At the suggestion of Cortés, messengers were sent to all the towns of the province, with orders to stop the payment of tribute and to seize the collectors, but to spare their lives. Information was likewise to be given to the neighboring nations, that all might prepare to resist the force which Montezuma would probably send against them. The Totonacs became wild with joy, and declared that the little band who dare so brave Montezuma must be more than men.[218] To Quiahuitzlan flocked chiefs and nobles from all parts, eager to behold these beings, and to ascertain their own future course of action. There were those among them still timid, who urged an embassy to the king of kings, to beseech pardon before his army should be upon them, slaying, enslaving, and laying waste; but Cortés had already influence, was already strong enough to allay their fears, and bring them all into allegiance to the Spanish sovereign, exacting their oath before the notary Godoy to support him with all their forces. Thus, by virtue of this man’s mind, many battles were fought and won without the striking of a blow. Already every Spaniard there was a sovereign, and the meanest soldier among them a ruler of men. FOOTNOTES [176] _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 27. Herrera, dec. ii. lib. v. cap. vi., and others refer to a similar number as being on the sick-list. Yellow fever, or vómito negro, now the scourge of this and adjoining regions, appears to have developed with the growth of European settlements, and Clavigero states that it was not known there before 1725. _Storia Mess._, i. 117. [177] ‘Hasta el parage del rio grande de Pánuco,’ _Herrera_, loc. cit. ‘Llegaron al parage del rio grande, que es cerca de Panuco, adonde otra vez llegamos quãdo lo del Capitá Juan de Grijalua.’ _Bernal Diaz_, _Hist. Verdad._, 27. [178] ‘Doze dias que gastaron en este peligroso viage.’ _Herrera_, ubi sup. ‘Boluiose al cabo de tres semanas ... le salian los de la costa, y se sacauã sangre, y se la ofreciã en pajuelos por amistad a deidad.’ _Gomara_, _Hist. Mex._, 45. [179] _Ixtlilxochitl_, _Hist. Chich._, 289. Quiauitl, rain or shower. _Molina_, _Vocabulario_. Hence rainy place. Herrera calls it Chianhuitzlan, and this has been adopted by Clavigero and most other writers. Prescott, _Mex._, i. 348, in a note holds up Clavigero as a standard for the spelling of Mexican names, but he forgets that the Italian form, as in the above case, would be misleading to English people.