He also obtained permission for the Spaniards to perform the
services of their own religion unmolested. A large cross was erected
in one of the great courts or squares. Mass was celebrated every day
in the presence of the army and of crowds of natives, who, if they did
not comprehend its full import, were so far edified, that they learned
to reverence the religion of their conquerors. The direct
interposition of Heaven, however, wrought more for their conversion
than the best homily of priest or soldier. Scarcely had the
Spaniards left the city,- the tale is told on very respectable
authority,- when a thin, transparent cloud descended and settled
like a column on the cross, and, wrapping it round in its luminous
folds, continued to emit a soft, celestial radiance through the night,
thus proclaiming the sacred character of the symbol, on which was shed
the halo of divinity!
The principle of toleration in religious matters being
established, the Spanish general consented to receive the daughters of
the caciques. Five or six of the most beautiful Indian maidens were
assigned to as many of his principal officers, after they had been
cleansed from the stains of infidelity by the waters of baptism.
They received, as usual, on this occasion, good Castilian names, in
exchange for the barbarous nomenclature of their own vernacular.
Among them, Xicotencatl's daughter, Dona Luisa, as she was
called after her baptism, was a princess of the highest estimation and
authority in Tlascala.
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