The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Vol 2 (of 2)

Muchos necios a de hazer.

45

The liberties which Cortes granted to all those who built houses in Mexico, drew such vast crowds to the spot, that pestilential diseases broke out, which carried off numbers of human beings. The labourers, while at work, were enlivened by vocal and instrumental music. (p. 221 (#Page_221).)

46

The real name of this excellent man was Toribio de Benavente. When he first arrived in New Spain, the Indians thought his outward garments so mean that they continually cried out when they saw him, "Poor man! poor man!" As he was then unacquainted with their language, he inquired the meaning of the word "Motolinia," which they so often repeated; and, on being told what it was, he said, "Well, since this is the first word of the language which I learn, it shall in future be my name!" This monk was unremitting in his exertions to promote the welfare of the Indians, and he alone baptized above 400,000. (p. 222 (#Page_222).)

47

According to Gomara and Herrera, Cortes left Mexico in October, 1524. (p. 235 (#Page_235).)

48

Herrera, who has otherwise merely transcribed Gomara's account of this expedition, has the following passage, which we do not find elsewhere: "Medrano, the hoboist," he says, "declared that, in order to still his hunger during this campaign, he ate of the brain and inside of Bernardo Caldero, and of those of a nephew of his, who was also a musician, and had died of hunger." I must here take the opportunity, owing to an omission in the print, of offering a few remarks on the execution of Quauhtemoctzin, and the king of Tlacupa.

Gomara, in his account of the expedition to the Honduras, positively asserts that Quauhtemoctzin and the other chiefs were guilty of this conspiracy, and says that they confessed it themselves, and were then tried by a court-martial, which passed sentence of death upon them. Torquemada, however, differs widely with Gomara; and, in speaking of the unfortunate end of Quauhtemoctzin, he has the following: "So this matter is related by Gomara and Herrera, but I find it differently represented in a history written in the Mexican language, and which I believe to be perfectly correct. While Cortes (the Mexican author says) was quartered in a certain township, the Mexican chiefs one evening began to discourse among themselves about the recent hardships they had suffered, and Cohuanacotzin said to Quauhtemoctzin, to Tetlepanquetzaltzin, and to other distinguished Mexicans, 'Thus you see, gentlemen, from kings we are become slaves, and we suffer ourselves to be led about by Cortes and this handful of Christians. If we were other people than we are, and would break through the promise we have made these Spaniards, we could play them a pretty trick here, and revenge ourselves upon them for all they have done to us, and the ill-treatment my cousin Quauhtemoctzin has suffered at their hands.' To this the Mexican monarch replied, 'I beg of you Cohuanacotzin to drop this subject, lest some one should overhear us, and imagine we were in earnest.' It appears (continues Torquemada) that they were indeed overheard, for the whole of this discourse was reported to Cortes by a low-minded Mexican of the lower classes." (p. 244 (#Page_244).)

49

With respect to the running or melting of the fat in the body causing instant death, it was most likely a notion entertained by the medical men of that day; the remark is, therefore, very excusable in an old soldier. (p. 255 (#Page_255).)

50

Probably the iguana, a species of lizard common to St. Domingo, where it is eaten, and considered delicate food. (p. 255 (#Page_255).)

51

Here our author has evidently erred, for Cortes left Mexico in the month of October, 1524, and the author repeatedly says that two years and three months were spent in this expedition; thus he cannot have returned until the year 1526. (p. 302 (#Page_302).)

52

Cortes must either have worn mourning for an uncommon length of time for his wife, or our author must have been misinformed when he says that she died a few months after her arrival in New Spain. (p. 327 (#Page_327).)

53

Bernal Diaz had forgotten the precise year, and says he arrived there in the month of May, 1536 or 1537. (p. 352 (#Page_352).)

54

The psydium pyriferum or pomiferum of Linnæus. (p. 352 (#Page_352).)

55

Bernal Diaz has fallen into an error here, for the meeting of the two monarchs at Aigues-Mortes was accidental, the emperor having been cast on the shore of Provence on a sea-voyage to Barcelona, and Francis the First, who happened to be in the neighbourhood at the time, kindly invited him to the place above mentioned. Neither was there any treaty of peace concluded between the two monarchs on this occasion, but an armistice for ten years had been agreed upon between them shortly beforehand, on the 18th of June, 1538. (p. 355 (#Page_355).)

56

This chapter 202 we may distinguish as the most uninteresting of all; it seems a mere jumble of facts thrown in anyhow; but the author himself remarks at the end of the chapter, "I relate all this merely from hearsay." (p. 357 (#Page_357).)

57

A little below, Bernal Diaz particularly mentions Cojohuacan. (p. 364 (#Page_364).)

58

Gomara agrees with Bernal Diaz as to the day of Cortes' death, (the 2d day of December, 1547,) but says he was sixty-three years of age. (p. 364 (#Page_364).)

59

Our author omits to mention anything about the third daughter. In these passages we cannot sufficiently admire the excellent feeling of the old soldier, which was charitable to a degree; for though he had great reason to complain of the neglect he suffered from his hero Cortes, yet, after his death, he tries to raise him in your estimation, and he lets him die an honest man. (p. 365 (#Page_365).)

60

The famous general Gonsalo Hernandez de Cordoba. (p. 373 (#Page_373).)

61

The inns in Spain, which stand along the high roads at great distances from any town, are called ventas, and are mostly built by government. (p. 378 (#Page_378).)

62

This passage proves volumes for the honesty, judiciousness, and education of the author; for uneducated minds are fond of large numbers to create astonishment, but he takes the least number, while the so termed learned historians have not hesitated to employ ridiculous exaggerations. Gomara, for instance, says that 20,000 human beings were annually sacrificed to the idols within the circle of Cortes' conquests; according to others, 50,000. Herrera goes further, for he says that frequently from 5000 to 20,000 human beings were sacrificed in one day at Mexico and in the surrounding neighbourhood. (p. 388 (#Page_388).)

The Spaniards must have been remarkably active in those days, for Cortes first arrived at San Juan de Ulloa in the year 1519; in August, 1521, he took the city of Mexico, which was converted into a heap of ruins by the siege; in the month of June, 1526, he returned from the Honduras, and there stood a new city, with many churches, cloisters, palaces, fortifications, and most probably also an amphitheatre for bull-fights. (p. 393 (#Page_393).)

63

Respecting this celebrated artist, see a former note. (p. 391 (#Page_391).)

64

The inland trade of New Spain was considerable as early as in the year 1531. In the market of Tlascalla alone there were annually slaughtered from 14,000 to 15,000 sheep, 4000 oxen, and 2000 pigs. See Herrera.

65

Bernal Diaz had good reasons for his fears. The three volcanoes which lay in the vicinity, termed volcan de Agua, volcan de Fuego, and volcan de Pacaya, rendered the ground very unsafe, and the metropolis of this province was several times removed by the Spaniards. The present town of Guatimala, called La Nueva Guatemala de la Asuncion, lies in the plain of Mixco. For a further account of this town and the eruptions of the above-mentioned volcanoes, we must refer the reader to the work of Domingo Juarros, entitled, 'Compendio de la Historia de la Ciudad de Guatemala,' published at the latter place, 1809-1818. (p. 409 (#Page_409).)