On This Occasion Xicotencatl Presented His Own Daughter
To Cortes, And Desired Him To Assign The Others Among His Principal
Officers.
Cortes thanked him for the mark of regard, but that for the
present the ladies must remain with their
Parents, as we must first obey
the commands of our God, and the orders of our sovereign, by abolishing
human sacrifices and other abominations, and by teaching them the true
faith in the adoration of one only God. He then shewed them a beautiful
image of the holy Mary, the queen of heaven, the mother of our Lord by the
power of the Holy Ghost, conceived without sin, adding, That if they
wished to become our brethren, and that we should marry their daughters,
they must renounce their idolatry, and worship our God, by which they
would not only benefit their temporal concerns, but would secure an
eternal happiness in heaven; whereas by persisting in the worship of their
idols, which were representations of the devils, they would consign
themselves to hell, where they would be plunged eternally into flames of
fire. This and a great deal more excellently to the purpose, being well
explained to them by our interpreters, the chiefs made answer to the
following effect: That they readily believed all they had now heard
respecting the excellence of our God and his saints, and might in time be
able to understand the subject of his exhortations; but that if they were
now to renounce the religion of their ancestors in their old age to please
us, the priests and people would rebel against them; more especially as
the priests had already consulted their gods, who had commanded them on no
account to omit the human sacrifices and other ancient customs, as
otherwise they would send famine, pestilence, and war into their country:
They requested, therefore that nothing more might be said on this subject,
as they could not renounce their gods but with their lives. When the
subject of this conference was reported to father Olmedo, who was a wise
and good man, he advised the general not to urge the matter any farther
for the present, as he was adverse to forced conversions, such as had been
already attempted at Chempoalla; and that to destroy the idols were a
needless act of violence, unless the principles of idolatry were
eradicated from their minds by argument as they would easily procure other
idols to continue their worship. Three of our cavaliers, Alvarado, de Leon,
and De Lugo, gave a similar advice to Cortes, and the subject was
judiciously dropped, which might have again excited the Tlascalans to
inveterate enmity.
Soon after this we got permission to clear out and purify one of the
temples, which was converted into a Christian church, and had an altar and
cross erected. Here the ladies who were destined to be the brides of our
officers, having been instructed in the principles of the Christian
religion were baptized. The daughter of Xicotencatl was named Donna Luisa,
and being taken by the hand by Cortes, was presented by him to Alvarado,
saying to her rather that this officer was his brother, with which
arrangement the old cacique seemed perfectly satisfied.
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