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$Title{History Of The Conquest Of Mexico
Chapter II. Market Of Mexico.}
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Title:       History Of The Conquest Of Mexico
Book:        Book IV. Residence In Mexico.
Author:      Prescott, William H.

Chapter II. Market Of Mexico.

Great Temple. - Interior Sanctuaries. - Spanish Quarters. (1519.)

     Four days had elapsed since the Spaniards made their entry into Mexico.
Whatever schemes their commander may have revolved in his mind, he felt that
he could determine on no plan of operations till he had seen more of the
capital and ascertained by his own inspection the nature of its resources.
He accordingly, as was observed at the close of the last Book, sent to
Montezuma, asking permission to visit the great teocalli, and some other
places in the city.

     The friendly monarch consented without difficulty.  He even prepared to
go in person to the great temple to receive his guests there, - it may be, to
shield the shrine of his tutelar deity from any attempted profanation.  He
was acquainted, as we have already seen, with the proceedings of the
Spaniards on similar occasions in the course of their march.  Cortes put
himself at the head of his little corps of cavalry, and nearly all the
Spanish foot, as usual, and followed the caciques sent by Montezuma to guide
him.  They proposed first to conduct him to the great market of Tlatelolco,
in the western part of the city.

     On the way, the Spaniards were struck, in the same manner as they had
been on entering the capital, with the appearance of the inhabitants, and
their great superiority in the style and quality of their dress over the
people of the lower countries. ^1  The tilmatli, or cloak thrown over the
shoulders and tied round the neck, made of cotton of different degrees of
fineness, according to the condition of the wearer, and the ample sash around
the loins, were often wrought in rich and elegant figures and edged with a
deep fringe or tassel.  As the weather was now growing cool, mantles of fur
or of the gorgeous feather-work were sometimes substituted.  The latter
combined the advantage of great warmth  with beauty. ^1  The Mexicans had also
the art of spinning a fine thread of the hair of the rabbit and other
animals, which they wove into a delicate web that took a permanent
dye.

[Footnote 1: "La Gente de esta Ciudad es de mas manera y primor en su
vestido, y servicio, que no la otra de estas otras Provincias, y Ciudades:
porque como alli estaba siempre este Senor Muteczuma, y todos los Senores sus
Vasallos ocurrian siempre a la Ciudad, habia en ella mas manera, y policia en
todas las cosas."  Rel. Seg. de Cortes, ap Lorenzana, p 109.]

[Footnote 1: Zuazo, speaking of the beauty and warmth of this national fabric,
says, "Vi muchas mantas de a dos haces labradas de plumas de papos de aves tan
suaves, que trayendo la mano por encima a pelo y a pospelo, no era mas que vna
manta zebellina mui bien adobada: hice pesar vna dellas; no peso mas de seis
onzas.  Dicen que en el tiempo del Ynbierno una abasta para encima de la
camisa sin otro cobertor ni mas ropa encima de la cama."  Carta, MS.]

     The women, as in other parts of the country, seemed to go about as
freely as the men.  They wore several skirts or petticoats of different
lengths, with highly-ornamented borders, and sometimes over them loose
flowing robes, which reached to the ankles.  These, also, were made of
cotton, for the wealthier classes, of a fine texture, prettily embroidered. ^2
No veils were worn here, as in some other parts of Anahuac, where they were
made of the aloe thread, or of the light web of hair, above noticed.  The
Aztec women had their faces exposed; and their dark, raven tresses floated
luxuriantly over their shoulders, revealing features which, although of a
dusky or rather cinnamon hue, were not unfrequently pleasing, while touched
with the serious, even sad expression characteristic of the national
physiognomy. ^3

[Footnote 2: "Sono lunghe & large, lauorate di bellisimi, &
molto gentili lauori sparsi per esse, co le loro frangie, o orletti ben
lauorati che compariscono benissimo."  Rel. d'un gentil' huomo, ap. Ramusio,
tom. iii. fol. 305.]

[Footnote 3: Ibid., fol 305.]

     On drawing near to the tianguez, or great market, the Spaniards were
astonished at the throng of people pressing towards it, and on entering the
place their surprise was still further heightened by the sight of the
multitudes assembled there, and the dimensions of the enclosure, thrice as
large as the celebrated square of Salamanca. ^4  Here were met together
traders from all parts, with the products and manufactures peculiar to their
countries; the goldsmiths of Azcapozalco; the potters and jewellers of
Cholula, the painters of Tezcuco, the stonecutters of Tenajocan, the hunters
of Xilotepec, the fishermen of Cuitlahuac, the fruiterers of the warm
countries, the mat and chair makers of Quauhtitlan, and the florists of
Xochimilco, - all busily engaged in recommending their respective wares and
in chaffering with purchasers. ^5

[Footnote 4: Ibid., fol. 309.]

[Footnote 5: "Quivi concorrevano i Pentolai, ed i Giojellieri di Cholulla, gli
Orefici d' Azcapozalco, i Pittori di Tezcuco, gli Scarpellini di Tenajocan, i
Cacciatori di Xilotepec, i Pescatori di Cuitlahuac, i fruttajuoli de' paesi
caldi, gli artefici di stuoje, e di scranne di Quauhtitlan ed i coltivatori
de' fiori di Xochimilco." Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 165.]

     The market-place was surrounded by deep porticoes, and the several
articles had each its own quarter allotted to it.  Here might be seen cotton
piled up in bales, or manufactured into dresses and articles of domestic use,
as tapestry, curtains, coverlets, and the like.  The richly stained and nice
fabrics reminded Cortes of the alcayceria, or silk-market, of Granada.  There
was the quarter assigned to the goldsmiths, where the purchaser might find
various articles of ornament or use formed of the precious metals, or curious
toys, such as we have already had occasion to notice, made in imitation of
birds and fishes, with scales and feathers alternately of gold and silver,
and with movable heads and bodies.  These fantastic little trinkets were
often garnished with precious stones, and showed a patient, puerile ingenuity
in the manufacture, like that of the Chinese. ^1

[Footnote 1: "Oro y plata, piedras de valor, con otros plumajes e argenterias
maravillosas, y con tanto primor fabricadas que excede todo ingenio humano
para comprenderlas y alcanzarlas."  (Carta del Lic. Zuazo, MS.)  The
licentiate then enumerates several of these elegant pieces of mechanism.
Cortes is not less emphatic in his admiration: "Contrahechas de oro, y plata,
y piedras y plumas, tan al natural lo de Oro, y Plata, que no ha Platero en el
Mundo que mejor lo hiciesse, y lo de las Piedras, que no baste juicio
comprehender con que Instrumentos se hiciesse tan perfecto, y lo de Pluma, que
ni de Cera, ni en ningun broslado se podria hacer tan maravillosamente."
(Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 110.)  Peter Martyr, a less prejudiced critic
than Cortes, who saw and examined many of these golden trinkets afterwards in
Castile, bears the same testimony to the exquisite character of the
workmanship, which, he says, far surpassed the value of the material.  De
Orbe Novo, dec. 5, cap. 1O.]

     In an adjoining quarter were collected specimens of pottery coarse and
fine, vases of wood elaborately carved, varnished or gilt, of curious and
sometimes graceful forms.  There were also hatchets made of copper alloyed
with tin, the substitute, and, as it proved, not a bad one, for iron.  The
soldier found here all the implements of his trade: the casque fashioned into
the head of some wild animal, with its grinning defences of teeth, and
bristling crest dyed with the rich tint of the cochineal; ^2 the escaupil, or
quilted doublet of cotton, the rich surcoat of feather-mail, and weapons of
all sorts, copper-headed lances and arrows, and the broad maquahuitl, the
Mexican sword, with its sharp blades of itztli.  Here were razors and mirrors
of this same hard and polished mineral, which served so many of the purposes
of steel with the Aztecs. ^3 In the square were also to be found booths
occupied by barbers, who used these same razors in their vocation.  For the
Mexicans, contrary to the popular and erroneous notions respecting the
aborigines of the New World, had beards, though scanty ones.  Other shops or
booths were tenanted by apothecaries, well provided with drugs, roots, and
different medicinal preparations.  In other places, again, blank books or maps
for the hieroglyphical picture-writing were to be seen folded together like
fans, and made of cotton, skins, or more commonly the fibres of the agave, the
Aztec papyrus.

[Footnote 2: Herrera makes the unauthorized assertion, repeated by Solis, that
the Mexicans were unacquainted with the value of the cochineal till it was
taught them by the Spaniards.  (Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 4, lib. 8, cap.
11.)  The natives, on the contrary, took infinite pains to rear the insect on
plantations of the cactus, and it formed one of the staple tributes to the
crown from certain districts.  See the tribute-rolls, ap. Lorenzana, Nos. 23,
24. - Hernandez, Hist. Plantarum, lib. 6, cap. 116. - Also, Clavigero, Stor.
del Messico, tom. i. p. 114, nota.]

[Footnote 3: Ante, p. 67.]

     Under some of the proticoes they saw hides raw and dressed, and various
articles for domestic or personal use made of the leather.  Animals, both
wild and tame, were offered for sale, and near them, perhaps, a gang of
slaves, with collars round their necks, intimating they were likewise on
sale, - a spectacle unhappily not confined to the barbarian markets of
Mexico, though the evils of their condition were aggravated there by the
consciousness that a life of degradation might be consummated at any moment
by the dreadful doom of sacrifice.

     The heavier materials for building, as stone, lime, timber, were
considered too bulky to be allowed a place in the square, and were deposited
in the adjacent streets on the borders of the canals.  It would be tedious to
enumerate all the various articles, whether for luxury or daily use, which
were collected from all quarters in this vast bazaar.  I must not omit to
mention, however, the display of provisions, one of the most attractive
features of the tianguez; meats of all kinds, domestic poultry, game from the
neighbouring mountains, fish from the lakes and streams, fruits in all the
delicious abundance of these temperate regions, green vegetables, and the
unfailing maize.  There was many a viand, too, ready dressed, which sent up
its savoury steams provoking the appetite of the idle passenger; pastry,
bread of the Indian corn, cakes, and confectionery. ^1  Along with these were
to be seen cooling or stimulating beverages, the spicy foaming chocolatl with
its delicate aroma of vanilla, and the inebriating pulque, the fermented
juice of the aloe.  All these commodities, and every stall and portico, were
set out, or rather smothered, with flowers, showing - on a much greater
scale, indeed - a taste similar to that displayed in the markets of modern
Mexico.  Flowers seem to be the spontaneous growth of this luxuriant soil;
which, instead of noxious weeds, as in other regions, is ever ready, without
the aid of man, to cover up its nakedness with this rich and variegated
livery of Nature. ^2

[Footnote 1: Zuazo, who seems to have been nice in these matters, concludes a
paragraph of dainties with the following tribute to the Aztec cuisine:
"Vendense huebos asados, crudos, en tortilla, e diversidad de guisados que se
suelen guisar, con otras cazuelas y pasteles, que en el mal cocinado de
Medina, ni en otros lugares de Tlamencos dicen que hai ni se pueden hallar
tales trujamanes."  Carta, MS.]

[Footnote 2: Ample details - many more than I have thought it necessary to
give - of the Aztec market of Tlatelolco may be found in the writings of all
the old Spaniards who visited the capital.  Among others, see Rel. Seg. de
Cortes, ap. Lorenzana, pp. 103 - 105.  Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS.,
Parte 3, cap. 7. - Carta del Lic. Zuazo, MS. - Rel. d'un gentil' huomo, ap.
Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 309. - Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 92.]

     I will spare the reader the repetition of all the particulars enumerated
by the bewildered Spaniards, which are of some interest as evincing the
various mechanical skill and the polished wants, resembling those of a
refined community rather than of a nation of savages.  It was the material
civilization, which belongs neither to the one nor the other.  The Aztec had
plainly reached that middle station, as far above the rude races of the New
World as it was below the cultivated communities of the Old.

     As to the numbers assembled in the market, the estimates differ, as
usual.  The Spaniards often visited the place, and no one states the amount
at less than forty thousand!  Some carry it much higher. ^3  Without relying
too much on the arithmetic of the Conquerors, it is certain that on this
occasion, which occurred every fifth day, the city swarmed with a motley
crowd of strangers, not only from the vicinity, but from many leagues around;
the causeways were thronged, and the lake was darkened by canoes filled with
traders flocking to the great tianguez.  It resembled, indeed, the periodical
fairs in Europe, not as they exist now, but as they existed in the Middle
Ages, when, from the difficulties of intercommunication, they served as the
great central marts for commercial intercourse, exercising a most important
and salutary influence on the community.

[Footnote 3: Zuazo raises it to 80,000!  (Carta, MS.)  Cortes to 60,000.
(Rel. Seg., ubi supra.)  The most modest computation is that of the
"Anonymous Conqueror," who says from 40,000 to 50,000.  "Et il giorno del
mercato, che si fa di cinque in cinque giorni, vi sono da quaranta o
cinquanta mila persone" (Rel. d'un gentil' huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol.
309); a confirmation, by-the-by, of the supposition that the estimated
population of the capital, found in the Italian version of this author, is a
misprint.  (See  ante, p. 283, note 6.)  He would hardly have crowded an
amount equal to the whole of it into the market.]

      The exchanges were conducted partly by barter, but more usually in the
currency of the country.  This consisted of bits of tin stamped with a
character like a T, bags of cacao, the value of which was regulated by their
size, and, lastly, quills filled with gold dust. ^1  Gold was part of the
regular currency, it seems, in both hemispheres.  In their dealings it is
singular that they should have had no knowledge of scales and weights.  The
quantity was determined by measure and number. ^2

[Footnote 1: From the description of the coin, Ramirez infers that it was not
stamped, but cut, in the form mentioned in the text.  This is confirmed by one
or two specimens of the kind still preserved in the National Museum at Mexico.
Ramirez, Notas y Esclarecimientos, p. 102.]

[Footnote 2: Ante, p. 69.]

     The most perfect order reigned throughout this vast assembly.  Officers
patrolled the square, whose business it was to keep the peace, to collect the
duties imposed on the different articles of merchandise, to see that no false
measures or fraud of any kind were used, and to bring offenders at once to
justice.  A court of twelve judges sat in one part of the tianguez, clothed
with those ample and summary powers which in despotic countries are often
delegated even to petty tribunals.  The extreme severity with which they
exercised these powers, in more than one instance, proves that they were not
a dead letter. ^3

[Footnote 3: Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 3, cap. 7 - Rel. Seg.,
ap. Lorenzana, p. 104. - Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 10. -
Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, loc. cit.]

     The tianguez of Mexico was naturally an object of great interest, as
well as wonder, to the Spaniards.  For in it they saw converged into one
focus, as it were, all the rays of civilization scattered throughout the
land.  Here they beheld the various evidences of mechanical skill, of
domestic industry, the multiplied resources, of whatever kind, within the
compass of the natives.  It could not fail to impress them with high ideas of
the magnitude of these resources, as well as of the commercial activity and
social subordination by which the whole community was knit together; and
their admiration is fully evinced by the minuteness and energy of their
descriptions. ^4

[Footnote 4: "There were amongst us," says Diaz, "soldiers who had been in
many parts of the world, - in Constantinople and in Rome and through all
Italy, - and who said that a market-place so large, so well ordered and
regulated, and so filled with people, they had never seen."  Hist. de la
Conquista, loc. cit.]

     From this bustling scene the Spaniards took their way to the great
teocalli, in the neighbourhood of their own quarters.  It covered, with the
subordinate edifices, as the reader has already seen, the large tract of
ground now occupied by the cathedral, part of the market-place, and some of
the adjoining streets. ^5  It was the spot which had been consecrated to the
same object, probably, ever since the foundation of the city.  The present
building, however, was of no great antiquity, having been constructed by
Ahuitzotl, who celebrated its dedication, in 1486, by that hecatomb of
victims of which such incredible reports are to be found in the chronicles. ^1

[Footnote 5: Clavigero, Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 27.]

[Footnote 1: Ante, p. 38. - [A minute account of the site and extent of the
ground covered by the great temple is given by Alaman (Disertaciones
historicas, tom. ii. pp. 246-248.)  The Mexicans are largely indebted to this
eminent scholar for his elaborate researches into the topography and
antiquities of the Aztec capital.]

     It stood in the midst of a vast area, encompassed by a wall of stone and
lime, about eight feet high, ornamented on the outer side by figures of
serpents, raised in relief, which gave it the name of the coatepantli, or
"wall of serpents."  This emblem was a common one in the sacred sculpture of
Anahuac, as well as of Egypt.  The wall, which was quadrangular, was pierced
by huge battlemented gateways, opening on the four principal streets of the
capital.  Over each of the gates was a kind of arsenal, filled with arms and
warlike gear; and, if we may credit the report of the Conquerors, there were
barracks adjoining, garrisoned by ten thousand soldiers, who served as a sort
of military police for the capital, supplying the emperor with a strong arm
in case of tumult or sedition. ^2

[Footnote 2: "Et di piu v' hauea vna guarnigione di dieci mila huomini di
guerra, tutti eletti per huomini valenti, & questi accompagnauano &
guardauano la sua persona, & quando si facea qualche rumore o ribellione
nella citta o nel paese circumuicino, andauano questi, o parte d' essi per
Capitani."  Rel. d'un gentil' huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 309.]

     The teocalli itself was a solid pyramidal structure of earth and
pebbles, coated on the outside with hewn stones, probably of the light,
porous kind employed in the buildings of the city. ^3  It was probably square,
with its sides facing the cardinal points. ^4  It was divided into five bodies
or stories, each one receding so as to be of smaller dimensions than that
immediately below it, - the usual form of the Aztec teocallis, as already
described, and bearing obvious resemblance to some of the primitive pyramidal
structures in the Old World. ^5  The ascent was by a flight of steps on the
outside, which reached to the narrow terrace or platform at the base of the
second story, passing quite round the building, when a second stairway
conducted to a similar landing at the base of the third.  The breadth of this
walk was just so much space as was left by the retreating story next above
it.  From this construction the visitor was obliged to pass round the whole
edifice four times in order to reach the top.  This had a most imposing
effect in the religious ceremonials, when the pompous procession of priests
with their wild minstrelsy came sweeping round the huge sides of the pyramid,
as they rose higher and higher, in the presence of gazing multitudes, towards
the summit.

[Footnote 3: Humboldt, Essai politique, tom. ii. p. 40. - On paving the
square, not long ago, round the modern cathedral, there were found large
blocks of sculptured stone buried between thirty and forty feet deep in the
ground.  Ibid., loc. cit.]

[Footnote 4: Clavigero calls it oblong, on the alleged authority of the
"Anonymous Conqueror."  (Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 27, nota.)  But the
latter says not a word of the shape, and his contemptible woodcut is too
plainly destitute of all proportion to furnish an inference of any kind.
(Comp. Rel. d'un gentil' huomo ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol. 307.)  Torquemada
and Gomara both say it was square (Monarch. Ind., lib. 8, cap. 11; - Cronica,
cap. 80); and Toribio de Benavente, speaking generally of the Mexican
temples, says they had that form Hist. de los Ind., MS., Parte 1, cap. 12.]

[Footnote 5: See Appendix, Part 1.]

     The dimensions of the temple cannot be given with any certainty.  The
Conquerors judged by the eye, rarely troubling themselves with anything like
an accurate measurement.  It was, probably, not much less than three hundred
feet square at the base; ^1 and, as the Spaniards counted a hundred and
fourteen steps, was, probably, less than one hundred feet in height. ^2

[Footnote 1: Clavigero, calling it oblong, adopts Torquemada's estimate - not
Sahagun's as he pretends, which he never saw, and who gives no measurement of
the building - for the length, and Gomara's estimate, which is somewhat less,
for the breadth.  (Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. p. 28, nota.)  As both his
authorities make the building square, this spirit of accommodation is
whimsical enough.  Toribio, who did measure a teocalli of the usual
construction in the town of Tenayuca, found it to be forty brazas, or two
hundred and forty feet, square.  (Hist. de los Ind., MS., Parte 1, cap. 12.)
The great temple of Mexico was undoubtedly larger, and, in the want of
better authorities, one may accept Torquemada, who makes it a little more
than three hundred and sixty Toledan, equal to three hundred and eight French
feet, square.  (Monarch. Ind., lib. 8, cap. 11.)  How can M. de Humboldt
speak of the "great concurrence of testimony" in regard to the dimensions of
the temple?  (Essai politique, tom. ii. p. 41.)  No two authorties agree.]

[Footnote 2: Bernal Diaz says he counted one hundred and fourteen steps.
(Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 92.)  Toribio says that more than one person who
had numbered them told him they exceeded a hundred.  (Hist. de los Indios,
MS., Parte 1, cap. 12.)  The steps could hardly have been less than eight or
ten inches high, each; Clavigero assumes that they were a foot, and that the
building, therefore, was a hundred and fourteen feet high, precisely.
(Stor. del Messico, tom. ii. pp. 28, 29.)  It is seldom safe to use anything
stronger than probably in history.]

     When Cortes arrived before the teocalli, he found two priests and
several caciques commissioned by Montezuma to save him the fatigue of the
ascent by bearing him on their shoulders, in the same manner as had been done
to the emperor.  But the general declined the compliment, preferring to march
up at the head of his men.  On reaching the summit, they found it a vast
area, paved with broad flat stones.  The first object that met their view was
a large block of jasper, the peculiar shape of which showed it was the stone
on which the bodies of the unhappy victims were stretched for sacrifice.  Its
convex surface, by raising the breast, enabled the priest to perform his
diabolical task more easily, of removing the heart.  At the other end of the
area were two towers or sanctuaries, consisting of three stories, the lower
one of stone and stucco, the two upper of wood elaborately carved.  In the
lower division stood the images of their gods; the apartments above were
filled with utensils for their religious services, and with the ashes of some
of their Aztec princes, who had fancied this airy sepulchre.  Before each
sanctuary stood an altar, with that undying fire upon it, the extinction of
which boded as much evil to the empire as that of the Vestal flame would have
done in ancient Rome.  Here, also, was the huge cylindrical drum made of
serpents' skins, and struck only on extraordinary occasions, when it sent
forth a melancholy sound that might be heard for miles, - a sound of woe in
after-times to the Spaniards.

     Montezuma, attended by the high-priest, came forward to receive Cortes
as he mounted the area.  "You are weary, Malinche," said he to him, "with
climbing up our great temple."  But Cortes, with a politic vaunt, assured him
"the Spaniards were never weary"!  Then, taking him by the hand, the emperor
pointed out the localities of the neighbourhood.  The temple on which they
stood, rising high above all other edifices in the capital, afforded the most
elevated as well as central point of view.  Below them, the city lay spread
out like a map, with its streets and canals intersecting each other at right
angles, its terraced roofs blooming like so many parterres of flowers.  Every
place seemed alive with business and bustle; canoes were glancing up and down
the canals, the streets were crowded with people in their gay, picturesque
costume, while from the market-place they had so lately left a confused hum
of many sounds and voices rose upon the air. ^1  They could distinctly trace
the symmetrical plan of the city, with its principal avenues issuing, as it
were, from the four gates of the coatepantli and connecting themselves with
the causeways, which formed the grand entrances to the capital.  This regular
and beautiful arrangement was imitated in many of the inferior towns, where
the great roads converged towards the chief teocalli, or cathedral, as to a
common focus. ^2  They could discern the insular position of the metropolis,
bathed on all sides by the salt floods of the Tezcuco, and in the distance
the clear fresh waters of the Chalco; far beyond stretched a wide prospect of
fields and waving woods, with the burnished walls of many a lofty temple
rising high above the trees and crowning the distant hill-tops. ^3  The view
reached in an unbroken line to the very base of the circular range of
mountains, whose frosty peaks glittered as if touched with fire in the
morning ray; while long, dark wreaths of vapour, rolling up from the hoary
head of Popocatepetl, told that the destroying element was, indeed, at work
in the bosom of the beautiful Valley.

[Footnote 1: "Tornamos a ver la gran placa, y la multitud de gente que en
ella auia, vnos comprado, y otros vendiendo, que solamente el rumor, y
zumbido de las vozes, y palabras que alli auia, sonaua mas que de vna legua!"
Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 92.]

[Footnote 2: "Y por honrar mas sus templos sacaban los caminos muy derechos
por cordel de una y de dos leguas que era cosa harto de ver, desde lo Alto
del principal templo, como venian de todos los pueblos menores y barrios;
salian los caminos muy derechos y iban a dar al patio de los teocallis."
Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 12.]

[Footnote 3: "No se contentaba el Demonio con los [Teucales] ya dichos, sino
que en cada pueblo, en cada barrio, y a cuarto de legua, tenian otros patios
pequenos adonde habia tres o cuatro teocallis, y en algunos mas, en otras
partes solo uno, y en cada Mogote o Cerrejon uno o dos, y por los caminos y
entre los Maizales, habia otros muchos pequenos, y todos estaban blancos y
encalados, que parecian y abultaban mucho, que en la tierra bien poblada
parecia que todo estaba lleno de casas, en especial de los patios del
Demonio, que eran muy de ver."  Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., ubi
supra.]

     Cortes was filled with admiration at this grand and glorious spectacle,
and gave utterance to his feelings in animated language to the emperor, the
lord of these flourishing domains.  His thoughts, however, soon took another
direction; and, turning to Father Olmedo, who stood by his side, he suggested
that the area would afford a most conspicuous position for the Christian
Cross, if Montezuma would but allow it to be planted there.  But the discreet
ecclesiastic, with the good sense which on these occasions seems to have been
so lamentably deficient in his commander, reminded him that such a request,
at present, would be exceedingly ill timed, as the Indian monarch had shown
no dispositions as yet favourable to Christianity. ^4

[Footnote 4: Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, ubi supra.]

     Cortes then requested Montezuma to allow him to enter the sanctuaries
and behold the shrines of his gods.  To this the latter, after a short
conference with the priests, assented, and conducted the Spaniards into the
building.  They found themselves in a spacious apartment incrusted on the
sides with stucco, on which various figures were sculptured, representing the
Mexican calendar, perhaps, or the priestly ritual.  At one end of the saloon
was a recess with a roof of timber richly carved and gilt.  Before the altar
in this sanctuary stood the colossal image of Huitzilopochtli, the tutelary
deity and war-god of the Aztecs.  His countenance was distorted into hideous
lineaments of symbolical import.  In his right hand he wielded a bow, and in
his left a bunch of golden arrows, which a mystic legend had connected with
the victories of his people.  The huge folds of a serpent, consisting of
pearls and precious stones, were coiled round his waist, and the same rich
materials were profusely sprinkled over his person.  On his left foot were
the delicate feathers of the hummingbird, which, singularly enough, gave its
name to the dread deity. ^1  The most conspicuous ornament was a chain of gold
and silver hearts alternate, suspended round his neck, emblematical of the
sacrifice in which he most delighted.  A more unequivocal evidence of this
was afforded by three human hearts smoking and almost palpitating, as if
recently torn from the victims, and now lying on the altar before him!

[Footnote 1: Ante, p. 28.]

     The adjoining sanctuary was dedicated to a milder deity.  This was
Tezcatlipoca, next in honour to that invisible Being, the Supreme God, who
was represented by no image and confined by no temple.  It was Tezcatlipoca
who created the world and watched over it with a providential care.  He was
represented as a young man, and his image, of polished black stone, was
richly garnished with gold plates and ornaments, among which a shield
burnished like a mirror was the most characteristic emblem, as in it he saw
reflected all the doings of the world.  But the homage to this god was not
always of a more refined or merciful character than that paid to his
carnivorous brother; for five bleeding hearts were also seen in a golden
platter on his altar.

     The walls of both these chapels were stained with human gore.  "The
stench was more intolerable," exclaims Diaz, "than that of the
slaughter-houses in Castile!"  And the frantic forms of the priests, with
their dark robes clotted with blood, as they flitted to and fro, seemed to
the Spaniards to be those of the very ministers of Satan! ^2

[Footnote 2: "Y tenia en las paredes tantas costras de sangre, y el suelo
todo banado dello, que en los mataderos de Castilla no auia tanto hedor."
Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, ubi supra. - Rel. Seg. de Cortes, ap.
Lorenzana, pp. 105, 106. - Carta del Lic. Zuazo, MS. - See, also, for notices
of these deities, Sahagun, lib. 3, cap. 1, et seq. - Torquemada, Monarch,
Ind., lib. 6, cap. 20, 21. - Acosta, lib. 5, cap. 9.]

     From this foul abode they gladly escaped into the open air; when Cortes,
turning to Montezuma, said, with a smile, "I do not comprehend how a great
and wise prince, like you, can put faith in such evil spirits as these idols,
the representatives of the Devil!  If you will but permit us to erect here the
true Cross, and place the images of the blessed Virgin and her Son in your
sanctuaries, you will soon see how your false gods will shrink before them!"

     Montezuma was greatly shocked at this sacrilegious address.  "These are
the gods," he answered, "who have led the Aztecs on to victory since they
were a nation, and who send the seed-time and harvest in their seasons.  Had
I thought you would have offered them this outrage, I would not have admitted
you into their presence."

     Cortes, after some expressions of concern at having wounded the feelings
of the emperor, took his leave.  Montezuma remained, saying that he must
expiate, if possible, the crime of exposing the shrines of the divinities to
such profanation by the strangers. ^1

[Footnote 1: Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, ubi supra. - Whoever
examines Cortes' great letter to Charles V. will be surprised to find it
stated that, instead of any acknowledgment to Montezuma, he threw down his
idols and erected the Christian emblems in their stead. (Rel. Seg., ap.
Lorenzana, p. 106.)  This was an event of much later date.  The Conquistador
wrote his despatches too rapidly and concisely to give heed always to exact
time and circumstance.  We are quite as likely to find them attended to in
the long-winded, gossiping, - inestimable chronicle of Diaz.]

     On descending to the court, the Spaniards took a leisurely survey of the
other edifices in the enclosure.  The area was protected by a smooth stone
pavement, so polished, indeed, that it was with difficulty the horses could
keep their legs.  There were several other teocallis, built generally on the
model of the great one, though of much inferior size, dedicated to the
different Aztec deities. ^2  On their summits were the altars crowned with
perpetual flames, which, with those on the numerous temples in other quarters
of the capital, shed a brilliant illumination over its streets through the
long nights. ^3

[Footnote 2: "Quarenta torres muy altas y bien obradas."  Rel. Seg. de
Cortes, ap. Lorenzana, p. 105.]

[Footnote 3: "Delante de todos estos altares habia braceros que toda la noche
hardian, y en las salas tambien tenian sus fuegos."  Toribio, Hist. de los
Indios, M.S., Parte 1, cap. 12.]

     Among the teocallis in the enclosure was one consecrated to
Quetzalcoatl, circular in its form, and having an entrance in imitation of a
dragon's mouth, bristling with sharp fangs and dropping with blood.  As the
Spaniards cast a furtive glance into the throat of this horrible monster,
they saw collected there implements of sacrifice and other abominations of
fearful import.  Their bold hearts shuddered at the spectacle, and they
designated the place not inaptly as the "Hell." ^4

[Footnote 4: Bernal Diaz, Ibid., ubi supra. - Toribio, also, notices this
temple with the same complimentary epithet.  "La boca hecha como de infierno y
en ella pintada la boca de una temerosa Sierpe con terribles colmillos y
dientes, y en algunas de los colmillos eran de bulto, que verlo y entrar
dentro ponia gran temor y grima, en especial el infierno que estaba en Mexico,
que parecia traslado dol verdadero infierno." Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte
1, cap. 4.]

     One other structure may be noticed as characteristic of the brutish
nature of their religion.  This was a pyramidal mound or tumulus, having a
complicated framework of timber on its broad summit.  On this was strung an
immense number of human skulls, which belonged to the victims, mostly
prisoners of war, who had perished on the accursed stone of sacrifice.  Two
of the soldiers had the patience to count the number of these ghastly
trophies, and reported it to be one hundred and thirty-six thousand! ^5 Belief
might well be staggered, did not the Old World present a worthy counterpart
in the pyramidal Golgothas which commemorated the triumphs of Tamerlane. ^6

[Footnote 5: Bernal Diaz, ubi supra. - "Andres de Tapia, que me lo dijo, i
Goncalo de Umbria, las contaron vn Dia, i hallaron ciento i treinta i seis
mil Calaberas, en las Vigas, i Gradas," Gomara, Cronica, cap. 82.

     Note: Gomara is so often accused of exaggeration and falsehood that it is
satisfactory to find his exactness, in the present instance, established by
the evidence of Tapia himself, who thus describes the manner in which the
estimate was made: "E quien esto escribe, y un Gonzalo de Umbrea, contaron los
palos que habie, e multiplicando a cinco cabezas cada palo de los que entre
viga y viga estaban, ... hallamos haber ciento treinta y seis mil cabezas, sin
las de las torres." (Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc. para la Hist. de Mexico, tom.
iii.) The original of this "Relacion," recently discovered, is in the library
of the Academy of History at Madrid. It is an unfinished narrative, valuable
as the production of one of the chief companions of Cortes, and for the
confirmation it affords of other contemporaneous accounts of the Conquest. -
Ed.]

[Footnote 6: Three collections, thus fancifully disposed, of these grinning
horrors - in all 230,000 - are noticed by Gibbon! (Decline and Fall, ed.
Milman, vol. i. p. 2; vol. xii, p. 45.) A European scholar commends "the
conqueror's piety, his moderation, and his justice"!  Rowe's Dedication of
"Tamerlane."]

     There were long ranges of buildings in the enclosure, appropriated as
the residence of the priests and others engaged in the offices of religion.
The whole number of them was said to amount to several thousand.  Here were,
also, the principal seminaries for the instruction of youth of both sexes,
drawn chiefly from the higher and wealthier classes.  The girls were taught
by elderly women who officiated as priestesses in the temples, a custom
familiar, also, to Egypt.  The Spaniards admit that the greatest care for
morals, and the most blameless deportment, were maintained in these
institutions.  The time of the pupils was chiefly occupied, as in most
monastic establishments, with the minute and burdensome ceremonial of their
religion.  The boys were likewise taught such elements of science as were
known to their teachers, and the girls initiated in the mysteries of
embroidery and weaving, which they employed in decorating the temples.  At a
suitable age they generally went forth into the world to assume the
occupations fitted to their condition, though some remained permanently
devoted to the services of religion. ^1

[Footnote 1: Ante, pp. 33, 34. - The desire of presenting the reader with a
complete view of the actual state of the capital at the time of its
occupation by the Spaniards has led me in this and the preceding chapter into
a few repetitions of remarks on the Aztec institutions in the Introductory
Book of this History.]

     The spot was also covered by edifices of a still different character.
here were granaries filled with the rich produce of the church-lands and with
the first-fruits and other offerings of the faithful.  One large mansion was
reserved for strangers of eminence who were on a pilgrimage to the great
teocalli.  The enclosure was ornamented with gardens, shaded by ancient trees
and watered by fountains and reservoirs from the copious streams of
Chapoltepec.  The little community was thus provided with almost everything
requisite for its own maintenance and the services of the temple. ^3

[Footnote 3: Toribio, Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 12. - Gomara,
Cronica, cap. 80. - Rel. d'un gentil' huomo, ap. Ramusio, tom. iii. fol.
309.]

     It was a microcosm of itself, a city within a city, and, according to
the assertion of Cortes, embraced a tract of ground large enough for five
hundred houses. ^4  It presented in this brief compass the extremes of
barbarism, blended with a certain civilization, altogether characteristic of
the Aztecs.  The rude Conquerors saw only the evidence of the former.  In the
fantastic and symbolical features of the deities they beheld the literal
lineaments of Satan; in the rites and frivolous ceremonial, his own especial
code of damnation; and in the modest deportment and careful nurture of the
inmates of the seminaries, the snares by which he was to beguile his deluded
victims! ^5  Before a century had elapsed, the descendants of these same
Spaniards discerned in the mysteries of the Aztec religion the features,
obscured and defaced, indeed, of the Jewish and Christian revelations! ^1
Such were the opposite conclusions of the unlettered soldier and of the
scholar.  A philosopher, untouched by superstition, might well doubt which of
the two was the more extraordinary.

[Footnote 4: "Es tan grande que dentro del circuito de ella, que es todo
cercado de Muro muy alto, se podia muy bien facer una Villa de quinientos
Vecinos."  Rel. Seg., ap. Lorenzana, p. 105.]

[Footnote 5: "Todas estas mugeres," says Father Toribio, "estaban aqui
sirviendo al demonio por sus propios intereses; las unas porque el Demonio
las hiciese modestas," etc. Hist. de los Indios, MS., Parte 1, cap. 9.]

[Footnote 1: See Appendix, Part 1.]

     The sight of the Indian abominations seems to have kindled in the
Spaniards a livelier feeling for their own religion; since on the following
day they asked leave of Montezuma to convert one of the halls in their
residence into a chapel, that they might celebrate the services of the Church
there.  The monarch, in whose bosom the feelings of resentment seem to have
soon subsided, easily granted their request, and sent some of his own
artisans to aid them in the work.

     While it was in progress, some of the Spaniards observed what appeared
to be a door recently plastered over.  It was a common rumour that Montezuma
still kept the treasures of his father, King Axayacatl, in this ancient
palace.  The Spaniards, acquainted with this fact, felt no scruple in
gratifying their curiosity by removing the plaster.  As was anticipated, it
concealed a door.  On forcing this, they found the rumour was no
exaggeration.  They beheld a large hall filled with rich and beautiful
stuffs, articles of curious workmanship of various kinds, gold and silver in
bars and in the ore, and many jewels of value.  It was the private hoard of
Montezuma, the contributions, it may be, of tributary cities, and once the
property of his father.  "I was a young man," says Diaz, who was one of those
that obtained a sight of it, "and it seemed to me as if all the riches of the
world were in that room!" ^2  The Spaniards, notwithstanding their elation at
the discovery of this precious deposit, seem to have felt some commendable
scruples as to appropriating it to their own use, - at least for the present.
And Cortes, after closing up the wall as it was before, gave strict
injunctions that nothing should be said of the matter, unwilling that the
knowledge of its existence by his guests should reach the ears of
Montezuma.

[Footnote 2: "Y luego lo supimos entre todos los demas Capitanes, y soldados,
y lo entramos a ver muy secretamente, y como yo lo vi, digo que me admire, e
como en aquel tiempo era mancebo, y no auia visto en mi vida riquezas como
aquellas, tuue por cierto, que en el mundo no deuiera auer otras tantas! Hist.
de la Conquista, cap. 93.]

     Three days sufficed to complete the chapel; and the Christians had the
satisfaction to see themselves in possession of a temple where they might
worship God in their own way, under the protection of the Cross and the
blessed Virgin.  Mass was regularly performed by the fathers Olmedo and Diaz,
in the presence of the assembled army, who were most earnest and exemplary in
their devotions, partly, says the chronicler above quoted, from the propriety
of the thing, and partly for its edifying influence on the benighted
heathen. ^3

[Footnote 3: Ibid., loc. cit.]