  Busta- 
mante,  as  wrapping-paper,  to  apothecaries,  shopkeepers,  and  rocket- 
makers  !  Boturini's  noble  collection  has  not  fared  much  better. 

lt  The  history  of  this  famous  collection  is  familiar  to  scholars.  It 
was  sent  to  the  Emperor  Charles  the  Fifth,  not  long  after  the  Con- 
quest, by  the  viceroy  Mendoza,  Marques  de  Monde  jar.  The  vessel 

*  ["  After  the  zeal  of  the  priests  had  somewhat  abated,  or  rather 
when  the  harmless  nature  of  the  paintings  was  better  understood, 
the  natives  were  permitted  to  use  their  hieroglyphics  again.  Among 
other  things  they  wrote  down  in  this  way  their  sins  when  the  priests 
were  too  busy  to  hear  their  verbal  confessions."  Bancroft,  Native 
Races,  vol.  ii.  p.  526.— M.] 


118  CONQUEST  OF   MEXICO 

most  brilliant  in  coloring,  probably,  is  the  Borgian 
collection,  in  Rome.20  The  most  curious,  however, 
is  the  Dresden  Codex,  which  has  excited  less  atten- 

fell  into  the  hands  of  a  French  cruiser,  and  the  manuscript  was  taken 
to  Paris.  It  was  afterwards  bought  by  the  chaplain  of  the  English 
embassy,  and,  coming  into  the  possession  of  the  antiquary  Purchas, 
was  engraved,  in  extenso,  by  him,  in  the  third  volume  of  his  "  Pil- 
grimage." After  its  publication,  in  1625,  the  Aztec  original  lost  its 
importance,  and  fell  into  oblivion  so  completely  that,  when  at  length 
the  public  curiosity  was  excited  in  regard  to  its  fate,  no  trace  of  if 
could  be  discovered.  Many  were  the  speculations  of  scholars,  at 
home  and  abroad,  respecting  it,  and  Dr.  Robertson  settled  the  ques- 
tion as  to  its  existence  in  England,  by  declaring  that  there  was  no 
Mexican  relic  in  that  country,  except  a  golden  goblet  of  Montezuma. 
(History  of  America  (London,  1796),  vol.  iii.  p.  370.)  Nevertheless, 
the  identical  Codex,  and  several  other  Mexican  paintings,  have  been 
since  discovered  in  the  Bodleian  Library.  The  circumstance  has 
brought  some  obloquy  on  the  historian,  who,  while  prying  into  the 
collections  of  Vienna  and  the  Escorial,  could  be  so  blind  to  those 
under  his  own  eyes.  The  oversight  will  not  appear  so  extraordinary 
to  a  thorough-bred  collector,  whether  of  manuscripts,  or  medals,  or 
any  other  rarity.  The  Mendoza  Codex  is,  after  all,  but  a  copy, 
coarsely  done  with  a  pen  on  European  paper.  Another  copy,  from 
which  Archbishop  Lorenzana  engraved  his  tribute-rolls  in  Mexico,  ex- 
isted in  Boturini's  collection.  A  third  is  in  the  Escorial,  according 
to  the  Marquis  of  Spineto.  (Lectures  on  the  Elements  of  Hiero- 
glyphics (London),  Lect.  7.)  This  may  possibly  be  the  original 
painting.  The  entire  Codex,  copied  from  the  Bodleian  maps,  with 
its  Spanish  and  English  interpretations,  is  included  in  the  noble 
compilation  of  Lord  Kingsborough.  (Vols.  i.,  v.,  vi.)  It  is  distrib- 
uted into  three  parts,  embracing  the  civil  history  of  the  nation,  the 
tributes  paid  by  the  cities,  and  the  domestic  economy  and  discipline 
of  the  Mexicans,  and,  from  the  fulness  of  the  interpretation,  is  of 
much  importance  in  regard  to  these  several  topics. 

10  It  formerly  belonged  to  the  Giustiniani  family,  but  was  so  little 
cared  for  that  it  was  suffered  to  fall  into  the  mischievous  hands  of 
the  domestics'  children,  who  made  sundry  attempts  to  burn  it.  For- 
tunately, it  was  painted  on  deerskin,  and,  though  somewhat  singed, 
was  not  destroyed.  (Humboldt,  Vues  des  Cordilleres,  p.  89,  et  seq.) 
It  is  impossible  to  cast  the  eye  over  this  brilliant  assemblage  of  forms 
and  colors  without  feeling  how  hopeless  must  be  the  attempt  to  re- 
cover a  key  to  the  Aztec  mythological  symbols;  which  are  here 
distributed  with  the  symmetry,  indeed,  but  in  all  the  endless  com- 
binations, of  the  kaleidoscope.  It  is  in  the  third  volume  of  Lord 
Kingsborough's  work. 


MANUSCRIPTS  119 

tion  than  it  deserves.  Although  usually  classed 
among  Mexican  manuscripts,  it  bears  little  resem- 
blance to  them  in  its  execution;  the  figures  of 
objects  are  more  delicately  drawn,  and  the  charac- 
ters, unlike  the  Mexican,  appear  to  be  purely 
arbitrary,  and  are  possibly  phonetic.21  Their 
regular  arrangement  is  quite  equal  to  the  Egyp- 
tian. The  whole  infers  a  much  higher  civilization 
than  the  Aztec,  and  offers  abundant  food  for 
curious  speculation.22 

Some  few  of  these  maps  have  interpretations 
annexed  to  them,  which  were  obtained  from  the  na- 

21  Humboldt,  who  has  copied  some  pages  of  it  in  his  "  Atlas  pitto- 
resque,"  intimates  no  doubt  of  its  Aztec  origin.     (Vues  des  Cordil- 
leres,  pp.  266,  267.)     M.  Le  Noir  even  reads  in  it  an  exposition  of 
Mexican  Mythology,  with  occasional  analogies  to  that  of  Egypt  and 
of  Hindostan.     (Antiquit£s  Mexicaines,  torn,  ii.,  Introd.)     The  fan- 
tastic forms  of  hieroglyphic  symbols  may  afford  analogies  for  almost 
anything. 

22  The  history  of  this  Codex,  engraved  entire  in  the  third  volume 
of  the  "  Antiquities  of  Mexico,"  goes  no  further  back  than  1739,  when 
it  was  purchased  at  Vienna  for  the  Dresden  Library.    It  is  made  of 
the  American  agave.     The  figures  painted  on  it  bear  little  resem- 
blance, either  in  feature  or  form,  to  the  Mexican.     They  are  sur- 
mounted by  a  sort  of  head-gear,  which  looks  something  like  a  modern 
peruke.     On  the  chin  of  one  we  may  notice  a  beard,  a  sign  often 
used  after  the  Conquest  to  denote  a  European.    Many  of  the  persons 
are  sitting  cross-legged.     The  profiles  of  the  faces,  and  the  whole 
contour  of  the  limbs,  are  sketched  with  a  spirit  and  freedom  very 
unlike  the  hard,  angular  outlines  of  the  Aztecs.     The  characters, 
also,  are  delicately  traced,  generally  in  an  irregular  but  circular  form, 
and  are  very  minute.     They  are  arranged,  like  the  Egyptian,  both 
horizontally  and  perpendicularly,  mostly  in  the  former  manner,  and, 
from  the  prevalent  direction  of  the  profiles,  would  seem  to  have  been 
read  from  right  to  left.    Whether  phonetic  or  ideographic,  they  are 
of  that  compact  and  purely  conventional  sort  which  belongs  to  a 
well-digested  system  for  the  communication  of  thought.    One  cannot 
but  regret  that  no  trace  should  exist  of  the  quarter  whence  this  MS. 
was  obtained;  perhaps  some  part  of  Central  America,  from  the  re- 
gion of  the  mysterious  races  who  built  the  monuments  of  Mitla  and 
Palenque;  though,  in  truth,  there  seems  scarcely  more  resemblance 


120  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

lives  after  the  Conquest.23  The  greater  part  are 
without  any,  and  cannot  now  be  unriddled.  Had 
the  Mexicans  made  free  use  of  a  phonetic  alphabet, 
it  might  have  been  originally  easy,  by  mastering 
the  comparatively  few  signs  employed  in  this  kind 
of  communication,  to  have  got  a  permanent  key  to 
the  whole.24  A  brief  inscription  has  furnished  a 
clue  to  the  vast  labyrinth  of  Egyptian  hieroglyph- 
ics. But  the  Aztec  characters,  representing  in- 
dividuals, or,  at  most,  species,  require  to  be  made 
out  separately ;  a  hopeless  task,  for  which  little  aid 
is  to  be  expected  from  the  vague  and  general 
tenor  of  the  few  interpretations  now  existing. 

in  the  symbols  to  the  Palenque  bas-reliefs  than  to  the  Aztec  paint- 
ings.* 

23  There  are  three  of  these :  the  Mendoza  Codex ;  the  Telleriano- 
Remensis, — formerly   the   property   of   Archbishop    Teller, — in    the 
Royal  Library  of  Paris;  and  the  Vatican  MS.,  No.  3738.    The  inter- 
pretation of  the  last  bears  evident  marks  of  its  recent  origin;  prob- 
ably as  late  as  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  or  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  when  the  ancient  hieroglyphics  were  read  with 
the  eye  of  faith  rather  than  of  reason.    Whoever  was  the  commenta- 
tor (comp.  Vues  des  Cordilleres,  pp.  203,  204;  and  Antiq.  of  Mexico, 
vol.  vi.  pp.  155,  222),  he  has  given  such  an  exposition  as  shows  the 
Aztecs  to  have  been  as  orthodox  Christians  as  any  subjects  of  the 
Pope. 

24  The  total  number  of  Egyptian  hieroglyphics  discovered  by  Cham- 
pollion  amounts  to  864;  and  of  these  130  only  are  phonetic,  not- 
withstanding that  this  kind  of  character  is  used  far  more  frequently 
than  both  the  others.    Prdcis,  p.  263;— also  Spineto,  Lectures,  Lect.  3. 

*  [Mr.  Stephens,  who,  like  Humboldt,  considered  the  Dresden 
Codex  a  Mexican  manuscript,  compared  the  characters  of  it  with 
those  on  the  altar  of  Copan,  and  drew  the  conclusion  that  the  in- 
habitants of  that  place  and  of  Palenque  must  have  spoken  the  same 
language  as  the  Aztecs.  Prescott's  opinion  has,  however,  been  con- 
firmed by  later  critics,  who  have  shown  that  the  hieroglyphics  of  the 
Dresden  Codex  are  quite  different  from  those  at  Copan  and  Pa- 
lenque, while  the  Mexican  writing  bears  not  the  least  resemblance  to 
either.  See  Orozco  y  Berra,  Geografia  de  las  Lenguas  de  Mexico, 
p.  101.— K.] 


MANUSCRIPTS  121 

There  was,  as  already  mentioned,  until  late  in  the 
last  century,  a  professor  in  the  University  of 
Mexico,  especially  devoted  to  the  study  of  the 
national  picture-writing.  But,  as  this  was  with  a 
view  to  legal  proceedings,  his  information,  proba- 
bly, was  limited  to  deciphering  titles.  In  less  than 
a  hundred  years  after  the  Conquest,  the  knowledge 
of  the  hieroglyphics  had  so  far  declined  that  a  dili- 
gent Tezcucan  writer  complains  he  could  find  in 
the  country  only  two  persons,  both  very  aged,  at 
all  competent  to  interpret  them.25 

It  is  not  probable,  therefore,  that  the  art  of 
reading  these  picture-writings  will  ever  be  recov- 
ered; a  circumstance  certainly  to  be  regretted. 
Not  that  the  records  of  a  semi-civilized  people 
would  be  likely  to  contain  any  new  truth  or  dis- 
covery important  to  human  comfort  or  progress; 
but  they  could  scarcely  fail  to  throw  some  addi- 
tional light  on  the  previous  history  of  the  nation, 
and  that  of  the  more  polished  people  who  before 
occupied  the  country.*  This  would  be  still  more 
probable,  if  any  literary  relics  of  their  Toltec  pre- 

25  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  Dedic.— Boturini,  who  travelled 
through  every  part  of  the  country  in  the  middle  of  the  last  century, 
could  not  meet  with  an  individual  who  could  afford  him  the  least 
clue  to  the  Aztec  hieroglyphics.  So  completely  had  every  vestige  of 
their  ancient  language  been  swept  away  from  the  memory  of  the 
natives.  (Idea,  p.  116.)  If  we  are  to  believe  Bustamante,  how- 
ever, a  complete  key  to  the  whole  system  is,  at  this  moment,  some- 
where in  Spain.  It  was  carried  home,  at  the  time  of  the  process 
against  Father  Mier,  in  1795.  The  name  of  the  Mexican  Champol- 
lion  who  discovered  it  is  Borunda.  Gama,  Descripcion,  torn.  ii.  p. 
33,  nota, 

*  [After  the  ancient  picture-writings  had  been  destroyed  in  Yu- 
catan, and  their  harmlessness  had  been  recognized,  attempts  were 
made  to  record  once  more  the  history  they  contained.  These  restored 


122  CONQUEST  OF   MEXICO 

decessors  were  preserved;  and,  if  report  be  true, 
an  important  compilation  from  this  source  was  ex- 
tant at  the  time  of  the  invasion,  and  may  have 
perhaps  contributed  to  swell  the  holocaust  of  Zu- 
marraga.26  It  is  no  great  stretch  of  fancy  to 
suppose  that  such  records  might  reveal  the  succes- 
sive links  in  the  mighty  chain  of  migration  of  the 
primitive  races,  and,  by  carrying  us  back  to  the 
seat  of  their  possessions  in  the  Old  World,  have 
solved  the  mystery  which  has  so  long  perplexed  the 

20  TeoamoxtU,  "  the  divine  book,"  as  it  was  called.  According  to 
Ixtlilxochitl,  it  was  composed  by  a  Tezcucan  doctor,  named  Huemat- 
zin,  towards  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century.  (Relaciones,  MS.) 
It  gave  an  account  of  the  migrations  of  his  nation  from  Asia,  of  the 
various  stations  on  their  journey,  of  their  social  and  religious  institu- 
tions, their  science,  arts,  etc.,  etc.,  a  good  deal  too  much  for  one  book. 
Ignotum  pro  mirifico.  It  has  never  been  seen  by  a  European.*  A 
copy  is  said  to  have  been  in  possession  of  the  Tezcucan  chroniclers 
on  the  taking  of  their  capital.  (Bustamante,  Cr6nica  Mexicana 
(Mexico,  1822),  carta  3.)  Lord  Kingsborough,  who  can  scent  out  a 
Hebrew  root  be  it  buried  never  so  deep,  has  discovered  that  the 
TeoamoxtU  was  the  Pentateuch.  Thus,  tea  means  "  divine,"  amotl, 
"paper"  or  "book,"  and  moxtli  "appears  to  be  Moses;" — "Divine 
Book  of  Moses  " !  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  vi.  p.  204,  nota. 

chronicles  are  called  the  Chilan  Balam.  From  them  Professor 
Daniel  G.  Brinton  selected  the  stories  he  published  as  the  "  Maya 
Chronicles."  One  of  them,  the  "  Chronicle  of  Chicxulub,"  was  written 
in  Roman  characters  by  a  native  Maya  chief,  Nakuk  Pech,  about  the 
year  1562.  It  is  a  short  account  of  the  Spanish  conquest  of  Yuca- 
tan and  refers  to  Izamal  and  Chichen-Itza  as  inhabited  towns  in  the 
first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century.— M.] 

*  [It  must  have  been  seen  by  many  Europeans,  if  we  accept  either 
the  statement  of  the  Baron  de  Waldeck,  in  1838  (Voyage  pittor- 
esque  et  a^heologique  dans  la  Province  d' Yucatan),  that  it  was  then 
in  his  possession,  or  the  theories  of  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg,  who 
identifies  it  with  the  Dresden  Codex  and  certain  other  hieroglyphical 
manuscripts,  and  who  believes  himself  to  have  found  the  key  to  it, 
and  consequently  to  the  origin  of  the  Mexican  history  and  civilization, 
in  one  of  the  documents  in  Boturini's  collection,  to  which  he  has 
given  the  name  of  the  Codex  Chimalpopoca.  Quatre  Lettres  sur  le 
Mexique  (Paris,  1868).— K.] 


TRADITIONS  123 

learned,  in  regard  to  the  settlement  and  civilization 
of  the  New.* 

Besides  the  hieroglyphical  maps,  the  traditions 
of  the  country  were  embodied  in  the  songs  and 
hymns,  which,  as  already  mentioned,  were  carefully 
taught  in  the  public  schools.  These  were  various, 
embracing  the  mythic  legends  of  a  heroic  age,  the 
warlike  achievements  of  their  own,  or  the  softer 
tajes  of  love  and  pleasure.27  Many  of  them  were 
composed  by  scholars  and  persons  of  rank,  and  are 
cited  as  affording  the  most  authentic  record  of 
events.28  The  Mexican  dialect  was  rich  and  ex- 
pressive, though  inferior  to  the  Tezcucan,  the  most 
polished  of  the  idioms  of  Anahuac.  None  of  the 
Aztec  compositions  have  survived,  but  we  can  form 
some  estimate  of  the  general  state  of  poetic  culture 

"  Boturini,  Idea,  pp.  90-97. — Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn, 
ii.  pp.  174-178. 

28  "  Los  cantos  con  que  las  observaban  Autores  muy  graves  en  su 
modo  de  ciencia  y  facultad,  pues  fueron  los  inismos  Reyes,  y  de  la 
gente  mas  ilustre  y  entendida,  que  siempre  observaron  y  adquirieron 
la  verdad,  y  esta  con  tanta  razon,  quanta  pudi£ron  tener  los  mas 
graves  y  fidedignos  Autores."  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  Pro- 
logo. 

*  [  Such  a  supposition  would  require  a  "  stretch  of  fancy  "  greater 
than  any  which  the  mind  of  the  mere  historical  inquirer  is  capable  of 
taking.  To  admit  the  probability  of  the  Asiatic  origin  of  the  Amer- 
ican races,  and  of  the  indefinite  antiquity  of  Mexican  civilization, 
is  something  very  different  from  believing  that  this  civilization, 
already  developed  in  the  degree  required  for  the  existence  and  pres- 
ervation of  its  own  records  during  so  long  a  period  and  so  great  a 
migration,  can  have  been  transplanted  from  the  one  continent  to  the 
other.  It  would  be  easier  to  accept  the  theory,  now  generally  aban- 
doned, that  the  original  settlers  owed  their  civilization  to  a  body 
of  colonists  from  Phoenicia.  In  view  of  so  hazardous  a  conjecture, 
it  is  difficult  to  understand  why  Buschmann  has  taken  exception  to 
the  "sharp  criticism"  to  which  Prescott  has  subjected  the  sources 
of  Mexican  history,  and  his  "  low  estimate  of  their  value  and  credi- 


124  CONQUEST   OF  MEXICO 

from  the  odes  which  have  come  down  to  us  from 
the  royal  house  of  Tezcuco.20  Sahagun  has  fur- 
nished us  with  translations  of  their  more  elaborate 
prose,  consisting  of  prayers  and  public  discourses, 
which  give  a  favorable  idea  of  their  eloquence,  and 
show  that  they  paid  much  attention  to  rhetorical 
effect.  They  are  said  to  have  had,  also,  something 
like  theatrical  exhibitions,  of  a  pantomimic  sort,  in 
which  the  faces  of  the  performers  were  covered 
with  masks,  and  the  figures  of  birds  or  animals 
were  frequently  represented ;  an  imitation  to  which 
they  may  have  been  led  by  the  familiar  delineation 
of  such  objects  in  their  hieroglyphics.30  In  all 
this  we  see  the  dawning  of  a  literary  culture,  sur- 
passed, however,  by  their  attainments  in  the  severer 
walks  of  mathematical  science. 

They  devised  a  system  of  notation  in  their  arith- 
metic sufficiently  simple.  The  first  twenty  num- 
bers were  expressed  by  a  corresponding  number  of 
dots.  The  first  five  had  specific  names ;  after  which 
they  were  represented  by  combining  the  fifth  with 
one  of  the  four  preceding ;  as  five  and  one  for  six, 
five  and  two  for  seven,  and  so  on.  Ten  and  fifteen 
had  each  a  separate  name,  which  was  also  combined 
with  the  first  four,  to  express  a  higher  quantity. 
These  four,  therefore,  were  the  radical  characters 
of  their  oral  arithmetic,  in  the  same  manner  as  they 
were  of  the  written  with  the  ancient  Romans;  a 

"  See  chap.  6  of  this  Introduction. 

so  See  some  account  of  these  mummeries  in  Acosta  (lib.  5,  cap. 
30),— also  Clavigero  (Stor.  del  Messico,  ubi  supra).  Stone  models 
of  masks  are  sometimes  found  among  the  Indian  ruins,  and  engrav- 
ings of  them  are  both  in  Lord  Kingsborough's  work  and  in  the  Anti- 
quitds  Mexicaines. 


ARITHMETIC  125 

more  simple  arrangement,  probably,  than  any  ex- 
isting among  Europeans.31  Twenty  was  expressed 
by  a  separate  hieroglyphic, — a  flag.  Larger  sums 
were  reckoned  by  twenties,  and,  in  writing,  by  re- 
peating the  number  of  flags.  The  square  of 
twenty,  four  hundred,  had  a  separate  sign,  that  of 
a  plume,  and  so  had  the  cube  of  twenty,  or  eight 
thousand,  which  was  denoted  by  a  purse,  or  sack. 
This  was  the  whole  arithmetical  apparatus  of  the 
Mexicans,  by  the  combination  of  which  they  were 
enabled  to  indicate  any  quantity.  For  greater 
expedition,  they  used  to  denote  fractions  of  the 
larger  sums  by  drawing  only  a  part  of  the  object. 
Thus,  half  or  three-fourths  of  a  plume,  or  of  a 
purse,  represented  that  proportion  of  their  re- 
spective sums,  and  so  on.32  With  all  this,  the 
machinery  will  appear  very  awkward  to  us,  who 
perform  our  operations  with  so  much  ease  by 
means  of  the  Arabic  or,  rather,  Indian  ciphers. 
It  is  not  much  more  awkward,  however,  than  the 
system  pursued  by  the  great  mathematicians 
of  antiquity,  unacquainted  with  the  brilliant 
invention,  which  has  given  a  new  aspect  to 
mathematical  science,  of  determining  the  value, 
in  a  great  measure,  by  the  relative  position 
of  the  figures. 

In  the  measurement  of  time,  the  Aztecs  adjusted 

11  Gama,  Descripcion,  Parte  2,  Apend.  2.— Gama,  in  comparing 
the  language  of  Mexican  notation  with  the  decimal  system  of  the 
Europeans  and  the  ingenious  binary  system  of  Leibnitz,  confounds 
oral  with  written  arithmetic. 

82  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. — This  learned  Mexican  has  given  a  very  satis- 
factory treatise  on  the  arithmetic  of  the  Aztecs,  in  his  second 
part. 


126  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

their  civil  year  by  the  solar.  They  divided  it  into 
eighteen  months  of  twenty  days  each.  Both 
months  and  days  were  expressed  by  peculiar  hiero- 
glyphics,—those  of  the  former  often  intimating 
the  season  of  the  year,  like  the  French  months  at 
the  period  of  the  Revolution.  Five  complemen- 
tary days,  as  in  Egypt,33  were  added,  to  make  up 
the  full  number  of  three  hundred  and  sixty-five. 
They  belonged  to  no  month,  and  were  regarded  as 
peculiarly  unlucky.  A  month  was  divided  into 
four  weeks,  of  five  days  each,  on  the  last  of  which 
was  the  public  fair,  or  market-day.34  This  ar- 
rangement, differing  from  that  of  the  nations  of 
the  Old  Continent,  whether  of  Europe  or  Asia,35 
has  the  advantage  of  giving  an  equal  number  of' 
days  to  each  month,  and  of  comprehending  entire 
weeks,  without  a  fraction,  both  in  the  months  and 
in  the  year.36 

As  the  year  is  composed  of  nearly  six  hours 

33  Herodotus,  Euterpe,  sec.  4.* 

"  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  4,  Apend.— According  to 
Clavigero,  the  fairs  were  held  on  the  days  bearing  the  sign  of  the 
year.  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  p.  62. 

35  The  people  of  Java,  according  to  Sir  Stamford  Raffles,  regulated 
their  markets,  also,  by  a  week  of  five  days.  They  had,  besides,  our 
week  of  seven  (History  of  Java  (London,  1830),  vol.  i.  pp.  531, 
532.)  The  latter  division  of  time,  of  general  use  throughout  the 
East,  is  the  oldest  monument  existing  of  astronomical  science.  See 
La  Place,  Exposition  du  Systeme  du  Monde  (Paris,  1808),  lib.  5, 
chap.  1. 

'"Veytia,  Historia  antigua  de  Mexico  (Mexico,  1806),  torn.  i.  cap. 
6,  7.— Gama,  Descripcion,  Parte  1,  pp.  33,  34,  et  alibi.— Boturini, 
Idea,  pp.  4,  44,  et  seq.— Cod.  Tel.-Rem.,  ap.  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol. 
vi.  p.  104.— Camargo,  Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS.— Toribio,  Hist,  de  los 
Indies,  MS.,  Parte  1,  cap.  5. 

*  [And  in  France.  In  France  the  five  extra  days  were  called  sans- 
cullottides.— M.] 


CHRONOLOGY  127 

more  than  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  days,  there 
still  remained  an  excess,  which,  like  other  nations 
who  have  framed  a  calendar,  they  provided  for  by 
intercalation ;  not,  indeed,  every  fourth  year,  as  the 
Europeans,37  but  at  longer  intervals,  like  some  of 
the  Asiatics.38  They  waited  till  the  expiration  of 
fifty-two  vague  years,  when  they  interposed  thir- 
teen days,  or  rather  twelve  and  a  half,  this  being 
the  number  which  had  fallen  in  arrear.  Had  they 
inserted  thirteen,  it  would  have  been  too  much, 
since  the  annual  excess  over  three  hundred  and 
sixty-five  is  about  eleven  minutes  less  than  six 
hours.  But,  as  their  calendar  at  the  time  of  the 
Conquest  was  found  to  correspond  with  the  Euro- 
pean (making  allowance  for  the  subsequent  Gre- 
gorian reform ) ,  they  would  seem  to  have  adopted 
the  shorter  period  of  twelve  days  and  a  half,39 

"  Sahagun  intimates  doubts  of  this.  "  They  celebrated  another  feast 
every  four  years  in  honor  of  the  elements  of  fire,  and  it  is  probable 
and  has  been  conjectured  that  it  was  on  these  occasions  that  they 
made  their  intercalation,  counting  six  days  of  nemontemi,"  as  the 
unlucky  complementary  days  were  called.  (Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana, 
lib.  4,  Apend.)  But  this  author,  however  good  an  authority  for  the 
superstitions,  is  an  indifferent  one  for  the  science  of  the  Mexicans. 

88  The  Persians  had  a  cycle  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  years,  of 
three  hundred  and  sixty-five  days  each,  at  the  end  of  which  they 
intercalated  thirty  days.  (Humboldt,  Vues  des  Cordilleras,  p.  177.) 
This  was  the  same  as  thirteen  after  the  cycle  of  fifty-two  years  of  the 
Mexicans,  but  was  less  accurate  than  their  probable  intercalation  of 
twelve  days  and  a  half.  It  is  obviously  indifferent,  as  far  as  accuracy 
is  concerned,  which  multiple  of  four  is  selected  to  form  the  cycle; 
though,  the  shorter  the  interval  of  intercalation,  the  less,  of  course, 
will  be  the  temporary  departure  from  the  true  time. 

38  This  is  the  conclusion  to  which  Gama  arrives,  after  a  very  care- 
ful investigation  of  the  subject.  He  supposes  that  the  "bundles,"  or 
cycles,  of  fifty-two  years — by  which,  as  we  shall  see,  the  Mexicans 
computed  time— ended  alternately  at  midnight  and  midday.  (De- 
scripcion,  Parte  1,  p.  52,  et  seq.)  He  finds  some  warrant  for  this  in 
Acosta's  account  (lib.  6,  cap.  2),  though  contradicted  by  Torque- 


128  CONQUEST  OF   MEXICO 

which  brought  them,  within  an  almost  inappreci- 
able fraction,  to  the  exact  length  of  the  tropical 
year,  as  established  by  the  most  accurate  observa- 
tions.40 Indeed,  the  intercalation  of  twenty-five 
days  in  every  hundred  and  four  years  shows  a  nicer 
adjustment  of  civil  to  solar  time  than  is  presented 
by  any  European  calendar;  since  more  than  five 
centuries  must  elapse  before  the  loss  of  an  entire 
day.41  Such  was  the  astonishing  precision  dis- 
played by  the  Aztecs,  or,  perhaps,  by  their  more 
polished  Toltec  predecessors,  in  these  computa- 
tions, so  difficult  as  to  have  baffled,  till  a  compara- 
tively recent  period,  the  most  enlightened  nations 
of  Christendom!42 


mada  (Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  5,  cap.  33),  and,  as  it  appears,  by  Saha- 
gun, — whose  work,  however,  Gama  never  saw  (Hist,  de  Nueva-Es- 
pana,  lib.  7,  cap.  9), — both  of  whom  place  the  close  of  the  year  at 
midnight.  Gama's  hypothesis  derives  confirmation  from  a  circum- 
stance I  have  not  seen  noticed.  Besides  the  "  bundle  "  of  fifty-two 
years,  the  Mexicans  had  a  larger  cycle  of  one  hundred  and  four 
years,  called  "  an  old  age."  As  this  was  not  used  in  their  reckonings, 
which  were  carried  on  by  their  "  bundles,"  it  seems  highly  probable 
that  it  was  designed  to  express  the  period  which  would  bring  round 
the  commencement  of  the  smaller  cycles  to  the  same  hour,  and  in 
which  the  intercalary  days,  amounting  to  twenty-five,  might  be  com- 
prehended without  a  fraction. 

40  This  length,  as  computed  by  Zach,  at  365d.  5h.  48m.  48sec.,  is 
only  2m.  9sec.  longer  than  the  Mexican;  which  corresponds  with  the 
celebrated  calculation  of  the  astronomers  of  the  Caliph  Almamon, 
that  fell  short  about  two  minutes  of  the  true  time.  See  La  Place, 
Exposition,  p.  350. 

41 "  El  corto  exceso  de  4hor.  38min.  40seg.,  que  hay  de  mas  de  los 
25  dias  en  el  perfodo  de  104  afios,  no  puede  componer  un  dia  entero, 
hasta  que  pasen  mas  de  cinco  de  estos  perfodos  mdximos  6  538  anos." 
(Gama,  Descripcion,  Parte  1,  p.  23.)  Gama  estimates  the  solar  year 
at  365d.  5h.  48m.  50sec. 

42  The  ancient  Etruscans  arranged  their  calendar  in  cycles  of  110 
solar  years,  and  reckoned  the  year  at  365d.  5h.  40m.;  at  least  this 
seems  probable,  says  Niebuhr.  (History  of  Rome,  Eng.  trans.  (Cam- 
bridge, 1828),  vol.  i.  pp.  113,  238.)  The  early  Romans  had  not  wit 


CHRONOLOGY  129 

The  chronological  system  of  the  Mexicans,  by 
which  they  determined  the  date  of  any  particular 
event,  was  also  very  remarkable.  The  epoch  from 
which  they  reckoned  corresponded  with  the  year 
1091  of  the  Christian  era.  It  was  the  period  of 
the  reform  of  their  calendar,  soon  after  their  mi- 
gration from  Aztlan.  They  threw  the  years,  as 
already  noticed,  into  great  cycles,  of  fifty-two 
each,  which  they  called  "  sheafs,"  or  "  bundles," 
and  represented  by  a  quantity  of  reeds  bound 
together  by  a  string.  As  often  as  this  hieroglyphic 
occurs  in  their  maps,  it  shows  the  number  of  half- 
centuries.  To  enable  them  to  specify  any  particu- 
lar year,  they  divided  the  great  cycle  into  four 

enough  to  avail  themselves  of  this  accurate  measurement,  which 
came  within  nine  minutes  of  the  true  time.  The  Julian  reform, 
which  assumed  3G5d.  5y^h.  as  the  length  of  the  year,  erred  as  much, 
or  rather  more,  on  the  other  side.  And  when  the  Europeans,  who 
adopted  this  calendar,  landed  in  Mexico,  their  reckoning  was  nearly 
eleven  days  in  advance  of  the  exact  time, — or,  in  other  words,  of  the 
reckoning  of  the  barbarous  Aztecs;  *  a  remarkable  fact. — Gama's  re- 
searches led  to  the  conclusion  that  the  year  of  the  new  cycle  began 
with  the  Aztecs  on  the  ninth  of  January;  a  date  considerably  earlier 
than  that  usually  assigned  by  the  Mexican  writers.  (Descripcion, 
Parte  2,  pp.  49-52.)  By  postponing  the  intercalation  to  the  end 
of  fifty-two  years,  the  annual  loss  of  six  hours  made  every  fourth 
year  begin  a  day  earlier.  Thus,  the  cycle  commencing  on  the  ninth 
of  January,  the  fifth  year  of  it  began  on  the  eighth,  the  ninth  year 
on  the  seventh,  and  so  on;  so  that  the  last  day  of  the  series  of  fifty- 
two  years  fell  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  December,  when  the  intercala- 
tion of  thirteen  days  rectified  the  chronology  and  carried  the  com- 
mencement of  the  new  year  to  the  ninth  of  January  again.  Tor- 
quemada,  puzzled  by  the  irregularity  of  the  new-year's  day,  asserts 
that  the  Mexicans  were  unacquainted  with  the  annual  excess  of  six 
hours,  and  therefore  never  intercalated !  (Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  10, 
cap.  36.)  The  interpreter  of  the  Vatican  Codex  has  fallen  into  a 
series  of  blunders  on  the  same  subject,  still  more  ludicrous.  (Antiq. 
of  Mexico,  vol.  vi.  PI.  16.)  So  soon  had  Aztec  science  fallen  into 
oblivion  after  the  Conquest ! 

*  [See  also  Wilson,  Prehistoric  Man,  i.  p.  246.— M.] 


130  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

smaller  cycles,  or  indictions,  of  thirteen  years  each. 
They  then  adopted  two  periodical  series  of  signs, 
one  consisting  of  their  numerical  dots,  up  to  thir- 
teen, the  other,  of  four  hieroglyphics  of  the  years.43 
These  latter  they  repeated  in  regular  succession, 
setting  against  each  one  a  number  of  the  corre- 
sponding series  of  dots,  continued  also  in  regular 
succession  up  to  thirteen.  The  same  system  was 
pursued  through  the  four  indictions,  which  thus, 
it  will  be  observed,  began  always  with  a  different 
hieroglyphic  of  the  year  from  the  preceding ;  and 
in  this  way  each  of  the  hieroglyphics  was  made  to 
combine  successively  with  each  of  the  numerical 
signs,  but  never  twice  with  the  same;  since  four, 
and  thirteen,  the  factors  of  fifty -two, — the  number 
of  years  in  the  cycle,— must  admit  of  just  as  many 
combinations  as  are  equal  to  their  product.  Thus 
every  year  had  its  appropriate  symbol,  by  which  it 
was  at  once  recognized.  And  this  symbol,  pre- 
ceded by  the  proper  number  of  "  bundles  "  indi- 
cating the  half -centuries,  showed  the  precise  time 
which  had  elapsed  since  the  national  epoch  of 
1091.44  The  ingenious  contrivance  of  a  periodical 
series,  in  place  of  the  cumbrous  system  of  hiero- 

43  These  hieroglyphics  were  a  "  rabbit,"  a  "  reed,"  a  "  flint,"  a 
"house."  They  were  taken  as  symbolical  of  the  four  elements,  air, 
water,  fire,  earth,  according  to  Veytia.  (Hist,  antig.,  torn.  i.  cap.  5.) 
It  is  not  easy  to  see  the  connection  between  the  terms  "  rabbit "  and 
"  air,"  which  lead  the  respective  series.* 

"The  following  table  of  two  of  the  four  indictions  of  thirteen 
years  each  will  make  the  text  more  clear.  The  first  column  shows  the 
actual  year  of  the  great  cycle,  or  "bundle."  The  second,  the  nu- 

*  [The  fleet  and  noiseless  motions  of  the  animal  seem  to  offer  an 
obvious  explanation  of  the  symbol. — K.] 


CHRONOLOGY 


131 


glyphical  notation,  is  not  peculiar  to  the  Aztecs, 
and  is  to  be  found  among  various  nations  on  the 

merical  dots  used  in  their  arithmetic.    The  third  is  composed  of  their 
hieroglyphics  for  rabbit,  reed,  flint,  house,  in  their  regular  order. 


FIRST  INDICTION. 


Year 
of  the 
Cycle. 

1. 


3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

9. 
10. 
11. 
12. 
13. 


SECOND  INDICTION. 


Year 
of  the 
Cycle. 

14. 


15. 

16. 
17. 
18. 
19. 
20. 
21. 
22. 
23. 
24. 
25. 
26. 


* 


By  pursuing  the  combinations  through  the  two  remaining  indic- 
tions,  it  will  be  found  that  the  same  number  of  dots  will  never  coin- 
cide with  the  same  hieroglyphic.  These  tables  are  generally  thrown 
into  the  form  of  wheels,  as  are  those  also  of  their  months  and  days, 


132  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

Asiatic  continent,— the  same  in  principle,  though 
varying  materially  in  arrangement.45 

The  solar  calendar  above  described  might  have 
answered  all  the  purposes  of  the  people;  but  the 
priests  chose  to  construct  another  for  themselves. 
This  was  called  a  "  lunar  reckoning,"  though  no- 
wise accommodated  to  the  revolutions  of  the 
moon.46  It  was  formed,  also,  of  two  periodical 
series,  one  of  them  consisting  of  thirteen  numerical 
signs,  or  dots,  the  other,  of  the  twenty  hieroglyph- 
having  a  very  pretty  effect.  Several  have  been  published,  at  dif- 
ferent times,  from  the  collections  of  Siguenza  and  Boturini.  The 
wheel  of  the  great  cycle  of  fifty-two  years  is  encompassed  by  a  ser- 
pent, which  was  also  the  symbol  of  "an  age,"  both  with  the  Persians 
and  Egyptians.  Father  Toribio  seems  to  misapprehend  the  nature 
of  these  chronological  wheels:  "  Tenian  rodelas  y  escudos,  y  en  ellas 
pintadas  las  figuras  y  armas  de  sus  Demonios  con  su  blason."  Hist, 
de  los  Indios,  MS.,  Parte  1,  cap.  4. 

45  Among  the  Chinese,  Japanese,  Moghols,  Mantchous,  and  other 
families  of  the  Tartar  race.  Their  series  are  composed  of  symbols  of 
their  five  elements,  and  the  twelve  zodiacal  signs,  making  a  cycle  of 
sixty  years'  duration.  Their  several  systems  are  exhibited,  in  con- 
nection with  the  Mexican,  in  the  luminous  pages  of  Humboldt  (Vues 
des  Cordilleres,  p.  149),  who  draws  important  consequences  from  the 
comparison,  to  which  we  shall  have  occasion  to  return  hereafter. 

48  In  this  calendar,  the  months  of  the  tropical  year  were  distributed 
into  cycles  of  thirteen  days,  which,  being  repeated  twenty  times, — 
the  number  of  days  in  a  solar  month, — completed  the  lunar,  or  astro- 
logical, year  of  260  days ;  when  the  reckoning  began  again.  "  By  the 
contrivance  of  these  trecenas  (terms  of  thirteen  days)  and  the  cycle 
of  fifty-two  years,"  says  Gama,  "they  formed  a  luni-solar  period, 
most  exact  for  astrcnomical  purposes."  (Descripcion,  Parte  1,  p.  27.) 
He  adds  that  these  trecenas  were  suggested  by  the  periods  in  which 
the  moon  5s  visible  before  and  after  conjunction.  (Loc.  cit.)  It 
seems  hardly  possible  that  a  people  capable  of  constructing  a  cal- 
endar so  accurately  on  the  true  principles  of  solar  time  should  so 
grossly  err  as  to  suppose  that  in  this  reckoning  they  really  "  repre- 
sented the  daily  revolutions  of  the  moon."  "The  whole  Eastern 
world,"  says  the  learned  Niebuhr,  "  has  followed  the  moon  in  its  cal- 
endar; the  free  scientific  division  of  a  vast  portion  of  time  is  pe- 
culiar to  the  West.  Connected  with  the  West  is  that  primeval  ex- 
tinct world  which  we  call  the  New."  History  of  Rome,  vol.  i.  p.  239. 


CHRONOLOGY  133 

ics  of  the  days.  But,  as  the  product  of  these 
combinations  would  be  only  260,  and  as  some 
confusion  might  arise  from  the  repetition  of  the 
same  terms  for  the  remaining  105  days  of  the  year, 
they  invented  a  third  series,  consisting  of  nine 
additional  hieroglyphics,  which,  alternating  with 
the  two  preceding  series,  rendered  it  impossible 
that  the  three  should  coincide  twice  in  the  same 
year,  or  indeed  in  less  than  2340  days ;  since  20  x 
13  x  9  —  2340.47  Thirteen  was  a  mystic  number, 
of  frequent  use  in  their  tables.48  Why  they  re- 
sorted to  that  of  nine,  on  this  occasion,  is  not  so 
clear.49 

"  They  were  named  "  companions,"  and  "  lords  of  the  night,"  and 
were  supposed  to  preside  over  the  night,  as  the  other  signs  did  over 
the  day.  Boturini,  Idea,  p.  57. 

43  Thus,  their  astrological  year  was  divided  into  months  of  thir- 
teen days;  there  were  thirteen  years  in  their  indictions,  which  con- 
tained each  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  periods  of  thirteen  days, 
etc.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  number  of  lunar  months  of  thirteen 
days  contained  in  a  cycle  of  fifty-two  years,  with  the  intercalation, 
should  correspond  precisely  with  the  number  of  years  in  the  great 
Sothic  period  of  the  Egyptians,  namely,  1491 ;  a  period  in  which  the 
seasons  and  festivals  came  round  to  the  same  place  in  the  year  again. 
The  coincidence  may  be  accidental.  But  a  people  employing  period- 
ical series  and  astrological  calculations  have  generally  some  meaning 
in  the  numbers  they  select  and  the  combinations  to  which  they  lead. 

48  According  to  Gama  (Descripcion,  Parte  1,  pp.  75,  76),  because 
369  can  be  divided  by  nine  without  a  fraction ;  the  nine  "  compan- 
ions "  not  being  attached  to  the  five  complementary  days.  But  4, 
a  mystic  number  much  used  in  their  arithmetical  combinations,  would 
have  answered  the  same  purpose  equally  well.  In  regard  to  this, 
McCulloh  observes,  with  much  shrewdness,  "  It  seems  impossible  that 
the  Mexicans,  so  careful  in  constructing  their  cycle,  should  abruptly 
terminate  it  with  360  revolutions,  whose  natural  period  of  termina- 
tion is  2340."  And  he  supposes  the  nine  "  companions  "  were  used  in 
connection  with  the  cycles  of  260  days,  in  order  to  throw  them  into 
the  larger  ones,  of  2340;  eight  of  which,  with  a  ninth  of  260  days,  he 
ascertains  to  be  equal  to  the  great  solar  period  of  52  years.  (Re- 
searches, pp.  207,  208.)  This  is  very  plausible.  But  in  fact  the  com- 
binations of  the  two  first  series,  forming  the  cycle  of  260  days,  were 


134  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

This  second  calendar  rouses  a  holy  indignation 
in  the  early  Spanish  missionaries,  and  Father 
Sahagun  loudly  condemns  it,  as  "  most  unhal- 
lowed, since  it  is  founded  neither  on  natural  reason, 
nor  on  the  influence  of  the  planets,  nor  on  the  true 
course  of  the  year;  but  is  plainly  the  work  of 
necromancy,  and  the  fruit  of  a  compact  with  the 
Devil!  "  50  One  may  doubt  whether  the  supersti- 
tion of  those  who  invented  the  scheme  was  greater 
than  that  of  those  who  thus  impugned  it.  At  all 
events,  we  may,  without  having  recourse  to  super- 
natural agency,  find  in  the  human  heart  a  sufficient 
explanation  of  its  origin;  in  that  love  of  power, 
that  has  led  the  priesthood  of  many  a  faith  to  affect 
a  mystery  the  key  to  which  was  in  their  own  keep- 
ing. 

By  means  of  this  calendar,  the  Aztec  priests 
kept  their  own  records,  regulated  the  festivals  and 
seasons  of  sacrifice,  and  made  all  their  astrological 
calculations.51  The  false  science  of  astrology  is 


always  interrupted  at  the  end  of  the  year,  since  each  new  year  began 
with  the  same  hieroglyphic  of  the  days.  The  third  series  of  the 
"  companions  "  was  intermitted,  as  above  stated,  on  the  five  unlucky 
days  which  closed  the  year,  in  order,  if  we  may  believe  Boturini,  that 
the  first  day  of  the  solar  year  might  have  annexed  to  it  the  first  of 
the  nine  "  companions,"  which  signified  "  lord  of  the  year  "  ( Idea, 
p.  57)  ;  a  result  which  might  have  been  equally  well  secured,  without 
any  intermission  at  all,  by  taking  5,  another  favorite  number,  instead 
of  9,  as  the  divisor.  As  it  was,  however,  the  cycle,  as  far  as  the  third 
series  was  concerned,  did  terminate  with  360  revolutions.  The  sub- 
ject is  a  perplexing  one,  and  I  can  hardly  hope  to  have  presented 
it  in  such  a  manner  as  to  make  it  perfectly  clear  to  the  reader. 

50  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  4,  Introd. 

81  "Dans  les  pays  les  plus  diffe>ents,"  says  Benjamin  Constant, 
concluding  some  sensible  reflections  on  the  sources  of  the  sacerdotal 
power,  "  chez  les  peuples  de  moeurs  les  plus  opposes,  le  sacerdoce  a 
du  au  culte  des  elements  et  des  astres  un  pouvoir  dont  aujourd'hui 


CHRONOLOGY  135 

natural  to  a  state  of  society  partially  civilized, 
where  the  mind,  impatient  of  the  slow  and  cautious 
examination  by  which  alone  it  can  arrive  at  truth, 
launches  at  once  into  the  regions  of  speculation, 
and  rashly  attempts  to  lift  the  veil — the  impene- 
trable veil — which  -is  drawn  around  the  mysteries 
of  nature.  It  is  the  characteristic  of  true  science 
to  discern  the  impassable,  but  not  very  obvious, 
limits  which  divide  the  province  of  reason  from 
that  of  speculation.  Such  knowledge  comes  tar- 
dily. How  many  ages  have  rolled  away,  in  which 
powers  that,  rightly  directed,  might  have  revealed 
the  great  laws  of  nature,  have  been  wasted  in  bril- 
liant but  barren  reveries  on  alchemy  and  astrology ! 
The  latter  is  more  particularly  the  study  of  a 
primitive  age;  when  the  mind,  incapable  of  arriv- 
ing at  the  stupendous  fact  that  the  myriads  of 
minute  lights  glowing  in  the  firmanent  are  the 
centres  of  systems  as  glorious  as  our  own,  is 
naturally  led  to  speculate  on  their  probable  uses, 
and  to  connect  them  in  some  way  or  other  with 
man,  for  whose  convenience  every  other  object  in 
the  universe  seems  to  have  been  created.  As  the 
eye  of  the  simple  child  of  nature  watches,  through 
the  long  nights,  the  stately  march  of  the  heavenly 
bodies,  and  sees  the  bright  hosts  coming  up,  one 
after  another,  and  changing  with  the  changing 
seasons  of  the  year,  he  naturally  associates  them 
with  those  seasons,  as  the  periods  over  which  they 
hold  a  mysterious  influence.  In  the  same  manner, 
he  connects  their  appearance  with  any  interesting 

nous  concevons  a  peine* l'id£e."     De  la  Religion   (Paris,  1825),  lib. 
3,  ch.  5. 


136  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

event  of  the  time,  and  explores,  in  their  flaming 
characters,  the  destinies  of  the  new-born  infant.52 
Such  is  the  origin  of  astrology,  the  false  lights  of 
which  have  continued  from  the  earliest  ages  to 
dazzle  and  bewilder  mankind,  till  they  have  faded 
away  in  the  superior  illumination  of  a  compara- 
tively recent  period. 

The  astrological  scheme  of  the  Aztecs  was 
founded  less  on  the  planetary  influences  than  on 
those  of  the  arbitrary  signs  they  had  adopted  for 
the  months  and  days.  The  character  of  the  leading 
sign  in  each  lunar  cycle  of  thirteen  days  gave  a 
complexion  to  the  whole ;  though  this  was  qualified 
in  some  degree  by  the  signs  of  the  succeeding  days, 
as  well  as  by  those  of  the  hours.  It  was  in  adjust- 
ing these  conflicting  forces  that  the  great  art  of 
the  diviner  was  shown.  In  no  country,  not  even  in 
ancient  Egypt,  were  the  dreams  of  the  astrologer 
more  implicitly  deferred  to.  On  the  birth  of  a 
child,  he  was  instantly  summoned.  The  time  of 
the  event  was  accurately  ascertained;  and  the 
family  hung  in  trembling  suspense,  as  the  minister 
of  Heaven  cast  the  horoscope  of  the  infant  and 
unrolled  the  dark  volume  of  destiny.  The  influ- 
ence of  the  priest  was  confessed  by  the  Mexican  in 
the  very  first  breath  which  he  inhaled.53 

82  "  It  is  a  gentle  and  affectionate  thought, 
That,  in  immeasurable  heights  above  us, 
At  our  first  birth  the  wreath  of  love  was  woven 
With  sparkling  stars  for  flowers." 

COLERIDGE  :  Translation  of  Wallenstein,  act  2,  sc.  4. 
* 

Schiller  is  more  true  to  poetry  than  history,  when  he  tells  us,  in  the 
beautiful  passage  of  which  this  is  part,  that  the  worship  of  the  stars 
took  the  place  of  classic  mythology.  It  existed  long  before  it. 

"  Gama  has  given  us  a  complete  almanac  of  the  astrological  year, 
with  the  appropriate  signs  and  divisions,  showing  with  what  scientific 


ASTRONOMY  137 

We  know  little  further  of  the  astronomical  at- 
tainments of  the  Aztecs.  That  they  were  ac- 
quainted with  the  cause  of  eclipses  is  evident  from 
the  representation,  on  their  maps,  of  the  disk  of 
the  moon  projected  on  that  of  the  sun.54  Whether 
they  had  arranged  a  system  of  constellations  is 
uncertain;  though  that  they  recognized  some  of 
the  most  obvious,  as  the  Pleiades,  for  example,  is 
evident  from  the  fact  that  they  regulated  their  fes- 
tivals by  them.  We  know  of  no  astronomical 
instruments  used  by  them,  except  the  dial.55 
An  immense  circular  block  of  carved  stone,  disin- 
terred in  1790,  in  the  great  square  of  Mexico,  has 
supplied  an  acute  and  learned  scholar  with  the 
means  of  establishing  some  interesting  facts  in  re- 


skill  it  was  adapted  to  its  various  uses.  (Descripcion,  Parte  1,  pp. 
25-31,  62-76.)  Sahagun  has  devoted  a  whole  book  to  explaining  the 
mystic  import  and  value  of  these  signs,  with  a  minuteness  that  may 
enable  one  to  cast  up  a  scheme  of  nativity  for  himself.  (Hist,  de 
Nueva-Espana,  lib.  4.)  It  is  evident  he  fully  believed  the  magic 
wonders  -which  he  told.  "  It  was  a  deceitful  art,"  he  says,  "  perni- 
cious and  idolatrous,  and  was  never  contrived  by  human  reason." 
The  good  father  was  certainly  no  philosopher. 

54  See,  among  others,  the  Cod.  Tel.-Rem.,  Part  4,  PI.  22,  ap.  Antiq. 
of  Mexico,  vol.  i. 

55 "  It  can  hardly  be  doubted,"  says  Lord  Kingsborough,  "  that  the 
Mexicans  were  acquainted  with  many  scientific  instruments  of  strange 
invention,  as  compared  with  our  own;  whether  the  telescope  may  not 
have  been  of  the  number  is  uncertain;  but  the  thirteenth  plate  of  M. 
Dupaix's  Monuments,  Part  Second,  which  represents  a  man  holding 
something  of  a  similar  nature  to  his  eye,  affords  reason  to  suppose 
that  they  knew  how  to  improve  the  powers  of  vision."  (Antiq.  of 
Mexico,  vol.  vi.  p.  15,  note.)  The  instrument  alluded  to  is  rudely 
carved  on  a  conical  rock.  It  is  raised  no  higher  than  the  neck  of  the 
person  who  holds  it,  and  looks — to  my  thinking — as  much  like  a 
musket  as  a  telescope;  though  I  shall  not  infer  the  use  of  fire-arms 
among  the  Aztecs  from  this  circumstance.  (See  vol.  iv.  PI.  15.) 
Captain  Dupaix,  however,  in  his  commentary  on  the  drawing,  sees 
quite  as  much  in  it  as  his  lordship.  Ibid.,  vol.  v.  p.  241. 


138  CONQUEST  OF   MEXICO 

gard  to  Mexican  science.56  This  colossal  fragment, 
on  which  the  calendar  *  is  engraved,  shows  that 
they  had  the  means  of  settling  the  hours  of  the  day 
with  precision,  the  periods  of  the  solstices  and  of 
the  equinoxes,  and  that  of  the  transit  of  the  sun 
across  the  zenith  of  Mexico.57 

We  cannot  contemplate  the  astronomical  science 
of  the  Mexicans,  so  disproportioned  to  their  prog- 
ress in  other  walks  of  civilization,  without  aston- 
ishment. An  acquaintance  with  some  of  the  more 
obvious  principles  of  astronomy  is  within  the  reach 
of  the  rudest  people.  With  a  little  care,  they  may 
learn  to  connect  the  regular  changes  of  the  seasons 

56  Gama,  Descripcion,  Parte  1,  sec.  4;  Parte  2,   Apend. — Besides 
this  colossal  fragment,  Gama  met  with  some  others,  designed,  prob- 
ably, for  similar  scientific  uses,  at  Chapoltepec.     Before  he  had  lei- 
sure to  examine  them,  however,  they  were  broken  up  for  materials 
to  build  a  furnace, — a  fate  not  unlike  that  which  has  too  often  be- 
fallen the  monuments  of  ancient  art  in  the  Old  World. 

57  In  his  second  treatise  on  the  cylindrical  stone,  Gama  dwells  more 
at  large  on  its  scientific  construction,  as  a  vertical  sun-dial,  in  order 
to  dispel  the  doubts  of  some  sturdy  skeptics  on  this  point.     (Descrip- 
cion, Parte  2,  Apend.  1.)    The  civil  day  was  distributed  by  the  Mexi- 
cans into  sixteen  parts,  and  began,  like  that  of  most  of  the  Asiatic 
nations,  with  sunrise.     M.  de  Humboldt,  who  probably  never  saw 
Gama's  second  treatise,  allows  only  eight  intervals.     Vues  des  Cor- 
dilleres,  p.  128. 

*  [For  additional  light  upon  the  Mexican  astronomical  and  calendar 
system  and  the  "  calendar  stone,"  easily  accessible  authors  are :  Ban- 
delier,  Archaeological  Tour,  Peabody  Museum  Reports,  ii.  572;  Va- 
lentini,  American  Antiquarian  Society  Proceedings,  April,  1878; 
Squier,  Some  New  Discoveries  respecting  Dates  on  the  Great  Cal- 
endar Stone,  etc.;  American  Journal  of  Science  and  Arts,  Second 
Series,  March,  1849;  Bancroft,  Native  Races,  ii.  chap.  16  and  v. 
p.  192;  Short,  North  Americans  of  Antiquity,  chap.  ix. ;  Wilson,  Pre- 
historic Man,  i;  Brasseur,  Chronologic  historiques  des  M£xicaines, 
in  Actes  de  la  Soc.  d'Ethnographie,  vol  vi.;  Payne,  New  World 
Called  America,  ii.  310  seq.  Mrs.  Nuttall  claims  that  this  calendar 
stone  stood  in  the  great  market-place  in  Mexico,  and  that  its  purpose 
was  to  regulate  the  market-days.— M.] 


ASTRONOMY  139 

with  those  of  the  place  of  the  sun  at  his  rising  and 
setting.  They  may  follow  the  march  of  the  great 
luminary  through  the  heavens,  by  watching  the 
stars  that  first  brighten  on  his  evening  track  or 
fade  in  his  morning  beams.  They  may  measure 
a  revolution  of  the  moon,  by  marking  her  phases, 
and  may  even  form  a  general  idea  of  the  number 
of  such  revolutions  in  a  solar  year.  But  that  they 
should  be  capable  of  accurately  adjusting  their 
festivals  by  the  movements  of  the  heavenly  bodies, 
and  should  fix  the  true  length  of  the  tropical  year, 
with  a  precision  unknown  to  the  great  philosophers 
of  antiquity,  could  be  the  result  only  of  a  long 
series  of  nice  and  patient  observations,  evincing  no 
slight  progress  in  civilization.58  But  whence  could 
the  rude  inhabitants  of  these  mountain-regions 
have  derived  this  curious  erudition?  Not  from  the 
barbarous  hordes  who  roamed  over  the  higher  lati- 
tudes of  the  North;  nor  from  the  more  polished 
races  on  the  Southern  continent,  with  whom,  it  is 
apparent,  they  had  no  intercourse.  If  we  are 
driven,  in  our  embarrassment,  like  the  greatest  as- 
tronomer of  our  age,  to  seek  the  solution  among 
the  civilized  communities  of  Asia,  we  shall  still  be 
perplexed  by  finding,  amidst  general  resemblance 
of  outline,  sufficient  discrepancy  in  the  details  to 

58 "  Un  calendrier,"  exclaims  the  enthusiastic  Carli,  "  qui  est  re'gle' 
sur  la  revolution  annuelle  du  soleil,  non-seulement  par  1'addition  de 
cinq  jours  tous  les  ans,  mais  encore  par  la  correction  du  bissextile, 
doit  sans  doute  etre  regard^  comme  une  operation  d£duite  d'une 
£tude  refl6chie,  et  d'une  grande  combinaison.  II  faut  done  supposer 
chez  ces  peuples  une  suite  d'observations  astronomiques,  une  id£e 
distincte  de  la  sphere,  de  la  d^clinaison  de  1'^cliptique,  et  1'usage 
d'un  calcul  concernant  les  jours  et  les  heures  des  apparitions  so- 
laires."  Lettres  Amdricaines,  tom.  i.  let.  23. 


140  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

vindicate,  in  the  judgments  of  many,  the  Aztec 
claim  to  originality.59 

I  shall  conclude  the  account  of  Mexican  science 
with  that  of  a  remarkable  festival,  celebrated  by 
the  natives  at  the  termination  of  the  great  cycle  of 
fifty-two  years.  We  have  seen,  in  the  preceding 
chapter,  their  tradition  of  the  destruction  of  the 
world  at  four  successive  epochs.  They  looked  for- 
ward confidently  to  another  such  catastrophe,  to 
take  place,  like  the  preceding,  at  the  close  of  a 
cycle,  when  the  sun  was  to  be  effaced  from  the 
heavens,  the  human  race  from  the  earth,  and  when 
the  darkness  of  chaos  was  to  settle  on  the  habitable 
globe.  The  cycle  would  end  in  the  latter  part  of 
December,  and  as  the  dreary  season  of  the  winter 
solstice  approached,  and  the  diminished  light  of 
day  gave  melancholy  presage  of  its  speedy  extinc- 
tion, their  apprehensions  increased;  and  on  the 
arrival  of  the  five  "  unlucky  "  days  which  closed 
the  year  they  abandoned  themselves  to  despair.60 
They  broke  in  pieces  the  little  images  of  their 
household  gods,  in  whom  they  no  longer  trusted. 
The  holy  fires  were  suffered  to  go  out  in  the  tem- 
ples, and  none  were  lighted  in  their  own  dwellings. 
Their  furniture  and  domestic  utensils  were  de- 
stroyed; their  garments  torn  in  pieces;  and  every 
thing  was  thrown  into  disorder,  for  the  coming  of 

M  La  Place,  who  suggests  the  analogy,  frankly  admits  the  diffi- 
culty. Systeme  du  Monde,  lib.  5,  ch.  3. 

80  M.  Jomard  errs  in  placing  the  new  fire,  with  which  ceremony  the 
old  cycle  properly  concluded,  at  the  winter  solstice.  It  was  not  till 
the  26th  of  December,  if  Gama  is  right.  The  cause  of  M.  Jomard's 
error  is  his  fixing  it  before,  instead  of  after,  the  complementary  days. 
See  his  sensible  letter  on  the  Aztec  calendar,  in  the  Vues  des  Cor- 
dilleres,  p.  309. 


ASTRONOMY  141 

the  evil  genii  who  were  to  descend  on  the  desolate 
earth. 

On  the  evening  of  the  last  day,  a  procession  of 
priests,  assuming  the  dress  and  ornaments  of  their 
gods,  moved  from  the  capital  towards  a  lofty 
mountain,  about  two  leagues  distant.  They  car- 
ried with  them  a  noble  victim,  the  flower  of  their 
captives,  and  an  apparatus  for  kindling  the  new 
fire,  the  success  of  which  was  an  augury  of  the 
renewal  of  the  cycle.  On  reaching  the  summit  of 
the  mountain,  the  procession  paused  till  midnight ; 
when,  as  the  constellation  of  the  Pleiades  ap- 
proached the  zenith,61  the  new  fire  was  kindled  by 
the  friction  of  the  sticks  placed  on  the  wounded 
breast  of  the  victim.62  The  flame  was  soon  commu- 
nicated to  a  funeral  pile,  on  which  the  body  of  the 
slaughtered  captive  was  thrown.  As  the  light 
streamed  up  towards  heaven,  shouts  of  joy  and 
triumph  burst  forth  from  the  countless  multitudes 
who  covered  the  hills,  the  terraces  of  the  temples, 
and  the  house-tops,  with  eyes  anxiously  bent  on 
the  mount  of  sacrifice.  Couriers,  with  torches 
lighted  at  the  blazing  beacon,  rapidly  bore  them 

41  At  the  actual  moment  of  their  culmination,  according  to  both 
Sahagun  (Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  4,  Apend.)  and  Torquemada 
(Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  10,  cap.  33,  36).  But  this  could  not  be,  as  that 
took  place  at  midnight,  in  November,  so  late  as  the  last  secular 
festival,  which  was  early  in  Montezuma's  reign,  in  1507.  (Gama, 
Descripcion,  Parte  1,  p.  50,  nota.— Humboldt,  Vues  des  Cordilleres, 
pp.  181,  182.)  The  longer  we  postpone  the  beginning  of  the  new 
cycle,  the  greater  must  be  the  discrepancy. 

**  "  On  his  bare  breast  the  cedar  boughs  are  laid; 
On  his  bare  breast,  dry  sedge  and  odorous  gums. 
Laid  ready  to  receive  the  sacred  spark. 
And  blaze,  to  herald  the  ascending:  Sun, 
Upon  his  living  altar." 

SOOTHEY'S  Madoc,  part  2,  canto  26. 


CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

over  every  part  of  the  country;  and  the  cheering 
element  was  seen  brightening  on  altar  and  hearth- 
stone, for  the  circuit  of  many  a  league,  long  before 
the  sun,  rising  on  his  accustomed  track,  gave  as- 
surance that  a  new  cycle  had  commenced  its  march, 
and  that  the  laws  of  nature  were  not  to  be  reversed 
for  the  Aztecs. 

The  following  thirteen  days  were  given  up  to 
festivity.  The  houses  were  cleansed  and  whitened. 
The  broken  vessels  were  replaced  by  new  ones. 
The  people,  dressed  in  their  gayest  apparel,  and 
crowned  with  garlands  and  chaplets  of  flowers, 
thronged  in  joyous  procession  to  offer  up  their 
oblations  and  thanksgivings  in  the  temples. 
Dances  and  games  were  instituted,  emblematical 
of  the  regeneration  of  the  world.  It  was  the  car- 
nival of  the  Aztecs;  or  rather  the  national  jubilee, 
the  great  secular  festival,  like  that  of  the  Romans, 
or  ancient  Etruscans,  which  few  alive  had  wit- 
nessed before,  or  could  expect  to  see  again.63 

"  I  borrow  the  words  of  the  summons  by  which  the  people  were 
called  to  the  ludi  seculares,  the  secular  games  of  ancient  Rome,  "  quos 
nee  spectdsset  quisquam,  nee  spectaturus  esset."  (Suetonius,  Vita 
Tib.  Claudii,  lib.  5.)  The  old  Mexican  chroniclers  warm  into  some- 
thing like  eloquence  in  their  descriptions  of  the  Aztec  festival.  (Tor- 
quemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  10,  cap.  33. — Toribio,  Hist,  de  los 
Indies,  MS.,  Parte  1,  cap.  5.— Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana, 
lib.  7,  cap.  9-12.  See,  also,  Gama,  Descripcion,  Parte  1,  pp.  52-54,— 
Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  pp.  84-86.)  The  English  reader 
will  find  a  more  brilliant  coloring  of  the  same  scene  in  the  canto 
of  Madoc  above  cited,—"  On  the  Close  of  the  Century." 

M.  de  Humboldt  remarked,  many  years  ago,  "  It  were  to  be  wished 
that  some  government  would  publish  at  its  own  expense  the  remains 
of  the  ancient  American  civilization;  for  it  is  only  by  the  compari- 
son of  several  monuments  that  we  can  succeed  in  discovering  the 
meaning  of  these  allegories,  which  are  partly  astronomical  and  partly 
mystic."  This  enlightened  wish  has  now  been  realized,  not  by  any 


LORD    KINGSBOROUGH  143 

government,  but  by  a  private  individual,  Lord  Kingsborough.  The 
great  work  published  under  his  auspices,  and  so  often  cited  in  this 
Introduction,  appeared  in  London  in  1830.  When  completed  it  will 
reach  to  nine  volumes,  seven  of  which  are  now  before  the  public. 
Some  idea  of  its  magnificence  may  be  formed  by  those  who  have  not 
seen  it,  from  the  fact  that  copies  of  it,  with  colored  plates,  sold  ori- 
ginally at  £175,  and,  with  uncolored,  at  £120.  The  price  has  been 
since  much  reduced.  It  is  designed  to  exhibit  a  complete  view  of  the 
ancient  Aztec  MSS.,  with  such  few  interpretations  as  exist;  the 
beautiful  drawings  of  Castaneda  relating  to  Central  America,  with 
the  commentary  of  Dupaix;  the  unpublished  history  of  Father  Sa- 
hagun;  and,  last,  not  least,  the  copious  annotations  of  his  lordship. 

Too  much  cannot  be  said  of  the  mechanical  execution  of  the  book, 
— its  splendid  typography,  the  apparent  accuracy  and  the  delicacy  of 
the  drawings,  and  the  sumptuous  quality  of  the  materials.  Yet  the 
purchaser  would  have  been  saved  some  superfluous  expense,  and  the 
reader  much  inconvenience,  if  the  letter-press  had  been  in  volumes  of 
an  ordinary  size.  But  it  is  not  uncommon,  in  works  on  this  mag- 
nificent plan,  to  find  utility  in  some  measure  sacrificed  to  show. 

The  collection  of  Aztec  MSS.,  if  not  perfectly  complete,  is  very 
extensive,  and  reflects  great  credit  on  the  diligence  and  research  of 
the  compiler.  It  strikes  one  as  strange,  however,  that  not  a  single 
document  should  have  been  drawn  from  Spain.  Peter  Martyr  speaks 
of  a  number  having  been  brought  thither  in  his  time.  (De  Insulis 
nuper  Inventis,  p.  368.)  The  Marquis  Spineto  examined  one  in  the 
Escorial,  being  the  same  with  the  Mendoza  Codex,  and  perhaps  the 
original,  since  that  at  Oxford  is  but  a  copy.  (Lectures,  Lect.  7.) 
Mr.  Waddilove,  chaplain  of  the  British  embassy  to  Spain,  gave  a 
particular  account  of  one  to  Dr.  Robertson,  which  he  saw  in  the 
same  library  and  considered  an  Aztec  calendar.  Indeed,  it  is  scarcely 
possible  that  the  frequent  voyagers  to  the  New  World  should  not 
have  furnished  the  mother-country  with  abundant  specimens  of  this 
most  interesting  feature  of  Aztec  civilization.  Nor  should  we  fear 
that  the  present  liberal  government  would  seclude  these  treasures 
from  the  inspection  of  the  scholar. 

Much  cannot  be  said  in  favor  of  the  arrangement  of  these  codices. 
In  some  of  them,  as  the  Mendoza  Codex,  for  example,  the  plates 
are  not  even  numbered;  and  one  who  would  study  them  by  the  cor- 
responding interpretation  must  often  bewilder  himself  in  the  maze 
of  hieroglyphics,  without  a  clue  to  guide  him.  Neither  is  there  any 
attempt  to  enlighten  us  as  to  the  positive  value  and  authenticity 
of  the  respective  documents,  or  even  their  previous  history,  beyond 
a  barren  reference  to  the  particular  library  from  which  they  have 
been  borrowed.  Little  light,  indeed,  can  be  expected  on  these  mat- 
ters; but  we  have  not  that  little.  The  defect  of  arrangement  is 
chargeable  on  other  parts  of  the  work.  Thus,  for  instance,  the  sixth 
book  of  Sahagun  is  transferred  from  the  body  of  the  history  to  which 
it  belongs,  to  a  preceding  volume;  while  the  grand  hypothesis  of  his 


144  CONQUEST   OF   MEXICO 

lordship,  for  which  the  work  was  concocted,  is  huddled  into  notes, 
hitched  on  random  passages  of  the  text,  with  a  good  deal  less  con- 
nection than  the  stories  of  Queen  Scheherezade,  in  the  "  Arabian 
Nights,"  and  not  quite  so  entertaining. 

The  drift  of  Lord  Kingsborough's  speculations  is,  to  establish  the 
colonization  of  Mexico  by  the  Israelites.  To  this  the  whole  battery 
of  his  logic  and  learning  is  directed.  For  this,  hieroglyphics  are 
unriddled,  manuscripts  compared,  monuments  delineated.  His  the- 
ory, however,  whatever  be  its  merits,  will  scarcely  become  popular; 
since,  instead  of  being  exhibited  in  a  clear  and  comprehensive  form, 
readily  embraced  by  the  mind,  it  is  spread  over  an  infinite  number 
of  notes,  thickly  sprinkled  with  quotations  from  languages  ancient 
and  modern,  till  the  weary  reader,  floundering  about  in  the  ocean 
of  fragments,  with  no  light  to  guide  him,  feels  like  Milton's  Devil, 
working  his  way  through  chaos,— 

"  neither  sea, 
Nor  good  dry  land;  nigh  foundered,  on  he  fares." 

It  would  be  unjust,  however,  not  to  admit  that  the  noble  author,  if 
his  logic  is  not  always  convincing,  shows  much  acuteness  in  detecting 
analogies;  that  he  displays  familiarity  with  his  subject,  and  a  fund 
of  erudition,  though  it  often  runs  to  waste;  that,  whatever  be  the 
defects  of  arrangement,  he  has  brought  together  a  most  rich  collec- 
tion of  unpublished  materials  to  illustrate  the  Aztec  and,  in  a  wider 
sense,  American  antiquities;  and  that  by  this  munificent  undertaking, 
which  no  government,  probably,  would  have,  and  few  individuals 
could  have,  executed,  he  has  entitled  himself  to  the  lasting  gratitude 
of  every  friend  of  science. 

Another  writer  whose  works  must  be  diligently  consulted  by  every 
student  of  Mexican  antiquities  is  Antonio  Gama.  His  life  contains 
as  few  incidents  as  those  of  most  scholars.  He  was  born  at  Mexico, 
in  1735,  of  a  respectable  family,  and  was  bred  to  the  law.  He  early 
showed  a  preference  for  mathematical  studies,  conscious  that  in  this 
career  lay  his  strength.  In  1771  he  communicated  his  observations 
on  the  eclipse  of  that  year  to  the  French  astronomer  M.  de  Lalande, 
who  published  them  in  Paris,  with  high  commendations  of  the  au- 
thor. Gama's  increasing  reputation  attracted  the  attention  of  gov- 
ernment; and  he  was  employed  by  it  in  various  scientific  labors  of 
importance.  His  great  passion,  however,  was  the  study  of  Indian 
antiquities.  He  made  himself  acquainted  with  the  history  of  the 
native  races,  their  traditions,  their  languages,  and,  as  far  as  possible, 
their  hieroglyphics.  He  had  an  opportunity  of  showing  the  fruits 
of  this  preparatory  training,  and  his  skill  as  an  antiquary,  on  the 
discovery  of  the  great  calendar  stone,  in  1790.  He  produced  a  mas- 
terly treatise  on  this,  and  another  Aztec  monument,  explaining  the 
objects  to  which  they  were  devoted,  and  pouring  a  flood  of  light 
on  the  astronomical  science  of  the  aborigines,  their  mythology,  and 
their  astrological  system.  He  afterwards  continued  his  investiga- 


GAMA  145 

tions  in  the  same  path,  and  wrote  treatises  on  the  dial,  hieroglyphics, 
and  arithmetic  of  the  Indians.  These,  however,  were  not  given  to  the 
world  till  a  few  years  since,  when  they  were  published,  together 
with  a  reprint  of  the  former  work,  under  the  auspices  of  the  in- 
dustrious Bustamante.  Gama  died  in  1802,  leaving  behind  him  a 
reputation  for  great  worth  in  private  life,— one  in  which  the  bigotry 
that  seems  to  enter  too  frequently  into  the  character  of  the  Span- 
ish-Mexican was  tempered  by  the  liberal  feelings  of  a  man  of  science. 
His  reputation  as  a  writer  stands  high  for  patient  acquisition,  accu- 
racy, and  acuteness.  His  conclusions  are  neither  warped  by  the  love 
of  theory  so  common  in  the  philosopher,  nor  by  the  easy  credulity 
so  natural  to  the  antiquary.  He  feels  his  way  with  the  caution  of  a 
mathematician,  whose  steps  are  demonstrations.  M.  de  Humboldt 
was  largely  indebted  to  his  first  work,  as  he  has  emphatically  ac- 
knowledged. But,  notwithstanding  the  eulogiums  of  this  popular 
writer,  and  his  own  merits,  Gama's  treatises  are  rarely  met  with  out 
of  New  Spain,  and  his  name  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  a  transat- 
lantic reputation. 


CHAPTER  V 

AZTEC     AGRICULTURE— MECHANICAL     ARTS— MER- 
CHANTS—DOMESTIC    MANNERS 

IT  is  hardly  possible  that  a  nation  so  far  ad- 
vanced as  the  Aztecs  in  mathematical  science 
should  not  have  made  considerable  progress  in  the 
mechanical  arts,  which  are  so  nearly  connected  with 
it.  Indeed,  intellectual  progress  of  any  kind  im- 
plies a  degree  of  refinement  that  requires  a  certain 
cultivation  of  both  useful  and  elegant  art.  The 
savage  wandering  through  the  wide  forest,  with- 
out shelter  for  his  head  or  raiment  for  his  back, 
knows  no  other  wants  than  those  of  animal 
appetites,  and,  when  they  are  satisfied,  seems  to 
himself  to  have  answered  the  only  ends  of  exist- 
ence. But  man,  in  society,  feels  numerous  desires, 
and  artificial  tastes  spring  up,  accommodated  to  the 
various  relations  in  which  he  is  placed,  and  per- 
petually stimulating  his  invention  to  devise  new 
expedients  to  gratify  them. 

There  is  a  wide  difference  in  the  mechanical  skill 
of  different  nations;  but  the  difference  is  still 
greater  in  the  inventive  power  which  directs  this 
skill  and  makes  it  available.  Some  nations  seem  to 
have  no  power  beyond  that  of  imitation,  or,  if  they 
possess  invention,  have  it  in  so  low  a  degree  that 

146 


AGRICULTURE  147 

they  are  constantly  repeating  the  same  idea,  with- 
out a  shadow  of  alteration  or  improvement ;  as  the 
bird  builds  precisely  the  same  kind  of  nest  which 
those  of  its  own  species  built  at  the  beginning  of 
the  world.  Such,  for  example,  are  the  Chinese, 
who  have  probably  been  familiar  for  ages  with  the 
germs  of  some  discoveries,*  of  little  practical  bene- 
fit to  themselves,  but  which,  under  the  influence  of 
European  genius,  have  reached  a  degree  of  excel- 
lence that  has  wrought  an  important  change  in  the 
constitution  of  society. 

Far  from  looking  back  and  forming  itself  slav- 
ishly on  the  past,  it  is  characteristic  of  the  Euro- 
pean intellect  to  be  ever  on  the  advance.  Old  dis- 
coveries become  the  basis  of  new  ones.  It  passes 
onward  from  truth  to  truth,  connecting  the  whole 
by  a  succession  of  links,  as  it  were,  into  the  great 
chain  of  science  which  is  to  encircle  and  bind  to- 
gether the  universe.  The  light  of  learning  is  shed 
over  the  labors  of  art.  New  avenues  are  opened 
for  the  communication  both  of  person  and  of 
thought.  New  facilities  are  devised  for  subsist- 
ence. Personal  comforts,  of  every  kind,  are  in- 
conceivably multiplied,  and  brought  within  the 
reach  of  the  poorest.  Secure  of  these,  the  thoughts 
travel  into  a  nobler  region  than  that  of  the  senses ; 
and  the  appliances  of  art  are  made  to  minister  to 
the  demands  of  an  elegant  taste  and  a  higher  moral 
culture. 

The  same  enlightened  spirit,  applied  to  agri- 
culture, raises  it  from  a  mere  mechanical  drudgery, 
or  the  barren  formula  of  traditional  precepts,  to 

*  E.g,,  gunpowder  and  the  compass.— M. 


148  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

the  dignity  of  a  science.  As  the  composition  of  the 
earth  is  analyzed,  man  learns  the  capacity  of  the 
soil  that  he  cultivates ;  and,  as  his  empire  is  gradu- 
ally extended  over  the  elements  of  nature,  he  gains 
the  power  to  stimulate  her  to  her  most  bountiful 
and  various  production.  It  is  with  satisfaction 
that  we  can  turn  to  the  land  of  our  fathers,  as  the 
one  in  which  the  experiment  has  been  conducted 
on  the  broadest  scale  and  attended  with  results  that 
the  world  has  never  before  witnessed.  With  equal 
truth,  we  may  point  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  in 
both  hemispheres,  as  that  whose  enterprising  genius 
has  contributed  most  essentially  to  the  great  inter- 
ests of  humanity,  by  the  application  of  science  to 
the  useful  arts. 

Husbandry,  to  a  very  limited  extent,  indeed,  was 
practised  by  most  of  the  rude  tribes  of  North 
America.  Wherever  a  natural  opening  in  the  for- 
est, or  a  rich  strip  of  interval,,  met  their  eyes,  or  a 
green  slope  was  found  along  the  rivers,  they 
planted  it  with  beans  and  Indian  corn.1  The  culti- 
vation was  slovenly  in  the  extreme,  and  could  not 
secure  the  improvident  natives  from  the  frequent 
recurrence  of  desolating  famines.  Still,  that  they 
tilled  the  soil  at  all  was  a  peculiarity  which  honora- 
bly distinguished  them  from  other  tribes  of  hunt- 
ers, and  raised  them  one  degree  higher  in  the 
scale  of  civilization. 

1  This  latter  grain,  according  to  Humboldt,  was  found  by  the  Eu- 
ropeans in  the  New  World,  from  the  South  of  Chili  to  Pennsylvania 
(Essai  politique,  torn.  ii.  p.  408) ;  he  might  have  added,  to  the  St. 
Lawrence.  Our  Puritan  fathers  found  it  in  abundance  on  the  New 
England  coast,  wherever  they  landed.  See  Morton,  New  England's 
Memorial  (Boston,  1826),  p.  68.— Gookin,  Massachusetts  Historical 
Collections,  chap.  3. 


AGRICULTURE  149 

Agriculture  in  Mexico  was  in  the  same  advanced 
state  as  the  other  arts  of  social  life.  In  few  coun- 
tries, indeed,  has  it  been  more  respected.  It  was 
closely  interwoven  with  the  civil  and  religious 
institutions  of  the  nation.  There  were  peculiar 
deities  to  preside  over  it ;  the  names  of  the  months 
and  of  the  religious  festivals  had  more  or  less  refer- 
ence to  it.  The  public  taxes,  as  we  have  seen,  were 
often  paid  in  agricultural  produce.  All  except 
the  soldiers  and  great  nobles,  even  the  inhabitants 
of  the  cities,  cultivated  the  soil.  The  work  was 
chiefly  done  by  the  men ;  the  women  scattering  the 
seed,  husking  the  corn,  and  taking  part  only  in  the 
lighter  labors  of  the  field.2  In  this  they  presented 
an  honorable  contrast  to  the  other  tribes  of  the  con- 
tinent, who  imposed  the  burden  of  agriculture, 
severe  as  it  is  in  the  North,  on  their  women.3 
Indeed,  the  sex  was  as  tenderly  regarded  by  the 
Aztecs  in  this  matter,  as  it  is,  in  most  parts  of  Eu- 
rope, at  the  present  day. 

There  was  no  want  of  judgment  in  the  manage- 
ment of  their  ground.  When  somewhat  exhausted, 

2  Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  13,  cap.  31. — "  Admirable  ex- 
ample for  our  times,"  exclaims  the  good  father,  "  when  women  are 
not  only  unfit  for  the  labors  of  the  field,  but  have  too  much  levity  to 
attend  to  their  own  household  !  " 

*  A  striking  contrast  also  to  the  Egyptians,  with  whom  some  anti- 
quaries are  disposed  to  identify  the  ancient  Mexicans.  Sophocles 
notices  the  effeminacy  of  the  men  in  Egypt,  who  stayed  at  home 
tending  the  loom,  while  their  wives  were  employed  in  severe  labors 
out  of  doors: 

"  'Q  TTCIVT'  CKeivu  ToZf  ev  Alyimr<j>  v6fwif 
$voiv  nareiKaffd^vre  KOI  fttov  T 
'Exet  yap  ol  ftev  apoeveg  Kara 
Qanovaiv  larovp-yovvref  at  6e 
Ta£u  /3iov  rpotytla  nopavvova'  ad" 

SOPHOCL.,  CEdip.  Col.  v.  SS7-841. 


150  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

it  was  permitted  to  recover  by  lying  fallow.  Its 
extreme  dryness  was  relieved  by  canals,  with  which 
the  land  was  partially  irrigated ;  and  the  same  end 
was  promoted  by  severe  penalties  against  the  de- 
struction of  the  woods,  with  which  the  country,  as 
already  noticed,  was  well  covered  before  the  Con- 
quest. Lastly,  they  provided  for  their  harvests 
ample  granaries,  which  were  admitted  by  the  Con- 
querors to  be  of  admirable  construction.  In  this 
provision  we  see  the  forecast  of  civilized  man.4 

Among  the  most  important  articles  of  husban- 
dry, we  may  notice  the  banana,  whose  facility  of 
cultivation  and  exuberant  returns  are  so  fatal  to 
habits  of  systematic  and  hardy  industry.5  Another 
celebrated  plant  was  the  cacao,  the  fruit  of  which 
furnished  the  chocolate,— from  the  Mexican  choco- 
latl, — now  so  common  a  beverage  throughout 
Europe.6  The  vanilla,  confined  to  a  small  district 
of  the  sea-coast,  was  used  for  the  same  purposes, 
of  flavoring  their  food  and  drink,  as  with  us.7  The 
great  staple  of  the  country,  as,  indeed,  of  the 

*Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  13,  cap.  32.— Clavigero,  Stor. 
del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  pp.  153-155. — "  Jamas  padecieron  hambre,"  says 
the  former  writer,  "sino  en  pocas  ocasiones."  If  these  famines  were 
rare,  they  were  very  distressing,  however,  and  lasted  very  long. 
Comp.  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  41,  71,  et  alibi. 

s  Oviedo  considers  the  musa  an  imported  plant ;  and  Hernandez, 
in  his  copious  catalogue,  makes  no  mention  of  it  at  all.  But  Hum- 
boldt,  who  has  given  much  attention  to  it,  concludes  that,  if  some 
species  were  brought  into  the  country,  others  were  indigenous.  (Essai 
politique,  torn.  ii.  pp.  382-388.)  If  we  may  credit  Clavigero,  the 
banana  was  the  forbidden  fruit  that  tempted  our  poor  mother  Eve! 
Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  i.  p.  49,  nota. 

•Rel.  d'un  gentiP  huomo,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  306.— Her- 
nandez, De  Historia  Plantarum  Novae  Hispaniae  (Matriti,  1790), 
lib.  6,  cap.  87. 

1  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espafia,  lib.  8,  cap.  13,  et  alibi. 


AGRICULTURE  151 

American  continent,  was  maize,  or  Indian  corn,* 
which  grew  freely  along  the  valleys,  and  up  the 
steep  sides  of  the  Cordilleras  to  the  high  level  of 
the  table-land.  The  Aztecs  were  as  curious  in  its 
preparation,  and  as  well  instructed  in  its  manifold 
uses,  as  the  most  expert  New  England  housewife. 
Its  gigantic  stalks,  in  these  equinoctial  regions, 
afford  a  saccharine  matter,  not  found  to  the  same 
extent  in  northern  latitudes,  and  supplied  the  na- 
tives with  sugar  little  inferior  to  that  of  the  cane 
itself,  which  was  not  introduced  among  them  till 
after  the  Conquest.8  But  the  miracle  of  nature 
was  the  great  Mexican  aloe,  or  maguey,  whose 
clustering  pyramids  of  flowers,  towering  above 
their  dark  coronals  of  leaves,  were  seen  sprinkled 
over  many  a  broad  acre  of  the  table-land.  As  we 
have  already  noticed,  its  bruised  leaves  afforded  a 
paste  from  which  paper  was  manufactured ;  °  its 

8  Carta  del  Lie.  Zuazo,  MS. — He  extols  the  honey  of  the  maize,  as 
equal  to  that  of  bees.  (Also  Oviedo,  Hist,  natural  de  las  Indias, 
cap.  4,  ap.  Barcia,  torn,  i.)  Hernandez,  who  celebrates  the  manifold 
ways  in  which  the  maize  was  prepared,  derives  it  from  the  Haytian 
word  mahiz.  Hist.  Plantarum,  lib.  6,  cap.  44,  45. 

*  And  is  still,  in  one  spot  at  least,  San  Angel, — three  leagues  from 
the  capital.     Another  mill  was  to  have  been  established,  a  few  years 
since,  in  Puebla.     Whether  this  has  actually  been  done,  I  am  igno- 
rant.   See  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Agriculture  to  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States,  March  12,  1838. 

*  The  farmer's  preparation  for  his  crop  of  Indian  corn  was  of  the 
simplest.     He  simply  cut  away  the  dense  growth  from  his  corn-field 
and  burned  it.    The  ashes  thus  secured  were  the  only  fertilizer  used. 
Just  before  the  first  rain  in  May  or  June  he  made  holes  with  a 
sharpened  stick,  and  at  regular  intervals,  in  the  prepared  ground, 
and  into  them  dropped  four  or  five  grains  of  corn.    In  the  later  days 
of  the  Aztec  domination  considerable  care  was  taken  of  the  growing 
crops.    They  were  kept  free  from  weeds  and  in  some  cases  irrigated. 
Boys  stationed  on  elevated  platforms  or  trees  frightened  away  the 
birds. — M. 


152  CONQUEST  OF   MEXICO 

juice  was  fermented  into  an  intoxicating  beverage, 
pulque,  of  which  the  natives,  to  this  day,  are  exces- 
sively fond;10  its  leaves  further  supplied  an  im- 
penetrable thatch  for  the  more  humble  dwellings; 
thread,  of  which  coarse  stuffs  were  made,  and 
strong  cords,  were  drawn  from  its  tough  and 
twisted  fibres;  pins  and  needles  were  made  of  the 
thorns  at  the  extremity  of  its  leaves ;  and  the  root, 
when  properly  cooked,  was  converted  into  a  pala- 
table and  nutritious  food.  The  agave*  in  short, 
was  meat,  drink,  clothing,  and  writing-materials, 
for  the  Aztec!  Surely,  never  did  Nature  enclose 
in  so  compact  a  form  so  many  of  the  elements  of 
human  comfort  and  civilization!11 

10  Before  the  Revolution,  the  duties  on  the  pulque  formed  so  im- 
portant a  branch  of  revenue  that  the  cities  of  Mexico,  Puebla,  and 
Toluca  alone  paid  $817,739  to  government.     (Humboldt,  Essai  poli- 
tique,  torn.  ii.  p.  47.)     It  requires  time  to  reconcile  Europeans  to  the 
peculiar  flavor  of  this  liquor,  on  the  merits  of  which  they  are  conse- 
quently much  divided.    There  is  but  one  opinion  among  the  natives. 
The  English  reader  will  find  a  good  account  of  its  manufacture  in 
Ward's  Mexico,  vol.  ii.  pp.  55-60. 

11  Hernandez  enumerates  the  several  species  of  the  maguey,  which 
are  turned  to  these  manifold  uses,  in  his  learned  work,  De   Hist. 
Plantarum.     (Lib.  7,  cap.  71,  et  seq.)     M.  de  Humboldt  considers 
them  all  varieties  of  the  agave  Americana,  familiar  in  the  southern 
parts  both  of  the  United  States  and  Europe.     (Essai  politique,  torn, 
ii.  p.  487,  et  seq.)     This  opinion  has  brought  on  him  a  rather  sour 
rebuke  from  our  countryman  the  late  Dr.  Perrine,  who  pronounces 
them  a  distinct  species  from  the  American  agave,  and  regards  one 
of  the  kinds,  the  pita,  from  which  the  fine  thread  is  obtained,  as  a 

*  [Ober  (Travels  in  Mexico)  gives  a  very  full  account  of  the  uses 
to  which  the  maguey  is  put.  On  the  maguey  plantations  the  plants 
have  an  average  value  of  five  dollars.  "  A  long  train  departs  every 
day  from  the  stations  on  the  plains  of  Apam,  loaded  exclusively  with 
pulque,  from  the  carriage  of  which  the  railroad  derives  a  revenue  of 
above  $1000  a  day,"  p.  345.  The  pulque  "  tastes  like  stale  butter- 
milk and  has  an  odor  at  times  like  that  of  putrid  meat."  It  is  whole- 
some and  refreshing.  Mexicans  ascribe  to  it  the  same  beneficent 
properties  which  Scotsmen  assign  to  their  whiskey.— M.] 


MINERALS  153 

It  would  be  obviously  out  of  place  to  enumerate 
in  these  pages  all  the  varieties  of  plants,  many  of 
them  of  medicinal  virtue,  which  have  been  intro- 
duced from  Mexico  into  Europe.  Still  less  can  I 
attempt  a  catalogue  of  its  flowers,  which,  with  their 
variegated  and  gaudy  colors,  form  the  greatest  at- 
traction of  our  greenhouses.  The  opposite  cli- 
mates embraced  within  the  narrow  latitudes  of 
New  Spain  have  given  to  it,  probably,  the  richest 
and  most  diversified  flora  to  be  found  in  any  coun- 
try on  the  globe.  These  different  products  were 
systematically  arranged  by  the  Aztecs,  who  under- 
stood their  properties,  and  collected  them  into 
nurseries,  more  extensive  than  any  then  existing 
in  the  Old  World.  It  is  not  improbable  that  they 
suggested  the  idea  of  those  "  gardens  of  plants  " 
which  were  introduced  into  Europe  not  many  years 
after  the  Conquest.12 

The  Mexicans  were  as  well  acquainted  with  the 
mineral  as  with  the  vegetable  treasures  of  their 
kingdom.  Silver,  lead,  and  tin  they  drew  from  the 
mines  of  Tasco;  copper  from  the  mountains  of 

totally  distinct  genus.  (See  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Agri- 
culture.) Yet  the  Baron  may  find  authority  for  all  the  properties 
ascribed  by  him  to  the  maguey,  in  the  most  accredited  writers  who 
have  resided  more  or  less  time  in  Mexico.  See,  among  others,  Her- 
nandez, ubi  supra. — Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espafla,  lib.  9,  cap.  2; 
lib.  11,  cap.  7.— Toribio,  Hist,  de  los  Indios,  MS.,  Parte  3,  cap.  19. 
— Carta  del  Lie.  Zuazo,  MS.  The  last,  speaking  of  the  maguey,  which 
produces  the  fermented  drink,  says  expressly,  "  With  what  remain 
of  these  leaves  they  manufacture  excellent  and  very  fine  cloth,  re- 
sembling holland,  or  the  finest  linen."  It  cannot  be  denied,  however, 
that  Dr.  Perrine  shows  himself  intimately  acquainted  with  the  struc- 
ture and  habits  of  the  tropical  plants,  which,  with  such  patriotic 
spirit,  he  proposed  to  introduce  into  Florida. 

"  The  first  regular  establishment  of  this  kind,  according  to  Carli, 
was  at  Padua,  in  1545.    Lettres  Americaines,  torn.  i.  chap.  21. 


154  CONQUEST  OF   MEXICO 

Zacotollan.  These  were  taken  not  only  from  the 
crude  masses  on  the  surface,  but  from  veins 
wrought  in  the  solid  rock,  into  which  they  opened 
extensive  galleries.  In  fact,  the  traces  of  their 
labors  furnished  the  best  indications  for  the  early 
Spanish  miners.13  Gold,  found  on  the  surface,  or 
gleaned  from  the  beds  of  rivers,  was  cast  into  bars, 
or,  in  the  form  of  dust,  made  part  of  the  regular 
tribute  of  the  southern  provinces  of  the  empire. 
The  use  of  iron,  with  which  the  soil  was  impreg- 
nated, was  unknown  to  them.  Notwithstanding 
its  abundance,  it  demands  so  many  processes  to 
prepare  it  for  use  that  it  has  commonly  been  one 
of  the  last  metals  pressed  into  the  service  of  man. 
The  age  of  iron  has  followed  that  of  brass,  in  fact 
as  well  as  in  fiction.14 

18  [Though  I  have  conformed  to  the  views  of  Humboldt  in  regard 
to  the  knowledge  of  mining  possessed  by  the  ancient  Mexicans, 
Senor  Ramirez  thinks  the  conclusions  to  which  I  have  been  led  are 
not  warranted  by  the  ancient  writers.  From  the  language  of  Bernal 
Diaz  and  of  Sahagun,  in  particular,  he  infers  that  their  only  means 
of  obtaining  the  precious  metals  was  by  gathering  such  detached 
masses  as  were  found  on  the  surface  of  the  ground  or  in  the  beds  of 
the  rivers.  The  small  amount  of  silver  in  their  possession  he  regards 
as  an  additional  proof  of  their  ignorance  of  the  proper  method 
and  their  want  of  the  requisite  tools  for  extracting  it  from  the  earth. 
See  Ramirez,  Notas  y  Esclarecimientos,  p.  73.] 

"P.  Martyr,  De  Orbe  Novo,  Decades  (Compluti,  1530),  dec.  5, 
p.  191.—  Acosta,  lib.  4,  cap.  3.  —  Humboldt,  Essai  politique,  torn.  iii. 
pp.  114-125.—  Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  13,  cap.  34. 

"Men  wrought  in  brass,"  says  Hesiod,  "when  iron  did  not  exist." 


Xa/./cw  6'  kpya^ovro'  /nc^af  ff  OVK  eoKe 

HESIOD,  'Ep-ya  nal  "llftepai. 

The  Abb6  Raynal  contends  that  the  ignorance  of  iron  must  neces- 
sarily have  kept  the  Mexicans  in  a  low  state  of  civilization,  since 
without  it  "  they  could  have  produced  no  work  in  metal,  worth  look- 
ing at,  no  masonry  nor  architecture,  engraving  nor  sculpture."  (His- 
tory of  the  Indies,  Eng.  trans.,  vol.  iii.  b.  6.)  Iron,  however,  if 


MECHANICAL   ARTS  155 

They  found  a  substitute  in  an  alloy  of  tin  and 
copper,  and,  with  tools  made  of  this  bronze,  could 
cut  not  only  metals,  but,  with  the  aid  of  a  silicious 
dust,  the  hardest  substances,  as  basalt,  porphyry, 
amethysts,  and  emeralds.15  They  fashioned  these 
last,  which  were  found  very  large,  into  many  curi- 
ous and  fantastic  forms.  They  cast,  also,  vessels 
of  gold  and  silver,  carving  them  with  their  metallic 
chisels  in  a  very  delicate  manner.  Some  of  the 
silver  vases  were  so  large  that  a  man  could  not  en- 
circle them  with  his  arms.  They  imitated  very 
nicely  the  figures  of  animals,  and,  what  was  ex- 
traordinary, could  mix  the  metals  in  such  a  manner 
that  the  feathers  of  a  bird,  or  the  scales  of  a  fish, 
should  be  alternately  of  gold  and  silver.  The 
Spanish  goldsmiths  admitted  their  superiority  over 
themselves  in  these  ingenious  works.16 

They  employed  another  tool,  made  of  itztli,  or 
obsidian,  a  dark  transparent  mineral,  exceedingly 
hard,  found  in  abundance  in  their  hills.  They 

known,  was  little  used  by  the  ancient  Egyptians,  whose  mighty  monu- 
ments were  hewn  with  bronze  tools;  while  their  weapons  and  do- 
mestic utensils  were  of  the  same  material,  as  appears  from  the 
green  color  given  to  them  in  their  paintings. 

15  Gama,  Descripcion,  Parte  2,  pp.  25-29.— Torquemada,  Monarch. 
Ind.,  ubi  supra. 

19  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  9,  cap.  15-17. — Boturini, 
Idea,  p.  77. — Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  loc.  cit. — Herrera,  who 
says  they  could  also  enamel,  commends  the  skill  of  the  Mexican  gold- 
smiths in  making  birds  and  animals  with  movable  wings  and  limbs, 
in  a  most  curious  fashion.  (Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib.  7,  cap.  15.) 
Sir  John  Maundeville,  as  usual, 

"  with  his  hair  on  end 
At  his  own  wonders," 

notices  the  "  gret  marvayle "  of  similar  pieces  of  mechanism  at  the 
court  of  the  grand  Chane  of  Cathay.  See  his  Voiage  and  Travaile, 
chap.  20. 


156  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

made  it  into  knives,  razors,  and  their  serrated 
swords.  It  took  a  keen  edge,  though  soon  blunted. 
With  this  they  wrought  the  various  stones  and  ala- 
basters employed  in  the  construction  of  their  public 
works  and  principal  dwellings.  I  shall  defer  a 
more  particular  account  of  these  to  the  body  of  the 
narrative,  and  will  only  add  here  that  the  entrances 
and  angles  of  the  buildings  were  profusely  orna- 
mented with  images,  sometimes  of  their  fantastic 
deities,  and  frequently  of  animals.17  The  latter 
were  executed  with  great  accuracy.  '  The  for- 
mer," according  to  Torquemada,  "  were  the  hid- 
eous reflection  of  their  own  souls.  And  it  was 
not  till  after  they  had  been  converted  to  Chris- 
tianity that  they  could  model  the  true  figure 
of  a  man."  18  The  old  chronicler's  facts  are  well 
founded,  whatever  we  may  think  of  his  reasons. 
The  allegorical  phantasms  of  his  religion,  no  doubt, 
gave  a  direction  to  the  Aztec  artist,  in  his  delinea- 
tion of  the  human  figure;  supplying  him  with  an 
imaginary  beauty  in  the  personification  of  divinity 
itself.  As  these  superstitions  lost  their  hold  on  his 
mind,  it  opened  to  the  influences  of  a  purer  taste; 
and,  after  the  Conquest,  the  Mexicans  furnished 
many  examples  of  correct,  and  some  of  beautiful, 
portraiture. 

Sculptured  images  were  so  numerous  that  the 
foundations  of  the  cathedral  in  the  plaza  mayor, 
the  great  square  of  Mexico,  are  said  to  be  entirely 

"Herrera,   Hist,   general,   dec.   2,  lib.   7,   cap.   11.— Torquemada, 

Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  13,  cap.  34.— Gama,  Descripcion,  Parte  2,  pp.  27, 28. 

"  Parece,  que  permitia  Dios,   que  la  figura   de  sus  cuerpos  se 

asimilase  a  la  que  tenian  sus  almas  por  el  pecado,  en  que  siempre 

permanecian."    Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  13,  cap.  34. 


MECHANICAL   ARTS  157 

composed  of  them.19  This  spot  may,  indeed,  be  re- 
garded as  the  Aztec  forum, — the  great  depository 
of  the  treasures  of  ancient  sculpture,  which  now  lie 
hid  in  its  bosom.  Such  monuments  are  spread  all 
over  the  capital,  however,  and  a  new  cellar  can 
hardly  be  dug,  or  foundation  laid,  without  turning 
up  some  of  the  mouldering  relics  of  barbaric  art. 
But  they  are  little  heeded,  and,  if  not  wantonly 
broken  in  pieces  at  once,  are  usually  worked  into 
the  rising  wall  or  supports  of  the  new  edifice.20 
Two  celebrated  bas-reliefs  of  the  last  Montezuma 
and  his  father,  cut  in  the  solid  rock,  in  the  beauti- 
ful groves  of  Chapoltepec,  were  deliberately  de- 
stroyed, as  late  as  the  eighteenth  century,  by  order 
of  the  government ! 21  The  monuments  of  the 
barbarian  meet  with  as  little  respect  from  civilized 
man  as  those  of  the  civilized  man  from  the  bar- 
barian.22 

The  most  remarkable  piece  of  sculpture  yet  dis- 
interred is  the  great  calendar  stone,  noticed  in  the 
preceding  chapter.  It  consists  of  dark  porphyry, 
and  in  its  original  dimensions,  as  taken  from  the 

a  Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  p.  195. 

20  Gama,  Descripcion,  Parte  1,  p.  1.  Besides  the  plaza,  mayor, 
Gama  points  out  the  Square  of  Tlatelolco,  as  a  great  cemetery  of 
ancient  relics.  It  was  the  quarter  to  which  the  Mexicans  retreated, 
on  the  siege  of  the  capital. 

J1  Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  13,  cap.  34. — Gama,  Descrip- 
cion, Parte  2,  pp.  81-83. — These  statues  are  repeatedly  noticed  by 
the  old  writers.  The  last  was  destroyed  in  1754,  when  it  was  seen  by 
Gama,  who  highly  commends  the  execution  of  it.  Ibid. 

23  This  wantonness  of  destruction  provokes  the  bitter  animadver- 
sion of  Martyr,  whose  enlightened  mind  respected  the  vestiges  of 
civilization  wherever  found.  "  The  conquerors,"  he  says,  "  seldom 
repaired  the  buildings  that  were  defaced.  They  would  rather  sack 
twenty  stately  cities  than  erect  one  good  edifice."  De  Orbe  Novo, 
dec.  5,  cap.  10. 


158  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

quarry,  is  computed  to  have  weighed  nearly  fifty 
tons.  It  was  transported  from  the  mountains  be- 
yond Lake  Chalco,  a  distance  of  many  leagues, 
over  a  broken  country  intersected  by  watercourses 
and  canals.  In  crossing  a  bridge  which  traversed 
one  of  these  latter,  in  the  capital,  the  supports  gave 
way,  and  the  huge  mass  was  precipitated  into  the 
water,  whence  it  was  with  difficulty  recovered.  The 
fact  that  so  enormous  a  fragment  of  porphyry 
could  be  thus  safely  carried  for  leagues,  in  the  face 
of  such  obstacles,  and  without  the  aid  of  cattle, — 
for  the  Aztecs,  as  already  mentioned,  had  no  ani- 
mals of  draught,— suggests  to  us  no  mean  ideas  of 
their  mechanical  skill,  and  of  their  machinery,  and 
implies  a  degree  of  cultivation  little  inferior  to 
that  demanded  for  the  geometrical  and  astronomi- 
cal science  displayed  in  the  inscriptions  on  this  very 
stone.23  * 

The  ancient  Mexicans  made  utensils  of  earthen- 
ware for  the  ordinary  purposes  of  domestic  life, 

a  Gama,  Description,  Parte  1,  pp.  110-114. — Humboldt,  Essai 
politique,  torn.  ii.  p.  40. — Ten  thousand  men  were  employed  in  the 
transportation  of  this  enormous  mass,  according  to  Tezozomoc,  whose 
narrative,  with  all  the  accompanying  prodigies,  is  minutely  tran- 
scribed by  Bustamante.  The  Licentiate  shows  an  appetite  for  the 
marvellous  which  might  excite  the  envy  of  a  monk  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  (See  Descripcion,  nota,  loc.  cit.)  The  English  traveller  La- 
trobe  accommodates  the  wonders  of  nature  and  art  very  well  to  each 
other,  by  suggesting  that  these  great  masses  of  stone  were  trans- 
ported by  means  of  the  mastodon,  whose  remains  are  occasionally  dis- 
interred in  the  Mexican  Valley.  Rambler  in  Mexico,  p.  145. 

*  [In  1875  Dr.  Augustus  Le  Plongeon,  having  successfully  inter- 
preted certain  hieroglyphic  inscriptions  at  Chichen  Itza,  unearthed, 
at  a  distance  of  four  hundred  yards  from  the  palace  at  that  place, 
a  statue  of  Chaac  Mol,  or  Balam  (the  tiger  king),  the  greatest  of  the 
Itza  rulers.  It  was  seized  by  the  Mexican  officials  and  sent  to  the 
city  of  Mexico.  There,  in  the  courtyard  of  the  National  Museum, 


MECHANICAL   ARTS  159 

numerous  specimens  of  which  still  exist.24  They 
made  cups  and  vases  of  a  lackered  or  painted  wood, 
impervious  to  wet  and  gaudily  colored.  Their  dyes 
were  obtained  from  both  mineral  and  vegetable 
substances.  Among  them  was  the  rich  crimson  of 
the  cochineal,  the  modern  rival  of  the  famed  Tyr- 
ian  purple.  It  was  introduced  into  Europe  from 
Mexico,  where  the  curious  little  insect  was  nour- 
ished with  great  care  on  plantations  of  cactus,  since 
fallen  into  neglect.25  The  natives  were  thus  en- 
abled to  give  a  brilliant  coloring  to  the  webs  which 
were  manufactured,  of  every  degree  of  fineness, 
from  the  cotton  raised  in  abundance  throughout 
the  warmer  regions  of  the  country.  They  had  the 
art,  also,  of  interweaving  with  these  the  delicate 
hair  of  rabbits  and  other  animals,  which  made  a 
cloth  of  great  warmth  as  well  as  beauty,  of  a  kind 
altogether  original;  and  on  this  they  often  laid  a 
rich  embroidery,  of  birds,  flowers,  or  some  other 
fanciful  device.26 

"A  great  collection  of  ancient  pottery,  with  various  other  speci- 
mens of  Aztec  art,  the  gift  of  Messrs.  Poinsett  and  Keating,  is  de- 
posited in  the  Cabinet  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  at 
Philadelphia.  See  the  Catalogue,  ap.  Transactions,  vol.  iii.  p.  510. 
Another  admirable  collection  may  be  seen  in  the  Museum  of  Natural 
History  in  New  York. — M. 

25  Hernandez,  Hist.  Plantarum,  lib.  6,  cap.  116. 

"Carta  del  Lie.  Zuazo,  MS.— Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib.  7, 
cap.  15.— Boturini,  Idea,  p.  77.— It  is  doubtful  how  far  they  were 

it  may  be  seen  to-day,  just  opposite  its  exact  duplicate,  which  was 
found  buried,  either  in  the  plaza  of  Mexico  or  somewhere  in  Tlax- 
cala,  some  years  ago.  The  story  of  the  discovery  seems  marvellous 
in  the  extreme,  but  photographs  taken  at  many  stages  of  the  ex- 
humation dispel  doubt  as  to  its  truth.  For  a  very  full  report  upon 
the  whole  matter,  see  the  paper  by  Stephen  Salisbury,  president  of 
the  American  Antiquarian  Society,  in  the  Proceedings  of  that  so- 
ciety for  1877-78,  pp.  70-119.- M.] 


160  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

But  the  art  in  which  they  most  delighted  was 
their  plumaje,  or  feather-work.  With  this  they 
could  produce  all  the  effect  of  a  beautiful  mosaic. 
The  gorgeous  plumage  of  the  tropical  birds,  espe- 
cially of  the  parrot  tribe,  afforded  every  variety 
of  color;  and  the  fine  down  of  the  humming-bird, 
which  revelled  in  swarms  among  the  honeysuckle 
bowers  of  Mexico,  supplied  them  with  soft  aerial 
tints  that  gave  an  exquisite  finish  to  the  picture. 
The  feathers,  pasted  on  a  fine  cotton  web,  were 
wrought  into  dresses  for  the  wealthy,  hangings  for 
apartments,  and  ornaments  for  the  temples.  No 
one  of  the  American  fabrics  excited  such  admira- 
tion in  Europe,  whither  numerous  specimens  were 
sent  by  the  Conquerors.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that 
so  graceful  an  art  should  have  been  suffered  to  fall 
into  decay.27 

There  were  no  shops  in  Mexico,  but  the  various 

acquainted  with  the  manufacture  of  silk.  Carli  supposes  that  what 
Cortes  calls  silk  was  only  the  fine  texture  of  hair,  or  down,  mentioned 
in  the  text.  (Lettres  Ame'ricaines,  torn.  i.  let.  21.)  But  it  is  certain 
they  had  a  species  of  caterpillar,  unlike  our  silkworm,  indeed,  which 
spun  a  thread  that  was  sold  in  the  markets  of  ancient  Mexico.  See 
the  Essai  politique  (torn.  iii.  pp.  66-69),  where  M.  de  Humboldt  has 
collected  some  interesting  facts  in  regard  to  the  culture  of  silk  by 
the  Aztecs.  Still,  that  the  fabric  should  be  a  matter  of  uncertainty 
at  all  shows  that  it  could  not  have  reached  any  great  excellence  or 
extent. 

"Carta  del  Lie.  Zuazo,  MS.— Acosta,  lib.  4,  cap.  37.— Sahagun, 
Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  9,  cap.  18-21.— Toribio,  Hist,  de  los  In- 
dios,  MS.,  Parte  1,  cap.  15. — Rel.  d'un  gentiF  huomo,  ap.  Ramusio, 
torn.  iii.  fol.  306.— Count  Carli  is  in  raptures  with  a  specimen  of 
feather-painting  which  he  saw  in  Strasbourg.  "  Never  did  I  behold 
anything  so  exquisite,"  he  says,  "  for  brilliancy  and  nice  gradation 
of  color,  and  for  beauty  of  design.  No  European  artist  could  have 
made  such  a  thing."  (Lettres  Ame>icaines,  let.  21,  note.)  There  is 
still  one  place,  Patzquaro,  where,  according  to  Bustamante,  they  pre- 
serve some  knowledge  of  this  interesting  art,  though  it  is  practised 
on  a  very  limited  scale  and  at  great  cost.  Sahagun,  ubi  supra,  nota. 


MECHANICAL   ARTS  161 

manufactures  and  agricultural  products  were 
brought  together  for  sale  in  the  great  market- 
places of  the  principal  cities.  Fairs  were  held 
there  every  fifth  day,  and  were  thronged  by  a 
numerous  concourse  of  persons,  who  came  to  buy 
or  sell  from  all  the  neighboring  country.  A  par- 
ticular quarter  was  allotted  to  each  kind  of  article. 
The  numerous  transactions  were  conducted  with- 
out confusion,  and  with  entire  regard  to  justice, 
under  the  inspection  of  magistrates  appointed  for 
the  purpose.  The  traffic  was  carried  on  partly  by 
barter,  and  partly  by  means  of  a  regulated  cur- 
rency, of  different  values.  This  consisted  of  trans- 
parent quills  of  gold  dust ;  of  bits  of  tin,  cut  in  the 
form  of  a  T ;  and  of  bags  of  cacao,  containing  a 
specified  number  of  grains.  "  Blessed  money,"  ex- 
claims Peter  Martyr,  "  which  exempts  its  pos- 
sessors from  avarice,  since  it  cannot  be  long 
hoarded,  nor  hidden  under  ground!  "  28 

There  did  not  exist  in  Mexico  that  distinction  of 
castes  found  among  the  Egyptian  and  Asiatic  na- 
tions. It  was  usual,  however,  for  the  son  to  follow 
the  occupation  of  his  father.  The  different  trades 
were  arranged  into  something  like  guilds;  each 
having  a  particular  district  of  the  city  appropriated 

18 "  O  felicem  monetam,  quae  suavem  utilemque  praebet  humano 
generi  potum,  et  a  tartarea  peste  avaritiae  suos  immunes  servat  pos- 
sessores,  quod  suffodi  aut  diu  servari  nequeat ! "  De  Orbe  Novo, 
dec.  5,  cap.  4. —  (See,  also,  Carta  de  Cortes,  ap.  Lorenzana,  p.  100, 
et  seq.— Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  8,  cap.  36.— Toribio, 
Hist,  de  los  Indies,  MS.,  Parte  3,  cap.  8.— Carta  del  Lie.  Zuazo,  MS.) 
The  substitute  for  money  throughout  the  Chinese  empire  was  equally 
simple  in  Marco  Polo's  time,  consisting  of  bits  of  stamped  paper, 
made  from  the  inner  bark  of  the  mulberry-tree.  See  Viaggi  di 
Messer  Marco  Polo,  gentiP  huomo  Venetiano,  lib.  2,  cap.  18,  ap. 
Ramusio,  torn.  ii. 


162  CONQUEST   OF  MEXICO 

to  it,  with  its  own  chief,  its  own  tutelar  deity,  its 
peculiar  festivals,  and  the  like.  Trade  was  held  in 
avowed  estimation  by  the  Aztecs.  "  Apply  thy- 
self, my  son,"  was  the  advice  of  an  aged  chief, 
"  to  agriculture,  or  to  feather- work,  or  some  other 
honorable  calling.  Thus  did  your  ancestors  be- 
fore you.  Else  how  would  they  have  provided 
for  themselves  and  their  families?  Never  was  it 
heard  that  nobility  alone  was  able  to  maintain  its 
possessor." 29  Shrewd  maxims,  that  must  have 
sounded  somewhat  strange  in  the  ear  of  a  Spanish 
hidalgo!30 

But  the  occupation  peculiarly  respected  was  that 
of  the  merchant.  It  formed  so  important  and  sin- 
gular a  feature  of  their  social  economy  as  to  merit 
a  much  more  particular  notice  than  it  has  received 
from  historians.  The  Aztec  merchant  was  a  sort 
of  itinerant  trader,  who  made  his  journeys  to  the 
remotest  borders  of  Anahuac,  and  to  the  countries 
beyond,  carrying  with  him  merchandise  of  rich 
stuffs,  jewelry,  slaves,  and  other  valuable  com- 
modities. The  slaves  were  obtained  at  the  great 
market  of  Azcapozalco,  not  many  leagues  from  the 
capital,  where  fairs  were  regularly  held  for  the 
sale  of  these  unfortunate  beings.  They  were 
brought  thither  by  their  masters,  dressed  in  their 
gayest  apparel,  and  instructed  to  sing,  dance,  and 

59  "  Procurad  de  saber  algun  oficio  honroso,  como  es  el  hacer  obras 
de  pluma  y  otros  oficios  mecanicos.  .  .  .  Mirad  que  tengais  cuidado 
de  lo  tocante  d  la  agricultura.  ...  En  ninguna  parte  he  visto  que 
alguno  se  mantenga  por  su  nobleza."  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva- 
Espana,  lib.  6,  cap.  17. 

50  Col.  de  Mendoza,  ap.  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  i.  PL  71;  vol.  vi. 
p.  86.— Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  2,  cap.  41. 


MERCHANTS  163 

display  their  little  stock  of  personal  accomplish- 
ments, so  as  to  recommend  themselves  to  the  pur- 
chaser. Slave-dealing  was  an  honorable  calling 
among  the  Aztecs.31 

With  this  rich  freight,  the  merchant  visited  the 
different  provinces,  always  bearing  some  present 
of  value  from  his  own  sovereign  to  their  chiefs, 
and  usually  receiving  others  in  return,  with  a  per- 
mission to  trade.  Should  this  be  denied  him,  or 
should  he  meet  with  indignity  or  violence,  he  had 
the  means  of  resistance  in  his  power.  He  per- 
formed his  journeys  with  a  number  of  companions 
of  his  own  rank,  and  a  large  body  of  inferior  at- 
tendants who  were  employed  to  transport  the 
goods.  Fifty  or  sixty  pounds  were  the  usual  load 
for  a  man.  The  whole  caravan  went  armed,  and  so 
well  provided  against  sudden  hostilities  that  they 
could  make  good  their  defence,  if  necessary,  till 
reinforced  from  home.  In  one  instance,  a  body  of 
these  militant  traders  stood  a  siege  of  four  years 
in  the  town  of  Ayotlan,  which  they  finally  took 
from  the  enemy.32  Their  own  government,  how- 
ever, was  always  prompt  to  embark  in  a  war  on 
this  ground,  finding  it  a  very  convenient  pretext 
for  extending  the  Mexican  empire.  It  was 
not  unusual  to  allow  the  merchants  to  raise 
levies  themselves,  which  were  placed  under  their 
command.  It  was,  moreover,  very  common  for 
the  prince  to  employ  the  merchants  as  a  sort  of 
spies,  to  furnish  him  information  of  the  state 
of  the  countries  through  which  they  passed, 

11  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espafla,  lib.  9,  cao.  4,  10-14. 
M  Ibid.,  lib.  9,  cap.  2. 


164  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

and  the  dispositions  of  the  inhabitants  towards 
himself.33 

Thus  their  sphere  of  action  was  much  enlarged 
beyond  that  of  a  humble  trader,  and  they  acquired 
a  high  consideration  in  the  body  politic.  They  were 
allowed  to  assume  insignia  and  devices  of  their 
own.  Some  of  their  number  composed  what  is 
called  by  the  Spanish  writers  a  council  of  finance ; 
at  least,  this  was  the  case  in  Tezcuco.34  They  were 
much  consulted  by  the  monarch,  who  had  some  of 
them  constantly  near  his  person,  addressing  them 
by  the  title  of  "  uncle,"  which  may  remind  one  of 
that  of  primo,,  or  "  cousin,"  by  which  a  grandee  of 
Spain  is  saluted  by  his  sovereign.  They  were  al- 
lowed to  have  their  own  courts,  in  which  civil  and 
criminal  cases,  not  excepting  capital,  were  deter- 
mined; so  that  they  formed  an  independent  com- 
munity, as  it  were,  of  themselves.  And,  as  their 
various  traffic  supplied  them  with  abundant  stores 
of  wealth,  they  enjoyed  many  of  the  most  essential 
advantages  of  an  hereditary  aristocracy.35 

88  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  9,  cap.  2,  4. — In  the  Men- 
doza  Codex  is  a  painting  representing  the  execution  of  a  cacique  and 
his  family,  with  the  destruction  of  his  city,  for  maltreating  the  per- 
sons of  some  Aztec  merchants.  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  i.  PI.  67. 

"Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  2,  cap.  41.— Ixtlilxochitl  gives  a 
curious  story  of  one  of  the  royal  family  of  Tezcuco,  who  offered, 
with  two  other  merchants,  otros  mercaderes,  to  visit  the  court  of  a 
hostile  cacique  and  bring  him  dead  or  alive  to  the  capital.  They 
availed  themselves  of  a  drunken  revel,  at  which  they  were  to  have 
been  sacrificed,  to  effect  their  object.  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  62. 

"Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  9,  cap.  2,  5.— The  ninth 
book  is  taken  up  with  an  account  of  the  merchants,  their  pilgrim- 
ages, the  religious  rites  on  their  departure,  and  the  sumptuous  way  of 
living  on  their  return.  The  whole  presents  a  very  remarkable  picture, 
showing  they  enjoyed  a  consideration,  among  the  half -civilized  na- 
tions of  Anahuac,  to  which  there  is  no  parallel,  unless  it  be  that  pos- 


DOMESTIC   MANNERS  165 

That  trade  should  prove  the  path  to  eminent 
political  preferment  in  a  nation  but  partially  civ- 
ilized, where  the  names  of  soldier  and  priest  are 
usually  the  only  titles  to  respect,  is  certainly  an 
anomaly  in  history.  It  forms  some  contrast  to  the 
standard  of  the  more  polished  monarchies  of  the 
Old  World,  in  which  rank  is  supposed  to  be  less 
dishonored  by  a  life  of  idle  ease  or  frivolous  plea- 
sure than  by  those  active  pursuits  which  promote 
equally  the  prosperity  of  the  state  and  of  the  in- 
dividual. If  civilization  corrects  many  prejudices, 
it  must  be  allowed  that  it  creates  others. 

We  shall  be  able  to  form  a  better  idea  of  the 
actual  refinement  of  the  natives  by  penetrating 
into  their  domestic  life  and  observing  the  inter- 
course between  the  sexes.  We  have,  fortunately, 
the  means  of  doing  this.  We  shall  there  find  the 
ferocious  Aztec  frequently  displaying  all  the  sen- 
sibility of  a  cultivated  nature ;  consoling  his  friends 
under  affliction,  or  congratulating  them  on  their 
good  fortune,  as  on  occasion  of  a  marriage,  or  of 
the  birth  or  the  baptism  of  a  child,  when  he  was 
punctilious  in  his  visits,  bringing  presents  of  costly 
dresses  and  ornaments,  or  the  more  simple  offering 
of  flowers,  equally  indicative  of  his  sympathy. 
The  visits  at  these  times,  though  regulated  with  all 
the  precision  of  Oriental  courtesy,  were  accom- 
panied by  expressions  of  the  most  cordial  and  af- 
fectionate regard.36 

sessed  by  the  merchant-princes  of  an  Italian  republic,  or  the  princely 
merchants  of  our  own. 

*•  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espafia,  lib.  6,  cap.  23-37.— Camar go, 
Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS.— These  complimentary  attentions  were  paid  at 
stated  seasons,  even  during  pregnancy.  The  details  are  given  with 


166  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

The  discipline  of  children,  especially  at  the  pub- 
lic schools,  as  stated  in  a  previous  chapter,  was  ex- 
ceedingly severe.37  But  after  she  had  come  to  a 
mature  age  the  Aztec  maiden  was  treated  by  her 
parents  with  a  tenderness  from  which  all  reserve 
seemed  banished.  In  the  counsels  to  a  daughter 
about  to  enter  into  life,  they  conjured  her  to  pre- 
serve simplicity  in  her  manners  and  conversation, 
uniform  neatness  in  her  attire,  with  strict  attention 
to  personal  cleanliness.  They  inculcated  modesty, 
as  the  great  ornament  of  a  woman,  and  implicit 
reverence  for  her  husband;  softening  their  admo- 
nitions by  such  endearing  epithets  as  showed  the 
fulness  of  a  parent's  love.38 

Polygamy  was  permitted  among  the  Mexicans, 
though  chiefly  confined,  probably,  to  the  wealthiest 

abundant  gravity  and  minuteness  by  Sahagun,  who  descends  to  par- 
ticulars which  his  Mexican  editor,  Bustamante,  has  excluded,  as 
somewhat  too  unreserved  for  the  public  eye.  If  they  were  more  so 
than  some  of  the  editor's  own  notes,  they  must  have  been  very  com- 
municative indeed. 

"Zurita,  Rapport,  pp.  112-134.— The  Third  Part  of  the  Col.  de 
Mendoza  (Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  i.)  exhibits  the  various  ingenious 
punishments  devised  for  the  refractory  child.  The  flowery  path  of 
knowledge  was  well  strewed  with  thorns  for  the  Mexican  tyro. 

88  Zurita,  Rapport,  pp.  151-160. — Sahagun  has  given  us  the  admo- 
nitions of  both  father  and  mother  to  the  Aztec  maiden  on  her  coming 
to  years  of  discretion.  What  can  be  more  tender  than  the  beginning 
of  the  mother's  exhortation?  "Hija  mia  muy  amada,  muy  querida 
palomita:  ya  has  oido  y  notado  las  palabras  que  tu  senor  padre  te  ha 
dicho;  ellas  son  palabras  preciosas,  y  que  raramente  se  dicen  ni  se 
oyen,  las  quales  han  procedido  de  las  entranas  y  corazon  en  que  es- 
taban  atesoradas;  y  tu  muy  amado  padre  bien  sabe  que  eres  su 
hija,  engendrada  de  el,  eres  su  sangre  y  su  came,  y  sabe  Dios  nuestro 
senor  que  es  asf;  aunque  eres  muger,  e  imdgen  de  tu  padre  «  que  mas 
te  puedo  decir,  hi j  a  mia,  de  lo  que  ya  esta  dicho  ?  "  (  Hist,  de  Nueva- 
Espafia,  lib.  6,  cap.  19.)  The  reader  will  find  this  interesting  docu- 
ment, which  enjoins  so  much  of  what  is  deemed  most  essential  among 
civilized  nations,  translated  entire  in  the  Appendix,  Part  2,  No.  1. 


DOMESTIC   MANNERS  167 

classes.39  And  the  obligations  of  the  marriage 
vow,  which  was  made  with  all  the  formality  of  a 
religious  ceremony,  were  fully  recognized,  and  im- 
pressed on  both  parties.  The  women  are  described 
by  the  Spaniards  as  pretty,  unlike  their  unfortu- 
nate descendants  of  the  present  day,  though  with 
the  same  serious  and  rather  melancholy  cast  of 
countenance.  Their  long  black  hair,  covered,  in 
some  parts  of  the  country,  by  a  veil  made  of  the 
fine  web  of  the  pita,  might  generally  be  seen 
wreathed  with  flowers,  or,  among  the  richer  peo- 
ple, with  strings  of  precious  stones,  and  pearls 
from  the  Gulf  of  California.  They  appear  to  have 
been  treated  with  much  consideration  by  their  hus- 
bands, and  passed  their  time  in  indolent  tran- 
quillity, or  in  such  feminine  occupations  as  spin- 
ning, embroidery,  and  the  like,  while  their  maidens 
beguiled  the  hours  by  the  rehearsal  of  traditionary 
tales  and  ballads.40 

The  women  partook  equally  with  the  men  of  so- 
cial festivities  and  entertainments.  These  were 
often  conducted  on  a  large  scale,  both  as  regards 
the  number  of  guests  and  the  costliness  of  the 
preparations.  Numerous  attendants,  of  both  sexes, 
waited  at  the  banquet.  The  halls  were  scented 
with  perfumes,  and  the  courts  strewed  with  odorif- 

38  Yet  we  find  the  remarkable  declaration,  in  the  counsels  of  a 
father  to  his  son,  that,  for  the  multiplication  of  the  species,  God  or- 
dained one  man  only  for  one  woman.  "  Nota,  hi  jo  mio,  lo  que  te 
digo,  mira  que  el  mundo  ya  tiene  este  estilo  de  engendrar  y  mul- 
tiplicar,  y  para  esta  generacion  y  multiplicacion,  orden6  Dios  que 
una  muger  usase  de  un  varon,  y  un  varon  de  una  muger."  Sahagun, 
Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  6,  cap.  21. 

40  Ibid.,  lib.  6,  cap.  21-23;  lib.  8,  cap.  23.— Rel.  d'un  gentiP  huomo, 
ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  305.— Carta  del  Lie.  Zuazo,  MS. 


168  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

erous  herbs  and  flowers,  which  were  distributed  in 
profusion  among  the  guests,  as  they  arrived.  Cot- 
ton napkins  and  ewers  of  water  were  placed  before 
them,  as  they  took  their  seats  at  the  board  ;  for  the 
venerable  ceremony  of  ablution  41  before  and  after 
eating  was  punctiliously  observed  by  the  Aztecs.42 
Tobacco  was  then  offered  to  the  company,  in  pipes, 
mixed  up  with  aromatic  substances,  or  in  the  form 
of  cigars,  inserted  in  tubes  of  tortoise-shell  or  sil- 
ver. They  compressed  the  nostrils  with  the  ringers, 
while  they  inhaled  the  smoke,  which  they  fre- 
quently swallowed.  Whether  the  women,  who  sat 
apart  from  the  men  at  table,  were  allowed  the  in- 
dulgence of  the  fragrant  weed,  as  in  the  most  pol- 

41  As  old  as  the  heroic  age  of  Greece,  at  least.  We  may  fancy 
ourselves  at  the  table  of  Penelope,  where  water  in  golden  ewers  was 
poured  into  silver  basins  for  the  accommodation  of  her  guests,  before 
beginning  the  repast: 


"  Xtpvifia  ff 

,  xpvaeiy,  vnsp  apyvpioio 

•  irapa  de  !-ECTf]v  irawaae  rpd-rre^av." 

OATZS.    A. 

The  feast  affords  many  other  points  of  analogy  to  the  Aztec,  infer- 
ring a  similar  stage  of  civilization  in  the  two  nations.  One  may  be 
surprised,  however,  to  find  a  greater  profusion  of  the  precious 
metals  in  the  barren  isle  of  Ithaca  than  in  Mexico.  But  the  poet's 
fancy  was  a  richer  mine  than  either. 

41  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  6,  cap.  22.  —  Amidst  some 
excellent  advice  of  a  parent  to  his  son,  on  his  general  deportment, 
we  find  the  latter  punctiliously  enjoined  not  to  take  his  seat  at  the 
board  till  he  has  washed  his  face  and  hands,  and  not  to  leave  it  till  he 
has  repeated  the  same  thing,  and  cleansed  his  teeth.  The  directions 
are  given  with  a  precision  worthy  of  an  Asiatic.  "  Al  principio  de 
la  comida  labarte  has  las  manos  y  la  boca,  y  donde  te  juntares  con 
otros  &  comer,  no  te  sientes  luego;  mas  antes  tomaras  el  agua  y  la 
jfcara  para  que  se  laben  los  otros,  y  echarles  has  agua  &  las  manos, 
y  despues  de  esto,  cojerds  lo  que  se  ha  caido  por  el  suelo  y  barrerds  el 
lugar  de  la  comida,  y  tambien  despues  de  comer  lavards  te  las  manos 
y  la  boca,  y  limpiards  los  dientes."  Ibid.,  loc.  cit 


DOMESTIC   MANNERS  169 

ished  circles  of  modern  Mexico,  is  not  told  us.  It 
is  a  curious  fact  that  the  Aztecs  also  took  the  dried 
leaf  in  the  pulverized  form  of  snuff.43 

The  table  was  well  provided  with  substantial 
meats,  especially  game;  among  which  the  most 
conspicuous  was  the  turkey,  erroneously  supposed, 
as  its  name  imports,  to  have  come  originally  from 
the  East.44  These  more  solid  dishes  were  flanked 
by  others  of  vegetables  and  fruits,  of  every  deli- 

43  Rel.  d'un  gentil'  huomo,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  306. — Saha- 
gun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  4,  cap.  37. — Torquemada,  Monarch. 
Ind.,  lib.  13,  cap.  23.— Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  p.  227. 
— The  Aztecs  used  to  smoke  after  dinner,  to  prepare  for  the  siesta, 
in  which  they  indulged  themselves  as  regularly  as  an  old  Castilian. 
— Tobacco,  in  Mexican  yetl,  is  derived  from  a  Haytian  word,  tabaco. 
The  natives  of  Hispaniola,  being  the  first  with  whom  the  Spaniards 
had   much   intercourse,   have   supplied   Europe   with  the   names   of 
several   important   plants. — Tobacco,   in   some   form   or   other,   was 
used  by  almost  all  the  tribes  of  the  American  continent,  from  the 
Northwest  Coast  to  Patagonia.     (See  McCulloh,  Researches,  pp.  91- 
94.)     Its  manifold  virtues,  both  social  and  medicinal,  are  profusely 
panegyrized  by  Hernandez,  in  his  Hist.  Plantarum,  lib.  2,  cap.  109. 

44  This  noble  bird  was  introduced  into  Europe  from  Mexico.    The 
Spaniards  called  it  gallopavo,  from  its  resemblance  to  the  peacock. 
See  Rel.  d'un  gentil'  huomo,  ap.  Ramusio   (torn.  iii.  fol.  306)  ;  also 
Oviedo  (Rel.  Sumaria,  cap.  38),  the  earliest  naturalist  who  gives  an 
account  of  the  bird,  which  he  saw  soon  after  the  Conquest,  in  the 
West  Indies,  whither  it  had  been  brought,  as  he  says,   from  New 
Spain.    The  Europeans,  however,  soon  lost  sight  of  its  origin,  and  the 
name  "  turkey  "  intimated  the  popular  belief  of  its  Eastern  origin. 
Several  eminent  writers  have  maintained  its  Asiatic  or  African  de- 
scent; but  they  could  not  impose  on  the  sagacious  and  better-in- 
structed Buffon.     (See  Histoire  naturelle,  art.  Dindon.)     The  Span- 
iards saw  immense  numbers  of  turkeys  in  the  domesticated  state, 
on  their  arrival  in  Mexico,  where  they  were  more  common  than  any 
other  poultry.     They  were  found  wild,  not  only  in  New  Spain,  but 
all  along  the  continent,  in  the  less  frequented  places,  from  the  North- 
western territory  of  the  United  States  to  Panama^    The  wild  turkey 
is  larger,  more  beautiful,  and  every  way  an  incomparably  finer  bird 
than  the  tame.     Franklin,  with  some  point,  as  well  as  pleasantry, 
insists  on  its  preference  to  the  bald  eagle  as  the  national  emblem. 
(See  his  Works,  vol.  x.  p.  63,  in  Sparks's  excellent  edition.)     In- 


170  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

cious  variety  found  on  the  North  American  conti- 
nent. The  different  viands  were  prepared  in  vari- 
ous ways,  with  delicate  sauces  and  seasoning,  of 
which  the  Mexicans  were  very  fond.  Their  palate 
was  still  further  regaled  by  confections  and  pastry, 
for  which  their  maize-flour  and  sugar  supplied 
ample  materials.  One  other  dish,  of  a  disgusting 
nature,  was  sometimes  added  to  the  feast,  especially 
when  the  celebration  partook  of  a  religious  char- 
acter. On  such  occasions  a  slave  was  sacrificed,  and 
his  flesh,  elaborately  dressed,  formed  one  of  the 
chief  ornaments  of  the  banquet.  Cannibalism,  in 
the  guise  of  an  Epicurean  science,  becomes  even  the 
more  revolting.45 

The  meats  were  kept  warm  by  chafing-dishes. 
The  table  was  ornamented  with  vases  of  silver,  and 
sometimes  gold,  of  delicate  workmanship.  The 
drinking-cups  and  spoons  were  of  the  same  costly 
materials,  and  likewise  of  tortoise-shell.  The  fa- 
vorite beverage  was  the  chocolatl,  flavored  with 
vanilla  and  different  spices.  They  had  a  way  of 
preparing  the  froth  of  it,  so  as  to  make  it  almost 
solid  enough  to  be  eaten,  and  took  it  cold.46  The 

teresting  notices  of  the  history  and  habits  of  the  wild  turkey  may  be 
found  in  the  Ornithology  both  of  Buonaparte  and  of  that  enthusi- 
astic lover  of  nature,  Audubon,  vox  Meleagris,  Oallopavo. 

45  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  4,  cap.  37;  lib.  8,  cap.  13; 
lib.  9,  cap.  10-14.— Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  13,  cap.  23.— 
Rel.  d'un  gentiP  huomo,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  ii.  fol.  306. — Father  Sa- 
hagun has  gone  into  many  particulars  of  the  Aztec  cuisine,  and  the 
mode  of  preparing  sundry  savory  messes,  making,  all  together,  no 
despicable  contribution  to  the  noble  science  of  gastronomy. 

46  The  froth,  delicately  flavored  with  spices  and  some  other  ingre- 
dients, was  taken  cold  by  itself.    It  had  the  consistency  almost  of  a 
solid;  and  the  "Anonymous  Conqueror"  is  very  careful  to  inculcate 
the  importance  of  "opening  the  mouth  wide,  in  order  to  facilitate 


DOMESTIC   MANNERS  171 

fermented  juice  of  the  maguey,  with  a  mixture  of 
sweets  and  acids,  supplied,  also,  various  agreeable 
drinks,  of  different  degrees  of  strength,  and 
formed  the  chief  beverage  of  the  elder  part  of  the 
company.47 

As  soon  as  they  had  finished  their  repast,  the 
young  people  rose  from  the  table,  to  close  the  fes- 
tivities of  the  day  with  dancing.  They  danced 
gracefully,  to  the  sound  of  various  instruments, 
accompanying  their  movements  with  chants  of  a 
pleasing  though  somewhat  plaintive  character.48 
The  older  guests  continued  at  table,  sipping 
pulque,  and  gossiping  about  other  times,  till  the 
virtues  of  the  exhilarating  beverage  put  them  in 
good  humor  with  their  own.  Intoxication  was  not 

deglutition,  that  the  foam  may  dissolve  gradually,  and  descend  im- 
perceptibly, as  it  were,  into  the  stomach."  It  was  so  nutritious  that 
a  single  cup  of  it  was  enough  to  sustain  a  man  through  the  longest 
day's  march.  (Fol.  306.)  The  old  soldier  discusses  the  beverage 
con  amore. 

"  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  4,  cap.  37;  lib.  8,  cap.  13. 
— Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  13,  cap.  23.— Rel.  d'un  gentil' 
huomo,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  306. 

48  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib.  7,  cap.  8.— Torquemada,  Mo- 
narch. Ind.,  lib.  14,  cap.  11. — The  Mexican  nobles  entertained  min- 
strels in  their  houses,  who  composed  ballads  suited  to  the  times,  or 
the  achievements  of  their  lord,  which  they  chanted,  to  the  accom- 
paniment of  instruments,  at  the  festivals  and  dances.  Indeed,  there 
was  more  or  less  dancing  at  most  of  the  festivals,  and  it  was  per- 
formed in  the  court-yards  of  the  houses,  or  in  the  open  squares  of 
the  city.  (Ibid.,  ubi  supra.)  The  principal  men  had,  also,  buffoons 
and  jugglers  in  their  service,  who  amused  them  and  astonished  the 
Spaniards  by  their  feats  of  dexterity  and  strength  (Acosta,  lib.  6, 
cap.  28;  also  Clavigero  (Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  pp.  179-186), 
who  has  designed  several  representations  of  their  exploits,  truly 
surprising).  It  is  natural  that  a  people  of  limited  refinement 
should  find  their  enjoyment  in  material  rather  than  intellectual 
pleasures,  and,  consequently,  should  excel  in  them.  The  Asiatic 
nations,  as  the  Hindoos  and  Chinese,  for  example,  surpass  the  more 
polished  Europeans  in  displays  of  agility  and  legerdemain. 


172  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

rare  in  this  part  of  the  company,  and,  what  is  sin- 
gular, was  excused  in  them,  though  severely  pun- 
ished in  the  younger.  The  entertainment  was  con- 
cluded by  a  liberal  distribution  of  rich  dresses  and 
ornaments  among  the  guests,  when  they  withdrew, 
after  midnight,  "  some  commending  the  feast,  and 
others  condemning  the  bad  taste  or  extravagance 
of  their  host;  in  the  same  manner,"  says  an  old 
Spanish  writer,  "  as  with  us."  49  Human  nature  is, 
indeed,  much  the  same  all  the  world  over. 

In  this  remarkable  picture  of  manners,  which 
I  have  copied  faithfully  from  the  records  of 
earliest  date  after  the  Conquest,  we  find  no  re- 
semblance to  the  other  races  of  North  American 
Indians.  Some  resemblance  we  may  trace  to 
the  general  style  of  Asiatic  pomp  and  luxury. 
But  in  Asia,  woman,  far  from  being  admitted  to 
unreserved  intercourse  with  the  other  sex,  is 
too  often  jealously  immured  within  the  walls  of 
the  harem.  European  civilization,  which  ac- 
cords to  this  loveliest  portion  of  creation  her 
proper  rank  in  the  social  scale,  is  still  more  re- 
moved from  some  of  the  brutish  usages  of  the  Az- 
tecs. That  such  usages  should  have  existed  with 
the  degree  of  refinement  they  showed  in  other 
things  is  almost  inconceivable.  It  can  only  be  ex- 
plained as  the  result  of  religious  superstition; 
superstition  which  clouds  the  moral  perception,  and 
perverts  even  the  natural  senses,  till  man,  civilized 

"Y  de  esta  manera  pasaban  gran  rato  de  la  noche,  y  se  despe- 
dian,  £  iban  a  sus  casas,  unos  alabando  la  fiesta,  y  otros  murmurando 
de  las  demasfas  y  excesos,  cosa  mui  ordinaria  en  los  que  a  seme- 
j  antes  actos  se  juntan."  Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  13,  cap. 
83.— Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espafia,  lib.  9,  cap.  10-14. 


BOTURINI  173 

man,  is  reconciled  to  the  very  things  which  are  most 
revolting  to  humanity.  Habits  and  opinions 
founded  on  religion  must  not  be  taken  as  conclusive 
evidence  of  the  actual  refinement  of  a  people. 

The  Aztec  character  was  perfectly  original  and 
unique.  It  was  made  up  of  incongruities  appar- 
ently irreconcilable.  It  blended  into  one  the 
marked  peculiarities  of  different  nations,  not  only 
of  the  same  phase  of  civilization,  but  as  far  re- 
moved from  each  other  as  the  extremes  of  barbar- 
ism and  refinement.  It  may  find  a  fitting  parallel 
in  their  own  wonderful  climate,  capable  of  produc- 
ing, on  a  few  square  leagues  of  surface,  the  bound- 
less variety  of  vegetable  forms  which  belong  to 
the  frozen  regions  of  the  North,  the  temperate  zone 
of  Europe,  and  the  burning  skies  of  Arabia  and 
Hindostan. 

One  of  the  works  repeatedly  consulted  and  referred  to  in  this 
Introduction  is  Boturini's  Idea  de  una  nueva  Historia  general  de  la 
America  Septentrional.  The  singular  persecutions  sustained  by  its 
author,  even  more  than  the  merits  of  his  book,  have  associated  his 
name  inseparably  with  the  literary  history  of  Mexico.  The  Che- 
valier Lorenzo  Boturini  Benaduci  was  a  Milanese  by  birth,  of  an 
ancient  family,  and  possessed  of  much  learning.  From  Madrid, 
where  he  was  residing,  he  passed  over  to  New  Spain,  in  1735,  on 
some  business  of  the  Countess  of  Santibanez,  a  lineal  descendant  of 
Montezuma.  While  employed  on  this,  he  visited  the  celebrated  shrine 
of  Our  Lady  of  Guadaloupe,  and,  being  a  person  of  devout  and  en- 
thusiastic temper,  was  filled  with  the  desire  of  collecting  testimony 
to  establish  the  marvellous  fact  of  her  apparition.  In  the  course 
of  his  excursions,  made  with  this  view,  he  fell  in  with  many  relics 
of  Aztec  antiquity,  and  conceived— what  to  a  Protestant,  at  least, 
would  seem  much  more  rational— the  idea  of  gathering  together  all 
the  memorials  he  could  meet  with  of  the  primitive  civilization  of  the 
land. 

In  pursuit  of  this  double  object,  he  penetrated  into  the  remotest 
parts  of  the  country,  living  much  with  the  natives,  passing  his  nights 
sometimes  in  their  huts,  sometimes  in  caves  and  the  depths  of  the 
lonely  forests.  Frequently  months  would  elapse  without  his  being 


174  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

able  to  add  anything  to  his  collection;  for  the  Indians  had  suffered 
too  much  not  to  be  very  shy  of  Europeans.  His  long  intercourse 
with  them,  however,  gave  him  ample  opportunity  to  learn  their  lan- 
guage and  popular  traditions,  and,  in  the  end,  to  amass  a  large  stock 
of  materials,  consisting  of  hieroglyphical  charts  on  cotton,  skins,  and 
the  fibre  of  the  maguey;  besides  a  considerable  body  of  Indian  man- 
uscripts, written  after  the  Conquest.  To  all  these  must  be  added  the 
precious  documents  for  placing  beyond  controversy  the  miraculous 
apparition  of  the  Virgin.  With  this  treasure  he  returned,  after  a 
pilgrimage  of  eight  years,  to  the  capital. 

His  zeal,  in  the  mean  while,  had  induced  him  to  procure  from 
Rome  a  bull  authorizing  the  coronation  of  the  sacred  image  at 
Guadaloupe.  The  bull,  however,  though  sanctioned  by  the  Audience 
of  New  Spain,  had  never  been  approved  by  the  Council  of  the  Indies. 
In  consequence  of  this  informality,  Boturini  was  arrested  in  the 
midst  of  his  proceedings,  his  papers  were  taken  from  him,  and,  as 
he  declined  to  give  an  inventory  of  them,  he  was  thrown  into  prison, 
and  confined  in  the  same  apartment  with  two  criminals!  Not  long 
afterward  he  was  sent  to  Spain.  He  there  presented  a  memorial 
to  the  Council  of  the  Indies,  setting  forth  his  manifold  grievances, 
and  soliciting  redress.  At  the  same  time,  he  drew  up  his  "  Idea," 
above  noticed,  in  which  he  displayed  the  catalogue  of  his  museum  in 
New  Spain,  declaring,  with  affecting  earnestness,  that  "  he  would 
not  exchange  these  treasures  for  all  the  gold  and  silver,  diamonds 
and  pearls,  in  the  New  World." 

After  some  delay,  the  Council  gave  an  award  in  his  favor;  acquit- 
ting him  of  any  intentional  violation  of  the  law,  and  pronouncing  a 
high  encomium  on  his  deserts.  His  papers,  however,  were  not  re- 
stored. But  his  Majesty  was  graciously  pleased  to  appoint  him  His- 
toriographer-General of  the  Indies,  with  a  salary  of  one  thousand 
dollars  per  annum.  The  stipend  was  too  small  to  allow  him  to  return 
to  Mexico.  He  remained  in  Madrid,  and  completed  there  the  first 
volume  of  a  "  General  History  of  North  America,"  in  1749.  Not 
long  after  this  event,  and  before  the  publication  of  the  work,  he 
died.  The  same  injustice  was  continued  to  his  heirs;  and,  notwith- 
standing repeated  applications  in  their  behalf,  they  were  neither  put 
in  possession  of  their  unfortunate  kinsman's  collection,  nor  received 
a  remuneration  for  it.  What  was  worse, — as  far  as  the  public  was 
concerned,— the  collection  itself  was  deposited  in  apartments  of  the 
vice-regal  palace  at  Mexico,  so  damp  that  they  gradually  fell  to 
pieces,  and  the  few  remaining  were  still  further  diminished  by  the 
pilfering  of  the  curious.  When  Baron  Humboldt  visited  Mexico, 
not  one-eighth  of  this  inestimable  treasure  was  in  existence! 

I  have  been  thus  particular  in  the  account  of  the  unfortunate  Bo- 
turini, as  affording,  on  the  whole,  the  most  remarkable  example  of 
the  serious  obstacles  and  persecutions  which  literary  enterprise,  di- 
rected in  the  path  of  the  national  antiquities,  has,  from  some  cause 
or  other,  been  exposed  to  in  New  Spain. 


BOTURINI  175 

Boturini's  manuscript  volume  was  never  printed,  and  probably 
never  will  be,  if  indeed  it  is  in  existence.  This  will  scarcely  prove 
a  great  detriment  to  science  or  to  his  own  reputation.  He  was  a 
man  of  a  zealous  temper,  strongly  inclined  to  the  marvellous,  with 
little  of  that  acuteness  requisite  for  penetrating  the  tangled  mazes 
of  antiquity,  or  of  the  philosophic  spirit  fitted  for  calmly  weighing 
its  doubts  and  difficulties.  His  "  Idea  "  affords  a  sample  of  his  pecu- 
liar mind.  With  abundant  learning,  ill  assorted  and  ill  digested,  it 
is  a  jumble  of  fact  and  puerile  fiction,  interesting  details,  crazy 
dreams,  and  fantastic  theories.  But  it  is  hardly  fair  to  judge  by  the 
strict  rules  of  criticism  a  work  which,  put  together  hastily,  as  a 
catalogue  of  literary  treasures,  was  designed  by  the  author  rather 
to  show  what  might  be  done,  than  that  he  could  do  it  himself.  It 
is  rare  that  talents  for  action  and  contemplation  are  united  in  the 
same  individual.  Boturini  was  eminently  qualified,  by  his  enthusiasm 
and  perseverance,  for  collecting  the  materials  necessary  to  illustrate 
the  antiquities  of  the  country.  It  requires  a  more  highly  gifted 
mind  to  avail  itself  of  them. 


CHAPTER  VI* 

THE  TEZCUCANS — THEIR  GOLDEN  AGE — ACCOM- 
PLISHED PRINCES— DECLINE  OF  THEIR  MON- 
ARCHY 

fTlHE  reader  would  gather  but  an  imperfect  no- 
JL  tion  of  the  civilization  of  Anahuac,  without 
some  account  of  the  Acolhuans,  or  Tezcucans,  as 
they  are  usually  called ;  a  nation  of  the  same  great 
family  with  the  Aztecs,  whom  they  rivalled  in 
power  and  surpassed  in  intellectual  culture  and  the 
arts  of  social  refinement.  Fortunately,  we  have 
ample  materials  for  this  in  the  records  left  by  Ixt- 
lilxochitl,  a  lineal  descendant  of  the  royal  line  of 
Tezcuco,  who  flourished  in  the  century  of  the  Con- 
quest. With  every  opportunity  for  information  he 
combined  much  industry  and  talent,  and,  if  his  nar- 
rative bears  the  high  coloring  of  one  who  would 
revive  the  faded  glories  of  an  ancient  but  dilapi- 

*  [In  reading  this  chapter  we  must  constantly  bear  in  mind  the 
fact  that  it  is  founded  almost  entirely  upon  traditions.  We 
must  also  remember — first,  that  Ixtlilxochitl  is  the  principal  author- 
ity for  the  legends  therein  chronicled;  second,  that  Ixtlilxochitl  pos- 
sessed a  very  fertile  imagination ;  third,  that  IxtlilxochitFs  "  Historia 
Chichimeca"  was  not  written  from  an  entirely  unprejudiced  point  of 
view.  To  use  the  words  of  Bandelier  (Archaeological  Tour  in  Mex- 
ico, p.  192) :  "  Ixtlilxochitl  is  always  a  very  suspicious  authority,  not 
because  he  is  more  confused  than  any  other  Indian  writer,  but  be- 
cause he  wrote  for  an  interested  object,  and  with  the  view  of  sustain- 
ing tribal  claims  in  the  eyes  of  the  Spanish  government.— M.] 

176 


THE  TEZCUCANS  177 

dated  house,  he  has  been  uniformly  commended  for 
his  fairness  and  integrity,  and  has  been  followed 
without  misgiving  by  such  Spanish  writers  as  could 
have  access  to  his  manuscripts.1  I  shall  confine 
myself  to  the  prominent  features  of  the  two  reigns 
which  may  be  said  to  embrace  the  golden  age  of 
Tezcuco,  without  attempting  to  weigh  the  proba- 
bility of  the  details,  which  I  will  leave  to  be  settled 
by  the  reader,  according  to  the  measure  of  his 
faith. 

The  Acolhuans  came  into  the  Valley,  as  we  have 
seen,  about  the  close  of  the  twelfth  century,  and 
built  their  capital  of  Tezcuco  on  the  eastern  borders 
of  the  lake,  opposite  to  Mexico.  From  this  point 
they  gradually  spread  themselves  over  the  northern 
portion  of  Anahuac,  when  their  career  was  checked 
by  an  invasion  of  a  kindred  race,  the  Tepanecs, 
who,  after  a  desperate  struggle,  succeeded  in  tak- 
ing their  city,  slaying  their  monarch,  and  entirely 
subjugating  his  kingdom.2  This  event  took  place 
about  1418;  and  the  young  prince,  Nezahualcoyotl, 
the  heir  to  the  crown,  then  fifteen  years  old,  saw  his 
father  butchered  before  his  eyes,  while  he  himself 
lay  concealed  among  the  friendly  branches  of  a 
tree  which  overshadowed  the  spot.3  His  subse- 
quent history  is  as  full  of  romantic  daring  and  per- 
ilous escapes  as  that  of  the  renowned  Scanderbeg 
or  of  the  "  young  Chevalier."  4 

1  For  a  criticism  on  this  writer,  see  the  Postscript  to  this  chapter. 

1  See  Chapter  I.  of  this  Introduction,  p.  17. 

"  Ixtlilxochitl,  Relaciones,  MS.,  No.  9.— Idem,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS., 
cap.  19. 

4  The  adventures  of  the  former  hero  are  told  with  his  usual  spirit 
by  Sismondi  (Republiques  Italiennes,  chap.  79).  It  is  hardly  nee- 


178  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

Not  long  after  his  flight  from  the  field  of  his 
father's  blood,  the  Tezcucan  prince  fell  into  the 
hands  of  his  enemy,  was  borne  off  in  triumph  to  his 
city,  and  was  thrown  into  a  dungeon.  He  effected 
his  escape,  however,  through  the  connivance  of  the 
governor  of  the  fortress,  an  old  servant  of  his 
family,  who  took  the  place  of  the  royal  fugitive, 
and  paid  for  his  loyalty  with  his  life.  He  was  at 
length  permitted,  through  the  intercession  of  the 
reigning  family  in  Mexico,  which  was  allied  to 
him,  to  retire  to  that  capital,  and  subsequently  to 
his  own,  where  he  found  a  shelter  in  his  ancestral 
palace.  Here  he  remained  unmolested  for  eight 
years,  pursuing  his  studies  under  an  old  preceptor, 
who  had  had  the  care  of  his  early  youth,  and  who 
instructed  him  in  the  various  duties  befitting  his 
princely  station.5 

At  the  end  of  this  period  the  Tepanec  usurper 
died,  bequeathing  his  empire  to  his  son,  Maxtla,  a 
man  of  fierce  and  suspicious  temper.  Nezahual- 
coyotl  hastened  to  pay  his  obeisance  to  him,  on  his 
accession.  But  the  tyrant  refused  to  receive  the 
little  present  of  flowers  which  he  laid  at  his  feet, 
and  turned  his  back  on  him  in  presence  of  his  chief- 
tains. One  of  his  attendants,  friendly  to  the  young 
prince,  admonished  him  to  provide  for  his  own 
safety,  by  withdrawing,  as  speedily  as  possible, 
from  the  palace,  where  his  life  was  in  danger.  He 
lost  no  time,  consequently,  in  retreating  from  the 

essary,  for  the  latter,  to  refer  the  English  reader  to  Chambers's 
"History  of  the  Rebellion  of  1745;"  a  work  which  proves  how 
thin  is  the  partition  in  human  life  which  divides  romance  from 
reality. 

5  Ixtlilxochitl,  Relaciones,  MS.,  No.  10. 


GOLDEN  AGE  OF  TEZCUCO  179 

inhospitable  court,  and  returned  to  Tezcuco. 
Maxtla,  however,  was  bent  on  his  destruction.  He 
saw  with  jealous  eye  the  opening  talents  and  popu- 
lar manners  of  his  rival,  and  the  favor  he  was  daily 
winning  from  his  ancient  subjects.6 

He  accordingly  laid  a  plan  for  making  away 
with  him  at  an  evening  entertainment.  It  was 
defeated  by  the  vigilance  of  the  prince's  tutor,  who 
contrived  to  mislead  the  assassins  and  to  substitute 
another  victim  in  the  place  of  his  pupil.7  The 
baffled  tyrant  now  threw  off  all  disguise,  and  sent 
a  strong  party  of  soldiers  to  Tezcuco,  with  orders 
to  enter  the  palace,  seize  the  person  of  Nezahual- 
coyotl,  and  slay  him  on  the  spot.  The  prince,  who 
became  acquainted  with  the  plot  through  the 
watchfulness  of  his  preceptor,  instead  of  flying,  as 
he  was  counselled,  resolved  to  await  his  enemies. 
They  found  him  playing  at  ball,  when  they  ar- 
rived, in  the  court  of  his  palace.  He  received  them 
courteously,  and  invited  them  in,  to  take  some  re- 
freshments after  their  journey.  While  they  were 
occupied  in  this  way,  he  passed  into  an  adjoining 
saloon,  which  excited  no  suspicion,  as  he  was  still 
visible  through  the  open  doors  by  which  the  apart- 
ments communicated  with  each  other.  A  burning 
censer  stood  in  the  passage,  and,  as  it  was  fed  by 
the  attendants,  threw  up  such  clouds  of  incense 
as  obscured  his  movements  from  the  soldiers. 
Under  this  friendly  veil  he  succeeded  in  making 

8  Ixtlilxochitl,Relaciones,MS.,  No.  10.— Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  20-24. 

T  Idem,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  25.  The  contrivance  was  effected 
by  means  of  an  extraordinary  personal  resemblance  of  the  parties; 
a  fruitful  source  of  comic — as  every  reader  of  the  drama  knows — 
though  rarely  of  tragic  interest. 


180  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

his  escape  by  a  secret  passage,  which  communicated 
with  a  large  earthen  pipe  formerly  used  to  bring 
water  to  the  palace.8  Here  he  remained  till  night- 
fall, when,  taking  advantage  of  the  obscurity,  he 
found  his  way  into  the  suburbs,  and  sought  a  shel- 
ter in  the  cottage  of  one  of  his  father's  vassals. 

The  Tepanec  monarch,  enraged  at  this  repeated 
disappointment,  ordered  instant  pursuit.  A  price 
was  set  on  the  head  of  the  royal  fugitive.  Who- 
ever should  take  him,  dead  or  alive,  was  promised, 
however  humble  his  degree,  the  hand  of  a  noble 
lady,  and  an  ample  domain  along  with  it.  Troops 
of  armed  men  were  ordered  to  scour  the  country 
in  every  direction.  In  the  course  of  the  search,  the 
cottage  in  which  the  prince  had  taken  refuge  was 
entered.  But  he  fortunately  escaped  detection  by 
being  hid  under  a  heap  of  maguey  fibres  used  for 
manufacturing  cloth.  As  this  was  no  longer  a 
proper  place  of  concealment,  he  sought  a  retreat 
in  the  mountainous  and  woody  district  lying  be- 
tween the  borders  of  his  own  state  and  Tlascala.9 

Here  he  led  a  wretched,  wandering  life,  exposed 
to  all  the  inclemencies  of  the  weather,  hiding  him- 
self in  deep  thickets  and  caverns,  and  stealing  out, 
at  night,  to  satisfy  the  cravings  of  appetite ;  while 
he  was  kept  in  constant  alarm  by  the  activity  of  his 
pursuers,  always  hovering  on  his  track.  On  one 

8  It  was  customary,  on  entering  the  presence  of  a  great  lord,  to 
throw  aromatics  into  the  censer.  "  Hecho  en  el  brasero  incienso  y 
copal,  que  era  uso  y  costumbre  donde  estaban  los  Reyes  y  Senores, 
cada  vez  que  los  criados  entraban  con  mucha  reverencia  y  acata- 
miento  echaban  sahumerio  en  el  brasero;  y  asf  coneste  perfume  se 
obscurecia  algo  la  sala."  Ixtlilxochitl,  Relaciones,  MS.,  No.  11. 

8  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  26.— Relaciones,  MS.,  No. 
11.— Veytia,  Hist,  antig.,  lib.  2,  cap.  47. 


GOLDEN  AGE  OF  TEZCUCO  181 

occasion  he  sought  refuge  from  them  among  a 
small  party  of  soldiers,  who  proved  friendly  to  him 
and  concealed  him  in  a  large  drum  around  which 
they  were  dancing.  At  another  time  he  was  just 
able  to  turn  the  crest  of  a  hill  as  his  enemies  were 
climbing  it  on  the  other  side,  when  he  fell  in  with 
a  girl  who  was  reaping  chia, — a  Mexican  plant,  the 
seed  of  which  was  much  used  in  the  drinks  of  the 
country.  He  persuaded  her  to  cover  him  up  with 
the  stalks  she  had  been  cutting.  When  his  pur- 
suers came  up,  and  inquired  if  she  had  seen  the 
fugitive,  the  girl  coolly  answered  that  she  had,  and 
pointed  out  a  path  as  the  one  he  had  taken.  Not- 
withstanding the  high  rewards  offered,  Nezahual- 
coyotl  seems  to  have  incurred  no  danger  from 
treachery,  such  was  the  general  attachment  felt  to 
himself  and  his  house.  '  Would  you  not  deliver 
up  the  prince,  if  he  came  in  your  way? "  he  in- 
quired of  a  young  peasant  who  was  unacquainted 
with  his  person.  "  Not  I,"  replied  the  other. 
"  What,  not  for  a  fair  lady's  hand,  and  a  rich 
dowry  beside?  "  rejoined  the  prince.  At  which  the 
other  only  shook  his  head  and  laughed.10  On  more 
than  one  occasion  his  faithful  people  submitted  to 
torture,  and  even  to  lose  their  lives,  rather  than  dis- 
close the  place  of  his  retreat.11 

However    gratifying   such    proofs    of    loyalty 

10 "  Nezahualcoiotzin  le  dixo,  que  si  viese  &  quien  buscaban,  si  lo 
irfa  &  denunciar?  respondi6,  que  no;  torndndole  &  replicar  dicien- 
dole,  que  haria  mui  mal  en  perder  una  muger  hermosa  y  lo  deams 
que  el  rey  Maxtla  prometia,  el  mancebo  se  ri<5  de  todo,  no  haciendo 
caso  ni  de  lo  uno  ni  de  lo  otro."  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS., 
cap.  27. 

11  Ibid.,  MS.,  cap.  26,  27.— Relaciones,  MS.,  No.  11.— Veytia,  Hist. 
•ntig.,  lib.  2,  cap.  47,  48. 


182  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

might  be  to  his  feelings,  the  situation  of  the  prince 
in  these  mountain  solitudes  became  every  day  more 
distressing.  It  gave  a  still  keener  edge  to  his  own 
sufferings  to  witness  those  of  the  faithful  follow- 
ers who  chose  to  accompany  him  in  his  wanderings. 
"  Leave  me,"  he  would  say  to  them,  "  to  my  fate! 
Why  should  you  throw  away  your  own  lives  for 
one  whom  fortune  is  never  weary  of  persecuting?  " 
Most  of  the  great  Tezcucan  chiefs  had  consulted 
their  interests  by  a  timely  adhesion  to  the  usurper. 
But  some  still  clung  to  their  prince,  preferring 
proscription,  and  death  itself,  rather  than  desert 
him  in  his  extremity.12 

In  the  mean  time,  his  friends  at  a  distance  were 
active  in  measures  for  his  relief.  The  oppressions 
of  Maxtla,  and  his  growing  empire,  had  caused 
general  alarm  in  the  surrounding  states,  who  re- 
called the  mild  rule  of  the  Tezcucan  princes.  A 
coalition  was  formed,  a  plan  of  operations  con- 
certed, and,  on  the  day  appointed  for  a  general  ris- 
ing, Nezahualcoyotl  found  himself  at  the  head  of  a 
force  sufficiently  strong  to  face  his  Tepanec  adver- 
saries. An  engagement  came  on,  in  which  the  lat- 
ter were  totally  discomfited;  and  the  victorious 
prince,  receiving  everywhere  on  his  route  the 
homage  of  his  joyful  subjects,  entered  his  capital, 
not  like  a  proscribed  outcast,  but  as  the  rightful 
heir,  and  saw  himself  once  more  enthroned  in  the 
halls  of  his  fathers. 

Soon  after,  he  united  his  forces  with  the  Mexi- 
cans, long  disgusted  with  the  arbitrary  conduct  of 
Maxtla.  The  allied  powers,  after  a  series  of 

12  Ixtlilxochitl,  MSS.,  ubi  supra.— Veytia,  ubi  supra. 


GOLDEN  AGE  OF  TEZCUCO  183 

bloody  engagements  with  the  usurper,  routed  him 
under  the  walls  of  his  own  capital.  He  fled  to  the 
baths,  whence  he  was  dragged  out,  and  sacrificed 
with  the  usual  cruel  ceremonies  of  the  Aztecs;  the 
royal  city  of  Azcapozalco  was  razed  to  the  ground, 
and  the  wasted  territory  was  henceforth  reserved 
as  the  great  slave-market  for  the  nations  of  Ana- 
huac.13 

These  events  were  succeeded  by  the  remarkable 
league  among  the  three  powers  of  Tezcuco,  Mex- 
ico, and  Tlacopan,  of  which  some  account  has  been 
given  in  a  previous  chapter.14  Historians  are  not 
agreed  as  to  the  precise  terms  of  it ;  the  writers  of 
the  two  former  nations  each  insisting  on  the  para- 
mount authority  of  his  own  in  the  coalition.  All 
agree  in  the  subordinate  position  of  Tlacopan,  a 
state,  like  the  others,  bordering  on  the  lake.  It  is 
certain  that  in  their  subsequent  operations,  whether 
of  peace  or  war,  the  three  states  shared  in  each 
other's  councils,  embarked  in  each  other's  enter- 
prises, and  moved  in  perfect  concert  together,  till 
just  before  the  coming  of  the  Spaniards. 

The  first  measure  of  Nezahualcoyotl,  on  return- 
ing to  his  dominions,  was  a  general  amnesty.  It 
was  his  maxim  "  that  a  monarch  might  punish,  but 
revenge  was  unworthy  of  him."  15  In  the  present 
instance  he  was  averse  even  to  punish,  and  not  only 
freely  pardoned  his  rebel  nobles,  but  conferred 
on  some,  who  had  most  deeply  offended,  posts  of 

u  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  28-31.— Relaciones,  MS., 
No.  11.— Veytia,  Hist,  antig.,  lib.  2,  cap.  51-54. 

14  See  page  21  of  this  volume. 

14 "  Que  venganza  no  es  j  usto  la  procuren  los  Reyes,  sino  castigar 
al  que  lo  mereciere."  MS.  de  Ixtlilxochitl. 


184  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

honor  and  confidence.  Such  conduct  was  doubt- 
less politic,  especially  as  their  alienation  was  owing, 
probably,  much  more  to  fear  of  the  usurper  than 
to  any  disaffection  towards  himself.  But  there  are 
some  acts  of  policy  which  a  magnanimous  spirit 
only  can  execute. 

The  restored  monarch  next  set  about  repairing 
the  damages  sustained  under  the  late  misrule,  and 
reviving,  or  rather  remodelling,  the  various  depart- 
ments of  government.  He  framed  a  concise,  but 
comprehensive,  code  of  laws,  so  well  suited,  it  was 
thought,  to  the  exigencies  of  the  times,  that  it  was 
adopted  as  their  own  by  the  two  other  members  of 
the  triple  alliance.  It  was  written  in  blood,  and 
entitled  the  author  to  be  called  the  Draco  rather 
than  "  the  Solon  of  Anahuac,"  as  he  is  fondly 
styled  by  his  admirers.16  Humanity  is  one  of  the 
best  fruits  of  refinement.  It  is  only  with  increas- 
ing civilization  that  the  legislator  studies  to  econo- 
mize human  suffering,  even  for  the  guilty;  to 
devise  penalties  not  so  much  by  way  of  punishment 
for  the  past  as  of  reformation  for  the  future.17 

He  divided  the  burden  of  government  among  a 
number  of  departments,  as  the  council  of  war,  the 
council  of  finance,  the  council  of  justice.  This  last 
was  a  court  of  supreme  authority,  both  in  civil  and 

"  See  Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  i.  p.  247.— Nezahualcoyotl's 
code  consisted  of  eighty  laws,  of  which  thirty-four  only  have  come 
down  to  us,  according  to  Veytia.  (Hist,  antig.,  torn.  iii.  p.  224,  nota.) 
Ixtlilxochitl  enumerates  several  of  them.  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  38, 
and  Relaciones,  MS.,  Ordenanzas. 

11  Nowhere  are  these  principles  kept  more  steadily  in  view  than  in 
the  various  writings  of  our  adopted  countryman  Dr.  Lieber,  having 
more  or  less  to  do  with  the  theory  of  legislation.  Such  works  could 
not  have  been  produced  before  the  nineteenth  century. 


GOLDEN  AGE  OF  TEZCUCO  185 

criminal  matters,  receiving  appeals  from  the  lower 
tribunals  of  the  provinces,  which  were  obliged  to 
make  a  full  report,  every  four  months,  or  eighty 
days,  of  their  own  proceedings  to  this  higher  judi- 
cature. In  all  these  bodies,  a  certain  number  of 
citizens  were  allowed  to  have  seats  with  the  nobles 
and  professional  dignitaries.  There  was,  however, 
another  body,  a  council  of  state,  for  aiding  the  king 
in  the  despatch  of  business,  and  advising  him  in 
matters  of  importance,  which  was  drawn  alto- 
gether from  the  highest  order  of  chiefs.  It  con- 
sisted of  fourteen  members;  and  they  had  seats 
provided  for  them  at  the  royal  table.18 

Lastly,  there  was  an  extraordinary  tribunal, 
called  the  council  of  music,  but  which,  differing 
from  the  import  of  its  name,  was  devoted  to  the 
encouragement  of  science  and  art.  Works  on 
astronomy,  chronology,  history,  or  any  other  sci- 
ence, were  required  to  be  submitted  to  its  judg- 
ment, before  they  could  be  made  public.  This 
censorial  power  was  of  some  moment,  at  least  with 
regard  to  the  historical  department,  where  the  wil- 
ful perversion  of  truth  was  made  a  capital  offence 
by  the  bloody  code  of  Nezahualcoyotl.  Yet  a  Tez- 
cucan  author  must  have  been  a  bungler,  who  could 
not  elude  a  conviction  under  the  cloudy  veil  of 
hieroglyphics.  This  body,  which  was  drawn  from 
the  best-instructed  persons  in  the  kingdom,  with 
little  regard  to  rank,  had  supervision  of  all  the  pro- 

u  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  36.— Veytia,  Hist,  antig.,  lib. 
3,  cap.  7.— According  to  Zurita,  the  principal  judges,  at  their  general 
meetings  every  four  months,  constituted  also  a  sort  of  parliament  or 
c6rtes,  for  advising  the  king  on  matters  of  state.  See  his  Rapport, 
p.  106;  also  ante,  p.  33. 


186  CONQUEST  OF   MEXICO 

ductions  of  art,  and  of  the  nicer  fabrics.  It  de- 
cided on  the  qualifications  of  the  professors  in  the 
various  branches  of  science,  on  the  fidelity  of  their 
instructions  to  their  pupils,  the  deficiency  of  which 
was  severely  punished,  and  it  instituted  examina- 
tions of  these  latter.  In  short,  it  was  a  general 
board  of  education  for  the  country.  On  stated 
days,  historical  compositions,  and  poems  treating 
of  moral  or  traditional  topics,  were  recited  before 
it  by  their  authors.  Seats  were  provided  for  the 
three  crowned  heads  of  the  empire,  who  deliberated 
with  the  other  members  on  the  respective  merits  of 
the  pieces,  and  distributed  prizes  of  value  to  the 
successful  competitors.19 

Such  are  the  marvellous  accounts  transmitted 
to  us  of  this  institution;  an  institution  certainly 
not  to  have  been  expected  among  the  aborigines  of 
America.  It  is  calculated  to  give  us  a  higher  idea 
of  the  refinement  of  the  people  than  even  the  no- 
ble architectural  remains  which  still  cover  some 
parts  of  the  continent.  Architecture  is,  to  a  cer- 
tain extent,  a  sensual  gratification.  It  addresses 
itself  to  the  eye,  and  affords  the  best  scope  for  the 
parade  of  barbaric  pomp  and  splendor.  It  is  the 

"  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  36.— Clavigero,  Stor.  del 
Messico,  torn.  ii.  p.  137. — Veytia,  Hist,  antig.,  lib.  3,  cap.  7. — "  Con- 
currian  &  este  consejo  las  tres  cabezas  del  imperio,  en  ciertos  dias,  & 
oir  cantar  las  poesfas  historicas  antiguas  y  modernas,  para  instruirse 
de  toda  su  historia,  y  tambien  cuando  habia  algun  nuevo  invento 
en  cualquiera  facultad,  para  examinarlo,  aprobarlo,  6  reprobarlo. 
Delante  de  las  sillas  de  los  reyes  habia  una  gran  mesa  cargada  de 
joyas  de  oro  y  plata,  pedrerfa,  plumas,  y  otras  cosas  estimables, 
y  en  los  rincones  de  la  sala  muchas  de  mantas  de  todas  calidades, 
para  premios  de  las  habilidades  y  estimulo  de  los  profesores,  las 
cuales  alhajas  repartian  los  reyes,  en  los  dias  que  concurrian,  a 
los  que  se  aventajaban  en  el  ejercicio  ne  sus  facultades."  Ibid. 


GOLDEN  AGE  OF  TEZCUCO  187 

form  in  which  the  revenues  of  a  semi-civilized  peo- 
ple are  most  likely  to  be  lavished.  The  most 
gaudy  and  ostentatious  specimens  of  it,  and  some- 
times the  most  stupendous,  have  been  reared  by 
such  hands.  It  is  one  of  the  first  steps  in  the  great 
march  of  civilization.  But  the  institution  in 
question  was  evidence  of  still  higher  refinement. 
It  was  a  literary  luxury,  and  argued  the  exist- 
ence of  a  taste  in  the  nation  which  relied  for  its 
gratification  on  pleasures  of  a  purely  intellectual 
character. 

The  influence  of  this  academy  must  have  been 
most  propitious  to  the  capital,  which  became  the 
nursery  not  only  of  such  sciences  as  could  be 
compassed  by  the  scholarship  of  the  period,  but  of 
various  useful  and  ornamental  arts.  Its  historians, 
orators,  and  poets  were  celebrated  throughout  the 
country.20  Its  archives,  for  which  accommodations 
were  provided  in  the  royal  palace,  were  stored  with 
the  records  of  primitive  ages.21  Its  idiom,  more 
polished  than  the  Mexican,  was,  indeed,  the  purest 
of  all  the  Nahuatlac  dialects,  and  continued,  long 
after  the  Conquest,  to  be  that  in  which  the  best 
productions  of  the  native  races  were  composed. 

20  Veytia,  Hist,  antig.,  lib.  3,  cap.  7.— Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico, 
torn.  i.  p.  247.— The  latter  author  enumerates  four  historians,  some 
of  much  repute,  of  the  royal  house  of  Tezcuco,  descendants  of 
the  great  Nezahualcoyotl.  See  his  Account  of  Writers,  torn.  i.  pp. 
6-21. 

21 "  En  la  ciudad  de  Tezcuco  estaban  los  Archivos  Reales  de  todas 
las  cosas  referidas,  por  haver  sido  la  Metr6poli  de  todas  las  ciencias, 
usos,  y  buenas  costumbres,  porque  los  Reyes  que  fue>on  de  ella  se 
precidron  de  esto."  ( Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  Pr61ogo.)  It 
was  from  the  poor  wreck  of  these  documents,  once  so  carefully  pre- 
served by  his  ancestors,  that  the  historian  gleaned  the  materials,  as 
he  informs  us,  for  his  own  works. 


188  CONQUEST   OF   MEXICO 

Tezcuco  claimed  the  glory  of  being  the  Athens  of 
the  Western  world.22 

Among  the  most  illustrious  of  her  bards  was  the 
emperor  himself, — for  the  Tezcucan  writers  claim 
this  title  for  their  chief,  as  head  of  the  imperial  al- 
liance. He  doubtless  appeared  as  a  competitor 
before  that  very  academy  where  he  so  often  sat  as 
a  critic.  Many  of  his  odes  descended  to  a  late 
generation,  and  are  still  preserved,  perhaps,  in 
some  of  the  dusty  repositories  of  Mexico  or 
Spain.23  The  historian  Ixtlilxochitl  has  left  a 
translation,  in  Castilian,  of  one  of  the  poems  of  his 
royal  ancestor.  It  is  not  easy  to  render  his  version 
into  corresponding  English  rhyme,  without  the 
perfume  of  the  original  escaping  in  this  double 
filtration.24  They  remind  one  of  the  rich  breath- 
ings of  Spanish-Arab  poetry,  in  which  an  ardent 
imagination  is  tempered  by  a  not  unpleasing  and 
moral  melancholy.25  But,  though  sufficiently  florid 

21 "  Aunque  es  tenida  la  lengua  Mejicana  por  materna,  y  la  Tezcu- 
cana  por  mas  cortesana  y  pulida."  (Camargo,  Hist,  de  Tlascala, 
MS.)  "  Tezcuco,"  says  Boturini,  "  where  the  noblemen  sent  their 
sons  to  acquire  the  most  polished  dialect  of  the  Nahuatlac  language, 
and  to  study  poetry,  moral  philosophy,  the  heathen  theology,  astron- 
omy, medicine,  and  history."  Idea,  p.  142. 

a  "  He  composed  sixty  songs,"  says  the  author  last  quoted,  "  which 
have  probably  perished  by  the  incendiary  hands  of  the  ignorant." 
(Idea,  p.  79.)  Boturini  had  translations  of  two  of  these  in  his 
museum  (Catalogo,  p.  8),  and  another  has  since  come  to  light. 

24  Difficult  as  the  task  may  be,  it  has  been  executed  by  the  hand 
of  a  fair  friend,  who,  while  she  has  adhered  to  the  Castilian  with 
singular  fidelity,  has  shown  a  grace  and  flexibility  in  her  poetical 
movements   which   the   Castilian   version,   and    probably   the   Mexi- 
can   original,    cannot    boast.      See   both   translations    in    Appendix, 
2,  No.  2. 

25  Numerous  specimens  of  this  may  be  found  in  Condi's  "  Domi- 
nacion  de  los  Arabes  en  Espana."     None  of  them  are  superior  to 


GOLDEN  AGE  OF  TEZCUCO  189 

in  diction,  they  are  generally  free  from  the  mere- 
tricious ornaments  and  hyperbole  with  which  the 
minstrelsy  of  the  East  is  usually  tainted.  They 
turn  on  the  vanities  and  mutability  of  human  life, 
—a  topic  very  natural  for  a  monarch  who  had  him- 
self experienced  the  strangest  mutations  of  for- 
tune. There  is  mingled  in  the  lament  of  the  Tez- 
cucan  bard,  however,  an  Epicurean  philosophy, 
which  seeks  relief  from  the  fears  of  the  future  in 
the  joys  of  the  present.  "  Banish  care,"  he  says: 
"  if  there  are  bounds  to  pleasure,  the  saddest  life 
must  also  have  an  end.  Then  weave  the  chaplet  of 
flowers,  and  sing  thy  songs  in  praise  of  the  all- 
powerful  God,  for  the  glory  of  this  world  soon 
fadeth  away.  Rejoice  in  the  green  freshness  of 
thy  spring ;  for  the  day  will  come  when  thou  shalt 
sigh  for  these  joys  in  vain;  when  the  sceptre  shall 
pass  from  thy  hands,  thy  servants  shall  wander 
desolate  in  thy  courts,  thy  sons,  and  the  sons  of 
thy  nobles,  shall  drink  the  dregs  of  distress,  and  all 
the  pomp  of  thy  victories  and  triumphs  shall  live 
only  in  their  recollection.  Yet  the  remembrance 
of  the  just  shall  not  pass  away  from  the  nations, 
and  the  good  thou  hast  done  shall  ever  be  held  in 
honor.  The  goods  of  this  life,  its  glories  and  its 
riches,  are  but  lent  to  us,  its  substance  is  but  an  il- 
lusory shadow,  and  the  things  of  to-day  shall 
change  on  the  coming  of  the  morrow.  Then  gather 
the  fairest  flowers  from  thy  gardens,  to  bind  round 

the  plaintive  strains  of  the  royal  Abderahman  on  the  solitary  palm- 
tree  which  reminded  him  of  the  pleasant  land  of  his  birth.  See 
Parte  2,  cap.  9. 


190  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

thy  brow,  and  seize  the  joys  of  the  present  ere  they 
perish."  26 

But  the  hours  of  the  Tezcucan  monarch  were  not 
all  passed  in  idle  dalliance  with  the  Muse,  nor  in  the 
sober  contemplations  of  philosophy,  as  at  a  later 
period.  In  the  freshness  of  youth  and  early  man- 
hood he  led  the  allied  armies  in  their  annual  expe- 
ditions, which  were  certain  to  result  in  a  wider  ex- 
tent of  territory  to  the  empire.27  In  the  intervals 
of  peace  he  fostered  those  productive  arts  which 
are  the  surest  sources  of  public  prosperity.  He  en- 
couraged agriculture  above  all;  and  there  was 

26  "  lo  tocare'  cantando 

El  miisico  instrument*)  sonoroso, 

Tii  de  flores  gozando 

Danza,  y  festeja  a  Dios  que  es  poderoso; 

O  gozemos  de  esta  gloria, 

Porque  la  humana  vida  es  transitoria." 

MS.  DE  IXTLILXOCHITL. 

The  sentiment,  which  is  common  enough,  is  expressed  with  un- 
common beauty  by  the  English  poet  Herrick: 

"  Gather  the  rosebuds  while  you  may; 

Old  Time  is  still  a-flying; 
The  fairest  flower  that  blooms  to-day 
To-morrow  may  be  dying." 

And  with  still  greater  beauty,  perhaps,  by  Racine: 

"  Rions,  chantons,  dit  cette  troupe  impie, 
De  flours  en  fleurs,  de  plaisirs  en  plaisirs, 

Promenons  nos  desirs. 
Sur  1'avenir  insense1  qui  se  fie. 
De  nos  ans  passagers  le  nombre  est  incertain. 
t latniis  nous  aujourd'hui  de  jouir  de  la  vie; 
Qui  sait  si  nous  serons  demain  ?  " 

ATHALIE,  Acte  2. 

It  is  interesting  to  see  under  what  different  forms  the  same  senti- 
ment is  developed  by  different  races  and  in  different  languages.  It 
is  an  Epicurean  sentiment,  indeed,  but  its  universality  proves  its 
truth  to  nature. 

27  Some  of  the  provinces  and  places  thus  conquered  were  held  by 
the  allied  powers  in  common;  Tlacopan,  however,  only  receiving 
one-fifth  of  the  tribute.  It  was  more  usual  to  annex  the  vanquished 
territory  to  that  one  of  the  two  great  states  to  which  it  lay  nearest. 
See  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  38.— Zurita,  Rapport,  p.  11. 


GOLDEN  AGE  OF  TEZCUCO  191 

scarcely  a  spot  so  rude,  or  a  steep  so  inaccessible, 
as  not  to  confess  the  power  of  cultivation.  The 
land  was  covered  with  a  busy  population,  and 
towns  and  cities  sprang  up  in  places  since  deserted 
or  dwindled  into  miserable  villages.28 

From  resources  thus  enlarged  by  conquest  and 
domestic  industry,  the  monarch  drew  the  means  for 
the  large  consumption  of  his  own  numerous  house- 
hold,29 and  for  the  costly  works  which  he  executed 
for  the  convenience  and  embellishment  of  the  capi- 
tal. He  filled  it  with  stately  edifices  for  his  nobles, 
whose  constant  attendance  he  was  anxious  to  se- 
cure at  his  court.30  He  erected  a  magnificent  pile 
of  buildings  which  might  serve  both  for  a  royal 

**  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  41.  The  same  writer,  in 
another  work,  calls  the  population  of  Tezcuco,  at  this  period,  double 
of  what  it  was  at  the  Conquest;  founding  his  estimate  on  the  royal 
registers,  and  on  the  numerous  remains  of  edifices  still  visible  in  his 
day,  in  places  now  depopulated.  "  Parece  en  las  historias  que  en 
este  tiempo,  antes  que  se  destruyesen,  havia  doblado  mas  gente  de  la 
que  hallo  al  tiempo  que  vino  Cortes,  y  los  demas  Espanoles:  porque 
yo  hallo  en  los  padrones  reales,  que  el  menor  pueblo  tenfa  1100  veci- 
nos,  y  de  allf  para  arriba,  y  ahora  no  tienen  200  vecinos,  y  aun  en 
algunas  partes  de  todo  punto  se  han  acabado.  .  .  .  Como  se  hecha 
de  ver  en  las  ruinas,  hasta  los  mas  altos  montes  y  sierras  tenian  sus 
sementeras,  y  casas  principales  para  vivir  y  morar."  Relaciones, 
MS.,  No.  9. 

29  Torquemada  has  extracted  the  particulars  of  the  yearly  expendi- 
ture of  the  palace  from  the  royal  account-book,  which  came  into  the 
historian's  possession.  The  following  are  some  of  the  items,  namely: 
4,900,300  fanegas  of  maize  (the  fanega  is  equal  to  about  one  hun- 
dred pounds)  <  2,744,000  fanegas  of  cacao;  8000  turkeys;  1300  baskets 
of  salt;  besides  an  incredible  quantity  of  game  of  every  kind,  vege- 
tables, condiments,  etc.  (Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  2,  cap.  53.)  See,  also, 
Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  35. 

'"There  were  more  than  four  hundred  of  these  lordly  residences: 
"  Asf  mismo  hizo  edificar  muchas  casas  y  palacios  para  los  senores 
y  cavalleros,  que  asistian  en  su  corte,  cada  uno  conforme  a  la  calidad 
y  meritos  de  su  persona,  las  quales  llegaron  &  ser  mas  de  quatrocien- 
tas  tasas  de  senores  y  cavalleros  de  solar  conocldo."  Ibid.,  cap.  38. 


192  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

residence  and  for  the  public  offices.  It  extended, 
from  east  to  west,  twelve  hundred  and  thirty-four 
yards,  and  from  north  to  south,  nine  hundred  and 
seventy-eight.*  It  was  encompassed  by  a  wall  of 
unburnt  bricks  and  cement,  six  feet  wide  and  nine 
high  for  one  half  of  the  circumference,  and  fifteen 
feet  high  for  the  other  half.  Within  this  enclosure 
were  two  courts.  The  outer  one  was  used  as  the 
great  market-place  of  the  city,  and  continued  to  be 
so  until  long  after  the  Conquest, — if,  indeed,  it  is 
not  now.  The  interior  court  was  surrounded  by 
the  council-chambers  and  halls  of  justice.  There 
were  also  accommodations  there  for  the  foreign 
ambassadors;  and  a  spacious  saloon,  with  apart- 
ments opening  into  it,  for  men  of  science  and  poets, 
who  pursued  their  studies  in  this  retreat  or  met  to- 
gether to  hold  converse  under  its  marble  porticoes. 
In  this  quarter,  also,  were  kept  the  public  archives, 
which  fared  better  under  the  Indian  dynasty  than 
they  have  since  under  their  European  successors.31 
Adjoining  this  court  were  the  apartments  of  the 
king,  including  those  for  the  royal  harem,  as  lib- 
erally supplied  with  beauties  as  that  of  an  Eastern 
sultan.  Their  walls  were  incrusted  with  alabasters 


31  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  36.  "  Esta  plaza  cercada  de 
portales,  y  tenia  asi  mismo  por  la  parte  del  poniente  otra  sala  grande, 
y  muchos  quartos  a  la  redonda,  que  era  la  universidad,  en  donde 
asistian  todos  los  poetas,  historicos,  y  phi!6sophos  del  reyno,  dividi- 
dos  en  sus  claves,  y  academias,  con  forme  era  la  facultad  de  cada 
uno,  y  asi  mismo  estaban  aquf  los  archives  reales." 

*  Bancroft,  Native  Races,  vol.  ii.  p.  162,  points  out  a  mistake  in 
translation  here,  Prescott  having  made  the  estado  the  same  meas- 
ure as  the  vara.  The  wall  was  three  times  a  man's  stature  for  one 
half  its  circumference  and  five  times  a  man's  stature  for  the  other 
half.— M. 


GOLDEN  AGE  OF  TEZCUCO  193 

and  richly-tinted  stucco,  or  hung  with  gorgeous 
tapestries  of  variegated  feather-work.*  They  led 
through  long  arcades,  and  through  intricate  laby- 
rinths of  shrubbery,  into  gardens  where  baths  and 
sparkling  fountains  were  overshadowed  by  tall 
groves  of  cedar  and  cypress.  The  basins  of  water 
were  well  stocked  with  fish  of  various  kinds,  and 
the  aviaries  with  birds  glowing  in  all  the  gaudy 
plumage  of  the  tropics.  Many  birds  and  animals 
which  could  not  be  obtained  alive  were  represented 
in  gold  and  silver  so  skilfully  as  to  have  furnished 
the  great  naturalist  Hernandez  with  models  for  his 
work.32 

Accommodations  on  a  princely  scale  were  pro- 
vided for  the  sovereigns  of  Mexico  and  Tlacopan 

32  This  celebrated  naturalist  was  sent  by  Philip  II  to  New  Spain, 
and  he  employed  several  years  in  compiling  a  voluminous  work  on 
its  various  natural  productions,  with  drawings  illustrating  them. 
Although  the  government  is  said  to  have  expended  sixty  thousand 
ducats  in  effecting  this  great  object,  the  volumes  were  not  published 
till  long  after  the  author's  death.  In  1651  a  mutilated  edition  of  the 
part  of  the  work  relating  to  medical  botany  appeared  at  Rome.— The 
original  MSS.  were  supposed  to  have  been  destroyed  by  the  great  fire 
in  the  Escorial,  not  many  years  after.  Fortunately,  another  copy, 
in  the  author's  own  hand,  was  detected  by  the  indefatigable  Mufloz, 
in  the  library  of  the  Jesuits'  College  at  Madrid,  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  last  century;  and  a  beautiful  edition,  from  the  famous  press  of 
Ibarra,  was  published  in  that  capital,  under  the  patronage  of  govern- 
ment, in  1790.  (Hist.  Plantarum,  Praefatio.— Nic.  Antonio,  Bib- 
liotheca  Hispana  Nova  (Matriti,  1790),  torn.  iii.  p.  432.)  The  work 
of  Hernandez  is  a  monument  of  industry  and  erudition,  the  more 
remarkable  as  being  the  first  on  this  difficult  subject.  And,  after 
all  the  additional  light  from  the  labors  of  later  naturalists,  it  still 
holds  its  place  as  a  book  of  the  highest  authority,  for  the  perspi- 
cuity, fidelity,  and  thoroughness  with  which  the  multifarious  topics 
in  it  are  discussed. 

*  The  reader  who  is  familiar  with  the  history  of  the  Moors  in 
Spain  must  inevitably  be  reminded  of  the  palace  in  Cordova  when 
he  peruses  these  pages.— M. 


194  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

when  they  visited  the  court.  The  whole  of  this 
lordly  pile  contained  three  hundred  apartments, 
some  of  them  fifty  yards  square.33  The  height  of 
the  building  is  not  mentioned.  It  was  probably 
not  great,  but  supplied  the  requisite  room  by  the 
immense  extent  of  ground  which  it  covered.  The 
interior  was  doubtless  constructed  of  light  mate- 
rials, especially  of  the  rich  woods  which,  in  that 
country,  are  remarkable,  when  polished,  for  the 
brilliancy  and  variety  of  their  colors.  That  the 
more  solid  materials  of  stone  and  stucco  were  also 
liberally  employed  is  proved  by  the  remains  at  the 
present  day;  remains  which  have  furnished  an  in- 
exhaustible quarry  for  the  churches  and  other  edi- 
fices since  erected  by  the  Spaniards  on  the  site  of 
the  ancient  city.34 

We  are  not  informed  of  the  time  occupied  in 
building  this  palace.  But  two  hundred  thousand 
workmen,  it  is  said,  were  employed  on  it.35  How- 
ever this  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  the  Tezcucan 
monarchs,  like  those  of  Asia  and  ancient  Egypt, 
had  the  control  of  immense  masses  of  men,  and 
would  sometimes  turn  the  whole  population  of  a 

"  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  36. 

84 "  Some  of  the  terraces  on  which  it  stood,"  says  Mr.  Bullock, 
speaking  of  this  palace,  "  are  still  entire,  and  covered  with  cement, 
very  hard,  and  equal  in  beauty  to  that  found  in  ancient  Roman  build- 
ings. .  .  .  The  great  church,  which  stands  close  by,  is  almost  entirely 
built  of  the  materials  taken  from  the  palace,  many  of  the  sculptured 
stones  from  which  may  be  seen  in  the  walls,  though  most  of  the  orna- 
ments are  turned  inwards.  Indeed,  our  guide  informed  us  that  who- 
ever built  a  house  at  Tezcuco  made  the  ruins  of  the  palace  serve 
as  his  quarry."  (Six  Months  in  Mexico,  chap.  26.)  Torquemada 
notices  the  appropriation  of  the  materials  to  the  same  purpose.  Mo- 
narch. Ind.,  lib.  2,  cap.  45. 

45  Ixtlilxochitl,  MS.,  ubi  supra. 


GOLDEN  AGE  OF  TEZCUCO  195 

conquered  city,  including  the  women,  into  the  pub- 
lic \vorks.36  The  most  gigantic  monuments  of 
architecture  which  the  world  has  witnessed  would 
never  have  been  reared  by  the  hands  of  freemen. 

Adjoining  the  palace  were  buildings  for  the 
king's  children,  who,  by  his  various  wives,  amo-mted 
to  no  less  than  sixty  sons  and  fifty  daughters.37 
Here  they  were  instructed  in  all  the  exercises  and 
accomplishments  suited  to  their  station;  compre- 
hending, what  would  scarcely  find  a  place  in  a  royal 
education  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  the  arts 
of  working  in  metals,  jewelry,  and  feather-mosaic. 
Once  in  every  four  months,  the  whole  household, 
not  excepting  the  youngest,  and  including  all  the 
officers  and  attendants  on  the  king's  person,  assem- 
bled in  a  grand  saloon  of  the  palace,  to  listen  to  a 
discourse  from  an  orator,  probably  one  of  the 
priesthood.  The  princes,  on  this  occasion,  were  all 
dressed  in  nequen,  the  coarsest  manufacture  of  the 
country.  The  preacher  began  by  enlarging  on  the 
obligations  of  morality  and  of  respect  for  the  gods, 
especially  important  in  persons  whose  rank  gave 
such  additional  weight  to  example.  He  occasion- 
ally seasoned  his  homily  with  a  pertinent  applica- 
tion to  his  audience,  if  any  member  of  it  had  been 
guilty  of  a  notorious  delinquency.  From  this 

34  Thus,  to  punish  the  Chalcas  for  their  rebellion,  the  whole  popu- 
lation were  compelled,  women  as  well  as  men,  says  the  chronicler  so 
often  quoted,  to  labor  on  the  royal  edifices  for  four  years  together; 
and  large  granaries  were  provided  with  stores  for  their  maintenance 
in  the  mean  time.  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  46. 

"If  the  people  in  general  were  not  much  addicted  to  polygamy, 
the  sovereign,  it  must  be  confessed,— and  it  was  the  same,  we  shall 
see,  in  Mexico,— made  ample  amends  for  any  self-denial  on  the  part 
of  his  subjects. 


196  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

wholesome  admonition  the  monarch  himself  was 
not  exempted,  and  the  orator  boldly  reminded  him 
of  his  paramount  duty  to  show  respect  for  his  own 
laws.  The  king,  so  far  from  taking  umbrage,  re- 
ceived the  lesson  with  humility;  and  the  audience, 
we  are  assured,  were  often  melted  into  tears  by  the 
eloquence  of  the  preacher.38  This  curious  scene 
may  remind  one  of  similar  usages  in  the  Asiatic 
and  Egyptian  despotisms,  where  the  sovereign  oc- 
casionally condescended  to  stoop  from  his  pride  of 
place  and  allow  his  memory  to  be  refreshed  with 
the  conviction  of  his  own  mortality.39  It  soothed 
the  feelings  of  the  subject  to  find  himself  thus 
placed,  though  but  for  a  moment,  on  a  level  with 
his  king;  while  it  cost  little  to  the  latter,  who  was 
removed  too  far  from  his  people  to  suffer  anything 
by  this  short-lived  familiarity.  It  is  probable  that 
such  an  act  of  public  humiliation  would  have  found 
less  favor  with  a  prince  less  absolute. 

Nezahualcoyotl's  fondness  for  magnificence  was 
shown  in  his  numerous  villas,  which  were  embel- 
lished with  all  that  could  make  a  rural  retreat  de- 
lightful. His  favorite  residence  was  at  Tezcot- 
zinco,  a  conical  hill  about  two  leagues  from  the 
capital.40  It  was  laid  out  in  terraces,  or  hanging 
gardens,  having  a  flight  of  steps  five  hundred  and 

"  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  37. 

*  The  Egyptian  priests  managed  the  affair  in  a  more  courtly  style, 
and,  while  they  prayed  that  all  sorts  of  kingly  virtues  might  descend 
on  the  prince,  they  threw  the  blame  of  actual  delinquencies  on  his 
ministers;  thus,  "not  by  the  bitterness  of  reproof,"  says  Diodorus, 
"  but  by  the  allurements  of  praise,  enticing  him  to  an  honest  way  of 
life."  Lib.  1,  cap.  70. 

40  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  42.— See  Appendix,  Part  2, 
No.  3,  for  the  original  description  of  this  royal  residence. 


GOLDEN  AGE  OF  TEZCUCO  197 

twenty  in  number,  many  of  them  hewn  in  the 
natural  porphyry.41  In  the  garden  on  the  summit 
was  a  reservoir  of  water,  fed  by  an  aqueduct  that 
was  carried  over  hill  and  valley,  for  several  miles, 
on  huge  buttresses  of  masonry.  A  large  rock  stood 
in  the  midst  of  this  basin,  sculptured  with  the  hiero- 
glyphics representing  the  years  of  Nezahualco- 
yotl's  reign  and  his  principal  achievements  in 
each.42  On  a  lower  level  were  three  other  reser- 
voirs, in  each  of  which  stood  a  marble  statue  of  a 
wroman,  emblematic  of  the  three  states  of  the  em- 
pire.* Another  tank  contained  a  winged  lion,  ( ?) 
cut  out  of  the  solid  rock,  bearing  in  its  mouth  the 
portrait  of  the  emperor.43  His  likeness  had  been 
executed  in  gold,  wood,  feather- work,  and  stone; 
but  this  was  the  only  one  which  pleased  him. 

From  these  copious  basins  the  water  was  dis- 
tributed in  numerous  channels  through  the  gar- 

41 "  Quinientos  y  veynte  escalones."  Davilla  Padilla,  Historia  de 
la  Provincia  de  Santiago  (Madrid,  1596),  lib.  2,  cap.  81.— This  writer, 
who  lived  in  the  sixteenth  century,  counted  the  steps  himself.  Those 
which  were  not  cut  in  the  rock  were  crumbling  into  ruins,  as,  indeed, 
every  part  of  the  establishment  was  even  then  far  gone  to  decay. 

42  On  the  summit  of  the  mount,  according  to  Padilla,  stood  an 
image  of  a  coyotl, — an  animal  resembling  a  fox, — which,  according 
to  tradition,  represented  an  Indian  famous  for  his  fasts.  It  was  de- 
stroyed by  that  stanch  iconoclast,  Bishop  Zumarraga,  as  a  relic  of 
idolatry.  (Hist,  de  Santiago,  lib.  2,  cap.  81.)  This  figure  was,  no 
doubt,  the  emblem  of  Nezahualcoyotl  himself,  whose  name,  as  else- 
where noticed,  signified  "  hungry  fox."  f 

a  "  Hecho  de  una  pena  un  Icon  de  mas  de  dos  brazas  de  largo  con 
sus  alas  y  plumas:  estaba  hechado  y  mirando  &  la  parte  del  oriente, 
en  cuia  boca  asomaba  un  rostro,  que  era  el  mismo  retrato  del  Rey.'" 
Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  42. 

*  [Bancroft,  Native  Races,  ii.  p.  171,  says  these  figures  were  not 
statues  but  were  all  cut  on  the  face  of  the  rock  border.— M.] 

t  ["Fasting  coyote."  This  animal,  "  resembling  a  fox,"  is  familiar 
enough  to  those  who  dwell  in  our  far  Western  States.— M.J 


198  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

dens,  or  was  made  to  tumble  over  the  rocks  in 
cascades,  shedding  refreshing  dews  on  the  flowers 
and  odoriferous  shrubs  below.  In  the  depths  of 
this  fragrant  wilderness,  marble  porticoes  and  pa- 
vilions were  erected,  and  baths  excavated  in  the 
solid  porphyry,  which  are  still  shown  by  the  igno- 
rant natives  as  the  "Baths  of  Montezuma  " ! 44 
The  visitor  descended  by  steps  cut  in  the  living 
stone  and  polished  so  bright  as  to  reflect  like  mir- 
rors.45 Towards  the  base  of  the  hill,  in  the  midst 
of  cedar  groves,  whose  gigantic  branches  threw  a 
refreshing  coolness  over  the  verdure  in  the  sultriest 
seasons  of  the  year,46  rose  the  royal  villa,  with  its 

44  Bullock  speaks  of  a  beautiful  basin,  twelve  feet  long  by  eight 
wide,  having  a  well  five  feet  by  four  deep  in  the  centre,  etc.,  etc. 
Whether  truth  lies  in  the  bottom  of  this  well  is  not  so  clear.  Latrobe 
describes  the  baths  as  "  two  singular  basins,  perhaps  two  feet  and  a 
half  in  diameter,  not  large  enough  for  any  monarch  bigger  than 
Oberon  to  take  a  duck  in."  (Comp.  Six  Months  in  Mexico,  chap. 
26;  and  Rambler  in  Mexico,  Let.  7.)  Ward  speaks  much  to  the  same 
purpose  (Mexico  in  1827  (London,  1828),  vol.  ii.  p.  296),  which 
agrees  with  verbal  accounts  I  have  received  of  the  same  spot.* 

45 "  Gradas  hechas  de  la  misma  pena  tan  bien  gravadas  y  lizas  que 
parecian  espejos."  ( Ixtlilxochitl,  MS.,  ubi  supra.)  The  travellers 
just  cited  notice  the  beautiful  polish  still  visible  in  the  porphyry. 

48  Padilla  saw  entire  pieces  of  cedar  among  the  ruins,  ninety  feet 
long  and  four  in  diameter.  Some  of  the  massive  portals,  he  observed, 
were  made  of  a  single  stone.  (Hist,  de  Santiago,  lib.  11,  cap.  81.) 
Peter  Martyr  notices  an  enormous  wooden  beam,  used  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  palaces  of  Tezcuco,  which  was  one  hundred  and 
twenty  feet  long  by  eight  feet  in  diameter !  The  accounts  of  this  and 
similar  huge  pieces  of  timber  were  so  astonishing,  he  adds,  that  he 
could  not  have  received  them  except  on  the  most  unexceptionable 
testimony.  De  Orbe  Novo,  dec.  5,  cap.  10.  f 

*  [Mayer,  "  Mexico  as  it  Was  and  Is,"  gives  a  picture  of  this 
"bath,"  p.  234.— M.] 

f  [Those  who  have  seen  the  giant  Sequoias  of  California  can  easily 
believe  in  those  "  enormous  wooden  beams."  The  "  Grizzly  Giant,"  still 
standing  in  the  Mariposa  grove,  is  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  feet 
high  and  considerably  more  than  thirty  feet  in  diameter  at  the  ground. 


GOLDEN  AGE  OF  TEZCUCO  199 

light  arcades  and  airy  halls,  drinking  in  the  sweet 
perfumes  of  the  gardens.  Here  the  monarch  often 
retired,  to  throw  off  the  burden  of  state  and  refresh 
his  wearied  spirits  in  the  society  of  his  favorite 
wives,  reposing  during  the  noontide  heats  in  the 
embowering  shades  of  his  paradise,  or  mingling,  in 
the  cool  of  the  evening,  in  their  festive  sports  and 
dances.  Here  he  entertained  his  imperial  brothers 
of  Mexico  and  Tlacopan,  and  followed  the  hardier 
pleasures  of  the  chase  in  the  noble  woods  that 
stretched  for  miles  around  his  villa,  flourishing  in 
all  their  primeval  majesty.  Here,  too,  he  often 
repaired  in  the  latter  days  of  his  life,  when  age  had 
tempered  ambition  and  cooled  the  ardor  of  his 
blood,  to  pursue  in  solitude  the  studies  of  philoso- 
phy and  gather  wisdom  from  meditation. 

The  extraordinary  accounts  of  the  Tezcucan 
architecture  are  confirmed,  in  the  main,  by  the 
relics  which  still  cover  the  hill  of  Tezcotzinco  or  are 
half  buried  beneath  its  surface.  They  attract  little 
attention,  indeed,  in  the  country,  where  their  true 
history  has  long  since  passed  into  oblivion; 47  while 
the  traveller  whose  curiosity  leads  him  to  the  spot 
speculates  on  their  probable  origin,  and,  as  he 
stumbles  over  the  huge  fragments  of  sculptured 

47  It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  the  Mexican  government  should 
not  take  a  deeper  interest  in  the  Indian  antiquities.  What  might  not 
be  effected  by  a  few  hands  drawn  from  the  idle  garrisons  of  some  of 
the  neighboring  towns  and  employed  in  excavating  this  ground,  "  the 
Mount  Palatine"  of  Mexico!  But,  unhappily,  the  age  of  violence 
has  been  succeeded  by  one  of  apathy. 

Eleven  feet  from  the  ground  it  is  more  than  sixty-four  feet  in  cir- 
cumference. The  Sequoias  were  not  discovered  until  almost  ten  years 
after  Prescott  wrote  this  note.— M.] 


200  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

porphyry  and  granite,  refers  them  to  the  primitive 
races  who  spread  their  colossal  architecture  over 
the  country  long  before  the  coming  of  the  Acol- 
huans  and  the  Aztecs.48 

The  Tezcucan  princes  were  used  to  entertain  a 
great  number  of  concubines.  They  had  but  one 
lawful  wife,  to  whose  issue  the  crown  descended.49 
Nezahualcoyotl  remained  unmarried  to  a  late  pe- 
riod. He  was  disappointed  in  an  early  attachment, 
as  the  princess  who  had  been  educated  in  privacy 
to  be  the  partner  of  his  throne  gave  her  hand  to 
another.  The  injured  monarch  submitted  the  af- 
fair to  the  proper  tribunal.  The  parties,  however, 
were  proved  to  have  been  ignorant  of  the  destina- 
tion of  the  lady,  and  the  court,  with  an  indepen- 
dence which  reflects  equal  honor  on  the  judges  who 
could  give  and  the  monarch  who  could  receive  the 
sentence,  acquitted  the  young  couple.  This  story 
is  sadly  contrasted  by  the  following.50 

The  king  devoured  his  chagrin  in  the  solitude  of 
his  beautiful  villa  of  Tezcotzinco,  or  sought  to  di- 
vert it  by  travelling.  On  one  of  his  journeys  he 

48 "  They  are  doubtless,"  says  Mr.  Latrobe,  speaking  of  what  he 
calls  "  these  inexplicable  ruins,"  "  rather  of  Toltec  than  Aztec  origin, 
and,  perhaps,  with  still  more  probability,  attributable  to  a  people  of 
an  age  yet  more  remote."  (Rambler  in  Mexico,  Let.  7.)  "I  am  of 
opinion,"  says  Mr.  Bullock,  "that  these  were  antiquities  prior  to  the 
discovery  of  America,  and  erected  by  a  people  whose  history  was  lost 
even  before  the  building  of  the  city  of  Mexico.— Who  can  solve  this 
difficulty?"  (Six  Months  in  Mexico,  ubi  supra.)  The  reader  who 
takes  Ixtlilxochitl  for  his  guide  will  have  no  great  trouble  in  solving 
it.  He  will  find  here,  as  he  might,  probably,  in  some  other  instances, 
that  one  need  go  little  higher  than  the  Conquest  for  the  origin  of 
antiquities  which  claim  to  be  coeval  with  Phoenicia  and  ancient 
Egypt. 

"Zurita,  Rapport,  p.  12. 

w  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  43. 


ACCOMPLISHED   PRINCES  201 

was  hospitably  entertained  by  a  potent  vassal,  the 
old  lord  of  Tepechpan,  who,  to  do  his  sovereign 
more  honor,  caused  him  to  be  attended  at  the  ban- 
quet by  a  noble  maiden,  betrothed  to  himself,  and 
who,  after  the  fashion  of  the  country,  had  been 
educated  under  his  own  roof.  She  was  of  the  blood 
royal  of  Mexico,  and  nearly  related,  moreover,  to 
the  Tezcucan  monarch.  The  latter,  who  had  all 
the  amorous  temperament  of  the  South,  was  capti- 
vated by  the  grace  and  personal  charms  of  the 
youthful  Hebe,  and  conceived  a  violent  passion  for 
her.  He  did  not  disclose  it  to  any  one,  however, 
but,  on  his  return  home,  resolved  to  gratify  it, 
though  at  the  expense  of  his  own  honor,  by  sweep- 
ing away  the  only  obstacle  which  stood  in  his 
path. 

He  accordingly  sent  an  order  to  the  chief  of  Te- 
pechpan to  take  command  of  an  expedition  set  on 
foot  against  the  Tlascalans.  At  the  same  time  he 
instructed  two  Tezcucan  chiefs  to  keep  near  the 
person  of  the  old  lord,  and  bring  him  into  the  thick- 
est of  the  fight,  where  he  might  lose  his  life.  He 
assured  them  this  had  been  forfeited  by  a  great 
crime,  but  that,  from  regard  for  his  vassal's  past 
services,  he  was  willing  to  cover  up  his  disgrace 
by  an  honorable  death. 

The  veteran,  who  had  long  lived  in  retirement  on 
his  estates,  saw  himself  with  astonishment  called 
so  suddenly  and  needlessly  into  action,  for  which 
so  many  younger  men  were  better  fitted.  He  sus- 
pected the  cause,  and,  in  the  farewell  entertainment 
to  his  friends,  uttered  a  presentiment  of  his  sad 
destiny.  His  predictions  were  too  soon  verified; 


202  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

and  a  few  weeks  placed  the  hand  of  his  virgin  bride 
at  her  own  disposal. 

Nezahualcoyotl  did  not  think  it  prudent  to  break 
his  passion  publicly  to  the  princess  so  soon  after 
the  death  of  his  victim.  He  opened  a  correspon- 
dence with  her  through  a  female  relative,  and  ex- 
pressed his  deep  sympathy  for  her  loss.  At  the 
same  time,  he  tendered  the  best  consolation  in  his 
power,  by  an  offer  of  his  heart  and  hand.  Her 
former  lover  had  been  too  well  stricken  in  years  for 
the  maiden  to  remain  long  inconsolable.  She  was 
not  aware  of  the  perfidious  plot  against  his  life; 
and,  after  a  decent  time,  she  was  ready  to  comply 
with  her  duty,  by  placing  herself  at  the  disposal  of 
her  royal  kinsman. 

It  was  arranged  by  the  king,  in  order  to  give  a 
more  natural  aspect  to  the  affair  and  prevent  all 
suspicion  of  the  unworthy  part  he  had  acted,  that 
the  princess  should  present  herself  in  his  grounds 
at  Tezcotzinco,  to  witness  some  public  ceremony 
there.  Nezahualcoyotl  was  standing  in  a  balcony 
of  the  palace  when  she  appeared,  and  inquired,  as 
if  struck  with  her  beauty  for  the  first  time,  "  who 
the  lovely  young  creature  was,  in  his  gardens." 
When  his  courtiers  had  acquainted  him  with  her 
name  and  rank,  he  ordered  her  to  be  conducted  to 
the  palace,  that  she  might  receive  the  attentions 
due  to  her  station.  The  interview  was  soon  fol- 
lowed by  a  public  declaration  of  his  passion;  and 
the  marriage  was  celebrated  not  long  after,  with 
great  pomp,  in  the  presence  of  his  court,  and  of 
his  brother  monarchs  of  Mexico  and  Tlacopan.51 

51  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  43. 


.   ACCOMPLISHED   PRINCES  203 

This  story,  which  furnishes  so  obvious  a  counter- 
part to  that  of  David  and  Uriah,  is  told  with  great 
circumstantiality,  both  by  the  king's  son  and 
grandson,  from  whose  narratives  Ixtlilxochitl  de- 
rived it.52  They  stigmatize  the  action  as  the  bas- 
est in  their  great  ancestor's  life.  It  is  indeed  too 
base  not  to  leave  an  indelible  stain  on  any  character, 
however  pure  in  other  respects,  and  exalted. 

The  king  was  strict  in  the  execution  of  his  laws, 
though  his  natural  disposition  led  him  to  temper 
justice  with  mercy.  Many  anecdotes  are  told  of 
the  benevolent  interest  he  took  in  the  concerns  of 
his  subjects,  and  of  his  anxiety  to  detect  and  re- 
ward merit,  even  in  the  most  humble.  It  was 
common  for  him  to  ramble  among  them  in  disguise, 
like  the  celebrated  caliph  in  the  "Arabian  Nights," 
mingling  freely  in  conversation,  and  ascertaining 
their  actual  condition  with  his  own  eyes.53 

On  one  such  occasion,  when  attended  only  by  a 
single  lord,  he  met  with  a  boy  who  was  gathering 
sticks  in  a  field  for  fuel.  He  inquired  of  him 
"  why  he  did  not  go  into  the  neighboring  forest, 
where  he  would  find  a  plenty  of  them."  To  which 
the  lad  answered,  "  It  was  the  king's  wood,  and  he 
would  punish  him  with  death  if  he  trespassed 
there."  The  royal  forests  were  very  extensive  in 
Tezcuco,  and  were  guarded  by  laws  full  as  severe 
as  those  of  the  Norman  tyrants  in  England. 
"  What  kind  of  man  is  your  king? "  asked  the 

"  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  43. 

83 "  En  traje  de  cazador  (que  lo  acostumbraba  &  hacer  muy  de 
ordinario),  saliendo  a  solas,  y  disfrazado  para  que  no  fuese  conocido, 
&,  reconocer  las  faltas  y  necesidad  que  havia  en  la  republica  para  re- 
mediarlas."  Idem,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  46. 


204  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

monarch,  willing  to  learn  the  effect  of  these  prohi- 
bitions on  his  own  popularity.  "  A  very  hard 
man,"  answered  the  boy,  "  who  denies  his  people 
what  God  has  given  them." 54  Nezahualcoyotl 
urged  him  not  to  mind  such  arbitrary  laws,  but  to 
glean  his  sticks  in  the  forest,  as  there  was  no  one 
present  who  would  betray  him.  But  the  boy 
sturdily  refused,  bluntly  accusing  the  disguised 
king,  at  the  same  time,  of  being  a  traitor,  and  of 
wishing  to  bring  him  into  trouble. 

Nezahualcoyotl,  on  returning  to  the  palace,  or- 
dered the  child  and  his  parents  to  be  summoned 
before  him.  They  received  the  orders  with  aston- 
ishment, but,  on  entering  the  presence,  the  boy  at 
once  recognized  the  person  with  whom  he  had  dis- 
coursed so  unceremoniously,  and  he  was  filled  with 
consternation.  The  good-natured  monarch,  how- 
ever, relieved  his  apprehensions,  by  thanking  him 
for  the  lesson  he  had  given  him,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  commended  his  respect  for  the  laws,  and 
praised  his  parents  for  the  manner  in  which  they 
had  trained  their  son.  He  then  dismissed  the  par- 
ties with  a  liberal  largess,  and  afterwards  miti- 
gated the  severity  of  the  forest  laws,  so  as  to  allow 
persons  to  gather  any  wood  they  might  find  on  the 
ground,  if  they  did  not  meddle  with  the  standing 
timber.05 

Another  adventure  is  told  of  him,  with  a  poor 
woodman  and  his  wife,  who  had  brought  their  little 
load  of  billets  for  sale  to  the  market-place  of  Tez- 
cuco.  The  man  was  bitterly  lamenting  his  hard 

84  "  Un  hombresillo  miserable,  pues  quita  &  los  hombres  lo  que  Dios 
a  manos  llenas  les  da."    Ixtlilxochitl,  loc.  cit. 
"  Ibid.,  cap.  46. 


ACCOMPLISHED   PRINCES  205 

lot,  and  the  difficulty  with  which  he  earned  a 
wretched  subsistence,  while  the  master  of  the  palace 
before  which  they  were  standing  lived  an  idle  life, 
without  toil,  and  with  all  the  luxuries  in  the  world 
at  his  command. 

He  was  going  on  in  his  complaints,  when  the 
good  woman  stopped  him,  by  reminding  him  he 
might  be  overheard.  He  was  so,  by  Nezahualco- 
yotl  himself  who,  standing  screened  from  observa- 
tion at  a  latticed  window  which  overlooked  the 
market,  was  amusing  himself,  as  he  was  wont,  with 
observing  the  common  people  chaffering  in  the 
square.  He  immediately  ordered  the  querulous 
couple  into  his  presence.  They  appeared  trem- 
bling and  conscience-struck  before  him.  The  king 
gravely  inquired  what  they  had  said.  As  they  an- 
swered him  truly,  he  told  them  they  should  reflect 
that,  if  he  had  ^great  treasures  at  his  command,  he 
had  still  greater  calls  for  them ;  that,  far  from  lead- 
ing an  easy  life,  he  was  oppressed  with  the  whole 
burden  of  government;  and  concluded  by  admon- 
ishing them  "to  be  more  cautious  in  future,  as 
walls  had  ears."  56  He  then  ordered  his  officers  to 
bring  a  quantity  of  cloth  and  a  generous  supply  of 
cacao  (the  coin  of  the  country),  and  dismissed 
them.  "  Go,"  said  he;  "  with  the  little  you  now 
have,  you  will  be  rich ;  while,  with  all  my  riches,  I 
shall  still  be  poor."  67 

It  was  not  his  passion  to  hoard.    He  dispensed 

••"  Porque  las  paredes  oian."  (Ixtlilxochitl,  loc.  cit.)  A  European 
proverb  among  the  American  aborigines  looks  too  strange  not  to 
make  one  suspect  the  hand  of  the  chronicler. 

57  "Le  dijo,  que  con  aquello  poco  le  bastaba,  y  viviria  bien  aventu- 
rado;  y  el,  con  toda  la  maquina  que  le  parecia  que  tenia  arto,  no 
tenia  nada;  y  asi  lo  despidi6."  Ixtlilxochitl,  loc.  cit. 


206  CONQUEST   OF  MEXICO 

his  revenues  munificently,  seeking  out  poor  but 
meritorious  objects  on  whom  to -bestow  them.  He 
was  particularly  mindful  of  disabled  soldiers,  and 
those  who  had  in  any  way  sustained  loss  in  the 
public  service,  and,  in  case  of  their  death,  ex- 
tended assistance  to  their  surviving  families. 
Open  mendicity  was  a  thing  he  would  never 
tolerate,  but  chastised  it  with  exemplary 
rigor.58 

It  would  be  incredible  that  a  man  of  the  en- 
larged mind  and  endowments  of  Nezahualcoyotl 
should  acquiesce  in  the  sordid  superstitions  of  his 
countrymen,  and  still  more  in  the  sanguinary  rites 
borrowed  by  them  from  the  Aztecs.  In  truth, 
his  humane  temper  shrunk  from  these  cruel 
ceremonies,  and  he  strenuously  endeavored  to 
recall  his  people  to  the  more  pure  and  simple 
worship  of  the  ancient  Toltecs.  A  circumstance 
produced  a  temporary  change  in  his  con- 
duct. 

He  had  been  married  some  years  to  the  wife  he 
had  so  unrighteously  obtained,  but  was  not  blessed 
with  issue.  The  priests  represented  that  it  was 
owing  to  his  neglect  of  the  gods  of  his  country,  and 
that  his  only  remedy  was  to  propitiate  them  by 
human  sacrifice.  The  king  reluctantly  consented, 
and  the  altars  once  more  smoked  with  the  blood  of 
slaughtered  captives.  But  it  was  all  in  vain;  and 
he  indignantly  exclaimed,  "  These  idols  of  wood 
and  stone  can  neither  hear  nor  feel ;  much  less  could 
they  make  the  heavens,  and  the  earth,  and  man,  the 
lord  of  it.  These  must  be  the  work  of  the  all- 

88  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  46. 


ACCOMPLISHED   PRINCES  207 

powerful,  unknown  God,  Creator  of  the  universe, 
on  whom  alone  I  must  rely  for  consolation  and 
support."  59 

He  then  withdrew  to  his  rural  palace  of  Tezcot- 
zinco,  where  he  remained  forty  days,  fasting  and 
praying  at  stated  hours,  and  offering  up  no  other 
sacrifice  than  the  sweet  incense  of  copal,  and  aro- 
matic herbs  and  gums.  At  the  expiration  of  this 
time,  he  is  said  to  have  been  comforted  by  a  vision 
assuring  him  of  the  success  of  his  petition.  At  all 
events,  such  proved  to  be  the  fact ;  and  this  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  cheering  intelligence  of  the  triumph 
of  his  arms  in  a  quarter  where  he  had  lately  expe- 
rienced some  humiliating  reverses.60 

Greatly  strengthened  in  his  former  religious 
convictions,  he  now  openly  professed  his  faith,  and 
was  more  earnest  to  wean  his  subjects  from  their 
degrading  superstitions  and  to  substitute  nobler 
and  more  spiritual  conceptions  of  the  Deity.  He 
built  a  temple  in  the  usual  pyramidal  form,  and  on 
the  summit  a  tower  nine  stories  high,  to  represent 
the  nine  heavens ;  a  tenth  was  surmounted  by  a  roof 
painted  black,  and  profusely  gilded  with  stars,  on 

58 "  Verdaderamente  los  Dioses  que  io  adoro,  que  son  fdolos  de 
piedra  que  no  hablan,  ni  sienten,  no  pudidron  hacer  ni  formar  la  her- 
mosura  del  cielo,  el  sol,  luna,  y  estrellas  que  lo  hermosean,  y  dan  luz 
&  la  tierra,  rios,  aguas  y  fuentes,  arboles,  y  plantas  que  la  hermosean, 
las  gentes  que  la  poseen,  y  todo  lo  criado;  algun  Dios  muy  poderoso, 
oculto,  y  no  conocido  es  el  Criador  de  todo  el  universo.  El  solo  es  el 
que  puede  consolarme  en  mi  afliccion,  y  socorrerme  en  tan  grande 
angustia  como  mi  corazon  siente."  MS.  de  Ixtlilxochitl. 

60  MS.  de  Ixtlilxochitl.— The  manuscript  here  quoted  is  one  of  the 
many  left  by  the  author  on  the  antiquities  of  his  country,  and  forms 
part  of  a  voluminous  compilation  made  in  Mexico  by  Father  Vega, 
in  1792,  by  order  of  the  Spanish  government.  See  Appendix,  Part 
2,  No.  2. 


208  CONQUEST  OF   MEXICO 

the  outside,  and  incrusted  with  metals  and  precious 
stones  within.  He  dedicated  this  to  fe  the  unknown 
God,  the  Cause  of  causes" 61  It  seems  probable, 
from  the  emblem  on  the  tower,  as  well  as  from  the 
complexion  of  his  verses,  as  we  shall  see,  that  he 
mingled  with  his  reverence  for  the  Supreme  the 
astral  worship  which  existed  among  the  Toltecs.62 
Various  musical  instruments  were  placed  on  the 
top  of  the  tower,  and  the  sound  of  them,  accom- 
panied by  the  ringing  of  a  sonorous  metal  struck 
by  a  mallet,  summoned  the  worshippers  to  prayers, 
at  regular  seasons.63  No  image  was  allowed  in  the 
edifice,  as  unsuited  to  the  "  invisible  God;  "  and  the 
people  were  expressly  prohibited  from  profaning 
the  altars  with  blood,  or  any  other  sacrifices  than 
that  of  the  perfume  of  flowers  and  sweet-scented 
gums. 

The  remainder  of  his  days  was  chiefly  spent  in 
his  delicious  solitudes  of  Tezcotzinco,  where  he  de- 
voted himself  to  astronomical  and,  probably,  as- 
trological studies,  and  to  meditation  on  his  im- 
mortal destiny,— giving  utterance  to  his  feelings 
in  songs,  or  rather  hymns,  of  much  solemnity  and 
pathos.  An  extract  from  one  of  these  will  convey 

"  "  Al  Dios  no  conocido,  causa  de  las  causas."    MS.  de  Ixtlilxochitl. 

02  Their  earliest  temples  were  dedicated  to  the  sun.  The  moon 
they  worshipped  as  his  wife,  and  the  stars  as  his  sisters.  (Veytia, 
Hist,  antig.,  torn.  i.  cap.  25.)  The  ruins  still  existing  at  Teotihuacan, 
about  seven  leagues  from  Mexico,  are  supposed  to  have  been  temples 
raised  by  this  ancient  people  in  honor  of  the  two  great  deities. 
Boturini,  Idea,  p.  42. 

83  MS.  de  Ixtlilxochitl.— "  This  was  evidently  a  gong,"  says  Mr. 
Ranking,  who  treads  with  enviable  confidence  over  the  "  suppositos 
cineres  "  in  the  path  of  the  antiquary.  See  his  Historical  Researches 
on  the  Conquest  of  Peru,  Mexico,  etc.,  by  the  Mongols  (London, 
1827),  p.  310. 


ACCOMPLISHED   PRINCES  209 

some  idea  of  his  religious  speculations.  The  pen- 
sive tenderness  of  the  verses  quoted  in  a  preceding 
page  is  deepened  here  into  a  mournful,  and  even 
gloomy,  coloring ;  while  the  wounded  spirit,  instead 
of  seeking  relief  in  the  convivial  sallies  of  a  young 
and  buoyant  temperament,  turns  for  consolation  to 
the  world  beyond  the  grave: 

"  All  things  on  earth  have  their  term,  and,  in 
the  most  joyous  career  of  their  vanity  and  splen- 
dor, their  strength  fails,  and  they  sink  into  the 
dust.  All  the  round  world  is  but  a  sepulchre ;  and 
there  is  nothing  which  lives  on  its  surface  that  shall 
not  be  hidden  and  entombed  beneath  it.  Rivers, 
torrents,  and  streams  move  onward  to  their  desti- 
nation. Not  one  flows  back  to  its  pleasant  source. 
They  rush  onward,  hastening  to  bury  themselves 
in  the  deep  bosom  of  the  ocean.  The  things  of  yes- 
terday are  no  more  to-day ;  and  the  things  of  to-day 
shall  cease,  perhaps,  on  the  morrow.64  The  ceme- 
tery is  full  of  the  loathsome  dust  of  bodies,  once 
quickened  by  living  souls,  who  occupied  thrones, 
presided  over  assemblies,  marshalled  armies,  sub- 
dued provinces,  arrogated  to  themselves  worship, 
were  puffed  up  with  vainglorious  pomp,  and 
power,  and  empire. 

"  But  these  glories  have  all  passed  away,  like  the 
fearful  smoke  that  issues  from  the  throat  of  Popo- 

M"Toda  la  redondez  de  la  tierra  es  un  sepulcro:  no  hay  cosa  que 
sustente  que  con  tftulo  de  piedad  no  la  esconda  y  entierre.  Corren 
los  rios,  los  arroyos,  las  fuentes,  y  las  aguas,  y  ningunas  retroceden 
para  sus  alegres  nacimientos :  aceleranse  con  ansia  para  los  vastos 
dominios  de  Tluloca  [Neptuno],  y  cuanto  mas  se  arriman  a  sus  dila- 
tadas  margenes,  tanto  mas  van  labrando  las  melanc611cas  urnas  para 
sepultarse.  Lo  que  fu6  ayer  no  es  hoy,  ni  lo  de  hoy  se  afianza  que 
sera  manana.'' 


210  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

catepetl,  with  no  other  memorial  of  their  existence 
than  the  record  on  the  page  of  the  chronicler. 

"  The  great,  the  wise,  the  valiant,  the  beautiful, 
— alas!  where  are  they  now?  They  are  all  mingled 
with  the  clod;  and  that  which  has  befallen  them 
shall  happen  to  us,  and  to  those  that  come  after  us. 
Yet  let  us  take  courage,  illustrious  Viobles  and 
chieftains,  true  friends  and  loyal  subjects, — let  us 
aspire  to  that  heaven  where  all  is  eternal  and  cor- 
ruption cannot  come.65  The  horrors  of  the  tomb 
are  but  the  cradle  of  the  Sun,  and  the  dark  shadows 
of  death  are  brilliant  lights  for  the  stars."  66  The 
mystic  import  of  the  last  sentence  seems  to  point 
to  that  superstition  respecting  the  mansions  of  the 
Sun,  which  forms  so  beautiful  a  contrast  to  the 
dark  features  of  the  Aztec  mythology. 

At  length,  about  the  year  1470,67  Nezahualco- 

85 "  Aspiremos  al  cielo,  que  alii  todo  es  eterno  y  nada  se  corrompe." 
88 "  El  horror  del  sepulcro  es  lisongera  cuna  para  61,  y  las  f unestas 
sombras,  brillantes  luces  para  los  astros." — The  original  text  and  a 
Spanish  translation  of  this  poem  first  appeared,  I  believe,  in  a  work 
of  Grenados  y  Galvez.  (Tardes  Americanas  (Mexico,  1778),  p.  90, 
et  seq.)  The  original  is  in  the  Otomi  tongue,  and  both,  together  with 
a  French  version,  have  been  inserted  by  M.  Ternaux-Compans  in  the 
Appendix  to  his  translation  of  Ixtlilxochitl's  Hist,  des  Chichimeques 
(torn.  i.  pp.  359-367).  Bustamante,  who  has,  also,  published  the 
Spanish  version  in  his  Galeria  de  antiguos  Prfncipes  Mejicanos 
(Puebla,  1821,  pp.  16,  17),  calls  it  the  "Ode  of  the  Flower,"  which 
was  recited  at  a  banquet  of  the  great  Tezcucan  nobles.  If  this  last, 
however,  be  the  same  mentioned  by  Torquemada  (Monarch.  Ind., 
lib.  2,  cap.  45),  it  must  have  been  written  in  the  Tezcucan  tongue; 
and,  indeed,  it  is  not  probable  that  the  Otomi,  an  Indian  dialect,  so 
distinct  from  the  languages  of  Anahuac,  however  well  understood  by 
the  royal  poet,  could  have  been  comprehended  by  a  miscellaneous 
audience  of  his  countrymen. 

87  An  approximation  to  a  date  is  the  most  one  can  hope  to  arrive 
at  with  Ixtlilxochitl,  who  has*  entangled  his  chronology  in  a  manner 
beyond  my  skill  to  unravel.  Thus,  after  telling  us  that  Nezahual- 
coyotl  was  fifteen  years  old  when  his  father  was  slain  in  1418,  he  says 


ACCOMPLISHED   PRINCES  211 

yotl,  full  of  years  and  honors,  felt  himself  drawing 
near  his  end.  Almost  half  a  century  had  elapsed 
since  he  mounted  the  throne  of  Tezcuco.  He  had 
found  his  kingdom  dismembered  by  faction  and 
bowed  to  the  dust  beneath  the  yoke  of  a  foreign 
tyrant.  He  had  broken  that  yoke;  had  breathed 
new  life  into  the  nation,  renewed  its  ancient  insti- 
tutions, extended  wide  its  domain;  had  seen  it 
flourishing  in  all  the  activity  of  trade  and  agricul- 
ture, gathering  strength  from  its  enlarged  re- 
sources, and  daily  advancing  higher  and  higher 
in  the  great  march  of  civilization.  All  this  he 
had  seen,  and  might  fairly  attribute  no  small 
portion  of  it  to  his  own  wise  and  beneficent  rule. 
His  long  and  glorious  day  was  now  drawing 
to  its  close;  and  he  contemplated  the  event  with 
the  same  serenity  which  he  had  shown  under 
the  clouds  of  its  morning  and  in  its  meridian 
splendor. 

A  short  time  before  his  death,  he  gathered 
around  him  those  of  his  children  in  whom  he  most 
confided,  his  chief  counsellors,  the  ambassadors  of 
Mexico  and  Tlacopan,  and  his  little  son,  the  heir 
to  the  crown,  his  only  offspring  by  the  queen.  He 
was  then  not  eight  years  old,  but  had  already  given, 
as  far  as  so  tender  a  blossom  might,  the  rich  prom- 
ise of  future  excellence.68 

After  tenderly  embracing  the  child,  the  dying 
monarch  threw  over  him  the  robes  of  sovereignty. 
He  then  gave  audience  to  the  ambassadors,  and, 

he  died  at  the  age  of  seventy-one,  in  1462.     Inttar  omnium.    Comp. 
Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  18,  19,  49. 
"  MS.  de  Ixtlilxochitl,-also  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  49. 


212  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

when  they  had  retired,  made  the  boy  repeat  the 
substance  of  the  conversation.  He  followed  this 
by  such  counsels  as  were  suited  to  his  comprehen- 
sion, and  which,  when  remembered  through  the 
long  vista  of  after-years,  would  serve  as  lights  to 
guide  him  in  his  government  of  the  kingdom.  He 
besought  him  not  to  neglect  the  worship  of  "  the 
unknown  God,"  regretting  that  he  himself  had 
been  unworthy  to  know  him,  and  intimating  his 
conviction  that  the  time  would  come  when  he 
should  be  known  and  worshipped  throughout  the 
land.69 

He  next  addressed  himself  to  that  one  of  his 
sons  in  whom  he  placed  the  greatest  trust,  and 
whom  he  had  selected  as  the  guardian  of  the  realm. 
"  From  this  hour,"  said  he  to  him,  "  you  will  fill  the 
place  that  I  have  filled,  of  father  to  this  child ;  you 
will  teach  him  to  live  as  he  ought;  and  by  your 
counsels  he  will  rule  over  the  empire.  Stand  in  his 
place,  and  be  his  guide,  till  he  shall  be  of  age  to 
govern  for  himself."  Then,  turning  to  his  other 
children,  he  admonished  them  to  live  united  with 
one  another,  and  to  show  all  loyalty  to  their  prince, 
who,  though  a  child,  already  manifested  a  discre- 
tion far  above  his  years.  "  Be  true  to  him,"  he 
added,  "  and  he  will  maintain  you  in  your  rights 
and  dignities."  70 


* "  No  consentiendo  que  haya  sacrificios  de  gente  humana,  que 
Dios  se  enoja  de  ello,  castigando  con  rigor  a  los  que  lo  hicieren;  que 
el  dolor  que  llevo  es  no  tener  luz,  ni  conocimiento,  ni  ser  merecedor 
de  conocer  tan  gran  Dios,  el  qual  tengo  por  cierto  que  ya  que  los 
presentes  no  lo  conozcan,  ha  de  venir  tiempo  en  que  sea  conocido  y 
adorado  en  esta  tierra."  MS.  de  Ixtlilxochitl. 

'"Idem,  ubi  supra;  also  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  49. 


ACCOMPLISHED   PRINCES  213 

Feeling  his  end  approaching,  he  exclaimed,  "  Do 
not  bewail  me  with  idle  lamentations.  But  sing 
the  song  of  gladness,  and  show  a  courageous  spirit, 
that  the  nations  I  have  subdued  may  not  believe 
you  disheartened,  but  may  feel  that  each  one  of  you 
is  strong  enough  to  keep  them  in  obedience !  "  The 
undaunted  spirit  of  the  monarch  shone  forth  even 
in  the  agonies  of  death.  That  stout  heart,  how- 
ever, melted,  as  he  took  leave  of  his  children  and 
friends,  weeping  tenderly  over  them,  while  he  bade 
each  a  last  adieu.  When  they  had  withdrawn,  he 
ordered  the  officers  of  the  palace  to  allow  no  one 
to  enter  it  again.  Soon  after,  he  expired,  in  the 
seventy-second  year  of  his  age,  and  the  forty-third 
of  his  reign.71 

Thus  died  the  greatest  monarch,  and,  if  one  foul 
blot  could  be  effaced,  perhaps  the  best,  who  ever 
sat  upon  an  Indian  throne.  His  character  is  de- 
lineated with  tolerable  impartiality  by  his  kinsman, 
the  Tezcucan  chronicler:  "He  was  wise,  valiant, 
liberal ;  and,  when  we  consider  the  magnanimity  of 
his  soul,  the  grandeur  and  success  of  his  enter- 
prises, his  deep  policy,  as  well  as  daring,  we  must 
admit  him  to  have  far  surpassed  every  other  prince 
and  captain  of  this  New  World.  He  had  few  fail- 
ings himself,  and  rigorously  punished  those  of 
others.  He  preferred  the  public  to  his  private  in- 
terest ;  was  most  charitable  in  his  nature,  often  buy- 
ing articles,  at  double  their  worth,  of  poor  and 
honest  persons,  and  giving  them  away  again  to  the 
sick  and  infirm.  In  seasons  of  scarcity  he  was  par- 
ticularly bountiful,  remitting  the  taxes  of  his 

"  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  49. 


CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

vassals,  and  supplying  their  wants  from  the  royal 
granaries.  He  put  no  faith  in  the  idolatrous  wor- 
ship of  the  country.  He  was  well  instructed  in 
moral  science,  and  sought,  above  all  things,  to 
obtain  light  for  knowing  the  true  God.  He  be- 
lieved in  one  God  only,  the  Creator  of  heaven  and 
earth,  by  whom  we  have  our  being,  who  never  re- 
vealed himself  to  us  in  human  form,  nor  in  any 
other;  with  whom  the  souls  of  the  virtuous  are  to 
dwell  after  death,  while  the  wicked  will  suffer 
pains  unspeakable.  He  invoked  the  Most  High, 
as  '  He  by  whom  we  live,'  and  '  Who  has  all 
things  in  himself.'  He  recognized  the  Sun  for  his 
father,  and  the  Earth  for  his  mother.  He  taught 
his  children  not  to  confide  in  idols,  and  only  to  con- 
form to  the  outward  worship  of  them  from  defer- 
ence to  public  opinion.72  If  he  could  not  entirely 
abolish  human  sacrifices,  derived  from  the  Aztecs, 
he  at  least  restricted  them  to  slaves  and  cap- 
tives." 73 

I  have  occupied  so  much  space  with  this  illus- 
trious prince  that  but  little  remains  for  his  son  and 
successor,  Nezahualpilli.  I  have  thought  it  better, 
in  our  narrow  limits,  to  present  a  complete  view  of 
a  single  epoch,  the  most  interesting  in  the  Tezcu- 
can  annals,  than  to  spread  the  inquiries  over  a 
broader  but  comparatively  barren  field.  Yet  Ne- 
zahualpilli,  the  heir  to  the  crown,  was  a  remark- 
able person,  and  his  reign  contains  many  inci- 


1 "  Solia  amonestar  &  sus  hijos  en  secreto  que  no  adorasen  a  aque- 
llas  figuras  de  fdolos,  y  que  aquello  que  hiciesen  en  publico  fuese 
solo  por  cumplimiento."    Ixtlilxochitl. 
73  Idem,  ubi  supra. 


ACCOMPLISHED   PRINCES  215 

dents  which  I  regret  to  be  obliged  to  pass  over  in 
silence.74 

He  had,  in  many  respects,  a  taste  similar  to  his 
father's,  and,  like  him,  displayed  a  profuse  mag- 
nificence in  his  way  of  living  and  in  his  public  edi- 
fices. He  was  more  severe  in  his  morals,  and,  in 
the  execution  of  justice,  stern  even  to  the  sacrifice 
of  natural  affection.  Several  remarkable  instances 
of  this  are  told;  one,  among  others,  in  relation  to 
his  eldest  son,  the  heir  to  the  crown,  a  prince  of 
great  promise.  The  young  man  entered  into  a 
poetical  correspondence  with  one  of  his  father's 
concubines,  the  lady  of  Tula,  as  she  was  called,  a 
woman  of  humble  origin,  but  of  uncommon  endow- 
ments. She  wrote  verses  with  ease,  and  could  dis- 
cuss graver  matters  with  the  king  and  his  ministers. 
She  maintained  a  separate  establishment,  where  she 
lived  in  state,  and  acquired,  by  her  beauty  and  ac- 
complishments, great  ascendency  over  her  royal 
lover.75  With  this  favorite  the  prince  carried  on  a 

74  The  name  Nezahualpilli  signifies  "  the  prince  for  whom  one  has 
fasted,"— in  allusion,  no  doubt,  to  the  long  fast  of  his  father  previous 
to  his  birth.  (See  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  45.)  I  have 
explained  the  meaning  of  the  equally  euphonious  name  of  his  parent, 
Nezahualcoyotl.  (Ante,  ch.  4.)  If  it  be  true  that 

"  Caesar  or  Epaminondas 
Could  ne'er  without  names  have  been  known  to  us," 

it  is  no  less  certain  that  such  names  as  those  of  the  two  Tezcucan 
princes,  so  difficult  to  be  pronounced  or  remembered  by  a  European, 
are  most  unfavorable  to  immortality. 

75 "  De  las  concubinas  la  que  mas  privd  con  el  rey  fu£  la  que  llama- 
ban  la  Sefiora  de  Tula,  no  por  linage,  sino  porque  era  hija  de  un 
mercader,  y  era  tan  sabia  que  competia  con  el  rey  y  con  los  mas 
sabios  de  su  reyno,  y  era  en  la  poesfa  muy  aventajada,  que  con  estas 
gracias  y  dones  naturales  tenia  al  rey  muy  sugeto  &  su  voluntad  de 
tal  manera  que  lo  que  queria  alcanzaba  de  61,  y  asf  vivia  sola  por  si 
con  grande  aparato  y  magestad  en  unos  palacios  que  el  rey  le  mandti 
edificar."  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  57. 


216  CONQUEST  OF   MEXICO 

correspondence  in  verse,— whether  of  an  amorous 
nature  does  not  appear.  At  all  events,  the  offence 
was  capital.  It  was  submitted  to  the  regular  tri- 
bunal, who  pronounced  sentence  of  death  on  the 
unfortunate  youth ;  and  the  king,  steeling  his  heart 
against  all  entreaties  and  the  voice  of  nature,  suf- 
fered the  cruel  judgment  to  be  carried  into  execu- 
tion. We  might,  in  this  case,  suspect  the  influence 
of  baser  passions  on  his  mind,  but  it  was  not  a 
solitary  instance  of  his  inexorable  justice  towards 
those  most  near  to  him.  He  had  the  stern  virtue 
of  an  ancient  Roman,  destitute  of  the  softer 
graces  which  make  virtue  attractive.  When 
the  sentence  was  carried  into  effect,  he  shut  him- 
self up  in  his  palace  for  many  weeks,  and  com- 
manded the  doors  and  windows  of  his  son's  resi- 
dence to  be  walled  up,  that  it  might  never  again  be 
occupied.76 

Nezahualpilli  resembled  his  father  in  his  passion 
for  astronomical  studies,  and  is  said  to  have  had  an 
observatory  on  one  of  his  palaces.77  He  was  de- 
voted to  war  in  his  youth,  but,  as  he  advanced  in 
years,  resigned  himself  to  a  more  indolent  way  of 

70  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  67.— The  Tezcucan  historian 
records  several  appalling  examples  of  this  severity, — one  in  particu- 
lar, in  relation  to  his  guilty  wife.  The  story,  reminding  one  of  the 
tales  of  an  Oriental  harem,  has  been  translated  for  the  Appendix, 
Part  2,  No.  4.  See  also  Torquemada  (Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  2,  cap.  66), 
and  Zurita  (Rapport,  pp.  108,  109).  He  was  the  terror,  in  particular, 
of  all  unjust  magistrates.  They  had  little  favor  to  expect  from  the 
man  who  could  stifle  the  voice  of  nature  in  his  own  bosom  in  obedi- 
ence to  the  laws.  As  Suetonius  said  of  a  prince  who  had  not  his 
virtue,  "  Vehemens  et  in  coercendis  quidem  delictis  immodicus." 
Vita  Galbae,  sec.  9. 

"  Torquemada  saw  the  remains  of  this,  or  what  passed  for  such,  in 
his  day.  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  2,  cap.  64. 


ACCOMPLISHED   PRINCES  217 

life,  and  sought  his  chief  amusement  in  the  pursuit 
of  his  favorite  science,  or  in  the  soft  pleasures  of 
the  sequestered  gardens  of  Tezcotzinco.  This 
quiet  life  was  ill  suited  to  the  turbulent  temper  of 
the  times,  and  of  his  Mexican  rival,  Montezuma. 
The  distant  provinces  fell  off  from  their  alle- 
giance ;  the  army  relaxed  its  discipline ;  disaffection 
crept  into  its  ranks;  and  the  wily  Montezuma, 
partly  by  violence,  and  partly  by  stratagems  un- 
worthy of  a  king,  succeeded  in  plundering  his 
brother  monarch  of  some  of  his  most  valuable  do- 
mains. Then  it  was  that  he  arrogated  to  himself 
the  title  and  supremacy  of  emperor,  hitherto 
borne  by  the  Tezcucan  princes  as  head  of  the  alli- 
ance. Such  is  the  account  given  by  the  historians 
of  that  nation,  who  in  this  way  explain  the  acknow- 
ledged superiority  of  the  Aztec  sovereign,  both  in 
territory  and  consideration,  on  the  landing  of  the 
Spaniards.78 

These  misfortunes  pressed  heavily  on  the  spirits 
of  Nezahualpilli.  Their  effect  was  increased  by 
certain  gloomy  prognostics  of  a  near  calamity 
which  was  to  overwhelm  the  country.79  He  with- 
drew to  his  retreat,  to  brood  in  secret  over  his  sor- 
rows. His  health  rapidly  declined ;  and  in  the  year 
1515,  at  the  age  of  fifty-two,  he  sank  into  the 

78  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  73,  74.— This  sudden  transfer 
of  empire  from  the  Tezcucans,  at  the  close  of  the  reigns  of  two  of 
their  ablest  monarchs,  is  so  improbable  that  one  cannot  but  doubt 
if  they  ever  possessed  it,— at  least  to  the  extent  claimed  by  the 
patriotic  historian.  See  ante,  chap.  1,  note  25,  and  the  correspond- 
ing text. 

"  Ibid.,  cap.  72.— The  reader  will  find  a  particular  account  of 
these  prodigies,  better  authenticated  than  most  miracles,  in  a  future 
page  of  this  history. 


218  CONQUEST  OF   MEXICO 

grave ; 80  happy,  at  least,  that  by  this  timely  death 
he  escaped  witnessing  the  fulfilment  of  his  own 
predictions,  in  the  ruin  of  his  country,  and  the  ex- 
tinction of  the  Indian  dynasties  forever.81 

In  reviewing  the  brief  sketch  here  presented  of 
the  Tezcucan  monarchy,  we  are  strongly  impressed 
with  the  conviction  of  its  superiority,  in  all  the 
great  features  of  civilization,  over  the  rest  of  Ana- 
huac.  The  Mexicans  showed  a  similar  proficiency, 
no  doubt,  in  the  mechanic  arts,  and  even  in  mathe- 
matical science.  But  in  the  science  of  government, 
in  legislation,  in  speculative  doctrines  of  a  religious 
nature,  in  the  more  elegant  pursuits  of  poetry,  elo- 
quence, and  whatever  depended  on  refinement  of 
taste  and  a  polished  idiom,  they  confessed  them- 
selves inferior,  by  resorting  to  their  rivals  for 
instruction  and  citing  their  works  as  the  master- 
pieces of  their  tongue.  The  best  histories,  the  best 
poems,  the  best  code  of  laws,  the  purest  dialect, 
were  all  allowed  to  be  Tezcucan.  The  Aztecs 
rivalled  their  neighbors  in  splendor  of  living,  and 
even  in  the  magnificence  of  their  structures.  They 
displayed  a  pomp  and  ostentatious  pageantry  truly 
Asiatic.  But  this  was  the  development  of  the  ma- 
terial rather  than  the  intellectual  principle.  They 

80  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  75.— Or,  rather,  at  the  age  of 
fifty,  if  the  historian  is  right  in  placing  his  birth,  as  he  does  in  a  pre- 
ceding chapter,  in  1465.   (See  cap.  46.)    It  is  not  easy  to  decide  what  is 
true,  when  the  writer  does  not  take  the  trouble  to  be  true  to  himself. 

81  His    obsequies   were   celebrated    with   sanguinary    pomp.      Two 
hundred  male  and  one  hundred  female  slaves  were  sacrificed  at  his 
tomb.     His  body  was  consumed,  amidst  a  heap  of  jewels,  precious 
stuffs,  and  incense,  on  a  funeral  pile;  and  the  ashes,  deposited  in  a 
golden  urn,  were  placed  in  the  great  temple  of  Huitzilopochtli,  for 
whose  worship  the  king,  notwithstanding  the  lessons  of  his  father, 
had  some  partiality.     Ixtlilxochitl. 


219 

wanted  the  refinement  of  manners  essential  to  a 
continued  advance  in  civilization.  An  insurmount- 
able limit  was  put  to  theirs  by  that  bloody  mythol- 
ogy which  threw  its  withering  taint  over  the  very 
air  that  they  breathed. 

The  superiority  of  the  Tezcucans  was  owing, 
doubtless,  in  a  great  measure  to  that  of  the  two 
sovereigns  whose  reigns  we  have  been  depicting. 
There  is  no  position  which  affords  such  scope  for 
ameliorating  the  condition  of  man  as  that  occupied 
by  an  absolute  ruler  over  a  nation  imperfectly  civ- 
ilized. From  his  elevated  place,  commanding  all 
the  resources  of  his  age,  it  is  in  his  power  to  diffuse 
them  far  and  wide  among  his  people.  He  may  be 
the  copious  reservoir  on  the  mountain-top,  drinking 
in  the  dews  of  heaven,  to  send  them  in  fertilizing 
streams  along  the  lower  slopes  and  valleys,  clothing 
even  the  wilderness  in  beauty.  Such  were  Neza- 
hualcoyotl  and  his  illustrious  successor,  whose  en- 
lightened policy,  extending  through  nearly  a  cen- 
tury, wrought  a  most  salutary  revolution  in  the 
condition  of  their  country.  It  is  remarkable  that 
we,  the  inhabitants  of  the  same  continent,  should 
be  more  familiar  with  the  history  of  many  a  bar- 
barian chief,  both  in  the  Old  and  New  World,  than 
with  that  of  these  truly  great  men,  whose  names 
are  identified  with  the  most  glorious  period  in  the 
annals  of  the  Indian  races. 

What  was  the  actual  amount  of  the  Tezcucan 
civilization  it  is  not  easy  to  determine,  with  the  im- 
perfect light  afforded  us.  It  was  certainly  far  be- 
low anything  which  the  word  conveys,  measured  by 
a  European  standard.  In  some  of  the  arts,  and 


220  CONQUEST  OF   MEXICO 

in  any  walk  of  science,  they  could  only  have  made, 
as  it  were,  a  beginning.  But  they  had  begun  in 
the  right  way,  and  already  showed  a  refinement  in 
sentiment  and  manners,  a  capacity  for  receiving 
instruction,  which,  under  good  auspices,  might 
have  led  them  on  to  indefinite  improvement.  Un- 
happily, they  were  fast  falling  under  the  dominion 
of  the  warlike  Aztecs.  And  that  people  repaid  the 
benefits  received  from  their  more  polished  neigh- 
bors by  imparting  to  them  their  own  ferocious  su- 
perstition, which,  falling  like  a  mildew  on  the  land, 
would  soon  have  blighted  its  rich  blossoms  of 
promise  and  turned  even  its  fruits  to  dust  and 
ashes. 

Fernando  de  Alva  Ixtlilxochitl,  who  flourished  in  the  beginning  of 
the  sixteenth  century,*  was  a  native  of  Tezcuco,  and  descended  in  a 
direct  line  from  the  sovereigns  of  that  kingdom.  The  royal  posterity 
became  so  numerous  in  a  few  generations  that  it  was  common  to  see 
them  reduced  to  great  poverty  and  earning  a  painful  subsistence 
by  the  most  humble  occupations.  Ixtlilxochitl,  who  was  descended 
from  the  principal  wife  or  queen  of  Nezahualpilli,  maintained  a  very 
respectable  position.  He  filled  the  office  of  interpreter  to  the  vice- 
roy, to  which  he  was  recommended  by  his  acquaintance  with  the 
ancient  hieroglyphics  and  his  knowledge  of  the  Mexican  and  Spanish 
languages.  His  birth  gave  him  access  to  persons  of  the  highest  rank 
in  his  own  nation,  some  of  whom  occupied  important  civil  posts 
under  the  new  government,  and  were  thus  enabled  to  make  large  col- 
lections of  Indian  manuscripts,  which  were  liberally  opened  to  him. 
He  had  an  extensive  library  of  his  own,  also,  and  with  these  means 
diligently  pursued  the  study  of  the  Tezcucan  antiquities.  He  de- 
ciphered the  hieroglyphics,  made  himself  master  of  the  songs  and 
traditions,  and  fortified  his  narrative  by  the  oral  testimony  of  some 
very  aged  persons,  who  had  themselves  been  acquainted  with  the 
Conquerors.  From  such  authentic  sources  he  composed  various 
works  in  the  Castilian,  on  the  primitive  history  of  the  Toltec  and  the 

*  [ Ixtlilxochitl  (born  about  1568)  wrote  in  the  early  part  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  A  certificate  which  he  presented  to  the  viceroy 
bears  the  date  of  November  18,  1608.  The  error  is  apparently  a 
clerical  one;  though  a  previous  passage  in  the  text  seems  to  indicate 
some  confusion  on  the  author's  part.] 


IXTLILXOCHITL 

Tezcucan  races,  continuing  it  down  to  the  subversion  of  the  empire 
by  Cortes.  These  various  accounts,  compiled  under  the  title  of 
Relaciones,  are,  more  or  less,  repetitions  and  abridgments  of  each 
other;  nor  is  it  easy  to  understand  why  they  were  thus  composed. 
The  Historia  Chichimeca  is  the  best  digested  and  most  complete  of 
the  whole  series,  and  as  such  has  been  the  most  frequently  consulted 
for  the  preceding  pages. 

Ixtlilxochitl's  writings  have  many  of  the  defects  belonging  to  his 
age.  He  often  crowds  the  page  with  incidents  of  a  trivial,  and  some- 
times improbable,  character.  The  improbability  increases  with  the 
distance  of  the  period;  for  distance,  which  diminishes  objects  to  the 
natural  eye,  exaggerates  them  to  the  mental.  His  chronology,  as  I 
have  more  than  once  noticed,  is  inextricably  entangled.  He  has  often 
lent  a  too  willing  ear  to  traditions  and  reports  which  would  startle 
the  more  skeptical  criticism  of  the  present  time.  Yet  there  is  an 
appearance  of  good  faith  and  simplicity  in  his  writings,  which  may 
convince  the  reader  that  when  he  errs  it  is  from  no  worse  cause  than 
national  partiality.  And  surely  such  partiality  is  excusable  in  the 
descendant  of  a  proud  line,  shorn  of  its  ancient  splendors,  which  it 
was  soothing  to  his  own  feelings  to  revive  again — though  with  some- 
thing more  than  their  legitimate  lustre — on  the  canvas  of  history. 
It  should  also  be  considered  that,  if  his  narrative  is  sometimes  start- 
ling, his  researches  penetrate  into  the  mysterious  depths  of  antiquity, 
where  light  and  darkness  meet  and  melt  into  each  other,  and  where 
everything  is  still  further  liable  to  distortion,  as  seen  through  the 
misty  medium  of  hieroglyphics.* 

With  these  allowances,  it  will  be  found  that  the  Tezcucan  historian 
has  just  claims  to  our  admiration  for  the  compass  of  his  inquiries 
and  the  sagacity  with  which  they  have  been  conducted.  He  has  intro- 
duced us  to  the  knowledge  of  the  most  polished  people  of  Anahuac, 
whose  records,  if  preserved,  could  not,  at  a  much  later  period,  have 
been  comprehended;  and  he  has  thus  afforded  a  standard  of  compari- 
son which  much  raises  our  ideas  of  American  civilization.  His  lan- 
guage is  simple,  and,  occasionally,  eloquent  and  touching.  His  de- 
scriptions are  highly  picturesque.  He  abounds  in  familiar  anecdote; 
and  the  natural  graces  of  his  manner,  in  detailing  the  more  striking 
events  of  history  and  the  personal  adventures  of  his  heroes,  entitle 
him  to  the  name  of  the  Livy  of  Anahuac. 

I  shall  be  obliged  to  enter  hereafter  into  his  literary  merits,  in  con- 
nection with  the  narrative  of  the  Conquest;  for  which  he  is  a  promi- 
nent authority.  His  earlier  annals — though  no  one  of  his  manu- 
scripts has  been  printed — have  been  diligently  studied  by  the  Spanish 

*  [Sefior  Ramirez  objects  to  this  remark,  on  the  ground  that, 
however  obscure  the  hieroglyphics  may  now  seem,  at  the  time  of 
Ixtlilxochitl  they  were,  in  his  language,  "as  plain  as  our  letters  to 
those  who  were  acquainted  with  them."  Notas  y  Esclarecimientos, 
p.  10.— K.] 


222  CONQUEST  OF   MEXICO 

writers  in  Mexico,  and  liberally  transferred  to  their  pages;  and  his 
reputation,  like  Sahagun's,  has  doubtless  suffered  by  the  process. 
His  Historia  Chichimeca  is  now  turned  into  French  by  M.  Ternaux- 
Compans,  forming  part  of  that  inestimable  series  of  translations 
from  unpublished  documents  which  have  so  much  enlarged  our  ac- 
quaintance with  the  early  American  history.  I  have  had  ample  op- 
portunity of  proving  the  merits  of  his  version  of  Ixtlilxochitl,  and 
am  happy  to  bear  my  testimony  to  the  fidelity  and  elegance  with 
which  it  is  executed. 

NOTE. — In  a  note  which  has  heretofore  appeared  at  the  end  of 
this  first  book  Mr.  Prescott  states  that  it  had  been  his  intention  to 
conclude  the  introductory  portion  of  the  work  with  an  inquiry  into 
the  origin  of  the  Mexican  civilization.  But  because  he  agreed 
with  Humboldt,  that  "  the  general  question  of  the  origin  of  the 
inhabitants  of  a  continent  is  beyond  the  limits  prescribed  to  his- 
tory," and  with  Livy,  that  "  for  the  majority  of  readers  the 
origin  and  remote  antiquities  of  a  nation  can  have  comparatively 
little  interest,"  he  had  decided,  on  further  consideration,  to  throw 
his  observations  on  this  topic  into  the  Appendix.  A  man  of  extraor- 
dinary modesty,  he  feared  lest  the  reader  should  become  so  wearied 
with  his  presentation  of  the  story  of  the  earlier  civilization,  in  the 
first  book,  that  he  would  not  have  energy  enough  left  for  the 
proper  consideration  of  the  tale  of  the  Conquest,  set  forth  with 
such  conscientious  care  in  the  succeeding  chapters.  The  essay  has 
now  been  taken  from  the  Appendix  and  placed  in  its  proper 
position.— M. 


THE   ORIGIN   OF   THE   MEXICAN 
CIVILIZATION 

PRELIMINARY    NOTICE 

fTIHE  following  Essay  was  originally  designed 
A  to  close  the  Introductory  Book,  to  which  it 
properly  belongs.  It  was  written  three  years 
since,  at  the  same  time  with  that  part  of  the  work. 
I  know  of  no  work  of  importance,  having  reference 
to  the  general  subject  of  discussion,  which  has  ap- 
peared since  that  period,  except  Mr.  Bradford's 
valuable  treatise  on  American  Antiquities.  But  in 
respect  to  that  part  of  the  discussion  which  treats 
of  American  Architecture  a  most  important  con- 
tribution has  been  made  by  Mr.  Stephens's  two 
works,  containing  the  account  of  his  visits  to  Cen- 
tral America  and  Yucatan,  and  especially  by  the 
last  of  these  publications.  Indeed,  the  ground, 
before  so  imperfectly  known,  has  now  been  so  dili- 
gently explored  that  we  have  all  the  light  which 
we  can  reasonably  expect  to  aid  us  in  making  up 
our  opinion  in  regard  to  the  mysterious  monuments 
of  Yucatan.  It  only  remains  that  the  exquisite 
illustrations  of  Mr.  Catherwood  should  be  pub- 
lished on  a  larger  scale,  like  the  great  works  on  the 
subject  in  France  and  England,  in  order  to  exhibit 

223 


224  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

to  the  eye  a  more  adequate  representation  of  these 
magnificent  ruins  than  can  be  given  in  the  limited 
compass  of  an  octavo  page. 

But,  notwithstanding  the  importance  of  Mr. 
Stephens's  researches,  I  have  not  availed  myself  of 
them  to  make  any  additions  to  the  original  draft 
of  this  Essay,  nor  have  I  rested  my  conclusions  in 
any  instance  on  his  authority.  These  conclusions 
had  been  formed  from  a  careful  study  of  the  nar- 
ratives of  Dupaix  and  Waldeck,  together  with  that 
of  their  splendid  illustrations  of  the  remains  of 
Palenque  and  Uxmal,  two  of  the  principal  places 
explored  by  Mr.  Stephens ;  and  the  additional  facts 
collected  by  him  from  the  vast  field  which  he  has 
surveyed,  so  far  from  shaking  my  previous  deduc- 
tions, have  only  served  to  confirm  them.  The  only 
object  of  my  own  speculations  on  these  remains 
was  to  ascertain  their  probable  origin,  or  rather  to 
see  what  light,  if  any,  they  could  throw  on  the 
origin  of  Aztec  Civilization.  The  reader,  on  com- 
paring my  reflections  with  those  of  Mr.  Stephens 
in  the  closing  chapters  of  his  two  works,  will  see 
that  I  have  arrived  at  inferences,  as  to  the  origin 
and  probable  antiquity  of  these  structures,  pre- 
cisely the  same  as  his.  Conclusions  formed  under 
such  different  circumstances  serve  to  corroborate 
each  other ;  and,  although  the  reader  will  find  here 
some  things  which  would  have  been  different  had 
I  been  guided  by  the  light  now  thrown  on  the  path, 
yet  I  prefer  not  to  disturb  the  foundations  on 
which  the  argument  stands,  nor  to  impair  its  value 
— if  it  has  any — as  a  distinct  and  independent  tes- 
timony. 


ORIGIN    OF    MEXICAN    CIVILIZATION  225 

ORIGIN  OF  THE  MEXICAN  CIVILIZATION  —  AN  ALOGIES 
WITH  THE  OLD  WORLD 

WHEN  the  Europeans  first  touched  the  shores 
of  America,  it  was  as  if  they  had  alighted  on 
another  planet, — every  thing  there  was  so  dif- 
ferent from  what  they  had  before  seen.  They 
were  introduced  to  new  varieties  of  plants,  and 
to  unknown  races  of  animals;  while  man,  the  lord 
of  all,  was  equally  strange,  in  complexion,  lan- 
guage, and  institutions.1  It  was  what  they  em- 
phatically styled  it, — a  New  World.  Taught  by 
their  faith  to  derive  all  created  beings  from  one 
source,  they  felt  a  natural  perplexity  as  to  the 
manner  in  which  these  distant  and  insulated  regions 
could  have  obtained  their  inhabitants.  The  same 
curiosity  was  felt  by  their  countrymen  at  home, 
and  the  European  scholars  bewildered  their  brains 
with  speculations  on  the  best  way  of  solving  this 
interesting  problem. 

In  accounting  for  the  presence  of  animals  there, 
some  imagined  that  the  two  hemispheres  might 
once  have  been  joined  in  the  extreme  north,  so  as 
to  have  afforded  an  easy  communication.2  Others, 
embarrassed  by  the  difficulty  of  transporting  in- 
habitants of  the  tropics  across  the  Arctic  regions, 

1  The  names  of  many  animals  in  the  New  World,  indeed,  have 
been  frequently  borrowed  from  the  Old;  but  the  species  are  very  dif- 
ferent. "  When  the  Spaniards  landed  in  America,"  says  an  emi- 
nent naturalist,  "  they  did  not  find  a  single  animal  they  were  ac- 
quainted with;  not  one  of  the  quadrupeds  of  Europe,  Asia,  or 
Africa."  Lawrence,  Lectures  on  Physiology,  Zoology,  and  the 
Natural  History  of  Man  (London,  1819),  p.  250. 

*  Acosta,  lib.  1,  cap.  16. 


226  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

revived  the  old  story  of  Plato's  Atlantis,  that  huge 
island,  now  submerged,  which  might  have  stretched 
from  the  shores  of  Africa  to  the  eastern  borders  of 
the  new  continent ;  *  while  they  saw  vestiges  of  a 
similar  convulsion  of  nature  in  the  green  islands 

*  [The  existence  at  some  former  period  of  such  an  island,  or  rather 
continent,  seems  to  be  regarded  by  geologists  as  a  well-attested  fact. 
But  few  would  admit  that  its  subsidence  can  have  taken  place 
through  any  sudden  convulsion  or  within  the  period  of  human  exis- 
tence. Such,  however,  is  the  theory  maintained  by  M.  Brasseur  de 
Bourbourg,  who  dates  the  event  "  six  or  seven  thousand  years  ago," 
and  believes  that  the  traditions  of  it  have  been  faithfully  preserved. 
This  is  the  great  cataclysm  with  which  all  mythology  begins.  It 
may  be  traced  through  the  myths  of  Greece,  Egypt,  India,  and 
America,  all  being  identical  and  having  a  common  origin.  It  is  the 
subject  of  the  Teo-Amoxtli,  of  which  several  of  the  Mexican  manu- 
scripts, the  Borgian  and  Dresden  Codices  in  particular,  are  the  hiero- 
glyphical  transcriptions,  and  of  which  "  the  actual  letter,"  "  in  the 
Nahuatlac  language,"  is  found  in  a  manuscript  in  Boturini's  Collec- 
tion. This  manuscript  is  "  in  appearance "  a  history  of  the  Toltecs 
and  of  the  kings  of  Colhuacan  and  Mexico;  but  "under  the  ciphers 
of  a  fastidious  chronology,  under  the  recital  more  or  less  animated 
of  the  Toltec  history,  are  concealed  the  profoundest  mysteries  con- 
cerning the  geological  origin  of  the  world  in  its  existing  form  and 
the  cradle  of  the  religions  of  antiquity."  The  Toltecs  are  "  telluric 
powers,  agents  of  the  subterranean  fire;  "  they  are  identical  with  the 
Cabiri,  who  reappear  as  the  Cyclops,  having  "  hollowed  an  eye  in 
their  forehead;  that  is  to  say,  raised  themselves  with  masses  of  earth 
above  the  surface  and  filled  the  craters  of  the  volcanoes  with  fire." 
"  The  Chichimecs  and  the  Aztecs  are  also  symbolical  names,  bor- 
rowed from  the  forces  of  nature."  Tollan,  "  the  marshy  or  reedy 
place,"  was  "  the  low,  fertile  region  "  now  covered  by  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico.  Quetzalcoatl  is  "merely  the  personification  of  the  land 
swallowed  up  by  the  ocean."  Tlapallan,  Aztlan,  and  other  names 
are  similarly  explained.  Osiris,  Pan,  Hercules,  and  Bacchus  have 
their  respective  parts  assigned  to  them ;  for  "  not  only  all  the  sources 
of  ancient  mythology,  but  even  the  most  mysterious  details,  even 
the  obscurest  enigmas,  with  which  that  mythology  is  enveloped,  are 
to  be  sought  in  the  two  mediterraneans  hollowed  out  by  the  cata- 
clysm, and  in  the  islands,  great  and  small,  which  separate  them  from 
the  ocean."  (Quatre  Lettres  sur  le  Mexique.)  There  can  be  no 
refutation  of  such  a  theory,  or  of  the  assumptions  on  which  it  rests; 
but  it  may  be  proper  to  remark  that  its  author  has  not  succeeded  in 
deciphering  a  single  hieroglyphical  character,  and  has  published 
no  translation  of  the  real  or  supposed  Teo-Amoxtli,— a  point  on 
which  some  misapprehension  seems  to  exist.— K.] 


ORIGIN    OF    MEXICAN    CIVILIZATION  227 

sprinkled  over  the  Pacific,  once  the  mountain  sum- 
mits of  a  vast  continent,  now  buried  beneath  the 
waters.3  Some,  distrusting  the  existence  of  revo- 
lutions of  which  no  record  was  preserved,  supposed 
that  animals  might  have  found  their  way  across  the 
ocean  by  various  means ;  the  birds  of  stronger  wing 
by  flight  over  the  narrowest  spaces ;  while  the  tamer 
kinds  of  quadrupeds  might  easily  have  been  trans- 
ported by  men  in  boats,  and  even  the  more  fero- 
cious, as  tigers,  bears,  and  the  like,  have  been 
brought  over,  in  the  same  manner,  when  young, 
"  for  amusement  and  the  pleasure  of  the  chase  " ! 4 
Others,  again,  maintained  the  equally  probable 
opinion  that  angels,  who  had,  doubtless,  taken 
charge  of  them  in  the  ark,  had  also  superintended 
their  distribution  afterwards  over  the  different 
parts  of  the  globe.5  Such  were  the  extremities  to 
which  even  thinking  minds  were  reduced,  in  their 
eagerness  to  reconcile  the  literal  interpretation  of 
Scripture  with  the  phenomena  of  nature!  The 
philosophy  of  a  later  day  conceives  that  it  is  no 
departure  from  this  sacred  authority  to  follow  the 
suggestions  of  science,  by  referring  the  new  tribes 
of  animals  to  a  creation,  since  the  deluge,  in  those 
places  for  which  they  were  clearly  intended  by  con- 
stitution and  habits.6 


3  Count  Carli  shows  much  ingenuity  and  learning  in  support  of  the 
famous  Egyptian  tradition,  recorded  by  Plato  in  his  "  Timaeus," — 
of  the  good  faith  of  which  the  Italian  philosopher  nothing  doubts. 
Lettres  Amdric.,  torn.  ii.  let.  36-39. 

4  Garcia,  Orfgen  de  los  Indios  de  el  nuevo  Mundo  (Madrid,  1729), 
cap.  4. 

5  Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  1,  cap.  8. 

8  Prichard,  Researches  into  the  Physical  History  of  Mankind 
(London,  1826),  vol.  i.  p.  81,  et  seq. — He  may  find  an  orthodox  au- 
thority of  respectable  antiquity,  for  a  similar  hypothesis,  in  St.  Au- 


228  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

Man  would  not  seem  to  present  the  same  embar- 
rassments, in  the  discussion,  as  the  inferior  orders. 
He  is  fitted  by  nature  for  every  climate,  the  burn- 
ing sun  of  the  tropics  and  the  icy  atmosphere  of 
the  North.  He  wanders  indifferently  over  the 
sands  of  the  desert,  the  waste  of  polar  snows,  and 
the  pathless  ocean.  Neither  mountains  nor  seas  in- 
timidate him,  and,  by  the  aid  of  mechanical  con- 
trivances, he  accomplishes  journeys  which  birds  of 
boldest  wing  would  perish  in  attempting.  With- 
out ascending  to  the  high  northern  latitudes,  where 
the  continents  of  Asia  and  America  approach 
within  fifty  miles  of  each  other,  it  would  be  easy 
for  the  inhabitant  of  Eastern  Tartary  or  Japan  to 
steer  his  canoe  from  islet  to  islet,  quite  across  to 
the  American  shore,  without  ever  being  on  the 
ocean  more  than  two  days  at  a  time.7  The  com- 
munication is  somewhat  more  difficult  on  the  At- 
lantic side.  But  even  there,  Iceland  was  occupied 
by  colonies  of  Europeans  many  hundred  years 
before  the  discovery  by  Columbus ;  and  the  transit 
from  Iceland  to  America  is  comparatively  easy.8 
Independently  of  these  channels,  others  were 
opened  in  the  Southern  hemisphere,  by  means  of 

gustine,  who  plainly  intimates  his  belief  that,  "  as  by  God's  command, 
at  the  time  of  the  creation,  the  earth  brought  forth  the  living  crea- 
ture after  his  kind,  so  a  similar  process  must  have  taken  place  after 
the  deluge,  in  islands  too  remote  to  be  reached  by  animals  from  the 
continent."  De  Civitate  Dei,  ap.  Opera  (Parisiis,  1636),  torn.  v. 
p.  987. 

T  Beechey,  Voyage  to  the  Pacific  and  Beering's  Strait  (London, 
1831),  Part  2,  Appendix.— Humboldt,  Examen  critique  de  PHistoire 
de  la  Geographic  du  Nouveau-Continent  (Paris,  1837),  torn.  ii.  p.  58. 

8  Whatever  skepticism  may  have  been  entertained  as  to  the  visit  of 
the  Northmen,  in  the  eleventh  century,  to  the  coasts  of  the  great  con- 
tinent, it  is  probably  set  at  rest  in  the  minds  of  most  scholars  since 


the  numerous  islands  in  the  Pacific.  The  popula- 
tion of  America  is  not  nearly  so  difficult  a  problem 
as  that  of  these  little  spots.  But  experience  shows 
how  practicable  the  communication  may  have  been, 
even  with  such  sequestered  places.9  The  savage 
has  been  picked  up  in  his  canoe,  after  drifting  hun- 
dreds of  leagues  on  the  open  ocean,  and  sustain- 
ing life,  for  months,  by  the  rain  from  heaven,  and 
such  fish  as  he  could  catch.10  The  instances  are 
not  very  rare;  and  it  would  be  strange  if  these 
wandering  barks  should  not  sometimes  have  been 
intercepted  by  the  great  continent  which  stretches 
across  the  globe,  in  unbroken  continuity,  almost 
from  pole  to  pole.  No  doubt,  history  could  reveal 
to  us  more  than  one  example  of  men  who,  thus 
driven  upon  the  American  shores,  have  mingled 
their  blood  with  that  of  the  primitive  races  who 
occupied  them. 

the  publication  of  the  original  documents  by  the  Royal  Society  at 
Copenhagen.  (See,  in  particular,  Antiquitates  Americanae  (Hafniae, 
1837),  pp.  79-200.)  How  far  south  they  penetrated  is  not  so  easily 
settled. 

*  The  most  remarkable  example,  probably,  of  a  direct  intercourse 
between  remote  points  is  furnished  us  by  Captain  Cook,  who  found 
the  inhabitants  of  New  Zealand  not  only  with  the  same  religion,  but 
speaking  the  same  language,  as  the  people  of  Otaheite,  distant  more 
than  2000  miles.  The  comparison  of  the  two  vocabularies  establishes 
the  fact.  Cook's  Voyages  (Dublin,  1784),  vol.  i.  book  1,  chap.  8. 

10  The  eloquent  Lyell  closes  an  enumeration  of  some  extraordinary 
and  well-attested  instances  of  this  kind  with  remarking,  "  Were  the 
whole  of  mankind  now  cut  off,  with  the  exception  of  one  family, 
inhabiting  the  old  or  new  continent,  or  Australia,  or  even  some  coral 
islet  of  the  Pacific,  we  should  expect  their  descendants,  though  they 
should  never  become  more  enlightened  than  the  South  Sea  Islanders 
or  the  Esquimaux,  to  spread,  in  the  course  of  ages,  over  the  whole 
earth,  diffused  partly  by  the  tendency  of  population  to  increase  be- 
yond the  means  of  subsistence  in  a  limited  district,  and  partly  by  the 
accidental  drifting  of  canoes  by  tides  and  currents  to  distant  shores." 
Principles  of  Geology  (London,  1832),  vol.  ii.  p.  121. 


230  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

The  real  difficulty  is  not,  as  with  the  animals,  to 
explain  how  man  could  have  reached  America,  but 
from  what  quarter  he  actually  has  reached  it.  In 
surveying  the  whole  extent  of  the  New  World,  it 
was  found  to  contain  two  great  families,  one  in 
the  lowest  stage  of  civilization,  composed  of  hunt- 
ers, and  another  nearly  as  far  advanced  in  refine- 
ment as  the  semi-civilized  empires  of  Asia.  The 
more  polished  races  were  probably  unacquainted 
with  the  existence  of  each  other  on  the  different 
continents  of  America,  and  had  as  little  intercourse 
with  the  barbarian  tribes  by  whom  they  were  sur- 
rounded. Yet  they  had  some  things  in  common 
both  with  these  last  and  with  one  another,  which 
remarkably  distinguished  them  from  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  Old  World.  They  had  a  common  com- 
plexion and  physical  organization, — at  least,  bear- 
ing a  more  uniform  character  than  is  found  among 
the  nations  of  any  other  quarter  of  the  globe. 
They  had  some  usages  and  institutions  in  common, 
and  spoke  languages  of  similar  construction,  curi- 
ously distinguished  from  those  in  the  Eastern 
hemisphere. 

Whence  did  the  refinement  of  these  more  pol- 
ished races  come?  Was  it  only  a  higher  develop- 
ment of  the  same  Indian  character  which  we  see, 
in  the  more  northern  latitudes,  defying  every  at- 
tempt at  permanent  civilization?  Was  it  en- 
grafted on  a  race  of  higher  order  in  the  scale 
originally,  but  self -instructed,  working  its  way  up- 
ward by  its  own  powers?  Was  it,  in  short,  an 
indigenous  civilization  ?  or  was  it  borrowed  in  some 
degree  from  the  nations  in  the  Eastern  World? 


ORIGIN    OF    MEXICAN    CIVILIZATION   231 

If  indigenous,  how  are  we  to  explain  the  singular 
coincidence  with  the  East  in  institutions  and  opin- 
ions? If  Oriental,  how  shall  we  account  for  the 
great  dissimilarity  in  language,  and  for  the  igno- 
rance of  some  of  the  most  simple  and  useful  arts, 
which,  once  known,  it  would  seem  scarcely  possible 
should  have  been  forgotten?  This  is  the  riddle  of 
the  Sphinx,  which  no  (Edipus  has  yet  had  the  in- 
genuity to  solve.  It  is,  however,  a  question  of 
deep  interest  to  every  curious  and  intelligent  ob- 
server of  his  species.  And  it  has  accordingly  occu- 
pied the  thoughts  of  men,  from  the  first  discovery 
of  the  country  to  the  present  time;  when  the 
extraordinary  monuments  brought  to  light  in 
Central  America  have  given  a  new  impulse  to 
inquiry,  by  suggesting  the  probability— the  possi- 
bility, rather — that  surer  evidences  than  any 
hitherto  known  might  be  afforded  for  establishing 
the  fact  of  a  positive  communication  with  the 
other  hemisphere. 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  add  many  pages  to  the 
volumes  already  written  on  this  inexhaustible  topic. 
The  subject — as  remarked  by  a  writer  of  a  philo- 
sophical mind  himself,  and  who  has  done  more  than 
any  other  for  the  solution  of  the  mystery— is  of  too 
speculative  a  nature  for  history,  almost  for  philoso- 
phy.11 But  this  work  would  be  incomplete  without 
affording  the  reader  the  means  of  judging  for 
himself  as  to  the  true  sources  of  the  peculiar  civili- 


11 "  La  question  ge"ne"rale  de  la  premiere  origine  des  habitans  d'un 
continent  est  au-dela  des  limites  prescrites  a  1'histoire;  peut-etre 
meme  n'est-elle  pas  une  question  philosophique."  Humboldt,  Essai 
politique,  torn.  i.  p.  349. 


CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

zation  already  described,  by  exhibiting  to  him  the 
alleged  points  of  resemblance  with  the  ancient 
continent.  In  doing  this,  I  shall  confine  myself 
to  my  proper  subject,  the  Mexicans,  or  to  what,  in 
some  way  or  other,  may  have  a  bearing  on  this 
subject;  proposing  to  state  only  real  points  of  re- 
semblance, as  they  are  supported  by  evidence,  and 
stripped,  as  far  as  possible,  of  the  illusions  with 
which  they  have  been  invested  by  the  pious  cre- 
dulity of  one  party,  and  the  visionary  system- 
building  of  another. 

An  obvious  analogy  is  found  in  cosmogonal 
traditions  and  religious  usages.  The  reader  has 
already  been  made  acquainted  with  the  Aztec  sys- 
tem of  four  great  cycles,  at  the  end  of  each  of 
which  the  world  was  destroyed,  to  be  again  regen- 
erated.12 The  belief  in  these  periodical  convulsions 
of  nature,  through  the  agency  of  some  one  or  other 
of  the  elements,  was  familiar  to  many  countries  in 
the  Eastern  hemisphere;  and,  though  varying  in 
detail,  the  general  resemblance  of  outline  furnishes 
an  argument  in  favor  of  a  common  origin.13 

No  tradition  has  been  more  widely  spread  among 
nations  than  that  of  a  Deluge.  Independently  of 
tradition,  indeed,  it  would  seem  to  be  naturally 
suggested  by  the  interior  structure  of  the  earth, 

"Ante,  p.  75. 

13  The  fanciful  division  of  time  into  four  or  five  cycles  or  ages  was 
found  among  the  Hindoos  (Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  ii.  mem.  7),  the 
Thibetians  (Humboldt,  Vues  des  Cordilleres,  p.  210),  the  Persians 
(Bailly,  Trait6  de  1' Astronomic  (Paris,  1787),  torn.  i.  discours  pre- 
liminaire),  the  Greeks  (Hesiod,  "Epya  KOI  '  Ufispai,  v.  108,  et  seq.), 
and  other  people,  doubtless.  The  five  ages  in  the  Grecian  cosmog- 
ony had  reference  to  moral  rather  than  physical  phenomena,— a 
proof  of  higher  civilization. 


ORIGIN    OF    MEXICAN    CIVILIZATION  233 

and  by  the  elevated  places  on  which  marine  sub- 
stances are  found  to  be  deposited.  It  was  the  re- 
ceived notion,  under  some  form  or  other,  of  the 
most  civilized  people  in  the  Old  World,  and  of  the 
barbarians  of  the  New.14  The  Aztecs  combined 
with  this  some  particular  circumstances  of  a  more 
arbitrary  character,  resembling  the  accounts  of  the 
East.  They  believed  that  two  persons  survived  the 
Deluge, — a  man,  named  Coxcox,  and  his  wife. 
Their  heads  are  represented  in  ancient  paintings, 
together  with  a  boat  floating  on  the  waters,  at  the 
foot  of  a  mountain.  A  dove  is  also  depicted,  with 
the  hieroglyphical  emblem  of  languages  in  his 
mouth,  which  he  is  distributing  to  the  children  of 
Coxcox,  who  were  born  dumb.15  The  neighboring 
people  of  Michoacan,  inhabiting  the  same  high 
plains  of  the  Andes,  had  a  still  further  tradition, 
that  the  boat  in  which  Tezpi,  their  Noah,  escaped, 

14  The  Chaldean  and  Hebrew  accounts  of  the  Deluge  are  nearly 
the  same.     The  parallel  is  pursued  in  Palfrey's  ingenious  Lectures 
on  the  Jewish   Scriptures  and   Antiquities    (Boston,   1840),  vol.   ii. 
lect.  21,  22.    Among  the  pagan  writers,  none  approach  so  near  to  the 
Scripture  narrative  as  Lucian,  who,  in  his  account  of  the  Greek 
traditions,  speaks  of  the  ark,  and  the  pairs  of  different  kinds  of  ani- 
mals.    (De  Dea  Syria,  sec.  12.)     The  same  thing  is  found  in  the 
Bhagawatn   Purana,  a  Hindoo  poem  of  great  antiquity.      (Asiatic 
Researches,  vol.  ii.  mem.  7.)     The  simple  tradition  of  a  universal 
inundation  was  preserved  among  most  of  the  aborigines,  probably, 
of  the  Western  World.     See  McCulloh,  Researches,  p.  147. 

15  This  tradition  of  the   Aztecs  is  recorded   in  an  ancient  hiero- 
glyphical map,  first  published  in  Gemelli  Carreri's  Giro  del  Mondo. 
(See  torn.  vi.  p.  38,  ed.  Napoli,  1700.)     Its  authenticity,  as  well  as  the 
integrity  of  Carreri  himself,  on  which  some  suspicions  have   been 
thrown   (see  Robertson's  America  (London,  1796),  vol.  iii.  note  26), 
has  been  successfully  vindicated  by  Boturini,  Clavigero,  and  Hum- 
boldt,  all  of  whom  trod  in  the  steps  of  the  Italian  traveller.     (Bo- 
turini, Idea,  p.  54.— Humboldt,  Vues  des  Cordilleres,  pp.  223,  224.— 
Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  i.  p.  24.)     The  map  is  a  copy  from 
one  in  the  curious  collection  of  Siguenza.     It  has  all  the  character 


234  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

was  filled  with  various  kinds  of  animals  and  birds. 
After  some  time,  a  vulture  was  sent  out  from  it, 
but  remained  feeding  on  the  dead  bodies  of  the 
giants,  which  had  been  left  on  the  earth,  as  the 
waters  subsided.  The  little  humming-bird,  huit- 
zitzilin.,  was  then  sent  forth,  and  returned  with  a 
twig  in  its  mouth.  The  coincidence  of  both  these 
accounts  with  the  Hebrew  and  Chaldean  narratives 
is  obvious.  It  were  to  be  wished  that  the  authority 
for  the  Michoacan  version  were  more  satisfac- 
tory.16 

On  the  way  between  Vera  Cruz  and  the  capital, 
not  far  from  the  modern  city  of  Puebla,  stands  the 
venerable  relic — with  which  the  reader  will  become 
familiar  in  the  course  of  the  narrative — called  the 
temple  of  Cholula.  It  is  a  pyramidal  mound, 
built,  or  rather  cased,  with  unburnt  brick,  rising 
to  the  height  of  nearly  one  hundred  and  eighty 
feet.  The  popular  tradition  of  the  natives  is 
that  it  was  erected  by  a  family  of  giants,  who 
had  escaped  the  great  inundation  and  designed 

of  a  genuine  Aztec  picture,  with  the  appearance  of  being  retouched, 
especially  in  the  costumes,  by  some  later  artist.  The  painting  of  the 
four  ages,  in  the  Vatican  Codex,  No.  3730,  represents,  also,  the  two 
figures  in  the  boat,  escaping  the  great  cataclysm.  Antiq.  of  Mex- 
ico, vol.  i.  PI.  7. 

18 1  have  met  with  no  other  voucher  for  this  remarkable  tradition 
than  Clavigero  (Stor.  del  Messico,  dissert.  1),  a  good,  though  cer- 
tainly not  the  best,  authority,  when  he  gives  us  no  reason  for  our 
faith.  Humboldt,  however,  does  not  distrust  the  tradition.  (See 
Vues  des  Cordilleres,  p.  226.)  He  is  not  so  skeptical  as  Vater;  who, 
in  allusion  to  the  stories  of  the  Flood,  remarks,  "  I  have  purposely 
omitted  noticing  the  resemblance  of  religious  notions,  for  I  do  not 
see  how  it  is  possible  to  separate  from  such  views  every  influence 
of  Christian  ideas,  if  it  be  only  from  an  imperceptible  confusion 
in  the  mind  of  the  narrator."  Mithridates,  oder  allgemeine  Sprach- 
enkunde  (Berlin,  1812),  Theil  iii.  Abtheil.  3,  p.  82,  note. 


ORIGIN    OF    MEXICAN    CIVILIZATION  235 

to  raise  the  building  to  the  clouds;  but  the  gods, 
offended  with  their  presumption,  sent  fires  from 
heaven  on  the  pyramid,  and  compelled  them  to 
abandon  the  attempt.17  The  partial  coincidence 
of  this  legend  with  the  Hebrew  account  of  the 
tower  of  Babel,  received  also  by  other  nations  of 
the  East,  cannot  be  denied.18  But  one  who  has 
not  examined  the  subject  will  scarcely  credit  what 
bold  hypotheses  have  been  reared  on  this  slender 
basis. 

Another  point  of  coincidence  is  found  in  the 

"  This  story,  so  irreconcilable  with  the  vulgar  Aztec  tradition, 
which  admits  only  two  survivors  of  the  Deluge,  was  still  lingering 
among  the  natives  of  the  place  on  M.  de  Humboldt's  visit  there. 
(Vues  des  Cordilleres,  pp.  31,  32.)  It  agrees  with  that  given  by  the 
interpreter  of  the  Vatican  Codex  (Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  vi.  p.  192, 
et  seq.);  a  writer — probably  a  monk  of  the  sixteenth  century — in 
whom  ignorance  and  dogmatism  contend  for  mastery.  See  a  precious 
specimen  of  both,  in  his  account  of  the  Aztec  chronology,  in  the  very 
pages  above  referred  to. 

18  A  tradition,  very  similar  to  the  Hebrew  one,  existed  among  the 
Chaldeans  and  the  Hindoos.  (Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  iii.  mem.  16.) 
The  natives  of  Chiapa,  also,  according  to  the  bishop  Nunez  de  la 
Vega,  had  a  story,  cited  as  genuine  by  Humboldt  (Vues  des  Cor- 
dilleres, p.  148),  which  not  only  agrees  with  the  Scripture  account 
of  the  manner  in  which  Babel  was  built,  but  with  that  of  the  subse- 
quent dispersion  and  the  confusion  of  tongues.  A  very  marvellous 
coincidence!  But  who  shall  vouch  for  the  authenticity  of  the  tradi- 
tion? The  bishop  flourished  towards  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury. He  drew  his  information  from  hieroglyphical  maps,  and  an 
Indian  MS.,  which  Boturini  in  vain  endeavored  to  recover.  In  ex- 
ploring these,  he  borrowed  the  aid  of  the  natives,  who,  as  Boturini 
informs  us,  frequently  led  the  good  man  into  errors  and  absurdities; 
of  which  he  gives  several  specimens.  (Idea,  p.  116,  et  seq.) — Botu- 
rini himself  has  fallen  into  an  error  equally  great,  in  regard  to  a 
map  of  this  same  Cholulan  pyramid,  which  Clavigero  shows,  far 
from  being  a  genuine  antique,  was  the  forgery  of  a  later  day. 
(Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  i.  p.  130,  nota.)  It  is  impossible  to  get  a 
firm  footing  in  the  quicksands  of  tradition.  The  further  we  are 
removed  from  the  Conquest,  the  more  difficult  it  becomes  to  decide 
what  belongs  to  the  primitive  Aztec  and  what  to  the  Christian 
convert. 


236  CONQUEST  OF   MEXICO 

goddess  Cioacoatl,  "  our  lady  and  mother;  "  "  the 
first  goddess  who  brought  forth ; "  "  who  be- 
queathed the  sufferings  of  childbirth  to  women,  as 
the  tribute  of  death;  "  "by  whom  sin  came  into  the 
world."  Such  was  the  remarkable  language  ap- 
plied by  the  Aztecs  to  this  venerated  deity.  She 
was  usually  represented  with  a  serpent  near  her; 
and  her  name  signified  the  "  serpent -woman."  In 
all  this  we  see  much  to  remind  us  of  the  mother  of 
the  human  family,  the  Eve  of  the  Hebrew  and 
Syrian  nations.19 

But  none  of  the  deities  of  the  country  suggested 
such  astonishing  analogies  with  Scripture  as  Quet- 
zalcoatl,  with  whom  the  reader  has  already  been 
made  acquainted.20  He  was  the  white  man,  wear- 
ing a  long  beard,  who  came  from  the  East,  and 
who,  after  presiding  over  the  golden  age  of  Ana- 
huac,  disappeared  as  mysteriously  as  he  had  come, 
on  the  great  Atlantic  Ocean.  As  he  promised  to 
return  at  some  future  day,  his  reappearance  was 
looked  for  with  confidence  by  each  succeeding  gen- 

19  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  1,  cap.  6;  lib.  6,  cap.  28, 
33. — Torquemada,  not  content  with  the  honest  record  of  his  prede- 
cessor, whose  MS.  lay  before  him,  tells  us  that  the  Mexican  Eve 
had  two  sons,  Cain  and  Abel.  (Monarch,  Ind.,  lib.  6,  cap.  31.)  The 
ancient  interpreters  of  the  Vatican  and  Tellerian  Codices  add  the 
further  tradition  of  her  bringing  sin  and  sorrow  into  the  world  by 
plucking  the  forbidden  rose  (Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  vi.,  explan.  of 
PI.  7,  20) ;  and  Veytia  remembers  to  have  seen  a  Toltec  or  Aztec 
map  representing  a  garden  with  a  single  tree  in  it,  round  which 
was  coiled  the  serpent  with  a  human  face!  (Hist,  antig.,  lib.  1, 
cap.  1.)  After  this  we  may  be  prepared  for  Lord  Kingsborough's 
deliberate  conviction  that  the  "  Aztecs  had  a  clear  knowledge  of  the 
Old  Testament,  and,  most  probably,  of  the  New,  though  somewhat 
corrupted  by  time  and  hieroglyphics " !  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  vi. 
p.  409. 

"Ante,  pp.  71-73. 


ORIGIN    OF    MEXICAN    CIVILIZATION  237 

eration.  There  is  little  in  these  circumstances  to 
remind  one  of  Christianity.  But  the  curious  an- 
tiquaries of  Mexico  found  out  that  to  this  god 
were  to  be  referred  the  institution  of  ecclesiastical 
communities,  reminding  one  of  the  monastic  soci- 
eties of  the  Old  World;  that  of  the  rites  of  con- 
fession and  penance;  and  the  knowledge  even  of 
the  great  doctrines  of  the  Trinity  and  the  Incarna- 
tion!21 One  party,  with  pious  industry,  accumu- 
lated proofs  to  establish  his  identity  with  the 
Apostle  St.  Thomas ; 22  *  while  another,  with  less 
scrupulous  faith,  saw,  in  his  anticipated  advent  to 
regenerate  the  nation,  the  type,  dimly  veiled,  of 
the  Messiah ! 23 

Yet  we  should  have  charity  for  the  missionaries 
who  first  landed  in  this  world  of  wonders,  where, 

21  Veytia,  Hist,  antig.,  lib.  1,  cap.  15. 

22  Ibid.,  lib.  1,  cap.  19. — A  sorry  argument,  even  for  a  casuist.    See, 
also,  the  elaborate  dissertation  of  Dr.  Mier   (apud  Sahagun,  lib.  3, 
Suplem.),  which  settles  the  question  entirely  to  the  satisfaction  of 
his  reporter,  Bustamante.f 

23  See,  among  others,  Lord  Kingsborough's  reading  of  the  Borgian 
Codex,  and  the  interpreters  of  the  Vatican  (Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol. 
vi.,  explan.  of  PI.  3,  10,  41),  equally  well  skilled  with  his  lordship — 
and  Sir  Hudibras — in  unravelling  mysteries 

"  Whose  primitive  tradition  reaches 
As  far  as  Adam's  first  green  breeches." 

*  [See  note,  ante,  p.  73.] 

t  [P.  De  Roo,  in  his  History  of  America  before  Columbus  (Phila- 
delphia, 1900),  has  set  forth  with  great  learning  the  St.  Thomas 
legend.  Of  the  writers  upon  the  subject  he  says,  "  They  all  es- 
tablish their  opinion  upon  identical  foundations,— to  wit,  upon  the 
authority  of  ancient  and  revered  writers,  who  may  have  had  a 
knowledge  of  America's  existence  and  of  its  religious  condition  from 
human  sources,  yet  especially  drew  their  conclusions  from  the  state- 
ments of  Holy  Writ;  and  again,  upon  the  vestiges  and  traditions 
of  the  New  World  that  are  adduced  as  evidences  of  St.  Thomas's 
mission  in  our  hemisphere.— M.] 


238  CONQUEST  OF   MEXICO 

while  man  and  nature  wore  so  strange  an  aspect, 
they  were  astonished  by  occasional  glimpses  of 
rites  and  ceremonies  which  reminded  them  of  a 
purer  faith.  In  their  amazement,  they  did  not 
reflect  whether  these  things  were  not  the  natural 
expression  of  the  religious  feeling  common  to  all 
nations  who  have  reached  even  a  moderate  civili- 
zation. They  did  not  inquire  whether  the  same 
things  were  not  practised  by  other  idolatrous  peo- 
ple. They  could  not  suppress  their  wonder,  as 
they  beheld  the  Cross,*  the  sacred  emblem  of  their 
own  faith,  raised  as  an  object  of  worship  in  the 
temples  of  Anahuac.  They  met  with  it  in  various 
places;  and  the  image  of  a  cross  may  be  seen  at 
this  day,  sculptured  in  bas-relief,  on  the  walls  of 

*  [The  Cross  symbol  has  been  the  subject  of  endless  controversy. 
As  usual,  we  find  that  Bancroft  has  given  the  subject  careful  con- 
sideration. (Native  Races,  iii.)  Brinton  (Myths  of  the  New  World, 
pp.  95,  96)  quotes  authorities  to  demonstrate  in  it  the  four  cardinal 
points,  the  rain-bringers,  the  symbol  of  life  and  health.  He  was 
the  first  writer  to  connect  the  Palenque  cross  with  the  four  cardinal 
points.  Charles  Rau  (Palenque  Tablet  in  U.  S.  National  Museum, 
in  No.  331  Smithsonian  Contributions  to  Knowledge)  concludes 
that  it  is  a  Phallic  symbol.  Bandelier  thinks  it  was  the  emblem  of 
fire.  Squier  calls  it  the  tree  of  life  of  the  Mexicans.  Payne  (Amer- 
ica, ii.  p.  86)  thinks  it  was  a  representation  of  a  human  sacrifice  to 
the  sun.  The  "  cross  "  is  simply  the  conventional  representation  of 
a  tree.  At  Palenque  the  bird  which  surmounts  the  tree  is  a  turkey. 
The  celebrant,  decorated  with  a  necklace,  makes  an  offering  to  the 
winged  deity.  The  living  fetish  was  called  Quetzalhuexolotl,  and  the 
tree  was  called  "  the  tree  of  the  plumed  turkey."  The  sacrifice  pre- 
sented is  a  diminutive  human  figure.  The  monstrous  head  which 
the  roots  of  the  tree  surround  is  human,  but  with  serpentine  details. 
It  represents  the  "  Female  Serpent,"  the  earth  goddess  to  whom 
the  tree  owes  its  growth  and  nutrition. 

Father  De  Roo  (America  before  Columbus,  vol.  i.  ch.  xvii,  pp. 
423-455)  concludes  that  "  Christ  and  his  cross  were  known  in  an- 
cient America."  In  his  subsequent  chapters  he  describes  remains 
of  Christian  ceremonies,  baptism,  confirmation,  a  eucharist,  con- 
fession, penance,  etc.— M.] 


one  of  the  buildings  of  Palenque,  while  a  figure 
bearing  some  resemblance  to  that  of  a  child  is  held 
up  to  it,  as  if  in  adoration.24 

Their  surprise  was  heightened  when  they  wit- 
nessed a  religious  rite  which  reminded  them  of  the 
Christian  communion.  On  these  occasions  an  im- 
age of  the  tutelary  deity  of  the  Aztecs  was  made 
of  the  flour  of  maize,  mixed  with  blood,  and,  after 
consecration  by  the  priests,  was  distributed  among 
the  people,  who,  as  they  ate  it,  "  showed  signs  of 
humiliation  and  sorrow,  declaring  it  was  the  flesh 
of  the  deity !  "  25  How  could  the  Roman  Catholic 
fail  to  recognize  the  awful  ceremony  of  the  Eu- 
charist ? 


"Antiquites  Mexicaines,  exped.  3,  PI.  36.— The  figures  are  sur- 
rounded by  hieroglyphics  of  most  arbitrary  character,  perhaps  pho- 
netic. (See,  also,  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib.  3,  cap.  1. — 
Gomara,  Cronica  de  la  Nueva-Espana,  cap.  15,  ap.  Barcia,  torn,  ii.) 
Mr.  Stephens  considers  that  the  celebrated  "  Cozumel  Cross,"  pre- 
served at  Merida,  which  claims  the  credit  of  being  the  same  origi- 
nally worshipped  by  the  natives  of  Cozumel,  is,  after  all,  nothing 
but  a  cross  that  was  erected  by  the  Spaniards  in  one  of  their  own 
temples  in  that  island  after  the  Conquest.  The  fact  he  regards  as 
"  completely  invalidating  the  strongest  proof  offered  at  this  day 
that  the  Cross  was  recognized  by  the  Indians  as  a  symbol  of  wor- 
ship." (Travels  in  Yucatan,  vol.  ii.  chap.  20.)  But,  admitting  the 
truth  of  this  statement,  that  the  Cozumel  Cross  is  only  a  Christian 
relic,  which  the  ingenious  traveller  has  made  extremely  probable, 
his  inference  is  by  no  means  admissible.  Nothing  could  be  more 
natural  than  that  the  friars  in  Merida  should  endeavor  to  give 
celebrity  to  their  convent  by  making  it  the  possessor  of  so  remarkable 
a  monument  as  the  very  relic  which  proved,  in  their  eyes,  that  Chris- 
tianity had  been  preached  at  some  earlier  date  among  the  natives. 
But  the  real  proof  of  the  existence  of  the  Cross,  as  an  object  of 
worship,  in  the  New  World,  does  not  rest  on  such  spurious  monu- 
ments as  these,  but  on  the  unequivocal  testimony  of  the  Spanish  dis- 
coverers themselves. 

*  "  Lo  recibian  con  gran  reverencia,  humiliacion,  y  lagrimas,  dici- 
endo  que  comian  la  carne  de  su  Dios."  Veytia,  Hist,  antig.  lib.  1, 
cap.  18. — Also,  Acosta,  lib.  5,  cap.  24. 


240  CONQUEST  OF   MEXICO 

With  the  same  feelings  they  witnessed  another 
ceremony,  that  of  the  Aztec  baptism;  in  which, 
after  a  solemn  invocation,  the  head  and  lips  of  the 
infant  were  touched  with  water,  and  a  name  was 
given  to  it ;  while  the  goddess  Cioacoatl,  who  pre- 
sided over  childbirth,  was  implored  "  that  the  sin 
which  was  given  to  us  before  the  beginning  of  the 
world  might  not  visit  the  child,  but  that,  cleansed 
by  these  waters,  it  might  live  and  be  born  anew!"26 

It  is  true,  these  several  rites  were  attended  with 
many  peculiarities,  very  unlike  those  in  any  Chris- 

23  Ante,  p.  78.— Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  6,  cap. 
37. — That  the  reader  may  see  for  himself  how  like,  yet  how  unlike, 
the  Aztec  rite  was  to  the  Christian,  I  give  the  translation  of  Saha- 
gun's  account,  at  length :  "  When  everything  necessary  for  the  bap- 
tism had  been  made  ready,  all  the  relations  of  the  child  were  as- 
sembled, and  the  midwife,  who  was  the  person  that  performed  the 
rite  of  baptism,  was  summoned.  At  early  dawn,  they  met  together 
in  the  court-yard  of  the  house.  When  the  sun  had  risen,  the  mid- 
wife, taking  the  child  in  her  arms,  called  for  a  little  earthen  vessel 
of  water,  while  those  about  her  placed  the  ornaments  which  had 
been  prepared  for  the  baptism  in  the  midst  of  the  court.  To  per- 
form the  rite  of  baptism,  she  placed  herself  with  her  face  towards 
the  west,  and  immediately  began  to  go  through  certain  ceremonies. 
.  .  .  After  this  she  sprinkled  water  on  the  head  of  the  infant,  say- 
ing, '  O  my  child !  take  and  receive  the  water  of  the  Lord  of  the 
world,  which  is  our  life,  and  is  given  for  the  increasing  and  re- 
newing of  our  body.  It  is  to  wash  and  to  purify.  I  pray  that  these 
heavenly  drops  may  enter  into  your  body,  and  dwell  there;  that 
they  may  destroy  and  remove  from  you  all  the  evil  and  sin  which 
was  given  to  you  before  the  beginning  of  the  world;  since  all  of  us 
are  under  its  power,  being  all  the  children  of  Chalchivitlycue ' 
[the  goddess  of  water].  She  then  washed  the  body  of  the  child  with 
water,  and  spoke  in  this  manner :  '  Whencesoever  thou  comest,  thou 
that  art  hurtful  to  this  child,  leave  him  and  depart  from  him,  for 
he  now  liveth  anew,  and  is  born  anew;  now  is  he  purified  and 
cleansed  afresh,  and  our  mother  Chalchivitlycue  again  bringeth 
him  into  the  world.'  Having  thus  prayed,  the  midwife  took  the  child 
in  both  hands,  and,  lifting  him  towards  heaven,  said,  '  O  Lord,  thou 
seest  here  thy  creature,  whom  thou  hast  sent  into  this  world,  this 
place  of  sorrow,  suffering,  and  penitence.  Grant  him,  O  Lord,  thy 
gifts  and  thine  inspiration,  for  thou  art  the  great  God,  and  with  thee 


ORIGIN    OF   MEXICAN    CIVILIZATION 

tian  church.  But  the  fathers  fastened  their  eyes 
exclusively  on  the  points  of  resemblance.  They 
were  not  aware  that  the  Cross  was  a  symbol  of 
worship,  of  the  highest  antiquity,  in  Egypt  and 
Syria,27  and  that  rites  resembling  those  of  com- 
munion 28  and  baptism  were  practised  by  pagan 
nations  on  whom  the  light  of  Christianity  had 
never  shone.29  In  their  amazement,  they  not  only 
magnified  what  they  saw,  but  were  perpetually 
cheated  by  the  illusions  of  their  own  heated  imagi- 
nations. In  this  they  were  admirably  assisted  by 
their  Mexican  converts,  proud  to  establish — and 

is  the  great  goddess.'  Torches  of  pine  were  kept  burning  during 
the  performance  of  these  ceremonies.  When  these  things  were  ended, 
they  gave  the  child  the  name  of  some  one  of  his  ancestors,  in  the 
hope  that  he  might  shed  a  new  lustre  over  it.  The  name  was  given 
by  the  same  midwife,  or  priestess,  who  baptized  him." 

37  Among  Egyptian  symbols  we  meet  with  several  specimens  of  the 
Cross.  One,  according  to  Justus  Lipsius,  signified  "  life  to  come." 
(See  his  treatise,  De  Cruce  (Lutetiae  Parisiorum,  1598),  lib.  3,  cap. 
8.)  We  find  another  in  Champollion's  catalogue,  which  he  inter- 
prets "support  or  saviour."  (Precis,  torn,  ii.,  Tableau  gdn.,  Nos. 
277,  348.)  Some  curious  examples  of  the  reverence  paid  to  this  sign 
by  the  ancients  have  been  collected  by  McColloh  (Researches,  p. 
330,  et  seq.),  and  by  Humboldt,  in  his  late  work,  Geographic  du 
Nouveau-Continent,  torn.  ii.  p.  354,  et  seq. 

2811  Ante,  Decs  homini  quod  conciliare  valeret 
Far  erat," 

says  Ovid.  (Fastorum,  lib.  1,  v.  337.)  Count  Carli  has  pointed  out 
a  similar  use  of  consecrated  bread,  and  wine  or  water,  in  the  Greek 
and  Egyptian  mysteries.  (Lettres  Ame'ric.,  torn.  i.  let.  27.)  See, 
also,  McCulloh,  Researches,  p.  240,  et  seq. 

w  Water  for  purification  and  other  religious  rites  is  frequently 
noticed  by  the  classical  writers.  Thus,  Euripides: 

" ' AyvoZf  KaOapfiolc  irpur&  viv  vn/xu  8i\u. 
QaLaaaa  xXij&i  ir&vra  ravdphiruv  KO.K&." 

IPHIG.  IN  TADR.,  vv.  1192,  1194. 

The  notes  on  this  place,  in  the  admirable  Variorum  edition  of  Glas- 
gow, 1821,  contain  references  to  several  passages  of  similar  import 
in  different  authors. 


CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

half  believing  it  themselves — a  correspondence  be- 
tween their  own  faith  and  that  of  their  conquer- 
ors.30 

The  ingenuity  of  the  chronicler  was  taxed  to 
find  out  analogies  between  the  Aztec  and  Scripture 
histories,  both  old  and  new.  The  migration  from 
Aztlan  to  Anahuac  was  typical  of  the  Jewish  ex- 
odus.31 The  places  where  the  Mexicans  halted  on 
the  march  were  identified  with  those  in  the  journey 
of  the  Israelites ; 32  and  the  name  of  Mexico  itself 
was  found  to  be  nearly  identical  with  the  Hebrew 
name  for  the  Messiah.33  The  Mexican  hieroglyph- 
ics afforded  a  boundless  field  for  the  display  of 
this  critical  acuteness.  The  most  remarkable  pas- 
sages in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  were  read 
in  their  mysterious  characters;  and  the  eye  of 
faith  could  trace  there  the  whole  story  of  the 
Passion,  the  Saviour  suspended  from  the  cross, 

80  The  difficulty  of  obtaining  anything  like  a  faithful  report  from 
the  natives  is  the  subject  of  complaint  from  more  than  one  writer, 
and  explains  the  great  care  taken  by  Sahagun  to  compare  their  nar- 
ratives with  each  other.  See  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  Pr61ogo, — 
Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  Pr61.,— Boturini,  Idea,  p.  116. 

11  The  parallel  was  so  closely  pressed  by  Torquemada  that  he  was 
compelled  to  suppress  the  chapter  containing  it,  on  the  publication 
of  his  book.  See  the  Proemio  to  the  edition  of  1723,  sec.  2. 

M  "  The  devil,"  says  Herrera,  "  chose  to  imitate,  in  everything,  the 
departure  of  the  Israelites  from  Egypt,  and  their  subsequent  wan- 
derings." (Hist,  general,  dec.  3,  lib.  3,  cap.  10.)  But  all  that  has 
been  done  by  monkish  annalist  and  missionary  to  establish  the  paral- 
lel with  the  children  of  Israel  falls  far  short  of  Lord  Kingsbor- 
ough's  learned  labors,  spread  over  nearly  two  hundred  folio  pages. 
(See  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  torn.  vi.  pp.  282-410.)  Quantum  inane! 

"The  word  rPEID.  from  which  is  derived  Christ,  "the  anointed," 
is  still  more  nearly— not  "  precisely,"  as  Lord  Kingsborough  states 
(Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  vi.  p.  186)— identical  with  that  of  Mexi,  or 
Mesi,  the  chief  who  was  said  to  have  led  the  Aztecs  on  the  plains  of 
Anahuac. 


ORIGIN    OF   MEXICAN    CIVILIZATION  243 

and  the  Virgin  Mary  with  her  attendant 
angels ! 34 

The  Jewish  and  Christian  schemes  were 
strangely  mingled  together,  and  the  brains  of 
the  good  fathers  were  still  further  bewildered  by 
the  mixture  of  heathenish  abominations  which 
were  so  closely  intertwined  with  the  most  orthodox 
observances.  In  their  perplexity,  they  looked  on 
the  whole  as  the  delusion  of  the  devil,  who  coun- 
terfeited the  rites  of  Christianity  and  the  traditions 
of  the  chosen  people,  that  he  might  allure  his 
wretched  victims  to  their  own  destruction.35 

But,  although  it  is  not  necessary  to  resort  to  this 
startling  supposition,  nor  even  to  call  up  an  apos- 
tle from  the  dead,  or  any  later  missionary,  to  ex- 
plain the  coincidences  with  Christianity,  yet  these 
coincidences  must  be  allowed  to  furnish  an  argu- 
ment in  favor  of  some  primitive  communication 
with  that  great  brotherhood  of  nations  on  the  old 
continent,  among  whom  similar  ideas  have  been  so 
widely  diffused.*  The  probability  of  such  a  com- 

MInterp.  of  Cod.  Tel.-Rem.  et  Vat.,  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  vi.— 
Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  3,  Suplem.— Veytia,  Hist. 
antig.,  lib.  1,  cap.  16. 

K  This  opinion  finds  favor  with  the  best  Spanish  and  Mexican 
writers,  from  the  Conquest  downwards.  Solfs  sees  nothing  improba- 
ble in  the  fact  that  "  the  malignant  influence,  so  frequently  noticed 
in  sacred  history,  should  be  found  equally  in  profane."  Hist,  de  la 
Conquista,  lib.  2,  cap.  4. 

*  D.  G.  Brinton,  International  Congress  of  Anthropology,  1893 
(Harper's  Magazine,  March,  1903,  p.  534).  "Up  to  the  present  time 
there  has  not  been  shown  a  single  dialect,  not  an  art  or  an  institution, 
not  a  myth  or  religious  rite,  not  a  domesticated  plant  or  animal,  not  a 
tool,  weapon,  game,  or  symbol,  in  use  in  America  at  the  time  of  the 
discovery,  which  had  been  previously  imported  from  Asia,  or  from 
any  other  continent  of  the  Old  World." — M. 


244.  CONQUEST  OF   MEXICO 

munication,  especially  with  Eastern  Asia,  is  much 
strengthened  by  the  resemblance  of  sacerdotal  in- 
stitutions, and  of  some  religious  rites,  as  those  of 
marriage,36  and  the  burial  of  the  dead;37  by  the 
practice  of  human  sacrifices,  and  even  of  cannibal- 
ism, traces  of  which  are  discernible  in  the  Mongol 
races ; 38  and,  lastly,  by  a  conformity  of  social 
usages  and  manners,  so  striking  that  the  descrip- 
tion of  Montezuma's  court  may  well  pass  for  that 
of  the  Grand  Khan's,  as  depicted  by  Maundeville 
and  Marco  Polo.39  It  would  occupy  too  much 
room  to  go  into  details  in  this  matter,  without 
which,  however,  the  strength  of  the  argument  can- 
not be  felt,  nor  fully  established.  It  has  been  done 
by  others;  and  an  occasional  coincidence  has  been 
adverted  to  in  the  preceding  chapters. 

88  The  bridal  ceremony  of  the  Hindoos,  in  particular,  contains 
curious  points  of  analogy  with  the  Mexican.  (See  Asiatic  Researches, 
vol.  vii.  mem.  9.)  The  institution  of  a  numerous  priesthood,  with 
the  practices  of  confession  and  penance,  was  familiar  to  the  Tartar 
people.  (Maundeville,  Voiage,  chap.  23.)  And  monastic  establish- 
ments were  found  in  Thibet  and  Japan  from  the  earliest  ages. 
Humboldt,  Vues  des  Cordilleres,  p.  179. 

37 "  Doubtless,"  says  the  ingenious  Carli,  "  the  fashion  of  burning 
the  corpse,  collecting  the  ashes  in  a  vase,  burying  them  under  py- 
ramidal mounds,  with  the  immolation  of  wives  and  servants  at  the 
funeral,  all  remind  one  of  the  customs  of  Egypt  and  Hindostan." 
Lettres  Am^ric.,  torn.  ii.  let.  10. 

38  Marco  Polo  notices  a  civilized  people  in  Southeastern  China,  and 
another  in  Japan,  who  drank  the  blood  and  ate  the  flesh  of  their 
captives,  esteeming  it  the  most  savory  food  in  the  world,—"  la  piu 
saporita  et  migliore,  che  si  possa  truovar  al  mondo."  (Viaggi,  lib. 
2,  cap.  75;  lib.  3,  13,  14.)  The  Mongols,  according  to  Sir  John  Maun- 
deville, regarded  the  ears  "  sowced  in  vynegre "  as  a  particular 
dainty.  Voiage,  chap.  23. 

"Marco  Polo,  Viaggi,  lib.  2,  cap.  10.— Maundeville,  Voiage,  cap. 
20,  et  alibi.— See,  also,  a  striking  parallel  between  the  Eastern  Asiat- 
ics and  Americans,  in  the  Supplement  to  Banking's  "  Historical  Re- 
searches;" a  work  embodying  many  curious  details  of  Oriental  his- 
tory and  manners  in  support  of  a  whimsical  theory. 


ORIGIN    OF   MEXICAN    CIVILIZATION  245 

It  is  true,  we  should  be  very  slow  to  infer  iden- 
tity, or  even  correspondence,  between  nations, 
from  a  partial  resemblance  of  habits  and  institu- 
tions. Where  this  relates  to  manners,  and  is 
founded  on  caprice,  it  is  not  more  conclusive  than 
when  it  flows  from  the  spontaneous  suggestions  of 
nature,  common  to  all.  The  resemblance,  in  the 
one  case,  may  be  referred  to  accident ;  in  the  other, 
to  the  constitution  of  man.  But  there  are  certain 
arbitrary  peculiarities,  which,  when  found  in  dif- 
ferent nations,  reasonably  suggest  the  idea  of  some 
previous  communication  between  them.  Who  can 
doubt  the  existence  of  an  affinity,  or,  at  least,  inter- 
course, between  tribes  who  had  the  same  strange 
habit  of  burying  the  dead  in  a  sitting  posture,  as 
was  practised  to  some  extent  by  most,  if  not  all, 
of  the  aborigines,  from  Canada  to  Patagonia?40 
The  habit  of  burning  the  dead,  familiar  to  both 
Mongols  and  Aztecs,  is  in  itself  but  slender  proof 
of  a  common  origin.  The  body  must  be  disposed 
of  in  some  way;  and  this,  perhaps,  is  as  natural 
as  any  other.  But  when  to  this  is  added  the  cir- 
cumstance of  collecting  the  ashes  in  a  vase  and 
depositing  the  single  article  of  a  precious  stone 
along  with  them,  the  coincidence  is  remarkable.41 

40  Morton,  Crania  Americana  (Philadelphia,  1839),  pp.  224-246.— 
The    industrious    author    establishes    this    singular    fact    by    exam- 
ples drawn  from  a  great  number  of  nations  in  North  and  South 
America. 

41  Gomara,  Cr6nica  de  la  Nueva-Espana,  cap.  202,  ap.  Barcia,  torn, 
ii.— Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  i.  pp.  94,  95.— McCulloh  (Re- 
searches, p.  198),  who  cites  the  Asiatic  Researches.— Dr.  McCulloh, 
in  his  single  volume,  has  probably  brought  together  a  larger  mass 
of  materials  for  the  illustration  of  the  aboriginal  history  of  the  con- 
tinent than  any  other  writer  in  the  language.     In  the  selection  of 


246  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

Such  minute  coincidences  are  not  unfrequent; 
while  the  accumulation  of  those  of  a  more  general 
character,  though  individually  of  little  account, 
greatly  strengthens  the  probability  of  a  communi- 
cation with  the  East. 

A  proof  of  a  higher  kind  is  found  in  the  analo- 
gies of  science.  We  have  seen  the  peculiar  chron- 
ological system  of  the  Aztecs;  their  method  of 
distributing  the  years  into  cycles,  and  of  reckoning 
by  means  of  periodical  series,  instead  of  numbers. 
A  similar  process  was  used  by  the  various  Asi- 
atic nations  of  the  Mongol  family,  from  India 
to  Japan.  Their  cycles,  indeed,  consisted  of 
sixty,  instead  of  fifty-two  years;  and  for  the 
terms  of  their  periodical  series  they  employed  the 
names  of  the  elements  and  the  signs  of  the  zodiac, 
of  which  latter  the  Mexicans,  probably,  had  no 
knowledge.  But  the  principle  was  precisely  the 
same.42 

A  correspondence  quite  as  extraordinary  is 
found  between  the  hieroglyphics  used  by  the  Az- 
tecs for  the  signs  of  the  days,  and  those  zodiacal 
signs  which  the  Eastern  Asiatics  employed  as  one 
of  the  terms  of  their  series.  The  symbols  in  the 
Mongolian  calendar  are  borrowed  from  animals. 
Four  of  the  twelve  are  the  same  as  the  Aztec. 
Three  others  are  as  nearly  the  same  as  the  differ- 

his  facts  he  has  shown  much  sagacity,  as  well  as  industry;  and,  if 
the  formal  and  somewhat  repulsive  character  of  the  style  has  been 
unfavorable  to  a  popular  interest,  the  work  must  always  have  an 
interest  for  those  who  are  engaged  in  the  study  of  the  Indian  anti- 
quities. His  fanciful  speculations  on  the  subject  of  Mexican  my- 
thology may  amuse  those  whom  they  fail  to  convince. 
43  Ante,  p.  126,  et  seq. 


ORIGIN    OF    MEXICAN    CIVILIZATION  247 

ent  species  of  animals  in  the  two  hemispheres 
would  allow.  The  remaining  five  refer  to  no  crea- 
ture then  found  in  Anahuac.43  The  resemblance 
went  as  far  as  it  could.44  The  similarity  of  these 
conventional  symbols  among  the  several  nations 
of  the  East  can  hardly  fail  to  carry  conviction  of 
a  common  origin  for  the  system  as  regards  them. 
Why  should  not  a  similar  conclusion  be  applied 
to  the  Aztec  calendar,  which,  although  relating  to 
days  instead  of  years,  was,  like  the  Asiatic,  equally 

**  This  will  be  better  shown  by  enumerating  the  zodiacal  signs, 
used  as  the  names  of  the  years  by  the  Eastern  Asiatics.  Among  the 
Mongols,  these  were — 1,  mouse;  2,  ox;  3,  leopard;  4,  hare;  5,  croco- 
dile; 6,  serpent;  7,  horse;  8,  sheep;  9,  monkey;  10,  hen;  11,  dog;  12, 
hog.  The  Mantchou  Tartars,  Japanese,  and  Thibetians  have  nearly 
the  same  terms,  substituting,  however,  for  No.  3,  tiger;  5,  dragon; 
8,  goat.  In  the  Mexican  signs  for  the  names  of  the  days  we  also 
meet  with  hare,  serpent,  monkey,  dog.  Instead  of  the  "  leopard," 
"  crocodile,"  and  "  hen,"— neither  of  which  animals  was  known  in 
Mexico  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest,— we  find  the  ocelotl,  the  lizard, 
and  the  eayle. — The  lunar  calendar  of  the  Hindoos  exhibits  a  cor- 
respondence equally  extraordinary.  Six  of  the  terms  agree  with 
those  of  the  Aztecs,  namely,  serpent,  cane,  razor,  path  of  the  sun, 
dog's  tail,  house.  (Humboldt,  Vues  des  Cordilleres,  p.  152.)  These 
terms,  it  will  be  observed,  are  still  more  arbitrarily  selected,  not 
being  confined  to  animals;  as,  indeed,  the  hieroglyphics  of  the  Aztec 
calendar  were  derived  indifferently  from  them,  and  other  objects,  like 
the  signs  of  our  zodiac.  These  scientific  analogies  are  set  in  the  strong- 
est light  by  M.  de  Humboldt,  and  occupy  a  large  and,  to  the  philosoph- 
ical inquirer,  the  most  interesting  portion  of  his  great  work.  (Vues 
des  Cordilleres,  pp.  125-194.)  He  has  not  embraced  in  his  tables, 
however,  the  Mongol  calendar,  which  affords  even  a  closer  approxi- 
mation to  the  Mexican  than  that  of  the  other  Tartar  races.  Comp. 
Ranking,  Researches,  pp.  370,  371,  note. 

44  There  is  some  inaccuracy  in  Humboldt's  definition  of  the  ocelotl 
as  "the  tiger,"  "the  jaguar."  (Ibid.,  p.  159.)  It  is  smaller  than  the 
jaguar,  though  quite  as  ferocious,  and  is  as  graceful  and  beautiful 
as  the  leopard,  which  it  more  nearly  resembles.  It  is  a  native  of 
New  Spain,  where  the  tiger  is  not  known.  (See  Buffon,  Histoire 
naturelle  (Paris,  An  VIII),  torn,  ii.,  vox  Ocelotl.)  The  adoption 
of  this  latter  name,  therefore,  in  the  Aztec  calendar,  leads  to  an  in- 
ference somewhat  exaggerated. 


248  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

appropriated  to  chronological  uses  and  to  those  of 
divination?45 

I  shall  pass  over  the  further  resemblance  to  the 
Persians,  shown  in  the  adjustment  of  time  by  a 
similar  system  of  intercalation ; 46  and  to  the  Egyp- 
tians, in  the  celebration  of  the  remarkable  festival 
of  the  winter  solstice; 47  since,  although  sufficiently 
curious,  the  coincidences  might  be  accidental,  and 
add  little  to  the  weight  of  evidence  offered  by  an 
agreement  in  combinations  of  so  complex  and  arti- 
ficial a  character  as  those  before  stated. 

Amid  these  intellectual  analogies,  one  would  ex- 
pect to  meet  with  that  of  language*  the  vehicle  of 
intellectual  communication,  which  usually  exhibits 
traces  of  its  origin  even  when  the  science  and  lit- 
erature that  are  embodied  in  it  have  widely  di- 
verged. No  inquiry,  however,  has  led  to  satis- 
factory results.  The  languages  spread  over  the 
Western  continent  far  exceed  in  number  those 
found  in  any  equal  population  in  the  Eastern.48 

45  Both  the  Tartars  and  the  Aztecs  indicated  the  year  by  its  sign ; 
as  the  "  year  of  the  hare  "  or  "  rabbit,"  etc.  The  Asiatic  signs,  like- 
wise, far  from  being  limited  to  the  years  and  months,  presided  also 
over  days,  and  even  hours.  (Humboldt,  Vues  des  Cordilleres,  p. 
165.)  The  Mexicans  had  also  astrological  symbols  appropriated  to 
the  hours.  Gama,  Descripcion,  Parte  2,  p.  117. 

"Ante,  p.  127,  note. 

47  Achilles  Tatius  notices  a  custom  of  the  Egyptians, — who,  as  the 
sun  descended  towards  Capricorn,  put  on  mourning,  but,  as  the  days 
lengthened,  their   fears   subsided,  they   robed   themselves   in  white, 
and,  crowned  with  flowers,  gave  themselves  up  to  jubilee,  like  the 
Aztecs.    This  account,  transcribed  by  Carli's  French  translator,  and 
by  M.  de  Humboldt,  is  more  fully  criticized  by  M.  Jomard  in  the 
Vues  des  Cordilleres,  p.  309,  et  seq. 

48  Jefferson  (Notes  on  Virginia  (London,  1787),  p.  164),  confirmed 
by  Humboldt  (Essai  politique,  torn.  i.  p.  353).    Mr.  Gallatin  comes 

*  [See  note,  ante,  p.  373.] 


ORIGIN    OF   MEXICAN    CIVILIZATION  249 

They  exhibit  the  remarkable  anomaly  of  differing 
as  widely  in  etymology  as  they  agree  in  organiza- 
tion ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  while  they  bear  some 
slight  affinity  to  the  languages  of  the  Old  World 
in  the  former  particular,  they  have  no  resemblance 
to  them  whatever  in  the  latter.49  The  Mexican  was 
spoken  for  an  extent  of  three  hundred  leagues. 
But  within  the  boundaries  of  New  Spain  more  than 
twenty  languages  were  found;  not  simply  dia- 
lects, but,  in  many  instances,  radically  different.50 
All  these  idioms,  however,  with  one  exception,  con- 
formed to  that  peculiar  synthetic  structure  by 
which  every  Indian  dialect  appears  to  have  been 
fashioned,  from  the  land  of  the  Esquimaux  to 
Terra  del  Fuego ; 51  a  system  which,  bringing  the 


to  a  different  conclusion.  (Transactions  of  American  Antiquarian 
Society  (Cambridge,  1836),  vol.  ii.  p.  161.)  The  great  number  of 
American  dialects  and  languages  is  well  explained  by  the  unsocial 
nature  of  a  hunter's  life,  requiring  the  country  to  be  parcelled  out 
into  small  and  separate  territories  for  the  means  of  subsistence. 

48  Philologists  have,  indeed,  detected  two  curious  exceptions,  in  the 
Congo  and  primitive  Basque;  from  which,  however,  the  Indian  lan- 
guages differ  in  many  essential  points.  See  Du  Ponceau's  Report, 
ap.  Transactions  of  the  Lit.  and  Hist.  Committee  of  the  Am.  Phil. 
Society,  vol.  i. 

50  Vater  (Mithridates,  Theil  iii.  Abtheil.  3,  p.  70),  who  fixes  on  the 
Rio  Gila  and  the  Isthmus  of  Darien  as  the  boundaries  within  which 
traces  of  the  Mexican  language  were  to  be  discerned.     Clavigero 
estimates  the  number  of  dialects   at  thirty-five.     I   have  used  the 
more  guarded  statement  of  M.  de  Humboldt,  who  adds  that  fourteen 
of  these  languages  have  been  digested  into  dictionaries  and  gram- 
mars.    Essai  politique,  torn.  i.  p.  352. 

51  No  one  has  done  so  much  towards  establishing  this  important 
fact  as  that  estimable  scholar,  Mr.  Du  Ponceau.    And  the  frankness 
with  which  he  has  admitted  the  exception  that  disturbed  his  favorite 
hypothesis  shows  that  he  is  far  more  wedded  to  science  than  to  sys- 
tem.   See  an  interesting  account  of  it,  in  his  prize  essay  before  the 
Institute,  Me'moire  sur  le  Systeme  grammaticale  des  Langues  de 
quelques  Nations  Indiennes  de  PAme"rique.     (Paris,  1838.) 


250  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

greatest  number  of  ideas  within  the  smallest  possi- 
ble compass,  condenses  whole  sentences  into  a  sin- 
gle word,52  displaying  a  curious  mechanism,  in 
which  some  discern  the  hand  of  the  philosopher, 
and  others  only  the  spontaneous  efforts  of  the 
savage.53 

The  etymological  affinities  detected  with  the  an- 
cient continent  are  not  very  numerous,  and  they  are 
drawn  indiscriminately  from  all  the  tribes  scattered 
over  America.  On  the  whole,  more  analogies  have 
been  found  with  the  idioms  of  Asia  than  of  any 
other  quarter.  But  their  amount  is  too  inconsider- 
able to  balance  the  opposite  conclusion  inferred  by 
a  total  dissimilarity  of  structure.54  A  remarkable 
exception  is  found  in  the  Othomi  or  Otomi  lan- 
guage, which  covers  a  wider  territory  than  any 
other  but  the  Mexican  in  New  Spain,55  and  which, 

82  The  Mexican  language,  in  particular,  is  most  flexible ;  admitting 
of  combinations  so  easily  that  the  most  simple  ideas  are  often  buried 
under  a  load  of  accessories.  The  forms  of  expression,  though  pic- 
turesque, were  thus  made  exceedingly  cumbrous.  A  "  priest,"  for 
example,  was  called  notlazomahuizteopixcatatzin,  meaning  "  venerable 
minister  of  God,  that  I  love  as  my  father."  A  still  more  compre- 
hensive word  is  amatlacuilolitquitcatlaxtlahuitli,  signifying  "  the 
reward  given  to  a  messenger  who  bears  a  hieroglyphical  map  con- 
veying intelligence." 

M  See,  in  particular,  for  the  latter  view  of  the  subject,  the  argu- 
ments of  Mr.  Gallatin,  in  his  acute  and  masterly  disquisition  on  the 
Indian  tribes;  a  disquisition  that  throws  more  light  on  the  intricate 
topics  of  which  it  treats  than  whole  volumes  that  have  preceded  it. 
Transactions  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society,  vol.  ii.  Introd., 
sec.  6. 

84  This  comparative  anatomy  of  the  languages  of  the  two  hemi- 
spheres, begun  by  Barton  (Origin  of  the  Tribes  and  Nations  of 
America  (Philadelphia,  1797)  ),  has  been  extended  by  Vater  (Mi- 
thridates,  Theil  iii.  Abtheil.  1,  p.  348,  et  seq.).  A  selection  of  the 
most  striking  analogies  may  be  found,  also,  in  Malte  Brun,  book 
75,  table. 

K'  Othomi,  from  otho,  "stationary,"  and  mi,  "nothing."     (Najera, 


ORIGIN   OF   MEXICAN    CIVILIZATION  251 

both  in  its  monosyllabic  composition,  so  different 
from  those  around  it,  and  in  its  vocabulary,  shows  a 
very  singular  affinity  to  the  Chinese.56  The  exis- 
tence of  this  insulated  idiom  in  the  heart  of  this 
vast  continent  offers  a  curious  theme  for  specula- 
tion, entirely  beyond  the  province  of  history. 

The  American  languages,  so  numerous  and 
widely  diversified,  present  an  immense  field  of 
inquiry,  which,  notwithstanding  the  labors  of  sev- 
eral distinguished  philologists,  remains  yet  to  be 
explored.  It  is  only  after  a  wide  comparison  of 
examples  that  conclusions  founded  on  analogy  can 
be  trusted.  The  difficulty  of  making  such  com- 
parisons increases  with  time,  from  the  facility 
which  the  peculiar  structure  of  the  Indian  lan- 
guages affords  for  new  combinations;  while  the 
insensible  influence  of  contact  with  civilized  man, 
in  producing  these,  must  lead  to  a  still  further  dis- 
trust of  our  conclusions. 

The  theory  of  an  Asiatic  origin  for  Aztec  civili- 
zation derives  stronger  confirmation  from  the  light 
of  tradition,  which,  shining  steadily  from  the  far 
Northwest,  pierces  through  the  dark  shadows  that 
history  and  mythology  have  alike  thrown  around 
the  traditions  of  the  country.  Traditions  of  a 
Western  or  Northwestern  origin  were  found 

Dissert.,  ut  infra,)  The  etymology  intimates  the  condition  of  this 
rude  nation  of  warriors,  who,  imperfectly  reduced  by  the  Aztec 
arms,  roamed  over  the  high  lands  north  of  the  Valley  of  Mexico. 

54  See  Naj  era's  Dissertatio  de  Lingua  Othomitorum,  ap.  Transac- 
tions of  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  vol.  v.  New  Series.— 
The  author,  a  learned  Mexican,  has  given  a  most  satisfactory  analysis 
of  this  remarkable  language,  which  stands  alone  among  the  idioms  of 
the  New  World,  as  the  Basque — the  solitary  wreck,  perhaps,  of  a 
primitive  age— exists  among  those  of  the  Old. 


252  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

among  the  more  barbarous  tribes,57  and  by  the 
Mexicans  were  preserved  both  orally  and  in  their 
hieroglyphical  maps,  where  the  different  stages  of 
their  migration  are  carefully  noted.  But  who,  at 
this  day,  shall  read  them? 5S  They  are  admitted  to 
agree,  however,  in  representing  the  populous 
North  as  the  prolific  hive  of  the  American  races.59 
In  this  quarter  were  placed  their  Aztlan  and  their 
Huehuetlapallan,— the  bright  abodes  of  their  an- 
cestors, whose  warlike  exploits  rivalled  those 
which  the  Teutonic  nations  have  recorded  of  Odin 

67  Barton,  p.  92. — Heckewelder,  chap.  1,  ap.  Transactions  of  the 
Hist,  and  Lit.  Committee  of  the  Am.  Phil.  Soc.,  vol.  i.— The  various 
traditions  have  been  assembled   by  M.  Warden,  in  the  Antiquites 
Mexicaines,  part  2,  p.  185,  et  seq. 

68  The  recent  work  of  Mr.  Delafield   (Inquiry  into  the  Origin  of 
the  Antiquities  of  America  (Cincinnati,  1839)  )  has  an  engraving  of 
one  of  these  maps,  said  to  have  been  obtained  by  Mr.  Bullock  from 
Boturini's  collection.     Two  such  are  specified  on  page  10  of  that 
antiquary's  Catalogue.    This  map  has  all  the  appearance  of  a  genu- 
ine Aztec  painting,  of  the  rudest   character.     We  may  recognize, 
indeed,  the  symbols  of  some  dates  and  places,  with  others  denoting 
the  aspect  of  the  country,  whether  fertile  or  barren,  a  state  of  war 
or  peace,  etc.     But  it  is  altogether  too  vague,   and  we   know  too 
little  of  the  allusions,  to  gather  any  knowledge  from  it  of  the  course 
of  the  Aztec  migration. — Gemelli  Carreri's  celebrated  chart  contains 
the  names  of  many  places  on  the  route,  interpreted,  perhaps,   by 
Siguenza  himself,  to  whom  it  belonged   (Giro  del  Mondo,  torn.  vi. 
56)  ;  and  Clavigero  has  endeavored  to  ascertain  the  various  locali- 
ties with  some  precision.     (Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  i.  p.  160,  et  seq.) 
But,  as  they  are  all  within  the  boundaries  of  New  Spain,  and,  indeed, 
south  of  the  Rio  Gila,  they  throw  little  light,  of  course,  on  the  vexed 
question  of  the  primitive  abodes  of  the  Aztecs. 

w  This  may  be  fairly  gathered  from  the  agreement  of  the  tradi- 
tionary interpretations  of  the  maps  of  the  various  people  of  Anahuac, 
according  to  Veytia;  who,  however,  admits  that  it  is  "next  to  impos- 
sible," with  the  lights  of  the  present  day,  to  determine  the  precise 
route  taken  by  the  Mexicans.  (Hist,  antig.,  torn.  i.  cap.  2.)  Lo- 
renzana  is  not  so  modest.  "  Los  Mexicanos  por  tradicion  vinie>on 
por  el  norte,"  says  he,  "y  se  saben  ciertamente  sus  mansiones." 
(Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  p.  81,  nota.)  There  are  some  antiquaries 
who  see  best  in  the  dark. 


ORIGIN    OF    MEXICAN    CIVILIZATION   253 

and  the  mythic  heroes  of  Scandinavia.  From  this 
quarter  the  Toltecs,  the  Chichimecs,  and  the  kin- 
dred races  of  the  Nahuatlacs  came  successively  up 
the  great  plateau  of  the  Andes,  spreading  over  its 
hills  and  valleys,  down  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.60 

Antiquaries  have  industriously  sought  to  detect 
some  still  surviving  traces  of  these  migrations.  In 
the  northwestern  districts  of  New  Spain,  at  the 
distance  of  a  thousand  miles  from  the  capital,  dia- 
lects have  been  discovered  showing  intimate  affinity 
with  the  Mexican.61  Along  the  Rio  Gila,  remains 
of  populous  towns  are  to  be  seen,  quite  worthy  of 
the  Aztecs  in  their  style  of  architecture.62  The 
country  north  of  the  great  Rio  Colorado  has  been 
imperfectly  explored;  but  in  the  higher  latitudes, 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Nootka,  tribes  still  exist 

*°  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  2,  et  seq.— Idem,  Relaciones, 
MS. — Veytia,  Hist,  antig.,  ubi  supra. — Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind., 
torn.  i.  lib.  1. 

a  In  the  province  of  Sonora,  especially  along  the  California  Gulf. 
The  Cora  language,  above  all,  of  which  a  regular  grammar  has  been 
published,  and  which  is  spoken  in  New  Biscay,  about  30°  north,  so 
much  resembles  the  Mexican  that  Vater  refers  them  both  to  a  com- 
mon stock.  Mithridates,  Theil  iii.  Abtheil.  3,  p.  143. 

OT  On  the  southern  bank  of  this  river  are  ruins  of  large  dimensions, 
described  by  the  missionary  Pedro  Font  on  his  visit  there  in  1775. 
(Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  vi.  p.  538.)— At  a  place  of  the  same  name, 
Casas  Grandes,  about  33°  north,  and,  like  the  former,  a  supposed 
station  of  the  Aztecs,  still  more  extensive  remains  are  to  be  found; 
large  enough,  indeed,  according  to  a  late  traveller,  Lieut.  Hardy, 
for  a  population  of  20,000  or  30,000  souls.  The  country  for  leagues 
is  covered  with  these  remains,  as  well  as  with  utensils  of  earthen- 
ware, obsidian,  and  other  relics.  A  drawing  which  the  author  has 
given  of  a  painted  jar  or  vase  may  remind  one  of  the  Etruscan. 
"  There  were,  also,  good  specimens  of  earthen  images  in  the  Egyp- 
tian style,"  he  observes,  "  which  are,  to  me  at  least,  so  perfectly  unin- 
teresting that  I  was  at  no  pains  to  procure  any  of  them."  (Travels 
in  the  Interior  of  Mexico  (London,  1829),  pp.  464-466.)  The  lieu- 
tenant was  neither  a  Boturini  nor  a  Belzoni. 


254  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

whose  dialects,  both  in  the  termination  and  general 
sound  of  the  words,  bear  considerable  resemblance 
to  the  Mexican.63  Such  are  the  vestiges,  few,  in- 
deed, and  feeble,  that  still  exist  to  attest  the  truth 
of  traditions  which  themselves  have  remained 
steady  and  consistent  through  the  lapse  of  centuries 
and  the  migrations  of  successive  races. 

The  conclusions  suggested  by  the  intellectual 
and  moral  analogies  with  Eastern  Asia  derive  con- 
siderable support  from  those  of  a  physical  nature. 
The  aborigines  of  the  Western  World  were  dis- 
tinguished by  certain  peculiarities  of  organization, 
which  have  led  physiologists  to  regard  them  as  a 
separate  race.  These  peculiarities  are  shown  in 
their  reddish  complexion,  approaching  a  cinnamon 
color ;  their  straight,  black,  and  exceedingly  glossy 
hair ;  their  beard  thin,  and  usually  eradicated ; 64 
their  high  cheek-bones,  eyes  obliquely  directed  to- 
wards the  temples,  prominent  noses,  and  narrow 
foreheads  falling  backwards  with  a  greater  inclina- 
tion than  those  of  any  other  race  except  the  Afri- 
can.65 From  this  general  standard,  however,  there 
are  deviations,  in  the  same  manner,  if  not  to  the 

83  Vater  has  examined  the  languages  of  three  of  these  nations,  be- 
tween 50°  and  60°  north,  and  collated  their  vocabularies  with  the 
Mexican,  showing  the  probability  of  a  common  origin  of  many  of  the 
words  in  each.     Mithridates,  Theil  iii.  Abtheil.  3,  p.  212. 

84  The  Mexicans  are  noticed  by  M.  de  Humboldt  as  distinguished 
from  the  other  aborigines  whom  he  had  seen,  by  the  quantity  both 
of  beard  and  moustaches.      (Essai  politique,  torn.  i.  p.  361.)     The 
modern  Mexican,  however,  broken  in  spirit  and  fortunes,  bears  as 
little  resemblance,  probably,  in  physical  as  in  moral  characteristics  to 
his  ancestors,  the  fierce  and  independent  Aztecs. 

MPrichard,  Physical  History,  vol.  i.  pp.  167-169,  182,  et  seq.— 
Morton,  Crania  Americana,  p.  66.— McCulloh,  Researches,  p.  18.— 
Lawrence,  Lectures,  pp.  317,  565. 


ORIGIN    OF    MEXICAN    CIVILIZATION     255 

same  extent,  as  in  other  quarters  of  the  globe, 
though  these  deviations  do  not  seem  to  be  influ- 
enced by  the  same  laws  of  local  position.66  Anato- 
mists, also,  have  discerned  in  crania  disinterred 
from  the  mounds,  and  in  those  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  high  plains  of  the  Cordilleras,  an  obvious 
difference  from  those  of  the  more  barbarous  tribes. 
This  is  seen  especially  in  the  ampler  forehead,  inti- 
mating a  decided  intellectual  superiority.67  These 
characteristics  are  found  to  bear  a  close  resem- 
blance to  those  of  the  Mongolian  family,  and  espe- 
cially to  the  people  of  Eastern  Tartary;68  so  that, 
notwithstanding  certain  differences  recognized  by 
physiologists,  the  skulls  of  the  two  races  could  not 
be  readily  distinguished  from  one  another  by  a 
common  observer.  No  inference  can  be  surely 
drawn,  however,  without  a  wide  range  of  compari- 
son. That  hitherto  made  has  been  chiefly  founded 

°"  Thus  we  find,  amidst  the  generally  prevalent  copper  or  cinna- 
mon tint,  nearly  all  gradations  of  color,  from  the  European  white,  to 
a  black,  almost  African;  while  the  complexion  capriciously  varies 
among  different  tribes  in  the  neighborhood  of  each  other.  See  ex- 
amples in  Humboldt  (Essai  politique,  torn.  i.  pp.  358,  359),  also 
Prichard  (Physical  History,  vol.  ii.  pp.  452,  522,  et  alibi),  a  writer 
whose  various  research  and  dispassionate  judgment  have  made  his 
work  a  text-book  in  this  department  of  science. 

OT  Such  is  the  conclusion  of  Dr.  Warren,  whose  excellent  collec- 
tion has  afforded  him  ample  means  for  study  and  comparison.  (See 
his  Remarks  before  the  British  Association  for  the  Advancement 
of  Science,  ap.  London  Athenaeum,  Oct.,  1837.)  In  the  specimens 
collected  by  Dr.  Morton,  however,  the  barbarous  tribes  would  seem 
to  have  a  somewhat  larger  facial  angle,  and  a  greater  quantity  of 
brain,  than  the  semi-civilized.  Crania  Americana,  p.  259. 

*  "  On  ne  peut  se  refuser  d'admettre  que  1'espece  humaine  n'offre 
pas  de  races  plus  voisines  que  le  sont  celles  des  Am6ricaines,  des 
Mongols,  des  Mantchoux,  et  des  Malais."  Humboldt,  Essai  poli- 
tique, torn.  i.  p.  367.— Also,  Prichard,  Physical  History,  vol.  i.  pp. 
184-186;  vol.  ii.  pp.  365-367.— Lawrence,  Lectures,  p.  365. 


256  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

on  specimens  from  the  barbarous  tribes.69  Perhaps 
a  closer  comparison  with  the  more  civilized  may 
supply  still  stronger  evidences  of  affinity.70 

In  seeking  for  analogies  with  the  Old  World,  we 
should  not  pass  by  in  silence  the  architectural  re- 
mains of  the  country,  which,  indeed,  from  their 
resemblance  to  the  pyramidal  structures  of  the 
East,  have  suggested  to  more  than  one  antiquary 
the  idea  of  a  common  origin.71  The  Spanish  in- 

89  Dr.  Morton's  splendid  work  on  American  crania  has  gone  far 
to  supply  the  requisite  information.  Out  of  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  specimens  of  skulls,  of  which  he  has  ascertained  the  dimensions 
with  admirable  precision,  one-third  belong  to  the  semi-civilized  races; 
and  of  them  thirteen  are  Mexican.  The  number  of  these  last  is  too 
small  to  found  any  general  conclusions  upon,  considering  the  great 
diversity  found  in  individuals  of  the  same  nation,  not  to  say  kindred. 
— Blumenbach's  observations  on  American  skulls  were  chiefly  made, 
according  to  Prichard  (Physical  History,  vol.  i.  pp.  183,  184),  from 
specimens  of  the  Carib  tribes,  as  unfavorable,  perhaps,  as  any  on  the 
continent. 

T0  Yet  these  specimens  are  not  so  easy  to  be  obtained.  With  un- 
common advantages  for  procuring  these  myself  in  Mexico,  I  have 
not  succeeded  in  obtaining  any  specimens  of  the  genuine  Aztec  skull. 
The  difficulty  of  this  may  be  readily  comprehended  by  any  one  who 
considers  the  length  of  time  that  has  elapsed  since  the  Conquest, 
and  that  the  burial-places  of  the  ancient  Mexicans  have  continued 
to  be  used  by  their  descendants.  Dr.  Morton  more  than  once  refers 
to  his  specimens  as  those  of  the  "  genuine  Toltec  skull,  from  ceme- 
teries in  Mexico,  older  than  the  Conquest."  (Crania  Americana, 
pp.  152,  155,  231,  et  alibi.)  But  how  does  he  know  that  the  heads 
are  Toltec?  That  nation  is  reported  to  have  left  the  country  about 
the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century,  nearly  eight  hundred  years  ago, 
— according  to  Ixtlilxochitl,  indeed,  a  century  earlier;  and  it  seems 
much  more  probable  that  the  specimens  now  found  in  these  burial- 
places  should  belong  to  some  of  the  races  who  have  since  occupied 
the  country,  than  to  one  so  far  removed.  The  presumption  is 
manifestly  too  feeble  to  authorize  any  positive  inference. 

T1  The  tower  of  Belus,  with  its  retreating  stories,  described  by 
Herodotus  (Clio,  sec.  181),  has  been  selected  as  the  model  of  the 
teocalli;  which  leads  Vater  somewhat  shrewdly  to  remark  that  it 
is  strange  no  evidence  of  this  should  appear  in  the  erection  of  simi- 
lar structures  by  the  Aztecs  in  the  whole  course  of  their  journey 


ORIGIN    OF    MEXICAN    CIVILIZATION     257 

vaders,  it  is  true,  assailed  the  Indian  buildings,  es- 
pecially those  of  a  religious  character,  with  all  the 
fury  of  fanaticism.  The  same  spirit  survived  in 
the  generations  which  succeeded.  The  war  has 
never  ceased  against  the  monuments  of  the  coun- 
try; and  the  few  that  fanaticism  has  spared  have 
been  nearly  all  demolished  to  serve  the  purposes  of 
utility.  Of  all  the  stately  edifices,  so  much  extolled 
by  the  Spaniards  who  first  visited  the  country, 
there  are  scarcely  more  vestiges  at  the  present  day 
than  are  to  be  found  in  some  of  those  regions  of 
Europe  and  Asia  which  once  swarmed  with  popu- 
lous cities,  the  great  marts  of  luxury  and  com- 
merce.72 Yet  some  of  these  remains,  like  the 
temple  of  Xochicalco,73  the  palaces  of  Tezcot- 

to  Anahuac.  (Mithridates,  Theil  iii.  Abtheil.  3,  pp.  74,  75.)  The 
learned  Niebuhr  finds  the  elements  of  the  Mexican  temple  in  the 
mythic  tomb  of  Porsenna.  (Roman  History,  Eng.  trans.  (London, 
1827),  vol.  i.  p.  88.)  The  resemblance  to  the  accumulated  pyramids 
composing  this  monument  is  not  very  obvious.  Com.  Pliny  (Hist. 
Nat.,  lib.  36,  sec.  19).  Indeed,  the  antiquarian  may  be  thought  to 
encroach  on  the  poet's  province  when  he  finds  in  Etruscan  fable — 
"  cum  omnia  excedat  fabulositas,"  as  Pliny  characterizes  this— the 
origin  of  Aztec  science. 

72  See  the  powerful  description  of  Lucan,  Pharsalia,  lib.  9,  v.  966. 
— The  Latin  bard  has  been  surpassed  by  the  Italian,  in  the  beautiful 
stanza  beginning  Giace  I'  alia  Cartago  (Gerusalemme  Liberata,  c. 
15,  s.  20),  which  may  be  said  to  have  been  expanded  by  Lord  Byron 
into  a  canto,— the  fourth  of  Childe  Harold. 

™  The  most  remarkable  remains  on  the  proper  Mexican  soil  are  the 
temple  or  fortress  of  Xochicalco,  not  many  miles  from  the  capital.  It 
stands  on  a  rocky  eminence,  nearly  a  league  in  circumference,  cut 
into  terraces  faced  with  stone.  The  building  on  the  summit  is 
seventy-five  feet  long  and  sixty-six  broad.  It  is  of  hewn  granite,  put 
together  without  cement,  but  with  great  exactness.  It  was  con- 
structed in  the  usual  pyramidal,  terraced  form,  rising  by  a  succession 
of  stories,  each  smaller  than  that  below  it.  The  number  of  these  is 
now  uncertain;  the  lower  one  alone  remaining  entire.  This  is  suffi- 
cient, however,  to  show  the  nice  style  of  execution,  from  the  sharp, 
salient  cornices,  and  the  hieroglyphical  emblems  with  which  it  is 


258  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

zinco,74  the  colossal  calendar-stone  in  the  capital, 
are  of  sufficient  magnitude,  and  wrought  with 
sufficient  skill,  to  attest  mechanical  powers  in  the 
Aztecs  not  unworthy  to  be  compared  with  those 
of  the  ancient  Egyptians. 

But,  if  the  remains  on  the  Mexican  soil  are  so 
scanty,  they  multiply  as  we  descend  the  southeast- 
ern slope  of  the  Cordilleras,  traverse  the  rich  Val- 
ley of  Oaxaca,  and  penetrate  the  forests  of  Chiapa 
and  Yucatan.  In  the  midst  of  these  lonely  regions 
we  meet  with  the  ruins,  recently  discovered,  of 
several  ancient  cities,  Mitla,  Palenque,  and  Itza- 
lana  or  Uxmal,75  which  argue  a  higher  civilization 

covered,  all  cut  in  the  hard  stone.  As  the  detached  blocks  found 
among  the  ruins  are  sculptured  with  bas-reliefs  in  like  manner,  it  is 
probable  that  the  whole  building  was  covered  with  them.  It  seems 
probable,  also,  as  the  same  pattern  extends  over  different  stones, 
that  the  work  was  executed  after  the  walls  were  raised. — In  the  hill 
beneath,  subterraneous  galleries,  six  feet  wide  and  high,  have  been 
cut  to  the  length  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet,  where  they  termin- 
ate in  two  halls,  the  vaulted  ceilings  of  which  connect  by  a  sort  of  tun- 
nel with  the  buildings  above.  These  subterraneous  works  are  also 
lined  with  hewn  stone.  The  size  of  the  blocks,  and  the  hard  quality 
of  the  granite  of  which  they  consist,  have  made  the  buildings  of 
Xochicalco  a  choice  quarry  for  the  proprietors  of  a  neighboring 
sugar-refinery,  who  have  appropriated  the  upper  stories  of  the  tem- 
ple to  this  ignoble  purpose!  The  Barberini  at  least  built  palaces, 
beautiful  themselves,  as  works  of  art,  with  the  plunder  of  the  Coli- 
seum. See  the  full  description  of  this  remarkable  building,  both 
by  Dupaix  and  Alzate.  (Antiquit6s  Mexicaines,  torn.  i.  Exp.  1,  pp. 
15-20;  torn.  iii.  Exp.  1,  PI.  33.)  A  recent  investigation  has  been  made 
by  order  of  the  Mexican  government,  the  report  of  which  differs,  in 
some  of  its  details,  from  the  preceding.  Revista  Mexicana,  torn.  i. 
mem.  5. 

74  Ante,  pp.  196-199. 

"It  is  impossible  to  look  at  Waldeck's  finished  drawings  of 
buildings,  where  Time  seems  scarcely  to  have  set  his  mark  on  the 
nicely  chiselled  stone,  and  the  clear  tints  are  hardly  defaced  by  a 
weather-stain,  without  regarding  the  artist's  work  as  a  restoration; 
a  picture  true,  it  may  be,  of  those  buildings  in  the  day  of  their  glory, 
but  not  of  their  decay.— Cogolludo,  who  saw  them  in  the  middle  of 


ORIGIN  OF  MEXICAN   CIVILIZATION    259 

than  anything  yet  found  on  the  American  conti- 
nent; and,  although  it  was  not  the  Mexicans  who 
built  these  cities,  yet,  as  they  are  probably  the  work 
of  cognate  races,  the  present  inquiry  would  be  in- 
complete without  some  attempt  to  ascertain  what 
light  they  can  throw  on  the  origin  of  the  Indian, 
and  consequently  of  the  Aztec  civilization.76 

Few  works  of  art  have  been  found  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  any  of  the  ruins.*  Some  of  them, 
consisting  of  earthen  or  marble  vases,  fragments  of 
statues,  and  the  like,  are  fantastic,  and  even  hide- 
ous ;  others  show  much  grace  and  beauty  of  design, 

the  seventeenth  century,  speaks  of  them  with  admiration,  as  works 
of  "  accomplished  architects,"  of  whom  history  has  preserved  no 
tradition.  Historia  de  Yucatan  (Madrid,  1688),  lib.  4,  cap.  2.f 

78  In  the  original  text  is  a  description  of  some  of  these  ruins,  espe- 
cially of  those  of  Mitla  and  Palenque.  It  would  have  had  novelty 
at  the  time  in  which  it  was  written,  since  the  only  accounts  of  these 
buildings  were  in  the  colossal  publications  of  Lord  Kingsborough, 
and  in  the  Antiquit£s  Mexicaines,  not  very  accessible  to  most  readers. 
But  it  is  unnecessary  to  repeat  descriptions  now  familiar  to  every  one, 
and  so  much  better  executed  than  they  can  be  by  me,  in  the  spirited 
pages  of  Stephens. 

*  [Bandelier  (Archaeological  Tour  in  Mexico)  gives  an  account  of 
the  statues,  etc.,  found  in  Mexico  up  to  the  year  1881. — M.] 

t  [The  age  of  these  ancient  cities  is  still  an  unsolved  problem,  but 
the  conviction  seems  to  be  growing  that  many  of  them  were  inhabited 
at  the  time  of  the  Conquest.  The  sacred  edifices  at  Uxmal  did  not 
cease  to  be  used  until  some  time  after  the  Spaniards  had  become 
lords  of  the  land.  Charnay  (Ancient  Cities  of  the  New  World,  p.  328) 
thinks  Chichen  Itza  was  inhabited  "  scarcely  sixty  years  before  the 
Conquest."  Bandelier  (Peabody  Museum  Report,  ii.  126)  says  of 
the  Tablet  of  the  Cross  at  Palenque,  "  These  tablets  and  figures 
show  in  dress  such  a  striking  analogy  of  what  we  know  of  the  mili- 
tary accoutrements  of  the  Mexicans,  that  it  is  a  strong  approach 
to  identity."  Bancroft  (Native  Races,  vol.  iv.)  specifies  the  litera- 
ture dealing  with  Palenque.  For  a  while  scholars  were  mystified 
by  Waldeck's  absurd  elephants  on  the  walls  of  Palenque.  But 
after  a  time  these  animal  representations  were  shown  to  have  existed 
only  in  the  artist's  brain. — M.] 


260  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

and  are  apparently  well  executed.77  It  may  seem 
extraordinary  that  no  iron  in  the  buildings  them- 
selves, nor  iron  tools,  should  have  been  discovered, 
considering  that  the  materials  used  are  chiefly 
granite,  very  hard,  and  carefully  hewn  and  pol- 
ished. Red  copper  chisels  and  axes  have  been 
picked  up  in  the  midst  of  large  blocks  of  granite 
imperfectly  cut,  with  fragments  of  pillars  and 
architraves,  in  the  quarries  near  Mitla.78  Tools  of 
a  similar  kind  have  been  discovered,  also,  in  the 
quarries  near  Thebes;  and  the  difficulty,  nay,  im- 
possibility, of  cutting  such  masses  from  the  living 
rock  with  any  tools  which  we  possess,  except  iron, 
has  confirmed  an  ingenious  writer  in  the  supposi- 
tion that  this  metal  must  have  been  employed  by 
the  Egyptians,  but  that  its  tendency  to  decompo- 
sition, especially  in  a  nitrous  soil,  has  prevented  any 
specimens  of  it  from  being  preserved.79  Yet  iron 
has  been  found,  after  the  lapse  of  some  thousands 
of  years,  in  the  remains  of  antiquity;  and  it  is 
certain  that  the  Mexicans,  down  to  the  time  of  the 
Conquest,  used  only  copper  instruments,  with  an 
alloy  of  tin,  and  a  silicious  powder,  to  cut  the  hard- 
est stones,  some  of  them  of  enormous  dimensions.80 
This  fact,  with  the  additional  circumstance  that 

77  See,  in  particular,  two  terra-cotta  busts  with  helmets,  found  in 
Oaxaca,  which  might  well  pass  for  Greek,  both  in  the  style  of  the 
heads  and  the  casques  that  cover  them.    Antiquites  Mexicaines,  torn, 
iii.  Exp.  2,  PI.  36. 

78  Dupaix  speaks  of  these  tools  as  made  of  pure  copper.     But 
doubtless  there  was  some  alloy  mixed  with  it,  as  was  practised  by 
the  Aztecs  and   Egyptians;  otherwise  their  edges  must  have  been 
easily  turned  by  the  hard  substances  on  which  they  were  employed. 

TO  Wilkinson,  Ancient  Egyptians,  vol.  iii.  pp.  246-254. 
80  Ante,  p.  155. 


ORIGIN    OF    MEXICAN    CIVILIZATION    261 

only  similar  tools  have  been  found  in  Central 
America,  strengthens  the  conclusion  that  iron  was 
neither  known  there  nor  in  ancient  Egypt. 

But  what  are  the  nations  of  the  Old  Continent 
whose  style  of  architecture  bears  most  resemblance 
to  that  of  the  remarkable  monuments  of  Chiapa 
and  Yucatan?  The  points  of  resemblance  will 
probably  be  found  neither  numerous  nor  decisive. 
There  is,  indeed,  some  analogy  both  to  the  Egyp- 
tian and  Asiatic  style  of  architecture  in  the  pyram- 
idal, terrace-formed  bases  on  which  the  buildings 
repose,  resembling  also  the  Toltec  and  Mexican 
teocalli.  A  similar  care,  also,  is  observed  in  the 
people  of  both  hemispheres  to  adjust  the  position 
of  their  buildings  by  the  cardinal  points.  The 
walls  in  both  are  covered  with  figures  and  hiero- 
glyphics, which,  on  the  American  as  on  the  Egyp- 
tian, may  be  designed,  perhaps,  to  record  the  laws 
and  historical  annals  of  the  nation.  These  figures, 
as  well  as  the  buildings  themselves,  are  found  to 
have  been  stained  with  various  dyes,  principally 
vermilion ; 81  a  favorite  color  with  the  Egyptians 
also,  who  painted  their  colossal  statues  and  temples 
of  granite.82  Notwithstanding  these  points  of  simi- 
larity, the  Palenque  architecture  has  little  to  re- 

81  Waldeck,  Atlas  pittoresque,  p.  73. — The  fortress  of  Xochicalco  was 
also  colored  with  a  red  paint  (Antiquites  Mexicaines,  torn.  i.  p.  20) ; 
and  a  cement  of  the  same  color  covered  the  Toltec  pyramid  at  Teoti- 
huacan,  according  to  Mr.  Bullock,  Six  Months  in  Mexico,  vol.  ii.  p. 
143. 

8J  Description  de  PEgypte,  Antiq.,  torn.  ii.  cap.  9,  sec.  4.— The 
huge  image  of  the  Sphinx  was  originally  colored  red.  (Clarke's 
Travels,  vol.  v.  p.  202.)  Indeed,  many  of  the  edifices,  as  well  as 
statues,  of  ancient  Greece,  also,  still  exhibit  traces  of  having  been 
painted. 


262  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

mind  us  of  the  Egyptian  or  of  the  Oriental.  It  is, 
indeed,  more  conformable,  in  the  perpendicular 
elevation  of  the  walls,  the  moderate  size  of  the 
stones,  and  the  general  arrangement  of  the  parts, 
to  the  European.  It  must  be  admitted,  however, 
to  have  a  character  of  originality  peculiar  to  itself. 
More  positive  proofs  of  communication  with  the 
East  might  be  looked  for  in  their  sculpture  and  in 
the  conventional  forms  of  their  hieroglyphics. 
But  the  sculptures  on  the  Palenque  buildings  are 
in  relief,  unlike  the  Egyptian,  which  are  usually  in 
intaglio.  The  Egyptians  were  not  very  successful 
in  their  representations  of  the  human  figure,  which 
are  on  the  same  invariable  model,  always  in  profile, 
from  the  greater  facility  of  execution  this  presents 
over  the  front  view;  the  full  eye  is  placed  on  the 
side  of  the  head,  while  the  countenance  is  similar 
in  all,  and  perfectly  destitute  of  expression.83 
The  Palenque  artists  were  equally  awkward  in 
representing  the  various  attitudes  of  the  body, 
which  they  delineated  also  in  profile.  But  the  parts 
are  executed  with  much  correctness,  and  sometimes 
gracefully;  the  costume  is  rich  and  various;  and 
the  ornamented  head-dress,  typical,  perhaps,  like 
the  Aztec,  of  the  name  and  condition  of  the  person 
represented,  conforms  in  its  magnificence  to  the 
Oriental  taste.  The  countenance  is  various,  and 
often  expressive.  The  contour  of  the  head  is,  in- 

M  The  various  causes  of  the  stationary  condition  of  art  in  Egypt, 
for  so  many  ages,  are  clearly  exposed  by  the  Duke  di  Serradifalco, 
in  his  Antichitd,  della  Sicilia  (Palermo,  1834,  torn.  ii.  pp.  33,  34) ;  a 
work  in  which  the  author,  while  illustrating  the  antiquities  of  a  little 
island,  has  thrown  a  flood  of  light  on  the  arts  and  literary  culture 
of  ancient  Greece. 


ORIGIN  OF  MEXICAN   CIVILIZATION    263 

deed,  most  extraordinary,  describing  almost  a  semi- 
circle from  the  forehead  to  the  tip  of  the  nose,  and 
contracted  towards  the  crown,  whether  from  the 
artificial  pressure  practised  by  many  of  the  abo- 
rigines, or  from  some  preposterous  notion  of  ideal 
beauty.84  But,  while  superior  in  the  execution  of 
the  details,  the  Palenque  artist  was  far  inferior  to 
the  Egyptian  in  the  number  and  variety  of  the 
objects  displayed  by  him,  which  on  the  Theban 
temples  comprehend  animals  as  well  as  men,  and 
almost  every  conceivable  object  of  use  or  elegant 
art. 

The  hieroglyphics  are  too  few  on  the  American 
buildings  to  authorize  any  decisive  inference.  On 
comparing  them,  however,  with  those  of  the  Dres- 
den Codex,  probably  from  this  same  quarter  of  the 
country,85  with  those  on  the  monument  of  Xochi- 
calco,  and  with  the  ruder  picture-writing  of  the 
Aztecs,  it  is  not  easy  to  discern  anything  which  in- 
dicates a  common  system.  Still  less  obvious  is  the 
resemblance  to  the  Egyptian  characters,  whose  re- 
fined and  delicate  abbreviations  approach  almost 

84 "The  ideal  is  not  always  the  beautiful,"  as  Winckelmann  truly 
says,  referring  to  the  Egyptian  figures.  (Histoire  de  1'Art  chez  les 
Anciens,  liv.  4,  chap.  2,  trad.  Fr.)  It  is  not  impossible,  however, 
that  the  portraits  mentioned  in  the  text  may  be  copies  from  life. 
Some  of  the  rude  tribes  of  America  distorted  their  infants'  heads 
into  forms  quite  as  fantastic;  and  Garcilaso  de  la  Vega  speaks  of  a 
nation  discovered  by  the  Spaniards  in  Florida,  with  a  formation 
apparently  not  unlike  the  Palenque:  "  Tienen  cabezas  increible- 
mente  largos,  y  ahusadas  para  arriba,  que  las  ponen  asf  con  artifi- 
cio,  atandoselas  desde  el  punto,  que  nascen  las  criaturas,  hasta  que 
son  de  nueve  6  diez  anos."  La  Florida  (Madrid,  1723),  p.  190. 

85  For  a  notice  of  this  remarkable  codex,  see  ante,  p.  119.  There 
is,  indeed,  a  resemblance,  in  the  use  of  straight  lines  and  dots, 
between  the  Palenque  writing  and  the  Dresden  MS.  Possibly  these 
dots  denoted  years,  like  the  rounds  in  the  Mexican  system. 


264  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

to  the  simplicity  of  an  alphabet.  Yet  the  Palenque 
writing  shows  an  advanced  stage  of  the  art,  and, 
though  somewhat  clumsy,  intimates,  by  the  conven- 
tional and  arbitrary  forms  of  the  hieroglyphics, 
that  it  was  symbolical,  and  perhaps  phonetic,  in  its 
character.86  That  its  mysterious  import  will  ever 
be  deciphered  is  scarcely  to  be  expected.  The 
language  of  the  race  who  employed  it,  the  race 
itself,  is  unknown.  And  it  is  not  likely  that  an- 
other Rosetta  stone  will  be  found,  with  its  trilin- 
gual inscription,  to  supply  the  means  of  compari- 
son, and  to  guide  the  American  Champollion  in  the 
path  of  discovery. 

It  is  impossible  to  contemplate  these  mysterious 
monuments  of  a  lost  civilization  without  a  strong 
feeling  of  curiosity  as  to  who  were  their  architects 
and  what  is  their  probable  age.  The  data  on  which 
to  rest  our  conjectures  of  their  age  are  not  very 
substantial;  although  some  find  in  them  a  warrant 
for  an  antiquity  of  thousands  of  years,  coeval  with 
the  architecture  of  Egypt  and  Hindostan.87  But 
the  interpretation  of  hieroglyphics,  and  the  appar- 
ent duration  of  trees,  are  vague  and  unsatisfac- 

88  The  hieroglyphics  are  arranged  in  perpendicular  lines.  The  heads 
are  uniformly  turned  towards  the  right,  as  in  the  Dresden  MS. 

81 "  Les  ruines,"  says  the  enthusiastic  chevalier  Le  Noir,  "  sans 
nom,  a  qui  1'on  a  donn£  celui  de  Palenque,  peuvent  remonter  comme 
les  plus  anciennes  ruines  du  monde  a  trois  mille  ans.  Ceci  n'est  point 
mon  opinion  seule;  c'est  celle  de  tous  les  voyageurs  qui  ont  vu  les 
ruines  dont  il  s'agit,  de  tous  les  archdologues  qui  en  ont  examind 
les  dessins  ou  lu  les  descriptions,  enfin  des  historiens  qui  ont  fait 
des  recherches,  et  qui  n'ont  rien  trouv£  dans  les  annales  du  monde 
qui  fasse  soupconner  Pdpoque  de  la  fondation  de  tels  monuments, 
dont  Porigine  se  perd  dans  la  nuit  des  temps."  (Antiquit£s  Mexi- 
caines,  torn,  ii.,  Examen,  p.  73.)  Colonel  Galindo,  fired  with  the  con- 
templation of  the  American  ruins,  pronounces  this  country  the  true 


ORIGIN  OF  MEXICAN  CIVILIZATION    265 

tory.88  And  how  far  can  we  derive  an  argument 
from  the  discoloration  and  dilapidated  condition  of 
the  ruins,  when  we  find  so  many  structures  of  the 
Middle  Ages  dark  and  mouldering  with  decay, 
while  the  marbles  of  the  Acropolis  and  the  gray 
stone  of  Pa?stum  still  shine  in  their  primitive 
splendor? 

There  are,  however,  undoubted  proofs  of  con- 
siderable age  to  be  found  there.  Trees  have  shot 
up  in  the  midst  of  the  buildings,  which  measure,  it 
is  said,  more  than  nine  feet  in  diameter.89  A  still 
more  striking  fact  is  the  accumulation  of  vegetable 
mould  in  one  of  the  courts,  to  the  depth  of  nine 
feet  above  the  pavement.90  This  in  our  latitude 

cradle  of  civilization,  whence  it  passed  over  to  China,  and  latterly 
to  Europe,  which,  whatever  "  its  foolish  vanity "  may  pretend,  has 
but  just  started  in  the  march  of  improvement!  See  his  Letter  on 
Copan,  ap.  Trans,  of  Am.  Ant.  Soc.,  vol.  ii. 

88  From  these  sources  of  information,  and  especially  from  the  num- 
ber of  the  concentric  rings  in  some  old  trees,  and  the  incrustation 
of  stalactites  found  on  the  ruins  of  Palenque,  M.  Waldeck  computes 
their  age  at  between  two  and  three  thousand  years.      (Voyage  en 
Yucatan,  p.  78.)     The  criterion,  as  far  as  the  trees  are  concerned, 
cannot  be  relied  on  in  an  advanced  stage  of  their  growth;  and  as  to 
the  stalactite  formations,  they  are  obviously  affected  by  too  many 
casual  circumstances,  to  afford  the  basis  of  an  accurate  calculation.* 

89  Waldeck,  Voyage  en  Yucatan,  ubi  supra. 

80  Antiquit£s  Mexicaines,  Examen,  p.  76.— Hardly  deep  enough, 
however,  to  justify  Captain  Dupaix's  surmise  of  the  antediluvian 

*  [Charnay  (Ancient  Cities  of  the  New  World,  p.  260)  shows  the 
worthlessness  of  the  argument  from  tree  growth.  He  says,  "  In  my 
first  expedition  to  Palenque  in  1859,  I  had  the  eastern  side  of  the 
palace  cleared  of  the  dense  vegetation  to  secure  a  good  photograph. 
Consequently,  the  trees  that  have  grown  since  cannot  be  more  than 
twenty-two  years  old;  now  one  of  the  cuttings,  measuring  some  two 
feet  in  diameter,  had  upwards  of  230  concentric  circles,  that  is,  at  the 
rate  of  one  in  a  month,  or  even  less."  Reasoning  on  the  idea  that  a 
concentric  circle  upon  a  tree  represents  a  growth  of  one  year,  Wal- 
deck had  calculated  the  age  of  the  structures  at  2000  years. — M.] 


266  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

would  be  decisive  of  a  very  great  antiquity.  But 
in  the  rich  soil  of  Yucatan,  and  under  the  ardent 
sun  of  the  tropics,  vegetation  bursts  forth  with  ir- 
repressible exuberance,  and  generations  of  plants 
succeed  each  other  without  intermission,  leaving  an 
accumulation  of  deposits  that  would  have  perished 
under  a  northern  winter.  Another  evidence  of 
their  age  is  afforded  by  the  circumstance  that  in 
one  of  the  courts  of  Uxmal  the  granite  pavement,* 
on  which  the  figures  of  tortoises  were  raised  in  re- 
lief, is  worn  nearly  smooth  by  the  feet  of  the 
crowds  who  have  passed  over  it ; 91  a  curious  fact, 
suggesting  inferences  both  in  regard  to  the  age  and 
population  of  the  place.  Lastly,  we  have  authority 
for  carrying  back  the  date  of  many  of  these  ruins 
to  a  certain  period,  since  they  were  found  in  a 
deserted,  and  probably  dilapidated,  state  by  the 
first  Spaniards  who  entered  the  country.  Their 
notices,  indeed,  are  brief  and  casual,  for  the 
old  Conquerors  had  little  respect  for  works  of 
art;92  and  it  is  fortunate  for  these  structures 

existence  of  these  buildings;  especially  considering  that  the  accumu- 
lation was  in  the  sheltered  position  of  an  interior  court. 

91  Waldeck,  Voyage  en  Yucatan,  p.  97. 

"  The  chaplain  of  Grij  alva  speaks  with  admiration  of  the  "  lofty 
towers  of  stone  and  lime,  some  of  them  very  ancient,"  found  in  Yu- 
catan. (Itinerario,  MS.  (1518).)  Bernal  Diaz,  with  similar  expres- 
sions of  wonder,  refers  the  curious  antique  relics  found  there  to  the 
Jews.  (Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  2,  6.)  Alvarado,  in  a  letter  to 

*  [Ober,  Travels  in  Mexico,  p.  76.  This  granite  pavement  with 
its  carven  tortoises  has  never  been  seen  by  mortal  man,  although 
described  by  the  unreliable  and  wonder-seeking  Waldeck.  It  is  true 
that  there  are  many  sculptures  of  this  kind  in  Uxmal,  but  only  on 
the  doors  and  cornices.  Ancona  in  his  history  says,  "  Estes  tortugas, 
expuestas  a  las  piedras  de  la  muchedumbre,  solo  han  existido  en  la 
imaginacion  de  Waldeck."  Ancona  was  the  native  historian  of 
Yucatan.— M.] 


that  they  had  ceased  to  be  the  living  temples 
of  the  gods,  since  no  merit  of  architecture, 
probably,  would  have  availed  to  save  them 
from  the  general  doom  of  the  monuments  of 
Mexico. 

If  we  find  it  so  difficult  to  settle  the  age  of  these 
buildings,  what  can  we  hope  to  know  of  their  archi- 
tects? Little  can  be  gleaned  from  the  rude  people 
by  whom  they  are  surrounded.  The  old  Tezcucan 
chronicler  so  often  quoted  by  me,  the  best  authority 
for  the  traditions  of  his  country,  reports  that  the 
Toltecs,  on  the  breaking  up  of  their  empire, — 
which  he  places  earlier  than  most  authorities,  in  the 
middle  of  the  tenth  century, — migrating  from 
Anahuac,  spread  themselves  over  Guatemala,  Te- 
huantepec,  Campeachy,  and  the  coasts  and  neigh- 

Corte's,  expatiates  on  the  "  maravillosos  et  grandes  edificios "  to  be 
seen  in  Guatemala.  (Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Ind.,  MS.,  lib.  33,  cap. 
42.)  According  to  Cogolludo,  the  Spaniards,  who  could  get  no  tra- 
dition of  their  origin,  referred  them  to  the  Phoenicians  or  Cartha- 
ginians. (Hist,  de  Yucatan,  lib.  4,  cap.  2.)  He  cites  the  following 
emphatic  notice  of  these  remains  from  Las  Casas :  "  Ciertamente 
la  tierra  de  Yucathan  da  &  entender  cosas  mui  especiales,  y  de  mayor 
antiguedad,  por  las  grandes,  admirables,  y  excessivas  maneras  de 
edificios,  y  letreros  de  ciertos  caracteres,  que  en  otra  ninguna  parte 
se  hallan."  (Loc.  cit.)  Even  the  inquisitive  Martyr  has  collected 
no  particulars  respecting  them,  merely  noticing  the  buildings  of  this 
region  with  general  expressions  of  admiration.  (De  Insulis  nuper 
Inventis,  pp.  334-340.)  What  is  quite  as  surprising  is  the  silence  of 
Cortes,  who  traversed  the  country  forming  the  base  of  Yucatan,  in 
his  famous  expedition  to  Honduras,  of  which  he  has  given  many  de- 
tails we  would  gladly  have  exchanged  for  a  word  respecting  these 
interesting  memorials.  Carta  Quinta  de  Colic's,  MS.— I  must  add 
that  some  remarks  in  the  above  paragraph  in  the  text  would  have 
been  omitted,  had  I  enjoyed  the  benefit  of  Mr.  Stephens's  researches 
when  it  was  originally  written.  This  is  especially  the  case  with  the 
reflections  on  the  probable  condition  of  these  structures  at  the  time 
of  the  Conquest;  when  some  of  them  would  appear  to  have  been  still 
used  for  their  original  purposes. 


268  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

boring  isles  on  both  sides  of  the  Isthmus.93  This 
assertion,  important,  considering  its  source,  is  con- 
firmed by  the  fact  that  several  of  the  nations  in  that 
quarter  adopted  systems  of  astronomy  and  chro- 
nology, as  well  as  sacerdotal  institutions,  very  simi- 
lar to  the  Aztec,94  which,  as  we  have  seen,  were  also 
probably  derived  from  the  Toltecs,  their  more 
polished  predecessors  in  the  land. 

If  so  recent  a  date  for  the  construction  of  the 
American  buildings  be  thought  incompatible  with 
this  oblivion  of  their  origin,  it  should  be  remem- 
bered how  treacherous  a  thing  is  tradition,  and  how 
easily  the  links  of  the  chain  are  severed.  The  build- 
ers of  the  pyramids  had  been  forgotten  before  the 
time  of  the  earliest  Greek  historians.95  The  anti- 
quary still  disputes  whether  the  frightful  inclina- 
tion of  that  architectural  miracle,  the  tower  of 
Pisa,  standing,  as  it  does,  in  the  heart  of  a  populous 
city,  was  the  work  of  accident  or  design.  And  we 
have  seen  how  soon  the  Tezcucans,  dwelling  amidst 
the  ruins  of  their  royal  palaces,  built  just  before 
the  Conquest,  had  forgotten  their  history,  while  the 

•s "  Asimismo  los  Tultecas  que  escapdron  se  f  ueron  por  las  costas 
del  Mar  del  Sur  y  Norte,  como  son  Huatimala,  Tecuantepec,  Cuauh- 
zacualco,  Campechy,  Tecolotlan,  y  los  de  las  Islas  y  Costas  de  una 
mar  y  otra,  que  despues  se  vinie'ron  a  multiplicar."  Ixtlilxochitl, 
Relaciones,  MS.,  No.  5. 

94  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  4,  lib.  10,  cap.  1-4. — Cogolludo,  Hist, 
de  Yucatan,  lib.  4,  cap.  5.— Pet.  Martyr,  De  Insulis,  ubi  supra.— M. 
Waldeck  comes  to  just  the  opposite  inference,  namely,  that  the  in- 
habitants of  Yucatan  were  the  true  sources  of  the  Toltec  and  Aztec 
civilization.  (Voyage  en  Yucatan,  p.  72.)  "Doubt  must  be  our  lot 
in  everything,"  exclaims  the  honest  Captain  Dupaix,— "  the  true  faith 
always  excepted."  Antiquite"s  Mexicaines,  torn.  i.  p.  21. 

85 "  Inter  omnes  eos  non  constat  a  quibus  factae  sint,  justissimo 
casu,  obliteratis  tantae  vanitatis  auctoribus."  Pliny,  Hist.  Nat.,  lib. 
36,  cap.  17. 


ORIGIN   OF  MEXICAN   CIVILIZATION    269 

more  inquisitive  traveller  refers  their  construction 
to  some  remote  period  before  the  Aztecs.96 

The  reader  has  now  seen  the  principal  points  of 
coincidence  insisted  on  between  the  civilization  of 
ancient  Mexico  and  the  Eastern  hemisphere.  In 
presenting  them  to  him,  I  have  endeavored  to  con- 
fine myself  to  such  as  rest  on  sure  historic  grounds, 
and  not  so  much  to  offer  my  own  opinion  as  to  en- 
able him  to  form  one  for  himself.  There  are  some 
material  embarrassments  in  the  way  to  this,  how- 
ever, which  must  not  be  passed  over  in  silence. 
These  consist,  not  in  explaining  the  fact  that,  while 
the  mythic  system  and  the  science  of  the  Aztecs 
afford  some  striking  points  of  analogy  with  the 
Asiatic,  they  should  differ  in  so  many  more;  for 
the  same  phenomenon  is  found  among  the  nations 
of  the  Old  World,  who  seem  to  have  borrowed  from 
one  another  those  ideas,  only,  best  suited  to  their 
peculiar  genius  and  institutions.  Nor  does  the 
difficulty  lie  in  accounting  for  the  great  dissim- 
ilarity of  the  American  languages  to  those  in  the 
other  hemisphere;  for  the  difference  with  these 
is  not  greater  than  what  exists  among  themselves ; 
and  no  one  will  contend  for  a  separate  origin  for 
each  of  the  aboriginal  tribes.97  But  it  is  scarcely 
possible  to  reconcile  the  knowledge  of  Oriental 
science  with  the  total  ignorance  of  some  of  the  most 
serviceable  and  familiar  arts,  as  the  use  of  milk  and 

"Ante,  p.  200. 

"  At  least,  this  is  true  of  the  etymology  of  these  languages,  and, 
as  such,  was  adduced  by  Mr.  Edward  Everett,  in  his  Lectures  on  the 
Aboriginal  Civilization  of  America,  forming  part  of  a  course  de- 
livered some  years  since  by  that  acute  and  highly  accomplished 
scholar. 


270  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

iron,  for  example ;  arts  so  simple,  yet  so  important 
to  domestic  comfort,  that  when  once  acquired  they 
could  hardly  be  lost. 

The  Aztecs  had  no  useful  domesticated  animals. 
And  we  have  seen  that  they  employed  bronze,  as  a 
substitute  for  iron,  for  all  mechanical  purposes. 
The  bison,  or  wild  cow  of  America,  however,  which 
ranges  in  countless  herds  over  the  magnificent 
prairies  of  the  west,  yields  milk  like  the  tame  ani- 
mal of  the  same  species  in  Asia  and  Europe ; 98 
and  iron  was  scattered  in  large  masses  over  the  sur- 
face of  the  table-land.  Yet  there  have  been  people 
considerably  civilized  in  Eastern  Asia  who  were 
almost  equally  strangers  to  the  use  of  milk."  The 
buffalo  range  was  not  so  much  on  the  western 
coast  as  on  the  eastern  slopes  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains;100 and  the  migratory  Aztec  might  well 

88  The  mixed  breed,  from  the  buffalo  and  the  European  stock,  was 
known  formerly  in  the  northwestern  counties  of  Virginia,  says  Mr. 
Gallatin  (Synopsis,  sec.  5) ;  who  is,  however,  mistaken  in  asserting 
that  "the  bison  is  not  known  to  have  ever  been  domesticated  by  the 
Indians."  (Ubi  supra.)  Gomara  speaks  of  a  nation,  dwelling  about 
40°  north  latitude,  on  the  northwestern  borders  of  New  Spain,  whose 
chief  wealth  was  in  droves  of  these  cattle  (buyes  con  una  giba  sobre 
la  cruz,  "oxen  with  a  hump  on  the  shoulders"),  from  which  they 
got  their  clothing,  food,  and  drink,  which  last,  however,  appears  to 
have  been  only  the  blood  of  the  animal.  Historia  de  las  Indias,  cap. 
214,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  ii. 

*  The  people  of  parts  of  China,  for  example,  and,  above  all,  of 
Cochin  China,  who  never  milk  their  cows,  according  to  Macartney, 
cited  by  Humboldt,  Essai  politique,  torn.  iii.  p.  58,  note.  See,  also, 
p.  118. 

100  The  native  regions  of  the  buffalo  were  the  vast  prairies  of  the 
Missouri,  and  they  wandered  over  the  long  reach  of  country  east  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  from  55°  north,  to  the  headwaters  of  the 
streams  between  the  Mississippi  and  the  Rio  del  Norte.  The  Colum- 
bia plains,  says  Gallatin,  were  as  naked  of  game  as  of  trees.  (Synop- 


ORIGIN   OF  MEXICAN   CIVILIZATION    271 

doubt  whether  the  wild,  uncouth  monsters  whom  he 
occasionally  saw  bounding  with  such  fury  over  the 
distant  plains  were  capable  of  domestication,  like 
the  meek  animals  which  he  had  left  grazing  in  the 
green  pastures  of  Asia.  Iron,  too,  though  met 
with  on  the  surface  of  the  ground,  was  more  tena- 
cious, and  harder  to  work,  than  copper,  which 
he  also  found  in  much  greater  quantities  on  his 
route.  It  is  possible,  moreover,  that  his  migra- 
tion may  have  been  previous  to  the  time  when  iron 
was  used  by  his  nation;  for  we  have  seen  more 
than  one  people  in  the  Old  World  employing 
bronze  and  copper  with  entire  ignorance,  appar- 
ently, of  any  more  serviceable  metal.101  —  Such 

sis,  sec.  5.)  That  the  bison  was  sometimes  found  also  on  the  other 
side  of  the  mountains,  is  plain  from  Gomara's  statement.  (Hist,  de 
las  Ind.,  loc.  cit.)  See,  also,  Laet,  who  traces  their  southern  wan- 
derings to  the  river  Vaquimi  (?),  in  the  province  of  Cinaloa,  on  the 
California  Gulf.  Novus  Orbis  (Lugd.  Bat.,  1633),  p.  286. 

101  Ante,  p.  155. 

Thus  Lucretius: 

"  Et  prior  sens  erat,  quam  ferri  cognitus  usus. 
Quo  facilis  magis  est  natura,  et  copia  major. 
jEre  solum  terrse  tractabant,  aereque  belli 
Miscebant  fluctus." 

DE  RERUM  NATURA,  lib.  5. 

According  to  Carli,  the  Chinese  were  acquainted  with  iron  3000 
years  before  Christ.  (Lettres  Ame'ric.,  torn.  ii.  p.  63.)  Sir  J.  G. 
Wilkinson,  in  an  elaborate  inquiry  into  its  first  appearance  among 
the  people  of  Europe  and  Western  Asia,  finds  no  traces  of  it  earlier 
than  the  sixteenth  century  before  the  Christian  era.  (Ancient 
Egyptians,  vol.  iii.  pp.  241-246.)  The  origin  of  the  most  useful  arts 
is  lost  in  darkness.  Their  very  utility  is  one  cause  of  this,  from 
the  rapidity  with  which  they  are  diffused  among  distant  nations. 
Another  cause  is,  that  in  the  first  ages  of  the  discovery  men  are 
more  occupied  with  availing  themselves  of  it  than  with  recording 
its  history;  until  time  turns  history  into  fiction.  Instances  are  fa- 
miliar to  every  school-boy. 


272  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

is  the  explanation,  unsatisfactory,  indeed,  but 
the  best  that  suggests  itself,  of  this  curious 
anomaly. 

The  consideration  of  these  and  similar  difficulties 
has  led  some  writers  to  regard  the  antique  Ameri- 
can civilization  as  purely  indigenous.  Whichever 
way  we  turn,  the  subject  is  full  of  embarrassment. 
It  is  easy,  indeed,  by  fastening  the  attention  on 
one  portion  of  it,  to  come  to  a  conclusion.  In  this 
way,  while  some  feel  little  hesitation  in  pronounc- 
ing the  American  civilization  original,  others,  no 
less  certainly,  discern  in  it  a  Hebrew,  or  an  Egyp- 
tian, or  a  Chinese,  or  a  Tartar  origin,  as  their 
eyes  are  attracted  by  the  light  of  analogy  too 
exclusively  to  this  or  the  other  quarter.  The 
number  of  contradictory  lights,  of  itself,  perplexes 
the  judgment  and  prevents  us  from  arriving 
at  a  precise  and  positive  inference.  Indeed,  the 
affectation  of  this,  in  so  doubtful  a  matter, 
argues  a  most  unphilosophical  mind.  Yet  where 
there  is  most  doubt  there  is  often  the  most 
dogmatism. 

The  reader  of  the  preceding  pages  may  perhaps 
acquiesce  in  the  general  conclusions, — not  startling 
by  their  novelty,— 

First,  that  the  coincidences  are  sufficiently  strong 
to  authorize  a  belief  that  the  civilization  of  Ana- 
huac  was  in  some  degree  influenced  by  that  of 
Eastern  Asia. 

And,  secondly,  that  the  discrepancies  are  such  as 
to  carry  back  the  communication  to  a  very  remote 
period;  so  remote  that  this  foreign  influence  has 
been  too  feeble  to  interfere  materially  with  the 


ORIGIN    OF   MEXICAN   CIVILIZATION    273 

growth  of  what  may  be  regarded  in  its  essential 
features  as  a  peculiar  and  indigenous  civilization.* 

*  [And  in  this  connection  also  the  reader  may  do  well  to  consider 
these  words  of  the  distinguished  Americanist,  D.  G.  Brinton,  ut- 
tered in  the  International  Congress  of  Anthropology  in  1893:  "Up 
to  the  present  time  there  has  not  been  shown  a  single  dialect,  not  an 
art  or  an  institution,  not  a  myth  or  a  religious  rite,  not  a  domesti- 
cated plant  or  animal,  not  a  tool,  weapon,  game,  or  symbol,  in  use 
in  America  at  the  time  of  the  discovery,  which  had  been  previously 
imported  from  Asia,  or  from  any  other  continent  of  the  Old 
World."-M.] 


BOOK  II 

DISCOVERY    OF    MEXICO 


PORTRAIT   OF    CHARLES   V. 


.V    dH.IilAHO    '10   TIAHTHO'I 


f      Gouptl,  <S  Cf  Ft 


BOOK  II 

DISCOVERY  OF  MEXICO 
CHAPTER  I 

SPAIN  UNDER  CHARLES  V— PROGRESS  OF  DISCOVERY 
—  COLONIAL  POLICY— CONQUEST  OF  CUBA— EX- 
PEDITIONS TO  YUCATAN 

1516-1518 

IN  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  Spain 
occupied  perhaps  the  most  prominent  position 
on  the  theatre  of  Europe.  The  numerous  states 
into  which  she  had  been  so  long  divided  were  con- 
solidated into  one  monarchy.  The  Moslem  cres- 
cent, after  reigning  there  for  eight  centuries,  was 
no  longer  seen  on  her  borders.  The  authority  of 
the  crown  did  not,  as  in  later  times,  overshadow  the 
inferior  orders  of  the  state.  The  people  enjoyed 
the  inestimable  privilege  of  political  representa- 
tion, and  exercised  it  with  manly  independence. 
The  nation  at  large  could  boast  as  great  a  degree 
of  constitutional  freedom  as  any  other,  at  that 
time,  in  Christendom.  Under  a  system  of  salutary 
laws  and  an  equitable  administration,  domestic 
tranquillity  was  secured,  public  credit  established, 

277 


278  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

trade,  manufactures,  and  even  the  more  elegant 
arts,  began  to  flourish;  while  a  higher  education 
called  forth  the  first  blossoms  of  that  literature 
which  was  to  ripen  into  so  rich  a  harvest  before 
the  close  of  the  century.  Arms  abroad  kept  pace 
with  arts  at  home.  Spain  found  her  empire  sud- 
denly enlarged  by  important  acquisitions  both  in 
Europe  and  Africa,  while  a  New  World  beyond 
the  waters  poured  into  her  lap  treasures  of  count- 
less wealth  and  opened  an  unbounded  field  for 
honorable  enterprise. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  the  kingdom  at  the 
close  of  the  long  and  glorious  reign  of  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella,  when,  on  the  23d  of  January,  1516, 
the  sceptre  passed  into  the  hands  of  their  daughter 
Joanna,  or  rather  their  grandson,*  Charles  the 

*  [The  grandson  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  was  not  Charles  the 
Fifth  when  the  sceptre  of  Spain  was  thrust  into  his  hands  because 
his  mother  Joanna  was  unfit  to  rule.  Charles  called  himself  king 
when  he  made  his  triumphal  entry  into  Valladolid  in  1517.  But 
it  was  only  with  the  greatest  difficulty  that  the  Cortes  of  Castile 
was  induced  to  accept  him  as  titular  sovereign  in  conjunction  with 
his  mother.  Her  name  was  to  take  precedence  of  his  in  all  royal 
documents.  Until  her  death  in  1555,  the  year  before  her  son's  abdi- 
cation, Joanna  was  the  rightful  sovereign  of  Spain.  Charles  was 
elected  emperor  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  in  1519,  only  two 
years  after  he  had  assumed  the  control  of  Spanish  affairs.  It  is 
not  remarkable,  therefore,  that  he  should  be  known  to  most  people 
only  by  the  more  important  title.  Charles  was  born  in  Ghent,  Feb- 
ruary 24,  1500.  His  father  was  Philip  the  Fair,  the  heir  of  the 
German  possessions  of  the  house  of  Hapsburg,  and  the  territories  of 
the  house  of  Burgundy.  When  the  marriage  of  Philip  and  Jo- 
anna was  arranged  no  one  dreamed  that  their  son  would  succeed 
to  the  crown  of  Spain,  for  Joanna's  elder  brother  and  elder  sister 
were  both  alive.  Charles  scarcely  knew  his  parents.  When  Isabella 
of  Castile  died  his  father  and  mother  went  to  Spain  to  take  posses- 
sion of  the  kingdom  she  had  left  to  her  daughter.  This  was  in  1506, 
and  from  that  time  until  1517  Charles  did  not  see  his  mother.  His 
character  was  slow  in  forming.  Only  in  athletic  sports  did  he  early 
achieve  success.  In  1517  the  Papal  legate  Campeggi  declared  him 


1517]  SPAIN  UNDER  CHARLES   V  279 

Fifth,  who  alone  ruled  the  monarchy  during  the 
long  and  imbecile  existence  of  his  unfortunate 
mother.  During  the  two  years  following  Ferdi- 
nand's death,  the  regency,  in  the  absence  of 
Charles,  was  held  by  Cardinal  Ximenes,  a  man 
whose  intrepidity,  extraordinary  talents,  and  ca- 
pacity for  great  enterprises  were  accompanied  by 
a  haughty  spirit,  which  made  him  too  indifferent  as 
to  the  means  of  their  execution.  His  administra- 
tion, therefore,  notwithstanding  the  uprightness 
of  his  intentions,  was,  from  his  total  disregard  of 
forms,  unfavorable  to  constitutional  liberty;  for 
respect  for  forms  is  an  essential  element  of  free- 
dom. With  all  his  faults,  however,  Ximenes  was 
a  Spaniard;  and  the  object  he  had  at  heart  was 
the  good  of  his  country. 

It  was  otherwise  on  the  arrival  of  Charles,  who, 
after  a  long  absence,  came  as  a  foreigner  into  the 
land  of  his  fathers.  (November,  1517.)  His 
manners,  sympathies,  even  his  language,  were  for- 
eign, for  he  spoke  the  Castilian  with  difficulty.  He 
knew  little  of  his  native  country,  of  the  character 
of  the  people  or  their  institutions.  He  seemed  to 
care  still  less  for  them;  while  his  natural  reserve 
precluded  that  freedom  of  communication  which 
might  have  counteracted,  to  some  extent,  at  least, 
the  errors  of  education.  In  everything,  in  short, 

more  fit  to  be  governed  than  to  govern.  He  was  never  a  good  scholar, 
and  was  a  singularly  bad  linguist.  French  was  the  language  he  first 
learned  to  speak.  His  native  tongui,  Flemish,  he  did  not  begin  to 
learn  until  he  was  thirteen.  When  he  went  to  Spain  he  knew  so 
little  Spanish  that  one  of  the  first  demands  made  by  the  Cortes  of 
Castile  was  that  he  should  learn  that  language.  He  never  thoroughly 
mastered  German. — M.] 


280  CONQUEST  OF   MEXICO 

he  was  a  foreigner,  and  resigned  himself  to  the 
direction  of  his  Flemish  counsellors  with  a  docility 
that  gave  little  augury  of  his  future  greatness. 

On  his  entrance  into  Castile,  the  young  monarch 
was  accompanied  by  a  swarm  of  courtly  syco- 
phants, who  settled,  like  locusts,  on  every  place  of 
profit  and  honor  throughout  the  kingdom.  A 
Fleming  was  made  grand  chancellor  of  Castile; 
another  Fleming  was  placed  in  the  archiepiscopal 
see  of  Toledo.  They  even  ventured  to  profane  the 
sanctity  of  the  Cortes,  by  intruding  themselves  on 
its  deliberations.  Yet  that  body  did  not  tamely 
submit  to  these  usurpations,  but  gave  vent  to  its 
indignation  in  tones  becoming  the  representatives 
of  a  free  people.1 

The  deportment  of  Charles,  so  different  from 
that  to  which  the  Spaniards  had  been  accustomed 
under  the  benign  administration  of  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella,  closed  all  hearts  against  him;  and,  as  his 
character  came  to  be  understood,  instead  of  the 
spontaneous  outpourings  of  loyalty  which  usually 
greet  the  accession  of  a  new  and  youthful  sover- 
eign, he  was  everywhere  encountered  by  opposi- 

irThe  following  passage — one  among  many — from  that  faithful 
mirror  of  the  times,  Peter  Martyr's  correspondence,  does  ample  jus- 
tice to  the  intemperance,  avarice,  and  intolerable  arrogance  of  the 
Flemings.  The  testimony  is  worth  the  more,  as  coming  from  one 
who,  though  resident  in  Spain,  was  not  a  Spaniard.  "  Crumenas 
auro  fulcire  inhiant;  huic  uni  studio  invigilant.  Nee  detrectat  ju- 
venis  Rex.  Farcit  quacunque  posse  datur;  non  satiat  tamen.  Quae 
qualisve  sit  gens  haec,  depingere  adhuc  nescio.  Insufflat  vulgus  hie 
in  omne  genus  hominum  non  arctoum.  Minores  faciunt  Hispanos, 
quain  si  nati  essent  inter  eorum  cloacas.  Rugiunt  jam  Hispani, 
labra  mordent,  submurmurant  taciti,  fatorum  vices  tales  esse  con- 
queruntur,  quod  ipsi  domitores  regnorum  ita  floccifiant  ab  his, 
quorum  Deus  unicus  (sub  rege  temperato)  Bacchus  est  cum  Ci- 
therea."  Opus  Epistolarum  (Amstelodami,  1610),  ep.  608. 


1520]  SPAIN    UNDER    CHARLES    V  281 

tion  and  disgust.  In  Castile,  and  afterwards  in 
Aragon,  Catalonia,  and  Valencia,  the  commons 
hesitated  to  confer  on  him  the  title  of  King  during 
the  lifetime  of  his  mother ;  and,  though  they  even- 
tually yielded  this  point,  and  associated  his  name 
with  hers  in  the  sovereignty,  yet  they  reluctantly 
granted  the  supplies  he  demanded,  and,  when  they 
did  so,  watched  over  their  appropriation  with  a 
vigilance  which  left  little  to  gratify  the  cupidity 
of  the  Flemings.  The  language  of  the  legislature 
on  these  occasions,  though  temperate  and  respect- 
ful, breathes  a  spirit  of  resolute  independence  not 
to  be  found,  probably,  on  the  parliamentary  rec- 
ords of  any  other  nation  at  that  period.  No  won- 
der that  Charles  should  have  early  imbibed  a  dis- 
gust for  these  popular  assemblies, — the  only  bodies 
whence  truths  so  unpalatable  could  find  their  way 
to  the  ears  of  the  sovereign ! 2  Unfortunately, 
they  had  no  influence  on  his  conduct;  till  the  dis- 
content, long  allowed  to  fester  in  secret,  broke  out 
in  that  sad  war  of  the  comunidades,  which  shook 
the  state  to  its  foundations  and  ended  in  the  sub- 
version of  its  liberties.* 

1  Yet  the  nobles  were  not  all  backward  in  manifesting  their  disgust. 
When  Charles  would  have  conferred  the  famous  Burgundian  order 
of  the  Golden  Fleece  on  the  Count  of  Benavente,  that  lord  refused 
it,  proudly  telling  him,  "  I  am  a  Castilian.  I  desire  no  honors  but 
those  of  my  own  country,  in  my  opinion  quite  as  good  as — indeed, 
better  than— those  of  any  other."  Sandoval,  Historia  de  la  Vida 
y  Hechos  del  Emperador  Carlos  V.  (Ambe>es,  1681),  torn.  i.  p.  103. 

*  [The  tone  of  the  preceding  paragraphs  is  that  of  the  Spanish 
chroniclers  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  shows  how  the  author, 
despite  his  natural  candor  and  impartiality  of  mind,  had  acquired 
insensibly  the  habit  of  considering  questions  that  affected  Spain 
from  the  national  point  of  view  of  the  class  of  writers  with  whom 
his  studies  had  made  him  most  familiar.  Spain  is  called  the  "  native 


282  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

The  same  pestilent  foreign  influence  was  felt, 
though  much  less  sensibly,  in  the  colonial  admin- 
istration. This  had  been  placed,  in  the  preceding 
reign,  under  the  immediate  charge  of  the  two 
great  tribunals,  the  Council  of  the  Indies,  and 
the  Casa  de  Contratadon,  or  India  House,  at  Se- 
ville. It  was  their  business  to  further  the  progress 
of  discovery,  watch  over  the  infant  settlements, 
and  adjust  the  disputes  which  grew  up  in  them. 
But  the  licenses  granted  to  private  adventurers 
did  more  for  the  cause  of  discovery  than  the  pat- 
ronage of  the  crown  or  its  officers.  The  long 
peace,  enjoyed  with  slight  interruption  by  Spain 
in  the  early  part  of  the  sixteenth  century,  was 
most  auspicious  for  this;  and  the  restless  cava- 
lier, who  could  no  longer  win  laurels  on  the  fields 
of  Africa  or  Europe,  turned  with  eagerness 

country "  of  Charles  V.,  and  the  "  land  of  his  fathers,"  although, 
as  hardly  any  reader  will  need  to  be  reminded,  he  was  born  in  the 
Netherlands  and  was  of  Spanish  descent  only  on  the  maternal  side. 
The  term  "  foreigner "  is  applied  to  him  as  if  it  indicated  some 
vicious  trait  in  his  nature;  and  the  training  which  he  had  received 
as  the  heir  to  the  Austro-Burgundian  dominions  is  spoken  of  as 
erroneous,  merely  because  it  had  not  fitted  him  for  a  different  po- 
sition. His  manners  are  contrasted  with  those  of  native  Spanish 
sovereigns,  as  if  wanting  in  graciousness  and  affability;  yet  the 
Spaniards,  who  alone  ever  made  this  complaint,  recognized  their  own 
ideal  of  royal  demeanor  in  that  of  the  taciturn  and  phlegmatic 
Philip  II.  In  like  manner,  Charles  is  supposed  to  have  made  his 
first  acquaintance  with  free  institutions  on  his  arrival  in  Spain; 
whereas  he  had  been  brought  up  in  a  country  where  the  power  of  the 
sovereign  was  perhaps  more  closely  restricted  by  the  chartered 
rights  and  immunities  of  the  subject  than  was  the  case  in  any  other 
part  of  Europe.  That  the  union  of  Spain  and  the  Netherlands  was 
a  most  incongruous  one,  disastrous  to  the  freedom,  the  independence, 
and  the  development  of  both  countries,  is  undeniable;  but  it  was 
not  Charles's  early  partiality  for  the  one,  but  his  successor's  far 
stronger  partiality  for  the  other,  which  rendered  the  incompatibility 
apparent  and  led  to  a  rupture  of  the  connection.— K.] 


1517]  COLONIZATION  283 

to  the  brilliant  career  opened  to  him  beyond  the 
ocean. 

It  is  difficult  for  those  of  our  time,  as  familiar 
from  childhood  with  the  most  remote  places  on  the 
globe  as  with  those  in  their  own  neighborhood,  to 
picture  to  themselves  the  feelings  of  the  men  who 
lived  in  the  sixteenth  century.  The  dread  mystery 
which  had  so  long  hung  over  the  great  deep  had, 
indeed,  been  removed.  It  was  no  longer  beset  with 
the  same  undefined  horrors  as  when  Columbus 
launched  his  bold  bark  on  its  dark  and  unknown 
waters.  A  new  and  glorious  world  had  been 
thrown  open.  But  as  to  the  precise  spot  where  that 
world  lay,  its  extent,  its  history,  whether  it  were 
island  or  continent, — of  all  this  they  had  very 
vague  and  confused  conceptions.  Many,  in  their 
ignorance,  blindly  adopted  the  erroneous  conclu- 
sion into  which  the  great  Admiral  had  been  led  by 
his  superior  science, — that  the  new  countries  were 
a  part  of  Asia;  and,  as  the  mariner  wandered 
among  the  Bahamas,  or  steered  his  caravel  across 
the  Caribbean  Seas,  he  fancied  he  was  inhaling  the 
rich  odors  of  the  spice-islands  in  the  Indian  Ocean. 
Thus  every  fresh  discovery,  interpreted  by  this 
previous  delusion,  served  to  confirm  him  in  his 
error,  or,  at  least,  to  fill  his  mind  with  new  per- 
plexities. 

The  career  thus  thrown  open  had  all  the  fasci- 
nations of  a  desperate  hazard,  on  which  the  adven- 
turer staked  all  his  hopes  of  fortune,  fame,  and 
life  itself.  It  was  not  often,  indeed,  that  he  won 
the  rich  prize  which  he  most  coveted;  but  then  he 
was  sure  to  win  the  meed  of  glory,  scarcely  less 


284  CONQUEST  OF   MEXICO 

dear  to  his  chivalrous  spirit ;  and,  if  he  survived  to 
return  to  his  home,  he  had  wonderful  stories  to  re- 
count, of  perilous  chances  among  the  strange  peo- 
ple he  had  visited,  and  the  burning  climes  whose 
rank  fertility  and  magnificence  of  vegetation  so 
far  surpassed  anything  he  had  witnessed  in  his 
own.  These  reports  added  fresh  fuel  to  imagina- 
tions already  warmed  by  the  study  of  those  tales 
of  chivalry  which  formed  the  favorite  reading  of 
the  Spaniards  at  that  period.  Thus  romance  and 
reality  acted  on  each  other,  and  the  soul  of  the 
Spaniard  was  exalted  to  that  pitch  of  enthusiasm 
which  enabled  him  to  encounter  the  terrible  trials 
that  lay  in  the  path  of  the  discoverer.  Indeed,  the 
life  of  the  cavalier  of  that  day  was  romance  put 
into  action.  The  story  of  his  adventures  in  the 
New  World  forms  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
pages  in  the  history  of  man. 

Under  this  chivalrous  spirit  of  enterprise,  the 
progress  of  discovery  had  extended,  by  the  begin- 
ning of  Charles  the  Fifth's  reign,  from  the  Bay  of 
Honduras,  along  the  winding  shores  of  Darien, 
and  the  South  American  continent,  to  the  Rio  de 
la  Plata.  The  mighty  barrier  of  the  Isthmus  had 
been  climbed,  and  the  Pacific  descried,  by  Nunez 
de  Balboa,  second  only  to  Columbus  in  this  valiant 
band  of  "  ocean  chivalry."  The  Bahamas  and 
Caribbee  Islands  had  been  explored,  as  well  as  the 
Peninsula  of  Florida  on  the  northern  continent. 
This  latter  point  had  been  reached  by  Sebastian 
Cabot  in  his  descent  along  the  coast  from  Labra- 
dor, in  1497.  So  that  before  1518,  the  period  when 
our  narrative  begins,  the  eastern  borders  of  both 


1517]  COLONIZATION  285 

the  great  continents  had  been  surveyed  through 
nearly  their  whole  extent.  The  shores  of  the  great 
Mexican  Gulf,  however,  sweeping  with  a  wide  cir- 
cuit far  into  the  interior,  remained  still  concealed, 
with  the  rich  realms  that  lay  beyond,  from  the  eye 
of  the  navigator.  The  time  had  now  come  for  their 
discovery. 

The  business  of  colonization  had  kept  pace  with 
that  of  discovery.  In  several  of  the  islands,  and 
in  various  parts  of  Terra  Firma,  and  in  Darien, 
settlements  had  been  established,  under  the  control 
of  governors  who  affected  the  state  and  authority 
of  viceroys.  Grants  of  land  were  assigned  to  the 
colonists,  on  which  they  raised  the  natural  prod- 
ucts of  the  soil,  but  gave  still  more  attention  to 
the  sugar-cane,  imported  from  the  Canaries.  Su- 
gar, indeed,  together  with  the  beautiful  dye-woods 
of  the  country  and  the  precious  metals,  formed 
almost  the  only  articles  of  export  in  the  infancy  of 
the  colonies,  which  had  not  yet  introduced  those 
other  staples  of  the  West  Indian  commerce  which 
in  our  day  constitute  its  principal  wealth.  Yet  the 
precious  metals,  painfully  gleaned  from  a  few 
scanty  sources,  would  have  made  poor  returns,  but 
for  the  gratuitous  labor  of  the  Indians. 

The  cruel  system  of  repartimientos,  or  distribu- 
tion of  the  Indians  as  slaves  among  the  conquer- 
ors, had  been  suppressed  by  Isabella.  Although 
subsequently  countenanced  by  the  government,  it 
was  under  the  most  careful  limitations.  But  it  is 
impossible  to  license  crime  by  halves,— to  authorize 
injustice  at  all,  and  hope  to  regulate  the  measure 
of  it.  The  eloquent  remonstrances  of  the  Domini- 


286  CONQUEST   OF  MEXICO 

cans, — who  devoted  themselves  to  the  good  work 
of  conversion  in  the  New  World  with  the  same  zeal 
that  they  showed  for  persecution  in  the  Old, — but, 
above  all,  those  of  Las  Casas,  induced  the  regent, 
Ximenes,  to  send  out  a  commission  with  full  pow- 
ers to  inquire  into  the  alleged  grievances  and  to  re- 
dress them.  It  had  authority,  moreover,  to  inves- 
tigate the  conduct  of  the  civil  officers,  and  to 
reform  any  abuses  in  their  administration.  This 
extraordinary  commission  consisted  of  three  Hie- 
ronymite  friars  and  an  eminent  jurist,  all  men  of 
learning  and  unblemished  piety. 

They  conducted  the  inquiry  in  a  very  dispassion- 
ate manner,  but,  after  long  deliberation,  came  to 
a  conclusion  most  unfavorable  to  the  demands  of 
Las  Casas,  who  insisted  on  the  entire  freedom  of 
the  natives.  This  conclusion  they  justified  on  the 
grounds  that  the  Indians  would  not  labor  without 
compulsion,  and  that,  unless  they  labored,  they 
could  not  be  brought  into  communication  with  the 
whites,  nor  be  converted  to  Christianity.  What- 
ever we  may  think  of  this  argument,  it  was  doubt- 
less urged  with  sincerity  by  its  advocates,  whose 
conduct  through  their  whole  administration  places 
their  motives  above  suspicion.  They  accompanied 
it  with  many  careful  provisions  for  the  protection 
of  the  natives.  But  in  vain.  The  simple  people, 
accustomed  all  their  days  to  a  life  of  indolence  and 
ease,  sank  under  the  oppressions  of  their  masters, 
and  the  population  wasted  away  with  even  more 
frightful  rapidity  than  did  the  aborigines  in  our 
own  country  under  the  operation  of  other  causes. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  pursue  these  details  further, 


1511]  DISCOVERY    OF    CUBA  287 

into  which  I  have  been  led  by  the  desire  to  put  the 
reader  in  possession  of  the  general  policy  and  state 
of  affairs  in  the  New  World  at  the  period  when 
the  present  narrative  begins.3 

Of  the  islands,  Cuba  was  the  second  discovered ; 
but  no  attempt  had  been  made  to  plant  a  colony 
there  during  the  lifetime  of  Columbus,  who,  in- 
deed, after  skirting  the  whole  extent  of  its  south- 
ern coast,  died  in  the  conviction  that  it  was  part 
of  the  continent.4  At  length,  in  1511,  Diego,  the 
son  and  successor  of  the  "  Admiral,"  who  still 
maintained  the  seat  of  government  in  Hispaniola,* 
rinding  the  mines  much  exhausted  there,  proposed 
to  occupy  the  neighboring  island  of  Cuba,  or  Fer- 
nandina,  as  it  was  called  in  compliment  to  the 
Spanish  monarch.5  He  prepared  a  small  force 
for  the  conquest,  which  he  placed  under  the  com- 
mand of  Don  Diego  Velasquez;  a  man  described 
by  a  contemporary  as  "  possessed  of  considerable 

*  I  will  take  the  liberty  to  refer  the  reader  who  is  desirous  of  being 
more  minutely  acquainted  with  the  Spanish  colonial  administration 
and  the  state  of  discovery  previous  to  Charles  V.,  to  the  "  History 
of  the  Reign  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella"  (Part  2,  ch.  9,  26),  where 
the  subject  is  treated  in  extenso.^ 

4  See  the  curious  document  attesting  this,  and  drawn  up  by  order 
of  Columbus,  ap.  Navarrete,  Coleccion  de  los  Viages  y  de  Descubri- 
mientos  (Madrid,  1825),  torn.  ii.  Col.  Dip.,  No.  76. 

6  The  island  was  originally  called  by  Columbus  Juana,  in  honor  of 
Prince  John,  heir  to  the  Castilian  crown.  After  his  death  it  received 
the  name  of  Fernandina,  at  the  king's  desire.  The  Indian  name  has 
survived  both.  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  Descrip.,  cap.  6. 

*  [Now  Haiti  and  Santo  Domingo.— M.] 

t  [All  the  documents  relative  to  the  commission  sent  out  by 
Ximenes,  including  many  reports  from  the  commissioners,  have 
been  printed  in  the  Col.  de  Doc.  ined.  relatives  al  Descubrimiento, 
Conquista  y  Colonizacion  de  las  Posesiones  espanolas  en  America 
y  Oceania,  torn,  i.— K.] 


288  CONQUEST   OF   MEXICO 

experience  in  military  affairs,  having  served  sev- 
enteen years  in  the  European  wars;  as  honest,  il- 
lustrious by  his  lineage  and  reputation,  covetous  of 
glory,  and  somewhat  more  covetous  of  wealth."  6 
The  portrait  was  sketched  by  no  unfriendly  hand. 

Velasquez,  or  rather  his  lieutenant,  Narvaez, 
who  took  the  office  on  himself  of  scouring  the 
country,  met  with  no  serious  opposition  from  the 
inhabitants,  who  were  of  the  same  family  with  the 
effeminate  natives  of  Hispaniola.  The  conquest, 
through  the  merciful  interposition  of  Las  Casas, 
"  the  protector  of  the  Indians,"  who  accompanied 
the  army  in  its  march,  was  effected  without  much 
bloodshed.  One  chief,  indeed,  named  Hatuey, 
having  fled  originally  from  St.  Domingo  to  escape 
the  oppression  of  its  invaders,  made  a  desperate 
resistance,  for  which  he  was  condemned  by  Velas- 
quez to  be  burned  alive.  It  was  he  who  made  that 
memorable  reply,  more  eloquent  than  a  volume  of 
invective.  When  urged  at  the  stake  to  embrace 
Christianity,  that  his  soul  might  find  admission 
into  heaven,  he  inquired  if  the  white  men  would 
go  there.  On  being  answered  in  the  affirmative,  he 
exclaimed,  "  Then  I  will  not  be  a  Christian;  for 
I  would  not  go  again  to  a  place  where  I  must  find 
men  so  cruel !  "  7 

After  the  conquest,  Velasquez,  now  appointed 

8 "  Erat  Didacus,  ut  hoc  in  loco  de  eo  semel  tantum  dicamus,  vete- 
ranus  miles,  rei  militaris  gnarus,  quippe  qui  septem  et  decem  annos 
in  Hispania  militiam  exercitus  fuerat,  homo  probus,  opibus,  genere 
et  fama  clarus,  honoris  cupidus,  pecuniae  aliquanto  cupidior."  De 
Rebus  gestis  Ferdinandi  Cortesii,  MS. 

7  The  story  is  told  by  Las  Casas  in  his  appalling  record  of  the 
cruelties  of  his  countrymen  in  the  New  World,  which  charity— and 


1517]  CONQUEST    OF    CUBA  289 

governor,  diligently  occupied  himself  with  mea- 
sures for  promoting  the  prosperity  of  the  island. 
He  formed  a  number  of  settlements,  bearing  the 
same  names  with  the  modern  towns,  and  made  St. 
Jago,*  on  the  southeast  corner,  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment.8 He  invited  settlers  by  liberal  grants  of 
land  and  slaves.  He  encouraged  them  to  cultivate 
the  soil,  and  gave  particular  attention  to  the  sugar- 
cane, so  profitable  an  article  of  commerce  in  later 
times.  He  was,  above  all,  intent  on  working  the 
gold-mines,  which  promised  better  returns  than 
those  in  Hispaniola.  The  affairs  of  his  government 
did  not  prevent  him,  meanwhile,  from  casting 
many  a  wistful  glance  at  the  discoveries  going 
forward  on  the  continent,  and  he  longed  for  an 
opportunity  to  embark  in  these  golden  adven- 
tures himself.  Fortune  gave  him  the  occasion  he 
desired. 

An  hidalgo  of  Cuba,  named  Hernandez  de 
Cordova,  sailed  with  three  vessels  on  an  expedi- 
tion to  one  of  the  neighboring  Bahama  Islands,  in 
quest  of  Indian  slaves. t  (February  8, 1517.)  He 

common  sense — may  excuse  us  for  believing  the  good  father  has 
greatly  overcharged.  Brevfssima  Relacion  de  la  Destruycion  de  las 
Indias  (Venetia,  1643),  p.  28. 

•  Among  the  most   ancient   of  these   establishments   we   find   the 
Havana,  Puerto  del  Principe,  Trinidad,  St.  Salvador,  and  Matanzas, 
or  the  Slaughter,  so  called  from  a  massacre  of  the  Spaniards  there 
by  the  Indians.     Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  8. 

*  [Santiago  de  Cuba.— M.] 

t  [This  statement  is  erroneous.  Prescott  did  not  know  that  the 
Havana,  or  San  Cristobal,  whence  Cordova  sailed,  was  on  the  south 
side  of  Cuba.  All  authorities  agree  that  the  expedition  sailed  di- 
rectly westward,  that  the  storm  did  not  occur  until  Cape  San  Antonio 
had  been  passed,  and  that  the  fleet  sailed  westward  by  the  will  of  ita 
commander.  See  Bancroft's  Mexico,  vol.  i.  p.  7.— M.] 


290  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

encountered  a  succession  of  heavy  gales  which 
drove  him  far  out  of  his  course,  and  at  the  end  of 
three  weeks  he  found  himself  on  a  strange  and 
unknown  coast.  On  landing  and  asking  the  name 
of  the  country,  he  was  answered  by  the  natives, 
"  Tectetan"  meaning,  "I  do  not  understand 
you," — but  which  the  Spaniards,  misinterpreting 
into  the  name  of  the  place,  easily  corrupted 
into  Yucatan.  Some  writers  give  a  different 
etymology.9  Such  mistakes,  however,  were  not 
uncommon  with  the  early  discoverers,  and  have 
been  the  origin  of  many  a  name  on  the  American 
continent.10 

Cordova  had  landed  on  the  northeastern  end  of 
the  peninsula,  at  Cape  Catoche.  He  was  aston- 
ished at  the  size  and  solid  materials  of  the  build- 
ings, constructed  of  stone  and  lime,  so  different 
from  the  frail  tenements  of  reeds  and  rushes  which 
formed  the  habitations  of  the  islanders.  He  was 
struck,  also,  with  the  higher  cultivation  of  the  soil, 
and  with  the  delicate  texture  of  the  cotton  gar- 
ments and  gold  ornaments  of  the  natives.  Every- 
thing indicated  a  civilization  far  superior  to  any- 
thing he  had  before  witnessed  in  the  New  World. 
He  saw  the  evidence  of  a  different  race,  moreover, 

•  Gomara,  Historia  de  las  Indias,  cap.  52,  ap.  Barcia,  torn,  ii.— Ber- 
nal  Diaz  says  the  word  came  from  the  vegetable  yuca,  and  tale  the 
name  for  a  hillock  in  which  it  is  planted.  (Hist,  de  la  Conquista, 
cap.  6.)  M.  Waldeck  finds  a  much  more  plausible  derivation  in  the 
Indian  word  Ouyouckatan,  "  listen  to  what  they  say."  Voyage  pitto- 
resque,  p.  25. 

10  Two  navigators,  Solfs  and  Pinzon,  had  descried  the  coast  as  far 
back  as  1506,  according  to  Herrera,  though  they  had  not  taken  pos- 
session of  it.  (Hist,  general,  dec.  1,  lib.  6,  cap.  17.)  It  is,  indeed, 
remarkable  it  should  so  long  have  eluded  discovery,  considering  that 
it  is  but  two  degrees  distant  from  Cuba. 


1518]  EXPEDITIONS   TO  YUCATAN  291 

in  the  warlike  spirit  of  the  people.  Rumors  of  the 
Spaniards  had,  perhaps,  preceded  them,  as  they 
were  repeatedly  asked  if  they  came  from  the  east ; 
and  wherever  they  landed  they  were  met  with  the 
most  deadly  hostility.  Cordova  himself,  in  one  of 
his  skirmishes  with  the  Indians,  received  more  than 
a  dozen  wounds,  and  one  only  of  his  party  escaped 
unhurt.  At  length,  when  he  had  coasted  the  penin- 
sula as  far  as  Campeachy,  he  returned  to  Cuba, 
which  he  reached  after  an  absence  of  several 
months,  having  suffered  all  the  extremities  of  ill 
which  these  pioneers  of  the  ocean  were  sometimes 
called  to  endure,  and  which  none  but  the  most 
courageous  spirit  could  have  survived.  As  it  was, 
half  the  original  number,  consisting  of  one  hun- 
dred and  ten  men,  perished,  including  their  brave 
commander,  who  died  soon  after  his  return.  The 
reports  he  had  brought  back  of  the  country,  and, 
still  more,  the  specimens  of  curiously  wrought 
gold,  convinced  Velasquez  of  the  importance  of 
this  discovery,  and  he  prepared  with  all  despatch 
to  avail  himself  of  it.11 

He  accordingly  fitted  out  a  little  squadron  of 
four  vessels  for  the  newly-discovered  lands,  and 
placed  it  under  the  command  of  his  nephew,  Juan 
de  Grijalva,  a  man  on  whose  probity,  prudence, 
and  attachment  to  himself  he  knew  he  could  rely. 
The  fleet  left  the  port  of  St.  Jago  de  Cuba,  May  1, 

"Oviedo,  General  y  natural  Historia  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  33, 
cap.  1.— De  Rebus  gestis,  MS.— Carta  del  Cabildo  de  Vera  Cruz 
(July  10,  1519),  MS.— Bernal  Diaz  denies  that  the  original  object  of 
the  expedition,  in  which  he  took  part,  was  to  procure  slaves,  though 
Velasquez  had  proposed  it.  (Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  2.)  But  he 
is  contradicted  in  this  by  the  other  contemporary  records  above  cited. 


292  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

1518.12  *  It  took  the  course  pursued  by  Cordova, 
but  was  driven  somewhat  to  the  south,  the  first 
land  that  it  made  being  the  island  of  Cozumel. 
From  this  quarter  Grijalva  soon  passed  over  to  the 
continent,  and  coasted  the  peninsula,  touching  at 
the  same  place  as  his  predecessor.  Everywhere  he 
was  struck,  like  him,  with  the  evidences  of  a  higher 
civilization,  especially  in  the  architecture;  as  he 
well  might  be,  since  this  was  the  region  of  those  ex- 
traordinary remains  which  have  become  recently 
the  subject  of  so  much  speculation.  He  was  as- 
tonished, also,  at  the  sight  of  large  stone  crosses, 
evidently  objects  of  worship,  which  he  met  with 
in  various  places.  Reminded  by  these  circum- 
stances of  his  own  country,  he  gave  the  peninsula 
the  name  of  "  New  Spain,"  a  name  since  appro- 
priated to  a  much  wider  extent  of  territory.13 

Wherever  Grijalva  landed,  he  experienced  the 
same  unfriendly  reception  as  Cordova;  though  he 
suffered  less,  being  better  prepared  to  meet  it.  In 
the  Rio  de  Tabasco,  or  Grijalva,,  as  it  is  often 
called,  after  him,  he  held  an  amicable  conference 
with  a  chief  who  gave  him  a  number  of  gold  plates 
fashioned  into  a  sort  of  armor.  As  he  wound 
round  the  Mexican  coast,  one  of  his  captains,  Pe- 
dro de  Alvarado,  afterwards  famous  in  the  Con- 

"  Itinerario  de  la  Isola  de  luchathan,  novamente  ritrovata  per  il 
Signer  Joan  de  Grijalva,  per  il  suo  Capellano,  MS.— The  chaplain's 
word  may  be  taken  for  the  date,  which  is  usually  put  at  the  eighth 
of  April. 

13  De  Rebus  gestis,  MS.— Itinerario  del  Capellano,  MS. 

*  [The  fleet  left  Santiago,  April  8,  1518,  and  Cape  San  Antonio, 
May  1.— M.] 


1518]  EXPEDITIONS   TO  YUCATAN  293 

quest,  entered  a  river,  to  which  he,  also,  left  his 
own  name.  In  a  neighboring  stream,  called  the 
Rio  de  Vanderas,  or  "  River  of  Banners,"  from  the 
ensigns  displayed  by  the  natives  on  its  borders, 
Grijalva  had  the  first  communication  with  the 
Mexicans  themselves. 

The  cacique  who  ruled  over  this  province  had 
received  notice  of  the  approach  of  the  Europeans, 
and  of  their  extraordinary  appearance.  He  was 
anxious  to  collect  all  the  information  he  could  re- 
specting them  and  the  motives  of  their  visit,  that 
he  might  transmit  them  to  his  master,  the  Aztec 
emperor.14  A  friendly  conference  took  place  be- 
tween the  parties  on  shore,  where  Grijalva  landed 
with  all  his  force,  so  as  to  make  a  suitable  impres- 
sion on  the  mind  of  the  barbaric  chief.  The  inter- 
view lasted  some  hours,  though,  as  there  was  no  one 
on  either  side  to  interpret  the  language  of  the 
other,  they  could  communicate  only  by  signs. 
They,  however,  interchanged  presents,  and  the 
Spaniards  had  the  satisfaction  of  receiving,  for  a 
few  worthless  toys  and  trinkets,  a  rich  treasure  of 
jewels,  gold  ornaments  and  vessels,  of  the  most 
fantastic  forms  and  workmanship.15 

Grijalva  now  thought  that  in  this  successful 
traffic— successful  beyond  his  most  sanguine  ex- 

14  According  to  the  Spanish  authorities,  the  cacique  was  sent  with 
these  presents  from  the  Mexican  sovereign,  who  had  received  pre- 
vious tidings  of  the  approach  of  the  Spaniards.     I  have  followed 
Sahagun,  who  obtained  his  intelligence  directly   from  the  natives. 
Historia  de  la  Conquista,  MS.,  cap.  2. 

15  Gomara  has  given  the  per  and  contra  of  this  negotiation,  in  which 
gold  and  jewels  of  the  value  of  fifteen  or  twenty  thousand  pesos  de 
oro  were  exchanged  for  glass  beads,  pins,  scissors,  and  other  trinkets 
common  in  an  assorted  cargo  for  savages.    Crdnica,  cap.  6. 


294  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

pectations — he  had  accomplished  the  chief  object 
of  his  mission.  He  steadily  refused  the  solicita- 
tions of  his  followers  to  plant  a  colony  on  the  spot, 
— a  work  of  no  little  difficulty  in  so  populous  and 
powerful  a  country  as  this  appeared  to  be.  To 
this,  indeed,  he  was  inclined,  but  deemed  it  con- 
trary to  his  instructions,  which  limited  him  to  bar- 
ter with  the  natives.  He  therefore  despatched 
Alvarado  in  one  of  the  caravels  back  to  Cuba,  with 
the  treasure  and  such  intelligence  as  he  had  gleaned 
of  the  great  empire  in  the  interior,  and  then  pur- 
sued his  voyage  along  the  coast. 

He  touched  at  San  Juan  de  Ulua,  and  at  the 
Isla  de  los  Sacrifidos,  so  called  by  him  from  the 
bloody  remains  of  human  victims  found  in  one  of 
the  temples.  He  then  held  on  his  course  as  far  as 
the  province  of  Panuco,  where,  finding  some  diffi- 
culty in  doubling  a  boisterous  headland,  he  re- 
turned on  his  track,  and,  after  an  absence  of  nearly 
six  months,  reached  Cuba  in  safety.  Grijalva  has 
the  glory  of  being  the  first  navigator  who  set  foot 
on  the  Mexican  soil  and  opened  an  intercourse  with 
the  Aztecs.16 

On  reaching  the  island,  he  was  surprised  to  learn 
that  another  and  more  formidable  armament  had 
been  fitted  out  to  follow  up  his  own  discoveries, 
and  to  find  orders,  at  the  same  time,  from  the  gov- 
ernor, couched  in  no  very  courteous  language,  to 
repair  at  once  to  St.  Jago.  He  was  received  by 
that  personage  not  merely  with  coldness,  but  with 
reproaches  for  having  neglected  so  fair  an  oppor- 
tunity of  establishing  a  colony  in  the  country  he 

19  Itinerario  del  Capellano,  MS.— Carta  de  Vera  Cruz,  MS. 


1518]  EXPEDITIONS   TO    YUCATAN  295 

had  visited.  Velasquez  was  one  of  those  captious 
spirits  who,  when  things  do  not  go  exactly  to  their 
minds,  are  sure  to  shift  the  responsibility  of  the 
failure  from  their  own  shoulders,  where  it  should 
lie,  to  those  of  others.  He  had  an  ungenerous  na- 
ture, says  an  old  writer,  credulous,  and  easily 
moved  to  suspicion.17  In  the  present  instance  it 
was  most  unmerited.  Grijalva,  naturally  a  mod- 
est, unassuming  person,  had  acted  in  obedience  to 
the  instructions  of  his  commander,  given  before 
sailing,  and  had  done  this  in  opposition  to  his  own 
judgment  and  the  importunities  of  his  followers. 
His  conduct  merited  anything  but  censure  from  his 
employer.18 

When  Alvarado  had  returned  to  Cuba  with  his 
golden  freight,  and  the  accounts  of  the  rich  empire 
of  Mexico  which  he  had  gathered  from  the  natives, 
the  heart  of  the  governor  swelled  with  rapture  as 
he  saw  his  dreams  of  avarice  and  ambition  so  likely 
to  be  realized.  Impatient  of  the  long  absence  of 
Grijalva,  he  despatched  a  vessel  in  search  of  him 
under  the  command  of  Olid,  a  cavalier  who  took 
an  important  part  afterwards  in  the  Conquest. 
Finally  he  resolved  to  fit  out  another  armament  on 
a  sufficient  scale  to  insure  the  subjugation  of  the 
country. 

He  previously  solicited  authority  for  this  from 

""Hombre  de  terrible  condicion,"  says  Herrera,  citing  the  good 
Bishop  of  Chiapa,  "  para  los  que  le  Servian,  i  aiudaban,  i  que  facil- 
mente  se  indignaba  contra  aquellos."  Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib.  3, 
cap.  10. 

u  At  least,  such  is  the  testimony  of  Las  Casas,  who  knew  both  the 
parties  well,  and  had  often  conversed  with  Grijalva  upon  his  voyage- 
Historia  general  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  113. 


296  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

the  Hieronymite  commission  in  St.  Domingo.  He 
then  despatched  his  chaplain  to  Spain  with  the 
royal  share  of  the  gold  brought  from  Mexico,  and  a 
full  account  of  the  intelligence  gleaned  there.  He 
set  forth  his  own  manifold  services,  and  solicited 
from  the  court  full  powers  to  go  on  with  the  con- 
quest and  colonization  of  the  newly-discovered 
regions.19  Before  receiving  an  answer,  he  began 
his  preparations  for  the  armament,  and,  first  of  all, 
endeavored  to  find  a  suitable  person  to  share  the 
expense  of  it  and  to  take  the  command.  Such  a 
person  he  found,  after  some  difficulty  and  delay,  in 
Hernando  Cortes;  the  man  of  all  others  best  cal- 
culated to  achieve  this  great  enterprise, — the  last 
man  to  whom  Velasquez,  could  he  have  foreseen 
the  results,  would  have  confided  it. 

19  Itinerario  del  Capellano,  MS. — Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias, 
MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  113. — The  most  circumstantial  account  of  Grijalva's 
expedition  is  to  be  found  in  the  Itinerary  of  his  chaplain  above 
quoted.  The  original  is  lost,  but  an  indifferent  Italian  version  was 
published  at  Venice  in  1522.  A  copy,  which  belonged  to  Ferdinand 
Columbus,  is  still  extant  in  the  library  of  the  great  church  of  Se- 
ville. The  book  had  become  so  exceedingly  rare,  however,  that  the 
historiographer  Mufioz  made  a  transcript  of  it  with  his  own  hand; 
and  from  his  manuscript  that  in  my  possession  was  taken.* 

*  [Several  editions  of  the  Itinerario  have  been  published.  The  most 
easily  accessible  may  be  found  in  the  Coleccion  de  documentos  para 
la  historia  de  Mexico,  etc.,  torn.  i. — M.] 


PORTRAIT   OF    HERKAKDO    CORTES 


296  [  ICO 

the  i  i  St.  Domiiu 

to  Spain 

royal  share  j  ght  from  Mexico, . 

full  iiigence  gleaned  th< 

set  fort!  ;fold  services,  and 

lowers  to  go  on  with 

re  receiving  an  answer,  he  li- 
the armament,  and,  fir 
n«l  a  suitable  person  to  shar 
o  take  the  command, 
some  difficulty  and 
man  of  all  others  best 

«***  i  great  enterprise,— th( 

BMtf*  uez,  could  he  have  for* 

ibno,  MS.— Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  i 

most  circumstantial  account  o 
aonA  in  the  Itinerary  of  hi 
i*  loot,  but  an  indifferent  It.i 
\  copy,  which  belong 
it   in  the  library  of  the  grea 
•'Tome  so  exceedingly  rare,  however 

;ia<lr  a  transcript  of  it  with 
<ouMii|pi  that  in  my  possession  was  taken.* 

Itinerariohave  been  published.    The  matt 

i  the  Coleccion  de  documentot 
m.  i.— M.] 


aaraoo  oaHATiaaH  to  TIAJTT«O? 


CHAPTER  II 

HERNANDO  CORTES  — HIS  EARLY  LIFE— VISITS  THE 
NEW  WORLD  —  HIS  RESIDENCE  IN  CUBA — DIFFI- 
CULTIES WITH  VELASQUEZ— ARMADA  INTRUSTED 
TO  CORTES 

1518 

HERNANDO  CORTES  was  born  at  Medel- 
lin,  a  town  in  the  southeast  corner  of  Es- 
tremadura,1  in  1485.2  He  came  of  an  ancient  and 
respectable  family;  and  historians  have  gratified 
the  national  vanity  by  tracing  it  up  to  the  Lom- 
bard kings,  whose  descendants  crossed  the  Pyre- 
nees and  established  themselves  in  Aragon  under 

1  [The  house  in  which  he  was  born,  in  the  Calle  de  la  Feria,  was 
preserved  until  the  present  century,  and  many  a  traveller  has  lodged 
there,  desirous,  says  Alaman,  of  sleeping  in  the  mansion  where  the 
hero  was  born.  In  the  year  1809  the  building  was  destroyed  by  the 
French,  and  only  a  few  fragments  of  wall  now  remain  to  com- 
memorate the  birthplace  of  the  Conqueror.  Alaman,  Disertaciones 
hist6ricas,  torn.  ii.  p.  2.] 

zGomara,  Crdnica,  cap.  1.— Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista, 
cap.  203.  I  find  no  more  precise  notice  of  the  date  of  his  birth, 
except,  indeed,  by  Pizarro  y  Orellana,  who  tells  us  that  "  Cortes  came 
into  the  world  the  same  day  that  that  infernal  beast,  the  false  heretic 
Luther,  entered  it,— by  way  of  compensation,  no  doubt,  since  the 
labors  of  the  one  to  pull  down  the  true  faith  were  counterbalanced 
by  those  of  the  other  to  maintain  and  extend  it"!  (Varones  ilustres 
del  Nuevo-Mundo  (Madrid,  1639),  p.  66.)  But  this  statement  of  the 
good  cavalier,  which  places  the  birth  of  our  hero  in  1483,  looks  rather 
more  like  a  zeal  for  "  the  true  faith  "  than  for  historic. 

297 


298  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

the  Gothic  monarchy.3  This  royal  genealogy  was 
not  found  out  till  Cortes  had  acquired  a  name 
which  would  confer  distinction  on  any  descent, 
however  noble.  His  father,  Martin  Cortes  de 
Monroy,  was  a  captain  of  infantry,  in  moderate 
circumstances,  but  a  man  of  unblemished  honor; 
and  both  he  and  his  wife,  Dona  Catalina  Pizarro 
Altamirano,  appear  to  have  been  much  regarded 
for  their  excellent  qualities.4 

In  his  infancy  Cortes  is  said  to  have  had  a  feeble 
constitution,  which  strengthened  as  he  grew  older.5 
At  fourteen,  he  was  sent  to  Salamanca,  as  his  fa- 
ther, who  conceived  great  hopes  from  his  quick 
and  showy  parts,  proposed  to  educate  him  for  the 
law,  a  profession  which  held  out  better  induce- 
ments to  the  young  aspirant  than  any  other.  The 
son,  however,  did  not  conform  to  these  views.  He 
showed  little  fondness  for  books,  and,  after  loiter- 
ing away  two  years  at  college,  returned  home,  to 
the  great  chagrin  of  his  parents.  Yet  his  time  had 
not  been  wholly  misspent,  since  he  had  laid  up  a 

1  Argensola,  in  particular,  has  bestowed  great  pains  on  the  prosapia 
of  the  house  of  Cortes;  which  he  traces  up,  nothing  doubting,  to 
Names  Cort6s,  king  of  Lombardy  and  Tuscany.  Anales  de  Aragon 
(Zaragoza,  1630),  pp.  621-625.— Also,  Caro  de  Torres,  Historia  de 
las  Ordenes  militares  (Madrid,  1629),  fol.  103. 

4De  Rebus  gestis,  MS.— Las  Casas,  who  knew  the  father,  bears 
stronger  testimony  to  his  poverty  than  to  his  noble  birth.  "  Un 
escudero,"  he  says  of  him,  "  que  yo  conocf  harto  pobre  y  humilde, 
aunque  cristiano,  vie  jo  y  dizen  que  hidalgo."  Hist,  de  las  Indias, 
MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  27. 

B  [His  parents  had  cast  lots  to  decide  which  of  the  apostles  should 
be  chosen  as  his  patron  saint.  The  lot  fell  upon  Peter,  which  ex- 
plains the  especial  devotion  which  Cortes  professed,  through  his 
whole  life,  to  that  saint,  to  whose  watchful  care  he  attributed  the 
improvement  in  his  health.  Alaman,  Disertaciones  histdricas,  torn.  ii. 
p.  4.] 


1503]  HERNANDO   CORTES  299 

little  store  of  Latin,  and  learned  to  write  good 
prose,  and  even  verses  "  of  some  estimation,  con- 
sidering " — as  an  old  writer  quaintly  remarks — 
"  Cortes  as  the  author."  6  He  now  passed  his  days 
in  the  idle,  unprofitable  manner  of  one  who,  too 
wilful  to  be  guided  by  others,  proposes  no  object 
to  himself.  His  buoyant  spirits  were  continually 
breaking  out  in  troublesome  frolics  and  capricious 
humors,  quite  at  variance  with  the  orderly  habits  of 
his  father's  household.  He  showed  a  particular 
inclination  for  the  military  profession,  or  rather 
for  the  life  of  adventure  to  which  in  those  days  it 
was  sure  to  lead.  And  when,  at  the  age  of  seven- 
teen, he  proposed  to  enroll  himself  under  the  ban- 
ners of  the  Great  Captain,  his  parents,  probably 
thinking  a  life  of  hardship  and  hazard  abroad 
preferable  to  one  of  idleness  at  home,  made  no  ob- 
jection. 

The  youthful  cavalier,  however,  hesitated  whe- 
ther to  seek  his  fortunes  under  that  victorious 
chief,  or  in  the  New  World,  where  gold  as 
well  as  glory  was  to  be  won,  and  where  the  very 
dangers  had  a  mystery  and  romance  in  them  in- 
expressibly fascinating  to  a  youthful  fancy.  It 
was  in  this  direction,  accordingly,  that  the  hot  spir- 
its of  that  day  found  a  vent,  especially  from  that 
part  of  the  country  where  Cortes  lived,  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Seville  and  Cadiz,  the  focus  of  nautical 
enterprise.  He  decided  on  this  latter  course,  and 

•  Argensola,  Anales,  p.  220.— Las  Casas  and  Bernal  Diaz  both  state 
that  he  was  Bachelor  of  Laws  at  Salamanca.  (Hist,  de  las  Indias, 
MS.,  ubi  supra.— Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  203.)  The  degree  was 
given  probably  in  later  life,  when  the  University  might  feel  a  pride 
in  claiming  him  among  her  sons. 


300  CONQUEST   OF  MEXICO 

an  opportunity  offered  in  the  splendid  armament 
fitted  out  under  Don  Nicolas  de  Ovando,  successor 
to  Columbus.  An  unlucky  accident  defeated  the 
purpose  of  Cortes.7 

As  he  was  scaling  a  high  wall,  one  night,  which 
gave  him  access  to  the  apartment  of  a  lady  with 
whom  he  was  engaged  in  an  intrigue,  the  stones 
gave  way,  and  he  was  thrown  down  with  much  vio- 
lence and  buried  under  the  ruins.  A  severe  con- 
tusion, though  attended  with  no  other  serious  con- 
sequences, confined  him  to  his  bed  till  after  the 
departure  of  the  fleet.8 

Two  years  longer  he  remained  at  home,  profit- 
ing little,  as  it  would  seem,  from  the  lesson  he  had 
received.  At  length  he  availed  himself  of  another 
opportunity  presented  by  the  departure  of  a  small 
squadron  of  vessels  bound  to  the  Indian  islands. 
He  was  nineteen  years  of  age  when  he  bade  adieu 
to  his  native  shores  in  1504, — the  same  year  in 
which  Spain  lost  the  best  and  greatest  in  her  long 
line  of  princes,  Isabella  the  Catholic. 

The  vessel  in  which  Cortes  sailed  was  com- 
manded by  one  Alonso  Quintero.  The  fleet 
touched  at  the  Canaries,  as  was  common  in  the  out- 
ward passage.  While  the  other  vessels  were  de- 
tained there  taking  in  supplies,  Quintero  secretly 
stole  out  by  night  from  the  islands,  with  the  design 
of  reaching  Hispaniola  and  securing  the  market 
before  the  arrival  of  his  companions.  A  furious 
storm  which  he  encountered,  however,  dismasted 

7  De  Rebus  gestis,  MS.— Gomara,  Crdnica,  cap.  1. 

8  De  Rebus  gestis,  MS.— Gomara,  Ibid.— Argensola  states  the  cause 
of  his  detention  concisely  enough:  "  Suspendi6  el  viaje,  por  enamo- 
rado  y  por  quartanario"     Anales,  p.  621. 


1504]  VISITS   THE    NEW   WORLD  301 

his  ship,  and  he  was  obliged  to  return  to  port  and 
refit.  The  convoy  consented  to  wait  for  their  un- 
worthy partner,  and  after  a  short  detention  they 
all  sailed  in  company  again.  But  the  faithless 
Quintero,  as  they  drew  near  the  islands,  availed 
himself  once  more  of  the  darkness  of  the  night,  to 
leave  the  squadron  with  the  same  purpose  as  be- 
fore. Unluckily  for  him,  he  met  with  a  succession 
of  heavy  gales  and  head-winds,  which  drove  him 
from  his  course,  and  he  wholly  lost  his  reckoning. 
For  many  days  the  vessel  was  tossed  about,  and  all 
on  board  were  filled  with  apprehensions,  and  no 
little  indignation  against  the  author  of  their  ca- 
lamities. At  length  they  were  cheered  one  morn- 
ing with  the  sight  of  a  white  dove,  which,  wearied 
by  its  flight,  lighted  on  the  topmast.  The  biog- 
raphers of  Cortes  speak  of  it  as  a  miracle.9  For- 
tunately it  was  no  miracle,  but  a  very  natural 
occurrence,  showing  incontestably  that  they  were 
near  land.  In  a  short  time,  by  taking  the  direction 
of  the  bird's  flight,  they  reached  the  island  of  His- 
paniola;  and,  on  coming  into  port,  the  worthy 
master  had  the  satisfaction  to  find  his  companions 
arrived  before  him,  and  their  cargoes  already 
sold.10 

Immediately  on  landing,  Cortes  repaired  to  the 
house  of  the  governor,  to  whom  he  had  been  per- 

•Some  thought  it  was  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  form  of  this  dove. 
"  Sanctum  esse  Spiritum,  qui,  in  illius  alitis  specie,  ut  moestos  et 
afflictos  solaretur,  venire  erat  dignatus  "  (De  Rebus  gestis,  MS.) ;  a 
conjecture  which  seems  very  reasonable  to  Pizarro  y  Orellana,  since 
the  expedition  was  to  "  redound  so  much  to  the  spread  of  the  Catholic 
faith,  and  the  Castilian  monarchy  " !  Varones  ilustres,  p.  70. 

"Gomara,  Cr6nica,  cap.  2. 


302  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

sonally  known  in  Spain.  Ovando  was  absent  on 
an  expedition  into  the  interior,  but  the  young  man 
was  kindly  received  by  the  secretary,  who  assured 
him  there  would  be  no  doubt  of  his  obtaining  a 
liberal  grant  of  land  to  settle  on.  "  But  I  came 
to  get  gold,"  replied  Cortes,  "  not  to  till  the  soil, 
like  a  peasant." 

On  the  governor's  return,  Cortes  consented  to 
give  up  his  roving  thoughts,  at  least  for  a  time,  as 
the  other  labored  to  convince  him  that  he  would  be 
more  likely  to  realize  his  wishes  from  the  slow,  in- 
deed, but  sure,  returns  of  husbandry,  where  the 
soil  and  the  laborers  were  a  free  gift  to  the  planter, 
than  by  taking  his  chance  in  the  lottery  of  adven- 
ture, in  which  there  were  so  many  blanks  to  a  prize. 
He  accordingly  received  a  grant  of  land,  with  a 
repartimiento  of  Indians,  and  was  appointed  no- 
tary of  the  town  or  settlement  of  A9ua.  His 
graver  pursuits,  however,  did  not  prevent  his  in- 
dulgence of  the  amorous  propensities  which  belong 
to  the  sunny  clime  where  he  was  born;  and  this 
frequently  involved  him  in  affairs  of  honor,  from 
which,  though  an  expert  swordsman,  he  carried 
away  scars  that  accompanied  him  to  his  grave.11 
He  occasionally,  moreover,  found  the  means  of 
breaking  up  the  monotony  of  his  way  of  life  by 
engaging  in  the  military  expeditions  which,  under 
the  command  of  Ovando's  lieutenant,  Diego  Ve- 
lasquez, were  employed  to  suppress  the  insurrec- 
tions of  the  natives.  In  this  school  the  young  ad- 
venturer first  studied  the  wild  tactics  of  Indian 
warfare ;  he  became  familiar  with  toil  and  danger, 

11  Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  203. 


1511]  SOJOURN   IN   CUBA  303 

and  with  those  deeds  of  cruelty  which  have  too 
often,  alas!  stained  the  bright  scutcheons  of  the 
Castilian  chivalry  in  the  New  World.  He  was 
only  prevented  by  illness— a  most  fortunate  one, 
on  this  occasion — from  embarking  in  Nicuessa's 
expedition,  which  furnished  a  tale  of  woe  not  often 
matched  in  the  annals  of  Spanish  discovery. 
Providence  reserved  him  for  higher  ends. 

At  length,  in  1511,  when  Velasquez  undertook 
the  conquest  of  Cuba,  Cortes  willingly  abandoned 
his  quiet  life  for  the  stirring  scenes  there  opened, 
and  took  part  in  the  expedition.  He  displayed, 
throughout  the  invasion,  an  activity  and  courage 
that  won  him  the  approbation  of  the  commander; 
while  his  free  and  cordial  manners,  his  good  hu- 
mor and  lively  sallies  of  wit,  made  him  the  favorite 
of  the  soldiers.  "  He  gave  little  evidence,"  says  a 
contemporary,  "  of  the  great  qualities  which  he 
afterwards  showed."  It  is  probable  these  qualities 
were  not  known  to  himself;  while  to  a  common 
observer  his  careless  manners  and  jocund  repartees 
might  well  seem  incompatible  with  anything  seri- 
ous or  profound;  as  the  real  depth  of  the  current 
is  not  suspected  under  the  light  play  and  sunny 
sparkling  of  the  surface.12 

After  the  reduction  of  the  island,  Cortes  seems 
to  have  been  held  in  great  favor  by  Velasquez,  now 
appointed  its  governor.  According  to  Las  Casas, 
he  was  made  one  of  his  secretaries.13  He  still  re- 


11  De  Rebus  gestis,  MS.— Gomara,  Cr6nica,  cap.  3,  4.— Las  Casas, 
Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  27. 

a  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  loc.  cit.— "Res  omnes  arduas  diffici- 
lesque  per  Cortesium,  quern  in  dies  magis  magisque  amplectebatur, 


304  CONQUEST  OF   MEXICO 

tained  the  same  fondness  for  gallantry,  for  which 
his  handsome  person  afforded  obvious  advantages, 
but  which  had  more  than  once  brought  him  into 
trouble  in  earlier  life.  Among  the  families  who 
had  taken  up  their  residence  in  Cuba  was  one  of 
the  name  of  Xuarez,  from  Granada  in  Old  Spain. 
It  consisted  of  a  brother,  and  four  sisters  remark- 
able for  their  beauty.  With  one  of  them,  named 
Catalina,  the  susceptible  heart  of  the  young  sol- 
dier became  enamored.14  How  far  the  intimacy 
was  carried  is  not  quite  certain.  But  it  appears  he 
gave  his  promise  to  marry  her, — a  promise  which, 
when  the  time  came,  and  reason,  it  may  be,  had  got 
the  better  of  passion,  he  showed  no  alacrity  in 
keeping.  He  resisted,  indeed,  all  remonstrances 
to  this  effect,  from  the  lady's  family,  backed  by 
the  governor,  and  somewhat  sharpened,  no  doubt, 
in  the  latter  by  the  particular  interest  he  took  in 
one  of  the  fair  sisters,  who  is  said  not  to  have  re- 
paid it  with  ingratitude. 

Whether  the  rebuke  of  Velasquez  or  some  other 
cause  of  disgust  rankled  in  the  breast  of  Cortes, 
he  now  became  cold  towards  his  patron,  and  con- 
nected himself  with  a  disaffected  party  tolerably 
numerous  in  the  island.  They  were  in  the  habit  of 
meeting  at  his  house  and  brooding  over  their  causes 
of  discontent,  chiefly  founded,  it  would  appear,  on 


Velasquius  agit.    Ex  eo  ducis  f  avore  et  gratia  magna  Cortesio  invidia 
est  orta."    De  Rebus  gestis,  MS. 

14  Solfs  has  found  a  patent  of  nobility  for  this  lady  also,—"  doncella 
noble  y  recatada."  (Historia  de  la  Conquista  de  Me"jico  (Paris,  1838), 
lib.  1,  cap.  9.)  Las  Casas  treats  her  with  less  ceremony:  "  Una  her- 
mana  de  un  Juan  Xuarez,  yente  pobre."  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib. 
5,  cap.  17. 


1513]      DIFFICULTIES    WITH   VELASQUEZ      305 

what  they  conceived  an  ill  requital  of  their  services 
in  the  distribution  of  lands  and  offices.  It  may 
well  be  imagined  that  it  could  have  been  no  easy 
task  for  the  ruler  of  one  of  these  colonies,  however 
discreet  and  well  intentioned,  to  satisfy  the  indefi- 
nite cravings  of  speculators  and  adventurers,  who 
swarmed,  like  so  many  famished  harpies,  in  the 
track  of  discovery  in  the  New  World.15 

The  malecontents  determined  to  lay  their  griev- 
ances before  the  higher  authorities  in  Hispaniola, 
from  whom  Velasquez  had  received  his  commis- 
sion. The  voyage  was  one  of  some  hazard,  as  it 
was  to  be  made  in  an  open  boat,  across  an  arm  of 
the  sea  eighteen  leagues  wide;  and  they  fixed  on 
Cortes,  with  whose  fearless  spirit  they  were  well 
acquainted,  as  the  fittest  man  to  undertake  it.  The 
conspiracy  got  wind,  and  came  to  the  governor's 
ears  before  the  departure  of  the  envoy,  whom  he 
instantly  caused  to  be  seized,  loaded  with  fetters, 
and  placed  in  strict  confinement.  It  is  even  said 
he  would  have  hung  him,  but  for  the  interposition 
of  his  friends.16  The  fact  is  not  incredible.  The 
governors  of  these  little  territories,  having  entire 
control  over  the  fortunes  of  their  subjects,  enjoyed 
an  authority  far  more  despotic  than  that  of  the 
sovereign  himself.  They  were  generally  men  of 
rank  and  personal  consideration;  their  distance 
from  the  mother-country  withdrew  their  conduct 
from  searching  scrutiny,  and,  when  that  did  occur, 
they  usually  had  interest  and  means  of  corruption 

"Gomara,  Cr6nica,  cap.  4.— Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS., 
ubi  supra.— De  Rebus  gestis,  MS.— Memorial  de  Benito  Martinez, 
Capellan  de  D.  Velasquez,  contra  H.  Cortes,  MS. 

"  Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  ubi  supra. 


306  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

at  command  sufficient  to  shield  them  from  punish- 
ment. The  Spanish  colonial  history,  in  its  earlier 
stages,  affords  striking  instances  of  the  extraordi- 
nary assumption  and  abuse  of  powers  by  these 
petty  potentates;  and  the  sad  fate  of  Vasquez 
Nunez  de  Balboa,  the  illustrious  discoverer  of  the 
Pacific,  though  the  most  signal,  is  by  no  means  a 
solitary  example,  that  the  greatest  services  could 
be  requited  by  persecution  and  an  ignominious 
death. 

The  governor  of  Cuba,  however,  although  iras- 
cible and  suspicious  in  his  nature,  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  vindictive,  nor  particularly  cruel.  In 
the  present  instance,  indeed,  it  may  well  be  doubted 
whether  the  blame  would  not  be  more  reasonably 
charged  on  the  unfounded  expectations  of  his  fol- 
lowers than  on  himself. 

Cortes  did  not  long  remain  in  durance.  He  con- 
trived to  throw  back  one  of  the  bolts  of  his  fetters, 
and,  after  extricating  his  limbs,  succeeded  in  forc- 
ing open  a  window  with  the  irons  so  as  to  admit  of 
his  escape.  He  was  lodged  on  the  second  floor  of 
the  building,  and  was  able  to  let  himself  down  to 
the  pavement  without  injury,  and  unobserved. 
He  then  made  the  best  of  his  way  to  a  neighboring 
church,  where  he  claimed  the  privilege  of  sanc- 
tuary. 

Velasquez,  though  incensed  at  his  escape,  was 
afraid  to  violate  the  sanctity  of  the  place  by  em- 
ploying force.  But  he  stationed  a  guard  in  the 
neighborhood,  with  orders  to  seize  the  fugitive  if 
he  should  forget  himself  so  far  as  to  leave  the 
sanctuary.  In  a  few  days  this  happened.  As 


1513]      DIFFICULTIES    WITH   VELASQUEZ      307 

Cortes  was  carelessly  standing  without  the  walls 
in  front  of  the  building,  an  alguacil  suddenly 
sprang  on  him  from  behind  and  pinioned  his  arms, 
while  others  rushed  in  and  secured  him.  This 
man,  whose  name  was  Juan  Escudero,  was  after- 
wards hung  by  Cortes  for  some  offence  in  New 
Spain.17 

The  unlucky  prisoner  was  again  put  in  irons, 
and  carried  on  board  a  vessel  to  sail  the  next  morn- 
ing for  Hispaniola,  there  to  undergo  his  trial. 
Fortune  favored  him  once  more.  He  succeeded, 
after  much  difficulty  and  no  little  pain,  in  passing 
his  feet  through  the  rings  which  shackled  them.  He 
then  came  cautiously  on  deck,  and,  covered  by  the 
darkness  of  the  night,  stole  quietly  down  the  side 
of  the  ship  into  a  boat  that  lay  floating  below.  He 
pushed  off  from  the  vessel  with  as  little  noise  as 
possible.  As  he  drew  near  the  shore,  the  stream 
became  rapid  and  turbulent.  He  hesitated  to  trust 
his  boat  to  it,  and,  as  he  was  an  excellent  swimmer, 
prepared  to  breast  it  himself,  and  boldly  plunged 
into  the  water.  The  current  was  strong,  but  the 
arm  of  a  man  struggling  for  life  was  stronger; 
and,  after  buffeting  the  waves  till  he  was  nearly 
exhausted,  he  succeeded  in  gaining  a  landing; 
when  he  sought  refuge  in  the  same  sanctuary  which 
had  protected  him  before.  The  facility  with  which 
Cortes  a  second  time  effected  his  escape  may  lead 
one  to  doubt  the  fidelity  of  his  guards;  who  per- 
haps looked  on  him  as  the  victim  of  persecution, 
and  felt  the  influence  of  those  popular  manners 

"  Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  loc.  cit.— Memorial  de  Mar- 
tinez, MS. 


308  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

which  seem  to  have  gained  him  friends  in  every  so- 
ciety into  which  he  was  thrown.18 

For  some  reason  not  explained, — perhaps  from 
policy, — he  now  relinquished  his  objections  to  the 
marriage  with  Catalina  Xuarez.  He  thus  secured 
the  good  offices  of  her  family.  Soon  afterwards 
the  governor  himself  relented,  and  became  recon- 
ciled to  his  unfortunate  enemy.  A  strange  story 
is  told  in  connection  with  this  event.  It  is  said 
his  proud  spirit  refused  to  accept  the  proffers  of 
reconciliation  made  him  by  Velasquez;  and  that 
one  evening,  leaving  the  sanctuary,  he  presented 
himself  unexpectedly  before  the  latter  in  his  own 
quarters,  when  on  a  military  excursion  at  some  dis- 
tance from  the  capital.  The  governor,  startled  by 
the  sudden  apparition  of  his  enemy  completely 
armed  before  him,  with  some  dismay  inquired  the 
meaning  of  it.  Cortes  answered  by  insisting  on  a 
full  explanation  of  his  previous  conduct.  After 
some  hot  discussion  the  interview  terminated  ami- 
cably; the  parties  embraced,  and,  when  a  messen- 
ger arrived  to  announce  the  escape  of  Cortes,  he 
found  him  in  the  apartments  of  his  Excellency, 
where,  having  retired  to  rest,  both  were  actually 
sleeping  in  the  same  bed!  The  anecdote  is  re- 
peated without  distrust  by  more  than  one  biogra- 
pher of  Cortes.19  It  is  not  very  probable,  however, 

18Gomara,  Cr6nica,  cap.  4.— Herrera  tells  a  silly  story  of  his  being 
unable  to  swim,  and  throwing  himself  on  a  plank,  which,  after  being 
carried  out  to  sea,  was  washed  ashore  with  him  at  flood  tide.  Hist, 
general,  dec.  1,  lib.  9,  cap.  8. 

19  Gomara,  Cr6nica,  cap.  4. — "  Coenat  cubatque  Cortesius  cum  Ve- 
lasquio  eodem  in  lecto.  Qui  postero  die  fugae  Cortesii  nuntius  ve- 
nerat,  Velasquium  et  Cortesium  juxta  accubantes  intuitus,  miratur." 
De  Rebus  gestis,  MS. 


1513]  RECONCILIATION  WITH  VELASQUEZ    309 

that  a  haughty,  irascible  man  like  Velasquez  should 
have  given  such  uncommon  proofs  of  condescen- 
sion and  familiarity  to  one,  so  far  beneath  him  in 
station,  with  whom  he  had  been  so  recently  in 
deadly  feud;  nor,  on  the  other  hand,  that  Cortes 
should  have  had  the  silly  temerity  to  brave  the  lion 
in  his  den,  where  a  single  nod  would  have  sent  him 
to  the  gibbet, — and  that,  too,  with  as  little  com- 
punction or  fear  of  consequences  as  would  have 
attended  the  execution  of  an  Indian  slave.20 

The  reconciliation  with  the  governor,  however 
brought  about,  was  permanent.  Cortes,  though 
not  re-established  in  the  office  of  secretary,  re- 
ceived a  liberal  repartimiento  of  Indians,  and  an 
ample  territory  in  the  neighborhood  of  St.  Jago, 
of  which  he  was  soon  after  made  alcalde.  He  now 
lived  almost  wholly  on  his  estate,  devoting  himself 
to  agriculture  with  more  zeal  than  formerly.  He 
stocked  his  plantation  with  different  kinds  of  cat- 
tle, some  of  which  were  first  introduced  by  him 
into  Cuba.21  He  wrought,  also,  the  gold-mines 
which  fell  to  his  share,  and  which  in  this  island 
promised  better  returns  than  those  in  Hispaniola. 
By  this  course  of  industry  he  found  himself,  in  a 
few  years,  master  of  some  two  or  three  thousand 
castellanos,  a  large  sum  for  one  in  his  situation. 

"Las  Casas,  who  remembered  Cort&s  at  this  time  "so  poor  and 
lowly  that  he  would  have  gladly  received  any  favor  from  the  least 
of  Velasquez'  attendants,"  treats  the  story  of  the  bravado  with  con- 
tempt. "  For  lo  qual  si  el  [Velasquez]  sintiera  de  Cortes  una  puncta 
de  alfiler  de  cerviguillo  6  presuncion,  6  lo  ahorcara  6  &  lo  menos  lo 
echara  de  la  tierra  y  lo  sumiera  en  ella  sin  que  alzara  cabeza  en  su 
vida."  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  27. 

21 "  Pecuariam  primus  quoque  habuit,  in  insulamque  induxit,  omni 
pecorum  genere  ex  Hispania  petito."  De  Rebus  gestis,  MS. 


310  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

"  God,  who  alone  knows  at  what  cost  of  Indian 
lives  it  was  obtained,"  exclaims  Las  Casas,  "  will 
take  account  of  it !  "  22  His  days  glided  smoothly 
away  in  these  tranquil  pursuits,  and  in  the  society 
of  his  beautiful  wife,  who,  however  ineligible  as  a 
connection,  from  the  inferiority  of  her  condition, 
appears  to  have  fulfilled  all  the  relations  of  a  faith- 
ful and  affectionate  partner.  Indeed,  he  was  often 
heard  to  say  at  this  time,  as  the  good  bishop  above 
quoted  remarks,  "  that  he  lived  as  happily  with  her 
as  if  she  had  been  the  daughter  of  a  duchess." 
Fortune  gave  him  the  means  in  after-life  of  veri- 
fying the  truth  of  his  assertion.23 

Such  was  the  state  of  things,  when  Alvarado  re- 
turned with  the  tidings  of  Grijalva's  discoveries 
and  the  rich  fruits  of  his  traffic  with  the  natives. 
The  news  spread  like  wildfire  throughout  the  isl- 
and; for  all  saw  in  it  the  promise  of  more  impor- 
tant results  than  any  hitherto  obtained.  The  gov- 
ernor, as  already  noticed,  resolved  to  follow  up  the 
track  of  discovery  with  a  more  considerable  arma- 
ment; and  he  looked  around  for  a  proper  person 
to  share  the  expense  of  it  and  to  take  the  command. 

Several  hidalgos  presented  themselves,  whom, 
from  want  of  proper  qualifications,  or  from  his 
distrust  of  their  assuming  an  independence  of  their 
employer,  he,  one  after  another,  rejected.  There 
were  two  persons  in  St.  Jago  in  whom  he  placed 

M  "  Los  que  por  sacarle  el  oro  murieron  Dios  abrd  tenido  mejor 
cuenta  que  yo."  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  27.  The  text 
is  a  free  translation. 

a  "  Estando  conmigo,  me  lo  dixo  que  estava  tan  contento  con  ella 
como  si  fuera  hija  de  una  Duquessa."  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  ubi 
supra.— Gomara,  Crdnica,  cap.  4. 


1518]     ARMADA  INTRUSTED  TO  CORTES      311 

great  confidence, — Amador  de  Lares,  the  contador, 
or  royal  treasurer,24  and  his  own  secretary,  Andres 
de  Duero.  Cortes  was  also  in  close  intimacy  with 
both  these  persons ;  and  he  availed  himself  of  it  to 
prevail  on  them  to  recommend  him  as  a  suitable 
person  to  be  intrusted  with  the  expedition.  It  is 
said  he  reinforced  the  proposal  by  promising  a  lib- 
eral share  of  the  proceeds  of  it.  However  this 
may  be,  the  parties  urged  his  selection  by  the  gov- 
ernor with  all  the  eloquence  of  which  they  were 
capable.  That  officer  had  had  ample  experience 
of  the  capacity  and  courage  of  the  candidate. 
He  knew,  too,  that  he  had  acquired  a  fortune 
which  would  enable  him  to  co-operate  materi- 
ally in  fitting  out  the  armament.  His  popularity 
in  the  island  would  speedily  attract  followers  to 
his  standard.25  All  past  animosities  had  long  since 
been  buried  in  oblivion,  and  the  confidence  he  was 
now  to  repose  in  him  would  insure  his  fidelity  and 
gratitude.  He  lent  a  willing  ear,  therefore,  to  the 
recommendation  of  his  counsellors,  and,  sending 
for  Cortes,  announced  his  purpose  of  making  him 
Captain-General  of  the  Armada.26 

Cortes  had  now  attained  the  object  of  his  wishes, 
— the  object  for  which  his  soul  had  panted  ever 

14  The  treasurer  used  to  boast  he  had  passed  some  two-and-twenty 
years  in  the  wars  of  Italy.  He  was  a  shrewd  personage,  and  Las 
Casas,  thinking  that  country  a  slippery  school  for  morals,  warned  the 
governor,  he  says,  more  than  once  "  to  beware  of  the  twenty-two 
years  in  Italy."  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  113. 

25 "  Si  61  no  f  uera  por  Capitan,  que  no  f  uera  la  tercera  parte  de  la 
gente  que  con  61  fu£."  Declaracion  de  Puertocarrero,  MS.  (Corufla, 
30  de  Abril,  1520). 

M  Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  19.— De  Rebus  gestis, 
MS.— Gomara,  Cr6nica,  cap.  7.— Las  Casas,  Hist,  general  de  las 
Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  113. 


312  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

since  he  had  set  foot  in  the  New  World.  He  was 
no  longer  to  be  condemned  to  a  life  of  mercenary 
drudgery,  nor  to  be  cooped  up  within  the  precincts 
of  a  petty  island ;  but  he  was  to  be  placed  on  a  new 
and  independent  theatre  of  action,  and  a  boundless 
prospective  was  opened  to  his  view,  which  might 
satisfy  not  merely  the  wildest  cravings  of  avarice, 
but,  to  a  bold,  aspiring  spirit  like  his,  the  far  more 
importunate  cravings  of  ambition.  He  fully  ap- 
preciated the  importance  of  the  late  discoveries, 
and  read  in  them  the  existence  of  the  great  empire 
in  the  far  West,  dark  hints  of  which  had  floated, 
from  time  to  time,  to  the  Islands,  and  of  which 
more  certain  glimpses  had  been  caught  by  those 
who  had  reached  the  continent.  This  was  the  coun- 
try intimated  to  the  "  Great  Admiral "  in  his  visit 
to  Honduras  in  1502,  and  which  he  might  have 
reached  had  he  held  on  a  northern  course,  instead 
of  striking  to  the  south  in  quest  of  an  imaginary 
strait.  As  it  was,  "  he  had  but  opened  the  gate," 
to  use  his  own  bitter  expression,  "  for  others  to 
enter."  The  time  had  at  length  come  when  they 
were  to  enter  it ;  and  the  young  adventurer,  whose 
magic  lance  was  to  dissolve  the  spell  which  had  so 
long  hung  over  these  mysterious  regions,  now  stood 
ready  to  assume  the  enterprise. 

From  this  hour  the  deportment  of  Cortes  seemed 
to  undergo  a  change.  His  thoughts,  instead  of 
evaporating  in  empty  levities  or  idle  flashes  of 
merriment,  were  wholly  concentrated  on  the  great 
object  to  which  he  was  devoted.  His  elastic  spirits 
were  shown  in  cheering  and  stimulating  the  com- 
panions of  his  toilsome  duties,  and  he  was  roused 


1518]     ARMADA  INTRUSTED  TO  CORTES      313 

to  a  generous  enthusiasm,  of  which  even  those  who 
knew  him  best  had  not  conceived  him  capable.  He 
applied  at  once  all  the  money  in  his  possession  to 
fitting  out  the  armament.  He  raised  more  by  the 
mortgage  of  his  estates,  and  by  giving  his  obliga- 
tions to  some  wealthy  merchants  of  the  place,  who 
relied  for  their  reimbursement  on  the  success  of 
the  expedition;  and,  when  his  own  credit  was 
exhausted,  he  availed  himself  of  that  of  his 
friends. 

The  funds  thus  acquired  he  expended  in  the  pur- 
chase of  vessels,  provisions,  and  military  stores, 
while  he  invited  recruits  by  offers  of  assistance  to 
such  as  were  too  poor  to  provide  for  themselves, 
and  by  the  additional  promise  of  a  liberal  share  of 
the  anticipated  profits.27 

All  was  now  bustle  and  excitement  in  the  little 
town  of  St.  Jago.  Some  were  busy  in  refitting  the 
vessels  and  getting  them  ready  for  the  voyage; 
some  in  providing  naval  stores;  others  in  convert- 
ing their  own  estates  into  money  in  order  to 
equip  themselves ;  every  one  seemed  anxious  to  con- 
tribute in  some  way  or  other  to  the  success  of  the 
expedition.  Six  ships,  some  of  them  of  a  large 
size,  had  already  been  procured;  and  three  hun- 
dred recruits  enrolled  themselves  in  the  course 
of  a  few  days,  eager  to  seek  their  fortunes 
under  the  banner  of  this  daring  and  popular 
chieftain. 

How  far  the  governor  contributed  towards  the 
expenses  of  the  outfit  is  not  very  clear.  If  the 

"  Declaracion  de  Puertocarrero,  MS.— Carta  de  Vera  Cruz,  MS.— 
Probanza  en  la  Villa  Segura,  MS.  (4  de  Oct.,  1520). 


314  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

friends  of  Cortes  are  to  be  believed,  nearly  the 
whole  burden  fell  on  him;  since,  while  he  supplied 
the  squadron  without  remuneration,  the  governor 
sold  many  of  his  own  stores  at  an  exorbitant 
profit.28  Yet  it  does  not  seem  probable  that  Velas- 
quez, with  such  ample  means  at  his  command, 
should  have  thrown  on  his  deputy  the  burden  of 
the  expedition,  nor  that  the  latter— had  he  done 
so— could  have  been  in  a  condition  to  meet  these 
expenses,  amounting,  as  we  are  told,  to  more  than 
twenty  thousand  gold  ducats.  Still  it  cannot  be 
denied  that  an  ambitious  man  like  Cortes,  who  was 
to  reap  all  the  glory  of  the  enterprise,  would  very 
naturally  be  less  solicitous  to  count  the  gains  of  it, 
than  his  employer,  who,  inactive  at  home,  and  hav- 
ing no  laurels  to  win,  must  look  on  the  pecuniary 
profits  as  his  only  recompense.  The  question  gave 
rise,  some  years  later,  to  a  furious  litigation  be- 
tween the  parties,  with  which  it  is  not  necessary  at 
present  to  embarrass  the  reader. 

It  is  due  to  Velasquez  to  state  that  the  instruc- 
tions delivered  by  him  for  the  conduct  of  the  ex- 

18  The  letter  from  the  Municipality  of  Vera  Cruz,  after  stating 
that  Velasquez  bore  only  one-third  of  the  original  expense,  adds, 
"  Y  sepan  Vras.  Magestades  que  la  mayor  parte  de  la  dicha  ter- 
cia  parte  que  el  dicho  Diego  Velasquez  gast6  en  hacer  la  dicha  ar- 
mada fu£  emplear  sus  dineros  en  vinos  y  en  ropas,  y  en  otras  cosas 
de  poco  valor  para  nos  lo  vender  aca  en  mucha  mas  cantidad  de  lo 
que  a  el  le  cost6,  por  manera  que  podemos  decir  que  entre  nosotros 
los  Espafioles  vasallos  de  Vras.  Reales  Altezas  ha  hecho  Diego  Ve- 
lasquez su  rescate  y  granosea  de  sus  dineros  cobrandolos  muy  bien." 
(Carta  de  Vera  Cruz,  MS.)  Puertocarrero  and  Montejo,  also,  in 
their  depositions  taken  in  Spain,  both  speak  of  Cortes'  having  fur- 
nished two-thirds  of  the  cost  of  the  flotilla.  (Declaracion  de  Puer- 
tocarrero, MS.— Declaracion  de  Montejo,  MS.  (29  de  Abril,  1520).) 
The  letter  from  Vera  Cruz,  however,  was  prepared  under  the  eye 
of  Cortes;  and  the  last  two  were  his  confidential  officers. 


1518]     ARMADA  INTRUSTED  TO  CORTES      315 

pedition  cannot  be  charged  with  a  narrow  or  mer- 
cenary spirit.  The  first  object  of  the  voyage  was 
to  find  Grijalva,  after  which  the  two  commanders 
were  to  proceed  in  company  together.  Reports 
had  been  brought  back  by  Cordova,  on  his  return 
from  the  first  visit  to  Yucatan,  that  six  Christians 
were  said  to  be  lingering  in  captivity  in  the  interior 
of  the  country.  It  was  supposed  they  might  be- 
long to  the  party  of  the  unfortunate  Nicuessa,  and 
orders  were  given  to  find  them  out,  if  possible,  and 
restore  them  to  liberty.  But  the  great  object  of 
the  expedition  was  barter  with  the  natives.  In 
pursuing  this,  special  care  was  to  be  taken  that 
they  should  receive  no  wrong,  but  be  treated  with 
kindness  and  humanity.  Cortes  was  to  bear  in 
mind,  above  all  things,  that  the  object  which  the 
Spanish  monarch  had  most  at  heart  was  the  con- 
version of  the  Indians.  He  was  to  impress  on 
them  the  grandeur  and  goodness  of  his  royal  mas- 
ter, to  invite  them  "  to  give  in  their  allegiance  to 
him,  and  to  manifest  it  by  regaling  him  with  such 
comfortable  presents  of  gold,  pearls,  and  precious 
stones  as,  by  showing  their  own  good  will,  would 
secure  his  favor  and  protection."  He  was  to  make 
an  accurate  survey  of  the  coast,  sounding  its  bays 
and  inlets  for  the  benefit  of  future  navigators.  He 
was  to  acquaint  himself  with  the  natural  products 
of  the  country,  with  the  character  of  its  different 
races,  their  institutions  and  progress  in  civilization ; 
and  he  was  to  send  home  minute  accounts  of  all 
these,  together  with  such  articles  as  he  should  ob- 
tain in  his  intercourse  with  them.  Finally,  he  was 
to  take  the  most  careful  care  to  omit  nothing  that 


316  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

might  redound  to  the  service  of  God  or  his  sover- 
eign.29 

Such  was  the  general  tenor  of  the  instructions 
given  to  Cortes ;  and  they  must  be  admitted  to  pro- 
vide for  the  interests  of  science  and  humanity,  as 
well  as  for  those  which  had  reference  only  to  a 
commercial  speculation.  It  may  seem  strange, 
considering  the  discontent  shown  by  Velasquez 
with  his  former  captain,  Grijalva,  for  not  coloniz- 
ing, that  no  directions  should  have  been  given  to 
that  effect  here.  But  he  had  not  yet  received  from 
Spain  the  warrant  for  investing  his  agents  with 
such  powers;  and  that  which  had  been  obtained 
from  the  Hieronymite  fathers  in  Hispaniola  con- 
ceded only  the  right  to  traffic  with  the  natives. 
The  commission  at  the  same  time  recognized  the 
authority  of  Cortes  as  Captain-General  of  the  ex- 
pedition.30 

"The  instrument,  in  the  original  Castilian,  will  be  found  in  Ap- 
pendix, No.  5.  It  is  often  referred  to  by  writers  who  never 
saw  it,  as  the  Agreement  between  Cortes  and  Velasquez.  It  is,  in 
fact,  only  the  instructions  given  by  this  latter  to  his  officer,  who  was 
no  party  to  it. 

80  Declaracion  de  Puertocarrero,  MS. — Gomara,  Cr6nica,  cap.  7. — 
Velasquez  soon  after  obtained  from  the  crown  authority  to  colonize 
the  new  countries,  with  the  title  of  adelantado  over  them.  The  in- 
strument was  dated  at  Barcelona,  Nov.  13th,  1518.  (Herrera,  Hist, 
general,  dec.  2,  lib.  3,  cap.  8.)  Empty  privileges !  Las  Casas  gives 
a  caustic  etymology  of  the  title  of  adelantado,  so  often  granted  to 
the  Spanish  discoverers.  "  Adelantados  porque  se  adelantaran  en 
hazer  males  y  danos  tan  gravfsimos  &  gentes  pacfficas."  Hist,  de  las 
Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  117. 


CHAPTER  III 

JEALOUSY  OF  VELASQUEZ — CORTES  EMBARKS— 
EQUIPMENT  OF  HIS  FLEET  —  HIS  PERSON 
AND  CHARACTER — RENDEZVOUS  AT  HAVANA — 
STRENGTH  OF  HIS  ARMAMENT 

1519 

THE  importance  given  to  Cortes  by  his  new 
position,  and,  perhaps,  a  somewhat  more 
lofty  bearing,  gradually  gave  uneasiness  to  the 
naturally  suspicious  temper  of  Velasquez,  who  be- 
came apprehensive  that  his  officer,  when  away 
where  he  would  have  the  power,  might  also  have 
the  inclination,  to  throw  off  his  dependence  on  him 
altogether.  An  accidental  circumstance  at  this 
time  heightened  these  suspicions.  A  mad  fellow, 
his  jester,  one  of  those  crack-brained  wits— half 
wit,  half  fool — who  formed  in  those  days  a  com- 
mon appendage  to  every  great  man's  establishment, 
called  out  to  the  governor,  as  he  was  taking  his 
usual  walk  one  morning  with  Cortes  towards  the 
port,  "  Have  a  care,  master  Velasquez,  or  we  shall 
have  to  go  a-hunting,  some  day  or  other,  after  this 
same  captain  of  ours!  "  "  Do  you  hear  what  the 
rogue  says? "  exclaimed  the  governor  to  his  com- 
panion. "  Do  not  heed  him,"  said  Cortes:  "  he  is 
a  saucy  knave,  and  deserves  a  good  whipping." 

317 


318  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

The  words  sank  deep,  however,  in  the  mind  of  Ve- 
lasquez,— as,  indeed,  true  jests  are  apt  to  stick. 

There  were  not  wanting  persons  about  his  Ex- 
cellency who  fanned  the  latent  embers  of  jealousy 
into  a  blaze.  These  worthy  gentlemen,  some  of 
them  kinsmen  of  Velasquez,  who  probably  felt  their 
own  deserts  somewhat  thrown  into  the  shade  by  the 
rising  fortunes  of  Cortes,  reminded  the  governor 
of  his  ancient  quarrel  with  that  officer,  and  of  the 
little  probability  that  affronts  so  keenly  felt  at  the 
time  could  ever  be  forgotten.  By  these  and  similar 
suggestions,  and  by  misconstructions  of  the  pres- 
ent conduct  of  Cortes,  they  wrought  on  the  pas- 
sions of  Velasquez  to  such  a  degree  that  he  resolved 
to  intrust  the  expedition  to  other  hands.1 

He  communicated  his  design  to  his  confidential 
advisers,  Lares  and  Duero,  and  these  trusty  per- 
sonages reported  it  without  delay  to  Cortes,  al- 
though, "  to  a  man  of  half  his  penetration,"  says 
Las  Casas,  "  the  thing  would  have  been  readily 
divined  from  the  governor's  altered  demeanor."  2 
The  two  functionaries  advised  their  friend  to  ex- 
pedite matters  as  much  as  possible,  and  to  lose  no 
time  in  getting  his  fleet  ready  for  sea,  if  he  would 
retain  the  command  of  it.  Cortes  showed  the  same 
prompt  decision  on  this  occasion  which  more  than 

1 "  Deterrebat,"  says  the  anonymous  biographer,  "  eum  Cortesii 
natura  imperil  avida,  fiducia  sui  ingens,  et  nimius  sumptus  in  classe 
paranda.  Timere  itaque  Velasquius  coepit,  si  Cortesius  cum  ea  classe 
iret,  nihil  ad  se  vel  honoris  vel  lucri  rediturum."  De  Rebus  gestis, 
MS.— Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  19.— Las  Casas,  Hist, 
de  las  Indias,  MS.,  cap.  114. 

J "  Cortes  no  avia  menester  mas  para  entendello  de  mirar  el  gesto 
&  Diego  Velasquez  segun  su  astuta  viveza  y  mundana  sabidurfa." 
Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  cap.  114. 


1518]  CORTES    EMBARKS  319 

once  afterwards  in  a  similar  crisis  gave  the  direc- 
tion to  his  destiny. 

He  had  not  yet  got  his  complement  of  men,  nor 
of  vessels,  and  was  very  inadequately  provided 
with  supplies  of  any  kind.  But  he  resolved  to 
weigh  anchor  that  very  night.  He  waited  on  his 
officers,  informed  them  of  his  purpose,  and  proba- 
bly of  the  cause  of  it;  and  at  midnight,  when  the 
town  was  hushed  in  sleep,  they  all  went  quietly  on 
board,  and  the  little  squadron  dropped  down  the 
bay.  First,  however,  Cortes  had  visited  the  person 
whose  business  it  was  to  supply  the  place  with 
meat,  and  relieved  him  of  all  his  stock  on  hand, 
notwithstanding  his  complaint  that  the  city 
must  suffer  for  it  on  the  morrow,  leaving  him, 
at  the  same  time,  in  payment,  a  massive  gold 
chain  of  much  value,  which  he  wore  round  his 
neck.3 

Great  was  the  amazement  of  the  good  citizens 
of  St.  Jago  when,  at  dawn,  they  saw  that  the  fleet, 
which  they  knew  was  so  ill  prepared  for  the  voy- 
age, had  left  its  moorings  and  was  busily  getting 
under  way.  The  tidings  soon  came  to  the  ears  of 
his  Excellency,  who,  springing  from  his  bed,  has- 
tily dressed  himself,  mounted  his  horse,  and,  fol- 
lowed by  his  retinue,  galloped  down  to  the  quay. 
Cortes,  as  soon  as  he  descried  their  approach,  en- 
tered an  armed  boat,  and  came  within  speaking- 
distance  of  the  shore.  "  And  is  it  thus  you  part 
from  me?"  exclaimed  Velasquez;  "a  courteous 

.  *  Las  Casas  had  the  story  from  Cortes'  own  mouth.  Hist,  de  las 
Indias,  MS.,  cap.  114.— Gomara,  Crrinica,  cap.  7.— De  Rebus  ges- 
tis,  MS. 


320  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

way  of  taking  leave,  truly!  "  "  Pardon  me,"  an- 
swered Cortes ;  "  time  presses,  and  there  are  some 
things  that  should  be  done  before  they  are  even 
thought  of.  Has  your  Excellency  any  com- 
mands? "  But  the  mortified  governor  had  no 
commands  to  give ;  and  Cortes,  politely  waving  his 
hand,  returned  to  his  vessel,  and  the  little  fleet  in- 
stantly made  sail  for  the  port  of  Macaca,  about 
fifteen  leagues  distant.  (November  18,  1518.) 
Velasquez  rode  back  to  his  house  to  digest  his  cha- 
grin as  he  best  might;  satisfied,  probably,  that  he 
had  made  at  least  two  blunders,— one  in  appoint- 
ing Cortes  to  the  command,  the  other  in  attempt- 
ing to  deprive  him  of  it.  For,  if  it  be  true  that  by 
giving  our  confidence  by  halves  we  can  scarcely 
hope  to  make  a  friend,  it  is  equally  true  that  by 
withdrawing  it  when  given  we  shall  make  an 
enemy.4 

This  clandestine  departure  of  Cortes  has  been 
severely  criticised  by  some  writers,  especially  by 

4  Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  cap.  114. — Herrera,  Hist, 
general,  dec.  2,  lib.  3,  cap.  12. — Soli's,  who  follows  Bernal  Diaz  in 
saying  that  Cortes  parted  openly  and  amicably  from  Velasquez, 
seems  to  consider  it  a  great  slander  on  the  character  of  the  former 
to  suppose  that  he  wanted  to  break  with  the  governor  so  soon,  when 
he  had  received  so  little  provocation.  (Conquista,  lib.  1,  cap.  10.) 
But  it  is  not  necessary  to  suppose  that  Cortes  intended  a  rupture 
with  his  employer  by  this  clandestine  movement,  but  only  to  secure 
himself  in  the  command.  At  all  events,  the  text  conforms  in  every 
particular  to  the  statement  of  Las  Casas,  who,  as  he  knew  both 
the  parties  well,  and  resided  on  the  island  at  the  time,  had  ample 
means  of  information.* 

*  [Las  Casas  was  not  residing  in  Cuba,  as  Prescott  supposes,  when 
Cortes  sailed.  The  weight  of  authority  seems  to  indicate  that  the 
departure  of  Cortes  was  hasty  but  not  clandestine.  Velasquez  in  his 
report  to  the  Emperor  does  not  say  the  Conqueror  of  Mexico  stole 
away. — M.] 


1518]  EQUIPMENT   OF   HIS   FLEET  321 

Las  Casas.5  Yet  much  may  be  urged  in  vindica- 
tion of  his  conduct.  He  had  been  appointed  to  the 
command  by  the  voluntary  act  of  the  governor, 
and  this  had  been  fully  ratified  by  the  authorities 
of  Hispaniola.  He  had  at  once  devoted  all  his  re- 
sources to  the  undertaking,  incurring,  indeed,  a 
heavy  debt  in  addition.  He  was  now  to  be  deprived 
of  his  commission,  without  any  misconduct  having 
been  alleged  or  at  least  proved  against  him.  Such 
an  event  must  overwhelm  him  in  irretrievable  ruin, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  friends  from  whom  he  had 
so  largely  borrowed,  and  the  followers  who  had 
embarked  their  fortunes  in  the  expedition  on  the 
faith  of  his  commanding  it.  There  are  few  per- 
sons, probably,  who,  under  these  circumstances, 
would  have  felt  called  tamely  to  acquiesce  in  the 
sacrifice  of  their  hopes  to  a  groundless  and  arbi- 
trary whim.  The  most  to  have  been  expected  from 
Cortes  was  that  he  should  feel  obliged  to  provide 
faithfully  for  the  interests  of  his  employer  in  the 
conduct  of  the  enterprise.  How  far  he  felt  the 
force  of  this  obligation  will  appear  in  the  sequel. 
From  Macaca,  where  Cortes  laid  in  such  stores 
as  he  could  obtain  from  the  royal  farms,  and 
which,  he  said,  he  considered  as  "  a  loan  from  the 
king,"  he  proceeded  to  Trinidad;  a  more  consid- 
erable town,  on  the  southern  coast  of  Cuba.  Here 
he  landed,  and,  erecting  his  standard  in  front  of 
his  quarters,  made  proclamation,  with  liberal  offers 
to  all  who  would  join  the  expedition.  Volunteers 
came  in  daily,  and  among  them  more  than  a  hun- 
dred of  Grijalva's  men,  just  returned  from  their 

•  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  cap.  114. 


322  CONQUEST   OF   MEXICO 

voyage  and  willing  to  follow  up  the  discovery 
under  an  enterprising  leader.  The  fame  of  Cortes 
attracted,  also,  a  number  of  cavaliers  of  family  and 
distinction,  some  of  whom,  having  accompanied 
Grijalva,  brought  much  information  valuable  for 
the  present  expedition.  Among  these  hidalgos 
may  be  mentioned  Pedro  de  Alvarado  and  his  bro- 
thers, Cristoval  de  Olid,  Alonso  de  Avila,  Juan 
Velasquez  de  Leon,  a  near  relation  of  the  gover- 
nor, Alonso  Hernandez  de  Puertocarrero,  and 
Gonzalo  de  Sandoval,— all  of  them  men  who  took 
a  most  important  part  in  the  Conquest.  Their 
presence  was  of  great  moment,  as  giving  consid- 
eration to  the  enterprise;  and,  when  they  entered 
the  little  camp  of  the  adventurers,  the  latter 
turned  out  to  welcome  them  amidst  lively  strains 
of  music  and  joyous  salvos  of  artillery. 

Cortes  meanwhile  was  active  in  purchasing  mili- 
tary stores  and  provisions.  Learning  that  a  trad- 
ing-vessel laden  with  grain  and  other  commodities 
for  the  mines  was  off  the  coast,  he  ordered  out  one 
of  his  caravels  to  seize  her  and  bring  her  into  port. 
He  paid  the  master  in  bills  for  both  cargo  and  ship, 
and  even  persuaded  this  man,  named  Sedefio,*  who 
was  wealthy,  to  join  his  fortunes  to  the  expedition. 
He  also  despatched  one  of  his  officers,  Diego  de 
Ordaz,  in  quest  of  another  ship,t  of  which  he  had 

*  [Juan  Sedefio  was  the  richest  man  in  the  fleet.  His  possessions 
included  a  ship,  a  mare,  a  negro,  and  some  cazabi  bread  and  bacon. 
Bernal  Diaz  very  properly  gives  a  list  of  the  horses  belonging  to 
the  expedition,  remarking  that  neither  horses  nor  negroes  could  be 
had  without  great  expense.  (See  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  23.) 
A  horse  cost  from  four  to  five  hundred  pesos  de  oro. — M.] 

t  [Bancroft  (Mexico,  i.  p.  66)  thinks  Prescott  has  made  a  slight 
mistake  as  to  these  ships,  and  that  Sedefio  was  the  commander  of  the 


1518]  .        EQUIPMENT   OF   HIS   FLEET  323 

tidings,  with  instructions  to  seize  it  in  like  manner, 
and  to  meet  him  with  it  off  Cape  St.  Antonio,  the 
westerly  point  of  the  island.6  By  this  he  effected 
another  object,  that  of  getting  rid  of  Ordaz,  who 
was  one  of  the  governor's  household,  and  an  in- 
convenient spy  on  his  own  actions. 

While  thus  occupied,  letters  from  Velasquez 
were  received  by  the  commander  of  Trinidad,  re- 
quiring him  to  seize  the  person  of  Cortes  and  to 
detain  him,  as  he  had  been  deposed  from  the  com- 
mand of  the  fleet,  which  was  given  to  another. 
This  functionary  communicated  his  instructions  to 
the  principal  officers  in  the  expedition,  who  coun- 
selled him  not  to  make  the  attempt,  as  it  would 
undoubtedly  lead  to  a  commotion  among  the  sol- 
diers, that  might  end  in  laying  the  town  in  ashes. 
Verdugo  thought  it  prudent  to  conform  to  this 
advice.7 

As  Cortes  was  willing  to  strengthen  himself  by 
still  further  reinforcements,  he  ordered  Alvarado 
with  a  small  body  of  men  to  march  across  the  coun- 
try to  the  Havana,*  while  he  himself  would  sail 

6  Las  Casas  had  this,  also,  from  the  lips  of  Cortds  in  later  life. 
"  Todo  esto  me  dixo  el  mismo  Cortes,  con  otras  cosas  cerca  dello 
despues  de  Marques;  .  .  .  reindo  y  mofando  £  con  estas  formales 
palabras,  A  la  mi  fee  andube  por  alii  como  un  gentil  cosario"  Hist, 
de  las  Indias,  MS.,  cap.  115. 

TDe  Rebus  gestis,  MS.— Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  8.— Las  Casas, 
Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  cap.  114,  115. 

second  vessel.  Bancroft  also  will  have  it  that  the  standard  of  Cort6s 
was  made  of  "taffeta,"  not  velvet.— M.] 

*  [But  not  across  the  island.  There  was  no  need  for  Colic's  to 
sail  round  the  westerly  point  of  Cuba  with  his  squadron.  Ha- 
vana, or  San  Crist6bal  de  la  Habana,  was  then  upon  the  south  side 
of  the  island.  The  town  where  the  Havana  of  to-day  stands  was  not 
founded  until  1519.  Many  writers  besides  Prescott,  knowing  nothing 


324  CONQUEST  OF   MEXICO 

round  the  westerly  point  of  the  island  and  meet 
him  there  with  the  squadron.  In  this  port  he  again 
displayed  his  standard,  making  the  usual  procla- 
mation. He  caused  all  the  large  guns  to  be 
brought  on  shore,  and,  with  the  small  arms  and 
cross-bows,  to  be  put  in  order.  As  there  was 
abundance  of  cotton  raised  in  this  neighborhood, 
he  had  the  jackets  of  the  soldiers  thickly  quilted 
with  it,  for  a  defence  against  the  Indian  arrows, 
from  which  the  troops  in  the  former  expeditions 
had  grievously  suffered.  He  distributed  his  men 
into  eleven  companies,  each  under  the  command  of 
an  experienced  officer;  and  it  was  observed  that, 
although  several  of  the  cavaliers  in  the  service  were 
the  personal  friends  and  even  kinsmen  of  Velas- 
quez, he  appeared  to  treat  them  all  with  perfect 
confidence. 

His  principal  standard  was  of  black  velvet,  em- 
broidered with  gold,  and  emblazoned  with  a  red 
cross  amidst  flames  of  blue  and  white,  with  this 
motto  in  Latin  beneath:  "  Friends,  let  us  follow 
the  Cross;  and  under  this  sign,  if  we  have  faith, 
we  shall  conquer."  He  now  assumed  more  state  in 
his  own  person  and  way  of  living,  introducing  a 
greater  number  of  domestics  and  officers  into  his 
household,  and  placing  it  on  a  footing  becoming  a 
man  of  high  station.  This  state  he  maintained 
through  the  rest  of  his  life.8 

8  Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  24. — De  Rebus  gestis, 
MS.— Gomara,   Cr6nica,   cap.   8.— Las   Casas,    Hist,    de   las    Indias, 

of  this  fact,  have  fallen  into  this  same  error.  From  Trinidad  to  the 
new  Habana  would  have  been  a  long  and  difficult  march  for  Alva- 
rado  and  his  party,  and  a  long  and  unnecessary  voyage  for  the  fleet 
of  Cortes.— M.] 


1519]  CORTES'   PERSON   AND   CHARACTER   325 

Cortes  at  this  time  was  thirty -three,  or  perhaps 
thirty-four,  years  of  age.  In  stature  he  was  rather 
above  the  middle  size.  His  complexion  was  pale; 
and  his  large  dark  eye  gave  an  expression  of 
gravity  to  his  countenance,  not  to  have  been  ex- 
pected in  one  of  his  cheerful  temperament.  His 
figure  was  slender,  at  least  until  later  life ;  but  his 
chest  was  deep,  his  shoulders  broad,  his  frame  mus- 
cular and  well  proportioned.  It  presented  the 
union  of  agility  and  vigor  which  qualified  him  to 
excel  in  fencing,  horsemanship,  and  the  other  gen- 
erous exercises  of  chivalry.  In  his  diet  he  was 
temperate,  careless  of  what  he  ate,  and  drinking 
little;  while  to  toil  and  privation  he  seemed  per- 
fectly indifferent.  His  dress,  for  he  did  not  dis- 
dain the  impression  produced  by  such  adventitious 
aids,  was  such  as  to  set  off  his  handsome  person  to 
advantage;  neither  gaudy  nor  striking,  but  rich. 
He  wore  few  ornaments,  and  usually  the  same; 
but  those  were  of  great  price.  His  manners,  frank 
and  soldier-like,  concealed  a  most  cool  and  calcu- 
lating spirit.  With  his  gayest  humor  there  min- 
gled a  settled  air  of  resolution,  which  made  those 
who  approached  him  feel  they  must  obey,  and 
which  infused  something  like  awe  into  the  attach- 
ment of  his  most  devoted  followers.  Such  a 
combination,  in  which  love  was  tempered  by  au- 
thority, was  the  one  probably  best  calculated  to 
inspire  devotion  in  the  rough  and  turbulent  spirits 
among  whom  his  lot  was  to  be  cast. 

The  character  of  Cortes  seems  to  have  under- 

MS.,  cap.   115.— The  legend  on  the  standard  was,  doubtless,  sug- 
gested by  that  on  the  labarum,— the  sacred  banner  of  Constantino. 


326  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

gone  some  change  with  change  of  circumstances; 
or,  to  speak  more  correctly,  the  new  scenes  in  which 
he  was  placed  called  forth  qualities  which  before 
lay  dormant  in  his  bosom.  There  are  some  hardy 
natures  that  require  the  heats  of  excited  action  to 
unfold  their  energies ;  like  the  plants  which,  closed 
to  the  mild  influence  of  a  temperate  latitude,  come 
to  their  full  growth,  and  give  forth  their  fruits, 
only  in  the  burning  atmosphere  of  the  tropics. 
Such  is  the  portrait  left  to  us  by  his  contemporaries 
of  this  remarkable  man ;  the  instrument  selected  by 
Providence  to  scatter  terror  among  the  barbarian 
monarchs  of  the  Western  World,  and  lay  their 
empires  in  the  dust.9 

Before  the  preparations  were  fully  completed 
at  the  Havana,  the  commander  of  the  place,  Don 
Pedro  Barba,  received  despatches  from  Velasquez 
ordering  him  to  apprehend  Cortes  and  to  prevent 
the  departure  of  his  vessels;  while  another  epistle 
from  the  same  source  was  delivered  to  Cortes  him- 
self, requesting  him  to  postpone  his  voyage  till  the 
governor  could  communicate  with  him,  as  he  pro- 
posed, in  person.  "  Never,"  exclaims  Las  Casas, 
"  did  I  see  so  little  knowledge  of  affairs  shown,  as 
in  this  letter  of  Diego  Velasquez, — that  he  should 
have  imagined  that  a  man  who  had  so  recently  put 
such  an  affront  on  him  would  defer  his  departure 
at  his  bidding!  "  10  It  was,  indeed,  hoping  to  stay 

*  The  most  minute  notices  of  the  person  and  habits  of  Cortes  are 
to  be  gathered  from  the  narrative  of  the  old  cavalier  Bernal  Diaz, 
who  served  so  long  under  him,  and  from  Gomara,  the  general's 
chaplain.  See  in  particular  the  last  chapter  of  Gomara's  Crdnica, 
and  cap.  203  of  the  Hist,  de  la  Conquista. 

10  Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  cap.  115. 


1519]       STRENGTH   OF   HIS  ARMAMENT        327 

the  flight  of  the  arrow  by  a  word,  after  it  had  left 
the  bow. 

The  Captain-General,  however,  during  his  short 
stay,  had  entirely  conciliated  the  good  will  of 
Barba.  And,  if  that  officer  had  had  the  inclination, 
he  knew  he  had  not  the  power,  to  enforce  his  prin- 
cipal's orders,  in  the  face  of  a  resolute  soldiery,  in- 
censed at  this  ungenerous  persecution  of  their 
commander,  and  "  all  of  whom,"  in  the  words  of 
the  honest  chronicler  who  bore  part  in  the  expedi- 
tion, "  officers  and  privates,  would  have  cheerfully 
laid  down  their  lives  for  him."  n  Barba  contented 
himself,  therefore,  with  explaining  to  Velasquez 
the  impracticability  of  the  attempt,  and  at  the 
same  time  endeavored  to  tranquillize  his  apprehen- 
sions by  asserting  his  own  confidence  in  the  fidelity 
of  Cortes.  To  this  the  latter  added  a  communica- 
tion of  his  own,  couched  "  in  the  soft  terms  he 
knew  so  well  how  to  use,"  12  in  which  he  implored 
his  Excellency  to  rely  on  his  devotion  to  his  inter- 
ests, and  concluded  with  the  comfortable  assur- 
ance that  he  and  the  whole  fleet,  God  willing, 
would  sail  on  the  following  morning. 

Accordingly,  on  the  10th  of  February,  1519,  the 
little  squadron  got  under  way,  and  directed  its 
course  towards  Cape  St.  Antonio,  the  appointed 
place  of  rendezvous.  When  all  were  brought  to- 
gether, the  vessels  were  found  to  be  eleven  in  num- 
ber; one  of  them,  in  which  Cortes  himself  went, 
was  of  a  hundred  tons'  burden,  three  others  were 
from  seventy  to  eighty  tons;  the  remainder  were 

11  Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  24. 

12  Ibid.,  loc.  cit. 


328  CONQUEST  OF   MEXICO 

caravels  and  open  brigantines.  The  whole  was  put 
under  the  direction  of  Antonio  de  Alaminos,  as 
chief  pilot;  a  veteran  navigator,  who  had  acted  as 
pilot  to  Columbus  in  his  last  voyage,  and  to  Cor- 
dova and  Grijalva  in  the  former  expeditions  to 
Yucatan. 

Landing  on  the  Cape  and  mustering  his  forces, 
Cortes  found  they  amounted  to  one  hundred  and 
ten  mariners,  five  hundred  and  fifty-three  soldiers, 
including  thirty-two  crossbowmen,  and  thirteen 
arquebusiers,  besides  two  hundred  Indians  of  the 
island,  and  a  few  Indian  women  for  menial  offices. 
He  was  provided  with  ten  heavy  guns,  four  lighter 
pieces  called  falconets,  and  with  a  good  supply  of 
ammunition.13  He  had  besides  sixteen  horses. 
They  were  not  easily  procured;  for  the  difficulty 
of  transporting  them  across  the  ocean  in  the  flimsy 
craft  of  that  day  made  them  rare  and  incredibly 
dear  in  the  Islands.14  But  Cortes  rightfully  esti- 

13  Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  26.— There  is  some  dis- 
crepancy among  authorities  in  regard  to  the  numbers  of  the  army. 
The  Letter  from  Vera  Cruz,  which  should  have  been  exact,  speaks 
in  round  terms  of  only   four  hundred  soldiers.      (Carta  de  Vera 
Cruz,  MS.)      Velasquez  himself,  in  a  communication  to  the  Chief 
Judge  of  Hispaniola,  states  the  number  at  six  hundred.      (Carta 
de  Diego  Velasquez  al  Lie.  Figueroa,  MS.)     I  have  adopted  the  es- 
timates of  Bernal  Diaz,   who,  in   his   long   service,   seems  to   have 
become  intimately  acquainted  with  every  one  of  his  comrades,  their 
persons,  and  private  history. 

14  Incredibly  dear  indeed,  since,  from  the  statements  contained  in 
the  depositions  at  Villa  Segura,  it  appears  that  the  cost  of  the  horses 
for  the  expedition  was  from  four  to  five  hundred  pesos  de  oro  each! 
"  Si  saben  que  de  caballos  que  el  dicho  Senor  Capitan  General  Her- 
nando  Cortes  ha  comprado  para  servir  en  la  dicha  Conquista,  que 
son  diez  £  ocho,  que  le  han  costado  a  quatrocientos   cinquenta  6 
a  quinientos  pesos  ha  pagado,  6  que  deve  mas  de  ocho  mil  pesos  de  oro 
dellos."     (Probanza  en  Villa  Segura,  MS.)     The  estimation  of  these 
horses  is  sufficiently  shown  by  the  minute  information  Bernal  Diaz 


1519]      STRENGTH   OF   HIS    ARMAMENT       329 

mated  the  importance  of  cavalry,  however  small  in 
number,  both  for  their  actual  service  in  the  field, 
and  for  striking  terror  into  the  savages.  With  so 
paltry  a  force  did  he  enter  on  a  conquest  which 
even  his  stout  heart  must  have  shrunk  from  at- 
tempting with  such  means,  had  he  but  foreseen 
half  its  real  difficulties! 

Before  embarking,  Cortes  addressed  his  soldiers 
in  a  short  but  animated  harangue.  He  told  them 
they  were  about  to  enter  on  a  noble  enterprise,  one 
that  would  make  their  name  famous  to  after-ages. 
He  was  leading  them  to  countries  more  vast  and 
opulent  than  any  yet  visited  by  Europeans.  "  I 
hold  out  to  you  a  glorious  prize,"  continued  the 
orator,  "  but  it  is  to  be  won  by  incessant  toil.  Great 
things  are  achieved  only  by  great  exertions,  and 
glory  was  never  the  reward  of  sloth.15  If  I  have 
labored  hard  and  staked  my  all  on  this  undertak- 
ing, it  is  for  the  love  of  that  renown  which  is  the 
noblest  recompense  of  man.  But,  if  any  among 
you  covet  riches  more,  be  but  true  to  me,  as  I  will 
be  true  to  you  and  to  the  occasion,  and  I  will 
make  you  masters  of  such  as  our  countrymen  have 
never  dreamed  of!  You  are  few  in  number,  but 
strong  in  resolution;  and,  if  this  does  not  falter, 
doubt  not  but  that  the  Almighty,  who  has  never 
deserted  the  Spaniard  in  his  contest  with  the  infi- 

has  thought  proper  to  give  of  every  one  of  them;  minute  enough 
for  the  pages  of  a  sporting  calendar.  See  Hist,  de  la  Conquista, 
cap.  23. 

15 "  lo  vos  propongo  grandes  premios,  mas  embueltos  en  grandes 
trabajos;  pero  la  virtud  no  quiere  ociosidad."  (Gomara,  Cr6nica, 
cap.  9.)  It  is  the  thought  so  finely  expressed  by  Thomson: 

"  For  sluggard's  brow  the  laurel  never  grows: 
Renown  is  not  the  child  of  indolent  repose." 


330  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

del,  will  shield  you,  though  encompassed  by  a  cloud 
of  enemies ;  for  your  cause  is  a  just  cause,  and  you 
are  to  fight  under  the  banner  of  the  Cross.  Go 
forward,  then,"  he  concluded,  "  with  alacrity  and 
confidence,  and  carry  to  a  glorious  issue  the  work 
so  auspiciously  begun."  16 

The  rough  eloquence  of  the  general,  touching 
the  various  chords  of  ambition,  avarice,  and  reli- 
gious zeal,  sent  a  thrill  through  the  bosoms  of  his 
martial  audience;  and,  receiving  it  with  acclama- 
tions, they  seemed  eager  to  press  forward  under 
a  chief  who  was  to  lead  them  not  so  much  to  battle, 
as  to  triumph. 

Cortes  was  well  satisfied  to  find  his  own  enthu- 
siasm so  largely  shared  by  his  followers.  Mass 
was  then  celebrated  with  the  solemnities  usual  with 
the  Spanish  navigators  when  entering  on  their  voy- 
ages of  discovery.  The  fleet  was  placed  under  the 
immediate  protection  of  St.  Peter,  the  patron  saint 
of  Cortes,  and,  weighing  anchor,  took  its  departure 
on  the  eighteenth  day  of  February,  1519,  for  the 
coast  of  Yucatan.17 

"The  text  is  a  very  condensed  abridgment  of  the  original  speech 
of  Cortds, — or  of  his  chaplain,  as  the  case  may  be.  See  it,  in  Gomara, 
Cr6nica,  cap.  9. 

"Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  IIS.,  cap.  115.— Gomara,  O6nica, 
cap.  10. — De  ebus  gestis,  MS. — "  Tantus  fuit  armorum  apparatus," 
exclaims  the  author  of  the  last  work,  "  quo  alterum  terrarum  orbem 
bellis  Cortesius  concutit;  ex  tarn  parvis  opibus  tantum  imperium 
Carolo  facit;  aperitque  omnium  primus  Hispanae  genti  Hispaniam 
novam ! "  The  author  of  this  work  is  unknown.  It  seems  to  have 
been  part  of  a  great  compilation  "  De  Orbe  Novo,"  written,  proba- 
bly, on  the  plan  of  a  series  of  biographical  sketches,  as  the  introduc- 
tion speaks  of  a  life  of  Columbus  preceding  this  of  Cortfe.  It  was 
composed,  as  it  states,  while  many  of  the  old  Conquerors  were  still 
surviving,  and  is  addressed  to  the  son  of  Cortes.  The  historian, 
therefore,  had  ample  means  of  verifying  the  truth  of  his  own  state- 


1519]  ESTRELLA'S    MANUSCRIPT  331 

ments,  although  they  too  often  betray,  in  his  partiality  for  his  hero, 
the  influence  of  the  patronage  under  which  the  work  was  produced. 
It  runs  into  a  prolixity  of  detail  which,  however  tedious,  has  its  uses 
in  a  contemporary  document.  Unluckily,  only  the  first  book  was  fin- 
ished, or,  at  least,  has  survived;  terminating  with  the  events  of  this 
chapter.  It  is  written  in  Latin,  in  a  pure  and  perspicuous  style, 
and  is  conjectured  with  some  plausibility  to  be  the  work  of  Calvet 
de  Estrella,  Chronicler  of  the  Indies.  The  original  exists  in  the 
Archives  of  Simancas,  where  it  was  discovered  and  transcribed  by 
Munoz,  from  whose  copy  that  in  my  library  was  taken. 


CHAPTER  IV 

VOYAGE  TO  COZUMEL— CONVERSION  OF  THE  NA- 
TIVES—GERONIMO  DE  AGUILAR— ARMY  ARRIVES 
AT  TABASCO  — GREAT  BATTLE  WITH  THE  INDIANS 
—  CHRISTIANITY  INTRODUCED 

1519 

ORDERS  were  given  for  the  vessels  to  keep 
as  near  together  as  possible,  and  to  take  the 
direction  of  the  capitania,  or  admiral's  ship,  which 
carried  a  beacon-light  in  the  stern  during  the  night. 
But  the  weather,  which  had  been  favorable, 
changed  soon  after  their  departure,  and  one  of 
those  tempests  set  in  which  at  this  season  are  often 
found  in  the  latitudes  of  the  West  Indies.  It  fell 
with  terrible  force  on  the  little  navy,  scattering  it 
far  asunder,  dismantling  some  of  the  ships,  and 
driving  them  all  considerably  south  of  their  pro- 
posed destination. 

Cortes,  who  had  lingered  behind  to  convoy  a  dis- 
abled vessel,  reached  the  island  of  Cozumel  last. 
On  landing,  he  learned  that  one  of  his  captains, 
Pedro  de  Alvarado,  had  availed  himself  of  the 
short  time  he  had  been  there,  to  enter  the  temples, 
rifle  them  of  their  few  ornaments,  and,  by  his  vio- 
lent conduct,  so  far  to  terrify  the  simple  natives 

332 


1519]  VOYAGE    TO    COZUMEL  333 

that  they  had  fled  for  refuge  into  the  interior  of 
the  island.  Cortes,  highly  incensed  at  these  rash 
proceedings,  so  contrary  to  the  policy  he  had  pro- 
posed, could  not  refrain  from  severely  reprimand- 
ing his  officer  in  the  presence  of  the  army.  He 
commanded  two  Indian  captives,  taken  by  Alva- 
rado,  to  be  brought  before  him,  and  explained  to 
them  the  pacific  purpose  of  his  visit.  This  he  did 
through  the  assistance  of  his  interpreter,  Mel- 
chore  jo,  a  native  of  Yucatan,  who  had  been 
brought  back  by  Grijalva,  and  who  during  his  resi- 
dence in  Cuba  had  picked  up  some  acquaintance 
with  the  Castilian.  He  then  dismissed  them  loaded 
with  presents,  and  with  an  invitation  to  their  coun- 
trymen to  return  to  their  homes  without  fear 
of  further  annoyance.  This  humane  policy  suc- 
ceeded. The  fugitives,  reassured,  were  not  slow  in 
coming  back;  and  an  amicable  intercourse  was  es- 
tablished, in  which  Spanish  cutlery  and  trinkets 
were  exchanged  for  the  gold  ornaments  of  the  na- 
tives; a  traffic  in  which  each  party  congratulated 
itself — a  philosopher  might  think  with  equal  rea- 
son— on  outwitting  the  other. 

The  first  object  of  Cortes  was  to  gather  tidings 
of  the  unfortunate  Christians  who  were  reported 
to  be  still  lingering  in  captivity  on  the  neighboring 
continent.  From  some  traders  in  the  island  he  ob- 
tained such  a  confirmation  of  the  report  that  he 
sent  Diego  de  Ordaz  with  two  brigantines  to  the 
opposite  coast  of  Yucatan,  with  instructions  to 
remain  there  eight  days.  Some  Indians  went  as 
messengers  in  the  vessels,  who  consented  to  bear  a 
letter  to  the  captives  informing  them  of  the  arrival 


334  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

of  their  countrymen  in  Cozumel  with  a  liberal 
ransom  for  their  release.  Meanwhile  the  general 
proposed  to  make  an  excursion  to  the  different 
parts  of  the  island,  that  he  might  give  employment 
to  the  restless  spirits  of  the  soldiers,  and  ascertain 
the  resources  of  the  country. 

It  was  poor  and  thinly  peopled.  But  every- 
where he  recognized  the  vestiges  of  a  higher  civili- 
zation than  what  he  had  before  witnessed  in  the 
Indian  islands.  The  houses  were  some  of  them 
large,  and  often  built  of  stone  and  lime.  He  was 
particularly  struck  with  the  temples,  in  which  were 
towers  constructed  of  the  same  solid  materials,  and 
rising  several  stories  in  height.  In  the  court  of  one 
of  these  he  was  amazed  by  the  sight  of  a  cross,  of 
stone  and  lime,  about  ten  palms  high.  It  was  the 
emblem  of  the  god  of  rain.  Its  appearance  sug- 
gested the  wildest  conjectures,  not  merely  to 
the  unlettered  soldiers,  but  subsequently  to  the 
European  scholar,  who  speculated  on  the  character 
of  the  races  that  had  introduced  there  the  sacred 
symbol  of  Christianity.  But  no  such  inference,  as 
we  shall  see  hereafter,  could  be  warranted.1  Yet 
it  must  be  regarded  as  a  curious  fact  that  the  Cross 
should  have  been  venerated  as  the  object  of  reli- 
gious worship  both  in  the  New  World  and  in  re- 
gions of  the  Old  where  the  light  of  Christianity 
had  never  risen.2 

1  See  ante,  p.  241,  note  27. 

2  Carta  de  Vera  Cruz,  MS. — Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista, 
cap.  25,  et  seq. — Gomara,  Crdnica,  cap.  10,  15. — Las  Casas,  Hist,  de 
las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  115.— Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib. 
4,  cap.  6. — Martyr,  De  Insulis  nuper  inventis  (Coloniae,  1574),  p.  344. 
— While  these  pages  were  passing  through  the  press,   but  not  till 


CONVERSION    OF    THE  NATIVES         335 

The  next  object  of  Cortes  was  to  reclaim  the 
natives  from  their  gross  idolatry  and  to  substitute 
a  purer  form  of  worship.  In  accomplishing  this 
he  was  prepared  to  use  force,  if  milder  measures 
should  be  ineffectual.  There  was  nothing  which 
the  Spanish  government  had  more  earnestly  at 
heart  than  the  conversion  of  the  Indians.  It  forms 
the  constant  burden  of  their  instructions,  and  gave 
to  the  military  expeditions  in  this  Western  hemi- 
sphere somewhat  of  the  air  of  a  crusade.  The 
cavalier  who  embarked  in  them  entered  fully  into 
these  chivalrous  and  devotional  feelings.  No 
doubt  was  entertained  of  the  efficacy  of  conver- 
sion, however  sudden  might  be  the  change  or  how- 
ever violent  the  means.  The  sword  was  a  good 

two  years  after  they  were  written,  Mr.  Stephens's  important  and  in- 
teresting volumes  appeared,  containing  the  account  of  his  second  ex- 
pedition to  Yucatan.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  work  he  describes 
his  visit  to  Cozumel,  now  an  uninhabited  island  covered  with  impene- 
trable forests.  Near  the  shore  he  saw  the  remains  of  ancient  In- 
dian structures,  which  he  conceives  may  possibly  have  been  the  same 
that  met  the  eyes  of  Grijalva  and  Cortes,  and  which  suggest  to  him 
some  important  inferences.  He  is  led  into  further  reflections  on  the 
existence  of  the  cross  as  a  symbol  of  worship  among  the  islanders. 
(Incidents  of  Travel  in  Yucatan  (New  York,  1843),  vol.  ii.  chap.  20.) 
As  the  discussion  of  these  matters  would  lead  me  too  far  from  the 
track  of  our  narrative,  I  shall  take  occasion  to  return  to  them  here- 
after, when  I  treat  of  the  architectural  remains  of  the  country.*  f 

*  [In  the  passages  here  referred  to,  the  author  has  noticed  various 
proofs  of  the  existence  of  the  cross  as  a  symbol  of  worship  among 
pagan  nations  both  in  the  Old  World  and  the  New.  The  fact  has 
been  deemed  a  very  puzzling  one;  yet  the  explanation,  as  traced  by 
Dr.  Brinton,  is  sufficiently  simple:  "The  arms  of  the  cross  were 
designed  to  point  to  the  cardinal  points  and  represent  the  four  winds, 
—the  rain-bringers."  Hence  the  name  given  to  it  in  the  Mexican 
language,  signifying  "Tree  of  our  Life,"— a  term  well  calculated  to 
increase  the  wonderment  of  the  Spanish  discoverers.  Myths  of  the 
New  World,  p.  96,  et  al.— K.] 

t  Ante,  p.  239. 


336  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

argument,  when  the  tongue  failed ;  and  the  spread 
of  Mahometanism  had  shown  that  seeds  sown  by 
the  hand  of  violence,  far  from  perishing  in  the 
ground,  would  spring  up  and  bear  fruit  to  after- 
time.  If  this  were  so  in  a  bad  cause,  how  much 
more  would  it  be  true  in  a  good  one !  The  Spanish 
cavalier  felt  he  had  a  high  mission  to  accomplish 
as  a  soldier  of  the  Cross.  However  unauthorized 
or  unrighteous  the  war  into  which  he  had  entered 
may  seem  to  us,  to  him  it  was  a  holy  war.  He  was 
in  arms  against  the  infidel.  Not  to  care  for  the 
soul  of  his  benighted  enemy  was  to  put  his  own 
in  jeopardy.  The  conversion  of  a  single  soul 
might  cover  a  multitude  of  sins.  It  was  not 
for  morals  that  he  was  concerned,  but  for  the 
faith.  This,  though  understood  in  its  most  lit- 
eral and  limited  sense,  comprehended  the  whole 
scheme  of  Christian  morality.  Whoever  died  in 
the  faith,  however  immoral  had  been  his  life, 
might  be  said  to  die  in  the  Lord.  Such  was 
the  creed  of  the  Castilian  knight  of  that  day, 
as  imbibed  from  the  preachings  of  the  pul- 
pit, from  cloisters  and  colleges  at  home,  from 
monks  and  missionaries  abroad, — from  all  save 
one,  whose  devotion,  kindled  at  a  purer  source, 
was  not,  alas!  permitted  to  send  forth  its  ra- 
diance far  into  the  thick  gloom  by  which  he  was 
encompassed.3 

No  one  partook  more  fully  of  the  feelings  above 
described  than  Hernan  Cortes.  He  was,  in  truth, 
the  very  mirror  of  the  time  in  which  he  lived,  re- 

*  See  the  biographical  sketch  of  the  good  bishop  Las  Casas,  the 
"Protector  of  the  Indians,"  in  the  Postscript  at  the  close  of  the 
present  Book. 


fleeting  its  motley  characteristics,  its  speculative 
devotion  and  practical  license,  but  with  an  intensity 
all  his  own.  He  was  greatly  scandalized  at  the 
exhibition  of  the  idolatrous  practices  of  the  people 
of  Cozumel,  though  untainted,  as  it  would  seem, 
with  human  sacrifices.  He  endeavored  to  per- 
suade them  to  embrace  a  better  faith,  through  the 
agency  of  two  ecclesiastics  who  attended  the  ex- 
pedition,— the  licentiate  Juan  Diaz  and  Father 
Bartolome  de  Olmedo.  The  latter  of  these  godly 
men  afforded  the  rare  example — rare  in  any  age 
— of  the  union  of  fervent  zeal  with  charity,  while 
he  beautifully  illustrated  in  his  own  conduct  the 
precepts  which  he  taught.  He  remained  with  the 
army  through  the  whole  expedition,  and  by  his  wise 
and  benevolent  counsels  was  often  enabled  to  miti- 
gate the  cruelties  of  the  Conquerors,  and  to  turn 
aside  the  edge  of  the  sword  from  the  unfortunate 
natives. 

These  two  missionaries  vainly  labored  to  per- 
suade the  people  of  Cozumel  to  renounce  their 
abominations,  and  to  allow  the  Indian  idols,  in 
which  the  Christians  recognized  the  true  linea- 
ments of  Satan,4  to  be  thrown  down  and  demol- 
ished. The  simple  natives,  filled  with  horror  at  the 
proposed  profanation,  exclaimed  that  these  were 
the  gods  who  sent  them  the  sunshine  and  the  storm, 
and,  should  any  violence  be  offered,  they  would  be 
sure  to  avenge  it  by  sending  their  lightnings  on 
the  heads  of  its  perpetrators. 

4  "  It  may  have  been  that  the  devil  appeared  to  them  as  he  is,  and 
left  these  forms  stamped  on  their  imagination,  so  that  the  imitative 
power  of  the  artist  reveals  itself  in  the  ugliness  of  the  image."  Solfs, 
Conquista,  p.  39. 


338  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

Cortes  was  probably  not  much  of  a  polemic.  At 
all  events,  he  preferred  on  the  present  occasion  ac- 
tion to  argument,  and  thought  that  the  best  way  to 
convince  the  Indians  of  their  error  was  to  prove 
the  falsehood  of  the  prediction.  He  accordingly, 
without  further  ceremony,  caused  the  venerated 
images  to  be  rolled  down  the  stairs  of  the  great 
temple,  amidst  the  groans  and  lamentations  of  the 
natives.  An  altar  was  hastily  constructed,  an  im- 
age of  the  Virgin  and  Child  placed  over  it,  and 
mass  was  performed  by  Father  Olmedo  and  his 
reverend  companion  for  the  first  time  within  the 
walls  of  a  temple  in  New  Spain.  The  patient 
ministers  tried  once  more  to  pour  the  light  of 
the  gospel  into  the  benighted  understandings  of 
the  islanders,  and  to  expound  the  mysteries  of  the 
Catholic  faith.  The  Indian  interpreter  must  have 
afforded  rather  a  dubious  channel  for  the  trans- 
mission of  such  abstruse  doctrines.  But  they  at 
length  found  favor  with  their  auditors,  who,  whe- 
ther overawed  by  the  bold  bearing  of  the  invaders, 
or  convinced  of  the  impotence  of  deities  that  could 
not  shield  their  own  shrines  from  violation,  now 
consented  to  embrace  Christianity.5 

"Carta  de  Vera  Cruz,  MS.— Gomara,  Cr6nica,  cap.  13.— Herrera, 
Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib.  4,  cap.  7.— Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS., 
cap.  78. — Las  Casas,  whose  enlightened  views  in  religion  would  have 
done  honor  to  the  present  age,  insists  on  the  futility  of  these  forced 
conversions,  by  which  it  was  proposed  in  a  few  days  to  wean  men 
from  the  idolatry  which  they  had  been  taught  to  reverence  from 
the  cradle.  "  The  only  way  of  doing  this,"  he  says,  "  is  by  long, 
assiduous,  and  faithful  preaching,  until  the  heathen  shall  gather 
some  ideas  of  the  true  nature  of  the  Deity  and  of  the  doctrines  they 
are  to  embrace.  Above  all,  the  lives  of  the  Christians  should  be  such 
as  to  exemplify  the  truth  of  these  doctrines,  that,  seeing  this,  the 
poor  Indian  may  glorify  the  Father,  and  acknowledge  him,  who 


GERONIMO    DE    AGUILAR  339 

While  Cortes  was  thus  occupied  with  the  tri- 
umphs of  the  Cross,  he  received  intelligence  that 
Ordaz  had  returned  from  Yucatan  without  tidings 
of  the  Spanish  captives.  Though  much  chagrined, 
the  general  did  not  choose  to  postpone  longer  his 
departure  from  Cozumel.  The  fleet  had  been 
well  stored  with  provisions  by  the  friendly  inhabi- 
tants, and,  embarking  his  troops,  Cortes,  in  the  be- 
ginning of  March,  took  leave  of  its  hospitable 
shores.  The  squadron  had  not  proceeded  far,  how- 
ever, before  a  leak  in  one  of  the  vessels  compelled 
them  to  return  to  the  same  port.  The  detention 
was  attended  with  important  consequences;  so 
much  so,  indeed,  that  a  writer  of  the  time  discerns 
in  it  "  a  great  mystery  and  a  miracle."  6 

Soon  after  landing,  a  canoe  with  several  Indians 
was  seen  making  its  way  from  the  neighboring 
shores  of  Yucatan.  On  reaching  the  island,  one  of 
the  men  inquired,  in  broken  Castilian,  "  if  he  were 
among  Christians,"  and,  being  answered  in  the 
affirmative,  threw  himself  on  his  knees  and  re- 
turned thanks  to  Heaven  for  his  delivery.  He 
was  one  of  the  unfortunate  captives  for  whose  fate 
so  much  interest  had  been  felt.  His  name  was 
Geronimo  de  Aguilar,*  a  native  of  ficija,  in  Old 

has  such  worshippers,  for  the  true  and  only  God."     See  the  original 
remarks,  which  I  quote  in  extenso,  as  a  good  specimen  of  the  bish- 
op's style  when  kindled  by  his  subject  into  eloquence,  in  Appendix* 
No.  6. 
8 "  Muy  gran  misterio  y  milagro  de  Dios."  Carta  de  Vera  Cruz,  MS- 

*  [Not  long  ago,  a  history  of  the  Spanish  Conquest  of  Yucatan, 
written  in  the  Maya  language,  but  in  Roman  letters,  by  a  native 
chief,  Nakuk  Pech,  about  the  year  1562,  was  brought  to  light.  This 
account,  the  "  Chronicle  of  Chicxulub,"  was  translated  by  Dr.  Brin- 
ton,  and  was  published  by  him  in  the  "  Maya  Chronicles,"  Philadel- 


340  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

Spain,  where  he  had  been  regularly  educated  for 
the  Church.  He  had  been  established  with  the  col- 
ony at  Darien,  and  on  a  voyage  from  that  place 
to  Hispaniola,  eight  years  previous,  was  wrecked 
near  the  coast  of  Yucatan.  He  escaped  with  sev- 
eral of  his  companions  in  the  ship's  boat,  where 
some  perished  from  hunger  and  exposure,  while 
others  were  sacrificed,  on  their  reaching  land,  by 
the  cannibal  natives  of  the  peninsula.  Aguilar 
was  preserved  from  the  same  dismal  fate  by  escap- 
ing into  the  interior,  where  he  fell  into  the  hands 
of  a  powerful  cacique,  who,  though  he  spared  his 
life,  treated  him  at  first  with  great  rigor.  The 
patience  of  the  captive,  however,  and  his  singular 
humility,  touched  the  better  feelings  of  the  chief- 
tain, who  would  have  persuaded  Aguilar  to  take  a 
wife  among  his  people,  but  the  ecclesiastic  steadily 
refused,  in  obedience  to  his  vows.  This  admirable 
constancy  excited  the  distrust  of  the  cacique,  who 
put  his  virtue  to  a  severe  test  by  various  tempta- 
tions, and  much  of  the  same  sort  as  those  with 
which  the  devil  is  said  to  have  assailed  St.  An- 
thony.7 From  all  these  fiery  trials,  however,  like 

7  They  are  enumerated  by  Herrera  with  a  minuteness  which  may 
claim  at  least  the  merit  of  giving  a  much  higher  notion  of  Aguilar's 

phia,  1882,  pp.  187-259.  This  chronicle,  from  the  pen  of  one  who  was 
almost  contemporary  with  the  Conquest,  corroborates  the  accounts 
given  by  the  Spanish  historians  in  most  particulars.  It  refers  to 
Chichen  Itza  and  Izamal  as  inhabited  when  the  Spaniards  descended 
upon  the  country.  It  is  sometimes  inaccurate  as  to  details,  as  in  this 
reference  to  Aguilar:  "Thus  the  land  was  discovered  by  Aguilar, 
who  was  eaten  by  Ah  Naum  Ah  Pat  at  Cuzamil  in  the  year  1517." 
We  know,  of  course,  that  it  was  another  Spaniard  who  was  eaten 
by  Ah  Naum  Ah  Pat.  The  matter  is  of  small  consequence  to  us, 
though  undoubtedly  important  to  Aguilar.— M.] 


1519]  GERONIMO    DE    AGUILAR  341 

his  ghostly  predecessor,  he  came  out  unscorched. 
Continence  is  too  rare  and  difficult  a  virtue  with 
barbarians,  not  to  challenge  their  veneration, 
and  the  practice  of  it  has  made  the  reputation  of 
more  than  one  saint  in  the  Old  as  well  as  the  New 
World.  Aguilar  was  now  intrusted  with  the 
care  of  his  master's  household  and  his  numerous 
wives.  He  was  a  man  of  discretion,  as  well  as 
virtue;  and  his  counsels  were  found  so  salutary 
that  he  was  consulted  on  all  important  matters. 
In  short,  Aguilar  became  a  great  man  among  the 
Indians. 

It  was  with  much  regret,  therefore,  that  his  mas- 
ter received  the  proposals  for  his  return  to  his 
countrymen,  to  which  nothing  but  the  rich  treasure 
of  glass  beads,  hawk-bells,  and  other  jewels  of  like 
value,  sent  for  his  ransom,  would  have  induced 
him  to  consent.  When  Aguilar  reached  the  coast, 
there  had  been  so  much  delay  that  the  brigantines 
had  sailed;  and  it  was  owing  to  the  fortunate  re- 
turn of  the  fleet  to  Cozumel  that  he  was  enabled  to 
join  it. 

On  appearing  before  Cortes,  the  poor  man  sa- 
luted him  in  the  Indian  style,  by  touching  the  earth 
with  his  hand  and  carrying  it  to  his  head.  The 
commander,  raising  him  up,  affectionately  em- 
braced him,  covering  him  at  the  same  time  with 
his  own  cloak,  as  Aguilar  was  simply  clad  in  the 
habiliments  of  the  country,  somewhat  too  scanty 
for  a  European  eye.  It  was  long,  indeed,  before 

virtue  than  the  barren  generalities  of  the  text.  (Hist,  general,  dec.  2, 
lib.  4,  cap.  6-8.)  The  story  is  prettily  told  by  Washington  Irving, 
Voyages  and  Discoveries  of  the  Companions  of  Columbus  (London, 
1833),  p.  263,  et  seq. 


342  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

the  tastes  which  he  had  acquired  in  the  freedom  of 
the  forest  could  be  reconciled  to  the  constraints 
either  of  dress  or  manners  imposed  by  the  artificial 
forms  of  civilization.  Aguilar's  long  residence 
in  the  country  had  familiarized  him  with  the 
Mayan  dialects  of  Yucatan,  and,  as  he  gradually 
revived  his  Castilian,  he  became  of  essential  impor- 
tance as  an  interpreter.  Cortes  saw  the  advan- 
tage of  this  from  the  first,  but  he  could  not  fully 
estimate  all  the  consequences  that  were  to  flow 
from  it.8 

The  repairs  of  the  vessels  being  at  length  com- 
pleted, the  Spanish  commander  once  more  took 
leave  of  the  friendly  natives  of  Cozumel,  and  set 
sail  on  the  fourth  of  March.  Keeping  as  near  as 
possible  to  the  coast  of  Yucatan,  he  doubled  Cape 
Catoche,  and  with  flowing  sheets  swept  down  the 
broad  bay  of  Campeachy,  fringed  with  the  rich 
dye-woods  which  have  since  furnished  so  important 
an  article  of  commerce  to  Europe.  He  passed  Po- 
tonchan,  where  Cordova  had  experienced  a  rough 
reception  from  the  natives ;  and  soon  after  reached 
the  mouth  of  the  Rio  de  Tabasco,  or  Grijalva,  in 
which  that  navigator  had  carried  on  so  lucrative  a 
traffic.  Though  mindful  of  the  great  object  of  his 
voyage, — the  visit  to  the  Aztec  territories, — he  was 
desirous  of  acquainting  himself  with  the  resources 
of  this  country,  and  determined  to  ascend  the  river 
and  visit  the  great  town  on  its  borders. 

The  water  was  so  shallow,  from  the  accumula- 

*  Camargo,  Historia  de  Tlascala,  MS. — Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Indias, 
MS.,  lib.  33,  cap.  1.— Martyr,  De  Insulis,  p.  347.— Bernal  Diaz,  Hist, 
de  la  Conquista,  cap.  29. — Carta  de  Vera  Cruz,  MS. — Las  Casas, 
Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  115,  116. 


1519]         ARMY  ARRIVES   AT    TABASCO  343 

tion  of  sand  at  the  mouth  of  the  stream,  that  the 
general  was  obliged  to  leave  the  ships  at  anchor  and 
to  embark  in  the  boats  with  a  part  only  of  his 
forces.  The  banks  were  thickly  studded  with  man- 
grove-trees, that,  with  their  roots  shooting  up  and 
interlacing  one  another,  formed  a  kind  of  imper- 
vious screen  or  net -work,  behind  which  the  dark 
forms  of  the  natives  were  seen  glancing  to  and 
fro  with  the  most  menacing  looks  and  gestures. 
Cortes,  much  surprised  at  these  unfriendly  demon- 
strations, so  unlike  what  he  had  had  reason  to  ex- 
pect, moved  cautiously  up  the  stream.  When  he 
had  reached  an  open  place,  where  a  large  number 
of  Indians  were  assembled,  he  asked,  through  his 
interpreter,  leave  to  land,  explaining  at  the  same 
time  his  amicable  intentions.  But  the  Indians, 
brandishing  their  weapons,  answered  only  with 
gestures  of  angry  defiance.  Though  much  cha- 
grined, Cortes  thought  it  best  not  to  urge  the  mat- 
ter further  that  evening,  but  withdrew  to  a  neigh- 
boring island,  where  he  disembarked  his  troops, 
resolved  to  effect  a  landing  on  the  following 
morning. 

When  day  broke,  the  Spaniards  saw  the  oppo- 
site banks  lined  with  a  much  more  numerous  array 
than  on  the  preceding  evening,  while  the  canoes 
along  the  shore  were  filled  with  bands  of  armed 
warriors.  Cortes  now  made  his  preparations  for 
the  attack.  He  first  landed  a  detachment  of  a 
hundred  men  under  Alonso  de  Avila,  at  a  point 
somewhat  lower  down  the  stream,  sheltered  by  a 
thick  grove  of  palms,  from  which  a  road,  as  he 
knew,  led  to  the  town  of  Tabasco,  giving  orders  to 


844  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

his  officer  to  march  at  once  on  the  place,  while  he 
himself  advanced  to  assault  it  in  front.9 

Then,  embarking  the  remainder  of  his  troops, 
Cortes  crossed  the  river  in  face  of  the  enemy ;  but, 
before  commencing  hostilities,  that  he  might  "  act 
with  entire  regard  to  justice,  and  in  obedience  to 
the  instructions  of  the  Royal  Council,"  10  he  first 
caused  proclamation  to  be  made,  through  the  in- 
terpreter, that  he  desired  only  a  free  passage  for 
his  men,  and  that  he  proposed  to  revive  the  friendly 
relations  which  had  formerly  subsisted  between  his 
countrymen  and  the  natives.  He  assured  them 
that  if  blood  were  spilt  the  sin  would  lie  on  their 
heads,  and  that  resistance  would  be  useless,  since 
he  was  resolved  at  all  hazards  to  take  up  his  quar- 
ters that  night  in  the  town  of  Tabasco.  This  pro- 
clamation, delivered  in  lofty  tone,  and  duly  re- 
corded by  the  notary,  was  answered  by  the  Indians 
— who  might  possibly  have  comprehended  one 
word  in  ten  of  it — with  shouts  of  defiance  and  a 
shower  of  arrows.11 


•  Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  31.— Carta  de  Vera  Cruz, 
MS. — Goinara,  Cr6nica,  cap.  18. — Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias, 
MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  118.— Martyr,  De  Insulis,  p.  348.— There  are  some 
discrepancies  between  the  statements  of  Bernal  Diaz  and  the  Letter 
from  Vera  Cruz;  both  by  parties  who  were  present. 

10  Carta  de  Vera  Cruz,  MS. — Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista, 
cap.  31. 

11 "  See,"  exclaims  the  Bishop  of  Chiapa,  in  his  caustic  vein,  "  the 
reasonableness  of  this  '  requisition,'  or,  to  speak  more  correctly,  the 
folly  and  insensibility  of  the  Royal  Council,  who  could  find,  in  the 
refusal  of  the  Indians  to  receive  it,  a  good  pretext  for  war."  (Hist, 
de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  118.)  In  another  place  he  pronounces 
an  animated  invective  against  the  iniquity  of  those  who  covered  up 
hostilities  under  this  empty  form  of  words,  the  import  of  which  was 
utterly  incomprehensible  to  the  barbarians.  (Ibid.,  lib.  3,  cap.  57.) 
The  famous  formula,  used  by  the  Spanish  Conquerors  on  this  occa- 


ARMY  ARRIVES    AT    TABASCO  345 

Cortes,  having  now  complied  with  all  the  requi- 
sitions of  a  loyal  cavalier,  and  shifted  the  respon- 
sibility from  his  own  shoulders  to  those  of  the 
Royal  Council,  brought  his  boats  alongside  of  the 
Indian  canoes.  They  grappled  fiercely  together, 
and  both  parties  were  soon  in  the  water,  which  rose 
above  the  girdle.  The  struggle  was  not  long, 
though  desperate.  The  superior  strength  of  the 
Europeans  prevailed,  and  they  forced  the  enemy 
back  to  land.  Here,  however,  they  were  supported 
by  their  countrymen,  who  showered  down  darts, 
arrows,  and  blazing  billets  of  wood  on  the  heads 
of  the  invaders.  The  banks  were  soft  and  slip- 
pery, and  it  was  with  difficulty  the  soldiers  made 
good  their  footing.  Cortes  lost  a  sandal  in  the 
mud,  but  continued  to  fight  barefoot,  with  great 
exposure  of  his  person,  as  the  Indians,  who  soon 
singled  out  the  leader,  called  to  one  another, 
"Strike  at  the  chief!" 

At  length  the  Spaniards  gained  the  bank,  and 
were  able  to  come  into  something  like  order,  when 
they  opened  a  brisk  fire  from  their  arquebuses  and 
cross-bows.  The  enemy,  astounded  by  the  roar 
and  flash  of  the  fire-arms,  of  which  they  had  had 
no  experience,  fell  back,  and  retreated  behind  a 
breast-work  of  timber  thrown  across  the  way.  The 
Spaniards,  hot  in  the  pursuit,  soon  carried  these 
rude  defences,  and  drove  the  Tabascans  before 

sion,  was  drawn  up  by  Dr.  Palacios  Reubios,  a  man  of  letters,  and  a 
member  of  the  King's  council.  "  But  I  laugh  at  him  and  his  letters," 
exclaims  Oviedo,  "  if  he  thought  a  word  of  it  could  be  comprehended 
by  the  untutored  Indians!"  (Hist,  de  las  Ind.,  MS.,  lib.  29,  cap.  7.) 
The  regular  Manifesto,  requirimiento,  may  be  found  translated  in 
the  concluding  pages  of  It-ring's  "Voyages  of  the  Companions  of 
Columbus." 


346  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

them  towards  the  town,  where  they  again  took 
shelter  behind  their  palisades. 

Meanwhile  Avila  had  arrived  from  the  opposite 
quarter,  and  the  natives,  taken  by  surprise,  made 
no  further  attempt  at  resistance,  but  abandoned 
the  place  to  the  Christians.  They  had  previously 
removed  their  families  and  effects.  Some  provi- 
sions fell  into  the  hands  of  the  victors,  but  little 
gold,  "  a  circumstance,"  says  Las  Casas,  "  which 
gave  them  no  particular  satisfaction."  12  It  was 
a  very  populous  place.  The  houses  were  mostly  of 
mud;  the  better  sort  of  stone  and  lime;  affording 
proofs  in  the  inhabitants  of  a  superior  refinement 
to  that  found  in  the  Islands,  as  their  stout  resis- 
tance had  given  evidence  of  superior  valor.13 

Cortes,  having  thus  made  himself  master  of  the 
town,  took  formal  possession  of  it  for  the  crown  of 
Castile.  He  gave  three  cuts  with  his  sword  on  a 
large  ceiba-tTee  which  grew  in  the  place,  and  pro- 
claimed aloud  that  he  took  possession  of  the  city  in 
the  name  and  behalf  of  the  Catholic  sovereigns, 

11 "  Halldronlas  llenas  de  maiz  6  gallinas  y  otros  vastimentos,  oro 
ninguno,  de  lo  que  ellos  no  rescivi£ron  mucho  plazer."  Hist, 
de  las  Indias,  MS.,  ubi  supra. 

1S  Peter  Martyr  gives  a  glowing  picture  of  this  Indian  capital. 
"  Ad  fluniinis  ripam  protentum  dicunt  esse  oppidum,  quantum  non 
ausim  dicere:  mille  quingentorum  passuum,  ait  Alaminus  nauclerus, 
et  domorum  quinque  ac  viginti  millium:  stringunt  alij,  ingens 
tamen  fatentur  et  celebre.  Hortis  intersecantur  domus,  quae  sunt 
egregik  lapidibus  et  calce  fabrefactce,  maximd  industrid  et  architec- 
torum  arte."  (De  Insulis,  p.  349.)  With  his  usual  inquisitive  spirit, 
he  gleaned  all  the  particulars  from  the  old  pilot  Alaminos,  and  from 
two  of  the  officers  of  Cortds  who  revisited  Spain  in  the  course  of  that 
year.  Tabasco  was  in  the  neighborhood  of  those  ruined  cities  of 
Yucatan  which  have  lately  been  the  theme  of  so  much  speculation. 
The  encomiums  of  Martyr  are  not  so  remarkable  as  the  apathy  of 
other  contemporary  chroniclers. 


1519]          ARMY   ARRIVES   AT   TABASCO  347 

and  would  maintain  and  defend  the  same  with 
sword  and  buckler  against  all  who  should  gainsay 
it.  The  same  vaunting  declaration  was  also  made 
by  the  soldiers,  and  the  whole  was  duly  recorded 
and  attested  by  the  notary.  This  was  the  usual 
simple  but  chivalric  form  with  which  the  Spanish 
cavaliers  asserted  the  royal  title  to  the  conquered 
territories  in  the  New  World.  It  was  a  good  title, 
doubtless,  against  the  claims  of  any  other  Euro- 
pean potentate. 

The  general  took  up  his  quarters  that  night  in 
the  court-yard  of  the  principal  temple.  He  posted 
his  sentinels,  and  took  all  the  precautions  practised 
in  wars  with  a  civilized  foe.  Indeed,  there  was  rea- 
son for  them.  A  suspicious  silence  seemed  to  reign 
through  the  place  and  its  neighborhood;  and  tid- 
ings were  brought  that  the  interpreter,  Melchorejo, 
had  fled,  leaving  his  Spanish  dress  hanging  on  a 
tree.  Cortes  was  disquieted  by  the  desertion  of  this 
man,  who  would  not  only  inform  his  countrymen 
of  the  small  number  of  the  Spaniards,  but  dissipate 
any  illusions  that  might  be  entertained  of  their 
superior  natures. 

On  the  following  morning,  as  no  traces  of  the 
enemy  were  visible,  Cortes  ordered  out  a  detach- 
ment under  Alvarado,  and  another  under  Francisco 
de  Lujo,  to  reconnoitre.  The  latter  officer  had  not 
advanced  a  league,  before  he  learned  the  position 
of  the  Indians,  by  their  attacking  him  in  such  force 
that  he  was  fain  to  take  shelter  in  a  large  stone 
building,  where  he  was  closely  besieged.  Fortu- 
nately, the  loud  yells  of  the  assailants,  like  most 
barbarous  nations  seeking  to  strike  terror  by  their 


348  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

ferocious  cries,  reached  the  ears  of  Alvarado  and 
his  men,  who,  speedily  advancing  to  the  relief  of 
their  comrades,  enabled  them  to  force  a  passage 
through  the  enemy.  Both  parties  retreated,  closely 
pursued,  on  the  town,  when  Cortes,  marching  out 
to  their  support,  compelled  the  Tabascans  to  retire. 

A  few  prisoners  were  taken  in  this  skirmish.  By 
them  Cortes  found  his  worst  apprehensions  veri- 
fied. The  country  was  everywhere  in  arms.  A 
force  consisting  of  many  thousands  had  assembled 
from  the  neighboring  provinces,  and  a  general  as- 
sault was  resolved  on  for  the  next  day.  To  the 
general's  inquiries  why  he  had  been  received  in  so 
different  a  manner  from  his  predecessor,  Grijalva, 
they  answered  that  "  the  conduct  of  the  Tabascans 
then  had  given  great  offence  to  the  other  Indian 
tribes,  who  taxed  them  with  treachery  and  coward- 
ice; so  that  they  had  promised,  on  any  return  of 
the  white  men,  to  resist  them  in  the  same  manner 
as  their  neighbors  had  done."  14 

Cortes  might  now  well  regret  that  he  had  al- 
lowed himself  to  deviate  from  the  direct  object  of 
his  enterprise,  and  to  become  entangled  in  a  doubt- 
ful war  which  could  lead  to  no  profitable  result. 
But  it  was  too  late  to  repent.  He  had  taken  the 
step,  and  had  no  alternative  but  to  go  forward. 
To  retreat  would  dishearten  his  own  men  at  the 
outset,  impair  their  confidence  in  him  as  their 
leader,  and  confirm  the  arrogance  of  his  foes,  the 
tidings  of  whose  success  might  precede  him  on  his 

14  Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  31,  32.— Gomara, 
Cr6nica,  cap.  18. — Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap. 
118,  119.— Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  78,  79. 


1519]  PREPARATION    FOR   BATTLE  349 

voyage  and  prepare  the  way  for  greater  mortifi- 
cations and  defeats.  He  did  not  hesitate  as  to  the 
course  he  was  to  pursue,  but,  calling  his  officers  to- 
gether, announced  his  intention  to  give  battle  the 
following  morning.15 

He  sent  back  to  the  vessels  such  as  were  disabled 
by  their  wounds,  and  ordered  the  remainder  of  the 
forces  to  join  the  camp.  Six  of  the  heavy  guns 
were  also  taken  from  the  ships,  together  with  all 
the  horses.  The  animals  were  stiff  and  torpid  from 
long  confinement  on  board ;  but  a  few  hours'  exer- 
cise restored  them  to  their  strength  and  usual 
spirit.  He  gave  the  command  of  the  artillery — if 
it  may  be  dignified  with  the  name— to  a  soldier 
named  Mesa,  who  had  acquired  some  experience 
as  an  engineer  in  the  Italian  wars.  The  infantry 
he  put  under  the  orders  of  Diego  de  Ordaz,  and 
took  charge  of  the  cavalry  himself.  It  consisted 
of  some  of  the  most  valiant  gentlemen  of  his  little 
band,  among  whom  may  be  mentioned  Alvarado, 
Velasquez  de  Leon,  Avila,  Puertocarrero,  Olid, 
Monte  jo.  Having  thus  made  all  the  necessary  ar- 
rangements, and  settled  his  plan  of  battle,  he  re- 
tired to  rest, — but  not  to  slumber.  His  feverish 
mind,  as  may  well  be  imagined,  was  filled  with 
anxiety  for  the  morrow,  which  might  decide  the 
fate  of  his  expedition;  and,  as  was  his  wont  on 
such  occasions,  he  was  frequently  observed,  dur- 
ing the  night,  going  the  rounds,  and  visiting  the 
sentinels,  to  see  that  no  one  slept  upon  his  post. 

w  According  to  Solfs,  who  quotes  the  address  of  Corte"s  on  the  occa- 
sion, he  summoned  a  council  of  his  captains  to  advise  him  as  to  the 
course  he  should  pursue.  (Conquista,  cap.  19.)  It  is  possible,  but 
I  find  no  warrant  for  it  anywhere. 


350  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

At  the  first  glimmering  of  light  he  mustered  his 
army,  and  declared  his  purpose  not  to  abide, 
cooped  up  in  the  town,  the  assault  of  the  enemy, 
but  to  march  at  once  against  him.  For  he  well 
knew  that  the  spirits  rise  with  action,  and  that  the 
attacking  party  gathers  a  confidence  from  the  very 
movement,  which  is  not  felt  by  the  one  who  is  pas- 
sively, perhaps  anxiously,  awaiting  the  assault. 
The  Indians  were  understood  to  be  encamped  on 
a  level  ground  a  few  miles  distant  from  the  city, 
called  the  plain  of  Ceutla.  The  general  com- 
manded that  Ordaz  should  march  with  the  foot, 
including  the  artillery,  directly  across  the  country, 
and  attack  them  in  front,  while  he  himself  would 
fetch  a  circuit  with  the  horse,  and  turn  their  flank 
when  thus  engaged,  or  fall  upon  their  rear. 

These  dispositions  being  completed,  the  little 
army  heard  mass  and  then  sallied  forth  from 
the  wooden  walls  of  Tabasco.  It  was  Lady- 
day,  the  twenty-fifth  of  March, — long  memorable 
in  the  annals  of  New  Spain.  The  district  around 
the  town  was  checkered  with  patches  of  maize,  and, 
on  the  lower  level,  with  plantations  of  cacao,— sup- 
plying the  beverage,  and  perhaps  the  coin,  of  the 
country,  as  in  Mexico.  These  plantations,  re- 
quiring constant  irrigation,  were  fed  by  numer- 
ous canals  and  reservoirs  of  water,  so  that  the 
country  could  not  be  traversed  without  great  toil 
and  difficulty.  It  was,  however,  intersected  by  a 
narrow  path  or  causeway  over  which  the  cannon 
could  be  dragged. 

The  troops  advanced  more  than  a  league  on 
their  laborious  march,  without  descrying  the  en- 


1S191  GREAT  BATTLE  WITH  THE  INDIANS  351 

emy.  The  weather  was  sultry,  but  few  of  them 
were  embarrassed,  by  the  heavy  mail  worn  by  the 
European  cavaliers  at  that  period.  Their  cotton 
jackets,  thickly  quilted,  afforded  a  tolerable  pro- 
tection against  the  arrows  of  the  Indians,  and  al- 
lowed room  for  the  freedom  and  activity  of  move- 
ment essential  to  a  life  of  rambling  adventure  in 
the  wilderness. 

At  length  they  came  in  sight  of  the  broad  plains 
of  Ceutla,  and  beheld  the  dusky  lines  of  the  enemy 
stretching,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  along  the 
edge  of  the  horizon.  The  Indians  had  shown  some 
sagacity  in  the  choice  of  their  position;  and,  as 
the  weary  Spaniards  came  slowly  on,  floundering 
through  the  morass,  the  Tabascans  set  up  their 
hideous  battle-cries,  and  discharged  volleys  of  ar- 
rows, stones,  and  other  missiles,  which  rattled  like 
hail  on  the  shields  and  helmets  of  the  assailants. 
Many  were  severely  wounded  before  they  could 
gain  the  firm  ground,  where  they  soon  cleared  a 
space  for  themselves,  and  opened  a  heavy  fire  of 
artillery  and  musketry  on  the  dense  columns  of 
the  enemy,  which  presented  a  fatal  mark  for  the 
balls.  Numbers  were  swept  down  at  every  dis- 
charge; but  the  bold  barbarians,  far  from  being 
dismayed,  threw  up  dust  and  leaves  to  hide  their 
losses,  and,  sounding  their  war-instruments,  shot 
off  fresh  flights  of  arrows  in  return. 

They  even  pressed  closer  on  the  Spaniards,  and, 
when  driven  off  by  a  vigorous  charge,  soon  turned 
again,  and,  rolling  back  like  the  waves  of  the 
ocean,  seemed  ready  to  overwhelm  the  little  band 
by  weight  of  numbers.  Thus  cramped,  the  latter 


352  CONQUEST   OF  MEXICO 

had  scarcely  room  to  perform  their  necessary 
evolutions,  or  even  to  work  their  guns  with 
effect.16 

The  engagement  had  now  lasted  more  than  an 
hour,  and  the  Spaniards,  sorely  pressed,  looked 
with  great  anxiety  for  the  arrival  of  the  horse— 
which  some  unaccountable  impediments  must  have 
detained — to  relieve  them  from  their  perilous  posi- 
tion. At  this  crisis,  the  farthest  columns  of  the 
Indian  army  were  seen  to  be  agitated  and  thrown 
into  a  disorder  that  rapidly  spread  through  the 
whole  mass.  It  was  not  long  before  the  ears  of 
the  Christians  were  saluted  with  the  cheering  war- 
cry  of  "  San  Jago  and  San  Pedro!  "  and  they  be- 
held the  bright  helmets  and  swords  of  the  Castilian 
chivalry  flashing  back  the  rays  of  the  morning  sun, 
as  they  dashed  through  the  ranks  of  the  enemy, 
striking  to  the  right  and  left,  and  scattering  dis- 
may around  them.  The  eye  of  faith,  indeed,  could 
discern  the  patron  Saint  of  Spain,  himself, 
mounted  on  his  gray  war-horse,  heading  the  res- 
cue and  trampling  over  the  bodies  of  the  fallen 
infidels!17 

The  approach  of  Cortes  had  been  greatly  re- 
tarded by  the  broken  nature  of  the  ground.  When 
he  came  up,  the  Indians  were  so  hotly  engaged  that 

16  Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Ind.,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  119. — Gomara,  Cr6- 
nica,  cap.  19,  20. — Herrera,  Hist,  gen.,  dec.  2,  lib.  4,  cap.  11. — Mar- 
tyr, De  Insulis,  p.  350.— Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  79.— 
Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.   33,  36. — Carta  de   Vera 
Cruz,  MS. 

17  Ixtlilxochitl,   Hist.  Chich.,   MS.,  cap.   79.— "Cort£s   supposed  it 
was  his  own  tutelar  saint,  St.  Peter,"  says  Pizarro  y  Orellana ;  "  but 
the  common   and   indubitable  opinion   is   that   it   was   our   glorious 
apostle  St.  James,  the  bulwark  and  safeguard  of  our  nation."  (Va- 


GREAT  BATTLE  WITH  THE  INDIANS  353 

he  was  upon  them  before  they  observed  his  ap- 
proach. He  ordered  his  men  to  direct  their  lances 

rones  ilustres,  p.  73.)  "  Sinner  that  I  am,"  exclaims  honest  Bernal 
Diaz,  in  a  more  skeptical  vein,  "  it  was  not  permitted  to  me  to  see 
either  the  one  or  the  other  of  the  Apostles  on  this  occasion."  Hist, 
de  la  Conquista,  cap.  34.* 

*  [The  remark  of  Bernal  Diaz  is  not  to  be  taken  as  ironical.  His 
faith  in  the  same  vision  on  subsequent  occasions  is  expressed  with- 
out demur.  In  the  present  case  he  recognized  the  rider  of  the  gray 
horse  as  a  Spanish  cavalier,  Francisco  de  Morla.  It  appears  from 
the  account  of  Andres  de  Tapia,  another  companion  of  Cort6s,  whose 
narrative  has  been  recently  published,  that  owing  to  canals  and  other 
impediments,  the  cavalry  was  unable  to  effect  the  intended  d6tour, 
and  it  therefore  returned  and  joined  the  infantry.  The  latter, 
meanwhile,  having  seen  a  cavalier  on  a  gray  horse  charging  the  In- 
dians in  their  rear,  supposed  that  the  cavalry  had  penetrated  to  that 
quarter.  Corte"s,  on  hearing  this,  exclaimed,  "  Adelante,  companeros, 
que  Dios  es  con  nosotros."  ( Icazbalceta,  Col.  de  Doc.  para  la  Hist, 
de  Mexico,  torn,  i.)  Tdpia  says  nothing  about  St.  James  or  St.  Peter, 
and  perhaps  suspected  that  the  incident  was  a  ruse  contrived  by 
Cortes.  Generally,  however,  such  legends  seem  to  be  sufficiently 
explained  by  the  religious  belief  and  excited  imagination  of  the 
narrators.  See  the  remarks,  on  this  point,  of  Macaulay,  who  no- 
tices the  account  of  Diaz,  in  the  introduction  to  his  lay  of  the  Battle 
of  the  Lake  Regillus.— K.]  f 

t  [The  apparition  of  St.  James  is  not  infrequent  in  the  history 
of  Spain.  The  apostle  first  appeared  as  a  leader  of  the  Spanish 
hosts  in  the  battle  of  Clavijo,  846.  He  rode  upon  a  white  charger, 
and  carried  in  his  left  hand  a  snow-white  banner.  In  his  right  hand 
was  a  flashing  sword.  Because  of  his  wondrous  aid  sixty  thousand 
Moslems  were  vanquished  that  day  by  the  soldiers  of  King  Ramiro. 
Mariana,  Book  vii,  chap,  xiii,  tells  the  story,  and  many  writers  ac- 
cepted the  legend.  Unfortunately,  however,  careful  investigation 
has  shown  that  the  battle  itself  was  apocryphal. 

In  the  tenth  century  he  appeared  again  when  Ramiro  II  defeated 
the  great  Abderahman,  and  as  a  result  pilgrims  innumerable  flocked 
to  the  shrine  of  Santiago  de  Compostella. 

Again  his  white  horse  led  the  Spanish  cavalry  when  Fernando  was 
besieging  Coimbra  in  1058,  or  thereabout,  as  one  may  read  in 
Southey's  Chronicle  of  the  Cid. 

At  Xeres,  in  1237,  Alfonso  of  Castile,  with  fifteen  hundred  men, 
defeated  a  force  seven  times  larger  than  his  own  because  all 
men  saw  plainly  the  glorious  vision.  The  Moors  fled  panic-stricken 
at  the  sight.  "They  could  not  fight  against  God."  The  instances 
might  be  multiplied.— M.] 


354  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

at  the  faces  of  their  opponents,18  who,  terrified  at 
the  monstrous  apparition, — for  they  supposed  the 
rider  and  the  horse,  which  they  had  never  before 
seen,  to  be  one  and  the  same,19 — were  seized  with 
a  panic.  Ordaz  availed  himself  of  it  to  command 
a  general  charge  along  the  line,  and  the  Indians, 
many  of  them  throwing  away  their  arms,  fled 
without  attempting  further  resistance. 

Cortes  was  too  content  with  the  victory  to  care 
to  follow  it  up  by  dipping  his  sword  in  the  blood 
of  the  fugitives.  He  drew  off  his  men  to  a  copse 
of  palms  which  skirted  the  place,  and  under  their 
broad  canopy  the  soldiers  offered  up  thanksgiv- 
ings to  the  Almighty  for  the  victory  vouchsafed 
them.  The  field  of  battle  was  made  the  site  of  a 
town,  called,  in  honor  of  the  day  on  which  the  ac- 
tion took  place,  Santa  Maria  de  la  Victoria,  long 
afterwards  the  capital  of  the  province.20  The 
number  of  those  who  fought  or  fell  in  the  engage- 
ment is  altogether  doubtful.  Nothing,  indeed,  is 
more  uncertain  than  numerical  estimates  of  bar- 
barians. And  they  gain  nothing  in  probability 
when  they  come,  as  in  the  present  instance,  from 
the  reports  of  their  enemies.  Most  accounts,  how- 
ever, agree  that  the  Indian  force  consisted  of  five 
squadrons  of  eight  thousand  men  each.  There 
is  more  discrepancy  as  to  the  number  of  slain, 

18  It  was  the  order — as  the  reader  may  remember — given  by  Caesar 
to  his  followers  in  his  battle  with  Pompey: 

"  Adversosque  jubet  ferro  confundere  vultus." 

LUCAN,  Pharsalia,  lib.  7,  v.  575. 

" "  Equites,"   says   Paolo   Giovio,   "  unum   integrum   Centaurorum 
specie  animal  esse  existimarent."    Elogia  Virorum  Illustrium  (Basil, 
1696),  lib.  6,  p.  229. 
*>  Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  iii.  p.  11. 


1519 1  GREAT  BATTLE  WITH  THE  INDIANS  355 

varying  from  one  to  thirty  thousand!  In  this  mon- 
strous discordance  the  common  disposition  to  ex- 
aggerate may  lead  us  to  look  for  truth  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  smallest  number.  The  loss  of  the 
Christians  was  inconsiderable;  not  exceeding— if 
we  receive  their  own  reports,  probably,  from  the 
same  causes,  much  diminishing  the  truth— two 
killed  and  less  than  a  hundred  wounded !  We  may 
readily  comprehend  the  feelings  of  the  Conquer- 
ors, when  they  declared  that  "  Heaven  must  have 
fought  on  their  side,  since  their  own  strength  could 
never  have  prevailed  against  such  a  multitude  of 
enemies! " 21 

Several  prisoners  were  taken  in  the  battle, 
among  them  two  chiefs.  Cortes  gave  them  their 
liberty,  and  sent  a  message  by  them  to  their  coun- 
trymen "  that  he  would  overlook  the  past,  if  they 
would  come  in  at  once  and  tender  their  submission. 
Otherwise  he  would  ride  over  the  land,  and  put 
every  living  thing  in  it,  man,  woman,  and  child,  to 
the  sword ! "  With  this  formidable  menace  ring- 
ing in  their  ears,  the  envoys  departed. 

But  the  Tabascans  had  no  relish  for  further  hos- 
tilities. A  body  of  inferior  chiefs  appeared  the 
next  day,  clad  in  dark  dresses  of  cotton,  intimating 

n "  Crean  Vras.  Reales  Altezas  por  cierto,  que  esta  batalla  fu£ 
vencida  mas  por  voluntad  de  Dios  que  por  nras.  fuerzas,  porque  para 
con  quarenta  mil  hombres  de  guerra,  poca  defensa  fuera  quatro- 
eientos  que  nosotros  eramos."  (Carta  de  Vera  Cruz,  MS.— Go- 
mara,  Cr6nica,  cap.  20.— Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap. 
35.)  It  is  Las  Casas  who,  regulating  his  mathematics,  as  usual,  by 
his  feelings,  rates  the  Indian  loss  at  the  exorbitant  amount  cited 
in  the  text.  "This,"  he  concludes,  dryly,  "was  the  first  preaching 
of  the  gospel  by  Cortes  in  New  Spain ! "  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS., 
lib.  3,  cap.  119. 


356  CONQUEST   OF  MEXICO 

their  abject  condition,  and  implored  leave  to  bury 
their  dead.  It  was  granted  by  the  general,  with 
many  assurances  of  his  friendly  disposition ;  but  at 
the  same  time  he  told  them  he  expected  their  prin- 
cipal caciques,  as  he  would  treat  with  none  other. 
These  soon  presented  themselves,  attended  by.  a 
numerous  train  of  vassals,  who  followed  with 
timid  curiosity  to  the  Christian  camp.  Among 
their  propitiatory  gifts  were  twenty  female  slaves, 
which,  from  the  character  of  one  of  them,  proved 
of  infinitely  more  consequence  than  was  antici- 
pated by  either  Spaniards  or  Tabascans.  Confi- 
dence was  soon  restored,  and  was  succeeded  by  a 
friendly  intercourse,  and  the  interchange  of  Span- 
ish toys  for  the  rude  commodities  of  the  country, 
articles  of  food,  cotton,  and  a  few  gold  ornaments 
of  little  value.  When  asked  where  the  precious 
metal  was  procured,  they  pointed  to  the  west,  and 
answered,  "  Culhua,"  "  Mexico."  The  Spaniards 
saw  this  was  no  place  for  them  to  traffic,  or  to  tarry 
in.  Yet  here,  they  were  not  many  leagues  distant 
from  a  potent  and  opulent  city,  or  what  once  had 
been  so,  the  ancient  Palenque.  But  its  glory  may 
have  even  then  passed  away,  and  its  name  have 
been  forgotten  by  the  surrounding  nations. 

Before  his  departure  the  Spanish  commander 
did  not  omit  to  provide  for  one  great  object  of  his 
expedition,  the  conversion  of  the  Indians.  He 
first  represented  to  the  caciques  that  he  had  been 
sent  thither  by  a  powerful  monarch  on  the  other 
side  of  the  water,  for  whom  he  had  now  a  right  to 
claim  their  allegiance.  He  then  caused  the  rev- 
erend fathers  Olmedo  and  Diaz  to  enlighten  their 
minds,  as  far  as  possible,  in  regard  to  the  great 


1519]          CHRISTIANITY    INTRODUCED  357 

truths  of  revelation,  urging  them  to  receive  these 
in  place  of  their  own  heathenish  abominations. 
The  Tabascans,  whose  perceptions  were  no  doubt 
materially  quickened  by  the  discipline  they  had 
undergone,  made  but  a  faint  resistance  to  either 
proposal.  The  next  day  was  Palm  Sunday,  and 
the  general  resolved  to  celebrate  their  conversion 
by  one  of  those  pompous  ceremonials  of  the 
Church,  which  should  make  a  lasting  impression 
on  their  minds. 

A  solemn  procession  was  formed  of  the  whole 
army,  with  the  ecclesiastics  at  their  head,  each  sol- 
dier bearing  a  palm-branch  in  his  hand.  The  con- 
course was  swelled  by  thousands  of  Indians  of  both 
sexes,  who  followed  in  curious  astonishment  at  the 
spectacle.  The  long  files  bent  their  way  through 
the  flowery  savannas  that  bordered  the  settlement, 
to  the  principal  temple,  where  an  altar  was  raised, 
and  the  image  of  the  presiding  deity  was  deposed 
to  make  room  for  that  of  the  Virgin  with  the  in- 
fant Saviour.  Mass  was  celebrated  by  Father 
Olmedo,  and  the  soldiers  who  were  capable  joined 
in  the  solemn  chant.  The  natives  listened  in  pro- 
found silence,  and,  if  we  may  believe  the  chronicler 
of  the  event  who  witnessed  it,  were  melted  into 
tears ;  while  their  hearts  were  penetrated  with  rev- 
erential awe  for  the  God  of  those  terrible  beings 
who  seemed  to  wield  in  their  own  hands  the  thun- 
der and  the  lightning.22 

The  Roman  Catholic  communion  has,  it  must  be 
admitted,  some  decided  advantages  over  the  Prot- 

"Gomara,  Crtfnica,  cap.  21,  22.— Carta  de  Vera  Cruz,  MS.— 
Martyr,  De  Insulis,  p.  351.— Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS., 
ubi  supra. 


358  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

estant,  for  the  purposes  of  proselytism.  The  daz- 
zling pomp  of  its  service  and  its  touching  appeal 
to  the  sensibilities  affect  the  imagination  of  the 
rude  child  of  nature  much  more  powerfully  than 
the  cold  abstractions  of  Protestantism,  which,  ad- 
dressed to  the  reason,  demand  a  degree  of  refine- 
ment and  mental  culture  in  the  audience  to  com- 
prehend them.  The  respect,  moreover,  shown  by 
the  Catholic  for  the  material  representations  of 
Divinity,  greatly  facilitates  the  same  object.  It 
is  true,  such  representations  are  used  by  him  only 
as  incentives,  not  as  the  objects  of  worship.  But 
this  distinction  is  lost  on  the  savage,  who  finds  such 
forms  of  adoration  too  analogous  to  his  own  to  im- 
pose any  great  violence  on  his  feelings.  It  is  only 
required  of  him  to  transfer  his  homage  from  the 
image  of  Quetzalcoatl,  the  benevolent  deity  who 
walked  among  men,  to  that  of  the  Virgin  or  the 
Redeemer;  from  the  Cross,  which  he  has  wor- 
shipped as  the  emblem  of  the  god  of  rain,  to  the 
same  Cross,  the  symbol  of  salvation. 

These  solemnities  concluded,  Cortes  prepared  to 
return  to  his  ships,  well  satisfied  with  the  impres- 
sion made  on  the  new  converts,  and  with  the  con- 
quests he  had  thus  achieved  for  Castile  and  Chris- 
tianity. The  soldiers,  taking  leave  of  their  Indian 
friends,  entered  the  boats  with  the  palm-branches 
in  their  hands,  and,  descending  the  river,  re-em- 
barked on  board  their  vessels,  which  rode  at  anchor 
at  its  mouth.  A  favorable  breeze  was  blowing, 
and  the  little  navy,  opening  its  sails  to  receive  it, 
was  soon  on  its  way  again  to  the  golden  shores  of 
Mexico. 


CHAPTER  V 

VOYAGE  ALONG  THE  COAST—  DONA  MARINA—  SPAN- 
IARDS LAND  IN  MEXICO—  INTERVIEW  WITH  THE 
AZTECS 

1519 


fleet  held  its  course  so  near  the  shore  that 
A  the  inhabitants  could  be  seen  on  it;  and,  as 
it  swept  along  the  winding  borders  of  the  Gulf, 
the  soldiers,  who  had  been  on  the  former  expedi- 
tion with  Grijalva,  pointed  out  to  their  companions 
the  memorable  places  on  the  coast.  Here  was  the 
Rio  de  Alvarado,  named  after  the  gallant  adven- 
turer, who  was  present  also  in  this  expedition; 
there  the  Rio  de  Vanderas,  in  which  Grijalva  had 
carried  on  so  lucrative  a  commerce  with  the  Mexi- 
cans; and  there  the  Isla  de  los  Sacrificios,  where 
the  Spaniards  first  saw  the  vestiges  of  human  sac- 
rifice on  the  coast.  Puertocarrero,  as  he  listened 
to  these  reminiscences  of  the  sailors,  repeated  the 
words  of  the  old  ballad  of  Montesinos,  "  Here  is 
France,  there  is  Paris,  and  there  the  waters  of  the 
Duero,"  l  etc.  "  But  I  advise  you,"  he  added, 

1  "  Cata  Francia,  Montesinos, 
Cata  Paris  la  ciudad, 
Cata  las  aguas  de  Duero 
Do  van  &  dar  en  la  mar." 

They  are  the  words  of  the  popular  old  ballad,  first  published,  I  be- 
lieve, in  the  Romancero  de  Amberes,  and  lately  by  Duran,  Ro- 
mances caballerescos  6  histdricos,  Parte  1,  p.  82. 

359 


360  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

turning  to  Cortes,  "  to  look  out  only  for  the  rich 
lands,  and  the  best  way  to  govern  them."  "  Fear 
not,"  replied  his  commander:  "  if  Fortune  but  fa- 
vors me  as  she  did  Orlando,  and  I  have  such  gal- 
lant gentlemen  as  you  for  my  companions,  I  shall 
understand  myself  very  well."  2 

The  fleet  had  now  arrived  off  San  Juan  de  Ulua, 
the  island  so  named  by  Grijalva.  The  weather 
was  temperate  and  serene,  and  crowds  of  natives 
were  gathered  on  the  shore  of  the  main  land,  gaz- 
ing at  the  strange  phenomenon,  as  the  vessels 
glided  along  under  easy  sail  on  the  smooth  bosom 
of  the  waters.  It  was  the  evening  of  Thursday  in 
Passion  Week.  The  air  came  pleasantly  off  the 
shore,  and  Cortes,  liking  the  spot,  thought  he  might 
safely  anchor  under  the  lee  of  the  island,  which 
would  shelter  him  from  the  nortes  that  sweep  over 
these  seas  with  fatal  violence  in  the  winter,  some- 
times even  late  in  the  spring. 

The  ships  had  not  been  long  at  anchor,  when  a 
light  pirogue,  rilled  with  natives,  shot  off  from  the 
neighboring  continent,  and  steered  for  the  gen- 
eral's vessel,  distinguished  by  the  royal  ensign  of 
Castile  floating  from  the  mast.  The  Indians  came 
on  board  with  a  frank  confidence,  inspired  by  the 
accounts  of  the  Spaniards  spread  by  their  country- 
men who  had  traded  with  Grijalva.  They  brought 
presents  of  fruits  and  flowers  and  little  ornaments 
of  gold,  which  they  gladly  exchanged  for  the  usual 
trinkets.  Cortes  was  baffled  in  his  attempts  to  hold 
a  conversation  with  his  visitors  by  means  of  the 
interpreter,  Aguilar,  who  was  ignorant  of  the  lan- 

1  Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  37. 


15191  DOffA    MARINA  361 

guage ;  the  Mayan  dialects,  with  which  he  was  con- 
versant, bearing  too  little  resemblance  to  the  Az- 
tec. The  natives  supplied  the  deficiency,  as  far 
as  possible,  by  the  uncommon  vivacity  and  sig- 
nificance of  their  gestures,— the  hieroglyphics  of 
speech ;  but  the  Spanish  commander  saw  with  cha- 
grin the  embarrassments  he  must  encounter  in  fu- 
ture for  want  of  a  more  perfect  medium  of  com- 
munication.3 In  this  dilemma,  he  was  informed 
that  one  of  the  female  slaves  given  to  him  by  the 
Tabascan  chiefs  was  a  native  Mexican,  and  under- 
stood the  language.  Her  name — that  given  to  her 
by  the  Spaniards — was  Marina;  and,  as  she  was 
to  exercise  a  most  important  influence  on  their 
fortunes,  it  is  necessary  to  acquaint  the  reader  with 
something  of  her  character  and  history. 

She  was  born  at  Painalla,  in  the  province  of 
Coatzacualco,  on  the  southeastern  borders  of  the 
Mexican  empire.  Her  father,  a  rich  and  power- 
ful cacique,  died  when  she  was  very  young.  Her 
mother  married  again,  and,  having  a  son,  she  con- 
ceived the  infamous  idea  of  securing  to  this  off- 
spring of  her  second  union  Marina's  rightful 
inheritance.  She  accordingly  feigned  that  the 
latter  was  dead,  but  secretly  delivered  her  into  the 
hands  of  some  itinerant  traders  of  Xicallanco. 
She  availed  herself,  at  the  same  time,  of  the  death 
of  a  child  of  one  of  her  slaves,  to  substitute  the 

•Las  Casas  notices  the  significance  of  the  Indian  gestures  as 
implying  a  most  active  imagination:  "  Sefias  £  meneos  con  que  los 
Yndios  mucho  mas  que  otras  generaciones  entienden  y  se  dan  &  en- 
tender,  por  tener  muy  bivos  los  sentidos  exteriores  y  tambien  los 
interiores,  mayormente  que  es  admirable  su  imagination."  Hist, 
de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  120. 


362  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

corpse  for  that  of  her  own  daughter,  and  cele- 
brated the  obsequies  with  mock  solemnity.  These 
particulars  are  related  by  the  honest  old  soldier 
Bernal  Diaz,  who  knew  the  mother,  and  witnessed 
the  generous  treatment  of  her  afterwards  by  Ma- 
rina. By  the  merchants  the  Indian  maiden  was 
again  sold  to  the  cacique  of  Tabasco,  who  deliv- 
ered her,  as  we  have  seen,  to  the  Spaniards. 

From  the  place  of  her  birth,  she  was  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  Mexican  tongue,  which,  indeed, 
she  is  said  to  have  spoken  with  great  elegance. 
Her  residence  in  Tabasco  familiarized  her  with 
the  dialects  of  that  country,  so  that  she  could  carry 
on  a  conversation  with  Aguilar,  which  he  in  turn 
rendered  into  the  Castilian.  Thus  a  certain  though 
somewhat  circuitous  channel  was  opened  to  Cortes 
for  communicating  with  the  Aztecs;  a  circum- 
stance of  the  last  importance  to  the  success  of  his 
enterprise.  It  was  not  very  long,  however,  before 
Marina,  who  had  a  lively  genius,  made  herself  so 
far  mistress  of  the  Castilian  as  to  supersede  the 
necessity  of  any  other  linguist.  She  learned  it 
the  more  readily,  as  it  was  to  her  the  language  of 
love. 

Cortes,  who  appreciated  the  value  of  her  services 
from  the  first,  made  her  his  interpreter,  then  his 
secretary,  and,  won  by  her  charms,  his  mistress. 
She  had  a  son  by  him,  Don  Martin  Cortes,  comen- 
dador  of  the  Military  Order  of  St.  James,  less 
distinguished  by  his  birth  than  his  unmerited  per- 
secutions. 

Marina  was  at  this  time  in  the  morning  of  life. 
She  is  said  to  have  possessed  uncommon  personal 


1519]  DONA    MARINA  363 

attractions,4  and  her  open,  expressive  features  in- 
dicated her  generous  temper.  She  always  re- 
mained faithful  to  the  countrymen  of  her  adop- 
tion; and  her  knowledge  of  the  language  and 
customs  of  the  Mexicans,  and  often  of  their  de- 
signs, enabled  her  to  extricate  the  Spaniards,  more 
than  once,  from  the  most  embarrassing  and  peril- 
ous situations.  She  had  her  errors,  as  we  have  seen. 
But  they  should  be  rather  charged  to  the  defects  of 
early  education,  and  to  the  evil  influence  of  him  to 
whom  in  the  darkness  of  her  spirit  she  looked  with 
simple  confidence  for  the  light  to  guide  her.  All 
agree  that  she  was  full  of  excellent  qualities,  and 
the  important  services  which  she  rendered  the 
Spaniards  have  made  her  memory  deservedly  dear 
to  them;  while  the  name  of  Malinche 5— the  name 
by  which  she  is  still  known  in  Mexico — was  pro- 
nounced with  kindness  by  the  conquered  races, 

4 "  Hermosa  como  Diosa,"  beautiful  as  a  goddess,  says  Camargo 
of  her.  (Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS.)  A  modern  poet  pays  her  charms 
the  following  not  inelegant  tribute: 

"  Admira  tan  liicida  cabalgada 
Y  espectaculo  tal  Dona  Marina, 
India  noble  al  caudillo  presentada, 
De  fortuna  y  belleza  peregrina. 

Con  despejado  espiritu  y  viveza 
Gira  la  vista  en  el  concurso  mudo; 
Rico  man  to  de  extrema  sutileza 
Con  chapas  de  oro  autorizarla  pudo, 
Prendido  con  bizarra  gentileza 
Sobre  los  pechos  en  ayroso  nudo; 
Reyna  parece  de  la  Indiana  Zona, 
Varonil  y  hennosisima  Amazona." 

MORATIN,  Las  Naves  de  Cortes  destruidas. 

5  ["  Malinche"  is  a  corruption  of  the  Aztec  word  "  Malintzin," 
which  is  itself  a  corruption  of  the  Spanish  name  "Marina."  The 
Aztecs,  having  no  r  in  their  alphabet,  substituted  /  for  it,  while  the 
termination  tzin  was  added  in  token  of  respect,  so  that  the  name 
was  equivalent  to  Dona  or  Lady  Marina.  Conquista  de  Mejico 
(trad,  de  Vega,  anotada  por  D.  Lucas  Alaman),  torn.  ii.  pp.  17, 269.] 


364  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

with  whose  misfortunes  she  showed  an  invariable 
sympathy.6 

With  the  aid  of  his  two  intelligent  interpreters, 
Cortes  entered  into  conversation  with  his  Indian 
visitors.  He  learned  that  they  were  Mexicans,  or 
rather  subjects  of  the  great  Mexican  empire,  of 
which  their  own  province  formed  one  of  the  com- 
paratively recent  conquests.  The  country  was 
ruled  by  a  powerful  monarch,  called  Moctheu- 
zoma,  or  by  Europeans  more  commonly  Monte- 
zuma,7  who  dwelt  on  the  mountain  plains  of  the 
interior,  nearly  seventy  leagues  from  the  coast; 
their  own  province  was  governed  by  one  of  his  no- 
bles, named  Teuhtlile,  whose  residence  was  eight 
leagues  distant.  Cortes  acquainted  them  in  turn 
with  his  own  friendly  views  in  visiting  their  coun- 
try, and  with  his  desire  of  an  interview  with  the 
Aztec  governor.  He  then  dismissed  them  loaded 
with  presents,  having  first  ascertained  that  there 
was  abundance  of  gold  in  the  interior,  like  the 
specimens  they  had  brought. 

"Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  120.— Gomara, 
Crdnica,  cap.  25,  26.— Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  iii.  pp.  12- 
14.— Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  33,  cap.  1.— Ixtlilxochitl, 
Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  79.— Camargo,  Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS.— Ber- 
nal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  37,  38. — There  is  some  discor- 
dance in  the  notices  of  the  early  life  of  Marina.  I  have  followed 
Bernal  Diaz, — from  his  means  of  observation,  the  best  authority. 
There  is  happily  no  difference  in  the  estimate  of  her  singular  merits 
and  services. 

7  The  name  of  the  Aztec  monarch,  like  those  of  most  persons  and 
places  in  New  Spain,  has  been  twisted  into  all  possible  varieties  of 
orthography.  Cortds,  in  his  letters,  calls  him  "  Muteczuma."  Mod- 
ern Spanish  historians  usually  spell  his  name  "  Motezuma."  I  have 
preferred  to  conform  to  the  name  by  which  he  is  usually  known 
to  English  readers.  It  is  the  one  adopted  by  Bernal  Diaz,  and  by 
most  writers  near  the  time  of  the  Conquest.  Alaman,  Disertaciones 
hist6ricas,  torn.  L,  apdnd.  2. 


1519]         SPANIARDS  LAND  IN  MEXICO          365 

Cortes,  pleased  with  the  manners  of  the  people 
and  the  goodly  reports  of  the  land,  resolved  to  take 
up  his  quarters  here  for  the  present.  The  next 
morning,  April  twenty-first,  being  Good  Friday, 
he  landed,  with  all  his  force,  on  the  very  spot  where 
now  stands  the  modern  city  of  Vera  Cruz.  Little 
did  the  Conqueror  imagine  that  the  desolate  beach 
on  which  he  first  planted  his  foot  was  one  day  to 
be  covered  by  a  flourishing  city,  the  great  mart  of 
European  and  Oriental  trade,  the  commercial 
capital  of  New  Spain.8 

It  was  a  wide  and  level  plain,  except  where  the 
sand  had  been  drifted  into  hillocks  by  the  per- 
petual blowing  of  the  norte.  On  these  sand-hills 
he  mounted  his  little  battery  of  guns,  so  as  to  give 
him  the  command  of  the  country.  He  then  em- 
ployed the  troops  in  cutting  down  small  trees  and 
bushes  which  grew  near,  in  order  to  provide  a 
shelter  from  the  weather.  In  this  he  was  aided  by 
the  people  of  the  country,  sent,  as  it  appeared,  by 
the  governor  of  the  district  to  assist  the  Spaniards. 
With  their  help  stakes  were  firmly  set  in  the  earth, 
and  covered  with  boughs,  and  with  mats  and  cot- 
ton carpets,  which  the  friendly  natives  brought 
with  them.  In  this  way  they  secured,  in  a  couple 
of  days,  a  good  defence  against  the  scorching  rays 
of  the  sun,  which  beat  with  intolerable  fierceness 
on  the  sands.  The  place  was  surrounded  by  stag- 

8  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  79.— Clavigero,  Stor.  del 
Messico,  torn.  iii.  p.  16. — New  Vera  Cruz,  as  the  present  town  is 
called,  is  distinct,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  from  that  established 
by  Corte"s,  and  was  not  founded  till  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
by  the  Conde  de  Monterey,  Viceroy  of  Mexico.  It  received  its 
privileges  as  a  city  from  Philip  III.  in  1615.  Ibid.,  torn.  iii.  p.  30, 
nota. 


366  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

nant  marshes,  the  exhalations  from  which,  quick- 
ened by  the  heat  into  the  pestilent  malaria,  have 
occasioned  in  later  times  wider  mortality  to  Euro- 
peans than  all  the  hurricanes  on  the  coast.  The 
bilious  disorders,  now  the  terrible  scourge  of  the 
tierra  caliente,  were  little  known  before  the  Con- 
quest. The  seeds  of  the  poison  seem  to  have  been 
scattered  by  the  hand  of  civilization ;  for  it  is  only 
necessary  to  settle  a  town,  and  draw  together  a 
busy  European  population,  in  order  to  call  out  the 
malignity  of  the  venom  which  had  before  lurked 
innoxious  in  the  atmosphere.9 

While  these  arrangements  were  in  progress,  the 
natives  flocked  in  from  the  adjacent  district,  which 
was  tolerably  populous  in  the  interior,  drawn  by  a 
natural  curiosity  to  see  the  wonderful  strangers. 
They  brought  with  them  fruits,  vegetables,  flowers 
in  abundance,  game,  and  many  dishes  cooked  after 
the  fashion  of  the  country,  with  little  articles  of 
gold  and  other  ornaments.  They  gave  away  some 
as  presents,  and  bartered  others  for  the  wares  of 
the  Spaniards;  so  that  the  camp,  crowded  with  a 
motley  throng  of  every  age  and  sex,  wore  the  ap- 

9  The  epidemic  of  the  matlazahuatl,  so  fatal  to  the  Aztecs,  is 
shown  by  M.  de  Humboldt  to  have  been  essentially  different  from 
the  vtimito,  or  bilious  fever  of  our  day.  Indeed,  this  disease  is  not 
noticed  by  the  early  conquerors  and  colonists,  and,  Clavigero  asserts, 
was  not  known  in  Mexico  till  1725.  (Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  i. 
p.  117,  nota.)  Humboldt,  however,  arguing  that  the  same  physical 
causes  must  have  produced  similar  results,  carries  the  disease  back 
to  a  much  higher  antiquity,  of  which  he  discerns  some  traditional 
and  historic  vestiges.  "  II  ne  faut  pas  confondre  1'epoque,"  he  re- 
marks, with  his  usual  penetration,  "  a  laquelle  une  maladie  a  et6 
ddcrite  pour  la  premiere  fois,  parce  qu'elle  a  fait  de  grands  ravages 
dans  un  court  espace  de  temps,  avec  P^poque  de  sa  premiere  appari- 
tion." Essai  politique,  torn.  iv.  p.  161  et  seq.,  and  179. 


1519]      INTERVIEW    WITH    THE    AZTECS       367 

pearance  of  a  fair.  From  some  of  the  visitors 
Cortes  learned  the  intention  of  the  governor  to 
wait  on  him  the  following  day. 

This  was  Easter.  Teuhtlile  arrived,  as  he  had 
announced,  before  noon.  He  was  attended  by  a 
numerous  train,  and  was  met  by  Cortes,  who  con- 
ducted him  with  much  ceremony  to  his  tent,  where 
his  principal  officers  were  assembled.  The  Aztec 
chief  returned  their  salutations  with  polite  though 
formal  courtesy.  Mass  was  first  said  by  Father 
Olmedo,  and  the  service  was  listened  to  by  Teuht- 
lile and  his  attendants  with  decent  reverence.  A 
collation  was  afterwards  served,  at  which  the  gen- 
eral entertained  his  guest  with  Spanish  wines 
and  confections.  The  interpreters  were  then  in- 
troduced, and  a  conversation  commenced  between 
the  parties. 

The  first  inquiries  of  Teuhtlile  were  respecting 
the  country  of  the  strangers  and  the  purport  of 
their  visit.  Cortes  told  him  that  "  he  was  the  sub- 
ject of  a  potent  monarch  beyond  the  seas,  who 
ruled  over  an  immense  empire,  and  had  kings  and 
princes  for  his  vassals;  that,  acquainted  with  the 
greatness  of  the  Mexican  emperor,  his  master  had 
desired  to  enter  into  a  communication  with  him, 
and  had  sent  him  as  his  envoy  to  wait  on  Monte- 
zuma  with  a  present  in  token  of  his  good  will,  and 
a  message  which  he  must  deliver  in  person."  He 
concluded  by  inquiring  of  Teuhtlile  when  he  could 
be  admitted  to  his  sovereign's  presence. 

To  this  the  Aztec  noble  somewhat  haughtily  re- 
plied, "  How  is  it  that  you  have  been  here  only 
two  days,  and  demand  to  see  the  emperor? "  He 


368  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

then  added,  with  more  courtesy,  that  "  he  was 
surprised  to  learn  there  was  another  monarch  as 
powerful  as  Montezuma,  but  that,  if  it  were  so, 
he  had  no  doubt  his  master  would  be  happy  to 
communicate  with  him.  He  would  send  his 
couriers  with  the  royal  gift  brought  by  the  Span- 
ish commander,  and,  so  soon  as  he  had  learned 
Montezuma's  will,  would  communicate  it." 

Teuhtlile  then  commanded  his  slaves  to  bring 
forward  the  present  intended  for  the  Spanish 
general.  It  consisted  of  ten  loads  of  fine  cottons, 
several  mantles  of  that  curious  feather-work  whose 
rich  and  delicate  dyes  might  vie  with  the  most 
beautiful  painting,  and  a  wicker  basket  filled  with 
ornaments  of  wrought  gold,  all  calculated  to  in- 
spire the  Spaniards  with  high  ideas  of  the  wealth 
and  mechanical  ingenuity  of  the  Mexicans. 

Cortes  received  these  presents  with  suitable  ac- 
knowledgments, and  ordered  his  own  attendants 
to  lay  before  the  chief  the  articles  designed  for 
Montezuma.  These  were  an  arm-chair  richly 
carved  and  painted,  a  crimson  cap  of  cloth,  hav- 
ing a  gold  medal  emblazoned  with  St.  George  and 
the  dragon,  and  a  quantity  of  collars,  bracelets, 
and  other  ornaments  of  cut  glass,  which,  in  a 
country  where  glass  was  not  to  be  had,  might 
claim  to  have  the  value  of  real  gems,  and  no  doubt 
passed  for  such  with  the  inexperienced  Mexican. 
Teuhtlile  observed  a  soldier  in  the  camp  with  a 
shining  gilt  helmet  on  his  head,  which  he  said  re- 
minded him  of  one  worn  by  the  god  Quetzalcoatl 
in  Mexico;  and  he  showed  a  desire  that  Monte- 
zuma should  see  it.  The  coming  of  the  Spaniards, 


1519]      INTERVIEW    WITH    THE    AZTECS       369 

as  the  reader  will  soon  see,  was  associated  with 
some  traditions  •  of  this  same  deity.  Cortes  ex- 
pressed his  willingness  that  the  casque  should  be 
sent  to  the  emperor,  intimating  a  hope  that  it 
would  be  returned  filled  with  the  gold  dust  of  the 
country,  that  he  might  be  able  to  compare  its 
quality  with  that  in  his  own!  He  further  told 
the  governor,  as  we  are  informed  by  his  chaplain, 
"  that  the  Spaniards  were  troubled  with  a  dis- 
ease of  the  heart,  for  which  gold  was  a  specific 
remedy  " ! 10  "  In  short,"  says  Las  Casas,  "  he 
contrived  to  make  his  want  of  gold  very  clear  to 
the  governor."  n 

While  these  things  were  passing,  Cortes  ob- 
served one  of  Teuhtlile's  attendants  busy  with  a 
pencil,  apparently  delineating  some  object.  On 
looking  at  his  work,  he  found  that  it  was  a  sketch 
on  canvas  of  the  Spaniards,  their  costumes,  arms, 
and,  in  short,  different  objects  of  interest,  giving 
to  each  its  appropriate  form  and  color.  This  was 
the  celebrated  picture-writing  of  the  Aztecs,  and, 
as  Teuhtlile  informed  him,  this  man  was  em- 
ployed in  portraying  the  various  objects  for  the 
eye  of  Montezuma,  who  would  thus  gather  a  more 
vivid  notion  of  their  appearance  than  from  any 
description  by  words.  Cortes  was  pleased  with 
the  idea;  and,  as  he  knew  how  much  the  effect 
would  be  heightened  by  converting  still  life  into 
action,  he  ordered  out  the  cavalry  on  the  beach, 
the  wet  sands  of  which  afforded  a  firm  footing  for 
the  horses.  The  bold  and  rapid  movements  of 

10  Gomara,  O6nica,  cap.  26. 

"Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  119. 


370  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 

the  troops,  as  they  went  through  their  military 
exercises ;  the  apparent  ease  with  which  they  man- 
aged the  fiery  animals  on  which  they  were 
mounted;  the  glancing  of  their  weapons,  and  the 
shrill  cry  of  the  trumpet,  all  filled  the  spectators 
with  astonishment ;  but  when  they  heard  the  thun- 
ders of  the  cannon,  which  Cortes  ordered  to  be 
fired  at  the  same  time,  and  witnessed  the  volumes 
of  smoke  and  flame  issuing  from  these  terrible 
engines,  and  the  rushing  sound  of  the  balls,  as  they 
dashed  through  the  trees  of  the  neighboring  for- 
est, shivering  their  branches  into  fragments,  they 
were  filled  with  consternation,  from  which  the  Az- 
tec chief  himself  was  not  wholly  free. 

Nothing  of  all  this  was  lost  on  the  painters,  who 
faithfully  recorded,  after  their  fashion,  every  par- 
ticular; not  omitting  the  ships,— "  the  water- 
houses,"  as  they  called  them,  of  the  strangers, — 
which,  with  their  dark  hulls  and  snow-white  sails 
reflected  from  the  water,  were  swinging  lazily  at 
anchor  on  the  calm  bosom  of  the  bay.  All  was 
depicted  with  a  fidelity  that  excited  in  their  turn 
the  admiration  of  the  Spaniards,  who,  doubtless, 
unprepared  for  this  exhibition  of  skill,  greatly 
overestimated  the  merits  of  the  execution.* 

These  various  matters  completed,  Teuhtlile 
with  his  attendants  withdrew  from  the  Spanish 

*  [According  to  a  curious  document  published  by  Icazbalceta 
(Col.  de  Doc.  para  la  Hist,  de  Mexico,  torn,  ii.),  two  of  the  princi- 
pal caciques  present  on  this  occasion  communicated  secretly  with 
Cort6s,  and,  declaring  themselves  disaffected  subjects  of  Montezuma, 
offered  to  facilitate  the  advance  of  the  Spaniards  by  furnishing 
the  general  with  paintings  in  which  the  various  features  of  the 
country  would  be  correctly  delineated.  The  offer  was  accepted,  and 
on  the  next  visit  the  paintings  were  produced,  and  proved  subse- 


quarters,  with  the  same  ceremony  with  which  he 
had  entered  them;  leaving  orders  that  his  people 
should  supply  the  troops  with  provisions  and  other 
articles  requisite  for  their  accommodation,  till  fur- 
ther instructions  from  the  capital.12 

12  Ixtlilxochitl,  Relaciones,  MS.,  No.  13.— Idem,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS., 
cap.  79.— Gomara,  Cr6nica,  cap.  25,  26.— Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la 
Conquista,  cap.  38.  —  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib.  5,  cap.  4.— 
Carta  de  Vera  Cruz,  MS. — Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  4,  cap. 
13-15.— Tezozomoc,  Cr6n.  Mexicana,  MS.,  cap.  107. 

quently  of  great  service  to  Cortes,  who  rewarded  the  donors  with 
certain  grants.  But  the  genuineness  of  this  paper,  though  sup- 
ported by  so  distinguished  a  scholar  as  Senor  Ramirez,  is  more  than 
questionable. — K.]