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 Mexicans did not fail to profit by this permission; they went from one quarter to
another, and found most of the women again; but there were only three that showed any
desire to return to their homes;the rest all remained with our soldiers. Many even concealed
themselveson hearing that their relations were coming in search of them;others declared
they would never again return to the worship of idols;and many of them were with child.
We now likewise constructed a secure harbour for our brigantines,and built a fort, to which
a special alcalde was appointed, in the person of Alvarado (if I remember rightly), who
filled this command until itwas subsequently bestowed upon a certain Salazar de la Petrada,
whocame from Spain for that purpose.
The next thing which Cortes did was to collect all the gold, silver,and jewels that had been
found in Mexico, of which, however, therewas very little; for Quauhtemoctzin, it was said,
had ordered all thetreasures to be thrown into the lake four days previous to his capture.A
great quantity had likewise been purloined by the Tlascallans,Tezcucans, Huexotzincans,
Cholullans, and other auxiliary troops whichhad assisted us in the siege, besides what had
fallen into the hands ofthe troops on board the brigantines.
[Pg 117]
The crown officials were positive that Quauhtemoctzin had concealedthe greater part, and
asserted that Cortes was very pleased that themonarch refused to say a word where it was
hidden; for he would thenbe able to get the whole treasure into his own possession.
The officers then proposed that Quauhtemoctzin and the king ofTlacupa, his most intimate
friend and cousin, should be put to thetorture, in order to extort from them a confession as
to what hadbecome of the treasures: but Cortes could not make up his mind toinsult so
great a monarch as Quauhtemoctzin, whose territory morethan trebled that of Spain, and
that for mere lust after gold. [30] Moreover, the monarch's household assured us they had
given up allthe gold they possessed to the officers of the crown, which, it was wellknown,
amounted to 380,000 pesos, the whole of which had been meltedinto bars; and one thing is
certain, that the emperor's and Cortes' fifths were deducted from that sum; but the
conquistadores were not at all satisfied, and considered this sum much below the real
amount,and several expressed their suspicion to Alderete, the royal treasurer,that Cortes'
only reason for not wishing to put the monarch to thetorture was, that he might secretly
take possession of all his riches.Cortes, not willing that such a suspicion should any longer
lie upon him, or that he should afterwards be called to an account on this score, at last
consented that both should be put to the torture. Boiling hotoil was then applied to their
feet; upon which they confessed that, fourdays prior to Quauhtemoctzin's capture, all the
gold, with the cannon,crossbows, and muskets, which we had lost in the night of sorrows,
when we retreated from Mexico, besides those which had been takenin Cortes' last defeat
on the causeway, had been thrown into the lake.A number of good swimmers were then
sent to dive for the treasure inthe spot they pointed out, but nothing was found. Yet there
was sometruth in the statement; for I was myself present when Quauhtemoctzinled us to a
large and deep reservoir of water, built of stone, which lay near his palace. From this
reservoir we fished up a sun of gold similar to the one sent us by Motecusuma, besides
many jewels and othertrinkets, though all of little value. The king of Tlacupa also informed
us that he had hidden all manner of valuable things in some large houses, about twelve
miles from Tlacupa, and he would accompany us there topoint out the spot where he had
buried them.
[Pg 118]
Alvarado was then despatched thither with six soldiers, amongwhich number I also was;
but when we arrived at the spot, this kingassured us he had merely invented all this in the
hopes that we would have killed him in a moment of anger at our disappointment. We
consequently returned without the treasure, and thus there was nomore smelting of gold
into bars for the present. But it is an undoubted fact that there was very little left in the
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