Montezuma and the conquest of Mexico

Preface

The despatches of Cortes and the narrative of Bernal Diaz, himself a participant in the war of the conquest, have been our chief authorities, for the facts of" this history. We have consulted all the principal works on the subject, but these two eye-witnesses must always be the main source of information.

The Authors.

Chapter I. Montezuma's Kingdom

While in the eastern hemisphere, he who imagined the possibility of reaching land beyond the mysterious atlantic, was deemed but a visionary dreamer, civilization had flourished, fallen and sprung ug again in the western world. Already the wonderful ruins of an ancient American civilization had been overgrown by old forests, and the builders of them were forgotten by the people of Montezuma's day. While Columbus, ignorant of the extent of the globe, and of the great continent which lay between him and Asia, believed that he had but discovered a passage to the East Indies, more than one American monarch was extending and consolidating a kingdom which bade fair to last for ages. The gentle savages of the West Indian Archipelago were soon subjugated by the Spanish sword and were easily ground by cruel Spanish avarice, but the great Gulf of Mexico hid for a time the mainland from the settlements upon the Islands.

Within Montezuma's country were all the cli mates of the various zones. Along the seacoast is a wide tropical belt, known as the *' hot countries,"— Mexico's garden of fruits. But as one travels inland, the country rises to high and still higher tablelands, the change in vegetation marking the change in climate, until one reaches the temperate region. Above this rise the great mountain peaks, some of them higher than any mountain in Europe, fringed with pines and finally crowned with eternal snow. Far inland, more than seven thousand feet above the sea, lay the beautiful valley of Mexico, some sixty miles in length and forty in breadth, surrounded by a high wall of mountains, guarded by a great volcano, ornamented with woods, fertile cornfields and flower-gardens, sparkling with lakes and thickly dotted with white cities and towns. Again the tablelands descend, but more abruptly, to the Pacific ocean.

In the midst of the valley stood Mexico, Montezuma's own native city and the capital of the country. Ancient Mexico has been styled " the Venice of the new world." It was built on a small island in the salt water lake of Tezcuco, and connected with the mainland by great stone causeways, furnished with drawbridges, by means

MONTEZUMA'S KINGDOM. 13

of which* the city could quickly be turned into a fortress. It had long outgrown the limits of the small island. Many of the buildings rested on piles in the water, and many of the streets were canals, crossed here and there by bridges and alive with busy native canoes, loaded with merchandise of every sort. For a horse's hoof had never clattered on the smooth pavements of Mexico, and the canoe was the only vehicle seen in her streets. The ruins discovered far outside the limits of the Mexico of to-day, prove that Montezuma's capital was a very large city. The plainer buildings were mere huts of adobe or sun-dried brick, and most of the streets were narrow, but several great avenues ran through the city, ornamented with palaces, gardens and temples, and widening here and there into great public squares. The huts of the poorer class were white-washed, the temples and finer buildings were frequently covered with a hard, polished stucco, which glistening in the sun, at a little distance, gave the city the appearance of a city of silver.

An absolute monarch gathers around him every luxury. Each successive Mexican king had .nought to aggrandize his reign by the building of some new palace or some loftier temple. Montezuma required all his nobles and tributary princes to live for a part of the year at the capital. Thus the great central avenue of the city was lined with the palaces of the nobles. The buildings of ancient America were never lofty. They rested upon terraces or mounds, were low and rambling, surrounding inner courts, and decorated with porticoes of porphyry and jasper. The terraces were always gay with flowers, sometimes the roofs of the houses were covered with gardens, like the famous hanging gardens of Babylon. Every house was a fortress, the flat roof surrounded with walls and turrets for defense.

Mexico was supplied with sweet water by means of a great aqueduct which fed the fountains and baths of the palaces, and in which openings were made, where the water could be procured and carried in canoes to every quarter of the city.

The most curious thing in all the City of Mexico was the great temple. It stood in the centre of the city, and was surrounded by a stone wall carved with figures of serpents, and known as " the wall of serpents." There were four great gates in this wall, which opened upon the principal avenues of the city. Like all Mexican temples, this structure was built in the shape of^a pyramid of pebbles and earth, covered with

MONTEZUMA'S KINGDOM. 1 5

hewn stone. It was divided into five stories, each story being smaller than the one below ; thus leaving successive platforms around the edifice. The pyramid was ascended by staircases at one of the angles. Each staircase communicated with a platform, and one was forced to walk entirely around the pyramid to reach the next stairway above. In times of religious celebration the processions of priests, winding around and around the sides of the immense temple in the sight of all men, added greatly to the impressiveness of the ceremony. On the top of the temple was a great paved platform, at one end ot which, stood two towers containing two great idols. Here also were two altars where burned perpetual fires. At the opposite edge of the platform, was the terrible stone of sacrifice, a block of solid jasper where human victims, mostly prisoners of war, were offered up. There, too, was a great drum made of serpent skins, which gave forth a terrible wailing noise heard for miles around when it was struck on extraordinary occasions.

Within this strange city, moved the busy throngs of copper-colored inhabitants, clad according to the wealth and position of the wearer, in robes of gay cotton, or in garments of a coarse fabric, made of the fibres of the magney, or century plant, which is falsely believed to bloom only once in a hundred years. Lake and canals* were dotted with the busy canoes which carried on the commerce of a large city. Here and there upon the lake were seen floating islands, blossoming with flowers and fruit. These were a sort of raft of reeds and roots, made by the economical natives who drew up the rich soil from the bottom of the shallow lake, and thus made for themselves a small movable farm, which they shoved here and there at pleasure, and which in this sunny climate furnished them with produce to carry to the great market of Mexico. One of the staple products of this lovely country was flowers, for the natives were, and are to this day, great lovers of flowers and, strange to say, offerings of flowers went side by side with human sacrifice in the worship. From Mexico come many of their most brilliant plants, cultivated in the greenhouses of Europe and America, to-day. Great revenues poured into Mexico from remote provinces. The many cities and numerous petty territories subject to the Mexican king were taxed in the products of their manufactures and lands, to support the grandeur of their monarch. Chests of chocolate, loads of fine and richly-

MONTEZUMA S KINGDOM. 1 7

Jyed cotton robes, gorgeous feather mantles, the curious armor of the country made of thickly quilted cotton, chests of beans and maize, reams of paper made of the pulp of the magney, loaves of a fine white salt, used only by the nobles, lumps of copal which was burned for incense, copper axes, little chocolate cups made of turquoise stones, loads of lime, tiles of gold, bags of cochineal, bags of gold-dust, amber lip-jewels, pots of liquid amber, skins, bundles of cotton and handfuls of scarlet feathers, were some of the things which poured into the royal treasury of Mexico.

Mexico or Tenoctitlan, as it was then called, was not the only capital city within the beautiful valley. Here were two smaller kingdoms, those of Tezcuco and Tlacopan. These three kingdoms were linked together in an ancient league of friendship, and their monarchs visited back and forth from tb nr capitals, which were but a few miles apart. P.ut the Mexican empire reached from the Pa.ific to the Atlantic, and her conquests extended far south. Only one neighboring province had been able to withstand the conquering armies of the league. The little republic of Tlascala, in her mountain fastnesses, had always bid a bitter defiance to her richer and more powerful neighbors.

Chapter II. Montezuma

In the centre of Mexico, facing the great temple, was a rambling pile of massive stone buildings, with numerous courts and gardens decorated with fountains and baths. Inside were spacious rooms, hung with tapestry of richlystained cotton,, carpeted with mats and rushes, and furnished with curious low stools of carved wood, and beds of thick mats with coverlets and canopies of cotton. This was the palace of the king Axayacatl, Montezuma's father, and here, in the king's harem, was born the little prince, Montezuma, about 1479. ^^ seemed by no means certain, that the child would ever inherit the throne for, in Mexico, the kings were elected by a body of nobles. A prince had always to distinguish himself as a general, before he stood a chance of election. The choice was made from the king's brothers or nephews. The little Montezuma had both uncles and brothers between him and the throne.

MONTEZUMA. I9

Aztec parents took the greatest pains in bringing up their children. They were carefully instructed in morals and in the worship of their gods. Children were especially trained in good behavior. Years afterward, the Spaniards were struck with Montezuma's charming manners. A Mexican father would say to his boy : " When any one talks with you, listen to him attentively, and hold yourself in an easy attitude, neither playing with your feet, nor putting your mantle in your mouth, nor spitting too often, nor looking about you here and there, nor rising up frequently if you are sitting, for such actions show levity and low breeding. When you are at table do not eat greedily, nor show any disgust if you do not like anything. If any one comes unexpectedly to dinner with you, share with him what you Have, and when you entertain any one, do not stare at him."

At about five years of age, well-regulated Mexican children were sent to the temple to be educated. Within "the wall of serpents," besides the sanctuaries of the idols, were extensive schools, homes for the priests, gardens and baths. The boys were instructed by priests, and the girls by matrons who devoted themselves to the service of the temple. The boys were educated in the hieroglyphic writings of the country, taught to recite long traditional poems, instructed in the astronomical knowledge of the Aztecs, which was considerable, though like all imperfect knowledge much mixed with superstition. The girls were taught such useful arts as spinning and weaving, while both boys and girls had their particular duties in the care of the temples. The sons of the nobility swept the summit of the great pyramid, and kept the altar fires always burning. Boys of a lower station performed more menial offices, such as bringing wood for the fires, while the girls rose three times during the night to burn incense of copal, and prepared various savoury dishes, which were offered daily to the gods. Trained under the very shadow of the temple, the Mexicans frorn' early childhood, were accustomed to the dark superstitions of their religion. Montezuma himself was especially devoted to his religion, and was educated for a priest. But among the Aztecs, the priest was more nearly connected with war than with peace. The most honored of their gods was Huitzilopotchli, the god of war. Another name for this god was Mexitli, and from him their city took its name. This god, as became his province, was fierce and blood-thirsty. His priests in their fasts and mysterious ceremonies, frequently cut themselves and drew their own blood to please him.

Human hearts were his especial delight. In war, the Aztecs vied with each other, not in killing, but in capturing prisoners to die on the altars of Huitzilopotchli. After all, with all our horror of such a method of warfare, perhaps there was less bloodshed in this way, for it is more difficult to capture in battle than to kill. Nevertheless, in the great successes of Mexican arms, almost incredible numbers of captives were sacrificed. Again and again, triumphal armies entered i:he city to the music of their wild instruments, rearing with them long lines of captives. These A^ere confined in cages. Sometimes the captives ivere dressed to represent the god to whom they ivere to be sacrificed, feasted, paid court to, proi^ided with beautiful girls as wives, and finally at the end of a year, sacrificed. The victim was led to the sound of music by a great procession of priests clad in black robes, covered with mystic ;haracters, their long hair clotted with the blood Df their self-torture. This weird procession wound around and up the temple. The victim was made to dance before the gods. He was then thrown upon the block of sacrifice. A priest in a crimson robe inserted a sharp knife in his breast, tore out his heart, held it up toward the sun, and then laid it upon a golden platter before the hideous symbolical figure which represented the various attributes of the god. The Aztecs worshipped the sun. Indeed their gods were innumerable. Like the savages of the north, they believed vaguely in an invisible being, whom they did not represent in their idols.

Besides the many deities, each with some particular province, whose ever-burning altars illuminated their cities at night, the Aztecs had numbers of little household gods, which they sometimes stole one from another, and which conferred favors alike upon the thief or upon the rightful owner. The Aztecs are accused by the old Spanish chroniclers of cannibalism as a religious rite. We are inclined to think that their fears exaggerated this, and that it was only practiced in cases of famine and in the ferocity of battle.

Montezuma, as became a young prince of Mexico, distinguished himself in the incessant petty wars of his war-like people. On the death of his father, two uncles were elected successively to the throne. Meantime, Montezuma entered the priesthood, and devoted himself exclusively to the service of the gods. In 1302, the last^ uncle having died, the next king was to be \ chosen from among his nephews, of whom there were many.

The four nobles who elected kings, duly met. Montezuma had been both a successful warrior and a circumspect priest. He was very quiet and deliberate, and had especially gained the respect of his elders, by his apparent modesty. The choice fell upon him. Word was sent to the kings of the two alMed powers, who, with the nobles, speedily went in search of the young prince. He was found modestly sweeping down the steps of the temple. The king of Tezcuce, Nezahualpilli, made the customary speech to the young man.

*' The Mexican empire," said he, among other things, " has unquestionably attained the height of its power, as the Creator of heaven has invested you with so much authority, as to inspire all those who behold you with awe and respect. Rejoice, therefore, O ! happy land that you are destined to have a prince who will not only be your support, but will by his clemency prove a father and brother to his subjects. Thou hast, indeed, a king who will not seize the occasion of his exaltation to give himself up to luxury, and lie sluggishly in bed, abandoned to pastimes and effeminate pleasures: his anxiety for thee, rather will wake and agitate his bosom in the softest hour of repose, nor will he be able to taste food, or relish the most delicious morsel, while thy interests are oppressed or neglected."

Montezuma listened intently, and when he tried to answer his voice was choked with tears. Every one admired the humility of the young king. He now retired to the temple for a four days' fast. After this he was conducted with rejoicing to the palace, but his formal coronation did not take place as yet. This was a religious ceremony of great importance, for upon the favorable impression which a king at the outset made upon the gods depended, he thought, the prosperity of his reign. There must be sacrifices to appease the deities, and Montezuma immediately set out for war. Revolting provinces were seldom wanting, and the young king marched upon some rebels, subdued them and returned with many captives to die upon the altars of Mexico. The coronation was celebrated most magnificently, and graced with curious gymnastic games, in which the Aztecs were very expert. The Mexican crown which Montezuma now wore, was shaped like a mitre and made of gold and brilliant feather-work.

The Aztecs were sadly mistaken iij reckoning on the humility of their young monarch. Never had Mexican king, it is said, lived so grandly and formally. He allowed none but nobles to serve him, and of these he had a great retinue. Some six hundred lords also waited on him in his palace every day. They remained at the king's command in an ante-chamber, while their respective retinues filled up the three courts of the palace. No one dared enter the presence of the king, until he had removed his shoes, and thrown over his dress a coarse gown of the magney fibers, in token of respect. Only the members of the royal family were allowed to present themselves in rich costume. All who entered the royal presence bowed, touched the hand to the ground and then brought it to the head, saying, *' Lord." A second time they bowed and exclaimed, "My lord," and a third time crying, "Great lord." They spoke to the king in a low voice, keeping the head drooped forward. He usually answered them through one of his attendants, and when they left the audience room they backed out, for it would have been a mark of disrespect to turn the face away from the king in leaving.

Montezuma's harem was filled with great numbers of Aztec beauties. They each had their apartments, and whiled away their time in spinning and weaving. Their favorite embroidery was the working of pictures upon cloth with the gorgeous plumage of their birds. The king's wives were guarded by aged women, who saw to their proper deportment.

Here, as in all warm climates, the bath was greatly enjoyed. The king refreshed himself in his bath at least once every day, and changed his robes four times a day. Like Queen Elizabeth, he never wore the same dress a second time, but he gave it to his noble attendants, instead of hoarding it.

Montezuma kept his royal person particularly sacred. He dined alone in a great hall. Before the low seat upon which he gave audience, was placed a large cushion as a table. This was spread with the most delicate of cotton web, along with which were fresh towels and napkins of the same material. Around Montezuma was drawn a carved and gilded screen, that even the eyes of the noble attendants might not look too curiously on the king while he ate. His dishes were of the finest earthenware which his people made, and these were never used a second time, but immediately given away. Montezuma had also a service of gold, but this was only used in some of his religious rites in the temple. The cups from which the king drank his chocolate, the delicious beverage of the country, of which he was* very fond, were of gold or curious sea-shells. ' An immense number of dishes were brought in by young nobles, and set upon the matted floor. The meats were in chafing dishes, containing coals that they might be kept hot. There were numerous kinds of fish and fowl. Turkey was the commonest meat of the country. Fresh fish and fruits had been brought within twenty-four hours from the tropical lands along the seacoast, by means of a system of swift' runners with relays, which the king had upon his principal road. Maize was the flour of the country, and' from this, with the use of eggs, various delicate wafers and concoctions were made.

The young noblemen, on setting down the dishes, had immediately retired to an ante-chamber where they dined. The king remained, accompanied only by four of the most beautiful women from his harem, his carver and six councillors. The women brought the king water to wash his hands. Montezuma then pointed with a rod to the dishes that pleased him best. The , rest were carried out for the nobles to dine upon, and the door, which was usually a swinging mat, with little bells hung upon it, to give notice of ingress or egress, was carefully closed lest the king should be seen. The women remained standing in attendance. The councillors *also stood at a distance with averted eyes, and said nothing unless the king addressed them a question. During the meal, Montezuma sometimes listened to a performance upon the rude musical instruments of his country, and sometimes entertained himself with some deformed men whom he kept, as European monarchs did their dwarfs and jesters.

When the king had finished his meal, he smoked tobacco, mixed with liquid amber, a substance extracted from trees. After dinner he took a nap, and was then ready to give audience to those who might wish. He was sometimes entertained by songs, descriptive of the war-like deeds of his ancestors, and sometimes saw athletic sports. When he moved from his palace, it was reclining upon a gorgeous litter, carried by his nobles and covered with a rich canopy. Such litters are yet used in Mexico as a mode of travelling. When this royal litter passed, followed by a long retinue, every one stood still and bowed his eyes.

Montezuma was not satisfied with his father's palace. He built him a new and a grander one. It was an extensive building of stone, its courts cooled by splashing fountains, its long, low rooms ceiled with carved cedar and other sweet-scented woods.

One of the curious fancies of this king was an immense aviary in which were assembled all the sweet-singing and gay-plumaged birds of the country as well as birds of prey. They had a great number of faithful attendants who studied to supply them with their favorite food and were careful to collect every bright feather which they let drop, for use in feather-embroidery. The birds of prey occupied a separate building, and it is even stated that as many as five hundred turkeys were fed daily to these creatures. There was also a collection of wild animals, serpents and reptiles.

Around Montezuma's palace were gardens carefully cultivated, decorated with fountains and tanks of fish surrounded with a marble pavement and hung with light canopies of gay cotton, making a pleasant retreat on sultry days. He had also various pleasure grounds, woods for his own hunting and more than one palace out of the city. His favorite retreat was the hill of Chapuitepec from whose summit of porphyry is a beautiful view of the surrounding country. Here were groves of ancient cypresses, to this day standing. "Every one of the royal buildings, though some were seldom visited, were kept perfectly clean, for Montezuma was very partial to neatness. It is said that he employed a thousand men in cleaning the streets of Mexico so that one might walk in the city with as little danger of soiling one's feet as one's hands.

Montezuma was very princely in his alms. When he chose to give, his gifts were always magnificent. He was very lavish toward the poor of his own city and neighborhood. But, to support the magnificence of his own living and his host of attendants, the remote and more recently conquered provinces were grievously taxed. To them Montezuma was a hard and dreaded taskmaster. Thus, like many another monarch, had he undermined the foundations of his kinsfdom.

Strange to say, the Aztecs seem to have had some traditional prediction of the coming of a people from over the ocean — connected with their idol, Quetzalcoatl, god of the air. They believed that he had once lived upon earth as a man, and that, under his dispensation, corn grew to such an immense size that one ear was a load for a man, and cotton grew already dyed. He was believed to have been benignant and wise, but he finally went to the sea coast, and there disappeared, promising some day to return with his descendants. This tradition seems strongly to have affected the minds of the Mexicans and they were looking for a speedy fulfilment of it.

Perhaps rumors had reached Mexico of the dominion of white men upon the West Indies. At any rate, strange omens are said to have thrown a gloom over the glory of Montezuma's reign. For instance the Lake of Tezcuco suddenly and apparently without cause became agitated, rose over its banks and flooded Mexico, so that many buildings were destroyed. A tower of the great temple at another time mysteriously took fire. Comets and a strange blaze of light was seen in the east, while low rumblings are said to have been heard. Montezuma, filled with undefined dread, sent to his neighbor, King Nezahualpilli, who was versed in astrology, for an interpretation of these mysterious omens. The astrologer pronounced it the forerunner of future disasters through the arrival of a new people. Montezuma was unwilling to accept this interpretation. NezahualpiUi, according to a custom of the country, challenged him to a royal game of. ball. If Montezuma succeeded, the prophecy should be pronounced false, but if the prophet succeeded, it would undoubtedly prove to be true. This game was played in an inclosure guarded by two idols, the gods of game, and thus like everything else in their life was interwoven with superstition. The balls were made of elastic gum, and so much was this game played that thousands of balls are said to have been paid to Montezuma yearly as tribute from the districts where they were made. In playing, the ball could only be struck with the thigh, arm or elbow and never with the hand or foot. Every time a player hit the surrounding wall with the ball he counted one. In the centre ol the play ground were two large stones, resembling mill-stones with holes in the centre, but little larger than the ball. It was an extraordinary thing to be able to knock a ball through these holes, but, if a player succeeded, it won him the game, and was moreover a great event in his life. The two kings played this singular game, and Nezahualpilli won, much to the chagrin of Montezuma.

In 15 18, news reached the king of some strange vessels, touching and exploring along the coast. Thus the fore-shadowing of some future event darkened with mysterious dread the life of 1'he absolute monarch. Helplessly, never thinking that he could in any way ward off the coming catastrophe, did Montezuma await what time should unfold

Chapter III. Hernando Cortes

Hernando Cortes was born at Medellin, in Spain, in the year I445- His father was a captain of infantry, and both his father and mother were of good family. He was a scapegrace of a youth. His father tried to make a lawyer of him, but, to the great disappointment of his parents, he returned from school after two years, having learned but little. Hernando wanted to be a soldier, or more praperly speaking, an adventurer. The wondrous, unknown, new world opened an ample field for all daring spirits. The risks were great, but the prizes were large. Perhaps an unknown death, perhaps an immense fortune. Like many another wild boy, Cortes was willingly packed off to America by his puzzled friends.

Nicholas de Ovando was about sailing with a fleet, to take the government of Hispaniola. Cortes was to have gone with him, but in one of the latter's numerous love affairs, while scaling a

HERNANDO CORTES. 35

wall at night to seek an interview with a lady, the wall fell with him, and he received injuries which kept him in bed until after the sailing of the armament.

For two years more Cortes stayed in Spain, and finally sailed with another squadron bound for the West Indies, in 1504. Quintero, the captain of the vessel in which Cortes had sailed, with the unscrupulousness of sea-faring men in his day, planned to get ahead of his companion ships, that he might anticipate them in trade at San Domingo. The fleet touched at the Canaries.

While they were in harbor, Quintero slipped secretly out in the night. He speedily returned, however, for he was attacked by a furious storm and forced to put in for repairs. The fleet waited for him, and finally they all sailed together. Nevertheless, as they neared America, Quintero again stole away in the night. Again he was attacked by head winds and storms. The vessel was nearly wrecked, and in the danger young Cortes is said to have shown, for the first time, that courage which was one of the great traits of his character. After many weary, stormy days in which the captain was heaped with indignant reproaches, a white dove.' lit' lt|>.(1fi|^ythe vessel, and she soon made port: t ft) JSgd {t^^f^pther vessels already there, and their cargoes sold. Cortes hastened ashore, and immediately sought the home of the governor, who was absent. *