Page:The Conquest of Mexico Volume 2.djvu/437

 Christianity, and received the name of Isabella. She was married, when very young, to her cousin Guatemozin; and lived long enough after his death to give her hand to three Castilians, all of honourable family. From two of these, Don Pedro Gallejo, and Don Thoan Caño, descended the illustrious families of the Andrada and Caño Montezuma. Montezuma, by his second wife, the princess Acatlan, left two daughters, named after their conversion, Maria and Leonor. The former died without issue. Dona Leonor married with a Spanish cavalier, Cristoval de Valderrama, from whom descended the family of the Sotelos de Montezuma. To which of these branches belonged the counts of Miravalle, noticed by Humboldt (Essai Politique, tom. ii. p. 73, note), I am ignorant. The royal genealogy is minutely exhibited in a Memorial, setting forth the claims of Montezuma's grandsons to certain property in right of their respective mothers. The document, which is without date, is among the MSS. of Muñoz.

Page 98 (5).—It is interesting to know that a descendant of the Aztec emperor, Don Joseph Sarmiento Valladares, Count of Montezuma, ruled as viceroy, from 1697 to 1701, over the dominions of his barbaric ancestors. (Humboldt, Essai Politique, tom. ii. p. 73, note.) Solís speaks of this noble house, grandees of Spain, who intermingled their blood with that of the Guzmans and the Mendozas. Clavigero has traced their descent from the emperor's son lohualicahua, or Don Pedro Montezuma, as he was called after his baptism, down to the close of the eighteenth century. (See Solís, Conquista, lib. 4, cap. 15.—Clavigero, Stor del Messico, tom. i. p. 302, tom. iii. p. 132.) The last of the line, of whom I have been able to obtain any intelligence, died not long since in North America. He was very wealthy, having large estates in Spain,—but was not, as it appears, very wise. When seventy years old or more, he passed over to Mexico, in the vain hope that the nation, in deference to his descent, might place him on the throne of his Indian ancestors, so recently occupied by the presumptuous Iturbide. But the modern Mexicans, with all their detestation of the old Spaniards, showed no respect for the royal blood of the Aztecs. The unfortunate nobleman retired to New Orleans, where he soon after put an end to his existence by blowing out his brains, not for ambition,—however, if report be true—but disappointed love!

Page 100 (1).—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 107.—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 10, cap. 10.

Page 100 (2).—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 7.

Page 103 (1).—Oviedo, Hist, de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 47. The astrologer predicted that Cortés would be reduced to the greatest extremity of distress, and afterwards come to great honour and fortune. (Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 128.) He showed himself as cunning in his art, as the West Indian sybil who foretold the destiny of the unfortunate Josephine.

Page 103 (2).—The disposition of the treasure has been stated with some discrepancy, though all agree as to its ultimate fate. The general himself did not escape the imputation of negligence, and even peculation, most unfounded, from his enemies. The account in the text is substantiated by the evidence, under oath, of the most respectable names in the expedition, as given in the instrument already more than once referred to.

Page 104 (1).—Captain Diaz tells us that he contented himself with four chalchivitl,—the green stone so much prized by the natives,—which he cunningly picked out of the royal coffers before Cortés' major domo had time to secure them. The prize proved of great service, by supplying him the means of obtaining food and medicine, when in great extremity afterwards, from the people of the country.

Page 104 (2).—Oviedo, Hist, de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 47.

Page 105 (1).—There is some difficulty in adjusting the precise date of their departure, as, indeed, of most events in the Conquest; attention to chronology being deemed somewhat superfluous by the old chroniclers. Ixtlilxochitl, Gomara, and others, fix the date at July 10th. But this is wholly contrary to the letter of Cortés, which states, that the army reached Tlascala on the