Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 1.djvu/343

Rh have inherited the sovereignty was killed at the bridges and of his two other living sons one is said to be mad, and the other palsied. They said that for these reasons and because he had made war against us, the brother had inherited, and was regarded as a very valiant and prudent man. I likewise learned how they were fortifying, not only the city, but other places in the dominion, and how they were preparing walls, barricades, trenches, and all kinds of arms; and I learned especially that they were making long lances, like pikes, for the horses, and we have even seen some of these with which they were fighting in the province of Tepeaca, and in the hamlets and buildings where the Culuans were quartered at Guacachula, we likewise found many of them. I learned many other things which I omit in order not to weary Your Highness.

small-pox, which raged throughout the country. To this dread pest, called by the Aztecs, Teozahuatl — Cuitlahuac fell a victim, and after a brief reign of eighty days, died on Nov. 25, 1520. During this period he had exerted every effort to unite all the forces of Mexico against the common enemy, sending embassies to friends and foes alike, urging that old differences be buried for the moment, and that all should make common cause to expel or destroy the strangers. He found a supporter in Xicotencatl, who, like himself had never believed in the semi-divine character of the teules, or gods as the Spaniards were commonly termed, but had from the first distrusted them, and counselled their destruction. Maxixcatzin withstood Xicotencatl in the Tlascalan Senate when the embassy from Mexico appeared proposing an alliance; in the acrimonious dispute which ensued, the old Senator struck the young General, and knocked him down the steps of the rostrum. Maxixcatzin prevailed over the divided opinions, and the ambassadors withdrew hurriedly to report their failure to their sovereign. Cortes was informed of these negotiations, and visited Maxixcatzin to thank him for holding the Republic to the Spanish Alliance. As will be seen in a note to the Third Letter, Xicotencatl's sentiments towards the Spaniards never changed. His foresight was keener than that of his countrymen, and he discerned that the white men were far more formidable enemies than the Mexicans, but the lust for present revenge prevailed over considerations of future independence. Xicotencatl was unsupported, and, in the end, he paid with his life the price of his invincible aversion.