The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Vol 2 (of 2)

After this discourse, Cortes ordered the ensign Corral and myself, and two of our officers, Xaramillo and Pedro de Ircio, to ascend the rock, in order to inspect the enemy's fortifications there, and whether our musketeers and crossbow-men had killed or wounded many of the Indians; and altogether to see what kind of people they were. "But I must desire you not even to take as much as a grain of maise from them," added Cortes; and I understood him to say, "Mind you look to your own advantage."

We then began to ascend by a very dangerous path, and we found the enemy's position here even more formidable than the first one, for the rocks were perpendicular. There was only one entrance to the fortification itself, which was not broader than double the width of the mouth of a baker's oven. At the summit of this rock we found a spacious greensward, on which were encamped great numbers of Indian warriors, women, and children. All the loss they had sustained was twenty killed and several wounded. There was not a drop of water for all this crowd of human beings to drink. A considerable number of bundles of cotton stuffs and other matters were lying about, destined as tribute for Quauhtemoctzin. When I saw all these matters, and knew they were going to be sent as tribute to Mexico, I ordered four Tlascallans who were with me, and four Indians who had charge of these goods, to take each a load and follow me. Just at that moment Pedro Ircio came up, and ordered that everything should be left where it was. I first remonstrated with him for this, but was forced in the end to obey his commands, because he was an officer. "Did you not yourself," said he, "hear Cortes say that we were not even to touch a grain of maise belonging to these people. I will certainly inform against you if you do not leave these things where they are." I acquiesced of course, but I told him I was of opinion that these things were not comprehended in Cortes' commands. However, I returned without taking a single thing with me.

When we had again arrived in the plain below, and given Cortes an account of what we had seen, Pedro de Ircio thought our general would be pleased to hear how he had restrained me from carrying off the packages of cotton stuffs; but Cortes said to him angrily, "Why did you not allow Bernal Diaz to take those things away? Really I am astonished that you did not yourself stay with those people above! Is it thus that you understood me, when I told you to look to your own advantage? Bernal Diaz, who understood my meaning, was thus forced to return the things which he had taken from those dogs! who now laugh in their sleeves at having killed and wounded so many of our men!"

Upon this, Ircio offered to ascend the rock again, and to fetch the packages; but Cortes said to him sharply, "There is no time for that now."

In the meantime the caziques from the other rock had arrived in our camp; and after giving many reasons why Cortes should pardon them, he granted them their request, and declared them vassals of our emperor.

As water was so very scarce in the whole of this district, we marched back to the town of Huaxtepec, where those extensive gardens where, which I have mentioned above: and I must declare, that during the whole course of my life I never beheld such a splendid spot! I therefore drew the attention of Cortes to them, and he instantly repaired thither with Alderete, the royal treasurer. They both walked about in the garden for a length of time, and acknowledged they had never seen any thing so beautiful in Spain.14 The whole of us encamped for the night in this garden, and the caziques of the township came to offer their services to Cortes; for Sandoval, on his visit here, had concluded peace with them. The following morning we marched towards Cuernavaca, and came up with a strong body of Mexicans who had been drawn out of this town to oppose us; but our cavalry charged them with great impetuosity, put them to flight, and pursued them for about three miles, up to another large township, called Teputztlan. Here the Mexicans were so very careless, that our troops fell upon them before their spies could give notice of our approach, and we made a considerable booty, besides taking many fine female prisoners; but the Mexicans and the other inhabitants fled precipitately from the town.

Cortes sent three or four several times to the caziques of this district, desiring them to come and sue for peace, otherwise we should burn down their town and put them all to death. However, they each time sent word that they had no wish to come, and we set fire to half the houses of the town, in order to frighten the other towns of this district into obedience. It was not till then that the caziques of Yauhtepec, through which we had passed this day, made their appearance, and declared themselves vassals of our emperor.

The next day we marched to Coadalbaca, which we often erroneously termed Cuernavaca.15 In this town lay a strong garrison of Mexicans, besides the troops of the place itself, and it was rendered difficult of access from a hollow eight fathoms deep, which lay in front of the town, and through which a small stream of water flowed. There was no other way for our cavalry to get into the town than by two bridges, but these had been burnt down by the enemy, who were strongly entrenched on the other side of this deep hollow, and incessantly annoyed us with their arrows, lances, and slings. While they were thus attacking us Cortes received information that a couple of miles further up there was a spot where our cavalry could pass over. Our general, therefore, immediately repaired thither with the horse, while the rest of us strove to get over in the best way we could. We succeeded above our expectations, by climbing up and along the branches of the trees which grew on each side of this hollow, but this was attended by considerable danger, and three of our men fell down into the water, one of whom broke his leg. My head grew quite dizzy as I thus passed across the depth; but as soon as twenty or thirty of us, with a great number of Tlascallans had reached the opposite side, we fell upon the rear of the Mexicans before they were in the least aware of it; for they had considered it an impossibility for us to pass the hollow, and imagined in their astonishment, when they saw us approaching, that we were much more numerous than was really the case, particularly as Oli, Alvarado and Tapia, with the greater part of our cavalry who had risked their lives by crossing a bridge which had been almost burnt down, appeared there at the same time. We now fell in a body upon the enemy, who instantly turned round and fled to the mountains, and other parts of this deep hollow, where we could not possibly follow them. A short time afterwards Cortes arrived with the remaining cavalry, and we now took possession of the town without any further opposition. Here we took many fine Indian females prisoners, and otherwise made a rich booty, particularly of large sized mantles. Our general now allowed us to rest for the remainder of the day, and we all quartered ourselves comfortably in a garden belonging to the chief of the town.

We had not been long here before our outposts brought intelligence that twenty Indians were approaching, who, to judge from their bearing, must either be caziques or men of distinction, and seemed to be coming with some message or to sue for peace. They proved, indeed, to be the caziques of the town, who approached Cortes with the utmost veneration, handed over to him a present in gold, and begged pardon for their recent behaviour towards us. In excuse for not having come earlier to demand peace of us, they said that Quauhtemoctzin had secretly commanded them to treat us as enemies, and that they had not been able to avoid this as their town formed one of the fortifications of the country, and was occupied by a Mexican garrison. They were now, continued they, convinced, that there was no fortification we could not take, and it was therefore their sincere wish to become friendly with us.

Cortes was very kind to these caziques, and spoke to them of our emperor, and of his mercy to all those who willingly obeyed him; and it was in his name he now acknowledged them as his subjects. I still remember the extraordinary expression these caziques made use of on this occasion; namely, that our gods in punishment for their not having sued earlier for peace, had given their gods authority to chastise their persons and deprive them of their property.16

CHAPTER CXLV

The terrible thirst we suffered on our further march; our dangerous position at Xochimilco, and the many battles we fought there with the Mexicans, until our return to Tezcuco.

From Cuernavaca we marched towards Xochimilco, a large town lying about eleven miles from Mexico,17 and of which the greater part was built in the water. On our march we adopted our usual military precautions, and arrived at a forest of pine trees, without being able to obtain a single drop of water all the way. Our arms were very heavy, and the day, which had been exceedingly hot, was now far spent, and we were almost parched with thirst, yet we had still several miles to go, nor did we know for certain whether we should find the wells, which, it was said, lay further on.

By this time the whole of our troops were almost exhausted with fatigue, and our Tlascallan friends lost all courage after one of their countrymen and an old Spaniard died of thirst. Cortes, observing the great distress we were in, ordered us to halt under the shade of the pine trees, and despatched six of our horse in advance, along the road leading to Xochimilco, in search of some town or village where it was said we should find the wells, as our general proposed to encamp near them for the night.

This small body of cavalry, among which were Oli, Valdenebro, Truxillo, and other brave men, had scarcely left, when I slipt away without being observed by Cortes and the others, taking with me three of my Tlascallan naborias, who were active young fellows, and I followed the three above-mentioned cavalry officers until I was observed, and they halted to wait my coming up. They advised me to return immediately, that I might not fall into the hands of the Mexicans. I was not, however, to be deterred by this; and Oli, with whom I stood on a very friendly footing, at length gave me permission to accompany them, but to hold my hands ready for battle and my legs for flight. I would at that moment have risked my life to obtain a drink of water, so painful was my thirst.

We may have advanced about a couple of miles in a straight line when we came up to a number of country houses which lay scattered among the hills, and were subject to Xochimilco. Our officers entered these dwellings without delay, in search of water, which they found, to their inexpressible joy. One of my Tlascallans, who had followed them, instantly returned to me with a large earthen jug full of water, with which I and my servants quenched our thirst. I now again returned to the wood where Cortes had halted with our troops, and it was high time I did, as the inhabitants were beginning to assemble, and they followed us with hootings and yells. I had ordered the jug to be replenished with water, and gave it to one of my Tlascallans to carry. On my return, I met Cortes, who had again put his troops in motion. I informed him that we had found water in a small village not far off, and that I had brought him a jug full. My Tlascallans had taken the precaution to cover up the jug carefully, that no one might take it from them, for thirst knows no law. Cortes and the other officers by whom he was surrounded were highly delighted, and drank their fill; we then continued our march, and reached the small village before sunset. There was still some water left in the houses, but not sufficient for the whole of our troops, so that several of the men, in order at least to moisten their mouths, chewed a kind of thistle, the sharp prickles of which wounded their tongues and lips. The small detachment of horse now also returned, and informed our general that they had found the wells where we were to encamp for the night, but these were still a good way off, and the whole neighbourhood was beating to arms.

We encamped near the wells for the night, ordered the pickets and outposts as usual, and otherwise took every precaution. I myself formed one of the night watch, and, if I still remember rightly, it blew a strong gale of wind, and some rain was falling.

The next morning very early we marched towards Xochimilco, and arrived in front of that town about eight in the morning. Here an immense body of the enemy stood ready to oppose us, part of whom were stationed in the open fields, and the rest in front of a bridge which had been destroyed, and near which large entrenchments had been thrown up. At the end of their pikes they had fastened the swords we had lost on our unfortunate retreat from Mexico, and many of the chiefs were armed with our own broadswords, which had been beautifully polished. The whole of the Mexicans appeared to be well-armed, and the entire plain was filled with warriors.

The conflict for the possession of the bridges lasted about half an hour, yet, with all our firing and hard fighting, we were not able to force them. Our situation became truly perilous, for large bodies now fell upon our rear, so that the only choice we had left was to cross the water at all hazards. In this we fortunately succeeded, partly swimming, and partly wading through. Several of our men, while thus crossing over, drank so much water that their stomachs swelled out to an enormous size. In crossing this water, we lost two men, and had several wounded; nevertheless, we succeeded, by dint of our swords, to drive the enemy before us along a causeway which led to the main land. Cortes, who was advancing with the cavalry from another quarter, fell in with a body of more than 10,000 Mexicans, who were coming to the assistance of the town. The Mexicans, on this occasion, received the charge of the cavalry with fixed lances, and wounded four of our horses. Cortes himself had got into the midst of the enemy, and rode a dark brown horse, which we commonly termed the flatnose. Whether this animal, which was otherwise an excellent horse, had become too fat, or was over-fatigued, I cannot say; but, to be short, it fell down with its rider, and numbers of Mexicans instantly laid hold of our general, tore him away from the saddle, and were already carrying him off. When some of the Tlascallans and the brave Christobal de Olea saw this, they immediately flew to his assistance, and, by dint of heavy blows and good thrusts, they cut their way through to our general, and assisted him into his saddle again. Cortes fortunately escaped with only a wound on the head, but Olea had received three very severe wounds.18 Those of us who stood nearest now also hastened to the assistance of Cortes; for, as every street was crowded with the enemy, we were obliged to attack them in separate bodies and from different points, so that, for some time, we had totally lost sight of him; but we concluded, from the terrific yells of the Mexicans, that there must be a severe struggle between them and the cavalry. We therefore cut our way through the enemy, at the risk of our lives, to the spot where Cortes, surrounded by only ten of the cavalry, was bravely repelling the desperate attacks of the enemy. The Mexicans had taken up a position behind a deep canal, which had been strengthened by a palisade; they thus had the advantage ground: but we soon put them to flight.

As Olea, who had saved our general's life, was severely wounded, and had lost much blood, and the streets were still crowded by the enemy, we advised Cortes to march back to some entrenchments, under cover of which his own and Olea's wounds could be dressed. This retrograde movement was not accomplished without considerable difficulty and danger; for the Mexicans now imagined we were going to retreat altogether, and fell upon us with redoubled fury.

In the midst of this second conflict, Alvarado Tapia and Oli, with the main body of the cavalry, made their appearance, who had been attacking the enemy at other points. The blood was trickling down Oli's face, nor had any one of them escaped without a wound. They said they had been attacked by terrific bodies of the enemy, in the open fields, and had not been able to drive them back. The reason of their having been separated from the rest of the cavalry was, because Cortes, after he had passed across the water, ordered the horse to divide into two bodies, and attack the enemy at different points.

While we were busily engaged dressing the wounds of our men, all at once there arose from out of the streets and adjoining fields terrific yells, with the wild war music of the enemy; the courtyard in which we had stationed ourselves was suddenly filled with Mexicans, and, in a very few moments, many more of our men were wounded. But the enemy drew very little advantage from this bold enterprise; for we set upon them so vigorously in return, that great numbers of them soon lay stretched on the ground. Our cavalry also galloped in among them, and slew a great many more. On our side, we had only one man killed and two horses wounded.

We drove the enemy completely out of the open square, and took possession of another more spacious, in which stood several large temples, where we could rest ourselves in greater safety. Several of our men mounted to the top of these temples, from whence they could see the great city of Mexico and the extensive lake which it commanded; but at the same time they espied more than 2000 canoes, all filled with warriors, making straightway to us as fast as their paddles could bring them.

These troops were commanded by Quauhtemoctzin to attack us immediately, and to leave us no peace night or day. He had likewise despatched another 10,000 men by land, to fall upon us from another quarter: and another 10,000 men stood ready to march hither to relieve the first, that not a single man of us might escape alive from Xochimilco. All this we learnt the day following from the five Mexican chiefs whom we took prisoners. But the Lord Jesus had disposed otherwise for us.

As soon as intelligence was received of the approach of this vast fleet of canoes, we were doubly vigilant, and strong detachments were placed at all the places and canals where we thought the enemy would disembark. Our horses stood ready saddled, and every officer, including Cortes himself, made the rounds during the whole of the night, and kept a sharp look-out on the causeway and towards the mainland. I myself was posted with ten men near a stone wall. We were furnished with stones, crossbows, muskets, and long lances, and were to prevent the enemy from landing in this quarter. Similar small detachments were stationed at the other canals.

I and my comrades thus keeping a sharp look-out, we heard all at once the noise of several canoes, which were advancing directly towards us; but we gave the enemy so rough a reception with our slings and lances, that they durst not venture to land; and while one of our men had hastened to inform Cortes of what was going forward in this quarter, a second and still more numerous squadron of canoes arrived, and attacked us most vigorously with lances, stones, and arrows, wounding two of our men; but we defended ourselves with no less vigour: and, as it was an uncommon dark night, these canoes again joined the great body of the fleet, which had repaired to some other small harbour or deeper canal, where the whole of them disembarked. These troops, who, it seemed, were not very willing to fight at night-time, joined those which Quauhtemoctzin had sent by land, and both together formed an army of above 15,000 men.

I must here mention a circumstance, which, however, I hope the reader will not construe into vanity on my part.

When one of the men belonging to my small detachment brought Cortes intelligence that a number of Mexican canoes had approached the spot where we were stationed, he, with ten of the cavalry, was just coming towards us. As they approached us with the utmost silence, I and Gonzalo Sanchez cried out to them, "Who goes there? How? can't you open your mouths?" and then slung three or four stones at them. But Cortes, who immediately recognized us by our voices, remarked to Alderete, father Melgarejo, and our quartermaster Christobal de Oli, who accompanied him, "I am in no fear with regard to this quarter; for here are posted two men who came with me when I first arrived in this country, and to whom I would intrust a more important command than this!" He then came up and spoke to us himself, and observed that our position was one of great danger, and that, in case of need, we were instantly to send for assistance. Our general had scarcely left us when we heard him driving a soldier back to his post, which he had deserted. It was one of those who came with Narvaez.

There is likewise another circumstance which I must not forget to mention. In the battle of the previous day, our musketeers had spent all their powder, and the crossbow-men their arrows; Cortes, therefore, during the night-time, ordered us to collect all the arrows we could find, and to furnish them with fresh feathers and points, of which we had always a good stock by us. With this work our crossbow-men were occupied the whole of the night, and Pedro Barba, captain of that company, never left them for a moment; Cortes himself looking in from time to time to see how they were getting on.

When daylight appeared, our camp was assailed by the whole of the Mexican troops from different points at once; but as we were never unprepared for an attack, our cavalry rushed out towards the land side, and we others, with the Tlascallans, towards the lake, and fell so vigorously on the Mexicans that we soon killed three of their chiefs, and numbers of their troops died of their wounds the day following. The Tlascallans behaved with uncommon bravery, and took five Mexican chiefs whom they brought in prisoners, from whom we learnt the exact number of troops which Quauhtemoctzin had ordered against us.

On our side we had only one killed, but a great number of wounded.

This battle, however, had not yet terminated; for our cavalry, in pursuing the enemy, came up with the 10,000 warriors whom Quauhtemoctzin had despatched to the assistance of the others. Several of the officers who commanded these troops wore our Spanish swords, of which they were not a little vain; and they said it was by our own swords we were to be vanquished.

Our few horse durst not encounter so large a body of the enemy, and therefore drew off to one side, until they should be joined by Cortes with the rest of the troops. When our general was informed of their critical position, he instantly sallied out, with the rest of our cavalry, who had remained in the courtyard on account of their wounds, and all our foot, with the Tlascallan troops. A most terrible and obstinate conflict now ensued; but at length, by dint of heavy blows and thrusts, we repulsed the enemy, with considerable loss. On this occasion eight distinguished Mexicans fell into our hands, from whom we learnt that Quauhtemoctzin had despatched against us another considerable fleet of canoes, and other large bodies of his troops by land. These troops he had sent off with the perfect assurance that, coming suddenly upon us, they would complete the victory, after we had been fatigued by such constant fighting, and weakened by loss of men and the number of our wounded.

When we heard this we were doubly on our guard, and our general determined to abandon the town on the following morning, and not wait for any further attacks. We therefore made the best use of our time to dress our wounds and repair our weapons.

During this interval, it appears that some prisoners of Xochimilco pointed out to the Tlascallans several houses belonging to rich individuals, in which were hidden many valuable things, such as manufactured cotton interwoven with feathers, women's shifts, gold, and other matters. These houses stood in the lake, but it was possible to reach them by a causeway, and by passing over two or three bridges which lay across the deep canals. The Tlascallans communicated this to several of our men, who instantly repaired to these houses, which they found quite unprotected, and, as they had been told, filled with various articles of value. They stowed away as much as they possibly could, and returned with a rich booty to our head-quarters. When others of our men saw these rich spoils, they likewise paid a visit to these dwellings, and were busily engaged in emptying some wooden cases, which were full of different things, when a large fleet of Mexican canoes arrived with a numerous body of troops, and suddenly fell upon the plunderers, of whom they wounded the greater part, and carried off four alive to Mexico. It was indeed a wonder that the rest escaped. Two of the four Spaniards were Juan de Lara and Alonso Hernandez; the two others belonged to the company which stood under the command of Andreas de Monjaraz, but I have forgotten their names.