The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo (Vol. 1&2). Bernal Diaz del Castillo
have done considerable destruction among the enemy who stood so crowded together. Every man among us did his duty, and we fought away like brave warriors, for in all truth we were placed in greater jeopardy this time than we had ever been before. Numbers of the Indians lay dead on the field of battle; among whom were eight of the principal chiefs, all sons of old caziques, who dwelt together in the chief town of the country. At last our enemies retreated in good order, which we were glad enough to see, for we could scarcely stand any longer from over-fatigue, nor durst we think of following the enemy. Add to which, the ground was greatly to our disadvantage, partly on account of the number of straggling houses, partly on account of a species of pits in which many of the inhabitants dwelt. This battle was fought on the first two days of September, 1519, near the village of Tehuacacinco, and we returned fervent thanks to God for having rescued us from such great peril and for the victory we had gained.
After the battle, we fell back to some temples, which were very high, and large enough to serve us for castles. We dressed the wounds of our men with the fat of Indians, as we had done on previous occasions. Five of our horses were wounded, and fifteen men, of whom one subsequently died. Upon this we took our suppers, and made a good meal off the number of dogs and fowls which we found in the dwellings. Before, however, we lay down to rest, we posted our sentinels, and continually patrolled during the night: not before all these things were properly ordered did we lie down, and slept till morning.
For the rest, we made fifteen prisoners, among whom were two of the most distinguished personages; but we could never discover how many we killed or wounded, as it was customary with the Tlascallans immediately to carry off the wounded and dead from the field of battle. 24
CHAPTER LXIV.
How we quartered ourselves in the township of Tehuacacinco, and what we did there.
As the battles we fought had greatly fatigued us, besides that several of our men and horses were wounded, we made a day of rest, repaired our crossbows, and supplied ourselves with arrows. The next morning Cortes said to us, "It would be no harm if our horse were to gallop up and down the country a little; the Tlascallans might otherwise think we had had enough of it in the last battle: we must show them that we are constantly at their heels." And indeed it was better that we began ourselves than wait until we should be attacked, that the enemy might not suppose we had been too greatly weakened, and had lost our courage. Besides this, the country round about was quite level, and thickly populated. We therefore ordered out seven horse, some crossbow-men, and several musketeers, in all 200 men, without including our confederates. Every possible precaution had been previously made to secure our camp. On our march through the townships we captured twenty Indians of both sexes, but in no way molested them. Our allies, however, who were barbarous characters, could not refrain from setting fire to many houses where they had found quantities of fowls and young dogs. After we had again returned to our quarters, Cortes ordered the fetters to be taken off the prisoners, and food to be given them. Doña Marina and Aguilar then addressed them very affectionately, and gave to each some glass beads, adding, at the same time, that in future they should not be so foolish, but make peace with us, as we were very desirous of looking upon them as brothers, and would protect them as such.
We also set the first two Indians at liberty whom we had captured, and gave them a letter with the commission to tell the chief of the provinces that we were not come in any way to injure the Tlascallans, but merely wished to take the road through their country to Mexico, there to have an interview with Motecusuma.
Both these delegates punctually followed our orders, and arrived at the head-quarters of Xicotencatl, which lay, if I remember rightly, about six miles from our camp, in the township of Tehuacinpacingo. Having, in the absence of the father, fulfilled our commission to the younger Xicotencatl, he told them, we had only to come to his father's township, there they would make peace, after they had satiated themselves with the flesh of our bodies, and had honoured their gods with the sacrifice of our blood and hearts. The next morning we should behold his answer with our own eyes.
As the last battles were still fresh in our memories, we did not exactly relish the haughty answer with which our delegates returned. Cortes, nevertheless, received them most kindly, perceiving, from their return, that they no longer stood in awe of us; and with the view that they should once more be despatched as messengers of peace, he gave them some additional strings of beads. For the rest he made the most minute inquiries respecting the commander Xicotencatl, and the number of his troops, and found that the latter were much more numerous than in the last battle: he had now five chiefs under him, each of whom commanded 10,000 men. These troops were enumerated in the following manner: First of all came the 10,000 men of Xicotencatl's division; next a similar number under another powerful cazique called Maxixcatzin; then a like number under the distinguished cazique Chichimeclatecl; 10,000 under the cazique of Topoyanco, named Tecapaneca; and an equal number under the cazique Quaxobcin;—altogether thus 50,000 men. Each troop had its standard and arms, the latter being a large white bird, with outspread wings, as if preparing to fly, and resembled an ostrich.25 Besides this, every chief had his particular insignia of war and colours, in the same way as our Spanish dukes and earls. At first we did not believe anything of all this, but found afterwards that it was perfectly true; and since we were human beings, and feared death, we all confessed to father Olmedo and the priest Juan Diaz, which occupied them the whole of the night: neither did we fail to offer up fervent prayers to the Almighty to grant us victory. Under such like occupations the following day broke forth on which we were to fight the battle, of which I shall speak in the next chapter.
CHAPTER LXV.
Of the great battle we fought with the Tlascallans, and what further took place.
It was the following morning, on the 5th of September, 1519, that we equipped ourselves for battle. Our horse were first arranged in order, then the foot soldiers, and even our wounded were forced to go along with us, if only to swell out our numbers, and do what lay in their power. The crossbow-men received orders that some were merely to load, while others fired, and this always in platoons. The musketeers received similar orders, and the remaining portion of our men, who were armed with swords and shields, were principally to strike at the enemy in the region of the belly, in order to stop them from venturing so near to us as they had the time before. Every one was also particularly cautioned not to leave the ranks. It was also the particular duty of our cavalry not to leave each other in the lurch, always to attack in full gallop, and only aim at the face and eyes. The ensign Corral received a guard of four men, and in this way we sallied forth from our camp, with our standard flying.
We had scarcely proceeded a quarter of a mile when we found the fields covered with warriors; they had large feather-knots on their heads, waved their colours, and made a terrific noise with their horns and trumpets: indeed, the pen that would wish to describe everything we saw here, would not find it such an easy task! this was indeed a battle of as fearful and dubious an issue as well could be. In an instant we were surrounded on all sides by such vast numbers of Indians, that the plain, here six miles in breadth, seemed as if it contained but one vast body of the enemy, in the midst of which stood our small army of 400 men, the greater part wounded and knocked up with fatigue. We were also aware that the enemy had marched out to battle with the determination to spare none of us, excepting those who were to be sacrificed to their idols. When, therefore, the attack commenced, a real shower of arrows and stones was poured upon us; the whole ground was immediately covered with heaps of lances, whose points were provided with two edges, so very sharp that they pierced through every species of cuirass, and were particularly dangerous to the lower part of the body, which was in no way protected. They fell upon us like the very furies themselves, with the most horrible yells; we employed, however, our heavy guns, muskets, and crossbows, with so much effect, and received those who pressed eagerly upon us with such well-directed blows and thrusts, that considerable destruction was made among their ranks, nor did