The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo (Vol. 1&2). Bernal Diaz del Castillo

      CHAPTER LXXVII.

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      How the caziques presented their daughters to Cortes and all of us, and what further happened.

      The day following, the old caziques came and brought five young women with them, who, for Indian females, were in every sense handsome, and neatly dressed. Each had, in addition, a young woman as maid in waiting, and all were daughters of caziques. On this occasion, Xicotencatl thus spoke to Cortes: "Malinche, this is my daughter; she is still a virgin, and has never been married: take her to yourself, and give the others to your officers."

      Cortes received the young women from his hand, and appeared very pleased, declaring that he would now consider these females as our own, but desired that they should, for the present, remain with their fathers. The caziques inquired the reason of this, when Cortes replied: "I have no other reason than that I am bound first to fulfil my duty to the God whom we adore, and to the emperor our master, which is to require of you to abolish your idols, the human sacrifices, and other abominations practised among you, and exhort you to believe in him in whom we believe, who alone is the true God." Besides this, he told them many other things concerning our holy faith, which Doña Marina and Aguilar explained right well to them. Similar discourses took place on every occasion: Cortes at the same time showed them the image of the holy Virgin, holding her inestimable Son in her arms, and he explained to them how that represented the blessed Virgin Mary: she was now high in the heavens above, and was the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom she held in her arms, conceived by the Holy Ghost; that she was a virgin before, after, and during his birth. She was our mediator with her heavenly Son, our God.

      To this he added many other things concerning our holy religion, and concluded by saying: "If you are, indeed, our brothers, and you are really inclined to conclude a lasting peace with us, and if we are to take and keep your daughters as affectionate husbands should do, they must abandon their horrible idols, and believe in the Lord God whom we adore. They would soon discover the beneficial effect of this; blessings would be showered down upon them, the seasons would be fruitful, and all their undertakings would prosper; after death their souls would be transplanted to heaven, and partake of eternal glory; for, by the human sacrifices which they made to their idols, who were nothing but devils, they would be led to hell, where eternal fire would torment their souls." For the present Cortes said nothing further to them respecting their idols, as he had often before spoken to them concerning these.

      In answer to all this, they said to Cortes: "Malinche, we have heard all this from you on former occasions, and willingly believe that this your God and this illustrious woman are right good beings. But you should reflect how very recently you have arrived in our country, and you have but just entered our city. You should certainly give us time to learn more of your doings, manner of behaviour, and nature of your gods; and when we shall have satisfied ourselves respecting their qualities, we shall certainly make choice of those we consider best. How can you ask us to abandon our gods whom we have adored for so many years, and prayed and sacrificed to them? But if we should even do so to please you, what would our papas, our young men, yes, even our boys, say to it? Believe us, they would all rise up in arms. The papas, indeed, have already spoken to our teules, who have told them not to abolish our human sacrifices, nor any other of our ancient customs, otherwise they would destroy our whole country by famine, pestilence, and war."

      We might conclude from this straightforward and fearless answer, that it would be useless to insist any longer on this point, and that they would rather allow themselves to be killed than abolish their human sacrifices. Even father Olmedo, who was a profound theologian, found himself compelled thus to address Cortes on the subject: "My opinion is, sir, that you should no longer urge this matter with these people. It is not acting right to force them to become Christians. I could likewise wish that we had not destroyed the idols at Sempoalla. This I am convinced ought not to be done until the people have gained some knowledge of our holy religion. What, indeed, do we gain by pulling down their idols from the temples? They have merely then to repair to another temple. But, on the other hand, we should never cease to exhort them with our pious lessons. In this way the time will certainly arrive, when they will find that our intentions and our advice are good."

      In this same strain the three cavaliers Alvarado, Leon, and Lugo likewise spoke to Cortes; assuring him that father Olmedo was in the right, and that they perfectly agreed with him, that it would be inadvisable again to touch upon this point with the caziques.

      Here, accordingly, the subject was dropped, and Cortes confined himself to ordering the idols to be taken down from a temple which had been recently built in the neighbourhood. The latter to be cleansed and fresh plastered, and the image of the blessed Virgin to be placed on it. To this the caziques readily consented, and when all was finished mass was said, and the daughters of the caziques were baptized. Xicotencatl's daughter was named Doña Louisa—when Cortes took her by the hand and presented her to Alvarado, saying, at the same time, to Xicotencatl, that he to whom he had given her was his brother and a chief officer under him, who would certainly treat her well, and with whom she would live happily; to this Xicotencatl said he was perfectly agreeable.

      The niece or daughter of Maxixcatzin received the name of Doña Elvira. She was very beautiful, and was presented, if I still remember rightly, to Leon. The others were given to Oli, Sandoval, and Avila, who all subjoined their Christian names to theirs as if they had been young ladies of noble birth.

      Upon this it was also explained to the caziques why we always erected two crosses wherever we formed a camp and passed the night: assuring them amongst other things that their gods feared them. All this the caziques listened to with great attention. But before I continue my narrative I must add a few words about Xicotencatl's daughter, Doña Louisa, who was given to Alvarado.

      The whole of Tlascalla took the greatest interest in her welfare, and honored her as a woman invested with command. Alvarado, who was a bachelor, got a son by her, who was named Don Pedro; and also a daughter, Doña Leonora, who is now the wife of Don Francisco de la Cueva, a cavalier of distinction, and a relation of the duke of Albuquerque. She is already the mother of four or five sons, all valiant cavaliers. She is an excellent lady, and a daughter worthy of such a father, who, as every one knows, is comptoir of Santjago and chief justice and viceroy of Guatimala; nor is she less worthy of the house of Xicotencatl, for the latter ranked very high in Tlascalla, and was looked upon as a king.