Today | News | Books | Recipes Adventure | Science Fiction | Ghost stories | Poetry | Children | History Bookus 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 |