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

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…
the bark of trees, which they call amatl, containing their signsto denote the seasons, and
things that have happened. Most of theIndians, particularly those living on the coasts and in
the hotter climates, were given to unnatural lusts. To such a dreadful degree was this
practised, that men even went about in female garments, and made a livelihood by their
diabolical and cursed lewdness.
The Indians ate human flesh in the same way we do that of oxen, and there were large
wooden cages in every township, in which men, women, and children were fattened for
their sacrifices and feasts. Inthe same way they butchered and devoured all the prisoners
they took during war time. Sons committed incest with their mothers, fathers with their
daughters, brothers with their sisters, and uncles with theirnieces. They were addicted to
the vice of drunkenness to a most terrible degree, and the inhabitants of Panuco had the
most filthy and unheard-of custom, of injecting the wine of their country, by means of
hollow canes, into their bodies, in the same way we should take a clyster.Various other
vices and abominations were practised among them; andevery man took as many wives as
he liked.
We, the few veteran Conquistadores who escaped alive from the battles and perils we
encountered, succeeded, with the aid of God, to turn these people aside from their
abominations. It was through our exertionsthey began to lead a more moral life, and that
the holy doctrinewas introduced among them. We were the persons who made this good
beginning, and it was not until two years later, when we had made the conquest, and
introduced good morals and better manners among theinhabitants, that the pious Franciscan
brothers arrived, and three orfour years after the virtuous monks of the Dominican order,
who furthercontinued the good work, and spread Christianity through the country.The first
part of the work, however, next to the Almighty, was done byus, the true Conquistadores,
who subdued the country, and by theBrothers of Charity, who accompanied us. To us and
them are due the merit and praise of sowing the first seeds of Christianity among these
tribes: for when the beginning is good, the continuation and completionare sure to prove
praiseworthy!
[Pg 390]
But enough of this; I will now speak of the great advantages whichthe inhabitants of New
Spain derived from our exertions in their behalf.
CHAPTER CCIX.
How we introduced the Christian religion among the Indians; of their
conversion and baptism; and of the different trades we taught them.
After we had abolished idolatry and other abominations from among the Indians, the
Almighty blessed our endeavours and we baptized the men, women, and all the children
born after the conquest, whose souls would otherwise have gone to the infernal regions.
With the assistance of God, and by a good regulation of our most Christian monarch, of
glorious memory, Don Carlos, and of his excellent son Don Philip, our most happy and
invincible king, to whom may God grant a long life and an increase of territory, several
pious monks of different ordersarrived in New Spain, who travelled from place to place,
preached thegospel to the inhabitants, and baptized new-born infants. By their unremitted
exertions Christianity became planted in their hearts, so that the inhabitants came to the
confessional once every year; and those whowere better instructed in our Christian faith
received the holy communion. Their churches are very richly ornamented with altars,
crucifixes, candelabras, different-sized chalices, censers, and everythingelse required in our
religious ceremonies, all of pure silver. The morewealthy townships have the vestments of
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