Notes
left in the palace of Axayacatl, where they surrendered on terms, but were subsequently all sacrificed by the Aztecs! The improbability of this monstrous story, by which the army with all its equipage could leave the citadel without the knowledge of so many of their comrades,—and this be permitted, too, at a juncture which made every man's co-operation so important,—is too obvious to require refutation. Herrera records, what is much more probable, that Cortés gave particular orders to the captain, Ojeda, to see that none of the sleeping or wounded should, in the hurry of the moment, be overlooked in their quarters.—Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 10, cap. II.
Page 115 (2).—"Thus of the troops of Narvaez, the majority fell upon the bridge, burdened by their loads of gold."—Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 128.
Page 115 (3).—According to Diaz, part of the gold intrusted to the Tlascalan convoy was preserved. (Hist, de, la Conquista, cap. 136.) From the document already cited,—Probanza de Villa Segura, MS., it appears that it was a Castilian guard who had charge of it.
Page 116 (1).—Gomara, Crónica,cap. 109.—Oviedo, Hist, de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 13.— Probanza en la Villa Segura, MS.—Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 128.
Page 117 (1).—Lorenzana, Viage, p. xiii.
Page 118 (1).—The last instance, I believe, of the direct interposition of the Virgin in behalf of the metropolis was in 1833, when she was brought into the city to avert the cholera. She refused to pass the night in town, however, but was found the next morning in her own sanctuary at Los Remedios, showing, by the mud with which she was plentifully bespattered, that she must have performed the distance—several leagues—through the miry ways on foot!—See Latrobe, Rambler in Mexico, Letter 5.
Page 118 (2).—The epithet by which, according to Diaz, the Castilians were constantly addressed by the natives; and which—whether correctly or not—he interprets into gods, or divine beings. (See Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 48, et alibi.)
Page 119 (1).—Herrera mentions one soldier who had succeeded in carrying off his gold to the value of 3000 castellanos across the causeway, and afterwards flung it away by the advice of Cortés. "The devil take your gold," said the commander bluntly to him, "if it is to cost you your life."— Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 10, cap. II.
Page 119 (2).—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 110.
Page 119(3).—The meaning of the word Tlascala, and so called from the abundance of maize raised in the country.—Boturini, Idea, p. 78.
Page 120 (1).—The pyramid of Mycerinos is 280 feet only at the base, and 162 feet in height. The great pyramid of Cheops is 728 feet at the base, and 448 feet high. See Denon, Egypt Illustrated (London, 1825), p. 9.
Page 121 (1).—"It requires a particular position," says Mr. Tudor, "united with some little faith, to discover the pyramidal form at all." (Tour in North America, vol. ii. p. 277.) Yet Mr. Bullock says, "The general figure of the square is as perfect as the great pyramid of Egypt." (Six Months in Mexico, vol. ii. chap. 26.) Eye-witnesses both! The historian must often content himself with repeating, in the words of the old French lay,—" And I will tell you the truth even as I have found it written."
Page 121 (2).—This is M. de Humboldt's opinion. (See his Essai Politique, tom. ii. pp. 66-70.) He has also discussed these interesting monuments in his Vues des Cordillères, p. 25 et seq.427
