[222] Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 11.--In an old Aztec harangue, made as a matter of form on the accession of a prince, we find the following remarkable prediction: “Perhaps ye are dismayed at the prospect of the terrible calamities that are one day to overwhelm us, calamities foreseen and foretold, though not felt, by our fathers!... when the destruction and desolation of the empire shall come, when all shall be plunged in darkness, when the hour shall arrive in which they shall make us slaves throughout the land, and we shall be condemned to the lowest and most degrading offices!” (Ibid., lib. 6, cap. 16.) This random shot of prophecy, which I have rendered literally, shows how strong and settled was the apprehension of some impending revolution. [223] Herrera, Hist. general, dec. 2, lib. 7, cap. 3. [224] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 83. [225] Veytia, Hist. antig., tom. i. cap. 13. [226] Humboldt, Vues des Cordillères, p. 32. [227] Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 69.--Gomara, Crónica, cap. 63.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 5.--Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., MS., cap. 84. [228] The language of the text may appear somewhat too unqualified, considering that three Aztec codices exist with interpretations. (See _ante_, vol. i. pp. 117-119.) But they contain very few and general allusions to Montezuma, and these strained through commentaries of Spanish monks, oftentimes manifestly irreconcilable with the genuine Aztec notions. Even such writers as Ixtlilxochitl and Camargo, from whom, considering their Indian descent, we might expect more independence, seem less solicitous to show this, than their loyalty to the new faith and country of their adoption. Perhaps the most honest Aztec record of the period is to be obtained from the volumes, the twelfth book particularly, of Father Sahagun, embodying the traditions of the natives soon after the Conquest. This portion of his great work was rewritten by its author, and considerable changes were made in it, at a later period of his life. Yet it may be doubted if the reformed version reflects the traditions of the country as faithfully as the original, which is still in manuscript, and which I have chiefly followed. [229] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 84, 85.--Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 67.--Gomara, Crónica, cap. 60.--Oviedo, Hist. de las Ind., MS., lib. 33, cap. 5. [230] “We walked,” says Diaz, in the homely but expressive Spanish proverb, “with our beards over our shoulders”--_la barba sobre el ombro_. Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 86. [231] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 86.--Rel. Seg. de Cortés, ap. Lorenzana, p. 70.--Torquemada, Monarch. Ind., lib. 4, cap. 41. [232] “Llamaban al volcan Popocatépetl, y á la sierra nevada Iztaccihuatl, que quiere decir la sierra que humea, y la blanca muger.” Camargo, Hist. de Tlascala, MS.