Page:The Conquest of Mexico Volume 1.djvu/497

 Page 150 (1).—Las Casas, Hist. de las Indias, MS., cap. 115.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 10.—De Rebus Gestis, MS. "Such was the warlike equipment," exclaims the author of the last work, by means of which Cortés shattered the other hemisphere in war; with such scanty resources he created so great an empire for Charles; and was the first of all to open up New Spain to Spanish people." The author of this work is unknown. It seems to have been part of a great compilation, De Orbe Novo, written, probably, on the plan of a series of biographical sketches, as the introduction speaks of a life of Columbus preceding this of Cortés. It was composed, as it states, while many of the old conquerors were still surviving, and is addressed to the son of Cortés. The historian, therefore, had ample means of verifying the truth of his own statements, although they too often betray, in his partiality for his hero, 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 finished, 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 Muños, from whose copy that in my library was taken.

Page 154 (1).—See Appendix, Part 1, No. 1.

Page 154 (2).—Carta de Vera Cruz, MS.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 25, et seq.—Gomara, Crónica, 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 (Colonis, 1574), p. 344. While these pages were passing through the press, but not till two years after they were written, Mr. Stephens' important and interesting volumes appeared, containing the account of his second expedition to Yucatan. In the latter part of the work he describes his visit to Cozumel, now an uninhabited island covered with impenetrable forests. Near the shore he saw the remains of ancient Indian structures, which he conceives may possibly have been the same that met the eyes of Grijalva and Cortés, 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 hereafter, when I treat of the architectural remains of the country.

Page 155 (1).—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.

Page 156 (1).—"The Devil was wont to appear to them in his true likeness, leaving so vivid an impression upon their imaginations that a faithful artistry was able to reproduce his exact portrait in all its hideousness."—Solis, Conquista, p. 39.

Page 156 (2).—Carta de Vera Cruz, MS.—Gomara, Crónica, 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 honour to the present age, insists on the futility of these forced conversions, by which it is 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 has such worshippers, for the true and only God."

Page 157 (1).—They are enumerated by Herrera with a minuteness which may claim, at least, the merit of giving a much higher notion of Aguilar's 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.