Page:The Conquest of Mexico Volume 2.djvu/442

 Page 137 (2).—Oviedo, Hist, de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 47.—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 166.—Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 27, 29. Or rather it was "at the instigation of the great devil, the captain of all the devils, called Satan, who regulated everything in New Spain by his free will and pleasure, before the coming of the Spaniards," according to Father Sahagun, who begins his chapter with this eloquent exordium.

Page 139 (1).—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 88.—Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 29.—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 10, cap. 19.

Page 140 (1).—The proceedings in the Tlascalan senate are reported in more or less detail, but substantially alike, by Camargo, Hist, de Tlascala, MS.—Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 29.—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 12, cap. 14.—See, also, Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 129.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. iii.

Page 142 (1).—The Indian name of the capital,—the same as that of the province,—Tepejacac, was corrupted by the Spaniards into Tepeaca. It must be admitted to have gained by the corruption.

Page 143 (1).—The chroniclers estimate his army at 50,000 warriors; one-half, according to Toribio, of the disposable military force of the Republic. "Which city (Tlascala), as I have said already, was wont to muster a hundred thousand fighting men."—Hist, de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 16.

Page 143 (2).—"That night," says the credulous Herrera, speaking of the carouse that followed one of their victories, "the Indian allies had a grand supper of legs and arms; for, besides an incredible number of roasts on wooden spits, they had fifty thousand pots of stewed human flesh!! " (Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 10, cap. 15.) Such a banquet would not have smelt savoury in the nostrils of Cortés.

Page 144 (1).—Called by the Spaniards Huacachula, and spelt with every conceivable diversity by the old writers, who may be excused for stumbling over such a confusion of consonants.

Page 144 (2).—This cavalier's name is usually spelt Olid by the chroniclers. In a copy of his own signature, I find it written Oli.

Page 145 (1).—"I should have been very glad to have taken some alive," says Cortés, " who could have informed me of what was going on in the great city, and who had been lord there since the death of Montezuma. But I succeeded in saving only one,—and he was more dead than alive."—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 159.

Page 146 (1).—The story of the capture of this strong post is told very differently by Captain Diaz. According to him. Olid, when he had fallen back on Cholula, in consequence of the refusal of his men to advance, under the strong suspicion which they entertained of some foul practice from their allies, received such a stinging rebuke from Cortés, that he compelled his troops to resume their march, and, attacking the enemy, "with the fury of a tiger," totally routed them. (Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 1 32.) But this version of the affair is not endorsed, so far as I am aware, by any contemporary. Cortés is so compendious in his report that it is often necessary to supply the omissions with the details of other writers. But where he is positive in his statements,—unless there be some reason to suspect a bias,—his practice of writing on the spot, and the peculiar facilities for information afforded by his position, make him decidedly the best authority.

Page 146 (2).—Cortés, with an eye less sensible to the picturesque than his great predecessor in the track of discovery, Columbus, was full as quick in detecting the capabilities of the soil. "Here was a circular valley, very productive of fruits and cotton, which are not found in any part of the higher passes owing to the extreme cold. These are the warm lands, because they are well sheltered by the mountains. All this valley is watered by very good canals, excellently devised and regulated."—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 164.