The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo Vol 2 Part 10

Our troops in the brigantines had now a great advantage over us in making booty, for they were able to get at all the houses that lay in the lake, in which the Mexicans had concealed all their wealth; and also to those places in the lake which were thickly grown with reeds, and whither those Mexicans, whose houses were pulled down during the siege, fled with all their property; besides which, they had had frequent opportunities, while foraging in the country, to plunder several distinguished Mexicans, who had fled to seek refuge among the Otomies.

We other soldiers, who fought away on the causeways and mainland, derived no such benefits; all we got were severe wounds from arrows, stones, and lances. Whenever we did penetrate into the houses, the inmates had already escaped with their valuables; for we were unable to get at the houses without first filling up a ca.n.a.l, or throwing a bridge across, which took up a considerable time: and this was my reason for observing in a former chapter, that the troops whom Cortes selected for the service of the brigantines fared better than those who were stationed on the mainland. There was not the slightest doubt about this; for when Cortes asked Quauhtemoctzin after Motecusuma's treasure, he and his generals declared that the greater part of it had been carried off by the crews of the brigantines.

As the atmosphere of the town had become perfectly pestiferous, from the decomposed bodies, Quauhtemoctzin requested Cortes to allow the whole of the inhabitants, with the remaining part of his troops, to leave the city. This our general readily granted, and the causeways were crowded for three days and nights with men, women, and children, on their way to the mainland. These poor beings were quite emaciated, and had a death-like appearance; their bodies covered with filth, and they spread around them so abominable a stench, that we grew miserable at the very sight.

As soon as all the inhabitants had left the city, Cortes sent some persons there to see how things looked in general. The houses were found crammed with dead bodies, and among them several poor people were found still alive, though too weak to stand, and lying in their own filth, like those hogs which are fed upon nothing but gra.s.s. Every spot of earth in the town looked as if it had been ploughed up, for the famished inhabitants had dug up every root out of the ground, and had even peeled the bark from the trees, to still their hunger; neither did we find any fresh water, for that in the wells was of a salty flavour; and yet during this horrible famine the Mexicans had not eaten the flesh of their countrymen, though they so greedily devoured that of the Tlascallans and Spaniards.[28] Certainly no people ever suffered so much in this world from hunger, thirst, and the horrors of war, as the inhabitants of this great city.

After we had thus subdued the great, the populous, and the celebrated city of Mexico, a solemn service was performed, to offer up our thanks to the Almighty. After this Cortes ordered a banquet to be prepared in Cojohuacan, to celebrate the conquest with a joyous feast, at which the wine which had come with a vessel recently run into Vera Cruz, and the hog's meat from Cuba, were not spared.

To this banquet all the officers and soldiers were invited; but when the guests arrived there was scarcely sufficient room at the table for one third of them, which occasioned a good deal of ill-will, and it would have been better if Cortes had never given the banquet at all; for many curious things happened on this occasion, and Noah's tree gave rise to many foolish pranks. There were some folks who, when they had eaten and drank too much, instead of leaving the table, sicked all over it; others declared that they possessed gold enough to buy themselves horses with saddles of gold; and the crossbow-men swore they would for the future not shoot another arrow unless its point was made of pure gold; some kept stumbling about, and many rolled headlong down the steps.

After the banquet we had a ball, in which the ladies joined who had accompanied our army; and nothing could be more ridiculous than to see the leaps which their gallants took who were accoutred in full armour.

The ladies who danced were only few in number, and I will not mention their names, nor should I like to repeat the satires which appeared at their expense on the following day; but I must not forget to mention that father Olmedo expressed his disapprobation aloud at the scandalous conduct of the men during this banquet and dance, and observed to Sandoval, that this was not the way to return thanks to G.o.d, or to obtain his a.s.sistance for the future!

Sandoval mentioned this to Cortes, who, as he was always discreet in what he did, instantly sent for this pious man, and said to him: "Excellent father! it is impossible to restrain the soldiers when they are enjoying themselves after their manner. I certainly should have done better if I had withheld this inducement from them. It is, however, in the power of your reverence to put a stop to all this, by ordering a solemn procession to the church, where, in a sermon, you can give us a severe reprimand from the pulpit. Then you will also have a good opportunity of commanding the men not to rob the Indians of their daughters, or of anything else, and in future to discontinue their frequent disputes among each other, and to comport themselves as good Catholic Christians, that the Lord may prosper their lives."

This proposal was highly approved of by father Olmedo, and he thanked Cortes for it; though the idea had, in fact, originated with Alvarado. A procession was therefore instantly ordered, which we joined with flying colours and a few crosses, the image of the Virgin Mary being carried in front, and we sang supplicatory hymns as we moved along.

The day following father Olmedo preached a sermon, and many soldiers, with Cortes and Alvarado, made the communion, and we again offered up our thanks to the Almighty for the victory.

There are several circ.u.mstances relating to this memorable siege which I have omitted to mention, which, though they may appear out of place here, I should feel loth to pa.s.s by in silence.

Above all things I have to notice the great courage which our friends Chichimeclatecl and the two younger Xicotencatls displayed in our battles with the Mexicans, and altogether what efficient services they rendered us. The same I must say of Don Carlos, brother of the king of Tezcuco, who proved himself a man of extraordinary bravery and valour.

There was also another chief, from one of the towns lying in the lake, but whose name I have forgotten, who showed astonis.h.i.+ng feats of heroism; and many other chiefs among our allies signalised themselves in this siege; for which reason Cortes addressed them at considerable length in an eloquent speech, bestowing the highest praises on them, with thanks for their powerful a.s.sistance, and dismissed them with the promise that he would shortly present them with extensive territories, and numerous va.s.sals, so as to make them all great caziques. As they had made a rich booty of cotton stuffs, gold, and other valuable matters, they returned highly delighted to their several homes; neither did they forget to carry away with them large quant.i.ties of the flesh of the Mexicans they had slain, which they had salted down and smoked, for their relations and friends, to regale them with it at their feasts.[29]

It is now a long time since we fought these terrible battles, which continued without intermission day and night, and I cannot be too thankful to the Almighty for my preservation; and now I must relate something extraordinary which befel myself.

The reader will remember above that I stated how we could see the Mexicans sacrificing our unfortunate countrymen; how they ripped open their b.r.e.a.s.t.s, tore out their palpitating hearts, and offered them to their abominable idols. This sight made a horrible impression on my mind, yet no one must imagine that I was wanting either in courage or determination; on the contrary, I fearlessly exposed myself in every engagement to the greatest dangers, for I felt that I had courage. It was my ambition at that time to pa.s.s for a good soldier, and I certainly bore the reputation of being one; and what any of our men ventured, I ventured also, as every one who was present can testify; yet I must confess that I felt terribly agitated in spirit when I each day saw some of my companions being put to death in the dreadful manner above mentioned, and I was seized with terror at the thought that I might have to share a similar fate! Indeed the Mexicans had on two different occasions laid hold of me, and it was only through the great mercy of G.o.d that I escaped from their grasp.

I could no longer divest myself of the thoughts of ending my life in this shocking manner, and each time, before we made an attack upon the enemy, a cold shudder ran through my body, and I felt oppressed by excessive melancholy. It was then I fell upon my knees, and commended myself to the protection of G.o.d and the blessed Virgin; and from my prayers I rushed straightway into the battle, and all fear instantly vanished. This feeling appeared the more unaccountable to me, since I had encountered so many perils at sea, fought so many sanguinary battles in the open field, been present on so many dangerous marches through forests and mountains, stormed and defended so many towns; for there were very few great battles fought by our troops in New Spain in which I was not present. In these perils of various natures I never felt the fear I did subsequent to that time when the Mexicans captured sixty-two of our men, and we were compelled to see them thus slaughtered one by one, without being able to render them a.s.sistance. I leave those cavaliers to judge who are acquainted with war, and know from experience what dangers a man is exposed to in battle, whether it was want of courage which raised this feeling in me. Certain it is that I each day pictured to myself the whole extent of the danger into which I was obliged to plunge myself; nevertheless, I fought with my accustomed bravery, and all sensation of fear fled from me as soon as I espied the enemy.

Lastly, I must acquaint the reader that the Mexicans never killed our men in battle if they could possibly avoid it, but merely wounded them, so far as to render them incapable of defending themselves, in order that they might take as many of them alive as possible, to have the satisfaction of sacrificing them to their warrior-G.o.d Huitzilopochtli, after they had amused themselves by making them dance before him, adorned with feathers.

CHAPTER CLVII.

_How Cortes orders the aqueduct of Chapultepec to be restored; and of various other matters._

The first duty which Cortes imposed upon Quauhtemoctzin was to repair the aqueduct of Chapultepec, in order to supply Mexico with fresh water; also to bury the dead and all other putrid remains of flesh; to clean the streets, repair the causeways and bridges, and build up the houses and palaces which had been pulled down during the siege. After the s.p.a.ce of two months the inhabitants were to return to the city, and the quarter which they and that we were to inhabit was marked out. Besides these, many other regulations were made, but which I have now forgotten.

Quauhtemoctzin and all his officers, after a time, complained to Cortes that many of our officers and soldiers had carried off their wives and daughters, whom they begged might now be restored to them. Cortes, in answer to this request, told them it would be a difficult matter to get the women out of the hands of the soldiers again, but promised he would do his best for them. He then gave them permission to go in search of the females they spoke of, and to bring those they found into his presence, that he might see how many of them had become converts to Christianity, and which of them felt a desire to return to their parents and husbands, as he would restore all those to them who felt inclined to leave. Cortes then issued orders to all three divisions to deliver up all those females who felt any inclination to return to their families.

The Mexicans did not fail to profit by this permission; they went from one quarter to another, and found most of the women again; but there were only three that showed any desire to return to their homes; the rest all remained with our soldiers. Many even concealed themselves on hearing that their relations were coming in search of them; others declared they would never again return to the wors.h.i.+p of idols; and many of them were with child.

We now likewise constructed a secure harbour for our brigantines, and built a fort, to which a special alcalde was appointed, in the person of Alvarado (if I remember rightly), who filled this command until it was subsequently bestowed upon a certain Salazar de la Petrada, who came from Spain for that purpose.

The next thing which Cortes did was to collect all the gold, silver, and jewels that had been found in Mexico, of which, however, there was very little; for Quauhtemoctzin, it was said, had ordered all the treasures to be thrown into the lake four days previous to his capture. A great quant.i.ty had likewise been purloined by the Tlascallans, Tezcucans, Huexotzincans, Cholullans, and other auxiliary troops which had a.s.sisted us in the siege, besides what had fallen into the hands of the troops on board the brigantines.

The crown officials were positive that Quauhtemoctzin had concealed the greater part, and a.s.serted that Cortes was very pleased that the monarch refused to say a word where it was hidden; for he would then be able to get the whole treasure into his own possession.

The officers then proposed that Quauhtemoctzin and the king of Tlacupa, his most intimate friend and cousin, should be put to the torture, in order to extort from them a confession as to what had become of the treasures: but Cortes could not make up his mind to insult so great a monarch as Quauhtemoctzin, whose territory more than trebled that of Spain, and that for mere l.u.s.t after gold.[30] Moreover, the monarch's household a.s.sured us they had given up all the gold they possessed to the officers of the crown, which, it was well known, amounted to 380,000 pesos, the whole of which had been melted into bars; and one thing is certain, that the emperor's and Cortes' fifths were deducted from that sum; but the conquistadores were not at all satisfied, and considered this sum much below the real amount, and several expressed their suspicion to Alderete, the royal treasurer, that Cortes' only reason for not wis.h.i.+ng to put the monarch to the torture was, that he might secretly take possession of all his riches. Cortes, not willing that such a suspicion should any longer lie upon him, or that he should afterwards be called to an account on this score, at last consented that both should be put to the torture. Boiling hot oil was then applied to their feet; upon which they confessed that, four days prior to Quauhtemoctzin's capture, all the gold, with the cannon, crossbows, and muskets, which we had lost in the night of sorrows, when we retreated from Mexico, besides those which had been taken in Cortes' last defeat on the causeway, had been thrown into the lake. A number of good swimmers were then sent to dive for the treasure in the spot they pointed out, but nothing was found. Yet there was some truth in the statement; for I was myself present when Quauhtemoctzin led us to a large and deep reservoir of water, built of stone, which lay near his palace. From this reservoir we fished up a sun of gold similar to the one sent us by Motecusuma, besides many jewels and other trinkets, though all of little value. The king of Tlacupa also informed us that he had hidden all manner of valuable things in some large houses, about twelve miles from Tlacupa, and he would accompany us there to point out the spot where he had buried them.

Alvarado was then despatched thither with six soldiers, among which number I also was; but when we arrived at the spot, this king a.s.sured us he had merely invented all this in the hopes that we would have killed him in a moment of anger at our disappointment. We consequently returned without the treasure, and thus there was no more smelting of gold into bars for the present. But it is an undoubted fact that there was very little left in the treasury of Motecusuma when it came into the hands of Quauhtemoctzin; for by far the greater part had been taken out as a present for our emperor.

Among the things which were collected together on this occasion, there were various objects of beautiful workmans.h.i.+p, which it would be too tedious to describe. One thing however is certain, and many were bold enough to a.s.sert it, that the emperor's fifths were not taken of a third part of what there really was.

I said above that there was some truth in what was stated by Quauhtemoctzin with regard to his having ordered a quant.i.ty of gold and other things to be thrown into the lake. I, with many of my companions proved this to be a fact, for we frequently dived to the bottom of the water in the spot which had been pointed out by the monarch. Each time we brought up some trifling trinket or other, which were afterwards demanded of us by Cortes and the royal treasurer. On one occasion they both accompanied us to this spot, and took a number of good divers with them, who brought up various ornaments of gold, worth altogether about one hundred pesos; but this was nothing in comparison to the treasure which was said to have been thrown in by the command of the monarch.

When the gold we took on this occasion came to be divided, the officers and all our men were of opinion that what would fall to each one's share would scarcely be worth accepting; wherefore father Olmedo, Avila, Alvarado, and other cavaliers proposed to Cortes, that the whole should be distributed among the invalids, the blind, the lame, the deaf, and those who had been accidentally burnt by powder; a.s.suring him that we others who enjoyed good health, would gladly accede to this. Their object in making this proposal was to induce Cortes to add so much to each one's share as to make it worthy of our acceptance; for the suspicion was become pretty general that he had concealed the greater part of Quauhtemoctzin's treasure.

In answer to this Cortes said he would first see how much each man's share amounted to, and he would try if he could not satisfy all parties. Our officers and men now insisted that this calculation should instantly be gone into, when it was found that every cavalry soldier would have to receive 100 pesos, and the musketeers and crossbow-men I forget how much. None of the men would accept of this miserable pittance, and they began to throw out bitter complaints against Cortes and the royal treasurer, who excused himself by saying, that there was nothing more for them, as Cortes had deducted for himself an equal portion with the crown, and had besides claimed large sums in payment for the horses which had been killed, and such like; also, many curious objects of value had not at all been added to the common stock, but had been set apart as particular presents for the emperor. They should not, therefore, concluded Alderete, cavil with him about it, but with Cortes.

As there were friends and partisans among our troops of the governor of Cuba, and soldiers of Narvaez's corps who were besides this ill inclined towards Cortes, they obstinately refused to accept of the gold which was offered them, saying, they were ent.i.tled to much more.

About this time Cortes was staying at Cojohuacan, and inhabited a large palace, the walls of which had been recently fresh plastered and white-washed, so that they were well adapted for writing on with charcoal or other colours. Every morning that came, a couple of biting epigrams or satires were found written on these walls, either in prose or rhyme. One time for instance you would read: _The sun, moon, stars, firmament, the sea and the earth have their fixed course, and if ever they do diverge from their regular course, they always correct themselves again; may Cortes, in his love of power, take this as a precept._ At another time: _We are much more conquered ourselves than conquerors, and should not be called the conquerors of New Spain, but the conquered of Cortes._ Then again: _Cortes is not content with taking his share of the gold as general, but must also have his royal fifths._ Again: _Alas! how my heart does grieve, ever since I have seen my share of the booty!_ And then again: _Diego Velasquez has spent all his fortune to discover the coast up to Panuco, but Cortes has reaped the harvest._ Such like sayings were numerous, many of which I should not wish to repeat here.

Cortes never neglected to read these epigrams as soon as he rose in the morning; the greater part of which were in rhyme, and not exactly so homely as those above quoted. As he was himself a bit of a poet, he wrote answers in verse beneath them, which had always reference to his deeds of arms, and tended to lower those of Diego Velasquez, Grijalva, and of Narvaez. These, his answers, were so pointed, that each day the epigrams became more severe, when Cortes at length wrote: _White wall, the paper of fools!_ And the following morning was found under it: _And of the wise and honest!_ Our general very well knew who were the writers of these verses; namely, a certain Tirado, one of Velasquez's partisans, and son-in-law of the elder Ramirez, who lived in la Puebla; a certain Villalobos, who returned afterwards to Spain; and one Mansilla, with others, who were always ready to oppose Cortes in everything. These verses grew at length of so scandalous a nature, that father Olmedo told Cortes he ought to put a stop to them. Our general followed this good advice, and ordered that no one henceforth should presume to dirty the walls with any beastly sayings, under threats of severe punishment.

For the rest we were all deeply in debt. A crossbow was not to be purchased for less than forty or fifty pesos, a musket cost one hundred, a sword fifty, and a horse from 800 to 1000 pesos, and above. Thus extravagantly had we to pay for everything! A surgeon, who called himself Mastre Juan, and who had cured some very severe wounds, demanded most exorbitant fees for his cures. There was also an apothecary and barber, named Murcia, who likewise cured wounds. Various other impositions were practised, and payment was demanded of the men as soon as they had obtained their shares of the booty.

Serious complaints were made about this, and Cortes knew no other remedy than to appoint two men of business-like habits and of well-known honesty, to examine each demand and tax the amount. One of these persons was named Santclara, the other Llerena, and no debt was considered valid unless it had been examined by them; and two years were allowed to liquidate a debt we were unable to pay at the moment.

In the smelting of the gold there was also allowed an eighth of alloy to every ounce, to a.s.sist the men in the purchase of the necessaries of life, as about that time a number of vessels had arrived at Vera Cruz with various kinds of merchandise. But we derived no advantage from this, on the contrary it proved very prejudicial to us; for the merchants added the same per centage to the price of their goods, and sold for five pesos what was only worth three, and so this alloy became, as the Indians termed it, _tepuzque_, or copper. This expression afterwards became so common among us, that we added it to the names of distinguished cavaliers, to express the worth of their character; as for instance we would say, Senor Don Juan of so much tepuzque.

Complaints were now made of the excess of alloy which was mixed with the gold; at length two gold workers were even detected in stamping the gold mark on pure copper, in punishment for which Cortes ordered them to be hung. But all these are stories which do not exactly belong to my history.

Our general becoming weary of the continued reproaches which were thrown out against him, and the everlasting pet.i.tions for loans and advance in pay, determined at once to get rid of the most troublesome fellows, by forming settlements in those provinces which appeared most eligible for this purpose. He accordingly despatched Sandoval to Tuztepec, to form a settlement there, and punish the Mexican garrison lying in that towns.h.i.+p, for having, about the time of our unfortunate retreat from Mexico, put to death sixty Spaniards, and six Spanish ladies, all of Narvaez's corps. He was, first of all, to leave a settlement at Medellin, then to proceed to the river Guacasualco, form a settlement in the harbour there, and then subdue the province of Panuco.

Rodrigo Rangel and Pedro de Ircio were ordered off to Vera Cruz; the younger Juan Velasquez to Colima and Villa Fuerte, in the province of Zacatula; Christobal de Oli, who about this time married a Portuguese lady, named Dona Filipa de Araujo, was sent to Mechoacan; and Francisco de Horozco was commissioned with the colonization of Oaxaca.

The inhabitants of the provinces I have just mentioned would not at first credit that Mexico had fallen; but when they found it to be a fact, the kings and caziques of those distant provinces sent amba.s.sadors to congratulate Cortes on his victory, and to declare themselves va.s.sals of our emperor; as also to convince themselves with their own eyes that we had really levelled that terrible city to the ground. Each of these amba.s.sadors brought with them valuable presents in gold, and many had their young sons with them, to whom they pointed out the ruins of Mexico, just as we would show our children the spot where Troy once stood.

I will now answer a question which the curious reader will surely ask himself, namely, why we, the true Conquistadores of New Spain, and of the strong city of Mexico, did not settle down there, but selected other provinces by preference? The reason is, that we had learnt from Motecusuma's rent-rolls where those districts lay from which he derived the greatest quant.i.ty of gold, cacao, and cotton stuffs. All our thoughts and desires were bent upon those provinces whence the monarch obtained the largest tribute in gold, and when we found that even Sandoval, one of our chief officers, and a particular friend of Cortes, likewise left Mexico for the provinces, we no longer hesitated to follow his example; the more so, as there were no gold mines in the neighbourhood of Mexico, nor did it produce cotton or cacao, but merely maguey and maise, from the former of which the inhabitants prepare their wine. We therefore considered the country surrounding the metropolis very poor, and we consequently settled in other provinces, though we were greatly disappointed in our expectations! This Cortes had well foreseen, and I still remember that he said to me, when I requested his permission to accompany Sandoval: "Upon my conscience, brother Bernal Diaz del Castillo, you are making a great mistake. I should feel delighted if you would stay with me in Mexico; but if you have made up your mind to accompany your friend Sandoval, I will not oppose your wishes, and may G.o.d be with you. You may rely upon it I will take every opportunity to promote your welfare; but I am sure you will soon regret having left me."

Before we commenced our march each man received an account of his share of the booty, when it was found that all our shares of the gold were due to the officers of the crown, in payment for the slaves we had bought at the auctions.

I will not here trouble the reader by enumerating what number of horse, crossbow-men, musketeers, or other soldiers left for the provinces, nor will I give the date of the month, but merely inform him that the first troops left a few days after the capture of Quauhtemoctzin, and the second expedition two months later.

I must now relate the important news which arrived about this time from Vera Cruz.

CHAPTER CLVIII.

_How a certain Christobal de Tapia arrived in Vera Cruz, with the appointment of governor of New Spain._