The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Vol 1 (of 2)

11

Ala lala. What a striking similarity there is between this cry and the Turkish Alla il Allah, of which, as Byron says, in one of his notes to the 'Bride of Abydos,' the Turks are very profuse in battle! (p. 75.)

12

This passage is very important, as it shows to what degree of civilization the inhabitants of this district had arrived, and that they were at least skilful in the working of gold. The Spanish words are: "Quatro diademas, unas lagartijas, y dos como perillos, y orejeras, y cinco anades, y dos figuras de caras de Indios, y dos Suelas de Oro, como de sus Cotoras."

The Caras de Indios (faces of Indians) were most probably shaped like masks, for similar ones, made of clay, are found to this day in the vale of Mexico. "Suelas de Oro, como de sus Cotoras," we have ventured to translate "Sandals with golden soles," particularly as Bernal Diaz, in a subsequent chapter, expressly remarks that Motecusuma wore a kind of half-boot with soles of gold. (p. 80.)

13

The bombax ceiba of Linnæus, and one of the tallest trees growing in America. The fruit produces a very fine cotton, resembling silk, used for stuffing bolsters and chair seats. (p. 82.)

14

Cata Francia, Montesinos, &c. This is the first strophe of an old Spanish romance, in which Montesinos the father desires his son to revenge him of his mortal enemy Tomillas:

"Montesinos cast a glance

On your lands, the soil of France;

See how the Duro's sportive motion

Carries its waters to the ocean!" (p. 83.)>

15

On this woman the captain Cadahalso, in his 'Cartas Marruecas,' passes the following encomium: "Primera muger, que no ha prejudicado en uno exercito;" i.e. "The first woman who ever accompanied an army without being a prejudice to it." (p. 85.)

16

These remarkable presents have all been enumerated by Torquemada, (Monarchia Indiana, i, iv, c. 17;) and we cannot do better than give his minute description of them here: "The ambassador of Motecusuma ordered mats to be spread on the ground before Cortes, and over them some cotton cloths, on which he arranged the presents, consisting of large quantities of cotton shirts and other cotton stuffs, beautifully manufactured, and interwoven with feathers of the most splendid colours; bucklers made of the purest white staffs, decorated with feathers, gold, silver, and pearls, surpassing everything in beauty and skilfulness of workmanship that was ever seen. There was also a helmet, tastefully carved out of wood, filled with grains of gold; a casque, made of thin plates of gold, decorated with tassels and stones, resembling the smaragdus; numerous large bunches of feathers of diversified colours, fastened in silver and gold; fans for keeping off flies, made of the rarest feathers; a thousand lockets of gold and silver, of the most curious and beautiful workmanship; bracelets and military decorations of gold and silver, splendidly embossed with green and bright yellow feathers; leather made of deer skin, curried and coloured in the best possible manner; shoes and sandals of the same leather, sewn with thin gold wire, and the soles made of splendid white and blue stone. There were other kinds of shoes, most tastefully manufactured of cotton; mirrors of marcasite, globular shaped, of the size of a fist, and most ingeniously set in gold, the small frame itself being very valuable, and worthy of the acceptance of any crowned head; coverings and curtains to beds, manufactured of various coloured cotton, more glossy and of finer texture than silk; a number of other gold and silver trinkets; a necklace of gold, decorated with upwards of a hundred emeralds, rubies, and various other ornaments of gold; a second necklace, consisting of numbers of large pearls and emeralds, all of the most exquisite workmanship; numerous other gold trinkets in the shape of frogs and animals; jewels in the form of medals, the shrines being even more valuable than the precious stones they contained; a quantity of large and small grains of gold. The most valuable of these presents, however, were two round plates, one of gold, on which was a sun with rays and the zodiac; this weighed above one hundred marks: the other was of silver, which in a similar manner represented the moon, weighing above fifty marks: both were massive, and of the thickness of the Spanish coin of four silver reals, and as large as a waggon wheel. Those who saw these splendid presents said that, without considering the beautiful workmanship, the value of the gold and silver alone amounted to 25,000 castellanos de oro; so that the whole together may well be estimated at 50,000 ducats." (p. 91.)

17

Chalchihuitls; Bernal Diaz calls these Chalchuites. This stone is of a light green colour, at first held in great estimation by the Spaniards, but Torquemada, a contemporary of our author, remarks, (Monarchia, Ind. i, p. 462,) it is a stone on which the Indians set a high value, but not so the Spaniards. He calls it a kind of smaragdus, "the polishing of which the Indians say was taught them by the god Quetzalcohuatl." Bustamente (Historia de la Conquista de Mexico escrita, por Fr. Bernardino Sahagun, Mexico, 1829,) calls it, "Piedra jaspe, mui verde, o sea esmeralda ordinaria," i.e. "A jasper of a very green colour, or a common smaragdus."

This stone represented among the Mexicans everything that was excellent in its kind, for which reason they put such a stone in the mouth of the distinguished chiefs who died. (p. 93.)