THE SPANISH CONQUEST IN AMERICA. CHAPTER I. STATE OF MEXICO AFTER THE CONQUEST. THANKSGIVING NOTHING can we conco, - ARRIVAL the sad state of Mexico, on the day of its conquest, than the fact that both the victors and the vanquished began to leave the city. Cortez and his soldiers returned to their camp, while, for three days and nights, the causeways were crowded by the departing Mexicans-yellow, flaccid, filthy, miserable beings, "whom it was grief to behold.”* When the city was deserted, Cortez sent persons in to view it. They found the houses full of dead bodies. The few wretched creatures who still here and there appeared, were those who, from extreme poverty, sickness, or indif "Digo que en tres dias con sus noches iban todas tres calçadas llenas de Indios é Indias, y muchachos llenos de bote en bote, que nunca dexavan de salir, y tan flacos, y suzios, é amarillos, é hediondos, que era lástima de los ver."-BERNAL DIAZ, cap. 156. ference to life, were unwilling or unable to crawl out. In a great town there are always some abject persons to whom long despair and utter hardness of life make any lair seem welcome. The surface of the - ground had been plowed up in order to get at the roots of the herbage. The bark of the trees had been eaten off; and not a drop of fresh water was to be found. Mexico was taken on the 13th of August, 1521. For three days afterward Cortez remained in his camp, and he then proceeded to the neighboring city of Cuyoacan. His first care for the city of Mexico was to give orders that the aqueduct should be repaired. His first act on behalf of his own troops was to offer a thanksgiving for the victory. After the thanksgiving, Cortez held a great banquet in Cuyoacan. At this feast, which was followed by a dance, the soldiers, naturally excited by their long abstinence from any thing like amusement, indulged in such freaks and excesses that Father Olmedo was greatly scandalized. Cortez, being informed of this by Sandoval, suggested to the good monk that he should appoint a solemn procession, after which mass should be celebrated, and the father might give the army a sermon, telling them "that they should not despoil the Indians of their goods or their daughters, nor quarrel among themselves, but conduct themselves like Catholic Christians, that so God might continue to favor them." This was accordingly done, with all fitting solemnity. The next thing was to dismiss the Indian allies, who were favored with many gracious words and promises, and were enriched with cotton, gold, and various spoil, among which were portions of the bod Smallness of the Booty. 13 ies of their enemies salted.* They then departed joyfully to their own country. The allies being dismissed, the Mexicans were ordered to make clean the streets of Mexico, and to return to the city in two months' time. A quarter of the town was appointed for their particular habitation, divided from that of the Spaniards by one of the great water-streets. The next question concerned the spoil of Mexico. The conquerors were entirely disappointed by the smallness of the booty. Murmurs arose among the soldiery, and the meaner spirits began to suspect that their general concealed the spoil for his own benefit. Cortez, with a weakness that was unusual in him, consented, at the instance of the king's treasurer, that Quauhtemotzin and his cousin, the King of Tlacuba, should be submitted to the torture, in order that they might be induced to discover where they had hid their treasures. During the cruel process, the King of Tlacuba, suffering agonies from the torture, looked beseechingly to his lord paramount to give him license to tell what he knew, whereupon the gallant young king, himself in torment, treated his fellow-sufferer with contempt, uttering these remarkable words, “ Am I in any delight, or bath?" (Estoi yo en algun deleite, ó baño?) It appears, however, that one or the other of the kings confessed that, ten days before the capture of the city, the King of Mexico had ordered the pieces of artillery which he had taken from the Spaniards to be thrown into the lake, together with whatever gold, silver, precious stones, and jewels re * "Y aun llevaron hartas cargas de tasajos cecinados de Indios Mexicanos, que repartieron entre sus parientes y amigos, y como cosas de sus enemigos la comieron por fiestas."-BERNAL DIAZ, cap. 156. 14 Personal Appearance of Cortez. mained to him. It is remarkable that Cortez makes no mention of this torture of the captive kings in his letter to the Emperor. Afterward, when the transaction was made a matter of formal accusation against him, he defended himself by declaring that "he had done it at the request of Julian de Alderete, the king's treasurer, and in order that the truth might appear, for all men said that he (Cortez) possessed the whole of the riches of Montezuma, and that he did not like to have Quauhtemotzin tortured, for fear the fact should come out against himself of having kept back the spoil."* It may not be out of place to remind the reader what kind of man Cortez was at the time of the conquest of Mexico. One who knew him well, and whose descriptions of men are often as minute as if he was noting animals for sale, thus depicts Cortez. "He was of good make and stature, well-proportioned and stalwart. The color of his face inclined to pallor,† and his countenance was not very joyful. If his face had been longer, it would have been handsomer. His eyes, when he looked at you, had an amiable expression; otherwise, a haughty one. His beard was dark and thin, and so was his hair. His chest was deep, and his shoulders finely formed. He was slender, with very little stomach; somewhat bow-legged, with wellturned thighs and ankles. He was a good horseman, and dexterous in the use of all arms, as well on foot * "Mas él se defendia con que se hiço á pedimento de Julian de Alderete, Tesorero del Rei, í porque pareciese la verdad; cá decian todos que tenia él toda la riqueza de Motecçuma, í no queria atormentalle porque no se supiese."-GOMARA, Crónica de la Nueva-España, cap. 145. BARCIA, Historiadores, tom. ii. + Lit. "ash-colored"-the cinereus color of the Romans. 1 Character of Cortez. 15 as on horseback; and, above all, he had heart and soul, which are what is most to the purpose. The same author dwells on the wonderful patience of Cortez. When very angry, there was a vein which swelled in his forehead, and another in his throat; but, however enraged, his words were always mild and decorous. He might indulge with his friends in such an expression as "Plague upon you" (mal pese á vos); but to the common soldiers, even when they said the rudest things to him, he merely replied, “Be silent, or go in God's name, and from henceforward have more care in what you say, or it will cost you dear, and I shall have to chastise you." It appears that, in extreme cases of he had a anger, curious habit of throwing off his cloak; but even then he always kept himself from coarse and violent languaget—a wise practice; for a furious gesture is readily forgiven (it is a mere sign of the passion of the speaker); not so a single hasty word, which may kindle all the fires of vanity in the person spoken to. In his mode of argument the same composure was visible, and he was a master in the arts of persuasive rhetoric. "Fue de buena estatura y cuerpo, y bien proporcionado, y membrudo, y la color de la cara tirava algo a cenicienta, é no mui alegre : y si tuviera el rostro mas largo, mejor le pareciera; los ojos en el mirar amorosos, y por otra graves: las barbas tenia algo prietas, y pocas y ralas, y el cabello que en aquel tiempo se usava, era de la misma manera que las barbas, y tenia el pecho alto, y la espalda de buena manera, y era cenceño, y de poca barriga, y algo estevado, y las piernas y muslos bien sacados, y era buen ginete, y diestro de todas armas, ansí á pié, como á cavallo, y sabia mui bien menearlas, y sobre todo coraçon, y ánimo, que es lo que haze al caso."-BERNAL DIAZ, cap. 203. + 66 Y aun algunas vezes de mui enojado, arrojava una manta, y no dezia palabra fea, ni injuriosa á ningun Capitan, ni soldado.”—BERNAL DIAZ, cap. 203. |