Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican Part 4

Cortez was not, however, content with this demonstration against his near neighbors, but, resolved, now that he was once more in the saddle, to cross the _sierra_ that hemmed in the vale of Anahuac, on the south, and to descend its southern slopes on a visit to the warmer regions that basked at their feet. Accordingly he prosecuted his southern march through large bodies of harra.s.sing skirmishers, who hung upon the rear and flanks of his troop, and annoyed it with arrows and missiles, which they hurled from the crags as his men threaded the narrow defiles of the mountains. Pa.s.sing through Huaxtepec and Jauhtepec, he arrived on the ninth day of his march, before the strong town of Guauhnahuac, or Cuernavaca, as it is now known in the geography of Mexico. It was the capital of the Tlahuicas, and an important and wealthy tributary of the Aztecs. Here too he encountered hostile resistance which he quickly overcame. His name as a successful warrior had preceded him among these more effeminate races, and the trembling lords of the territory soon submitted to his mercy.

Departing from Cuernavaca, Cortez turned again northwards, and ascending the _sierra_ in a new direction re-entered the valley of Anahuac or Mexico, by the main route which now penetrates the southern portion of its rim. From the summits of these mountains, where the cool air of the temperate clime sings through the limbs and ta.s.sels of hardy pines, Cortez swooped down upon Xochimilco, or the "field of flowers," where he was again encountered by guerillas and more formidable squadrons from the Aztec capital which was but twelve miles distant. Here, again, after several turns in the tide of fortune, the Spaniards were triumphant and obtained a rich booty. From Xochimilco the little band and the auxiliaries advanced, among continual dangers, around the western margin of the lakes, and, skirting the feet of the mountains, attained, once more, the town of Tacuba.

The conqueror had thus circled the valley, and penetrated the adjacent southern vale, in his two expeditions. Wherever he went, the strange weapons of his Spaniards, the singular appearance of his mounted men, and his uniform success, served to inspire the natives with a salutary dread of his mysterious power. He now knew perfectly the topography of the country,--for he was forced to be his own engineer as well as general. He had become acquainted with the state of the Aztec defences, as well as with the slender hold the central power of the empire retained over the tributary tribes, towns, and districts which had been so often vexed by taxation to support a voluptuous sovereign and avaricious aristocracy. He found the sentiment of patriotic union and loyalty but feeble among the various populations he visited. The ties of international league had every where been adroitly loosened by the conqueror, either through his eloquence or his weapons; and, from all his careful investigations, both of character and country, he had reason to believe that the realm of Mexico was at length almost within his grasp. The capital was now encircled with a cordon of disloyal cities.

Every place of importance had been visited, conquered, subdued, or destroyed in its moral courage or natural allegiance. But Tacuba was too near the capital to justify him in trusting his jaded band within so dangerous a neighborhood. Accordingly, he did not delay a day in that city, but, gathering his soldiers as soon as they were refreshed, he departed for Tezcoco by the northern journey around the lakes. His way was again beset with difficulties. The season of rain and storm in those lofty regions had just set in. The road was flooded, and the soldiers were forced to plough through mud in drenched garments. But as they approached their destination, Sandoval came forth to meet them, with companions who had freshly arrived from the West Indies; and, besides, he bore the cheering news that the brigantines were ready to be launched for the last blow at the heart of the empire.

CHAPTER VIII.

1521.

CORTeZ RETURNS--CONSPIRACY AMONG HIS MEN DETECTED.--EXECUTION OF VILLAFAnA--BRIGANTINES LAUNCHED.--XICO TENCATL'S TREASON AND EXECUTION.--DISPOSITION OF FORCES TO ATTACK THE CITY.--SIEGE AND a.s.sAULTS ON THE CITY.--FIGHT AND REVERSES OF THE SPANIARDS.--SACRIFICE OF CAPTIVES--FLIGHT OF ALLIES.--CONTEST RENEWED--STARVATION.

The return of Cortez to his camp, after all the toils of his arduous expedition, was not hailed with unanimous delight by those who had hitherto shared his dangers and successes, since the loss of the capital. There were persons in the small band of Spaniards,--especially among those who had been added from the troops of Narvaez,--who still brooded over the disaffection and mutinous feelings which had been manifested at Tlascala before the march to Tezcoco. They were men who eagerly flocked to the standard of the conqueror for plunder; whose hearts were incapable of appreciating the true spirit of glorious adventure in the subjugation of an empire, and who despised victories that were productive of nothing but fame.

These discontented men conspired, about this period, under the lead of Antonio Villafana, a common soldier; and it was the design of the recreant band to a.s.sa.s.sinate Sandoval, Olid and Alvarado, together with Cortez, and other important men who were known to be deepest in the General's councils or interests. After the death of these leaders,--with whose fall the enterprise would doubtless have perished,--a brother-in-law of Velasquez, by name Francisco Verdugo, who was altogether ignorant of the designs of the conspirators, was to be placed in command of the panic-stricken troop, which, it was supposed, would instantly unite under the new general.

It was the project of these wretched dastards to a.s.sault and despatch the conqueror and his officers whilst engaged in opening despatches, which were to be suddenly presented, as if just arrived from Castile.

But, a day before the consummation of the treachery, one of the party threw himself at the feet of Cortez and betrayed the project, together with the fact, that, in the possession of Villafana, would be found a paper containing the names of his a.s.sociates in infamy.

Cortez immediately summoned the leaders whose lives were threatened, and, after a brief consultation, the party hastened to the quarters of Villafana accompanied by four officers. The arch conspirator was arrested, and the paper wrested from him as he attempted to swallow it. He was instantaneously tried by a military court,--and, after brief time for confession and shrift, was swung by the neck from the cas.e.m.e.nt of his quarters. The prompt and striking sentence was executed before the army knew of the crime; and the scroll of names being destroyed by Cortez, the memory of the meditated treachery was forever buried in oblivion. The commander, however, knew and marked the men whose partic.i.p.ation had been so unexpectedly revealed to him; but he stifled all discontent by letting it be understood that the only persons who suffered for the shameful crime had made no confession! He could not spare men from his thin ranks even at the demand of justice; for even the felons who sought his life were wanted in the toils and battles of his great and final enterprise.

It was on the 28th of April, 1521, amid the solemn services of religion, and in the presence of the combined army of Spaniards and Indians, that the long cherished project of launching the brigantines was finally accomplished. They reached the lake safely through the ca.n.a.l which had been dug for them from the town of Texcoco.

The Spanish forces, designed to operate in this last attack, consisted of eighty-seven horse and eight hundred and eighteen infantry, of which one hundred and eighteen were arquebusiers and crossbowmen.

Three large iron field pieces and fifteen brazen falconets formed the ordnance. A plentiful supply of shot and b.a.l.l.s, together with fifty thousand copper-headed arrows, composed the ammunition. Three hundred men were sent on board the twelve vessels which were used in the enterprise, for unfortunately, one of the thirteen that were originally ordered to be built, proved useless upon trial. The navigation of these brigantines, each one of which carried a piece of heavy cannon, was, of course, not difficult, for although the waters of the lake have evidently shrunken since the days of the conquest, it is not probable that it was more than three or four feet deeper than at present.[7] The distance to be traversed from Tezcoco to the capital was about twelve miles, and the subsequent service was to be rendered in the neighborhood of the causeways, and under the protection of the walls of the city.

The Indian allies from Tlascala came up in force at the appointed time. These fifty thousand well equipped men were led by Xicotencatl, who, as the expedition was about to set forth by land and water for the final attack, seems to have been seized with a sudden panic, and deserted his standard with a number of followers. There was no hope for conquest without the alliance and loyal support of the Tlascalans.

The decision of Cortez upon the occurrence of this dastardly act of a man in whose faith he had religiously confided, although he knew he was not very friendly to the Spaniards, was prompt and terribly severe. A chosen band was directed to follow the fugitive even to the walls of Tlascala. There, the deserter was arrested, brought back to Tezcoco, and hanged on a lofty gallows in the great square of that city. This man, says Prescott, "was the only Tlascalan who swerved from his loyalty to the Spaniards."

All being now prepared, Cortez planned his attack. It will be recollected that the city of Mexico rose, like Venice, from the bosom of the placid waters, and that its communication with the main land was kept up by the great causeways which were described in the earlier portion of this narrative. The object of the conqueror, therefore, was to shut up the capital, and cut off all access to the country by an efficient blockade of the lake, with his brigantines, and of the land with his infantry and cavalry. Accordingly he distributed his forces into three bodies or separate camps. The first of these, under Pedro de Alvarado, consisting of thirty horse, one hundred and sixty-eight Spanish infantry, and twenty-five thousand Tlascalans, was to command the causeway of Tacuba. The second division, of equal magnitude, under Olid, was to be posted at Cojohuacan, so as to command the causeways that led eastwardly into the city. The third equal corps of the Spanish army was entrusted to Sandoval, but its Indian force was to be drawn from native allies at Chalco. Alvarado and Olid were to proceed around the northern head of the lake of Tezcoco, whilst Sandoval, supported by Cortez with the brigantines, pa.s.sed around the southern portion of it, to complete the destruction of the town of Iztapalapan, which was deemed by the conqueror altogether too important a point to be left in the rear. In the latter part of May, 1521, all these cavaliers got into their a.s.signed military positions, and it is from this period that the commencement of the siege of Mexico is dated, although Alvarado had previously had some conflicts with the people on the causeway that led to his head quarters in Tacuba, and had already destroyed the pipes that fed the water-tanks and fountains of the capital.

At length Cortez set sail with his flotilla in order to sustain Sandoval's march to Iztapalapan. As he pa.s.sed across the lake and under the shadow of the "rock of the Marquis," he descried from his brigantines several hundred canoes of the Mexicans filled with soldiers and advancing rapidly over the calm lake. There was no wind to swell his sails or give him command of his vessels' motion, and the conqueror was obliged to await the arrival of the canoes without making such disposition for action as was needful in the emergency.

But as the Indian squadron approached, a breeze suddenly sprang up, and Cortez, widening his line of battle, bore down upon the frail skiffs, overturning, crushing and sinking them by the first blow of his formidable prows, whilst he fired to the right and left amid the discomfitted flotilla. But few of these Indian boats returned to the ca.n.a.ls of the city, and this signal victory made Cortez, forever after, the undisputed master of the lake.

The conqueror took up his head quarters at Xoloc, where the causeway of Cojohuacan met the great causeway of the south. The chief avenues to Mexico had been occupied for some time, as has been already related, but either through ignorance or singular neglect, there was the third great causeway, of Tepejacac, on the north, which still afforded the means of communication with the people of the surrounding country. This had been altogether neglected. Alvarado was immediately ordered to close this outlet, and Sandoval took up his position on the d.y.k.e. Thus far the efforts of the Spaniards and auxiliaries had been confined to precautionary movements rather than to decisive a.s.saults upon the capital. But it soon became evident that a city like Mexico might hold out long against a blockade alone. Accordingly an attack was ordered by Cortez to be made by the two commanders at the other military points nearest their quarters. The brigantines sailed along the sides of the causeways, and aided by their enfilading fires, the advance of the squadrons on land. The infantry and cavalry advanced upon the great avenue that divided the town from north to south. Their heavy guns were brought up and soon mowed a path for the musketeers and crossbowmen. The flying enemy retreated towards the great square in the centre of the city, and were followed by the impetuous Spaniards and their Indian allies. The outer wall of the Great Temple, itself, was soon pa.s.sed by the hot-blooded cavaliers, some of whom rushed up the stairs and circling corridors of the Teocalli, whence they pushed the priests over the sides of the pyramid and tore off the golden mask and jewels of the Aztec war-G.o.d. But the small band of invaders had, for a moment only, appalled the Mexicans, who rallied in numbers at this daring outrage, and sprang vindictively upon the sacrilegious a.s.sailants. The Spaniards and their allies fled; but the panic with which they were seized deprived their retreat of all order or security. Cortez, himself, was unable to restore discipline, when suddenly, a troop of Spanish hors.e.m.e.n dashed into the thick of the fight, and intimidating the Indians, by their superst.i.tious fears of cavalry, they soon managed to gather and form the broken files of their Spanish and Indian army, so that, soon after the hour of vespers, the combined forces drew off with their artillery and ammunition to the barrack at Xoloc.

About this period, the inhabitants of Xochimilco and some tribes of rude but valiant Otomies gave in their adhesion to the Spaniards. The Prince of Tezcoco, too, despatched fifty thousand levies to the aid of Cortez. Thus strengthened, another attack was made upon the city. Most of the injuries which had been done to the causeways in the first onslaught had been repaired, so that the gates of the capital, and finally the great square, were reached by the Spaniards with nearly as great difficulty as upon their former attempt. But this time the invaders advanced more cautiously into the heart of the city, where they fired and destroyed their ancient quarters in the old palace of Axayacatl and the edifices adjoining the royal palace on the other side of the square. These incursions into the capital were frequently repeated by Cortez, nor were the Mexicans idle in their systematic plans to defeat the Spaniards. All communication with the country, by the causeways was permanently interrupted; yet the foe stealthily, and in the night, managed to evade the vigilance of the twelve cruisers whose numbers were indeed insufficient to maintain a stringent naval blockade of so large a city as Mexico. But the success of Cortez, in all his engagements by land and water, his victorious incursions into the very heart of the city, and the general odium which was cherished against the central power of the empire by all the tributary tribes and dependant provinces, combined, at this moment, to aid the efforts of the conqueror in cutting off supplies from the famishing capital.

The great towns and small villages in the neighborhood threw off their allegiance, and the camps of the Spanish leaders thronged with one hundred and fifty thousand auxiliaries selected from among the recreants. The Spaniards were amply supplied with food from these friendly towns, and never experienced the sufferings from famine that were soon to overtake the beleaguered capital.

At length the day was fixed for a general a.s.sault upon the city by the two divisions under Alvarado and Cortez. As usual, the battle was preceded by the celebration of ma.s.s, and the army then advanced in three divisions up the most important streets. They entered the town, cast down the barricades which had been erected to impede their progress, and, with remarkable ease, penetrated even to the neighborhood of the market-place. But the very facility of their advance alarmed the cautious mind of Cortez, and induced him to believe that this slack resistance was but designed to seduce him farther and farther within the city walls until he found himself beyond the reach of succor or retreat. This made him pause. His men, more eager for victory and plunder than anxious to secure themselves by filling up the ca.n.a.ls and clearing the streets of their impediments, had rushed madly on without taking proper precaution to protect their rear, if the enemy became too hot in front. Suddenly the horn of Guatemozin was heard from a neighboring Teocalli, and the flying Indians, at the sacred and warning sound, turned upon the Spaniards with all the mingled feeling of reinspired revenge and religion. For a while the utmost disorder prevailed in the ranks of the invaders, Spaniards, Tlascalans, Tezcocans and Otomies, were mixed in a common crowd of combatants. From the tops of houses; from converging streets; from the edges of ca.n.a.ls,--crowds of Aztecs swarmed and poured their vollies of javelins, arrows and stones. Many were driven into the lake. Cortez himself had nigh fallen a victim in the dreadful _melee_, and was rescued with difficulty. Meanwhile, Alvarado and Sandoval had penetrated the city from the western causeway, and aided in stemming the onslaught of the Aztecs. For a while the combined forces served to check the boiling tide of battle sufficiently to enable those who were most sorely pressed to be gradually withdrawn, yet not until sixty-two Spaniards and a mult.i.tude of allies, besides many killed and wounded, had fallen captives and victims in the hands of their implacable enemies.

It was yet day when the broken band withdrew from the city, and returned to the camps either on the first slopes of the hills, or at the terminations of the causeways. But sad, indeed, was the spectacle that presented itself to their eyes, as they gazed towards the city, through the clear atmosphere of those elevated regions, when they heard the drum sound from the top of the Great Teocalli. It was the dread signal of sacrifice. The wretched Spaniards, who had been captured in the fight, were, one after another, stretched on the stone in front of the hideous idols, and their reeking hearts, torn from their bosoms, thrown as propitiating morsels into the flames before the deities. The mutilated remains of the captives were then flung down the steep sides of the pyramid, to glut the crowds at its base with a "cannibal repast."

Whilst these repulses and dreadful misfortunes served to dispirit the Spaniards and elate the Aztecs, they were not without their signally bad effects upon the auxiliaries. Messages were sent to these insurgent bodies by the Emperor. He conjured them to return to their allegiance. He showed them how bravely their outraged G.o.ds had been revenged. He spoke of the reverses that had befallen the white men in both their invasions, and warned them that a parricidal war like this could "come to no good for the people of Anahuac." Otomies, Cholulans, Tepeacans, Tezcocans, and even the loyal Tlascalans, the hereditary enemies of the Montezumas and Guatemozins, stole off secretly under the cover of night. There were of course exceptions in this inglorious desertion; but it seems that perhaps the majority of the tribes departed for their homes with the belief that the tide had turned against the Spanish conqueror and that it was best to escape before it was too late, the scandal or danger of open treason against their lawful Emperor. But, amid all these disasters, the n.o.ble heart of Cortez remained firm and true to his purpose. He placed his artillery again in position upon the causeways, and, never wasting his ammunition, contrived to husband it carefully until the a.s.saulting Aztecs swarmed in such numbers on the d.y.k.es that his discharges mowed them down like gra.s.s as they advanced to attack him. It was a gloomy time, requiring vigilance by day and by night--by land and by water.

The brigantines were still secure. They swept the lake continually and cut off supplies designed for the capital. The Spaniards hermetically sealed the causeways with their cannon, and thus, at length, was the city that would not yield to storm given over to starvation.

[Footnote 7: The writer sounded the lake in the channel from Mexico to Tezcoco in 1842, and did not find more than 2 feet in the deepest path. The Indians, at present, wade over all parts of the lake.]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER IX.

1521.

AZTEC PREDICTION--IT IS NOT VERIFIED.--CORTeZ REINFORCED BY FRESH ARRIVALS.--FAMINE IN THE CITY.--CORTeZ LEVELS THE CITY TO ITS FOUNDATION.--CONDITION OF THE CAPITAL--ATTACK RENEWED.--CAPTURE OF GUATEMOZIN--SURRENDER OF THE CITY.--FRIGHTFUL CONDITION OF THE CITY.

The desertion of numerous allies, which we have noticed in the last chapter, was not alone prompted by the judgment of the flying Indians, but was stimulated in a great degree by the prophecy of the Aztec priests, that, within eight days from the period of prediction, the beleaguered city would be delivered from the Spaniards. But the sun rose on the ninth over the inexorable foes still in position on the causeways and on the lake. The news was soon sent by the allies who had remained faithful, to those who had fled, and the deficient ranks were quickly restored by the numbers who flocked back to the Spanish standard as soon as they were relieved from superst.i.tious fear.

About this time, moreover, a vessel that had been destined for Ponce de Leon, in his romantic quest of Florida, put into Vera Cruz with ammunition and military stores, which were soon forwarded to the valley.

Thus strengthened by his renerved Indian auxiliaries, and reinforced with Spanish powder and guns, Cortez was speedily again in train to a.s.sail the capital; for he was not content to be idle except when the most serious disasters forced him to endure the slow and murderous process of subduing the city by famine. There may, perhaps, be something n.o.ble and chivalrous in this feeling of the Castilian hero. His heart revolted at the sight of misery inflicted without a chance of escape, and it delighted in those conflicts which matched man with man, and gave the ultimate victory to valor and not to stratagem.

Accordingly the conqueror resolved again to commence active hostilities. But, this time, he designed to permit no hazards of the moment, and no personal carelessness of his officers to obstruct his entry or egress from the city. As he advanced the town was to be demolished; the ca.n.a.ls filled up; the breaches in the d.y.k.es perfectly repaired; and, as he moved onwards to the north and west, he determined that his path should be over a level and solid surface on which he might encounter none of the dangers that had hitherto proved so disastrous. The necessity of this course will be evident when it is recollected that all the houses were terraced with flat roofs and protecting parapets, which sheltered the a.s.sailants, whilst the innumerable ca.n.a.ls bisecting the streets served as so many pitfalls for cavalry, footmen and Indians, when they became confused in the hurry of a promiscuous onset or retreat.

Meanwhile the Aztecs within the city suffered the pangs of famine. The stores that had been gathered for the siege were gone. Human bodies, roots, rats, reptiles, served for a season, to a.s.suage the famished stomachs of the starving crowds;--when suddenly, Cortez despatched three Aztec n.o.bles to Guatemozin, who were instructed to praise his defence, to a.s.sure him he had saved the honor of himself and soldiery, and to point out the utter uselessness of longer delay in submitting to inevitable fate. The message of the conqueror was weighed by the court with more favor than by the proud and spirited Emperor, whose patriotic bosom burned at the disgraceful proposal of surrender. The priests turned the tide against the white men; and, after two days, the answer to the summons came in a warlike sortie from the city which well nigh swept the Spanish defenders from the d.y.k.es. But cannon and musketry were too strong for mere numbers. The vessels poured in their volumes of iron hail on the flanks, and the last dread effort of defensive despair expired before the unflinching firmness of the Castilian squadrons. At length, Cortez believed that the moment for final action had arrived. He gave orders for the advance of the several corps of the army simultaneously by their several causeways; and although it pained him greatly to destroy a capital which he deemed "the gem of the world," yet he put into execution his resolve to raze the city to its foundation unless it surrendered at discretion. The number of laborers was increased daily by the hosts that flocked like vultures to the carcase of an expiring victim. The palaces, temples and dwellings were plundered, thrown down, and cast into the ca.n.a.ls The water was entirely excluded from the city. On all sides there was fast and level land. But the Mexicans were not mere idle, contemptible spectators of their imperial city's ruin. Day after day squadrons sallied from the remains of the capital, and engaged the harra.s.sed invaders. Yet the indomitable constancy of the Spaniards was not to be resisted. Cortez and Alvarado had toiled onward towards each other, from opposite sides, till they met. The palace of Guatemozin fell and was burned. The district of Tlatelolco, in the north of the city, was reached, and the great market-place secured. One of the great Teocallis, in this quarter, was stormed, its sanctuaries burned, and the standard of Castile placed on its summit. Havoc, death, ruin, starvation, despair, hatred, were every where manifest. Every hour added to the misery of the numerous and retreating Aztecs who were pent up, as the besieging circle narrowed and narrowed by its advances. Women remained three days and nights up to their necks in water among the reeds. Hundreds died daily. Others became insane from famine and thirst.

The conqueror hoped, for several days, that this disastrous condition of the people would have induced the Emperor to come to terms; but, failing in this, he resolved upon a general a.s.sault. Before he resorted to this dreadful alternative, which his chivalrous heart taught him could result only in the slaughter of men so famished, dispirited and broken, he once more sought an interview with the Emperor. This was granted; but, at the appointed time, Guatemozin did not appear. Again the appeal was renewed, and, again, was Cortez disappointed in the arrival of the sovereign. Nothing, then, remained for him but an a.s.sault, and, as may readily be imagined, the carnage in this combined attack of Spaniards and confederate Indians was indescribably horrible. The long endurance of the Aztecs; their prolonged resistance and cruelty to the Spaniards; the dreadful sacrifice of the captives during the entire period of the siege; the memory of the first expulsion, and the speedy hope of golden rewards, nerved the arms and hearts of these ferocious men, and led them on, in the work of revenge and conquest, until the sun sunk and night descended on the tragic scene.

On the 13th of August, 1521, the last appeal was made by Cortez to the Emperor for a surrender of his capital. After the b.l.o.o.d.y scenes of the preceding day, and the increased misery of the last night, it was not to be imagined that even insane patriotism or savage madness could induce the sovereign to refrain from saving, at least, the unfortunate non-combatants who still were loyal to his throne and person. But the judgment of the conqueror was wrong. "Guatemozin would die where he was!" was the reply of the royal stoic.

Again the infuriate troops were let loose, and again were the scenes of the day before re-enacted on the b.l.o.o.d.y theatre. Many escaped in boats by the lake; but the brave or reckless Guatemozin, who seems, at the last moment, to have changed his mind as to perishing, was taken prisoner and brought, with his family, into the presence of Cortez. As soon as his n.o.ble figure and dignified face were seen on the _azotea_ or terraced roof, beside the conqueror, the battle ceased. The Indians beheld their monarch captive! And she who had witnessed the beginning of these adventures,--who had followed the fortunes of the General through all their vicissitudes--the gentle but brave Indian girl--Mariana--stood by the intrepid Cortez to act as his interpreter in this last scene of the splendid and eventful drama.

It was on the following day that the Mexicans who still survived the slaughter and famine, evacuated the city. It was a desert--but a desert covered with dead. The men who rushed in to plunder,--plundered as if robbing graves. Between one and two hundred thousand people perished during the three months' siege, and their festering bodies tainted the air. The booty, though considerable, was far beneath the expectations of the conquerors; yet there was doubtless enough to reward amply the stout men at arms who had achieved a victory unparalleled in the annals of modern warfare.

"What I am going to say is truth, and I swear, and say Amen to it!"--exclaims Bernal Diaz del Castillo, in his quaint style--"I have read of the destruction of Jerusalem, but I cannot conceive that the mortality there exceeded that of Mexico; for all the people from the distant provinces, which belonged to this empire, had concentrated themselves here, where they mostly died. The streets, and squares, and houses, and the courts of the Tlatelolco were covered with dead bodies; we could not step without treading on them; the lake and ca.n.a.ls were filled with them, and the stench was intolerable.