Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History BookOpen Original Text us all to the sword. If they attacked us in
a body, and from all sides at once, not one of us could escape. Not till
then were the great sacrifices to be instituted, as well in honour of
the warrior-god Huitzilopochtli, who had given the oracle, as in that of
the god of hell, Tetzcatlipuca. Our legs, thighs, and arms were to be
eaten at their feast, and our entrails, with the remaining part of our
bodies, were to be thrown to the serpents and tigers, which they kept
confined in wooden cages, as will be mentioned in the proper place.
It may well be imagined that the chastisement we gave the inhabitants of
Cholulla spread like wildfire through the whole of New Spain. If,
previously, the battles of Potonchan, Tabasco, Cingapacinga, and
Tlascalla, had spread the fame of our invincible courage, and obtained
for us the name of teules or gods of a fearful nature, we were now
looked upon as divinities of a superior order, from whom nothing could
be kept a secret, and the greatest veneration was consequently paid to
us.
The kind reader has now, no doubt, heard enough of this occurrence at
Cholulla, and I myself would gladly break off here, but must add a word
or two about the wooden cages we saw in this town. These were
constructed of heavy timber, and filled with grown-up men and little
boys, who were fattening there for the sacrifices and feasts. These
diabolical cages Cortes ordered to be pulled down, and sent the
prisoners each to their several homes. He likewise made the chiefs and
papas promise him, under severe threats, never again to fasten up human
beings in that way, and totally to abstain from eating human flesh. But
what was the use of promises which they never intended to keep?
These are, among others, those abominable monstrosities which the bishop
of Chiapa, Las Casas, can find no end in enumerating. But he is wrong
when he asserts that we gave the Cholullans the above-mentioned
chastisement without any provocation, and merely for pastime. I can,
however, produce as witnesses to the contrary the pious Franciscan
friars who were the first monks our emperor despatched thither after the
conquest of New Spain. These venerable men were purposely sent to
Cholulla to make the minutest investigation into this affair. They
gained all their information from the elders and papas of the town
itself, and they were fully convinced that everything had really taken
place as I have related above: and, indeed, if we had not made an
example here, we should have lived in constant alarm, as we were
completely surrounded by Mexican and Cholullan troops, who were
everywhere lying in ambush. If we had been destroyed at that time, New
Spain would certainly not have been so speedily conquered; a second
armament would not so easily have found its way there; and if it had,
there would have been hard work with the Indians who defended the
coasts; and they would have continued in their idolatrous worship. I
have myself heard the very pious Franciscan brother Toribio Motelmea[40]
say that it would certainly have been better if we could have avoided
spilling so much blood, and the Indians had not given us the cause to do
so; but it had this good effect, that all the inhabitants of New Spain
became convinced that their idols were nothing but deceitful demons, and
they experienced how much happier they were when they discontinued to
worship them or sacrifice to them; and it is a fact, that the
inhabitants of Cholulla, from that moment, cared very little about their
idols: they took down the large one from the principal cu, and either
hid it somewhere or destroyed it altogether: we, at least, never saw
that one again, and they placed another there in its stead.[41]
[34] A temple where human beings were sacrificed to idols. (p. 197.)
[35] Cortes, in his despatches to the emperor, mentions that three
thousand Cholullans were killed on this occasion; but Torquemada gives
double the number, which is nearer the truth, particularly as Gomara
agrees with him.
Respecting this massacre, Torquemada gives the following remarkable
account: The Cholullans, he says, expected that their god Quetzalcohuatl
would come to their assistance with some miracle. They believed that at
any time, by removing part of the white plaster from the temple, a
strong flood of water would instantly burst out, and they were therefore
very particular in repairing any little damage that might happen in this
way to the temple, by means of chalk mixed with the blood of children
two and three years of age, killed for the purpose. It was on this
temple that the Cholullans defended themselves with the greatest
obstinacy; but the victory soon declaring in favour of the Spaniards,
the inhabitants began to loosen the plaster off the outside, firmly
believing that a deluge of water would instantly burst forth, and drown
the assailants; when finding themselves disappointed in their
expectations, they complained bitterly to their god for not rendering
them any assistance; refused, however, to capitulate; and numbers flung
themselves headlong from the top of the temple, to seek death that way.
(p. 204.)
[36] Torquemada sometimes writes this word Tianquitz, sometimes
Tiangues, but we find it also written Tianquiztli. By the terminating
syllable most likely some particular market is meant; for it is peculiar
to the Mexican language to modify the meaning of words in that manner.
(p. 205.)
[37] Termed by the inhabitants Pulque. (p. 205.)
[38] An interesting account of this remarkable building, of which
considerable remains are still to be seen, is given by Humboldt, in the
'Atlas Pittoresque.' (p. 206.)
[39] It was the god Quetzalcoatl, of whom also an account will be found
in the above-mentioned work of Humboldt. (p. 206.)
[40] The name is correctly written Motolinia. This was the excellent
brother Toribio Benavente, who so greatly exerted himself in converting
the Indians to Christianity. He adopted the name of Motolinia on his
arrival in New Spain, and the word means, _O! the poor man!_ which the
Indians exclaimed when they first beheld the meanness of his attire. (p.
207.)
[41] Respecting the castigation of the inhabitants of Cholulla, Las
Casas, (Brevissima Relacion de la destrucyon de las Indias) asserts,
though merely from hearsay, that Cortes, while cutting down the Indians,
repeated this verse:
Miro Nero de Tarpeya, A Roma como se ardia, Gritos dan Niños y' viejos,
Y el de nada se dolia.
A translation of these lines will be found in a subsequent note. (p.
208.)
CHAPTER LXXXIV.
_The negotiations we set on foot with the great Motecusuma, and the
ambassadors we sent him._
We had now lain a fortnight in Cholulla, and any further stay there
would have been waste of time. All the inhabitants had returned to their
dwellings, and the markets were again filled with goods and merchants;
peace had been concluded between them and their neighbours the
Tlascallans; a cross erected, and much of our holy faith explained to
the inhabita Previous Next |