Page:The Conquest of Mexico Volume 1.djvu/511

 Page 278 (1).—"Following the road a quarter of a league beyond this city, the traveler comes to a ravine crossed by a bridge of cement and vaulted stone; and in the town of Salvador tradition reports that it was constructed during the few days that Cortés was there, so that he might cross."—(Viaje, ap. Lorenzana, p. xi.) If the antiquity of this arched stone bridge could be established, it would settle a point much mooted in respect to Indian architecture. But the construction of so solid a work in so short a time is a fact requiring a better voucher than the villagers of San Salvador.

Page 278 (2).—Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. iii. p. 53, "The most solemn and memorable reception that the world has ever seen," exclaims the enthusiastic Historian of the Republic. He adds, that "more than a hundred thousand men flocked out to receive the Spaniards: a thing that appears impossible," que parece cosa impossible it does indeed.—Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.

Page 280 (1).—"There is no pottery vessel made by us which is artistically superior to the pots moulded by them."—Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 2.

Page 280 (2).—Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 59.— Oviedo, Hist. dc las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 4.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83. The last historian enumerates such a number of contemporary Indian authorities for his narrative, as of itself argues no inconsiderable degree of civilisation in the people.

Page 280 (3).—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 12.—The population of a place, which Cortés could compare with Granada, had dwindled by the beginning of the present century to 3400 inhabitants, of which less than a thousand were of the Indian stock.—See Humboldt, Essai Politique, tom. ii. p. 158.

Page 283 (1).—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 84.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 56.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 76, 77.—This is not the account of Camargo. According to him, Cortés gained his point; the nobles led the way by embracing Christianity and the idols were broken. (Hist. de Tlascala, MS.) But Camargo was himself a Christianised Indian, who lived in the next generation after the Conquest; and may very likely have felt as much desire to relieve his nation from the reproach of infidelity, of a modern Spaniard would to scour out the stain—mala raza y mancha—as Jewish or Moorish lineage from his escutcheon.

Page 284 (1).—The miracle is reported by Herrera (Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 15), and believed by Solis.—Conquista de Mejico, lib. 3, cap. 5.

Page 284 (2).—To avoid the perplexity of selection, it was common for the missionary to give the same names to all the Indians baptised on the same day. Thus, one day was set apart for the Johns, another for the Peters, and so on; an ingenious arrangement, much more for the convenience of the clergy, than of the converts.—See Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.

Page 284 (3).—Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 74, 77. According to Camargo, the Tlascalans gave the Spanish commander three hundred damsels to wait on Marina; and the kind treatment and instruction they received led some of the chiefs to surrender their own daughters, "In the hope that perchance some of them might beget a generation of men as valiant and fearless as a heritage for their race."

Page 284 (4).—Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 80.—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 60.—Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 2. Cortés notices only one Aztec mission, while Diaz speaks of three. The former, from brevity, falls so much short of the whole truth, and the latter, from forgetfulness perhaps, goes so much beyond it, that it is not always easy to decide between them. Diaz did not compile his narrative till some fifty years after the Conquest; a lapse of time which may excuse many errors, but must considerably impair our confidence in the minute accuracy of his details. A more intimate acquaintance with his chronicle does not strengthen this confidence.