NOTE IV. p. 56.

SOME remains of this great work are still visible, and the spot where the brigantines were built and launched, is ftill pointed out to ftrangers. Torquemada viewed them. Monarq. Indiana, vol. i. p. 531.

NOTE V. p. 65.

THE ftation of Alvarado on the causeway of Tacuba was the nearest to the city. Cortes obferves, that there they could distinctly observe what paffed when their countrymen were facrificed. Relat. ap. Ramuf. iii. p. 273, E. B. Diaz, who belonged to Alvarado's divifion, relates what he beheld with his own eyes. C. 152. p. 148, b. 149, a. Like a man whofe courage was fo clear as to be above fufpicion, he describes with his usual fimplicity the impreffion which this fpectacle made upon him. "Before, fays he, I faw

the breafts of my companions opened, their hearts, , yet fluttering, offered to an accurfed idol, and their flesh devoured by their exulting enemies; I was accustomed to enter a battle not only without fear, but with high spirit. But from that time I never advanced to fight the Mexicans without a fecret horror and anxiety; my heart trembled at the thoughts of the death which I had feen them fuffer." He takes care to add, that as foon as the combat began, his terror went off; and indeed, his adventurous bravery on every occafion is full evidence of this. B. Diaz, c. 156. p. 157, 2. ́

NOTE VI. p. 73.

ONE circumftance in this fiege merits particular notice. The account which the Spanish writers give of the numerous armies employed in the attack or defence of Mexico feems to be incredible. According to Cortes himself, he had at one time 150,000 auxiliary Indians in his service. Relat. Ramuf, iii. 275, E. Gomarà afferts, that they were above 200,000. Cron. c. 136. Herrera, an author of higher authority, fays, they were about 200,000. Dec. iii. lib. i. c. 19. None of the contemporary writers afcertain explicitly the number of perfons in Mexico during the fiege. But Cortes on feveral occafions mentions the number of Mexicans who were flain, or who perished for want of food; and, if we may rely on those circumstances, it is probable that above two hundred thousand must 'have been fhut up in the town. But the quantity of provifions neceffary for the fubfiftence of fuch vaft multitudes affembled in one place, during three months, is fo great, and it requires fo much forefight and arrangement to collect these, and lay them up in magazines, so as to be certain of a regular supply, that one can hardly believe that this could be accomplished in a country where agriculture was fo imperfect as in the Mexican empire, where there were no tame animals, and by a people naturally fo improvident, and so incapable of executing a complicated plan, as the most improved Americans. The Spaniards, with all their care and attention, fared very poorly, and were often reduced to extreme distress for want of provifions. B. Diaz, p. 142. Cortes Relat. 271,

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271, D. Cortes on one occafion mentions flightly the fubfiftence of his army; and after acknowledging that they were often in great want, adds, that they received fupplies from the people of the country, of fish, and of fome fruit, which he calls the cherries of the country. Ibid. B. Diaz fays, that they had cakes of maize, and ferafas de la tierra; and when the feafon of these was over, another fruit, which he calls Tunas; but their most comfortable fubfiftence was a root which the Indians use as food, to which he gives the name of Quilites, p. 142. The Indian auxiliaries had one means of fubfiftence more than the Spaniards. They fed upon the bodies of the Mexicans whom they killed in battle. Cort. Relat. 176, C. B. Diaz confirms his relation, and adds, that when the Indians returned from Mexico to their own country, they carried with them large quantities of the flesh of the Mexicans falted or dried, as a moft acceptable present to their friends, that they might have the pleasure of feeding upon the bodies of their enemies in their feftivals, p. 157. De Solis, who feems to confider it as an imputation of discredit to his countrymen, that they should act in concert with auxiliaries who fed upon human flefh, is folicitous to prove that the Spaniards endeavoured to prevent their áffociates from eating the bodies of the Mexicans, lib. v. c. 24. But he has no authority for this from the original historians, Neither Cortes himself, nor B. Diaz, seem to have had any fuch fcruple; and, on many occafions, mention the Indian repafts, which were become familiar to them, without any mark of abhorrence. Even with this additional ftock of food for the Indians, it was hardly poffible to procure fubfiftence for armies amounting

amounting to fuch numbers as we find in the Spanish writers. Perhaps the best solution of the difficulty is, to adopt the opinion of B. Diaz del Caftillo, the most artless of all the Hiftoriadores primitivos." When Gomara (fays he) on some occafions relates, that there were fo many thousand Indians our auxiliaries, and on others, that there were so many thousand houses in this or that town, no regard is to be paid to his enumeration, as he has no authority for it, the numbers not being in reality the fifth of what he relates. If we add together the different numbers which he mentions that country would contain more millions than there are in Caftile." C. 129. But though fome confiderable deduction should certainly be made from the Spanish accounts of the Mexican forces, they must have been very numerous; for nothing but an immenfe fuperiority in number could have enabled them to withstand a body of nine hundred Spaniards, conducted by a leader of fuch abilities as Cortes.

NOTE VII. p. 92.

In relating the oppreffive and cruel proceedings of the conquerors of New Spain, I have not followed B. de las Cafas as my guide. His account of them, Relat. de la Deftruyc. p. 18, &c. is manifeftly exaggerated. It is from the teftimony of Cortes himself,. and of Gomara, who wrote under his eye, that I have taken my account of the punishment of the Panucans, and they relate it without any disapprobation. B. Diaz, contrary to his ufual custom, mentions it only in general terms, c. 162. Herrera, folicitous to extenuate this barbarous action of his country

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countrymen, though he mentions 63 caziques, and 400 men of note, as being condemned to the flames, afferts, that thirty only were burnt, and the refl pardoned. Dec. iii. lib. v. c. 7. But this is contrary to the testimony of the original historians, particularly of Gomara, whom it appears he had confulted, as he adopts feveral of his expreffions in this paffage. The punishment of Guatimozin is related by the most authentic of the Spanish writers. Torquemada has extracted from a history of Tezeuco, composed in the Mexican tongue, an account of this transaction, more favourable to Guatimozin than that of the Spanish authors. Mon. Indiana, i. 575. According to the Mexican account, Cortes had fcarcely a fhadow of evidence to justify fuch a wanton act of cruelty. B. Diaz affirms, that Guatimozin and his fellowfufferers afferted their innocence with their last breath,. and that many of the Spanish foldiers condemned this action of Cortes as equally unneceffary and unjuft, p. 200, b. 201, a.

NOTE VIII. p. 95.

THE motive for undertaking this expedition was, to punish Chriftoval de Olid, one of his officers, who had revolted against him, and aimed at establishing an independent jurifdiction. Cortes regarded this. infurrection as of such dangerous example, and dreaded fo much the abilities and popularity of its author, that in perfon he led the body of troops deftined to suppress it. He marched, according to Gomara, three thousand miles, through a country abounding with thick forefts, rugged mountains, deep rivers, thinly inhabited, and

cultivated