528 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Thus there is scarcely a doubt that, in the process of copying, 

 changes greater or less were made ; and, since the work had to receive 

 the sanction of the Inquisition, it is not unlikely that it was changed 

 to conform, in certain necessary and possible features, to the records 

 already licensed which emphasized the conquest as a triumph of the 

 Church. It is not unlikely, also, that by this time a better knowledge 

 of the conquered land and people had led many to doubt much that 

 Cortes and Gomora had described, and, though dead fifty years, 

 Bernal Diaz was thus brought forward as a convenient corroborative 

 authority. 



In this connection it is not a little significant that Bernal Diaz is 

 an extremely zealous churchman, and that the expressions which he, 

 an unlearned soldier, uses, correspond almost precisely to those which 

 characterize the writings of the priests of that period. His narrative 

 is filled throughout with religious observations and considerable 

 emphasis is given to acts done in aid of the Church. 



Moreover, we notice that he resents the imputations of Las Casas 

 of inhumanity and inaccuracy. This is especially noteworthy when 

 we consider that while at Guatemala in 15G0 he could not have known 

 what Las Casas had written, for the latter's " Historia General " was 

 not completed when that author died in 15G1, and then his injunction 

 that no one should use it for forty years after his death must have 

 been strictly obeyed. 



But whether the Remon edition of Bernal Diaz be a true copy or 

 not, we can not at any rate reconcile our knowledge of Mexican topog- 

 raphy and resources with much that he therein relates ; and as for 

 his elaborate particulars of Mexican art and civilization, they are so 

 plainly idealistic that our common sense forbids us to believe them. 

 Even Mr. Prescott contends that " the more intimate our acquaintance 

 with his narrative the less is our confidence in the accuracy of his 

 details." 



Besides Cortes and Bernal Diaz, however, there are two other 

 authorities who were eye-witnesses of Mexican art before the conquest. 

 These were the so-called Anonymous Conqueror and Andres de Tapia. 

 Both were Cortes's captains, and both have left personal accounts of 

 what they saw, which Icazbalceta has recently taken from their ob- 

 scurity and published in his " Coleccion de Documentos para la His- 

 toria de Mexico." The Anonymous Conqueror gives a full description 

 of Mexico, its country, resources, people, and customs, but, in his de- 

 tailed account of the Mexican market-place, its separate stalls and the 

 various articles on sale therein, there is no mention of any metal ex- 

 cept gold. Mr. Hubert Bancroft has properly said of this writer that 

 " his method and language denote intelligence and inspire confidence. 

 Dealing wholly with native institutions he seems to have no desire as 

 is the case with some to magnify native strength and resources for the 

 sake of raising the estimate of the deeds of himself and comrades. 



