Conquest of Mexico
to south." (Conquista de Méjico, lib. 3, cap. 3.) It must have made a curious figure in geometry!
Page 245 (3).—The Tlascalan chronicler discerns in this deep-rooted hatred of Mexico the hand of Providence, who wrought out of it an important means for subverting the Aztec empire.—Hist. de Tlascala, MS.
Page 246 (1).—To the ripe age of one hundred and forty! if we may credit Camargo. Solis, who confounds this veteran with his son, has put a flourishing harangue in the mouth of the latter, which would be a rare gem of Indian eloquence, were it not Castilian.—Conquista, lib. 2, cap. 16.
Page 246 (2).—Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 3.—Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 27. There is sufficient contradiction as well as obscurity in the proceedings reported of the council, which it is not easy to reconcile altogether with subsequent events.
Page 246 (3).—"Dolus an virtus, quis in hoste requirat?"
Page 249 (1).—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 51. According to Gomara (Crónica, cap. 46) the enemy mustered 80,000. So, also, Ixtlilxochitl. (Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 83.) Bernal Diaz says, more than 40,000. (Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 63.) But Herrera (Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 6, cap. 5) and Torquemada (Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 20) reduce them to 30,000. One might as easily reckon the leaves in a forest, as the numbers of a confused throng of barbarians. As this was only one of several armies kept on foot by the Tlascalans, the smallest amount it, probably, too large. The whole population of the state, according to Clavigero, who would not be likely to underrate it, did not exceed half a million at the time of the invasion.— Stor. del Messico, tom. i. p. 156.
Page 250 (1).—"The device and arms of the ruling house of Titcala is a white heron on a rock." (Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.) "The Commander-in-chief," says Bernal Diaz, "named Xicotenga, bore coat-armour of red and white, because that was the device and cognisance of that same Xicotenga."—Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 63.
Page 250 (2).—"They call it Teponaztle; it is a length of wood in the form of a hollow cylinder, and, as we say hueco (hollow) internally. The sound of it can be heard sometimes at the distance of half a league, blending with the notes of the drum in strange and soft harmony." (Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.) Clavigero, who gives a drawing of this same drum, says it is still used by the Indians, and may be heard two or three miles.—Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 179.
Page 254 (1).—According to Cortés not a Spaniard fell—though many were wounded—in this action so fatal to the infidel! Diaz allows one. In the famous battle of Navas de Tolosa, between the Spaniards and Arabs, in 1212, equally matched in military science at that time, there were left 200,000 of the latter on the field; and, to balance this bloody roll, only five-and-twenty Christians! See the estimate in Alfonso IX's veracious letter, ap. Mariana (Hist. de España, lib. 2, cap. 24.) The official returns of the old Castilian crusaders, whether in the Old World or the New, are scarcely more trustworthy than a French imperial bulletin in our day.
Page 255 (1).—Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 52. Oviedo, who made free use of the manuscripts of Cortés, writes thirty-nine houses. (Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 3.) This may, perhaps, be explained by the sign for a thousand, in Spanish notation, bearing great resemblance to the figure 9. Martyr, who had access also to the Conqueror's manuscript, confirms the larger, and, à priori, less probable number.
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