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

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1/25/22, 8:50 PM The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo written by himself, containing a true an… greater part of these refused obedience to them, particularly those whichlay between the rivers. It would therefore be necessary, they added,for him to send a number of his teules— so they termed us—thither,and command them to furnish him with provisions. Cortes followed their advice, and commissioned Diego de Mazariegos, cousin to the treasurer Estrada, whom Cortes had appointed governorof Mexico, to repair to the latter townships. Cortes was very partialto Mazariegos, and was desirous of distinguishing the man, by conferringthis command upon him. But as Mazariegos had very little experiencein the manners and customs of these countries, Cortes desiredhim in confidence to request me to accompany him, and advised himto act upon my advice in all matters. This hint was not lost upon Mazariegos, who did not neglect to follow our general's counsel. I have not mentioned this in praise of myself, for it was well known to thewhole of the troops, and Cortes himself, in his despatches to the emperorrespecting the expedition to the Honduras, and which I read myself,also detailed this circumstance. [Pg 251] The caziques readily furnished us with the necessary canoes, in whicheighty of us, with Mazariegos, set out. We arrived safely in the townshipsabove mentioned, met with the most friendly reception, and the inhabitants gave us as large a quantity of provisions as they could possibly spare. We therefore loaded one hundred canoes with maise, fowls, honey, and salt, taking along with us besides ten female slaves, whohad been presented to us, and the caziques accompanied us themselveson our return, to pay their respects to Cortes. After the lapse of threedays, however, most of the caziques suddenly left, and we had only three guides remaining, with whom we continued our march. We had tworivers to pass, one of which we crossed by means of a bridge, that brokedown before we had all stepped on land; the other we ferried over in canoes, and in this way we reached another of the Acallan townships, which was quite deserted by its inhabitants; but we found abundance of provisions, which they had concealed among the hills on ourapproach. I have now to relate a circumstance of a very different nature, whichoccasioned much grief to us all. Quauhtemoctzin and other Mexican chiefs who accompanied our army had, it would appear, spoken amongthemselves, or secretly determined to put the whole of us to death, then march back to Mexico, and assemble the whole armed power of the country against the few remaining Spaniards, and raise an insurrectionthroughout the whole of New Spain. This circumstance was discovered to Cortes by two distinguished Mexican chiefs, one of whom was namedTapia, and the other Juan Velasquez. This latter personage had beenQuauhtemoctzin's captain-general during our war with Mexico, and histestimony was borne out by the investigation which Cortes made intothe matter, and by the confession of several of the caziques themselves who were implicated in the conspiracy. These men fearlessly declared, that seeing how carelessly and dispiritedly we roamed about; that numbers of the men were ill from want of food; that four of ourmusicians, with the buffoon and five soldiers, had died of hunger; and that three other men had turned back, more willing to run the risk ofreaching Mexico again than of moving forward, the thought struck them that they could not do better than fall suddenly upon us whilewe were crossing some river or marsh, particularly as they were upwardsof 3000 in number, all armed with lances, and several of them with swords. Quauhtemoctzin did not hesitate to acknowledge that these men had spoken the truth, but added that the conspiracy did notemanate with him, and that he himself had never for a moment contemplatedcarrying it into effect, but had merely spoken about it withthe other caziques. All the cazique of Tlacupa confessed was, his havingdeclared to Quauhtemoctzin that it was better to die at once than dailyto have death before their eyes on these fatiguing marches, and see theircountrymen and relations perish with hunger. [Pg 252] These were sufficient proofs for Cortes, and without any further ceremony he sentenced Quauhtemoctzin and his cousin the king ofTlacupa to the gallows. Before, however, this sentence was executed,the Franciscan monks, with the assistance of Doña Marina, strove to https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32475/32475-h/32475-h.htm 168/282
1/25/22, 8:50 PM The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo written by himself, containing a true an… comfort these unfortunate men, and commended their souls to God.When they were being led to the place of execution, Quauhtemoctzinturned to Cortes, and said: "Oh Malinche! I have for a long timeperceived, from your false words, that you had destined me for such a death, because I did not lay violent hands on myself when you enteredmy city of Mexico! Why are you thus going to put me unjustly todeath? God will one time ask this of you!" The king of Tlacupa said, he could only rejoice in a death which hewould be permitted to suffer with his monarch Quauhtemoctzin. Previous to their being hung, both these unhappy caziques confessedto father Juan, who understood the Mexican language, and they beggedof him to commend their souls to God. For Indians they were goodChristians, and they died in the true faith, and fully believed in ourholy religion. The death of these two monarchs grieved me excessively, for I hadknown them in all their glory, and on our march they honoured me withtheir friendship, and showed me many little attentions; for instance,they would often order their servants to go in quest of fodder for my horse; besides which, they were innocent of the guilt imputed to them, and it was the opinion of all who accompanied this expedition that theywere put to death unjustly. But I will leave this miserable subject, and return to our march, onwhich we henceforth observed the utmost vigilance, for we greatly feared the Mexicans might rise up in arms against us, after they hadthus beheld their monarch ignominiously hung by the neck from a tree. But hunger, fatigue, and sickness weighed heavier upon their minds than the misfortune of Quauhtemoctzin. On our further march we came up to a river, which we crossed bymeans of canoes, and soon after we arrived in a township which wasentirely deserted by its inhabitants. However, in searching for provisionsin some houses lying in the neighbourhood, we discovered eight Indian papas, who, after a little persuasion, followed us to the township,where they were brought into the presence of Cortes, who, bymeans of Doña Marina, spoke very kindly to them, telling them tobanish all fear from their minds, and to go and call their countrymen. The papas said they were very willing to fulfil his commands, but theymust beg of him not to allow any one to touch the idols which stoodin a building adjoining Cortes' quarters. Our general promised themfaithfully that no harm should be done the idols, but observed, that they were mere lumps of clay and wood, wicked things, which were unworthy of the veneration they paid them, and that the whole of theiridolatrous worship was the work of Satan. The Franciscan monks alsoput several questions to the papas respecting their idol worship, towhich they returned very intelligent answers, promising for the futureto abolish it altogether. [Pg 253] Thirty loads of maise and some fowls were now soon brought us, andCortes inquired of the papas how many suns (that is to say days'journey) it was from this place to the people with the beards andhorses. They replied, that it was seven suns to the township of Nito,where the men with the horses had settled, and they would themselvesshow us the way to the next township, but that on our road thitherwe should have to pass one night in an uninhabited village. Near to the building in which the idols were placed there stood a ceibatree of an immense size, in the bark of which Cortes ordered a largecross to be cut. Our general had for some time appeared in low spirits, and very pensive. The thoughts of our fatiguing march, the numberof Spaniards who had fallen ill, the still greater number of our Mexicantroops that died away, and perhaps also the regret he felt for havingput Quauhtemoctzin and the king of Tlacupa to death without any trial, constantly preyed upon his mind, and left him no peace eithernight or day; so that he would rise up from his bed in the depth ofnight to stroll about, which also happened to be the case in this township.He got up in the dark from his https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32475/32475-h/32475-h.htm 169/282
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The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo Vol. 2

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