Note 855 — Chapter XXVII · RETREAT TO TLASCALA. July, 1520.

It has been shown previously, by testimony not accessible till later years, that the image placed in the great temple was a picture on a tablet, while that of Remedios is a doll. But, of course, the image that could move through the air could also transform its shape. Bernal Diaz assumes, as we have seen, that Montezuma had ordered the image to be cared for; yet many believe that Rodriguez secured it before or after the massacre, while the more pious prefer to suppose that he could not find it, for want of time, perhaps, and that it moved miraculously to the camp. Acosta, Hist. Ind., 524; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., 302. After the departure of the troops the image hid itself on the spot, or Rodriguez, tired of the burden which had saved his life, ungratefully left it there. It is also supposed to have been carried to Tlascala ere it reappeared on its later site. Cabrera, Escudo Armas, 106 et seq.; Alaman, Disert., i. 122. Lorenzana accepts it as the image from Mexico’s temple. Cortés, Hist. N. España, 138.