On Getting Alongside, Sandoval Demanded Guatimotzin To Be
Delivered Up To Him, As Commander Of The Naval Force, But Holguin Refused,
And Many High Words Passed Between Them.
One of the vessels was sent to
inform Cortes of the great event which had taken place, and by the same
means he learnt the dispute which had occurred between Sandoval and
Holguin.
He immediately sent the Captains Marin and De Lugo with orders to
bring the whole party to his quarters on the summit of the great temple,
ordering them to treat Guatimotzin and his queen with the highest respect.
In the meantime, he ordered a state canopy to be arranged as well as he
could, with cloths and mantles, to receive his prisoners, and a table to
be spread with such refreshments as could be procured.
On the approach of the prisoners, Cortes went forward to meet the king,
whom he embraced with much respect, and shewed all possible attention to
his followers. The unfortunate monarch sinking under his affliction,
addressed Cortes as follows, with his eyes full of tears: "_Malinatzin!_ I
have done every thing in my power to defend my kingdom and people, but all
my efforts have been in vain, and I am now your prisoner; I request of you,
therefore, to draw your dagger and stab me to the heart." Cortes used his
best endeavours to console him, assuring him of his high esteem for the
valour and firmness he had exerted, that he should continue to reign as
formerly, and that he had only required his submission when all reasonable
hope of defence was gone, in order to avoid the utter destruction of his
capital and people. Cortes then inquired after the queen, and was told
that she and her female attendants remained in the piragua till their fate
was decided. He then ordered them to be sent for, and treated them with
all respect. As the evening drew on, and it threatened to rain, the whole
royal family was sent to Cojohuacan, under the care of Sandoval, and a
sufficient escort. Guatimotzin was about twenty-three or twenty-four years
of age, of a noble appearance, both in person and countenance, having
large and cheerful features, with lively eyes, and his complexion was very
fair for an Indian. His queen, who was the niece[11] of Montezuma, was
young and very handsome.
The whole army was now ordered to withdraw from the great temple of
Tlaltelolco, and to return to their original head-quarters. Cortes
proceeded to Cojohuacan, where he took the command in person, sending
Sandoval to resume his station at Tepejacac, and our division, under
Alvarado, retired to Tacuba. Thus was the important seige of Mexico
brought to a successful conclusion, by the capture of Guatimotzin and his
family at the hour of vespers, on the day of St Hypolitus, 13th of August
1521. Glorified be our Lord Jesus Christ, and his Holy Virgin Mother, Amen!
In the night after the capture of Guatimotzin, about midnight, there was
the greatest tempest of thunder, lightning, and rain I ever witnessed. But
all the soldiers were as deaf as if they had been an hour in a belfrey,
and all the bells ringing about their ears. This proceeded from the
continual noise they had been accustomed to from the enemy during the
_ninety-three days_[12] of this memorable siege: Some bringing on their
troops to attack us on the causeways, with loud shouts, and shrill
whistling; others in canoes assailing our flanks; some at work on the
pallisades, water courses, and stone parapets, or preparing their
magazines of arms, and the shrieks and yells of the women, who supplied
the warriors with stones, darts, and arrows; the infernal noise of their
timbals, horns, and trumpets, and the dismal drum, and other shocking
noises, perpetually sounding in our ears: All of which immediately ceased
on the capture of Guatimotzin. In consequence of the dispute between
Sandoval and Holguin threatening unpleasant consequences, Cortes related
to them from the Roman history the dispute between Marius and Sylla,
about the capture of Iugurtha, which was ultimately productive of very
fatal civil wars. He assured them that the whole affair should be
represented to the emperor Don Carlos, by whose arbitration it should be
decided. But in two years after, the emperor authorised Cortes to bear in
his arms the seven kings whom he had subdued, Montezuma, Guatimotzin, and
the princes of Tezcuco, Cojohuacan, Iztapalapa, Tacuba, and Matlatzinco.
It is absolutely truth, to which I swear _amen_! that all the lake, the
houses, and the courts were filled with dead bodies, so that I know not
how to describe the miserable spectacle. All the streets, squares, courts,
and houses of Tlaltelolco, were so covered by them, that we could not take
a single step without treading on or between the bodies of dead Indians.
The lake and the canals were full of them, and the stench was intolerable.
It was for this reason that our troops retired from the city immediately
after the capture of Guatimotzin: Cortes was himself ill for some time,
owing to the dreadful effluvia arising from the putrifying bodies. I have
read the history of the destruction of Jerusalem, but I cannot conceive
that the mortality even there exceeded what I was witness to in Mexico; as
all the warriors from the most distant provinces of that populous empire
were concentrated there, and almost the whole garrison was cut off in
their almost perpetual encounters with us, or perished of famine.
Our vessels were now in the best situation for service; as those on board
had ready access to the houses in the water, which were beyond our reach,
whence they carried away all the best of the plunder. Their crews also
discovered a great many valuable articles which the Mexicans had concealed
among the tall reeds on the borders of the lake, and they intercepted a
great deal that the inhabitants of the city endeavoured to carry away in
their canoes; all of which was beyond our reach:
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