Tlaxcala

“ The better dwellings of Tlaxcala are nearly all adobe houses, standing in a rough, hilly region on the eastern slope of the mountains which inclose the valley. It is difficult to conjecture what possible industry keeps the place alive, for, though interesting to the thoughtful traveler and the scientist, it has no visible business activity beyond the exhibition of the antiquities to which we have referred, but seems to smoulder in a sort of moss-grown, picturesque decay. ”

“ The result was evident; on the following day delegations, ordered by the jefe, and consisting of from six to a dozen persons each, began to come in from the outlying villages. This made our work easy, indeed. In one respect, Tlaxcala differs from all the other Mexican states with which we are acquainted. Most of the people live in very little towns, which cluster around the larger places. Thus, around the capital city, Tlaxcala, there are some seventeen of these small pueblos.
Working at the palace, we had secured almost no women for measurement. ”

“ To the north six leagues is Tlaxcala; to the south and reaching the horizon an endless valley; to the east, Puebla and the gateway to the gulf; and to the west the two snow-capped volcanoes, and within these boun{247}daries a garden spot that equals the valley of Mexico.
Throughout this broad expanse are hamlets and orchards and pastures and fields of evergreen maguey and cochineal, cactus and tropical fruits. The scene is like a picture or the mirage of some unseen habitation. The animals and men in the distance creep like insects in a pantomime. ”

“ TLAXCALA, an inland state of Mexico, bounded N.E. and S. by Puebla, and W. by the state of Mexico. Area 1505 sq. m. Pop. (1900) , 172,315. Tlaxcala lies on the great central plateau of Mexico and has a mean altitude of about 7000 ft. Several mountains rise in the west and south, culminating in the volcanic peak of Malinche, or Malintzin (14,636 ft.) . The state has three railway lines crossing its territory. The capital is Tlaxcala and the principal towns are Chiautempan (about 5000) . ”

“ Cortes’ March to Tlaxcala—Battle and Defeat of the Tlaxcalans—Montezuma’s Messengers
The little army set out from Zempoala August 16, 1519. Nothing of consequence marked the first day’s march. Their way led through the territory of their ally, the cacique. They met with a friendly reception and hospitable treatment. At last they came to the borders of the mountainous country of Tlaxcala. [6] The natives of this region surpassed all the other Americans in extraordinary courage and especially in their love of freedom. ”

“ There are still, any number of old churches, scattered here and there all over the wide landscape; but where the one hundred thousand people, who inhabit the little State of Tlaxcala, live, is more than I could see.
The present town, which is mostly Spanish-built, is situated on the flat between the heights, and may contain five thousand people, I should say at a venture. It has many buildings unquestionably dating back to the days of Cortez, and is a place no intelligent traveler in Mexico can afford to omit visiting. ”

“ The same brisk steps with which we had marched to Tlaxcala we continued to the great city Texcoco. Here we began to discover the ill feeling the people had against us, for they showed us not the smallest honor and not a single cacique appeared. ”

“ For ten hours we rode, without even stopping for lunch, through Sabina and Pichataro, San Juan Tumbio and Ajuno, back to comfortable Patzcuaro.
CHAPTER VIII
TLAXCALA (1898)
We have always loved the State of Tlaxcala and its quaint little capital city of the same name. For more than a dozen years its governor has been Prospero Cahuantzi, a pure-blood indian, whose native language is Aztec. He is a large, well built man, with full face and little black eyes that are sunken deeply into the flesh. He is a man of some force and energy. ”

“ Then the little band of 450 white men with their retinue of natives marched towards the highlands. The route led past Jalapa and over the mountains to the fortified city of Tlaxcala. This city, after a skirmish, likewise enlisted in the Spanish cause, a course that came easy because Tlaxcala was a traditional enemy of Tenochtitlan, the ancient Mexico City, and had withstood the attacks of the Aztecs for many years. From here Cortez passed to the sacred city of Cholula where, suspecting treachery, he caused many of the inhabitants to be massacred. ”

“ They were stricken with terror at what they had seen and heard. "Now we are going to kill those you call teules," the Tlaxcalans had said to them. "You shall see whether they are as valiant as you say. And we shall eat their flesh, and your flesh, too." [2] Say what our delegates might in contradiction to this, the Tlaxcalans would not accept the truth.
When Cortes and we others heard these haughty words, and how all Tlaxcala was preparing for war, we did not think It a light matter. Nevertheless we one and all cried, "Since it can not be otherwise, forward!—for good luck!" ”

“ When Maxtla succeeded his father Tetzotzomoc, and killed Chimalpopoca, in 1427, fearing the popularity of Netzahualcoyotl, he sent assassins to murder him, but the latter escaped, and, taking refuge in the mountains of Tlaxcala, was hunted by the emissaries of Maxtla for several years like a wild beast. But at last the neighboring monarchs of Mexico and Tlaltelolco and the republics of Tlaxcala and Huexotzingo formed an alliance in 1430 and called Netzahualcoyotl to the command of the allied army. ”

“ The Indians of the province of Tlaxcala speak three languages, differing from one another, namely: the Mexican, Totonac, and Tlapanac. The first is peculiar to the inhabitants of Puebla, Cholula, and Tlascalla; the second to the inhabitants of Zacatlan; and the third is preserved in the environs of Tlapa. The population of the entire intendency of Puebla, in 1803, that is, ten years after the census above noted, had advanced to 813,300 in an extent of 2,696 square leagues, giving 301 inhabitants to the square league. ”

“ The principal agricultural products are maguey and cereals, from which a large revenue is derived by the haciendas devoted to the industry. The city of Tlaxcala was the site of memorable scenes of the conquest of Mexico, and its brave inhabitants were the fierce foes first, and the faithful allies afterwards, of Cortes and his Spaniards, as has been described in the historical portion of these pages. ”

“ But the result was the enslavement of Tlaxcala itself, the general decay of the country, and the dispersion of most of the inhabitants by Cortes. Although now reduced to a population of a little over 5000, or, including the commune, to 36,000, and with no monuments beyond a fine church, an old episcopal palace, and a town-hall, the city at the time of the conquest was a very large place, containing nearly as many inhabitants as the whole of the modern state (130,000) . ”

“ Scrying in a mirror or bowl of water was another method of divination widely employed in Mexico proper, and was found among the Tarascans also. At Tlaxcala a peculiar custom was observed when war was declared in order to estimate the chances of ultimate success. Two sacred arrows were carefully kept in this town, which were supposed to have been brought by the first immigrants from Tulan. These were hurled in the direction of the foe by two specially chosen warriors, and then recovered at all costs. If an enemy was wounded by one the omens were regarded as especially favourable. ”

“ The legs of tripod bowls, which are found in numbers, are usually moulded in the form of grotesque faces, or the heads of birds, beasts and snakes. Peculiar to Tlaxcala are interesting vases of black ware in the form of a Tlaloc face or figure, the details of which are applied. The scroll-work which constitutes a feature of the painted art bears a close analogy to the Xochicalco designs, and it is not surprising to find similar pottery in Oaxaca. ”

“ At the time of the conquest their principal centres were Papantla and Zacapoaxtla. East of them, in Coatzacoalcos and Tabasco, were the peoples known to the Mexicans as Olmec, Xicalanca and Nonoualca, who, according to legend, were once settled in the neighbourhood of Tlaxcala, but were driven thence by the historical Tlaxcalans when they immigrated into the country.
The early history of these tribes is very difficult to elucidate from the tangled mass of migration myths, often contradictory, which have survived. ”

“ On the 19th we left Puebla, by railway, to visit the capital of the ancient Republic of Tlaxcala, renowned in the history of Spanish conquest for the part its people took in fixing the chain of the conquerors, upon the neck of Mexico. How the Mexicans, hearing of the arrival of Cortez at Vera Cruz, asked permission of their hereditary enemies, the Tlaxcalans, to be allowed to send commissioners through their territory, to see Cortez and find out what called him to the country ”

“ In and around the City of Tlaxcala, we secured our Tlaxcalan subjects. At Cuauhtlantzinco, we worked upon Aztecs. Our experiences at this large town of Puebla are not described, as Bandelier has already rendered the place familiar, and we ourselves have written of it elsewhere. With these two peoples, we made our first essays at bust-making. After returning to Mexico, we went by rail, on the Guadalajara branch of the Mexican Central, to Negrete. From there, by coach (there being then no railroad) to Zamora. Thence, we struck, on horseback, through the Tarascan territory, across to Patzcuaro. ”

“ Is it not the same fountain of which Toribio makes honorable mention in his topographical account of the country? “Nace en Tlaxcala una fuente grande á la parte del Norte, cinco leguas de la principal ciudad; nace en un pueblo que se llama Azumba, que en su lengua quiere decir cabeza, y así es, porque esta fuente es cabeza y principio del mayor rio de los que entran en la mar del Sur, el cual entra en la mar por Zacatula.” Hist. ”

“ Abroad he quelled a rebellion among the Zapotec and Mixtec, and carried on operations in Soconusco and Vera Cruz. Nearer home he seized the opportunity of a quarrel between the Tlaxcalans and Uexotzinca to espouse the cause of the latter and to carry on a vigorous campaign against the former. For many years the Aztec had been able seriously to obstruct Tlaxcalan trade with the coast, so much so in fact that salt was a rarity in that province, but Montecuzoma made an energetic attack upon their territory. ”

“ Tlascala comprehends within its limits a superficial extent of four hundred square leagues, and contains one city, one hundred and nine villages, eighteen settlements, one hundred and sixty-eight haciendas or large estates, ninety-four ranchos or small farms, eight grist mills, two iron works, and one woollen factory. It is divided into the three partidos of Tlaxco, Huamantla and Tlascala, the latter of which contains the capital town of the same name about seven leagues north of Puebla. ”

“ Naturally a people holding such a belief would look elsewhere than within their own borders for the material wherewith to placate their deity. This could be most suitably found among the inhabitants of a neighbouring state. It thus became the business of the warrior class in the Aztec state to furnish forth the altars of the gods with human victims. The most suitable district of supply was the pueblo of Tlaxcallan, or Tlascala, the people of which were of cognate origin to the Aztecs. ”

“ The capital town of Tlascala is situated between two mountains, in 19° 16' of north latitude, and 58' east longitude from Mexico, near the only stream of importance in the territory, known as the Rio Atoyac or Papagallo, under which name it passes through the State of Puebla on its way to the Pacific. The ancient numerous population of Tlascala is no longer found within its limits, and perhaps not more than four or five thousand individuals now inhabit it. ”

“ As the army passed through the towns and villages, the inhabitants poured out to greet them, and, as they drew near to Tlascala, the whole population, men, women, and children, came forth celebrating their return with songs, dancing, and music. Arches decorated with flowers were thrown across the streets through which they passed, and a Tlascalan orator addressed the general, on his entrance into the city, in a lofty panegyric on his late achievements, proclaiming him the "avenger of the nation." ”

“ There never were more valiant men than these soldiers of Tlascala."
"Of a surety," said Don Amador, "I begin to think the captain Gomez of the caravel was somewhat mistaken as to the courage of these barbarians."
"Thou seest the second chief,—he of the green penacho, with whom Cortes confers so very courteously! That is Talmeccahua, chief of the tribe Tizatlan, a very young warrior, but second in fame only to Xicotencal; and being more docile and friendly, he is much a favourite with our general, and doubtless will be selected to accompany us to the great city. ”

“ They will not carry nor wield spades and picks, since they say that they are men of family, who may not undertake squalid or menial tasks, but claim service in the field and in camp, and the warrior's death, as their birthright."—Hist. de Tlascala, MS.
Page 243 (1) .—A full account of the manners, customs, and domestic policy of Tlascala is given by the national historian, throwing much light on the other states of Anahuac, whose social institutions seem to have been all cast in the same mould. ”