OCR Text |
Show 430 HISTORY OF ME X I C 0. ' DISSERT. incrcafed, their conquefis became the lefs difficult and glorious. The ~~ conqueror Ojeda, however, numbered an hundred and fifty thou£ 1nd men among the allied tl'Oops of Tlafcala, Cholula, Tepeyacac, and Huexotzinco, in the review which was made of them in Tlafcn]a~ 'rts they were going to the fiege of Mexico~ Cot'tes himfelf afr!rms, that the allied troops who accompanied him to the war of ~auquechollan exceeded an hundred thoufand, and that thofc which affifted him in befieging the capita], exceeded confiderably two hundred thoufand in number. On the other hand, the bcfieged were fo numerous, that although an hundred and fifty thoufand died during the ficgc, as we have already faid, when the capital was taken by the Spaniards, and it was ordered that all the Mexicans lhould leave it, for three fucceffive days and nights the fireets and roads were filled with people who were leaving the city to take reflltge in other places, according to the teftimony of B. Diaz, an eye-witnefs. With refpect to the number of baptifms, we are affured, by the tefi:imony of the religious miffionaries themfelves, who were employed in the converfion of thofe people, that the children and grown perfons baptifed by the Francifcan(k) fathers alone, from the year I 524 to the year 1540, were upwards of fix millions in number; who were, for the moft part, inhabitants of the vale of Mexico and the circumjacent provinces. !n this number are not comprehended thofe who were baptifed by the priefis, Dominicans, and Augultinians, amongfi: whom, and the Francifcans, were divided thofe mofi abundant harvefi:s; and bcfides, it is certain that ~h~ lndiat'l'~ were inn~merable who remained obfi:inate in their pagan:.. 1fm, or d1d not rece1ve the Chrifiitm faith till many years after the conqucft. We know atfo, from the noify con troverfies excited there by fome religio'us, and reported to the pope Paul III., that on account of the extraordinary ·and before unfeen multitude of atechumens, tht! miffi?naries were obliged to omit f?me ceremoAies of the baptiftn, and ~unon g~ others the ufe of their fpittle, becaufe~ from doing it fo muda the~ dned up and almoft excoriated their mouths, their tongues, and then· throats. From the difcovery of Mexico till now the number ·of the Indians has been gt:aduaHy dip1.io)Q~i~1g. Befides the many thoufands which , , r 1 ' I ·I <~,> .Mqt_olinia • one ~f th.e relig·ious miffio.riaric~, bnptifcc.l 1 ~ore tl1'nn' four \ undrcd tf1ouf..1td nd1ans; till :1ccount of wl11ch he Left In writi~1g. peri!hed H I S T 0 It Y 0 F M E X I C 0. peri!hed by the firft 'contagion of the fmall-pox, carried there in I 520, and in the war of the Spaniards, in the epidemic of I 545 eighty thouf.'md pcrilhed, and in that of I 576 upwards of two millions, in the diocefcs alone of Mexico, Angelopoli, Michuacan, and Guaxaca,, which is known by the bills of rriortality prcfented by every curate to· the viceroy. Notwithil:aading Herrera, who wrote towards the end of the fixtcenth century, reports, on 'the fait}:l of authentic documents fent him by the viceroy of Mexico, that in the diocefes alone of Mexico, Angelopoli, and Guaxaca, and in thofe provinces of the dioccfe of Mexico. which were circumjacent to the capital, there were, nt that time, fix hundred and fifty-five principal fettlements of In ... dians, and innumerable other fmaller ones. dependent upon them ; in which were contained ninety thoufand Indian farnilies of tributaries. But it is ncceffary to be known, in thofe are not included the nobles, nor the Tlafcalans, and other Indians who affifted the Spaniards in the conquefi: f for in refpeet to their birth,. or the fervices which they rendered the conquerors, they were exempted from tributes,, Herrera, who was well informed on this fubjett, affirms, that in thofe times, four thoufand Sp.aniili families, and thirty thoufand Indian houfes were counted in the capital. From that time the humber of Indians has .. gradually been dimini!hing,, and the number of the Whites or Spaniards has been increafing. M. de ~aw will anfwer according to his fiyle, that all the proofs. which we have adduced to demonftrate the population of Mexico, are. of no weight,. for they are obtained from foldicr.s who were rude and illiterate, or from ignorant and fuperftitious ecclefiaftics ; but if this was the charatter of all the writers we have q.uoted,. their teilimony would be frill of great force becaufe of their uniformity. Who can believe that Cortes, and the other officers who fubfcribed. his· lettet:s, fhould deceive their king, where they coulcl have been fo eafily deteCled by· hundreds of witnefies, and not a few enemies ? is it poffible t})at fo, many Spani!h and Indian writers ihould al1 agree to exaggerate the· population of thofe countries, and not one amongfl: t~em fh_ew fome . . refpeB: for pofterity ?. Of the veracity of the fi~ft m1ffionanes. there.: can be no doubt. They were men of examplary life, and m.uch learning, [eleCted from among~ many to promulgate the gofpel111 the new· , s w.odd •. 431 DISSERT. . VII. ~ |