at the same time he commanded them to embark themselves immediately, and provided them with a vessel, cassave-bread, a bottle of oil, a quantity of vegetables, and such things as ships generally take on distant voyages. One of these men, a certain Moron of Delbayamo, had a well-trained horse, and exchanged it most profitably with Juan Ruano for some valuable property the latter had at Cuba.
When these men were about to set sail, the rest of our troops, headed by the alcaldes and regidors of the town of Vera Cruz, repaired to Cortes and begged of him to issue an order that no one should leave the country, an order which both the service of God and his majesty required, declaring that they considered every one merited death who could think of such a thing, surrounded as we were by such numerous enemies, nor could we look upon them in any other light than men who wished to desert their commander and his standard in the midst of battle and in the moment of the greatest danger. Cortes, nevertheless, did as if he was desirous of discharging the malcontents, but soon after countermanded this order. All they got for their pains was contempt and disgrace, while Moron in the bargain was done out of his horse, which Juan Ruano had no wish to return him. Upon this Cortes gave orders for our march, and we arrived without any accident in Tzinpantzinco.
CHAPTER LI.
What happened to us at Tzinpantzinco, and how, on our return to Sempoalla, we destroyed all the idols; likewise of other matters.
The first day we marched twenty miles, and arrived at Sempoalla, where we passed the night: here 2000 Indian warriors, divided into four troops, stood ready to join us. The second day, towards nightfall, we arrived at the plantations in front of Tzinpantzinco, and took the road leading into that fortress, which wound up between large and steep rocks. The inhabitants were most likely apprized of our approach; for immediately eight Indians of distinction and several papas came out to us, making signs of peace, and asked Cortes, with tears in their eyes, why we were going to kill them, as they had done nothing against us? We bore the character of doing good only wherever we might come, and of putting a stop to the oppression of nations, and for that reason had even imprisoned the tax-gatherers of Motecusuma: between the warriors of Sempoalla, who accompanied us, and themselves there existed an inimical feeling, already of ancient date, respecting a dispute of territory and boundaries, and these people had no other object in view than to plunder and destroy them, under our protection: there was, indeed, generally speaking, a Mexican garrison in their township, which, however, had returned home, upon the news that we had imprisoned the tax-gatherers; they, therefore, begged of us not to proceed any further, and to be merciful towards them.
When these representations were made known to Cortes through our interpreters, he immediately ordered Alvarado and Christobal de Oli, with us who were nearest to him, to march off to the Sempoallans and command them not to advance any further. Though we used the utmost expedition to fulfil these orders, yet we already found them plundering the plantations. This made Cortes excessively angry; he ordered the chiefs of the Sempoallans into his presence, and severely remonstrated with them for such behaviour: he commanded them, with heavy threats, to bring him all the plunder, and not to set a foot into the town. They had trumped up a false story to us, he told them, merely to be enabled, under our protection, to plunder their neighbours and then to sacrifice them, whereby they had deserved death. Our emperor had not sent us to this country to commit such crimes, and they had better mind not again to fall into such guilt, as none of them would escape alive if it happened again.
After this earnest reproof, the caziques and chiefs of Sempoalla brought the prisoners and the turkey-fowls they had captured: the first, Cortes ordered to be set at liberty, and the latter were restored to their owners; upon which he commanded the Sempoallans, in a very angry tone, to return to their camp and there remain for the night.
The caziques and papas of Tzinpantzinco, with other inhabitants of the surrounding neighbourhood, having witnessed this act of justice, and seeing altogether how friendly Cortes was disposed, and the good deeds which he manifested, were the more susceptible of the things he told them about our holy religion—respecting the abolishment of their human sacrifices and kidnapping, the discontinuation of other abominations and obscenities, with other matters salutary to their well being. They appeared so well inclined that they assembled the inhabitants of the surrounding districts, and formally declared themselves vassals of the emperor, our master. On this occasion, likewise, numerous complaints were made against Motecusuma, which all terminated with instances of his oppression similar to what we had heard from the Sempoallans and Quiahuitzlans.
The next morning very early Cortes sent for the chiefs and caziques of the Sempoallans. In fear and anxiety had they passed the while, in consequence of his anger for having attempted to deceive us with a pack of lies. He brought about a reconciliation and good understanding between them and the inhabitants of Tzinpantzinco, which was never afterwards interrupted. Upon this we again put ourselves in motion, and marched back to Sempoalla, but took a different route over two townships friendly with the Tzinpantzincans, where we rested ourselves, as we were greatly fatigued, and the sun was excessively hot. In one of these townships, a certain Mora, of Ciudad-Rodrigo, took some fowls out of an Indian hut, which so greatly incensed Cortes that he ordered a rope to be tied around the fellow's neck, and would have had him hung up if Alvarado, who was standing next to Cortes, had not cut the rope in two with his sword, and thus released the poor devil, who had the fear of death before his eyes.
I have merely mentioned this trait to convince the curious reader how exemplary Cortes acted, and of the necessity of being strict under similar circumstances. Mora subsequently lost his life in a battle we fought on a mountain in the province of Guatimala. After we had left these two townships in peace, we found the fat cazique with the chiefs of Sempoalla in some huts which they had constructed for us, where they were waiting our arrival with various kinds of provisions which they had brought with them. Although Indians, they readily perceived what a good and holy thing is justice, and that Cortes' declaration of our having come into these countries to put an end to all oppression, perfectly agreed with his conduct on our entry into Tzinpantzinco; they, therefore, became the more united to us. We passed the night in these huts, and returned next morning, in company of our Indian friends, to Sempoalla. Indeed, the only wish of the Sempoallans was now, that we should never leave their country again, fearing Motecusuma would send an army about their ears; they, therefore, proposed to Cortes, since such a close and friendly alliance now subsisted between us, and we could look upon each other as brothers, that we should choose wives from among their daughters and relatives, that our posterity might descend from one and the same stock. In order that this more intimate connexion might be brought about, they immediately made a good beginning by presenting us with eight females, all daughters of caziques: one of these, the niece of the fat cazique, was given to Cortes, and Puertocarrero was presented with the daughter of another powerful cazique, whom they called Cuesco. All these young women were finely dressed out after the fashion of the country: they wore beautiful shifts, had golden chains about their necks, golden rings in their ears, and had other Indian females to wait upon them.
When the fat cazique presented these, he said to Cortes, "Tecle, (which signifies sir, in their language,) these seven women are intended for your chief officers, and this my niece, who herself holds dominion over a country and a people, I have destined for you." Cortes joyfully accepted of the young women, and returned thanks to the chiefs, remarking, at the same time, that he should gladly recognize in these women, the bonds of brotherly union between us. But now they should likewise renounce their idols, and no longer bring them human sacrifices. It grieved him sorely whenever he reflected on the monstrous heresy in which they lived; henceforth he would neither see nor hear of these abominations, of human sacrifices and unnatural offences: then only could a permanent and brotherly union subsist between us. Above all things the women must be converted to Christianity, before we could think of taking them. Further, all unnatural crimes must be put a stop to, and young men must cease to go about in female garments, to make a livelihood by such cursed lewdness. Indeed, hardly a day passed by that these people did not sacrifice from three to four, and even five Indians, tearing the hearts out of their bodies, to present them to the idols and smear the blood on the walls