Chapter IV (3)

[173] Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 143.--Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 128.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 13, 47.--Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 24.--Martyr, De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 6.--Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 10, cap. 4.--Probanza en la Villa Segura, MS.

[174] “Pues la grita, y lloros, y lástimas [~q] deziā demādando socorro: Ayudadme, [~q] me ahogo, otros: Socorredme, [~q] me matā, otros demādando ayuda á N. Señora Santa María, y á Señor Santiago.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 128.

[175] “In this combat Maria de Estrada, oblivious of her sex, showed herself most valorous, and armed with sword and shield did marvellous deeds, rushing into the midst of the enemy with a courage and spirit equal to that of the bravest of men.... This lady became the wife of Pedro Sanchez Farfan, and the village of Tetela was granted to them _en encomienda_.” Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 72.

[176] Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 128.--“Por la gran priesa que daban de ambas partes de el camino, comenzáron á caer en aquel foso, y cayéron juntos, que de Españoles, que de Indios y de caballos, y de cargas, el foso se hinchó hasta arriba, cayendo los unos sobre los otros, y los otros sobre los otros, de manera que todos los del bagage quedáron allí ahogados, y los de la retaguardia pasáron sobre los muertos.” Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 24.

[177] “E los que habian ido con Narvaez arrojáronse en la sala, é cargáronse de aquel oro é plata quanto pudiéron; pero los menos lo gozáron, porque la carga no los dexaba pelear, é los Indios los tomaban vivos cargados; é á otros llevaban arrastrando, é á otros mataban allí; E así no se salvaron sino los desocupados é que iban en la delantera.” Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 47.

[178] Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 10, cap. 11.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 13.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 128.

[179] “Luego encontráron con Pedro de Alvarado bien herido con vna lança en la mano á pie, que la yegua alaçana ya se la auian muerto.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 128.

[180] “Y los amigos vista tan gran hazaña quedáron maravillados, y al instante que esto viéron se arrojáron por el suelo postrados por tierra en señal de hecho tan heroico, espantable y raro, que ellos no habian visto hacer á ningun hombre, y ansi adoráron al Sol, comiendo puñados de tierra, arrancando yervas del campo, diciendo á grandes voces, verdaderamente que este hombre es _hijo del Sol_.” (Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.) This writer consulted the process instituted by Alvarado’s heirs, in which they set forth the merits of their ancestor, as attested by the most valorous captains of the Tlascalan nation, present at the Conquest. It _may be_ that the famous leap was among these “merits” of which the historian speaks. M. de Humboldt, citing Camargo, so considers it. (Essai politique, tom. ii. p. 75.) This would do more than anything else to establish the fact. But Camargo’s language does not seem to me necessarily to warrant the inference.

[181] “Se llama aora la puente del salto de Alvarado: y platicauamos muchos soldados sobre ello, y no hallavamos razon, ni soltura de vn hombre que tal saltasse.” Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 128.

[182] Gomara, Crónica, cap. 109.--Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, ubi supra.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 47.--Which last author, however, frankly says that many who had seen the place declared that it seemed to them impossible. “Fué tan estremado de grande el salto, que á muchos hombres que han visto aquello, he oido decir que parece cosa imposible haberlo podido saltar ninguno hombre humano. En fin él lo saltó é ganó por ello la vida, é perdiéronla muchos que atras quedaban.”

[183] The spot is pointed out to every traveller. It is where a ditch, of no great width, is traversed by a small bridge not far from the western extremity of the Alameda. A house, lately erected there, may somewhat interfere with the meditations of the antiquary. (Alaman, Disertaciones históricas, tom. i. p. 202.) As the place received its name in Alvarado’s time, the story could scarcely have been discountenanced by him. But, since the length of the leap, strange to say, is nowhere given, the reader can have no means of passing his own judgment on its probability. [Unfortunately for the lovers of the marvellous, another version is now given of the account of Alvarado’s escape, which deprives him of the glory claimed for him by this astounding feat. In the process against him, which was not brought to light till several years after the present work was published, one of the charges was that he fled from the field, leaving his soldiers to their fate, and escaping by means of a beam which had survived the demolition of the bridge and still stretched across the chasm from one side to the other. The chief, in his reply, said that, far from deserting his men, they deserted him, and that he did not fly till he was wounded and his horse killed under him, when he escaped across the breach, was taken up behind a mounted cavalier on the other side, and carried out of the fray. That he should not have alluded to the account given of the manner of his escape, so much less glorious than that usually claimed for him, may lead us to infer that it was too true to be disputed. Such is the judgment of Señor Ramirez, who, in his account of the affair, tells us that, far from being an object of admiration, Alvarado’s escape was, in his own time, deemed rather worthy of punishment, as an act of desertion which cost the lives of many brave followers whom he left behind him. (See the Proceso de Alvarado, pp. 53, 68, with the caustic remarks of Ramirez, pp. xiv., 288, et seq.) It is natural that a descendant of the conquered race should hold in peculiar detestation the most cruel persecutor of the Aztecs.]

[184] “Fué Dios servido de que los Mejicanos se ocupasen en recojer los despojos de los muertos, y las riquezas de oro y piedras que llevaba el bagage, y de sacar los muertos de aquel acequia, y á los caballos y otros bestias. Y por esto no siguiéron el alcanze, y los Españoles pudiéron ir poco á poco por su camino sin tener mucha molestia de enemigos.” Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 25.

[185] Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 47.--Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 89.--Gomara, Crónica, cap. 109.

[186] Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 10, cap. 12.

[187] “Tacuba,” says that interesting traveller, Latrobe, “lies near the foot of the hills, and is at the present day chiefly noted for the large and noble church which was erected there by Cortés. And hard by you trace the lines of a Spanish encampment. I do not hazard the opinion, but it might appear by the coincidence, that this was the very position chosen by Cortés for his intrenchment, after the retreat just mentioned, and before he commenced his painful route towards Otumba.” (Rambler in Mexico, Letter 5.) It is evident, from our text, that Cortés could have thrown up no intrenchment here, at least on his retreat from the capital.

[188] Lorenzana, Viage, p. xiii.

[189] Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 24.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 128.--Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.--Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 89.

[190] The table below may give the reader some idea of the discrepancies in numerical estimates, even among eye-witnesses, and writers who, having access to the actors, are nearly of equal authority:

Killed and Missing. Cortes, ap. Lorenzana, p. 145, 150 Spaniards, 2000 Indians Cano, ap. Oviedo, lib. 33, cap. 54, 1170 “ 8000 “ Probanza, etc., 200 “ 2000 “ Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., lib. 33, cap. 13, 150 “ 2000 “ Camargo, 450 “ 4000 “ Gomara, cap. 109, 450 “ 4000 “ Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., cap. 88, 450 “ 4000 “ Sahagun, lib. 12, cap. 24, 300 “ 2000 “ Herrera, dec. 2, lib. 10, cap. 12, 150 “ 4000 “

Bernal Diaz does not take the trouble to agree with himself. After stating that the rear, on which the loss fell heaviest, consisted of 120 men, he adds, in the same paragraph, that 150 of these were slain, which number swells to 200 in a few lines further! Falstaff’s men in buckram! See Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 128.--Cano’s estimate embraces, it is true, those--but their number was comparatively small--who perished subsequently on the march. The same authority states that 270 of the garrison, ignorant of the proposed departure of their countrymen, were perfidiously left in the palace of Axayacatl, where they surrendered on terms, but were subsequently all sacrificed by the Aztecs! (See Appendix, No. 11.) The improbability of this monstrous story, by which the army with all its equipage could leave the citadel without the knowledge of so many of their comrades,--and this be permitted, too, at a juncture which made every man’s co-operation so important,--is too obvious to require refutation. Herrera records, what is much more probable, that Cortés gave particular orders to the captain, Ojeda, to see that none of the sleeping or wounded should, in the hurry of the moment, be overlooked in their quarters. Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 10, cap. 11.

[191] “Pues de los de Narvaez, todos los mas en las puentes quedáron, cargados de oro.” Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 128.

[192] According to Diaz, part of the gold intrusted to the _Tlascalan_ convoy was preserved. (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 136.) From the document already cited,--Probanza de Villa Segura, MS.,--it appears that it was a Castilian guard who had charge of it.

[193] Gomara, Crónica, cap. 109.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 13.--Probanza en la Villa Segura, MS.--Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 128.

[194] Lorenzana, Viage, p. xiii.

[195] The last instance, I believe, of the direct interposition of the Virgin in behalf of the metropolis was in 1833, when she was brought into the city to avert the cholera. She refused to pass the night in town, however, but was found the next morning in her own sanctuary at Los Remedios, showing, by the mud with which she was plentifully bespattered, that she must have performed the distance--several leagues--through the miry ways on foot! See Latrobe, Rambler in Mexico,