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*TOY 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
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THE LANDING OF CORTES AT VKRA CRUZ
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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 Ximnes 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
T Cod. 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 &e6g t
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 b e .
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 Hfioia, infers th,r , may have been
MCriflcad arnuMlh !j.r,,-,i^hmt 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. ) Probabi iA| ^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
5 Gama, 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. (Antiquits 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 pudiron 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'ide." 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 Mxicaines,
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 dduite d'une
tude refl6chie, et d'une grande combinaison. II faut done supposer
chez ces peuples une suite d'observations astronomiques, une ide
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
Tau /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 insense 1 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
w r oman, 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-
M Interp. 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.
M Prichard, 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 Antiquits 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." (Antiquits 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 Antiquits 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-
ir The 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
nl 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 TIAJTTO?
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.]
z Gomara, 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.
4 De 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,
18 Gomara, 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.
T De 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 resciviron 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-
1S19 1 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. "Corts 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.
1519 1 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.]
