Page:The Conquest of Mexico Volume 2.djvu/447

 and were in fact so eager in the task that one-fourth of this also was burned; this they did because at the time when we marched defeated from Temixtatan, and passed through this city, the natives of it, together with those of Temixtatan, made ferocious war upon us and killed many of us Spaniards"—Rel. Terc. ap. Lorenzana, p. 210

Page 196 (1).—For the particulars of this expedition of Cortés, see, besides his own commentaries so often quoted, Oviedo, Hist, de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 20.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4. Cap.85. —Gomara, Crónica, cap. 125..—Ixtlilxochitl, Venida de los Esp., pp. 13, 14.—Bernal Diaz. Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 141.

Page 198 (1).—The distinguished naturalist, Hernandez, has frequent occasion to notice this garden, which furnished him with many specimens for his great work. It had the good fortune to be preserved after the conquest, when particular attention was given to its medicinal plants, for the use of the great hospital established in the neighbourhood.—See Clavigero, Stor. Del Messico, tom. Ii. p. 153.

Page 199 (1).—So says the Conquistador. (Rel. Terc. ap. Lorenzana, p. 215) Diaz, who will allow no one to hyperbolize but himself, says "For as long as one may take to say one Ave Maria!" (Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 122). Neither was present.

Page 199 (2).—The gallant Captain Diaz, who affects a sobriety of his own estimates, which often leads him to disparage those of Captain Gomara, says, that the force consisted of 20,000 warriosrs in 2000 canoes.—Ibid., loc. cit.

Page 200 (1).—Besides the authorities already quoted for Sandoval's expedition see Gomara, Crónica, cap. 126. —Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich. MS. cap. 92.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4. Cap. 86.

Page 201 (1).—Cortés speaks of these vessels as coming at the same time, but does not intimate from what quarter. (Rel. Terc, ap. Lorenzana p. 216.) Bernal Diaz who notices only one says it came from Castile. (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 143 ) But he old soldier who wrote long after the events he commemorates, and may have be confused the true order of things. It seems hardly probable that so important a reinforcement should have arrived from Castile, considering that Cortés had yet received none of the royal patronage, or even sanction, which would stimulate adventurers in the mother country to enlist under his standard.

Page 201 (2).—Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 143.—Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind. MS. lib. 33, cap. 21. —Herrera Hist. General, dec. 3, lib. 1, cap. 6.

Page 205 (1).—For the assault on the rocks,—the topography of which it is impossible to verify from the narratives of the conquerors.—See Bernal Diaz. Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 144.—Rel. Terc. ap. Lorenzana, pp. 218-221.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 127.—Ixtlilxochitl, Venida de los Esp., pp. 16, 17.—-Oviedo, Hist, de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 27.

Page 205 (2).—Cortés, according to Bernal Diaz, ordered the troops who took possession of the second fortress "not to meddle with a grain of maize belonging to the besieged" Diaz giving this a very liberal interpretation, proceeded forthwith to load his Indian tamanes with everything but maize, as fair booty. He was interrupted in his labours, however, by the captain of the detachment, who gave a more narrow construction to his general's orders much to the dissatisfaction of the latter, if we may trust the doughty chronicler.—Ibid., ubi supra

Page 206 (1).—This barbarous Indian name is tortured into all possible variations by the old chroniclers. The town soon received from the Spaniards the name which it now bears of Cuernavaca, and by which it is indicated on modern maps. What can Clavigero mean by saying, that it is commonly called by his countrymen Cucinahuaca? —Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. iii. p. 185 nota.