Conquest of Mexico
Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. i66.—See, also, Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva España, MS., lib. 12, cap 29.— Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 10, cap. 19.—Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 88.—Oviedo, Hist, de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 16.—Gomara, Crónica, cap. 118.
Page 156 (1).—The Spaniards appear to have changed the Qua, beginning Aztec names into Gua, in the same manner as, in the mother country, they changed the Wad at the beginning of Arabic names into Guad. (See Condé, El Nubiense, Descripcion de España, notas, passim.) The Aztec tzin was added to the names of sovereigns and great lords, as a mark of reverence. Thus Cuitlahua was called Cuitlahuitzin. This termination, usually dropped by the Spaniards, has been retained from accident, or, perhaps, for the sake of euphony, in Guatemozin's name.
Page 158 (1).—Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 134.
Page 158 (2).—One may call to mind the beautiful invocation which Racine has put into the mouth of Joad: " Come, dear scion of a valiant race, fill your defenders with new courage, come before their eyes crowned with the diadem, and perish, if you must perish, as a king."—Athalie, acte 4, scène 5.
Page 158 (2).—Rel. Tercera de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 183. Most, if not all, of the authorities—a thing worthy of note—concur in this estimate of the Spanish forces.
Page 160 (1).—Lucio Marineo, who witnessed all the dire effects of this national propensity at the Castilian court, where he was residing at this time, breaks out into the following animated apostrophe against it. "The gamester is a man capable of seeking and procuring the death of his parents, of swearing falsely by God and by the life of his King and Lord, a man who slays his own soul and casts it into hell; of what is the gamester not capable when he has no shame in losing his money, his time, his sleep, his good fame, his honour, and finally his life? For the reason that a great part of mankind always and everywhere gambles continually, it appears to me that the opinion of those who say that hell is filled with gamesters is correct."—Cosas Memorables de Espagna (ed. Sevilla, 1539), fol. 165.
Page 161 (1).—These regulations are reported with much uniformity by Herrera, Solís, Clavigero, and others, but with such palpable inaccuracy, that it is clear they never could have seen the original instrument. The copy in my possession was taken from the Muñoz collection.
Page 162 (1).—Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 10, cap. 20.—Bernal Diaz, Hist, de la Conquista, cap. 127. The former historian states the number of Indian allies who followed Cortés, at eighty thousand; the latter at ten thousand! ¿ Quien sabe?
Page 163 (1).—This mountain, which, with its neighbour Popocatepetl, forms the great barrier—the Herculis columna—of the Mexican Valley, has been fancifully likened, from its long dorsal swell, to the back of a dromedary. (Tudor's Tour in North America, let. 22.) It rises far above the limits of perpetual snow in the tropics, and its huge crest and sides, enveloped in its silver drapery, form one of the most striking objects in the magnificent coup d'œil presented to the inhabitants of the capital.
Page 166 (1).—The skins of those immolated on the sacrificial stone were a common offering in the Indian temples, and the mad priests celebrated many of their festivals by publicly dancing with their own persons enveloped in these disgusting spoils of their victims.—See Sahagun, Hist, de Nueva España, passim.
Page 166 (2).—Rel, Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 187.—Oviedo, Hist, de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 19.432
