Part 32

As long as they were in Aztec territory, there was little chance of escaping annihilation, for the disconsolate army after their night journey were set upon by the warriors of the neighboring pueblos. Their Tlaxcalan allies guided them along devious trails until they reached Totoltepec, where the fugitives found some temporary security in a temple, which they were glad to use as a fortress. Fortunately they were not actually pursued by the main body of the Aztec fighting men, who remained behind to collect the gold and jewels cast aside by the Spaniards, and to spoil the dead. Besides, a number of Spaniards had either by choice or by necessity remained in the city. According to one authority not all of Cortez’ soldiers were acquainted with the plan for the night journey; others preferred not to desert their treasures. It is computed that 270 Europeans kept up the fight in the city and then surrendered. During the rest of the retreat there were some sharp skirmishes, and because of their fatigue and discouragement the army’s power of resistance was soon exhausted. Thanks to their native allies, however, they were brought finally to a place of safety in the friendly pueblo of Tlaxcala. The losses had been terrible, nearly 1000 men had perished, besides 4000 of the Tlaxcalans and other natives. At Tlaxcala there was much mourning for the great calamity which had robbed the place of its best warriors, but there was no hesitation in offering Cortez their continued support in resuming the war against the Aztecs.

Cortez was careful to give instructions to his men to treat the inhabitants with consideration and not to rob them of their property. These orders did not cause so much dissatisfaction to the survivors as Cortez’ high-handed procedure in appropriating for himself whatever he could find of the gold that had been saved in the panic of the retreat. Many of the Spaniards spoke of returning to the coast to sail back to Cuba. Cortez’ iron will now stood him in good stead; he quieted his own men, and arranged to start immediately a campaign against Mexico by the help of the Tlaxcalans, promising as the price of their aid a part of all the conquests he made and various privileges and exemptions from tribute.

This offer proved an attractive one not only to the Tlaxcalans but to other natives who saw a further chance of securing their freedom from their Mexican overlords. Over 100,000 men were collected, either by promises or by methods of terrorism; any pueblo that resisted was sacked and the inhabitants massacred. Tepeacac, the center of resistance, was taken; its men were put to death, and the women and children set apart as slaves. As time went on, various individual adventurers appeared off the coast, and by degrees the losses in Europeans, in artillery, and in horses were made up. This good fortune caused so much satisfaction to the veterans of Cortez’ army and their commander that he resolved to undertake the seemingly hopeless task of besieging Mexico itself. Additional re-enforcements and the necessary war supplies were brought from Hispaniola, and in order to attack the Aztec capital in its most vulnerable point brigantines were prepared on the lake, since it was realized that it was impossible to force now an entrance over the causeways.

By the end of December all was ready. The Europeans numbered not quite 700 men, while the native contingent is placed by some at 150,000. From Tlaxcala, 10,000 were asked for, but many more volunteered. As the army proceeded, they found no great difficulty in occupying the places on their route. Some, like Texcoco, had been partially deserted by the inhabitants, who had the forethought to remove their goods. In disgust the Spaniards burnt the town and its palace where all the ancient records in picture scrolls of the Aztec kingdom were preserved. The ravages of the smallpox weakened the Aztec resistance, and among those who died was the implacable enemy of the Spaniards, Cuitlahuac, the brother of Montezuma, who had been chosen as his successor. His death at the end of November was a loss hard to repair. Even Diaz speaks of him as “a valiant man and very prudent.”

As their next chieftain they selected Cuauhtemoc, a cousin of Montezuma, a young man who, during the period of the Spanish occupation of Mexico, had distinguished himself by his active opposition to it. He had taken a leading rôle in the revolt that had brought about the evacuation of the capital, and he now set forward upon the work of defense with great intelligence. Orders were sent to the dependent pueblos to unite in repelling the European invasion, and the tribute was remitted. Care was taken to collect treasures and arms, and Mexico itself was placed in a state of defense by the construction of intrenchments and ditches. Cuauhtemoc’s plan of campaign consisted in concentrating all the available forces in the capital, yet offensive tactics were skilfully applied. His hand was seen when the Spaniards occupied Iztapalapa; here the inhabitants deserted the pueblo, and while their enemies were peacefully enjoying the spoil and resting in their quarters, the sluices were opened, and had not the natives of Texcoco warned Cortez in time all would have been drowned.

Desultory warfare continued for a time on the shores of the lake, Cortez’ policy being to exact vengeance for the hostility of the lake pueblos during the retreat. Many were razed to the ground and burnt. But strenuous operations did not begin until the brigantines were finished. For their construction Cortez was indebted to the skill and industry of the people of Tlaxcala, who at their own expense cut the wood, and transported it over mountainous defiles by bad roads to their own pueblo, where it was cut into shape for the vessels. Thence the pieces were carried eighteen leagues overland to Texcoco on the lake, where, fastened together, they were transformed into ships ready for navigation.

Futile attempts were made by the Aztecs to set fire to this navy, for they recognized the danger of an attack from the water, but there was no thought of surrender. Untiringly, night and day, they prepared for the siege, making new weapons to meet the attacks of cavalry, and constructing barricades in the streets. The Spaniards also had to do much preliminary work to enable the fleet to get into deep water; 8000 Indians were constantly employed in digging a channel from the shore sufficient to accommodate the draught of the brigantines.

All was ready on the 28th of April, 1521. The brigantines were manned with European troops and artillerymen; but as usual the mass of the army was made of native auxiliaries, probably underestimated by Cortez at 80,000 men. Altogether the Spanish nucleus numbered about 1100, half of them lately come to join the veterans. Efforts were made to arrange terms of peace, but the Aztecs refused to listen to Cortez’ complaints of bad treatment and disloyal conduct on the part of his late hosts.

At every point of the advance to the city, Cortez encountered stubborn enmity. There was fighting both on the lake and on the shore, that showed the temper of the people. The brigantines were surrounded by a flotilla of canoes as they proceeded on their way; but it was an unequal combat because the frail canoes of the Aztecs were exposed to the gunfire of the ships. Under the protection of the brigantines a landing was effected on the causeway. Step by step, the defenders were forced back towards the town; as long as they fought on the causeway they were exposed to the raking volleys of the guns on the brigantines.

It was a long, tedious process to take the many barricades of the city, and even when the principal street was reached the determined onslaught of the Aztecs forced the Spaniards back to the causeway bridges. No real ground was gained in these first skirmishes, although there was a concerted plan between Cortez and his lieutenants that they should make for the center of the city at the same time. While the siege was being resisted with such desperation, the straits of the Aztecs induced the neighboring pueblos to send out large contingents of men to break the power that had so long kept them in bondage. Cortez notices especially the support given him from Texcoco both in men and in provisions; they kept on the lake 1000 canoes going and coming with supplies, and 32,000 warriors.

In order to starve the city out, the water supply had been cut off before the siege began, and it was hoped that by guarding the causeways no food could be brought in. Much skill was shown by the Aztecs in overcoming these difficulties; they sent out many canoes by night, a flotilla of specially large canoes filled with warriors who did not hesitate to grapple with the brigantines. One they captured, and they inflicted heavy losses on the equipment of others. The resourcefulness of the defenders was worthy of the skilled campaigners of Europe; but the problem of the food supply could not be solved by deeds of heroism, and famine was more destructive than the weapons of their enemies. They faced not only the actual distress from scarcity of supplies but also the desertion of the city itself by large numbers of warriors who could not be fed within the walls.

The methods of warfare on both sides were worthy of the combatants. Whenever the Spaniards or their allies were taken prisoners, they were treated as victims for sacrifice and offered up in the various temples of the gods with ordinary ceremonial rites. The Spaniards, whenever they entered the streets, burnt and destroyed everything within reach, temples and houses. The rage of the Aztecs at the destruction of all they held dear showed itself in their furious attacks on their enemies as they drew back at nightfall to their camp outside.

There was no thought of coming to terms, although the losses were heavy and the besieging force under Cortez alone was more than 100,000 men, and his flotilla of canoes was 3000. The chief aim of the Spanish ruler was to take the market-place, and plans for a general assault were arranged, now that the blockade of the city was strictly kept. From this center it was hoped all the streets could be cleared. The large number of allies who each time the town was assaulted swarmed over the roofs of the houses and made light of all other obstructions, seemed to promise a speedy termination of the struggle. But before, in the general attack the inclosure of the town was reached, the Aztecs in canoes and on the various land approaches, which had now been partially destroyed, made an unexpected sally. There was a call to arms sounded from the apex of one of the principal temples, the ritual drum being beaten whose tones could be heard at a distance of two or three leagues. Instantly, as the Indians came rushing upon them, the Spaniards were thrown in a panic, and made a precipitate retreat. Cortez was himself in danger and would have been killed, had not his enemies made strenuous efforts to take him alive in order that he might be kept for a sacrificial offering. None of the other captains fared better; Alvarado’s men narrowly escaped destruction.

Many European prisoners were made, and from their camp the Spaniards could watch their comrades being offered up to the sanguinary deities of the Aztec religion. They were pierced with stone knives and their palpitating hearts were drawn out as they lay recumbent on the stone altars that capped the temple pyramids. At the same time the men in the camp had to listen to the threats of their foes who, close at hand, promised them the same fate as their comrades. There was no inclination at this point on the part of Cortez and his men to resume the fight; orders were given to restrict operations to the defense of the camp. But the temper of the native allies was not affected by the defeat. The Tlaxcalans especially took the lead in harassing their enemies, while the Spaniards kept to their quarters. They also suggested a plan by which the remaining supplies of food and drink might be cut off.

This gradual process of attrition had its natural effect on the powers of resistance of the Aztecs. Cuauhtemoc was forced to cover up the losses in his army by disguising the women in the city as warriors. Standing on the flat roofs of the houses they were easily taken to be male warriors, and at closer quarters the Spaniards found them to be as brave as the men. Cortez, indeed, tried to induce his opponents to see how desperate their case was. His offers of peace were rejected; when envoys were sent it was always a signal for renewed attacks on the three Spanish camps.

After consultation with his captains Cuauhtemoc resolved to die fighting with his people rather than let them become the slaves of the Spaniards. The chief food of the inhabitants now was the green vegetation growing on the lake shallows, and they drank the saline water from the same source because fresh water was no longer to be had. Numerous must have been the victims of hunger and thirst and pestilence in the Aztec quarters, and great were the losses in the continued combats with an enemy far stronger, whose own losses were being made up by uninterrupted accessions of strength, while there was the whole countryside open from which supplies kept pouring in. It is significant that the success of the Aztecs in blocking the general assault of their capital made no impression outside. So far as we know, no attempts were made to break the Spanish investing lines, nor, on the other hand, did the failure to take the town in any way stop the movement to throw off the Aztec yoke which was plainly the prime motive on the part of the natives in helping the Europeans to take Mexico.

The siege had now lasted forty-five days; it was time, therefore, to make a radical change in the primitive methods of attack hitherto followed by Cortez, methods that recall the Homeric accounts of the siege of Troy. Each day there was hot fighting in the streets or on the lake where the Aztec canoes gathered about the brigantines. At nightfall there was a general return to the camp. The new plan was to destroy all the houses in the portion of the streets where the daily fighting took place. As the horsemen charged, the space was cleared and the work of destruction began. On the exposed part by the lake the brigantines and the canoes of the allies were able to do much effective damage. The scale of the operations is indicated in one of Cortez’ letters, where he speaks of using in this kind of fighting 150,000 warriors. Under these conditions, where each day ground for the next stage of occupation of the town was secured, the great market-place was taken.

Finally the Aztecs were confined to an eighth part of their capital; there was no bread to be had; nothing but fetid water to drink; and a diminishing supply of defensive weapons. Cortez himself reports that the Aztecs stood on the housetops, covering themselves with their cloaks but without weapons. The streets and the houses were filled with dead bodies. On the 13th of August the signal for the final attack was given. Crowded together, without arrows or even stones and sticks to defend themselves, the Aztecs were mowed down by the Spanish gunfire. It was a disappointment to Cortez to have to use such extreme measures; largely, it appears from his own words, because there would be no spoil to be taken. Most of the houses had been destroyed, and the people threw their wealth into the lake before they perished.

The sufferings of the besieged made an impression even on the hardened feelings of the Spanish commander. The last fights in the city and on the lake took place amid scenes of horror; everywhere were dead bodies; on the lake they were heaped up around the combatants, and could be seen floating about as the canoes kept up the unequal conflict with the Spanish brigantines. Diaz reports that all the houses were filled with dead Indians; there was nothing green to be found; the inhabitants had even eaten the bark off the trees.

The end came when the cannon, at Cortez’ signal, began to fire on the mass of unarmed Mexicans, too weak to move, stretched out one upon the other, dying heroically, still even in their extremity, as Cortez says, “never asking for peace.” As the artillery seemed slow in carrying on the work of destruction, the brigantines with the European soldiers and the allies were brought up and ordered to fall upon the remnant of the Aztec warriors, who were either slain on the spot or cast into the water from their last place of refuge.

Cuauhtemoc fled from the city in a large war-canoe, and the Spaniards gave chase. When overtaken he first prepared to sell his life dearly, but seeing his wife and other women in the boat, rather than expose them to risk he gave himself up and was conducted to Cortez, who spoke in a friendly way and praised his valiant defense of his capital, promising at the same time that he should be allowed to rule his people as he had done before. The capture of the Aztec chieftain took place on the 13th of August, 1521, the day that Mexico fell into the hands of the Spaniards.

The losses of the Aztecs in the final battle are set down as 40,000; many chose to die by throwing themselves and their wives and children into the lake rather than surrender. At the close of the siege there followed scenes of pillage of the usual type, with no pretense at discipline. The actual treasure seized was small, and to increase the disappointment, no trace could be found of the lost gold and silver which had been abandoned during “the mournful night” of the previous year. The supposed explanation was that it had been carefully hidden. Accordingly, Cuauhtemoc and others of high rank with him who, like himself, were captives, were tortured by fire. But no revelations were made, and the amount of gold distributed to the soldiers was small, only five pesos to a horseman and less to a foot-soldier. The native allies were paid off even more cheaply; they departed for home taking with them promises of future land grants.

Cortez’ plans for reconstructing the city were put into operation immediately after the end of the siege. All the temples and great houses that survived during the street fights were removed. In order to make the conversion of the people to Christianity easier, the records of their past were obliterated. In a few years all traces of the complex Aztec society, with its divisions into nobles and priests and warriors, were lost. But at least the native population in Mexico did not meet the fate of those in the isles of the Antilles: the stock was a hardier one and the systematic working of the mines did not begin until twenty-five years after the conquest, when, owing to the propaganda of Las Casas, protective measures were enforced. Cortez introduced European grains and took care to repair the losses in the food supply produced by the devastation of the conquest.

Incapable of reconciling himself to the humdrum life of peaceful rule after his years of adventure, the commander could not endure to see his lieutenants penetrating into the unknown regions of the south, while he stayed behind receiving their reports of immeasurable treasure. In October, 1524, he set out for Honduras with a few Europeans and a large number of Indian allies. Among his companions were Cuauhtemoc, the dethroned Aztec overlord, and many of his nobles and chieftains. The march was through difficult country filled with dense woods, mountains, and morasses. The expedition suffered from the heat, and had to endure lack of water and food as well as perils from enteric fever. Cuauhtemoc and the Aztec lord of Tlacopan were charged with plotting against their new masters and were, therefore, put to death. Nothing was accomplished in this expedition, and after twenty months Cortez returned to Mexico. Soon after he was recalled to Spain to answer various charges due to his maladministration and to his uncontrolled dictatorship. He was treated with great honor and named captain-general of New Spain, but care was taken that he should no longer be intrusted with the duty of civil administration in the new province. He returned to Mexico in 1530 and again tried his fortune as a discoverer, this time undertaking, either personally or by lieutenants, expeditions to the northwest. Two fleets equipped by him were destroyed; a third was led by him into the unpromising region about the Gulf of California. In 1540, he again left Mexico to secure an indemnity from Charles V for his unsuccessful ventures. He followed the Emperor to the siege of Algiers in 1541, but was not able to secure attention to his demands. The rest of his life was passed in preparing petitions to a monarch whose treasury was being drained by other more immediate claims. He did not return to Mexico, and died on December 2, 1547, at the age of sixty-three years.

III THE INCAS

It is the custom to associate, when the spheres of Spanish conquest are in question, the Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of Peru. The parallel is only roughly accurate, for, although the Incas had made a great record in material advancement by the time they came into contact with the Spaniards, the level reached by them was considerably lower than that attained by their neighbors to the north. Their method of reckoning was far more primitive; they used picture painting for ornament; there was no commerce, no division of labor, no standard of value. On the other hand there was no such cannibalism as that found consecrated to the religious usages of the Nahuatlaca.

Among the Incas there was a vast peasant class who had been brought into subjection by the conquering race who entered Peru from the south. Apparently the first home of these invaders was the high land of Bolivia, in a small canton, Cuzco, situated on the natural highway that leads from the Bolivian highlands to the upper tributaries of the Amazon. The origins of Inca history can hardly go back further than three hundred years before the Spanish conquest. When the Spaniards came, consistent traditions were still preserved of the origin of the dominant tribe that told how, when Cuzco was first settled by them, it was already occupied by aboriginal inhabitants whose district was taken possession of by Manco Ccapac, the founder of the Inca rule. From the time of the first occupation eleven sovereign chiefs had borne sway over them for a period which may be justly estimated as three hundred years.

There were no chronological records, but there was curiously unique evidence in the shape of the mummified bodies of the eleven chieftains, who were given the same attention as lords and landowners that they enjoyed when alive. Their estates, herds of llamas, serfs were still treated as belonging to them; food and drink were daily placed before them; new clothing was prepared, and they were carried out for daily exercise in richly ornamented litters.