He had
fallen a victim to that terrible epidemic, the small-pox, which was
now sweeping over the land like fire over the prairies, smiting down
prince and peasant, and adding another to the long train of woes
that followed the march of the white men. It was imported into the
country, it is said, by a Negro slave, in the fleet of Narvaez. It
first broke out in Cempoalla. The poor natives, ignorant of the best
mode of treating the loathsome disorder, sought relief in their
usual practice of bathing in cold water, which greatly aggravated
their trouble. From Cempoalla it spread rapidly over the
neighbouring country, and, penetrating through Tlascala, reached the
Aztec capital, where Montezuma's successor, Cuitlahua, fell one of its
first victims. Thence it swept down towards the borders of the
Pacific, leaving its path strewn with the dead bodies of the
natives, who, in the strong language of a contemporary, perished in
heaps like cattle stricken with the murrain. It does not seem to
have been fatal to the Spaniards, many of whom, probably, had
already had the disorder.
The death of Maxixca was deeply regretted by the troops, who
lost in him a true and most efficient ally. With his last breath, he
commended them to his son and successor, as the great beings whose
coming into the country had been so long predicted by the oracles.
He expressed a desire to die in the profession of the Christian faith.
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