1 Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., Ms., cap

36 Ante, p. 224.

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panegyric. His situation may in some degree excuse his partiality. But it did not vindicate him in the eyes of the honest Las Casas, who seldom concludes a chapter of his own narrative of the Conquest without admin­istering a wholesome castigation to Gomara. He even goes so far as to tax the chaplain with "downright falsehood," assuring us "that he had neither eyes nor ears but for what his patron chose to dictate to him." That this is not literally true is evident from the fact that the narrative was not written till several years after the death of Cortés. Indeed, Gomara, derived his in­formation from the highest sources; not merely from his patron's family, but also from the most distinguished actors in the great drama, with whom his position in society placed him in intimate communication.

The materials thus obtained he arranged with a symmetry little under­stood by the chroniclers of the time. Instead of their rambling incoheren­cies, his style displays an elegant brevity; it is as clear as it is concise. If the facts are somewhat too thickly crowded on the reader, and occupy the mind too busily for reflection, they at least all tend to a determinate point, and the story, instead of dragging its slow length along till our patience and interest are exhausted, steadily maintains its onward march. In short, the execution of the work is not only superior to that of most contempo­rary narratives, but, to a certain extent, may aspire to the rank of a classi­cal composition.

Owing to these circumstances, Gomara's History soon obtained gen­eral circulation and celebrity; and, while many a letter of Cortés, and the more elaborate compositions of Oviedo and Las Casas, were suffered to slumber in manuscript, Gomara's writings were printed and reprinted in his own day, and translated into various languages of Europe. The first edition of the Cr6nica de la Nueva España appeared at Medina, in 1553; it was republished at Antwerp the following year. It has since been incorpo­rated in Barcia's collection, and lastly, in 1826, made its appearance on this side of the water from the Mexican press. The circumstances attending this last edition are curious. The Mexican government appropriated a small sum to defray the expense of translating what was supposed to be an original chronicle of Chimalpain, an Indian writer who lived at the close of the sixteenth century. The care of the translation was committed to the laborious Bustamante. But this scholar had not proceeded far in his labor, when he ascertained that the supposed original was itself an Aztec trans­lation of Gomara's Chronicle. He persevered, however, in his editorial labors, until he had given to the public an American edition of Gomara. It

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is a fact more remarkable, that the editor in his different compilations con­stantly refers to this same work as the Chronicle of Chimalpain.

The other authority to which I have adverted is Bernal Diaz del Castillo, a native of Medina del Campo in Old Castile. He was born of a poor and humble family, and in 1514 came over to seek his fortunes in the New World. He embarked as a common soldier under Cordova in the first expedition to Yucatan. He accompanied Grijalva in the following year to the same quarter; and finally enlisted under the banner of Cortés. He fol­lowed this victorious chief in his first march up the great plateau; de­scended with him to make the assault on Narvaez; shared the disasters of the noche triste,; and was present at the siege and surrender of the capital. In short, there was scarcely an event or an action of importance in the whole war in which he did not bear a part. He was engaged in a hundred and nineteen different battles and rencontres, in several of which he was wounded, and in more than one narrowly escaped falling into the enemy's hands. In all these Bernal Diaz displayed the old Castilian valor, and a loy­alty which made him proof against the mutinous spirit that too often dis­turbed the harmony of the camp. On every occasion he was found true to his commander and to the cause in which he was embarked. And his fi­delity is attested not only by his own report, but by the emphatic com­mendations of his general; who selected him on this account for offices of trust and responsibility, which furnished the future chronicler with access to the best means of information in respect to the Conquest.

On the settlement of the country, Bernal Diaz received his share of the repartimientos of land and laborers. But the arrangement was not to his sat­isfaction; and he loudly murmurs at the selfishness of his commander, too much engrossed by the care for his own emoluments to think of his fol­lowers. The division of spoil is usually an unthankful office.-Diaz had been too long used to a life of adventure to be content with one of torpid security. He took part in several expeditions conducted by the captains of Cortés, and he accompanied that chief in his terrible passage through the forests of Honduras. At length, in 1568, we find the veteran established as regidor of the city of Guatemala, peacefully employed in recounting the valorous achievements of his youth. It was then nearly half a century after the Conquest. He had survived his general and nearly all his ancient com­panions in arms. Five only remained of that gallant band who had accom­panied Cortés on his expedition from Cuba; and those five, to borrow the words of the old chronicler, were "poor, aged, and infirm, with children

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and grandchildren looking to them for support, but with scarcely the means of affording it,-ending their days, as they had begun them, in toil and trouble." Such was the fate of the Conquerors of golden Mexico.

The motives which induced Bernal Diaz to take up his pen, at so late a period of life, were to vindicate for himself and his comrades that share of renown in the Conquest, which fairly belonged to them. Of this they had been deprived, as he conceived, by the exaggerated reputation of their general; owing, no doubt, in part, to the influence of Gomara's writings. It was not, however, till he had advanced beyond the threshold of his own work, that Diaz met with that of the chaplain. The contrast presented by his own homely diction to the clear and polished style of his predecessor filled him with so much disgust, that he threw down his pen in despair. But, when he had read further, and saw the gross inaccuracies and what he deemed disregard of truth in his rival, he resumed his labors, determined ro exhibit to the world a narrative which should, at least, have the merit of fidelity. Such was the origin of the Historia Verdadera de la Conquista de la ueva España.

The chronicler may be allowed to have succeeded in his object. In read­ing his pages, we feel, that, whatever are the errors into which he has fallen, from oblivion of ancient transactions, or from unconscious vanity-of which he had full measure,-or from credulity, or any other cause, there is nowhere a wilful perversion of truth. Had he attempted it, indeed, his very simplicity would have betrayed him. Even in relation to Cortés, while he endeavors to adjust the true balance between his pretensions and those of His followers, and while he freely exposes his cunning or cupidity, and sometimes his cruelty, he does ample justice to his great and heroic quali­nes. With all his defects, it is clear that he considers his own chief as supe­rior to any other of ancient or modern times. In the heat of remonstrance, he is ever ready to testify his loyalty and personal attachment. When calumnies assail his commander, or he experiences unmerited slight or in­dignity, the loyal chronicler is prompt to step forward and shield him. In short, it is evident, that, however much he may at times censure Cortés, he will allow no one else to do it.

Bernal Diaz, the untutored child of nature, is a most true and literal copyist of nature. He transfers the scenes of real life by a sort of da­guerreotype process, if I may say so, to his pages. He is among chroniclers what De Foe is among novelists. He introduces us into the heart of the camp, we huddle round the bivouac with the soldiers, loiter with them on

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their wearisome marches, listen to their stories, their murmurs of discon­tent, their plans of conquest, their hopes, their triumphs, their disappoint­ments. All the picturesque scenes and romantic incidents of the campaign are reflected in his page as in a mirror. The lapse of fifty years has had no power over the spirit of the veteran. The fire of youth glows in every line of his rude history, and, as he calls up the scenes of the past, the remem­brance of the brave companions who are gone gives, it may be, a warmer coloring to the picture, than if it had been made at an earlier period. Time, and reflection, and the apprehensions for the future, which might steal over the evening of life, have no power over the settled opinions of his ear­lier days. He has no misgivings as to the right of conquest, or as to the jus­tice of the severities inflicted on the natives. He is still the soldier of the Cross; and those who fell by his side in the fight were martyrs for the faith. "Where are now my companions?" he asks; "they have fallen in battle or been devoured by the cannibal, or been thrown to fatten the wild beasts in their cages! they whose remains should rather have been gathered under monuments emblazoned with their achievements, which deserve to be commemorated in letters of gold; for they died in the service of God and of his Majesty, and to give light to those who sat in darkness,-and also to acquire that wealth which most men covet." The last motive-thus tardily and incidentally expressed-may be thought by some to furnish a better key than either of the preceding to the conduct of the Conquerors. It is, at all events, a specimen of that naiveté which gives an irresistible charm to the old chronicler; and which, in spite of himself, unlocks his bosom, as it were, and lays it open to the eye of the reader.

It may seem extraordinary, that, after so long an interval, the incidents of his campaigns should have been so freshly remembered. But we must consider that they were of the most strange and romantic character, well fitted to make an impression on a young and susceptible imagination. They had probably been rehearsed by the veteran again and again to his family and friends, until every passage of the war was as familiar to his mind as the "tale of Troy" to the Greek rhapsodist, orxhe interminable ad­ventures of Sir Lancelot or Sir Gawain to the Norman minstrel. The throwing of his narrative into the form of chronicle was but repeating it once more.

The literary merits of the work are of a very humble order; as might be expected from the condition of the writer. He has not even the art to con­ceal his own vulgar vanity, which breaks out with a truly comic ostenta­

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tion in every page of the narrative. And yet we should have charity for this, when we find that it is attended with no disposition to depreciate the mer­its of others, and that its display may be referred in part to the singular simplicity of the man. He honestly confesses his infirmity, though, indeed, to excuse it. "When my chronicle was finished," he says, "I submitted it to two licentiates, who were desirous of reading the story, and for whom I felt all the respect which an ignorant man naturally feels for a scholar. I be­sought them, at the same time, to make no change or correction in the manuscript, as all there was set down in good faith. When they had read the work, they much commended me for my wonderful memory. The lan­guage, they said, was good old Castilian, without any of the flourishes and finicalities so much affected by our fine writers. But they remarked, that it would have been as well, if I had not praised myself and my comrades so liberally, but had left that to others. To this I answered, that it was common for neighbors and kindred to speak kindly of one another; and, if we did not speak well of ourselves, who would? Who else witnessed our exploits and our battles, unless, indeed, the clouds in the sky, and the birds that were flying over our heads?"

Notwithstanding the liberal encomiums passed by the licentiates on our author's style, it is of a very homely texture; abounding in colloquial barbarisms, and seasoned occasionally by the piquant sallies of the camp. It has the merit, however, of clearly conveying the writer's thoughts, and is well suited to their simple character. His narrative is put together with even less skill than is usual among his craft, and abounds in digressions and repetitions, such as vulgar gossips are apt to use in telling their stories. But it is superfluous to criticize a work by the rules of art, which was written manifestly in total ignorance of those rules; and which, however we may criticize it, will be read and re-read by the scholar and the schoolboy, while the compositions of more classic chroniclers sleep undisturbed on their shelves.

In what, then, lies the charm of the work? In that spirit of truth which pervades it; which shows us situations as they were, and sentiments as they really existed in the heart of the writer. It is this which imparts a living in­terest to his story; and which is more frequently found in the productions of the untutored penman solely intent upon facts, than in those of the ripe and fastidious scholar occupied with the mode of expressing them.

It was by a mere chance that this inimitable chronicle was rescued from the oblivion into which so many works of higher pretensions have fallen

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in the Peninsula. For more than sixty years after its composition, the man­uscript lay concealed in the obscurity of a private library, when it was put into the hands of Father Alonso Remon, Chronicler General of the Order of Mercy. He had the sagacity to discover, under its rude exterior, its high value in illustrating the history of the Conquest. He obtained a license for the publication of the work, and under his auspices it appeared at Madrid in 1632,-the edition used in the preparation of these volumes.

BOOK VI

SIEGE AND SURRENDER OF MEXICO

CHAPTER I ARRANGEMENTS AT TEZCUCO-SACK OF IZTAPALAPAN-ADVANTAGES OF THE SPANIARDS­WISE POLICY OF CORTÉS-TRANSPORTATION OF THE BRIGANTINES 1521

"Así mismo hizo juntar todos los bastimentos que fuéron necesarios para sustentar el Exército y Guarniciones de Gente que andaban en favor de Cortés, y así hizo traer á la Ciudad de Tezcuco el Maiz que había en las Troxes y Graneros de las Provincias sugetas al Reyno de Tezcuco." lxtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 91.

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2 "No era de espantar que tuviese este recelo, porque sus Enemigos, y los de esta Ciudad eran todos Deudos y Parientes mas cercanos, mas despues el tiempo lo desengañó, y vido la gran lealtad de Ixtlilxochitl, y de todos." Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 92.

3 Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 137.

4 Ibid., ubi supra.-Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 91.

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"Los principales, que habian sido en hacerme la Guerra pasada, eran ya muertos; y que lo pasado fuesse pasado, y que no quisiessen dar causa á que destruyesse sus Tierras, y Ciu­dades, porque me pesaba mucho de ello." Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 193.

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6 "Muriéron de ellos mas de seis mil ánimas, entre Hombres, y Mugeres, y Niños; porque los Indios nuestros Amigos, vista la Victoria, que Dios nos daba, no entendian en otra cosa, sino en matar á diestro y á siniestro." Ibid., p. 195.

7 "Estándolas quemando, pareció que Nuestro Señor me inspiró, y trujo á la memoria la Calzada, ó Presa, que habia visto rota en el Camino, y representóseme el gran daño, que era." Ibid., loc. cit.

8 "Y certifico á Vuestra Magestad, que si aquella noche no pasaramos el Agua, ó aguardaramos tres horas mas, que ninguno de nosotros escapara, porque quedabamos cercados de Agua, sin tener paso por parte ninguna." Ibid., ubi supra.

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9 The general's own Letter to the Emperor is so full and precise, that it is the very best author­ity for this event. The story is told also by Bernal Diaz, Hist de la Conquista, cap. 138.­Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 18,-Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap 92.-Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 3, lib. 1, cap. 2, et auct. aliis.

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0 Lorenzana, p. 199, nota.

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11 "Porque ciertamente sus antepassados les auian dicho, que auian de señorear aquellas tierras hombres que vernian con barbas de hazia donde sale el Sol, y que por las cosas que han visto, eramos nosotros." Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 139.

12 Ibid., ubi supra.-Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 200.-CComara, Crónica, cap. 122­Ixtlilxochitl, Venida de los Esp., p. 15.

13 "Y certifico á Vuestra Magestad, allende de nuestro trabajo y necesidad, la mayor fatiga, que tenia, era no poder ayudar, y socorrer á los Indios nuestros Amigos, que por ser Vasallos de Vuestra Magestad, eran molestados y trabajados de los de Culua." Re] Terc, ap. Lorenzana, p.204.

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14 Ibid., pp. 204, 205.-Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 19.

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l i Oviedo, in his admiration of his hero, breaks out into the following panegyric on his policy, prudence, and military science, which, as he truly predicts, must make his name immortal. It is a fair specimen of the manner of the sagacious old chronicler.

"Sin dubda alguna la habilidad y esfuerzo, é prudencia de Hernando Cortés mui dignas son que entre los cavalleros, é gente militar en nuestros tiempos se tengan en mucha estima­cion, y en los venideros nunca se desacuerden. Por causa suya me acuerdo muchas veces de aquellas cosas que se escriven del capitan Viriato nuestro Español y Estremeño; y por Her­nando Cortés me ocurren al sentido las muchas fatigas de aquel espejo de caballería Julio César dictador, como parece por sus comentarios, é por Suetonio é Plutarco é otros autores que en conformidad escriviéron los grandes hechos suyos. Pero los de Hernando Cortés en un Mundo nuevo, é tan apartadas provincias de Europa, é con tantos trabajos é necesidades é pocas fuerzas, é con gente tan innumerable, é tan bárbara é bellicosa, é apacentada en carne humana, é aun habida por excelente é sabroso manjar entre sus adversarios; é faltándole á él o á sus mílites el pan é vino é los otros mantenimientos todos de España, y en tan diferenci­adas regiones é aires é tan desviado é léjos de socorro é de su príncipe, cosas son de admira­cion." Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 20.

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16 Among other chiefs, to whom CCuatemozin applied for assistance in the perilous state of his affairs, was Tangapan, lord of Michuacan, an independent and powerful state in the West, which had never been subdued by the Mexican army. The accounts which the Aztec emperor gave him, through his ambassadors, of the white men, were so alarming, according to Ixtlil­xochitl, who tells the story, that the king's sister voluntarily starved herself to death, from her apprehensions of the coming of the terrible strangers. Her body was deposited, as usual, in the vaults reserved for the royal household, until preparations could be made for its being burnt. On the fourth day, the attendants, who had charge of it, were astounded by seeing the corpse exhibit signs of returning life. The restored princess, recovering her speech, requested her brother's presence. On his coming, she implored him not to think of hurting a hair of the heads of the mysterious visitors. She had been permitted, she said, to see the fate of the de­parted in the next world. The souls of all her ancestors she had beheld tossing about in un­quenchable fire; while those who embraced the faith of the strangers were in glory. As a proof of the truth of her assertion, she added, that her brother would see, on a great festival, near at hand, a young warrior, armed with a torch brighter than the sun, in one hand, and a flam­ing sword, like that worn by the white men, in the other, passing from east to west over the city.

Whether the monarch waited for the vision, or ever beheld it, is not told us by the histo­rian. But relying, perhaps, on the miracle of her resurrection, as quite a sufficient voucher, he disbanded a very powerful force, which he had assembled on the plains of Avalos, for the sup­port of his brother of Mexico.

This narrative, with abundance of supernumerary incidents, not necessary to repeat, was commemorated in the Michuacan picture-records, and reported to the historian of Tezcuco himself, by the grandson of Tangapan. (See Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 91.)-Who­ever reported it to him, it is not difficult to trace the same pious fingers in it, which made so

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many wholesome legends for the good of the Church on the Old Continent, and which now' found, in the credulity of the New, a rich harvest for the same godly work.

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17 "Aquí estuvo preso el sin ventura de Juá luste có otros muchos que traia en mi compañía." Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 140.

18 Ibid., ubi supra.-Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 19.-Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 206.

19 "y despues de hechos por orden de Cortés, y probados en el rio que llaman de Tlaxcalla Za­huapan, que se atajó para probarlos los bergantines, y los tornáron á desbaratar por llevarlos

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á cuestas sobre hombros de los de Tlaxcala á la ciudad de Tetzcuco, donde se echaron en la laguna, y se armáron de artillería y municion." Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.

20 Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 207.

Bernal Diaz says sixteen thousand. (Ibid., ubi supra.) There is a wonderful agreement be­tween the several Castilian writers as to the number of forces, the order of march, and the events that occurred on it.

21 "Estendíase tanto la Gente, que dende que los primeros comenzaron á entrar, hasta que los postreros hobiéron acabado, se pasáron mas de seis horas; sin quebrar el hilo de la Gente." Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 208.

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22 "Dando vozes y silvos y diziendo: Viua, viua el Emperador, nuestro Sefior, y Castilla, Castilla, y Tlascala, Tlascala." (Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 140.) For the particulars of Sandoval's expedition, see, also, Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 19,-Gomara, Crónica, cap. 124,-Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 84,-Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 92,-Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 3, lib. 1, cap. 2.

23 "Que era cosa maravillosa de ver, y assí me parece que es de oir, llevar trece Fustas diez y ocho leguas por Tierra." (Rel. Terc. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 207.) "En rem Romano pop­ulo," exclaims Martyr, "quando illustrius res illorum vigebant, non facilem!" De Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 8.

24 Two memorable examples of a similar transportation of vessels across the land are recorded, the one in ancient, the other in modern history; and both, singularly enough, at the same place, Tarentum, in Italy. The first occurred at the siege of that city by Hannibal; (see Polyb­ius, lib. 8;) the latter some seventeen centuries later, by the Great Captain, Gonsalvo de Cor­dova. But the distance they were transported was inconsiderable. A more analogous example is that of Balboa, the bold discoverer of the Pacific. He made arrangements to have four brig­antines transported a distance of twenty-two leagues across the Isthmus of Darien, a stu­pendous labor, and not entirely successful, as only two reached their point of destination. (See Herrera, Hist. General, dec. 2, lib. 2, cap. 11.) This took place in 1516, in the neighbor­hood, as it were, of Cortés, and may have suggested to his enterprising spirit the first idea of his own more successful, as well as more extensive, undertaking.