Note 1210 — Chapter XXXIV · THE CONQUEST ACHIEVED. July-August, 1521.

‘De los niños no quedó nadie, que las mismas madres y padres los comian,’ is the statement of the native records. Id., 210. Yet Torquemada, i. 572, assumes that the Mexicans would not eat of their own race. Thousands had already died of starvation without touching the flesh of countrymen, though priests partook of children sacrificed during ordinary festivals; but at last the scruple among the masses was overcome by despair. See Native Races, ii. passim.