Sketches of Aboriginal Life

by V. V. Vide

  CHAPTER X.

  RETURN OF CORTEZ--SIEGE OF TENOCHTITLAN--BRAVERY AND SUFFERINGS OF THE AZTECS.

  ~What will not man endure, and woman too, To guard the hearth and altar? Give to each A thousand lives, and hedge them close around With all that makes it martyrdom to die, And agony to suffer--freely still, With all their wealth of blood, and love, and tears, They'll yield them every one, and dying, wish They had a thousand more to give--~

  Guatimozin was kept constantly informed of the preparations andmovements of the Spaniards. His faithful spies followed them in alltheir marches, and found no difficulty in divining their generalintentions and plans, as their courage revived on their arrival atTlascala, and still more on the accession of a large reinforcement ofSpaniards at Vera Cruz. Cortez was now as resolute as ever in hispurpose of conquest, and determined to regain his position in thecapital, or perish in the attempt. He went with the sword in one handand the olive-branch in the other, if that can be called anolive-branch, which admits of no answer but submission, and offers noalternative but slavery or death. With a large increase of cavalry andartillery, an ample supply of ammunition, and a force both of Castilianand Indian allies, more than double of that which accompanied him on hisformer expedition, he took up his line of march from the friendly cityof Tlascala, to cross the mountain barrier that separated him from hisprey. Previous to his departure, he gave orders for the construction ofa considerable number of brigantines, under the inspection ofexperienced Spanish shipwrights, conceiving the singular and originalidea of transporting them, on the shoulders of his men, across themountains, and launching them upon the lake of Tezcuco, to aid him inlaying siege to the city. His march was unchallenged till he arrived onthe very shores of the great lake, and stood before the walls ofTezcuco.

  Here he halted, and sent a message to the governor to throw open hisgates, and renew his allegiance to the crown of Castile. The messengerreturned with a request that the Spaniard would delay his entry into thecity, until the next morning, when he should be prepared to give him asuitable reception. Cortez, suspecting that all was not right, ascendedone of the Teocalli in the neighborhood, to ascertain if any hostilemovement was contemplated. To his surprise, he saw immense crowds ofpeople, thronging the thoroughfares on the other side of the city, andgoing, with as much of their substance as they could carry, towards themetropolis. Supposing that the city, when evacuated, would be given upto the flames, and that he should thus be cut off not only fromsupplies, but from a place of shelter and retreat, he instantly sentforward a strong body of horse, with a battalion of infantry, to arrestthe fugitives, and to demand an interview with the cacique.

  Flight having been resolved upon, and the city having been devoted todestruction, as the most effectual annoyance to the Spaniards, nopreparations were made to resist such a movement as this. The unarmedfugitives returned to their homes, in great numbers, and the city, withall its abandoned palaces and temples, offered ample accommodations tothe invaders. The person of the chief was not secured, he havingeffected his escape, with the principal part of his nobles, and all hisarmy, to the capital. Cortez, assuming to act in the name of the king ofCastile, for whom he claimed the sovereignty of all these lands,immediately deposed the reigning chief, absolving the people from allfurther allegiance to him, and installed his brother, who was favorableto the cause of the Spaniards, in his place.

  Thus secured in such commanding quarters, the haughty Castilian surveyedthe field around him, and prepared himself, with great diligence anddeliberation, to regain possession of it. The most liberal andconciliating overtures were made to the Emperor, if he would peaceablyacknowledge the sovereignty of Castile, and admit him, as therepresentative of that crown, to the capital. These overtures werepromptly and scornfully rejected, and every avenue to amicablenegotiation effectually closed. The people of the country were sternlyforbidden, on pain of death, from holding any intercourse with thestrangers, or from administering, in any manner, to their wants. Largerewards were offered for captives, and every inducement held out toencourage the natives in a resistance, that should admit of no quarter,and terminate only in the utter extermination of one of the parties.Guatimozin was a man every way adapted to a crisis like this. Of a firmindomitable spirit, patient of suffering and of toil, and skilful in allthe strategy of war and defence, and possessed of the entire confidenceand affection of his own people, he applied himself to the work ofself-preservation, with an energy and fertility of resource, whichscarcely ever, in a righteous cause, fails to ensure success. That hewas suffered to fail, is one of those inscrutable providences whichstand frequently out on the page of history, to confound theshort-sighted sagacity of man, and restrain his too inquisitive desireto fathom the counsels and purposes of heaven.

  Perceiving that the ground was to be contested, step by step, and thatnot a foot would be yielded but at the point of the bayonet, and themouth of the cannon, Cortez resolved on reducing the smaller townsfirst, and so approaching the capital, by slow degrees, leaving nounfriendly territory behind him, to cut off his supplies, or annoy hisrear. In this manner, after almost incredible hardships, and many severecontests, in which his forces were very considerably reduced, hesucceeded in wresting by violence, or winning by diplomacy, many of thetributary cities and districts from their allegiance to the Mexicancrown. In their attempt upon Iztapalapan, which was led by Cortez inperson, they were near being entirely overwhelmed by an artificialinundation of the city. The great dikes were pierced by the natives, andthe waters of the lake came pouring in upon them, in torrents, fromwhich they made their escape with the utmost difficulty, with the lossof all their booty and ammunition, and not a few of their Indian allies.The place, however, was reduced to submission. Chalco, Otumba, and manyother important posts were soon after added to the number of theconquered.

  This work of subjugation among the tributary provinces and cities, wasnot a little facilitated by the memory of the iron rule of Montezuma,and his severe exactions upon all his subjects, to maintain thesplendors of the imperial palace. They had long felt these exactions tobe most burdensome and unequal, and had only submitted to them by forceof the terror of that name, which made all Anahuac tremble. They were,therefore, not unwilling to embrace any opportunity to throw off theAztec yoke, when they could do it with the hope of ultimate protectionfrom its vengeance. They had not long enough tested the administrationof Guatimozin, to look for any relief from their burdens under hisreign. He came to the throne at one of those signal crises in theaffairs of the empire, which demanded all its resources, both physicaland pecuniary, and was therefore compelled, for the time, rather toincrease than diminish their taxes, and make heavier requisitions thanusual upon their personal services. They were ready for a change ofmasters, and, as is usual in such cases, did not stop to considerwhether the change might not be rather for the worse than for thebetter. As soon, therefore, as they ascertained that the Spanish powerwas sufficient to protect them against the fury of their old oppressors,they rushed to their standard, and arrayed themselves against the bravedefenders of their native land. The event proved that the rod of ironwas exchanged for a two-edged one of steel, a natural sovereign of theirown race, for a worse than Egyptian task-master, and a subjection whichleft undisturbed their ancient customs, and the common relations ofsociety, for an indiscriminate slavery which respected neither personnor property, and levelled alike the public and private institutions ofthe land.

  Meanwhile the brigantines, which had been rapidly progressing atTlascala, were completed. They were thirteen in number. They were firstput together, and tried upon the waters of the Tahnapan; then taken topieces, and the timbers, with all the tackle and apparel, includinganchors, transported on the shoulders of the Tlascalan laborers, overthe hills, and through the narrow defiles of the mountain, a distance ofsixty miles, and re-constructed within the walls of Tezcuco. To open acommunication with the lake, it was still necessary to make a canal, amile and a half in length, twelve feet
wide, and as many deep. This wasaccomplished in season for launching the little fleet, having eightthousand men employed upon it during two months. It was a day of greatrejoicing and appropriate religious solemnity, when that little squadronappeared, with the ensign of Castile floating proudly at each mast head,their white sails swelling in the breeze, the smoke of the cannonrolling around, and the deep thunder reverberating from every side ofthe distant mountains.

  There is, perhaps, no single achievement in the annals of humanenterprize, more remarkable than this. There is certainly none whichmore clearly shows, or more beautifully illustrates, the daringindomitable spirit, and mighty genius, which alone could have achievedthe conquest of Mexico. Who but Cortez would have conceived of such adesign? Who but Cortez would have attempted and successfully executedit? To construct thirteen vessels of sufficient burthen to sustain theweight and action of heavy cannon, and accommodate the men and soldiersnecessary to navigate and defend them, at a distance of twenty leaguesfrom the waters on which they were to swim--to convey them overmountains, and through deep and difficult defiles, on the shoulders ofmen, without the aid of any species of waggon, or beast of burden, andto do this in the midst of a country, and with the aid of a people,where nothing had hitherto been known beyond the primitive bark canoe,and where the natural associations, and prevailing superstitions of thenatives, were totally adverse to his design--to accomplish this alonewould immortalize any other man. What was the passage of the Alps byHannibal, or by Napoleon, compared to this? Yet, so replete was thewhole expedition of Cortez with adventures of unparalleled difficulty,and achievements of dazzling splendor, that this is but a common eventin his history, with nothing small or insignificant to place it incommanding relief. It was one of the infelicities in the career of thiswonderful man, that he was continually eclipsing himself, showing anoriginality and power of conception, a fertility of invention andresource, and a determination and energy in overcoming difficulties, andmaking occurrences, seemingly the most adverse, bend to his will andsubserve his designs, which wearies our surprise and admiration, andactually exhausts our capacity of astonishment.

  Nothing was now wanting to complete the arrangements of the invader forlaying siege to Tenochtitlan. By the aid of the brigantines, he was ableto command the entire lake, sweeping away the frail canoes of thenatives, like bubbles on the surface. All the cities and towns on itsborder had fallen, one after another, into his hands, though not withouta desperate defence, and frequent and wasting sallies from the foe. Themetropolis, that beautiful and magnificent gem upon the fair bosom ofthe lake, now stood alone, deserted by all her friends and supporters,the object of the concentrated hostility of the foreign invader, theancient enemy, and the recent ally.

  In that devoted capital, now so closely and fearfully invested, therewas a spirit and power fully equal to the awful crisis. As soon asGuatimozin perceived, by the movements of his enemy, that the city wasto be assailed rather by the slow and wasting siege, than by the stormof war, he made every possible preparation to sustain himself at hispost. The aged, the infirm, the sick, and, as far as possible, all thehelpless among the inhabitants, were sent off among the neighboringtowns, and country; while all those who were able to do service in thearmy, were brought thence into the city. Provisions were collected ingreat quantities, and all the resources then left to the empireconcentrated upon one point, that of making an obstinate, unyieldingdefence. In this condition of affairs the siege commenced; a large partof the fighting men of the neighboring cities and towns being in thecapital, preparing to defend it against enemies with whom those citiesand towns were now in close alliance. Though it thus brought the fatheragainst the son, and the son against the father, in many instances, itdid not, in any case, disappoint the confidence of Guatimozin, orundermine the loyalty of his troops. There were no deserters from hisstandard. Through all the horrors of that wasting siege, they stood bytheir sovereign, and their capital, as if they knew no other home, noother friend.

  In vain did the Castilian commander propose terms of accommodation tothe beleaguered city. The Emperor would not condescend even to aninterview. His chiefs and his people, whenever they had an opportunityto do so, treated every attempt at compromise with utter scorn. Theyderided Cortez upon his disastrous evacuation of the capital on "themelancholy night," assuring him that, if he should enter its gates now,he would not find a Montezuma on the throne. They taunted theirTlascalan allies as women, who would never have dared to approach thecapital, without the protection of the white men.

  Sustained by this spirit, the warlike Mexican did not content himselfwith mere measures of defence. Frequent and desperate sallies were madeupon the outposts of the enemy, until it seemed as if the hope of thenoble Guatimozin might possibly be realized, that he might slowly andgradually destroy an enemy, whom he could not encounter in a pitchedbattle.

  It was not until the last avenue to the surrounding country was cut off,by divisions of the invading army, planted upon all the causeways,supported in all their movements by the thundering brigantines, that thetrue spirit of the besieged began to show itself. Till then, theirtables had been plentifully supplied, and their hopes continuallyencouraged by the occasional losses of their enemy, whose numbers weretoo small to admit of much diminution. The priests were unremitting intheir appeals to the patriotism of the people, and in promises ofpeculiar divine blessings on all who should persevere to the last, indefence of their altars and their gods. Guatimozin was ever among hispeople, encouraging them by kind words, and an example of unyieldingdefiance to every advance of the foe. He showed that he was not less thefather of his people, than their king, suffering the same exposure, andenduring the same fatigues with the boldest and hardiest of hissubjects.

  Such was their confidence of ultimate success in the defence of thecapital, that the splendor and gaiety of the court was littlediminished, until famine began to stare them in the face. The aqueductof Chapoltepec had been cut off, and there was no longer any supply ofwholesome water in the city. The dark visions of the lovely queen werenow renewed. For a brief season, she had been permitted to revel indaylight, with scarcely a cloud to darken the sky above her. Suddenlythat light was obscured. All was gloom and darkness around her. War,desolating war hovered once more about the gates of the beloved city.Wan faces, and haggard forms began to take the places of the gay, happy,spirited multitudes, that so recently thronged the palace. The image ofher father, insulted by the stranger, murdered by his own people, roseto her view. His melancholy desponding look and tone, as he gave way tothe doom which he felt was sealed upon him, his frequent assurances thatthe white men were "the men of destiny," the heaven appointedproprietors and rulers of the land, and that wo would betide all whoshould oppose their pretensions, or offer resistance to their invinciblearms--all these came up fresh to her thoughts, and filled her withsadness. Her own ill-starred destiny too, marked by every possible signand presage, as full of darkness and sorrow--the thought was almostoverwhelming. Fain would she have severed at once the bond that linkedher fate with that of Guatimozin, for she felt that he was only sharingher doom, and on her account was exposed to these terrible shafts offate. The love of Guatimozin, the faithful devotion of Karee, thoughthey soothed in some measure her troubled spirit, could not whollyre-assure her, or dissipate the dreadful thought, that all theseterrible calamities were come upon the nation only as a part of thatdark doom, for which the gods had marked her out, on her very entranceinto life.

  It was long before the Emperor and his immediate household, were madeaware of the awful pressure of famine within that devoted city. Watchfuland observing as he was, the people, with one consent, had contrived tokeep him in comparative ignorance of the growing scarcity, in order thatthey might be permitted to supply his table, as long as possible, withall the necessaries and luxuries of life. So far was this loyal devotioncarried, that multitudes, both of the chiefs and of the common people,were daily in the habit of denying themselves of every thing but whatwas absolutely necessary t
o sustain life, and sending to the palaceevery article of fresh food, or delicate fruit, which they could obtainfrom their own gardens, or purchase from those of others. This nobledevotion on the part of his people, was discovered and made known to theEmperor by Karee. She was the almoner of the bounty of the queen tomultitudes of the poor and the sick, in different quarters of the city.On one of her errands of mercy, while she was administering to thecomfort of a poor friend, in the last stages of mortal disease, madeten-fold more appalling by the absence of almost every thing that couldsustain nature in the final struggle, she overheard the conversation ofa father with his child in the adjoining room.

  "Nay, my dear father, you must eat it. Your strength is almost gone, andhow can you stand among the fighting men, and defend your king and yourhouse, when you have eaten nothing for two whole days?"

  "My precious child, I shall find something when I go out. But thismorsel is for you, for I know you cannot live till I come home, if youdo not eat this. And what will life be worth when you are gone."

  "Father, dear father, I cannot eat it. It will do me more good to seeyou eat it, for then I shall be sure you can live another day at least,and then, who knows but the gods will send us help."

  Karee could listen no longer. Rushing into the apartment whence thesemelancholy sounds proceeded, she beheld the shadow of a once beautifulgirl leaning on the arm of the pale and wasted figure of a man,endeavoring to draw him towards a table on which lay a single morsel ofdried fruit, which he had brought in for her, it being the only foodthat either of them had seen for two days.

  "Take this," said she, offering the sweet child a portion of what shehad prepared for the invalid, but which she was too far gone to receive,"and may it give you both strength till the day of our deliverance." Andshe instantly returned to the death-bed of her friend.

  To the famishing group it was like the apparition of an angel, with agift from the gods. The savory mess was readily divided, though theaffectionate self-denying child contrived to cheat her father intoreceiving a little more than his share, while he tried every effort invain, to persuade her to take the larger half. The wretched pair had nothad such a feast for many a long week. "Ah!" exclaimed the daughter, asshe wept over the luxurious repast, "if our dear mother could have hadsuch a morsel as this, before she died, to stay her in that lastdreadful agony."

  "Yes, my beloved child," replied the subdued and bitterly bereavedfather, "but she has gone where there is plenty, and no tears mingledwith it."

  The dried fruit was laid away for the morrow. But the same kind handthat relieved them on that day, was there again on the morrow, and onevery succeeding day, till the city was sacked, and the wretched ghostsof its inhabitants given up to an indiscriminate slaughter.

  When Guatimozin was made acquainted with this incident, he resolved onmaking another desperate sally, with the whole force of his wasted army,in the forlorn hope of breaking through the ranks of the enemy, andprocuring some subsistence for his famishing people. Having drawn themup in the great square, his heart sunk within him, when he saw theirpale faces and emaciated forms, and contrasted them with the fierce,stout, and seemingly invincible host, whom he had so often led intobattle. But the feeling of despondency gave way instantly to that sternfixed purpose, that terrible decision of soul, which is the naturaloffspring of desperation. With a firm voice, he addressed them.

  "My brave soldiers, we must not any longer lie still. The enemy is atour gates, and we are perishing in our own citadel. Have we not oncedriven them, with a terrible and almost exterminating slaughter, alongthose very causeways which they now claim to occupy and to close up? Arethey more invincible now than then? Are we less resolute, less fearless?By our famishing wives and children, by our desecrated altars and gods,let us rush upon them and overwhelm them at once."

  The monarch had not yet finished his stirring appeal, when a courierrushed in, bringing tidings that the several divisions of the besiegingarmy were moving up the causeways, and approaching the city on everyside.

  "They come to their own destruction," said the monarch, bitterly, andimmediately proceeded to distribute his men, to give them a fittingreception. The larger part of the forces were ordered to occupy severalsomewhat retired places, amid the great public buildings in the centreof the city, where they should be in readiness to obey the royal signal.The remainder were to go out, in their several divisions, to meet andskirmish with the advancing foe, doing them as much mischief aspossible, yet suffering themselves to be driven before them, till theywere decoyed into the heart of the city. The signal would then be given,when every man who could draw a bow, or wield a lance, or throw a stone,would be expected to do his duty.

  It was a stratagem worthy of Guatimozin, and, in its execution, had wellnigh overwhelmed the Spaniards, and saved the city. Cortez had appointedwith the captains of each division of his army to meet in the greatsquare of the city. Each one being eager to be first at the goal, theyfollowed the retreating Aztecs without consideration, and without makingany provision for their own retreat. The watchful agents of Guatimozinwere behind as well as before them; and when they had passed the gates,and were pressing up, with all the heat and enthusiasm of a victoriousarmy, into the heart of the city, the bridges were taken up in theirrear, to cut off, if possible, their retreat. When this was effected,the fatal horn of Guatimozin blew a long loud blast, from the summit ofthe great Teocalli. In an instant, the retreating Aztecs turned upontheir pursuers, like tigers ravening upon their prey; while swarms offresh warriors poured in from every lane and street and avenue, rushingso fiercely upon the too confident assailants, as to bring them to asudden pause in their triumphant career. At the same moment, the roof ofevery house and temple, along the whole line of their march, was coveredwith men, who poured upon them such a shower of stones that it seemedimpossible to escape being buried under them. The tide of battle was nowturned. The too daring invaders were thrown into confusion, andcompelled to retreat. This they soon found, to their bitter cost, wasnearly impossible. When it was discovered that the bridges, over whichthey had so recently passed, were removed, the utmost consternationprevailed. The heavy cannon were all on board the brigantines, so thatthey were unable, as in former times, to mow down the solid ranks oftheir foes, and break a way for their retreat. Their cavalry was oflittle service, for they could not leap the wide chasms made by theremoval of the bridges. Cut off in front by the solid masses of warriorsthat blocked up every avenue, and in the rear by these yawning chasms,and hemmed in on each side by the massive stone walls of the buildings,they could neither protect themselves, nor effectually annoy theirenemy. They were in imminent danger of perishing ignobly in the ditch,without even striking a blow in their own defence.

  Fortunately for the invaders, their sagacious and ever-wakeful generalhad anticipated the possibility of such a scene as this, and had takensome measures to forestall it. His officers, however, were toohigh-spirited and self-confident to condescend to the cowardly drudgeryof carrying out his precautionary measures. They thought only ofvictory, and the spoils of the glorious city, which they now regarded astheir own.

  In this fearful dilemma, the genius of Cortez did not desert him. Whenthe first shout of battle reached his ears, as he was advancingcautiously along the avenue, he instantly conjectured the cause.Ordering his own column to halt, and selecting a chosen band of his bestcavalry, he wheeled about, dashed furiously down the avenue, and put toflight the unarmed Aztecs, who were doing the work of destruction forhim, and had then almost succeeded in tearing away the foundations ofthe great bridge. Making his way through the deserted streets, with thespeed of the wind, he came round into the other avenue, where onedivision of his army was hemmed in, in the manner above described.Charging impetuously upon the gathering crowds of Aztecs, he succeededin forcing his way up to the chasm, where he stood face to face with hisown troops on the other side. Here, in the midst of a pitiless tempestof stones, and darts and arrows, he maintained his stand, while his men,with incredible labor
, attempted to fill up the chasm.

  The work was at length accomplished, though not without the most seriousloss to Cortez. Some of his bravest officers fell in that mercilesscontest with foes who would neither give nor receive quarter. Many werepelted down with the huge stones, that ceased not to rain upon them fromall the neighboring house tops. Some were taken by the feet as theylabored to maintain a precarious footing on the slippery causeway, anddragged into the canals, either to be drowned in the desperate strugglethere, or carried off in the canoes to captivity or sacrifice. Cortezhimself narrowly escaped immolation.

  At length, through the indomitable perseverance of the general, thebreach was so far filled up as to make a practicable passage for thetroops. A retreat was sounded, and that gallant band, which, a few hoursbefore had rushed in with flaunting banners, and confident boastings ofan easy victory, was glad to escape from the snare into which they hadfallen, their numbers greatly reduced, their banners soiled andtattered, and their expectations of ultimate success terribly shaken.They were pursued through all their march by the exulting Aztecs, andmany a broken head and bruised limb attested the truth of Guatimozin'staunting challenge, that the Spaniards, if they entered the capitalagain, would find as many fortresses as there were houses, as manyassailants as stones in the streets.