^^ 
 
 ..N^l-LlüKAi;
 
 Fernando Cortes 
 
 his five letters of Relation to the 
 Emperor Charles V 
 
 translated and edited, with a biographical 
 
 introduction and notes compiled 
 
 from original sources 
 
 by 
 FRANCIS AUGUSTUS MacNUTT 
 
 Volume I 
 
 The Arthur H. Clark Company 
 Cleveland, U.S. A: 1908 
 
 13; 
 
 :j '■
 
 Copyright, 1908, by 
 Francis Augustus MacNutt
 
 
 ■1 
 
 F 
 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 THE narrative contained in the Letters of Fernando 
 Cortes is the first description ever written of the 
 most highly developed civilisation on the conti- 
 nent of North America at the date of its discovery. Astro- 
 ^ nomical science has brought the existence of planets within 
 ^ common knowledge, and our imagination is already so 
 *^ familiar with the possibility of a Martian population, that 
 ^\'\ a discovery positively demonstrating such a fact would 
 be received as confirmatory rather than surprising. By 
 the discoveries of Christopher Columbus, the civilisations 
 of two worlds as absolutely strange to one another as 
 ^ different planets were brought into sudden contact pro- 
 •i ductive of conflict and that conflict was naturally fiercest 
 where the alien invaders were confronted by the best 
 j^ organised effort to contest their advance ; hence the period 
 ^'' of the Spanish conquest of Mexico, which is depicted by 
 s Cortes in these letters to Charles V. was prolific in deeds 
 the most striking to the imagination of any that modern 
 history records. No element of drama was absent, for 
 the most heroic qualities, as well as the blackest passions 
 \¿ of the human heart, were engaged on both sides in a life- 
 ■^ and-death struggle, which culminated in an appalling 
 "-: race-tragedy, replete with epic horror. The piratical 
 complexion of the Conqueror's initial movements forced 
 him to wrest justification from success, and this was only 
 made possible by the exercise of his indomitable courage, 
 his relentless and unscrupulous diplomacy, and by that 
 strange favour, which capricious Fortune sometimes 
 destines as a reward for sheer audacity. 
 
 Fortunate for posterity was the anxious need of Cortes
 
 vi Preface 
 
 to win royal approval for his lawless courses, for from it 
 sprang the inspiration which prompted him to pen his 
 descriptions of the Aztec civilisation at the zenith of its 
 splendour and to report in detail to his sovereign the 
 progress of his conquest. 
 
 Although historians have from the beginning recognised 
 the superlative value of these letters and several editions 
 of them are accessible to students familiar with the Spanish 
 language, it has been left to my modest labours to provide 
 an English translation of the complete series of Relaciones, 
 The translation of sixteenth century Spanish into read- 
 able, modem English is not devoid of difficulty, though 
 greater demands are made on the translator's patience 
 and ingenuity than on his erudition. 
 
 Cortes wrote with soldier-like terseness, but his powers 
 of observation were acute and accurate ; hence his descrip- 
 tions are both lucid and striking. His vocabulary was 
 very limited, and as he was unfamiliar with the classical 
 and scholastic styles of composition then in vogue amongst 
 men of letters, his plain tale is ungamished with the 
 digressions into philosophy and theology and the lengthy 
 citations from scripture and the classics, which abound in 
 the more polished writings of his times. I suspect, more- 
 over, that he had in mind to capture the fancy of the 
 royal youth to whom he wrote, and, in days when novels 
 were not, and court life must have weighed on a monarch 
 of seventeen, still too young to be engrossed either in the 
 delusive pleasures of private dissipation or in the ab- 
 sorbing intrigues of public ambition, many of his pages 
 may have furnished the youthful sovereign with diverting 
 reading in his leisure hours 
 
 I have aimed rather to preserve accuracy and the 
 characteristics of Cortes 's original style than to produce 
 a more finished piece of English literature, by excessive 
 rearrangement and the employment of a richer vocabulary 
 than he commanded.
 
 Preface vü 
 
 The subjects touched upon in the Letters are so Httle 
 known to the general reader (though they constantly 
 engage the attention of able specialists) that I have 
 supplied notes to accompany the text, which are intended 
 to explain and complete the narrative of Cortes. These 
 notes deal with various and very large subjects, on some 
 of which historical authorities are not in agreement, while 
 on many others of the greatest interest and importance 
 the last word has not yet been spoken. The statements 
 I have made and the opinions I have expressed on these 
 debatable questions are based upon the results of my 
 researches in the works cited in the Bibliographical Note 
 preceding the Letters: their scope is explanatory and 
 complementary — not controversial. 
 
 The portrait of Cortes which appears as a frontispiece 
 is after the alleged Titian, now in the possession of the 
 Duque de Plasencia. 
 
 The portrait of Charles V. represents that monarch in 
 his early youth, at the time when Cortes first began his 
 correspondence; it is reproduced from a print in the 
 British Museum. 
 
 The plan of the City of Mexico is taken from the His- 
 toria Antigua of Señor Manuel Orozco y Berra and the 
 several maps are from the editions in which they originally 
 appeared of the Storia Antica del Messico of Clavigero, 
 1780, Lorenzana's Historia de Nueva España, 1770, and 
 of C. St. John Fancotirt's History of Yucatan from its 
 Discovery to the Close of the Seventeenth Century. 
 
 Since the days when those illustrious pioneers in this 
 particular field of historical research, Washington Irving 
 and William H. Prescott laboured with results that have 
 won them enduring fame, the classification of the vast 
 and scattered archives of Spain has gone steadily forward, 
 with the result that the worker of to-day finds a mass of 
 valuable material easily accessible that had formerly to 
 be sought at great cost of time, labour, and expense in the
 
 Vlll 
 
 Preface 
 
 collections of state papers and correspondence which were 
 not infrequently in a condition of disheartening and baf- 
 fling confusion. The collections of inedited documents 
 published by Rivadeneira under the title of Biblioteca de 
 Autores Españoles, that of Navarrete published in Madrid 
 in 1842, the Biblioteca Occidental of Barcia, the voluminous 
 French translations of Ternaux-Compans, and finally the 
 indefatigable labours of Señor Garcia Icazbalceta and 
 Don Pascual Gayangos have cleared the modern student's 
 path of formidable difficulties. 
 
 Although I am the fortunate possessor of a number of 
 these valuable collections, I have likewise had to make 
 researches in libraries and collections, both public and 
 private, in Mexico, Spain, Italy, and England, in the 
 course of which I have met with courteous and helpful 
 encouragement from many to whom my sense of obliga- 
 tion is profound; but primarily I owe the pleasure and 
 interest which the preparation of this work has afforded 
 me to the late Abbé Augustin Fischer, sometime chaplain 
 to the ill-fated Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, under 
 whose cultured guidance it was my privilege to begin 
 my studies in Spanish-American history. The death of 
 my delightful and accomplished mentor, after a life of 
 great vicissitudes, deprives me of one of the chief satis- 
 factions which the publication of this work would other- 
 wise have afforded me, but it does not lessen my obligation 
 to pay a tribute of grateful thanks to his memory. 
 
 Francis A. MacNutt. 
 
 Palazzo Pamphilj, 
 Rome, October, 1907.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Biographical Note: 
 
 early days ....... 3 
 
 colonial life in cuba ..... 8 
 
 the conqueror ...... 25 
 
 marques del valle ...... 52 
 
 Last Will and Testament of Fernando Cortes . 77 
 
 Bibliographical Note ...... loi 
 
 First Letter, July 10, 1519 ..... 123 
 
 Second Letter, October ;^o, 1^20 .... 185
 
 BIOGRAPHICAJL NOTE
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 EARLY DAYS 
 
 FERNANDO CORTES, son of Martin Cortes y 
 Monroy and of Catalina Pizarro Altamirano, his 
 wife, was born in 1485 at Medellin, an unim- 
 portant town in Estremadura. The house in which he 
 first saw the Hght stood in the Calle de la Feria until it 
 was destroyed by the French in the campaign of 1809. 
 (Alaman, Dissertazioni sulla Storia del Messico; Dis- 
 sert. V.) Both his father's and his mother's fami- 
 lies were of good descent, and respected, though 
 poor. Martin Cortes had been a captain of fifty light 
 cavalry, and he is further described by the anonymous 
 author of De Rebus Gestis as ' ' pietate tamen et religione 
 toto vit(B tempore clarus," while to his wife the same 
 writer gives the highest praise, saying, " Caterina namque 
 probitate pudicitia et in conjugem amore nulli cBtatis suae 
 femincB cessit." Las Casas also states that he had known 
 Martin Cortes in a poor and humble condition, but that 
 he was a Cristiano viejo, and said to be a gentleman. 
 Later when the great fame of Cortes had converted him 
 into an ancestor of whom the most illustrious family 
 might be proud, ingenious genealogists sought to prove 
 him also the descendant of very noble, and even royal, 
 forefathers; but these unconvincing efforts must seem 
 somewhat unimportant in the case of one whose name 
 and place in history were won by his own achievements, 
 unaided by the support either of influential family or 
 superior fortune.
 
 4 Letters of Cortes 
 
 During his early childhood his health was so frail that 
 he was several times thought to be at death's door. 
 It seemed, therefore, all important to provide him with 
 a powerful patron saint, who was finally chosen by draw- 
 ing lots among the twelve apostles, the choice thus falling 
 upon St. Peter, to whom Cortes rendered profound de- 
 votion during all his life and to whose protection he 
 constantly attributed his victories. 
 
 When their son was fourteen years old, his parents sent 
 him to the University of Salamanca to prepare himself 
 for the practice of law, which was held in high esteem 
 and opened a promising career to a young man of ability. 
 During the two years he remained there, he lodged in the 
 house of his paternal aunt, Inez de Paz, who was married 
 to one Francisco Nunez Valera. This brief course of 
 study was sufficient to prove that he was in no way fitted 
 for the profession his parents had chosen for him, so 
 in 1 50 1 he caused them the liveliest chagrin by returning 
 to Medellin. 
 
 An idle year of rather disorderly life followed. The 
 boy's taste was for arms and adventures, and, after 
 hovering between the rival attractions of the Italian 
 campaign under Gonsalvo de Cordoba, and those of 
 service with Don Nicolas de Ovando, the recently ap- 
 pointed Governor of Hispaniola, he finally decided to 
 join the latter, who was preparing to sail, with an im- 
 portant fleet of thirty ships, fitted out at the royal ex- 
 pense, to take possession of his office. In this he was 
 urged, probably, by the consideration that the Governor 
 was a family friend, who might be counted upon to ad- 
 vance his interests. Just before sailing, however, Cortes 
 had the mishap of falling from a wall which he was 
 scaling to keep an appointment with a lady, an accident 
 which might have ended fatally for him but for the 
 intervention of an old woman who, attracted by the 
 noise of his fall at her very door, arrived just in time to
 
 Early Days 5 
 
 prevent her son-in-law from running him through the 
 body as he lay prostrate. As it was, his bruises laid him 
 up until after Ovando's fleet had sailed, and, upon his 
 recovery, he went to Valencia with the intention of 
 embarking for Italy to join the forces of the great Captain. 
 What defeated his purpose is not recorded, but, upon his 
 return to Medellin about a year later, his parents con- 
 sented to his following Ovando and provided him with 
 the money for his journey. He was thus enabled to 
 sail from San Lucar de Barameda in 1504 on the trading 
 vessel of one Alonzo Quintero of Palos, bound with four 
 others carrying merchandise to the Indies. 
 
 The little fleet touched first at the Canaries which was 
 the usual route. Alonzo Quintero was a shifty fellow, 
 who, twice on the voyage, sought to overreach his brother 
 captains by detaching himself from the fleet in the hope 
 of making port ahead of them and disposing of his cargo 
 to advantage and without their competition. Both times, 
 however, untoward weather overtook him, and, the second 
 time, his pilot, Francisco Niño, lost his bearings, and 
 the ship, in a bad condition, short of water and pro- 
 visions was like to be lost. At dawn on Good Friday a 
 dove was seen perching on the rigging, and, by following 
 the flight of the bird of good omen, land was sighted 
 by Cristobal Zorno on Easter Day, and four days later, 
 the weather-beaten craft reached port where the others of 
 the fleet had long since arrived and disposed of their goods. 
 
 Seekers after signs and wonders were not slow to claim 
 the appearance of this dove to guide Quintero's ship 
 at such a critical moment as evidence of the celestial 
 protection and miraculous intervention of providence 
 in the direction of Cortes' s fortunes, of which numerous 
 other similar examples are cited, and to which he him- 
 self was always ready to ascribe his success; and, in 
 the early chronicle, De Rebus Gestis of authoritative but 
 unknown authorship, it is stated that, even at the time
 
 6 Letters of Cortes 
 
 of this occuiTence, there were those present who claimed 
 to recognise the Holy Ghost in the white-winged püot 
 sent to rescue the hapless ship. — "Alius, Sanctum esse 
 Spiritnm, qui in illius alitis specie, ut mcestos et afflictos 
 solarettir, venire crat dignatus.'" 
 
 The Governor being absent, his secretary, Medina, who 
 already knew Cortes, met him upon his landing, and gave 
 him hospitality in his house, acquainting him with the con- 
 dition of things in the island, and advising him to settle 
 near the town. To this Cortes is said to have replied 
 that he had come to seek gold rather than to till the 
 ground. During the war against Queen Anacoana of 
 Hayti, which followed close upon his arrival, the horrors 
 of which have been described first by Las Casas and later 
 by Washington Irving, Cortes gave a very good account of 
 himself, and upon the establishment of peace he received 
 a grant of good land and a repartimiento of Indians at 
 Daiguao where he was likewise appointed notary of the 
 newly founded town of Azua. (Gomara, Crónica. Cap. 
 Ill] De Rebus Gestis) . During the five or six ensuing years, 
 his life was that of a planter, and was barren of any salient 
 event, though Bernal Diaz says that he was involved 
 in several affairs about women which led to quarrels 
 and duels, in one of which he was wounded in the lip. 
 He was prevented by an opportune illness from joining the 
 luckless expedition of Alonso de Ojedo and Diego de 
 Nicuesa to Darien. Don Nicolas de Ovando was succeeded 
 in the office of Governor by Don Diego Columbus, who 
 in 151 1 fitted out an expedition for the conquest of Cuba, 
 which he placed under the command of Don Diego Velas- 
 quez, and in which Cortes volunteered. 
 
 His conduct at this time advanced his interests in every 
 respect, for his genial character and lively conversation 
 soon made him a favourite with his companions in arms, 
 while his bravery and address acquired him the best 
 reputation as a soldier and attracted the attention of his
 
 Early Days 7 
 
 commander. This conquest afforded indeed but scanty 
 opportunity either to the commander or the soldiers of 
 the invading force to display their prowess, for the pacific 
 natives were hunted through the island like timorous 
 hares to yield after the feeblest resistance only. Thus 
 they were brought into subjection with the barest sem- 
 blance of serious military operations. Yet such mild 
 warfare and the equally nerveless conñicts in the island 
 of Hispaniola (San Domingo) supplied Cortes with the only 
 training in campaigning he ever received. The skill he 
 later displayed in military tactics, and his masterly 
 generalship, were due to his latent genius, which sprang 
 fully fledged into consciousness in response to the first 
 demand made upon it, furnishing him liberally with an 
 equipment for conquest which less gifted commanders 
 must wrest from experience. 
 
 He received in recognition of his services in Cuba, an 
 encomienda of Indians at Manicaro where he settled, 
 becoming a citizen of Santiago. Gomara states that he 
 was successful in the management of his estate, and was 
 the first of the colonists to introduce certain breeds of 
 sheep and cattle into the island. He had as his partner 
 at Manicaro, Juan Xuarez. 
 
 Here may be said to close the first period of the life 
 of Cortes, which might have been that of any spirited 
 young Spaniard of his class and times, fretting within 
 the restrictions of a provincial town, averse to the plodding 
 career offered him by his parents, and finally cutting loose 
 and winning his place in a new life in the colonies, by 
 force of valour in feats of arms, and his ability in man- 
 aging affairs.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 COLONIAL LIFE IN CUBA 
 
 INFORMATION concerning the events of the first 
 years of the residence of Cortes in the island of Cuba 
 is scanty, but it may be assumed that he attended 
 to his interests, which prospered, and enjoyed considerable 
 poptilarity among his fellow-colonists as well as the 
 favour of the Governor, Diego Velasquez, who extended 
 a protecting friendship to him such as an older man of 
 high rank might naturally feel for one of the most promis- 
 ing young men among his colonists. Mr. George Folsom, 
 in the Introduction to his English translation of the De- 
 spatches of Hernando Cortes (New York, 1843), says that 
 Velasquez was brother-in-law to Cortes, having married 
 one of the Xuarez sisters. I have found no authority for 
 this'assertion, and, a few pages farther on, the same writer 
 describes Velasquez as seeking to arrange a marriage for 
 himself with a sister of the Bishop of Burgos. This 
 alleged relationship between the two through their 
 marriages is apocryphal. 
 
 As the changes which the relations between these two 
 men underwent, worked powerfully and far upon the 
 course of events in the New World, it is necessary before 
 going further to consider somewhat the character of 
 Diego Velasquez, and the causes which brought about the 
 breach in their friendship. Oviedo states that Velasquez 
 was of noble family, and, though arriving in the Indies 
 poor, had there accumulated an ample fortune. His 
 military experience had been gained by seventeen years
 
 Colonial Life in Cuba 9 
 
 of service in European wars. The anonymous author 
 of De Rebus Gestis confirms these points adding, " He 
 was covetous of glory and somewhat more so of money." 
 The latter also represents that an intimate friendship 
 existed during several years between the two in Hispaniola, 
 and that Velasquez had insisted on Cortes's joining his ex- 
 pedition, to which the latter counselled by friendship and 
 his longing for adventures, readily consented. Velasquez 
 had the habit of command, which as Governor of Cuba 
 he exercised with the scarcely restricted and arbitrary 
 freedom which his own temperament dictated, and the 
 usage amongst Spanish colonial governors sanctioned. 
 With all this he was amiable, accessible, and fond of 
 dispensing favours. Prescott estimates him as one of 
 those captious persons who " when things do not go ex- 
 actly to their taste, shift the responsibility from their 
 own shoulders where it should lie to those of others," 
 and Herrera describes him as " ungenerous, credulous, and 
 suspicious ! ' ' Fray B artolomé d e Las Casas , who knew him 
 personally in Cuba gives more place to his virtues in the 
 description he has left of him, than do some others ; while 
 admitting that he was quick to resent a liberty, jealous 
 of his dignity, easily taking offence, he adds that he was 
 not vindictive nor slow to forgive. As an administrator 
 of the affairs of the island he showed himself active and 
 capable, encouraging immigration, assisting the colonists, 
 and extending the zone of Spanish influence. He founded 
 many towns, some of which still bear the names he 
 gave them, notably Havana, Puerto del Principe, Mat- 
 anzas, Trinidad, and Santiago where he had his seat of 
 government. It appears therefore that Diego Velasquez 
 was a man whose rather petty defects of character did not 
 usually interfere with his public conduct and who dis- 
 charged his official duties satisfactorily to the colonists 
 and as a faithful representative of the crown. He was, 
 however, unquestionably avaricious, egotistical, and
 
 I o Letters of Cortes 
 
 ambitious; withal no easy master to serve. Commenting 
 on the reproaches he afterwards heaped upon Cortes for 
 his ingratitude towards him, Oviedo says that it was 
 no whit worse than his own had been towards his bene- 
 factor, Diego Columbus, and hence it was "measure for 
 measure." His desire to explore and conquer by deputy, 
 and to win distinction vicariously, was defeated by the 
 impossibility of finding men possessed of the required 
 ability to undertake successfully such ventures, combined 
 with sufficient docility to surrender to him the glory and 
 profits resulting from them. 
 
 The two fundamental versions of the historic quarrel be- 
 tween Cortes and Velasquez are contradictory. One is 
 furnished by Gomara, the other by Las Casas, and, upon 
 one or the other, later historians have based their accounts. 
 The version of Las Casas is that of an eye-witness, for he 
 was present in Cuba at the time, and knew both men well. 
 He stood high in the favour of the Governor, but, even 
 allowing something for the bias of personal friendship 
 and possibly something more for the influence of Velas- 
 quez's position, his acknowledged integrity excludes the 
 possibility of a conscious mis-statement of facts, and 
 hence the greatest weight attaches to his testimony. 
 Gomara, on the other hand, was never in Cuba in his life 
 and only began his Crónica de la Conquista some twenty- 
 five years or more after the events of which he wrote, under 
 the inspiration and direction of Cortes, then Marques 
 del Valle, whose chaplain he had shortly before become. 
 
 Gomara's chronicle was somewhat of the nature of an 
 apologia, and it no sooner appeared than its accuracy 
 and veracity were impugned by participants in the events 
 he described; notably by Bernal Diaz del Castillo, whose 
 work was undertaken for the declared purpose of correct- 
 ing Gomara, and was called with emphasis the "True 
 History" of the conquest. Gomara's account is briefly 
 as follows: Cortes at that time paid court to Catalina
 
 Colonial Life in Cuba n 
 
 Xuarez la Marcaida, one of the poor but beautiful sisters 
 of his partner in Manicaro, Juan Xuarez, and won such 
 favours from the lady as entitled her to exact the ful- 
 filment of a promise of marriage which she declared he had 
 made her, but with which he refused to comply. The 
 Xuarez family was from Granada and came originally in 
 the suite of Doña Maria de Toledo, wife of the Viceroy 
 Don Diego Columbus to] Hispaniola, where it was hoped 
 the four girls whose only dowry was their beauty might 
 make good marriages among the rich planters. This 
 hope was not realised in San Domingo and they removed 
 to Cuba. Catalina, the eldest, was the most beautiful 
 of all and had many admirers, amongst whom her pre- 
 ference fell upon Cortes, who was ever ready for gallant 
 adventures. The matter was brought before the Governor 
 who summoned Cortes ad audiendum verbuni, influenced 
 in Catalina' s favour it was said, by one of her sisters to 
 whose charms he himself was not indifferent. But, in 
 spite of official pressure, Cortes refused to make the 
 reparation exacted of him. Such high words followed that 
 the Governor ordered him to be imprisoned in the fortress 
 under the charge of the alcalde Cristobal de Lagos. His 
 imprisonment was brief , for he managed to escape, carrying 
 off the sword and buckler of his gaoler, and took sanctuary 
 in a church, from which neither the promises nor the 
 threats of Velasquez could beguile him. One day, how- 
 ever, when he unwarily showed himself before the church 
 door, the alguacil Juan Escudero seized him from behind, 
 and, aided by others, carried him on board a ship ly- 
 ing in the harbour, Cortes feared this foreshadowed 
 transportation, and, setting his wits to work, he contrived 
 to escape a second time, dressed in the clothes of a servant 
 who attended him. He let himself down into a small skiff 
 and pulled for the shore, but the strength of the current 
 at that point, where the waters of the Macaguanigua River 
 flow into the sea, was such that his frail craft capsized,
 
 12 Letters of Cortes 
 
 and he reached the shore swimming, with certain -valuable 
 papers tied in a packet on the top of his head. He then 
 betook himself to Juan Xuarez, from whom he procured 
 clothes and arms, and again took sanctuary in the church. 
 These repeated escapes suggest sympathetic collusion 
 on the part of his gaolers. 
 
 Velasquez professed to be won over by such bravery 
 and resource, and sent mutual friends to make peace. 
 But Cortes, although he married Catalina, refused the 
 Governor's overtures and would not even speak to him, 
 until, some Indian troubles breaking out, and Velasquez 
 being at his headquarters outside the town, he somewhat 
 alarmed the Governor by suddenly appearing before him 
 late one night, fully armed, saying that he had come to 
 make peace and to offer his services. They shook hands 
 and spent a long time in conversation together, and slept 
 that night in the same bed, where they were found next 
 morning by Diego de Orellana who came to announce 
 to the Governor that Cortes had fled from the church. 
 This version is accepted by the author of De Rebus Gestis 
 without reservation; Solis, while' omitting the details, 
 also dwells upon the intimate friendship existing between 
 the two men. 
 
 Las Casas tells a different tale, in which no mention is 
 made of the refusal to marry Catalina Xuarez as having 
 any part in the quarrel, but asserts rather that Cortes 
 was secretary to Velasquez, and that the news of the 
 arrival of certain appellate judges in Hispaniola having 
 reached Cuba, all the malcontents in the colony, and 
 those disaffected towards Velasquez, began secretly to 
 collect material on which to base accusations against him, 
 and that Cortes, acting with them, had been chosen to 
 carry this information to the judges. The Governor was 
 informed of the plot, and arrested Cortes in the act of em- 
 barking, with the incriminating papers in his possession, 
 and would have ordered him to be hanged on the spot but
 
 Colonial Life in Cuba 13 
 
 for the intervention of his friends who pleaded for him. 
 A memorial presented to the King on behalf of Velasquez 
 by his chaplain Benito Martinez enumerates this, 
 amongst other grievances of the Governor, and 
 fully confirms the statement of Las Casas on this point. 
 Las Casas admits the story of the imprisonment, the es- 
 cape, and the sanctuary in the church, but he scouts the 
 idea of any such reconciliation as Gomara describes, and 
 says that the Governor, although he pardoned him, would 
 not have him back as secretary, adding, " I saw Cortes 
 in those days so small and humble that he would have 
 craved the notice of the meanest servant of Velasquez." 
 
 Las Casas reminds his readers that Gomara wrote of 
 things about which he knew only what Cortes and his 
 adherents told him, and at a time when Cortes, who had 
 risen from small beginnings to great rank and fame, was 
 anxious to have his former humble condition forgotten. 
 It should be borne in mind that Las Casas never ceased to 
 regard Cortes as other than an exceptionally bold and 
 lucky adventurer, nor did he ever miss an opportunity 
 of recalling his humble origin and irregular beginnings. 
 The wrath of Velasquez was short lived, for he afterwards 
 made Cortes, alcalde, and stood godfather to one of 
 his children. During the succeeding years the fortunes of 
 Cortes improved, and he amassed a capital of some three 
 thousand castellanos, of which Las Casas remarks 
 " God will have kept a better account than I of the lives 
 it cost." Though married reluctantly, he seems to have 
 been contented, and he described himself to the bishop 
 as just as happy with Catalina as though she were the 
 daughter of a duchess (Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, 
 lib. iii, cap. xxvii.). 
 
 Don Manuel Orozco y Berra unhesitatingly accepts the 
 version of Las Casas, and Prescott inclines also to the 
 opinion that Gomara' s account is improbable. Indeed 
 he seeks to prove too much, and his description of the
 
 14 Letters of Cortes 
 
 reconciliation is overcharged, for the Governor was more 
 than dignified — he was pompous, and something of a 
 martinet in his ideas of discipline, being so tenacious of 
 etiquette that no one, not even the first citizens in the 
 colony sat uninvited in his presence. Nor had he ever 
 stood in relations of equal comradeship to Cortes, how- 
 evev friendly he may have been, hence it is not to be 
 imagined that he humbled himself to offer a reconciliation, 
 being first rebuffed by his subordinate, and afterwards, 
 when it suited the latter to present himself before him, that 
 he celebrated the resumption of friendly relations with 
 such demonstrations of affection and intimacy as Gomara 
 describes. If the Gomara version is the true one, and the 
 quarrel had no other origin than the hot words exchanged 
 concerning Cortes's conduct in a private affair which, 
 strictly speaking, was no concern of the Governor's, 
 Velasquez might easily have forgiven and forgotten, es- 
 pecially as the lady's honour was saved, if but tardily. 
 But if the statement of Las Casas is correct, and the 
 Governor discovered his secretary in the act of plotting 
 with his enemies for his overthrow, then Diego Velasquez 
 must be considered to have been the most fatuous and 
 frivolous of men. Magnanimity might prompt forgiveness 
 of even such treachery, and Velasquez might choose to 
 forget the falsity of a man whose enmity he could afford 
 to ignore or despise, but to afterwards confide the most 
 important venture of his life to such a one was a blunder, 
 than which it would be difficult to imagine a greater. Yet 
 Diego Velasquez's vast capacity for blundering enabled 
 him even to do this. 
 
 Gold was the magnet which drew the Spanish adven- 
 turers to the New World, and though it had nowhere been 
 found either so easily or so plentifully as they expected, 
 enough had been discovered to whet their appetites for 
 more. They lived in the midst of a world of mysterious 
 possibilities which might any day by a lucky discovery
 
 Colonial Life in Cuba 15 
 
 become realities. One navigator after another sailed 
 the seas of unknown limits, discovered islands, landed on 
 strange coasts, beheld primeval forests and lofty mountain- 
 peaks clothed with untrodden snows, and, returning to 
 the settlements on the islands, they brought back more 
 or less accurate accounts of lands where gold and pearls 
 were plentiful, peopled by natives eager to exchange these 
 treasures for Spanish trinkets, at the same time producing 
 enough specimens of precious metal to vouch for the 
 truth of their descriptions. Rich colonists, as well as 
 merchants in Cadiz and Seville, were easily found to 
 risk funds in fitting out expeditions for the dual purpose 
 of exploration and trade, while numberless were the skilful 
 pilots, daring sailors, and bold soldiers of fortune ready 
 to enlist for such ser\'ice. After conquering Puerto Rico, 
 Juan Ponce de Leon cruised among the Lucayan Islands, 
 and in 1512, discovered the coast which he named 
 Florida, where, instead of the fountain of eternal youth 
 he sought, he met his death; in 15 13, Balboa first beheld 
 the Pacific Ocean from the mountain ridge on the isthmus 
 of Darien ; in 1 5 1 5 Juan Diaz de Solis discovered the mouth 
 of the river Plate. 
 
 In 1 5 1 7 Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba, a rich planter 
 of Cuba, organised and equipped a fleet of three vessels, 
 manned in part by some of the survivors of the first 
 colony at Darien, and of which he himself took command. 
 The principal object of this expedition was to capture 
 Indians to be sold as slaves in Cuba, and the Governor 
 furnished one ship on condition that he should be reim- 
 bursed in slaves (Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 
 i.) . The first land discovered was a small island to which 
 the name of Las Mugeres (Women's Island) was given, be- 
 cause of the images of female deities which they found in 
 the temple there. This island lies off the extreme point 
 of Yucatan, and from it the Spaniards saw what seemed to 
 them a large and important city with many towers and
 
 1 6 Letters of Cortes 
 
 lofty buildings, to which they gave the fanciful name of 
 Grand Cairo. They discovered the island of Cozumel, and, 
 in a battle with the Indians at Catoche, they captured 
 two natives who afterwards became Christians, baptised 
 under the names of Julian and Melchor, and rendered 
 valuable services as interpreters. Besides the coast of 
 Yucatan, the most interesting discovery made by this ex- 
 pedition was the mysterious crosses which they found the 
 Indians venerating at Cozumel. Francisco Hernandez de 
 Cordoba died a few days after his arrival in Cuba from the 
 wounds he had received at Catoche, and the other members 
 of the expedition made their way back to Santiago where 
 the spoils taken from the temples, the small quantity 
 of gold, the two strange Indians, and most of all the 
 marvellous tales of the men served to excite the eager 
 cupidity of the colonists, ever ready to believe that El- 
 dorado was found. The news spread throughout the 
 islands, and even reached Spain and Flanders, where the 
 young King Charles the First (the Emperor Charles V.), 
 then was. 
 
 Diego Velasquez promptly organised an expedition to 
 follow up these discoveries, and establish trading relations 
 with the natives, which he placed under the command 
 of his kinsman, Juan de Grijalba. It was composed of 
 four ships, the San Sebastian, La Trinidad, Santiago, and 
 Santa Maria. The captains under Grijalba were Francisco 
 de Avila, Pedro de Alvarado, and Francisco de Montejo 
 (Bernal Diaz, cap. viii; Oviedo, Sumario, lib. xvii., cap. 
 viii., Orozco y Berra, Conquista de Mexico, vol. iv., cap. i). 
 This fleet set sail on May i, 1518, and after a fair voyage 
 reached the island of Cozumel on May 3rd {Itinerario de 
 larmata del Re Cattolico apud Icazbalceta, Documentos 
 Inéditos, vol. i.). 
 
 Grijalba visited several points along the coast, giving 
 Spanish names to various bays, islands, rivers, and towns. 
 The Tabasco River, of which the correct Indian name
 
 Colonial Life in Cuba 17 
 
 seems to have been Tabzcoob, received the name of 
 Grijalba. On arriving at the river which they named 
 Banderas, because of the numerous Indians carrying 
 white flags whom they saw along the coast, they first 
 heard of the existence of Montezuma, of whom these 
 people were vassals, and by whom they had been ordered 
 to keep a look out for the possible return of the white 
 men, whose former visit to Cozumel had been reported 
 to the Emperor. On the 1 7th of June, a landing was made 
 on a small island, where the Spaniards first discovered 
 proofs that human sacrifices and cannibalism were 
 practised by the natives, for they found there a blood- 
 stained idol, human heads, members, and whole bodies, 
 with the breasts cut open and the hearts gone. They 
 named the island Isla de los Sacrificios (Oviedo, lib. xvü., 
 cap. xiv.). 
 
 From the island which they named San Juan de Ulua 
 (from the word Culua which they imperfectly caught 
 from the natives), Grijalba sent Pedro de Alvarado on 
 June 24th, with the San Sebastian to carry the results 
 of his trading operations, and an account of his discov- 
 eries to Diego Velasquez, and to ask for an authorisation 
 to colonise which had not been given in his original 
 instructions, but which the members of the expedition 
 exacted should now be granted (Las Casas, Hist, de las 
 Indias, lib. iii., cap. cxii.). 
 
 Diego Velasquez had meanwhile felt some impatience, 
 which gradually became alarm at hearing nothing from 
 his expedition, so he sent Cristobal de Olid with a ship 
 to look for it. Olid landed also at Cozumel, and took 
 formal possession by right, as he supposed, of discovery. 
 After coasting about for some time, and finding no traces 
 of Grijalba, and having been obliged to cut his cables 
 in a storm which had lost him his anchors, he returned 
 to Cuba to augment the uneasiness of the Governor. At 
 this juncture, however, Alvarado arrived with the treasure
 
 1 8 Letters of Cortes 
 
 and Grijalba's report, which threw the Governor into 
 an ecstasy of hope, and plunged all the colony into the 
 greatest excitement. Without waiting for more news, 
 Velasquez set about preparing another expedition, and 
 sent Juan de Saucedo to Hispaniola to solicit from 
 the Jeronymite Fathers the necessary authority for his 
 undertaking, whose objects it was stated were to look 
 for Grijalba's lost armada, which might be in danger, 
 to seek for Cristobal de Olid (notwithstanding he was 
 already safely returned), and to rescue six Spanish 
 captives who were said to be prisoners of a cacique 
 in Yucatan. On October 5th, Grijalba arrived in Cuba 
 with his ships, and was coldly recei-ved by the Governor, 
 who professed himself much disappointed at the meagre 
 results of the voyage, and criticised the captain severely 
 for not having yielded to his companions' wishes to found 
 a settlement on the newly discovered coast, despite his 
 own instructions to the contrary. 
 
 Several names were under consideration for the com- 
 mandership of the new armada but one after another was 
 excluded, and the Governor's final choice fixed upon 
 Fernando Cortes CLas Casas, lib. iii., cap. civ.; Bernal 
 Diaz, cap. xix.). 
 
 This selection was attributed to the influence of Amador 
 de Lares, a royal official of astute character who exercised 
 a certain ascendency over Velasquez, and of Andres de 
 Duero, the Governor's private secretary, both of whom 
 Cortes had induced to present his name and secure his 
 appointment, by promises of a generous share of the 
 treasures to be discovered. Since both Grijalba and 
 Olid were safely back in Cuba, the only one of the three 
 reasons first advanced for this expedition which remained 
 was the rescue of the Christian captives in Yucatan, 
 and, although Velasquez had severely censured Grijalba 
 for not establishing a colony or trading post somewhere, 
 he also omitted this authorisation in his instructions
 
 Colonial Life in Cuba 19 
 
 to Cortes, These instructions are dated October 23, 
 1 5 18, and consist of thirty items of minute and tedious 
 directions and counsels, covering every imaginable emer- 
 gency. They are quoted in full in the Documentos Inédi- 
 tos del Archivo de Indias in pages 59-79, inclusive, in the 
 fourth volume of Orozco y Berra. The document opens 
 by stating that the glory of God and the spread of the 
 faith being the chief objects of the undertaking, only 
 God-fearing and loyal men should be allowed to compose 
 it; swearing and blasphemy against God, the blessed 
 Virgin, and the saints are provided against by the severest 
 penalties ; the men are not to take concubines with them 
 nor to give scandal by communication with native women ; 
 nor is gambling to be permitted in any form, dice being 
 forbidden on board the ships. The exhaustive instructions 
 concerning exploration and trading contain no mention 
 of any authorisation to colonise, but very full powers 
 are granted the commander to cover unforeseen cases. 
 
 Cortes threw himself heart and soul into the new 
 enterprise which offered him exactly the opportunity 
 in search of which he had come to the Indies fourteen 
 years before. The mutual recriminations, afterwards 
 indulged in, so obscure the facts that it is difficult to 
 discover exactly what share of the expense of the equip- 
 ment was borne by each, but of Cortes it must be said that 
 he staked everything he possessed or could procure on 
 the venture, even raising loans by mortgages on his pro- 
 perty. Bernal Diaz states that the amount he expended 
 was four thousand (io//ar5 in gold, besides supplying many 
 provisions.' In the sworn statement of Puertocarrero made 
 in La Coruña, April, 1520, the witness said that Cortes 
 had paid two thirds of the total costs. Gomara de- 
 scribes Velasquez as stingy and timid, wishing to fit out 
 the armada with the least possible risk to himself, and 
 that he proposed to halve the cost. 
 
 The appointment of Cortes to such an important com-
 
 20 Letters of Cortes 
 
 mand did not fail to arouse jealousies on the part of some, 
 and the increased consequence which he gave himself in his 
 dress, manners, and way of living served to stimulate these 
 sentiments, so that hardly had the work of organisation 
 got fairly under way, when these mischief makers adroitly 
 began to work on the suspicious spirit of Velasquez. A 
 dwarf, who played court jester in the Governor's household, 
 was inspired to make oracular jokes in which thinly veiled 
 warnings of what was to be expected from Cortes's over- 
 masterful spirit, once he was free from control and in com- 
 mand of such an araiada, were conveyed to Velasquez; 
 these double barbed jests did not fail of their purpose, so 
 that his distrust finally completel}^ mastered his reason, and 
 pushed him to the incredible folly of deciding to revoke 
 Cortes's appointment as commander, and substitute one 
 Vasco Porcallo a native of Caceres. This decision he 
 made known to Lares and Duero, the very men through 
 whom Cortes had negotiated to obtain his place, and they 
 hastened to warn their protege of the Governor's intention. 
 To accept the humiliation, the public ridicule, to say 
 nothing of the financial ruin into which the revocation 
 of his appointment almost on the eve of sailing would 
 have plunged him, was an alternative which never could 
 have been for a moment considered by Cortes, who im- 
 mediately took the one step essential to his salvation, 
 which was to hasten his preparations, and, by unflagging 
 efforts, to get his provisions and men on board that same 
 day, and stand down the bay with all his ships during 
 the night. He even seized the entire meat supply of the 
 town for which he paid with a gold chain he wore. The 
 accounts of the manner of the departure of the fleet also 
 conflict. It has been represented as a veritable flight, 
 but Bernal Diaz avers that, although he got everything 
 ready very quickly and hastened the date of sailing, Cortes 
 went with a number of others, and took formal leave of 
 the Governor with embraces and mutual good wishes.
 
 Colonial Life in Cuba 21 
 
 and that after he had heard mass, Diego Velasquez came 
 down to the port to see the armada off. Las Casas how- 
 ever says that Velasquez only heard very early in 
 the morning (from the butcher probably), that the pre- 
 parations had been so rapidly pushed forward, and that 
 rising from bed he made haste to the port accompanied 
 by all the citizens in a state of great wonder and ex- 
 citement. As soon as the Governor appeared, Cortes 
 approached within a bow-shot of the shore in a boat 
 full of his friends, all fully armed, and, in reply to the 
 Governor's upbraidings and reproaches for such un- 
 seemly haste in his leave-taking, replied that, "some 
 things were better done first and thought about afterwards 
 and this was one of them " ; after which bit of exculpating 
 philosophy he returned to his ship, and the armada saüed 
 away. Although Gomara, in whom we hear Cortes him- 
 self, agrees essentially with Las Casas in thus describing 
 the departure, the story of the dialogue between Cortes 
 in the midst of a boat-load of armed friends and Velas- 
 quez, helpless on the quay, surrounded by excited col- 
 onists, savours more of fiction than of fact. The simple 
 and natural version of Bernal Diaz is more in consonance \/' 
 with Cortes' s character, and he doubtless exercised 
 scrupulous care to avoid provoking the testy Governor. 
 Aware of the intrigues against him and the uncertainty 
 of his position, his safety lay in pushing forward his 
 preparations with unostentatious haste, masking his 
 determination under an astute display of increased defer- 
 ence towards his suspicious superior. Although Cortes 
 had evidently secured his captains, and could count on 
 his crews, the moment for an act of open defiance was not 
 yet, nor did Velasquez, in a letter dated November 17,1519, 
 to the licenciate Figueroa which was to be delivered to 
 Charles V., allege any such, though he would hardly have 
 failed to make the most of each item in his arraignment 
 of his rebellious lieutenant. Stopping at Macaca, Trini-
 
 sj 
 
 22 Letters of Cortes 
 
 dad, and Havana, he forcibly seized stores at these places, 
 and also from ships which he stopped, sometimes paying 
 for them, and sometimes giving receipts and promises. 
 Every^'here he increased his armament, and enlisted 
 more men. 
 
 The Grovemor's uneasy suspicions augmented after the 
 saUing of the fleet, being also aggravated by the acts of 
 the members of his household who were jealous of the 
 sudden rise in Cortes's fortunes, and possibly also honestly 
 distrustful of the signs of independence he had already 
 manifested. In the work of fretting Velasquez, a half 
 foolish astrologer was called in, who delivered oracular 
 warnings, and imputed to Cortes schemes of revenge 
 for past wrongs, (referring to his imprisonment by the 
 Governor's orders), and forecasting treachery. These 
 representations harmonised but too well with Velasquez's 
 own fears, and easily prevailed upon him to try to recall 
 his attainted lieutenant by sending decisive orders to his 
 brother-in-law, Francisco Verdugo, alcalde tnayor of Trini- 
 dad, to assume command of the fleet until Vasco Porcallo, 
 who had been appointed successor to Cortes should arrive. 
 For greater security, he repeated these instructions to 
 Diego de Ordaz, Francisco de Morla, and others on whose 
 loyalty to himself the hapless Governor thought he could 
 count. Nobody, however, undertook to carry out the 
 orders to displace and imprison Cortes, whose faculty 
 for making friends was such that he had already won 
 overall those on whom Velasquez relied, especially Ordaz 
 and Verdugo. The very messengers who brought the 
 oiflcial orders to degrade and imprison him w^ent over to 
 Cortes, and joined the expedition. Public sympathy was 
 entirely with him, for he had rallied some of the best men 
 in Cuba to his standard, who thus had a stake in the 
 success of the enterprise which depended primarily on the 
 ability of the commander. In Cortes they had full con- 
 fidence, and it suited neither their temper nor their interest
 
 Colonial Life in Cuba 23 
 
 to see him superseded. It was Cortes himself who replied 
 to the Governor's letters, seeking to reassure him with 
 protestations of loyalty and affection, counselling him 
 meanwhile to silence the malicious tongues of the mischief 
 makers in Santiago. 
 
 The Governor was in no way tranquillised by such a com- 
 munication ; on the contrary, the suppression of his orders 
 by Verdugo enraged him beyond measure. The fleet 
 had meanwhile gone to Havana whither a confidential 
 messenger, one Gamica, was sent with fresh, and more 
 stringent orders to the lieutenant-governor, Pedro Barba, 
 who resided there, positively forbidding the fleet to sail, 
 and ordering the immediate imprisonment of Cortes. 
 Diego Velasquez was rarely happy in his choice of men 
 and, in this instance his "confidential" messenger not 
 only brought these official orders to the lieutenant- 
 governor, but he likewise delivered to Fray Bartolomé 
 Olmedo, the chaplain of the expedition, a certain letter 
 from another priest who was in the executive household, 
 warning Cortes of the sense of the Governor's orders. 
 Failure attended all Velasquez's efforts, for Don Pedro 
 Barba replied, telling him plainly that it was not in his 
 power to stop Cortes, who was so popular, not only with 
 his troops but also with the townspeople, that any attempt 
 to interfere with him would result in a general rising 
 in his favour. Bernal Diaz declares that they would 
 have died for him, to a man. 
 
 During these days he played, as he himself afterwards 
 described it to Las Casas, the " part of the gentle corsair.". 
 Parting in this manner from the royal Governor of Cuba, 
 joint owner of the ships and their contents, it is obvious 
 that there was no turning back for Cortes ; he was hence- 
 forth driven forward by the knowledge that sure disgrace, 
 very likely death was behind him, and drawn on by the 
 enticing prospect of achieving such complete success 
 as should vindicate his lawless courses. To redeem the
 
 24 Letters of Cortes 
 
 irregularity of these initial proceedings, it was incumbent 
 on Cortes from thenceforth to hedge his every act with 
 the strictest legal sanctions, and we search in vain for the 
 slightest lapse from prescribed forms in all the succeeding 
 acts of his career.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE CONQUEROR 
 
 THE entire fleet sailed for the island of Cozumel 
 on February lo, 15 19, and the first vessel to 
 land was the one commanded by Pedro de Alvar- 
 ado. Alvarado began his career by an act of disobedience 
 to orders, characteristic of his headstrong and cruel tem- 
 perament, which procured him a severe reprimand from 
 the commander, who arrived two days later and found 
 that the Indians had all been frightened away by the 
 Spaniards' violence in plundering their town and taking 
 some of them prisoners. Cortes's policy in dealing with 
 the natives was forcibly declared at the very outset, for 
 the pilot Camacho, who had brought the vessel to land 
 before the others, he clapped into irons, for disobeying 
 his orders, and he rebuked Alvarado, explaining to him 
 that his measures were fatal to the success of the expedi- 
 tion. The Indian prisoners were not only released, but 
 each received gifts, and all were assured through the inter- 
 preters, Melchor and Julian, that they should suffer no 
 further harm, and that they should therefore go and call 
 back the others who had fled. Everything that had been 
 stolen from the town was restored, and the fowls and other 
 provisions which had been eaten were all paid for liberally. 
 Discipline was enforced also among the Spaniards, and 
 seven sailors, who were found guilty of stealing some 
 bacon from a soldier, were sentenced to be publicly 
 whipped. 
 The opinion that Cortes's followers formed a lawless 
 
 25
 
 20 Letters of Cortes 
 
 band of marauders, which rioted unchecked through 
 Mexico, pillaging, torturing, and outraging the natives, 
 has been lightly formed, and too generally accepted. 
 These facts, however, point to a different state of things. 
 — We read in the first letter the concise and simple 
 account of the change in the character of the expedition, 
 and of the founding of a Spanish settlement at Vera 
 Cruz, and that this decision originated spontaneously, 
 and all but unanimously, among the members of it. 
 Their high motives — the conversion of barbarians to the 
 true faith, and the subjection of vast and fabulously 
 rich kingdoms to the Spanish crown — impelled them in 
 these superlative interests to set aside the trivial pro- 
 jects of Diego Velasquez, and to impose upon Cortes 
 the office of His Majesty's lieutenant. They required his 
 acceptance of this duty by formal act of a notary public, 
 and under menace of reporting his disloyalty to the 
 emperor should he refuse to comply with the will of the 
 community. Thus, from the simple commander of a 
 few trading vessels commissioned by the Governor of 
 Cuba to take soundings and exchange Spanish beads for 
 Mexican gold, in the interest of his employer, Cortes 
 appears, transformed into the Spanish sovereign's lawful 
 representative, holding power conferred by a legally 
 established Spanish municipal corporation, recognising 
 no superior in the new world, and exercising his functions 
 in the royal name ; and the band of adventurers becomes 
 a regularly organised colony, with its administration and 
 its municipal officers bearing the same titles, and em- 
 powered to perform the same functions, as though the 
 scrambling settlement of Vera Cruz were stately Seville 
 or historic Toledo. All these creations are described as 
 existing subject to an expression of the sovereign's 
 will, and the royal sanction for all that had been done 
 in the interest of the crown is humbly petitioned. 
 
 In dealing with the Indians the same strict observ^ance
 
 The Conqueror 27 
 
 of legal form was never once relaxed. They were first 
 invited to renounce idolatry and embrace Christianity; 
 and they were "required " — ^just as solemnly as Cortes 
 was by the Vera Cruz magistrates — to acknowledge the 
 supremacy of the vSpanish crown. A notary public 
 performed this function of his office as gravely as a sheriff 
 in our own day reads the riot act, and calls on a mob to 
 disperse before resorting to force. That the " require- 
 ment " was unintelligible to the Indians did not invalidate 
 the act of promulgation. The strength, also, of Co-rtes's 
 position invariably lay in the identity of his ambitions 
 with the interests of the crown; he was always right. By 
 no other conceivable policy could he have accomplished 
 what he did. The men whom Velasquez, in his helpless 
 rage, sent to supersede or overthrow him, were mere 
 playthings for his far-seeing statecraft and his overpower- 
 ing will. The story of these events appears in all its 
 wonderful simplicity and astounding significance, told 
 in Cortes's own words in these letters, which have been 
 compared with the Commentaries of Csesar on his 
 campaigns in Gaul, without suffering by the comparison. 
 Gaul, when overrun and conquered by Julius Cassar, 
 possessed no such political organisation as did the Aztec 
 Empire when it was subdued by Cortes. There were 
 neither cities comparable with Tlascala and Cholula, nor 
 was there any central military organisation corresponding 
 to the triple alliance of Tenochtitlan,Texcoco,andTlaco- 
 pan, with their \ast dependencies, from which countless 
 hordes of warriors were drawn. On the other hand 
 while Caesar led the flower of the Roman legions, Cortes 
 captained a mixed band of a few hundred men, ill-trained, 
 undisciplined, indifferent to schemes of conquest, and bent 
 only on their own individual aggrandisement; of whom 
 many were also disaffected towards the commanders, 
 and required alternate cajoling and threats to hold them 
 in hand. The very men who were sent under Narvaez
 
 2 8 Letters of Cortes 
 
 to take him alive or dead, and bring him back to the 
 vengeance of Diego Velasquez, were won over to his stand- 
 ard, and fought under his leadership until Mexico fell, 
 while their rightful commander lay a prisoner at Vera 
 Cruz. Tapia was stripped of his goods and bundled 
 ignominiously back to Cuba with their price in his pock- 
 ets, and Cortes' s delusive arguments in his ears, and, 
 when Francisco de Garay's mission am ved by a fortuitous 
 coincidence, simultaneously with the long delayed royal 
 commission which recognised Cortes as Captain-General 
 of the New Spain, his men also enthusiastically deserted 
 in a body to Cortes, leaving Garay to humble himself 
 before the man he had come to supplant, and to remain as 
 his guest until death suddenly brought his career to an 
 end. 
 
 Nothing more disastrous for Spain or for Mexico could 
 be imagined than the success of any one of these ignorant 
 and incompetent men. The mission of Cristobal de 
 Tapia and its inglorious failure illustrate the deplorable 
 conflict of authorities which rendered the Spanish colonial 
 administration of that time ahnost farcical. The con- 
 fusion and uncertainty prevailing in the direction of 
 colonial affairs left many loopholes of escape for all who 
 wished to disregard unpalatable orders. The President 
 of the Royal Council for the Indies, who was in reality 
 the highest authority, might order one thing, but the 
 Jeronymite Fathers, who were supported by the audiencia 
 in Hispaniola, and who exercised vague but supreme 
 power in the Islands, would oppose or suspend the exe- 
 cution of his commands. There was also the Viceroy 
 with his immense pretensions to be considered, and the 
 Governors of Cuba and Jamaica, who were jealous of any 
 trespass on their prerogatives, while over allthere was the 
 Sovereign, from whom cédulas or decrees could be ob- 
 tained granting jurisdiction which contradicted the exer- 
 cise of authority already established, or annulled all other
 
 The Conqueror 29 
 
 orders. As Cristobal de Tapia brought no letters from 
 the Emperor, but only from the President of the 
 Council, the lieutenant at Vera Cruz, while receiving 
 him with respect, and protesting every intention to ob- 
 serve his commands, declared that his credentials must 
 first be submitted to the Municipal Council. That rather 
 vagrant body was composed chieñy of captains, who were 
 either in Mexico with Cortes, or off executing his orders 
 in various places, and it was not an easy thing to unite 
 them promptly. Cortes claimed to hold his authority 
 from that Council, which he had himself created, and which 
 in its turn recognised no superior short of the Emperor. 
 Treating with Tapia through Fray Pedro Melgarejo de 
 Urea, and members of the Council, it was quickly dis- 
 covered that he was accessible to golden arguments, so 
 he was loaded with gifts, and, after selling his negro slaves, 
 horses, amis, etc., at a good price, he consented to return 
 to Hispaniola. Here he was sharply censured by the 
 audiencia and the Jeronymites, who had originally for- 
 bidden him to land in Mexico, or interfere in any way with 
 the conquests of Cortes. 
 
 The foundations of a liberal and independent colonial 
 administration already existed in Mexico, on which a 
 stable system of government might have been built up, 
 but unfortunately these principles, which were better 
 known to Spaniards in that century than to any other 
 continental people, were in their decadence. Under 
 Charles V., began the disintegration of the people's 
 liberties, which affected likewise the government of all 
 the dependencies, and the system of rule by Viceroys 
 and a horde of rapacious bureaucrats was initiated, 
 which lasted in Latin-America until the last Spanish 
 colony disappeared with the proclamation of Cuba's 
 independence. 
 
 Cortes was daring but never rash. His plans were 
 carefully formed, and his decisions were the result of
 
 3© Letters of Cortes 
 
 cautious calculations which seemed to take cognisance 
 of every emergency, to forestall every risk. In the exe- 
 cution of his designs, he was as relentless as he was daring. 
 Both his resolution and his perseverance were implacable, 
 and those who did not choose to bend to his will were 
 made to break; but if his hand was iron, soft was the 
 velvet of his glove. Sois mon frhe on je te tue, de- 
 scribes his dealings with all about him. Equanimity and 
 resolution w^ere the chief characteristics of his conduct. 
 His self-possession was never disturbed by misfortune, 
 and as he sustained success without undue elation, so did 
 he support reverses with fortitude, recognising defeat 
 as a momentary check, but never accepting it as final. 
 
 Besides being compared with Julius Ccesar as a general, 
 he has been ranked with Augustus and Charles V. 
 as a statesman, and he unquestionably possessed many 
 of the qualities essential to greatness in common with 
 them. He ruled his motley band with a happy mixture 
 of genial comradeship and inflexible discipline, and hence 
 succeeded, where an excess of either the one or the other 
 would have brought failure. He knew whom and when 
 to trust, giving his friendship he avoided favouritism, 
 with the consequence that his men were united by 
 the bond of a common trust in their commander. He 
 shared their hardships, sympathised with their sufferings, 
 and joined in their pleasures, but he hanged a soldier 
 who robbed an Indian, he cut off the feet of another who 
 plotted desertion, while, 'in the supreme moment when the 
 conspiracy to kill him was discovered in Texcoco, he 
 hanged the leader before his own door, but wisely ignored 
 the trembling accomplices, though he had the list of their 
 names in his pocket at the time. 
 
 From the moment Cortes learned from the Indian 
 chief of Cempoal that the Aztec rule was heavy on the 
 subject tribes, and that disloyalty seethed throughout 
 the Empire only waiting the propitious moment to throw
 
 The Conqueror 31 
 
 off the supremacy of fear, his plan to unite all the dis-" 
 contented elements in the land under his standard, and 
 to overthrow Montezuma by the very instrument his own 
 cruelties and extortions had created, took shape. His 
 first move was to persuade the Cacique of Cempoal to 
 refuse the tribute of twenty men for sacrifice, and to 
 imprison the collectors sent by Montezuma; by this act 
 of open rebellion the Totonac tribes exposed themselves 
 to the summary vengeance of the Aztecs, and were left 
 with the sole hope of alliance with the Spaniards to save 
 themselves from the consequences of their insubordination . 
 This much accomplished, the next step was to win the 
 gratitude of the tax collectors, and put Montezuma under 
 obligations. This was done by opposing the Cempoalans' 
 wish to sacrifice the collectors forthwith, and by later 
 arranging for the escape by night of two of them, and 
 sending them to Montezuma with his expressions of re- 
 gret at the indignities they had suffered, and his assurance 
 to the Emperor that he would also effect the escape 
 of the remaining three. These he held as hostages, for 
 when the escape of the two became known the next day, 
 Cortes feigned great wrath at the negligence of the guards 
 and, in order to secure the remaining prisoners, he put 
 them in irons and sent them on board one of his own 
 caravels. The news of these events spread quickly, 
 and the Totanacs, convinced that the hour of successful 
 revolt against Aztec oppression was at hand, rose as one 
 man against Montezuma, and committed their lives and 
 fortunes to the Spaniards. This result was a diplomatic 
 victory of no mean value. 
 
 He next beat the Tlascalans, not into submission but 
 into an alliance, and this pact he cemented by every art 
 of which he was master. The astonishment, which many 
 have lightly expressed, that a mighty state should be so 
 easily invaded and overthrown by a handful of adventurers 
 is considerably lessened when the political and racial
 
 32 Letters of Cortes 
 
 conditions in the decaying Empire are understood, and 
 the part played by the Tlascalans in the conquest is rightly 
 estimated. They were a warlike people who had preserved 
 the independence of their mountain republic against the 
 might of Montezuma, somewhat as the Montenegrins 
 have ever defended themselves against the Ottoman 
 power. They were from a military point of view the 
 equals, if not the superiors, of the Aztecs in the field, 
 fighting with the same w^eapons and employing like 
 tactics ; hence one hundred thousand Tlascalans, captained 
 by Cortes, who came as the fulfiller of prophecies, almost 
 a supernatural being with demigods in his train, com- 
 manding thunder and lightning, and mounted upon 
 unknown and formidable beasts, were invincible. The 
 Tlascalans had long bided the time for their vengeance, 
 and in the alliance with Cortes they saw their opportunity. 
 In two potential moments Tlascala held the balance of 
 victory or defeat, and a hair would have tipped it either 
 way. When the famished, blood-stained remnant of the 
 Spaniards, flying from the horrors of the Noche Triste, 
 fell exhausted at the gates of their capital, to annihilate 
 them was within their choice, but these loyal, short- 
 sighted Indians stood fast to their bond, took the wreck 
 of the army in as brothers, nursed them, cured their 
 wounds, and played the good Samaritan with suicidal 
 success. Again, without the brigantines, the capture of 
 Mexico was more than doubtful ; the brigantines meant 
 famine for the invested city, and even with them it 
 took seventy-five days to reduce it. Tlascala provided 
 the material, built the brigantines, paid for them, and 
 sent eight thousand men to carry them across the moun- 
 tain passes, escorted by twenty thousand more to pro- 
 tect the convoy, and finally built the canal from which 
 they were launched on the lake of Texcoco. Throw 
 the weight of Tlascala on the Aztec side, and the history 
 of the conquest of Mexico would have to be re-written.
 
 The Conqueror 33 
 
 But even these brave people were wanting in the true 
 spirit of unity and discipHne essential to the success 
 of large military operations, and their leaders, despite 
 their unquestioned bravery, invited defeat by their foolish 
 jealousies and petty quarrels over questions of personal 
 vanity. The Indian tribes in Mexico would indeed seem 
 to have been destitute of patriotic sentiment; tribal 
 feeling undoubtedly existed, but was, unfortunately for 
 them, a source rather of disunion than a bond of strength. 
 In his description of the engagements between the 
 armies under Xicotencatl and the forces of Cortes, Bemal 
 Diaz ascribes the victory to three causes, saying that 
 next to God's help, it was owing to the cavalry (as the 
 elephants of Pyrrhus struck terror to the Romans, so 
 did the Spaniards' horses spread panic amongst the 
 Indians) ; secondly to the inexperience of the Tlascalans, 
 which prevented their bringing up their troops without 
 confusion, instead of which they massed them together, 
 thus enabling the Spanish artiller^^ to do fearful execution 
 amongst them; and finally because the forces of Guaxo- 
 cingo, commanded by the chief Chichimecatl, did not 
 support the action of the commander-in-chief, owing 
 to their leader's sulkiness over some observations of 
 Xicotencatl on his conduct during the engagement of the 
 previous day. This chieftain was plagued with a morbid 
 touchiness which despoiled his bravery of its virtue, and 
 Cortes later mentions with what difficulty he was induced 
 to take the rear-guard rather than the lead, during the 
 famous convoy of the brigantines from Tlascala over the 
 mountain passes to the lake of Texcoco, and how he 
 was only finally persuaded by being assured that the 
 rear-guard was the post of greatest honour and danger; 
 even then he made the condition that no Spaniards should 
 share the responsibility with him. Similar rivalries pre- 
 vailed likewise in the Senate, and during the discussion on 
 the reception to be given the Spaniards, the venerable 
 
 VOL. I. — 3
 
 34 Letters of Cortes 
 
 princes actually came to blows. The story of the con- 
 quest is, on the Indian side, a humiliating recital of 
 treachery, mutual betrayals, and tribe plotting against 
 tribe, each foolishly thinking to use the Spaniards as an 
 instrument of vengeance against their neighbours, whereas 
 the fact was that the astute Cortes saw with eminent 
 satisfaction these enervating dissensions, all of which 
 he deftly turned to his own profit. 
 
 A perpetual coming and going of Aztec ambassadors ac- 
 companied the march from Vera Cruz. These unfortunate 
 messengers, burdened with conflicting and impossible 
 instructions, must have felt themselves sent upon a fool's 
 errand, pulled hither and thither according as Monte- 
 zuma's hopes or fears happened to be in the ascendant. 
 The task of turning back the obnoxious strangers, but 
 without offending them, lest, being gods, they might wreak 
 vengeance on the Empire, was laid upon them. They 
 carefully watched and quickly reported every step in ad- 
 vance made by the Spaniards, but their despatches were 
 disheartening reading for their imperial master, being 
 but chronicles of Spanish victories, and the defection 
 of provinces. Only half convinced, yet not daring to 
 disclose his doubts, of the semi-divine character of the 
 invaders, Montezuma ordered every attention to be 
 lavished upon them, while at the same time he consulted 
 astrologers and magicians to discover some means to bane 
 the pests, or inspired plans for their destruction, as at 
 Cholula, where, upon the discovery of the plot, he disa- 
 vowed responsibility, and left the Cholulans to sufier 
 the consequences. 
 
 The absence or control of impulse in Cortes saved him 
 from many a disaster which daring alone would have 
 brought upon a leader of equal boldness but less wisdom, 
 placed as he was. Perhaps the most supremely audacious 
 act which history records is the seizure of Montezuma in 
 the midst of his own court, and his conveyance to the
 
 The Conqueror 35 
 
 Spanish quarters; an undertaking so stupefying in its 
 conception and so incredible in its execution that only 
 the multitude and unanimity of testimony serve to 
 remove it from the sphere of fable into that of history. 
 This, however, was not an act of mere daring, but as he 
 explains to the Emperor in his second letter, a measure of 
 carefully pondered policy. We are now accustomed to 
 see "political agents," or financial and military "ad- 
 visers," near the persons of nominal rulers, to whom the 
 controlling foreign power concedes sufficient semblance 
 of independence to mask their essential servitude, but 
 the system of ruling a nation through the person of its 
 enslaved sovereign originated with the seizure of Monte- 
 zuma by Cortes. He was a man of unfeigned piety, of 
 the stuff of which martyrs are made, nor did his conviction 
 that he was leading a holy crusade to win lost souls to 
 salvation ever waver. He says in his Ordenanzas at 
 Tlascala, that, were the war carried on for any other 
 motive than to overthrow idolatry and to secure the 
 salvation of so many souls by converting the Indians to 
 the holy faith, it would be unjust and obnoxious, nor 
 would the Emperor be justified in rewarding those who 
 took part in it. 
 
 Among other ordinances governing the moral and 
 religious welfare of the people in Mexico after the con- 
 quest, was one which prescribed attendance at the in- 
 structions in Christian doctrine, given on Sundays and 
 feast days under pain of stripes. The Jesuit historian 
 Cavo {Los Tres Siglos de Mexico, torn, i., p. 151) says 
 that on one occasion when Cortes had himself been absent, 
 he was reprimanded from the pulpit on the following 
 Sunday, and, to the stupefaction of the Indians, sub- 
 mitted to the prescribed flogging in public. Cortes re- 
 sembled the publican who struck his breast and invoked 
 mercy for his sins, rather than the Pharisee who found 
 his chief cause for thankfulness in the contemplation
 
 36 Letters of Cortes 
 
 his own superior virtues. Prescott was uncertain whether 
 this submission to a public whipping should be at- 
 tributed to "bigotry " or to " policy." It seems to have 
 been first of all an act of simple consistency by which 
 the commander sanctioned the law he had himself es- 
 tablished. Precept is ever plentiful but example is the 
 better teacher, and a more striking and unforgetable 
 example of the equality of all under the law, it would 
 indeed be difficult to find in history. The policy of 
 demonstrating that no one's faults were exempt from 
 the punishment provided by the law was unquestionably 
 present, and deserving only of applause, but for bigotry 
 there seems to be no place whatever, unless indeed the 
 provision of compulsory instruction for both the natives 
 and the Spaniards in Christian doctrine be so described. 
 
 His rehgious zeal was sometimes intemperate, nor 
 was it always guided by prudence, but he usually showed 
 wisdom in submitting to the restraining influence of some 
 handy friar whose saner and more persuasive methods 
 promised surer results than his own strenuous system of 
 conversion would have secured. Nowhere is the vindica- 
 tion of the religious orders in dealing with native races 
 more convincingly established than in the history of 
 their early relations with the Mexicans. The restraints 
 the com.mander placed on the license of his soldiers might 
 well have been prompted by his policy of winning the 
 friendly confidence of the Indians, but his measures for 
 repressing profanity of every sort, gambling and other 
 camp vices, and his insistence upon daily mass and 
 prayer before and thanksgivings after battle, are traceable 
 to no such motive, and it is more than once recorded that 
 the Indians were profoundly impressed by the decorous 
 solemnity of the religious ceremonies and the devotion 
 shown by the Spaniards. 
 
 Shortcomings in the practice of the moral precepts of 
 religion, either in that century or in this, are not con-
 
 The Conqueror 37 
 
 fined to men who find themselves cut adrift from the 
 usual restraints of civilised society, isolated and para- 
 mount amidst barbarians, whose inferior moral standard 
 provides constant and easy temptations to lapse, and, 
 while it were as difficult as it is unnecessary to attempt 
 a defence of the excesses which the Spaniards undoubtedly 
 committed in Mexico, it is equally impossible to condemn 
 them as exceptional. Commenting upon the strange 
 contradiction between professed piety, and practised 
 vice and cruelty, Prescott writes: "When we see the 
 hand, red with the blood of the wretched native, raised 
 to invoke the blessing of heaven, we experience something 
 like a sensation of disgust, and a doubt of its sincerity." 
 The distinguished historian here voices a facile assumption 
 all too common amongst many who, lacking his luminous 
 comprehension of the spirit of that age, commit the 
 injustice of measuring the acts of its men by the more 
 humane standards of our own times. He himself acquits 
 Cortes of the imputation of insincerity, and declares that 
 no one who reads his correspondence, or studies the events 
 of his career, can doubt that he would have been the 
 first to lay down his life for the Faith. Too many barriers, 
 however, interposed between the Anglo-Saxon protestant 
 historian of the nineteenth century and the Spanish Catho- 
 licism of the sixteenth to allow even one of his superior his- 
 torical acumen to accurately appreciate the operation of 
 religious influences on the character of such a man as 
 Fernando Cortes, whose military conquest was prompted 
 in a large measure by genuinely leligious motives, but 
 whose fervent practice of the Church's teachings unfortun- 
 ately alternated with lapses into grievous sensuality. 
 
 Whatever else may be doubted, the religious sincerity 
 and martial courage of Fernando Cortes are above im-* 
 peachmcnt. He was a stranger to hypocrisy which is a 
 smug vice of cowards and if his reasons for acts of policy, 
 which cost many lives, may be deplored by the humane,
 
 38 Letters of Cortes 
 
 their honesty may be reasonably impugned by none. Had 
 the influence of his faith on his morals been proportionate 
 to its strength, he would have merited canonisation. 
 
 Sixteenth century Spain produced a race of Christian 
 warriors whose piety, born of an intense realisation of, 
 and love for a militant Christ, was of a martial complexion, 
 beholding in the symbol of salvation — the Cross — the 
 standard of Christendom, around which the faithful must 
 rally, and for whose protection and exaltation sw^ords 
 must be drawn and blood spilled if need be. They were 
 the children of the generation which had expelled the 
 last Moor from Spain, and had brought centuries of re- 
 ligious and patriotic w^arfare to a triumphant close, in 
 which their country w^as finally united under the crown 
 of Castile. From such forebears the generation of Cortes 
 received their heritage of Christian chivalry. The dis- 
 covery of a new world, peopled by barbarians, opened a 
 new field to Spanish missionary zeal, in which the kingdom 
 of God upon earth was to be extended, and countless 
 souls rescued from the obscene idolatries and debasing 
 cannibalism which enslaved them. This was the "w^hite 
 man's burden "which that century laid on the Spaniard's 
 shoulders. To the scoffing philosopher of the eighteenth 
 century, these crusading buccaneers in whose characters 
 the mystic and the sensualist fought for the mastery 
 seemed but knaves clumsily masquerading as fools. The 
 fierce piety, which furnished entertainment to the age 
 of Voltaire, somewhat puzzles our own. Expeditions 
 now set forth into dark continents unburdened with 
 professions of concei-n for the spiritual or moral welfare 
 of the natives. Indeed, nothing is deemed more f<)olish 
 than attempts to interfere with the religious beliefs and 
 * practices of barbarians, and the commander in our times, 
 who would overturn an idol merely to set up a wooden 
 cross, thereby exposing his followers to the risk of being 
 massacred, would be court-martialled and degraded, if
 
 The Conqueror 39 
 
 indeed he ever ventured to return to civilisation. If 
 such work is to be done at all, there are richly endowed 
 missionary societies to attend to it. But even the 
 equipment of the missionaries who undertake to carry 
 evangelical doctrine amongst savage peoples presents 
 some striking contrasts to the barefooted Spanish friars 
 who first preached Christianity to the Mexicans. If the 
 heathen are no longer brought by compulsion into the 
 light, we make them pay a heavy indemnity for their 
 privilege of sitting in darkness, and, whenever their 
 opposition to the dissemination of Christian teaching 
 amongst them emerges from quiesence into activity, a 
 warship is ready to bombard their coasts while troops 
 are at hand to annex a province. 
 
 In the eighth of Lord Lyttleton's Dialogues of the Dead 
 the shades of Fernando Cortes and William Penn are 
 made to discourse with one another upon the merits of 
 their respective undertakings in North America, each ghost 
 defending its own system. Friend Penn in one passage 
 says to Cortes: 
 
 I know very well that thou wast as fierce as a lion and as 
 subtle as a serpent. The Devil, perhaps, may place thee as 
 high in his black list of heroes as Alexander or Caesar. It is not 
 my business to interfere with him in settling thy rank. But 
 hark thee, Friend Cortes, — What right hadst thou or had the 
 King of Spain himself to the Mexican Empire? Answer me 
 that, if thou canst. 
 
 Cortes. The Pope gave it to my Master. 
 
 Penn. The Devil offered to give our Lord all the king- 
 doms of the earth, and I suppose the Pope as His Vicar gave 
 thy Master this; in return for which he fell down and wor- 
 shipped him like an idolater as he was, etc. 
 
 The ghost of Penn defends his possession of Pennsyl- 
 vania, allegin^^^e honest right of fair purchase ; to which 
 Cortes rcplic
 
 40 Letters of Cortes 
 
 I am afraid there was a little fratcd in the purchase — thy 
 followers, William Perm, are said to think cheating in a quiet, 
 sober way no mortal sin. 
 
 The verbal skirmish continues in this vein, and con- 
 cludes thus: 
 
 Penn. Ask thy heart whether ambition was not thy 
 real motive, and zeal the pretence? 
 
 Cortes. Ask thine whether thy zeal had no worldly 
 views, and whether thou didst believe all the nonsense of the 
 sect at the head of which thou wast pleased to become a 
 legislator. Adieu, self-examination requires retirement. 
 
 The author does not allow for any clearing of the human 
 perceptions in the spirit world, and it is probable that 
 had Fernando Cortes and William Penn been contempo- 
 raries and able to discuss their respective systems of deal- 
 ing with Indians, and founding settlements, they would 
 have found more points of agreement than their loqua- 
 cious ghosts were able to discover. The flaccid defence 
 advanced by Cortes' s shade betrays some deteriora- 
 tion of mental power, for in his lifetime the conqueror was 
 hardly less formidable in polemics than he was on the 
 battle-field, but, in the feeble discourse put in the mouth 
 of this pale spirit, we find nothing of the fierceness of 
 the lion or the subtlety of the serpent which Friend Penn 
 attributed to Cortes in the flesh. 
 
 Penn's ghost professes to find Cortes's religious motives 
 suspect, yet there are not more proofs of his presence in 
 Mexico than there are of his absolute belief in himself as a 
 divinely chosen instrument for the conversion of souls. 
 Purging the human soul from the taint of idolatry or 
 heresy by means of physical torments is a familiar blot 
 on the pages of the history of religions. 
 
 More than a century after the conquest of Mexico the 
 New England Puritans were torturing «and killing by 
 process of law, — not savage enemies ^^^threatened 
 
 «
 
 The Conqueror 41 
 
 their security, but one another, and all within their 
 power, who dissented from their own gloomy and pecul- 
 iar theological delusions. They may have believed in 
 the mercy of God, but they grimly preferred to see 
 themselves as ministers of His wrath. 
 
 Nothing, more than the exercise of great power by a 
 conscientious man, imbued with faith in himself as a 
 chosen instrument for executing divine justice on his 
 fellow men, is surer to produce a very Frankenstein of 
 fanaticism, and all peoples and creeds have furnished 
 the spectacle of men of professing godliness, who slew 
 to save, and whose claim to a great mission was written 
 in the blood of those who were described as God's enemies. 
 There is even Scripture warranty for it. If invasion of an 
 unoffending nation for the purpose of conquest be justi- 
 fiable, either by moral or utilitarian arguments, then 
 the sufferings which inevitable resistance must bring are 
 covered by the same justifications. 
 
 The accusation of wanton cruelty, too lightly brought 
 against Cortes has been diligently propagated by the 
 interested, and complacently accepted by the indiscrim- 
 inating, until dissent from it awakens incredulous sur- 
 prise. Nevertheless, all that can be learned of his 
 character proves that Cortes was not by nature cruel, nor 
 did he take wanton pleasure in the sufferings of others. 
 Conciliation and coercion were both amongst his weapons, 
 his natural preference being for the former, as is seen by 
 his never once failing in his dealings with the Indians 
 to exhaust peaceful methods before resorting to force. 
 The secret of carrying on a war of conquest mercifully 
 has not yet been discovered, and recent reports from 
 Africa and the Philippines do not show much advance 
 on the policy of the Spaniards in Mexico four hundred 
 years ago, though it cannot be pretended that our 
 modern expeditions are attended by the perils, known, — 
 and most ^of all the unknown, — which awaited the
 
 42 Letters of Cortes 
 
 ignorant adventurers in the New World at every 
 turn. 
 
 There were three ends which according to Cortes' s 
 ethics justified any measures for their accomplishment, 
 I St, the spread of the faith, 2nd, the subjugation of the 
 Indians to Spanish rule, and 3rd, the possession of their 
 treasures; and as his narrative of the conquest unfolds 
 itself, it will be seen that his resolution stopped at nothing 
 for the achievement of these ends. But there is no 
 instance of tortures and suffering being treated by him 
 as a sport. Whether he might not have accomplished 
 all he did with less bloodshed, is a purely speculative 
 question. Fr. Acosta {Storia de ¡as Indias, lib. vü., cap. 
 XXV.) states that so entirely were the Mexicans imbued 
 with the belief that the Spaniards came in fulfilment of the 
 prophecy of their most beneficent deity, Quetzalcoatl, that 
 Montezuma would have abdicated, and the whole empire 
 have passed into their hands without a struggle, had 
 Cortes but comprehended the force of the prevailing 
 superstition, and met the popular expectation by rising 
 consistently to his role of demigod. There are facts 
 which tend to lend weight to this argument, and had Cortes 
 but realised the possibilities, he might have been equal to 
 the part, though his followers fell so lamentably short, 
 that it is doubtful if the illusion could have been long 
 sustained. As it was, the awful tragedy of the Sorrowful 
 Night, and the downfall, amidst bloodshed and suffering 
 unspeakable of Mexico, was precipitated by the brutal 
 folly of Alvarado, — not of Cortes. 
 
 In his relations with women, Cortes shows his primi- 
 tive polygamous temperament. Even at the age of 
 sixteen in his native Medellin, we find him falling from 
 a wall and all but losing his life in an amorous adventure 
 with an anonymous fair one, and throughout his life 
 these intrigues succeeded one another unbrokenly; but 
 his loves were so entirely things "of his life apart," that
 
 The Conqueror 43 
 
 their influence upon his motives or his actions is never 
 discernible. In Cuba his role of Don Juan brought him 
 into a conflict with the Governor, which was the origin 
 of their life-long duel for supremacy in the colonies. But 
 Catalina Xuarez, about whom the trouble ñrst began, is 
 quickly lost sight of; she passes like a pale shade across 
 that epoch of her husband's life, and is never heard of 
 again, until her uninvited presence in Mexico, followed 
 quickly by her unlamented death, is briefly mentioned. 
 The most important woman in his life was his Indian 
 interpreter, Marina, and some writers have sought to 
 weave a romance into the story of their relations, for which 
 there seems, upon examination, to be little enough sub- 
 stantial material. During the period when she was in- 
 dispensable to the business in hand, she was never 
 separated from Cortes, but we know that he was not 
 faithful to her even then, while, as soon as she ceased 
 to be necessary, she was got rid of as easily as she had 
 been acquired. 
 
 Montezuma gave him his daughter, who first received 
 Christian baptism to render her worthy of the commander's 
 companionship, and was known as Doña Ana. She 
 lived openly with Cortes in his quarters, and had with 
 her, her two sisters, Inez and Elvira, and a sister of the 
 King of Texcoco who was called Doña Francisca. Doña 
 Ana was killed during the retreat on the Sorrowful Night, 
 and was pregnant at the time. A third daughter of the 
 Emperor, Doña Isabel, married Alonso de Grado, who 
 shortly afterwards died, when she also passed into the 
 household of the conqueror, to whom she bore a daughter. 
 (Bernal Diaz, cap. cvii. ; Bernaldino Vasquez de Tapia, 
 tom. ii., pp. 244, 305-306; Gonzalo Mejia, tom. ii., pp. 
 240-241) . According to Juan Tirado two of Montezuma's 
 daughters bore sons to Cortes, and one bore a daughter. 
 (Orozco y Berra, Conquista de Mcxico,lib. ii.,cap. vi., note.) 
 
 In his last will, Cortes mentions another natural
 
 44 Letters of Cortes 
 
 daughter, whose mother was Leonor Pizarro, who after- 
 wards married Juan de Salcedo. 
 
 It is thus positively known that besides Marina, there 
 were four other ladies who shared in his affections during 
 this period of the conquest, and meanwhile his first wife 
 Catalina Xuarez la Marcaida was alive in Cuba. These 
 undisguised philanderings must have somewhat blighted 
 Marina's romance. 
 
 His marriage with Doña Juana de Zufíiga took place 
 when he was at the zenith of his fame. The advantages 
 such an alliance with a noble and powerful family of 
 Castile seemed to promise, though many, were perhaps 
 not as tangible as the ambitious conqueror had hoped. 
 The marriage was negotiated before he and the lady had 
 met, but it does not appear to have been less happy for 
 this conformity to a custom which at that time was uni- 
 versal in noble families. Doña Juana could have seen 
 but little of her restless husband, who was perpetually 
 engaged elsewhere, but she was a good wife, and loved 
 him, just as did Catalina Xuarez and all his mistresses 
 while his uxorious instincts made it easy for him to be 
 equally happy with all of them. He was affectionate and 
 tender, devoted to all of his children, distinguishing but 
 little between his legitimate and his natural offspring in 
 a truly patiarchal fashion. For the latter he secured 
 Bulls of legitimacy from the Pope, and provided generously 
 in his will. Not less strong was his filial piety, and among 
 the first treasure sent to Spain, there went gifts to his 
 father and mother in Medellin, and, after his father's 
 death, he brought his mother to Mexico, where she died, 
 and was buried in the vault at Texcoco, where his own 
 body was afterwards laid. 
 
 The Fifth Letter reports the events of his long journey 
 of exploration through Yucatan. In setting forth on 
 this expedition which was to cover a distance of five 
 hundred leagues through savage wilds, Cortes affected
 
 The Conqueror 45 
 
 the pomp of an Oriental satrap, taking with him besides 
 the necessary soldiers, guides, Indian allies, and camp 
 followers, a complete household of stewards, valets, 
 pages, grooms, and other attendants, all under the com- 
 mand of a major-domo of the household. Gold and 
 silver plate for his table was provided, also musicians, 
 jugglers, and acrobats to amuse the company. Spanish 
 muleteers and equerries were taken to have charge of 
 the carriages and horses, and, in addition to the usual 
 provender, to ensure a supply of meat, an immense drove 
 of pigs was driven along, which could not have accelerated 
 the march. He had a map painted on cloth by native 
 artists, which showed after their fashion the rivers and 
 mountain chains to be crossed. This and his compass 
 were all Cortes could rely upon to guide him during his 
 perilous undertaking. Doña Marina went as chief 
 interpreter, but Gerónimo de Aguilar did not accompany 
 this expedition, though he was not dead, as Bernal Diaz 
 states, for in 1525 he applied for a piece of land on which 
 to build a house in the street now called Balvanera 
 (Alaman, Dissertazioni IV.). The record of these events, 
 however noteworthy, may seem tame reading after the 
 exciting chronicle of the siege and fall of Mexico — a war 
 drama of the most intense kind, but, in forming a correct 
 estimate of Cortes' s character we must not restrict our- 
 selves to a study of the qualities displayed in the course 
 of the conquest, and which prove him a most resourceful 
 military genius. At five and thirty years of age he had 
 successfully completed as daring and momentous an 
 undertaking as history records, and it is as conqueror 
 of Mexico that he takes his place among the world's 
 great heroes. M. Desire Charnay, in the preface to his 
 French translation of the Five Letters, says: ''La conquete 
 
 de Cortes coüta au Mexiqiie plus de dix millions 
 
 d'etres humains emportés par la guerre, les maladies et 
 les mauvais traitments: de sorte que cet' homme de géme
 
 46 Letters of Cortes 
 
 pent cntrcr sans conteste dans la redoutable phalange des 
 fléaux de Vhiimanite." 
 
 His subsequent undertakings called for the exercise 
 of qualities hardly less remarkable, though of a different 
 order, and it was absence of productive success which 
 has caused them to be overlooked in a world where 
 results count for more than effort. 
 
 It was never the policy of the Spanish crown to entrust 
 the government of dependencies to their discoverers 
 or conquerors, and when powerful friends at Court sought 
 in 1529 to prevail upon Charles the Fifth to grant Cortes 
 supreme power under the crown in Mexico, His Majesty 
 was not to be persuaded; and in refusing he pointed out 
 that his royal precedessors had never done this, even 
 in the case of Columbus, or of Gonsalvo de Cordoba, the 
 conqueror of Naples. Had it been possible, however, 
 for the Emperor to free himself from the suspicions which 
 the persistent intrigues of Cortes's enemies fomented, 
 especially from the jealous fear of a possible aspiration to 
 independent sovereignty, it cannot be doubted that the 
 wisest thing, both for Mexico and for the royal interests, 
 would have been the installation of Cortes in as inde- 
 pendent a vice-royalty as was compatible with the main- 
 tenance of the royal supremacy. While Cortes, in 
 common with all his kind, loved gold, he was not a mere 
 vulgar plunderer, seeking to hastily enrich himself, at 
 no matter what cost to the country, in order to retire 
 to a life of luxury in Spain. Moreover even granting 
 that he had started with no larger purpose, it is plain 
 that he was himself at the outset unconscious, both of 
 his own powers and of the strange drama about to unfold, 
 in which destiny reserved him the first part. By the 
 time the conquest was completed, his knowledge of the 
 possibilities of Mexico had expanded, so that his views 
 on all questions connected with the occupation, the 
 government and the future welfare of the country, had
 
 The Conqueror 47 
 
 developed from the schemes of a mere adventurer into the 
 poHcy of a statesman. The constantly revived accusation 
 of aspiring to independent sovereignty was a myth, for 
 the Emperor had no more faithful subject than Cortes, in 
 whom the dual mainsprings of action were religion and 
 loyalty. 
 
 His better judgment condemned the system of enco- 
 miendas, and only admitted slavery as a form of punish- 
 ment for the crime of rebellion, even then to be mitigated 
 by every possible safeguard. Far from driving the 
 natives from their homes, or wishing to deport them to 
 the islands, he used every inducement to encourage them to 
 remain in their towns, to rebuild their cities, and resume 
 their industries, realising full well that the true strength 
 of government, as well as the surest source of revenue, 
 lay in a pacific and busy population. To this end he 
 adopted the system of restoring or maintaining the native 
 chiefs in their jurisdiction and dignity, imposing upon 
 them the obligation of ruling their tribes, — and persuading 
 those who had been frightened away to the mountains 
 to return to their villages. The exceptions to this policy 
 were in the cases of certain rebellious princes, whom he 
 considered powerful enough to be dangerous. 
 
 That Cortes understood the Indians and had a kindly 
 feeling for them, is proven many times over, while the 
 proofs of their affection for him are even more numerous. 
 Malintzin was a name to conjure with amongst them, 
 and while familiar relations with most of the other Span- 
 iards speedily bred contempt, their attachment to Cortes 
 increased as time went on. The iron policy which used 
 massacres, torture, and slavery for its instruments of 
 conquest, did not revolt the Indians, since it presented 
 no contrast to the usage common among themselves in 
 time of war; vcb victis comprised the ethics of native 
 kings, who in addition to wars for aggrandisement of 
 territory and increase of glory also waged them solely
 
 48 Letters of Cortes 
 
 to obtain victims for the sacrificial altars of their gods. 
 This ghastly levy ceased with the introduction of 
 Malintzin's religion, and he brought no hitherto un- 
 familiar horror as a substitute for it. 
 
 Some writers have even essayed to parallel the cruelties 
 incident to the procedure of the Inquisition, and the 
 executions after sentence by that tribunal, with the human 
 sacrifices of the Aztecs. Without here embarking upon 
 an investigation of the methods of the Inquisition, it 
 may, in strict justice, be pointed out that, as far as Mexico 
 was concerned, the researches of the learned archaeologist, 
 Garcia Icazbalceta, have shown that during the two hun- 
 dred and seventy years of its existence in that country, 
 the number of persons delivered to the secular arm for 
 execution was forty-seven {Bibliografía Mexicana del 
 Siglo, XVI., page 382). Moreover the Indians were 
 exempt from molestation for they were expressly defined 
 as being outside the jurisdiction of the Holy Office. 
 
 Except the independent Tlascalans, all the other 
 peoples of Anahuac were held in stern subjection by the 
 Aztec emperor; heavy taxes were collected from them, 
 human life was without value, torture was in common 
 use; their sons were seized for sacrifice, their daughters 
 replenished the harems of the confederated kings and great 
 nobles, so that Cortes was welcomed as the liberator of 
 subject peoples, the redresser of wrongs. He had pro- 
 cured them the sweets of a long nourished, but despaired 
 of, vengeance, and, though it was but the exchange of 
 one master for another, they tasted the satisfaction of 
 having squared some old scores with their oppressors. 
 The conquest completed, Cortes bent all his efiorts to 
 creating systems of government under which the different 
 peoples might live and prosper in common security, and, 
 with the disappearance of the need for them, the harsher 
 methods also vanished. Few of his cherished intentions 
 were realised, however, and the power which would have
 
 The Conqueror 49 
 
 enabled him to bring his wiser plans to fruition was 
 denied him. 
 
 The fruits of conquest are bitterness of spirit and 
 disappointment, though Cortes fared better than his 
 great contemporaries Columbus, Balboa, and Pizarro, 
 who after discovering continents and oceans and sub- 
 duing empires were requited with chains, the scaffold, 
 and the traitor's dagger. True, he saw himself defrauded 
 of his deserts, while royal promises were found to be 
 elastic; and in his last years he was even treated as an 
 importunate suppliant, being excluded from the presence 
 of the sovereign to whose crown he had given an empire. 
 
 Lesser men would have been content with the world- 
 wide fame, the great title, and vast estates to which 
 from modest beginnings Cortes had risen in a few brief 
 years, but a lesser man would never have accomplished 
 such vast undertakings, and it was his curse that his 
 ambitions kept pace with his achievements. From the 
 fall of Mexico until his death, his life was a series of 
 disappointments, unfulfilled ambitions, and petty miseries, 
 due to the malice of rivals, and the faithlessness of 
 friends, relieved only by some brief periods of splendid 
 triumph, illumined by royal favour. Even financial 
 embarrassments were not spared him. A curse was 
 on the Aztec gold, and it was not enough that little 
 treasure was found in the city, but Cortes must be ac- 
 cused, in the unreasoning fury of the general disappoint- 
 ment, of being in collusion with Quauhtemotzin to 
 conceal the hoard and share it together later on. He 
 yielded to this murmuring and consented to the torture 
 of the captive Emperor, for whose safety he had pledged 
 his word, thus staining his name with an indelible blot of 
 shame. His journeys to Yucatan and Honduras, so fully 
 related in the Fifth Letter, would have won renown for 
 another but they added nothing to his reputation. The 
 several expeditions to the South Sea, and his discovery 
 
 VOL. I. 4
 
 50 Letters of Cortes 
 
 of California, all cost him immense sums, plunged him 
 into debt, and merely sei-ved to pave the way for later 
 undertakings, so that he might with reason have ex- 
 claimed with Columbus, "I have opened the door for 
 others to enter." During this time he was surrounded by 
 enemies hidden and declared, who sent complaints of him 
 to Spain by every ship ; he was accused of murdering his 
 wife Catalina Xuarez who had died within a few months 
 after her arrival in Mexico where, though possibly unwel- 
 come, she was received with due honours ; he was accused 
 of defrauding the royal treasury, as well as his companions 
 in arms, and of taking an undue share of the spoils for him- 
 self ; and finally he was accused of planning to throw off his 
 allegiance to Spain, and set up an independent government 
 with himself as king. These ceaseless intrigues against 
 him finally decided the Emperor to send a high commis- 
 sioner (juez de residencia) to investigate, not only all 
 charges against the Captain-General, but also to report 
 upon the general condition of affairs in New Spain. This 
 was the means usually employed in such cases and did 
 not necessarily constitute any indignity to Cortes, to 
 whom the Emperor took occasion to write, notifying 
 him of his decision, and assuring him that it was 
 in no sense prompted by suspicions of his loyalty or 
 honesty, but rather to furnish him with the opportunity 
 of silencing his calumniators once for all by proving his 
 innocence. Don Luis Ponce de Leon, a young man of 
 high character and unusual attainments, was charged 
 with this delicate mission, and his appointment was 
 universally applauded as an admirable one. 
 
 He was received upon his arrival in Mexico by Cortes 
 and all the authorities with every distinction due to him, 
 but his untimely death of a fever within a few weeks after 
 his arrival defeated the good results expected from his 
 labours, and also furnished Cortes 's enemies with another 
 accusation — that of poisoning the royal commissioner.
 
 The Conqueror 51 
 
 His powers devolved upon Marcos de Aguilar, who was 
 not only too old for such an arduous post, but was ill of 
 a disease which, it was said, obliged him to take nourish- 
 ment by suckling, for which purpose wet nurses and 
 she-goats were daily furnished him. The speedy death of 
 this harmless old man started another story of poisoning, 
 and was followed by the supreme disaster of Estrada's 
 succession to the ill-starred commissionership, under 
 whom the baiting of Cortes went on apace, while the en- 
 tire population, Spanish as well as native, groaned under 
 oppressions and vexations innumerable. The slave-trade 
 was carried on shamelessly with nameless cruelties, 
 chiefly by the brutal Nunez de Guzman, a partisan of 
 Diego Velasquez, who had been placed by the latter' s 
 influence as Governor of Panuco, for the express purpose 
 of tormenting Cortes, and fomenting cabals against his 
 authority. This petty tyrant committed barbarities 
 never before heard of in Mexico. 
 
 Wearied out with persecutions and insults, and hopeless 
 of obtaining justice from such officials as Estrada and his 
 subordinates, Cortes decided to go to Spain and lay his 
 own case before the Emperor. His decision created some 
 consternation amongst his opponents, and Estrada realised 
 that it was a grave blunder to drive the Captain-General 
 to make a personal appeal to the Emperor. If opposition 
 or concessions could have stopped him, Cortes would 
 have relinquished his plan, for overtures were made 
 through the bishop of Tlascala, and promises of satisfac- 
 tion were not spared; but his preparations were well 
 under way, and, though perhaps somewhat mollified by 
 the changed tone of Estrada, he remained firm in his 
 purpose. Sailing with two ships from Vera Cruz (where 
 he learned the news of his father's death), he landed after 
 an unusually brief and prosperous voyage at the historic 
 port of Palos in May, 1528.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 MARQUES DEL VALLE 
 
 CORTES had aiTanged that his arrival at the Spanish 
 Court should be of the nature of a veritable 
 pageant. Different estimates of the treasure he 
 took with him are given by different authorities, but 
 these are mere matters of figures; the amount was 
 fabulous, and, in addition to this, he carried a perfect 
 museum of Mexican objects, such as the unique feather- 
 work in which the Indians excelled, arms, embroideries, 
 implements of obsidian, rare plants; indigenous products 
 such as chocolate, tobacco, vanilla, and liquid amber; 
 gorgeous parrots, herons, jaguars, and other beautiful 
 birds and animals unknown in Spain were carried 
 or led by Indians, in the dress of their tribes. That 
 nothing might be wanting, he took with him many 
 skilful jugglers, acrobats, dwarfs, albinos, and human 
 monstrosities, which were much the fashion at that time, 
 and these curiosities made such a sensation upon his 
 arrival, that Charles the Fifth could think of no fitter 
 destination for them than to send them on to His Holiness 
 Clement the Seventh, before whom they performed 
 and showed themselves to the delight and wonder of the 
 pontifical Court. In the personal suite of the Conqueror, 
 besides the numerous officials of his household, there 
 went about forty Indian princes in their most gorgeous 
 robes and jewels, amongst whom were the sons of 
 Montezuma and of the Tlascalan chief, ]\Iaxixcatzin. 
 
 The arrival of this magnificent cortege at Palos was 
 
 52
 
 Marques del Valle 53 
 
 unannounced, and hence no fitting reception had been 
 prepared there, but accident suppHed a more remarkable 
 grouping of interesting men of the century than design 
 could have provided. Within the modest walls of Santa 
 Maria la Rábida, where Columbus had found hospitality, 
 there met with Cortes, who was accompanied by Gonzalo 
 de Sandoval and Andres de Tapia, Francisco Pizarro, 
 whose brilliant career in South America, rivalling that 
 of Cortes in the North, was just dawning; and by a fateful 
 coincidence, there was also in the suite of Cortes, the 
 Spanish soldier Juan de Rada, by whose hand Pizarro 
 was destined to perish in Peru. The date of his arrival 
 at Palos is given by Bemal Diaz as December 1527, but 
 Herrera's authority for the later date has been followed 
 by Prescott, Alaman, and other historians. 
 
 The triumphal home-coming was marred at the very 
 outset by the death of Gonzalo de Sandoval at Palos, a 
 few days after their landing. For none of his captains 
 did Cortes cherish the affection he felt for this gallant 
 young soldier, who was his fellow-townsman and loyal 
 friend. Sandoval was buried at La Rábida, and Cortes 
 first went on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Guadeloupe, 
 where he spent some days in mourning his loss, and having 
 masses celebrated for the departed soul. This pious 
 duty accomplished he set out for Toledo, where the Court 
 then was, and as the news of his arrival had spread, and 
 had also been announced by his own letter to the Emperor, 
 he was everywhere accorded a veritable triumph by the 
 people, who flocked from all sides to see the hero of the 
 great conquest, and to gaze upon the marvellous trophies 
 which he brought ; so that since the first return of Columbus 
 no such demonstrations had been seen in Spain. 
 
 A brilliant group of nobles comprising the Duke of 
 Bejar, the Counts of Aguilar and Medellin, the Grand 
 Prior of St. John, and many of the first citizens of Toledo, 
 rode out from the city to meet the conqueror on the
 
 54 Letters of Cortes 
 
 plain, and the next day the Emperor received him with 
 every mark of favour, raising him up when he would 
 have knelt in the royal presence, and seating him by his 
 side. The moment was an auspicious one, for influences 
 had been at work in his favour. Since the appointment 
 of the new commission of residencia, presided over by the 
 infamous Nunez de Guzman, which had already left Spain, 
 the Emperor's information as to the real state of things in 
 Mexico and the respective merits of the contending parties, 
 had been much extended and perfected. He consulted 
 Cortes during his stay at Court upon everything pertaining 
 to the new realm; its resources, the natives, their customs, 
 the Spanish colonists, and especially concerning the best 
 means for establishing a stable government, and develop- 
 ing industries and agriculture. 
 
 Besides full power to continue his explorations, and 
 the confirmation of his rank of Captain-General, the title 
 of Marques del Valle de Oaxaca was conferred upon Cortes 
 and his descendants, by patents dated July 6, 1529, to 
 which was joined a vast grant of lands, comprising twenty- 
 eight towns and villages; one twelfth of all his future 
 discoveries was to be his own. He received the knight- 
 hood and habit of Santiago, and when he was confined to 
 his lodgings by illness, the Emperor visited him in person, 
 this latter being such a singular honour, that, as Prescott 
 caustically observes, the Spanish writers of the time 
 seemed to regard it as ample recompense for all he had 
 done and suffered. It does not seem certain that he 
 accepted the knighthood of Santiago, though Herrera 
 says that he had already possessed it since 1525. His 
 reason for his alleged refusal was that no commenda was 
 attached to the dignity, and Alaman {Dissertazione V.) says 
 that while his name is on the rolls -of the order, the 
 insignia do not appear either in his arms or his portraits, 
 nor is any mention found of his possession of this grade 
 in the list of his honours.
 
 Marques del Valle 55 
 
 It is good to note that Cortes did not forget his friends 
 while he was at court, but profited by the Emperor's 
 hour of graciousness to obtain countless favours for them, 
 especially for the Indians. The Tlascalans, in recognition 
 of their loyalty, were exempted for ever from taxes and 
 tribute; the Cempoalans were granted a Hke exemption 
 for a period of two years ; a college for the sons of Mexi- 
 can nobles, and another for girls, were endowed. Money 
 was awarded to the Franciscan order for building churches 
 and schools; tithes were established to maintain the 
 Bishop Zumarraga; various privileges were secured for 
 the original "conquerors" who had settled in the coun- 
 try. Also generous doweries were appointed to the four 
 daughters of Montezuma, who were being educated in a 
 convent in Texcoco, as well as to the daughters of Mex- 
 ican nobles who married Spaniards. 
 
 During his stay in Spain, Cortes married his second 
 wife Doña Juana de Zuñiga, a daughter of the Count of 
 Aguilar, and niece of the Duke of Bejar. His gifts to his 
 bride were of such magnificence as to arouse even the 
 Queen's envy, especially the five large stones described 
 as emeralds, which excelled any jewels ever seen, and 
 were worth a nation's ransom. There were no emeralds 
 in Mexico, and these stones were probably a kind of jade 
 or serpentine of great brilliancy and value, which were 
 easily confounded with emeralds. One of these stones 
 was cut as a bell, whose tongue was formed of a large 
 pear-shaped pearl, and which bore the inscription bcnedito 
 sea el que te crió; another was shaped like a fish with 
 golden eyes; the third was in the form of a rose; the 
 fourth in that of a trumpet; and the fifth was fashioned 
 into a cup, surmounted by a superb pearl, and standing 
 on a base of gold-, on which was the inscription, inter natos 
 mulierum non surexit major. For this last jewel alone, 
 some Genoese merchants who saw it at Palos offered 
 forty thousand ducats. The fame of these jewels was
 
 56 Letters of Cortes 
 
 such that the Queen expressed a wish to have them, and, 
 had not Cortes forestalled the royal desire by presenting 
 them to Doña Juana de Zuñiga as a marriage gift they 
 would doubtless have passed into the crown jewels of 
 Spain. 
 
 In the meantime, while Cortes was being lionised and 
 honoured in Spain, his enemies in Mexico were not idle, 
 for Nunez de Guzman from the moment of arriving there 
 had begun secretly to collect information against him, and 
 by unscrupulous and inquisitorial methods easily succeeded 
 in forming a voluminous budget of accusations, among 
 which figured the alleged poisoning of Luis Ponce de Leon, 
 the conspiracy to establish himself as independent sovereign 
 in Mexico, defrauding the royal fisc, and incitement of the 
 Indians to rebel against the royal authority while he was 
 absent in Spain. Encouraging the enemies of Cortes 
 to depose against him on the one hand, Guzman found 
 excuses for persecuting his friends on the other, even to 
 the extent of imprisoning, torturing, and hanging them 
 on one pretext or another. Things reached such a pass 
 through the violence of the president's conduct, that the 
 Bishop Fray Juan Zumarraga, a man whose exemplary 
 life gave him great influence, and the Franciscan monks, 
 sent a vigorous protest to Spain against Guzman 
 and his auditors, praying that he be deposed. This 
 petition provoked an order from the Empress-Regent and 
 the Royal Council, to take their residencia, and that they 
 be imprisoned if found guilty of the abuses imputed 
 to them. The bishop himself was appointed, ad interim, 
 president of the new audiencia, which was composed 
 of Quiroga, Salmerón, and Ceynos pending the arrival of 
 the permanent president, Don Sebastian Ramirez de 
 Fuenleal, then Bishop of San Domingo, and afterwards 
 of Cuenca. 
 
 Nunez de Guzman sought to evade the issue by organ- 
 ising, against the Chichimecas, an expedition which he
 
 Marques del Valle 57 
 
 conducted with characteristic brutahty. He left the 
 city at the head of five hundred Spaniards, and over 
 two thousand Indians, between auxiHaries and camp 
 servants, before Cortes returned from Spain. 
 
 The powers conceded to Cortes as Captain- General, 
 and for the continuation of his explorations and discover- 
 ies, were so large, and so ill-defined, that they could hardly 
 fail to conflict with those of the royal audiencia, and 
 this came to pass immediately after his arrival at Vera 
 Cruz on July 15, 1530. The Marques, as he was hence- 
 forward called, was accompanied by his wife and his 
 mother, and was received upon landing with jubilation 
 by Spaniards and Indians alike, who flocked in thousands 
 from all parts to welcome him, and to present their 
 grievances for his adjustment. The new audiencia was 
 not yet constituted, and the auditors, Matienzo and 
 Delgadillo, sent strict orders to Vera Cruz that the people 
 assembled there in Cortes's honour disperse to their 
 homes, while to Cortes himself, who had meanwhile 
 marched amid ovations by the way of Tlascala to Texcoco, 
 they delivered a prohibition to enter the capital. This 
 order was in conformity with the instructions given him 
 before leaving Spain, so he was obliged to respect it, and 
 to establish himself at Texcoco until the arrival of the 
 new audiencia which took place in December of the same 
 year, 1530. At the outset everything went well, and 
 the new auditors rendered justice in several of Cortes's 
 claims, and took counsel with him concerning affairs and 
 the measures to be adopted. This promising state of 
 things, however, was of brief duration, and, in their 
 letter of February 22, 153 1, to the Emperor, they made 
 complaints of his pretensions, and mentioned among 
 other things that the bishop in reading the prayers for 
 the King and royal family added after the words cum 
 prole regia " et duce exercitus nostri," and that they had 
 corrected him for so doing.
 
 58 Letters of Cortes 
 
 Another of their letters, in August, 1532, complains of 
 his great influence over the natives, and of his using 
 his powers as Captain-General to revenge himself on his 
 enemies, adding, " He says he will resign the Captaincy 
 General and return to Spain, Oh if he would only do it ! " 
 (Muñoz, tom. Ixxix., fol. 118). The auditors at other 
 times advised that he be called to Spain on some 
 pretext, — the more so as he wanted to go. 
 
 The conquest finished, Cortes's occupation was gone. 
 His proud spirit and active temperament could ill brook 
 the checks of the audiencia, and the limitations set to his 
 enterprises by men who neither understood nor sym- 
 pathised with them. At one time he retired in disgust 
 from the capital, intending to devote himself to the ad- 
 ministration of the affairs of his vast marquisate of Oaxaca. 
 The capture of the picturesque town of Cuernavaca is 
 described in the third letter, and for beauty of position 
 it has few rivals even in Mexico. Here Cortes had built 
 himself a handsome palace and a large church, both 
 of which are still standing, though in a lamentable state 
 of advancing delapidation. As a planter in Cuba, he had 
 already shown initiative and capacity, and he profited 
 by his former experience to introduce successfully the 
 sugar cane, the silk- worm culture, new breeds of the 
 merino sheep and various other kinds of cattle. Mills 
 for the handling of raw products were established in 
 various places, and these new industries with which 
 Cortes endowed Mexico have continued to be among 
 her chief sources of wealth. But this was insufficient 
 to occupy his restless activities, which, by the news of 
 events in Peru, and of the rich countries discovered in the 
 South Sea and along the Gulf of California, were constantly 
 excited to plan fresh enterprises. In May, 1532, he 
 fitted out two vessels which sailed from Acapulco, under 
 command of his cousin Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, one 
 of which with the commander on board was never heard of
 
 Marques del Valle 59 
 
 again, while the other reached JaHsco after many perils. 
 The misfortunes of this expedition began with a mutiny. 
 
 Two years later (1534) he built two more vessels at 
 Tehuantepec, which he entrusted to Hernando Grijalba, 
 and Diego de Bezerra de Mendoza (a relative) respectively, 
 with Ortun Jimenez as pilot. The ships got separated 
 the first night out and never saw one another again. The 
 one commanded by Grijalba discovered a deserted island 
 called Santo Tomé, somewhere off the point of Lower Cali- 
 fornia, and returned thence to Tehuantepec; the fate of 
 the other was tragical, for Bezerra was murdered in his 
 sleep by the pilot Jimenez, who took command, and, after 
 coasting along JaHsco, landed at the Bay of Santa Cruz, 
 where he, with twenty^Spaniards, was killed by the natives. 
 The remaining sailors got back to the port of Chiametla, 
 where Nunez de Guzman, who was then in Jalisco, took 
 possession of the vessel. 
 
 These two fruitless ventures decided Cortes to take 
 command himself, and in 1536 he sent three ships from 
 Tehuantepec to the port of Chiametla where he joined 
 them, marching overland from Mexico. He regained 
 possession of the ship which Guzman had seized from 
 the sailors of Jimenez, refitted it, and set out on his 
 voyage, exploring the coast for some fifty leagues beyond 
 Santa Cruz (or La Paz), during which trip he suffered 
 innumerable hardships, and lost many of his men from 
 sickness. The news of his own death reached Mexico, 
 and his wife sent two ships and a caravel to look for him 
 and bring him back. His wife's letters, together with 
 others from the royal audiencia and the Viceroy Don 
 Antonio de Mendoza, urging his return as very necessary, 
 decided Cortes to abandon further explorations, and 
 after leaving Francisco de Ulloa in California, he returned 
 to Acapulco in the early part of 1537. 
 
 He sent three ships, the Santa Águeda, La Trinidad, 
 and the Santo Tomas, back to Francisco de Ulloa in
 
 6o Letters of Cortes 
 
 May of that same year, which after some fruitless cruising 
 about, returned to Acapulco, the whole venture having 
 cost Cortes some two hundred thousand ducats {Noticia 
 Histórica. Lorenzana Cartas de Cortes, edition 1776). A 
 royal cédula, dated April i, 1539 from Saragossa, pro- 
 \'ided for the payment of this claim, but remained inef- 
 fective (Alaman, Dissertazioni . V. Italian translation 
 
 1859)- 
 Thus the only results obtained from these various 
 
 undertakings were debts, and he complained that he had 
 
 so many that he was obliged to raise money, even on his 
 
 wife's jewels. He wrote in despair to the Emperor that 
 
 it was easier to fight the Indians than to contend with 
 
 His Majesty's officials, and after years of litigation, during 
 
 which the royal authorities seemed to study how best to vex 
 
 and circumvent him, and after the series of useless but 
 
 costly expeditions in the Pacific, he started on his second 
 
 journey to Spain, which was to be his last. 
 
 A very different reception from the former one awaited 
 him, for the Emperor was coldly civil, and the Court 
 in consequence was colder. His constant complaints 
 and demands for satisfaction fell upon deaf or weary 
 ears, for Court favours usually reckon more with present 
 than with past services, and there was nothing more to be 
 obtained from Cortes, who was broken in health and no 
 longer young. At this time, too, Spain was all aflame 
 with excitement over the brilliant achievements of 
 Pizarro in Peru, which eclipsed the familiar exploits in 
 Mexico, now grown stale. 
 
 He joined the unsuccessful expedition sent against 
 Algiers in 1541, in which the ship on which he and his 
 sons Martin and Luis sailed was wrecked, together with 
 eleven galleys of Andrea Doria. They barely escaped 
 with their lives, and the five famous emeralds, which 
 constituted an important item in his fortime, and which 
 he always carried on his person, were lost.
 
 Marques del Valle 6i 
 
 The supreme slight of leaving him out of the council 
 of war, summoned to consider the plan of the campaign, 
 was at this time put upon him, and, to his boast that with 
 his Mexican veterans he could take Algiers, one of the 
 generals superciliously replied, that fighting the Moors 
 was different work from killing naked Indians. His 
 situation became less and less worthy, and an anecdote, 
 dramatically illustrating the depth to which he sunk, re- 
 lates that after vain efforts to get a hearing from the 
 Emperor, he thrust himself forward to the steps of the 
 royal carriage, where upon perceiving him the Sovereign 
 haughtily exclaimed, "And who are you?" to which 
 Cortes proudly answered, "Sire, I am a man who has 
 given Your Majesty more provinces than you possessed 
 cities." What happened next we are not told. If it 
 were true, the incident would picture eloquently the 
 degradation of the greatest captain of his age, forced 
 to waylay his Sovereign at his carriage steps like the 
 meanest beggar. There is no evidence forthcoming, 
 however, to show that any such dialogue was ever spoken. 
 Those who have believed and repeated this story, — 
 and they are many, — ^have done so on the sole authority 
 of Voltaire, with whom it apparently originated. (Essai 
 sur les Mceurs, cap. 147.) He does not indicate from what 
 source the information reached him. The scene as de- 
 scribed seems to epitomise a very tragedy of disappoint- 
 ment and humiliation, so despite the staring stamp of 
 fiction it bears, it will doubtless continue to pass for 
 history when less dramatic facts are consigned to f orget- 
 fulness. Voltaire sceptically sneered at the credulity of 
 the Spaniards, which enabled them, in the heat of the 
 fight, to see St. James and St. Peter hovering over the 
 Mexican battlefields but he himself had no difficulty in 
 beholding Cortes in such a singularly improbable situa- 
 tion as this story depicts, though indeed nothing that is 
 told of the appearances of those holy apostles seems
 
 62 Letters of Cortes 
 
 further beyond the Hmits of credibiHty. As an un- 
 heeded suppHant, the Marques suffered snubs enough, 
 without ñctitious situations being invented to illustrate 
 his fallen state. One last effort to attract his Sovereign's 
 attention to his claims, and secure the fulfilment of the 
 royal grants and promises, was made in the following 
 pathetic letter, — the last he ever wrote to Charles V., — 
 to which no response was ever made : 
 
 Sacred Catholic C cesar ian Majesty: 
 
 I thought that the labour of my youth would have pro- 
 cured me repose in my old age, and thus for forty years I 
 have given myself to God's ser\áce, deprived of sleep, eating 
 poorly, and even at times not eating at all, with my arms 
 always at my side, myself exposed to dangers and my fortune 
 sacrificed to bring into His fold the sheep of a distant and 
 unknown hemisphere, of which we even had no record, and 
 to magnify the name, and extend the patrimony of my King 
 by conquering and bringing under his royal yoke and sceptre 
 the great kingdoms and dominions of barbarous peoples. 
 And this I have done at my own expense, unaided in any way, 
 — nay rather hindered by emulous rivals, who like leeches 
 have sucked my very blood. 
 
 My hardships and vigils are sufficiently recompensed by 
 God, in that He chose me for this. His work, and though 
 people may attribute some merit to me, it will be clearly 
 seen that not without reason did Divine Providence choose 
 the meanest instrument for its greatest work, so that to God 
 alone might be the glory. 
 
 As for the remuneration due me from my King, I have 
 ever been confident that, ccsteris paribus, it would not be less 
 for being in Your Majesty's reign; for never did these king- 
 doms of my native Spain, to which these benefits accrue, 
 possess so great and catholic a prince, so magnanimous and 
 powerful a King. Thus when first I kissed Your Majesty's 
 hands, and presented the frmts of my labours, you showed 
 appreciation of them, and demonstrated intentions to recom- 
 pense me with honotu-s which, as it seemed to me, they
 
 Marques del Valle 6^ 
 
 were not equivalent to my deserts, Your Majesty knows I de- 
 murred at accepting. 
 
 Your Majesty commanded, however, that I should accept 
 them, saying they were not in payment for my ser\áces, but 
 to demonstrate your disposition to favour me, for Your Ma- 
 jesty would do as those who when shooting with the crossbow, 
 begin by firing beside the mark, but end by piercing the 
 bull's-eye, for the favours Your Majesty conferred upon me 
 were outside the mark, but would improve until they struck 
 the bull's-eye of my deserts. I was also assured that nothing 
 should be taken from me, and that I must accept what was 
 given me; hence I kissed Your Majesty's hands in gratitude. 
 When you turned your back, all that I had was taken from 
 me, nor were Your Majesty's promises to me fulfilled, for 
 since Your Majesty has such a good memory, you will not 
 have forgotten that besides these words and the promises 
 Your Majesty made me, I possess still more and greater ones 
 in Your Majesty's letters, signed with your Royal name. 
 If my services up to that time merited such acts and the 
 promises Your Majesty made me, they have not since then 
 diminished, for I have never ceased to increase the patrimony 
 of these kingdoms, and had it not been for the thousand ob- 
 stacles opposed to me, I would have accomplished as much 
 since I received Your Majesty's favours, as I had before done 
 to merit them. I do not know wherefore the promised benefits 
 are now withheld, nor why I am deprived of those I possessed. 
 And if it be said that nothing has been taken since I still 
 possess something, I reply that to have nothing, or to have 
 useless possessions, is one and the same thing, for what I 
 have produces me nothing; better were it to have nothing 
 at all than to have to use its profits to defend myself against 
 Your Majesty's fiscal officers, which indeed is harder than it 
 was to win the country from the Indians. Thus my labour 
 has procured me peace of mind for having done my duty, but 
 has brought me no profit, for not only am I without rest in 
 my old age, but work on until my death, should it not please 
 God to finish me now; for he who is so occupied in defending 
 his body must needs neglect his soul. 
 
 I beseech Your Majesty not to requite such conspicuous
 
 64 Letters of Cortes 
 
 services with so small a recompense, and since it must be 
 believed that this is not Your Majesty's fault, let it be known; 
 for, this work which God has accomplished through me is so 
 great and man-ellous, and its fame has spread so far through 
 all your kingdoms, and through all Christendom, and even 
 amongst the infidels, that everywhere the dissension between 
 the Royal ñsc and me is a subject of scandal. Some blame 
 the fiscal officers, others blame me; but since the blame suffices 
 neither to deprive me of the compensation nor to take from 
 me m}' life, my honour, and my estate, (since none of this 
 is done), it is clear that the fault is not mine. No one im- 
 putes it to Your Majesty, for did you -wish to deprive me of 
 all you had given me, the power to do so is yours, and nothing 
 is impossible to your wish and power. To say that a form 
 is sought in which the intention may be realised, does not 
 sound credible, for it suffices for a King anointed of God to 
 declare "thus I vn\\ and thus I command," for all to be ac- 
 complished without regard to forms. 
 
 I beseech that Your Majesty may be pleased to explain 
 in Madrid your intention to requite my sen'ices, and I now 
 recall some of these to your memory. Your Majesty told 
 me you wotdd order the Council to despatch my affairs, and 
 I thought this order was given since Your Majesty said 
 that you desired there should be no contention -u-ith the 
 fiscal ofi5cers. When I asked for information, they told me 
 I mtist defend myself in a suit against the claim of the fiscal 
 officers, and abide by the sentence of the Court. This seemed 
 to me to be grave, and I wrote to Your Majesty at Barcelona, 
 begging that if Your Majesty was pleased to enter into liti- 
 gation with your ser^'ant, that it should be before judges who 
 were above stispicion, and that Your Majesty should order 
 others to sit with those of the Council for the Indies, and 
 jointly reach a decision. Your Majesty was not pleased to 
 do this, though I cannot divine the cause, since the more 
 numerous the judges the better would be their decision. 
 
 I am old and poor, with more than twenty thousand 
 ducats of debts in the kingdom, besides a hundred more which 
 I brought or were sent after me, and of which I also owe some- 
 thing, for they were borrowed to be sent to me. And all draw
 
 Marques del Valle 65 
 
 interest. During the five years which have elapsed since I 
 left home, my expenses have been great, for I have main- 
 tained my three sons at Court, without once leaving, and 
 besides them men of learning, procurators, and solicitors, 
 who were all employed that Your Majesty might make use 
 of them. I also assisted in the expedition to Algiers. It 
 seems to me the fruit of my labours should not be thrown away, 
 or left to the decision of a few, without my again begging that 
 Your Majesty should be pleased to allow that all your judges of 
 the Council should understand this case and decide it justly. 
 
 I have heard that the Bishop of Cuenca desired more 
 judges than there are, because it is against him and the 
 licenciate Salmerón, the new auditor of the Indian Council, 
 that I am contending for sums of money, with interest, of 
 which they deprived me when they were judges in New Spain, 
 and it is clear that they cannot be asked to decide against 
 themselves. I have not wished to recuse them in this case, 
 because I always believed Your Majesty would not permit 
 it to reach this stage, but since Your Majesty does not please 
 to increase the number of judges, I am forced to recuse the 
 Bishop of Cuenca and Salmerón, which I do unwillingly as it 
 wastes time. This is the most damaging thing for me at 
 sixty years of age, and, after five years' absence from home. 
 I have but one son to succeed me, and though my wife is 
 young enough to bear more, my age leaves little hope, and 
 should it please God to dispose of this one before the suc- 
 cession, who will profit by what I have acquired? My very 
 memory were lost in the succession of women. Again and 
 again I implore Your Majesty to associate other judges with 
 those of the Council ; since all are your servants to whom the 
 direction of your Kingdoms and your Royal conscience is 
 confided, so also may they be trusted to decide upon Your 
 Majesty's grant to your vassal of a part of all which he won 
 for Your Majesty, without labour or cost to your Royal Person, 
 nor the responsibility of directing nor the expense of pa)áng 
 the men, who did the work, and who so loyally made over to 
 Your Majesty, not only the country he conquered, but a vast 
 quantity of gold and silver and jewels which he obtained as 
 spoils.
 
 66 Letters of Cortes 
 
 May Your Majesty also be pleased to order the judges to 
 give their decision within a certain time Your Majesty shall 
 fix and without delay. This will be a great grace to me, for 
 waiting is my loss, as I must return home, being now no 
 longer of an age to travel from inn to inn, but rather to with- 
 draw and settle my account with God, for it is a long one, 
 and little life is left me to discharge it; better to lose my 
 estate than my soul. 
 
 May God our Lord guard the Royal Person of Your 
 Majesty, with the extension of your Kingdoms and glory as 
 Your Majesty may desire. 
 
 From Valladolid, the 3rd of February, 1544. 
 
 Your Catholic Majesty's very humble ser\'ant and vassal, 
 who kisses your Royal hands and feet. 
 
 The Marques del Valle. 
 
 No reply necessary, is the laconic annotation at the 
 bottom of the last page of this letter. 
 
 The marriage arranged for his daughter with a son of 
 the Marquis of Astorga was broken off, the bridegroom 
 withdrawing because the full amount of the stipulated 
 dowry was not forthcoming, and after this mortification, 
 Cortes obtained permission to return to Mexico, travelling 
 first to Seville, where he was accorded a public reception. 
 His rapidly failing health made it apparent that his end 
 was approaching, and prompted him to withdraw for 
 quiet to CasteUeja de la Cuesta, a small town near Se- 
 ville, where he died in the house of a magistrate, Juan 
 Rodriguez, in the Calle Real, on the 2nd of December, 
 1547, attended by his son Don Martin. 
 
 Fernando Cortes was a man of medium height, deep 
 chested and slender limbed; his complexion was rather 
 pale, and his expression was serious — even sad, though 
 the glance of his eyes, which in repose were impenetrable, 
 could be kindly and responsive. His hair and beard were 
 dark and rather scanty.
 
 Marques del Valle 67 
 
 Trained from his youth to the exercise of arms, he 
 was a most dexterous swordsman, very Hght on his feet, 
 and at home in the saddle. 
 
 His speech was calm, nor did he ever use oaths or 
 strong language, nor give away to exhibitions of temper 
 though a mounting flush and the swelling veins of his 
 forehead betrayed his mastered passion when he was 
 vexed, while a characteristic gesture of annoyance or 
 impatience was the casting aside of his cloak. 
 
 He dressed with exquisite care and great sobriety, 
 eschewing any excess of ornament. One splendid jewel 
 adorned his hand, a gold medal of the Blessed Virgin, 
 with St. John on the reverse, hung from a finely wrought 
 gold chain around his neck, and just under the feathers 
 of his cap was also a gold medal; these were his only 
 ornaments. He had some knowledge of Latin, and many 
 of the psalms, hymns, and parts of the Church liturgy, 
 which he knew by heart, he was fond of reciting. 
 
 Though careless of his food, he was a great eater, but 
 moderate in drinking, and no one could better withstand 
 privations than he, as was constantly shown on his long 
 marches. His chief relaxation was games of chance, in 
 which he indulged habitually, but dispassionately, making 
 either his winnings or losses a subject for jokes and 
 laughter. When strict laws were enacted suppressing 
 gambling in Mexico, his enemies alleged that he himself 
 violated the law, and that the tables and cards were 
 always ready in his own house. 
 
 One of the most notable things in his last will is the 
 mention of his doubts about the right of holding slaves. 
 He admonishes his eldest son to look well into the ques- 
 tion, and if it should be decided by competent opinion 
 that the practice was wrong, he must act in accordance 
 with strict justice; meanwhile he must give great attention 
 to the welfare and education of his people. He left a 
 foundation and endowment fund for the hospital of Jesus
 
 68 Letters of Cortes 
 
 {la Conccpcimi) in Mexico, and for a college and monastery 
 at Coyohuacan, but the funds ran short, and only the 
 hospital was really established according to his intention. 
 Masses were directed to be said at his father's tomb, and 
 two thousand masses were provided for the souls of those 
 who had fought with him in the conquest, a provision 
 which cannot be considered in excess of their probable 
 spiritual necessities. 
 
 In his will it was provided also that his body should 
 be buried wherever he died for a period of ten years, at 
 the expiration of which time his remains were to be taken 
 to Mexico, to be there entombed in the monastery he had 
 founded in Coyohuacan; consequently his body was 
 first laid to rest with fitting ceremonies in the family 
 Chapel of the Dukes of Medina Sidonia, in the Church of 
 San Isidro at Seville. 
 
 The following epitaph was composed by his son Martin : 
 
 Padre, cuya suerte impropiamente 
 Aqueste bajo mundo poseía, 
 Valor que nuestra edad enriquecía 
 
 Descansa ahora en paz, eternamente. 
 
 (Andres Calvo, Los Tres Siglos da Mexico.) 
 
 There his body lay, until by order of his son Don 
 Martin Cortes, second Marques del Valle, it was removed 
 in 1562 to Mexico, but, contrary to the provisions in the 
 will, the place of sepulture was chosen in the monastery 
 of St. Francis in Texcoco, where his mother and one of 
 his daughters were already buried. 
 
 In 1629 Don Pedro Cortes fourth Marques del Valle 
 died in Mexico, and with his death the male descendance 
 of Cortes came to an end. 
 
 It was decided between the Viceroy, the Marques de 
 Cerralbo, and the Archbishop of Mexico, D. Francisco 
 Manso de Zuñiga, to translate the body of the Conqueror
 
 Marques del Valle 69 
 
 to the capital and bury it together with that of his last 
 descendant in the Church of St. Francis. 
 
 An elaborate funeral procession was organised, which 
 set forth from the Cortes palace headed by all the re- 
 ligious associations and confraternities, carrying their 
 respective banners, after which followed the civil tribu- 
 nals. Next came the Archbishop accompanied by the 
 cathedral chapter in full canonicals. The body of Don 
 Pedro Cortes was exposed to view in an open coffin carried 
 by knights of the chapter of Santiago, while the coffin of 
 his great ancestor covered with a black velvet pall was 
 borne by the royal judges, escorted by standard bearers 
 carrying a white banner on which were embroidered the 
 figures of the Blessed Virgin and St. John; another dis- 
 playing the royal arms of Spain and a third of black 
 velvet showing the arms of the Marques del Valle. Mem- 
 bers of the University followed, and the procession closed 
 with the Viceroy and all his court with an escort of 
 soldiers carrying arms reversed and banners trailing. 
 This funeral pageant — probably the most magnificent 
 ever seen in the new world — advanced to the accompani- 
 ment of muffled drums and solemn chantings, halting at 
 six different places for brief religious rites. 
 
 During more than a century and a half the bones of 
 Cortes were left undisturbed, until in 1794 they were 
 moved once more, and this time to the hospital of Jesus 
 of Nazareth, which he had founded and endowed, and in 
 whose chapel a monument was prepared to receive the 
 body, which was coffined in a crystal case riveted with 
 silver bars. Would that this translation had been the 
 last, and that the pilgrimages of this poor body had 
 ended within the walls its owner's piety had built. 
 
 During the period of unrest which followed immedi- 
 ately upon the establishment of Mexican independence, 
 a design was said to have been formed by some " patriots " 
 to rifle the tomb, and scatter the conqueror's ashes to
 
 70 Letters of Cortes 
 
 the winds, of which profanation the authorities were said 
 to be aware, but either unwilhng or unable to prevent it. 
 Others contrived to forestall the threatened violation, 
 and from 1823 the body of Cortes disappeared. Señor 
 Garcia Icazbalceta WTOte to Mr. Henry Harrisse upon the 
 subject saying: 
 
 The place of the present sepulture of Cortes is wrapped in 
 mystery. Don Lucas Alaman has told the history of the 
 remains of this great man. Without positively saying so, he 
 lets it be understood that they were taken to Italy. 
 
 It is generally believed that the bones of Cortes are in 
 Palermo. But some persons insist that they are still in Mexico, 
 hidden in some place absolutely unknown. Notwithstanding 
 the friendship with which Señor Alaman has honoured me, I 
 never could obtain from him a positive explanation; he would 
 always find some pretext to change the conversation. 
 
 Señor Alaman's description of what occurred in 1823 
 is substantially as follows: 
 
 Early in the year 1822 discussions began in the Mexi- 
 can Congress, in which the project of destroying the 
 monument in the hospital (of Jesus) chapel was mooted; 
 in the month of August of that year, Father Mier, in the 
 hope of forestalling the intended desecration, proposed that 
 the monument should be transferred to the National Mu- 
 seum. The following year, 1823, was marked by the trans- 
 port to the capital of the remains of the patriots who had 
 proclaimed the independence of 18 10, and certain newspa- 
 pers published violent articles, inciting the people to cele- 
 brate this event by rifling the tomb of the Conqueror, and 
 burning his body at St. Lázaro. Fearing the execution of 
 this threat, which would have left an indelible stain on the 
 national honour, the Vicar General directed the chaplain 
 of the hospital to conceal the body in a secure place, and 
 both Señor Alaman himself and Count Fernando Lucchesi, 
 who represented the Duke of Terranova's interests in
 
 Marques del Valle 71 
 
 Mexico at that time, assisted at the temporary hiding 
 away of the remains under the steps of the altar. The 
 bust and arms of gilded bronze were sent to the Duke of 
 Terranova in Palermo, and the dismantled monument 
 remained in the chapel until 1833, when it also disap- 
 peared (Alaman Dissertazioni sulla Storia del Messico 
 Dissert. V., Italian translation by Pelaez, 1859). 
 
 Thus far Señor Alaman is as explicit as possible, but 
 concerning the final resting place of the body he says 
 nothing whatever on his own account, closing the sub- 
 ject by introducing a quotation from Dr. Mora (who, 
 he says, was the first to publish these facts) , which states 
 that "afterwards the remains were sent to his family." 
 
 In the collaborated work published under the special 
 direction of Don Vincente Riva Palacio, entitled Mexico 
 a Través los Siglos, it is stated in a note on page 353 of 
 the second volume, that Cortes's body was sent to the 
 Duke of Monteleone in Italy in 1823. {"fueren rimitidos 
 a Italia a la casa de los Duques de Monteleone''). In the 
 chapters of the fourth volume, which chronicle the events 
 of the year 1823, no mention is made of this occurrence, 
 which it would surely seem was of sufficient importance 
 to merit notice. Neither Mr. Prescott nor Sir Arthur 
 Helps, nor any other as far as I can discover, has left a 
 record of any attempts to clear up this mystery. 
 
 If the remains of the conqueror were taken to Palermo 
 or consigned' to the family of the Dukes of Monteleone, 
 there is no record of the transaction, nor is any tradition 
 of it known, even by hearsay, to the present members of 
 the family, or to the keepers of the family archives. 
 
 Not the least of the glories of the Pignatelli famih', 
 which has kept its place among the foremost of Sicily 
 and Naples, is their descent from the Spanish conqueror 
 of Mexico, and it seems inadmissible that the body of 
 this illustrious ancestor should arrive at Palermo as 
 recently as 1823, be buried nobody knows where, and no
 
 72 Letters of Cortes 
 
 record of any sort be kept of such an important and 
 interesting event in the annals of the family. The ab- 
 sence, therefore, of any record, or even oral tradition, 
 of such an event seems to be at least a negative proof 
 that it never took place. It is quite thinkable that the 
 custodians of the hospital chapel, where the body lay in 
 1823, should have invented and circulated the fiction of 
 its transport out of the country to convince the intending 
 desecrators that it had been put beyond their reach; 
 meanwhile it was easy to hide the coffin in some secret 
 place, doubtless within the walls of the hospital itself, 
 where it may still lie in a forgotten grave. The legend of 
 the transport to Italy and the burial in Palermo being thus 
 started and doubtless diligently spread with a purpose, 
 encountered no contradiction, and, with the death of the 
 necessarily few persons who possessed the secret, all 
 knowledge of the facts was lost, while the invention passed 
 from legend into history, and has been commonl}^ ac- 
 cepted and quoted. Señor Garcia Icazbalceta's letter 
 to Mr. Harrisse does, however, state that " some persons 
 insist that they are still in Mexico hidden in some place 
 absolutely unknown," and these persons are doubtless 
 right. Why Señor Alaman should have made any 
 mystery about the matter, even with his friend Icazbal- 
 ceta, does not seem easy to explain, especially if he knew 
 the body to be in Palermo. If Señor Alaman knew the 
 body was in Mexico, but wished to encourage the belief 
 that it was in Palermo, his reticence with Señor Garcia 
 Icazbalceta is explicable, for it must also be borne in 
 mind that he never positively said he knew it to be in 
 Palermo, — ^he merely gave it to be understood that he 
 thought so by quoting Dr. Mora, who stated the fact 
 without ofiEering any proofs of its truth. If he wished 
 what he knew was not true to be beheved, his regard for 
 truth forbade his going to the length of a positive state- 
 ment, but he might feel justified for motives which, what-
 
 Marques del Valle 73 
 
 ever they were, in the first half of the last century, have 
 no existence now, in encouraging the spread of the Pa- 
 lermo legend. Or it may also well be that Señor Alaman 
 was partly convinced by what he heard that the body 
 was in Palermo, but in the face of the contrary assertions 
 made by some persons, and the absence of any authentic 
 record of the transaction, was reluctant to commit him- 
 self to a positive statement. 
 
 The Republic of Mexico has emerged from its state 
 of infancy, and has successfully survived the periods of 
 trials, and perilous struggles, which all new nations must 
 traverse to reach the state of permanent and prosperous 
 peace, indispensable to national greatness. The four 
 hundredth anniversary of the discovery and conquest, 
 which looms in sight, will find her in the foremost ranks 
 of the republics of the New World, and these great events 
 will doubtless be commemorated by becoming celebra- 
 tions, which shall suitably revive the memory of the 
 great Conqueror, and his intrepid allies of Tlascala. 
 If there be any clue or trace by which the body of Cortes 
 can be found, it should be diligently followed up, until 
 the remains are recovered and restored to the place of 
 honour in the national pantheon.
 
 LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF FERNANDO 
 CORTES MARQUES DEL VALLE DE OAXACA 
 
 75
 
 LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT 
 
 IN the name of the Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and 
 Holy Ghost, who are three persons and one, only, and 
 true God Whom I hold, believe, and confess to be my 
 true God and Redeemer, and of the most glorious and for- 
 tunate Virgin His Blessed Mother, our Lady and Advocate. 
 Let all who may see this Testament know that I, Don 
 Fernando Cortes, Marques del Valle de Oaxaca, Captain 
 General of New Spain and the South Sea for the Caesarian 
 Majesty of the Emperor Charles, fifth of this name, my sover- 
 eign Prince and Lord, being ill, but in such free and sound 
 judgment with which it has pleased God to endow me, fearing 
 death, as is natural to every creature, and desiring to prepare 
 myself against such time as it may please God to call me 
 hence, do for the good of my soul, and the peace and discharge 
 of my conscience, execute, and recognise this document which 
 I do make, and order as my last testament and final will, in 
 the following form and manner. 
 
 I. First I direct that, should I die in the Spanish realm, 
 my body shall be interred in the church of that parish wherein 
 shall stand the house in which I die, and that there it shall 
 remain until such time as it may please my successor to trans- 
 port my bones to New Spain ; this I charge and direct him to 
 do within ten years and sooner if possible, and that he trans- 
 port them thence to my town of Coyoacan, and there give 
 them sepulture in the monastery of the nuns called La Con- 
 cepción, of the order of St. Francis which I have founded in 
 my said town, with provision for the interment of myself 
 and my successors. 
 
 II. Item: I direct that should it please God that my end 
 and death should take place in this realm of Spain, my burial 
 shall be attended to, according to the provisions of those 
 
 77
 
 78 
 
 Letters of Cortes 
 
 gentlemen whom I have named my executors, or of any one 
 of them who may be present, and that everything suitable 
 thereto be decently ordered. 
 
 III. I direct, furthermore, that the beneficed clergy and 
 chaplains of the parish church of the town or place where I 
 die shall carry my body, and that all the monks of the re- 
 ligious Orders shall also march in procession, headed by the 
 cross, and assist at the obsequies which shall be celebrated; 
 and I direct that the usual alms may be given to the said 
 religious orders according to the judgment of my said 
 executors. 
 
 IV. Item: I direct that, on the day of my death, fifty 
 poor men be provided out of my means with full gowns of 
 grey cloth, with large hoods of the same, and shall accompany 
 my funeral procession bearing lighted torches, after which 
 each shall receive one real. 
 
 V. Item: I direct that on the same day of my funeral, 
 if it should take place before midday, and otherwise on the 
 day following, all the masses possible shall be said in all the 
 churches and monasteries of the said city or town or place 
 of my death; and besides these masses, five thousand more 
 shall be said on successive days in the following manner: 
 one thousand for the souls in purgatory, two thousand 
 for the souls of those who lost their lives serving under 
 me in the discoveries and conquests which I made in New 
 Spain, and the two remaining thousand for the souls of all 
 towards whom I have obligations of which I am ignorant or 
 forgetful; those which I do know and remember shall be 
 discharged as I direct in this my testament. My executors 
 shall recompense the said five thousand masses according to 
 custom, and I beg them in all that concerns my funeral to 
 suppress the worldly pomps, and devote money rather to the 
 good of souls. 
 
 VI. Item: On the said day of my burial my executors 
 shall furnish all my own servants and those of my sons with a 
 suitable mourning dress, as they shall judge proper, and during 
 six succeeding months, my servants shall continue to receive 
 their usual stipend with their food and drink, exactly as 
 during my lifetime. Those who do not remain in the service
 
 Last Will and Testament 79 
 
 of my son and successor Don Martin shall receive their pay- 
 ment in full on the day they leave his service. 
 
 VII. Item: I direct that when my bones shall be trans- 
 ported to New Spain for interment in the monastery church 
 of Coyoacan, which I direct to be built, that this shall be 
 done by order of the Marquesa Doña Juana de Zuñiga, my 
 wife, and in such ■v^dse as she or my son or my successor at 
 that time, whichever of them may be living at that time, shall 
 direct. 
 
 VIII. Item: I direct that the bones of Doña Catalina 
 Pizarro my lady mother, and those of Don Luis my son, 
 which are buried in the monastery church of St. Francis in 
 Texcoco, and those of Doña Catalina my daughter which are 
 in the monastery of Cuahuanavac (Cuernavaca) , be brought, 
 and buried in my sepulchre in the said monastery which I 
 found in my town of Coyoacan. 
 
 IX. Item: I direct that the hospital of Our Lady of the 
 Conception, which I directed to be founded in the city of 
 Mexico in New Spain, shall be finished at my cost according 
 to the plan drawn. The principal chapel of its church shall 
 be completed according to the model in wood made by Pedro 
 Vasquez Jumetrico, and the plan described in the letter which 
 I sent to New Spain, in this present year 1547. For these 
 costs I set apart especially the rents deriving from my shops 
 and houses in the said city, situated in the square and street 
 of Tacuba and San Francisco, and in the street which unites 
 them ; this income shall be given exclusively to the said works 
 until they are completed, nor shall my successor employ 
 them for any other purposes. But it is my wish and will 
 that the expenditure be made by my successor as patron of 
 
 ■ the hospital, and, when the works are finished according to 
 the said plans, that the same rents shall be devoted to pro- 
 viding revenues for the wants of the administration, and the 
 direction of the said hospital, following in this institution 
 the order laid down by me before a notary public. Failing 
 this, I direct that the same system of administration be 
 adopted as that which obtains in the hospital of the Five 
 Wounds, founded by Doña Catalina de Rivera (may she 
 have glory), for maintaining the administrators, chaplains.
 
 8o Letters of Cortes 
 
 and other officers and servants attached to the said 
 hospital. 
 
 X. Item: I direct that in the chapel of the monastery 
 of St. Francis in Medellin, where my father Martin Cortes is 
 buried, the memorial masses, for which I leave provision, 
 shall be celebrated yearly in perpetuity. My successor or 
 successors shall for all time see to this, for which purpose I 
 name, as patron of the said chapel, my son and successor 
 Don Martin Cortes, and after him those who shall follow him 
 in the succession. He, holding the said patronage (or those 
 who succeed him by right of primogeniture), may name as 
 his substitute for the exercise of the said patronage such 
 person or persons as may be desirable for such time as may 
 please him, and hold full power to revoke such appointment 
 whenever he may so desire, substituting any other who is 
 deemed suitable. Such person, thus appointed, shall, in the 
 absence of the head of my house, hold the same power and 
 faculties as the said patron himself, for such time as his 
 appointment may last. 
 
 XL Item: I declare that since Almighty God Our Lord 
 has vouchsafed to advance and favour me in the discovery 
 and conquest of New Spain, and I have always received from 
 His merciful hand very great favours and mercies, both in 
 my victories over the enemies of His Holy Catholic Faith, 
 and in the pacification and settlement of those kingdoms, 
 from which I hope great service may accrue to God our Lord, 
 I order that the following works be undertaken in grateful 
 recognition of those said favours and mercies, and also to 
 discharge and satisfy my conscience for whatsoever faults 
 or burdens may lie thereon, but of which my memory no 
 longer takes account to enable me to specify them : 
 
 XII. I order and direct that, in addition to the aforesaid 
 hospital which I have already provided shall be built in the 
 city of Mexico, a monastery of the nuns of the Conception, 
 belonging to the Order of St. Francis, shall be built in my 
 town of Coyoacan, in such place, and according to such plan 
 as I shall indicate; and should I not leave these instructions, 
 then I direct that my successor or his deputy shall found and 
 build it, providing a community with such endowment as
 
 Last Will and Testament 8i 
 
 shall be required. I designate the said monastery in my 
 town of Coyoacan as my place of sepulture, which I direct 
 shall be in the major chapel of the church of the said monas- 
 tery, where no other persons except my legitimate descend- 
 ants may be buried. 
 
 XIII. Item: I direct that a college shall be built in my 
 said town of Coyoacan for students of theology and canon 
 law; that there may be learned persons to officiate in the 
 churches, and to train and instruct the natives in our Holy 
 Catholic Faith. This college shall be provided with faculties, 
 and receive a number of students, and the rules and consti- 
 tutions which I shall establish for it shall be observed. It 
 shall be built in such place, and after a plan suitable to the 
 said institution, and with such regulations and ordinances 
 as I shall prescribe, and, if perchance I should not explain 
 these, I direct that my successor or his deputy shall organise 
 and build it, adopting the statutes, constitutions, and or- 
 dinances governing the college of Santa Maria de Jesus founded 
 in this city of Seville. The costs and expenses of the said 
 college shall be covered and supplied from the rents which 
 will be designated. 
 
 XIV. Item: I destine, for the endowment of the said 
 hospital of Our Lady of the Conception which I am building 
 in Mexico, two front ground plots of the houses of Jorge 
 Alvarado, and of the treasurer Juan Alonso de Sosa, between 
 my house and the aqueduct which extends to the houses of 
 Don Luis Saavedra, which being now unoccupied, I assume 
 the obligation to construct such buildings as may amply 
 suffice for the said endowment. During such time as the 
 said buildings are not constructed, the said hospital shall 
 receive support from my estate to the amount of one hundred 
 thousand maravedís of good money. I direct that the said 
 endowment shall be furnished as is provided, and with the 
 conditions I shall hereafter state, and I direct that my suc- 
 cessor shall be free at any time to allot the said hospital 
 some part of the said one hundred thousand maravedís in- 
 come, in lieu of the said buildings, should he so desire, affect- 
 ing this substitution in any assured manner he may wish. 
 
 XV. Item: as, likewise, I have stated and bound myself
 
 82 
 
 Letters of Cortes 
 
 to furnish to the said hospital lands near the city of Mexico, 
 producing three hundred thousand fanegas of wheat, as is 
 set forth in the said endowment to which I refer, I direct 
 that this obligation be fulfilled, and I assign for such pur- 
 pose a piece of land, which I own, at the extremity of Coy- 
 oacan, situated between that town, and the river which 
 crosses the road leading to Chapultepec. Should this not 
 suffice, the amount shall be completed, at the option of my 
 successor, from other lands where I have had, and have, my 
 plantations, situated beyond the said river in the direction of 
 Chapultepec. Should my successor or successors at any time 
 wish to substitute for the said hospital, as required by the 
 endowment, other lands producing three hundred thousand 
 fanegas of wheat, this may be done, on condition that 
 they are as good as those I have designated. As I do 
 not know whether some part of the lands, indicated and 
 named by me for the said hospital, may not belong to me as 
 Señor (proprietary lord) of that place, or by other title, I 
 direct that any such be restored to their owners, who shall be 
 paid the full value to their satisfaction. As I have worked 
 such lands, profiting by them, under the belief that I might 
 do so with a clear conscience, I direct that the rightful owners 
 of the said lands be repaid the amount it may be shown I have 
 derived from them, so that my conscience may be clean; my 
 said successor shall be obliged, should these lands be shown 
 not to belong to me, to make good the amount provided in 
 the act of endowment to the said hospital. 
 
 XVI. Item: I declare and say that, as has been stated, 
 the construction of the said hospital in Mexico shall be com- 
 pleted in the said city as above mentioned out of the rents of 
 the lands and buildings I own in the square and streets of 
 Tacuba and San Francisco; and this construction completed, 
 the income from the said shops and buildings shall revert to 
 my successor or successors. They shall henceforth devote 
 this entire sum annually to the construction of the monastery 
 of nuns, and of the above mentioned college which I directed 
 to be founded and built in my said town of Coyoacan, using 
 and distributing the sums necessary to put them in possession. 
 
 XVII. And, that the works of the said hospital, mon-
 
 Last Will and Testament 83 
 
 astery, and college above described may be speedily completed, 
 and the service of God our Lord thereby promoted, as it is 
 hoped, I direct that, in addition to the four thousand ducats 
 derived from the buildings already indicated for the works of 
 the said hospital in Mexico, and the said college and monastery 
 in Coyoacan, six thousand ducats more shall be used from 
 my estate each year from the date of my death, so that in all 
 there will thus be ten thousand ducats devoted to this pur- 
 pose ; four thousand from the income of the shops and buildings 
 for the work on the said hospital until it is finished; three 
 thousand for the construction of the said monastery of nuns; 
 and the remaining three thousand for the building of the said 
 college. When the work on the said hospital shall be ter- 
 minated, the four thousand ducats set apart therefor shall 
 be divided into equal parts, and devoted to the works on the 
 said monastery and college, so that each of these may thus 
 dispose of five thousand ducats yearly. These works being 
 completed, in order to relieve my successor of the obligation 
 of continuing from thenceforth forever to give the six thousand 
 and the four thousand ducats from the income of the said 
 shops and buildings, these sums shall be distributed as follows: 
 one thousand ducats for the endowment and estates of the 
 said monastery of nuns which, as has been said, I directed to be 
 founded in my town of Coyoacan; two thousand ducats for 
 the endowment and expenses of the said college which I 
 directed to be founded in the same town ; and another thousand 
 ducats do I adjudge to the said hospital of the Conception 
 which I directed to be founded in the said city of Mexico. 
 This last shall be with such condition that, by a yearly pay- 
 ment of this sum, the obligation assumed by me and my 
 successor and successors (to build for the endowment of the 
 said hospital certain houses, and two front ground plots of 
 the houses of Jorge de Alv arado and the treasurer Juan de 
 Sosa) may be acquitted, as well our obligation to provide one 
 hundred thousand maravedís of annual income to the said 
 hospital should we fail to construct the said buildings. This 
 is also that I and my successor and successors may be released 
 from the obligation, which I assumed when I endowed the said 
 hospital, of giving it certain lands near the city of Mexico,
 
 84 Letters of Cortes 
 
 yielding three hundred janegas of wheat; for it is my wish and 
 intention that, by giving the said hospital an annual income in 
 perpetuity of one thousand üÍMcaíí, I and my successor and suc- 
 cessors may be released from all claim upon the said houses, 
 or in lieu of them, the said one hundred thousand maravedís, 
 and the said lands producing three hundred fanegas of wheat ; 
 all of which both in whole and in part I direct shall return 
 to the possession and enjoyment of my successor and suc- 
 cessors. Should the said hospital not desist from such claim, 
 I direct that this provision and endowment of one thousand 
 ducats yearly income shall be of no value or effect, but this 
 sum shall revert to my successor or successors. 
 
 XVIII. Item: I say that, inasmuch as it is seen by ex- 
 perience that the revenues from lands and houses, both 
 in Spain and in New Spain, increase daily, my shops and 
 buildings, above mentioned, may become of greater value, 
 and yield an income exceeding the amount of four thousand 
 ducats which I devise and give forevermore, as is attested 
 by the endowments of the said monastery of nuns, the said 
 college, and the said hospital, and it is my will that should 
 the said shops and buildings become more valuable and 3áeld 
 more rent, that the excess of value and rent, over and above 
 the said four thousand ducats, shall be divided as follows: 
 two parts of the said excess to go to the said college and of 
 the remaining two parts one each to the said monastery of 
 nuns and to the said hospital. 
 
 XIX. Item: I say and direct that, by virtue of the grant 
 made to me by the Emperor our King, and Lord of the towns 
 therein mentioned, his rights of patronage over the churches 
 of the said towns belong to me in conformity with a clause of 
 the said grant, in which it is declared that I possess in those 
 towns all the rights, contributions, and customs, and every- 
 thing else which His Majesty has or may have in the other 
 towns of New Spain, which, excepting the mines and salt, 
 remain the property of his royal crown. Thus, except these 
 two things specified in the grant, the right of patronage 
 belonging to him, belongs for the same reason to me. In 
 addition to the grant made me by His Majesty, I hold the 
 said rights of patronage by concession of His Holiness, the bull
 
 Last Will and Testament 85 
 
 for which is deposited with His Majesty, and his Council for 
 the Indies, that they may recognise as valid the said concession. 
 I desire, and it is my will, that my successor or successors, 
 may have and preserve forever the said right of patron- 
 age. As, at the time I solicited the concession from His 
 Holiness, it was my intention that the natives of those towns 
 should be better instructed in the doctrines of our Holy Catholic 
 Faith, I direct and charge Don Martin, my son, and successor 
 and successors, to have very special care of this, conferring the 
 benefices of the said towns upon able men of good life and 
 example, with the obligation to daily instruct the said natives; 
 and that they take great care to oversee and ascertain very 
 particularly how this is done and fulfilled. As the said con- 
 cession from His Holiness says that I and my heirs and suc- 
 cessors should have and receive the tithes and first fruits from 
 the said towns, comprised in the right of patronage for the 
 endowment of the churches, I direct that dowries, vestments, 
 and other things necessary for the cult, and the wine for the 
 administration of the Sacraments, be aU provided for out of 
 the said tithes and first fruits. During such time as this is 
 not complied with, through no fault of my successor or suc- 
 cessors, the said tithes and first fruits may not be employed 
 otherwise, for, from this time forth and forever, I destine and 
 apply these to provide the said churches with all whatsoever 
 belongs to or concerns them in so far as may be necessary for 
 the purposes above expressed, the control and enjoyment of 
 the said light of patronage remaining to my successors the 
 same as it has been conceded to me; hence it is my will that 
 whatever may remain of the said titles and first fruits of these 
 churches, over and above the expenses above set forth, being 
 properties dedicated to God Our Lord, and to His holy temples, 
 shall be used and distributed in works of His service, and for 
 no other purpose I say therefor and direct that such surplus 
 of tithes and first fruits, after each year's expenditure for 
 the above mentioned objects, shall be adjudged perpetually 
 by my successor or successors or their deputies as fol- 
 lows: — one half to the endowment of the said college, and 
 the remainder divided equally between the said monas- 
 tery, and the said hospital, in the same proportion as the
 
 86 Letters of Cortes 
 
 division which is made of the rents from the said shops and 
 buildings. 
 
 XX. Item: I direct that ten thousand ducats be paid to 
 my wife, the Marquesa Doña Juana de Zuñiga, which sum 
 I received as her dowry ; forasmuch as I received and expended 
 them, and they belong to her, I direct that they be paid with- 
 out dispute or question from the first and best properties of 
 my estate. 
 
 XXI. Item: I say that, since, between Don Pedro Alvarez 
 Osorio, marques de Astorga, and myself, it has been arranged 
 and concerted that his eldest son and heir, Don Alvaro Perez 
 Osorio, should marry Doña Maria Cortes, legitimate daughter 
 of myself and the Marquesa Doña Juana de Zuñiga, my 
 wife, and the conditions of this marriage have been set forth 
 in a contract, it is my will that it should be fulfilled according 
 to the stipulations; and as I have agreed and promised one 
 hundred thousand ducats as a dower for the said Doña Maria, 
 my daughter, of which the marques de Astorga, conformably 
 to the said stipulations, has already received twenty thousand 
 ducats, I desire that before everything else the remaining 
 eighty thousand ducats be paid from the estates of the said 
 marquesa, my wife, and from my own to complete the 
 said dower, at the time and in the manner provided in the said 
 contract. These sums shall be charged against the legitimate 
 share of oirr estates which would belong to my daughter Doña 
 Maria. 
 
 XXII. As I am obliged to dower Doña Catalina and Doña 
 Juana, the legitimate daughters of myself and my wife, the 
 said marquesa, I direct that, in discharge of this obligation 
 as best I can, each of them shall receive fifty thousand ducats, 
 making one hundred thousand for both; for which purpose I 
 transfer this sum irrevocably during my lifetime to Melchor 
 de Mojica, my administrator and secretary, who is here present 
 and accepts the same in my name. These hundred thousand 
 ducats may be taken from the joint estate of the marquesa 
 my wife, and mine, and charged against the share her legiti- 
 mate daughters would have of our estate. Failing the neces- 
 sary sum, at the time of my death, to pay these hundred 
 thousand ducats, I desire that whatever is wanting shall be
 
 Last Will and Testament 87 
 
 paid by my son and successor, Don Martin, or whatever other 
 successor, by setting apart from my estate fifteen thousand 
 ducats yearly, until the full amount of one hundred thousand 
 ducats be made up, as said above. 
 
 I, Melchor de Mojica accept and receive the said dower of 
 one hundred thousand ducats in the name of the said ladies, 
 Doña Catalina and Doña Juana, as set forth in this article, 
 and, in witness and confirmation of the same, I here sign 
 my name. 
 
 Melchor de Mojica. 
 
 XXIII. Item: I direct, and place as a charge on my suc- 
 cessor, and on the income of my estate, an annual pension of 
 one thousand ducats in gold to each of my natural sons, Don 
 Martin and Don Luis Cortes, for their lifetime, or until each 
 of them may have an income of over five thousand maravedís. 
 I direct that these sums be paid, free from any tax of any sort, 
 annually; and from this time forth I establish them as theirs, 
 from the best share of my rents. I direct that my sons, Don 
 Martin and Don Luis, be subject and obedient to my successor 
 in everything, in which they honestly may, as to the chief and 
 head of the family from which they spring, and that for no 
 reason shall they disobey or fail in their respect to him, but 
 shall assist and serve him in everything not contrary to God 
 Our Lord, or His holy religion, and Catholic Faith, or against 
 their rightful king; and I direct that should either show notori- 
 ous disobedience or disrespect, such as may be proven as such, 
 they shall lose the benefits and substance they receive, and 
 shall be considered as strangers to my house and children, 
 
 XXIV. Item: I direct that marriages for my daughters, 
 Doña Catalina and Doña Juana, are to he arranged only upon 
 the counsel, and with the approval, of the marquesa, their 
 mother, and of my successor. Should either of them marry 
 outside this condition, my successor shall not be obliged to 
 pay anything of the dower I have provided. 
 
 XXV. Item: I direct that Doña Catalina Pizarro, my 
 daughter by Leonor Pizarro, wife of Juan de Salcedo, a citizen 
 of Mexico, be given the full amount of the income and increase 
 of the cows, mares, and ewes which I gave her when she first
 
 88 Letters of Cortes 
 
 came to the kinjidom of Mexico, together with the income 
 from the town of Chinantla, and all else that I assigned for her 
 marriage dower and delivered to the said Juan de Salcedo, 
 husband of Doña Leonor Pizarro, her mother. And, as I 
 have received from the increase on the said ranches a number 
 of horses, bulls, rams, and monies, I direct that this amount 
 be repaid out of my estate, to my daughter Doña Catalina, 
 according to the account presented by the said Juan de 
 Salcedo, at the price they were worth when I received them. 
 I confess, now% that two receipts, made to me by Hernando 
 de Saavedra, and Gil Gonzale de Benevides, for a certain 
 amount in gold for some cows which I sold them at four differ- 
 ent times, as will appear from the said receipts, really belong 
 to the estate and increase of my daughter Doña Catalina, 
 although they are made out to me; and I therefore direct 
 that they be paid to her with interest, being hers, and coming 
 from her estate. The amounts of the said receipts are two 
 thousand pesos of good gold for the one, and two thousand 
 seven hundred and fifty for the other. 
 
 XXVI. Item: I acknowledge another receipt from Fran- 
 cisco de Villegas, citizen of Mexico, given me for two thousand 
 pesos in gold for some cow^s, of which, according to Juan de 
 Salcedo's statement, he only owes one thousand, as he did not 
 receive the full nimiber of cows sold to him, which coming 
 also from the property of my daughter. Doña Catalina, I order 
 be paid to her. 
 
 XXVII. Item: I also acknowledge another receipt, of 
 four hundred pesos, made me by Bernardino del Castillo, 
 for mares, likewise coming from the property of my daughter. 
 Doña Catalina; I order that this be paid to her. 
 
 XXVIII. Item: I acknowledge another receipt, for two 
 thousand four hundred pesos in gold, given me by Alonzo 
 Dávalos, for twelve mares and six fillies, coming from the 
 property of my daughter. Doña Catalina; I order that this be 
 paid to her. 
 
 XXIX. Item: I declare that all the cows and nocks at 
 Matalango belong to my daughter, Doña Catalina, and to 
 the said Leonor Pizarro, besides all the mares and colts at 
 Taltizapan, which bear her brand of a large E on the haunch.
 
 Last Will and Testament 89 
 
 XXX. Item: I declare that, of the receipt made by Gil 
 Gonzale de Benevides with Hernando de Saavedra, which, 
 as above said, belongs to my daughter. Doña Catalina, three 
 hundred and fifty castellanos in gold have been paid, which I 
 received in four horses which I possess; I order that this be 
 paid to the said Doña Catalina. 
 
 XXXI. Item: I declare that I gave a final quittance to 
 the said Juan de Salcedo, citizen of Mexico, husband of the 
 said Leonor Pizarro, stating that I gave and give it him in full 
 receipt for all accounts he had with the estate and goods of 
 Doña Catalina Pizarro, my daughter, which were delivered to 
 him. I say that I gave the said final quittance, notwith- 
 standing I was not disposed to give it without the accounts 
 and payments, at the instance and entreaty of the said Juan 
 de Salcedo, to save him the necessity of rendering the said 
 accounts during my absence; for which he promised, under 
 oath, that, on my return from my journey, he would present 
 them in full, without fraud nor taking anything from the said 
 Doña Catalina; and this he did, with Andres de Tapia present 
 as witness. 
 
 XXXII. Item: I direct that, when it may please Our 
 Lord that the said Doña Catalina, my daughter, should marry, 
 she shall do so on the counsel, and with the consent of my 
 successor, whom I beg to take special care to provide that his 
 sister Catalina marries as becomes the honour of our house 
 and her own. 
 
 XXXIII. Item: I direct that my natural daughters. 
 Doña Leonor and Doña Maria, shall receive as dowries, each, 
 ten thousand ducats from my estate, recommending them to 
 marry with the counsel and consent of my said successor, whom 
 I charge as in the former article touching his sister, Doña 
 CataUna. Should either or both die before marrying, or 
 desire to enter the religious life, let them receive for their 
 support and expenses sixty thousand maravedís yearly; the 
 remainder reverting to my son and successor Don Martin, 
 and those who follow him. 
 
 XXXIV. Item: I direct that, as some persons have 
 served on my farming estates, and I do not know whether 
 they have been paid, the conditions agreed upon with me or
 
 9© Letters of Cortes 
 
 my administrators at the time of their engagement shall be 
 ascertained, and that they be paid as the books of the ad- 
 ministration show to be just, without wearying them with 
 more controversy than is required to discover the truth. 
 This to be done on the conscience of my successor and exe- 
 cutors, without their being obliged to give any other account 
 than that they have paid them. 
 
 XXXV. Item: I direct that all debts as shall appear from 
 my account books, owing to people in my service, both here 
 in Spain and in New Spain, shall be paid in accordance with 
 the conditions established when they entered my service, 
 and that this be done without delay or dispute. As Bernar- 
 dino del Castillo was engaged in taking account of all that 
 the licenciate Don Juan Altamirano has furnished and sent 
 me, I direct that the statement of the said licenciate be 
 accepted. 
 
 XXXVI. Item: I direct that all my debts of whatever 
 nature public and private, when shewn to be justly mine, be 
 paid without delay or process of law, but quickly and without 
 incurring expense. As I may have debts for which I have no 
 written proof, I direct that all such, if shew^n to be mine, even 
 without writing, be paid without process of law, up to the 
 amount of one hundred pesos in good money. 
 
 XXXVII. Item: I say that I have spent large sums of 
 money in New Spain and its provinces, which I conquered 
 and brought under the dominion of the royal crown of Castile, 
 both in the conquest, as well as in the armadas which I sent 
 elsewhere, such as those I sent to Amaluco (Molucca Island) , 
 under the captain Alvaro de Saavedra, and one sent to Hibu- 
 eras, with settlers commanded by Gerónimo Prima, and 
 another to the same province of Hibueras, of which Francisco 
 de las Casas was captain. All were sent by order of our lord 
 the Emperor, as may be seen from his royal instructions and 
 signature, andas His Majesty, to discharge his royal conscience, 
 and as a most Christian prince, sent me his royal cédula, which 
 is among the papers in possession of the licenciate Juan Alta- 
 mirano, and an order of his royal council, authorised an 
 account to be made with me of all I have spent in the said 
 conquests and armadas, I direct that this account be made
 
 Last Will and Testament 91 
 
 and presented to His Majesty, since he was pleased to order 
 payment to me. This sum I wish and direct to go to my 
 heir, the said Don Martin Cortes, my son and successor in 
 my house and estate, and to the successors who shall follow 
 him. 
 
 XXXVIII. Item: I direct that the said Don Martin, my 
 son, (and those who may succeed), shall have the following 
 upon his conscience: His Majesty granted me the towns, 
 places, and lands of the estate I have and own in New Spain, 
 with all the rents, rights, tributes, and contributions belonging 
 to His Majesty, exactly as the former rulers used to receive 
 them before the conquest. I have used all diligence to verify 
 the said rents, tributes, rights, and contributions which those 
 rulers enjoyed, and I was careful to continue the former masters 
 where such tributes and rents are usually paid, in agreement 
 with whom I have collected the said rents and tributes until 
 today. I direct that, if it shall at any time appear that I was 
 badly informed as to the above, and have taken anything not 
 belonging to me, of which I was until today unaware, thinking 
 I took my rights, it shall be rectified. 
 
 XXXIX. Item: as there have been many doubts and 
 opinions as to whether it is permitted with a good conscience 
 to hold the natives as slaves, whether captives of war or by 
 purchase, and up till now this has not been determined, I 
 direct my son and successor Don Martin, and those who may 
 follow him, to use all diligence to settle this point for the 
 peace of my conscience and their own. 
 
 XL. Item: I direct that, as in some places on my estates 
 pieces of ground have been taken for orchards, vineyards, 
 cotton-fields and other purpose, it must be ascertained whether 
 such lands belonged to the natives of those towns, and, if so, I 
 order that they be restored, with all such profits their owners 
 might have derived from them, compensating, and receiving 
 in total, discharge of all the rents and tributes which they 
 were obliged to pay for them; and, in the case of Bernardino 
 del Castillo, my servant, to whom, in past years, I gave a piece 
 of land, situated on the outskirts of Coyoacan, on whicli he 
 built a sugar mill, I order that this be done should it appear 
 that the land belongs to third parties.
 
 92 Letters of Cortes 
 
 XLI. Item: I direct that, as I have received, in addition 
 to the tributes paid me by vassals, other ser\'ices both personal 
 and real, and as on this point also opinions differ as to whether 
 such maybe accepted with a good conscience, this matter shall 
 be investigated, and, if it appears that I have received more 
 of such ser\'ices than belonged to me, those natives shall be 
 paid and indemnified in all that it shall appear they may justly 
 claim. 
 
 XLII. Item: I direct that all my account books be 
 examined, especially a large one in possession of Francisco 
 de Santa Cruz, which my secretary and scrivener Juan de 
 Rivera began, but which passed to the said Francisco de Santa 
 Cruz, who keeps my said books. I order that all debts found 
 therein, due to all persons whatsoever shall be paid, and like- 
 wise that all debts due to me be collected; and, I order that 
 the said Francisco de Santa Cruz render his accounts for 
 the time he has had charge of my business, and everything be 
 settled with him, and that all on our side and the other be paid. 
 
 XLIII. Item: I say that, inasmuch as I loaned Bernar- 
 dino del Castillo at the time of his marriage one thousand 
 castellanos in gold and silver, besides six hundred more in 
 furnishings for the shop next to the clock tower, as will appear 
 from a receipt signed with his name, and deposited with the 
 licenciate Juan Altamirano, he shall be credited with what I 
 owe him for the time of his service which may be determined 
 by a receipt signed by me when I left Coyoacan, and the 
 remainder shall go to my successor. 
 
 XLIV. Item: I direct that, for as long as Doña Elvira 
 de Hermosa, daughter of Luis de Hermosa, citizen of Avila, 
 who is now maid to the marquesa, my wife, shall remain in the 
 service of any of my daughters or of the wife of Don Martin, 
 she shall be paid twenty thousand maravedís annually; and 
 should she desire to become a nun, or to live unmarried in 
 this city, she shall be paid from my estate two hundred 
 thousand maravedís besides giving her the twenty thousand 
 maravedís annually. 
 
 XLV. Item: I direct that, for as long as my cousin Cecilia 
 Vazquez Altamirano may desire to remain with the mar- 
 quesa, my wife, or with any of my daughters, or the wife of
 
 Last Will and Testament 93 
 
 Don Martin, she shall enjoy the same respect I have ever 
 shown her; and I desire that, wherever she may choose to live, 
 one thousand maravedís shall be surely and regularly paid 
 her annually from my estate. 
 
 XLVI. Item: I direct that two hundred thousand mara- 
 vedís be paid from my estate to each of the two daughters of 
 the administrator, Juan Altamirano, my cousin, for their 
 dowry, and marriage portion. 
 
 XLVII. Item: I direct that, for as long as the said Juan 
 Altamirano may wish to retain the charge of the administra- 
 tion in my household, this shall be allowed him, and, with the 
 profit assigned him by my cédula, shall be continued to him 
 for as long as he may wish. 
 
 XLVIII. Item: I direct that three hundred thousand 
 maravedís be paid to Doña Beatriz, and Doña Luisa, her 
 sister, daughters of the marquesa my wife, to enable them 
 to marry, two hundred thousand to the said Doña Luisa and 
 to the said Doña Beatriz one hundred thousand maravedís. 
 
 XLIX. Item: I direct that, if Maria de Torres, now 
 duenna with the marquesa, should wish to remain in her 
 ser\ñce, or in that of any of my daughters, or the wife of 
 my son and successor, she be paid annually fifteen thousand 
 maravedís, and should she want something for herself, she 
 shall be given one hundred thousand whenever she wishes, 
 in recognition of her past services, without subtracting any 
 sums she may have received in that time, nor the fifteen 
 thousand which I provide for the time she shall continue in 
 sendee. 
 
 L. Item: I say that, as in the year 1542, while I was in 
 Barcelona, Gonzalo Diaz my equerry was short forty ducats 
 of my money which was placed in his hands, I ordered this 
 amount to be deducted from his pay, and, although he sus- 
 tained no harm, I now pardon him, and direct that no deduc- 
 tion of this sum be made in his accounts, and if any has already 
 been made to cancel it, and pay him in full; besides which, 
 I leave him as a mark of favour one hundred ducats in gold, 
 to be paid him from my estate. 
 
 LI. Item: I direct that, although in the year 1544 my 
 groom of the chambers gave me his note for forty-four
 
 94 Letters of Cortes 
 
 thousand five hundred and twenty maravedís for the value of 
 certain pieces of silver for which he could not account when 
 he was my plate-butler, for which he therefore owed me, 
 nevertheless in consideration of his service, I forgive him 
 that obligation, and pardon him, and he shall receive back 
 his note, and be paid twenty ducats in gold from my estate. 
 
 LII. Item: I direct that, besides paying Gerónimo de 
 Andrada what is owing on his account he be given from my 
 estate thirty ducats in gold, which I leave him in recognition 
 of his services. 
 
 LIII. Item: I say inasmuch as there is a suit with the 
 \vife and heirs of the licenciate Nunez, member of the council, 
 who was my solicitor, concerning certain of our accounts, 
 which showed him my debtor for large sums, and although I 
 am well informed, and have a clear conscience, nor on my side 
 has this suit been sustained through malice, but only to have 
 justice, that, nevertheless I direct, if the widow and heirs 
 of the licenciate Nunez wish to settle our suit amiably, that 
 two accountants be chosen to act for them with two of mine, 
 to whom all necessary papers shall be given, and whose de- 
 cision shall be accepted as final without other legal action. 
 Should they not so agree, let the suit go on its ordinary 
 course, as my only wish is to know the truth, and have justice 
 done. Whatever sums may result from the suit, shall be 
 distributed as is provided in a memorandum in the hands 
 of my secretary, Melchor de Mojica; and the same shall be 
 done with the sums received from the suit now pending with 
 Francisco de Arteaga Martinez. 
 
 LIV. Item: I direct that thirty thousand maravedís be 
 given as a marriage portion to a girl who is, and has been 
 since childhood, a servant in my household and who is said 
 to be a child of one Francisco Barco, born in Tehuantepec. 
 
 LV. Item: I direct that a suit of mourning, such as I 
 have ordered to be given my servants, shall be furnished to 
 Juan de Quintanilla, who came from Valladolid to this city 
 of Seville to assist and treat me during my illness, and is 
 present at my death. In addition, I leave him in recognition 
 of his services fifty ducats in gold from my estate. 
 
 LVI. Item: I direct that, besides paying what is owing
 
 Last Will and Testament 95 
 
 to my page, Pedro de Astorga, he shall be given from my 
 estate thirty ducats in gold, which I leave him in recognition 
 of his ser\dces, during my illness; and, in consideration of this, 
 I charge and direct my son and successor, the said Don Martin, 
 to retain him in his household and service in the position I 
 now have him. 
 
 LVII. Item: I charge and direct the said Don Martin 
 my son and successor, to retain in his household and service, 
 my valet Antonio Galvarro, as I have him, feeling confident 
 that he will prove a good and loyal servant to him, as he has 
 been during the time he has served me. 
 
 LVIII. Item: I direct that Diego Gonzalez, citizen of 
 Medellin, at present living in Seville, shall receive a robe and 
 a cloak of black cloth, some stockings, a doublet, and a cap; 
 besides this twenty ducats in gold, all of which I leave him 
 because of the devotion he has shown, and does show, to my 
 family. 
 
 LXIX. Item: I charge and direct the said Don Martin, 
 my son and successor, to always retain my accountant Melchor 
 de Mojica in his service, for as he has so well and faithfully 
 served me during the short time he has been here in my house- 
 hold, that I am confident he will henceforward give good ser- 
 vice and counsel to my son Don Martin in the affairs and 
 matters which he has handled with me. I charge and direct 
 the said Melchor de Mojica to do this, for I place this con- 
 fidence in him, and I wish and direct that he continue to hold 
 the charge and position he does at present, for such time as he 
 can, and the marques may desire. 
 
 LX. Item: I direct that the hospital of Amor de Dios 
 be paid the alms which the accounts of Don Juan Galiano 
 may show are owing, as I have done each month since I have 
 been in Seville; besides which I order one hundred ducats in 
 gold to be paid from my estate. 
 
 XLI. Item: I direct that the accounts of Master Vicente 
 (for works executed in my house and room) be inspected, and 
 paid, after deducting such sums as he has already received. 
 
 LXII. For as much as Don Martin Cortes, my son and 
 my wife's, the said Marquesa Doña Juana de Zuñiga, who is 
 my successor, is less than twenty-five years old, and more
 
 96 Letters of Cortes 
 
 than fifteen, I desire, and it is my will, that he remain under 
 control of the guardianship and care of such tutors and ad- 
 ministrators as I herein name for my children, until they at- 
 tain the age of twenty-five years completed. During the 
 interim, let him not withdraw from or evade the guardianship 
 and control, so that, until he complete the said age, as I have 
 herein established, his property and estate may be the more 
 advantageously increased, and administered, and all that I 
 direct and dispose by this testament may be the better and 
 more quickly complied with. Thus from the direction and 
 administration of the properties of my son, the said Don 
 Martin, as well as for the control and care of the persons and 
 goods of my legitimate daughters, Doña Maria, Doña Catalina, 
 and Doña Juana, I name and appoint for tutors and guardians, 
 the most illustrious gentlemen, Don Juan Alonso de Guzman, 
 Duke of Medina Sidonia; Don Pedro Alvare Osorio, Marques 
 de Astorga; and Don Pedro de Arellano, Count de Aguilar, 
 I entreat the same to graciously accept the said tutelage and 
 guardianship, and, in accepting and receiving it, they may 
 remember and respect what I beg and entreat them, for these 
 my said children are of their blood and lineage, by protecting 
 whom they do but fufill their duty as gentlemen, and profit 
 their own lineage and quality. In recognition of their services 
 and of their rights conformably to the law to be recompensed 
 from my estate for the said tutelage and guardianship, I direct 
 that, for each year during which their lordships exercise their 
 functions, they shall receive fifty marks of silver, which I 
 entreat them to agree to, and to accept in consideration of the 
 causes and reasons above mentioned. I direct that my son and 
 successor, the said Don Martin, shall, until he has completed 
 his twenty-fifth year, receive twelve thousand ducats yearly 
 for his support, and that of his servants. The remainder 
 of my income may thus more fully and quickly provide for 
 all that I have ordered and directed in this my testament. 
 As the towns, properties, engineering works, mines, and 
 other works belonging to my estate, to which, after my 
 death, the said Don Martin, my son, will succeed, are divided 
 and scattered through different provinces of New Spain, distant 
 one from another, it is necessary that I, as one who knows
 
 Last Will and Testament 97 
 
 by experience what is necessary, should indicate persons capa- 
 ble of carrying on the administration. Hence I beg and en- 
 treat the said gentlemen, tutors, and guardians to approve the 
 appointments and selections of persons which I shall leave, 
 drawn up and signed with my name; for I am positive that 
 the said haciendas will be directed and administered to the 
 best advantage, and their lordships relieved of the labour and 
 responsibility of selecting persons for this purpose. 
 
 LXIII. Moreover, I leave and name as my successor over 
 my household and estate, Don Martin Cortes, my son by the 
 Marquesa Dona Juana de Zuñiga my wife, and after him his 
 descendants and other persons named in the institution of 
 my entail, which I institute by the authority of the emperor 
 and king our Lord, according to, and by the form, and with 
 the conditions, and all else contained in the said act of institu- 
 tion. Further, if it be necessary, I do now renew the insti- 
 tution of the said entail in the said Don Martin, my son, in 
 the manner above set forth, and by the said authority and 
 licence which I possess, and I leave as my universal heir the 
 said Don Martin, my son, successor to all my properties, goods, 
 landed estates, and rights, and whatever else I may possess 
 outside the said entail; and I leave as my heirs the above 
 mentioned Doña Maria, Doña Catalina, and Doña Juana, my 
 legitimate daughters by the said marquesa my wife, for 
 what I leave them as their rightful dowries, ordering that 
 they content themselves therewith, without pretending to 
 other rights or claims of any sort against my estate, on the 
 ground of their legitimacy. 
 
 LXIV. To cover all expenses of this my testament, and to 
 fulfil its provisions, I name and appoint as my executors in 
 Spain the most illustrious lords, Duke of Medina Sidonia, 
 Marques de Astorga, and Count de Aguilar, to all three of 
 whom jointly, and to each singly, I give full powers to use by 
 their authority whatever sums from my estate are required 
 to provide for, and carry into effect, all the provisions of this 
 my testament. And, for all that touches the administration 
 in New Spain and those provinces, I name and appoint as my 
 executors, the Marquesa Doña Juana de Zuñiga, my wife, 
 and the lord bishop of Mexico, Fray Juan de Zumarraga, and 
 
 VOL. I. — 7
 
 98 Letters of Cortes 
 
 Father Domingo de Betanzos, of the Order of St. Dominic, 
 and the licencíate Juan de Altamirano, all at this present time 
 in New Spain. And, I revoke every and all other testaments 
 which I may have made and delivered, and I desire, and it is 
 my will, that none be executed other than this present writing ; 
 likewise I revoke whatsoever codicil or codicils I may have 
 made and delivered either in writing or by word of mouth in 
 the past. And this being seen and read in my presence with 
 all that it contains, I sign it with my name, by my hand on 
 each of its pages which are in all ten, all of which signatures I 
 have written in the presence of the licenciate Infante. 
 
 Done at Seville on the eleventh day of the month of Octo- 
 ber, the year from the birth of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ, one thousand five hundred and forty seven. 
 
 Item: I say that, as, in one article of this my will, I have 
 disposed and ordered that the four thousand ducats, from 
 the rent of the shops and buildings which I have in Mexico, 
 should, after the works on the said hospital, monastery, and 
 college I have ordered founded be entirely devoted to the 
 endowment, and property of the said college, monastery, and 
 hospital to which I refer, should it at any time happen that 
 the said shops and buildings should produce less than this 
 sum of four thousand ducats, and my will and intention be 
 defeated, I order that in such a year of shortage, my successor 
 shall complete the amount from his estate, so that the said 
 four thousand ducats may be paid in full without any diminu- 
 tion. This page is added to the other ten, done and signed 
 on the same date. The Marques del Valle. Witness by his 
 lordship's command, the licenciate Infante. 
 
 By his lordship's command, 
 
 Melchor Mojica.
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 
 
 99
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 
 
 CONCERNING the importance of the Five Letters of 
 Relation of Hernando Cortes, which are now published 
 altogether in an English translation for the first time, 
 it may be permitted to quote a passage from the historian 
 Dr. Robertson, whose part in the discovery of the first and 
 fifth letters, here presented, was such as to give singular interest 
 and value to his opinion. 
 
 "Our knowledge of the events which happened in the con- 
 quest of New Spain is derived from sources of information 
 more original and more authentic than that of any transaction 
 in the history of America. 
 
 "The letters of Cortes to the Emperor Charles V. are an 
 historical monument, not only first in order of time, but of 
 the greatest authenticity and value." 
 
 Dr. Robertson's appreciation was shared by his contem- 
 poraries, and has been confirmed by subsequent historians, 
 who have drawn from the letters, as from an original source, 
 many of their important facts, have appealed to them for 
 confirmation of information procured from other sources, 
 and have used them as a very touchstone of truth, in 
 accepting or rejecting statements made by other early writers, 
 even when these latter were eye-witnesses of the events they 
 described. 
 
 From the beginning, Cortes adopted the plan of reporting 
 faithfully and minutely to the Emperor, each incident, its 
 causes and its consequences, and of recording his impressions 
 of all that he saw in his strange surroundings, with the purpose 
 of putting before his sovereign an accurate and complete 
 picture of the momentous events then unrolling in the New 
 World ; and he has done this with perfect frankness and great 
 simplicity, in letters which are minute but not wearisome,
 
 I02 Letters of Cortes 
 
 nor wanting in a certain literary excellence. His corre- 
 spondence was voluminous, but, amongst all the others, both 
 for the importance of the events recorded, as well as for their 
 volume, the five letters or "relations" (Relaciones) as they are 
 called, in which he recounts all that happened from the date 
 of his sailing from Cuba in 15 19, till his return from the ex- 
 pedition into Yucatan in 1526, are those which the EngHsh 
 historian justly described as "an historical monument of the 
 greatest authenticity and value." 
 
 The first of these letters has never been found, and by some is 
 believed, perhaps to have been either the one suppressed by 
 the Council for the Indies at the instance of Panfilo de Nar- 
 vaez, or the one taken by Juan de Florez from Alonzo de 
 Avila, and thus prevented from reaching the Emperor. It 
 bore the date of July 10, 15 19, and left Vera Cruz on the 
 1 6th of that month with the two envoys, Alonzo Hernandez 
 Puertocarrero and Francisco de Montejo. This letter was in 
 duplicate, as was likewise the letter of the magistrates of the 
 newly founded colony, which was shown to Cortes before it 
 was sent. Bernal Diaz del Castello, who was one of the signers 
 of the joint letter, says that Cortes had omitted from his own 
 letter the account of the expeditions of Francesco Hernandez 
 de Cordoba, and of Juan de Grijalba. The letter of Cortes and 
 that of the magistrates confirmed one another, as they were 
 intended to do, and, according to Bernal Diaz, that of the 
 magistrates was the more detailed of the two; hence it is, 
 historically, the more valuable. The only important events 
 which had happened up to that date were the change in the 
 character and objects of the expedition, and the founding of 
 Vera Cruz, and on these points Cortes and the magistrates 
 were in perfect accord. 
 
 The search for this missing letter having been given up in 
 despair, it remained for the perspicacity of Dr. Robertson to 
 divine, that, as the Emperor was about leaving Spain for 
 Germany at the time the envoys from Vera Cruz arrived with 
 the letters, they might still be found in some of the Imperial 
 archives, and he accordingly undertook a search, for which 
 all necessary facilities were obtained by the British Ambas- 
 sador in Vienna. This was crowned with a dual success, in
 
 Bibliographical Note 103 
 
 that a certified copy by a notary public of the letter of 
 the magistrates of Vera Cruz was discovered and, at the 
 same time, the Fifth Letter of the Relaciones was also 
 unearthed. 
 
 The letter of the magistrates of Vera Cruz supplies the place 
 of the still missing First Letter of Cortes and serves to complete 
 the series of five Relaciones. It was first published in the 
 Colección de Documentos Inéditos para la Historia de España 
 of Navarrete, Salva y Baranda, in 1844. Señor Alaman 
 reproduced it in the first volume of his Disertaciones sobre la 
 Historia de la República Mexicana. 
 
 The Second Letter was dated from Segura de la Frontera, 
 October 30, 1520. It contained the first account ever written 
 of the wonders of Mexico and the adventures of the Spanish 
 conquerors in the newly discovered countries, and awakened 
 the liveliest interest in Spain, where it was first published by 
 Juan Cronberger, a celebrated German printer in Seville, 
 November 8, 1522. It was again printed the following year 
 by another German, George Coci, in Saragossa. 
 
 The Third Letter was dated from Coyohuacan, May 15, 1522, 
 and was likewise first printed in Seville by the same Juan 
 Cronberger, March 30, 1523. 
 
 The Fourth Letter was dated from the city of Temixtitan 
 (Mexico), October 15, 1524, and was first pubHshed in Toledo 
 by Gaspar de Avila, and again in Saragossa, July 8, 
 1526. 
 
 All of these editions are folios in gothic lettering and are 
 now extremely rare. 
 
 The Second, Third, and Fourth Letters, which were the only 
 ones known until Dr. Robertson's fortunate discovery com- 
 pleted the series, have been translated into Latin, French, 
 Italian, English, and German, at various times. 
 
 Of the Second and Third Letters a Latin translation made 
 by Pietro Savorgnani of Forli, secretary to the bishop of 
 Vienne (Dauphiné), was dedicated to Pope Clement VIL and 
 first published in Nuremberg in 1524. This translation was 
 reproduced in the work entitled: De Insulis nuper inventis, 
 which first appeared at Cologne in 1532 and was afterwards 
 included in the Novus Orbis of Simon Grineo, of which one
 
 I04 Letters of Cortes 
 
 edition was issued at Basle in 1555 and another at Rotterdam 
 in 1616. 
 
 Nicholas Liburno (or Liburnio) translated the Latin text 
 of Savorgnani into Italian, publishing his work in Venice in 
 1524. This Italian translation was again published by 
 Ramusio in the third volume of his work, Delle Navigationi 
 et Viaggi, in Venice (edition of 1606). 
 
 A German translation of two of the letters was made by 
 Xysto Betuleio and Andrea Diethero and published in Augs- 
 burg in 1550. (Garcia Icazbalceta, Documentos, vol. i., 
 p. XXX vi.) 
 
 Another German edition was published in Heidelberg in 1779. 
 
 The first Spanish edition of the Second, Third, and Fourth 
 Letters was published by Andrés Gonzalez de Barcia in the 
 first volume of his work entitled Historiadores Primitivos 
 de las Indias Occidentales, Madrid, 1749. 
 
 In 1770, Archbishop Lorenzana of Mexico, afterwards 
 Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo, published the Second, Third, 
 and Fourth Letters, together with other documents and his 
 commentaries, under the title of Historia de Nueva España, 
 and of this work an indifferent second edition was issued in 
 New York by Manuel del Mar in 1828. 
 
 Mr. George Folsom, secretary of the New York Historical 
 Society, translated Archbishop Lorenzana's text into English 
 in 1843. 
 
 The Vicomte de Flavigni dedicated to the Marquise de 
 Polignac a very free translation of the three letters then 
 known, in a book published in Paris about 1778 (there is no 
 date given), entitled Correspondance de Fernand Cortes avec 
 r Empereur Charles V. sur la conquet du Mexique: reprinted 
 in Switzerland, 1779. Such liberties were taken with the 
 Spanish text that Mr. Folsom, in his notice of this work, 
 rightly calls it rather a paraphrase than a translation. 
 
 The Fifth Letter, which was discovered in Codex CXX. of the 
 Imperial Library in Vienna, has no date, but a codex of the 
 sixteenth century in the National Library in the City of 
 Mexico bears the following: De la cibdad de Temixtitan desta 
 Nueva España, a 3 del mesde Setiembre, año del nascimiento de 
 nuestro Señor é Salvador Jesucristo de 1526.
 
 Bibliographical Note 105 
 
 Three editions of the complete series of five Relaciones have 
 been pubHshed in Spanish: one is found in the first volume 
 of Historiadores Primitivos de Indias of Don Enrique de Ve- 
 dia, which is contained in Rivadeneyra's Biblioteca de Autores 
 Españoles, Madrid, 1877 ; another appears in the first volume of 
 the Biblioteca Histórica de la Iberia, and the third is the ad- 
 mirable collection of the learned Don Pascual Gayangos of 
 the Spanish Academy, Cartas y Relaciones de Hernán Cortés 
 al Emperador Carlos V., published in Paris in 1866. The 
 same author made an English translation of the Fifth Letter, 
 which appeared in a single volume of the Hakluyt Society's 
 publications in 1868. 
 
 A French translation of the five letters was published by 
 Desire Charnay in Paris in 1896 under the title of Lettres de 
 Fernand Cortes á Charles Quint. 
 
 In preparing this present edition, a careful comparison has 
 been made of the various texts known, and, while idiomatic 
 differences have imposed certain rearrangements of form, 
 particularly in the matter of punctuation, and the suppres- 
 sion of many cumbersome repetitions, it has been sought 
 to leave to the letters their unique characteristics, due to 
 the personality of their author, and to the temper of their 
 times. 
 
 The Spanish language was not yet the strong and stately 
 vehicle of thought into which it was afterward shaped by gen- 
 erations of scholars, whose writings not only brought the Cas- 
 tilian tongue to a superlative degree of purity and perfection, 
 but also conspicuously enriched the universal patrimony of 
 literature. Fernando Cortes had but scanty learning, and 
 the conditions under which he wrote were little conducive to 
 the cultivation of literary style, but the absence of adorn- 
 ment, the precision of fact, and forceful terseness of expression 
 furnish his compositions with .lingular merit. The restraint 
 and self-control of which he was master appear in the equal 
 and passionless style of his writings; for he seems neither ex- 
 alted by success nor cast down by misfortunes, both of which 
 he describes with calm simplicity in language which is both 
 natural and fluent. Perhaps nowhere does the real superiority 
 and inherent strength of his character more plainly appear
 
 io6 Letters of Cortes 
 
 than in those passages where he writes of the intrigues 
 and detractions of his enemies, men whose ambitions were 
 
 ■ selfish and whose characters were vulgar and unscrupulous. 
 Judged by his letters alone, Cortes must be ranked high 
 
 j amongst the Spanish-American discoverers and conquerors. 
 
 ! His rudely honest contemporary and faithful follower Bernal 
 Diaz del Castillo resented — and perhaps not unnaturally 
 — ^the scanty mention of the other officers and men of the 
 expedition, and, occasionally, in the course of his gossipy 
 chronicle, he breaks into acrimony over what seems to him 
 
 1 a cheating of others of their dues. 
 
 On the whole, however, Cortes was wise to eschew per- 
 sonalities in his reports, for no distribution of praise would 
 I have satisfied his followers, and he would have merely risked 
 wearying the Emperor with a useless repetition of meaning- 
 , less names. Cortes cannot be fairly reproached with self- 
 
 ' laudation; he evidently knew the value also of occasional 
 self-effacement, and he never loses sight of the high dual 
 mission with which he felt himself invested, — the spreading 
 of the Faith and the extension of the Spanish sovereignty; 
 while the glory of victory is invariably ascribed to divine pro- 
 tection or the intervention of the saints, rather than to his 
 own courage or ability, and the fruits of his victories were 
 laid at the feet of his sovereign. 
 
 The notes with which the present edition is supplied have 
 been carefully compiled from the best authorities, ancient 
 and modern. Among these authorities, the soldier chroniclers 
 contemporary with Cortes, and the Spanish priests in America 
 at the same early period, take the first rank, and some brief 
 notice of the character of these men, the circumstances under 
 which, and the motives for which, they wrote may be of 
 service in enabling the reader to estimate their testimony at 
 its just historical worth. 
 
 It should always, however, be borne in mind that the 
 letters of Cortes have the unique and superlative merit of 
 having been composed on the spot from day to day, in the 
 midst of the events in which their writer was playing the 
 chief part, and that they were destined for the Emperor alone, 
 hence misstatements of fact could only result from an inten-
 
 Bibliographical Note 107 
 
 tion to deceive the Sovereign. The astuteness of Cortes would 
 seem to exclude the adoption of a short-sighted policy, which 
 would have foredoomed him to exposure and failure, and, 
 though the story of his deaHngs with Diego Velasquez, Pan- 
 filo de Narvaez, and the other Spanish officials with whom he 
 came in conflict, is told from his own point of view, the version 
 he gives cannot be essentially untrue in any important par- 
 ticular. His story of the conquest from 1519 till 1527 is thus 
 told almost in the form of a diary, written at different times 
 and places, under varying circumstances of fortune, and as it 
 was written, so do we now read it. ^- - 
 
 The other conquerors, and the priests, wrote or supplied 
 material to others several years after the events they chroni- 
 cled, and under the influence of different motives, either 
 avowed or dissembled. These latter on some points give 
 to their histories the bias of special pleading, besides which, 
 in many instances, their manuscripts reached responsible 
 hands only after many vicissitudes, and, at times, only in 
 copies or translations, which may suggest reasonable doubts 
 of their entire authenticity. Whenever, therefore, a conflict 
 of testimony is found concerning any event described by 
 Cortes, modem historians have almost invariably decided 
 that his statements, on all points of which he had personal 
 knowledge, should be held to outweigh those of other writers 
 unless it conclusively appears that his conscious intention was 
 to mislead the Emperor. 
 
 The death of Montezuma is one of the few cases in which 
 it seems the decision should be against Cortes. With great 
 and perfect frankness he admits the murder of Quauhpopoca, 
 the torture and subsequent murder of Quauhtemoczin, and 
 he owns to a somewhat extensive catalogue of indefensible 
 crimes, but for Montezuma's death he refuses responsibility. 
 Yet, whether we consider the unanimous testimony as to the 
 trifling character of the Emperor's wound, the useless embar- 
 rassment his presence had become, the imprudence of leaving 
 him free in the capital, or the impossibility of carrying him cap- 
 tive out of it, and finally the contemporary Mexican versions 
 of his death, all the circumstances certainly point to the conclu- 
 sion that the royal captive died by the will of his conqueror.
 
 io8 Letters of Cortes 
 
 (i) 
 
 FRANCISCO LOPEZ DE GOMARA 
 
 TJie Historia General de las Indias and the Crónica de la 
 Conquista de Niieva-España, which were pubHshed in Sara- 
 gossa, 1552, were at first received with the 'greatest favour 
 by the pubHc, and other editions as well as translations into 
 Italian and French rapidly followed. This success, however, 
 was short-lived, as Gomara's facts and appreciations were 
 promptly impugned, first by Bernal Diaz del Castillo, who, 
 in publishing his book, called it The True History of the 
 Conquest, in contradistinction to Gomara's false and fanci- 
 ful one. 
 
 In 1553 the Spanish Government took steps to suppress 
 the work, and withdraw it from circulation, imposing a fine 
 of 200,000 niaravedis upon any one who should print or sell 
 it in the future. This rigid prohibition was not revoked until 
 1727. Concerning Gomara's birth and antecedents, nothing 
 is known, and, likewise, neither the date nor place of his death 
 is recorded: "He came like water and like wind he went." 
 He is said to have held the Chair of Rhetoric at the University 
 of Alcalá, and afterwards to have passed several years in 
 Rome. In 1540 he entered the service of Fernando Cortes, 
 then Marques del Valle, and recently returned to Spain. Dr. 
 Robertson surmises that he then began his historical work, 
 under the inspiration, if not at the dictation, of his patron, 
 and this would seem to be likely. He is undoubtedly the 
 apologist of Cortes, and, although the latter was dead some 
 years when the work was published, the first part is 
 dedicated to the Emperor, and the second to Don Martin 
 Cortes, second Marques del Valle. 
 
 But, all reservations admitted, the work of Gomara il- 
 lustrates a most important and interesting period of history, 
 and, if he was constrained to treat his hero leniently, he 
 nevertheless had access to a mass of original information, 
 by which he profited with excellent results. His style is 
 agreeable and scholarly, revealing a writer of wide culture, 
 gifted with unusual knowledge of astronomy, geography, and 
 history. Although he never was in America (as far as is
 
 Bibliographical Note 109 
 
 recorded), he has known how to lend the reaHsm to his de- 
 scriptions which usually only an eyewitness can impart. When 
 not vindicating Cortes, Gomara has every claim to be ranked 
 amongst the most trustworthy of the early writers on Spanish- 
 American events, and his facts and descriptions generally 
 stand the test of comparison with authentic temporary records. 
 
 (2) 
 
 BERNAL DIAZ DEL CASTILLO 
 
 Bernal Diaz was a perfect type of the military adventurer 
 of his age, and first went as a private soldier to America in 
 1 5 14, under the command of Pedrarias de Avila, bound for 
 Darien. He next appeared in Cuba, where he was always 
 ready to join any expedition of adventure which might be 
 organised, and, indeed, he went on most of them, and was 
 one of the few who escaped from the disastrous exploration 
 conducted by Ponce de Leon on the Florida coast. He next 
 joined Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba on his journey to 
 Yucatan. He returned again thither the following year with 
 Juan de Grijalba, from whose expedition he arrived once more 
 at Cuba just in time to take service under Fernando Cortes. 
 Diaz was a brave soldier, popular amongst his comrades, and 
 esteemed by his commander, who some yeais later (in 1540), 
 recommended him to the notice of the Emperor, as did like- 
 wise the Viceroy Don Antonio Mendoza. 
 
 After the conquest, he received an encomienda in Guate- 
 mala, where he held the office of regidor of Santiago de los 
 Caballeros, where presumably he died. And this would have 
 been all there was to say about Bernal Diaz, had Francisco 
 Lopez de Gomara not published his history of the conquest 
 in 1552. His exaltation of Cortes, to the exclusion of other 
 members of the expedition, enraged the old soldier, living 
 in peaceful retirement on his estate at Chamula, and he re- 
 solved that he and his fellows, who had borne the burden of 
 the conquest, should likewise make good their just claims to 
 a share of the credit. It was a case of "mine enemy writing 
 a book," and the old veteran slashes his cultivated rival's 
 polished prose in the language of the camp. Thirty years
 
 no Letters of Cortes 
 
 had then elapsed since the fall of the Aztec Empire, and Bernal 
 Diaz was no longer a young man; nowhere does he say that 
 he had taken notes or memoranda of what happened from 
 day to day, and yet, were his chronicle a journal, its details 
 could hardly be more minute, nor its statements more em- 
 phatic. These were the great events of his life, worthy indeed 
 to be the great events of a greater man's life, and doubtless he 
 relived and rehearsed them constantly, and, being a man of 
 quick and careful observation, given to pondering and re- 
 flecting upon all that he saw and heard, gifted moreover with 
 a good memory, it is not so strange that in the quiet of his 
 last years the retired soldier could evoke the procession of 
 events in their perfect order. 
 
 He began writing jn 1558, and his declared purpose was 
 to correct the mistakes and misstatements of Gomara, and 
 to show that not only had those under Cortes 's control shared 
 in the fighting, but had likewise been called into the counsels 
 of their chief. His indubitable claim upon Mexico's per- 
 petual gratitude is in his introduction of the orange-tree as, 
 when on Grijalba's expedition, he landed one day, and planted 
 eight orange seeds, which he brought from Cuba, all of which 
 grew. The Indians, seeing the strange little plants coming 
 up, carefully protected them from insects and other perils, 
 and from this casual little plantation the culture of the 
 orange-tree spread over all tierra caliente. 
 
 The father of Bernal Diaz was Francisco Diaz del Cas- 
 tillo y Gabán, and his mother was Maria Diez Rejón; as the 
 former held the post of regidor of the important town of 
 Medina del Campo, he must have been a man of some family. 
 
 The Verdedera Historia, as we have it, is incomplete, and 
 was printed not from the original, nor even from a certified 
 duplicate of it, but from a copy in possession of the councillor 
 Ramirez de Prado. The work was undertaken by F. Remon, 
 who died before its conclusion, so that it was passed on to 
 Fray Gabriel Adarzo de Santander, afterwards Bishop of 
 Otranto. 
 
 As literature, the work of Bernal Diaz ranks far below the 
 letters of Cortes, and shows the writer to be without instruc- 
 tion or culture. The narrative is involved, the mass of small
 
 Bibliographical Note iii 
 
 details bewildering, while through all pierces the jealous 
 determination of a wounded vanity to assert its claims to 
 recognition. The stamp of perfect sincerity and frankness, 
 however, is upon the whole work, and its value as an historical 
 document, particularly when paralleled with the letters of 
 Cortes, and the chronicles of Gomara, is superlative and 
 unimpeachable. 
 
 Prescott describes Bernal Diaz as of "a poor and humble 
 family," but since his father held the office of regidor this can 
 hardly be exact, as such posts, especially in a town of the 
 importance of Medina del Campo, were not held by the poor 
 and himible. He himself claimed some kinship with Don 
 Diego Velasquez. 
 
 (3) 
 
 GONZALO FERNANDEZ DE OVIEDO Y VALDÉS 
 
 Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo was born of an illustrious 
 family in Asturias in 1478, and passed his early years at Court 
 as page to the Infante Don Juan, only son of the Catholic 
 Sovereigns. He spent some years in Italy in the service of 
 the King of Naples, but returned to Castile, where he became 
 custodian of the crown jewels, until he was sent as royal 
 inspector of the gold smelting in the Indies. After taking 
 part in Pedrarias de Avila's colonising expedition to Darien, 
 he returned and settled permanently in San Domingo. 
 
 Oviedo kept in touch with the Spanish Court and returned 
 several times to Spain, on one of which occasions, in 1526, he 
 published his Sumario, which was dedicated to the Emperor, 
 and dealt with the geography, climate, vegetation, animals, 
 and tribes of the American Colonies, and which met with a 
 popular reception from the public. The first volume of his 
 great work, however. Historia General de las Indias, in nine- 
 teen books, to which he had given years of careful labour, ap- 
 peared in 1535. The entire work is divided into three parts, 
 consisting in all of fifty books, and includes everything that 
 had already appeared in his Sumario. The second and 
 third parts are occupied with the conquest of Mexico, Peru, 
 and other South American countries. Oviedo, through his
 
 112 Letters of Cortes 
 
 relations -^nth most of the great personages of his day and his 
 personal knowledge of the countries he describes, the events 
 he portrays, and the men who figured in them, collected an 
 enormous mass of data, which, however, he never properly 
 classified. He is, therefore, confused and confusing, self- 
 contradictory and something of a plagiarist, of whom it was 
 said that, not content with drawing his information from the 
 higher and more trustworthy sources, he did not scruple to 
 collect the gossip of the camp from common soldiers, and the 
 cmicans of great mens' ante-chambers. Las Casas describes 
 his work as "a wholesale fabrication, and as full of lies as 
 pages." Oviedo and Las Casas were poles asunder, and the 
 good bishop was so averse to the sentiments and opinions of 
 his contemporary (so contrary to his own) that he could see 
 no good either in him or his work. 
 
 Despite the blemishes which mar his work, Oviedo must be 
 considered an astute observer, nor can it be thought that 
 he consciously or intentionally misstated facts. From the 
 same events, two different observers draw opposite conclusions, 
 and, in the study of historical records, their value may be 
 more accurately estimated by considering the character of 
 the medium through which they reach us. 
 
 Oviedo died at Valladolid in 1559, while on a visit to 
 Spain to prepare for the publication of the remainder of his 
 work. 
 
 (4) 
 
 BERNARDINO DE SAHAGUN 
 
 The Historia Universal de Nueva España of Fray Bernar- 
 dino de Sahagun serves as a most valuable text-book for all 
 students of Mexican antiquities. 
 
 The author was born at Sahagun, and entered the Francis- 
 can Order in Salamanca, where he studied at the University. 
 He went to Mexico in 1529, where he devoted his energies to 
 the conversion of the Indians. He entered upon this task 
 on the basis that, to convert the natives to Christianity, it 
 was first necessary to know them, to understand their language, 
 beliefs, and traditions, and, most of all, to be thoroughly versed
 
 Bibliographical Note 113 
 
 in their ancient mythology, theology, and ritual. To acquire 
 such knowledge, he lived among the natives of Texcoco for 
 several years, and mastered their language and their hiero- 
 glyphic writings to such an extent that his own work was 
 originally written in the Mexican tongue. 
 
 His superiors did not give unqualified approval to the 
 publication of his MSS., the tendency being rather to obliterate 
 as far as possible all knowledge of ancient Aztec beliefs, with 
 a view to detaching the Indians entirely from the traditions 
 of their ancestors. Starting thus with a tabula rasa as it were, 
 it was thought that the work of conversion would progress 
 more rapidly. Fortunately this mistaken conception did 
 not lead to the destruction of the mass of unique information 
 which Fray Bernardino had accumulated, although his 
 manuscripts were widely scattered through various convents 
 of the Order. 
 
 Sahagun sent a statement of the nature and extent of his 
 labours to Spain, where it attracted the attention of the 
 President of the Royal Council for the Indies, at that time 
 Don Juan de Ovando, who fortunately perceived its value, 
 and caused the scattered manuscripts to be collected and 
 restored to their owner, at the same time directing that he 
 should return to Spain, and forthwith translate them into 
 Spanish. Sahagun was nearly eighty years of age at this 
 time, but he set diligently to work, and completed the trans- 
 lation, which was placed side by side with the original, and 
 the whole illustrated with an Aztec vocabulary. The entire 
 work, contained in two large folio volumes, was sent to Madrid, 
 from which time it completely disappeared, not to be seen 
 again for more than two hundred years, when the cosmo- 
 grapher Don Juan Bautista Muñoz unearthed it in the 
 Franciscan Library at Tolosa in Navarre. 
 
 The first publication, dedicated to Pope Pius VIII. and 
 edited by Carlos Maria de Bustamente, deputy for the state 
 of Oaxaca, appeared in Mexico at the cost of the national 
 treasury. One year later Lord Kingsborough introduced it 
 into the 6th volume of his magnificent work, under the 
 natural impression that he was giving it for the first time to 
 the public.
 
 1 14 Letters of Cortes 
 
 (5) 
 
 BARTOLOMÉ DE LAS CASAS 
 
 Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, who later became Bishop of 
 Chiapa, was bom at Seville in 1474. His father went with 
 Colimibus on his second voyage in 1493, and amassed sufiBcient 
 means to provide his promising son with a university edu- 
 cation at Salamanca. He was the first priest ordained in the 
 new world, where he went with Ovando in 1502. The suffer- 
 ings of the natives under the cruelties of the first colonists, 
 and especially the system of ripartimientos and encomiendas, 
 so aroused the sympathies of the young priest that he dedi- 
 cated his life to their defence, and was the first to bear the 
 glorious title of Protector-General of the Indians, which 
 Cardinal Ximenez de Cisneros, regent in the absence of Charles 
 v., conferred upon him. He was indefatigable in his crusade 
 and not always discreet. After the failure of the native 
 colony entrusted to him, he retired to a Dominican con- 
 vent (which Order he entered) and devoted himself during 
 many years to various compositions in vindication of the 
 Indians and their violated rights. He enlisted his brethren 
 of the Order in his apostolate, and never during his long and 
 eventful life flagged in his zeal for the noble end he had set 
 himself. After refusing the bishopric of Cuzco, the richest 
 perhaps in the New World, he later accepted the poor diocese 
 of Chiapa. He died in July, 1566, at the age of ninety-two, 
 in the monastery of Atocha, at Madrid. 
 
 Las Casas barely tolerated Cortes, and, having known him 
 as an obscure young man of no importance, courting the 
 favour of Diego Velasquez in Cuba, he could never refrain 
 in later years, when extraordinary fortune had elevated him 
 at his former patron's expense, from recalling the humble 
 origin and many doubtful transactions of the great Con- 
 queror's youth. Indeed he treats Cortes throughout as a 
 mere lucky adventurer. Prescott says of him that he had 
 the virtues and faults of a reformer, being inspired by a great 
 and glorious idea which "urged him to lift the voice of rebuke 
 in the presence of princes, to brave the menaces of an 
 infuriated populace, to cross seas, traverse mountains and
 
 Bibliographical Note 115 
 
 deserts, to incur the alienation of friends, the hostility of 
 enemies, to endure obloquy, insult, and persecution." 
 
 His great work. Historia General de las Indias, to which 
 he devoted himself during thirty years, while still in manu- 
 script, was largely drawn upon by different writers, notably 
 by Herrera, who incorporated a large amount into his own 
 work published in 1601. An edition of his works was pub- 
 lished in five volumes at Madrid in 1876. His Brevísima 
 Relación, widely read and translated into foreign languages, 
 was a terrible indictment of his countrymen and their deal- 
 ings with the natives. The integrity of his character, the 
 purity of his motives, and his apostolic virtues command 
 admiration, and, though his intemperate zeal in the cause he 
 championed troubled the serenity of his appreciations as an 
 historian, his statement of facts may be invariably trusted, and 
 his record of contemporary events is of unquestionable value. 
 
 (6) 
 
 MOTOLINIA 
 
 Toribio de Benevente is best known by his Indian name 
 (which he himself adopted) of Motolinia, meaning the "poor 
 man" (equivalent of the Poverello which was St. Francis's 
 dearest title). He was one of twelve Franciscans who first 
 came to Mexico in response to the request of Cortes, at the 
 close of the conquest (1523). He travelled from Mexico to 
 Guatemala and Nicaragua on foot, and knew the country and 
 its peoples as did few. His headquarters were at a convent 
 at Texcoco, where his life and energies were devoted with 
 success to teaching and converting the Mexicans. His 
 Historia de los Indias de Ntieva España embraces first re- 
 ligion and rites of the Aztecs, second conversion, third their 
 character, chronology, astrology, and some account of their 
 principal cities, etc. His MS. was printed in the first voltune 
 of Icazbalceta's Documentos Inéditos. 
 
 (7) 
 
 PETER MARTYR 
 
 Pietro Martire de Angleria of Arona, Italy, came to Spain
 
 ii6 Letters of Cortes 
 
 in 1487. He wTote in Latin De Orbe Novo, printed in a com- 
 plete edition by Hakluyt, Paris, 1587. He took great interest 
 in the discoveries and colonisation, and was allowed to at- 
 tend meetings of the Royal Council for the Indies. He was 
 personally acquainted with Columbus, Cortes, and others, 
 and their correspondence with the Court was open to him. 
 His writings are those of a philosophical observer of historical 
 events, unencumbered with the manifold details and small 
 incidents which crowd and confuse the pages of the soldier 
 chroniclers such as Bemal Diaz. He died in 1525. 
 
 (8) 
 
 ANTONIO DE HERRERA 
 
 .íH 
 
 Antonio de Herrera was born at Cuellar in 1549, and was 
 made Historiographer of the Indies -from if92-i554. His 
 Historia General de las Indias Occidentales is divided into eight 
 decades, of which the first four were published in 1601, the 
 others in 1 6 1 5 , fiv e volumes in folio. A very free English trans- 
 lation, with omissions', 'was made by Stevens. The plan of 
 this work is confused and interrupted, wanting in sequence, 
 and filled with irrelevant details. He had access to all the 
 Statepapers, colonial reports, and every MS. relating to the 
 discovery, conquest, and colonisation of the New World, and 
 he quoted very freely from Las Casas. Dazzled by the 
 wonderful events of the times and the equally marvellous 
 achievements of his countrymen, he was blind to their faults 
 and excesses, so that, while not exactly a panegyric, his work 
 is coloured by a strong patriotism, which shows in his op- 
 timistic appreciation of the character and deeds of the con- 
 querors. His work is, however, a compendium of authentic 
 information which cannot be too highly esteemed. He died 
 in 1625. 
 
 (9) 
 
 JUAN DE TORQUEMADA 
 
 Juan de Torquemada, Provincial of the Franciscans in 
 Mexico from 1614-1617, spent more than fifty years of his
 
 Bibliographical Note 117 
 
 life in the country, during which time he amassed an im- 
 mense collection of ancient pictures, writings, and original 
 manuscripts, be-^ides the information, often legendary and 
 contradictory, which he obtained from the Indians. Of his 
 Monarchia Indiana Clavigero says that one must seek jewels 
 among the rubbish. It was first published in Madrid in 161 4, 
 
 and again in 1724. 
 
 (10) 
 
 WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT 
 
 The work of the eminent American historian William H. 
 Prescott is too well known to require extensive notice 
 here. His diligence in research, and his scholarly familiarity 
 with the iiources of Spanish-American history, contributed to 
 make his Conqviest of Mexico a masterpiece of historical narra- 
 tive, in which sober facts seem almost to catch the glamour 
 of romance from the delightful style of their presentation, 
 and this work will doubtless long remain the most complete, 
 as it is the most fascinating, account in our language of the 
 stirring events it describes. 
 
 (II) 
 
 MANUEL OROZCO Y BERRA 
 
 In 1880, the Historia Antigua de la Conquista de Mexico, 
 by Don Manuel Orozco y Berra, Vice-President of the Society 
 of Geography and Statistics, was published by the order and 
 at the expense of the Mexican Government, Don Porfirio 
 Diaz being then President, and Señor Mariscal Minister of 
 Public Instruction. This erudite work, the fruit of a lifetime 
 of discriminating research by the distinguished author, is 
 divided into four parts: I. Civilisation, II. Prehistoric Man 
 in Mexico, HI. Ancient History, IV. The Conquest. 
 
 (12) 
 
 MANUEL GARCIA ICAZBALCETA 
 
 The collection of documents, for the most part inedited, 
 published in 1858 by Don Joaquin Garcia Icazbalceta, opens
 
 ii8 Letters of Cortes 
 
 many original and invaluable historical sources to all. The 
 labours of this learned Mexican in the field of historical 
 research are beyond all praise. 
 
 Besides the writers above noticed, the following are the 
 principal authorities who have been consulted: 
 
 De Rebus Gestis, anonymous. "> in Icazbalceta's 
 
 Itinerario de larmata del Re Catholico I Documentos 
 
 El CoJtquistador Anónimo J Inéditos, volume i. 
 
 IxtHlxochitl, Historia Chichimeca. 
 
 P. Diego Duran, Historia de las Indias de Nueva España. 
 
 Fernando Tezozomoc, Crónica Mexicana, 1538. 
 
 Diego Muñoz Camargo (Tlascalan), Historia Tlascala. 
 
 Carlos Siguenza, Imperio Chichimeco, Geneal. Reyes Mexi- 
 canos. 
 
 Pizarro: Varones Illustres. 
 
 Joseph de Acosta, S. J., Historia Natural y Moral de las 
 Indias. Madrid, 1608. 
 
 Thomas Gage, Voyage 1626. 
 
 Archbishop Lorenzana, Historia de Nueva España, 
 1770. 
 
 Salazar y Olarte, Historia de la Conquista. 
 
 Francesco Xaverio Clavigero, Storia Antica del Messico. 
 
 Agostino de Vetancourt, Teatro Mexicano, 1698 (Mexico). 
 
 GemelU Careri, Giro del Mondo, Venezia, 1728. 
 
 Antonio de Solis, Historia de la Conquista. 
 
 Andres Cavo, S. J., Los Tres Siglos de Mexico (Cario 
 Bustamente) . 
 
 Archivo Mexicano, Residencia de Cortes. 
 
 Diego de Landa, Relación de las Cosas de Yucatan. 
 
 William Robertson, History of America; History of Charles V. 
 
 Washington Irving, Life of Columbus; Companions of 
 Columbus. 
 
 Luca Alaman, Dissertazioni sulla Storia del Messico. Ital- 
 ian translation by E. Pelaez, 1859. 
 
 Humboldt, Essai Politique; Vues des Cordillieres. 
 
 Mexico a Travers los Siglos (published under direction of 
 D. Vincente Riva Palacio). 
 
 Sir Arthur Helps, Cortes.
 
 Bibliographical Note 119 
 
 Stephens, Incidents of Travel in Yucatan. 
 
 Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of Mexico in Vol. X. 
 
 Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg. Histoire des Nations Civ- 
 ilisées du Mextqtie, 1839. 
 
 Ternaux-Compans, Voyages, Relations et Mémoires, Origi- 
 naux. Paris, 1883. 
 
 Andres Gonzalez de Barcia, Historiadoses Primitiros de las 
 Indias Occidentales. 
 
 Martin Fernandez de Navarrete, Documentos inéditos para 
 la Historia de España. 
 
 Riradeneira's Biblioteca de Autores Españoles. 
 
 Desire Charnay, Ancient Cities of the New World. Paris, 
 1887.
 
 FIRST LETTER 
 
 121
 
 FIRST LETTER 
 
 Sent to the Queen Doña Juana, and the Emperor Charles 
 v., her son, by the Judiciary and Municipal Authorities 
 of the Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz, dated the loth July 15 19. 
 Very High and Very Powerful and Excellent Princes, 
 Very Catholic and Very Great Sovereigns and Rulers. 
 We believe that Your Majesties by a letter from Diego 
 Velasquez/ Lieutenant of the AdmiraP in the Island of Fer- 
 nandina, ^ will have been informed of the new land, which 
 
 1 He was a native of Cuellar, and accompanied Columbus on his 
 second voyage in 1493; under commission of Diego Columbus, then 
 viceroy, he effected the conquest of Cuba, and became governor of the 
 island. He showed himself ungrateful to his benefactor, Diego 
 Columbus, and he was in his turn betrayed, and finally outgeneralled, 
 by Cortes. When the royal appointment of the latter, as Captain- 
 General of New Spain, was proclaimed in Cuba by Rodrigo de Paz, 
 and Francisco de las Casas, to the sound of trumpets in 1522, Diego 
 Velasquez took to his bed from sheer mortification, and died within a 
 lew months. Fuller notice of his character, and his dealings with 
 Cortes, are given in the preceding Biographical Note. 
 
 2 Diego Columbus, only son of the Admiral Christopher Columbus 
 and his wife Felipa Mogniz Perestrello of Lisbon, succeeded Don 
 Nicolas de Ovando as governor, and bore the title of viceroy. 
 
 ' Cuba, which was discovered by Columbus, on October 28, 1492, 
 and named by him, Juana, in honour of the Royal Infante, Don Juan. 
 He was convinced that he had reached China, or Cipango, of which 
 he had read in Marco Polo's narrative. It was discovered to be an 
 island by Ocampo, who first circumnavigated it in 1508. The 
 island was conquered in 1511 by Velasquez, in command of three hun- 
 dred men, but so peaceable and indolent were the natives, that the 
 conquest was effected almost without a struggle; for only one chief, 
 Hatuey, with a few followers, attempted to dispute the landing of the 
 Spaniards. Hatuey was captured, and sentenced to be burned. 
 When this cruel sentence was about to be carried out, a friar exhorted 
 him to be baptised, and thus ensure his soul going to paradise. The 
 chief asked if there would be Spaniards there, and when the friar 
 
 123
 
 124 Letters of Cortes 
 
 was discovered in these parts about two years ago, which 
 in the beginning was called Cozumel, ^ and has since been 
 named Yucatan, 2 without its being the one or the other. 
 This your Royal Highnesses will be able to perceive from 
 our narration because, until now the accounts, which 
 have been made to Your Majesties concerning this coun- 
 try, both of its customs and w^ealth, as well as concerning 
 the manner of its discovery, and other things which have 
 been stated about it, are not and could not have been 
 exact, for, as will appear from this account which we send 
 to Your Highnesses, up till now no one has known them. 
 We will deal with it here from the beginning of its 
 
 answered that they all hoped to go there, he replied that then he would 
 rather not. So he was burned, but not converted. The Indian name 
 Cuba has persisted and survived all others. (Oviedo, Hist. Gen., lib- 
 xxvii. , cap. iii. ; Las Casas, Hist, de las Indias, lib. iii., cap. xxi.-xxv.) 
 
 ' Cozumel, also sometimes called Acuzamil {Ah-Cuza'tnil meaning 
 the "Swallows"), was discovered by Juan de Grijalba on the feast 
 of the Invention of the Holy Cross, and hence named by him Santa 
 Cruz. He took possession in the name of the Spanish sovereigns, 
 and of Diego Velasquez, under whose commission the expedition had 
 sailed. There was a stone building on the island, having a square 
 tower with a door in each of its four sides. Inside this there were idols, 
 palm branches, and bones, which they said were those of a great chief 
 (Oviedo, lib. xvii., cap ix.). The tower was surmounted by a smaller 
 square turret which was reached by an outside staircase. Grijalba 
 hoisted the Spanish flag on this turret, and named the place San Juan 
 de Puerta Latina. The Chaplain Fray Juan Diaz said mass. Cristo- 
 bal de Olid, who was sent by Velasquez in search of Grijalba's expedi- 
 tion, about whose safety fears were felt, also landed at Cozumel, and 
 took formal possession, thinking that he was its discoverer (Orozco 
 y Berra, tom. iv., cap. i.). The inhabitants seemed poor, and what 
 gold they produced was mostly an alloy with copper, of little value, 
 which the Indians called guanin, and prized highly (Las Casas, lib. 
 7, cap. Ixvii.). 
 
 Coziunel was a place of pilgrimage, and in one of the great temples 
 there stood a hollow statue called Teel-Cuzam (the Swallows' Feet), 
 made of terra-cotta, in which a priest placed himself to give oracular 
 answers to the pilgrims (CogoUudo, Hist, de Yucatan, lib. iv., cap, 
 vii.). 
 
 2 Yucatan, "The land of wounds and calamities," as Bemal Diaz 
 called it. This coast was first sighted by Columbus, but he did not 
 land. In 1 5 1 1 , a boat-load of men from the wreck of Valdivia's caravel
 
 First Letter 125 
 
 discovery up to its present state, so that Your Majesties 
 will know the country as it really is, the people who 
 possess it, and the manner of their life, and the rites 
 and ceremonies, the sect or law they obey, and the 
 profit which Your Royal Highnesses may derive from it; 
 and may also know who have here rendered services 
 to Your Majesties, in order that Your Royal Highnesses 
 may act as best suits your service. The most faithful 
 and exact account is as follows: 
 
 It may be two years, a little more or less, Most En- 
 lightened Princes, that, in the City of Santiago, ^ which 
 is in the Island of Fernandina, of whose towns Expedition 
 we have been citizens, three inhabitants of of Feman- 
 the said Island united, and the one was called ^ez de 
 
 Francisco Fernandez de Cordoba, 2 another or a 
 Lope Ochoa de Caicedo, and the third Cristobal Mor- 
 
 drifted onto the coast, and the men were sacrificed, and eaten, all save 
 two, who escaped as will be explained later. The coast was first really- 
 discovered by Francisco Fernandez de Cordoba, as is here related, 
 and the name of Yucatan was the word tectetan, meaning "I don't 
 understand," caught by the Spaniards from the natives, and which 
 they took to be the name of the country (Motolinia, trat iii., cap. 
 viii.). The Indian name was Ulumil Cuz, and Etel Ceh, meaning the 
 land of birds and game; they also called it Peten, an island, though 
 they well knew that it was not one. According to Ordonez, not only 
 the coast province, but the entire country, was also called Maya 
 (a waterless land). The language of all the country was known as 
 the Maya tongue. 
 
 The subjoined references will be useful to students of the history 
 of this most interesting country and its stupendous antiquities: 
 CogoUudo, Hist, de Yucatan; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Histoire des 
 Nations civilisées du Mexique; Diego de Landa, Relación de las Cosas 
 de Yucatan (French translation by Brasseur de Bourbourg) ; Stephens, 
 Incidents of Travels in Yucatan; Bancroft, Native Races; and Carrillo, 
 Compendio de la Hist. Yucatan. 
 
 » Santiago was the seat of the governor, and the cathedral city of 
 the first bishop. 
 
 2 This expedition was organised by the men who had originally come 
 from Spain with Pedro Arias de Avila, commonly called Pedrarias 
 de Avila, when he was sent in command of an admirably equipped 
 fleet to supersede Balboa as governor of Darien. Among these men 
 was Berna! Diaz del Castillo, whose copious narrative of the events
 
 120 Letters of Cortes 
 
 ante; and, as it is customary in these Islands, which 
 have been peopled by Spaniards in the name of Your 
 Majesties, to bring Indians for their service from the 
 other Islands which have not been peopled by Spaniards, 
 these said persons sent two ships and a brigantine, in 
 
 order to fetch Indians from those Islands ^ to Fernandina 
 
 « 
 
 in the islands, ani in Mexico, is one of the most valuable sovirces 
 of American history. 
 
 These men, on their return from Darien, were cordially received 
 in Cuba by Diego Velasquez, who encouraged them to continue ex- 
 plorations. After three years of fruitless delays during which many 
 were ill and some had died, they decided to organise a venture on their 
 own account, and they secured the co-operation of Francisco Fernandez 
 de Cordoba, a rich colonist, who was willing to put his money into the 
 undertaking. He was chosen as captain, three vessels were bought, 
 one of which Cortes and others assert, was furnished by Velasquez, 
 on condition that he should be reimbursed for his outlay by slaves, 
 who should be brought back from the islands. Bemal Diaz says 
 that they refused this condition, but that Velasquez furnished the 
 ship just the same; this, however, does not accord with other testi- 
 mony, and it may well be that Bemal Diaz, who was simply an enlisted 
 soldier-adventurer, knew little of the conditions negotiated amongst 
 the owners and leaders. 
 
 The little flotilla put to sea from Santiago on February 8, 1517, 
 stopping first at Puerto del Principe for supplies, and continuing 
 thence under the direction of the pilot Alaminos, who laid the course. 
 After a voyage not free from dangers, they discovered a small island 
 off the peninsula of Yucatan, which they called Isla de las Mugeres 
 (Women's Island), because they found there statues of the goddesses 
 Xchel and Ixchebeliax, and others. From this island an important 
 looking town on the mainland was visible, which they named Grand 
 Cairo. This expedition, as will be seen in succeeding notes, ended 
 badly. 
 
 Í The Spanish settlements in the New World were, at that time, 
 limited to the islands of Hispaniola (Haiti), Cuba, Puerto Rico, and 
 Jamaica, which were called the Indies by the discoverers and con- 
 querors, because they were firmly persuaded they had encircled half 
 the globe, and reached the Orient. Besides these four islands, there 
 was the colony of Darien, of which more information will be given 
 later. Popular imagination in Spain was inflamed by the tales of vast 
 wealth in gold, silver, pearls, precious stones, and spices, lying in 
 the virgin lands waiting to be picked up by the first comer. Avaricious 
 adventurers set out to enrich themselves by a lucky venture, and 
 return with their easily and quickly won fortunes to Spain. Serious 
 projects for colonisation were not yet conceived, and, what settlements
 
 First Letter 127 
 
 to make slaves of them. We believe, although we do 
 not positively know it, that the said Diego Velasquez, 
 Lieutenant of the Admiral, owned a fourth part of the 
 armada. One of the owners of the said armada, called 
 Trancisco Fernandez de Cordoba, went as its Captain, 
 taking as pilot a resident of the town of Palos, ^ one 
 Anton de Alaminos, 2 whom we have also now as pilot, 
 and whom we have sent to Your Royal Highnesses that 
 he may furnish information to Your Majesties. 
 
 Pursuing their voyage, they arrived at the said 
 Island of Yucatan, at its uttermost point, which may 
 be sixty or seventy leagues both from the Discovery 
 said Island of Fernandina, and from this coun- of 
 
 try of the rich land^of Vera Cruz, [thus in Yucatan 
 the MS. , where we now are in the name of 
 Your Royal Highnesses. At this point they disembarked 
 at a town called Campoche, ^ whose chief they named 
 
 there were, had been made by disillusioned immigrants who, when they 
 found that gold and pearls, instead of lying at their feet, had to be 
 sought as elsewhere with labour, enslaved the natives for the exploita- 
 tion of the natural resources of the islands. Thus the slave trade sprang 
 up, and as the Indians, unaccustomed to hard work and harsh treat- 
 ment, died off in such numbers as to rapidly depopulate 'the neighbour- 
 hoods of the Spanish settlements, expeditions were constantly 
 organised to the neighbouring islands for the purpose, as Cortes states, 
 of capturing the natives. The system of repartimientos and en- 
 comiendas was begun under the sanction of Columbus, and, in spite 
 of the denunciations of the Church, and repeated edicts from the home 
 government, the slave trade flourished, and the island population 
 rapidly dwindled. This subject is more fully noticed in Appendix I. 
 to the Fourth Letter. 
 
 1 Anton de Alaminos had served under Columbus on his voyage 
 in 1502, when the other pilots were Comacho de Triana, and Juan 
 Alvarez ; there was also the inspector of the royal fifth Bernardino de 
 Iñiquez, and a Chaplain, Alonzo Gonzalez from the town of San 
 Cristobal. 
 
 2 The little port from which Columbus originally sailed in 1492. 
 
 3 The point of Catoche, where they landed on March 5th, is 
 the extremity of the peninsula nearest to Cuba. A chief and many 
 people came out to the caravels in canoes, and having no interpreter 
 they made themselves understood as best they could by signs, inviting
 
 128 Letters of Cortes 
 
 Lázaro, and gave two spindles with a piece of cloth of 
 gold; but, as the natives of the country did not allow 
 them to remain in the town, or on land, they left, and 
 went about ten leagues down the coast, where they again 
 landed at a town called Machocobon, ^ whose chief was 
 Champoto. Here they were well received by the natives, 
 though they were not allowed to come into the towns; 
 and that night they slept out of their ships, and on land. 
 The natives, seeing this, attacked them 2 on the 
 morning of the following day, in such a manner that 26 
 Spaniards perished, and all the rest were wounded, and 
 at last the Captain Francisco Fernandez de Cordoba^ 
 seeing this, escaped with those who were left to him by 
 taking refuge in the ships. The said Captain, seeing 
 that more than a quarter of his people had been killed, 
 and that he himself had received 30 odd wounds, and 
 was almost dead, and despairing of escape, returned with 
 the ships and people to the said Island of Fernandina. ^ 
 
 the Spaniards to land, and saying Co7iex Cotoche, which means ' ' come to 
 our houses, " but was thought by the Spaniards to be the name of the 
 place. They called it Catoche therefore (Carrillo, Compendio de la 
 Hist. Yucatan p. 105). Cortes here confuses Catoche with Cam- 
 peche (in Maya, Kimpech), further westward on the bay of the same 
 name, where the caravels arrived on Sunday, the feast of San Lázaro 
 (March 22nd). Oviedo says that the Spaniards called the chief of the 
 place Lázaro, and that the Indian name for the place was Campeche, 
 but Orozco y Berra states that, in ancient letters, the place is called 
 llazaro, and the river Campeche (tom. iv., cap. i., note). 
 
 > There is much confusion amongst the early writers in the 
 spelling of Indian names, and in assigning them correctly. In this 
 case the place was called Poton-Chan, and the bay received the name 
 of Mala Pelea from the Spanish sailors, on account of the disastrous 
 rout they suffered there. The Cacique, Machocobon, according to 
 Gomara, was a very formidable warrior. 
 
 2 See Appendix I. at close of Letter. 
 
 3 Alaminos, after consulting the other pilots, decided to sail 
 for Florida, as being the best way back to Cuba, and because he knew 
 that coast since its discovery by Ponce de Leon. They reached 
 Florida in four days, and, upon landing to get water, they were again 
 attacked. Both Alaminos and Bemal Diaz were wounded, while 
 Berrio, the only soldier who had come unscathed out of the Mala-
 
 First Letter 129 
 
 Here they made known to Diego Velasquez that they 
 had found a land ver y richjn go ld, because they had seen 
 that all theliatives wore it, some in their noses, some 
 in their ears, and some in other parts, and, likewise, 
 that there were in that country edifices Return 
 built of mortar and stone. They made known of the 
 
 to him also many other facts, which they pub- expedition 
 lished about the admirable things and riches of the said 
 land, and they counselled him to send ships to barter for 
 gold, saying that, if he would do so, a great amount of 
 it could be obtained.^ 
 
 Upon learning this, the said Diego Velasquez, moved 
 more by cupidity than any other zeal, sent a Procurator 
 to the Island of Hispaniola, with a certain account, which 
 he made to the Reverend Fathers of St. Jerome, 2 who 
 resided there as Governors of the Indies, to obtain per- 
 
 Pelea fight, met the worse fate of being taken alive. After many 
 mishaps, they finally landed at Carenas {Habana), and, ten days later> 
 Francisco Fernandez de Cordoba died from his wounds, and thus ended 
 this disastrous expedition (Bernal Diaz, cap. i-vi.; Oviedo, lib 
 xvii., cap. iv.; Gomara, Hist, de las Indias, cap. lii.; Herrera, dec. ii." 
 lib. iii., cap. xvii-xviii.; Cogolludo, Hist. Yucatan, lib. i., cap. i-ii.; 
 Torquemada, lib. iv., cap. iii.). 
 
 1 Their description of the solidly built houses and temples, the 
 spoils of gold which they brought, together with the two converted 
 captives, aroused the greatest excitement, and inflamed Diego Velas- 
 quez's cupidity. Speculation as to the origin of the natives of Yucatan 
 was rife, and the theory was advanced that they descended from the 
 tribes of Jews exiled from Jerusalem under Vespasian and Titus. 
 
 2 Fray Bartolomé Las Casas had succeeded, by the moving picture 
 he drew of the oppression and injustice practised by the Spaniards on 
 the natives of the islands, in interesting the Cardinal- Regent Ximenez 
 deCisereros in their behalf, and His Eminence's first step was to apply 
 to the General of the Jeronymites at San Bartolomé de Lupiano to 
 furnish some men of that order for service in the Indies. A chapter 
 of the Priors of Castile, which the General assembled, assented to the 
 Cardinal's wish, and furnished three friars who were sent out with 
 instructions, and very full powers. Las Casas says that they did not 
 go as governors, as some supposed, but rather to see that the laws for 
 the protection of the Indians were observed, and to report abuses. 
 They were instructed to visit each island personally, to ascertain the 
 number of chiefs and tribes, and to sec how they were treated by the 
 
 VOL. 1.— Q
 
 130 Letters of Cortes 
 
 mission to colonise in the name of Your Majesties, by- 
 virtue of the authority which Your Highnesses had given 
 them. He told them that they would do a great service 
 to Your Majesties if they would give him permission to 
 trade with the natives, for gold and pearls and precious 
 stones and other things, all of which would become his 
 property by paying the fifth part to Your Majesties. All 
 this was granted by the said Reverend Fathers of St. 
 Jerome, the Governors, inasmuch as he said in his ac- 
 count that he had discovered the land at his own cost, 
 and moreover knew the secrets of it, and that he would 
 provide in every respect as should best advance the 
 service of Your Royal Highnesses. On the other hand, 
 without communicating it to the said Jeronymite Fathers, 
 lie sent to Your Royal Highnesses a certain Gonzalo de 
 
 holders of encomiendas, as well as by the governors, judges, and other 
 officials. Hispaniola (Haiti), Cuba, and Jamaica, were particularly- 
 designated for their visitations, and they were enjoined to inspect the 
 mines, and report on possible ameliorations. They had power to 
 regulate the amount of meat to be allowed each labourer, the market 
 price of necessities, the housing of the Indians, the education of 
 children, marriages between Spaniards and natives, etc. 
 
 These friars were selected by Cardinal Ximenez from among twelve 
 names presented to him by four Priors, sent by the Chapter to Madrid 
 for that purpose, and they sailed from San Lucar, November 11, 15 16, 
 landing in San Domingo thirteen days later (Las Casas). Gayangos, 
 Cartas de Cortes, p. 3, mentions the Jeronymite Fathers as numbering 
 but two. Fray Luis de Figueroa, a native of Seville, who was Prior of 
 Mejorada, and Fray Alonso de Santo Domingo, Prior of San Juan 
 de Ortega. The third, however, was Fray Bernardino de Manzanedo. 
 
 The island of Hispaniola, where the Jeronymites resided, was discov- 
 ered on December 6, 1492, by Christopher Columbus who named the 
 harbour where he landed San Nicolas. San Domingo became the prin- 
 cipal city and residence of the viceroy. In consequence of the 
 dissensions between Don Diego Columbus, who held that office, and 
 various persons, notably the royal treasurer, Miguel Pasamonte, 
 who headed a faction against him, the Spanish government in 15 10 
 established the Royal Audiencia. This was a court of appeal for 
 all causes in which the viceroy had pronounced judgment. The 
 name Hispaniola (Española), given by Columbus to the island, has 
 been superseded by the original Indian name of Haiti.
 
 First Letter 131 
 
 Guzman/ with power of attorney, and the same account, 
 saying that he had discovered the country at his own cost, 
 thus rendering service to Your Majesties, and that he 
 wished to conquer it at his own cost, and he prayed Your 
 Royal Highnesses to make him adelantado 2 and governor 
 of it, with certain privileges for which he asked further 
 on, as Your Majesties will have seen by his account, and 
 for which reason we do not express them here. 
 
 In the meantime, as the permission was given by the 
 Reverend Fathers of St. Jerome, the Governors in the 
 nameof Your Majesties, he hastened to fit out Expedition 
 three ships and a brigantine, so that, if Your of 
 
 Majesties were not pleased to grant Gonzalo de Gri jaiba 
 Guzman what he had asked, the ships would have 
 already been sent, with the permission given by 
 the said Reverend Jeronymite Fathers, the Gover- 
 nors. He sent as Captain one of his relatives, called 
 Juan de Grijalba, ^ and with him 160 men of the 
 
 > Gonzalo de Guzman was a royal treasurer in the islands. 
 
 2 Spanish title for the governor of a province. 
 
 3 A native of Cuellar, who came to Cuba when a mere lad. 
 Las Casas describes him as a youth of great promise, and Gomara 
 says he was a nephew of Velasquez's. He was of gentle birth, and, 
 as a fellow-townsman, he was treated by Velasquez with much con- 
 sideration, whether he was a relative or not. The armada furnished 
 him consisted of four caravels, the Santiago, San Sebastian, La 
 Trinidad, and Santa Maria de los Remedios; the pilots were the same 
 who went with the first expedition, with the addition of a fourth one, 
 unnamed. There was a treasurer, Anton de Villasaña, an inspector, 
 Francisco de Peñalosa, and a chaplain, Fray Juan Diaz; in all told 
 above two hundred persons composed the company. After several false 
 starts, they finally set sail on May ist. This date, in spite of divers con- 
 tradictions, is established by the Itinerario de I'armata del Re Cattolico 
 verso la Isola de Yucatan, MDXVIL, which is given in the Documentos 
 Inéditos of Joafiuin Garcia Icazbalceta, Mexico, 1858. 
 
 Three other captains were Pedro de Alvarado, Francisco de Montejo, 
 and Alonso Davila; the men including pilots and sailors numbered 
 250. They discovered the Tabasco River, which was henceforth named 
 Grijalba, though the name Tabasco (Tabzcoob was the Indian name) 
 remained to the province between Yucatan and Cuazocoalco. 
 
 After Rio Tabasco, they discovered a river (Xamapan, now called
 
 132 Letters of Cortes 
 
 inhabitants of said Island, amongst whom some of us came 
 as Captains for the purpose of serving Your Majesties, and 
 not only did we and those of the said armada come risking 
 our own persons, but we and they also provided almost all 
 the outfit of the said armada from our own resources, 
 in which we and they spent a very great part of our 
 fortunes. And there went again as pilot of this armada 
 the same Anton de Alaminos, who first discovered the 
 said country when he went with Francisco Fernandez 
 de Cordoba. 
 
 In making this voyage, they followed in his former 
 track, and, before they reached the said land, they dis- 
 covered a small island, called Cozumel, which may measure 
 
 Jamapa), which they called Banderas, because Indians carrying 
 white flags were seen along the coast. They received them with great 
 civility and interest, and traded to the amount of 15,000 dollars 
 worth of gold (Bernal Diaz, cap. xiii.). Here the name of Monte- 
 zuma was first heard by the Spaniards. The next stopping place 
 was named Isla de los Sacrifios, because they found in a temple there 
 six or seven bodies of men with their breasts cut open, and their hearts 
 gone. The Island of Ulua was so named from the Indian word Culua, 
 which the Spaniards imperfectly caught, and, to distinguish it from 
 San Juan de Puerto Rico, they called the place San Juan de Ulua 
 (Bernal Diaz, cap. xiv. ; Orozco y Berra, vol. iv., cap. ii.). 
 
 On the Island of Ulua the Spanish government afterwards built 
 a fortress said to have cost forty millions of dollars, and which was 
 the last stronghold of Spain in Mexico. On November 23, 1825, 
 the President of the new republic announced its fall by a proclamation : 
 "The standard of the republic floats over the castle of Ulua! I 
 announce to you, fellow citizens, with inexpressible pleasure that, 
 after a lapse of three hundred and four years, the flag of Castile has now 
 disappeared from our coasts. ' ' 
 
 From here, Pedro de Alvarado with one of the four ships, the San 
 Sebastian, was sent to report to Diego Velasquez what had been dis- 
 covered. He took also the gold and treasures, and was to ask for 
 further instructions concerning settlements, which Grijalba had no 
 power to make. The others next went on to Panuco. Velasquez 
 was vexed with Grijalba for not colonising, though the latter justified 
 himself by the instructions given him, which expressly forbade this 
 (Bernal Diaz, cap. xv. ; Oviedo, lib. xvii., cap. xviii. ; Gomara, Crónica, 
 cap. v., vi. ; Cogolludo, lib. i., cap. iii., iv. ; Orozco y Berra, vol. iv., 
 cap. ii.-iii.).
 
 First Letter 133 
 
 about thirty leagues, and lies off the southern part of the 
 said land; and they arrived in the Island at a town, to 
 which they gave the name of San Juan de Puerta Latina, ^ 
 and the Island they named Santa Cruz. 2 The same 
 day on which they arrived there about 150 Indians of 
 the town came to see them, and as it appeared, on the 
 following day these Indians abandoned the town and 
 fled to the woods. 
 
 Being in need of water, the Captain hoisted sail in 
 order to obtain it elsewhere that same day, and while 
 pursuing his voyage, it was agreed to return to the said 
 port and Island of Santa Cruz, where he anchored and 
 went on shore, finding the town without people, as 
 though it had never been inhabited. He took his supply 
 of water, returning to his ships without taking soundings, 
 or learning anything so as to be able to give a true account 
 to Your Royal Highnesses concerning that Island. 
 
 Setting sail he left, keeping on his voyage until he 
 arrived at the land which Francisco Fernandez de Cor- 
 doba had discovered, where they coasted about, from 
 south to west, until they came to a bay, which the said 
 Captain Gonzalo and the chief pilot, Anton de Alaminos, 
 named Bay of Ascension. ^ This, according to the 
 opinion of the pilots, is very near to Punta de las Velas, 
 discovered by Vicente Yañez ^ which is the part [passage 
 in the MS. not intelligible] of the Bay which is very 
 
 ' The town thus named by Grijalba, as described in Note i , page 124. 
 
 2 Cozumel. Here the converted Indians, Melchor and Julian, 
 began to act as interpreters. 
 
 3 Bay of Ascension. This was on Thursday the 13th, feast of the 
 Ascension, and they remained there reconnoitring until Sunday. 
 
 « Vincente Yañez Pinzón, who landed [here about January 26, 
 1500, was one of the three Pinzón brothers who first sailed with 
 Columbus from Palos in 1492. He afterwards commanded an expedi- 
 tion composed of four small ships which sailed from Palos in 1499, 
 making the first discovery of land at the present Cape St. Augustine, 
 on the coast of Brazil, in 1506. He again sailed with Juan de Solis, 
 on a voyage to find the strait which it was thought joined the Atlantic 
 and Pacific oceans, and, in 1508, he repeated this fruitless experiment.
 
 134 Letters of Cortes 
 
 large, and it is thought that it reaches to the Sea of the 
 North. 
 
 Thence they returned along the same coast by which 
 they had gone, until they rounded the point of the said 
 land, and, continuing in a northerly direction, they sailed 
 until they arrived at the said Point Campoche, whose 
 chief was named Lázaro, where Francisco Fernandez 
 de Cordoba had stopped to trade, and, as ordered by 
 Diego Velasquez, as well as to take the water he greatly 
 needed, landed there. 
 
 As soon as the natives saw them coming, they placed 
 themselves near their town, in array of battle, so as to 
 defend its entrance. The Captain called to them, through 
 the interpreters who accompanied him, and certain In- 
 dians came, whom he made to understand that he came 
 merely for the purpose of trading with them for such 
 things as they might have, and to get water; and thus 
 he went with them until they arrived at a place, very 
 near their town, where there was a spring. A^Hiile taking 
 the water he asked them through the said interpreter for 
 gold, saying he would give them in exchange the valu- 
 ables which he brought, and, as soon as the Indians saw 
 this, having no gold to give him, they told him to go 
 Griialba's ^'^'^Jy but he begged them to allow him to 
 Encounters finish taking water, saying that he would 
 with the immediately leave. In spite of this, however, 
 
 ^'^^^ he was unable to save himself from being 
 obliged the next day, at the hour of mass, to fight the 
 Indians, armed w4th their bows and arrows, their lances, 
 and rodelas, ^ so that they killed a Spaniard, and wound- 
 ed the said Captain Grijalba and many others. That 
 same afternoon they re-embarked in their caravels with 
 aU their people, without having gone into the town of the 
 
 > These were round shields for defence, which were adorned 
 with different coloured feathers of herons, parrots, and other birds, 
 according to the category of the troops, or the heraldic emblem of the 
 chief.
 
 First Letter 135 
 
 said Indians, and without having learned anything which 
 they could truly relate to Your Majesties. 
 
 From there they went along the said coast until they 
 came to a river, which they named Grijalba, and which 
 they ascended about the hour of vespers. Early the 
 following morning, they found on both sides of the river 
 a great number of Indians and warriors, with their bows 
 and arrows, and lances, and rodelas, to defend the en- 
 trance to their country; and to some, it seemed there 
 were about five thousand Indians. 
 
 The Captain seeing this, no one landed, but he spoke 
 to them from the ship through his interpreters, praying 
 them to approach nearer so that he might explain to them 
 the motives of his coming, and twenty Indians entered 
 a canoe, and cautiously approached the ships. The 
 Captain Grijalba then told them, and made them under- 
 stand through his interpreter, that he had come only to 
 barter, and that he wished to be their friend, and that 
 they should bring their gold for which he would give them 
 many valuables which he carried; and thus they did. 
 
 The next day, they brought certain jewels of thin 
 gold, for which the said Captain gave them in return such 
 valuables as he thought proper, and they returned to their 
 town; and the said Captain remained there that day. 
 
 The next day he set sail, without learning anything 
 else about the country, and continued until he anived 
 at the Bay, to which they gave the name of San Juan. 
 
 The Captain went ashore there with some of his people 
 to some desolate sand-hills, and as, when the natives had 
 seen the ships coming along the coast, they had assembled, 
 he spoke to them, through his interpreter, and had a 
 table brought on which he spread out some of his valu- 
 ables, making them understand that he had come to 
 trade with them and to be their friend. When the In- 
 dians saw and understood this," they brought some stuffs, 
 and ornaments of gold, which they traded with the Cap-
 
 136 Letters of Cortes 
 
 tain; and from there the said Captain Grijalba dispatched 
 one of the caravels to Diego Velasquez, with all that they 
 had up till then obtained. 
 
 The caravel having departed for the Island of Fer- 
 nandina where Diego Velasquez was, the Captain Gri- 
 jalba went down the coast with the remaining caravels, 
 cruising for a distance of about forty-five leagues without 
 landing, or seeing anything except what could be seen 
 from the sea. He then set out to return towards the 
 Island of Femandina, and never more did he see any- 
 thing of the country worth mentioning, from which your 
 Royal Highnesses may beheve that all the accounts 
 which have been made about this country cannot have 
 been exact, because they knew nothing more of the 
 secrets of it than what it has suited their purpose to 
 write. 
 
 As soon as the said caravel, which the Captain Juan 
 de Grijalba had dispatched from the Bay of San Juan, 
 arrived, and Diego Velasquez saw the gold which it 
 carried, and learned from Grijalba's letters about the 
 stufis and valuables which had been given in exchange, 
 it seemed to him, according to information given him 
 by those who arrived in the said caravel, that he had 
 obtained little in proportion to what he expected. He 
 declared that he had not even covered the cost he had 
 incurred in the said armada, and he was vexed, and showed 
 dissatisfaction at the little which Captain Grijalba had 
 accomplished in this country. 
 
 In truth, Diego Velasquez had no reason to complain, 
 because his outlays in the said armada were covered from 
 certain casks, and tuns of wine, and other merchandise, 
 and boxes of laced shirts, and beads, which he had sent 
 with it. The wine was sold there to us at four dollars 
 in gold, which are two thousand maravedís ^ the aroba, 
 
 «A small Spanish coin: Bancroft (Hist. Mex., vol. ii., p. 376) 
 gives the value of the ducat as equal to 375 maravedís, and peso de
 
 First Letter 137 
 
 and each shirt at two dollars in gold, and the string of 
 green beads at two dollars, so that he thus covered his 
 outlay in the armada, and even made money. We make 
 special mention of this to Your Majesties that it may be 
 known that the armadas, which until now have been 
 fitted out by Diego Velasquez, have been intended as 
 much for trading merchandise as for privateers, and this 
 with our persons and with our property; and although 
 we have suffered infinite hardships we have served, and 
 we shall serve. Your Royal Highnesses as long as life 
 lasts. 
 
 Diego Velasquez being vexed by the small amount of 
 gold that had been brought him, and wishing to obtain 
 more, determined, without making it known to the Gov- 
 ernors, the Jeronymite Fathers, to equip a swift armada, 
 and to send it in search of his relative, the said Captain 
 Juan de Grijalba. To do this at less cost to himself, he 
 spoke to Fernando Cortes, a resident and alcalde for 
 Your Majesties in the city of Santiago, proposing to him 
 that they should fit out between them eight or ten ships, 
 because at that time Fernando Cortes had more resources 
 than any other person in the said Island, and because 
 it was believed that more people would enlist with him 
 than with any other. 
 
 The said Fernando Cortes, considering what Diego 
 Velasquez had proposed, and moved by zeal to serve 
 
 minas as 450 maravedís, which he computes as equal to $9.75 ; he refers 
 to Clemencin, secretary of the Spanish Royal Academy as his authority. 
 Prescott (Conquest of Mex.) computes the ducat at $8.75, and gives the 
 peso de oro, and the castellano as identical, and worth $11.67. ^r. 
 George Folsom, in his English translation of three Letters of Cortes, 
 gives the value of the castellano as only $2.75. According to these 
 calculations, the peso de minas, and the peso de oro, were different coins. 
 The value of these monies is difficult to estimate. Their purchasing 
 power was far greater than their exact equivalent would be to- 
 day, and the value of articles of European manufacture, of horses, 
 iron, and other imported necessities was variable, according to their 
 scarcity, and to the needs of the buyer. Nails, horseshoes, and like 
 objects, sometimes cost their weight in gold, or double in silver.
 
 o 
 
 8 Letters of Cortes 
 
 Your Royal Highnesses, was ready to spend all he had, 
 and to equip almost two parts of this armada at his own 
 cost, not only in ships, but also in stores, and moreover 
 to distribute his moneys amongst those who were going 
 in the armada, and who needed to provide things 
 necessary for the voyage. 
 
 The armada having been fitted and equipped, Diego 
 Velasquez in the name of Your Majesties, named the 
 Cortes ^^^^ Fernando Cortes Captain of it, that he 
 
 Given Com- should come to this land to trade, and accom- 
 mand of the piish what Gri jaiba had failed to do. The 
 
 ™* ^ agreement respecting the said armada, although 
 he did not invest or spend more than one-third part 
 of it, was made entirely according to Diego Velas- 
 quez's wishes as Your Royal Highnesses may command 
 to be verified from the instructions and faculty which 
 the said Fernando Cortes received from him in the name 
 of Your Majesties. These we now send with these our 
 procurators to Your Royal Highnesses. 
 
 Let it be known to Your Majesties that the larger 
 part of the third, which Diego Velasquez spent in fitting 
 out the said armada, consisted in investing his money 
 in wines, and clothing, and in other things of little value, 
 in order to sell them to us here at a much higher price 
 than they had cost him, so that we may say that Diego 
 Velasquez has made his bargains, and the profits on his 
 money, amongst us Spaniards, vassals of your Royal 
 Highnesses, doing a very good business. 
 
 Having finished fitting out the said armada. Your 
 Royal Highnesses' Captain, Fernando Cortes, sailed 
 upon his voyage from the Island of Fernandina, having 
 ten caravels, and four hundred men at arms, amongst 
 whom were many knights and other noblemen, and six- 
 teen horses. Pursuing their voyage, the first landjwhere 
 they arrived was the Island of Cozumel (now called 
 Santa Cruz, as has been said), in the port of San Juan
 
 First Letter 139 
 
 de Puerta Latina. Upon landing, the town which ex- 
 isted there was found to be deserted, as though it had 
 never been inhabited, and the Captain Fernando Cortes, 
 wishing to know the cause of that place being deserted, 
 brought the people on land, and quartered them in that 
 town. While there with his people he learned from three 
 Indians, who had been taken in a canoe ^ at sea while 
 going to Yucatan, that the caciques of that Island, seeing 
 the Spaniards were approaching, had, out of fear of them 
 (not knowing with what purpose, and in what disposition 
 they came), abandoned their town, and gone with all 
 their Indians into the woods. 
 
 Fernando Cortes, speaking to them through the 
 medium of an interpreter who accompanied him, told 
 them we were not going to do them any evil Neeotia- 
 or injury, but only to instruct them, and win tions at 
 them to the knowledge of our Holy Catholic Cozumel 
 Faith, so that they might become vassals of Your 
 Majesties, serving and obeying them, as had all the 
 Indians of these parts which the Spaniards have 
 settled, who are likewise vassals of Your Royal High- 
 nesses. The said Captain, having thus reassured them 
 they put aside their fears, in great part, and said that 
 they would go and call the caciques who had gone into 
 the woods; and the Captain immediately gave them a 
 letter, so that the said caciques might come in all con- 
 fidence, and, the Captain having given them a term of five 
 days in which to return, they went off thus. 
 
 But while the Captain was waiting for the reply the 
 Indians were to bring, and as already three or four days 
 beyond the five which he had stipulated had elapsed, 
 and he saw that they did not come, he determined, in 
 order that the Island might not remain deserted, to send 
 
 > Their canoes were made of tree-trunks, hollowed, and were 
 sometimes large enough to hold forty or fifty men (Bernal Diaz, 
 cap. ii.)-
 
 I40 Letters of Cortes 
 
 along the coast to the other side. He despatched two cap- 
 tains, therefore, each with one hundred men, directing that 
 one should go to the extremity of the island from 
 one side, and the other from the other, and that they 
 should speak to the caciques whom they might encounter, 
 telling them that he was waiting for them in that town 
 and port of San Juan de Puerta Latina to speak to them 
 on behalf of Your Majesties. He also directed that they 
 should invite and attract them as best they could, so 
 as to induce them to come to the said port of San 
 Juan, and that they should do them no harm, either 
 in their persons, or houses, or property, so as not to 
 alarm them, nor drive them further away than they 
 already were. 
 
 The two captains went as the Captain Fernando 
 Cortes had ordered them, and three or four days after- 
 wards they returned, saying that all the towns they had 
 found were empty and bringing with them ten or twelve 
 persons whom they had captured. Amongst these was a 
 principal Indian to whom the said Fernando Cortes 
 spoke in the name of Your Highnesses, through his inter- 
 preter, telling him to go and call the caciques, as he would 
 on no account leave the Island without having seen and 
 spoken with them. The Indian answered that he would 
 do this, and thus he left with a letter to the said caciques, 
 returning two days later with the principal cacique, who 
 said that he was Lord of the Island, and had come to see 
 for what he was wanted. 
 
 The Captain spoke to him through the interpreter, 
 and told him that he did not wish, nor had he come to do 
 them any harm, but in order to bring them to a knowledge 
 of our Holy Faith, and to let them know that our rulers 
 were the greatest Princes in the world, and that they 
 obeyed a Greater Prince, And what the said Captain 
 Fernando Cortes told them he wanted of them was that 
 the caciques and Indians of the said Island should also
 
 First Letter 141 
 
 obey Your Royal Highnesses, and that in so doing they 
 would be much favoured, and no one would ever molest 
 them. The Cacique answered that he would be glad to 
 do this, and he immediately sent to call all the principal 
 people of the Island, who came and were much pleased 
 with all that the said Captain Fernando Cortes had told 
 the chief cacique of the Island. Thus he ordered them 
 to come back, which they joyfully did, becoming reas- 
 sured to such an extent that, within a few days, the towns 
 were as full of people as before, and all the Indians went 
 about amongst us with as little fear as if they had already 
 had a long period of intercourse with us. 
 
 In the meantime, the Captain learned that there 
 were in the power of certain caciques in Yucatan, 
 some Spaniards who had been made captives Spanish 
 as long since as seven years, when, having Prisoners in 
 been lost in a certain caravel ^ which was Yucatan 
 wrecked on the reefs of Jamaica, ^ while coming from 
 Tierra Firma, they had escaped in one of the boats of the 
 caravel, and reached that coast. From that time they 
 had been held captives and prisoners by the Indians. 
 Since the said Captain Fernando Cortes had left the 
 Island of Fernandina to seek for these Spaniards, and as 
 he here received information about them, and about the 
 country where they were, it seemed to him that he was 
 
 » The caravel of Valdivia., sent from Darien and wrecked (1511) 
 on the reefs called las Víboras, situated fifteen leagues to the south of 
 Jamaica, and which extend for a distance of forty-five leagues, 
 from 27° 10' longitude, and 17° north latitude (Alcedo, Diccionario 
 Ceogr. Hist, de las Indias Occid.). Twenty were saved in an open boat 
 without sails, food, or water, and, after thirteen days' drifting, reached 
 the Maya coast. Seven or eight had died in the meantime from 
 exhaustion, and Valdivia and five others were fattened and sacrificed 
 by the Mayas, who captured them on their landing, and were after- 
 wards eaten. Notice of those who escaped is given in a later note. 
 
 2 Discovered by Columbus on his second voyage, in 1494, and 
 named Santiago. His son Diego effected its conquest, and governed it 
 from San Domingo, through his captains, of whom the best known was 
 Francisco de Garay.
 
 142 Letters of Cortes 
 
 rendering a great service to God and to Your Majesty 
 in striving to liberate them from their imprisonment 
 and captivity. He himself with the whole fleet would 
 have gone immediately to rescue them, had not the pilots 
 told him on no account to do this, as it would be the 
 cause of the loss of the fleet and all the people of it, be- 
 cause the coast was very rough, as it really is, and has no 
 port or any place w^here the ships could anchor. For 
 this reason he abandoned the idea, and ordered that 
 certain Indians, who had told him they knew that 
 cacique with whom those Spaniards were, should go 
 in a canoe; and he wrote to the Spaniards that the only 
 reason why he gave up coming himself with his armada to 
 liberate them was because the coast was very bad and 
 rough for anchoring, but that he prayed them to strive 
 for their Hberation, and to escape in canoes, and that he 
 should wait for them in the Island of Santa Cruz, 
 
 Three days after the said Captain had sent those 
 Indians with his letters, as it appeared to him that he had 
 not acted satisfactorily, and believing that those Indians 
 would not know how to carry out his wishes, he de- 
 termined to send forty Spaniards to the said coast with 
 two brigantines, and a boat from his armada, so that they 
 might recover those captive Spaniards if they could 
 find them. With them he sent three other Indians, who 
 should go ashore with another letter ^ of his to seek the 
 Spanish prisoners. When those two brigantines and the 
 
 i Noble Sirs, — I left Cuba with a fleet of eleven ships, and five 
 hundred Spaniards, and have arrived at Cozumel, whence I write you 
 this letter. 
 
 The people of this island assure me that there are five or six bearded 
 white men in this country, who greatly resemble us, and, I conjec- 
 ture, though they can give me no other indications, that you are 
 Spaniards. I, and the gentlemen, who have come with me to 
 explore and take possession of these countries, earnestly beg you 
 to come to us within five or six days after you receive this, without 
 further delay or excuse. 
 
 If you will come, all of us will recognise, and thank you, for the
 
 First Letter 143 
 
 boat reached the coast, they landed the three Indians, 
 and sent them to seek for the Spaniards, as the Captain 
 had ordered ; and they remained six days along the coast 
 with much difficulty, always waiting for them, though 
 they were almost lost and nearly foundered as the sea 
 along the said coast was very rough, just as the pilots had 
 said. Seeing then that neither the Spanish captives, nor 
 the Indians who had gone to look for them, returned, they 
 determined to go back to the Island of Santa Cruz where 
 the Captain Fernando Cortes was waiting for them. 
 
 When they reached the Island, and the Captain learned 
 their bad news he was much grieved, and immediately 
 proposed to embark the next day, firmly resolved to visit 
 that country, even if the whole flotilla should be lost, 
 for the purpose of ascertaining whether there was any 
 truth in the report which Captain Juan de Grijalba had 
 sent to the Island of Fernandina, to the effect that it was 
 all an invention, and that no such Spaniards as were 
 said to be captives had ever arrived on that coast. 
 
 Having taken this decision, he had all the people em- 
 barked, except himself, and some other twenty Spaniards, 
 who remained with him on shore. The weather had 
 been most favourable to his intention to leave the port, 
 but there suddenly sprang up a contrary wind, with 
 squalls of rain, so that the pilots advised the Captain 
 not to set sail while the weather was unfavourable for 
 getting to sea ; so, in view of this, the Captain commanded 
 all on board the armada to disembark once more. 
 
 The next day at noon, a canoe with sails was seen 
 coming in the direction of the Island, in a • 1 # 
 which, upon its approach, we saw one of Jerónimo 
 the Spanish captives, whose name was Jerónimo de Aguilar 
 
 assistance this armada shall receive from you. I send a brigantine 
 to bring you, with two ships as escort. 
 
 Hernán Cortes. 
 The Indian took this letter tied in his hair.
 
 144 Letters of Cortes 
 
 de Aguilar, * who told us all about how he came to be 
 lost, and the length of time he had been in captivity, 
 which is as we have already related to Your Royal 
 Highnesses. 
 
 Of a truth, this adverse weather coming upon us so 
 unexpectedly seemed a great mystery and miracle of 
 God, and led us to believe that no enterprise undertaken 
 in Your Majesties' service, be it what it may, could end 
 in anything but good. 
 
 We learned from Jerónimo de Aguilar, that the other 
 Spaniards, who were lost with him in the shipwrecked 
 caravel, were scattered over all the land, which he told 
 us w^as very extensive, and that it would be quite impos- 
 sible to gather them without staying and losing much 
 time over it. So, as the Captain Fernando Cortes saw 
 that the provisions of the armada were giving out, and 
 that the people would be exposed to suffer great want 
 from hunger if they delayed longer, and that this would 
 not contribute to the object of their voyage, he deter- 
 mined, with the approval of the others to depart. They 
 immediately set sail, therefore, leaving that Island of 
 Cozumel, which is now called Santa Cruz, entirely pacified, 
 so that had it been their intention to colonise, the Indians 
 
 Í He was a native of Encija, and had taken holy orders. Seeing 
 the dreadful fate of their companions, Aguilar and Gonzalo Guerrero 
 managed to escape from the cages, in which they were being fattened 
 for the sacrificial feasts, and to lose themselves in the forests. Here 
 they were finally captured by the cacique of another tribe, who was 
 less bloodthirsty, and held them as slaves instead of killing them. 
 Aguilar's virtues and abilities soon attracted attention, and won the 
 respect of his captor, and he rose to a position of influence in the country. 
 
 When the news came of the arrival of the ships with more white men, 
 and Cortr-.'s letter was delivered to Aguilar, he procured permission 
 to go to hiS countrymen; but his companion Guerrero, who had mar- 
 ried, and had a family, refused to go, for he was ashamed to show him- 
 self naked and tattooed, and with his nose and lips pierced in Indian 
 fashion. Jerónimo de Aguilar was not distinguishable from the 
 Indians, as he was burned nearly black, and wore the same ornaments. 
 He remained with Cortes as his interpreter, rendering invaluable 
 services throughout the conquest.
 
 First Letter 145 
 
 would have served them to the best of their ability; 
 and the caciques were very pleased and contented both 
 with what the said captain had told them on the part 
 of Your Royal Highnesses, and with the many ornaments 
 he had given them; and I am confident that any Span- 
 iards who from henceforward shall arrive at Cozumel 
 will be as well received there as in any of those Islands 
 which have been long since settled. The said Island 
 is small, and there is no creek or river in it, and all 
 the water which the Indians drink is from wells, and there 
 are only rocks, and stones, and mountains. The only 
 trade which the Indians have is in bee-hives, and our 
 Procurators will bear to Your Highnesses specimens of 
 the honey and the bee-hives that you may command 
 them to be examined. ^ 
 
 Be it known to Your Majesties, that the Captain 
 exhorted the caciques of the said Island, admonishing 
 them to renounce the heathen sect in which they were 
 living, and, when they asked him to give them a law ac- 
 cording to which they might henceforth live, the said 
 Captain instructed them as best he could in the Catholic 
 Faith. He left them also a cross of wood in a lofty house, 
 and an image of Our Lady, the Virgin Mary, making them 
 understand perfectly well what they were obliged to do 
 to become good Christians; and they showed that they 
 received everything with the best will, and thus they 
 were left contented and happy. 
 
 After leaving the Island, we went to Yucatan, and, 
 continuing towards the north, we kept in sight of land, 
 until we arrived at the great river called Grijalba (Rio 
 
 > Clavigero notices six different varieties of bees in Mexico, some 
 like those common in Europe, and others without stings, which make 
 the honey "Estabentun," the clearest, sweetest, and most aromatic 
 known. These bees are found in Yucatan, and Chiapa, and it is 
 doubtless their honey which is here mentioned. It was collected every 
 two months, but the November honey was the best, because it was 
 made from a very sweet flower called " Estabentun," which blooms in 
 September. 
 
 VOL. I. 10
 
 146 Letters of Cortes 
 
 de Tabasco), which, according to the account given to 
 Your Royal Highnesses, is where Captain de Grijalba, 
 relative to Diego Velasquez, had been. The mouth of 
 that river is so shallow, that none of the larger ships 
 could enter, but, as the said Captain Fernando Cortes is so 
 devoted to the service of Your Majesties, and has the best 
 intention to relate truthfully everything about that coun- 
 tr}^, he determined not to go further until he had learned 
 the mystery of that river, and because of their great repu- 
 tation for wealth, of the towns which people its banks. 
 
 He therefore embarked all the people of his armada 
 in his small brigantines and boats, and ascended the 
 Cortes at ^^^^ river, observing the country and the 
 Riode towns along it; and when we came to the 
 Tabasco f^-gt town we found the Indians drawn up 
 on the banks, to whom the said Captain spoke through 
 the interpreter, and through the said Gerónimo de 
 Aguilar, who having, as we have heretofore stated, 
 been a captive in Yucatan, understood and spoke the 
 language of that country very well. He made them under- 
 stand how he had not come to do them any harm or 
 evil, but only to speak to them on the part of Your 
 Majesties ; and that he, therefore, prayed that they would 
 allow and approve of his landing, because we had no place 
 to sleep that night in the brigantines and barques, in 
 which we could not even stand on our feet; and as for 
 returning to our ships, it was already very late and they 
 were on the high sea. The Indians answered to this 
 that he could say all he wished from where he was, but 
 that he should not talk of landing, neither he nor his 
 people, for they would dispute his entrance; and, saying 
 this, they menaced us with their arrows, bidding us to 
 go away from there. So as it was late in the after- 
 noon (it being already the hour of sundown), the Captain 
 ordered us to go to some sand-hills which were opposite 
 the town, and there we slept that night.
 
 First Letter 147 
 
 On the morning of the following day some Indians 
 came in a canoe and brought us a certain number of 
 chickens and a little maize, which might be sufficient for 
 [text missing] number of men for one meal. They told 
 us to take that, and to depart from their country, and 
 the captain spoke to them through the interpreter whom 
 we had, and made them understand that he would in no 
 wise go away until he knew the secret of it, so that he 
 might write a true account of it to Your Majesties. 
 He again begged them that, as they would suffer no 
 harm from him, they would not obstruct his entrance to 
 the said town, because they were vassals of Your Royal 
 Highnesses. But still they answered, that we should 
 no:; venture into the said town but must depart from 
 theircountry. 
 
 When they were gone the Captain determined to go 
 there, so he ordered one of his captains to start with two 
 hundred men by a road which he had discovered during 
 the night we slept on land, while he, himself, embarked 
 with about eighty men in the barques and brigantines, 
 stationing himself in front of the town, ready to dis- 
 embark whenever they would allow him. 
 
 When he came there he found the Indians ready for 
 battle, armed with their bows and arrows and lances 
 and rodelas, and they told him to depart from pjahtine 
 their country, but if he would not go, and at 
 
 wanted war, to begin at once, for they were Tabasco 
 men to defend their town. After the Captain had 
 required ^ them three times and asked Your High- 
 nesses' notary, whom he carried with him, to bear 
 witness to the fact, he told them that he did not 
 want war. Seeing, however, that it was the deter- 
 mination of the said Indians to resist his landing, and 
 that they began to discharge arrows at us, he ordered 
 the charges of artillery to be fired, and that we should 
 
 ' See Appendix II. at close of Letter.
 
 148 Letters of Cortes 
 
 charge them. "When the shots were being fired and while 
 landing they wounded some of us, but finally, in con- 
 sequence of our rapid charges, and of the attack in the 
 rear by those who had gone by the road, they fled, leaving 
 us the town, and we took possession of that part of it 
 which seemed to us the stronger. 
 
 The next day following, at the hour of vespers, two 
 Indians, ^ on the part of the caciques, came to us, bring- 
 
 > The appearance of the ships of de Cordoba and Grijalba, and the 
 fighting in Yucatan, were quickly reported to Montezuma, whose 
 superstitious mind was so affected by events, in which he saw the 
 disasters to himself and his people foretold by Quetzalcoatl, that his 
 first impulse was to save himself by some enchantment or incantation, 
 which should translate him to the abode, or Walhalla, of the famous 
 kings and demi-gods of antiquity. The simultaneous apparition of a 
 great comet in the sky confirmed these forebodings, and he gave 
 himself entirely into the hands of his diviners and necromancers, 
 who exercised all their resources of interpreting dreams, reading signs 
 in natural phenomena, and studying the heavens, to obtain direction 
 for their sovereign in his perplexity. Many, whose dreams presaged 
 evil, were starved to death or put to tortures; a reign of terror set in, 
 and none dared to speak in the sovereign's presence, while the prisons 
 were full of luckless magicians, and death penalties were inflicted even 
 upon their families in the provinces (Duran, cap. Iviii., and Tezozo- 
 moc. apud Orozco y Berra, tom. iv., cap. ii.). As the proofs of the 
 presence of the white strangers in their floating houses accumulated, 
 despite Montezuma's reluctance to believe the reports which were 
 repeatedly brought to him, the sovereign fell into a state of profound 
 depression, and despairing of warding off the ominous presence, he 
 ordered costly gifts to be especially made, and he sent the two envoys, 
 Teutlamacazqui and Cuitlalpitoc, to Pinotl, governor of Cuetlachtla, 
 commanding him to provide in every way for the reception and enter- 
 tainment of the celestial guests. After the departure of Grijalba's 
 men, the fears of Montezuma somewhat subsided, and he persuaded 
 himself that he had staved off the impending disaster. The governor 
 of the coast provinces, however, had strict orders to keep watch, and 
 immediately report any further appearance of the fearsome strangers. 
 Hence the arrival of Cortes, nine months later, was at once an- 
 nounced, by fleet messengers, to the Emperor, who decided in council 
 to send ambassadors to welcome him, and bring exact information 
 concerning all they could see and learn. Thus, on Easter Day, the 
 twenty-fourth of April, Teuhtlilli, governor of Cuetlachtla and Cuitlal- 
 pitoc, who had been before sent to Grijalba, appeared before Cortes. 
 While extending the welcome his superstitious fears forbade him to
 
 First Letter 149 
 
 ing certain jewels of very thin gold of Httle value. They 
 told the Captain that they brought him those ornaments 
 to induce him to go away, and, without doing them any 
 harm or injury, to leave them their land where they had 
 always been. The said Captain answered, saying, that, as 
 to doing them any harm or injury, he had no such wish, 
 and as to leaving them the land, they must understand 
 that from henceforward they were to have for their Lords, 
 the greatest Princes of the earth, whose vassals they 
 would be, and that they would have to serve them, and 
 that, in acting thus, Your Majesties would grant them 
 many mercies, and favours would grow upon them, and 
 that they should be protected and defended from their 
 enemies. They answered that they would be satisfied 
 to do this, but still they required that their country 
 should be left to them. Thus we all became friends, 
 and, our friendship being established, the Captain told 
 them that the Spaniards there with him had nothing 
 to eat, as nothing had been brought from the ships, 
 and he prayed them to bring us food during the time 
 we remained on the Island ; they answered that the 
 next day they would, and thus they went away, and re- 
 mained away that day and the next, nor did they bring 
 us any food. 
 
 As all of us were, on this account, in great need of 
 supplies, on the third day some Spaniards asked per- 
 mission of the Captain to go to some farms in the 
 
 withhold, the Emperor secretly charged his magicians, whom he as- 
 se'mbled from far and wide, to rid the country of the strangers by 
 the power of magic. The allied kings and nobles were in constant 
 council from which no decision issued, the greater number being of 
 Cacamatzin's opinion, that, if the strangers were gods, it was useless 
 to resist them, if they were envoys of a distant monarch, they should 
 be received as such, while if they were men who came with hostile 
 intent, they could easily be crushed. Only Cuitlahuac, lord of Itzta- 
 palapan, opposed this view (Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chichimeca, cap. Ixxx.) 
 This prince with patriotic foresight was for crushing the strangers 
 nstantly, and before they could work the nation any evil.
 
 I50 Letters of Cortes 
 
 neighbourhood to look for something to eat; and the 
 Captain, seeing that the Indians did not return as they 
 had promised, sent four captains with more than two 
 hundred men to hunt round about the town, and see 
 if they could find anything to eat. While these were 
 engaged in searching, they met many Indians who 
 immediately shot arrows at them, wounding twenty 
 Spaniards, and had not the Captain been immediately 
 advised of this, so as to go, as he did, to their 
 assistance, they would probably have killed more than 
 half the Christians. So we all retreated to our camp, 
 where the wounded were cared for, and those who had 
 fought obtained some rest. 
 
 The Captain, seeing how wrongly the Indians had 
 acted, in that, instead of bringing us food as they had 
 agreed, they had wounded us with their arrows, and made 
 war upon us, ordered ten of the horses and mares we 
 had on board to be brought, and all the people to be pre- 
 pared, because he thought that those Indians, encouraged 
 by the advantage they had obtained the day before, 
 would fall upon us hoping to injure us. On the next 
 day when all was thus prepared, he sent certain captains 
 with three hundred men, to the place where the battle 
 had been fought the day before, to learn if the Indians 
 were still there or what had become of them. A little 
 later, he sent two other captains, with a rear-guard and 
 another hundred men, and the said Captain Fernando 
 Cortes went secretly to one side with ten men on horse- 
 back. Proceeding in this order, those who went ahead 
 met a great number of warriors coming to attack us in 
 our camp, and, if we had not gone out that day to en- 
 counter them on the road, we should probably have found 
 ourselves in great distress. 
 
 When the captain of artillery, who went ahead, made 
 certain requirements before the notary, of the warriors 
 whom he met, giving them to understand through the
 
 First Letter 151 
 
 interpreters that we desired no war, but peace and love 
 with them, they did not bother to answer us with words, 
 but let fly a thick volley of arrows at us. While those in 
 the fore were fighting with the Indians, two captains 
 of the rear-guard came up, and, after two hours of fighting, 
 the Captain Fernando Cortes arrived with the horsemen, 
 coming out from the woods at the point where the In- 
 dians were surrounding the Spaniards on all sides; and 
 so he kept up the fight with the Indians for an hour, and 
 such was their multitude that neither those who were 
 fighting the Spanish foot-soldiers could see the horsemen, 
 nor know where they were, nor could the horsemen, ad- 
 vancing and retreating amongst the Indians, see each 
 other. As soon, however, as the Spaniards realised that 
 the horsemen had come up, they charged quickly upon 
 the Indians, who immediately began to fly, and pursued 
 them for half a league. The Captain, seeing that the 
 Indians were in full flight, and that nothing remained 
 to be done, and that his troops were very fatigued, gave 
 the order that all should collect in some farmhouses near 
 by; and, when they were assembled, twenty were found 
 to be wounded, of whom no one died, nor did anyone 
 who had been wounded the day before. Thus assembled, 
 and the wounded cared for, we returned to our camp, 
 carrying with us two Indians whom we had captured, 
 whom the Captain ordered to be liberated, and sent letters 
 by them to the caciques, telling them that, if they would 
 come to him, he would pardon them the offence which 
 they had committed, and they would be his friends. 
 
 That same afternoon two who seemed to be principal In- 
 dians ^ came, saying that they were very sorry Rgguitg of 
 for the past, and that those caciques besought the Hos- 
 him to pardon them, and not to do any further tiiities at 
 injury nor kill any more of their people, for ^ ^^^^ 
 
 • The first messengers seemed from their dress to be slaves, 
 and though their gifts of chickens, smoked fish, and maize-cakes, were
 
 152 Letters of Cortes 
 
 there were as many as two hundred and twenty men slain. 
 They also said that the past should be the past, and hence- 
 foi"ward they wished to be vassals of those Princes of 
 whom» he had told them, giving and holding themselves 
 as such, and that they would acknowledge and bind 
 themselves to serve them whenever they should be com- 
 manded to do so in the name of Your Majesties. Thus 
 peace was made and agreed upon, and the Captain asked 
 the said Indians, through the interpreter whom we had 
 with us, who were the people who had taken part in the 
 battle, and they answered that they came from eight 
 provinces, and according to their counting they were in 
 all forty thousand men, ^ and that they knew perfectly 
 well how to count up to that number. Your Royal 
 
 accepted, and they were given some glass beads in return, they were 
 sent back to say that if their people wanted peace the chiefs must 
 come themselves, as the Spaniards could not treat with slaves. Some 
 thirty head-men appeared the next day, bringing the usual present of 
 provisions, and asking permission to bury and cremate their dead, 
 offering to conclude peace the following day. This was agreed to, 
 and the dead were buried, or burned according to the usage of each 
 tribe. At noon the next day, the chiefs appeared, and in the conversa- 
 tion Jerónimo de Aguilar acted as interpreter. Cortes adroitly ar- 
 ranged a show of gun firing and horsemanship to impress them, and he 
 threw all the blame for the fighting upon them, but declared that, if 
 they were ready for peace his sovereigns would regard them as friends, 
 and favour and help them. Negotiations terminated the next day, 
 when an assembly of all the neighbouring chiefs acknowledged them- 
 selves vassals of the Spanish king, giving Cortes presents of gold and 
 slaves. Amongst these latter was Marina, of whom further notice 
 will appear. 
 
 'Andres de Tapia fi:xes the number at 48,000, but these figures 
 seem hardly possible, and Orozco y Berra observes that they must be 
 taken as representing the idea of multitude, rather than an actual 
 counting. This decisive battle, which took place on March 25th, 
 became known as the battle of Ceutla, and in Gomara's chronicle, 
 as well as in Tapia's narrative, and that of others, the victory was 
 attributed to the miraculous intervention of St. James, the patron 
 of Spain, or of St. Peter the patron of Cortes. Bernal Diaz says that 
 it may be as Gomara describes, and that "los glorias apostólos Señor 
 Santiago atid Señor San Pedro " did appear, but he, miserable sinner, 
 was not worthy to behold the apparition.
 
 First Letter 153 
 
 Highnesses may believe for certain, that this battle was 
 won, rather by the will of God, than by our forces, be- 
 cause weak was the defence of our four hundred against 
 forty thousand warriors. 
 
 After we had become good friends, they gave us, during 
 the four or five days we still remained there, some one 
 hundred and forty dollars of gold in pieces of all kinds, and 
 very thin, and so much esteemed by them that it seemed 
 their country was very poor in gold, because it appeared 
 certain that the Httle they possessed had come from other 
 parts in trading. The land is very good and provisions are 
 abundant, both in maize, as well as fruits, fish, and other 
 things which they eat. This town is situated on the 
 banks of the afore-named river, about which extends a 
 plain, where there are many farms and cultivated fields, 
 such as they have. He [Cortes] reproved them for the 
 evil they did in adoring their idols and gods, and he 
 made them understand that they should come to the 
 knowledge of our Very Holy Faith, and he left them a 
 large wooden cross set up on an elevation, and they 
 remained very satisfied, saying they would hold it 
 in great veneration, and would adore it ; thus these In- 
 dians became our friends and vassals of Your Royal 
 Highnesses. 
 
 The said Captain Fernando Cortes left there, continuing 
 his voyage, and we arrived at the port, and bay, which 
 is called San Juan, where the above-named Captain 
 Gri jaiba traded, of which extensive relation has hereto- 
 fore been made to Your Majesty. Immediately upon 
 our arrival, the natives came to inquire what caravels 
 were those which had arrived, and as it was very late 
 that day, almost night, the Captain remained quietly 
 in the caravel, and ordered that no one should go on 
 shore. Early the next day the Captain landed with a 
 great part of the people of his armada, and found two 
 of the principal Indians there, to whom he presented
 
 154 Letters of Cortes 
 
 certain of his own valuable garments, and, speaking to 
 them through the interpreters, he gave them to understand 
 that he had come to these parts, by command of Your 
 Royal Highnesses, to speak to them, and to tell them 
 what they should do to advance your service. For this 
 he besought them that they should immediately go to 
 their town, and call the cacique, or caciques who might 
 be there, to come and speak to him; and, to ensure their 
 coming, he gave them two shirts for those caciques, and 
 two jackets, one of silk and one of velvet, also various 
 caps, and some hawk's bells; so they went with these 
 valuables to the said caciques. The next day a Httle before 
 noon one of the caciques of that town came, to whom the 
 said Captain spoke, and made him understand, through 
 the interpreter, that he had not come to do them any 
 hurt nor injury, but to inform them that they were 
 to be vassals of Your Majesties, and how they were to 
 serve them and to pay tribute of what they had in their 
 country, as did all wiio are such. And the cacique an 
 swered that he was very satisfied to be such, and to obey, 
 and that he would be much pleased to serve them, and 
 to have such high Princes for lords as the Captain had 
 made them understand Your Royal Majesties w^ere. Im- 
 mediately afterwards, the Captain told him that, since 
 he was so well disposed towards his King and Lord, he 
 would see what great favours Your Majesties would 
 grant him in the future; and, saying this, he made him 
 put on a shirt of holland, and a robe of velvet, and a 
 girdle of gold, with which the said cacique was much 
 pleased and happy. He told the Captain then, that he 
 wanted to go to his country, and asked him to wait for 
 him there, for the next day he would come back, and 
 bring him such things as he had, so that we might more 
 fully understand his good will towards the service of Your 
 Royal Highnesses. Thus he took his leave, and de- 
 parted; and, the next day, the said cacique returned, as
 
 First Letter 155 
 
 he had agreed, and spreading a white cloth before the 
 Captain, he offered him certain precious jewels of gold, 
 which he placed upon it; of these, and the others which 
 we afterwards obtained, we make relation to Your 
 Majesties in a memorial which our procurators take 
 with them. 
 
 After the said cacique had taken leave of us, and 
 returned satisfied to his house, some of those noble 
 persons ^ who came in this armada, gentle- Decision 
 men, and sons of gentlemen, zealous in the to 
 
 service of our Lord, and of Your Royal High- Colonise 
 nesses, and desirous for the exaltation of your royal 
 crown, and the extension of your dominions, and the in- 
 crease of your revenues, assembled and spoke with the Cap- 
 tain Fernando Cortes, saying that this land was good and 
 that, judging by the sample of gold which that cacique had 
 brought, it was reasonable to believe that it must be 
 very rich, and that he and all his Indians were well dis- 
 posed towards us. For these reasons, it seemed to us 
 that it was not advantageous for Your Majesties' sen.áce 
 to do as Diego Velasquez had ordered the said Captain 
 Fernando Cortes to do (which was to trade for all the 
 gold we could, and, having obtained it, to return to the 
 island of Fernandina, in order that the said Diego Velas- 
 quez, and the said Captain mightpr ofit exclusively by it, 
 
 > The armada was composed of eleven vessels, of which the 
 largest, on which Cortes sailed, was of loo tonels, the tonel being some- 
 what more than one ton. The number of men is variously given by 
 different authorities, but, in the memorandum of Cortes at the time 
 of his residencia in 1534, it is stated that there were 530 men. The 
 persons of nobility must be sought among the leaders and captains 
 who were Pedro de Alvarado, Gonzalo de Sandoval, Francisco da 
 Orozco, Alonso Hernandez Puertocarrero, Diego de Ordaz, Alonzo 
 de Avila, Juan de Escalante, Francisco de Montejo, Francisco de 
 Morla, Francisco de Saucedo, Juan Velasquez de Leon, and Cristobal 
 de Olid. Pedro de Alvarado had two brothers, Jorge and Gomez, 
 and a natural brother, called Juan, and there may have been some other 
 adventurers of good origin amongst the company (Orozco y Berra; 
 tom, iv., cap. iii.).
 
 156 Letters of Cortes 
 
 and that it seemed better to all of us that a town should 
 be founded and peopled there in the name of Your Royal 
 Highnesses. In this, there should be a court of justice, 
 so that you would have your jurisdiction in this country 
 just as in your kingdoms and dominions, since possibly 
 this country, being peopled by Spaniards, in addition 
 to the increase of the kingdoms and dependencies, and 
 the incomes of Your Majesties, you might show some 
 favours to us, and to the colonists who would come there 
 hereafter. 
 
 Having decided this, we all agreed with one accord 
 and mind, and we made a requirement to the said Captain, 
 in which we told him that, as he saw how agreeable it 
 would be to the service of God, Our Lord, and of Your 
 Majesties, that this country should be peopled (giving 
 the reasons which we have heretofore recounted to Your 
 Highnesses), we required him to cease trading, as he 
 was doing, inasmuch as it was equivalent to destroying 
 the country to a great extent, and that Your Majesties 
 would thus be but poorly served; and that, for the same 
 reason, we asked and required him to name alcaldes, and 
 municipal authorities, in the name of Your Royal High- 
 nesses, for the town which was to be founded and built 
 by us. This was accompanied by intimations in legal 
 form that we would protest against him if he acted other- 
 wise. This requirement having been made to the said 
 Captain, he replied that he would give his answer the 
 next day; and the said Captain, having seen how all that 
 we had asked him to do would be profitable to the service 
 of Your Royal Highnesses, answered us the next day, 
 saying that he was exclusively devoted to the service of 
 Your Majesties, and that, without considering the profit 
 which might result to him from carrying on the trading 
 as planned, so as to recover the great expenses which 
 had been sustained out of his property in fitting out that 
 armada with the said Diego Velasquez, but rather putting
 
 First Letter 157 
 
 aside everything else, he was glad and satisfied to do 
 whatever we had asked him to do, inasmuch as it was 
 advantageous to the service of Your Royal Highnesses. 
 Immediately, therefore, he began with great pq^^^^^j^^ 
 diligence to found and people a town, to which of 
 the name was given of Rica Villa de la Vera ^^""^ ^^"^ 
 Cruz. ^ He named :those of us who will sign at the 
 endas alcaldes and municipal officers of the said town 
 
 ' The legal formalities so scrupulously observed, were a trifle 
 farcical in this particular instance, and Cortes doubtless listened to the 
 reading of the "requirements" with a solemn exterior, but with his 
 "tongue in his cheek." The narrative here is clear. He resigned the 
 authority he had received from Velasquez, the royal governor of Cuba, 
 into the hands of the municipal authorities he had himself appointed 
 in response to the popular demand, and who thereby likewise became 
 royal officials. They in their turn exercised their powers to appoint 
 him Captain-General, and Chief Justice, of the new colony, and thus, 
 by due form of law, Cortes found himself, within twenty-four hours after 
 his abdication, installed as the recognised dispenser of civil justice, 
 and as military commander. He showed a becoming reluctance to 
 accept the nomination, and finally had all the appearance of yielding 
 to an irresistible expression of the popular will. Bemal Diaz quotes 
 to the point an old Spanish proverb : Tu mi lo megas y yo mi lo 
 quiero. The partisans of Cortes, led by the Alvarados, Olid, Avila, 
 Escalante, and Puertocarrero, secretly formed a party among the 
 men and propounded the new plan of colonisation for the crown, in 
 substitution for that of merely trading in the interest of Diego Velas- 
 quez, arguing that he, Velasquez would get the lion's share of the 
 profits, on their return to Cuba, while they would be about as poor as 
 when they started. This idea won adherents, but was not slow in 
 reaching the knowledge of the friends of Velasquez, who protested 
 vigorously against such a betrayal of confidence, and insisted that 
 they should return to Cuba with the treasure, and make their report 
 to the governor. Cortes feigned to accede to their view, and perplexed 
 them greatly by giving immediate orders to embark the next day. 
 No sooner were these orders given, than the "imperialist" group, 
 to describe them by a modern term, held a second meeting, in 
 which it was resolved that their allegiance and duty were to the crown, 
 that being already in practical possession of a rich strip of coast, and 
 well received by the Indians, since they had proved their superiority, 
 they should rather consider the conversion of the natives, and the 
 extension of His Majesty's dominions, than the mere trading profits 
 of the governor of Cuba, and hence that they should found there a port 
 and city in the name of the sovereigns, who would certainly approve
 
 158 Letters of Cortes 
 
 receiving from us the oath in the name of Your 
 Royal Highnesses, with the solemnity customary in such 
 cases; after which we assembled the next day in our 
 council and assembly chamber, and, being thus assembled, 
 we sent to summon the Captain Fernando Cortes, and 
 we asked him in the name of Your Royal Highnesses 
 to show us the powers and instructions, which the said 
 Diego Velasquez had given him for coming to these 
 parts. He immediately sent for these, and showed them 
 to us, and, having been seen and read by us, and well 
 examined according to the best of our understanding, 
 it seemed to us that, by those powers and instructions, 
 the said Captain Fernando Cortes, had no longer any 
 authority, and that, they having expired, he could no 
 longer exercise the office of justice, or of captain. 
 
 It seemed to us, Very Excellent Princes, that, for the 
 sake of peace and concord amongst us, and in order to 
 govern us well, it was necessary to install a person for 
 
 when they came to understand the circumstances. The Velasquez 
 party seems to have offered no open resistance. 
 
 The elaborate name of Villa Rica de la Vera Cn.tz was given to the 
 new settlement, the ''rica" being suggested by the rich character of the 
 soil, and the "Vera Cruz" by the date of their landing, which was a 
 Good Friday, the day when the Cross is especially venerated. 
 
 The transformation scene was very complete. Cortes, from being the 
 semi-rebellious captain of a trading fleet became the recognised repre- 
 sentative of the King of Spain in Mexico ; the volunteer soldiers of the 
 expedition became a militia; municipal officers, and royal officials 
 sprang into existence, who acknowledged no superior but the King, 
 while Diego Velasquez was eliminated from the scheme of things 
 entirely. 
 
 The partisans of Velasquez, though in a minority, still argued that 
 Cortes's election was irregular, because they had not taken part in it, 
 nor had it been confirmed, either by the Jeronymite Fathers, or the 
 governor of Cuba. This incipient sedition was characteristically 
 met, by Cortes offering as many as were dissatisfied permission to 
 re-embark, and return to Cuba, and, at the same time, to demonstrate 
 the reality of the new state of things, he ordered the Alguacil Mayor 
 to arrest Juan Velasquez, Diego de Ordaz, Pedro Escudero, and others 
 of the more active agitators, and to imprison them on the captain's 
 ship. This drastic move had the desired effect upon the waverers.
 
 First Letter 159 
 
 Your Royal service to act in the name of Your Majesties 
 in the said town, and in these parts as Chief Justice, 
 and Captain, and head, whom we could all respect and 
 obey until we might give account of everything to Your 
 Royal Highnesses, so that you could provide as best 
 suited your service. Recognising that to no one could 
 we better give such a charge than to the said Fernando 
 Cortes, because, besides being a most suitable person, he 
 is moreover very zealous in the service of Your Majesties, 
 as well as being very experienced in these parts and 
 islands, of which he has always given good proofs, for 
 having spent all that he possessed to serve Your Majesties 
 in this armada, and heeded so little (as we have already 
 related) his possible gains and profits from continuing to 
 trade, we therefore elected him, in the name of Your 
 Royal Highnesses, to the office of Justice and Superior 
 Alcalde, receiving from him the oath which is required in 
 such cases. And, having done this as profitable to the ser- 
 vice of Your Majesty, we received him in Your Royal name 
 in our Council and Assembly Chamber, as Chief Justice 
 and Governor of Your Royal arms, and thus he is, and 
 will continue, until Your Majesties provide what is best 
 for your service. 
 
 We have wished to fully relate all this to Your Royal 
 Highnesses, that you may know what has been done 
 here, and in what condition we are living here. 
 
 Having done as stated, and, being all assembled in 
 our Council Chamber, we agreed to write to Your Ma- 
 jesties, and to send you, in addition to the one-fifth part 
 which belongs to your rents, according to Your Royal 
 prescriptions, all the gold, and silver, and valuables which 
 we have obtained in this country, on account of its being 
 the first, and above which we keep nothing for ourselves. 
 We place this at the disposition of Your Royal Highnesses, 
 as a proof of our very good will for your service, as we 
 have heretofore done with our persons and property,
 
 1 6o Letters of Cortes 
 
 and, having agreed upon this amongst ourselves, we 
 selected as our procurators^ Alonso Hernandez Porto- 
 carrero, and Francisco de Montejo, whom we send to 
 Your Majesties with all this, that they may kiss Your 
 Royal hands on our behalf, and that, in our names, and 
 in that of this town, and its Council, they may pray Your 
 Royal Highnesses to favour us as may be agreeable to 
 God, and to Your Majesties, and for the coming good of 
 this town, as will appear at greater length from the in- 
 structions which we have given them. We humbly beg 
 Your Majesties, with all the respect which is becoming, 
 to receive them, to give them Your Royal hands to kiss 
 on our behalf, and to grant them all the favours they 
 may ask and supplicate on behalf of this Council, and 
 ourselves, because, in doing this Your Majesties, besides 
 rendering service to Our Lord, and this town and Council, 
 will bestow on us the special favour which we daily hope 
 that Your Royal Highnesses will grant us. 
 
 In one chapter of this letter, we have already said 
 that we would send an account to Your Royal High- 
 Description iiesses, by which Your Majesties might be 
 of the perfectly informed of everything about this 
 
 Country country, its condition, riches, the people who 
 possess it, and of the law and sect, rites and cere- 
 monies which they observe. This country, Most Potent 
 Princes, where we now are in the name of Your 
 Majesties, has fifty leagues of coast on the one side 
 and the other of this town, the seacoast being low 
 with many sand-hills, some of which are two leagues 
 or more in length. The country beyond these sand-hills 
 is level, with many fertile plains, in which are such beauti- 
 ful river banks, that in all Spain there can be found no 
 better; these are as grateful to the sight as they are pro- 
 ductive in everything sown in them, and very orderly and 
 well kept with walks, and facilities for grazing all kinds 
 
 » See Appendix III. at close of Letter.
 
 First Letter i6i 
 
 of animals. There is every kind of game in this country, 
 and animals, and birds such as are familiar to us, — deer, 
 fallow deer, wolves, foxes, quails, doves, and pigeons, 
 and two or three kinds of hares and rabbits, — so that 
 there is no difference between this country and Spain, 
 as regards birds and animals ; there are lions and tigers ^ 
 about five leagues from the sea, in some places, and others 
 are very beautiful [word missing]. There is, moreover, 
 a great range of very beautiful mountains, some of them 
 very high, amongst which one ^ very greatly exceeds all 
 the others, and from it can be discovered and seen a great 
 part of the sea and land ; and it is so high that if the day 
 is not very clear you cannot see or distinguish the summit 
 of it, because one half of it is all covered with clouds; 
 and sometimes when the day is very clear the peak of it 
 can be seen above the said clouds, and it is so white that 
 we judge it to be snow, and the natives even tell us that 
 it is snow, but as we have not seen it well, although we 
 have been very near to it, and because this region is so 
 hot, we do not affirm it to be snow. We will endeavour 
 to know and see it, as well as many other things about 
 which we have information, so as to send a true account 
 to Your Royal Highnesses of the wealth of gold and 
 silver and stones, and we judge that Your Majesties 
 may order it to be examined according to the samples 
 of all which we remit to Your Royal Highnesses. Ac- 
 cording to our judgment, it is credible that there is 
 everything in this country which existed in that from 
 whence Solomon is said to have brought the gold for the 
 
 ' The largest beasts of prey in Mexico were the puma, the jaguar, 
 and the ocelot ; lions and tigers there were none. 
 
 » Orizaba ; the usual Indian name for the volcano was Citlalte- 
 petl, meaning star-mountain, though they also called it Zenctepatl, and 
 Pojauhtecatl. According to Humboldt, its known period of greatest 
 activity was from 1 545 to 1 566 ; he also notes that both this crater, and 
 that of Popocatepetl, incline towards the south-east. His measure- 
 ment of Orizaba is 5395 metres (Essai Politique, vol. ¡.). Ferrer's 
 measurement is 5450 metres. 
 VOL. I.— n
 
 102 Letters of Cortes 
 
 Temple, but, as we have been here so short a time, we 
 have not been able to see more than the distance of five 
 leagues inland, and about ten or twelve leagues of the 
 coast length on each side, which we have explored since 
 we landed; although from the sea it must be more, and 
 we saw much more while sailing. 
 
 The people who inhabit this country, from the Island 
 of Cozumel, and the Cape of Yucatan to the place where 
 Description"^® ^^^ ^^®» ^^® ^ people of middle size, with 
 of the bodies and features well proportioned, except 
 
 Indians ^j^^^ j^ each province their customs difier, 
 some piercing the ears, and putting large and ugly ob- 
 jects in them, and others piercing the nostrils down 
 to the mouth, and putting in large round stones like 
 mirrors, and others piercing their under lips down as 
 far as their gums, and hanging from them large round 
 stones, or pieces of gold, so weighty that they pull 
 down the nether lip, and make it appear very deformed. 
 The clothing which they wear is like long veils, very 
 curiously worked. The men wear breech-cloths about 
 their bodies, and large mantles, very thin, and painted 
 in the style of Moorish draperies. The women of the 
 ordinary people wear, from their waists to their feet, 
 clothes also very much painted, some covering their 
 breasts and leaving the rest of the body uncovered. 
 The superior women, however, wear very thin shirts of 
 cotton, worked and made in the style of rochets. Their 
 food is maize and grain, as in the other Islands, and 
 potuyuca, as they eat it in the Island of Cuba, and they 
 eat it broiled, since they do not make bread of it; and 
 they have their fishing, and hunting, and they roast 
 many chickens, like those of the Tierra Firma, which are 
 as large as peacocks. ^ 
 
 There are some large towns w^ell laid out, the houses 
 being of stone, and mortar when they have it. The 
 
 » These were turkeys, which were unknown in Europe
 
 First Letter 163 
 
 apartments are small, low, and in the Moorish style, 
 and, when they cannot find stone, they make them of 
 adobes, whitewashing them, and the roof is of straw. 
 Some of the houses of the principal people are very cool, 
 and have many apartments, for we have seen more than 
 five courts in one house, and the apartments very well 
 distributed, each principal department of service being 
 separate. Within them they have their wells and reser- 
 voirs for water, and rooms for the slaves and dependents, 
 of whom they have many. Each of these chiefs has 
 at the entrance of his house, but outside of it, a large 
 court-yard, and in some there are two and three and four 
 very high buildings, with steps leading up to them, and 
 they are very well built ; and in them they' have their 
 mosques and prayer places, and very broad galleries on 
 all sides, and there they keep the idols which they worship, 
 some being of stone, some of gold, and some of wood, and 
 they honour and serve them in such wise, and with so 
 many ceremonies, that much paper would be required 
 to give Your Royal Highnesses an entire and exact de- 
 scription of all of them. These houses and mosques, 
 wherever they exist, are the largest and best built in the 
 town, and they keep them very well adorned, decorated 
 with feather-work and well-woven stuffs, and with all 
 manner of ornaments. Every day, before they under- 
 take any work, they burn incense in the said mosques, 
 and sometimes they sacrifice their own persons, some 
 cutting their tongues and others their ears, and some 
 hacking the body with knives ; and they offer up to their 
 idols all the blood which flows, sprinkling it on all sides 
 of those mosques, at other times throwing it up towards 
 the heavens, and practising many other kinds of cere- 
 monies, so that they undertake nothing without first 
 offering sacrifice there. 
 
 They have another custom, horrible, and abominable, 
 and deserving punishment, and which we have never be-
 
 104 Letters of Cortes 
 
 fore seen in any other place, and it is this, that, as 
 Human often as they have anything to ask of their 
 Sacrifices idols, in order that their petition may be 
 more acceptable, they take many boys or girls, and 
 even growTi men and women, and in the presence 
 of those idols they open their breasts, while they 
 are alive, and take out the hearts and entrails, and 
 burn the said entrails and hearts before the idols, offer- 
 ing that smoke in sacrifice to them. ^ Some of us who 
 have seen this say that [it is the most terrible and 
 frightful thing to behold that has ever been seen. So 
 frequent^, and so often do these Indians do this, ac- 
 cording to our information, and partly by what we have 
 seen in the short time we are in this country, that no 
 year passes in which they do not kill and sacrifice fifty 
 souls in each mosque; and this is practised, and held 
 as customary, from the Isle of Cozumel to the country 
 in which we are now settled. Your Majesties may rest 
 assured that, according to the size of the land, which to 
 us seems very considerable, and the many mosques which 
 they have, there is no year, as far as we have until now 
 discovered and seen, when they do not kill and sacrifice 
 in this manner some three or four thousand souls. Now 
 let Your Royal Highnesses consider if they ought not to 
 prevent so great an evil and crime, and certainly God, 
 Our Lord, will be well pleased, if, through the command 
 of Your Royal Highnesses, these peoples should be initi- 
 ated and instructed in our Very Holy Catholic Faith, 
 and the devotion, faith, and hope, which they have in 
 their idols, be transferred to the Divine Omnipotence of 
 God; because it is certain, that, if they served God with 
 the same faith, and fervour, and diligence, they would 
 surely work miracles. 
 
 It should be believed, that it is not without cause 
 that God, Our Lord, has permitted that these parts 
 
 > See Appendix IV. at close of Letter.
 
 First Letter 165 
 
 should be discovered in the name of Your Royal High- 
 nesses, so that this fruit and merit before God should 
 be enjoyed by Your Majesties, of having instructed these 
 barbarian people, and brought them through your com- 
 mands to the True Faith. As far as we are able to know 
 them, we believe that, if there were interpreters and 
 persons who could make them understand the truth of 
 the Faith, and their error, many, and perhaps all, would 
 shortly quit the errors which they hold, and come to the 
 true knowledge ; because they live civilly and reasonably, 
 better than any of the other peoples found in these parts. 
 To endeavour to give to Your Majesties all the par- 
 ticulars about this country and its people, might oc- 
 casion some errors in the account, because much of it we 
 have not seen, and only know it through information 
 given us by the natives ; therefore we do not undertake to 
 give more than what may be accepted by Your Highnesses 
 as true. Your Majesties may, if you deem proper, give 
 this account as true to Our Very Holy Father, in order 
 that diligence and good system may be used in efifecting 
 the conversion of these people, because it is hoped that 
 great fruit and much good may be obtained ; also that His 
 Holiness may approve and allow that the wicked and 
 rebellious, being first admonished, may be punished and 
 chastised as enemies of Our Holy Catholic Faith, which 
 will be an occasion of punishment and fear to those who 
 may be reluctant in receiving knowledge of the Truth; 
 thereby, that the great evils and injuries they practise 
 in the service of the Devil, will be forsaken. Because, 
 besides what we have just related to Your Majesties 
 about the men, and women, and children, whom they 
 kill and offer in their sacrifices, we have learned, and 
 been positively informed, that they are all sodomites, 
 and given to that abominable sin. ^ In all this, we 
 
 ' Clavigero denounces the blameworthy facility with which this 
 vice was imputed to the Mexicans in general, by some of the early writers
 
 i66 Letters of Cortes 
 
 beseech Your Majesties to order such measures taken 
 as are most profitable to the service of God, and to that 
 of Your Royal Highnesses, and so that we who are here 
 in your service may also be favoured and recompensed. 
 Amongst other things which are contained in our 
 - . instructions to our procurators, whom we send 
 
 Against to Your Highnesses, one is to pray Your 
 Diego Majesties on our own behalf, that you should 
 
 Velasquez ^^ ^^ ^^y. giyg^ qj- make concession in these 
 parts, to Diego Velasquez Lieutenant Admiral in the 
 Island of Femandina of the adelantamiento, nor the 
 perpetual governorship, nor any other, nor the charge 
 of justice; and if any such has been given to him, to 
 order it to be revoked, because it is not profitable to 
 the service of Your Royal Crown that the said Diego 
 Velasquez, nor any other person, should have authority, 
 or any other perpetual concession of any sort, save as may 
 be the will of Your Majesties, in this country of Your 
 Royal Highnesses, inasmuch as it is, as far as we can 
 foresee and hope, very rich. Moreover, far from profiting 
 Your Majesties' service, should the said Diego Velasquez 
 be provided with some office, we foresee that we, the 
 vassals of Your Royal Highnesses, who have begun to 
 colonise, and to Hve in this country, will be ill-treated 
 by him, because we are convinced that, what has already 
 
 and, in accord with other authorities, asserts that while it existed 
 amongst the Panuchesi, the only evidence of it elsewhere was the severe 
 laws enacted for its punishment. He does not hesitate to say, that the 
 accusation was made by some of the Spaniards to palliate their own 
 excesses, — a peculiarly heinous tactic. The friars, who were later 
 in the best position to know the morals and customs of the Indians, 
 unanimously repudiate the charge. Amongst modem authorities, 
 Orozco y Berra combats the imputation as unfounded. Bernal Diaz 
 records that obscene images were found in the temples at Cozumel, and 
 the Anonymous Conqueror describes in language which I do not trans- 
 late, the debauchery common amongst the Indians of Panuco, and gives 
 some singular details of their different ways of intoxicating themselves, 
 similar to nothing I have ever heard of amongst any people, ancient 
 or modern (Apud Icazbalceta, Doc. Ined. II Modo di Sacrificare, etc.).
 
 First Letter 167 
 
 been done in Your Majesties' service, in sending this 
 gift of gold and silver, and valuables, which we have 
 obtained here in this country, and now send, would 
 not have been approved by him. This clearly appears 
 through four of his servants who have come here, and 
 who, when they perceived our udsh to send all to Your 
 Royal Highnesses, as we do, declared that it would be 
 better to send it to Diego Velasquez, and othei"wise op- 
 posed their being sent to Your Majesties. For this we 
 ordered them to be imprisoned, and they will remain 
 prisoners until justice decides, after which we shall relate 
 to Your Majesties what we have done with them. ^ So, 
 because we have seen what the said Diego Velasquez has 
 done, and our experience of it, we fear that, if he should 
 come to this country with any commission, he would 
 treat us ill, as he has done in the Island of Fernandina, 
 during the time that he had charge of its government, 
 doing justice to none except as he pleased, and punishing 
 those whom he chose, from anger or passion, but not 
 from justice or reason. He has thus destroyed many 
 good subjects by reducing them to great poverty, in re- 
 fusing to give them any Indians, and taking them all 
 
 ' Bemaldino de Coria, one of the conspirators, weakened at the last 
 moment, and betrayed the plot to seize a boat, with provisions, and 
 to put oS to Cuba, for the purpose of warning Diego Velasquez of the 
 sailing of the envoys, so that he might intercept them. Cortes did not 
 mince matters; he promptly hanged Diego Cermeño, and Juan Escu- 
 dero. The latter was the same alguacil who had captured hiin before 
 the church in Santiago, where he had taken sanctuary during his quar- 
 rel with Velasquez, and had imprisoned him on the ship in the harbour. 
 Gonzalo de Umbria had his feet cut oil, and two hundred lashes were 
 administered to each of the others, except the priest, Juan Diaz, whose 
 cloth protected him. Gomara suppresses the amputation of Umbria's 
 feet, and says he was whipped with the others. Bernal Diaz reports 
 that Cortes exclaimed, when he signed the warrant for these 
 punishments, "who would not rather be unable to write, than to 
 have to sign away the lives of men !" but the old soldier shrewdly 
 adds, that he believes most judges from the days of Nero down have 
 expressed the same sentiment (Orozco y Berra, vol. iv., cap. viii.).
 
 1 68 Letters of Cortes 
 
 for himself, and in taking all the gold which they had 
 obtained without giving them any share of it. He also 
 has interests with dishonest men, for his own advantage, 
 and by the mere fact of his having the Governorship, 
 and power of distribution, nobody dares to oppose him, 
 knowing and fearing that he can ruin them. Your 
 Majesties have no information about this, nor has there 
 ever been any account made of it, because the procurators, 
 who have gone heretofore from the said Island, are 
 creatures and servants of his hands, whom he holds by 
 giving them Indians at their pleasure; and the procura- 
 tors, who come from the smaller towns to attend to the 
 affairs of the communities, have to do as he wishes, be- 
 cause he buys them up with Indians. When such pro- 
 curators return to their towns, and are asked to give an 
 account of what they have done, the people declare that 
 poor men should not be sent as procurators, because, 
 for one cacique whom Diego Velasquez gives them, they 
 wiU do everything he wants. The municipal officers and 
 alcaldes who have Indians dare not speak to, or reprove, 
 the procurators, who have done what they ought not 
 to have done out of compliance to Diego Velasquez, for 
 fear that the said Diego Velasquez might take away their 
 Indians. In this, and other things, it is very good [word 
 missing in MS.'\ from which Your Royal Highnesses 
 may see, that all the accounts which the Island of Fer- 
 nandina has made of what Diego Velasquez has done, 
 and the favours which they asked for him, are on account 
 of the Indians he has given to the procurators, and not 
 because the communities are satisfied or wish such things ; 
 rather would they desire that those procurators were 
 punished. The above being notorious to all the inhabi- 
 tants and householders of this town of Vera Cruz, they 
 assembled with the procurator of this council, and have 
 asked and required us, by their requirements, signed 
 with their names, that, in the name of all, we should beg
 
 First Letter 169 
 
 Your Majesties not to provide the said Diego Velasquez 
 with the said, or any other, commission, but rather to 
 order him to give his residencia, ^ and to deprive 
 him of the charge of the Island of Fernandina. By- 
 taking his residencia, the above statements would be 
 shown to be true, for which we beseech Your Majesties 
 to name a judge and inquisitor, in order to make an in- 
 vestigation of all which we have related to Your Royal 
 Highnesses, not only about the Island of Cuba, but also 
 elsewhere ; for our intention is to prove things from which 
 Your Majesties may judge if it be justice or conscience 
 that he should have royal charges in these parts, or in the 
 others where he at present resides. 
 
 In the same manner, the procurator, and the inhabi- 
 tants and householders of this town, have asked us in the 
 said petition that we should supplicate Your Majesty in 
 their name to provide a warrant and Royal Provision to 
 be given in favour of Fernando Cortes, Captain, and Su- 
 perior Justice of Your Royal Highnesses, in order that 
 he may govern us with justice, until this country shall 
 be conquered and pacified, and for such time as may ap- 
 pear best to Your Majesties, and be best for your service; 
 for they recognise in him such a person as is fit for it. 
 Which petition and requirement we send with these, our 
 procurators, to Your Majesties, and we all humbly sup- 
 plicate Your Royal Highnesses, that you will grant not 
 only this, but all the other favours, which in the name 
 of this council and town may be petitioned by the said 
 procurators, and that you will regard us as your most 
 
 » This was done by means of a commission, with full powers 
 to inquire into all administrative acts of a governor, and to receive 
 and decide upon all complaints against him. Upon the arrival of the 
 commissioners, the governor and his officials resigned their authority 
 and badges of office into their hands, pending the outcome of the 
 investigation. The residencia was not of itself an indignity, nor did it 
 necessarily imply a want of confidence in the governor, but it was the 
 most effective check the home government had upon the colonial 
 officials.
 
 I yo Letters of Cortes 
 
 loyal vassals, such as we have been and always will be. 
 The gold, and silver, and jewels, and valuables, and the 
 rodelas, and the wearing apparel, which we send by the 
 procurators to Your Royal Highnesses, and which, over 
 and above the one-fifth which belongs to Your Majesty, 
 Captain Fernando Cortes, and this council, pray you to 
 accept, go with this memorial, signed by them and by 
 the said procurators, as Your Royal Highnesses may see 
 from it.^ 
 
 > The first treasure sent to Spain contained the following curious 
 objects: 
 
 A gold necklace composed of seven pieces, with 185 small emeralds 
 set in it, and 232 gems, like rubies, from which hung 27 small bells of 
 gold, and some pearls. 
 
 Another necklace of four pieces of gold, with 102 red gems, like 
 rubies, 172 emeralds, 10 fine pearls, set in it, and 26 little golden bells 
 pendant. 
 
 Two wheels, one of gold representing the sun, the other of silver 
 bearing the image of the moon, 28 hands in circumference, and bearing 
 various figures of animals, and other devices, beautifully worked in 
 relief. 
 
 A head-dress of wood, decorated with gold and gems, with 25 golden 
 bells pendant; instead of a plume it had a green bird, whose eyes, beak, 
 and feet, were of gold. 
 
 A gold bracelet; a small sceptre with two rings of gold, set with 
 pearls at the ends. 
 
 Four tridents, tied with feathers of different colours, and pearl 
 points tied with gold thread. 
 
 Several deerskin shoes, sewn with gold thread, and having soles of 
 brilliant blue and white stones. 
 
 A shield of wood and leather, decorated with hanging bells of gold, 
 and having gold plates in the centre, carved with the figure of the god of 
 war, surrounded by four heads of a lion, a tiger, an eagle, and an owl, 
 represented with their hair and feathers. 
 
 Several skins, tanned with the hair and feathers on them. 
 
 Twenty-four curious and beautiful golden shields, decorated with 
 feathers and small pearls, four others of feathers and silver. 
 
 Four fish, two ducks, and other birds, made of gold. 
 
 Two sea-shells, imitated in gold, and a large crocodile, girt with 
 golden threads. 
 
 A large mirror, and several small ones, of gold. 
 
 Several head-dresses, and crowns of feathers and gold, ornamented 
 with pearls and gems.
 
 First Letter 171 
 
 From the Rica Villa de la Vera Cruz, on the tenth 
 July, 1 5 19. 
 
 Several large plumes of beautiful feathers, of various colours, 
 spangled with gold and small pearls. 
 
 Several fans; some of gold and feathers, others of feathers alone, 
 but all very rich. 
 
 A variety of cotton robes; some all white, others chequered white 
 and black, or red, green, yellow, and blue, the outside being shaggy, 
 and the inside smooth, without colour. 
 
 A number of coats, handkerchiefs, bedcovers, tapestries, and carpets 
 of cotton stuffs. 
 
 There were several Mexican books, written in hieroglyphics, 
 on their paper, which was about the consistency of light pasteboard. 
 Peter Martyr describes them as folding tablets, and says of the writing, 
 "Sunt char aderes a nostris valde dissimilis, Egypteas fere formas cemu- 
 lantur" {De Insults nuper inventis). 
 
 Gomara says the paper was made of cotton, and a kind of gum, or 
 paste; sometimes also of aloe leaves; Peter Martyr describes it as made 
 of fine crushed bark, kneaded together with a gum.
 
 APPENDICES 
 
 173
 
 APPENDIX I. 
 
 The first attack, of which Cortes makes no mention was made 
 at Catoche, just before dawn, March 6th. The Indians fought with 
 great fury, in spite of the fire-arms which they heard for the first time, 
 and were repulsed only with difficulty, after they had wounded fifteen 
 Spaniards. Bernal Diaz relates that fifteen Indians were killed, and 
 two were captured, who were afterwards baptised Christians, under 
 the name of Melchor, and Julian, by the chaplain Fray Alonzo Gon- 
 zalez. The Spaniards looted the temples and houses of their idols 
 and golden ornaments. The Indians at Champoton repeated in- 
 quiringly the words "Castelan? Castelanf" and, by gestures, asked 
 if the strangers came from the East. Orozco y Berra (vol. iv., cap. 
 i.,) says that they connected the arrival of the unknown guests with 
 the prophecy of Kukulcan (Quetzalcoatl) , foretelling the coming of 
 bearded white men from the land of the rising sun, and also that they 
 had knowledge of Spaniards, from the time of the wreck of Valdivia's 
 men, whom they had probably helped to sacrifice and eat. 
 
 The Spaniards passed an anxious night, listening to the noisy 
 preparations of the Indians for battle, and in consulting vainly to 
 discover some escape. At dawn, a hand-to-hand fight was fiercely 
 waged, the Indians showing no fear of fire-arms, and driving the 
 retreating Spaniards into the sea. Fifty Spaniards were killed, 
 and one, Alonzo Bote, and a Portuguese, were captured alive. Bemal 
 Diaz says that every soldier but one had from one to four 
 wounds, for which the only dressing was fat taken from the dead 
 Indians; he himself had three and Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba 
 had twelve wounds. The name of Mala Pelea was given the place to 
 commemorate this disaster. 
 
 The Spaniards found here the crosses which excited such interest 
 and speculation that later a whole literature grew up to explain them. 
 Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba had also seen crosses in Cozumel 
 (Bernal Diaz, cap. iii., Oviedo, lib. xvii., cap. viii.; Gomara, Hist, 
 de las Indias, cap. Iii., Las Casas, Hist. Apolog., cap. cxxv.). 
 
 The crosses found in various parts of Mexico were of several kinds. 
 Those discovered in the western coast provinces, show a Buddhistic 
 type, while those in the eastern parts are like either the simple Latin or 
 Greek shapes. The cross at Metztitlan had the Tau form, while the 
 famous one at Palenque presents no features by which it may be 
 accurately classified, and has been thought to be an astronomical 
 
 175
 
 176 Letters of Cortes 
 
 sign, or an emblem of the four winds. That the cross was an object 
 of cult amongst the Indians is certain, though there is much disagree- 
 ment amongst authorities as to its origin, age, and significance. Bemal 
 Diaz says that if it was of Christian origin and meaning, the natives 
 had forgotten them, and Oviedo, who even regarded the existence of 
 these crosses as a fable, maintained that if they did exist, and the Indians 
 ever had known why they venerated them, they had long since lost, 
 their knowledge. (Oviedo, lib. xvii., cap. viii.). Gomara described 
 the cross seen at Cozumel as the rain-god, and said that quails were 
 sacrificed before it (Gomara, Hist, de las Indias, cap. liv.). 
 
 The cross was an instrument of punishment among the Egyptians, 
 Persians, Macedonians, Greeks, and Romans, as also among Buddhist 
 peoples. Hardly an ancient religion is found in which some form of 
 cross does not appear as a symbol. Among the Aryan races, two 
 crossed sticks were the emblem of the sacred fire, produced by friction 
 called pramatha, from which comes the name Prometheus, of Vedic ori- 
 gin. The Tom borne by Isis, symbolised the rainy season (hence fertility) 
 in Abyssinia, and, in the Egyptian cult, was the emblem of fecundation, 
 (phallus of Osiris). Among the Jews, the cross had no sacred char- 
 acter, but was on the contrary, the vilest instrument of capital 
 punishment.
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 This "making a requirement'.' was at once a naive and arrogant 
 formality by which the Spaniards sought to give legal sanction to their 
 high-handed invasion and claims on the Indians' submission. By a 
 bull dated May 4, 1493, Alexander VI. gave in donation to the Spanish 
 sovereigns all lands which might be discovered in the new world, 
 defined by a line drawn one hundred leagues west of the Azores and 
 Cape Verde Islands. A convention was afterwards signed between 
 Spain and Portugal at Tordesillas, removing the line seventy leagues 
 further westward. 
 
 Martin V. had made a similar grant to the Portuguese in the East 
 Indies in 1420, which was afterwards confirmed by Nicholas V. and 
 Calixtus III. Orozco y Berra observes that, whatever may be thought 
 to-day of such a concession, it is certain that it gave an undoubted 
 right to the sovereigns thus favoured, which nobody, whether nation, 
 king, or philosopher, disputed at that time. Pope Alexander's bull 
 had the condition attached, that the natives of the countries discovered 
 should be Christianised. 
 
 Such, therefore, was the high authority on which the "require- 
 ment" was based. The form of this document was invented, and 
 drawn up, by Dr. Palacios Rubios, a jurisconsul, and member of the 
 Royal Council, for the use of Pedrarias de Avila, coming afterwards 
 to serve in the other colonies. 
 
 The requirement began thus: "On the part of the King Fernando, 
 and of the Queen Doña Juana, his daughter. Queen of Castile, Leon, 
 etc., rulers of the barbarous natives: we their servants notify and 
 make it known, to you, as best we can, that the living and eternal God, 
 our Lord, created the heavens and the earth, and a man and a woman, 
 of whom you, and we, and all men in the world are descendants, as well 
 as all who shall come after us. However, because of the multitude 
 of generations issuing from these, in the five thousand years since the 
 creation of the world, it was necessary that some should go one way, 
 and some another, and that they should be divided into many king- 
 doms and provinces, as they could not maintain themselves in one. 
 God, our Lord gave the charge of all these poeple to one called St. 
 Peter, that he should be lord and superior over all men in the world, 
 and that all should obey him, and that he should be the head of all the 
 human race, and should love all men of whatsoever land, religion, and 
 belief ; and He gave him the world for his kingdom ordering his seat to be 
 
 VOL. I. — 12 177
 
 178 Letters of Cortes 
 
 placed in Rome, as the place best suited for ruling the world; but he 
 was permitted also to establish his seat in any other part of the world, 
 and to judge and govern all peoples, Christians, Moors, Jews, Gentiles, 
 and of whatsoever other sect or creed they might be" etc. (Orozco y 
 Berra, vol. iv., p. 86.). 
 
 The provisions of the bull giving the dominion over America to 
 the Spanish sovereigns then followed. 
 
 The notary or clerk who accompanied the expedition read this 
 unique document, indifferent to the fact that the Indians could not 
 comprehend a word, even were they near enough to hear, and some- 
 times the reading would take place with no Indians at all present. 
 All scruples were satisfied by this formality, and, if submission did not 
 follow, the commander dealt with the natives as with obdurate rebels 
 against the royal authority. 
 
 The way for the conquest was already prepared, and the Aztec 
 historians, as well as the earUest Spanish authorities, record that, for 
 a ntmiber of years, the belief that the hour of the Empire's dissolution 
 was at hand had been steadily gaining ground, promoted by several 
 events which were regarded as supernatural warnings of the approach- 
 ing downfall. The lake of Texcoco had in 15 10 risen suddenly, and 
 inundated the city, without any visible cause or accompanying earth- 
 quake or tempest; one of the towers of the great teocalli was destroyed 
 in 1511 by a mysterious conflagration, which resisted all efforts to 
 extinguish it ; comets, strange lights in the skies, accompanied by shoot- 
 ing stars, and weird noises, were all interpreted by the astrologers 
 as portents of gloomy presage. The miraculous resurrection, three 
 days after her death of Montezuma's sister, the Princess Papantzin 
 who brought him a prophetic warning from her tomb, is reported at 
 length by Clavigero (vol. i., p. 289). Legal proofs of this event, 
 which occurred in 1509, were afterwards forwarded to the Spanish 
 court. The princess is said to have lived many years, and to have 
 been the first person to receive Christian baptism which she did in 
 Tlatelolco, in 1524, being henceforth known as Doña Ana Papantzin, 
 Her life became a model of Christian virtue. Whatever may have 
 been the exact nature of this occurrence, the reported miracle doubt- 
 less rests upon some fact which was interpreted by the Mexicans as 
 supernatural.
 
 APPENDIX III. 
 
 The messengers carried also the first letter of Cortes, which has 
 never since been found. It could not have differed essentially from 
 the letter of the magistrates of Vera Cruz, as the one was intended 
 to confirm the other. Bemal Diaz says that Cortes's letter made no 
 mention of the discoveries of Cordoba, and Grijalba, and that he 
 wished all such to be suppressed in the collective letter, though he was 
 satisfied with its references to himself. After assisting at a mass, said 
 by Fray Bartolomé de Olmedo, the two envoys sailed on July i6, 
 1 5 19, and they took with them the royal fifth of all the gold, besides 
 the other treasures which Cortes had induced the men to surrender, 
 in order to make up an imposing gift to the Emperor. By Bemal 
 Diaz, the sailing date is once given as the i6th of July, and in another 
 place as the 6th ; Gomara gives the 26th. They were enjoined to sail by 
 the channel of the Bahamas, and to avoid Cuba, but they disobeyed 
 this warning, and stopped several days at Marien, where Montejo 
 had a property near by. They renewed their supplies at this place, 
 and showed some of the treasure to a servant, besides which, Montejo 
 also wrote to a former overseer of his, Juan de Reja, who had mean- 
 while passed into Diego Velasquez's service, and as through him the 
 governor learned of what was happening, he promptly dispatched 
 a vessel to overhaul the messengers, and bring them back ; but he was 
 too late. The envoys landed, early in October, 15 12, but Benito Mar- 
 tin, a friend and agent of Velasquez's, was already advised of their 
 coming, and lodged a complaint with the Casa de Contractacion in 
 Seville, in which he described Cortes as a rebel against his superior's 
 authority, and asked for the arrest of the envoys, and the sequestration 
 of the letters, and the treasure. He found a ready ally in Rodriguez 
 de Fonseca, Bishop of Burgos, who was omnipotent as President of 
 the Royal Council for the Indies, a warm friend and supporter of 
 Velasquez's, with whose family his own was about to be connected 
 by a marriage. 
 
 Peter Martyr, who was then at Court, and noted every circum- 
 stance of interest, mentions the arrival of the two envoys in December 
 as "recent," which might mean that he had only recently heard of it. 
 All authorities agree that they got a rough reception from the Bishop 
 of Burgos, and saw the Emperor only in March, 1520, after many 
 difficulties. This audience was at Tordesillas, where His Majesty 
 was then paying a visit to his mother. Doña Juana, before proceeding 
 
 179
 
 1 8o Letters of Cortes 
 
 to Santiago de Compostella. Bernal Diaz would seem to be the 
 original authority for the erroneous statement that Charles V. was in 
 Flanders at this time, which has been repeated by many later histo- 
 rians. Charles had arrived in Spain in Nov. 1517. Peter Martyr, 
 however, says that the Emperor had then already seen the gold and 
 presents from Mexico, which confirms another authority, who states 
 that while they were stopped by the Bishop in Seville, Martin Cortes, 
 the father of Fernando, and an official of the Royal Council, who was 
 friendly, one Nunez contrived to forward duplicates of the despatches 
 to the Emperor, and a memorial describing the Bishop of Burgos's 
 behaviour, and the sequestration of the treasures. The Emperor was 
 well impressed by the letters, and ordered the gifts to be sent on to 
 him. He was, however, so absorbed with business of importance, 
 prior to quitting the country for Germany to assume the imperial 
 crown, that he left without giving a decision. The envoys followed 
 him to La Coruña and there exists, in the archives of Simancas, the 
 deposition given under oath before Dr. Carbajal, member of the Royal 
 Council for the Indies, by Francisco Fernandez Puertocarrero, dated, 
 Coruña, April 30, 1520, copied by Prescott, Appendix VII. The 
 memorial of Benito Martin is found, according to Prescott, in the collec- 
 tion of MSS., made by Don Vargas Ponce, sometime president of the 
 Academy of History.
 
 APPENDIX IV. 
 
 Human sacrifices were very general among all the Mexican tribes, 
 at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards, and the description here 
 given of the horrible temple rites is in no way exaggerated, but is in- 
 deed rather meagre. The practice is traced, by some historians, to 
 the tribe of the Mexi, which descended from Tenoch, son of Iztacmix- 
 coatl, the progenitor of the Nahoa family, but, with what justice, 
 does not clearly appear, as this people may have received it from some 
 tribe or race preceding, or allied, to them. Prisoners taken in war 
 were the most highly prized victims, but failing these, or for the cele- 
 bration of minor festivals, slaves were easily bought, or were offered by 
 their owners for the purpose. Small infants were also commonly sold 
 by their mothers, and instances of free-born men offering them- 
 selves as victims, for one motive or another, were not unknown. 
 The victims were frequently drugged, in such wise that they went un- 
 consciously, or even willingly to the altar. If a great festival, requir- 
 ing many, and choice, victims, fell in a time of peace, war would be 
 undertaken upon any frivolous pretext, in order to procure the desired 
 offerings. 
 
 The rites were carefully prescribed, and were of the most solemn 
 description. Different kinds of sacrificial stones were used for different 
 classes of victims; the usual one called iechcail is described by Veladas 
 {Rhetorica Christiana) as "Mensa quadrata magna non et splendida 
 habent singula latera longitudinent trium ulnarunt non absimilis lapidéis 
 illis qucB inter Romana monumento ad hunc servantur." 
 
 This table-shaped stone was about waist high, and stood as an in- 
 verted pyramid. Six priests officiated, five of whom held the arms, 
 legs, and head, of the victim, who was stretched upon the stone in such 
 wise as to throw his chest well forward. These five had their faces 
 and bodies painted black, with a white line around the mouth; their 
 hair was bound up with a leather band, and ornamented with tufts of 
 coloured papers; their vestment was a white dalmatic, striped with 
 black. 
 
 The sixth priest was the celebrant whose vestment varied according 
 to the feast, or the deity, to be propitiated. His head was adorned with 
 coloured plumes, and in his ears were golden ornaments, set with green 
 stones, while a blue stone was set in his under lip. Pronouncing the 
 words of the ritual, he plunged a sharp knife, made^of silex, into the 
 victim's breast, and, quickly thrusting his hand into the opening, 
 
 i8i
 
 1 82 Letters of Cortes 
 
 tore out the beating heart, which he first elevated, and then deposited 
 at the feet of the image of the god. Sometimes the heart was placed 
 in a vase, and left standing on the altar, or it might be buried, or pre- 
 served with divers ceremonies, as a relic, or it might be eaten by the 
 priests; the fresh blood was smeared on the lips of the idols. If the 
 victim were a prisoner taken in battle, his head was given to the priests, 
 to be kept as a trophy, the entrails were fed to the dogs, and the other 
 parts of the body were cooked with maize, and offered in small pieces 
 to the guests invited to partake by the giver of the sacrificial feast. 
 
 The warrior who had captured the victim in battle could not eat of 
 the latter's flesh, as a sort of spiritual relationship was held to exist 
 between them, not dissimilar to that of a sponsor and his god-child in 
 Christian baptism, or even closer, for the flesh of the victim was con- 
 sidered also as the very flesh of the captor. The eating of this human 
 body was not an act of gluttonous cannibalism alone, but was believed 
 to have mystic significance, the flesh having undergone some mysterious 
 transmutation, by virtue of the sacrificial rite, and to be really conse- 
 crated; it was spoken of also, as the true body of the deity, to whom 
 it was offered, and, also, as the "food of soul." None but chiefs, and 
 distinguished persons, specially designated, were permitted to partake 
 of the sacramental feast, which was celebrated with much ceremony 
 and gravity. If the victim were a slave, the rites were similar, but 
 simpler. Orozco y Berra, in the first, and the third volumes of his 
 authoritative work, gives the fullest, and most interesting information 
 on human sacrifices amongst the Mexicans.
 
 SECOND LETTER 
 
 183
 
 SECOND LETTER 
 
 Sent to his Sacred Majesty, the Emperor of Our Realm, 
 by the Captain-Generai of New Spain, called Don Fer- 
 nando Cortes, in which he gives an account of the countries 
 and innumerable provinces which hechas discovered in 
 Yucatan, from the year 15 19 to the present time, and has 
 subjected to the Crown of His Royal Majesty. He makes 
 special relation of a very great, and very rich, province 
 called Culua, in which there are many great cities, and 
 marvellous edifices, having much commerce and wealth. 
 Amongst these there is one more marvellous and richer 
 than all the others, called Temixtitan, which by marvellous 
 art has been built on a great lake; of which city and pro- 
 vince, a very great lord, called Montezuma, is king; in which, 
 things, frightful to be heard, were suffered by the Captain, 
 and the Spaniards. He describes at length the vast do- 
 minion of the said Montezuma, and its customs and cere- 
 monies, and how he is served. 
 
 Very Great and Powerful, and Very Catholic Prince, 
 Most Invincible Emperor, Our Lord. In a ship, which I 
 despatched from this Your Sacred Majesty's New Spain, 
 on the sixteenth of July 15 19, I sent to Your Royal High- 
 ness a very long and particular account of everything 
 which had happened from the time of my arrival here 
 until that time; this said account was taken by Alonzo 
 Hernandez Puertocarrero, and Francisco de Montejo, 
 procurators of the Rica Villa de la Vera Cruz, which 
 I had founded in the name of Your Royal Highness. 
 
 185
 
 1 86 Letters of Cortes 
 
 Having had no opportunity since then, not only for the 
 want of ships, and being myself occupied in the con- 
 quest and pacification of this country, but also because 
 nothing has been heard of the said ships and the pro- 
 curators, I have related nothing more to Your Majesty 
 concerning what has since been done. 'God knows the 
 pain which this has caused me, for I have wished that 
 Your Highness should understand the afiairs of this 
 country, which is so great and important, since, as I have 
 already said in my other account, it is no less worthy 
 to warrant your assuming anew the title of Emperor, than 
 is Germany, of which, by the grace of God, Your Sacred 
 Majesty already possesses the title. / 
 
 It would entail going on indefinitely, were I to at- 
 tempt to tell Your Highness all the particulars, and every- 
 thing relating to these parts and new kingdoms, and 
 everything in them worthy to be told ; I beg Your Sacred 
 Majesty to hold me pardoned, if I do not give so full an 
 account to Your Highness as I ought, because neither 
 my ability, nor my opportunity at this time, favour my 
 doing so. I shall, nevertheless, endeavour to tell Your 
 Highness the truth in the best manner possible, and what, 
 for the present, is necessary that Your Majesty should 
 know; and I must likewise crave Your Highness's pardon 
 if I do not recount all that is necessary, the precise when 
 and how, and if I should not specify some names, not 
 only of cities and towns, but also of provinces which, 
 giving themselves " for your subjects and vassals, have 
 offered their allegiance to Your Majesty. This I beg, 
 because, in a certain recent misfortune, of which I will 
 hereafter in this writing give a full account to Your 
 Highness, I have lost all my papers, and the official 
 agreements, which I had made with the natives of this 
 country, besides many other things. 
 
 In my other account. Most Excellent Prince, I told 
 Your Majesty of all the cities and towns which until then
 
 Second Letter 187 
 
 had offered themselves to your royal service, and which 
 I held subjugated and conquered for you. I also men- 
 tioned that I had information of a great lord called 
 Montezuma,^ of whom the natives of this country had 
 told me, and who lived, according to their computation 
 of distances, about ninety or a hundred leagues from 
 the coast and port where I had disembarked; and that, 
 
 > Muteczuma, Motezuma, Motecuhzoma are some of the various 
 forms used, but, amongst the several spellings of the Aztec sovereign's 
 name, it seems simpler to adopt the one sanctioned by the best English 
 and American usage — Montezuma. 
 
 Montezuma Xocoyotzin was one of the six sons of the King Axay- 
 acatl (a.d. 1469-81), and was unanimously chosen by the electors to 
 succeed his uncle, Ahuitzotl, from amongst the eligible princes, who, 
 in that instance, were his own five brothers, and the seven sons of the 
 deceased emperor. Montezuma II assumed the appellation of "Xoco- 
 yotzin" upon his accession, signifying "younger," to distinguish him 
 from the elder Montezuma, Ilhuicamina. Prescott gives his age as 
 twenty-three at the time of election, but I prefer to follow the authority 
 of the Tezozomoc MS., given in Orozco y Berra, which states that he 
 was bom in i486 and was hence thirty-four years old. 
 
 His early career was that of a successful soldier, from which he 
 passed into the priesthood, rising to the grade of a pontiff. At that 
 time he was held in great veneration by the people, as one who received 
 revelations from the gods, and his strict life was a model to his fellows. 
 It is related that, when the news of his election to the imperial throne 
 was brought to him, he was found sweeping the steps of the temple 
 whose altars he served. His temperament was theocratic; he ruled 
 sternly, and ill-brooked opposition, or even counsel, but he was princely 
 in recompensing faithful service. He had embellished his capital, 
 but the liberality which built an aqueduct, a hospital, and new temples 
 in the city, cost the subject provinces dear, and Montezuma being both 
 despotic and a heavy tax-levier, was more feared than loved by his 
 people and allies. Loving order, he understood the science of govern- 
 ment, but his finer qualities were marred by his inordinate pride, and 
 most of all by the ferocious superstition which finally lost him his throne 
 and his life. The policy he adopted with Cortes was fatal, and shows us 
 the pitiful figure of the monarch struggling, not against the power 
 of an invading force, but taken in the coils of his own superstition, and 
 reduced to a humble suppliant, offering rich bribes to the man he 
 could have annihilated. The treasures he thus incautiously exposed, 
 argued the existence of still greater in reserve, and whetted the Span- 
 iard's craving for more. 
 
 An account of Montezuma's death will be found in a later note.
 
 i88 Letters of Cortes 
 
 confiding in the greatness of God, and relying on the 
 power of Your Highness's Royal name, I had decided 
 to go and see him, wherever he might be. I even re- 
 member that I offered, so far as this lord was concerned, 
 to accompHsh the impossible, for I vowed to Your Royal 
 Highness, that I would have him prisoner, or dead, or 
 subject to the Royal Crown of Your Majesty. 
 
 With this purpose and determination, I left the city 
 of Cempoal, ^ which I had named Seville, on the sixteenth 
 Cortes Be- ^^ August, with fifteen horsemen, and three 
 gins his hundred foot soldiers, all equipped for war, as 
 March to best I was able, and as time permitted. I left 
 exico ^ ^j^^ town of Vera Cruz, two horsemen, and 
 one hundred and fifty men, engaged in building a fort, 
 which I have now almost finished, and I left all that 
 province of Cempoal, and all the neighbouring mountain 
 regions near the said town, which contained some fifty 
 thousand warriors, and fifty towns and forts, all well 
 pacified, and secure, and very devoted as loyal vassals 
 of Your Majesty, such as they have been, and are, 
 until now. _ According to my information, they were 
 subjects of that lord, IMontezuma, by force, and since a 
 short time only, and, when they learned from me of Your 
 Highness's great and royal power, they declared they 
 wished to become vassals of Your Royal Majesty, and my 
 friends, and they prayed me to protect them against that 
 great lord, who held them subject by force and tyranny, 
 and took away their sons, to kill and sacrifice them to their 
 idols; and making many other complaints against him. 
 Thus, they are, and have continued, very firm and loyal 
 in the service of Your Highness, and I believe they will 
 
 1 Cempoal. Found with many variations of spelling such as 
 Cenipoal, Cempoalla, Zempoala, etc. The town was situated between 
 the two rivers Chatcalacac and Actopan, a little more than a league 
 from the sea. It was a well built town in the midst of a fertile coun- 
 try, four leagues from Vera Cruz; and still preserves its Indian name. 
 A Spanish lad of twelve was left at Cempoal to learn the language.
 
 30 
 
 
 viontezuma's palace. 
 Temple of Tezcatlipoca. 
 Vviary. 
 
 'alace of A xayacatl (Spanish quarters). 
 Jreat temple, 
 "alace of .Viontezuma I., Ilhiilcamina. 
 alnce of Tlilancolqui. 
 he «rcat square, 
 vlenagerie. 
 
 vlarkct-place of Mexico. 
 Cezoutlalamacoyan (tcocalli), present site of 
 
 S. Catherine, Martyr, 
 iuitznahuac (tcocalli). 
 'leeting-place of Montezuma and Cortes. 
 "ei?il>le of Atzacualco. 
 'alace of Xacatulco (Quauhtemotzin's residence 
 
 during the siege), 
 iarket-place of Tlatclolco. 
 Temple of Tlatelolco. 
 ^emple of Xoluco. 
 Iridie of Ttchautzinco. 
 iridi;e of 'i'olteacalli (site of the Church of the 
 
 Martyrs), 
 iridgc of I'oltecaacaplan (Alvarado's leap). 
 lUdience hall (present church of hanta Anal, 
 'emple of Cihuatecpan or Xochotilla (present S. 
 
 Francisco), 
 'ernple of Coyonacazco also called Amaxac. 
 'etinantitech : final stand of the Mexicans, where 
 
 the present Church of the Conception stands, 
 'emplc of Apahuaztlan. 
 emple of Nomoxco. 
 'emple of Petlacalli. 
 ortress of Xoloc. 
 lonohualco. 
 uicacolco (teocallij. 
 
 
 t^ 
 
 / 
 
 
 PLAN OK MK.XKO TKNOCIITITI.AN 
 
 From Conquista Je Mexico, vol. iv., by Oiozcd y Herra
 
 Second Letter 189 
 
 always remain so, not only to escape from his tyranny, 
 but also because they have always been well treated and 
 favoured by me. For the greater security of those 
 who remained at Vera Cruz I brought some of their 
 principal men, and some of their people with me, who 
 have been not a little useful to me on the road. 
 
 I believe I have already written to Your Majesty, in 
 my first account, that some of my company, who had 
 been servants and friends of Diego Velasquez, were vexed 
 by what I had accomplished in the service of Your High- 
 ness, and some of them even wanted to rebel, and desert 
 me in the country; especially four Spaniards who were 
 called Juan Escudero, Diego Cermeño, a pilot, Gonzalo 
 de Ungria, also a pilot, and Alonzo Péñate. These, as they 
 voluntarily confessed, had determined to seize a brigan- 
 tine, then in the port, with a certain quantity of bread 
 and meat, to kill the master of it, and return to the island 
 of Femandina, that they might report to Diego Velasquez 
 that I was sending to Your Royal Highness the ship, which 
 I sent with what it contained, and the course it would 
 take. This was to enable the said Diego Velasquez to 
 put ships on guard, for the purpose of capturing it, as 
 he did when he afterwards came to know it, for, as I 
 was informed, he sent a caravel after the said ship, which 
 would have been captured, if it had not already passed. 
 And they likewise confessed, that other persons shared 
 the same wish to warn the said Diego Velasquez. Having 
 seen the confessions of these delinquents, I punished them 
 according to justice, and as it seemed to me the needs 
 of the times, and the interests of Your Royal Highness's 
 service demanded. 
 
 Besides those, who acted thus because they were 
 servants and friends of Diego Velasquez, there Destruction 
 were others who wanted to leave on see- of the 
 
 ing how large and populous the country ^'^®* 
 
 was, while the Spaniards were so few. Believing
 
 I go Letters of Cortes 
 
 that, if I left the ships there, they would revolt with 
 them, and, all those of like mind deserting, I would be 
 left almost alone, by which the great service which I had 
 rendered to God and Your Highness in this country would 
 be undone, I determined, on the pretext that they were 
 unseaworthy, to have the said ships beached. ^ Thus, 
 everybody lost hope of ever leaving the country, and I 
 set out on my march, securely, without fear that, when 
 I turned my back, the people whom I had left in the 
 town would fail me. 
 
 Eight or ten days after having beached the ships, and 
 when I had gone to the city of Cempoal, which is about 
 four leagues distant, 'Whence to continue my march, they 
 brought me new^s in that town, that four ships were 
 running along the coast, and that the captain, whom I 
 had left there, had gone out to them in a boat. I had 
 
 1 The destruction of the ships is one of the most dramatic epi- 
 sodes in the eventful history of the conquest, and Cortes, in reporting 
 it to the Emperor, assumes exclusively the credit of the heroic decision 
 and its execution, but throughout his narrative he is chary of ever 
 mentioning anybody but himself. Gomara naturally gives the same 
 account and Prescott accepts his version, as do other reputable his- 
 torians. Bernal Diaz, who figures always as the great objector and 
 corrector, contradicts this account very positively, and says that the 
 destruction of the ships was decided upon after a general discussion, 
 and that Cortes was unwilling to accept any responsibility either for 
 their demolition or for their cost if there should later arise a necessity to 
 pay for them to their rightful owners. He refutes with emphatic scorn 
 Gomara's assertion that Cortes feared to tell the soldiers of his inten- 
 tion to push into the interior in search of the great Montezuma, ex- 
 claiming: " What sort of Spaniards are we, not to want to push ahead, 
 but to stop where we had no hardships or fighting!" The Relación 
 of Andres de Tapia (who was also an eye-witness) agrees with Bernal 
 Diaz. Puertocarrero replied in La Coruña in the same sense as his 
 companion Montejo (April 29, 1520), stating that the proposal to de- 
 stroy all but three of the ships came from the captains of them, who 
 declared them to be unseaworthy, and even the three to be of doubtful 
 value. Puertocarrero and Montejo sailed, as has been said, on July 
 1 6th, with the treasure and the letters which were dated July loth, so 
 that the discovery of the conspiracy, and the punishment of its authors, 
 and the destruction of the ships, all took place in those six days.
 
 Second Letter 191 
 
 been told that they belonged to Francisco de Garay, ^ 
 Lieutenant, and Governor of the Island of Jamaica, and 
 had come to make discoveries. My captain had told 
 them, that I had already settled the country in the name 
 of Your Highness, and had laid out a town about a league 
 from where the said ships were, where they could go and 
 make their arrival known to me, and there make any 
 repairs they might need. He said he w^ould conduct 
 them in his barque to the port, pointing out to them 
 where it was. They had answered him, that they had 
 already seen the port, having passed in front of it, and 
 that they would do as he said, so he had returned with 
 the barque, but the ships had not followed him nor come 
 to the port. They had still sailed along the coast, and, as 
 they had not entered the port, he did not know what object 
 
 Clavigero believes that Cortes induced some of the pilots to scuttle 
 one or two of the ships, and to then come to him representing the others 
 as unseaworthy from being three months in port. 
 
 Señor Orozco y Berra is doubtless right in believing that the idea 
 of destroying the ships originated with Cortes, who adroitly suggested 
 it in such wise, and with such arguments, that it came back to him as a 
 spontaneous proposal from the others, prompted, or at least supported 
 by the opinions of the pilots and ship-captains that the vessels were 
 unsound. Such artifice was not alien to his diplomacy, for he usually 
 contrived that he should appear to interpret the popular will as well 
 as to serve the royal interests in all his undertakings. 
 
 ' Francisco de Garay sailed with Columbus on his second voyage. 
 Las Casas speaks of his great wealth, and says that he had five thousand 
 Indians solely to look after his pigs. He went to Spain as procurator for 
 San Domingo, and returned as Lieut-Governor of Jamaica. When the 
 news of the Cordoba and Grijalba expeditions became the excitement 
 of the day, Garay sent out an exploring party under command of Diego 
 de Camargo. This discovered the Panuco region, and, continuing 
 thence about one hundred leagues towards Florida, finally returned 
 to Jamaica. The Emperor Charles V. granted him faculties for further 
 enterprises, and the title of adelantado of the new countries he dis- 
 covered. Garay was one of the most cruel oppressors of the Indians 
 and it was said of him that he came, not to populate, but to depopulate, 
 Jamaica. This expedition, of which Cortes writes, was composed of 
 four ships carrying two hundred and seventy men, with horses and 
 cannon, and had sailed from Jamaica towards the close of 1518, under 
 command of Alonzo Alvarez de Pineda.
 
 192 Letters of Cortes 
 
 they had in view. Within an hour after hearing what 
 the said captain made known to me, I left for Vera Cruz, 
 where I learned that the ships were anchored about three 
 leagues down the coast, and that no one had landed. I 
 then went along the coast with some people, to recon- 
 noitre, and, when I was about one league from the ships, 
 I met three men from them, amongst whom there was 
 one who called himself a notary public, who told me he 
 had brought the other two as witnesses to a certain noti- 
 fication and requirement with which he said their captain 
 had ordered him to serve me on his behalf, and which 
 he had brought with him. They desired to make it 
 known to me, that he had discovered that country, and 
 wished to settle in it, for which reason he required me 
 to define the boundaries with him, as he wished to make 
 his settlement down the coast five leagues below Nautical, ^ 
 which is a city now called Almería, twelve leagues from 
 Vera Cruz. I answered that their captain should come 
 with his ships to the port of Vera Cruz, where we could 
 talk, and I would learn his intentions, and, if his ships 
 and people needed anything, I would help them with 
 what I could. Inasmuch as he said that he had come in 
 the service of Your Sacred Majesty, I only desired that 
 occasion should be given me to serve Your Highness, 
 and, in helping him, I believed that I would do this. 
 They repHed, that neither the captain, nor any of his 
 people, woidd on any account land an5rwhere that I 
 might be. 
 
 Believing that they must have done some harm in 
 the country, inasmuch as they were afraid to come before 
 me, when night came on I hid myself near the coast, op- 
 posite to where the said ships were anchored. There 
 I remained concealed until the next day about noon, 
 expecting the captain or his pilot to come on shore, from 
 
 > The present Nautla in the state of Vera Cruz ; Pineda named it 
 Almería,
 
 Second Letter 193 
 
 whom I would learn what they had been doing, and where 
 they had been, intending, that if they had done any harm 
 in the country, to send them to Your Sacred Majesty; but 
 neither they nor anyone else ever landed. Seeing that 
 they did not come, I made some of my Spaniards put 
 on the clothes of those who had come to make me the 
 requirements, and directed them to go to the beach, and 
 signal to those on board the ships. As soon as these 
 were observed by those on board, a barque, carrying some 
 ten or twelve men, armed with arquebuses and muskets, 
 came towards the land. The Spaniards who were calling 
 from the shore retired from the beach to some bushes 
 near by, as if to take shelter in their shade, and thus four 
 landed, two men with arquebuses, and two with muskets. 
 These were surrounded, and taken prisoners by the people 
 whom I had placed on the beach. One of the captives, 
 the master of the ship, tried to fire his weapon, and would 
 have killed my captain of Vera Cruz, but that, by Our 
 Lord's will, the fuse did not burn. Those who had re- 
 mained in the boat, put to sea, but before they could 
 reach their ships, sail had been set, without waiting, or 
 troubling to hear anything about them. 
 
 I learned from my prisoners, how they had arrived at 
 a river, ^ which is some thirty leagues down the coast, after 
 passing Almería, and had had a good reception there 
 from the natives, and had traded for some provisions, 
 and seen some gold which the Indians wore, although it 
 was scarce, that they had obtained by trading, as much 
 as [three thousand castellanos^ worth of gold, and that 
 they had not landed, but had seen certain towns on the 
 banks of the river so near, that they could distinguish 
 them well from the ships, and that there were no buildings 
 of stone, the houses being of thatch, but very high and 
 well built. All this I knew more fully afterwards, through 
 
 ' The Panuco. 
 
 2 The castellano was equivalent to $i. 167. 
 
 VOL. I. — 13
 
 194 Letters of Cortes 
 
 that great lord Montezuma, and from certain interpreters 
 
 from that country whom he had about him. 
 
 I took these men, and an Indian whom they had 
 
 brought in their ships from the said river, and sent 
 
 „ ^. ^. them, with other messengers of the said Monte- 
 Negotiations ' =" 
 
 with the zuma, to the lord of that river, called Panuco, 
 Cacique of to win him to Your Sacred Majesty's service. 
 Panuco ^-^j^ them, he sent me back a chief who, it 
 was said, was chief of a town, who brought me on behalf 
 of his lord certain stufis, and stones, and feathers, 
 telling me that he and all his people would be very happy 
 to become vassals of Your Majesty, and my friends. I in 
 turn presented them with some things from Spain, which 
 so satisfied him, that, when some other ships of the said 
 Francisco de Garay arrived (of which I will make relation 
 to Your Highness hereafter), the said Panuco sent me 
 word that those ships were in another river, some five 
 or six days' journey from that place, asking that I should 
 tell him whether those who had come in them belonged to 
 me, so that he might give them whatever they needed, 
 and that he already had sent some women and chickens 
 and other provisions. I marched, Very Powerful Lord, 
 three days through the country and lordship of Cempoal, 
 where I was well received, and entertained by the natives, 
 and, on the fourth day, I arrived in the province called 
 Sienchimalen, ^ where there is a very strong town ably 
 fortified. It is situated on the side of a steep mountain 
 slope, and is approached by a single pass of steps, by 
 which it is impossible to enter except on foot, and 
 even thus with great difficulty, if the natives wished to 
 defend it. 
 
 In the plains, there are many hamlets and villages, 
 with five, three, and two hundred families, which will 
 furnish altogether some five or six thousand warriors; and 
 they are subject to the rule of Montezuma. Here, they 
 
 » Xochimilco was the correct name ; it is now called Xico.
 
 Second Letter 195 
 
 received me very well, and courteously gave me the 
 necessary provisions for my march, saying that they knew 
 very well I was going to see Montezuma their lord, and 
 that I might rest assured he was my friend, for he had 
 ordered them, in every case, to give me a good reception, 
 as by so doing they w^ould render him a service. I 
 thanked them for their courtesy, saying that Your 
 Majesty already knew of Montezuma, and had ordered 
 me to visit him. 
 
 I next crossed a pass, which Is at the end of this 
 province, and to which we gave the name of Puerto del 
 Nombre de Dios, ^ on account of its being the first we 
 have traversed in this country. So steep, and so high, is 
 it, that in all Spain there is none so difficult. I passed 
 with entire safety, and without any opposition, and, on the 
 descent of the said pass, there are other hamlets belong- 
 ing to a town and fort, called Ceycocnacan,^ which also 
 belongs to Montezuma. Here we were as well received 
 as we had been at Sienchimalen, and the people repeated 
 what the others had told us of Montezuma's good will, 
 and I satisfied them in the same manner. 
 
 Thence I travelled three days through a desert, which, 
 on account of its sterility, and want of water, and the 
 very great cold which prevails, is uninhabitable; where 
 God knows all the trouble which the men suffered from 
 hunger and thirst, especially from tempests of hail and 
 rain which overtook us, making me fear that many people 
 would die of cold; and certain Indians from the Island of 
 Fernandina did die, because they were ill-clad. At the 
 end of these three days, we traversed another pass, ^ 
 although not so steep as the first one, on the top of which 
 was a small tower like an oratory, where were kept certain 
 
 > Now called Paso del Obispo. 
 
 * Another name which is spelled according to the caprice of each 
 writer; its proper name was Ixhuacan, now spelled Ishuacan, and 
 the tower is some ten leagues from Xalapa. 
 
 3 Identified, with probability, as the Sierra del Agua.
 
 196 Letters of Cortes 
 
 idols, and around the tower were more than a thousand 
 loads of cut wood, very well piled up, so we named it 
 the Paso de la Leña. On the descent of the said pass, 
 between some very rough mountain chains, there is a 
 very populous valley, the people of which seem to be 
 poor. 
 
 After ha.v{ng marched about three leagues through the 
 settlement without seeing anything of them, I arrived at 
 a somewhat more level place, where it seemed the chief 
 of that valley lived, and which had the largest and best 
 built houses we had till then seen in this country, for 
 they were of hewn stone, quite new, and had very large 
 and beautiful rooms, and many well-arranged apartments. 
 This valley and its people are called Caltanmi.* I was 
 very well received, and lodged by the chief and his 
 people. After having spoken to him on the part of Your 
 Majesty, and told him the cause of my coming to these 
 parts, I asked him if he also was a vassal of Montezuma's, 
 or if he belonged to some other dominion. He, wondering 
 at what I asked him, answered me, " And who is not a 
 vassal of Montezuma's?" as much as to say that he was 
 the sovereign of the world. I then replied, and told him 
 about the vast power and jurisdiction of Your Majesty, 
 and of all the many and greater lords than Montezuma 
 who were vassals of Your Highness, even considering it as 
 no small privilege to be so, as would Montezuma, and all 
 the natives of these parts, likewise have to be; and thus 
 I required him to be because he would then be much 
 honoured and favoured, while on the contrary if he were 
 unwilling to obey he would be punished. In recognition 
 of his vassalage, I asked him to give me some gold to be 
 sent to Your Majesty, when he answered that he had 
 
 1 The name of the valley was Caltanmic, and that of the town, 
 Xocotla; its chief, Olintetl, was so enormous that he had to be sup- 
 ported when he walked. The Spaniards named him the "trembler." 
 There was a strong Mexican garrison at Xocotla, as it was a fortified 
 place on the frontiers of hostile Tlascala.
 
 Second Letter 197 
 
 gold, but would not give it unless Montezuma commanded 
 him to do so, but that, if the latter did so order, then he 
 would give the gold, and his person, and all that he 
 possessed. In order not to scandalise him, nor to hinder 
 my designs and progress, I dissembled with him the 
 best I could, saying that very soon Montezuma would 
 order him to give the gold and everything he had. 
 
 The two other chiefs who had lands in this valley came 
 to see me here, one of whom lived four leagues below, and 
 the other two leagues above, and they gave me certain 
 collars of gold of little weight or value, and seven or 
 eight female slaves. 
 
 After stopping four or five days there, I left them very 
 contented, and went to the city of the other chief, two 
 leagues, as I said, up the valley which place is called 
 Yztacmastitan.^ This lordship has an extension of 
 three or four leagues, one house after another along the 
 valley, and on the banks of a small river which flows 
 through it. The house of the chief stands on a very high 
 hill, protected by a better fort than can be found in half 
 Spain, well surrounded with walls, and barbicans, and 
 moats, and, on the top of this hill, there is a town of about 
 five or six thousand inhabitants, with very large houses, 
 whose people are somewhat richer than those of the lower 
 valley. Here I was also very well received, and its chief 
 told me that he likewise was a vassal of Montezuma. I 
 stayed in his house three days, not only for the purpose 
 of resting the people from the hardship they had endured 
 in the desert, but also to wait for four messengers, natives 
 of Cempoal, who had come with me, and whom I had sent 
 from Caltanmi to a very large province called Tascalteca,^ 
 
 > Ixtacmaxtitlan, in the present state of Puebla. For convenience' 
 sake the town was removed from the hill-top in 1601 and built on 
 its present site lower down. 
 
 2 Tlascala was a republic composed of four federated states, each 
 ruled by its chief, while federal affairs and legislation were undertaken 
 by the Senate, which was composed of the nobles of all four states,
 
 iqS Letters of Cortes 
 
 which they told me was very near there, as in truth it 
 was. They had also told me, that the natives of this 
 province were their friends, and very deadly enemies of 
 Montezuma, and that they wished me to confederate 
 with them, as they were a large and powerful people 
 (whose country was bounded on all sides by that of the said 
 Montezuma, with whom they were in continual warfare), 
 and would be glad to help me if the said Montezuma 
 should oppose me. These messengers did not return 
 during all the time that I remained in that valley, which 
 was in all eight days. I asked the others, who had come 
 with me from Cempoal, how it was that the messengers 
 did not return, and they answered that it was a great 
 distance, and that they could not get back so quickly. 
 Seeing that their return was delayed, and that the 
 chiefs of Cempoal were so positive about the friend- 
 ship and fidelity of the people of that province, I set 
 out for it. 
 
 and their over-lords. The city was likewise divided into four districts, 
 in which people of the separate tribes lived, each under its own chief. 
 As the country was hemmed in on all sides by the Aztec Empire, there 
 was no commerce, and the chief pursuit was agriculture. The Tlas- 
 calans were a brave, hardy, and war-like people, well advanced in mili- 
 tary science, and having something very like a feudal system of chiv- 
 alry, in that the different chiefs or lords had each his own standard 
 and crest, and the soldiers were uniformed in their leaders' colours 
 and owed him allegiance ; Xicotencatl's. device was a white heron on a 
 rock. There were also orders of knighthood conferred for bravery. 
 Their important part in the conquest is noticed elsewhere, and will 
 also appear in the course of Cortes's own narration. One of his first 
 desires was to force Christianity upon them, but Fray Bartolomé de 
 Oknedo wisely restrained his untimely zeal, and, beyond explaining 
 the Christian doctrines, no constraint was attempted. The Tlascalans 
 conceded that the Christian God must very likely be a good one, and 
 they were ready to admit him to a place in their own pantheon, some- 
 thing after the manner of the Emperor Hadrian and other Romans. 
 The four chiefs ruling the confederation at that time were Xicotencatl, 
 lord of Titzatlan, Maxixcatzin, lord of Ocotelolco, Tlehuexolotzin, lord 
 of Tepeticpac, and Citlalpopocatzin, lord of Quiahuitztlan. (Clavigero, 
 Storia Antica, lib. viii.) {Vide, Camarga, Hist. Tlascala; and Torque- 
 mada, lib. 3-16.)
 
 Second Letter 199 
 
 At the exit of the said valley, I found a great wall 
 of dry stones, about nine feet high, which crossed the 
 whole valley from one mountain to the other; The Wall of 
 it was twenty feet thick, and had a stone Tlascala 
 parapet, a foot and a half broad on the top so that 
 one cotdd fight from above. The single entrance was 
 about ten paces broad, and in this entrance one wall 
 doubled over the other, in the form of a ravelin, narrowly 
 contracted within about forty paces, in such wise that 
 the entrance was curved instead of being straight. ^ 
 Having inquired the object of that wall they told me 
 that it was built because they were on the frontier of that 
 province of Tascalteca, whose people were Montezuma's 
 enemies, and constantly at war with him. 
 
 The natives of this valley besought me, that, inasmuch 
 as I was going to see Montezuma their lord, not to pass 
 through the country of these his enemies, who per- 
 chance might be ill-disposed towards me, and do me 
 some mischief, whereas they would guide me always 
 through the land of the said Montezuma without going 
 out of it, and that in it I would always be well received. 
 The Cempoalans, however, advised me not to do this, 
 but to go through Tascalteca, for what these people were 
 telling me, was for the purpose of cutting me off from 
 the amity of that province; they told me that all Monte- 
 zuma's people were bad and treacherous, and would en- 
 snare me in places whence I could never escape. As I 
 had more confidence in the Cempoalans than in the 
 
 ' Bernal Diaz contradicts Cortes's statement that this wall was 
 built of dry stones, and states that the stones were so firmly united 
 by such strong bitumen that it required pick axes to separate them. 
 Clavigero, in his notice on the remains of military architecture in 
 Mexico (lib. vii. Sec. xxvi.), gives faith to Bernal Diaz who professed 
 to have carefully studied the construction, though he brusquely char- 
 acterises the old soldier as an idiot {sic) for not distinguishing between 
 bitumen and the mortar used by the Mexicans. Lest the ingenious con- 
 struction of the aperture be not clearly enough explained by Cortes, 
 the accompanying drawing will show its character.
 
 200 Letters of Cortes 
 
 others, I took their advice, and chose the road to Tas- 
 calteca, conducting my people with the best caution I 
 could. 
 
 Accompanied by about six horsemen, I rode ahead 
 about half a league or more, little thinking of what after- 
 wards happened, but to reconnoitre the country, so that 
 if anything should befall I might perceive it in time to 
 take measures, and prepare my people. After having 
 gone four leagues, and while ascending the hill, two 
 horsemen who went ahead saw certain Indians, wearing 
 the feathers they are accustomed to in war, armed with 
 their swords, and lances, and rodelas, who took to flight 
 when they perceived the horsemen. At the same time I 
 came up, and had them called to to return without fear. 
 I advanced to where there were about fifteen Indians, who, 
 massing themselves, began to attack us with their swords, 
 calling to their other people who were in the valley, and 
 fighting with us in such wise that they killed two horses, 
 and wounded three others and two horsemen. In the 
 midst of this, others came up, numbering about four to 
 five thousand. Meantime, eight other horsemen, besides 
 those whose horses were killed, joined me, charging on 
 them until the other Spaniards, to whom I had sent 
 a summons by a horseman, arrived. We did them some 
 harm, in the charges we made, killing fifty or sixty of 
 them, without suffering any hurt ourselves, although 
 they fought with great courage and daring; but, as we 
 were all on horseback, we could charge them, and fall 
 back in safety. When they saw our reinforcements 
 approaching, they retreated, because they were so few, 
 and left us the field. 
 
 After they were gone certain messengers came, who 
 said they were the lords of the said province, and wdth 
 them came two of the messengers whom I had sent. 
 These explained that the said chiefs did not know any- 
 thing of what those others had done, as they belonged to

 
 Second Letter 201 
 
 independent communities, and had acted without their 
 consent, and they were very sorry for it, and would pay 
 for the horses they had killed, and they wished to be my 
 friends, and that I could go on freely, for I would be well 
 received by them [in hora buena, viz., in a good hour]. 
 I answered that I was very thankful to them, and that 
 I would consider them as my friends, and would advance 
 as they advised. 
 
 That night, one league beyond where this happened, 
 I was obliged to sleep in a dry river bed [baranca], not 
 only because it was late, but also because my Hostilities 
 people were tired. I stayed there as well i^^ Tlascala 
 guarded as possible, stationing my sentinels and scouts, 
 both on horseback and on foot, and at daybreak I left, 
 carrying my van-guard and rear-guard well organised, 
 and my scouts on ahead. 
 
 Arriving at a very small village just at sunrise, the two 
 other messengers came with lamentations saying that 
 they had been bound, and would have been killed, but 
 that they had escaped in the night. At not two stone' s- 
 throws distance a great number of Indians appeared well 
 armed, and with much shouting began to attack us, dis- 
 charging many darts and arrows at us. When I under- 
 took to make my requirements in due form, through the 
 interpreters whom I had brought with me, and before a 
 notary public, the more diligent I was to admonish and 
 require them to keep the peace, just so much the more 
 diligent were they in committing hostilities upon us, and, 
 seeing that neither requirements nor protests were of any 
 avail, we began to defend ourselves as best we could, and 
 thus they kept us fighting, until we found ourselves in the 
 midst of an hundred thousand warriors, who surrounded 
 us on all sides. This went on all day long, until about 
 an hour before sunset, when they retired. In this fight I 
 did them a good deal of harm with about half a dozen 
 cannon, and five or six muskets, forty archers, and thirteen
 
 202 Letters of Cortes 
 
 horsemen, who had been left to me, without our receiving 
 any hurt from them, except the labour and fatigue of 
 fighting and hunger. And it truly appeared that it was 
 God who battled for us, because amongst such a multi- 
 tude of people, so courageous, and skilled in fighting, and 
 "^4th so many kinds of offensive arms, ^ we came out 
 unhurt. 
 
 That night I fortified myself in a small tower of their 
 idols, which stood on a small hill, and afterwards, at 
 daybreak, I left two hundred men and all the artillery 
 in the camp. As I was the attacking party I went out 
 tow^ards evening with the horsemen, and a hundred 
 foot soldiers, and four hundred Indians whom I had 
 brought from Cempoal, and three hundred from Yztac- 
 mastitan. Before the enemy had time to assemble, I set 
 fire to five or six small places of about a hundred houses 
 each, and brought away about four hundred prisoners, 
 both men and w^omen, fighting my way back to my camp 
 without then* doing me any harm. At daybreak the 
 following morning, more than a hundred and forty-nine 
 thousand men, covering all the country, attacked our 
 camp so determinedly that some of them penetrated 
 
 ' One of their most formidable weapons was the maquahuitl, 
 commonly referred to by the Spaniards as a sword. It was a stout 
 stick or club, about three and a half feet long, set with a double row 
 of blades made of the stone called itztli, as sharp as razors. The war- 
 rior carried this terrible weapon attached to his wrist by a thong, and 
 instances of a horse being disembowelled, or even decapitated at a 
 single blow, are given by many early writers. The blades or itztli 
 were qviickly dulled, but, even then, such a weapon wielded by a strong 
 man was a fearsome thing. 
 
 Their darts, which are so frequently mentioned, were short lances, 
 whose points were tipped with bone or copper, or simply hardened in 
 the fire. Clavigero identifies them with the Roman Jaculunt or 
 Telum Amentatum, and says they were the weapons most feared by 
 the Spaniards. As marksmen, the Mexican bowmen were marvel- 
 lously quick and accvirate ; their arrows were also pointed with bone, but, 
 singularly enough, there is no mention throughout the conquest of 
 poison being used on them.
 
 Second Letter 203 
 
 into it, rushing about, and thrusting with their swords 
 at the Spaniards. We mustered against them, and Our 
 Lord was pleased so to aid us, that, in about four hours, 
 we managed that they should no more molest us in our 
 camp, although they still kept up some attacks; thus we 
 kept fighting until it grew to be late, when they retired. 
 
 The next day I again went out before daybreak, in 
 another direction, without having been observed by the 
 enemy, taking with me the horsemen, a hundred foot- 
 soldiers, and the friendly Indians. I burned more than a 
 hundred villages, one of which had more than three thou- 
 sand houses, where the villagers fought with me, though 
 there were no other people there. As we carried the 
 banner of the Holy Cross, ^ and were fighting for our 
 Faith, and in the service of Your Sacred Majesty, to Your 
 Royal good fortune God gave us such a victory that we 
 slew many people without our own sustaining any injury. 
 A little after mid-day when the strong force of the people 
 was gathered from all parts, we had returned victorious 
 to our camp. 
 
 Messengers came from the chiefs the next day, saying 
 that they w^ished to become vassals of Your Highness and 
 my friends, beseeching me to pardon their past fault; 
 and they brought me provisions, and certain feather- 
 work which they use, and esteem and prize. I answered 
 that they had behaved badly, but that I was satisfied to 
 be their friend, and pardon them for all they had done. 
 
 The next day there came about fifty Indians, who, 
 it seemed, were men of some consequence amongst 
 them, saying that they had brought us food, pate of the 
 and they went about inspecting the entrances Tlascaian 
 and exits of our camp, and some huts in ^P'®^ 
 
 which we were living. The Cempoalans came and 
 
 •The banner was of black silk bearing the arms of Charles V., 
 and on both sides a red cross surrounded by blue and white rays. The 
 legend was as follows : Amici sequamur Crucetn et si nos fident habemus 
 vere in hoc signo viceremus.
 
 2 04 Letters of Cortes 
 
 told me to watch them, because they were bad men 
 who had come to spy and see what damage they 
 could do us, and that I might rest assured they had come 
 for no other purpose. With some dissimulation, I had 
 one of them taken, without being observed by the others, 
 and leading him and the interpreters apart, frightened 
 him so that he should tell me the truth. He confessed 
 to me that Sintengal, ^ the captain-general of this 
 province, was behind one of the hills opposite the camp, 
 with a great number of people, ready to fall upon us 
 that night, for they said that they had tried by day 
 against us, and had gained no advantage, and now they 
 wished to try by night, when their people would fear 
 neither our horses, our cannon, nor our swords; and they 
 had been sent in order to examine our camp, and those 
 points where they could attack us, and how they could 
 burn the straw huts. I at once had another of the said 
 Indians taken, and also asked him, and he confessed the 
 same as the other in the same words, so I took another 
 five or six, and they all agreed in their statements. See- 
 ing this I had all the fifty taken, and cut off their hands, 
 and returned them to their chief, ordering them to say 
 to him, that, by day or night or at any or all times he 
 might come, he would see who we were. I then had my 
 camp fortified as best I could, and posted the people as 
 seemed most suitable, and we rested thus on our guard 
 until sunset. 
 
 When it was growing late, our opponents began to 
 descend into two valleys, thinking they were surrounding 
 us secretly, and to get nearer to us for carrying out their 
 
 ' Xicotencatl, son of the lord of Titzatlan, was a brave and able 
 commander. He bore the same name as his father, which has led 
 some writers to merge the two into one person, and others to confuse 
 their deeds. The father was a very old man, though he was pro- 
 bably not one hundred and forty years old, as some have stated, 
 when he met Cortes he asked to be allowed to feel his face, for he 
 was blind.
 
 Second Letter 205 
 
 intentions. As I was on my guard, however, I saw them, 
 and it seemed to me that it would be very dangerous to 
 allow them to approach near the camp, because at night 
 they could not see the damage I should do them ifrom my 
 side, and they would approach fearlessly, and also because 
 in not seeing them some of the Spaniards might be some- 
 what negligent in fighting. I also feared that they might 
 set fire to my camp, which should it happen would be 
 most disastrous, and none of us could escape; hence I 
 determined to go out and meet them with all the horsemen 
 and cut them to pieces, thus preventing their ap- 
 proach. And so it happened, that when they discovered 
 we were coming with horses to attack them, without stop- 
 ping or shouting, they fled into some fields of maize, with 
 which the country was almost covered, and lightened 
 themselves of some provisions which they were carrying 
 with them, for the feast they intended to celebrate, if 
 this time they destroyed us entirely. They left us in 
 security that night. After this occurrence, I remained 
 several days without leaving camp, except in the neigh- 
 bourhood, to repel the approach of some Indians who 
 gathered to jeer at us, and provoke some skirmishes. 
 
 When we had somewhat rested, I made a sally one 
 night, after having inspected the first watch of the guard, 
 taking a hundred foot, the friendly Indians, and the 
 horsemen; and about a league from our camp five horses 
 and mares fell, unable to go on, so I sent them back. 
 Although those who accompanied me, said that I ought 
 to return, as this was an evil omen, I still pushed ahead, 
 confiding in God's supremacy above everything. Before 
 daybreak I fell upon two towns, in which I slaughtered 
 many people, but I did not want to burn the houses, so as 
 to avoid attracting the attention of other people who 
 were very near. When day dawned I fell upon another 
 large town, which contained according to a count, which 
 I ordered to be taken, more than twenty thousand houses,
 
 2o6 Letters of Cortes 
 
 and, as I had surprised them, I found them unarmed, 
 and the women, and children, running naked through 
 the streets; and we did them some harm. Seeing they 
 could offer no resistance, a certain number of the in- 
 habitants came to beseech me not to do them further 
 injury, for they desired to become vassals of Your High- 
 ness, and my friends, and they recognised that they were 
 at fault in not having trusted me, but that henceforth I 
 would see that they would always do what I commanded 
 them in the name of Your Royal Highness, as your very 
 true vassals. Immediately there came to me more than 
 four thousand of them, suing for peace, and they took us 
 out to a fountain where they gave us good food. 
 
 Thus I left them pacified, and returned to our camp, 
 where I found the people who had remained there much 
 frightened, believing I might have been in some danger, 
 as they had seen the horses and mares returning the night 
 before. When they heard afterwards of the victory 
 which God had been pleased to give us, and how I had 
 left those towns at peace, they were very glad, for I 
 certify to Your Majesty, that there was no one amongst 
 us who was not very fearful at penetrating so far into this 
 country, and amongst so many people, where we were so 
 entirely without hope of help from anywhere. 
 
 Indeed I had already heard with my own ears, pri- 
 vately, as well as publicly, that I was a Pedro Carbonero, * 
 who had got them into this difficulty from which they 
 could never get out. And even more, I heard it said in 
 one of the huts of certain companions (I being in a place 
 where they could not see me), that if I had gone mad, and 
 was going whence I could never escape, they need not 
 do the same, but should rather return to the sea-coast, 
 and that if I wished to return with them, very well, but if 
 
 'An old proverb which said: "Pierre le Charbonnier savait bien 
 ou il était, tnais il ignorait le vnoyen d'en sortir" ; pointing at foolish 
 people who were always plunging into difficulties from which they never 
 knew how to emerge.
 
 Second Letter 207 
 
 not, to leave me. This was often required of me, but I 
 would encourage them, telling them to look to it that 
 they were the vassals of Your Highness, and that Span- 
 iards were never found lacking anywhere, and that we 
 were in a position to win the greatest kingdoms and 
 dominions in the world for Your Majesty. I told them, 
 moreover, that we were only doing what we were obliged 
 to do as Christians, by fighting against the enemies of our 
 faith, and that we would gain the glory of the other world, 
 while in this we would obtain the highest praise and 
 honour, such as till our time no generation had won; and 
 that they must perceive that we had God on our side, for 
 Whom nothing was impossible, as they might recognise 
 in the victories which we had obtained, where so many 
 of our enemy had been slaughtered, but none of us. I 
 told them other things of the same kind which seemed 
 fitting, and with these, and the royal favour of Your 
 Highness, they recovered their spirits, and I won them 
 to my purpose, and to do as I wished, which was to 
 complete the undertaking I had begun. 
 
 The following day, Sicutengal, Captain General of 
 this province, came to see me at ten o'clock, with 
 about fifty of its chiefs, praying me on his Peace Con- 
 part, and on that of Magiscatzin, ^ who was eluded at 
 the principal person in all this province, and Tlascaia 
 on behalf of many other lords, that I would admit 
 them to the royal service of Your Majesty and to my 
 friendship, and would pardon them the past errors, 
 because they had not understood who we were. He said 
 that they had exerted all their forces, not only by day, 
 but also by night, to escape being subjected to anyone, 
 since at no time had this province ever been so, nor had 
 they ever had, nor did they have, any master; on the 
 contrary, they had always lived free and independent, 
 
 > Maxixcatzin, lord of the state of Ocotclolco, in the republic of 
 Tlascaia, and commander in chief of the united armies.
 
 2o8 Letters of Cortes 
 
 since inimemorial times, and had always defended them- 
 selves against the great power of Montezuma, of his 
 father, and grandfather, who held that country subjected, 
 but had never been able to hold them in subjection, 
 though they had them surrounded on all sides, so that 
 no one could go out of the country. He said also that 
 they ate no salt, ^ since there was none in their country, 
 nor were they allowed to go to buy it anywhere else, nor 
 did they wear any cotton clothing, because their country, 
 on account of its cold, did not produce cotton, and they 
 were deprived of many other things on account of being 
 so shut off. They had endured it, and held it as better 
 thus to be free, rather than be subjected to anyone; and 
 they had wanted to do the same with me, for which rea- 
 son, as several had already stated, they had tested their 
 forces, and seeing clearly that neither these, nor their 
 artifices, could avail them anything, had decided that, 
 rather than die, and have their houses, and women, and 
 children destroyed, they would become vassals of Your 
 Highness. 
 
 I satisfied them, saying that they must recognise that 
 they were to blame for the injury they had sustained, 
 for I had come to their country, thinking that I came to 
 the country of my friends, for the Cempoalans had as- 
 sured me that they were, and wished to be so ; and that I 
 had sent my messengers ahead of me to let them know 
 that I was coming and wished their friendship, and that 
 without replying to me (coming in all security) , they had 
 attacked me on the road, killed my two horses, and 
 
 •Called by the Indians "tequesquit." It is made from the 
 saltpetre, which was largely found in the neighbourhood of Ixtapala- 
 pan and Ixtapaluca {Ixtabl meaning saltpetre), and formed an import- 
 ant article of commerce, which however did not reach the Tlascalans 
 on account of the permanent state of hostilities. As they were also 
 cut off from the sea, salt had been for fifty years an almost unknown 
 luxury amongst them ; cotton which was a product of the tierra caliente 
 was for the same reason denied them.
 
 Second Letter 209 
 
 wounded others. Moreover, after having fought with 
 me, they had sent their messengers, saying that what 
 had happened had been without their Hcense or consent, 
 and that certain communities had set themselves to do 
 it without their participation, and that they had re- 
 proved them for it, and desired my friendship. Be- 
 Heving this to be true, I had told them that I was pleased, 
 and that they would surely see me next day in their 
 homes as in the houses of friends; and that likewise they 
 had again attacked me on the road, and fought with me 
 all day untü night overtook us, notwithstanding that 
 they had been required by me to keep the peace. I re- 
 minded them of all the other things they had done to 
 oppose me, and many others which I shall leave un- 
 mentioned, so as not to weary Your Highness. Finally 
 they submitted and acknowledged themselves as sub- 
 jects and vassals of Your Majesty, oííering their persons 
 and property for your royal service; and such they did, 
 and have done until to-day, and will always do, as Your 
 Majesty will hereafter see. 
 
 I remained six or seven days without leaving that 
 place and camp, because I did not dare to trust them. 
 They besought me to come to a large city, Description 
 where all the chiefs of the province lived, of the City 
 and even the chiefs themselves came to be- o^^lascala 
 seech me to come into the city, as I would be well 
 received there, and better provided with everything 
 necessary than in the camp. For they were ashamed that 
 I should be so ill-lodged, as they considered me their 
 friend, and they and I were vassals of Your Highness. 
 In response to their prayers, I came to the city, which is 
 about six leagues distant from the dwelling place and 
 camp I had occupied, and is so large and admirable that, 
 although much of what I might say I shall omit, the little 
 which I shall say is almost incredible ; for it is much larger 
 than Granada, and very much stronger, having very 
 
 Vol. X. — 14
 
 2IO Letters of Cortes 
 
 good buildings, and it contains a great many more people 
 than Granada did when it was taken, and is much better 
 supplied with provisions, such as bread, birds, game, and 
 river-fish, and other good eatables and vegetables. There 
 is a market in this city, in which every day, above thirty 
 thousand souls sell and buy, without counting many 
 other small markets in different parts of the city. Every- 
 thing is to be foimd in this market in which they trade, 
 and could need, not only provisions, but also clothing 
 and shoes. There are jewellery shops, for gold, and 
 silver, and stones, and other valuables of feather-work, as 
 well arranged as can be found in any of the squares or 
 market-places of the world ; there is also as good earthen- 
 ware and crockery as the best in Spain. They also sell 
 wood and coals, and herbs to eat, and for medicinal 
 purposes. There are houses like barbers' shops, where 
 they wash their heads and shave themselves; there 
 are also baths. Finally there prevail good order and 
 politeness, for they are a people full of intelligence and 
 understanding, and such that the best in Africa does 
 not equal them. This province contains many extensive 
 and beautiful valleys, well tilled and sown, and none 
 are uncultivated. The province is ninety leagues in 
 circumference, and, as far as I have been able to judge 
 about the form of government, it is almost like that of 
 Venice, or Genoa, or Pisa, because there is no one supreme 
 ruler. There are many lords all living in this city, and 
 the people who are tillers of the soil are their vassals, 
 though each one has his lands to himself, some more 
 than others. In undertaking wars, they all gather 
 together, and thus assembled they decide and plan them. 
 It is believed that they must have some system of justice 
 for punishing the wicked, because one of the natives of 
 this province stole some gold from a Spaniard, and I told 
 this to that Magiscatzin, the greatest lord among them. 
 After making their investigation, they pursued him to
 
 Second Letter 211 
 
 a city which is near there, called Churultecal, whence 
 they brought him prisoner, and delivered him to me with 
 the gold, telling me that I might chastise him. I thanked 
 them for the diligence they took in this, but told them 
 that, inasmuch as I was in their country, they might 
 chastise him according to their custom, and that I did not 
 wish to meddle with the punishment of their people 
 while I was in their country. They thanked me for this, 
 and took him with a public crier, who proclaimed his 
 offence, leading him through the great market place, 
 where they put him at the foot of a sort of theatre, and 
 with a loud voice again published his offence. And all 
 having seen him, they beat him on the head with sticks 
 until they killed him. We have seen many others in the 
 prisons, who, it is said, were confined there for thefts, 
 and other offences they had committed. According to the 
 visitation which I ordered to be made, this province has 
 five hundred thousand householders, besides those of 
 another small province, called Guazincango, which joins 
 it, whose people live as these do, without a rightful 
 sovereign, and are no less vassals of Your Highness than 
 these Tascaltecas. 
 
 Being, Most Catholic Lord, in our camp in the country 
 while I was at warfare with this province, there came 
 to me six lords from amongst the principal Embassy 
 vassals of Montezuma, accompanied by about andPres- 
 two hundred retainers, telHng me that they ents from 
 came on the part of Montezuma to say that o'^*®^"™^ 
 he wished to be a vassal of Your Highness, and 
 my friend. He sent word that I should say what I 
 wanted him to give to Your Highness as an annual trib- 
 ute, of gold, silver, stones, slaves, cotton, and wearing 
 apparel, and other possessions, and that he would give it 
 all, if only I would not come to his country, because it 
 was very sterile, and destitute of provisions, and he would 
 be sorry if I or my people suffered want. He sent me by
 
 212 Letters of Cortes 
 
 them about a thousand dollars of gold, and many pieces 
 of cotton clothing, such as they wear. They remained 
 with me during the war and until the end of it, and well 
 saw what the Spaniards were able to do. They knew of 
 the treaties which were made with this province, and the 
 allegiance given by the chiefs of all the country to the 
 service of Your Sacred Majesty. At which, as it ap- 
 peared, they showed themselves not much pleased, for they 
 worked in many ways to embroil me with this people, 
 saying that nothing they had told me was true, nor was 
 the friendship they had sworn sincere, and that they 
 formed it to secure me, in order to commit treason when 
 they could with safety. The inhabitants of this province 
 on the other hand, many times advised nie not to trust 
 those vassals of Montezuma, because they were traitors 
 who carried on all their affairs with treacheries and 
 tricks, and it was thus they had subjected all the country; 
 and that they as my sincere friends and persons who had 
 known them for a long time, warned me against them. I 
 was not a little pleased to see this discord and want of 
 conformity between the two parties, because it appeared 
 to me to strengthen my design, and later I would find 
 means to subjugate them; that common saying '' De 
 monte'' etc., might be repeated, and I was even reminded 
 of a scriptural authority which says " Omne regnum in 
 seipsum divisum desolabitur." So I treated with the 
 one, and the other, and privately I thanked both for the 
 advice they gave me, giving to each the credit for more 
 friendship, than to the other. 
 
 I had been in the city twenty days or more, when those 
 lords, Montezuma's messengers, who had always re- 
 mained with me, told me that I ought to go to a city about 
 six leagues from this Tascaltecal, called Churultecal, * 
 
 > Cholula, sixty leagues distant from the city of Mexico, was 
 the sacred city of Anahuac, the Jerusalem, or Mecca, of the nations, 
 where stood (and stands) the greatest pyramid in Mexico, of whose con-
 
 Second Letter 213 
 
 as its natives were friends of Montezuma's, their sovereign. 
 They said that we might there learn his pleasure, whether 
 it was that I should go to his country, and that some of 
 them would go to speak with him, and tell him what I 
 had told them and return with his answer. 
 
 Although they knew that I had there some of his 
 messengers, who had come to speak with me, I told them 
 that I would go, and would leave on a certain day which 
 I made known to them. When it became known to the 
 Tascaltecas what they and I had agreed upon, and how 
 I consented to go with them to that city, the rulers came 
 to me, greatly afflicted, and told me that I must not go 
 on any account, because it had been plotted to kill me 
 and my men in that city. For this purpose, they said, 
 Montezuma had sent fifty thousand men from his country 
 (some part of which joins with that city), whom they 
 kept in garrison, two leagues from the city, and that they 
 had blocked up the customary high road, and had pre- 
 pared a new one with many pits, in which sharp stakes 
 and wood were placed, covered over in such a manner that 
 the horses would fall, and be lamed; many streets were 
 baiTicaded, and quantities of stones were collected on 
 the housetops, so that, when we entered the city they 
 might attack us with safety, and accomplish their pur- 
 pose. They told me, that, if I wanted to confirm all they 
 
 struction there is no authentic record. The form of government 
 there was theocratic, and the priests chose a captain-general to com- 
 mand the army, while the civil affairs were administered by a council 
 composed of six nobles. 
 
 The Cholula pyramid, now so covered with earth, and overgrown 
 with shrubs and trees, that its artificial character and architectural 
 lines are no longer discernible, measures at the length of its base 1423 
 feet, or twice the length of Cheops ; the square of the base covers about 
 forty-four acres, and the flat area on the summit a little more than one 
 acre. The chief deity worshipped at Cholula was the mysterious 
 "fair god" Quetzalcoatl (see Appendix III., at the close of this 
 Letter). Bernal Diaz declared that Cholula reminded him of Valladolid 
 because of its many lofty towers.
 
 214 Letters of Cortes 
 
 said, I might judge from the fact that the chiefs of that 
 city had never come to see me, nor to speak with me, 
 though they were so near to this city, while those of 
 Guazincango who lived farther off had come, and if I 
 sent for them I would see they would not come. I 
 thanked them for their advice, and begged them to 
 furnish me persons who would go on my part and call 
 the chiefs. They did so, and I sent to invite them to come 
 and see me, because I w^ished to tell them certain things 
 on the part of Your Highness, and to explain to them the 
 cause of my coming to this country. 
 
 These messengers went, and delivered my message to 
 the chiefs of Churultecal, and two or three persons of 
 inferior rank returned with them, and told me that they 
 had come on the part of those chiefs who were ill and 
 could not come, but that I might tell them what I de- 
 sired. The people of this city told me that all this was a 
 mockery, and that those messengers were of mean con- 
 dition, and in no wise should I leave without the chiefs 
 of that city first coming hither. I told those messengers 
 that an embassy from such a high Prince as Your Sacred 
 Majesty could not be given to such persons as they were, 
 and that even their chiefs were unworthy to hear it. 
 They should, nevertheless, appear within three days 
 before me to give their obedience to Your Highness, and 
 to ofier themselves as your vassals, with the understanding 
 that, if they did not come within the time fixed, I should 
 fall upon them, and destroy them, and proceed against 
 them as against rebels who refused to submit to Your 
 Majesty's authority. I sent them an order, signed with 
 my name and that of a notary public, with a full ex- 
 planation of the Royal Person of Your Sacred Majesty, 
 and of my arrival, telling them how all these parts, and 
 many other greater countries, and dominions, belonged 
 to Your Highness, and how those who desired to be your 
 vassals would be honoured and favoured, and how on the
 
 Second Letter 215 
 
 contrary those who rebelled would be punished, according 
 to justice. ^ 
 
 The next day, almost all of the chiefs of that city 
 came, and told me that, if they had not come before, 
 it was because the people of this province Embassy 
 were their enemies, and that they did not from Cho- 
 dare to enter their .country because they did ^^^ Visits 
 not consider themselves safe ; and that they °^ ^^ 
 
 were sure that they had told me some things respecting 
 them, but I must not give any credence to them, because 
 they spoke as enemies, and not according to facts. They 
 said also that I should go to their city, where I would 
 discover the falsehoods their enemies had been telling, 
 and the truth of what they themselves assured me; and 
 that from thenceforth they gave and acknowledged 
 themselves as vassals of Your Sacred Majesty, and that 
 they would always remain such, serving and contributing 
 in everything as they were commanded on the part of 
 
 1 Cortes's unfaltering conviction was that he was an instrument 
 of divine justice, and he acted the part consistently, determined 
 that others should so regard him. He started from the dogmatic 
 assumption that the new world belonged to Spain by right of Pope 
 Alexander's bull of donation; that its inhabitants were therefore just 
 as much the lawful subjects of the Crown as were the natives of Castile, 
 or Granada, and that for them to refuse obedience was rebellion. The 
 native chiefs in resisting his pretentions, and defending their countries, 
 became, according to his reasoning, instigators of revolt and must be 
 dealt with as such. Most of all, the people were practisers of idolatry, 
 in peril of eternal damnation, whom it was a chief part of his mission 
 to rescue, and bring into the knowledge of the Faith. He held him- 
 self to be merciful, in that he invariably invited their obedience, 
 by explaining what a privilege it was to be ruled by such a mighty 
 sovereign as the Emperor, and sought to effect their conversion by 
 expounding the doctrines of the Catholic religion. Once this choice 
 was put plainly before them, and they had refused to accept the dual 
 blessings of vassalage and conversion, they became in his eyes con- 
 tumacious rebels, and conscious heretics. He had the Spanish XVI. cen- 
 tury standards as to how all such were to be treated. He followed, 
 in this case, the usual solemn formality of causing a letter to be 
 drawn up by a notary; that the Cholulan priests could not understand 
 a word of it did not detract from the validity of the proceeding.
 
 2i6 Letters of Cortes 
 
 Your Highness. It was thus set down by a notary 
 pubhe, through the interpreters whom I had. 
 
 I still determined to go with them, not only to avoid 
 sho^^'ing any weakness, but also because from there I 
 thought to treat affairs with Montezuma, as they bounded 
 upon his country, as I have already said, and there 
 was unimpeded intercourse between the two countries. 
 
 When the Tascaltecas saw my determination, they 
 were much grieved, and told me repeated!}^ that I eiTcd, 
 but inasmuch as they had given themselves as vassals 
 to Your Sacred Majesty, and my friends, they wished 
 to go with me, and help me in any emergency. ^ Al- 
 though I forbade them, and prayed them not to go 
 inasmuch as there was no necessity for it, still as many 
 as about a hundred thousand men, well furnished for 
 warfare, accompanied me to within about two leagues 
 from the city, when after many importunities, the}'^ re- 
 turned, though some five or six thousand of them still 
 remained with me. 
 
 1 slept in a dry river bed about two leagues distant, 
 to disperse the people, fearing they might cause some 
 scandal in the city, and also because it was already late, 
 and I did not wish to enter the city at a late hour. The 
 next morning, the citizens came out to receive me on the 
 road, with many trumpets, 2 and dmms, and also many 
 priests from their mosques, clothed in their vestments, 
 and chanting in the fashion they are accustomed to do 
 in the said mosques. ^ With this solemnity they brought 
 us into the city, where they housed us in a very good 
 dwelling place, where all the people of my company 
 
 » The real purpose of the Tlascalans was to embroil Cortes 
 with the Cholulans, and, with the help of the invincible Spaniards, 
 to crush their ancient enemy. 
 
 2 These trumpets were made of wood and canes, and were well 
 played, giving forth very sonorous notes. 
 
 ' The Spaniards commonly used the word "mosque" to desig- 
 nate any non-Christian place of worship.
 
 Second Letter 217 
 
 dwelt to their satisfaction; and they brought us some 
 food, though not very generously. Along the road we 
 encountered many signs, such as the natives of this 
 province had foretold us, for we found the high road 
 blocked up, and another opened, and some pits, although 
 not many, and some of the city streets were closed, and 
 many stones were piled on the house tops. They thus 
 obliged us to be cautious, and on our guard. 
 
 I found there certain messengers from Montezuma, 
 who came to speak with those others who were with me, 
 but to me they said nothing, because, in order to inform 
 their master, they had come to learn what those who 
 were with me had done and agreed with me. These 
 latter messengers departed, therefore, as soon as they 
 had spoken with the first, and even the chief of those who. 
 had formerly been with me also left. 
 
 During the three days which I remained there I was 
 ill provided for, and every day was worse, and the lords 
 and chiefs of the city came rarely to see and xhe Mas- 
 speak to me. I was somewhat perplexed by sacre at 
 this, but the interpreter whom I have, an Cholula 
 Indian woman ^ of this country w^hom I obtained in 
 Putunchan, the great river I have already mentioned 
 in the first letter to Your Majesty, was told by another 
 woman native of this city, that many of Montezuma's 
 people had gathered close by, and that those of the 
 city had sent away their wives, and children, and all 
 their goods, intending to fall upon us and kill us all; 
 and that, if she wished to escape, she should go with 
 her, as she would hide her. The female interpreter told 
 it to that Gerónimo de Aguilar, the interpreter whom I 
 obtained in Yucatan, and of whom I have written to Your 
 Highness, who reported it to me. I captured one of the 
 natives of the said city, who was walking about there, 
 and took him secretly apart so that no one saw it, and 
 
 • See Appendix I., close of Letter.
 
 2i8 Letters of Cortes 
 
 questioned him; and he confimied all that the Indian 
 woman and the natives of Tascaltecal had told me. As 
 well on account of this information as from the signs I 
 had obsen-ed, I determined to anticipate them, rather 
 than be surprised, so I had some of the lords of the city 
 called, saying that I wished to speak with them, and I 
 shut them in a chamber by themselves. In the meantime 
 I had our people prepared, so that, at the firing of a 
 musket, they should fall on a crowd of Indians who were 
 near to our quarters, and many others who were inside 
 them. It was done in this wise, that, after I had taken 
 these lords, and left them bound in the chamber, I 
 mounted a horse, and ordered the musket to be fired, and 
 we did such execution that, in two hours, more than 
 three thousand persons had perished. 
 
 In order that Your Alajesty may see how well prepared 
 they were, before I went out of our quarters, they had 
 occupied all the streets, and stationed all their men, but, 
 as we took them by surprise, they were easily overcome, 
 especially as the chiefs were wanting, for I had already 
 taken them prisoners. I ordered fire to be set to some 
 towers and strong houses, where they defended them- 
 selves, and assaulted us; and thus I scoiired the city 
 fighting during five hours, leaving our dwelling place 
 which was very strong, w^ell guarded, untü I had forced 
 all the people out of the city at various points, in which 
 those five thousand natives of Tascaltecal and the four 
 hundred of Cempoal gave me good assistance. ^ 
 
 > This massacre is one of the bloodiest in Mexican history, and 
 concerning it the greatest controversy has raged. Las Casas leads 
 in judging Cortes most severely, and says that it was a part of 
 his policy, as indeed it was of the Spaniards everj'where, to strike 
 terror into the natives by a wholesale slaughter. Bemal Diaz defends 
 Cortes and says his course was justified later, when, in the investigation 
 made by the friars who came for that purpose to Cholula, they learned 
 from the chiefs and other Cholulans that there had really been a con- 
 certed plot to destroy the Spaniards in their city. A contrary theory 
 is, that the Tlascalans invented the fiction of a plot expressly to
 
 Second Letter 219 
 
 On my return to our quarters, I spoke with those 
 captive lords, and asked them why they wished to kill 
 me treacherously. They answered that it was not their 
 fault, as those of Culua, who were vassals of Montezuma, 
 had put them up to it, and that Montezuma had stationed 
 in such and such a place, (which as we learned afterwards 
 was a league and a half distant) , a garrison of fifty thousand 
 men to accomplish it. But they now had learned how 
 they had been deceived, and if I would set one or two 
 of them at liberty, they would gather the people of the 
 city, and return to it with all the women, and children, 
 and chattels; and they prayed me to pardon them the 
 error they had committed, assuring me that, from hence- 
 forth, no one should deceive them, and that they would 
 be faithful and loyal vassals of Your Highness and my 
 friends. After having spoken at length to them about 
 their error, I liberated two of them, and the next day 
 the whole city was filled with men, women, and children, 
 and as safe as if nothing of what had passed had ever 
 happened. Immediately afterwards I liberated all the 
 other chiefs and lords whom I had made prisoners, they 
 promising that they would serve Your Majesty very 
 loyally. 
 
 During the fifteen or twenty days I remained there, 
 the city and country were completely pacified and re- 
 provoke a massacre of their Cholulan enemies; if this be true, Doña 
 Marina was the only instrument for accomplishing their purpose. She 
 told Cortes that a Cholulan woman of position, whose friendship she 
 had cultivated, had warned her of the Spaniards' doom, and urged her 
 to take shelter in her own house, and thus save herself. Granted 
 that Cortes was, with reason, fearful of treachery, his only safety lay 
 in forestalling the plotters, but this it seems might have been done by 
 securing the chiefs, and Montezuma's envoys, who were the suspected 
 instigators, and even making an example of them. Nothing can ex- 
 cuse the wholesale massacre of a defenceless population taken in a 
 trap; such excessive measures overstepped by far the needs of the 
 situation. If the commander's intention was as Las Casas describes, 
 he succeeded, for the news of the tragedy quickly spread, and threw 
 Montezuma into a panic of helpless fear.
 
 220 Letters of Cortes 
 
 peopled, so that it seemed nobody was lacking; and their 
 market place and the affairs of the city were as they 
 ordinarily were; and I made those of this city of Churul- 
 tccal friends with those of Tascaltecal, for they used to 
 be so formerly, ^ and it was but a short time since that 
 Montezuma had won them over to his allegiance, and 
 made them enemies of the others. 
 
 This city of Churultecal is situated in a plain, and 
 has up to twenty thousand houses in the body of 
 Description the city, and as many more in the outskirts. 
 of Cholula It is an independent state, and has its recog- 
 nised boundaries, and they do not obey any chiefs, 
 but govern themselves like the Tascaltecas. The people 
 are better clothed in some ways than the Tascaltecas, 
 because their honoured citizens all wear albornoces 2 
 above their other clothing, though they differ from 
 those of Africa in having pockets, but in the making, 
 and stuff and borders, they are very similar. They 
 have all been, and are since the recent occurrence, 
 very faithful vassals to Your Majesty, and very obedient 
 in all that I required and commanded of them in Your 
 Royal name; and I believe that henceforth they will 
 remain so. This city has very fertile fields, for they 
 have much land, and the greater part is irrigated; and 
 the city seen from the outside is more beautiful than the 
 cities of Spain, because it is very level, and contains many 
 towers, for I certify to Your Highness that I counted 
 from a mosque four hundred and odd towers in the city, 
 
 ' Tlascala and Cholula had fought as allies against the triple 
 alliance of Mexico, Texcoco, and Tlacopan, but Montezuma had profited 
 by a subsequent dissension between them to aggravate the quarrel 
 which thus led to a war, the Mexicans aiding the Cholulans. This 
 cost the latter their independence, as Montezioma estabHshed his sway 
 over them. They were reputed to be false, and their very name 
 had come to be synonymous with treachery. (Orozco y Berra, Tom. 
 iv., p. 239.) 
 
 2 The Moorish burnous.
 
 Second Letter 221 
 
 and all belonged to mosques. It is the best adapted for 
 Spaniards to live in of any I have seen since leaving the 
 port, as it has some uncultivated lands and water for the 
 purpose of raising cattle, such as have no others we have 
 seen so far. For, such is the multitude of people who 
 live in these parts, that there is not a palm of land which 
 is not cultivated, and even then there are many places in 
 which they suffer for want of bread, and there are many 
 poor who beg amongst the rich in the streets, and at the 
 market places, just as the poor do in Spain, and other 
 civilised countries. 
 
 I spoke, to those messengers of Montezuma who re- 
 mained with me, about the treachery which had been 
 plotted against me in the city, and how the concernine 
 lords of it affirmed that it had been done the Plot of 
 by the counsel of Montezuma. I said that *^^ C^°- 
 it did not seem to me that it was a deed for " ^^^ 
 
 such a great lord as he was, who had sent me such 
 honourable persons as his messengers, saying he was 
 my friend, while on the other hand he devised plans for 
 injuring me by means of strangers, so that he might cast 
 off the responsibility if things did not turn out as he 
 thought. But since it was thus, and he did not keep 
 his word, nor did he speak the truth to me, I now intended 
 to alter my plans ; for until now I had come with the in- 
 tention of seeing and speaking with him, and of having 
 him for a friend, and holding many conversations, and 
 in the hope of peace. Now, however, I would go to his 
 country with war, doing him all the harm I could as 
 an enemy, though this I regretted very much, as I had 
 always wanted him for a friend that I might counsel 
 with him respecting what I was to do in this country. 
 
 They answered me, that as they had been with me many 
 days, they knew nothing concerning that plot, except 
 what they had heard in the city after the occurrence, and 
 they could not believe that it was done by the order and
 
 222 Letters of Cortes 
 
 counsel of Montezuma; and they besought me, before I 
 deteimined to abandon his friendship and to make war 
 as I said, that I should inform myself of the truth, and 
 permit one of them, who would promptly return, to go 
 and speak with Montezuma, as from this city to the place 
 where he resides is twenty leagues. I told them I agreed 
 to this, and let one of them go, who after six days re- 
 turned, together with the first who had gone, and they 
 brought me ten plates of gold, and fifteen hundred pieces 
 of stuff, and many provisions of chickens and panicap, ^ 
 which is a beverage they drink; and they told me that 
 ^lontezuma was much grieved over the disturbance that 
 had happened, and which had been arranged in Churul- 
 tecal. They said that I must believe that it had not been 
 by his counsel and order, for he assured me it was not so, 
 and that, though the people who were there in garrison 
 were of a truth his, they had moved without his com- 
 mands, induced by the natives of Churultecal, who bor- 
 dered on two of his pro\'inces, one of which was called 
 Acancigo, and the other Izzucan. 2 They said that there 
 existed a certain alliance of neighbourhood between 
 them, for helping each other, and it was thus they had 
 come there, and not by his orders; but in the future 
 I should learn from his deeds, that what he had told me 
 was true, though he still besought me not to seek to come 
 to his country, because it was sterile, and we would 
 suffer privations, and that from wherever I might be, I 
 could send to ask him for whatever I wanted, and he 
 would send it very promptly. I answered that my visit 
 to his country could not be renounced, because I would 
 have to send a full account of him and of it to Your 
 Majesty, and that I was persuaded of the truth of what 
 
 ' There is no such word or drink, and this name may be here 
 due to an error in writing or copying; it has been taken by some 
 commentators to mean pan y cacao (bread and cocoa). Gayangos 
 suggests that it may be the sugared drink called Atole. 
 
 2 Two towns in the present state of Puebla.
 
 Second Letter 223 
 
 he had sent to tell me ; that inasmuch as I could not forego 
 seeing him, I hoped he would approve of it, and not plan 
 any opposition, because it would be greatly to his injury, 
 and would grieve me very much. 
 
 From the time he saw it was my determination to visit 
 him and his country, he sent me word to say that I might 
 come, and very welcome ; that he would await me in that 
 great city where he was, and he sent me many of his 
 people to accompany me, as I was already near his 
 country. These persons sought to induce me to go by 
 a certain road, where they must have prepared some 
 attack upon me, as it afterwards appeared, and as was seen 
 by many Spaniards whom I afterwards sent to recon- 
 noitre the country. There were so many bridges, and 
 difficult passes on that road, that, if I had gone by it, they 
 might very easily have accomplished their intentions, but 
 as God has always taken care to guide, even from your 
 childhood, the royal aflairs of Your Sacred Majesty, and 
 as I and those of my company went in your royal service, 
 He showed us another road, which, although somewhat 
 steep, was not as dangerous as that by which they wished 
 to take us. 
 
 About eight leagues from this city of Churultecal, 
 there are two very high and marvellous mountains, ^ 
 for at the end of August they were so covered Ascent of 
 with snow that we could distinguish nothing Popoca- 
 else on their tops but what seemed snow, and ^^P®*' 
 
 » Popocatapetl. Signifying in the Mexican language "smoking 
 mountain." Humboldt gives its height as 5400 metres. Together 
 with Ixtaccihuatl (the white woman) this volcano was venerated as 
 a god, the Indians considering them as man and wife; their feast 
 days were celebrated both in the city and in grottoes in the mountains. 
 The crater of Popocatapetl was thought to be an abode of the tormented 
 spirits of wicked kings. The greatest eruption of which there is any 
 record took place in 1353; the mountain was in a period of activity 
 in 1519 which lasted till 1528. Another eruption occurred in 1533, 
 but the one which caused the most serious apprehension was on Feb. 
 24, 1664, when a huge piece of the crater fell in and showers of ashes
 
 224 Letters of Cortes 
 
 from the highest one, a great volume of smoke, as thick 
 as a house, continually comes forth, not only by day, 
 but also by night, rising to the clouds as straight as 
 a pillar, and it appears to come out with such force, 
 that although on the top of the mountain a strong 
 wind prevails, it does not turn it. As I have always 
 wished to give a very detailed account of this country to 
 Your Highness, I wanted to know about this mystery, 
 which seemed somewhat marv^ellous, so I sent ten of my 
 companions, who seemed adapted for such an enterprise, 
 accompanied by some natives of the country to guide 
 them, charging them to climb the said mountains, and 
 learn the secret of that smoke, whence and how it came. 
 They went, and strove, and did all that was possible 
 to scale it, but never were able to do so on account of 
 the quantity of snow which lay on the mountain, and 
 the clouds of ashes which are blown about on it, and also 
 because they could not endure the great cold which pre- 
 vails there. They nearly reached the top, however, and 
 so high was it, that, when they were up there, the smoke 
 began to come out, and they say it came with such an 
 impetus and noise as if the entire mountain was about to 
 sink; so they descended, and brought with them a con- 
 siderable quantity of snow and icicles, which seemed 
 a strange thing to see in these parts, for according to 
 the opinion of the pilots, they belong to the tropics. 
 They say especially that this country is situated in 
 the twentieth degree, which is parallel to the island of 
 Hispaniola, where the heat is continually very great. 
 
 rained in the streets of Puebla, where the windows were broken, and 
 roofs of houses collapsed. I visited the crater in 1884, when it resem- 
 bled the basin of a dried-up lake, from which came puffs of whitish 
 smoke-like steam, rising from small fissures here and there, while over 
 all there was a strong smell of sulphur. Diego de Ordaz, who led the 
 Spaniards in making the first known ascent of the mountain, had con- 
 ceded to him on his return to Spain, the privilege of quartering a smok- 
 ing volcano in his arms.
 
 Second Letter 225 
 
 While going to see this mountain, they came upon a 
 road, and asked the natives who went with them whither 
 it lead ; and these answered to Culua, ^ and that it was 
 a good road, and that the other by which the Culuans 
 wished to take us was not good. The Spaniards followed 
 it until they reached the top of the Sierras, between which 
 the road passes, and from there they beheld the plains of 
 Culua, and the city of Temixtitan,^ and the lakes which 
 are in the said province, of which I will hereafter make 
 relation to Your Highness. They came back very glad 
 at having discovered so good a road, and God knows how 
 happy I was about it. 
 
 After these Spaniards, who had gone to visit the moun- 
 tains, returned, and I had informed myself accurately, 
 not only from them, but also from the natives, respecting 
 the road which they had discovered, I spoke to those 
 messengers of Montezuma w^ho were to guide me to his 
 country, and told them, as it was shorter that I wished to 
 go by that road, instead of the one they had proposed. 
 They answered that I said truly that it was shorter, and 
 more level, and the reason they had not suggested it, 
 was because by it we should have to pass one or two 
 days' journey through the country of Guasucingo, whose 
 people were their enemies, and therefore we would not 
 find all the necessaries, as when going through the land 
 of Montezuma; but, if I wished to go that way, they 
 would arrange that provisions should be brought up to 
 the road from the other side. 
 
 So we started, with some fears that those people 
 might persist in playing some trick upon us, but as 
 we had already announced that we would Departure 
 take that road, it did not seem well to from 
 
 me to leave it, and to change, lest they Choiula 
 might suspect a want of courage had caused it. The 
 
 » Colhua, another name for Mexico, also spelled Culua. 
 ' See Appendix II., close of Letter. 
 VOL. 1—15.
 
 2 26 Letters of Cortes 
 
 day I left the city of Churultecal, I marched four leagues 
 to some hamlets of the city of Guasucingo, ^ where I 
 was well received by the natives, who gave me some 
 female slaves, and wearing apparel, and certain small 
 pieces of gold. This last in all was but little, because 
 these people did not have much, as they belong to the 
 league and alliance of the Tascaltecas, and they are shut 
 in by Montezuma, and surrounded by his country in such 
 a manner that they can have no commerce with any 
 other province except their own, and therefore, they live 
 very poorly. 
 
 The following day I mounted the pass between the two 
 mountains of which I have spoken, and, descending it, 
 we beheld one of the provinces, of the country of the 
 said Montezuma, called Chalco,^ where, about two 
 leagues before we reached the town, I found a very good 
 dwelling place, which had been recently built, and was 
 so large that all my company and myself were very 
 commodiously lodged in it; this although I had with me 
 more than four thousand Indians, of these provinces of 
 Tascaltecal, Guasucingo, Churultecal, and Cempoal, for 
 whom there were ample provisions of food. Here great 
 fires of plenty of wood were burned in all the rooms, for 
 the cold was very bitter, as we were surrounded by two 
 mountains both covered with snow. 
 
 Certain persons came to speak to me here who seemed 
 to be chiefs, amongst whom was one who, I was 
 told, was brother to Montezuma. He brought me about 
 three thousand dollars of gold, and told me in Monte- 
 
 • Spelled in various ways. Guajocingo, or Huejocingo, in the state 
 of Puebla. 
 
 2 The province of Chalco had been conquered by the Mexicans 
 only after much bloodshed, and was held in subjection by force; hence 
 its people were not loyal subjects to be counted upon in time of need. 
 They were the first to profit by the Spaniards' arrival in the valley to 
 throw off their allegiance. Cortes promised them relief, and assured 
 them that he had come to redress their wrongs and establish justice.
 
 Second Letter 227 
 
 zuma's name that the latter sent that to me, and prayed 
 me to go back, and not insist on coming to his city, as 
 the country was scarce of food, and the roads leading 
 there were bad; and, as it was all on the water, I could 
 enter it only in canoes. He also enumerated many other 
 inconveniences to prevent me going. They said I had 
 only to say what I wanted, for Montezuma their sovereign 
 would order it to be given to me, and would likewise 
 agree to give me annually cerium quid, which would 
 be taken to the coast, or wherever I wished. I received 
 them very well and gave them some Spanish articles, 
 such as they esteem very much, especially to him who 
 was said to be a brother of Montezuma's. I replied to 
 his embassy, that, if it was in my hands to return, I would 
 do so in order to please Montezuma, but that I had come 
 to this country by order of Your Majesty, and that the 
 principal thing, of which you had ordered me to give an 
 account, was Montezuma, and his great city, of whom, 
 and of which, Your Majesty had possessed information 
 since a long time. I said also that they should tell him 
 from me, that I prayed him to approve my going to see 
 him, because no injury would result from it to his person 
 and country, but rather that he should receive good; 
 and if after I had seen him he did not wish to have me 
 in his company, then I would return; and that we could 
 better decide between ourselves, how he should serve 
 Your Highness, than through third persons, even were 
 they those in whom we had full confidence. With this 
 answer they departed. 
 
 Judging from appearances which we observed, and the 
 preparation which had been made in this dwelling place 
 of which I have spoken, the Indians expected to attack 
 us that night, and perceiving this, I took such precaution 
 that they, noting it, changed their plan, and secretly 
 sent away that night a number of people who had gathered 
 in the woods, as was seen by our watchmen and scouts.
 
 228 Letters of Cortes 
 
 At daybreak I set out for a town, called Amaqueruca, ^ 
 which is two leagues from here, in the province of 
 Chalco, which in its principal town, and the 
 Descends villages within two leagues of it, has some 
 into the Val- twenty thousand inhabitants. We were lodged 
 ley of in some very good houses, belonging to the chief 
 
 of the said town, and many persons who seemed 
 to be of high rank came to speak to me, telling me that 
 Montezuma, their sovereign lord, had sent them to await 
 me here, and to see that I was provided with every- 
 thing necessary. The lord of this place gave me some 
 forty female slaves, and three thousand castellanos. 
 During the two days I was there, they provided us amply 
 with all necessary food. 
 
 The next day, accompanied by those chiefs who had 
 come on the part of Montezuma to wait for me, I left, 
 and slept four leagues farther on, in a small town, almost 
 half of it on the water of a great lake, where they lodged 
 us very well ; and on the land side there is a chain of very 
 rugged and stony mountains. Here likewise they would 
 have been very willing to try their forces with us, except, 
 as it appeared, they wanted to do so with safety, and by 
 surprising us in the night. But, as I was so well informed, 
 I anticipated their intention, and kept such a guard that 
 night, that of their spies who came, some in canoes by 
 water, and others by descending from the mountains, 
 to soe if there was any possibility of carrying out their 
 wishes, some fifteen or twenty were taken by our men, 
 and killed. Thus, few returned to give the information 
 they had come to secure; and finding us always so well 
 prepared they decided to change their tactics, and treat 
 us well. 
 
 The next morning, just as I was ready to leave the 
 town, there arrived some ten or twelve chiefs, as I learned 
 
 > Amecamecan, now called Amecameca; it lies at the foot of 
 Popocatapetl, some two leagues from Tlalmanalco.
 
 Second Letter 229 
 
 afterwards, and among them a great lord, a youth of 
 about five and twenty years, to whom all showed great 
 attention, so much so, that, after he had descended from 
 a litter in which he had come, all the others began clearing 
 the road of the stones and straw before him. Approach- 
 ing, he told me he came on the part of Montezuma, his 
 sovereign lord, and that the latter besought me to pardon 
 him if he did not come in person to see me, and receive 
 me, as he was indisposed, but that his city was already 
 near, and, inasmuch as I was still determined to go to 
 him, we would meet there, when I should learn from 
 him his disposition towards Your Highness's ser^'ice. It 
 was added that he still besought me, if it were pos- 
 sible, not to go thither, as I would have much trouble 
 and privation to endure, and that he was much ashamed 
 not to be able to provide there as he desired. With 
 this, they fell on their knees, protesting so much, that 
 it only remained to say that they would defend the road 
 by force if I still insisted in going on. I satisfied, and 
 calmed them with the best words possible, saying that 
 my going thither would do them no harm, but bring them 
 many advantages; and so, after giving them some presents, 
 they took their leave. 
 
 I departed immediately after them, accompanied by 
 many people who seemed to be of much importance, as 
 it afterwards appeared, and I continued along the road 
 by the shore of that great lake. A league from my last 
 stopping place, I saw in this lake, two musket-shots 
 distant from the shore, a small city which might have had 
 one or two thousand inhabitants, and which was all 
 afloat on the water ; having many towers as it seemed but 
 no entrance. About a league from there, we reached a 
 great causeway, as broad as a horseman's lance, extending 
 within the lake about two-thirds of a league. This led 
 to the city, ^ which though small, was the most beautiful 
 
 » The town of Cuitlahuac, now called Tlahua, on the lake o£
 
 230 Letters of Cortes 
 
 we had yet seen, not only on account of the well decorated 
 houses and towers, but also because of the excellent 
 construction of its foundations in the water. 
 
 In this city, which has about two thousand inhabitants, 
 we were very well received, and they gave us excellent 
 food. The lord and chiefs of it came to speak with me, 
 and prayed me to remain, and sleep there; however, 
 Montezuma's messengers who were with me told me not 
 to stop, but to go on to another city, called Iztapalapan, ^ 
 about three leagues distant, belonging to a brother of 
 Montezuma; so I did this. The exit from the said city 
 where we dined, whose name at present does not occur 
 to my memory, is by another causeway, a long league in 
 length, which extends to the mainland. 
 
 Having arrived at this city of Iztapalapan, the chief 
 of it came out to receive me, as well as one from 
 Descrió- another great city, called Calnaalcan, 2 which 
 tion of is near, being perhaps three leagues distant, 
 Iztapalapan ^^^^^ these Were accompanied by many other 
 chiefs who were waiting for me; and they gave me 
 three or four thousand castellanos, some female slaves, 
 and wearing apparel, receiving me very well. This city of 
 
 Texcoco. The Spaniards called it Venezuela (little Venice). Clavigero 
 insists that, after leaving Cuitlahuac for Iztapalapan, the two discon- 
 tented brothers of the King of Texcoco, Ixtlilochitl and Coanacochtzin, 
 met Cortes, and offered their alliance, explaining their grievances against 
 their brother Cacamatzin, the reigning King, and Montezuma their 
 uncle ; and that Cortes went on their invitation to Texcoco. As neither 
 Cortes nor Bernal Diaz mentions what would have been an important 
 and interesting divergence from their route, and both account for 
 almost every hour of the time, by recording their daily movements, 
 the visit to Texcoco seems more than doubtful. The interview with 
 the two princes might easily have taken place on the road. 
 
 ' Iztapalapan, seven miles from Mexico, preserves its ancient 
 name, though the lake has long since receded, leaving it high and dry. 
 The city had between 12,000 and 15,000 houses, and was ruled by 
 Cuitlahuatzin, a brother of Montezuma. The chief glory of Iztapalapan 
 was its botanical and zoological garden, with reservoirs full of all kinds 
 of fish, such as no town in Europe possessed at that time. 
 
 2 Coyohuacan.
 
 Second Letter 231 
 
 Iztapalapan has some twelve or fifteen thousand house- 
 holds, and stands on the shore of a great salt lake, half 
 of it in the water, and the other half on land. Its chief 
 has some new houses, which, though still unfinished, 
 are as good as the best in Spain; I say as large and well 
 constructed, not only in the stone work, but also in the 
 wood work, and all arrangements for every kind of house- 
 hold service, all except the relief work, and other rich de- 
 tails, which are used in Spanish houses, but are not found 
 here. There are both upper and lower rooms, and very 
 refreshing gardens, with many trees and sweet scented 
 flowers, bathing places of fresh water, well constructed, 
 with steps leading down to the bottom. He has also a 
 large garden round his house, in which there is a terrace 
 with many beautiful corridors and rooms, and, within 
 the garden, is a great pool of fresh water, very well built 
 with sides of handsome masonry, around which runs 
 an open walk with well laid tile pavements, so broad 
 that four persons can walk abreast on it, and four hundred 
 paces square, making, in all, sixteen hundred paces. 
 On the other side of this promenade, towards the wall 
 of the garden, it is all surrounded by a lattice work 
 of canes, behind which are arbours, planted with 
 fragrant shrubs. The pool contains many fish, and 
 water fowl, such as ducks, cranes, and other kinds of 
 water birds, in such numbers that the water is covered 
 with them. 
 
 The next day after I had arrived in this city, I left, and 
 having gone half a league, I reached another causeway, 
 leading out into the lake a distance of two leagues to the 
 great city of Temixtitan, which stands in the midst of 
 the said lake. This causeway is two lances broad, and 
 so well built that eight horsemen can ride abreast; and, 
 within these two leagues, there are three cities, on one 
 and the other side of the said highway, one called Mesical- 
 singo, founded for the greater part within the said lake,
 
 2 32 Letters of Cortes 
 
 and the other two, called Niciaca, and Huchilohuchico, ^ 
 on the other shore of it, with many of their houses on 
 the water. 
 
 The first of these cities may have three thousand 
 families, the second more than six thousand, and the 
 third four or five thousand. In all of them, there are very 
 good edifices, of houses and towers, especially the resi- 
 dences of the lords and chief persons, and the mosques 
 or oratories, where they keep their idols. These cities 
 have a great trade in salt, which they make from the 
 water of the lake, and from the crust of the land which is 
 bathed by the lake, and which they boil in a certain 
 manner, making loaves of salt, which they sell to the 
 inhabitants in the neighbourhood. 
 
 I followed the said causeway for about half a league 
 before I came to the city proper of Temixtitan. I 
 Cortes found at the junction of another causeway. 
 Enters the which joins this one from the mainland, 
 City_ of another strong fortification, with two towers, 
 eaco surrounded by walls, twelve feet high with 
 castellated tops. This commands the two roads, and 
 has only two gates, by one of which they enter, and from 
 the other they come out. About one thousand of the 
 principal citizens came out to meet me, and speak to me, 
 all richly dressed alike according to their fashion; and 
 when they had come, each one in approaching me, and 
 before speaking, would use a ceremony which is very 
 common amongst them, putting his hand on the ground, 
 and afterwards kissing it, so that I was kept waiting 
 almost an hour, until each had performed his ceremony. 
 There is a wooden bridge, ten paces broad, in the very 
 outskirts of the city, across an opening in the causeway, 
 where the water may flow in and out as it rises and falls. 
 This bridge is also for defence, for they remove and replace 
 the long broad wooden beams, of which the bridge is 
 
 « Huithilohuchico — Huitzilopocho — is the present Cherubusco.
 
 Second Letter 233 
 
 made, whenever they wish; and there are many of these 
 bridges in the city, as Your Highness will see in the 
 account which I shall make of its affairs. 
 
 Having passed this bridge, we were received by that 
 lord, Montezuma, with about two hundred chiefs, all 
 barefooted, and dressed in a kind of livery, very rich, 
 according to their custom, and some more so than others. 
 They approached in two processions near the walls of 
 the street, which is very broad, and straight, and beautiful, 
 and very uniform from one end to the other, being about 
 two thirds of a league long, and having, on both sides, very 
 large houses, both dwelling places, and mosques. Monte- 
 zuma came in the middle of the street, with two lords, 
 one on the right side, and the other on the left, one of 
 whom was the same great lord, who, as I said, came in 
 that litter to speak with me, and the other was the brother 
 of Montezuma, lord of that city Iztapalapan, whence I 
 had come that day. All were dressed in the same manner, 
 except that Montezuma was shod, and the other lords 
 were barefooted. Each supported him below his arms, 
 and as we approached each other, I descended from my 
 horse, and was about to embrace him, but the two lords 
 in attendance prevented me, with their hands, that I 
 might not touch him, and they, and he also, made the 
 ceremony of kissing the ground. This done, he ordered 
 his brother who came with him, to remain with me, and 
 take me by the arm, and the other attendant walked a 
 little ahead of us. After he had spoken to me, all the 
 other lords, who formed the two processions, also saluted 
 me, one after the other, and then returned to the pro- 
 cession. When I approached to speak to Montezuma, 
 I took off a collar of pearls and glass diamonds, that I 
 wore, and put it on his neck, and, after we had gone 
 through some of the streets, one of his servants came 
 with two collars, wrapped in a cloth, which were made 
 of coloured shells. These they esteem very much;
 
 234 Letters of Cortes 
 
 and from each of the collars hung eight golden shrimps 
 executed wáth great perfection and a span long. When 
 he received them, he turned towards me, and put them 
 on my neck, and again went on through the streets, as 
 I have already indicated, until we came to a large and 
 handsome house, which he had prepared for our reception. 
 There he took me by the hand, and led me into a spacious 
 room, in front of the court where we had entered, where 
 he made me sit on a very rich platform, which had been 
 ordered to be made for him, and told me to wait there; 
 and then he went away. 
 
 After a little while, when all the people of my company 
 were distributed to their quarters, he returned with many 
 valuables of gold and silver work, and five or six thousand 
 pieces of rich cotton stufis, woven, and embroidered in 
 divers ways. After he had given them to me, he sat down 
 on another platform, which they immediately prepared 
 near the one where I was seated, and being seated he 
 spoke in the following manner: 
 
 " We have known for a long time, from the chroni- 
 cles of our forefathers, that neither I, nor those who 
 jyj ^. inhabit this country, are descendants from 
 
 zuma's First the aborigines of it, ^ but from strangers who 
 Discourse came to it from very distant parts; and we 
 to Cortes ^-^sq hold, that our race was brought to 
 these parts by a lord, whose vassals they all were, and 
 who returned to his native country. After a long time 
 he came back, but it was so long, that those who remained 
 here were married with the native women of the country, 
 and had many descendants, and had built towns where 
 they were living; when, therefore, he wished to take them 
 away with him, they would not go, nor still less receive 
 him as their ruler, so he departed. ^ And we have al- 
 ways held that those who descended from him would 
 
 >^See Appendix III. at close of Letter 
 2 See Appendix IV. at close of Letter.
 
 Second Letter 235 
 
 come to subjugate this country and us, as his vassals; 
 and according to the direction from which you say you 
 come, which is where the sun rises, and from what you 
 tell us of your great lord, or king, who has sent you here, 
 we believe, and hold for certain, that he is our rightful 
 sovereign, especially as you tell us that since many days 
 he has had news of us. Hence you may be sure, that 
 we shall obey you, and hold you as the representative of 
 this great lord of whom 3^ou speak, and that in this there 
 will be no lack or deception ; and throughout the whole 
 country you may command at your will (I speak of what 
 I possess in my dominions), because you will be obeyed, 
 and recognised, and all we possess is at your disposal. 
 
 " Since you are in your rightful place, and in your own 
 homes, rejoice and rest, free from all the trouble of the 
 journey, and wars which you have had, for I am well aware 
 of all that has happened to you, between Puntunchan 
 and here, and I know very well, that the people of Cem- 
 poal, and Tascaltecal, have told you many evil things re- 
 specting me. Do not believe more than you see with 
 your own eyes, especially from those who are my enemies, 
 and were my vassals, yet rebelled against me on your 
 coming (as they say), in order to help you. I know they 
 have told you also that I have houses, with walls of gold, 
 and that the furniture of my halls, and other things of my 
 service, were also of gold, and that I am, or make myself, 
 a god, and many other things. The houses you have 
 seen are of lime and stone and earth." And then he 
 held up his robes, and showing me his body he said to me, 
 " Look at me, and see that I am flesh and bones, the same 
 as you, and everybody, and that I am mortal, and tangi- 
 ble. " And touching his arms and body with his hands, 
 " Look how they have lied to you! It is true indeed that 
 I have some things of gold, which have been left to me 
 by my forefathers. All that I possess, you may have 
 whenever you wish.
 
 2 3Ó Letters of Cortes 
 
 "I shall now go to other houses where I live; but you 
 will be provided here with everything necessary for you 
 and your people, and you shall suffer no annoyance, for 
 you are in your own house and country." 
 
 I answered to all he said, certifying that which seemed 
 to be suitable, especially in confiiTning his belief that it 
 was Your Majesty whom they were expecting. After 
 this, he took his leave, and, when he had gone, we were 
 well provided with chickens, and bread, and fruits, and 
 other necessities, especially such as were required for the 
 sendee of our quarters. Thus I passed six days well 
 provided with everything necessary, and visited by 
 many of the lords. 
 
 I have already mentioned at the beginning, Most 
 Catholic Lord, that when I started from the city of Vera 
 Cruz, in search of this lord, Montezuma, I left there a 
 hundred and fifty men, to build that fort which I had 
 begun, and I likewise stated, that I had left many villages 
 and forts in the neighbourhood of that town, under the 
 royal dominion of Your Highness, and the natives as 
 very loyal vassals of Your Majesty. 
 
 While I was in the city of Churultecal, I received 
 letters from the captain, whom I had left in my 
 Treachery place at Vera Cruz, informing me that Quauh- 
 ofQuauh- popoca, ^ lord of the city called Almería, 
 popoca j^g^^ ggj^^ messengers to him, saying, that if 
 he had not yet offered to become a vassal of Your 
 
 1 Quauhpopoca commanded the garrisons at Nauhtla (named 
 Almeria by the Spaniards) and Tochpan, which is the present town of 
 Tuxpan. 
 
 If Quauhpopoca acted by his sovereign's orders, he merely did his 
 duty, and merited no punishment from Cortes, but if, on the other 
 hand, he acted on his own initiative, then Montezuma was free from 
 blame and should not have been degraded by the imposition of chains. 
 Cortes's action is indefensible ; his intention doubtless was to convince 
 the emperor that there was no depth of humiliation to which he might 
 not be brought, and to prove to the people that to kill a Spaniard was 
 the greatest of crimes, sure to be followed by the direst punishment.
 
 Second Letter 237 
 
 Highness, nor had appeared to give his obedience, with 
 all his lands, as he was obliged to do, it was because 
 he had to cross an enemy's country, and that, fearing 
 to be molested by them, he had deferred coming; but 
 to send him four Spaniards to accompany him, because, 
 they, through whose country he had to pass, knowing 
 for what purpose he was coming, would not then dare 
 molest him, and he would immediately cqme. The cap- 
 tain, believing that what the said Qualpopoca had sent 
 to say was true, as many others had done the same, had 
 despatched him the four Spaniards, but, after he got them 
 in his power, he tried to kill them, in such a way as would 
 make it appear that he had not done jt. After he had killed 
 two of them, however, the other two, wounded, escaped 
 to the forests. The captain had then attacked the city 
 of Almería, with fifty Spaniards, two horsemen, two 
 field pieces, and about eight thousand fríendly Indians. 
 He fought with the inhabitants of the said city, and 
 slaughtered many of them, driving out the rest, and burnt, 
 and destroyed it, because the Indians accompanying 
 him were their enemies, and had put much diligence into 
 it. Qualpopoca, the lord of the city, together with the 
 other chiefs, who had come thither to assist him, escaped 
 by taking flight. 
 
 The captain was informed by some of the prisoners, 
 taken amongst the defenders of the city, that Qualpopoca 
 had killed the said Spaniards, whom we had sent, because 
 Montezuma had ordered him, and his other vassals, that, 
 as soon as I left the town of Vera Cruz, they should attack 
 those vassals who had rebelled against him, and ofiered 
 themselves to the service of Your Highness; and that 
 he should use every means he could to kill the Spaniards 
 I had left there, so that they could not aid nor favour 
 them. This was the reason they had done what they 
 had. 
 
 Six days having passed, Most Invincible Prince, after
 
 23S Letters of Cortes 
 
 I had amved in the city of Temixtitan, and, having seen 
 something of it, although Uttle in proportion to the 
 amount there is to be seen and noted, it appeared to me, 
 even from what I had seen of it and the country, that it 
 would be conducive to Your Royal Highness's service, 
 and to our security, that Montezuma should be in my 
 power, and not at his entire liberty, so that he might 
 not relax his intention and disposition to serv^e Your 
 Highness. I thought this, especially because we Span- 
 iards are somewhat touchy and importunate, and, if he 
 should happen to become angry, he could do us such 
 injury with his great power, that there would remain no 
 recollection of us; and also because, having him in my 
 power, all the other countries who were subject to him, 
 would come to the knowledge and service of Your 
 Majesty, as afterwards happened. 
 
 I determined to seize him, and confine him in my 
 quarters, which are very strong; and, thinking over 
 all the forms and ways in which I could 
 to Seize accomplish this, without provoking any scan- 
 Montezuma dal or commotion upon his arrest, I remem- 
 bered what my captain at Vera Cruz had 
 written about the occurrence in the city of Almería, as I 
 have related, and how it had become known, that all that 
 had happened there had taken place by Montezuma's 
 command. I stationed sufficient guards in the cross 
 streets, and went to the palace of Montezuma, as I had 
 at other times gone to see him; and, after conversing 
 with him lightly on pleasant subjects, and after he had 
 given me some valuables in gold, and one of his daughters, 
 and some daughters of other lords to some of my com- 
 panions, I told him that I had learned what had happened 
 in the city of Nautecal, or Almería, and about the Span- 
 iards whom they had killed there, and that Qualpopoca 
 gave as his excuse, that all he had done had been by 
 Montezuma's order, and that, as his vassal, he could not
 
 Second Letter 239 
 
 have done otherwise. I said that, because I did not 
 believe Qualpopoca's excuse of his fault, it seemed to 
 me that he ought to send for him, and the other chiefs 
 who had helped him in the murder of the Spaniards, so 
 that the truth might be known, and they be punished, 
 and Your Majesty might clearly perceive his good dis- 
 position. Otherwise the reports of those wicked men 
 might provoke Your Highness to anger against him, 
 from which, instead of the favours Your Highness would 
 now grant him, evil would result; for I was convinced 
 that the truth was contrary to what they declared. He 
 immediately sent for certain of his people, to whom he 
 gave a small stone figure, like a seal, which he wore tied 
 to his arm, ordering them to go to the city of Almería, 
 which is about sixty or seventy leagues from that of 
 Muxtitan [Mexico], and bring the said Qualpopoca ; to 
 ascertain what others had taken part in the murder of 
 the Spaniards, and to bring them Hkewise; and, if they 
 resisted, to bring them as prisoners, and, if they should 
 resist imprisonment, to call upon certain tribes in the 
 neighborhood, which he then named, to seize them by 
 force of arms ; but on no account to return without them. 
 These men immediately left, and, after they had gone, 
 I told Montezuma that I was very grateful to him for the 
 diligence he had used in the imprisonment of those men, 
 for I must render an account to Your Royal Highness 
 for those murdered Spaniards. To enable me to give 
 this, it now only remained that he should stop in my 
 quarters, until the truth was established, and it was 
 known that he was blameless. I earnestly prayed him 
 not to feel pained at this, because he would not be kept 
 a prisoner, but would have entire liberty; that I would 
 place no impediment to his service and authority in his 
 dominions, and that he might choose any room he pleased 
 in the palace where I was, where he should remain at his 
 pleasure, well assured that he should suffer no annoyance
 
 240 Letters of Cortes 
 
 or unpleasantness, but rather that, in addition to his own 
 attendants, my companions would also obey his com- 
 mands. We had much conversation and argument about 
 this, which would be too lengthy to write, and even too 
 prolix to recount to Your Highness, as well as of little 
 bearing on the case, hence I will not say more than that 
 finally he agreed to come with me, and immediately 
 gave orders to prepare the apartment he wished to 
 occupy, which was well fitted up, and put in order. This 
 having been done, many lords came, and having taken 
 off their vestments, which they carried under their arms, 
 barefooted they brought the litter, not much adorned, 
 and, weeping, they placed him on it, in profound silence. 
 Thus we went to my quarters without causing any com- 
 motion in the city, although some had begun, but, when 
 Montezuma heard of it, he ordered it to be stopped, and 
 thus all was as completely quiet as though nothing had 
 happened; and this continued all the time I kept Monte- 
 zuma prisoner, for he lived at his entire pleasure, and with 
 all his service, just as he had it in his own palace, which 
 was great and marvellous, as I will hereafter say. And 
 I, and those of my company, did everything we could 
 to please him. 
 
 Some fifteen or twenty days having passed since his 
 imprisonment, those who had been sent for Qual- 
 Monte- popoca, and the others who had killed the 
 zvima in Spaniards, returned, bringing the said Qual- 
 Chains popoca, and one of his sons, and with them 
 fifteen other persons whom they said had taken 
 part in the murders. Qualpopoca was carried in a 
 litter, very much in the style of a lord, as he in reality 
 was. They were delivered to me, and I kept them under 
 guard in prison, and afterwards when they confessed that 
 they had killed the Spaniards, I had them interrogated 
 as to whether they were vassals of Montezuma. Qual- 
 popoca answered, asking if there existed any other lord
 
 Second Letter 241 
 
 of whom he might be vassal, as much as to say there was 
 no other. I Hkewise asked them if what had been done 
 there w^as by Montezuma's order; and they answered, 
 " No, " although afterw'ards, when the sentence, that they 
 should be burned, was carried into execution, all with 
 one voice said it was true that Montezuma had ordered 
 them to do it, and that they had obeyed his command. 
 So they were burned publicly, in one of the squares, 
 without occasioning any commotion, and the day when 
 they were burned, as soon as they confessed that Monte- 
 zuma commanded them to kill the Spaniards, I ordered 
 him to be put in chains, which frightened him not a little. 
 After I had spoken to him, I removed the irons 
 the same day, and he remained very satisfied, and ever 
 afterwards I endeavoured to please him, and keep him 
 satisfied as far as possible; especially did I always say 
 publicly to all the natives of the country, nobles as well 
 as others, who came to see him, that Your Majesty had 
 been pleased that Montezuma should continue to exercise 
 authority, recognising the suzerainty of Your Highness, 
 and that Your Highness w^ould be well pleased by their 
 obeying him, and regarding him as their lord, as they 
 had before I came to the country. So good was my 
 treatment of him, and the satisfaction he felt, that some- 
 times, and frequently, I offered him his liberty, praying 
 him to return to his palace ; but he told me each time that 
 he was contented there, and that he did not wish to go, 
 because nothing that he wished was wanting, more than 
 in his own palace, whereas it might happen that, if he 
 went back, the lords of the country, his vassals, would 
 importune him to do things, in spite of himself, which 
 would be contrary to his own wish, and to Your High- 
 ness's service. He added, that he was determined to 
 serve Your Majesty in all that was possible, and up till 
 now he had told them what he wanted done, and was 
 content where he was, for, should anyone attempt to 
 
 VOL. I. 16
 
 242 Letters of Cortes 
 
 make suggestions to him now, he could excuse himself 
 by answering that he was not free, and thus evade them. 
 He often asked permission to go and enjoy himself, and 
 pass the time in certain pleasure houses, both out of the 
 city and in it, and I never denied him this. He often 
 would, with five or six Spaniards go to enjoy himself 
 one or two leagues out of the city, returning very gladly 
 to the quarters where I kept him; and, whenever he went 
 out, he would present many valuables, and clothing, as 
 well to the Spaniards who went with him, as to the natives, 
 who always accompanied him to at least the number of 
 three thousand men, most of them nobles and persons of 
 distinction; and, as he always gave them many banquets 
 and feasts, they who went with him were always 
 contented. 
 
 When I afterwards understood perfectly, that he 
 was wholly devoted to the service of Your Royal 
 
 Highness, I prayed him, so that I might give 
 Investigates^ better account to Your Majesty of this 
 the Gold country, to show me the mines from which 
 Mines of ^q obtained gold, and he answered with perfect 
 
 good will that he would gladly do so. He im- 
 mediately sent certain of his servants, distributing them 
 two by two over four provinces, from which he said he 
 got the gold; and he asked me to send Spaniards with 
 them, to see how it was taken out. So, for each of his 
 own people, I sent two Spaniards, and some went to a 
 province, called Cuzula, eighty leagues from the great 
 city of Temixtitan, the natives of which are his vassals, 
 and there they were shown three rivers, from each of 
 which they brought me specimens of gold of very good 
 quality, although it was taken out with mean tools, as 
 they had only those with which the Indians extract it. 
 On the road, they passed through three provinces, ac- 
 cording to what the Spaniards said, of fine land, and many 
 hamlets and cities, and towns, very populous, and con-
 
 Second Letter 243 
 
 taining buildings equal to any in Spain. They told me 
 especially of a house and fort, greater, and stronger, and 
 better built, than the castle of Burgos, and that the 
 people of this province, called Tamazulapa, were better 
 dressed than any others we have seen, and, as it seemed 
 to them, more intelligent. Others went to another 
 province called Malinaltepeque, another seventy leagues 
 from the said great city, and more towards the sea-coast; 
 and they brought me likewise specimens of gold from a 
 great river there. 
 
 The others went to a country, called Teniz, ^ farther 
 up this river, belonging to a people of a difierent language 
 from that of Culua, and the ruler of that country is called 
 Coatelicamat. His country lies in a very high rugged 
 mountain chain, and is not subject to Montezuma; the 
 people of that province are very war-like, fighting with 
 lances, twenty or thirty palms long, and, because they 
 are not vassals of Montezuma, the messengers who ac- 
 companied the Spaniards did not dare to enter that 
 country, without first notifying the chief and asking 
 his permission. They told him they had come with the 
 Spaniards to see the gold mines in his country, and be- 
 sought him, on my part, and that of Montezuma, their 
 lord, to permit it. Coatelicamat answered, that he was 
 very willing the Spaniards should come into his country, 
 and see the mines, and whatever else they wished, but 
 that the Culuans, who were subject to Montezuma, must 
 not come, because they were his enemies. The Spaniards 
 were somewhat perplexed, as to whether they should go 
 alone, or not; those who accompanied them told them 
 not to go, as they would be killed, and that it was in 
 order to kill them that Coatelicamat would not permit 
 the Culuans to accompany them. At last they deter- 
 mined to go alone, and¿the lord and his people received 
 them very well, and showed them seven or eight mines 
 
 » Tenich.
 
 244 Letters of Cortes 
 
 where they took out gold; and in their presence the In- 
 dians took some, out of which they brought me specimens. 
 Coatelicamat sent me certain messengers with the 
 Spaniards, offering himself and his country for the servdce 
 of Your Majesty; and he sent me certain valuables of 
 gold, and such wearing apparel as they have. 
 
 The others went to another province, called Tuchite- 
 peque, ^ which is almost in a direct line towards the sea, 
 twelve leagues beyond the province of Malinaltepeque 
 where, as I have already said, gold had been found. 
 Two other rivers were shown them there, where gold is 
 also found. 
 
 As there is in those parts, according to what the Span- 
 iards who went there informed me, every facility for 
 making plantations, and procuring gold, I begged Monte- 
 zuma to establish a plantation for Your Majesty in that 
 province of Malinaltepeque, which seems the best adapted, 
 and he put such diligence into it, that, within two months 
 after I had spoken to him, sixty fanegas"^ of maize, and 
 ten of beans had been sow^n, and two thousand plants of 
 cacap, 3 which bears a fruit somewhat like almonds. 
 This fruit they sell ground, and esteem so highly, that 
 it is used instead of money all over the country, and with 
 it everything can be bought in the market places and 
 elsewhere. He built four good houses, in one of which, 
 besides the living apartments, they made a water tank, 
 and put five hundred ducks in it; these are much es- 
 teemed, because they pluck their feathers every year, and 
 use them for making wearing apparel. And they placed 
 fifteen hundred chickens in it, not to speak of other farm 
 stock, which the Spaniards judged to be w^orth twenty 
 thousand dollars of gold. I also prayed Montezuma to 
 tell me if on the sea-coast there was any river or bay 
 
 1 Xuchitepec. 
 
 2 Hanega, also called fanega, a dry measure corresponding approxi- 
 mately to the bushel. 
 
 » Cacao from which chocolate is obtained.
 
 Second Letter 245 
 
 where ships could enter safely, and he answered me that 
 he did not know, but that he would have the coast drawn 
 for me, with its bays and rivers, and that I might send 
 the Spaniards to see them, and that he would give me 
 people to guide and take them; and thus we did. 
 
 Another day they brought me a cloth, on which the 
 whole coast was drawn, showing a river, larger than the 
 others, flowing into the sea; this seemed to be amongst 
 the mountain chains called Sanmin, ^ which form such a bay, 
 that the pilots heretofore believed it divided the province 
 called Mazamalco. Montezuma told me I might choose 
 whom I wished to send, and he would provide means for 
 seeing and learning everything. I immediately named ten 
 men, amongst them some pilots and persons acquainted 
 with the sea. Furnished with the provisions he gave 
 us, they left, and explored the whole coast, from the 
 port of Chalchilmeca,2 which is called San Juan, where 
 I first disembarked. 
 
 They covered about sixty odd leagues, but nowhere 
 found a river or bay where ships could enter, al- 
 though there are many very large ones on ^j^^ spaní- 
 the said coast; they took soundings of all ards Search 
 from the canoes, and finally reached the said fo"^ * 
 
 province of Cuacalco,^ where was the river ^ °^ 
 shown on the chart. The chief of that province, called 
 Tuchintecla, received them very well and gave them 
 canoes to explore the river. They found the shallowest 
 part at its mouth, two and a half fathoms in depth, and, 
 twelve leagues up the river, the greatest depth they found 
 was five or six fathoms; from their observations they 
 judged it has about the same depth for thirty leagues 
 
 ' Coatzacoalco was the name of the river; the place described is 
 between the sierras of San Martin and Sant Anton, hence the name 
 Sanmin may be a careless or an intentional contraction of San Martin. 
 
 2 Chalchuihcuecan was the Indian name for San Juan de Ulua, the 
 port of Vera Cruz. 
 
 3 Coatzacoalco.
 
 246 Letters of Cortes 
 
 up from its mouth. On its banks, are many large towns, 
 with an innumerable population, and all the province is 
 level, and rich and abundant in produce. The people 
 of this province are not vassals or subjects of Montezuma, 
 but rather his enemies. The lord of it sent word, when 
 the Spaniards arrived, that the Culuans must not enter 
 his country because they were his enemies, but, when the 
 Spaniards returned home with this account, he sent certain 
 messengers with them, who brought me valuables of 
 gold, tiger-skins, feather-work, stones, and stuffs. These 
 told me, on his part, that Tuchintecla had known of us 
 for a long time, because his friends of Puntunchan (which 
 is the river of Grijalba), had told him that I had passed 
 there, and had fought with them when they did not 
 admit me to their town, and how afterwards they became 
 friends of mine, and vassals of Your Majesty. The mes- 
 sengers said that Tuchintecla, likewise, offered himself to 
 Your Royal Highness, with all his country, and he prayed 
 me to consider him as my friend, on conditions that the 
 Culuans should not enter his country, though I might 
 see everything in it, which might be useful to Your 
 Royal Highness, of which he w^ould give whatever I 
 might direct every year. 
 
 When I learned, from the Spaniards who visited that 
 province, of its adaptability for settlement, and of the 
 harbour they had found, I rejoiced greatly ; for, ever since 
 I came to this country, I have sought to find a harbour 
 on its coast, where I might found a settlement. I had 
 never succeeded, however; nor is one to be found on the 
 whole coast, from the river of San Antonio, which is next 
 the Grijalba to that of Panuco w^hich is down the coast, 
 where certain Spaniards settled by order of Francisco de 
 Garay, as I shall hereafter recount to Your Highness. 
 
 To assure myself still more about that province and 
 harbour, and of the good will of the natives, and of every- 
 thing else necessary for a settlement, I again sent certain
 
 Second Letter 247 
 
 of my experienced people to ascertain all these matters. 
 They went with the messengers, whom that chief Tuchin- 
 tecla had sent to me, taking some things for him which 
 I gave them. Upon their arrival, they were well re- 
 ceived by him ; and they again examined and sounded the 
 harbour and river to see whether a town might be founded. 
 They afterwards brought me a long and exact description, 
 saying that there was everything necessary for a settle- 
 ment, and that the chief of the province was very content, 
 strongly desiring to ser\'e Your Highness. When this 
 account came, I immediately dispatched a captain, with 
 one hundred and fifty men, to lay out, and build a town, 
 and construct a port; for the chief of that province had 
 offered to do this as well as everything else that might 
 be necessary or commanded by me; and he even built 
 six houses on the site chosen for the town, and said that 
 he was very pleased we should come there to settle, and 
 remain in his country. 
 
 In the past chapters. Most Powerful Lord, I have said 
 that, at the time of my coming to the great city of Temix- 
 titan, a great lord had come, on behalf of Montezuma, 
 to meet me on the road, who, as I learned afterwards, 
 was a near relative of the latter's, and had dominions 
 called Haculuacan,! adjoining those of Montezuma. The 
 capital of these is a very great city on this salt lake, 
 six leagues by canoe, and ten by land, from this city of 
 Temixtitan. The city is called Tezcuco,^ and it may have 
 
 J Acolhuacan. 
 
 2 Texcoco, capital of the kingdom of Acolhuacan, stood at the 
 N. E. extremity of the lake of the same name. It rivalled Mexico 
 in size and importance, was the centre of Nahua culture, and has been 
 described as the " Athens" of the Aztecs. The triple alliance of Mexico, 
 Texcoco, and Tlacopan (Tacuba) formed the core of the Aztec Empire, 
 where centred the civilisation of Anahuac. The Kings of Texcoco 
 and Tlacopan recognised the King of Mexico as their over-lord in war, 
 and in the affairs of the central administration, but in all other respects 
 these sovereigns were equal, absolute, and independent, in their res])ec- 
 tive kingdoms. Texcoco was older than Mexico, and Nezahualcoytitl,
 
 248 Letters of Cortes 
 
 about thirty thousand households. There are in it, Sire, 
 very wonderful houses, and mosques, and very large, and 
 well built, oratories; it has also extensive market places. 
 Besides this city, he possesses two others, one, called Ocur- 
 man,i at three leagues from Tezcuco, and the other, called 
 
 the greatest of its rulers, bore the title of Aculhua Tecutl, which Mexican 
 historians define as equivalent to Caesar. This King once declared war 
 upon Mexico over a trifling question of etiquette, sacked the capital, 
 and exacted a heavy indemnity. The kingdom was divided into 
 seventy-five principalities or lordships, something after the feudal 
 system in Europe during the Middle Ages. The last king, before the 
 arrival of the Spaniards, had been Nezahualpilli, a ruler of superior 
 ability, one of the greatest princes in Mexican history, who left one 
 hundred and forty-five children, of whom there were four sons eligible 
 for the succession. The electors, under pressure of Montezuma, chose 
 the eldest, with the result that the youngest, Ixtlitxochitl, contested 
 the election, and plunged the country into civil strife from which it 
 emerged divided, and in this weakened and distracted state Cortes 
 found it upon his arrival. The ambitious Ixtlilxochitl, discontented 
 with the portion he had received, was a permanent pretender to his 
 brother's crown, and he secretly sent an embassy to Cortes at Cempoal 
 asking his help, and ofiering his own alliance. This afforded Cortes an 
 early insight into the internal dissensions of the empire, by which he 
 so readily and ably profited. (Ixtlilxochitl. Hist. Chichineca.) Texcoco 
 rapidly diminished both in population and importance after the con- 
 quest, and Thomas Gage, who visited it in 1626, found a village 
 containing one hundred Spaniards and three hundred Indians, re- 
 duced to poverty. Great havoc had been wrought by the wanton 
 destruction of the magnificent forests of giant cedar trees in the 
 neighbourhood. Panfilo de Narvaez accused Cortes of using seven 
 thousand cedar beams in the construction of his palace alone. {Voyage 
 de Thomas Gage, Tom. i. cap. xiii). 
 
 Í Near by Acolman stand the pyramids of Teotihuacan which 
 Cortes nowhere mentions, though it seems impossible he should not have 
 seen them. Of the two large pyramids, the greater was called Tonatiuh 
 Ytzaqual, or House of the Sun, and the lesser, Metztli Ytzaqual, 
 House of the Moon. The first is 680 feet long at the base and 180 feet 
 high; the second is much smaller at the base and 34 feet lower. Other 
 small pyramidal mounds, about thirty feet high were arranged 
 in regular lines or streets, leading up to the large pyramids, and were 
 dedicated to the stars. As this plain bore the Toltec name of Micoatl, 
 or Way of the Dead, it has also been thought that the whole group 
 formed a necropolis. Siguenza assigns their construction to the 
 Olmechs, though most authorities believe they were built later, by the
 
 Second Letter 249 
 
 Otumpa, six leagues distant, each containing between 
 three and four thousand householders. This province 
 and lordship of Haculuacan has many other villages 
 and hamlets, and very good lands and farms. It joins 
 on one side with the province of Tascaltecal, of which I 
 have already spoken to Your Majesty. 
 
 This lord, called Cacamazin, ^ rebelled, after the 
 imprisonment of Montezuma, as well against the service 
 of Your Highness, to which he had offered him- pj^^ ^^ 
 self, as against Montezuma. Although he Capture 
 was required many times to obey the roy- Cacamtzin 
 al mandates of Your Majesty, he never complied, 
 for, besides my sending to require him, Montezuma 
 also sent to summon him, but he answered that, if 
 anything was wanted of him, they should come to his 
 country, and that there he would show what he was 
 worth, and the service he was obliged to render. Ac- 
 cording to my information, he had gathered a multitude 
 of warriors well prepared for action. As I was unable to 
 
 Toltecs. When I visited them in 1884 they were then so overgrown 
 with vegetation, and in such a state of progressive dilapidation, that 
 their total destruction seemed assured, unless prompt measures were 
 taken for their preservation. (Humboldt, Vues des CordilUres. 
 Chamay, Ancient Cities of the New World.) 
 
 1 While Cacamatzin was kept in Montezuma's capital, his brother 
 had been killed by the Spaniards, and a tribute levied on Texcoco, 
 with such methods that it differed only in name from pillage. When 
 the King contrived to escape from Mexico, he assembled other princes of 
 the neighbourhood in Texcoco, among whom were his brothers Coano- 
 coch and Ixtlilxochitl, to whom he proposed that a stand should be 
 at once made against the invaders. Premature wranglings over the 
 division of the fruits of their expected victories broke up this council, 
 not only without any practical decision having been reached, but 
 with sharpened animosity between the three rival brothers. Monte- 
 zuma's part in the treachery, which Cortes naively describes, was 
 despicable. Coanococh and Ixtlilxochitl were among the conspirators 
 who betrayed the King. 
 
 Cacamatzin, when brought into Montezuma's presence to hear his 
 exhortations to make peace with the Spaniards, upbraided the Em- 
 peror for his cowardice and treachery. His death will be noticed 
 in a later note.
 
 250 Letters of Cortes 
 
 win him, cither by warnings or requirements, I spoke to 
 Montezuma, and asked his advice as to what we ought 
 to do, for the rebelHon should not remain unchastised. 
 He answered, that to seize him by force, would expose 
 us to much danger, as he was a great lord, and had many 
 forces and people, and could not be taken without great 
 risk of many people perishing. He had, however, 
 many chiefs from the country of Cacamazin who lived 
 with him and whom he paid and he would speak with 
 them, so that they might win over some of Cacamazin's 
 people, and being assured that they would favour our 
 party, we could take him with safety. 
 
 Montezuma came to ^an understanding with those 
 persons, -who induced Cacamazin to meet them in the 
 city of Tezcuco, for the purpose of deliberating on certain 
 matters of state, for, as chiefs, they were grieved that 
 he was doing certain things that might ruin him. Thus, 
 they assembled in a very beautiful palace of Cacamazin's 
 on the borders of the lake, so constructed that canoes 
 can pass under it, going in and out. They had secretly 
 prepared certain canoes, with forces in readiness, in case 
 the said Cacamazin should resist his imprisonment, and, 
 while in this consultation, the chiefs seized him, before 
 his people suspected anything, and brought him across 
 the lake to the great city, which I have already said is 
 six leagues from there. When they arrived, they placed 
 him in a litter, as was customary, and required by his 
 rank, and brought him to me, and I ordered chains to be 
 put on him, and held him in very safe keeping. 
 
 Acting on the advice of Montezuma, in the name of 
 Your Majesty, I placed his son, whose name is Cucuz- 
 cacin, ^ in his lordship, and I ordered that all the tribes 
 and lords of the said province and lordship should obey 
 him as ruler, until Your Highness should order other- 
 
 » Cuicuitzcatzin : a younger brother who was baptised and became 
 known as Don Carlos.
 
 Second Letter 251 
 
 wise. Thus it was done thenceforward, and all obeyed 
 and served him as lord, the same as the said Cacamazin; 
 and he was obedient in everything I commanded in Your 
 Majesty's name. 
 
 A few days after the imprisonment of Cacamazin, 
 Montezuma held a meeting of all the lords of the city 
 and the neighbouring countries; and, when speech of 
 all were assembled, he sent to ask me to Montezuma 
 join them, and, when I arrived, he spoke ^o His 
 
 in this manner: "My brothers and friends, you 
 know that, for a long time you, and your fathers, 
 and grandfathers, have been, and are, subjects and 
 vassals of my forefathers and myself, and that you 
 have always been well treated by them, and by me, and 
 that you have likewise done what good subjects are 
 obliged to do towards their rightful sovereign. I also 
 believe that you have kept in mind, from your fore- 
 fathers, that we are not natives of this country, and that 
 they came to it from another, very far off, that they were 
 brought here by a sovereign, whose vassals they all were, 
 who left them in it, but who returned after a long time; 
 that he found our forefathers already settled and es- 
 tablished in this country, and married to the women, and 
 having a great increase of sons, so that they did not 
 choose to return with him, nor much less to receive him as 
 their sovereign; and that he departed, saying that he 
 would return, or send such a force that they would be 
 compelled to submit. You also know, that we have 
 always expected him, and, according to what the Captain 
 has told us of that King and Lord who has sent him 
 here, and according to the direction whence he says he 
 comes, I hold it to be certain, and you must also hold it 
 thus, that his sovereign is the one we have been expect- 
 ing especially as the Captain says that they have had 
 information there respecting us. 
 
 "Since our predecessors did not act justly towards
 
 2 52 Letters of Cortes 
 
 their sovereign lord, let us do so, and let us give thanks 
 to our gods, because that which they looked for has come 
 to pass in our times. I heartily pray you, inasmuch as 
 all this is well known to you, that, as you have obeyed 
 me as your sovereign, henceforward you will regard and 
 obey this great king, because he is your rightful sovereign, 
 and, in his place, you must hold this, his Captain; also 
 that all the tributes and services, which until now you 
 have paid to me, you do give to him, because I also 
 shall pay tribute, and serve in all that he may command 
 me. In so doing, you will do your duty as you are obliged 
 to do, and you will, moreover, in doing this, give me much 
 pleasure." 
 
 All this he told them, weeping the greatest tears, and 
 the greatest sighs, a man can give vent to; and all those 
 lords who had heard him were likewise weeping so much, 
 that, during a considerable time, they were unable to 
 answer. And I assure Your Sacred Majesty, that there 
 was not one among the Spaniards who heard this 
 discourse who did not feel great compassion. 
 
 After they had somewhat restrained their tears, they 
 answered, that they regarded him as their sovereign, and 
 they promised to do all that he ordered them to do, and 
 that for this, and for the reason he had given them, 
 they would do it gladly; that henceforth, for all time, 
 they gave themselves as vassals of Your Highness and 
 henceforth they, all together, and each one singly, would 
 promise, and did promise, to comply with all that should 
 be commanded them in the royal name of Your Majesty, 
 as good and loyal vassals ought to do ; and that they would 
 concur with their tributes and services, which heretofore 
 they had given to the said Montezuma, and with every- 
 thing else which might be commanded in the name of 
 Your Highness. All this passed before a notary public, 
 who at my request recorded it in due form, in the presence 
 of many Spaniards for witnesses.
 
 Second Letter 253 
 
 This decision and offer of the said lords, for the royal 
 service of Your Majesty having been completed, I spoke 
 to Montezuma one day, and told him that Your Treasure 
 Highness was in need of gold, on account of cer- Collected 
 tain works ordered to be made, and I besought ^Y the 
 him to send some of his people, and I would pamards 
 also send some Spaniards, to the provinces and houses 
 of those lords who had there submitted themselves, 
 to pray them to assist Your Majesty with some 
 part of what they had. Besides Your Highness's need, 
 this would testify that they began to render ser- 
 vice, and Your Highness would the more esteem their 
 good will towards your service; and I told him that he 
 also should give me from his treasures, as I wished to 
 send them to Your Majesty, as I had done uith the other 
 things. He asked me afterwards to choose the Spaniards 
 whom I wished to send, and two by two, and five by 
 five, he distributed them through many provinces and 
 cities, whose names I do not remember, as the papers 
 have been lost, and also because they were many and 
 divers; and moreover some of them were at eighty and 
 one hundred leagues from the said great city of Temix- 
 titan. He sent some of his people with them ordering 
 them to go to the lords of those provinces and cities, 
 and tell them that I had commanded each one of them 
 to contribute a certain measure of gold which he gave 
 them. Thus it was done, and all those lords to whom 
 he sent gave very compliantly, as had been asked, not 
 only in valuables, but also in bars and sheets of gold, 
 besides all the jewels of gold, and silver, and the feather- 
 work, and the stones, and the many other things of value 
 which I assigned and allotted to Your Sacred Majesty, 
 amounting to the sum of one hundred thousand ducats 
 and more. These, besides their value, are such, and so 
 marvellous, that for the sake of their novelty and strange- 
 ness they have no price, nor is it probable that all the
 
 2 54 Letters of Cortes 
 
 princes ever heard of in the world, possess such treasures. 
 Let not what I say appear fabulous to Your Majesty, 
 because, in truth, all the things created on land, as well 
 as in the sea, of which Montezuma had ever heard, were 
 imitated in gold, most naturally, as well as in silver, and 
 in precious stones, and feather work, with such perfection 
 that they seemed almost real. He gave me a large num- 
 ber of these for Your Highness, besides others, he ordered 
 to be made in gold, for which I furnished him the 
 designs, such as images, crucifixes, medals, jewelry of 
 small value, and many other of our things which I made 
 them copy. In the same manner, Your Highness ob- 
 tained, as the one-fifth of the silver which was received, 
 one hundred and xDdd marks, which I made the natives 
 cast in large and small plates, porringers, cups, and 
 spoons, which they executed as perfectly as we could 
 make them comprehend. 
 
 Besides these, Montezuma gave me a large quantity of 
 stuffs, which considering it was cotton, and not silk, 
 was such that there could not be woven anything similar 
 in the whole world, for texture, colours, and handiwork. 
 Amongst these, were many marvellous dresses for men 
 and women, bed clothing, with which that made of silk 
 could not be compared, and other stufis such as tapestry, 
 suitable for drawing-rooms and churches. There were 
 also blankets and rugs, for beds both of feather-work, 
 and of cotton in divers colours, also very marvellous, 
 and many other things so curious and numerous I do 
 not know how to specify them to Your Majesty. He 
 also gave me a dozen cerbatanas,^ with which he shoots, 
 and of their perfection I likewise know not what to say 
 to Your Highness ; for they were decorated with very 
 excellent paintings of perfect hues, in which there were 
 figures of many different kinds of birds, animals, flowers, 
 and divers other objects, and the mouthpieces and 
 
 I Long tubes or pipes.
 
 Second Letter 255 
 
 extremities were bordered with gold, a span deep, as was 
 also the middle, all beautifully worked. He gave me a 
 pouch of gold net-work for the balls, which he told me he 
 w^ould give me also of gold. He gave me also some tur- 
 quoises [sic] of gold, and many other things, whose 
 number is almost infinite. ^ 
 
 To give an account, Very Powerful Lord, of the great- 
 ness, and the strange and marvellous things of this great 
 city of Temixtitan to Your Royal Excellency, and of all 
 the dominions and splendour of Montezuma its sovereign ; 
 of all the rites and customs which these people practise, 
 and of the order prevailing in the government, not only 
 of this city, but also of others belonging to this lord, 
 much time and many very expert narrators would be 
 required. I shall never be able to say one-hundredth 
 part of what might be told respecting them, but, neverthe- 
 less, as far as I am able, I shall speak of some of the things 
 I have seen, which although badly described, I know very 
 well will cause so much wonder, that they will hardly 
 be believed, because even we, who see them here with 
 our own eyes, are unable to comprehend their reality. 
 Your Majesty may be assured, that, if there be anything 
 wanting in my relation, it will be rather in falling short, 
 than by overdrawing, not only in this, but in all other 
 matters of which I shall give an account to Your High- 
 ness; but it seems to me only just towards my Prince 
 and Sovereign to tell him very clearly the truth, without 
 interpolating matters which diminish or exaggerate it. 
 
 Before beginning to describe this great city, and the 
 others which I mentioned in the other chapter, it 
 
 I It had been decided at the outset, by common accord, that, 
 after deducting the royal fifth of all spoils and profits of whatso- 
 ever nature, which went to the crown, one fifth of the remainder should 
 be the portion of Cortes. All the rest was to be divided among the 
 members of the expedition, those who remained in garrison at Vera 
 Cruz sharing equally with those who started on the march to Mexico. 
 (Doc. I ned., torn. XXVI., p. 5-16, tom. XXVII., p. 37. Bcntal Diaz 
 cap. cv.)
 
 256 Letters of Cortes 
 
 appears to me that to understand them better I 
 should describe IMcxico, which is where this great city, 
 Cortes some others of which I have spoken, and the 
 Describes principal seat of Montezuma's dominion are. 
 Mexico to This province is ciroular, and completely 
 
 ^ ^^ * sun^ounded by high and rugged mountains. 
 Its plain is perhaps seventy leagues in circumfer- 
 ence, in which there are two lakes, ^ occupying al- 
 most all of it, for a canoe travels fifty leagues within 
 their borders, and one of these lakes is of fresh water, 
 and the other larger one is salt. The lakes are divided 
 from one another on one side by a small chain of very 
 high hills, in the middle of one end of this plain, except 
 for a strait between these hills and the high moun- 
 tains ; the strait is about a bow shot across. Communi- 
 cation between one lake and the other, and between 
 the cities, and the other towns round about, is by 
 means of canoes, with no need of going by land. 
 The large salt lake rises and falls in its tides like the 
 sea; its waters, whenever it rises, falling into the 
 fresh-water lake as rapidly as though it were a great 
 river; and when it ebbs, the fresh water then runs into 
 the salt lake. 
 
 This great city of Temixtitan is built on the salt lake, 
 and from the mainland to the city is a distance of two 
 leagues, from any side from which you enter. It has 
 four approaches by means of artificial causeways, two 
 cavalry lances in width. The city is as large as Seville 
 or Cordoba. Its streets (I speak of the principal ones) 
 are very broad and straight, some of these, and all the 
 others, are one half land, and the other half water on 
 which they go about in canoes. All the streets have 
 openings at regular intervals, to let the water flow from 
 one to the other, and at all of these openings, some of 
 
 > The lakes of Chalco and Texcoco, the first being of fresh, and the 
 second, of salt water.
 
 Second Letter 257 
 
 which are very broad, there are bridges, very large, strong, 
 and well constructed, so that, over many, ten horsemen 
 can ride abreast. Perceiving that, if the inhabitants 
 wished to practise any treachery against us, they had 
 plenty of opportunity, because the said city being built 
 as I have described, they might, by raising the bridges 
 at the exits and entrances, starve us without our being 
 able to reach land, as soon as I entered the city, 
 I made great haste to build four brigantines, which 
 I had completed in a short time, capable whenever we 
 might wish, of taking three hundred men and the horses 
 to land. 
 
 The city has many squares where markets are held 
 and trading is carried on. There is one square, twice 
 as large as that of Salamanca, all sur- xhe Great 
 rounded by arcades, where there are daily Market- 
 more than sixty thousand souls, buying and P^^*^^ 
 selling, and where are found all the kinds of merchan- 
 dise produced in these countries, including food pro- 
 ducts, jewels of gold and silver, lead, brass, copper, 
 zinc, stone, bones, shells, and feathers. Stones are sold, 
 hewn and unhewn, adobe bricks, wood, both in the 
 rough and manufactured in various ways. There is a 
 street for game, where they sell every sort of bird, such 
 as chickens, partridges, quails, wild ducks, fly-catchers, 
 widgeons, turtle-doves, pigeons, reed-birds, parrots, owls, 
 eaglets, owlets, falcons, sparrow-hawks and kestrels, 
 and they sell the skins of some of these birds of prey 
 with their feathers, heads, beaks, and claws. They 
 sell rabbits, hares, and small dogs which they castrate, 
 and raise for the purpose of eating. 
 
 There is a street set apart for the sale of herbs, where 
 can be found every sort of root and medical herb which 
 grows in the country. There are houses like apothecary 
 shops, where prepared medicines are sold, as well as 
 liquids, ointments, and plasters. There are places like 
 
 VOL. I. — 17
 
 258 Letters of Cortes 
 
 our barber's shops, where they wash and shave their 
 heads. There are houses where they supply food and 
 drink for payment. There are men, such as in Castile 
 are called porters, who carry burdens. There is much 
 wood, charcoal, braziers made of earthenware, and mats 
 of divers kinds for beds, and others, very thin, used as 
 cushions, and for carpeting halls, and bed-rooms. There 
 are all sorts of vegetables, and especially onions, leeks, 
 garlic, borage, nasturtium, water-cresses, sorrel, thistles, 
 and artichokes. There are many kinds of fruits, amongst 
 others cherries, and prunes, like the Spanish ones. They 
 sell bees-honey and wax, and honey made of com stalks, 
 which is as sweet and syrup-like as that of sugar, also 
 honey of a plant called maguey,^ which is better than 
 most; from these same plants they make sugar and 
 wine, which they also sell. 
 
 They also sell skeins of different kinds of spun cotton, 
 in all colours, so that it seems quite like one of the sük 
 markets of Granada, although it is on a greater scale; 
 also as many different colours for painters as can be found 
 in Spain and of as excellent hues. They sell deer skins 
 with all the hair tanned on them, and of different colours ; 
 much earthenware, exceedingly good, many sorts of 
 pots, large and small, pitchers, large tiles, an infinite 
 variety of vases, all of very singular clay, and most of 
 them glazed and painted. They sell maize, both in the 
 grain and made into bread, which is very superior in its 
 quality to that of the other islands and mainland; pies 
 of birds, and fish, also much fish, fresh, salted, cooked, 
 
 ' The whitish, slippery, fermented liquor called pulque is ex- 
 tracted from the maguey and is still the popular drink in Mexico; 
 as it must be drunk fresh, special pulque trains daily carry supplies 
 to towns along the railway lines. Flavoured with pineapple, straw- 
 berry, and other fresh fruit juices, and well iced, it is a very good drink, 
 wholesome, and only intoxicating if drunk immoderately. The manu- 
 facture and sale of the fiery spirit, mescal, also drawn from the maguey, 
 are under careful restrictions and it is as destructive as absinthe. 
 
 \
 
 Second Letter 259 
 
 and raw ; eggs of hens, and geese, and other bh^ds in great 
 quantity, and cakes made of eggs. 
 
 Finally, besides those things I havc mentioned, they 
 sell in the city markets everything else which is found 
 in the whole country and which, on account of the pro- 
 fusion and number, do not occur to my memory-, 
 and which also I do not tell of, because I do not know 
 their names. 
 
 Each kind of merchandise is sold in its respective 
 street, and they do not mix their kinds of merchandise 
 of any species ; thus they preserve perfect order. Every- 
 thing is sold by a kind of measure, and, until now, we 
 have not seen anything sold by weight. 
 
 There is in this square a very large building, like a 
 Court of Justice, where there are always ten or twelve 
 persons, sitting as judges, and delivering their decisions 
 upon all cases which arise in the markets. There are 
 other persons in the same square who go about continually 
 among the people, observing what is sold, and the meas- 
 ures used in selling, and they have been seen to break 
 some which were false. 
 
 This great city contains many mosques, or houses 
 for idols, very beautiful edifices situated in the different 
 precincts of it; in the principal ones of The Aztec 
 which are the religious orders of their sect, Priests 
 for whom, besides the houses in which they keep 
 their idols, there are very good habitations pro- 
 vided. All these priests dress in black, and never 
 cut or comb their hair from the time they enter 
 the religious order until they leave it; and the sons 
 of all the principal families, both of chiefs as well as 
 noble citizens, are in these religious orders and habits 
 from the age of seven or eight years till they are taken 
 away for the purpose of marriage. This happens more 
 frequently with the first-bom, who inherit the property, 
 than with the others. They have no access to women.
 
 26o Letters of Cortes 
 
 nor are any allowed to enter the religious houses; they 
 abstain from eating certain dishes, and more so at certain 
 times of the year than at others. 
 
 Amongst these mosques, there is one principal one, and 
 no human tongue is able to describe its greatness and 
 details, because it is so large that within its circuit, which 
 is surrounded by a high wall, a village of five hundred 
 houses could easily be built. Within, and all around it, 
 are very handsome buildings, in which there are large 
 rooms and galleries, where the religious who live there 
 are lodged. There are as many as forty very high and 
 well-built towers, the largest having fifty steps to reach 
 the top ; the principal one is higher than the tower of the 
 chief church in Seville. ^ They are so well built, both 
 in their masonry, and their wood work, that they could not 
 be better made nor constructed anyw^here; for all the 
 masonry inside the chapels, where they keep their idols, 
 is carved with figures, and the wood w^ork is all wrought 
 with designs of monsters, and other shapes. All these 
 towers are places of burial for the chiefs, and each one 
 of their chapels is dedicated to the idol to which they 
 have a particular devotion. Within this great mosque, 
 there are three halls wherein stand the principal idols 
 of marvellous grandeur in size, and much decorated w4th 
 carved figures, both of stone and wood; and within these 
 halls there are other chapels, entered by very small doors, 
 and which have no hght, and nobody but the religious 
 are admitted to them. Within these are the images and 
 figures of the idols, although, as I have said, there are 
 many outside. 
 
 The principal idols in which they have the most 
 faith and belief I overturned from their seats, and rolled 
 Cortes down the stairs, and I had those chapels, 
 Overthrows where they kept them, cleansed, for they were 
 the Idols full of blood from the sacrifices ; and 
 
 » See Appendix V., close of Letter.
 
 Second Letter 261 
 
 I set up images of Our Lady, and other Saints in 
 them, which grieved Montezuma, and the natives 
 not a little. At first they told me not to do it, for, if it 
 became known throughout the town, the people would 
 rise against me, as they believed that these idols gave 
 them all their temporal goods, and, in allowing them to 
 be ill-treated, they would be angered, and give nothing, 
 and would take away all the fruits of the soil, and cause 
 the people to die of want. I made them understand by 
 the interpreters how deceived they were in putting their 
 hope in idols, made of unclean things by their own hands, 
 and I told them that they should know there was but one 
 God, the Universal Lord of all, who had created the 
 heavens, and earth, and all things else, and them, and us, 
 who was without beginning, and immortal ; that they should 
 adore, and believe in Him, and not in any creature, or 
 thing. I told them all I knew of these matters, so as 
 to win them from their idolatries, and bring them to a 
 knowledge of God, Our Lord; and all of them, especially 
 Montezuma, answered that they had already told me they 
 were not natives of this country, and that it was a long 
 time since their forefathers had come to it, therefore 
 they might err in some points of their belief, as it was so 
 long since they left their native land, whilst I, who had 
 recently arrived, should know better than they what 
 they should believe, and hold; and if I would tell them, 
 and explain to them, they would do what I told them, 
 as being for the best. Montezuma and many chiefs of 
 the city remained with me until the idols were taken 
 away and the chapels cleansed, and the images put up, 
 and they all wore happy faces. I forbade them to sacri- 
 fice human beings to the idols, as they were accustomed 
 to do, for besides its being very hateful to God, Your 
 Majesty had also prohibited it by your laws, and com- 
 manded that those who killed should be put to death. 
 Henceforth they abolished it, and, in all the time I
 
 202 Letters of Cortes 
 
 remained in the city, never again were they seen to 
 sacrifice any human creature. 
 
 The figures of the idols, in which those people believe, 
 exceed in size the body of a large man. They are made 
 of a mass of all the seeds and vegetables which they eat, 
 ground up and mixed with one another, and kneaded 
 with the hearts' blood of human beings, whose breasts 
 are opened when aHve, the hearts being removed, and, 
 ■uith the blood which comes out, is kneaded the ñour, 
 making the quantity necessary to construct a great 
 statue. When these are finished the priests offer them 
 more hearts, which have likewise been sacrificed, and 
 besmear the faces with the blood. The idols are dedicated 
 to different things, as was the custom of the heathen who 
 anciently honoured their gods. Thus, to obtain favours 
 in war these people have one idol, for harv^ests another, 
 and for everything in which they desire any good, they 
 have idols whom they honour and serve. 
 
 There are many large and handsome houses in this 
 city, and the reason for this is that all the lords of the 
 country, vassals of Montezuma, inhabit their houses in 
 the city a certain part of the year; moreover there are 
 many rich citizens, who Hkewise have very good houses. 
 Besides having very good and large dwelling places, all 
 these people have very beautiful flower gardens of divers 
 kinds, as well in the upper, as in the lower dwellings. 
 
 Along one of the causeways which lead to the 
 city, there are two conduits of masonry each two 
 The paces broad, and five feet deep, ^ through one 
 
 Aqueducts of which a volume of very good fresh water, 
 the bulk of a man's body, flows into the heart of 
 the city, from which all supply themselves, and drink. 
 The other which is empty brings the water, when 
 they wish to clean the first conduit, for, whüe one 
 is being cleaned, the water flows through the other. 
 
 » An estado was a man's height, or about five and one-half feet.
 
 Second Letter 263 
 
 Conduits as large round as an ox's body bring the fresh 
 water across the bridges, thus avoiding the channels by 
 which the salt-water flows, and in this manner the whole 
 city is suppUed, and everybody has water to drink. 
 Canoes peddle the water through all the streets, and the 
 way they take it from the conduits is this : the canoes stop 
 under the bridges w^here the conduits cross, where men 
 are stationed on the top who are paid to nil them. At 
 the different entrances to the city, and wherever the 
 canoes are unloaded, which is where the greatest quan- 
 tity of provisions enter the city, there are guards, in huts 
 to collect a certum quid of ever^^thing that comes in. I 
 do not know whether this goes to the sovereign, or to 
 the city, because up till now I have not been able to 
 ascertain, but I believe it is for the sovereign, for, in 
 other market places of other provinces, that contribution 
 has been seen to be paid to the ruler. There are to be 
 found daily in the markets and public places of the city 
 many workmen, and masters of all trades, waiting to be 
 hired. 
 
 The people of this city had better manners, and more 
 luxury in their dressing and ser\áce, than those of other 
 provinces and cities, for the reason that the sovereign, 
 Montezuma, always resided there, and all the nobles, his 
 vassals, frequented the city, so better manners, and 
 more ceremony prevailed. But to avoid being prolix 
 in describing the things of the city (though I would fain 
 continue), I will not say more than that, in the service 
 and manners of its people, their fashion of living was al- 
 most the same as in Spain, with just as much harmony and 
 order; and considering that these people were barbarous, 
 so cut off from the knowledge of God, and other civilised 
 peoples, it is admirable to see to what they attained 
 in every respect. As far as the service surrounding 
 Montezuma is concerned, and the admirable attributes 
 of his greatness and state, there is so much to write that
 
 204 Letters of Cortes 
 
 I assure Your Highness I do not know where to begin, 
 so as to finish what I would say of any part respecting it. 
 For, as I have already said, what greater grandeur can 
 there be, than that a barbarian monarch, like him, should 
 have imitations in gold, silver, stones, and feather-work, 
 of all the things existing under heaven in his dominion ? — 
 gold, and silver, things, so hke to nature, that there is 
 not a silversmith in the world who could do it better; 
 and, respecting the stones, there is no imagination which 
 can divine the instruments with which they were so 
 perfectly executed; and respecting the feather-work, 
 neither in wax, nor in embroidery, could nature be so 
 marvellously imitated. 
 
 So far, the extent of Montezuma's kingdom is not 
 known, but everyw^here within two hundred leagues 
 Extent of °^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ other side of this capital, 
 the Aztec wherever he sent, his messengers were not 
 Sovereignty disregarded, ^ although there were some pro- 
 vinces in the midst of these countries with which he 
 was at war. From what has been learned, and from 
 what I understand from him, I judge that his territories 
 were as large as Spain; for he sent messengers from 
 here to Puntunchan, at sixty leagues distance, beyond 
 the river of Grijalba, ordering the natives of a city, called 
 Cumatan,2 to give themselves as vassals to Your Ma- 
 jesty; and that is a distance of two hundred and thirty 
 leagues from the great city. This I know for I have made 
 the Spaniards go a distance of more than a hundred 
 and fifty in that direction. 
 
 All the other lords of this country and province, es- 
 pecially those of the "^neighbourhood, resided as I have 
 already said, a greater part of the year in the capital, 
 
 > Humboldt estimates its extension at 20,000 square leagues, 
 and as comprising in his time, the intendencies of Vera Cruz, Mexico, 
 Oaxaca, and Valladolid. 
 
 2 Given in Archbishop Lorenzana's edition as Jumathlan, a town 
 between the provinces of Oaxaca and Chiapa.
 
 Second Letter 265 
 
 and all, or at least most of them, had their first-born sons 
 in the service of Montezuma. There were fortified places 
 in the dominions of these lords, and Montezuma sent 
 his own people amongst them as governors, and collectors 
 of the taxes and rents which he received from each pro- 
 vince. These men kept an account of what each province 
 was obliged to give, by means of characters and figures, 
 written on the paper they make, showing what each 
 province was obliged to pay according to the quality of 
 its land. In this manner, produce from all the said 
 provinces came into his possession. 
 
 He was so feared by the present, as well as the absent, 
 that there was never prince in the world more so. He 
 had many pleasure houses, within and without the city, 
 each as well constructed, to serve for its particular kind 
 of pastime, as could be described or desired for so great 
 a lord. Within the city, he had residences such and so 
 marvellous that it seems to me almost impossible to 
 speak of their excellence and grandeur. So I limit myself 
 to saying that there is nothing comparable with them in 
 Spain. 
 
 He had a house, a little inferior to this one, where 
 there was a beautiful garden, with arbors overhanging 
 it, of which the marbles and tiles were of Montezu- 
 jasper, beautifully worked. In this house there ma's 
 
 were apartments for two great princes, and all Palaces 
 their servants. It had ten pools of water, in which 
 were kept all the many and divers breeds of water- 
 fowl found in these parts, all domesticated; for the 
 sea-birds, too, there were pools of salt water, and, 
 for those of the rivers and lakes, there was fresh water, 
 which for the sake of cleanliness, they renewed at certain 
 times by means of pipes. To each kind of bird they 
 gave the food which suited its habits in its free state, so 
 that to those which ate fish they gave it ; and, likewise, 
 worms, maize, and smaller seeds were supplied as required
 
 2ÓÓ Letters of Cortes 
 
 by the different birds. I assure Your Highness that all 
 those birds which ate onl}^ fish received each day two 
 hundred and fifty pounds, caught in the salt lakes. Three 
 hundred men had the charge of these birds, for their sole 
 employment. There were others who were occupied only 
 in curing the birds which were ailing. Over each pool 
 for these birds, there were beautifully decorated galleries, 
 and corridors, where Montezuma came to amuse himself 
 by watching them. There was an apartment in this house 
 in which were men, w^omen, and children, white of face, 
 body, hair, and eyelashes from the day of their birth. 
 There was another very beautiful house, with a large 
 court, paved with flags, in the pattern of a chess board. 
 
 There were also houses about nine feet in height, and 
 about six paces square ; one half of each was covered with a 
 roofing of square tiles, and the other half, which was open, 
 had a stout lattice of wood. Each of these houses con- 
 tained a bird of prey, representing all the sorts known in 
 Spain, from the kestrel to the eagle, besides many other 
 kinds, which had never been seen there; and there were 
 great numbers of each of these kinds. Across the tops 
 of these houses there was a perch, and another one out 
 beyond the lattice, so that the birds might use the one at 
 night and when it was raining, and the other to sun them- 
 selves, and take the air. All these birds were fed daily on 
 chickens, with no other food. There w^ere certain large 
 rooms in this palace, fitted with great cages, very well 
 constructed, and joined with heavy timbers, in all or 
 most of which were kept lions, tigers, foxes, and every 
 kind of cat in considerable numbers. These were also 
 fed on chickens. Three hundred other men had charge 
 of these animals and birds. 
 
 There was another house where many monstrous men 
 and women lived, amongst whom there were dwarfs, 
 himchbacks, and deformed; and each manner of monster 
 had a room apart, and they also had persons to take
 
 Second Letter 267 
 
 charge of them. I do not mention the other diverting 
 things Montezuma had in this city, because they were so 
 many, and so various. 
 
 His service was organised as follows: at dawn every 
 day, six hundred lords, and men of rank, came to 
 his palace. Some of these sat down, and Etiquette 
 others walked about in the halls and corridors of Monte- 
 of the palace, talking and passing the time, zuma's 
 but without entering the room where he was; °^ 
 
 the servants and retainers who accompanied them filled 
 two or three great courts, and the street, which was very 
 large. They remained in attendance until night. When 
 they served food to Montezuma, they likewise served all 
 those lords with Hke profusion, and their servants and fol- 
 lowers also received their rations. The larder and the wine 
 cellar were open daily to all who wished to eat or drink. 
 
 The way they served the meals is this: three or four 
 hundred youths carried in countless dishes, for, every 
 time he wished to dine or sup, they brought him all the 
 different dishes, not only meats, but also fish, and fruits, 
 and herbs, to be found in the land; and as the climate 
 is cold they brought, under each plate and dish, a brazier 
 of coals, so that the food should not get cold. They placed 
 all the dishes together in a great room where he dined, 
 which was almost filled ; its floors were all very well covered 
 and very clean, and he sat on a small cushion of leather, 
 beautifully made. Whilst he was eating, there were five or 
 six elder lords standing a short distance from him, to whom 
 he offered from the dishes he was eating. One of the sei-v- 
 ants waited to bring and remove the dishes for him, which 
 were passed by others, who stood further off as the service 
 required. At the beginning and end of each meal, they 
 always brought him water for his hands, and the towel, 
 once used, he never used again; nor were the plates and 
 service in which a dish was served ever brought again; 
 and it was the same with the braziers.
 
 268 Letters of Cortes 
 
 He dressed himself four times every day, in four different 
 kinds of clothing, all new, and never would he be dressed 
 with the same again. All the lords who entered his palace 
 came barefooted, and, when those whom he had sum- 
 moned appeared before him, it was with their heads bent, 
 and their eyes on the ground, in humble posture; and, 
 when they spoke to him, they did not look him in the 
 face, because of respect and reverence. I know they 
 did this out of respect, for certain lords reproved the 
 Spaniards, saying, that when these latter spoke to me, 
 they would behave with a lofty demeanour, looking 
 me in the face, which seemed to them disrespectful and 
 shameless. When Montezuma went out, which happened 
 rarely, all those who accompanied him and those whom he 
 met in the street, turned their faces aside, and in no wise 
 looked at him, and all the rest prostrated themselves until 
 he had passed. One of the lords, who carried three long 
 thin rods, always went before him, and I believe this was 
 done to give notice of his approach. When he descended 
 from his Htter, he took one of those rods in his hand, 
 and carried it as far as he went. The ceremonies which 
 this sovereign used in his service were so many, and of such 
 different kinds, that more space than I have at present 
 would be required to relate them, and even a better 
 memory to retain them; for I believe none of the Sultans, 
 or any infidel sovereign of whom we have had information 
 until now, has ever had such ceremonial in his court. 
 
 I have been occupied in this capital in what seemed 
 to conduce to the service of Your Sacred Majesty, and in 
 pacifying and winning over to it many provinces, thickly 
 peopled countries, very great cities, towns, and forts; 
 and in discovering mines, and learning and inquiring 
 into many of the secrets of Montezuma's dominions, as 
 well as of others which border on them, of which he 
 had information. These are so many and so marvellous, 
 that they are almost incredible. In this, I have been
 
 Second Letter 269 
 
 assisted, with as much good will and satisfaction on the 
 part of Montezuma and the natives, as if they, ab initio, 
 had recognised Your Sacred Majesty as their king and 
 rightful sovereign; and with no less good will have they 
 done all I commanded them in your royal name. In all 
 these things mentioned, and in others no less useful to 
 the service of Your Highness, I spent from the eighth 
 of November, 15 19, to the beginning of May this present 
 year. 
 
 While all was quiet and tranquil in this city, and 
 many Spaniards were distributed through divers parts, 
 pacifying the people in the country, I greatly jjg^g ^f ^^^ 
 desired that ships might arrive, with the Arrival of 
 answer to the accoimt I had sent to Your Narvaez 
 Majesty, so that I might forward what I now send, 
 together with all the gold and jewels I had collected 
 for Your Highness. At that time there came certain 
 natives, vassals of Montezuma, who live on the coast, 
 telling me that, near the mountain chain of San Martin, 
 which is on the said coast, before reaching the port 
 and bay of San Juan, eighteen ships had arrived ; and that 
 they did not know whose they were, because, as soon 
 as they espied them on the sea, they came to let me know. 
 Following the said Indians, there came also a native of 
 the island of Fernandina, who brought me a letter from 
 a Spaniard, whom I had stationed on the coast. This I 
 had done that he might give information about me, and 
 about that town near the port, to any ships that might 
 arrive, so that they might not be lost. In this letter he 
 said that, "on such a day, a single ship had arrived ofi 
 the harbour of San Juan," and that he had examined 
 all the coast as far as the eye could reach, but had dis- 
 covered no other, and therefore believed it to be the 
 ship I had sent to Your Majesty, since it was time for 
 this to return. In order to satisfy himself more fully, 
 he said that he would stay, waiting for the arrival of
 
 270 Letters of Cortes 
 
 the said ship in port, so as to get information which he 
 would immediately bring me. 
 
 Ha\4ng read this letter, I despatched two Spaniards one 
 by one road, and the other by another, so that they might 
 miss no messenger coming from the ship. I directed them 
 to go to the said port, and ascertain how many ships 
 had arrived, from whence they came, and what they 
 brought, and to return as quickly as possible to tell me. 
 I Hkewise sent another to the city of Vera Cruz, to an- 
 nounce what I had learned about those ships, so that they 
 might get information there, and let me know; and another 
 went to the Captain (whom I had sent w^ith a hundred 
 and fifty men, to form a settlement at the port of Quacu- 
 calco), to whom I wrote, that, as I had learned that 
 certain ships had arrived at the port, he should stop 
 w^ierever that messenger might meet him, and not pro- 
 ceed any further, until I should write to him again. 
 It afterguards appeared, however, that he already 
 knew of the arrival of the ships when he received my 
 letter. 
 
 Fifteen days elapsed after the departure of the messen- 
 gers, and as I had no news or answers from them, I was 
 not a little alarmed. When these fifteen days had passed, 
 other Indians, also vassals of Montezuma, arrived, from 
 whom I learned that the said ships had already anchored 
 in the port of San Juan, and the people had disembarked ; 
 that they had brought about eighty horses, eight hundred 
 men, and ten or twelve pieces of artillery. All of this 
 report was pictured on paper of the country, to be shown 
 to Montezuma. The messengers also told me, that the 
 Spaniard I had stationed on the coast, and the other 
 messengers I had sent, were with the said people, and 
 had told these Indians that the captain of those people 
 would not allow them to return, and for them to tell me 
 this. Having heard this, I determined to send a religious, 
 whom I had brought in my company, bearing a letter of
 
 Second Letter 271 
 
 mine, and another from the alcalde and the municipal 
 officers of the city of Vera Cruz who were with me, ad- 
 dressed to the captain and people who had arrived at that 
 port. In these letters we informed him very fully of all 
 that had happened to me in this country; that I held 
 many cities and ports conquered and pacified, subject 
 to the royal service of Your Majesty; that I had taken the 
 principal lord of all these regions prisoner, and that I was 
 in the capital. We wrote all about its character, and the 
 gold and jewels I had obtained for Your Highness, and 
 how I had given an account to Your Majesty of the 
 country. I asked them to let me know who they were, 
 and if they were rightful subjects of the kingdom and 
 lordships of Your Highness, to write to me whether they 
 had come to this country by a royal mandate to settle 
 permanently, or intended to advance or return; adding 
 that, if they needed anything, I would have them pro- 
 vided with everything possible. I said also that, if they 
 came from any place outside the dominions and kingdoms 
 of Your Highness, to likewise let me know, for if they 
 needed anything I would also supply it, if I could. If 
 they refused to inform me, I required them on the part 
 of Your Majesty to leave your countries, and not to land 
 in them, with the threat that, if they persisted, I would 
 march against them with all the force I had, both Span- 
 iards and natives, and would take them, and kill them as 
 foreign invaders of the kingdoms and dominions of my 
 king. and sovereign. 
 
 Within five or six days after the religious had gone 
 with the despatch, twenty Spaniards, whom I had 
 left in the city of Vera Cruz, arrived in the Designs of 
 city of Temixtitan, and brought me a cleric Panfilo de 
 and two other laymen whom they had taken Narvaez 
 in the said city. From them I learned, that the 
 armada and people in the port belonged to Diego 
 Velasquez, and had come by his orders, under a certain
 
 2-] 2 Letters of Cortes 
 
 Panfilo de Narvaez, ^ a householder of the island of 
 Fernandina, as their captain; that they brought eighty 
 horses, many pieces of artillery, and eight hundred soldiers, 
 among which latter were eighty musketeers, and a hundred 
 and twenty bowmen; that Narvaez came with a com- 
 mission as Captain-General, and Lieutenant-Governor 
 of all these parts, by appointment of Diego Velasquez, 
 with faculties from Your Majesty for all this; that the 
 messengers I had sent, and the man I had stationed on 
 the coast were with Panfilo de Narvaez, who would not 
 allow them to return, and that he had information himself 
 from them about my founding that town twelve leagues 
 from the said port, and of the people who were in it, as 
 well as about the people I had sent to Quacucalco, thirty 
 leagues from the port, in a province called Tuchitepeque, 
 I learned also that Narvaez knew of everything I had 
 done in the country in the service of Your Highness; 
 about the cities and towns I had pacified and about the 
 great city of Temixtitan; about the gold and jewels we 
 had obtained in the country, and all else that had hap- 
 pened to me. Narvaez had sent these men to Vera Cruz, 
 to try to win over the inhabitants to his design that they 
 should rebel against me. They brought me more than a 
 hundred letters which Narvaez and his companions sent 
 to people in Vera Cruz, telling them to credit what the 
 cleric and the others with him would say in his name, 
 promising them in the name of Diego Velasquez, that, 
 if they would do so, they should be rewarded, but that 
 
 ' Panfilo de Narvaez, a native of Valladolid, first settled in 
 Jamaica, afterwards taking part in the conquest of Cuba, as captain 
 of thirty bowmen, when he won the friendship of Diego Velasquez, 
 who made him one of his chief captains. Las Casas describes him as 
 well behaved, and brave but imprudent, but Bernal Diaz's opinion 
 of him was less pleasing as he calls him vain, presumptuous, foolish, 
 and proud, but admits his bravery. He was forty years old when he 
 came to Mexico to arrest Cortes and send him back to Cuba. He 
 brought with him the curse of small-pox, which was thus introduced 
 into Mexico by a negro of his crew.
 
 Second Letter 273 
 
 those who acted to the contrary would be very severely 
 treated. Many other things contained in the said letters 
 were reported by the cleric and those who came with 
 him. 
 
 Almost simultaneously, there arrived one of the Span- 
 iards who had gone to Quacucalco, bringing letters from 
 his captain, one Velasquez de Leon, who informed me that 
 the expedition in the port was under Panfilo de Narvaez, 
 who came in the name of Diego Velasquez. This 
 Leon forwarded me a letter which Narvaez had sent him 
 by an Indian for he was a relative of Diego Velasquez, 
 and brother-in-law of Narvaez), telling him how he had 
 learned from my messengers that Leon was there with 
 those people, and bidding him come back immediately with 
 them, because, by so acting, he would fulfil his obHga- 
 tions towards his relative; that he believed I held him 
 by force, and other similar things which Narvaez wrote 
 to him. The captain being more devoted to Your Ma- 
 jesty's service, not only declined to accept what Narvaez 
 told him in his letter, but, after having sent the letter 
 to me, immediately left to join me with all his forces. 
 Afterwards I informed myself from that cleric, and the 
 two who accompanied him, respecting many things con- 
 cerning the intentions of Diego Velasquez and Narvaez; 
 how they had despatched that armada and force against 
 me, because, instead of to Diego Velasquez, I had sent to 
 Your Majesty the description of this country, and the pre- 
 sents ; and how they came with evil designs to kill me, and 
 many of my company whom they had already designated. 
 I ascertained likewise that the licentiate Figueroa, the 
 judge residing in the island of Hispaniola, and Your 
 Highness's judges and officials there, when they learned 
 that Diego Velasquez was preparing this armada, and his 
 intention in so doing, had perceived the harm and injury 
 which would result to Your Majesty by their coming, 
 and had sent one of the said judges, the licentiate, Lucas
 
 2 74 Letters of Cortes 
 
 Vasquez de Ay lion, ^ with powers to require and order 
 Diego Velasquez not to despatch the armada. Upon his 
 arrival, he found Diego Velasquez and all those armed 
 people at the point of the island of Femandina, ready to 
 sail, and he required them, and those composing the 
 amiada, not to depart, because Your Highness would be 
 badly served, and he threatened them with many penalties, 
 notwithstanding which, and in spite of all the licentiate 
 required and ordered, Velasquez still sent the armada. 
 The licentiate, Ayllon, had come with them thinking 
 to prevent the harm which would follow from the arrival 
 of it, for it was notorious to him, and to everybody, that 
 the armada came with evil intentions. 
 
 I sent this cleric to Nar\-aez with a letter of mine, in 
 which I told him I had learned from the cleric, and those 
 who came with him, that he was captain of the armada, 
 
 > The audiencia of San Domingo, foreseeing the scandal which 
 was inevitable from such an expedition against Cortes, sent Lucas 
 Vasquez de Ayllon to Cuba with full powers to stop the preparations, 
 and prohibit the sailing. Ayllon followed Diego Velasquez to the port 
 of Trinidad where he had gone, and there learned that Narvaez was 
 at Xagua, some fourteen leagues distant, ready to join the others of 
 the fleet who were at Guaniguanico. He also discovered that most 
 of the able-bodied men in the colony had enlisted, and that the island 
 would be left with few defenders in case of trouble with the natives; 
 he went therefore to Xagua, and notified Narvaez not to sail, but to 
 go to Guaniguanico, where he intended to dissuade the governor from 
 the undertaking. Though Velasquez appeared at first to yield, he 
 ended by repudiating the authority of the aiAdiencia, though he con- 
 sented to give pacific instructions to Narvaez as to his manner of dealing 
 with Cortes. Ayllon decided, at the last moment, to go himself with 
 the armada, and prevent trouble between the rival commanders if 
 possible. Narvaez however was heedless of the notary's protests at 
 San Juan de Ulua, and finally rid himself of his importunities by send- 
 ing him back to Cuba on one ship, and his secretary and the alguacil 
 on another. Thus, three months after his departure on his mission, 
 Ayllon landed at San Nicolas in San Domingo, making his way as best he 
 could on foot across the island to report his ill success to the audiencia. 
 This flouting of the audiencia cost Diego Velasquez any triumph he 
 might otherwise have hoped to gain over Cortes, and Narvaez's sum- 
 mary violence towards a representative of the government bears out 
 Bemal Diaz's estimate of his character.
 
 Second Letter 275 
 
 and that I was glad it was he, as I had thought 
 otherwise seeing that my messengers had not returned. 
 I said, however, that, as he knew I was in this Cortes 
 country in Your Highness's service, I mar- Writes to 
 veiled that he did not write to me, or send Narvaez 
 me some messenger announcing his arrival, for he knew 
 that I would be rejoiced at it, not only because 
 of our old friendship, but also because he had come 
 to serve Your Highness, which was what I most desired. 
 Instead of which, I said, he had sent corruptors and 
 letters of seduction to those under me in Your Majesty's 
 service, inciting them to rebel against me, and join him, 
 as if we were infidels the one, and Christians the other, 
 vassals of Your Highness the one, and traitors the other. 
 I asked him as a favour that from hence forward he 
 would not use these means with me, but first let me know 
 the cause of his coming. I said I had been told that he 
 called himself Captain-General, and Lieutenant-Governor 
 for Diego Velasquez, and that he had so proclaimed him- 
 self by the public crier, publishing it in the country, 
 and had named alcaldes and municipal officers, and had 
 executed justice, all of which was against the good ser- 
 vice of Your Highness, and against all your laws; that 
 this was so because this country belonging to Your 
 Majesty, and being peopled by your vassals, and having 
 tribunals and municipal bodies in it, he should not ap- 
 propriate to himself the said offices without first having 
 received them, inasmuch as to exercise them he should 
 bring provisions from Your Majesty; that, if he had 
 brought any such, I asked as a favour, and required him 
 to present them to me, and to the municipal authorities 
 of Vera Cruz, as they would be obeyed by those author- 
 ities, and by me, as letters and provisions of our King 
 and rightful Sovereign, and complied with as far as it 
 would profit to the service of Your Majesty; and that I 
 was in that city, where I held the monarch prisoner, and
 
 276 Letters of Cortes 
 
 had a great sum of gold and valuables, belonging not 
 only to Your Highness, but also to my company and 
 myself, which I did not dare to leave, since I feared that, 
 if I left the city, the people might rebel, and such a quan- 
 tity of gold and jewels, and such a city, would be lost 
 which meant the loss of the whole country. I likewise 
 gave a letter to the said cleric for the licentiate Ayllon, 
 who, as I afterwards learned, had been sent away, with 
 two ships as a prisoner, by Narvaez before the cleric 
 arrived. 
 
 On the day the cleric left, I received a messenger from 
 the citizens of Vera Cruz, who informed me, that all the 
 natives had risen in favour of Narvaez, especially those 
 of the city of Cempoal and their party, and that none 
 would come to work in the said town and port, nor do 
 anything else, because they said that Narvaez had told 
 them that I was a traitor, and that he had come to take 
 me and all my company prisoners, and to make us leave 
 the country. As Narvaez's people were many, and mine 
 few, and he had brought many horses, and much artillery, 
 and I had little, they wished to be on the winning side. 
 The messengers informed me also that they had learned 
 from the Indians, that Narvaez would occupy the city 
 of Cempoal, knowing how near it was to their city, and 
 they believed from what they were informed of the said 
 Narvaez's bad intentions towards all, that he would 
 from that place attack them, aided by the Cempoalans. 
 They let me know that they were leaving the town, rather 
 than fight with them, and to avoid scandal they would 
 go up the mountain to the house of a chief, vassal of 
 Your Highness, and our friend, where they would remain 
 until I sent them directions what to do. 
 
 As I saw the great mischief which was spreading, and 
 that the country was rebelling on account of Narvaez, 
 it appeared to me that, by going to him myself, all might 
 be appeased, because the Indians would not dare to
 
 Second Letter 277 
 
 rebel on seeing me, and also because I thought to make 
 
 some sort of arrangement with Narvaez for stopping the 
 
 great evil at the outset. I thereupon started the same 
 
 day, leaving the fort well provided with maize and water, 
 
 and a garrison of five hundred men, with some cannon. 
 
 Taking the others (some seventy men), I pursued my 
 
 road, accompanied by some of Montezuma's principal 
 
 people. 
 
 Before I left, I made some explanation telling him " to 
 
 look to the fact that he was a vassal of Your Highness, and 
 
 that now he would receive the favours from ^ , 
 
 Cortes 
 Your Majesty for the services which he had Leaves 
 
 rendered to you; that I entrusted to him Mexico 
 those Spaniards, who would take care of all the *° ^®®* 
 gold and valuables which he had given me, or 
 ordered me to give Your Highness; that I was longing 
 to see the people who had arrived, and to learn who they 
 were, as I did not yet know, but that I believed they were 
 bad people and not vassals of Your Highness. He prom- 
 ised to provide those left behind with ever3rthing necessary 
 and to take great care of all I left there, belonging to Your 
 ]\iajesty, and that his people who went with me would 
 guide me by a road without quitting his country, and 
 \\'ould provide me with everything I needed. He prayed 
 me also, that, if these were bad people, to let him know, 
 and he would immediately raise many waniors to attack 
 them, and drive them out of the country. I thanked 
 him for all this, and assured him that Your Majesty 
 would order many favours to be shown him, and I gave 
 many jewels and stuffs to him, to his son, and to many 
 other lords who were with him at the time. 
 
 In the city, called Churultecal, I met, returning with 
 all his people, Juan Velasquez, the captain, whom, as I 
 have said, I had sent to Quacucalco. Separating those 
 who were indisposed, whom I sent to the city, I pursued 
 my road with him and the others. Fifteen leagues
 
 27S Letters of Cortes 
 
 beyond the city of Churultecal, I encountered that re- 
 ligious father [Fray Olmedo] of my company, whom I 
 had sent to the port to learn what sort of people had come 
 in the amiada. He brought me a letter from Narvaez, 
 in which the latter wrote me that he brought certain 
 powers to hold this country for Diego Velasquez, and that 
 I should immediately come to him to obey and submit 
 to them, and that he had established a town with al- 
 caldes and municipal officers. From the same religious, 
 I learned that the licentiate Ayllon, as well as his notary 
 and alguacil, had been taken, and sent away in two 
 ships; that he himself had been approached there by 
 parties, to win over some of my company to Narvaez ; and 
 how they had boasted before him, and certain Indians 
 who accompanied him, of their forces, both of foot 
 and cavalry, and had fired the artillery from the ships and 
 on land in order to frighten them, saying to the re- 
 ligious, "See! how can you defend yourselves against 
 us if you don't do as we wish you to do?" He told me 
 also that he had seen with Narvaez one of the native 
 lords of this country, vassal of the said Montezuma, and 
 governor of all his country along the coast ; and he learned 
 that he had spoken to Narvaez on the part of Montezuma, 
 giving him jewels of gold, and that Narvaez had also 
 given him certain trifles; and that Narvaez had sent 
 from there certain messengers to Montezuma, saying, 
 that he would deliver him, for he had come to take me 
 and all my company, and then leave the country, and 
 that he wished no gold, but that, myself, and those who 
 were with me, once prisoners, he intended to depart, 
 and leave the country and the natives in their full liberty. 
 Finally I learned that his intention was to possess himself 
 of the country by his own authority, without asking 
 recognition from anyone; and that if I and those of my 
 company refused to accept him as captain, or justice 
 in the name of Diego Velasquez, he would come against
 
 Second Letter 279 
 
 us, and capture us by force, and that for this purpose 
 he had confederated with the natives, especially with 
 Montezuma, by means of his messengers. 
 
 When I saw how manifest was the harm which would 
 result from the aforesaid proceedings against Your Ma- 
 jesty, especially as I was told of the great force he had 
 brought, and Diego Velasquez's mandate that, as soon 
 as he seized us, he should hang me, and others who were 
 designated, I did not hesitate to approach nearer to him, 
 believing that I "might make him understand the great 
 disser\dce which w^ould result to Your Highness, and 
 dissuade him from his evil intention and malicious dis- 
 position towards us, 
 
 I continued my way, and fifteen leagues before arriving 
 at the city of Cempoal, where Narv^aez was camped, there 
 approached me the chaplain sent to me by the citizens 
 of Vera Cruz, by whom I had written to Narvaez, and 
 the licentiate Ayllon; he was accompanied by another 
 cleric, and a certain Andres de Duero, ^ householder of 
 the Island of Fernandina, who had also come with Nar- 
 vaez, They told me, on the part of Narvaez, in answer 
 to my letter, that I might still obey and recognise him as 
 my captain, and that I must yield the country to him, 
 otherwise I should be punished, as Narvaez brought great 
 forces with him, and I had very few, for besides the many 
 Spaniards he had brought, most of the natives were in 
 his favour; and that, if I would deliver the country to him, 
 he would give me all the ships and provisions I desired, 
 and would allow me to go away with them, and all those 
 who wished to leave with me, taking everything I desired 
 without any hindrance from him. One of the clerics 
 told me that Diego Velasquez had authorised this offer, 
 and had given his instructions to Narvaez and the two 
 clerics jointly, so that, in this matter, they could make 
 all the concessions I wished, I answered, that I did not 
 
 ' A secretary of Diego Velasquez.
 
 2 8o Letters of Cortes 
 
 perceive any warrants of Your Highness, directing me 
 to deliver the country to them, and that if Narvaez 
 brought any he should present them before me and the 
 Municipal Council of Vera Cruz, according to Spanish 
 law and custom, when I would be ready to obey and 
 comply with them; but that, until then, I would not do 
 as he said for any interest or concession, for I, and those 
 who were with me, would rather die in defence of the 
 country, which we had won and held pacified and sure 
 for Your Majesty, than turn traitors, or forfeit our loyalty 
 to our king. They advanced many other propositions 
 to win me over to their project, but none would I accept 
 without having seen the warrants of Your Highness 
 authorising me so to do ; and these they could not produce 
 
 In conclusion, these clerics, Andres de Duero, and my- 
 self, agreed that Narvaez and myself, with as many others, 
 Negotia- should meet with perfect surety on both sides, 
 tions with when he would satisfy me of the warrants if he 
 Narvaez j^g^^ brought any, and I would give my answer. 
 I, on my part, sent him a safe conduct, signed, and he also 
 sent me another, signed wdth his name, which as it seemed 
 to me he had no thought of observing ; for he had planned 
 that, during the visit, some way or other should be found 
 to kill me suddenly, and two of the ten who were to come 
 with him had been designated to do this, while the rest 
 were to fight with my attendants. They said, as a 
 reason for this, that, once I was dead, their business could 
 be finished; and in truth it would have been, if God, who 
 in such cases intervenes, had not succoured me by a certain 
 warning, which one of those concerned in the treachery 
 had sent me together with their safe conduct. 
 
 Knowing all this, I wrote a letter to Narvaez, and 
 another to the three commissioners, telling them that I 
 had discovered their treacherous intention, and would 
 not go as had been agreed. I immediately sent them 
 certain requisitions and mandates, by which I required
 
 Second Letter 281 
 
 Narvaez to make known to me any warrants he brought 
 from Your Highness, and that, until he had done so, he 
 should not, under certain penalties I imposed, call himself 
 captain or justice, or meddle with any duties pertaining 
 to the said offices. In like manner, by the same man- 
 date I commanded all the persons who were with him 
 not to regard nor obey him as captain or justice, and 
 summoned them, within a certain time designated, to 
 appear before me, that I might instruct them what was 
 proper to do in Your Highness 's service. I gave notice 
 that, if they did otherwise, I should proceed against them 
 as perfidious traitors and wicked vassals who had rebelled 
 against their king, and sought to usurp his country and 
 dominions, to deliver them to persons to whom they did 
 not belong, and who had no claim nor right to them; 
 and also in the execution of this order, that if they did 
 not appear before me, or obey my mandate, I would 
 proceed against them, and imprison them according to 
 the law. Narvaez's answer was to imprison the notary 
 who delivered the mandate, and the persons accompanying 
 him, and to take from them certain Indians who accom- 
 panied them, who were all detained till another messenger 
 arrived whom I sent to inquire after them. Before them 
 he made a display of force, and threatened them, and 
 also myself, if I did not deliver the country to him. 
 
 Seeing that I could by no means prevent this great 
 calamity and evil, and that the natives of the country 
 were revolting, and rising day by day, recommending 
 myself to God, and disregarding all injury that might 
 follow, considering that if I died in the service of my 
 king, and in the defence and upholding of his countries 
 against usurpation, more than sufficient glory would 
 cover me and my company, I gave my mandate to Gon- 
 zalo de Sandoval, alguacil mayor, to seize the persons of 
 Narvaez, and those who called themselves alcaldes and 
 municipal officers. I placed eighty men under his orders,
 
 2 82 Letters of Cortes 
 
 to make the arrest, while I, with the remaining hundred 
 and seventy (as in all we were two hundred and fifty 
 men), followed on foot, without artillery or horses, so as 
 to aid hmi if Narvaez and his companions should resist. 
 On the same day, the alguacil mayor and I, with the rest 
 of the people, arrived near the city of Cempoal, where 
 Narvaez and his people were quartered. He learned of 
 our coming, and came out, with eighty horsemen, and five 
 hundred foot-soldiers, leaving the rest of his force in his 
 quarters, which were in the great mosque of that strongly 
 fortified city. Having marched to within almost a league 
 of where we were, and not finding us, he believed he had 
 been deceived, so he returned to his quarters, holding 
 all his people in readiness, and placing two sentinels 
 almost a league outside the town. 
 
 As I wished to avoid all scandal, it seemed to me that 
 there w^ould be less if I went by night, unperceived if 
 Cortes possible, directly to the quarters of Narvaez, 
 Defeats which I and my men knew very well, and 
 Narvaez there seized him. For, once he was a pris- 
 oner, no trouble w^ould arise, for the others wished 
 to submit to justice, especially as most of them 
 had been forced to come by Diego Velasquez, fear- 
 ing that, unless they did, he might take away their 
 slaves in the island of Fernandina. Thus it happened, 
 on the feast of Pentecost, a little after midnight, I at- 
 tacked the quarters. I had encountered the sentinels 
 Nar\"aez had placed, and my vanguard captured one of 
 them, from whom I informed myself of their position, 
 but the other escaped; and in order that he should not 
 arrive before me and give notice of my coming, I hastened 
 as much as possible. The sentinel arrived, however, 
 almost half an hour before me, and, when I approached, 
 Narvaez and all his men were already armed, and had 
 saddled their horses, and were well prepared, with two 
 hundred men guarding each quarter. We moved so
 
 Second Letter 283 
 
 quietly, that, when they heard us, and seized arms, I was 
 akeady inside the courtyard of his quarters, where all 
 the people were gathered. They had taken possession of 
 three or four strong towers which were in it, and all the 
 other strong positions; and in one of the towers, where 
 Narvaez was lodged, he had placed nineteen guns on the 
 stairs. We reached the top of the tower so quickly, 
 that they had not time to put fire to more than one of 
 the pieces, which by God's will did not go off, or do us 
 any harm. Thus we mounted the tower to the place 
 where Narvaez slept, where about fifty men who were 
 with him fought with the alguacil mayor and his force; 
 and although required many times to yield themselves 
 to Your Highness, sun-endered only when fire was set to 
 the tower. While the alguacil mayor was capturing 
 Narvaez, I, with those who had stayed with me, defended 
 the entrance of the tower against the rest who sought 
 to come to his aid; and I ordered the artillery to be taken, 
 and fortified myself with it. Thus, with no more loss 
 than two men, who were killed by the discharge of a gun, 
 all those we wished to take were made prisoners within 
 an hour. After the rest had been disarmed, they prom- 
 ised to be obedient to the laws of Your Majesty, declaring 
 that till then they had been deceived, as they had been 
 told that Narvaez brought warrants from Your Highness, 
 and that I had risen in rebellion in this country, and was 
 a traitor to Your Majesty, together mth many other 
 similar things. 
 
 As all now understood the truth, and the bad inten- 
 tions and wicked disposition of Diego Velasquez and of 
 Narvaez came .to light, they rejoiced very greatly that 
 God should have ordained and provided such an ending. 
 For I assure Your Majesty, that, if God had not mys- 
 teriously intervened, and had Narvaez been victorious 
 it would have been the greatest injury which for a long 
 time past Spaniards had done to one another.
 
 284 Letters of Cortes 
 
 Narvaez would have fulfilled his intention, as Diego 
 Velasquez commanded him, which was to hang me, and 
 many others of my company, so that no one should re- 
 count what had happened. And, according to what I 
 learn from the Indians, they had perceived, that, if Nar- 
 vaez were to capture me, as he had told them, it could not 
 be without loss to himself and his people, nor without 
 many of us perishing; so that they meanwhile could kill 
 those whom I had left in Temixtitan, which, indeed, they 
 attempted to do. Afterwards they intended to join 
 forces, and attack those who remained here, and free 
 their country, so that not even a memory of the Spaniards 
 should surviv^e. Your Highness may be assured that if 
 they had achieved all this, and succeeded in their designs, 
 this country, which has now been conquered and pacified, 
 would not have been recovered within twenty years. 
 
 As so many people could not be maintained together 
 in this city, both because of its being nearly destroyed, 
 and because it had been plundered by Nar\'aez, and 
 abandoned by its inhabitants, two days after Narvaez 
 had been taken prisoner, I sent two captains, with 
 two hundred men each, one to go to the town and 
 port of Cucicacalco, which as I have told Your High- 
 ness, I had founded, and the other to that river which 
 the people from Francisco de Garay's ships said they had 
 seen, for I now hold them securely. I likewise sent two 
 hundred other men to the city of Vera Cruz, where I 
 ordered Narvaez 's ships to go. I remained with the rest 
 of the people in Cempoal, to provide whatever Your 
 ^Majesty's service required. I also sent a messenger to 
 the city of Temixtitan, by whom I made known to the 
 Spaniards I left there what had happened to me. 
 
 These messengers returned within twelve days, bring- 
 ing me letters from the alcalde ^ there, telling me that the 
 
 > See Appendix VI., close of letter.
 
 Second Letter 285 
 
 Indians had assaulted the fort on all sides, and set 
 fire to it in many parts; that they had sunk mines, 
 and that our people had been in much trouble ^^^^ ^^^ 
 and danger; and that, if Montezuma did not the 
 
 order the war to cease, they would yet perish. Garrison 
 for they were closely surrounded, though there '" ^^^^° 
 was no fighting, and no one could go two paces outside 
 the fort. In the fight, the Indians had captured a great 
 part of the provisions I had left them, and had burned my 
 four brigantines. My men were in extreme need, and 
 begged me for the love of God to come to their succour in 
 all possible haste. Seeing the extremity in which these 
 Spaniards were, and that if I did not rescue them, besides 
 the Indians killing them, and taking all the gold, and 
 silver, and valuables, which I had obtained in the country, 
 belonging to Your Majesty and also to me and the 
 Spaniards, the noblest and greatest city recently dis- 
 covered in the world would be lost, and with it all else 
 that had been gained, for it was the capital to which all 
 gave obedience. I immediately sent messengers to the 
 captains whom I had sent off with expeditions, telling 
 them what had been written me from the capital, and 
 directing them to return immediately from wherever they 
 were found, and to come by the shortest route to the 
 province of Tlascaltecal, where I, with the people, and all 
 the artillery in my power, and the seventy horsemen, 
 would unite with them. When we joined forces, and 
 made a review, there were found to be seventy horsemen, 
 and five hundred foot soldiers. 
 
 I started in all haste with these troops for the capital, 
 and the whole length of the road there never appeared 
 anybody from Montezuma to receive me, as was cus- 
 tomary, and all the country had risen, and was almost 
 deserted, which aroused evil suspicions lest the Spaniards 
 whom I had left in the city were dead, and the natives 
 had gathered to await me at some pass, where they would
 
 286 Letters of Cortes 
 
 take me at a disadvantage. Thus, fearful, I advanced 
 vrith the utmost precaution until I reached the city of 
 Tesnacan, ^ which, as I have already recounted to Your 
 Majesty, is on the shore of that great lake. I inquired 
 of some of the natives there about the Spaniards who 
 had remained in the great city, and was told that they 
 were alive, I asked them to bring me a canoe, as I 
 wished to send a Spaniard to obtain information, and 
 said that while he was gone, one of the natives of the 
 said city, who seemed to be a chief, must remain with 
 me, because none of the lords and chiefs whom I knew 
 appeared. The chief sent for the canoe, and dispatched cer- 
 tain Indians with the Spaniards whom I was sending, while 
 he remained with me; but while this Spaniard was em- 
 barking to go to the city of Temixtitan, he saw another 
 canoe coming across the lake, and waited in port until 
 it arrived. In it came one of the Spaniards who had 
 remained in the city, from whom I learned that they 
 were all alive, except five or six whom the Indians had 
 killed, and that the others were stül besieged, and were 
 not allowed to come out of the fort, nor did the Indians 
 provide them with anything needful except on payment, 
 and at a heavy price. Afterwards, how^ever, when they 
 heard of my coming, they had behaved somewhat better 
 towards them, Montezuma saying that he waited only 
 for my arrival, in order that they might again be free of 
 the city as they used to be. ]\Iontezuma also dispatched 
 a messenger to me with the said Spaniard, by whom he 
 sent me word that he believed I already knew what 
 had happened in that city, and that as he thought I 
 might be angry on account of it, and inclined to ven- 
 geance, he besought me to put aside my anger because he 
 was as much grieved as I, and that nothing had been done 
 by his wish or consent. He sent me news of many other 
 
 ' Texcoco.
 
 Second Letter 287 
 
 things, to appease the anger he supposed I felt for what 
 had happened, desiring me to come to the city and 
 saying that whatever I ordered wotdd be comphed with 
 no less than before. I sent him word to say that I was 
 not angry with him in any way, as his good will was well 
 known to me, and that I would do as he desired. 
 
 The next day, which w^as the eve of St. John Baptist, ^ 
 I left, and slept on the road, three leagues from the 
 capital, and on St. John's Day, after having Cortes 
 heard Mass, I entered about noon, and saw Re-enters 
 few people about the city. Some of the gates Mexico 
 at the cross streets and entrances to the streets 
 had been removed, which I did not like, although 
 I thought that it had been done from fear, and that 
 my arrival would reassure them. I marched directly 
 to the fort, in which, and in the principal mosque ad- 
 joining, all my people were quartered; and those within 
 the fort received us with as much joy as if we had given 
 them anew their lives, which they had already looked 
 upon as lost, and we rejoiced all that day and night, 
 believing that peace had been restored. 
 
 The next day after Mass I sent a messenger to Vera 
 Cruz, to give them the good news that the Christians 
 were alive, and that I was safe in the city. The messen- 
 ger returned within half an hour, with his head all bruised 
 and broken, calling out that the Indians in the city were 
 in array of battle, and had raised all the bridges; and, 
 immediately after him, such a great multitude fell upon 
 us from all sides, that neither the roofs nor the houses 
 could be seen for the crowd, which came on with the 
 greatest shoutings, and most frightful yells which could 
 be conceived in the world. With their slings, they threw 
 so many stones into the fortress, that it seemed as if they 
 rained from the heavens, while arrows and missiles were 
 so thick, that all the buildings and courts were so full 
 
 ' Day before St. John's Day, which fell on Sunday, June 23.
 
 288 Letters of Cortes 
 
 of them we could hardly move about. I sallied forth 
 against them on two or three sides, where they fought us 
 very valiantly, and in one place, where a captain had gone 
 out with two hundred men, they killed four, and wounded 
 him and many others, before he could retreat. On the 
 other side, where I was engaged, they wounded me, and 
 many other Spaniards. We killed few of them, for they 
 retreated to the other side of the bridges, and from 
 the roofs and terraces did us much injury with stones. 
 Some terraces we captured and set on fire; but they were 
 so man}^ and so strong, and so filled wdth people, well 
 supplied with stones and other kinds of weapons, that we 
 were not strong enough to take them all, nor to defend 
 ourselves against their attack at their pleasure. They 
 attacked the fort so violently, and set fire to it in so 
 many places, that on one side a great part was destroyed 
 without our being able to prevent it, until we stopped it 
 by breaking the walls, and pulling down a part which 
 put out the fire. Had it not been for the strong guard 
 of musketeers and archers with some field pieces I placed 
 there, they would have scaled that part without our being 
 able to resist them. Thus we fought all that day until 
 night was well advanced, and even throughout the night 
 they kept up their cries and yells. During the night, I had 
 those breaches caused by the fire repaired, and all the 
 rest of the fort which seemed weak to me; and I dis- 
 tributed the watch and the guards, for on the next day 
 we would have to fight stoutly ; and I cared for more than 
 eighty wounded. 
 
 At dawn the following day, the enemy opened the 
 battle more stoutly than the day before, there being 
 Death of such a number of them that the artillery 
 Montezuma^ had no need to aim but just to shoot into the 
 mases of Indians. Although the artillery did much 
 damage, for thirteen arquebuses were playing, besides 
 muskets and archery which were also doing service
 
 Second Letter 289 
 
 it seemed as if they did not feel it, for when one 
 discharge would sweep away ten or twelve men, more 
 tvould immediately fill their places, as if it had done 
 QO harm at all. Leaving the necessary guard, such 
 as could be spared, in the fort, I again made a sortie, and 
 :aptured some bridges, and burnt some houses, killing 
 many of the defenders; but they were so numerous that, 
 although we did them a good deal of damage, we made 
 vrery little impression on them. We had to fight all day 
 long, while they fought by hours, because they relieved 
 jne another, and even thus they had more than enough 
 men. That day, they also wounded some fifty or sixty 
 Spaniards, although none of them died; and I fought 
 until nightfall, retiring only from sheer fatigue into the 
 fort. Seeing the great damage the enemy did us, and 
 tiow they wounded and killed us at will, and that, al- 
 though we did much injury amongst them, it was hardly 
 perceptible on account of their number, we spent that 
 whole night and the next day in making three engines 
 Df wood, each accommodating twenty men, so that they 
 :ould not hurt us throwing stones from the roofs, 
 For the engines were covered with planks. Inside there 
 cvere archers and musketeers, and others armed with 
 pikes, pickaxes and bars of iron for making breaches in 
 the houses, and knocking down the barricades which the 
 [ndians had made in the streets. While these machines 
 ¡vere being made, the combat with our adversaries did 
 lot cease, for whenever we went out of the fort, they 
 would strive to enter, being repulsed only with great 
 iifficulty, Montezuma, who with one of his sons and 
 many other chiefs who had been captured at the beginning, 
 was still a prisoner, asked to be carried to the roof of the 
 :ort where he could speak to the captains and the people, 
 md cause the war to cease. I had him taken thither, and 
 when he reached the parapet on the top of the fort, in- 
 tending to speak to the people who were fighting there, 
 
 VOL. I. — ig
 
 290 Letters of Cortes 
 
 one of his own subjects struck him on the head with a 
 stone, \\'ith such force that within three days he died. I then 
 had him taken out, dead as he was, by two of the Indian 
 prisoners, who bore him away to his people ; but I do not 
 know what they did with him, except that the war did 
 not cease, but went on more stoutly and more fiercely 
 every day. ^ 
 
 That same day, they called me to the place where 
 they had wounded Montezuma, saying that certain 
 captains wished to speak to me. I went, and there 
 passed many arguments between us, I beseeching them 
 not to fight with me because there was no reason for 
 it, as they must perceive the benefits they had receiv^ed 
 from me, and how they had been well treated by me. 
 Their answer was that I must depart and leave them 
 their country, and then the war would cease, and that 
 otherwise I might be sure that they would either die, or 
 finish us. It appears they did this to draw me out of the 
 fort,'^so that they might, at their pleasure, trap me between 
 the bridges, while in the act of leaving the city. I an- 
 swered that they must not think I begged for peace from 
 fear of them, but because I was grieved at the damage I 
 had done them and would still have to do them ; and also 
 for the destruction of such a beautiful city. Still they 
 answered that they would not cease to make war upon 
 me until I left the city. 
 
 After having completed the engines, I sallied out 
 the next day to capture certain roofs and bridges, carrying 
 the engines before us, foUow^ed by four pieces of artillery, 
 many archers and shield bearers, and more than three 
 thousand natives of Tascaltecal who had come with me 
 and helped the Spaniards. When we reached one of the 
 bridges, we placed the engines and scaling ladders against 
 the walls of the terraces, in order to scale them; but the 
 defenders of the said bridges and terraces were so nu- 
 
 > Appendix VIL, death of Montezuma.
 
 Second Letter 291 
 
 merous, and threw so many and such large stones at us 
 from above, that they injured the engines and killed some 
 of the Spaniards, and wounded many without our being 
 able to advance one pace, although we struggled for it, 
 fighting from morning till noon, when we returned to 
 the fort with infinite sorrow. Their courage was in- 
 creased so much by this, that they attacked us almost 
 at the very doors, and occupied the great temple; about 
 five hundred who appeared to me to be notable persons, 
 ascended the highest and principal tower, carrying up a 
 large supply of bread and water and other stores. Most 
 of them had very long lances with very broad points, all 
 longer and broader than ours, and not less sharpened^ 
 and from there they did great injury to the people in the 
 fort, for they were very near it. Two or three times 
 the Spaniards attacked the tower and attempted to 
 mount it, but, as it was \ery high, and the ascent very 
 steep, being a hundred and odd steps, and those above 
 were well supplied with stones and other arms, and 
 favoured by the fact that we could not capture the 
 neighbouring terraces, every time the Spaniards at- 
 tempted to ascend they were rolled back beaten, and 
 many were wounded. Others of the enemy who saw this 
 from other parts took fresh courage, so that they attacked 
 the fort fiercely. 
 
 Observing that if they succeeded in holding that 
 tower, besides doing us much injury from it, they also 
 gained fresh courage to attack us, I sallied ^ 
 
 out from the fort, although my left hand was Captures 
 maimed by a wound which I had received the Great 
 on the first day. I advanced to the tower Teocalli 
 with some Spaniards who followed me, and easily 
 succeeded in surrounding the base, although those who 
 surrounded it were not idle, as they had to fight the 
 
 ' Obsidian, a hard black stone capable of taking an edge as keen as 
 a razor.
 
 292 Letters of Cortes 
 
 adversaries on all sides, who, for the purpose of helping 
 their own men, came in increased numbers. And I 
 began to ascend the tower, followed by some Spaniards, 
 but they defended the ascent very stubbornly, throwing 
 down three or four of my followers. With the help of 
 God, and His Glorious Mother (for whose house that 
 tower had been set aside, her image being placed in it) , 
 we reached the top, where we fought them so stoutly 
 that they were forced to jump down on some terraces 
 about a pace broad which extended round it. This tower 
 had three or four of these terraces about sixteen feet one 
 above the other. Some of the enemy fell all the way 
 down, and, in addition to the injuries they received in 
 the fall, were immediately killed by the Spaniards who 
 surrounded the base of the tower. Those who remained 
 on the terrace fought so valiantly, that we were more than 
 three hours in completely dispatching them ; and not one 
 escaped. Your Sacred Majesty may believe that we 
 captured this tower only because God had clipped their 
 wings; because twenty of them were siiííicient to resist 
 the ascent of a thousand men even though they fought 
 very valiantly till death. I had the tower set on fire, as 
 well as others in the mosque, from which they had already 
 taken away and carried off the images we had placed in 
 them. ^ 
 
 Some of their pride was taken out of them by our 
 obtaining this advantage, so that they fell back a little 
 on all sides, and I afterwards returned to the roof, and 
 spoke to the captains who had talked with me before, and 
 who were somewhat dismayed by what they had seen. 
 They immediately appeared, and I told them to look 
 about and see that they could not hold out anywhere, 
 and that every day we did them great harm and killed 
 
 > The cathedral of Mexico stands on this site, and .the statue of 
 the Blessed Virgin which Cortes first placed in the Aztec temple* is said 
 to be the one now venerated in the Church of los Remedios near Tacuba.
 
 Second Letter 293 
 
 many, and that we were forced to burn and destroy their 
 city, for I would not stop till there was nothing left of it 
 or them. They answered, that they saw very well that 
 they had sustained much damage from us, and that many 
 of them had perished, but that they were already all 
 fully determined to die, or be rid of us, and that I might 
 behold how all these streets and squares and terraces were 
 filled with people, who were so numerous that they had 
 made their calculations that, if twenty-five thousand 
 of them perished for every one of ours, they would finish 
 with us first, for we were few and they were many. They 
 told me all the high roads leading to the entrances to the 
 city had been destroyed (as, in fact, they had destroyed 
 all save one) , and that we had no way of escape save by 
 water; and that they knew very well that, as we had few 
 provisions and little fresh water, we could not hold out 
 much longer, for we would die by hunger, even if they 
 did not kill us. In truth they were right, for, though 
 we had no other enemy save starvation and the want of 
 provisions, these would suffice to kill us in a short time. 
 We exchanged many other arguments, each sustaining 
 his 0\vn side. 
 
 When night set in, I sallied forth with certain Spaniards, 
 and, as we took them by surprise, we captured a street 
 from them, burning more than three hundred houses. I 
 quickly returned by another street, while the people had 
 assembled in that one, in which I also burned many 
 houses; especially some terraces which overlooked the 
 fort, from which they did us much damage. They were 
 greatly frightened by what we had done that night; and 
 during the same night I ordered the engines, which had 
 been damaged the day before, to be repaired. 
 
 In order to follow up the victory God had given us, 
 I sallied forth at daybreak into the same street where we 
 had been routed the day before, where I found not less 
 resistance than on the former occasion. As our lives
 
 2 94 Letters of Cortes 
 
 and honour were at stake, and that street led to the only 
 sound causeway extending to the mainland (though, 
 before reaching it, we had to pass by eight very large and 
 deep bridges, and in all the street there were many quite 
 high terraces and towers) we set our determination and 
 spirit in it, so that, God helping us, we gained four of them 
 that day, and burned all the terraces, and houses, and 
 towers, to the last of the bridges. They had, however, 
 during the night before, made a number of very strong 
 barricades of adobes and clay at all the bridges, so that 
 the discharges of arrows from the crossbows could do 
 them no harm. We filled in the bridges with the adobes 
 and earth from the enclosures, and with a quantity of 
 stones and wood from the houses we had burned, al- 
 though this work was not done without danger, and many 
 Spaniards were wounded. That night I took many 
 precautions to guard those bridges so that they might 
 not return and retake them. 
 
 The next morning I again sallied forth, and God gave 
 us likewise such good fortune and victory, although 
 innumerable people defended the bridges, and many 
 strong barricades which they had made during the night 
 before, yet we captured them all, and filled them up. 
 At the same time certain horsemen followed victoriously 
 in pursuit of the fugitives as far as the mainland. While 
 I was engaged in repairing the bridges, and in ha\-ing 
 them filled up, I was called in great haste, being told 
 that the Indians who attacked the fort were suing for 
 peace, and that certain chiefs and captains of them were 
 awaiting me. Leaving my people and certain field- 
 pieces there, I, with two or three horsemen, went to see 
 what the chiefs wanted. They said, that, if I would 
 assure them that they would not be punished for what 
 had occurred, they would raise the siege, re-establish the 
 bridges, restore the causeways, and serve Your Majesty 
 as they had before. They besought me to have brought
 
 Second Letter 295 
 
 there one of their people, a religious whom I had made 
 a prisoner, and who was similar to a superior of their 
 religion. He came, and spoke with them, and made an 
 agreement between them and me; and, as it appeared, 
 and according to what they had said, they immediately 
 sent messengers to the captains and people who were in 
 outside camps, telling them that the attack on the fort 
 should cease, as w^ell as all other hostilities. Thus we 
 took our leave and I entered the fort to eat. 
 
 When I was about to begin, some one came hastily, to 
 say that the Indians had regained the bridges which 
 we had captured that day, and had killed Narrow 
 some Spaniards. God only knows how much Escape of 
 disturbance this caused me, for I was think- Cortes 
 
 ing that we had assured a passage for our retreat. 
 I mounted my horse with all possible haste, and 
 rode through the length of the street, with some 
 other horsemen following me, and, without halting 
 an5^where, I again dashed through the Indians, and 
 recaptured the bridges, pursuing the enemy to the 
 mainland. As the foot soldiers were very tired, and 
 wounded, and dismayed, none of them followed me, and 
 this left me in a very dangerous situation after I had 
 passed the bridges. When I sought to return, I found 
 them retaken, and more deeply dug out than when we 
 had filled them up, and from one side to the other all the 
 causeway was full of people, not only on land, but also in 
 canoes on the w^ater, who goaded us, and stoned us in 
 such a manner, that, if God had not interposed to save 
 us it would have been impossible to escape ; indeed it was 
 even already announced in the city that I was dead. 
 When I reached the last bridge nearest the city, I found 
 all the horsemen who had gone with me fallen in it, and 
 one horse loose, so that I could not pass, but was obliged 
 to return alone in face of my enemies. I forced something 
 of a passage, so that the horses passed, and after this, I
 
 296 Letters of Cortes 
 
 found the bridge free, though I crossed with much trouble, 
 for I had to jump the horse from one side to the other, 
 almost six feet, but, as I and he were armoured, they did 
 us no serious hurt beyond slight body wounds. Thus 
 victory was theirs that night, for they had captured the 
 said four bridges. 
 
 Leaving a guard over the other four, I went to the 
 fort, and had a wooden bridge constructed which forty 
 men could carry, and, seeing our great danger, and the 
 great damage we daily received from the Indians, and 
 fearing also that they might destroy that causeway as 
 they had the others, when we would all inevitably perish, 
 and because many of my company entreated me many 
 times to depart, and because all, or nearly all, were 
 wounded so badly that they could no longer fight, I 
 determined to leave that same night. I collected in 
 a room all the gold and jewels belonging to Your 
 Majesty that could be carried, and I delivered it in 
 parcels to the officials of Your Highness, whom I 
 designated in your royal name, beseeching and re- 
 quiring the alcaldes, and municipal authorities, and all 
 the people who were there, to help me take it away. I 
 gave one of my mares for this purpose, on which they 
 loaded as much as she could carry ; and I designated certain 
 Spaniards, not only from my servants, but also of the 
 others, to accompany the said gold and mare, and the 
 rest of the officials, alcaldes, municipal officers, and 
 myself, gave and distributed the remainder to the 
 Spaniards to carry away. 
 
 Having abandoned the fort, and much treasure, be- 
 longing not only to Your Highness, but also to the 
 The Spaniards and myself, I set forth as secretly 
 
 Sorrowful as possible, taking with me a son and two 
 ^'Sht daughters of Montezuma, Cacamazin, the 
 
 lord of Aculuacan, and another of his brothers, whom 
 I had put in his place, and some other chiefs of
 
 Second Letter 297 
 
 of the provinces and cities whom I held as prisoners. 
 When we reached the bridges which the Indians had 
 removed we laid down the bridge which I carried with little 
 trouble at the first crossing, for there was none to offer 
 resistance save certain watchmen w^ho shouted so loudly, 
 that, before we came to the second, an infinite multitude 
 of the enemy had risen against us, battling on every side 
 both on water and land. I crossed rapidly with five 
 horsemen and five hundred foot-soldiers, with whom 
 I passed all the other broken bridges swimming until 
 I reached the mainland. Leaving those people there, I 
 returned to the others and found that they were fighting 
 stoutly; but the injury our people received was beyond 
 calculation, not only the Spaniards, but also the Tas- 
 caltecas who were with us, being nearly all killed. 
 Though the Spaniards killed many natives, many of the 
 Spaniards and horses were killed, likewise, and all the 
 gold, and jewels, and many other things which we carried, 
 and all the artillery, were lost. 
 
 When the survivors were collected, I pushed them on 
 ahead, while I, with three or four horsemen and about 
 twenty foot-soldiers who ventured to remain with me, took 
 the rear-guard, fighting the Indians until we arrived at 
 a city, called Tacuba, at the end of that causeway. God 
 only knows how much trouble and danger I endured, 
 because every time I faced about against our adversaries, 
 I came back full of arrows, and darts, and stones, for as 
 there was water on both sides, they could assail us with 
 impunity and fearlessly. When we attacked those on 
 land they would leap into the water, thus receiving very 
 little hurt, except that some who in the skirmish 
 interfered with each other and fell, were killed. With 
 great trouble and fatigue, I conducted my remaining 
 people to the city of Tacuba without being killed myself, 
 nor having any Spaniard or Indian wounded, except one 
 horseman who had gone with me to the rear. Those who
 
 298 Letters of Cortes 
 
 went in the vanguard did not have less fighting than those 
 on the flanks, although the strongest force was the one 
 at our backs where the people of the city pursued us. 
 
 When I reached the city of Tacuba, I found all the 
 people in a panic in the square, not knowing where to 
 go, so I made great haste to get them out into the country, 
 before more of the inhabitants should gather in the said 
 city and capture the roofs, from which they could do us 
 great injury. The vanguard said they did not know the 
 way, so I sent them to the rear, and took the lead myself 
 until we had got clear of the city, where I awaited them 
 at some farms. When the rear-guard came up, I learned 
 that they had sustained some injury, and that some of 
 the Spaniards and Indians had been killed, and that 
 much gold had been lost and left on the road, where the 
 Indians gathered it up. I held the Indians in check there 
 until all the people had passed on, so that the foot-soldiers 
 might take the hill, on which there stood a strong tower 
 and buildings. These they captured without sustaining 
 any injury, for I did not leave my place, nor allow the 
 enemy to advance, until they had secured the hill. God 
 only knows the trouble and fatigue we sustained, for no 
 horse of the twenty-four was left which could still run, 
 nor any horseman who could raise his arms, nor a sound 
 foot-soldier who could move. When we reached the 
 buildings, we fortified ourselves in them, and the enemy 
 surrounded us and besieged us until night, not leaving us 
 an hour's rest. We found that over one hundred and 
 fifty Spaniards were killed in this fight, forty-five mares 
 and horses, and more than two thousand of the Indians 
 who had aided the Spaniards; amongst the latter, they 
 killed the son and daughters of Montezuma, and all the 
 other chiefs whom we carried prisoners. 
 
 At midnight, beHeving we were not observed, we left 
 the said lodgings very silently, leaving many fires burning 
 in it, not knowing any road, nor where we were going,
 
 Second Letter 299 
 
 except that an Indian of Tascaltecal told us he would 
 guide us to his country if they did not stop us on the 
 way. There were some watchmen very near who heard 
 us, and alarmed many towns round about, from which 
 numbers of people gathered and pursued us until day- 
 break. At that time five horsemen who rode ahead as 
 scouts met some bands of people along the road, and 
 killed some of them ; these were routed under the belief that 
 more horsemen and foot-soldiers were coming up. When 
 I saw that our enemies were gathering from all sides, I got 
 into order our people who were still fit for service, making 
 squadrons, and placing them in the vanguard, rear-guard, 
 and on the flanks, with the wounded in the centre, and 
 I likewise distributed the horsemen. Thus we continued 
 all that day, fighting on all sides, so that during the whole 
 night and day we did not advance more than three leagues. 
 When night came on Our Lord was pleased to show us 
 a tower and good lodging place on a hill, where we again 
 fortified ourselves, and during that night they left us 
 in peace, although at dawn we had some disturbance 
 from a false alarm caused by our own fears of the 
 multitude which kept coming in pursuit of us. 
 
 The next morning, one hour after daybreak, I departed 
 in the order already mentioned, taking my vanguard 
 and rear-guard in good order; and on all sides we were 
 followed by the enemy, yelling, and raising the whole 
 country, which is thickly populated. The horsemen, al- 
 though we were few attacked them, but did little harm 
 amongst them, because, the ground being rough, they 
 would retreat to the hills. In this manner, we marched 
 that day along some lakes, ^ till we reached a populous 
 town, where we thought to have some skirmish with the 
 townspeople. When we arrived there, they abandoned it, 
 and went to some other towns thereabouts in the neigh- 
 bourhood. I rested there that day and the next, not only 
 
 > The lakes of Zumpango, Xaltocan, and San Cristobal.
 
 300 Letters of Cortes 
 
 because both the wounded and the sound ones of my 
 people were very weary and exhausted with hunger and 
 thirst, and the horses likewise were well tired out, but 
 also because we found there some maize which we ate and 
 carried away with us on the road, boiled and roasted. 
 We left the next day, always pursued by our adver- 
 saries, who attacked us on the vanguard and rear-guard 
 with many yells. We continued our march, guided by 
 the Indian of Tascaltecal, during which we suffered much 
 trouble and fatigue, for many times we lost our way. 
 When it was already late, w^e reached a plain, w^here there 
 were some small houses in w^hich we lodged that night, 
 suffering great want of food. 
 
 Early next morning w^e began our march, and, before 
 we reached the road, our enemies still followed our rear- 
 guard. Constantly skirmishing with them, we arrived 
 at a large town, two leagues distant, where there were 
 some Indians stationed on the top of a small hill to the 
 right. Believing that we might capture them, as they 
 were near the road, and also discover if there were just 
 behind the hill, any more than those who were visible, 
 I started round the said hill with five horsemen and twelve 
 foot-soldiers, and behind it there was a great city^ of 
 many people with whom we engaged fiercely. On account 
 of the rocky country, and the great number of their people, 
 and our small numbers, we had to retire to the town 
 where our people were, I came out of this, very badly 
 
 1 Otumba. Prescott observes that even Bernal Diaz, who was some- 
 what sceptical on other occasions, admits the apparition of St. James 
 mounted on a white charger at Otumba. Voltaire comments as follows : 
 " Ceux qui ont fait des revelations de ces étranges evenemens les ont voulu 
 relever par des miracles qui ne servent en effet qu'a les rabaisser. Le vrai 
 miracle fui la conduite de Cortez." Possibly, but it is by the faith which 
 we were promised should move mountains that such heroic deeds are 
 accomplished, and the material apparition required to satisfy a Voltaire 
 would be but a poor thing compared to the reality of the Spanish con- 
 queror's faith in the presence and guidance of his patron saints. As 
 well doubt the Pucelle's belief in her "Voices. "
 
 Second Letter 301 
 
 wounded in the head by two sling stones, and after bind- 
 ing up the wounds I made the Spaniards leave the town, 
 because it did not seem to me a safe camp for us ; and we 
 marched thus with great numbers of Indians pursuing 
 us, fighting so stoutly that they wounded four or five 
 Spaniards and as many horses. They killed us a horse, 
 also, and God only knows how great was its value to us, 
 and what pain we suffered at its death, because, after 
 God, our only security was the horses; but we consoled 
 ourselves with its meat, and ate it without leaving even 
 the skin, so great was our want; for, since leaving the 
 capital, we had nothing to eat but roasted and boiled 
 corn, and not always enough of that, and, in addition, 
 some herbs which we gathered in the country. 
 
 Seeing that the enemy increased every day, and grew 
 stronger, and that we were becoming weaker, that 
 night I ordered the wounded and sick, whom The Battle 
 we carried behind us on our ihorses, to pro- of Otumba 
 vide themselves with crutches and other contriv- 
 ances for supporting themselves, so that the horses 
 and sound Spaniards would be free to fight. From 
 what happened to us the next day, it seemed that 
 the Holy Ghost had inspired me with this thought, 
 for, after we had left this camp in the morning, and 
 marched about a league and a half, so great a multitude 
 of Indians came out to encounter me, that all about us 
 we could not see the ground, so completely was it covered 
 by them. They attacked us on all sides so violently that 
 we could not distinguish each other, for being so pressed 
 and entangled with them. Certainly we believed that 
 to be our last day, so great was the force of the Indians 
 and so feeble the resistance they encountered in us; for 
 we were already exhausted, and almost all of us wounded 
 and fainting from hunger. But Our Lord was pleased 
 to show His great power and mercy to us, for, with all 
 our weakness, we broke their great pride and haughtiness.
 
 302 Letters of Cortes 
 
 in that many of their prominent and important persons 
 perished, for they were so many that they hindered one 
 another, and were unable either to fight or to fly. We 
 spent a great part of the day in this struggle, until it 
 pleased God that one of those persons, who must have 
 been an important chief, fell, for with his death all the 
 battle ceased. After this, we continued our way more 
 easily, although some of them still harassed us until we 
 reached a small house in the plain, where we lodged that 
 night and on the open ground. From there we first 
 descried certain mountains of the province of Tascaltecal, 
 at which not a little joy filled our hearts, because we 
 recognised the country, and knew our way, although we 
 were not quite positive of finding the natives faithful and 
 friendly; for we feared that, seeing us so reduced, they 
 might wish to put an end to our lives, in order to recover 
 the liberty which they had formerly enjoyed. This 
 thought and suspicion cast us into an affliction which 
 equalled that which we felt whilst fighting with the 
 Culuans. 
 
 The next morning at daybreak, we began to march 
 by a very level road which led directly to the said province 
 of Tascaltecal upon which only a few of our adversaries 
 followed, although very near were many large towns; 
 from some hills in our rear, though, from a distance, they 
 still continued yelling at us. On this day, which was 
 Sunday, July 8th, we left all the country of Culua, and 
 entered the province of Tascaltecal, at a village of some 
 three or four thousand households, called Gualipan, ^ 
 where the natives received us very well, and somewhat 
 relieved our great hunger and weariness, although for 
 much of the provision which they gave us they asked 
 payment, and would only accept gold. This we were 
 obliged in our great necessity to give. 
 
 We remained three days in this town, and Magiscatzin, 
 
 ' Hueyothlipan.
 
 Second Letter 303 
 
 and Sicutengal, and all the chiefs of the said province 
 and some of those of Quasucingo, came to see and speak 
 to me, showing much grief for what had happened to us, 
 and endeavouring to console me, reminding me that they 
 had often told me that the Culuans were'traitors against 
 whom I should be on my guard, but that I would not 
 believe it. Inasmuch as I had escaped alive, they said 
 I ought to rejoice, for they would aid me until death to 
 obtain satisfaction for the injury the Culuans had done 
 me. They added that they felt obliged to do this as 
 vassals of Your Highness, besides which they also suffered 
 because of the many sons and brothers who had perished 
 in my company, and on account of other injuries which 
 in past times they had received, so I might be sure they 
 would be my true and steadfast friends until death. As 
 I now came wounded and almost all of my company 
 exliausted, they wanted us to go into the city, four 
 leagues from this town, where we might rest, and they 
 would care for us and restore us. I was very grateful to 
 them, and accepted their invitation, and gave them some 
 few things from the valuables which had escaped, at which 
 they were well contented; and I went with them to the 
 said city, where I likewise had a good reception. Magis- 
 catzin brought me a bedstead of finely finished wood, with 
 some bed-clothing, such as they used, for me to sleep in, 
 for we brought none; and he helped everybody with all 
 that he had and could. 
 
 When I quit this city for Temixtitan, I had left here 
 certain sick persons and some of my servants with silver 
 and wearing apparel belonging to me, and certain other 
 household things and provisions, in order to march 
 forward unencumbered lest anything should happen 
 to us, and all the documents and agreements which I had 
 made with the natives of these parts should be lost. All 
 the clothing of the Spaniards who came with me had 
 likewise been left, as they only took away what they wore,
 
 304 Letters of Cortes 
 
 and their bedding. I learned that another servant of 
 mine had come from Vera Cruz, bringing provisions and 
 things for me. He had been accompanied by horse- 
 men and forty-five foot-soldiers, and had likewise taken 
 with him the others whom I had left there. He carried 
 all the silver and clothing, my own as well as that of my 
 companions, with seven thousand dollars of melted gold, 
 which I had left there in two chests, without counting 
 other valuables, and other fourteen thousand dollars of 
 gold in pieces, which had been given, in the province of 
 Tuchitepeque, to that captain whom I had sent to build 
 the town of Quacucalco. He carried also many other 
 things which were worth more than thirty thousand 
 dollars of gold. This I learned, and also that the Indians 
 of Culua had killed them all on the road, and taken their 
 treasure. I likewise learned that they had killed, on the 
 roads, many other Spaniards who were coming to the 
 city of Temixtitan, believing that I was there at peace, 
 and that the roads were as secure as I had before held 
 them. I assure Your Majesty that all of us were plunged 
 into such sadness by this news that it could hardly have 
 been worse, because the loss of these Spaniards and the 
 treasure recalled the deaths and losses of the Spaniards 
 who had been killed in the city, at the bridges, and on 
 the road; and especially as it roused much suspicion in 
 me that, in like manner, the people of Vera Cruz might 
 have been attacked, and that those whom we considered 
 our friends might have rebelled, upon hearing of our defeat. 
 To learn the truth, I immediately dispatched messengers 
 accompanied by Indians to guide them, whom I ordered 
 to avoid the high road until they arrived at Vera Cruz, and 
 to let me know promptly what had happened there. It 
 pleased Our Lord that they should find the Spaniards very 
 well, and the natives perfectly faithful. It was a great 
 relief to learn this after our losses and griefs, though it was 
 very bad news for them to hear of our disaster and rout.
 
 Second Letter 305 
 
 I remained twenty days in this province of Tascaltecal, 
 healing my wounds which with the poor care on the 
 road had become much worse, especially the Events in 
 wound on my head; and I also had all the Tiascaia 
 wounded of my company cared for. Some of them 
 died, not only from their wounds, but also on ac- 
 count of our past troubles; others remained maimed 
 in their arms, and others lame in their legs, for their 
 wounds were very bad, and for curing them there was 
 very little means. I myself lost two fingers of my left 
 hand. 
 
 Seeing that many of ours were dead, and that those 
 who survived were wounded, and disheartened by the 
 dangers and troubles through which they had passed, and 
 fearing others still ahead, my men entreated me many 
 times to go to Vera Cruz; for there we could fortify our- 
 selves before those natives, whom we still considered our 
 friends, seeing our rout and diminished numbers, could 
 join with our enemies, and, taking the passes over which 
 we had to cross, attack us on the one side, and our people 
 at Vera Cruz on the other. Being there together, and 
 having ships we would be stronger and better able to 
 defend ourselves, in case they should attack before we 
 summoned aid from the Islands. I, however, remembered 
 that Fortune is always on the side of the daring, and that 
 we were Christians, confiding in the very great mercy 
 of God, who would never permit us to perish ; and I con- 
 sidered that to show so little courage before the natives, 
 especially our friends, might cause them to abandon us 
 the sooner, and turn against us ; that this great and noble 
 country, at peace and on the point of being secured 
 under Your Majesty, would be lost. The war must be 
 continued, to bring about the pacification of this country 
 as it was before, and I determined on no account to go 
 to the sea-port, but rather, disregarding all difficulty and 
 danger which might offer, I said that I would not abandon
 
 o 
 
 06 Letters of Cortes 
 
 y 
 
 this country; for besides its being disgraceful to me and 
 very dangerous to all, we would act treasonably towards 
 Your Majesty, and I was determined to return against 
 the enemy from all possible points, and to take the 
 offensive against them in every way I could. 
 
 After stopping twenty days in this province, although 
 I was not yet well of my wounds, and those of my com- 
 Expedition P^ny were still somewhat weak, I left for 
 to another, called Tepeaca, which belonged to 
 
 Tepeaca ^j^g league and confederation of Culua, our 
 enemy. I had been informed that the inhabitants 
 there had killed ten or twelve Spaniards who were 
 on their way by the road which passes there, from 
 Vera Cruz to the capital. The said province of Tepeaca 
 borders with those of Tascaltecal and Churultecal, 
 for it is very large. As we were entering that province, 
 many natives came out to attack us, defending the road, as 
 best they could, by fortifying themselves in strong 
 and dangerous positions. To avoid prolixity, I do not 
 give an account of all the particulars of this war ; I will 
 only say that, after the requirements had been made on 
 the part of Your Majesty, that they should make peace, 
 and they had refused to submit, we fought with them 
 several times; and, with the help of God, and the royal 
 good fortune of Your Highness, we always scattered 
 them, and küled many, without their killing one of us 
 in the whole course of the said war, or wounding one 
 solitary Spaniard. Although, as I have said, this prov- 
 ince is very large, I pacified many cities and provinces 
 subject to it in about twenty days, and the lords and 
 chiefs of it came and offered themselves as vassals to 
 Your Majesty. Moreover I expelled miany Culuans, 
 who had come to this province to help the natives in 
 making war upon us, and to hinder them by fair means 
 or foul from becoming our friends. Thus I had to busy 
 myself up till now in this matter which is not yet alto-
 
 Second Letter 307 
 
 gether finished, for there are still some cities and towns 
 to be pacified, which by the help of Our Lord w411 shortly 
 be, like these others, subject to the royal dominion of 
 Your Majesty. 
 
 In a certain part of this province, where they killed 
 those ten Spaniards, the natives were always very active 
 in the war, and very rebellious, and had to be reduced 
 by force of arms. I made a number slaves, of whom I 
 gave a fifth part to the officials of Your Majesty. I did 
 this especially as, in addition to their having killed the 
 said Spaniards, and rebelled against the service of Your 
 Highness, they eat human flesh, a fact so notorious that 
 I do not send proofs of it to Your Majesty. I was also 
 moved to make the said slaves in order to strike terror 
 into the Culuans, and also because there are many who 
 will never mend themselves until great and severe punish- 
 ment is inflicted upon them. We entered upon this war 
 with the aid of the natives of Tascaltecal, and Churultecal, 
 and Quasucingo, by which our friendship has been well 
 confirmed; and we are convinced that they will always 
 serve Your Highness as loyal vassals. 
 
 While conducting this war in the province of Tepeaca, 
 I received letters from Vera Cruz, telling me that two ships 
 had arrived in that port, belonging to Francisco de Garay 
 who it appears had again sent more people to that great 
 river which I described to Your Highness, and that the na- 
 tives there had fought with them, killing seventeen or eigh- 
 teen Christians, and wounding many others. They had 
 likewise killed seven horses, and the remaining Spaniards 
 who returned to the ships had escaped by their good legs. 
 The captains and all of them had arrived very much 
 shattered and wounded, and my lieutenant had received 
 them very kindly and taken care of them. That they 
 might convalesce the better, he had sent some of the 
 said Spaniards to the country of a friendly chief near 
 there, where they were well attended to and provided
 
 o 
 
 08 Letters of Cortes 
 
 for. All this grieved su as much as our own past troubles, 
 but perchance this rout would not have happened to 
 them if they had united with me at first, as I have al- 
 ready recounted to Your Highness; for I was then well 
 informed about everything in these parts, and they would 
 have had such advice from me that what had happened 
 could not have occurred, especially as the lord of that 
 river and country, called Panuco, had given himself as a 
 vassal to Your Majesty. In recognition of his allegiance 
 he had sent me certain gifts by his messenger to the city 
 of Temixtitan, as I have already stated. I have written 
 to Vera Cruz, that if the captain of Francisco de Garay de- 
 sires to leave, to lend him assistance, and help him to 
 dispatch his ships. 
 
 After having pacified and subjugated to the royal ser- 
 vice of Your Highness all of this province which has been 
 p^^^^ J pacified. Your Majesty's officials and I con- 
 Segura ferred many times respecting the measures 
 de la to be taken for its security. Seeing that 
 
 rontera ^■^^ natives had first given themselves as vassals 
 of Your Highness, and then rebelled and killed the 
 Spaniards, and that they were on the road and pass 
 where the traffic of all the sea-ports had to pass towards 
 the interior, we considered that, if it were left to itself 
 as before, the natives of this country, and also of Culua 
 who were very near, would again try to seduce them 
 into rebellion, from which would follow much harm and 
 impediment to the pacification of these parts, and to 
 the service of Your Highness; and the said traffic would 
 cease, especially as on the road to the coast there are two 
 very steep and rough passes, which confine with the said 
 province, where the natives could defend themselves 
 with little difficulty. For this, as well as for other reasons 
 and weighty causes, it seemed to us that, to prevent the 
 aforesaid evüs, a town should be founded in the best part 
 of the said province of Tepeaca, where the necessary con-
 
 Second Letter 309 
 
 ditions could be found for the colonists. And for the pur- 
 pose of carrying this out, I, in the name of Your Majesty, 
 gave the said town the name of Segura de la Frontera, ^ 
 and I named alcaldes and municipal and other officers 
 as is customary; and, for the better security of the house- 
 holders of this town, materials are being brought to build 
 a fort on the place I designated ; as materials hereabouts 
 are of good quality, all possible haste shall be employed. 
 While writing this account, messengers came to me 
 from the chief of the city, called Guacachula, 2 about five 
 leagues from this province, and situated at the entrance of 
 a pass leading to the province of Mexico. They told me, 
 on behalf of the said chief, that several days before they 
 had intended to come to me to tender the obedience they 
 owed to Your Majesty, as your vassals, and I must not 
 consider them culpable, believing their failure to do so 
 was voluntary. They told me that some captains of 
 Culua were lodged in their city, and that in it and about 
 a league distant were thirty thousand men in garrison, 
 guarding that pass, to prevent our crossing it, and also 
 to prevent the nativ^es of their city and other neighbouring 
 provinces from serving Your Majesty, and becoming 
 our friends; and they said they would have come to offer 
 themselves to Your Royal service, had those men not 
 prevented them. They let me know this that I might 
 remedy it, because, besides the obstruction it was to those 
 who were well disposed, the people of the city and neigh- 
 bourhood suffered much injury, as they were taxed and 
 ill-treated by the many armed warriors who took their 
 women and chattels. If I would help them, they said 
 they would obey any orders I gave them. 
 
 'The city was founded early in September, 1520, on the hillside, 
 in a position both strategically and commercially advantageous; 
 fortifications were built and strict laws against gambling, blaspheming, 
 etc., were enacted. The present town is called Tcpeaca, and stands on 
 the plain. 
 
 2 Huaquechula: another republic: also spelled Guaquechula.
 
 3IO Letters of Cortes 
 
 After thanking them for their information and offer, I 
 immediately gave them thirteen horsemen, two hundred 
 foot-soldiers, and some thirty thousand Indian allies, 
 to] accompany them. ^ It was agreed that they should 
 lead them by roads where they would not be seen, and, 
 when they approached near the city, its chiefs, and 
 inhabitants, and other vassals and confederates, should 
 be notified, and should surround the quarters where the 
 captains were, to capture and kill them before their men 
 could help them, so that, when the latter did appear, 
 the Spaniards would already be in the city waiting to 
 fight and rout them. They and the Spaniards marched 
 by the city of Churultecal and through some parts of the 
 province of Quasucingo, which borders on the territory 
 of Guacachula within four leagues of it; and, in a town 
 of the said province of Quasucingo, it is said that they 
 told the Spaniards that the natives of that province were 
 leagued with the Guacachulans and Culuans to entice the 
 Spaniards with this project to the said city, where they 
 could kill them. As the fright, with which the Culuans 
 in their city and country had inspired them, had not yet 
 altogether abated, this information alarmed the Span- 
 iards ; and the captain whom I had sent with them made 
 an investigation, and took prisoner all those chiefs of 
 Quasucingo who were with them, and the messengers from 
 the city of Guacachula, and returned with them to the 
 city of Churultecal, four leagues from there. Thence, 
 together with the proofs he had obtained, he sent to me 
 all the prisoners, attended by horsemen and foot-soldiers. 
 The captain also wrote me that our people were frightened 
 because the enterprise seemed very difficult. On the 
 arrival of the prisoners I spoke to them by my interpreter, 
 and, having used all diligence to learn the truth, it ap- 
 peared that the captain had misjudged them so I im- 
 
 > Diego de Ordaz and Alonso de Avila were in charge of this 
 expedition which took the road by Cholula.
 
 Second Letter 311 
 
 mediately set them free and satisfied them, protesting 
 that T believed them loyal vassals of Your Sacred Ma- 
 jesty, and that I would go myself to destroy the Culuans. 
 To avoid showing any timidity or hesitancy to the na- 
 tives, both friends and enemies, it seemed that I ought not 
 to abandon the proposed expedition. To reUeve the fears 
 of some of the Spaniards, I determined to suspend other 
 business, and the dispatch for Your Majesty which I was 
 writing, and thus I set out that same hour with all possi- 
 ble haste, arriving the same day at the city of Churultecal 
 (which is eight leagues from this city) where I found 
 the Spaniards, who still aííirmed their conviction of the 
 treachery. 
 
 The next day, I slept in the town of Quasucingo, 
 where the chiefs had been arrested. Having agreed 
 with the messengers of Guacachula as to where Capture of 
 and how we should enter their city, I started Guacachula 
 the next day, one hour before daybreak, arriving 
 near it about ten o'clock in the morning. About 
 half a league distant from it, certain messengers of 
 the city met me on the road to tell me that every- 
 thing was well planned and ready, and that the Culuans 
 knew nothing of our coming, because the natives of the 
 said city had captured certain of their spies, who were 
 on the road, and also some others whom the Culuan 
 captains had stationed on the walls and towers of the 
 city to overlook the country. All our adversaries were 
 thus off their guard, believing they were protected by 
 their watchmen and spies; hence I might advance un- 
 discovered. I therefore made haste to reach the city 
 unseen, for we were marching over a plain where we might 
 easily be observed. 
 
 It appeared that as soon as the townspeople perceived 
 us, and saw how near we were, they immediately sur- 
 rounded the quarters of the captains, and began to 
 attack the others scattered throughout the city. When
 
 312 Letters of Cortes 
 
 I arrived within a bow shot of the city, as many as forty 
 prisoners were brought to me, and I made the more 
 haste to enter. There was a great uproar in all the 
 streets of the city. Fighting with the adversaries, and 
 guided by the inhabitants, I reached the captains' 
 quarters which I found suiTounded by more than three 
 thousand men striving to enter the gate. They had 
 taken possession of the upper stories and terraces, but 
 the captains fought so well and so steadily that they could 
 not force an entrance; although the Culuans were few, 
 they fought like valiant men, and besides the building 
 was strong. When I arrived, we entered with so many 
 natives that it was impossible to prevent the defenders 
 being killed forthwith; for I wished to take some alive, 
 in order to get information about matters in the capital, 
 and to learn who was sovereign after the death of Mon- 
 tezuma, and about other things. I could only rescue 
 one more dead than alive, w^ho informed me as I shall 
 relate hereafter. They killed many who were quartered 
 in the city, and the survivors, learning of my coming, 
 began to fly towards the garrison, but many of them 
 were likewise killed in the pursuit. This tumult was 
 so quickly heard and understood by the men of the 
 garrison, who were on a certain elevation, commanding 
 the city and the surrounding plain, that those who were 
 escaping from the city encountered the others who were 
 coming to its relief to see what had happened. The latter 
 were altogether more than thirty thousand men, and the 
 most brilliant troops we had yet seen, for they wore many 
 ornaments of gold, and silver, and feathers, and, as the 
 city was large, they began to set fire to it in the quarter 
 where they entered. This became quickly known to the 
 inhabitants, and I sallied forth with only horsemen, 
 for the foot-soldiers were already very tired. We broke 
 through the enemy, who retreated to a position which we 
 took from them, following them up and overtaking many
 
 Second Letter 313 
 
 of them on a very rough slope, so that when we gained 
 the top neither the enemy nor ourselves were able to 
 advance or retreat. Many fell dead, without a wound, 
 stifled by the heat, and two horses were exhausted, one 
 of which died. We did much damage, for many of our 
 Indian allies came up, and, as they arrived fresh and the 
 adversaries were almost dead, they killed many, so that 
 in a very short time the field was cleared of the living, and 
 covered with the dead. We reached the barracks and huts 
 which they had recently made in the field, and which 
 were in three divisions each of which appeared like a 
 good-sized village. In addition to their warriors, they 
 had a great display of servants, and provisions, and camp 
 supplies, there having been, as I learned afterwards, 
 some notable persons in it. All was despoiled and burned 
 by our Indian friends, who, I assure Your Majesty, had 
 gathered to the number of one hundred thousand men. 
 Having by this victory expelled all the enemy from the 
 country, and driven them beyond some bridges and 
 narrow passes, we returned to the city, where we were 
 well received, and quartered by the inhabitants; and 
 we rested in that city three days, being in great need of 
 repose. 
 
 At this time, the natives of a large city, called Ocupa- 
 tuyo (which is on the top of these sieiTas, two leagues 
 from the enemy's camp, and also at the foot of the 
 mountain chain, where I said the smoke comes out) , came 
 to offer themselves to the service of Your Majesty. They 
 said that their chief had gone away with the Culuans 
 when we pursued them, believing that we would not stop 
 before reaching his city, but that they had desired my 
 friendship for many days, wishing to come and offer 
 themselves as vassals of Your Majesty, although their 
 chief would not allow it nor consent to it, in spite of their 
 having entreated his permission. They said that now 
 they wished to serve Your Highness, and that the brother
 
 314 Letters of Cortes 
 
 of the said chief, who had shared their opinion and in- 
 tentions was hkewise still of the same mind. They 
 prayed me that I would approve his succession to the 
 lordship, and that although the other might return, I 
 would not consent to his being received as their chief; 
 if so neither would they receive him. I told them that, 
 as they had been of the league and confederation of 
 Culua, and had rebelled against the service of Your 
 Majesty, they deserved severe punishment, and that I 
 had thought to execute it upon their persons and prop- 
 erty ; but, inasmuch as they had come, saying their chief 
 was the cause of their rebellion and uprising, I, in the 
 name of Your Majesty, pardoned their past error, and 
 received and admitted them to Your Royal service. I 
 warned them that if they committed a similar error again 
 they would be punished and chastised, but if they proved 
 loyal vassals of Your Royal Highness, I would favour 
 and help them in Your Royal name; and they promised 
 to do this. 
 
 This city of Guacachula is situated in a plain, bounded 
 on one side by very high and rugged hills, and on the 
 Fortifica- other by two rivers about tw^o bow shots 
 tíonsof apart, each of w^hich flows through very deep 
 Guacachula ^^d large ravines. There are, consequently, 
 very few entrances to the city, and those which 
 exist are so rough to ascend and descend, that it can 
 hardly be accomplished on horseback. The entire 
 city is surrounded by a very strong w^all of stone and 
 mortar, the outside being about twenty feet high, while 
 from the inside it is about on the same level with the 
 ground. There is a battlement along the wall three feet 
 high, to protect them in fighting, and they have four 
 entrances, broad enough for a man to enter on horseback. 
 At each of these entrances, there are three or four curves 
 in the wall, doubling one over the other, and above these 
 turnings there is also a battlement on the walls, from
 
 Second Letter 315 
 
 which they can fight. They keep a great quantity of all 
 sorts of large and small stones all along this wall which 
 they use in fighting. This city may have some five or 
 six thousand households, and in the surrounding hamlets 
 subject to them as many others or more. It is very ex- 
 tensive, and within the city are many gardens of fruits 
 and aromatic herbs, as is their custom. 
 
 After resting three days in this said city, we went to 
 another, called Izzucan, four leagues distant from Gua- 
 cachula, because I was informed that there were many 
 Culuans in garrison there also, and that the people of 
 the said city, and of other towns and places dependent 
 on them, were, and showed themselves to be, very partial 
 to the Culuans because their chief was a blood relation 
 of Montezuma. So many of the natives, vassals of Your 
 Majesty, accompanied me that they almost covered the 
 country and the mountains as far as we could see, and in 
 truth there were more than one hundred and twenty 
 thousand men ; and we arrived at the said town of Izzunca 
 at ten o'clock, finding it deserted by women and young 
 people, but there were about five or six thousand well- 
 armed warriors in it. When the Spaniards appeared 
 before it, they attempted some defence of their city, but 
 they shortly abandoned it, because from the side to which 
 we were guided for entering we found a practical entrance. 
 We pursued them through the city, forcing them to jump 
 over the crenellated top of the wall into a river which 
 suiTounds it on the other side, whose bridges being 
 destroyed we were somewhat delayed in crossing it; and 
 we followed in pursuit of them about a league and a half, 
 in which distance I believe few escaped. Returning to 
 the city, I sent two of its natives who had been taken 
 prisoner to speak to the principal persons of the city, 
 for the chief of it had also gone with the Culuans of the 
 garrison, so as to induce them to return to their city; 
 and I promised them in the name of Your Majesty that,
 
 o 
 
 1 6 Letters of Cortes 
 
 being loyal vassals of Your Highness from henceforth, 
 they would be well treated by me, and their rebellion 
 and past error forgiven. These natives left, and three 
 days later some of the principal persons came and asked 
 pardon for their error, saying that they could not have 
 acted otherwise, because they had done what their chief 
 commanded them, but that they promised from hence- 
 forth, inasmuch as their chief had gone and left them, 
 to serve Your Majesty well and loyally. I reassured 
 them, telling them to return to their homes, and to bring 
 back their wives and children who were in other places 
 and towns of their aUies ; and I told them likewise to tell 
 the inhabitants of those towns to come to me and I would 
 pardon them the past, for they would not like that I should 
 be obliged to come to them, as then they would sustain 
 much damage, which would greatly grieve me. Thus it 
 was done, and within two days that city of Izzucan was 
 again populated; and its dependencies came to offer 
 themselves as vassals of Your Highness, and all that 
 province remained very secure, and, with those of 
 Guacachula, our friends and allies. 
 
 A certain difference arose as to whom the province 
 of this city of Izzucan belonged in the absence of the 
 Disputed chief who had gone to Mexico. The former 
 Succession rightful chief of this province had been put 
 at Izzucan ^q death by Montezuma, who, in his place 
 put the present ruler, whom he had married to 
 one of his own nieces; and a dispute had arisen 
 as to the right of succession between a bastard son 
 of the murdered chief and the son of his legitimate 
 daughter, who had mamed the chief of Guacachula. It 
 was agreed amongst them, that the lordship should 
 be inherited by .that son of the chief of Guacachula who 
 descended by the legitimate line from the old chief, 
 for, although the other was a son, he could not inherit
 
 Second Letter 317 
 
 my presence they gave obedience to that boy, who was 
 about ten years old; and, not being of an age to govern 
 them, they decided that the bastard uncle should act with 
 three other chiefs, one of Guacachula, and two of Izzucan, 
 who should be governors of the country and should have 
 control of the boy until he should be of an age to rule. 
 
 This city of Izzucan may have some three or four 
 thousand households, and its streets and markets are 
 well laid out. It has one hundred mosques and strong 
 oratories with their towers, all of which we burnt. It 
 stands on a plain at the foot of a medium-sized hill, 
 where they have a very good fort, and, on the other 
 side towards the plain, it is surrounded by a deep river 
 which flows near the wall, which is thus surrounded by the 
 deep ravine of the river. Over the ravine they have 
 made a battlement, about six feet in height, which 
 extends all round the city, and all along the wall they 
 had placed many stones. The valley is circular, and 
 very fertile in fruits and cotton, which latter is not 
 produced on the heights because of the cold, and it 
 belongs to tierra caliente because it is well protected by 
 the mountain ranges. The whole valley is irrigated by 
 well constructed aqueducts. 
 
 I remained in this city until I could leave it well peopled 
 and pacified. There likewise came to it, to offer them- 
 sevles as vassals of Your Majesty the chief of the city 
 called Guajocingo, and the lord of another city, ten leagues 
 distant from that of Izzucan, on the frontier of Mexico. 
 There came also people from eight of the towns of the 
 province of Coastoaca. ^ This is one of those mentioned 
 in previous chapters, where the Spaniards, whom I had 
 sent to seek gold in the provinces of Zuzula^ and Tama- 
 zula^ (for they joined each other) had said that there 
 because he was a bastard. Thus it was settled, and in 
 
 > Oaxaca. » ZozoUa. » TatnazoUan.
 
 3i8 Letters of Cortes 
 
 were very great towns and houses, well built of the best 
 masonry, such as we had not seen in any of these parts. 
 This province of Coastoaca is forty leagues from that 
 of Izzucan. The natives of the said eight towns offered 
 themselves as vassals of Your Highness, and said that 
 four others in the same province would come very soon. 
 They asked me to excuse them if they had not dared to 
 do so before for fear of the Culuans, but said that they 
 never had taken up arms against me, nor had they par- 
 ticipated in the killing of any Spaniards, and that always 
 since offering themselves to the service of Your Highness 
 they had been good and loyal subjects in their hearts, 
 but had not dared to manifest it out of fear of the Culuans. 
 Thus Your Highness may be very sure that, Our Lord 
 favouring Your Royal good fortune, we shall within a 
 short time regain what was lost, or the greater part of it ; 
 because every day many provinces and cities, who before 
 were subject to Montezuma, come to ofier themselves 
 as vassals of Your Majesty; for they see that those who 
 do so are well received and treated by me, and that those 
 who do otherwise are destroyed one after another. 
 
 From prisoners taken in the city of Guacachula, es- 
 pecially from that wounded man, I learned very fully 
 Montezu- ^-bout the affairs of the capital of Temixtitan, 
 ma's and how, after the death of Montezuma, 
 
 Successor g^ brother of his, lord of the city of Izta- 
 palapa, called Cuetravacin, ^ had succeeded to the 
 lordship, because the son of Montezuma, who should 
 
 » After the death of Montezuma, Cuitlahuaczin of Iztapalapan, 
 who had been in chief command of the rising against the Spaniards, 
 assumed the chieftainship and three months later (Aztec calendar) 
 he was appointed emperor. He married Montezuma's daughter, the 
 Princess Tecuichpo. His coronation was celebrated with the cus- 
 tomary solemnities, the prisoners taken on the Sorrowful Night, both 
 Spaniards and Tlascalans, serving as victims for the sacrifices. The 
 newly elected sovereign had to cope with a situation bristling with 
 difficulties — dissensions within, insubordination in the tributary prov- 
 inces, the enemy without, and finally and most terrible of all, the
 
 Second Letter 319 
 
 have inherited the sovereignty was killed at the bridges 
 and of his two other living sons one is said to be 
 mad, and the other palsied. They said that for these 
 reasons and because he had made war against us, the 
 brother had inherited, and was regarded as a very valiant 
 and prudent man. I likewise learned how they were 
 fortifying, not only the city, but other places in the do- 
 minion, and how they were preparing walls, barricades, 
 trenches, and all kinds of arms; and I learned especially 
 that they were making long lances, like pikes, for the 
 horses, and we have even seen some of these with which 
 they were fighting in the province of Tepeaca, and in the 
 hamlets and buildings where the Culuans were quartered 
 at Guacachula, we likewise found many of them. I 
 learned many other things which I omit in order not to 
 weary Your Highness. 
 
 small-pox, which raged throughout the country. To this dread pest, 
 called by the Aztecs, Teozahuatl — Cuitlahuac fell a victim, and after a 
 brief reign of eighty days, died on Nov. 25, 1520. During this period 
 he had exerted every effort to unite all the forces of Mexico against 
 the common enemy, sending embassies to friends and foes alike, urging 
 that old differences be buried for the moment, and that all should make 
 common cause to expel or destroy the strangers. He found a supporter 
 in Xicotencatl, who, like himself had never believed in the semi-divine 
 character of the teules, or gods as the Spaniards were commonly 
 termed, but had from the first distrusted them, and counselled their 
 destruction. Maxixcatzin withstood Xicotencatl in the Tlascalan 
 Senate when the embassy from Mexico appeared proposing an 
 alliance; in the acrimonious dispute which ensued, the old Senator 
 struck the young General, and knocked him down the steps of the 
 rostrum. Maxixcatzin prevailed over the divided opinions, and the 
 ambassadors withdrew hurriedly to report their failure to their sove- 
 reign. Cortes was informed of these negotiations, and visited Maxix- 
 catzin to thank him for holding the Republic to the Spanish Alliance. 
 As will be seen in a note to the Third Letter, Xicotencatl's sentiments 
 towards the Spaniards never changed. His foresight was keener than 
 that of his countrymen, and he discerned that the white men were 
 far more formidable enemies than the Mexicans, but the lust for 
 present revenge prevailed over considerations of future independence. 
 Xicotencatl was unsupported, and, in the end, he paid with his life the 
 price of his invincible aversion.
 
 320 Letters of Cortes 
 
 I sent four ships to the island of Hispaniola, that they 
 might return quickly with horses and people for our 
 assistance ; and I likewise sent to buy four others, so that 
 they might bring from the island of Hispaniola, and the 
 city of San Domingo, horses and horsemen, bows, and 
 powder, because this is what we most need in these parts. 
 Foot soldiers armed with shields are of little service, 
 on account of the great number of people, and their 
 having so great and such strong cities and forts. I there- 
 fore wrote to the licentiate Rodrigo de Figueroa, and to 
 Your Highness's officials in the said island, asking them 
 to favour and assist me as much as possible, as it was of 
 such importance to Your Highness's services, and the 
 security of our lives, since, on the arrival of this help, 
 I intended to return against the capital and its country; 
 and I believe, as I have already told Your Majesty, 
 that it will again in a short time return to the condition 
 in which I had it before, and that the past losses will 
 be made good. Meanwhile, I am engaged in building 
 twelve brigantines to launch on the lake, and already 
 they are making the decking and other parts of them, 
 because they have to be carried overland, so that on their 
 arrival they may be joined and completed in a short 
 time. Nails are also being made for them, and the 
 pitch, sails, tow, oars, and other things, which are neces- 
 sary are being got ready. I assure Your Majesty that, 
 until I achieve this end, I shall take no rest, nor shall I 
 cease to strive in every possible way and manner for it, 
 disregarding all the danger, and trouble, and cost, which 
 may come upon me. 
 
 Two or three days ago, I learnt by a letter from my 
 lieutenant at Vera Cruz, that a small caravel had ar- 
 rived in that port with about thirty seamen and landsmen, 
 who said they were seeking the people whom Francisco 
 de Garay had sent to this country. Of these latter I 
 have written to Your Majesty that they arrived in such
 
 Second Letter 321 
 
 want of provisions that, if they had not found succour 
 there, they would have died from hunger and thirst. I 
 learned from them how they had reached the river 
 Panuco, remaining anchored there thirty days without 
 seeing any people along all the river or in the country, 
 from which it is believed that that country has been 
 deserted on account of what had happened there. The 
 people of the said caravel likewise said that two or three 
 other ships of the said Francisco de Garay would follow 
 immediately behind them with people and horses, and 
 that they believed they had already passed down the 
 coast. It seemed to me, then, that it was not in com- 
 pliance with Your Highness's service that these ships 
 and people should be lost through going in ignorance of 
 the affairs of the country, as the natives might do them 
 more harm than they had the first ones. The said 
 caravel should be sent to seek those two ships, in order 
 to notify them of what had happened, and to bring them 
 to the port of the said city, where the captain sent by 
 Francisco de Garay was waiting for them. And God 
 grant that he finds them in time before they go ashore, 
 because, as the natives were already on the look-out, 
 and the Spaniards were ignorant, I fear they may sustain 
 much harm, and that it would not serve God Our Lord 
 and Your Highness, for it would enrage those dogs [the 
 Indians] all the more, and inspire them with more courage 
 and daring against those who might come hereafter. 
 
 I said in one of the preceding chapters, that I had 
 learned that, after the death of Montezuma, his brother, 
 called Cuetravacin, who had been raised as Montezu- 
 lord, was preparing many kinds of arms, and ma's 
 
 fortifying himself in the capital, and in other Successor 
 cities near the lake. And a short time since, I 
 have likewise learned that the said Cuetravacin has 
 sent his messengers to all the countries, provinces, 
 cities, subject to the said sovereignty, to promise 
 
 VOL. I 21
 
 322 Letters of Cortes 
 
 his vassals that he has graciously remitted during one 
 year all tributes and taxes which they are obhged to 
 pay him, on condition that they would use every means 
 to make a very cruel war on all Christians, either killing 
 them or expelling them from the country; and that they 
 were to do in like manner to all natives who were our 
 friends or allies. Although I have trust in Our Lord that 
 they will not be able to carry out their intention, I am 
 in extreme need of help and aid, because the Indians, 
 our friends, come daily from many cities, towns, and 
 hamlets, to ask for help against their enemies and ours, 
 the Culuans, who make war on them because they hold to 
 our friendship and alliance, and I am not able to help 
 everywhere as I would wish. But, as I say, may it please 
 Our Lord to augment our few forces, and to send, not 
 only His own help, but also that which I have sent to 
 ask from Hispaniola. 
 
 From what I have seen and understood concerning the 
 similarity between this country and Spain, in its fertility, 
 its size, its climate, and in many other features of it, it 
 seemed to me the most suitable name for this country 
 would be New Spain of the Ocean Sea, and thus in the 
 name of Your Majesty I have christened it. I humbly 
 supplicate Your Highness to approve of this and order that 
 it be so called. 
 
 I have written to Your Majesty, although badly ex- 
 pressed, the truth of all that has happened in these parts 
 and whatever it was most necessary Your Highness 
 should know, and, by my other letter which goes with 
 this present, I send to suppHcate Your Royal Excellency 
 to send a trustworthy person to make an enquiry and 
 investigation of everything, for the purpose of informing 
 Your Sacred Majesty of all. In this dispatch I also 
 again very himibly suppHcate the same, for I shall con- 
 sider it a very particular favour, as giving entire credit 
 to what I write.
 
 Second Letter 323 
 
 Very High and Most Excellent Prince, may God, Our 
 Lord, preserve the life and the very royal person and the 
 very powerful state of Your Sacred Majesty, and augment 
 it for long time with increase of many greater kingdoms 
 and dominions, according as your royal heart may desire. 
 From the town of Segura de la Frontera, of this New 
 Spain, on the 30th October, 1520. Your Sacred Ma- 
 jesty's very humble servant and vassal, who kisses the 
 very royal feet and hands of Your Highness. 
 
 Fernán Cortes. 
 
 NoTE.^ — After this, the news arrived on the first of the 
 month of March past from the said New Spain, of how 
 the Spaniards had taken by force the great city of Temix- 
 titan, in which more Indians had perished than did Jews 
 in the destruction of Jerusalem when it was taken by 
 Vespasian, and in it there was likewise a greater number 
 of people than in the said Holy City. They found little 
 treasure because the natives had thrown and submerged 
 it in the waters; they took only two hundred thousand 
 dollars, and the Spaniards remained well fortified in the 
 said city, which at present has about fifteen hundred 
 foot soldiers, and five hundred horsemen, and they ha\^e 
 more than one hundred thousand friendly natives in their 
 camp. These are great and strange things, and it is 
 without doubt another world, and the sole desire to see 
 it causes envy to us who are outside its borders. The 
 news which we hold to be worthy of belief is up to 
 the beginning of April, 1522. This present letter of re- 
 lation was printed in the very noble and very loyal city 
 of Seville by Jacob Crombergcr, a German, on the 8th of 
 November, 1522. 
 
 > This postscriptum was obviously not written by Cortes, but by 
 some one who read his letter; it was added before the receipt of his 
 third letter, and was printed with the first edition in 1522.
 
 APPENDICES 
 
 325
 
 APPENDIX I. 
 MARINA 
 
 With these few casual words, Cortes refers to the existence 
 of one of the chief characters in the splendid drama of the conquest 
 — his Indian mistress Marina, without whose aid the success of the 
 Spaniards is hardly thinkable. He mentions her once again in his 
 Fifth Letter, but she appears in his narrative only under the vague 
 figure of "the interpreter whom I had with me." 
 
 There are almost as many different accounts of Marina's birth 
 and childhood as there were writers to compose them, but all agree 
 that she was of noble lineage, which Herrera says was evident from her 
 superior bearing and manners. 
 
 Señor Garcia Icazbalceta in Note 37 to the second of the Diálogos 
 de Cervantes, gives us a critical study of Marina. The conclusions of 
 this learned writer admit the version given by Bemal Diaz, in spite 
 of the fact that this contradicts those of his contemporaries, Las 
 Casas and Gomara, the latter of whom must have had his information 
 from his patron Cortes, himself. Clavigero adopted Bemal Diaz as his 
 authority, as did also Solis. Prescott noticed the differences among the 
 early writers, but refrained from pronouncing in favour of any one of 
 them. All these authorities, however, were anterior to Garcia Icazbal- 
 ceta. It would be impossible for any student of history to-day to 
 neglect his valuable work in Mexican archives, or to ignore his con- 
 clusions, which may be safely followed and especially in this instance, 
 in which they are sustained on the narrative of Bemal Diaz. Orozco y 
 Berra has also eliminated some of the conflicting statements concerning 
 Marina by an ingenious dissertation on the habitual confusion of 
 the spelling of Mexican names by the Spaniards, and particularly by 
 those writers who, never having been in Mexico, were passably ignorant 
 of Indian nomenclature and Mexican geography, and took their infor- 
 mation second-hand, often from illiterate or inaccurate persons. 
 
 Marina was the daughter of the lord of Painalla, in the province of 
 Coatzocoalco. Her mother married a second time, and, upon the 
 birth of a son, she agreed with her husband to dispose of her daughter, 
 in order that the son might inherit their property. This plan was 
 effected by giving the young girl to some Indians of Xicalango, and 
 publishing her death, the body of a slave's child being substituted to 
 deceive the people. The Xicalango Indians sold the girl to others in 
 
 327
 
 328 Letters of Cortes 
 
 Tabasco, and thus she came to be among the twenty slaves presented 
 to Cortes by the cacique of that province. Marina, in the distribution 
 of these women, fell to the share of Puertocarrero. When Jerónimo 
 de Aguilar joined Cortes, it was found that he could speak to Marina 
 in Maya, which closely resembled the language of Tabasco, and, as her 
 mother tongue was the Mexican, it came about that, in treating with 
 envoys from the interior and during the march through Tlascala and 
 Cholula to the capital, Cortes spoke in Spanish to Aguilar who spoke in 
 Maya to IMarina who spoke with the Mexicans in their own tongue. 
 
 Her family name was Tenepal, and her Indian name was Malinal, 
 derived from Malinalli, which is the sign of the twelfth day of the 
 Mexican month; thus her Christian name in baptism, which was 
 Marina, was really derived from, or suggested by, her Indian name, and 
 as the Indians could not pronounce the letter r there was practically 
 no change of name, save that in her new and important position they 
 gave her the tzin, which was a title of respect, and henceforth she was 
 called Malintzin. The Spaniards corrupted this into Malinche. Cortes 
 came to be universally known as Captain Malintzin or simply Malin- 
 tzin, and to thousands of Indians, he had no other name than that of 
 this slave girl (Orozco y Berra, vol. iv., cap. v.). 
 
 Doña Marina, as the Spaniards called her, was quick at learning 
 Spanish, which her intimate relations with Cortes facilitated, or, as 
 Prescott poetically puts it, "because it was the language of love." 
 Perhaps it was on her side, but there is little evidence to show that it 
 was on his. Marina was cherished because she was useful, not because 
 she was beloved, and the circumstances forced her into intimate rela- 
 tions with Cortes, which were also favoured by her beauty and her 
 superior wit. Aussi bien celle-ci qu'une autre was doubtless his view 
 of the sentimental side of his relations with her. 
 
 After Puertocarrero's departure with the despatches and treasure, 
 Marina reverted definitely to Cortes. Once the expedition had left 
 the coast provinces, she became more and more indispensable, as 
 Aguilar spoke no Mexican and the Maya language was not intelligible 
 to the Mexicans. As soon as she had sufficiently mastered Castilian 
 to be able to dispense with Aguilar as an intermediary between herself 
 and Cortes, her position became a dominant one and she held the fate 
 of the Spaniards in her hand. But most of all was she supreme over 
 her own people and dispensed peace or war at her pleasure; for she 
 alone could shape the results of the negotiations and treaties between 
 Cortes and the caciques. Thus, an unforeseen turn in Fortune's 
 wheel raised this princess from the degradation of slavery into which 
 an unnatural mother had delivered her, and landed her in the Span- 
 iards' camp, where she became the mistress of a nation's destinies. 
 She showed herself so able, that Bernal Diaz affirms that they all held 
 her to be like no other woman on earth, and that they had never 
 detected the smallest feminine weakness in her; she alone of all the 
 women was saved from the tragedy of the Sorrowful Night, and she 
 
 J
 
 Appendix I. Second Letter 329 
 
 saved herself. There is no way of knowing how faithfully and disin- 
 terestedly she played her part of interpreter ; certainly she gave herself 
 absolutely to Cortes, and her devotion to the Spaniards never faltered, 
 but who shall say that she also did justice in her presentation of the 
 Indians' claims and interests in the negotiations she directed ? Author- 
 ities differ as to the number of children bom to Cortes and Doña 
 Marina; the eldest son, Don Martin, afterwards became a Knight of 
 Santiago, and the existence of at least one daughter seems to be suffi- 
 ciently certain. In October, 1524, Marina was married to Juan 
 Xaramillo, described as an hildalgo. Bemal Diaz says that the bride- 
 groom was ignorant of Marina's past, which makes one wonder where 
 he came from, and Gomara's explanation that he was drunk at the 
 time sounds more plausible. On the expedition to Yucatan there was 
 a dramatic encounter between Doña Marina and her perfidious mother 
 and the younger half-brother in whose interest she had been sacrificed. 
 The recognition seems to have been instantaneous and mutual; the 
 mother, fearing vengeance, threw herself at her daughter's feet, begging 
 forgiveness, which was accorded, with the philosophic assurance that 
 when she had so treated her child, she did not know what she was 
 doing (as indeed it appeared), and that she thanked God for the boon 
 of the Christian religion and the happiness of having given her master 
 a son and the joy of possessing an excellent husband in Juan Xara- 
 millo. Doña Marina's Christian morality betrayed it's recent adop- 
 tion and weak growth at this point. She loaded her relatives with 
 gifts and sent them home rejoicing. Bemal Diaz was reminded by 
 this incident of the meeting between Joseph and his brethren in Egypt. 
 Xaramillo became an alcalde in Mexico, and in 1528 a grant of land 
 was given to him and his wife near Chapultepec. Prescott describes 
 Marina as returning to her native place, where an estate was given her, 
 but Icazbalceta says she ended her days in Mexico, rich and respected; 
 Orozco y Berra concedes that she was rich, but doubts that she was 
 respected. A curious painting represents Cortes with Marina standing 
 beside him at the execution of a Cholulan servant of Andres de Tapia, 
 who was condemned to be torn to pieces by fierce dogs; she piously 
 holds a rosary in her hand as she watches the brutal spectacle, 
 which took place in 1537. Doña Marina still lived therefore in 1537, 
 but the date of her death is not recorded (Oviedo, Hist. Gen. y Nat. 
 lib. xxxiii., cap. i.; Las Casas, Hist, de las Indians, lib. iii., cap. cxxi. ; 
 Clavigero, tom. iii., |p. 12; Bemal Diaz, cap. xxxvii., Garcia Icaz- 
 balceta, Diálogos de Cervantes; Orozco y Berra, vol. iv., cap. v.).
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 MEXICO-TENOCHTITLAN 
 
 The migratory period of the Aztecs in the valley of Anáhuac came to 
 its close with the foundation of Mexico-Tenochtitlan in 1325. The 
 name Mexico signifies habitation of the god of war, Mexitli — otherwise 
 known as Huitzilopochtli. The name Tenochtitlan signifies a cactus 
 on a rock and was given to the new city because the choice of the site 
 was decided by the augurs beholding, perched upon a cactus plant 
 which grew on a rock, an eagle with a serpent in its talons. The em- 
 blem of the cactus and the eagle holding a serpent became the national 
 standard of Mexico, and is displayed in the coat of arms of the present 
 Republic. 
 
 The two islands of Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco stood in the salt 
 waters of the lake of Texcoco, separated from one another by a narrow 
 channel of water, and in the beginning, Tlatelolco had its separate chief; 
 but in the reign of Axayacatl, the last king of Tlatelolco, called Moqui- 
 huiz, was overthrown, and the islands afterwards became united by 
 bridges and formed one city, with a single ruler. The city was joined 
 to the main land by three great causeways, so solidly built of earth 
 and stone, and having draw-bridges to span the canals which crossed 
 them, as to excite the admiration of the Spaniards. The northern 
 causeway, from the Tlatelolco quarter, extended for three miles to 
 Tepejaca, where stands the present shrine of Guadaloupe ; the causeway 
 reaching to Tlacopan (Tacuba) was two miles long, and the southern 
 road, by which the Spaniards entered, extended for seven miles to Itz- 
 tapalapan, with a division at the small fortress of Xoloc, where one 
 branch diverged to Coyohuacan and hence caused Cortes to mention 
 four causeways, which strictly speaking was correct. Robertson er- 
 roneously speaks of a causeway leading to Texcoco. While the width 
 of these splendid roads varied, Clavigero says that all were wide enough 
 for ten horsemen to ride abreast (vol. iii., lib. ix.). To the minute 
 description of the city given in the letter of Cortes, it seems unneces- 
 sary to add anything; he says nothing, however, about the number of 
 inhabitants, which all the earlier authorities practically agree in 
 numbering at 60,000 households — by an obvious error the Anony- 
 mous Conqueror speaks of 60,000 people, which should, of course, be 
 families. Zuazo, Gomara, Motolinia, Peter Martyr, Clavigero, and 
 others, give this estimate, hence it may be safely stated, that the 
 
 330
 
 Appendix 11. Second Letter 331 
 
 city's population was not less than 300,000 souls; though Orozco y 
 Berra, while admitting these figures, observes that considering the 
 actual area and the large spaces occupied by palaces and public build- 
 ings, the people must have been a good deal crowded. 
 
 Very contradictory appreciations of the beauty of the Aztec capital, 
 the grandeur of its buildings, and the merit of its architecture, have 
 been given by different writers. Prescott's marvellous picture of the 
 ancient city is familiar to all students of Mexican history, and hardly 
 less well known and rivalling the American historian's delightful 
 pages, are the chapters of Sir Arthur Helps, praised by Ruskin for 
 their "beautiful quiet English," in which he compares Mexico to 
 Thebes, Nineveh, and Babylon, among the great cities of antiquity, and 
 to Constantinople, Venice, and Granada, among those of modem times, 
 not hesitating to declare that it was "at that time the fairest in the 
 world and has never since been equalled " (Hernán. Cortes, p. 108). 
 The distinguished Mexican scholar Señor Alaman {Disertaciones, torn, 
 i., p. 184) expresses his conviction that the city of Mexico contained 
 no buildings of beauty or merit ; that, aside from the royal palaces, the 
 rest of the houses were adobe huts, amongst which rose the squat, 
 truncated pyramids of the temples, unlovely to behold, decorated 
 with rude sculptures of serpents and other horrible figures, and having 
 heaps of human skulls piled in their court yards. He sustains this 
 dreary appreciation by the argument that there would otherwise 
 have remained some fragments of former architectural magnificence, 
 whereas there is absolutely nothing. These eminent writers seem un- 
 willing to allow that Tenochtitlan may have been a wonderfully beauti- 
 ful city and at the same time have possessed few imposing buildings and 
 no remarkable architecture. The descriptions of Mr. Prescott and Sir 
 Arthur Helps are masterpieces of word-painting which charm us, but 
 they are based upon early descriptions in which impeachable importance 
 is given to architectural features of the city. It is, as Señor Alaman 
 remarks, incredible that not a fragment of column or capital, statue or 
 architrave should have been saved to attest the existence of great archi- 
 tectural monuments, even though 150,000 men were diligently engaged 
 for two months in destroying the buildings, filling up canals with the 
 debris and that finally, when the city came to be rebuilt, many idols 
 and other larger fragments of temples were used in the foundations of 
 the cathedral, which rose on the site of the great teocalli. Palaces, such 
 as Montezuma's is described by the Spaniards, may be vast in extent, 
 with beautiful courts, fountains, gardens, and audience halls, they 
 may be luxurious and filled with curious and beautiful objects, but 
 they add little to the picturesque or imposing appearance of a capital ; 
 the temples were sufficiently numerous, but none save the great temple 
 seem to have been lofty, and even the principal teocalli had but 114 
 steps, so that its heighth was only remarkable by comparison with 
 the great stretch of low flat-roofed houses about it. Cortes describes 
 the destruction of the city, day by day, which he sincerely deplored as
 
 S3^ Letters of Cortes 
 
 necessary to subdue it, but he does not mention any one building 
 which he sought to save, as he must infaUibly have done, had he been 
 burning an Alhambra or a Doge's Palace or been forced to blow up a 
 Santa Sophia. It seems impossible that any one should seriously pre- 
 tend that the waters of Texcoco's lake mirrored such fafades as are 
 reflected in the canals of Venice, or that there was a Rialto among 
 the bridges, so hotly contested by the Spaniards. Orozco y Berra 
 wisely reproves the comparison which Alaman draws between Mexico 
 and Rome as notoriously misplaced. But, between the dazzling word 
 pictures of Prescott and Helps on the one hand, and on the other 
 Alaman's depressing sketch of a squalid town of hovels, inhabited by 
 bloodthirsty cannibals, there is still room for a beautiful city in which 
 dwelt a sovereign, amidst surroundings of interesting splendour. 
 
 Even without conscious intention to mislead, it was inevitable that 
 the Spaniards should fall into exaggeration in describing the city of 
 Mexico ; first, because they necessarily used the same terms to portray 
 what they saw as they would have used in describing Rome, Paris, 
 or Constantinople; second, because the contrast between such Indian 
 towns as they had seen and the capital was undoubtedly very great, 
 and their long years of rough life, perilous voyages, and the absence at 
 times even of shelter from the elements, made any large town with 
 some system of order, with houses having court-yards, gardens and 
 embroidered hangings, seem worthy to be compared with great cities 
 elsewhere seen and dimly remembered ; and lastly because Mexico was 
 unquestionably a very beautiful city. It could hardly have been 
 otherwise in such a situation, and the Spaniards, not stopping to 
 analyse wherein its charms lay, fell into the easy error of attributing 
 them to architectural excellence and grandeur, which were really 
 wanting. 
 
 Solis adopts the conquerors' style, without having their excuse 
 and, were he writing of the Courts of Leo X., or Louis XIV., he could 
 hardly use other language than he does in describing Montezuma 
 and his household. 
 
 The very ignorance and naivete of the conquerors are good warrants 
 for the truth of much that they wrote, for as they were illiterate men 
 (even Cortes had but a scanty store of learning, gathered during his 
 brief course of two careless years at Salamanca) without sufficient 
 knowledge to invent descriptions of the Mexican laws, customs, religion, 
 and institutions, the facts which they state, and in which they agree, 
 are indubitable. The Aztec Empire possessed some highly developed 
 institutions; to mention but one, there was the system of couriers or 
 the post, which kept up daily and rapid communication between the 
 capital and the provinces, and that at a time when no country in 
 Europe possessed anything equalling it. 
 
 Their religion was established with a regular hierarchy, and a calen- 
 dar of festivals, which were observed with a really admirable ritual, 
 marred only by the barbarity of certain rites ; their deities were gloomy
 
 Appendix II. Second Letter 333 
 
 and ferocious, fear was the motive of worship, human sacrifice the 
 only means of placating the gods, and thus religion, which should 
 soften and humanise manners and elevate character, was engulfed in a 
 dreadful superstition, which held the nation in a state of permanent 
 degradation, with the result that the most civilised amongst the 
 Indians of North America were at the same time the most bar- 
 barous. The perfect ordering of this system impressed the Spaniards, 
 while its awful rites horrified them. 
 
 Their state was well ordered, and, in many respects, governed ac- 
 cording to wise and enlightened standards, and that their civilisation 
 was of no mean order is proven by the following factors in it : 
 
 I. The rights of private property were recognised and respected ; its 
 
 transfer was effected by sale or inheritance. 
 
 II. All free men were land owners, either by absolute possession or by 
 
 usufruct derived from holding some public office in the state, 
 and these composed the nobility : others held land in commun- 
 ity, parcels being allotted to a given number of families, 
 whose members worked them in common and shared their 
 produce equitably. 
 
 III. Taxes were levied according to an established system and were 
 
 paid in kind, thus filling the government store-houses with 
 vast accumulations of all the products of the Empire. 
 
 IV. Justice was administered by regularly appointed judges, who 
 
 interpreted the laws and exercised jurisdiction in different 
 districts. 
 
 V. Markets were held as Cortes describes. 
 
 VI. The streets were regularly cleaned, lighted by fires at night, 
 
 and patrolled by police ; public sanitary arrangements were 
 provided, and the city was probably more spacious, cleaner, 
 and healthier than any European towns of that time. 
 
 VII. Public charity provided hospitals for the sick and aged. 
 
 VIII. Separate arts and trades flourished, and the metal-workers, 
 
 lapidaries, weavers, etc., learned their trades by a regular 
 system of instruction and apprenticeship pretty much as 
 in the guilds of Europe. 
 
 IX. The great public-works, such as the causeways, aqueducts, 
 
 canals with locks, and bridges, were admirably constructed, 
 and, in the neighbourhood of the capital at least, were 
 numerous. 
 
 X. There was a fair knowledge of the medicinal and curative pro- 
 
 perties of herbs, barks, roots, and plants, though, if the 
 medicine men were skilled in the use of poisons, it seems 
 strange that they did not rid themselves of the hungry invad- 
 ers at some of the feasts which were constantly offered them. 
 
 XI. In the arts, the lapidaries, feather-workers, and silversmiths 
 
 produced the best work. Mexican paintings, judged as works 
 of art, are crude and primitive enough, but their real value
 
 334 Letter of Cortes. 
 
 and interest lie in the fact that they are chronicles in pic- 
 ture writing, of which, unfortunately, too few have been pre- 
 served; ideas were rarely and imperfectly represented by this 
 method, which was only serviceable for recording material 
 facts. Music was the least developed of all the arts. 
 
 XII. Their solar system was more correct than that of the Greeks 
 
 and Romans. The year was divided into eighteen months, 
 of twenty days each, with five complementary days added, 
 which were holidays, but were considered unlucky, especially 
 as birthdays. For full information on the Mexican calendar, 
 solar system, and astronomical science, the student is re- 
 ferred to Orozco y Berra. Hist. Antigua, lib. iv., where these 
 subjects are lucidly explained. 
 
 XIII. There we were regularly graduated social classes, the lowest 
 
 being composed of peasant-serfs called Mayeques who were 
 
 bound to the land ; above them came ascending grades until 
 
 we reach the Emperor at the top of all. 
 
 Three features characteristic of the feudal system everywhere 
 are found: A. An overlord or Emperor, supreme in the cen- 
 tral government, whose standard all followed in war and whose 
 authority and person were regarded as semi-divine. B. Prac- 
 tically independent nobles or chiefs of tribes, levying their own 
 taxes holding peoples and cities in subjection, transmitting 
 their titles by right of inheritance and ready to contend with 
 the Emperor himself on questions of etiquette, and precedence. 
 Many of these were his kinsmen and all were allied amongst 
 themselves, thus forming an aristocracy of rank and power. 
 C. A people reduced to practical serfage. 
 
 Sumptuary laws prescribed the dress of the different orders, 
 and the regulations governing court dress for different occasions 
 were rigidly enforced ; all removed their sandals in the emperor's 
 presence, and even the greatest nobles covered their ornaments 
 with a plain mantle when they appeared before him. The Aztec 
 language was extremely polite and contained not only titles, 
 but many ceremonious phrases of respect and expressions of 
 courtesy and deference. 
 
 The crown descended in the same family, but a council of six 
 electors, chosen during the lifetime of the sovereign, met im- 
 mediately after his death and elected a successor from among 
 the eligible princes of the royal family. 
 Alongside these indications of an advanced civilisation are found 
 several others which show a nation still in its infancy : 
 
 I. They did not know the use of wax or oil for lighting purpose. 
 
 II. They used no milk. 
 
 III. They had no coinage : cacao nuts were commonly used as a stand- 
 
 ard of value and also gold dust put up in quills, but usually
 
 Appendix 11. Second Letter 335 
 
 commodities were exchanged. Sahagun mentions a sort of 
 coin which the Mexicans called quahtli or eagle, but he 
 does not describe it. Montezuma paid his losses at play 
 with the Spaniards in chips of gold, each of the value of fifty 
 ducats ; this piece was called tejuelo, but it does not cer- 
 tainly appear to have been a coin. 
 
 IV. There was no system of phonetic writing. 
 
 V. They kept no domestic animals save rabbits, chickens, and little 
 
 dogs, all of which they ate ; and they had no beasts of burden. 
 
 VI. Their only cereal was maize. 
 
 VII. They knew neither iron, nor tin, nor lead, though the moun- 
 
 tains were full of them, and their only hard metal was copper. 
 
 Even from the summary and incomplete indications here given, it is 
 seen that the Aztec state possessed many excellent institutions and 
 elements of an advanced civilisation, and, despite the co-existence of 
 certain limitations which have led some to doubt the development 
 claimed for them, our interest in the origin and history of the myste- 
 rious races of Anáhuac is stimulated to wonder and admiration for what 
 we do know of their empire, and to boundless regret for the disap- 
 pearance of all, save the few vestiges which remain to excite a curiosity 
 they are inadequate to appease. 
 
 It is not required to endow Mexico with "the glory that was 
 Greece or the grandeur that was Rome" in order to admit that it was 
 beautiful.
 
 APPENDIX III. 
 ORIGINS OF MEXICAN CIVILISATION 
 
 The different tribes or nations of Anáhuac came, according to their 
 several traditions, from the north-west, in a series of migrations, 
 but of their original starting point they preserved no clear record. 
 M. de Guigne presents proofs to show that the Chinese visited Mexico 
 as early as 458 a.d.; Horn (^de originibus Americanis, 1699), Scherer 
 (Recherches Hist.), Humboldt (Essai Polit.) and other authorities, 
 without a dissentient voice, assign an Asiatic origin to the Toltecs and 
 other Mexican peoples. That Mexico received settlers from other 
 parts of the world seems also certain. Aristotle {De Admirandis in 
 natura) relates that Carthaginian sailors passed the Pillars of Hercules, 
 and, after sailing sixty days to the west, reached a beautiful and fertile 
 country, and that so many began to go thither that the Senate of 
 Carthage passed a law suppressing such emigration, to prevent the 
 depopulation of the city. The theory of the submerged Atlantis, 
 and the arguments on which it rests, are too well known to require 
 explanation. 
 
 The efforts to graft Mexican civilisation on to an Asiatic or African 
 stock have not been entirely successful, for, while there undoubtedly 
 exist points of striking similarity, these seem to be counterbalanced by 
 still more important divergencies. The paucity of positive data or even 
 coherent traditions has left a wide field open to speculation, of which 
 many learned and ingenious seekers have availed themselves to the 
 fullest extent, but without achieving results commensurate with their 
 labours. Without attempting a thorough search into the racial origin 
 of the tribes which Cortes found in the valley of Mexico, it may be 
 briefly stated that the best evidence before us points to Yucatan as 
 the centre of the highest American civilisation, from whence a know- 
 ledge of law, arts, and manufactures, and the influence of an organised 
 religious system, spread northwards. The splendid ruins of Yucatan and 
 Central America attest the existence of a race of people, which, what- 
 ever its origin, was isolated from European and Asiatic influence alike 
 since an epoch which it is impossible to fix, but which was certainly 
 very remote. This race — the Maya — possessed a civilisation, sui 
 generis, and entirely unique on the North American continent, the 
 focus of which had already shifted to the high valley of Mexico long 
 before the Spaniards first visited the country in the sixteenth century 
 
 336
 
 Appendix III. Second Letter 337 
 
 leaving the ancient cities of Uxmal, Palenque, Utatlan, and the others 
 in the southern region, in ruins. What devastating influences pro- 
 duced this movement in an entire people is not known, and the length 
 of time occupied by it, is problematical, though it must have extended 
 over centuries, ebbing and flowing intermittently. The conflicting 
 traditions as to the direction from which tribes, law-givers, and priests 
 arrived in Anáhuac are doubtless owing to distinct movements at 
 different times of the southern peoples in their wandering search for 
 a new and permanent abiding place. These early migrations from 
 south to north, were succeeded during the period commonly termed 
 the Middle Ages, by a counter movement, and the descendants of the 
 first Maya emigrants began to return southwards, conquering or ab- 
 sorbing the different peoples they encountered. Although some of the 
 peoples had preserved much of the culture bequeathed them by their 
 forefathers, there was no uniform civilisation existing among them, 
 save in the case of the Toltecs, who seem still to have been in the full 
 enjoyment of their Maya heritage. 
 
 The Toltecs left their country, called Huehuetlalpallan, in the vague 
 north-west, in the year 554 a.d., and, after one hundred and four years 
 of migratory life, they founded the city of Tollantzinco in 648, whence 
 they again moved in 667 to Tula, or ToUan, from which date, their 
 monarchy, which lasted three hundred and eighty-four years, is 
 reckoned (Clavigero, vol. iv.). According to Torquemada, the Chi- 
 chimecas followed within nine years after the extinction of the Toltec 
 sovereignty, but Clavigero's calculation shows the improbability 
 of this, for several reasons, the most convincing of which is the in- 
 credible chronology of their kings. Torquemada says that Xolotl 
 reigned 113 years, his son lived to be 170, and his grandson 104 
 years old, while another king, Tezozomoc reigned 180 years! It is 
 obvious that the Chichimeca period must either be shortened, or the 
 number of kings increased. After the Chichimecas came the six 
 tribes of Tlascala, Xochimilco, Acolhua (Texcoco), Tepanec, Chalco, 
 and Tlahuichco, closely followed by the Colhuans or Mexicans, who hrst 
 arrived at Tula in 1196, and, after several shorter migrations, finally 
 founded Mexico-Tenochtitlan in 1325, as is related in Appendix II. of 
 this letter. The last tribe to come was that of the Otomies in 1420. 
 Boturini believed that the tribes of Xicalango and the Olemchs ante- 
 dated the Toltecs, but says that no records or picture-writings explain- 
 ing their origin were discoverable in his time. From the foundation 
 of Mexico in 1325, the form of government was aristocratic till 1352, 
 when according to Torquemada's interpretation of their picture- 
 writings, the first King Acamapatzin, eighth predecessor of Montezuma 
 II., was elected, and reigned for thirty-seven years. 
 
 The Aztec civilisation, which attained its highest development in Ten- 
 ochtitlan and Texcoco, never reached the level of the Maya culture, nor 
 did its cities contain any such admirable buildings as those whose ruins 
 still delight and mystify the traveller in Yucatan and Central America.
 
 33^ Letters of Cortes 
 
 Outside its few centres of learning and luxury, the numerous tribes 
 under Montezuma's rule were dwellers in caves, living by the chase and 
 in no way sharing in the benefits of the Aztec polity. In morals and 
 manners, the Aztecs were inferior to the Toltecs, and though they 
 adopted and continued the civilisation of their predecessors, they were 
 devoid of their intellectual and artistic qualities, and turned their 
 attention more to war and commerce as the surest means for riveting 
 their supremacy on their neighbours. When Cortes arrived, Texcoco 
 and Tlacopan, though still calling themselves independent, and ruled 
 by sovereigns who held themselves co-equal with Montezuma, were 
 rapidly sinking into a condition of vassalage. The Aztec religion 
 was likewise of a militant order; it was polytheistic and readily 
 admitted the gods of conquered or allied nations into its pantheon. 
 Upon the milder cult of the older religious systems they had adopted^ 
 these devotees of the war-god speedily grafted their own horrible 
 practices of human sacrifices, which augmented in number and ferocity 
 until the temples became veritable charnel houses. With such a bar- 
 barous religious system draining their very life's blood, and a relentless 
 despotism daily encroaching on their liberties, it is small wonder that 
 Cortes was hailed as a liberator by the subject peoples of Mexico. 
 
 In the third chapter of his Historia Antigua, Don Manuel Orozco 
 y Berra examines what he terms the two schools, the religious 
 and the philosophical, whose teachings concerning the origin and 
 early history of the Mexicans are based upon the interpretation of 
 the ancient and authentic Mexican painting, now preserved in the 
 National Museum in Mexico, and which came into the possession of the 
 historian Ixtlilxochitl from his royal ancestors of Texcoco. The religious 
 reading of this unique Chronicle (it is always Orozco y Berra who is my 
 authority) sought to harmonise its chronology, and certain primitive 
 events in the national history, with the biblical story, and all the early 
 writers of this school, Carlos de Siguenza, Gemelli Careri, Clavigero, 
 Veytia, and others, found in it an account of the creation, the flood, 
 the tower of Babel, the dispersion of the nations, and other incidents of 
 the mosaic records. 
 
 The philosophical school, of which Humboldt was the chief, following 
 other lines, arrived, however, at a similar result, and connected the 
 foundation of Mexico with the cessation of the deluge, and thus the 
 problem of the origin of American races and animals was solved. 
 
 Don Fernando Ramirez, some time Curator of the Mexican National 
 Museum, by showing the interpretation of both these schools to be mere 
 illusions, demolished their conclusions, and interpreted the picture 
 as merely representing the wanderings of the Mexicans in the valley 
 itself, covering an area of about nine miles and a period of hardly more 
 than 443 years, calculating from 1325 back to 882, a.d., the earliest 
 chronological sign in the painting; while the water represented, is not 
 the flood of but the neighbouring lake of Chalco. 
 
 The complex question of the relation in which the Maya and Toltec
 
 Appendix III. Second Letter 339 
 
 civilisations stood to one another has not yet found a generally ac- 
 cepted solution. Working in the light which anthropology, ethnology, 
 archaeology, and kindred modem sciences afford, many valuable 
 facts have been recently discovered and the investigations still pro- 
 ceeding, yearly contribute highly specialised knowledge to the sum 
 of what the early Spanish writers amassed but failed to scientifically 
 classify. But with all this, the path through the American historical 
 labyrinth remains a tortuous one: whether the Toltecs preceded the 
 Mayas and brought into Yucatan the high civilisation of which noble 
 remains attest the existence, or whether this civilisation was of Maya 
 origin and afterwards spread towards the north, influencing the Toltecs, 
 are questions on which various opinions are held by modem investi- 
 gators. I incline to accept the latter theory, but while such learned 
 authorities are still at variance, it were presumption for a mere student 
 of early American history to present conclusions. 
 
 In this brief summary of such a large subject, I have sought to 
 furnish the general reader with an intelligible explanation of the 
 origins and history of the civilisation which Cortes beheld when 
 first he visited Mexico.
 
 APPENDIX IV. 
 QUETZALCOATL 
 
 Montezuma here refers to Quetzalcoatl who figures, under different 
 names in different times and places, as a mortal man, as a deified legis- 
 lator, and as a primitive divinity, so that it is difficult to separate the 
 mythical in his history from the real. He was known in Yucatan 
 under the name of Kukulcan, the meaning of which is identical with 
 Questzalli and Cohuatl — a plumed serpent. 
 
 Quetzalcoatl was a Toltec deity, and was venerated as the god of the 
 air, especially identified with the east wind, which brought the fertilising 
 rains. As the teachings and prophecies attributed to him potently influ- 
 enced the attitude of the Mexicans towards the Spaniards, on their 
 arrival in the country, it is necessary to consider both his mythical and 
 historical character. In the native mythology, Quetzalcoatl personified 
 the principle of good in contradistinction to the principle of evil, under 
 the figure of Tezcatlipoca. The story of his residence among the 
 peoples of Anáhuac relates that he arrived at ToUan (Tula) the capital 
 of the Toltecs, as chief of a band of strangers, from unknown parts, 
 and that he was well received by the natives to whom he taught 
 the arts of agriculture, metal working, architecture, and mechanics. 
 He introduced also the new religious virtues of chastity, trust in one 
 God, the love of peace, and the practice of charity and penance. He 
 also brought the Toltec calendar to the state of perfection in which 
 it was found amongst the Aztecs. He wore a white tunic on which 
 were black or red crosses, which sounds something like a pallium. 
 He was large of person, white faced, and wore his black hair and 
 beard long. Exercising the high priesthood, he initiated the golden 
 age of the Toltecs, during which the cotton grew in various colours, 
 red, blue, orange, and purple, maize crops were over-abundant, the 
 canes grew as large round as tree trunks, and pumpkins so big that a 
 man's arms could not encircle one; nobody was ever hungry, animals 
 were all tame, and the birds sang wonderfully. Sahagun catalogues 
 him as the eighth king of the Toltecs. This halcyon period was brought 
 to an end by the machinations of the evil spirit Tezcatlipoca who 
 descended to earth on a spider's web, and, taking the form of a vener- 
 able sage, tempted, Quetzalcoatl beyond his strength, and made 
 him drunk on pulque, during which orgies the god violated his 
 vows of chastity. This fall shook the faith of his people and the 
 
 340
 
 Appendix IV. Second Letter 341 
 
 legend recounts furtlaer, that, in a war brought on by the same 
 evil-spirit, the Toltecs were worsted. A universal famine followed 
 upon the war, only to be succeeded by a terrible pestilence. Signs and 
 portents foretold the destruction of the race, and Quetzalcoatl burned 
 his house, buried his treasures in a secret place, and, despite the 
 opposition of his adherents, left, called as he declared, by his master, 
 to the mystic land of Tlapallan. His progress through the country 
 was attended by prodigies and miracles until he reached Cholula, 
 where he rested for twenty years, teaching the people, and pontificating 
 in their great temple. But the enemy, hearing of this, prepared again 
 to make war on the friends of Quetzalcoatl, who, to prevent this disas- 
 ter, left with four disciples for the sea-coast. Here according to some 
 versions, the waves parted, allowing him to pass, and according to 
 others, he made himself a raft of serpents, and, spreading his mantle 
 for a sail, was wafted away to the unknown east. Another legend 
 describes him as causing his funeral pyre to be erected, from which 
 his heart ascended into the skies, where it figures as the planet 
 Venus. 
 
 The belief in his prophecy, that he or his representatives would one 
 day retiirn to re-establish and render triumphant his religious teach- 
 ings, was wide-spread, and furnishes something of a parallel to the 
 Messianic hope prevalent amongst the Jews, or to the expectation of 
 a second visible coming of Christ on which the early Christians 
 counted. He was to return as an avenger, and hence his coming was 
 dreaded by the Aztecs, who beheved in it so firmly that they carried 
 on a cult to propitiate him, though their religious practices did 
 violence to his humaner teachings. 
 
 The mysterious disappearance of the Toltecs from Anáhuac may 
 have been caused by the war, famine, and pestilence, of this legend, and 
 the remnant of the people may have made an exodus with their priestly 
 leader, leaving their city to the victors, and thus might be explained 
 the sudden disappearance of that people. While the material benefits 
 which Quetzalcoatl brought to the Toltecs and Cholulans were readily 
 enough assimilated, it is probable that his religious teachings were not 
 widely diffused or properly understood by the mass of the people, and 
 after his departure they rapidly became mixed with ancient supersti- 
 tions. Christian doctrines became denaturalised and blended with 
 pagan traditions, thus losing their significance and efficacy. The 
 original, national cult of the Toltecs reasserted itself with the addition 
 of some beliefs and ritual forms. The passage through Mexico of a few 
 Christians under the leadership of one possessing the superior character 
 and intelligence attributed to Quetzalcoatl would suffice to introduce 
 new moral and religious ideas, and produce great changes in the 
 beliefs of the more cultivated people; for the indubitable unity of all 
 mankind is essentially a unity of spirit, which draws together widely 
 diversified races, whose physical features are dissimilar, and whose 
 customs are alien to one another.
 
 342 Letters of Cortes 
 
 Religion springs from an inherent aspiration, common to human 
 nature everywhere, towards a knowledge of, and union with, what is 
 divine and eternal. The development of this instinct carries humanity 
 through the same phases according to laws governing religious evolu- 
 tion, which are universal. Asia, Africa, and ancient Europe, have 
 produced religious systems, each with its myths, rites of sacrifice, 
 practices of penance, vigils, ceremonial observances, and consecrated 
 priests, and the conclusion seems obvious that within human nature 
 itself are found the springs from which these various independent 
 systems — identical in their intention but so different in their moral 
 value — originate. Man is potential to respond to the demands of his 
 own being, whether in the physical and material, or in the moral and 
 spiritual order, and, although the organisation and development 
 observed in primitive religions many differ widely in different quarters 
 of the globe, yet wherever mankind dwells in community, religious 
 development stands on the same foundation and proceeds according 
 to the same fundamental law. 
 
 It need therefore in reality be no more astonishing that the Maya 
 race and its descendants should have evolved a completely organised 
 religious system, with an impressive ritual and a well-ordered calendar 
 of ecclesiastical festivals, independently of any previous communica- 
 tion with the old world, than that they were found to have a know- 
 ledge of spinning, weaving, and metal working, and an effective system 
 of civil government. All due allowance being made however for such 
 considerations, the beliefs and practices of the Mexicans, which were 
 so like Christian ones as to exclude the hypothesis of mere chance, were 
 nvmierous and striking. 
 
 Duran says of their triune idol that "being one," he is adored under 
 three names, and having three names, he is adored as one almost as we 
 believe in the most Holy Trinity. The persons of this trinity were Totee 
 the lord of the majesty and fear; Xipe, the man despised and perse- 
 cuted, and Tlatlauhquitezcatl, the mirror of splendour. Children were 
 baptized between three and twelve years — signifying a new birth — 
 by pouring on of water to cleanse them from the taint of inherited sin ; 
 and auricular confession was practised for the forgiveness of sin com- 
 mitted, penances being imposed. Even their revolting human sacri- 
 fices seem to have been a degraded and materialised interpretation of 
 our Lord's words of consecration when instituting the Eucharistic sacri- 
 fice, for the flesh of the victim was eaten reverently, while sacramental 
 words were pronounced calling it the food of the soul and the very flesh 
 of tJte god to whom the sacrifice was being offered. Holy water was 
 used in many ceremonies, and especially at the crowning of kings. 
 At stated times, a sort of passion play was performed in which a man 
 was bound to a cross and killed with arrows. All these, and many 
 other ceremonies bearing a striking analogy to Christian rites, much 
 impressed the Spaniards, especially the friars, who composed a 
 voluminous literature on the subject. Sometimes, indeed, theories were
 
 Appendix IV. Second Letter 343 
 
 built up on rather frail foundations of fact, and conclusions were 
 reached by undue straining of the imagination rather than by the exer- 
 cise of critical research. The Indians frequently misled their new 
 teachers, giving such interpretation of their rites as they thought would 
 be most acceptable, when not themselves ignorant of the real significance 
 of their symbols and ceremonies; as, indeed, many poorly instructed 
 Christians to-day could not explain intelligibly, to an inquiring visitor 
 from Mars, the meaning of emblems and practices with which they are, 
 nevertheless, familiar. But with every such allowance, there still 
 remains a sufficient number of authenticated and perfectly understood 
 doctrines and observances in the ancient Mexican cult, to argue con- 
 vincingly their Christian origin; hence many writers have identified 
 Quetzalcoatl with some unknown Christian missionary priest — possibly 
 an Oriental bishop — while others have even thought he was the apostle 
 St. Thomas. This startling opinion has not lacked eloquent defenders, 
 but it is excluded from serious consideration by the fact that St. 
 Thomas lived in the first century, and Quetzalcoatl in the tenth, with- 
 out adducing others which conclusively disprove it. 
 
 The identity of Quetzalcoatl remains an unsolved mystery, and, 
 after his departure, it became merged into that of mythical di- 
 vinities, with a plumed serpent for his emblem. The confused 
 notions which the Mexicans preserved concerning his life, his acts 
 and miracles, and his final disappearance, and their interweaving 
 of other legends of their more beneficent deities with his imperfectly 
 transmitted doctrines, and the distorted facts in his personal history 
 are no more extraordinary than many of the popular tales from lives 
 of the saints, and other wonder stories which are cherished from gener- 
 ation to generation by ignorant and imaginative people everywhere. 
 Unless some heretofore undiscovered treasure house of lost records 
 delivers the key to the early history of the Toltecs, there seems little 
 hope that our imperfect knowledge concerning him will receive any 
 important additions. The systematic destruction of the picture writ- 
 ings of the ancient Mexicans, and particularly of everything connected 
 with their religion, which was carried on for years with misguided zeal 
 by the Spaniards, cut off the source from which fuller infonnation 
 might have been hoped. Much and very severe criticism has fallen 
 upon the ecclesiastics — notably Bishop Zumarraga — by whom this sad 
 destruction was accomplished, and the not unnatural vexation, with 
 which historians view what now seems to have been a work of ignorant 
 and unnecessary fanaticism, has lent undue vehemence to the blame 
 assigned to these well-intentioned iconoclasts. The destruction is un- 
 doubtedly most regrettable, but, in strict justice, it must be admitted 
 that the extent of the loss which American history sustained is 
 entirely problematical, for we do not certainly know that the destroyed 
 records contained anything which has not been learned from others 
 which were preserved, and from the Indians themselves at the time of 
 the conquest. On the other hand our debt to the friars is very great,
 
 344 Letters of Cortes 
 
 for to them alone is it owing that anything at all survived the Spanish 
 conquest. They alone, amidst the hordes of gold-greedy colonists 
 who scoured the country in search of mines and slaves, established 
 humane relations with the Indians, learned their language, studied 
 their records, and while bringing them into schools to teach them 
 Christianity, learned from them all that could be discovered concerning 
 their own religion, history, and traditions. Franciscans such as 
 Sahagun, Torquemada, Motolinia, Landa, and Lizana, Jesuits such as 
 Acosta, Duran, and later Clavigero — to mention some of the more 
 notable amongst many workers — are the fathers of American history, 
 to whose labours is due the preservation of an enormous mass of 
 information — all we possess in fact — which would otherwise have 
 perished irrevocably. 
 
 It may be safely assumed that little or nothing of importance which 
 the Indians themselves knew escaped the researches which these and 
 other men of their order conducted with patience and intelligence. 
 Those among the early ecclesiastics in whom the critical faculty was 
 wanting made good this lack by their diligence, amassing the materials 
 which served later writers, to whom fell the task of assorting the con- 
 fused historical lumber they had collected. It appears that the Mexi- 
 cans knew surprisingly little about their own history, and that their 
 trustworthy traditions did not carry them very far back. The Indians 
 of Yucatan, in the time of Diego Landa, were unable to decipher the 
 inscriptions on the ruined temples, and only the most vague and im- 
 probable legends concerning the buildings of their ancient cities 
 survived amongst them. It does not seem, therefore, unreasonable to 
 temper our impatience towards Bishop Zumarraga's act of vandalism 
 by the reflection that the destroyed records would have probably 
 furnished no link between the civilisation of Anáhuac and that of 
 Yucatan and Central America. 
 
 Authorities consulted on Quetzalcoatl, Sahagun, lib. iii., cap. v.- 
 xiv.; Torquemada, lib. iii., cap., vii. ; Motolinia in Icazbalceta pp. lo, 
 30, 65; Mendieta, p. 82-98; Clavigero, torn, ii., p. 11-14; Servando 
 Teresa de Mier in Bustamante; Orozco y Berra, torn, i., cap. iv., 
 torn, ii., cap. iii.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, lib. ii., cap. iv., lib. iii., 
 cap. ii. Charnay, Ancient Cities ; Bulletins of Bureau of American 
 Ethnology.
 
 APPENDIX V. 
 
 THE TEMPLE 
 
 This statement is obviously inaccurate ; Cortes has just said that fifty 
 steps led to the summit of the chief teocalli which would allow for 
 a very modest elevation, whereas the Giralda Tower of Seville Cathe- 
 dral was built 300 years before Mexico was discovered and was then 185 
 feet high. Neither was it during this first visit to the temple of Tlatel- 
 olco in Montezuma's company that the idols were overthrown ; that 
 event happened in the teocalli of the great temple on another occasion 
 when Montezuma was not present. Most writers — including Prescott 
 — misled by Cortes, have confused the two visits and the two different 
 temples, but Bemal Diaz makes it perfectly clear that the first visit 
 was to the temple adjoining the market place in the Tlatelolco quarter 
 of the city. This temple was even loftier than the principal one, and the 
 arrangements in both were essentially the same (Orozco y Berra, 
 lib. ii., cap. iv. ; Icazbalceta, Diálogos de Cervantes, p. 201). The 
 great teocalli of the chief temple was completed in the form in which 
 the Spaniards beheld it by Montezuma's grandfather, Ahuitzotl, in 
 1487, when the solemn dedication was celebrated by the sacrifice of a 
 vast number of human victims, estimated by Torquemada at 72,344 
 (Monorchia Indiana, lib. ii., cap. Ixiii.), by Ixtlilxochitl at 80,000 
 Historia Chicimeca), but more credibly fixed by the Tellerian and 
 Vatican Codices at the still respectable figure of 20,000. Pretexts 
 for wars with various tribes were invented in order to procure the 
 victims for this ghastly hecatomb, and the ceremony of incessant 
 slaughter occupied two days. 
 
 The exact form and dimensions of the temple are not positively 
 known, but it is probable that the pyramid was an oblong, measuring 
 something over three hundred feet in length at its base and rising in 
 graduated terraces to a height of something less than one hundred feet. 
 Bemal Diaz {Hist. Verdad., cap. viii.,) says that he counted the steps, 
 which numbered one hundred and fourteen , and this tallies almost exactly 
 with the statement of Andres Tapia {Relación, p. 582,) that he counted 
 one hundred and thirteen steps. Bernal Diaz also measured the pyra- 
 mids at Cholula and Texcoco in the same way, and counted one hundred 
 and twenty steps on the former, and one hundred and seventeen on the 
 latter, hence, if he was accurate, the great pyramid of Mexico was not 
 the loftiest in the empire. Not one of the Spaniards who saw this 
 
 345
 
 340 Letters of Cortes 
 
 edifice seems to have observed it critically, or to have left a complete 
 architectural description of it to posterity. They were all more im- 
 pressed with the horrors they witnessed in it and their dreadful signific- 
 ance than with the architectural details ; all agree that it was a most awe- 
 some place, in which dark, gruesome chambers, smelling like a slaughter 
 house, contained hideous idols, smeared with human blood. In these 
 dim recesses, demoniacal priests, clad in black robes, with grotesquely 
 painted faces, framed in blood-clotted locks, celebrated their inhuman 
 rites, and offered smoking hearts on golden salvers to the monstrous 
 deities there enthroned. The presiding figure of this theocratic charnel 
 house was that of the god of war Huitzilopochtli — the humming bird to 
 the left — and of his image Bemal Diaz gives a careful description. Its 
 face was distorted and had terrible eyes; the body was covered with 
 gold and jewels, and was wound about with the coils of golden 
 serpents; in the right hand was held a bow, and in the left a bundle 
 of arrows. Suspended from the idol's neck was a necklace of human 
 heads and hearts made of gold and silver with precious stones set in 
 them, and by its side stood the figure of a page, called Huitziton, 
 bearing a lance and shield richly jewelled. This little statue of the 
 page was carried by the priests in battle, and was also on certain occa- 
 sions borne with much pomp through the streets. The honours of these 
 altars were shared by Tezcatlipoca — Shining Mirror — who was called 
 "the soul of the world." He was a god of law and severe judgment 
 and was much dreaded. His statue was of black obsidian, and sus- 
 pended from his plaited hair, which was confined in a golden net, 
 was an ear made of gold, towards which mounted tongues of smoke 
 symbolising ascending prayers. On the summit of the teocalli stood 
 a great cylindrical drum tlapanhuehuetl) , made of serpents' skins, 
 which was beaten on certain solemn occasions, and as an alarum. It 
 is said to have given forth a most sinister sound, which could be heard 
 for miles. During the siege, the Spaniards had sad cause to shudder 
 at its fearsome roll which announced the sacrifice of their captive com- 
 rades, whose white, naked bodies were even discernible in the dusky 
 procession which moved, in the glare of torches and the sacred fires, 
 up the terraces of the pyramid on its way to the stone of sacrifice. 
 The area of the courtyard, some twelve hundred feet square, was 
 paved with flat polished stones, which were so slippery the Spaniards' 
 horses could hardly keep their footing. Four gates in the surrounding 
 wall, called coatepantli, gave entrance to the courtyard, one facing 
 each of the cardinal points, and over each gate there was kept a store 
 of arms in readiness for attack or defence. Sahagun {Hist. Nueva 
 España, torn, i., p. 197) enumerates seventy-eight different buildings 
 inside the wall surrounding the courtyard; they comprised chapels, 
 cells for priests, fountains for ablutions, quarters for students and 
 attendants, and a number of smaller teocalli. This tallies with the 
 description of Cortes and Bemal Diaz, and makes it evident that the 
 entire group of buildings somewhat resembled the Kremlin at Moscow,
 
 Appendix V. Second Letter 347 
 
 or a vast cathedral close. In one of the temples the Spaniards esti- 
 mated that a symmetrical pyramid of bones contained one hundred and 
 thirty-six thousand human skulls. Amongst these temples there was 
 one dedicated to Quetzalcoatl, circular in form and having its entrance 
 built in imitation of a serpent's open mouth. Bernal Diaz says that 
 this was a veritable hell, or abode of demons, in which they saw 
 frightful idols, cauldrons of water in which to prepare the flesh of the 
 victims, which the priests ate, and furnishings like those of a butcher's 
 stall; so that he never called the place other than "hell." 
 
 Human sacrifices and cannibalism were practised even in honour of 
 the beneficent deity of the Toltecs, whose mild teachings, pure life, 
 and aversion to war, persuade us that he must have been a Christian 
 bishop. Nothing more conclusively proves that, in spite of their 
 material prosperity, their extended empire, and a certain refinement in 
 their social life, the Aztecs occupied a much lower moral and intel- 
 lectual level than did their Toltec predecessors in Anáhuac. From 
 the Toltecs they had received the foundations of their civilisation ; all 
 that was good in their religion or true in their philosophy, all that was 
 known amongst them of science, they received from that mysterious 
 race whose only records are a few neglected and almost unknown 
 ruins. 
 
 After the conquest, the great temple was razed to the ground. In 
 its foundations were found a quantity of treasures, which had been 
 placed there as offerings when the pyramid was first begun. The 
 stone idols and carvings were for the most part built into the founda- 
 tions of the Christian cathedral which stands upon its site. 
 
 Montezuma had readily assented, very soon after the arrival of the 
 Spaniards, to the installation of a chapel in the Spanish quarters, and 
 a room was consequently prepared, in which mass was said daily, as 
 long as the supply of wine held out. The soldiers said their daily 
 prayers before the cross and the sacred images, especially at the hour 
 of the Ave Alaria. 
 
 While seeking for the best place to erect the altar in this room, 
 Alonso Yañez discovered a concealed door, which Cortes, who was 
 informed of the discovery, ordered to be forced open. Beyond was a 
 vast chamber containing the treasure of Axayacatl and other Aztec 
 kings, forming a great heap of gold and jewels in the centre of the 
 room, while all the walls were covered with splendid stuffs, thick 
 feather- work, shields, and other objects of precious metals. After 
 inspecting the fabulous collection, Cortes had the door sealed up 
 again, and cautioned his followers not to betray their knowledge of 
 its existence to the Mexicans (Bernal Diaz, cap. xciii.). Andres de 
 Tapia's account (Incazbalceta, Doc. Ined., tom. ii., p. 580) says that 
 Cortes told Montezuma of his discovery, and that the emperor pre- 
 sented him with all the gold and jewels in that treasury. 
 
 After repeated conversations with Montezuma on religious subjects, 
 none of which seemed to advance his conversion, the patience of Cortes
 
 348 Letters of Cortes 
 
 gave out, and it was when the Spaniards had been about five months 
 in the city that the destruction of the idols in the great teocalli took 
 place. The scene in the temple is characteristic of the times and the 
 man. 
 
 Human life was cheap in Cortes's eyes, and the cruelties inflicted 
 on the natives in the furtherance of his designs show that it was not 
 the inhumanity of the sacrifices which filled him with the most abhor- 
 rence. It was the sight of idolatry, of people given over to devil 
 worship, that inflamed his Catholic blood, and there seems, on this 
 occasion, to have been no friar Olmedo at hand to restrain him, as 
 in Cholula. He first called the priests together and delivered a pious 
 exhortation, explaining the fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of 
 man, and other Christian beliefs, conjuring them to abandon the super- 
 stitions which imperilled their immortal souls, to purify the altars, 
 and dedicate them to the true God and the saints. As the priests 
 defended their own, the controversy enraged Cortes beyond control, 
 and seizing an instrument he began smashing the idols right and left 
 with such magnificent fury that Andres de Tapia declared that he 
 seemed like a supernatural being. Montezuma was notified, and 
 entreated him for prudence's sake to desist, as such profanation would 
 provoke an uprising of the people. Cortes, however, was deaf to re- 
 monstrance, and the idols were cast out, the temple washed and put 
 in order, two altars being set up, one to Our Lady and the other to 
 Saint Christopher, with their respective statues upon them. Mass 
 was thenceforth said there, and some of the Indians came to the 
 ceremony, as they wanted rain and, their own gods being overthrown, 
 they were willing to invoke the Spaniards' God. Cortes declared they 
 should have rain, and, with the most confident faith, ordered prayers 
 and a procession to obtain this blessing; although the procession set 
 forth under a cloudless sky, it returned after Mass in such a down- 
 pour that the people waded ankle deep in the streets. Malintzin's 
 religion was vindicated (Andres de Tapia Relación, p. 584-6).
 
 APPENDIX VI. 
 
 MASSACRE OF THE MEXICAN NOBLES 
 
 This was Pedro de Alvarado. Simultaneously four messengers ar- 
 rived from Montezuma to complain that the captain had ordered an 
 unprovoked attack upon the Mexicans during a religious festival, and 
 that the latter had merely defended themselves as best they could. 
 The feast of Toxcatl fell upon the tenth of May, and only the highest 
 and noblest adorned with their richest ornaments, but unarmed, 
 took part in the ceremonial dance. Cortes had consented, before he 
 left Mexico, to the usual celebration, with the proviso that there should 
 be no human sacrifices, though very likely the priests reserved their, 
 intention to perform that part of the rites privately. The first con- 
 trariety arose from Alvarado's refusal to allow the statue of Huitzilo- 
 pochtli to be restored to its former place, from which it had been 
 ejected to make room for the altars to the Blessed Virgin and St. 
 Christopher. The Tlascalans next excited his suspicions that the 
 festival was merely a pretext to collect a large multitude in the city, 
 the real object being to fall upon the diminished garrison and exter- 
 minate it. On the day of the feast, Alvarado and others saw certain 
 idols, decked out for the procession, standing in the court of the temple, 
 and also three youths in new robes and with shaven heads, which indi- 
 cated that they were destined for sacrifice. Alvarado seized the in- 
 tended victims, and, by putting them to worse tortures than those of 
 the sacrificial stone, under which one of them died, he obtained such 
 testimony as he wanted from the other two, who were mere lads, to 
 prove that a general revolt was planned. What these poor creatures 
 could be supposed to know of such conspiracies does not appear, but 
 Alvarado was satisfied, and, arming his men, he left some in charge 
 of Montezuma, with orders to kill the nobles who were with him, and 
 repaired with the others to the great teocalli, where six hundred nobles 
 and priests were dancing, while some three thousand others assisted 
 as spectators. The appearance of the Spaniards caused no interruption, 
 but, at a given signal, they drew their weapons and fell upon the defence- 
 less people, slaughtering them without quarter; the doors were guarded, 
 so few escaped, but they gave the alarm and roused the city. Mean- 
 while the nobles of the court had been slain, and the Spaniards had 
 fortified themselves inside their quarters. The exact place where the 
 dance took place is uncertain, as neither Cortes nor Bernal Diaz mentions 
 
 349
 
 350 Letters of Cortes 
 
 it; Acosta contradicting most of the early writers, argues that it must 
 have been the court of the palace where Montezuma was. It nowhere 
 appears, however, that Montezuma was present, and, as the dance was a 
 religious rite, the temple court would seem more indicated for its cele- 
 bration. Alvarado, who was wounded on the head by a stone, ap- 
 peared before Montezuma crying: "See what your subjects have done ! " 
 but the Emperor answered that had he not begun the disturbance the 
 Mexicans would have remained peaceable, adding, "You have undone 
 yourself and me." Nor did Alvarado's explanations satisfy Cortes, 
 who openly showed his anger upon his arrival. 
 
 Indeed, his conduct seems destitute of any reasonable excuse, and his 
 efforts to exculpate himself at his trial were weak and confused; at best 
 he had but the word of a captive, an intended victim, and that 
 wrung from him under torture. Replying to Art. IV., of the accusations 
 against him he alleged, (i) that it was common report in the city that, 
 during Cortes's absence, the reduced garrison would be crushed; (2) on 
 the morning of the festival he had seen a large number of sharp pointed 
 sticks, with which the Mexicans openly boasted they would kill him 
 and his men; (3) the admission of the captive victim, which was con- 
 firmed by a native of Texcoco; (4) that a skirmish had already taken 
 place in the palace, in which he himself was wounded, and one Span- 
 iard was killed, and that all would have shared the same fate. Torque- 
 mada adds the detail that huge cauldrons were prepared in which to 
 cook the Spaniards. Las Casas advances the theory usual with him, 
 that Alvarado wished to strike such a blow as would terrorise the 
 Indians. Herrera admits that a revolt may have been brewing, but 
 deprecates the wholesale massacre and the taking of jewels from the 
 dead bodies. Clavigero scouts the idea of a conspiracy, and affirms 
 that this was an invention to shield Alvarado. Oviedo, Sahagun, 
 and Fr. Duran, all exempt the Indians of rebellious intentions. Setting 
 aside the weighty unanimity of these authorities on the question of the 
 alleged conspiracy, Alvarado's conduct would still be without justifica- 
 tion, even had there been an intention to attack him, for his proper 
 course would have been to collect all the Spaniards and Tlascalans in his 
 quarters, with sufficient provisions, hold Montezuma and the court 
 nobles as hostages, notify Cortes by messenger, and stand strictly on 
 the defensive until help or instructions came. The situation cannot be 
 properly paralleled with that of Cortes in Cholula, for the conditions 
 were entirely different. Alvarado was the most violent of all the 
 Spanish captains, and his brutality culminated in this inhuman mas- 
 sacre, which drove the long suffering Mexicans to desperation; it 
 destroyed the last illusion about the celestial origin and character of the 
 white men, and brought on the tragedy of the Sorrowful Night, and 
 the siege, with its long train of misery and destruction. From that day 
 forward, the Mexicans were deaf to all overtures from the Spaniards ; 
 regardless of suffering, and indifferent to death, they sought only 
 vengeance.
 
 APPENDIX VII. 
 
 DEATH OF MONTEZUMA 
 
 Montezuma's assurance to the people that he was not held a prisoner, 
 but lived with the Spaniards from choice, free to come and go at his 
 pleasure, was so contrary to obvious facts, and his reproof to them 
 for taking arms, as though they had been the aggressors, was so unjust, 
 that he failed to secure the cessation of hostilities. On the contrary, 
 he had hardly finished speaking when the young prince Quauhtemotzin, 
 who was one of the leaders of the people, reviled him as a coward and 
 the effeminate tool of the Spaniards, declaring that his subjects re- 
 nounced obedience to one who had so degraded his royal dignity. 
 With that he hurled a stone, and, in the volley of missiles which fol- 
 lowed, one struck the Emperor on the head {Codex Ramirez in 
 Orozco y Berra, tom. iv., cap. x. ; Acosta, Hist. Nat. y. Moral de las 
 Indias, lib. vii., cap. xxvi.). Clavigero refuses to believe that Quauhte- 
 motzin so insulted his royal uncle, but offers no reason for his disbelief. 
 The Spaniards, who had been charged to protect Montezuma's person 
 with their shields, were not quick enough, and it is said he was also 
 wounded by arrows in the arm and in the leg. The wounds were not, 
 however, serious, but the unfortunate monarch was evidently deter- 
 mined not to survive this supreme humiliation, and, refusing to allow 
 his hurts to be properly dressed, he remained without food in a pro- 
 foundly dejected condition. Herrera describes Cortes as showing the 
 greatest concern, solicitously visiting the Emperor to comfort him, 
 but it seems little likely that in the midst of his perilous occupations 
 the commander found time to condole with his wounded captive, for 
 Montezuma's tardy efforts for peace had failed completely, and, though 
 Prescott says that the Aztecs "shocked at their own sacrilegious 
 act. . .dispersed, panic-struck in different directions. . .so that not 
 one of the multitudinous array remained in the great square," there 
 seems to be no authority for believing that any such dramatic revulsion 
 of feeling took place. Montezuma had fallen from his royalty and his 
 high priesthood, to be a thing of scorn and loathing to his people, 
 while his influence on the course of events was less than nil. 
 
 Montezuma Xocoyotzin ninth king of Mexico died on June 30, 1520, 
 in the fifty-fourth year of his age, the eighteenth of his reign, and in 
 the seventh month of his captivity. 
 
 His death was attributed, by the Spaniards, to the wound caused 
 
 351
 
 352 Letters of Cortes 
 
 by the stone, which struck him on the head; by the Mexicans, it was 
 on the contrary, asserted that he was put to death by Cortes. The 
 Codex Ramirez, before quoted from the work of Orozco y Berra, states 
 that Montezuma was found stabbed to death by the Spaniards, with 
 the other chiefs who shared his captivity. Acosta accepts this as 
 true, and Father Duran (cap. 76) says "They found him dead with 
 chains upon his feet, and five dagger wounds in his breast, and with him 
 many other of the chiefs and lords who were prisoners." Amongst 
 the nobles were the kings of Tlacopan and Texcoco and the lord of 
 Tlatelolco. Cacamatzin, according to Ixtlilxochitl was stabbed forty- 
 five times, and he adds that Montezuma died from the wound in his 
 head, "although his vassals say that the Spaniards themselves killed 
 him, and plunged a sword into his fundament " (apud, Orozco y 
 Berra, tom. iv., cap. x.). The murder of the other chiefs was deemed 
 necessar)', as it was neither possible to be burdened with them in the 
 flight from the city, nor was it wise to release them. Their bodies were 
 thrown out of the Spanish quarters at a spot called Teayotl, because of a 
 stone turtle which stood there, in the hope that their fate might dis- 
 courage the people, and also give them occupation in preparing their 
 funerals as required by custom (Sahagun, lib. xii., cap. xxiii. ; Ixtlil- 
 xochitl, Hist. Chichimeca). Cortes's account of the wounding and 
 death of Montezuma was naturally followed by Gomara; Oviedo also 
 copies his words, and says that he heard the same account viva voce 
 from Pedro de Alvarado; Herrera asserts that the emperor's wound 
 was not mortal (lib. x., cap. x.), but that he died because he refused 
 all attendance and food ; and Bernal Diaz, who relates the same story, 
 adds the affecting detail that Cortes and all the captains and soldiers 
 wept as though they had lost a father {Verdadera Hist., cap. cxxvi.), 
 which those may believe who can. Clavigero refers to the grief of the 
 Spaniards, as described by Bernal Diaz, and says that, in view of the 
 contradictory accounts, it seems impossible to know the truth adding, 
 " I cannot believe that the Spaniards would take the life of a king to 
 whom they owed so many benefits, and from whose death they would 
 derive only evil." He does not say why he cannot believe this; 
 Montezuma's influence was gone; another leader had been chosen by 
 the nation in the person of the brave Quauhtemotzin, and when Cortes 
 announced his death, offering to deliver his body for burial they cried 
 out: "We want Montezuma neither living nor dead !" (Herrera, lib. 
 X., cap. X.) Hence the fallen sovereign's presence was only an em- 
 barrassment to Cortes, who was planning to fight his way out of the city 
 with as few encumbrances as possible — even the precious gold was 
 being left behind. The moment the emperor became an obstacle, his 
 doom was sealed, and there was nothing in the character or conduct of 
 Cortes which warrants the belief that he was influenced by sentiments 
 of compassion for the king he had degraded, while his disposal of Caca- 
 matzin at that time, and of Quauhtamotzin later in Yucatan, revealed 
 the absence of any scruples whatever. Prescott joins Clavigero in his
 
 Appendix VIL Second Letter 353 
 
 generous assumption, and with a fine outburst of indignation finds it 
 "hardly necessary to comment on the absurdity of this monstrous im- 
 putation." Such sentiments do credit to the magnanimity of these 
 writers, for it is manifestly the nobler part to admit such a charge 
 against Cortes, only when forced by irrefutable proofs, which in this 
 case are not forthcoming. Orozco y. Berra, the results of whose ex- 
 haustive researches are expressed in calm, judicial language in his 
 Conquista de Mexico, adopts the Indian version. Clavigero has 
 perhaps said the most that generous impartiality will allow, when 
 he states that "There reigns such variety among historians that it 
 seems impossible to verify the truth." Torquemada (lib. iv., cap. 
 Ixx.) records that Montezuma's body was taken to Copalco where 
 it was cremated, according to the Aztec usage, though the solem- 
 nity was marred by the insults heaped by some of the by-standers 
 upon the hapless corpse. Herrera was of the opinion, that the body 
 was buried at Chapultepec, because the Spaniards heard great la- 
 mentations in that quarter, and because that was the place of royal 
 sepulture, but the observation of Clavigero on this opinion, that there 
 was no fixed place for burying the sovereigns and that Chapultepec, 
 being some three miles distant from the Spanish quarters it was hardly 
 likely they could have heard lamentations, seems to weaken this 
 assumption. 
 
 Diego Muñoz Camargo, the Tlascallan historian, would seem to be 
 the chief authority for the pious legend that Montezuma was baptised 
 by his own desire just before he died, and that Cortes and Pedro de 
 Alvarado were his godfathers. Gomara asserts that the Emperor had 
 expressed his wish to become a Christian prior to Cortes's departure 
 from Mexico to meet Narvaez, but that the ceremony was deferred 
 until Easter so that it might be celebrated with more solemnity, and 
 was afterwards forgotten amid the confusion of the changed circum- 
 stances. The silence of Cortes on a matter he would have been eager 
 to report in his letters, seems alone sufficient to dispose of the assertion, 
 and Torquemada, who would also have not been slow to enroll a royal 
 convert, does not admit the story {Monorchia Indiana, lib. iv., cap. 
 Ixx.). A most instructive dissertation on this subject is contained 
 in an interesting study by Don José Fernando Ramirez entitled 
 Bautismo de Motecuhzoma II., Noveno Rey de Mexico. 
 
 A pathetic figure is that of this Aztec king, gifted with some of the 
 highest qualities of his race, venerated during a long and prosperous 
 reign almost as a demi-god, only to be humbled to the very dust. The 
 starting point of his downfall was his superstition, for had he listened to 
 his generals rather than to his priests Cortes and his handful of 
 adventurers would never have left the sea-coast alive. The misfortunes 
 and humiliations of the last months of his life seem to have completely 
 changed his character, so that from the time of his docile abdication 
 at the bidding of Cortes, to the infamy of his appearance on the walls 
 of the Spanish quarters to rebuke his long-suffering people, was but a
 
 354 Letters of Cortes 
 
 step on the way to the nameless grave where his dishonoured form 
 was finally laid. 
 
 Prescott's description of the scenes of Montezuma's death-bed, with 
 Cortes present to whom he confided his daughters, is based upon 
 Cortes's ou-n narration made in the grant afterwards conceded to one 
 of the daughters. Doña Isabel, when she married Alonzo Grado, who is 
 described in the same document as an hidalgo of Alcantara (Prescott, 
 lib. iv., cap. ii.) 
 
 It is to Cortes's credit that he recognised the debt of the Spanish 
 crown to Montezuma, and that he procured the royal protection for his 
 children. 
 
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