The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo (Vol. 1&2). Bernal Diaz del Castillo
known to them. He was come into their country to beg of them, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of our great emperor Don Carlos, to abstain from human sacrifices. We were all human beings made of flesh and bone like themselves, and not teules, but Christians. We killed no one, excepting when we were attacked, then, indeed, we destroyed our enemies, whether it happened to be day or night. He was very thankful for the provisions, but now they should likewise have the good sense to send us messengers of peace.
We readily perceived that these people whom Xicotencatl had despatched to us were spies, who came to gain the necessary information respecting the accesses to our camp, and the number of our troops, of the horses and the cannon, and everything else. They remained with us the whole day and following night. From time to time some returned to Xicotencatl, and others again arrived in their stead. All this greatly surprised our friends of Sempoalla, as it was not customary with them to stay night and day in an enemy's camp without some particular design. This accordingly aroused their suspicions, which were further confirmed by some hints which fell from two old men of Zumpanzingo that Xicotencatl stood ready with a large army to fall upon us unawares. At first they had laughed at the idea, thinking it a mere piece of bragging, and had, therefore, not mentioned it to Cortes. Doña Marina, to whom they had made this known, immediately brought the intelligence to our general, who, to fathom this matter more deeply, ordered two of the Tlascallans, who appeared to be honest fellows, to be seized, when they confessed that Xicotencatl had sent them as spies into our camp. These men were then liberated, and several others seized, who all gave the same answer, adding, that their commander Xicotencatl was merely waiting their information to fall upon us the following night with the whole of his troops.
After Cortes had convinced himself of the true state of affairs, he commanded us to be upon our guard, and to hold ourselves ready for action; he also imprisoned seventeen other of the spies, some of whom he ordered to have their thumbs cut off, others the whole hand, and to be sent back in that condition to Xicotencatl, with the information, "That this was his mode of punishing such messengers. He might now come whenever he liked in the night or by daytime, we would wait for him here two whole days: if we had not been peaceably inclined, we should ourselves have attacked and annihilated both his army and himself long before this: it was now, however, high time he should desist from his folly, and send us a sincere token of peace."
The unfortunate beings who had thus been dismembered, arrived in Xicotencatl's head-quarters just as he was on the point of marching off with his whole army to fall upon us in the dark. When he saw his spies before him in that condition, and learnt why they had been so treated, his pride and conceit fell at once. To this was added, that a certain chief, with whom he had quarrelled on account of the late battles, had left the camp with the men under his command.
CHAPTER LXXI.
How four chief personages arrived in our camp to negotiate terms of peace with us, and what further happened.
We now despaired of concluding the peace we so greatly desired, and therefore began to prepare for battle. We cleaned and sharpened our weapons, provided ourselves with arrows, and were making other preparations for an engagement, when one of our outposts came suddenly running up with the tidings that a number of Indians of both sexes were advancing along the principal road of Tlascalla, straightway to our quarters, laden with packages. One of our horse had rode up to watch their movements more closely, and now also came galloping up with the news that the procession was fast approaching our camp, and merely halted from time to time to take a little rest.
Cortes and all of us were highly delighted with this piece of news, for we hoped they were coming with tidings of peace, which, indeed, was really the case. He issued orders that no alarm should be sounded, and for all of us to remain quiet in our huts as if we were unconscious of their approach. When the Indians had arrived at our camp, four principal personages stepped forth from among the porters, who had been commissioned by the elder caziques to conclude a treaty of peace with us. They made the sign of peace, which consisted in bending the head forwards; they then walked straightway to the hut which Cortes inhabited. They first touched the ground with their hands, and then kissed it, bowed themselves three times, and perfumed with copal. They then began as follows: "All the caziques of Tlascalla, with their subjects, allies, friends, and confederates, make peace and friendship with Cortes and his brothers, the teules. They beg forgiveness for having commenced hostilities, instead of uniting in friendship with them, which had merely been done under the impression that we were friends of Motecusuma and the Mexicans, who had been their most deadly enemies from time immemorial; and what had strengthened them in this suspicion was, our being accompanied by such numbers of the tribes who were tributary to that monarch, who was accustomed to fall into their country under various pretences, and carry off their wives and children. They had this time again feared some foul stratagem was on hand, and therefore had put no faith in our ambassadors. They had not commenced the attack in the first instance when we marched into their country, neither was it done at their instigation or command, but assured us it was the Chontal-Otomies, a rude and wild mountain tribe, who imagined they would have been easily able to overcome our small numbers, carry us off prisoners, and send our hearts to the Tlascallan chiefs, in order to gain their good wishes. They now came to beg forgiveness, and would daily bring us a sufficient supply of provisions. They hoped we would accept of these they now brought with the same kind feeling in which they were offered. In the space of two days the chief commander Xicotencatl, with the other caziques, would call himself, and further prove how fervently the whole of Tlascalla desired to make peace and friendship with us."
After the chiefs had done speaking, they again bowed themselves, touched the ground with their hands, and kissed it. Cortes, with great dignity and earnestness depicted in his countenance, returned them the following answer through our interpreters: "He had certainly great cause to refuse them a hearing, or to make any compact of friendship with them; for, upon our first entering into their country, he had offered them peace, and announced that he intended to assist them against their enemies the Mexicans; yet they would not believe him, and had even been upon the point of killing our ambassadors, and had made three murderous attacks upon us; and, by way of a finish, had also sent spies into our camp. In the battle we had fought with them, we could have killed many more of the troops; and we even grieved for those whose lives had thus been sacrificed, but we had been driven to it. He had resolved to carry the war into the very town where the old caziques dwelt; but as they now came to sue for peace, he was willing to receive them kindly in the name of our emperor, and was also pleased to accept of the provisions which they had brought. They should now tell their chiefs to repair hither in person, or send him some better warranty of peace. If they refused to come, he would put his army in motion, and attack them at their very doors. They were, moreover, to approach our camp during daytime only, for if they came at night, we would put them all to the sword without mercy."
After Cortes had given them this answer, he presented the messengers with blue beads for the caziques, in token of peace. They then took leave, and turned off to some Indian dwellings which lay in the neighbourhood, leaving there the Indian females whom they had brought along with them to prepare the bread, fowls, and a dinner for us; besides this there were twenty Indians who furnished the wood and water for cooking; and indeed they prepared us a most delicious meal. Being now convinced that they earnestly desired peace, we returned hearty thanks to God, who had thus ordered things: indeed it was high time, for we were all in a terrible state of exhaustion, and were sick of a war to which there seemed no end, as the good reader may well imagine.
With respect to these proceedings, Gomara has again mixed up many untruths. One time he makes Cortes mount up to the top of a mountain, and thence look over the township of Zumpanzingo, and yet it lay quite close to our camp, and he must have been blind indeed who could not see it straight before him. He also relates that the soldiers said things which I will not repeat here, though he would make one believe he had all from good authority. There is not the slightest foundation for all his assertions. There never was a commander in this world who was so strictly obeyed as Cortes, nor will it ever again fall to the lot of any man to be so. No such thought ever entered the minds of our men, excepting