Page:Vol 1 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/662

542 for preventing the governor from leaving with the expedition. A pioneer vessel of the fleet sowed the malady at Cozumel, whence it entered the continent. Before it spread far in this direction Cempoala was infected by a negro slave of Narvaez. The Spaniards knew little about its treatment, and that little they sought to impart, not for their own safety, since those that were left of them were considered almost proof against the malady, but for the sake of the allies. Their advice did not avail much, however, for the natives were too devoted to their panacea, the hot and cold bath, which only intensified the evil. The terrible force of the first attacks of epidemics and endemics is well known, and it has been advocated with apparent truth that the diseases of a strong people fall with particular force on weaker races. After desolating the coast region for some time, the smallpox crossed the plateau border during the summer, and in September it broke out round the lakes, on its way to the western sea, smiting high and low, rich and poor. For sixty days, according to native records, the hueyzahuatl, or great pest, raged here with such virulence as to fix itself a central point in their chronology. In most districts, says Motolinia, over half the population died, leaving towns almost deserted, and in others the mortality was appalling. Those who recovered presented an appearance that made their neighbors flee from them, until they became accustomed to the sight. Learning how contagious was the disease, and terrified by the number of deaths, the inhabitants left the bodies to putrefy, thus aiding to extend the pest. In some cases the authorities ordered the houses to be pulled down over