Sketches of Aboriginal Life
V. V. Vide
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Transcriber's Note
In the original text, verses in the chapter headings were typeset in Gothic font; they are displayed below ~like this~. Footnotes are indicated within the text by a capital letter in brackets (e.g., [A]) and are located at the end of their respective chapter. Punctuation has been standardized. For details on typographical corrections, please refer to the note at the end of the text.
AMERICAN TABLEAUX,
No. 1.
SKETCHES
OF
ABORIGINAL LIFE.
'Tis like a dream, when one awakes,-- These visions of the scenes of old; 'Tis like the moon, when morning breaks; 'Tis like a tale round watch-fires told.
By V. V. VIDE.
NEW-YORK: PUBLISHED BY BUCKLAND & SUMNER, 79 JOHN-STREET. 1846.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1846, by BUCKLAND & SUMNER, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District of New York.
Stereotyped by Vincent L. Dill, 128 Fulton st. Sun Building, N. Y.
C. A. Alvord, Printer, Cor. of John and Dutch sts.
PREFACE.
The American Tableaux lay no claim to the respect and confidence, whichis justly shown to authentic history; nor do they anticipate the readyfavor usually accorded to high wrought romance. They are neither the onenor the other. The general outline is designed to be historical, andtrue to the characters of individuals, and the customs of nations andtribes; and the drapery in which it is arrayed is intended rather toillustrate the truth, and place it in bolder relief, than to weaken itsforce by irrelevant inventions. It is proposed rather to shade and colorthe naked sketches of history, and restore them to their natural settingand accompaniments, than to alter or distort them. The characters ofhistory are usually stiff, cold, and statue-like, and their drapery, ifthey have any, is of the same marble rigidity with themselves. TheTableaux would transfer them to canvass in their natural colors,strongly relieved by a back-ground of familiar scenery and every dayassociations, and shaded or lightened, as the case may be, by thesorrows or joys of social life, and the cares or honors of publicstation. It may be presumptuous to hope that all this has beenaccomplished. It is safer to say, it has been attempted.
CONTENTS.
THE AZTEC PRINCESS.
CHAPTER I. PAGE BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE OF TECUICHPO. 15
The Horoscope--Faith in the revelations of Astrology--Montezuma in his palace--The message delivered--Resignation--Fatalism--Infancy of the Princess--The slave Karee--Obtains her freedom--The Chinampa--Genius and faith of Karee--Her devotion to the Princess--Chivalry of the Aztecs.
CHAPTER II.
YOUTH OF THE PRINCESS--HER EARLY LOVE REVEALED--PROPHETIC ANNOUNCEMENT, AND SUDDEN ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS. 27
Superstitious forebodings of Montezuma--Loveliness of his daughter--Her suitors--The Prince of Tezcuco--Karee-o-than--A secret revealed--Guatimozin--The ancient legend--The young Pythoness--Her vision--Warning and appeal--The vision realized--The pictured scroll--Agitation of Montezuma--A second courier--The royal council--Courtesy to the strangers--Splendid embassy--Their meeting with Cortez--Munificent presents--Avarice of the Spaniards--They make interest with the Totonacs, and send proposals to Tlascala--Their proposal rejected--They meet and conquer the Tlascalans--An alliance formed--The compeers of Cortez--Xicotencatl--The strength and weakness of the Aztecs.
CHAPTER III.
SUPERSTITIOUS FEARS AND VACILLATING POLICY OF MONTEZUMA. 45
Frequent embassies and rich presents to the Spaniards--Montezuma, fearing to act openly, plots their destruction secretly--Cortez cautioned by the Tlascalans--His prudence and strict discipline--Cuitlahua urges Montezuma to bold decided measures--Scene in the royal garden--Mysterious chant--Warning--Its effect--Montezuma roused to action--Energy of Cuitlahua--The army in motion to repel the enemy--Confident of victory--The monarch changes his plan--A stratagem--Cholula--The army arrested in its march--The Spaniards in Cholula--Hospitable reception--Sudden change--Suspicion of treachery--Perilous position and bold bearing of Cortez--His demand upon the Cholulan princes--Charges them with conspiracy--Their alarm and apology--Terrible massacre--Conflict on the great Teocalli--The Spaniards victorious--Painful position of Cuitlahua and his army--Tlascalans in Cholula.
CHAPTER IV.
AGITATIONS IN THE CAPITAL--THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD--THE SPANIARDS STEADILY ADVANCING. 65
Montezuma's duplicity--Shuts himself up in despair--Divided counsels--Mistaken policy--Triumphant advance of Cortez--His ambitious views--His military caution--Montezuma in his family--His youngest daughter--Her loveliness--Her clouded destiny--The royal household--A family scene--A dark superstition versus a cheerful faith--Excursion on the lake--The royal cortege--The Princess--Guatimozin--The dream and its echo--Prophecy--Signal and sudden return--Preparation to receive the Spaniards--Cacama's embassy to Cortez--Exchange of courtesies--Reception of the strangers at Iztapalapan--Lofty bearing of Cuitlahua--The Capital and its environs.
CHAPTER V.
ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS AT THE CAPITAL--THEIR RECEPTION BY MONTEZUMA--DETERMINED HOSTILITY OF GUATIMOZIN. 81
Singular relative position of the Spaniard and the Aztec--The power and timidity of the one, and the danger and boldness of the other--Speculation--Cortez advancing--The Grand Causeway--The Fort of Xoloc--The Emperor's retinue--Abject deference of his lords--Magnificent palanquin--His personal appearance and costume--The reception--Exchange of presents--Montezuma retires--Cuitlahua escorts the Spaniards to their quarters--Their admiration on seeing the splendor of the city--Curiosity of the people--The omens of that day--Their influence upon Montezuma--Guatimozin's true devotion to his country--His interview with the Princess--True interpretation of the omens--Filial devotion versus patriotism--The pledge--A new omen--The parrot turned prophet--Karee and her prediction--Extreme sensitiveness of the Princess.
CHAPTER VI.
MUNIFICENCE OF MONTEZUMA--THE ROYAL BANQUET--THE REQUITAL--THE EMPEROR A PRISONER IN HIS OWN PALACE. 97
Grand military display by the Spaniards--The terror of the Aztecs--Fearlessness and high purpose of Guatimozin and others--The Banquet--The company--A contrast--The strangers presented to the Queen--Her grace and dignity--Beauty of the Aztec women--Awkward position of the admiring Cavaliers--Their ingenuity in pantomime--Readily matched by the Aztec--Sandoval and the Princess--Cortez and Karee--Guatimozin and Cacama in argument--The Princess interposes--Sternness of Guatimozin--An incident--Orteguilla--Alvarado and the Naiads--Metamorphosed into a flower-god--Pays homage to the Princess--The feast--The true character of the invaders--Bold movement of Cortez--Montezuma's blind submission to fate--Voluntarily becomes a vassal to the crown of Spain--A still bolder movement of Cortez--Montezuma remonstrates, but yields, and becomes a prisoner in the Spanish quarters--Indignation of the nobles--Portentous omen--Distress in the palace-
-The Princess expostulates with her father--The parting, and the promised meeting--Guatimozin departs in disgust--His interview with the Princess at Chapoltepec--Courageous hopes--Oracle and omens--Timidity made bold by love.
CHAPTER VII.
TREACHERY AND RETRIBUTION--MASSACRE OF THE AZTEC NOBILITY--DEATH OF MONTEZUMA. 121
Cortez visits Vera Cruz--Alvarado in command in the Capital--His character--The Aztec festival--Unprovoked attack and massacre--The whole nation in arms for revenge--Alvarado in imminent peril--Cortez returns--The Aztecs threaten the entire destruction of the Spaniards--Furious assault upon their quarters--Desperate sortie--Implacable spirit of the Aztecs--Their leaders--Cortez persuades Montezuma to interpose--Cacama summoned to the royal presence--His noble reply--The Princes' rendezvous--Guatimozin warned of danger--His escape--Cacama and Cuitlahua arrested--The latter released--Fresh assaults upon the Spaniards--At the instigation of Cortez, Montezuma appears and addresses the people--Their loyalty and deference--Suddenly changed to uncontrollable rage--The Emperor mortally wounded by his own people--A temporary suspension of hostilities--Death of Montezuma--His funeral obsequies.
CHAPTER VIII.
BRIEF REIGN OF CUITLAHUA--EXPULSION OF THE SPANIARDS--GUATIMOZIN CHOSEN EMPEROR--HIS MARRIAGE WITH TECUICHPO. 137
Cuitlahua elected to the vacant throne--His resolution--Cortez, realizing his danger, resolves to evacuate the city--Attempts to steal away in the night--Assaulted on all sides by the Aztecs--Perils of the retreat--Awful position on the Great Causeway--Hemmed in on all sides--Terrible slaughter--A remnant escape--Cortez in tears--Singular neglect of his adversary--Activity of Cuitlahua--His sudden death--Grief and despondency of the nation--Guatimozin elected to his place--His activity and prudence--He claims the hand of the Princess--Her timidity and her devotion--Love finding the bright side of the picture--The nuptial festival--Grand procession to the Capital--A nation's welcome.
CHAPTER IX.
FESTIVITIES AT THE COURT OF GUATIMOZIN--THE NEW HYMENEAL VOW. 151
Character of Guatimozin--His practical wisdom and activity--Gaiety of the court--The young Queen--Nahuitla, the Prince of Tlacopan--Atlacan, a princess of Tezcuco--Her brother, Maxtli--Her suitors--The Merchant of Cholula--Mercenary views of Maxtli--Endeavors to thwart Nahuitla--How he is thwarted himself--The betrothal--Sanctioned by the Emperor--The nuptials--Polygamy abjured--A new Imperial statute--Torch dance--Significant pantomime.
CHAPTER X.
RETURN OF CORTEZ--SIEGE OF TENOCHTITLAN--BRAVERY AND SUFFERINGS OF THE AZTECS. 161
Guatimozin prepares for a new invasion--Cortez approaches with a new army--Orders vessels built at Tlascala--Takes possession of Tezcuco--Makes liberal overtures to Guatimozin--Rejected with scorn--Determined spirit of Guatimozin--Success of Cortez in reducing some of the smaller towns--Narrow escape at Iztalapatan--General defection of the tributary cities--How accounted for--The Spanish fleet on the Lake--Genius of Cortez--Tenochtitlan invested--Preparations for the siege--Spirit of the Aztecs--Their supplies cut off--The Queen in her reverses--Famine--Distress in the city--Love stronger than hunger--The famishing fed--Desperation--an assault--an ambush--The tide of battle suddenly turned--Perilous position and severe loss of the Spaniards--Cortez narrowly escapes--Disastrous retreat.
CHAPTER XI.
STRAITNESS OF THE FAMINE--THE FINAL CONFLICT--FLIGHT AND CAPTURE OF GUATIMOZIN--DESTINY FULFILLED. 179
The Mexicans encouraged--Oracular declaration of the priests--It fails to be fulfilled--Cortez resolves to lay waste the city--A wide spread ruin--Terrible sufferings of the besieged--Love and loyalty outliving hope--Death preferred to submission--Nahuitla proposes a plan of escape--Guatimozin rejects it, but is overruled by the unanimous voice of his people--Prepares for flight--The battle of the ghosts--The retreat--Guatimozin on the lake--Pursued by the enemy--A captive--Brought before Cortez--His noble spirit and bearing--The Queen and the conqueror--Her destiny fulfilled.
* * * * *
THE FLIGHT OF THE KATAHBA CHIEF. 193
The dream of Minaree, the young bride of Ash-te-o-lah--Its effect upon the Chief--He goes to the chase--Power and prosperity of the Katahbas--Beauty of their villages--The wigwam of Ash-te-o-lah--The Chief in his canoe--The deer--The foe--The chase--He turns upon his pursuers--Slays seven of their number successively--Is taken--Marched off as a captive--His boldness and dignity--Arrives in the territories of his enemies--Insulted and beaten by the women--Condemned to the fiery torture--Led out to execution--Breaks away and escapes--Pauses to defy his pursuers--Distances them all--Stops to rest--Finds a place of concealment--Plans the destruction of the pursuing party--Succeeds--Returns home in triumph, laden with trophies and spoils.
MONICA--THE ITEAN CAPTIVE. 209
Reverence for the dead--Indian burial--The journey to the Spirit land--The favorite dog killed--Food for journey--Mementoes of the departed--The grave of an infant boy--The Itean encampment--A sister's grief--Her dream--She visits the grave by moonlight--Her song--Enters a canoe and floats down the stream--A captive, devoted to the "Great Star"--Pagan rite among the Pawnees--Preparing for the sacrifice--Ignorant of her fate--Gathering of the Pawnees to the festival--The victim led to the stake--The terrible orgies commence--Are suddenly interrupted--The captive unbound--The flight--Parting with her deliverer--Meets her friends--Reaches her home in safety--Petalesharro, her deliverer--His person and character--Bloody rite abolished.
THE HERMITESS OF ATHABASCA. 227
The wigwam of Kaf-ne-wah-go--His family--Tula, his only daughter--O-ken-ah-ga, her husband--The Athapuscows steal in at night--The chiefs murdered--Tula a captive--Her infant boy murdered before her eyes--The Chippeways in pursuit of the murderers--Following the trail--The enemy overtaken--Retribution wreaked upon the innocent--The deep grief of Tula--Her weary marches--Her captors encamp--The tempest--She escapes in the darkness--Vain attempts to discover her retreat--Seeks to find her way back to her people--The forest--A midnight intruder--She climbs a tree--Is besieged--Assaulted--Repels and destroys the enemy--Intricacies and dangers of the forest--An opening, but no light--Bewildered--Resolves to go no farther--Finds a convenient spot--builds a cabin--her house-keeping--Her ingenuity, industry and taste--The Hermitess discovered--Her solitude reluctantly abandoned--Indian mode of obtaining a wife--Journeyings--A new party--An unexpected meeting.
