Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 2.djvu/173

 These vinous and pious festivities over, the first great disappointment of the conquest had to be faced. The fabulous treasure was nowhere to be found, nor did tortures succeed in producing it. The place of its alleged burial in the lake, indicated by Quauhtemotzin, was searched by divers, who, after many efforts, recovered only about ninety crowns worth of gold (Bernal Diaz, cap. clvii). The same authority states his opinion that, though it was rumoured that vast treasures had been thrown into the lake four days before the end of the siege, the amount had doubtless already been greatly diminished before it came into Quauhtemotzin's hands, and moreover that, from the first, the value of it had seemed double what it really was found to be when it came to be accurately estimated. The discontent amongst the soldiery was great, and expressed itself in several ways, one of which, more original than the others, was the writing of pasquinades on the white walls of Cortes's quarter at Coyohuacan, some of which were witty, some insolent, and others not fit for print. Cortes even deigned to reply to some of them in the same vein, and on the same wall, for he rather prided himself on his ready wit and skill at verse-making, but Fray Bartolome perceiving that the limits of propriety were being overstepped, advised Cortes to stop the practice, which he did by publishing severe punishments for any further writing on the walls.

Positive data, on which to base a computation of the numbers engaged during the siege and the lives lost, are wanting. Cortes estimates that 67,000 Mexicans fell in the last three assaults on the city, and that fifty thousand died of starvation and diseases, without taking any account of all those who perished during the earlier days of the siege. Bernal Diaz gives no figures, but both he and the historian Oviedo state their conviction that not more lives were lost at the siege of Jerusalem than in Mexico. The Jewish historian Josephus computes the losses of his people at 1,100,000 souls! The comparison with these appalling figures is so obviously exaggerated that these two authorities may safely be disregarded. Writing from the Mexican standpoint, Ixtlilxochitl puts the number of the dead, from all causes, at 240,000 persons, which greatly exceeds the estimate of Cortes. The same discrepancy appears in the counting of the forces which laid down their arms when Quauhtemotzin was captured. Oviedo leads again, with 70,000. Ixtlilxochitl follows, with 60,000, and Herrera, who agrees with Torquemada, puts the number at 30,000 fighting men. (Herrera, Hist. Gen., lib. ii., cap. vii.; Torquemada, Monarchia Ind., lib. iv., cap. ci.; Ixtlilxochitl, Venida de los Españoles, p. 49. Oviedo lib. xxxiii.).

Whatever the exact number may have been, the Mexican Empire was destroyed, its capital annihilated, and a vast number of people butchered, amidst scenes of unexcelled ferocity and horror. The annals of no great siege record deeds of greater bravery, and, had the justice of their cause equalled the heroism of their defence, the