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

After the lapse of four days, during which time our general and his men had rested from their fatigues, the chiefs of several towns.h.i.+ps in the northern districts of the country arrived in Tezcuco, with a present of gold and cotton stuffs, and desired to be admitted as va.s.sals of our emperor. These towns.h.i.+ps were Tucapan, Maxcaltzinco, Naultzan, and many others of less note.

When the chiefs of these towns.h.i.+ps were brought into Cortes' presence they paid him the profoundest veneration, and handed over the presents to him; then informed him that they were desirous of being on terms of friends.h.i.+p with us, and of becoming subjects of the king of Spain. They likewise said, that these towns.h.i.+ps had a.s.sisted the Spaniards in the battle of Almeria, where the Mexican commander Quauhpopoca, on whom we had taken so direful a revenge, had put several teules to death.

Cortes, who had always thought to the contrary, was highly delighted on hearing this; he showed these amba.s.sadors every kindness, and graciously accepted of their present. No inquiries were made as to what the conduct of these towns.h.i.+ps had latterly been; but Cortes, without any hesitation, acknowledged them va.s.sals of our emperor, and then dismissed them with flattering a.s.surances of his friends.h.i.+p.

About this time messengers also arrived from other towns.h.i.+ps which were in alliance with us, to beg our general's a.s.sistance against the Mexicans, who had fallen hostilely into their country with a large body of troops, and had carried off numbers of them prisoners, and scalped many others. Similar bad tidings were likewise received from Chalco and Tlalma.n.a.lco, the inhabitants of which towns stated that their destruction was inevitable if they did not receive immediate a.s.sistance, as the enemy was rapidly advancing against them in great numbers. They, however, did not merely give a verbal description of the danger they were in, but likewise brought forth a large piece of nequen cloth, on which they had depicted the different squadrons of the enemy's troops which were marching against them.

Cortes was greatly perplexed to know what he should do, and scarcely knew what answer to give, nor how he should be able to send a.s.sistance to both places at once; many of our men were wounded, and almost worn out with fatigue; four had died of their wounds, and eight others of pleurisy, and of bleeding profusely from the nose and mouth, occasioned by the weight of our arms, which we durst never lay aside, and by the forced marches and the quant.i.ty of dust which got down our throats.

Our general, however, informed the amba.s.sadors of the first-mentioned towns.h.i.+ps that he would soon repair to their a.s.sistance; but desired them in the meantime to apply to their neighbours for help, and with their united forces to oppose the advancing foe. It was their timidity, he said, which inspired the Mexicans with courage; for the latter had not so many troops at their command as formerly, from the vast increase of their opponents on all sides.

By these representations Cortes succeeded in allaying their fears and arousing their courage, but they requested some authority from him in writing to show to their neighbours, in which he should command them to repair to their a.s.sistance.

To explain their motive for desiring this, I must remark, that though the Indians at that time could neither read nor understand our writing, yet they looked upon any written doc.u.ment as signifying a more particular and peremptory command. They were therefore highly delighted when Cortes gave them the required letter, and they showed it to their friends, who then instantly marched out their troops to join them, and with their united forces they now boldly advanced against the Mexicans, and fought with pretty good success in the battle which followed.

We must now return to Chalco, respecting the safety of which Cortes was particularly solicitous; for it was of the greatest importance to him that this province should be kept clear of the enemy. Our line of communication with Vera Cruz and Tlascalla ran through this country, and from which we also obtained the greater part of our provisions, as the soil was uncommonly productive of maise. Sandoval, therefore, was ordered to march thither very early next morning with 200 foot, twenty horse, twelve crossbow-men, and ten musketeers, besides all the Tlascallan troops which still remained with us,--though these had greatly decreased in numbers; for, as I have above mentioned, most of them had departed to their homes with the booty they had made. A company of Tezcucans was therefore added to this detachment, and placed under the immediate command of Luis Marin, an officer with whom Sandoval lived on the most intimate terms of friends.h.i.+p. We others remained behind for the protection of Tezcuco and our brigantines, nor did Alvarado or Oli leave our head-quarters on this occasion.

Before accompanying Sandoval to Chalco, I must make a few comments on some observations which fell from several cavaliers, who, on comparing my account of Cortes' expedition to Xaltocan with that of Gomara, discovered that I had omitted three things mentioned in his history. One circ.u.mstance was, that Cortes had appeared before Mexico with the thirteen brigantines, and fought a terrible battle with Quauhtemoctzin's whole armed force, which had been distributed in the canoes and large pirogues. The other, that Cortes, when he had advanced up to Mexico along the causeway had held a parley with the Mexican chiefs, and threatened to reduce the town by famine: and the third, that he had not acquainted the inhabitants of Tezcuco with his intention of marching against Xaltocan, from fear they might betray his designs to the Mexicans.

The answer I made those gentlemen on these three points was, that at the time of our expedition against the Xaltocans, our brigantines were not completed, and that it must appear ridiculous in itself, for the brigantines to have found their way overland thither, and that our cavalry and other troops should have taken their road through the lake.

But as we have above seen, when Cortes had advanced along the causeway from Tlacupa, it was with great difficulty he made his retreat good, nor had we at that time besieged the town so closely as to be able to cut off all its supplies of provisions; on the contrary, Mexico was then still in possession of the districts whence it obtained those supplies.

Everything which Gomara relates as having taken place on that occasion did not happen till some time after. It is equally untrue when this historian states that Cortes took a roundabout way in order to conceal his design upon Xaltocan from the Tezcucans on his march thither; he had no choice of roads, as there was only one, which led through the territory of Tezcuco.

These are indeed shocking blunders; but I am well aware that they must not be laid entirely to the door of Gomara, but for the most part to the false information which had been furnished him, and this expressly to bestow all the renown of our deeds of arms on Cortes, and thereby throw the heroic valour of his soldiers into the shade. What I relate is the pure truth, and these same cavaliers were subsequently convinced that my statements were correct. Having thus digressed for a short time I must return to Sandoval, who, after he had attended ma.s.s marched out with his troops from Tezcuco and arrived in front of Chalco by break of day.

CHAPTER CXLII.

_How the captain Sandoval marches to Chalco and Tlalma.n.a.lco, and what he did there._

Sandoval set out with his troops on the 12th of March, 1521. The first night he encamped at Chalco, and arrived the next morning early before Tlalma.n.a.lco, where the caziques and inhabitants gave him a most hearty welcome, and provided abundance of food for his troops; but the caziques informed him he had still to march further on to the large towns.h.i.+p of Huaxtepec, where a large body of Mexican troops was stationed, who would be joined by all the warriors of the province.

Sandoval, on receiving this information, concluded that there was no time to be lost, and immediately marched towards Chimalhuacan, which was subject to Chalco, where he quartered his troops for the night. The inhabitants of Chalco had sent out spies in every direction, and learnt that the enemy was not far off, but lay in wait for the Spaniards in the thickets and hollows of the mountains. Sandoval, who was an officer of great determination and foresight, ordered his march as follows: the musketeers and crossbow-men went in advance, the cavalry were to follow three and three together, and when the former had discharged their pieces, the horse were to charge the enemy's line at full gallop, and to direct the point of their lances at the face, and continue the attack until the enemy was put to flight. The infantry were to keep their ranks firmly closed, and not to rush in upon the enemy until a signal for that purpose was given. This order of attack Sandoval deemed necessary, as the enemy's numbers were very great, and the nature of the ground unfavorable for his manoeuvres; besides that, it was impossible to discover whether the Mexicans had not dug pits or laid other snares to entrap the Spaniards; so that it was quite necessary his small army should keep close together in a body.

After Sandoval had marched a little further on he came up with the Mexicans, who were advancing towards him in three distinct bodies, with fearful yells and the horrible din of drums and sh.e.l.l trumpets, and instantly fell upon our troops like so many furious lions. As soon as Sandoval observed that the enemy intended to fall upon him in three distinct bodies, he likewise changed his order of attack, and commanded the cavalry to charge the foe without delay, and not wait for the rest of the troops. He then placed himself at their head, encouraged his men and rushed forward to the attack, under the cry of--"Santiago!" The powerful shock which the enemy thus sustained certainly caused some of them to recoil, but they immediately closed again and boldly advanced against our horse, being greatly a.s.sisted by the unevenness of the ground and a deep break, where it was difficult for our horse to manoeuvre. Sandoval, perceiving the enemy's advantage, ordered his foot to close their ranks again, placed the crossbow-men and musketeers in front, and those who were armed with swords and s.h.i.+elds on the flanks.

In this order they were again to advance to the attack as soon as they heard a shot from the other side of the break, which would be a signal to them that the cavalry had charged and driven the foe back on to the level ground. Our allies were likewise ordered to follow the example of the Spanish foot; this was accordingly done and the object accomplished.

In this attack the enemy had observed better order in their mode of fighting, and our troops had many wounded. They certainly retreated, but only to make a stand at another and more favorable position. Sandoval, with the horse, followed close at their heels, but merely took three or four prisoners, and lost Gonzalo Dominiguez, whose horse unfortunately stumbled and fell with its whole weight upon him, and he expired a few days after of the consequences.

I particularly mention the loss of Dominiguez, because he was one of the most courageous men of our troops, and one of the best cavalry officers; and considered equally brave in battle as Oli and Sandoval. Every one of us deeply lamented the death of this excellent officer. Sandoval now pursued the enemy with the whole of his troops up to the town of Huaxtepec, where his further progress was arrested by an army of above 15,000 Mexicans, who completely hemmed him in on all sides. Numbers of his men were wounded and five horses killed; but as the ground was level here, he succeeded by a desperate charge of his cavalry to break the enemy's line, and drove them back into the town. Here the Mexicans were again about to make a stand behind some entrenchments which they had thrown up; but the Spaniards and their allies allowed them no time to rally, and our horse was so close at their heels, that at last they shut themselves up in a strong part of the town where it was impossible to get at them.

Sandoval concluded the enemy would remain quiet for the remainder of the day: he therefore allowed his men to take a little rest, ordered the wounded to be attended to, and provisions to be distributed, of which a considerable booty had been made. Just as his men were in the midst of their repast, two of the cavalry and other of the outposts came up in all haste, crying out, "To arms! to arms! to arms! the Mexicans are advancing in great numbers!" But as it was always the custom of our men to have their weapons ready at hand, they instantly arranged themselves in order of battle, and marched to a large open s.p.a.ce, where the conflict was renewed. Here again the Mexicans courageously maintained their position for a short time behind some entrenchments which had been thrown up, and wounded several of our men; but Sandoval attacked them so vigorously with his cavalry, the musketeers, crossbow-men, and remaining foot, that the enemy was completely beat out of the town, and offered no further resistance that day.

Sandoval being now sure that he had gained a complete victory, offered up thanks to the Almighty, and recreated himself in a garden of extraordinary beauty, belonging to this towns.h.i.+p, in which there were many s.p.a.cious buildings, and altogether so many remarkable objects to be seen, as were nowhere else to be found in New Spain. The whole of the grounds were indeed laid out in a style worthy of a great monarch, and it required some considerable time to visit all parts of it, as it was above a mile long.

I was not present myself in this expedition, and did not see this garden until twenty days after, when I accompanied Cortes on his excursion through the different large towns.h.i.+ps which surround the lake. I had been laid up with a severe wound in the throat, which I received from a lance, in the battle of Iztapalapan, and had nearly cost me my life. The scar is still visible.

But the reader will have already discovered, from my mode of describing, that I was not present in this expedition; as I have never used the expression--we did this, we marched thither; but always put--so and so was done, our troops marched to this place, and to that place, and so on. Nevertheless, everything took place exactly as I have related; for at head-quarters the minutiae of every engagement soon become known, and one cannot add to or suppress any facts.

When Sandoval on the following day found that the enemy had entirely quitted the neighbourhood, he despatched five of the inhabitants, whom he had taken prisoners in the late battles, two of whom were chiefs, to the caziques of this towns.h.i.+p, desiring them to send him messengers of peace, and a.s.sured them a free pardon for all the past. They, however, sent word that they durst not comply with this summons, from fear of the Mexicans. Offers of a similar nature, which Sandoval made to another large towns.h.i.+p, met with no better success. This latter place was called Acapalista,[9] and lay about eight miles from Huaxtepec. It was in vain that Sandoval desired them to consider the difference between war and peace, and to ask themselves what benefit their neighbours of Huaxtepec had derived from all the Mexican troops they had harboured. He desired them to drive away the Mexican garrison, or he would himself march against them, and treat them as enemies. Their reply to this was as follows: "He might come when he liked: they had made up their minds to make a sumptuous repast off their bodies, and to offer up savoury sacrifices to their G.o.ds."

The caziques of Chalco, who were with Sandoval being aware that there was a much stronger body of Mexicans lying in Acapalista than had yet appeared in the field of battle, and that they merely awaited a favorable opportunity to renew the attack upon their town, urgently requested him to march thither, and drive the enemy out of that town.

Sandoval at first refused to comply with their request, considering that he himself, with many of his troops, and most of the horses, were wounded, and that he did not wish to advance farther than Cortes had ordered him; besides which, several cavaliers of Narvaez's troops urged him to return to Tezcuco, and represented to him that Acapalista was a town of great strength, where they might easily meet with a total overthrow. But the captain Luis Marin strongly advised Sandoval to the contrary, and thought he was not justified in returning before the work was half finished, as the enemy would certainly renew the attack upon Chalco, and thereby defeat the object of the expedition altogether. By these arguments Sandoval was convinced of the necessity of marching against this town, which lay only eight miles farther on, and he set out for that place.

When he had arrived in the neighbourhood of the town, a large body of Mexicans came advancing towards him, and attacked him so vigorously with their lances, slings, and arrows, that three horses and several of his men were instantly wounded, nor was Sandoval able to get at the enemy, who immediately retreated to the rocks and the fortified heights above, making a terrific noise with their drums, sh.e.l.l trumpets, and hideous yells.

Sandoval now despatched a few horse in advance, to see whether the Mexicans, in case he should attack the town itself, could march to its a.s.sistance, and halted, with the rest of his troops, in the plain. As the caziques of Chalco and the other Indian allies showed no desire to come to an engagement with the enemy, Sandoval determined to put them to the proof, and cried out to them: "Well, why do you stand looking idly on there? Why don't you advance to the attack? Are we not come here to protect you?" But they replied, they durst not attack this strong place, and considered that the teules had come to do the hardest part of the work for them.

Sandoval was soon convinced that there was not much dependence to be placed in these Indians, and he therefore stormed the fortified heights with the whole of his Spanish troops. Although numbers of his men were wounded, and he himself severely so on the head, he continued to push forward, and forced his way into the town, where considerable havoc was made among the enemy's ranks, which was increased by the Chalcans and Tlascallans, who now joined in the conflict with great intrepidity. Our troops, indeed, gladly left the last part of the work to them, as soon as the enemy was put to flight, for they felt compa.s.sion for the inhabitants, and satisfied themselves by capturing some few pretty females and other objects of value. The Spaniards even checked our allies in their horrid cruelties, and rescued many a man and woman from their grasp who otherwise would have been sacrificed to the idols.

The Mexicans had fled to some steep rocks beyond the town; and, as numbers of them were wounded, they washed off the blood from their bodies in a small brook, so that the very water was tinctured by it, though for no longer a s.p.a.ce of time than would take to repeat an Ave Maria. Yet Gomara relates that the water was so completely mixed with blood that our men would not quench their thirst at it.[10] But it was not necessary for them to go to this brook for that purpose, as in the town itself there were numbers of wells full of the purest water. After this engagement, Sandoval marched back to Tezcuco, taking with him great numbers of prisoners, among whom were many beautiful Indian females.

When Quauhtemoctzin received intelligence of this defeat of his troops, he was excessively grieved; and the more so as the people of Chalco were his subjects, and had now, for the third time, taken up arms against him. He was, however, determined to be revenged; and while Sandoval was marching back to Tezcuco, he a.s.sembled an army of upwards of 20,000 men, and despatched these in 2000 canoes to Chalco. Here they arrived so suddenly, that Sandoval had scarcely entered Tezcuco, and had but just seen Cortes, when messengers arrived in canoes from Chalco to solicit his immediate return. Cortes, who was speaking with Sandoval when this message arrived, was so enraged that he would not hear his report to the end; accused him of having neglected his duty, and commanded him to return immediately to Chalco with those of his men who were not wounded.

Sandoval's feelings were greatly hurt at Cortes' reproaches; but what grieved him more than all was, that he would not even listen to him. He, however, instantly returned to Chalco, which he and his men reached excessively fatigued by the weight of their arms and the great distance they had marched. The Chalcans, in the meantime, had begged a.s.sistance from their neighbours the Huexotzincans and Tlascallans on the first information they received that the Mexicans intended to invade their territory again; and these two powers had made such haste that they arrived that very night, with an army of above 20,000 men. This inspired the Chalcans with fresh courage; they attacked the Mexicans in the open field, fought with uncommon bravery, and of the enemy's chief officers alone they killed and captured as many as fifteen, without mentioning the numbers they made prisoners. This defeat was most humbling to the Mexicans, and they were much more ashamed of it than if they had suffered it from us.

When Sandoval arrived in Chalco, he found the enemy was already vanquished; and, as there was no fear of the Mexicans returning, he marched back to Tezcuco, taking the prisoners along with him, and now Cortes appeared highly delighted. Sandoval, however, had not forgotten the harsh treatment he had so recently suffered from him, and peremptorily refused, in his anger, to call upon him, although Cortes had sent an invitation to him, and a.s.sured him that he had now been informed of the true state of the case, and was convinced that no blame could be attached to him. They subsequently became reconciled, and Cortes strove, by every means in his power, to regain Sandoval's friends.h.i.+p.

CHAPTER CXLIII.

_How we marked our slaves at Tezcuco with a red-hot iron, and received intelligence that a vessel had run into Vera Cruz._

As Sandoval had brought a great many slaves with him, and there were besides numbers we had taken on previous occasions, Cortes resolved they should be marked with a red-hot iron. It was, therefore, announced that each person was to bring his slaves to a certain house for that purpose.

Our men accordingly came with their slaves, and imagined they would merely have to pay the fifth of their value to the emperor, and that then they would be entirely their own without any further deduction.

If, however, Cortes and others had acted meanly towards us in Tepeaca, the meanness they now displayed was still greater. First, the emperor's fifths were deducted; then a second fifth was set apart for Cortes, and other portions for our officers; and, during the night preceding the last division, all the finest females had disappeared. Cortes had faithfully promised the men that all the slaves should be sold by public auction, but this was not done, for the officers of the crown acted in this matter just as they pleased. This was a good hint for us in future; so that afterwards, when we had captured any beautiful Indian females, we concealed them, and gave out that they had escaped, as soon as it came to marking day; or if any one of us stood in favor with Cortes, he got them secretly marked during the night-time, and paid a fifth of their value to him. In a short time we possessed great numbers of such slaves; and if we were questioned about them, we merely said they were Naborias[11] of the neighbouring tribes near Tlascalla, who had come to sue for peace. I must also observe that two months had scarcely elapsed before some of our female slaves knew of every soldier in the troop whether he behaved well to his Naborias or not; whenever, therefore, these females were put up to auction, and they found they had been bought by a man who bore a bad name in this way, they disappeared, and were nowhere to be found. If they did not recapture them it was all the same; they were still debited to the buyer in the royal accounts. Our soldiers fared no better in the division of gold; for if any of them went to demand their share, so many items were balanced against them that they really considered themselves fortunate if they had not to pay something into the bargain.

About this time a vessel arrived in Vera Cruz, from Spain, with the following pa.s.sengers: Julian de Alderete, a native of Tordesillas, who had been appointed royal treasurer; further, the elder Orduna, from the same place, who lived for some time in Puebla. After the conquest of Mexico he brought over five or six daughters from Spain, all of whom he married well. A Dominican friar, named Pedro Melgarejo de Urrea, from Seville, who brought with him a papal bull,[12] by which we obtained absolution for all the sins we may have been guilty of during these wars. By means of this bull, Urrea ama.s.sed a large fortune in the s.p.a.ce of a few months, with which he returned to Spain, whither he was accompanied by Geronimo Lopez, as a commissary of his holiness. This same Lopez subsequently became the royal secretary in Mexico.

Among the numerous other pa.s.sengers, I can still remember the following names: Antonio de Caravajal, who commanded one of our brigantines, and is still living at Mexico, far advanced in years; Geronimo Ruiz de la Mota, of Burgos, who likewise commanded a brigantine, and, after the conquest of Mexico, married a daughter of Orduna. There was also a certain Briones, of Salamanca, who was hung four years ago for exciting a revolt among the troops in the province of Guatimala; and, lastly, there was Alonso Diaz de la Reguera, who lived for some time in Guatimala, and is now residing at Valladolid.

This vessel had likewise a large store of arms, powder, and other matters on board;[13] wherefore her arrival was hailed by us all. If I remember rightly, we also heard on this occasion that the bishop of Burgos stood no longer at the head of affairs, and that he had altogether fallen into his majesty's disgrace ever since his majesty had been convinced, by the reports of our agents, of the great and wonderful services we had rendered the crown, and which the bishop above mentioned, in his official reports, to favour Diego Velasquez, had placed in the opposite light.

In the meantime our brigantines were fast approaching towards completion, and we were all awaiting the moment with impatience when we should be able to lay close siege to Mexico. We had just begun our preparations when messengers arrived from Chalco with the information that the Mexicans were again marching against that town, and they therefore begged we would come immediately to their a.s.sistance. Cortes promised them he would himself march with his troops to their relief, and not rest until he had completely driven the enemy from their territory. He therefore immediately issued orders that three hundred foot, thirty horse, the greater part of our musketeers and crossbow-men, with the troops of Tezcuco and Tlascalla, should hold themselves in readiness to march out. Of our princ.i.p.al officers, Alvarado, Tapia, and Oli accompanied him on this occasion. The royal treasurer Julian de Alderete, and father Pedro Melgarejo, both of whom had just arrived from Spain, also joined him. I myself accompanied Cortes in this expedition, at his own particular desire.

CHAPTER CXLIV.

_How Cortes made a hostile excursion to all the cities and larger towns.h.i.+ps which lay round about the lake, and what happened on that occasion._