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LEISURE STUDIES IN A GLOBAL ERA

Positive Sociology of
Leisure
Contemporary
Perspectives
Edited by
Shintaro Kono · Anju Beniwal
Priyanka Baweja · Karl Spracklen
Leisure Studies in a Global Era

Series Editors
Karl Spracklen
Leeds Beckett University
Leeds, UK

Karen Fox
University of Alberta
Edmonton, AB, Canada
In this book series, we defend leisure as a meaningful, theoretical, ­framing
concept; and critical studies of leisure as a worthwhile intellectual and
pedagogical activity. This is what makes this book series distinctive: we
want to enhance the discipline of leisure studies and open it up to a richer
range of ideas; and, conversely, we want sociology, cultural geographies
and other social sciences and humanities to open up to engaging with
critical and rigorous arguments from leisure studies. Getting beyond con-
cerns about the grand project of leisure, we will use the series to demon-
strate that leisure theory is central to understanding wider debates about
identity, postmodernity and globalisation in contemporary societies
across the world. The series combines the search for local, qualitatively
rich accounts of everyday leisure with the international reach of debates
in politics, leisure and social and cultural theory. In doing this, we will
show that critical studies of leisure can and should continue to play a
central role in understanding society. The scope will be global, striving to
be truly international and truly diverse in the range of authors and topics.
Editorial Board: John Connell, Professor of Geography, University of
Sydney, USA; Yoshitaka Mori, Associate Professor, Tokyo University of
the Arts, Japan; Smitha Radhakrishnan, Assistant Professor, Wellesley
College, USA; Diane M. Samdahl, Professor of Recreation and Leisure
Studies, University of Georgia, USA; Chiung-Tzu Lucetta Tsai, Associate
Professor, National Taipei University, Taiwan; Walter van Beek, Professor
of Anthropology and Religion, Tilburg University, The Netherlands;
Sharon D. Welch, Professor of Religion and Society, Meadville Theological
School, Chicago, USA; Leslie Witz, Professor of History, University of
the Western Cape, South Africa.

More information about this series at

http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14823
 Shintaro Kono • Anju Beniwal
Priyanka Baweja • Karl Spracklen
Editors

Positive Sociology of
Leisure
Contemporary Perspectives
Editors
Shintaro Kono Anju Beniwal
University of Alberta Government Meera Girls College
Edmonton, AB, Canada Rajasthan, India

Priyanka Baweja Karl Spracklen

Rajasthan University Leeds Beckett University
Jaipur, India Leeds, UK

Leisure Studies in a Global Era

ISBN 978-3-030-41811-3    ISBN 978-3-030-41812-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41812-0

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2020
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether
the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of
illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and
­transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar
or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or
the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any
errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional
claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Cover illustration: © George H.H. Huey / Alamy Stock Photo

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
 Contents

1 Introduction to Positive Sociology of Leisure  1

Shintaro Kono, Anju Beniwal, Priyanka Baweja,
and Karl Spracklen

2 Positive Sociology: An Overview 13

Robert A. Stebbins

Part I Meanings of Leisure  27

3 Happiness and Perseverance: The Interplay of Emotional

Energies in Gray Dancing 29
Satu Heikkinen and Eva Alfredsson-Olsson

4 “One Can Make a Swing with a Rope and a Piece of

Wood”: The Positive Leisure Experience of Children
Living in the Informal Settlements of Soacha, Colombia 49
Andrea Diaz-Hernandez and Idurre Lazcano Quintana

v
vi Contents

5 Anything Goes for Being Happy? A Qualitative Analysis

of Discourses on Leisure in Finland 67
Riie Heikkilä

6 An Evolving Leisure Practice: Home Climbing Walls as

a Case 87
Ko Fan Lee, Daniel Peretti, and Piin Shiuan Wu

Part II Ageing 107

7 The Complexity of Sport-as-Leisure in Later Life109

Julie Son and Rylee A. Dionigi

8 Leisure and Late Adulthood: Examining the Benefits of

Participation during Retirement125
Thomas Sweeney and Jennifer Zorotovich

9 Life-Course Transitions and Leisure in Later Life:

Retirement Between Continued Productivity and Late
Freedom137
Anna Wanka

Part III Sex, Sexuality, and Family 157

10 Same-sex Pairings on Strictly Come Dancing: LGBTQ+

Identity and Leisure Participation in Ballroom Dancing159
Vicki Harman and Yen Nee Wong

11 The Intersection of Leisure and Racial Socialization to

Promote Positive Practices175
Augustus W. Hallmon and Desirée Y. McMillion

12 Sex as Leisure for the Japanese Women195

Maki Hirayama
 Contents vii

Part IV Community, Youth, and Education 213

13 Positive Youth Development and Communities: Practices

that Work and the Potential for Community Development215
Evan Webb

14 Evolving Societal Contributions of Leisure Education239

Julie Son, Elizabeth Weybright, Megan Janke, and Laura Payne

15 Digital Gaming: A New Way of Programming Happiness

and Creativity in Youth259
Anju Beniwal

16 Reflecting on Perceptions of Local Communities and

Visitors: Sustainable Heritage Leisure and Tourism279
Charles Spring and Lisa Wakefield

Part V Arts and Creativity 295

17 Transformative Leisure and Play: Bringing Forth Our

Reason for Being297
Susan Ross, Yoshitaka Iwasaki, Joshua Bauer, and
Paul Heintzman

18 Adolescent, Identity, and Community Art315

Vaishali Sharma

19 Doodling: A Positive Creative Leisure Practice333

Priyanka Baweja

20 Conclusion to Positive Sociology of Leisure351

Shintaro Kono, Anju Beniwal, Priyanka Baweja, and
Karl Spracklen

Index363
 Notes on Contributors

Eva Alfredsson-Olsson is associate professor in sociology at the

Department of Social and Psychological Studies, Karlstad University,
Sweden. She has been working at Karlstad University since 2001 and has
developed specific competence in the field of sociology of emotions,
organizational theory and analysis, and regional development such as
cross-border commuting and attractive living environment. She is also
doing research in the field of social problems, mental illness and addic-
tion/substance abuse. She has been involved in several research projects,
the most recent being about the social aspects of dancing in later life.
Joshua Bauer’s research focuses on the relationship between humans
and the natural environment. He focuses on the study of human ecology
that occurs primarily in the context of urban and developed settings,
looking specifically at recreation and leisure behaviour of urban and city
dwellers, and the relationship urban people have with the natural sur-
roundings in and around developed areas.
Priyanka Baweja has done her Masters in Anthropology and Post
Graduate Certificate in Higher Education. She is a Certified Tutor for
Online Hybrid and Blended Education and also holds a Diploma in
Computer Arts and Jewelry Design and Manufacturing. She is a member
of ISA RC13. She has been working as a designer and design educator for
19 years. She is pursuing her PhD in Anthropology at the University of
ix
x Notes on Contributors

Rajasthan, India. Her area of interest is finding interdisciplinary collabo-

ration opportunities for design and creating a space where design, anthro-
pology and sociology meet. She has also presented papers on combining
art, technology leisure and Sustainability in national and international
conferences.
Anju Beniwal has earned a PhD in Sociology and a Masters in
Anthropology and Sociology. She is Assistant Professor of Sociology at
Government Meera Girls College Rajasthan, India. Her area of interest is
Leisure Studies. She is the author of seven books, fifty papers and book
chapters covering different aspects of society. She is an active member in
the editorial/advisory/referee boards of various International journals and
has presented her views in more than fifty five conferences, both in the
country as well as abroad. She is the Board Member of RC13 of the ISA
and is also the editor of Global Leisure and the Struggle for a Better World.
Andrea Diaz-Hernandez is a PhD candidate at the Program Leisure,
Culture and Communication for Human Development at the University
of Deusto (UD), Spain. Diaz earned a Master’s degree in Crisis Analysis
and Humanitarian Action, and then worked as a language teacher in
several Colombian universities. In October 2016, she was awarded with
the funding program Cátedra UNESCO-Banco Santander addressed to
support young professors of Latin American universities. Since then, her
research interest has been in children’s leisure experiences. Recently,
Andrea visited University of Georgia (USA) as a visiting scholar along
with Professor Douglas Kleiber.
Rylee A. Dionigi has written widely in the fields of sport sociology, age-
ing and physical activity, health, exercise psychology and leisure studies.
She has expertise in qualitative methodologies and knowledge on the per-
sonal and cultural meanings of sport, leisure and exercise participation in
later life. She (with Michael Gard) co-authored an edited book with
Palgrave Macmillan, entitled, Sport and Physical Activity Across the
Lifespan: Critical Perspectives. This collection problematizes health
­promotion and related policy trajectories across the lifespan from a criti-
cal social science perspective. Overall, she calls for acceptance of diversity
and difference in the ways in which people age.
 Notes on Contributors xi

Augustus W. Hallmon is an assistant professor in the School of Health

Science and Wellness. He volunteers regularly at park districts, YMCAs
and Boys and Girls clubs. His research interests include positive youth
development, cultural competency and understanding marginalized pop-
ulations’ perceptions and beliefs with regard to participating in recreation
activities.
Vicki Harman is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of
Surrey, United Kingdom. Her research interests include gender, social
inequalities, family life and consumption. She is the author of ‘The Sexual
Politics of Ballroom Dancing’ published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2019.
She has had her research work published in academic journals including
Sociology, Sociology of Health and Illness, Families, Relationships and
Societies, International Journal of Consumer Studies, Young Consumers, The
European Journal of Marketing and Ethnic and Racial Studies. She has
recently co-edited a book titled ‘Feeding Children Inside and Outside the
Home: Critical Perspectives’, published by Routledge in 2019.
Riie Heikkilä is a postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Social
Sciences at Tampere University, Finland. Her main research interests
include cultural capital, cultural consumption, cultural hierarchies, social
stratification and comparative sociology. She earned her PhD in 2011 at
the University of Helsinki and runs a Finnish Academy postdoctoral
research project studying cultural participation and disengagement in
Finland. Her recent publications include papers in journals such as
American Journal of Cultural Sociology and Poetics, and a collective mono-
graph, Enter Culture, Exit Arts? The Transformation of Cultural Hierarchies
in European Newspaper Culture Sections, 1960–2010 (Routledge).
Satu Heikkinen is Associate Professor in sociology at the Department
of Social and Psychological Studies, Karlstad University, Sweden. Her
research has mainly dealt with issues of age, ageing and mobility. She has
been involved in several research projects, including a research project
about the social aspects of dancing in later life. Theoretically, her research
has addressed issues of power, discourse and age. She was one of the guest
editors of the special issue Resistance and Emotions in Journal of Political
Power in 2017.
xii Notes on Contributors

Paul Heintzman’s research on leisure and spirituality focuses on the

leisure-spiritual processes that are associated with spiritual well-being. In
other words, what is it about leisure that may enhance or hinder spiritual
well-being? He also writes extensively on Christian perspectives on lei-
sure. His research on recreation and the environment has most recently
focused upon outdoor recreation management in Gatineau Park. Recent
and current thesis supervision topics include: outdoor education, park
interpretation, play and spirituality, and the interactions between mining
and hunting. He has published hermeneutical, philosophical, ethical,
historical as well as quantitative and qualitative social scientific studies.
Maki Hirayama’s research focuses on modern and contemporary sexu-
ality in Japan. Sexual activities have been depressed, while in the aca-
demic world, sexuality studies have been underdeveloped in this country.
She makes efforts to change these situations. She organizes a multi-­
disciplinary group of researchers in the field of sexuality and social sci-
ences, and leads or commits various projects such as research on modern
history of sexualities, survey on sexual function of the Japanese women,
international comparative survey on sexuality of young adults and the
research on sexual happiness of the Japanese.
Yoshitaka Iwasaki is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Health
Science and Recreation in the College of Health and Human Sciences at
San Jose State University (SJSU) in California, USA with over 20 years of
experience in community-engaged research and education, knowledge
mobilization, and capacity-building. His areas of specialization include:
(a) culture, diversity, and community-university engagement; (b) active
living and quality of life (e.g., meaning-making, mental health, and lei-
sure); and (c) participatory action research (PAR) to address social justice
issues (e.g., human rights, poverty, empowerment, youth engagement,
mental health, social change).
Megan Janke’s research focuses on the relationship between leisure and
health during older adulthood. Specifically, her work addresses (a)
changes in leisure involvement during later life transitions (e.g., widow-
hood, retirement) and its associations with health outcomes, (b) the role
of evidence-based health promotion programs (e.g., Matter of Balance,
 Notes on Contributors xiii

Chronic Disease Self-Management Program) on leisure and health out-

comes, and (c) involvement in leisure activities after the onset of chronic
conditions and disability in later life and its association with health and
quality of life indicators. Her research intersects the areas of recreational
therapy, gerontology, leisure sciences and health promotion.
Shintaro Kono is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology,
Sport, and Recreation at the University of Alberta, Canada. His research
involves how leisure experiences influence subjective well-being among
participants. He has also studied constraining factors for leisure across
different social groups.
Idurre Lazcano Quintana is a researcher at the Institute of Leisure
Studies at University of Deusto (UD), Spain, and is a member of the
Leisure and Human Development Official Research Group of the Basque
Government. She is the Director of the Master Program Leisure Project
Management at UD and professor in different postgraduate programs.
Since 2005, she is the Academic Coordinator of master thesis and has
been director of more than sixty academic works at UD. Lazcano is
author and co-author of different monographs, book chapters and papers
in specialized journals.
Ko Fan Lee is Assistant Professor of recreation management. His
research interests are focused on the impacts of outdoor adventure recre-
ation on human well-being and the development of healthy lifestyles. His
current projects entail serious pursuits in adventure recreation, the pro-
cess of internalization as a mechanism of sustaining one’s commitment to
adventure recreation activities, and the contextual influences on
internalization.
Desirée Y. McMillion is an administrator in the Department of African
American Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Her research examines the nature and relationship of historic and con-
temporary educational experiences of Black Women in leadership roles in
academia, and their community. Her more recent focus is recognizing
patterns of racial socialization practices and mothering as it relates to lives
of Black women while using a frame of race, class and gender as a unify-
ing approach.
xiv Notes on Contributors

Laura Payne’s earlier work provided evidence of the health benefits of

park use and elucidated factors that affect capacity building and utiliza-
tion of local parks and recreation. She advocates improvement in com-
munity recreation and park resources for small towns and rural
communities that lack access to parks, programs and recreational facili-
ties. She also studies how engagement in valued leisure and recreation
activities is affected by the onset of chronic health conditions and how
people use their leisure to cope with physical, socio-emotional and cogni-
tive effects of chronic disease.
Daniel Peretti teaches folklore at Memorial University of Newfoundland.
His research interests span folklore and popular culture—specifically the
way myth and legend coincide with ritual, holiday celebrations and
festivals.
Susan Ross as a therapist, specializes in the treatment of women survi-
vors of sexual trauma, post-traumatic stress and adventure therapy. Her
doctoral research examined the underlying archetypal phenomenon of
personal transformation and is the subject of her forthcoming book, The
Map to Wholeness: Finding Yourself through Crisis, Change, and Reinvention.
Vaishali Sharma is an Anthropologist and an Art Critic. She has done
extensive research in the rural and tribal areas of Rajasthan, India. Her
areas of interest are displacement and rehabilitation, gender and identity,
visual art and culture, and children and art therapy. Many critical and
insightful essays on the art of International and National artists have been
published in eminent art magazines and individual art catalogues.
Julie Son’s research focuses on leisure and health across the lifespan with
special attention to: (a) age-related developmental and learning processes
of leisure and physical activity, and (b) ageing and gendered aspects of
leisure and sport and how these aspects relate to leisure education and
leisure self-care. She has investigated these topics with different popula-
tions and with an emphasis on issues of diversity especially as they relate
to age, gender and culture. Her research intersects several audiences: lei-
sure sciences, gerontology, kinesiology, sociology and outdoor and envi-
ronmental education.
 Notes on Contributors xv

Karl Spracklen is Professor of Sociology of Leisure and Culture at Leeds

Beckett University, UK, and a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.
He is the editor-in-chief of the International Journal of the Sociology of
Leisure, and the author of over a hundred books, papers and book chap-
ters on leisure theory, leisure studies, popular music, heavy metal, tour-
ism and sport. He has been the chair of the Leisure Studies Association
and remains the executive secretary of Research Committee 13 (Sociology
of Leisure) of the International Sociology of Leisure. His latest book
before this one, published in 2020, is Metal Music and the Re-imagining
of Masculinity, Place, Race and Nation.
Charles Spring is Senior Lecturer in spa and wellness management pro-
grammes at the University of Derby at the University’s Buxton campus.
His research has recently focussed on the area of wellness in the area of
physical activity, especially using interventions with people with varying
degrees of ability. Current lecturing duties in spa and wellness manage-
ment include specialisms in management areas around business develop-
ment and entrepreneurship and contemporary issues within this
discipline. He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Robert A. Stebbins’s research interests in leisure date to late 1973, the
year he began his theoretical work on amateurs. From here, it soon
became clear that leisure studies could be conceived of in at least two
great categories: in 1982, (Pacific Soc. Rev.) Stebbins published the basic
conceptual statement of serious leisure, using casual leisure as the com-
parative backdrop. Then, early in 1997, he published in Leisure Studies a
similar statement on casual leisure. Between 1975 and the present he has
written a range of theoretical and empirical articles, chapters, and books
on amateurs (musicians, actors, baseball players, football players, enter-
tainment magicians, stand-up comics, archaeologists, astronomers), hob-
byists (barbershop singers, cultural tourists, kayakers, snowboarders,
mountain climbers, and other nature challenge enthusiasts), and career
volunteers, particularly those in the North American francophone com-
munities outside Quebec. A third category of leisure—“project-based lei-
sure”—was defined and discussed in Leisure Studies (Jan., 2005). Of his
47 books published or in press, 34 centre exclusively or substantially on
one aspect or another of serious and casual leisure.
xvi Notes on Contributors

Thomas Sweeney, PhD is Assistant Professor of Recreation and Tourism

Management at Georgia Southern University. He teaches undergraduate
courses on Recreation Management, Leadership and Programming in
Recreation, Leisure Theory, Facility Planning and Golf Operations. His
research focuses on the influence of leisure on personal and social identity
formation.
Lisa Wakefield is a lecturer in International Tourism Management at
the University of Derby. Working with a variety of industry partners
throughout her seventeen years of teaching has helped Lisa to keep up to
date with industry trends and helps to inform her teaching, thus contex-
tualising best practise in industry with theory in the classroom. Whilst
teaching at the University of Derby, she has worked with students on
several live research projects to explore visitor behaviour in Derbyshire at
attractions and in destinations. She is working on a research project
regarding ageless wellness and heritage tourism.
Anna Wanka studied and obtained her PhD in sociology at the
University of Vienna, Austria. She specialized in the sociology of ageing.
Her research foci comprise late life lifestyles, place appropriation in later
life, lifelong learning as well as ageing and technologies. She is working as
a postdoctoral researcher in the research training group “Doing
Transitions”, where she focuses on the transition from work to retirement.
Evan Webb is a researcher, author and instructor in the field of recre-
ation and leisure studies. He earned his PhD in Human Kinetics from
the University of Ottawa and both his MA in Applied Health Science
and BA in Recreation and Leisure Studies from Brock University. Webb’s
main focus of research is studying positive youth development through
community based recreational programs.
Elizabeth Weybright’s research views leisure as a unique context associ-
ated with adolescent risk behaviour and healthy development. Intersecting
leisure, prevention science, and positive youth development, her research
focuses on how leisure experience such as healthy leisure, boredom and
motivation is associated with adolescent risk behaviour including sub-
stance use. Specifically, her research (a) examines how leisure experience
 Notes on Contributors xvii

serves as a risk or protective factor for substance use, (b) identifies socio-
ecological moderators of these associations, and (c) uses findings to fur-
ther inform development and evaluation of leisure-­based prevention
efforts promoting adolescent health.
Yen Nee Wong is a doctoral student in the University of Surrey, United
Kingdom. She is herself a ballroom dancer, and her current research
interests are in the areas of same-sex ballroom dancing, gender (particu-
larly queer identities) and sexuality. She holds an MPhil in Gender from
the London School of Economics and Political Science, where her
research focused on home-based care and women’s empowerment in
South Africa.
Piin Shiuan Wu earned her doctoral degree in Ethnomusicology with a
minor of folklore from Indiana University Bloomington. Immersed in
the fascinations of artistic forms and storytelling, she always aspires to
explore the flexible nature and making processes of individual creativity.
Her research is focused on contemporary musical experiences and related
cultural forms in East Asia. In particular, she conducts research on the
ways that music, media performances and narratives embody historical
senses and senses of a given place in various sociocultural contexts includ-
ing cyberspace communities.
Jennifer Zorotovich, PhD is Assistant Professor of Child and Family
Development at Georgia Southern University. She teaches undergraduate
courses on Adult Development and Later Life, Death and Bereavement
across the Lifespan, Undergraduate Research Methods and Family
Services. Her research focuses on major transitions in adulthood, atti-
tudes towards aging, social status, and positive well-being. She also offers
aging simulation workshops in a variety of on-campus and off-campus
settings for educational, training and personal enrichment purposes.
 List of Figures

Fig. 4.1 Informal settlements in Soacha, Colombia 53

Fig. 4.2 Neighborhood’s soccer field. (Photo taken by a child) 58
Fig. 4.3 Wooden house for children’s activities in the neighborhood.
(Photo taken by a child under the instruction “photograph
things you like in your neighborhood”) 61
Fig. 9.1 Time allocation of working and non-working persons aged
55+ years by activity indices in hours (x-axis); German Time
Use Survey 2012/13 145
Fig. 12.1 Sexless rate among married couples. (Data source: 1982:
Kyodo News “The Japanese and Sex” (N = 533), men and
women with spouses in their 20s–70s, 1984: Group Wife
“Sex; Messages of Wives” (N = 261), married women in their
20s–70s, more than half were in their 30s, 1999: NHK
“NHK Sexuality of the Japanese” (N = 953), Men and
women with spouses or lovers in their 20s–40s, 2001: Asahi
Shimbun Newspaper, “Sexuality of married couples”
(N = 1000), married men and women in their 20s–50s,
2004–2016: Japan Family Planning Association “Report on
life and consciousness of men and women”) 199
Fig. 12.2 Sexuality as duality in modernized Japan 202

xix
xx List of Figures

Fig. 12.3 Rate of the married men and women who had an intimate
relationship∗ with someone of the opposite sex out of
marriage during the past year. (Note: ∗in this survey,
intimate relationship includes close but not sexual relation-
ship. Data source: Sexuality Research Association, 2014) 206
Fig. 12.4 New structure of sexuality in contemporary Japan 209
Fig. 17.1 Thirteen phases of a complete transformation 300
Fig. 17.2 Three tasks of transformation 302
 List of Tables

Table 5.1 The categories used for the analysis 76

Table 5.2 The frequencies of each category, % (n = 398)76
Table 9.1 Socio-demographic characteristics, non-matched and
matched sample 55+ years, German time use data 2012/13 143
Table 9.2 Socio-demographic characteristics, qualitative longitudinal
study 2017–2021, project ‘Doing Retiring’ 144
Table 10.1 List of selected articles 163
Table 10.2 Comparative thematic analysis of LGBT+ and mainstream
media168
Table 15.1 Most popular video games among gamers in India 266
Table 15.2 Respondents playing video games 267
Table 15.3 Leisure time activities before video games 268
Table 15.4 Favorite video games genres 268
Table 15.5 Time spends for playing games 269
Table 15.6 Reasons for playing video games 270
Table 15.7 Effects of video game on youth 271
Table 15.8 Devices used for playing video games 272
Table 17.1 Transformative recreation during the three tasks of
transformation303
Table 19.1 A summary of responses 337

xxi
 1
Introduction to Positive Sociology
of Leisure
Shintaro Kono, Anju Beniwal, Priyanka Baweja,
and Karl Spracklen

What makes sociology of leisure distinct from other sub-fields of sociol-

ogy? What is missing in current trends of leisure studies? When we asked
these critical identity questions for our field work, an answer seemed to
be that social researchers of leisure are better equipped and positioned to

A manuscript exclusively for Positive Sociology of Leisure: Contemporary Perspectives on Sociology of

Leisure, Leisure Studies in a Global Era, Palgrave Macmillan

S. Kono (*)
Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation, University of Alberta,
Edmonton, AB, Canada
e-mail: skono@ualberta.ca
A. Beniwal
Department of Sociology, Government Meera Girls College, Udaipur, India
P. Baweja
Rajasthan University, Jaipur, India
K. Spracklen
Leeds School of Social Science, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK

© The Author(s) 2020 1

S. Kono et al. (eds.), Positive Sociology of Leisure, Leisure Studies in a Global Era,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41812-0_1
2 S. Kono et al.

investigate not only what is going wrong about society but also what is
going well about it. To promote positive sociology or sociology of happi-
ness and well-being, Thin (2014) observed that “there are important dif-
ferences between minimal standards and really good social quality, and if
we are to develop better societies we need to learn from good examples
not just from bad ones” (p. 2). Although leisure can cause and facilitate
deviance, conflicts, discrimination, and injustice, leisure can also bring
about trust, civility, community, and social justice (Glover, 2016; Stewart,
2014). Of course, each of these social ideals can be further critiqued (e.g.,
not all communities are “good”), but the big picture is that leisure serves
as a unique context where members of society pursue, achieve, and main-
tain many social goods (Stebbins, 2009). To encourage systematic inqui-
ries on this “positive” side of sociology, Stebbins (2009) coined the term
“positive sociology.” As a prominent leisure scholar, of course, Stebbins’
focus was on leisure studies and sociology of leisure. Hence, positive soci-
ology of leisure (PSL) was born.
Ten years have passed since Stebbins’ (2009) declaration of PSL, and
yet not many articles are explicitly associated with this sub-field. Our
observation is, however, that studies of PSL have existed and prevailed
without being labeled as such. This was obvious when Research
Committees 13 Sociology of Leisure and RC 55 Social Indicators
Research collaborated at the XIX International Sociological Association
World Congress. Besides this particular joint session, RC 13 has hosted
many presentations with the spirit of PSL. This edited volume presents
PSL research from those who have involved with RC 13, leisure studies,
and general social research and sociology. The broad goal of this volume
is to increase awareness of the potentials of PSL, to demonstrate PSL
exemplars, and to provide collective voice with scholars who engage
with PSL.

What Is Positive Sociology of Leisure?

We define PSL as an area of research that examines social aspects of leisure
life with a focus on the optimal functioning of relationship, group, commu-
nity, organization, and other social units. Specifically, PSL:
 1 Introduction to Positive Sociology of Leisure 3

Looks into how, why, and when people pursue those things in life that they
desire, the things they do to make their existence attractive and worth liv-
ing. [PSL] is the study of what people do to socially organize their lives
such that those lives become, in combination, substantially rewarding, sat-
isfying, and fulfilling. (Stebbins, 2009, p. xi)

To further clarify our definition of PSL, each term should be elabo-

rated on.
First, the term “positive” should not be confused with so-called “posi-
tivist” tradition of social sciences (Henderson, 2011; see also Chap. 2 by
Stebbins). Scientific positivism is characterized by its epistemological
assumption that knowledge will eventually become complete and its
adherence to quantitative methodology (Henderson, 2011). Although
traditional positive sociology or sociology of happiness has been predom-
inantly quantitative, there has been recent calls for, and exemplars of,
qualitative inquiries (Cieslik, 2015; Thin, 2014). In fact, the founder of
PSL, Stebbins’ work has been largely qualitative (see Stebbins, n.d.). We
even argue that qualitative methodology is crucial to PSL because what is
“optimal” is ultimately a subjective and inter-subjective issue (Thin,
2014). For instance, a marriage one considers as healthy may be deeply
dysfunctional from the spouse’s view. Of course, often, what constitutes
of a “good” marriage is negotiated within a couple and influenced by
societal discourses. Thus, PSL encompasses various epistemologies as well
as methodologies, which is clear in this book.
Second, we use the word “sociology” rather loosely, and this is reflected
by the intentional use of the phrase “social aspects” in our PSL definition.
In conceptualizing positive sociology, Thin (2014) noted that there are
different levels of investment into formal sociology. Specifically, the mod-
est sociological lens allows researchers to investigate “positive subjectivity
with reference to sociocultural context,” while the maximal sociological
lens drives scholars to commit to “explicitly using sociological theory to
explore positive subjectivity” (p. 4). We maintain that both lenses are
important in advancing PSL, because of the interdisciplinary nature of
both well-being and leisure research. Although a psychological approach
has been dominant, well-being research has been also informed by eco-
nomics, anthropology, and other disciplinary works (e.g., Easterlin,
4 S. Kono et al.

2004; Mathews, 1996). Leisure studies have been clearly more interdisci-
plinary by gaining insights from sociologists, social psychologists, anthro-
pologists, cultural studies scholars, health researchers, and so on. Thus,
PSL welcomes contributions from scholars of different disciplinary back-
grounds who are interested in the social aspects of leisure.
Third, we tend to agree with the definition of leisure, which Stebbins
inductively based on numerous qualitative studies, as an “uncoerced,
contextually framed activity engaged in during free time, which people
want to do and, using their abilities and resources, actually do in either a
satisfying or a fulfilling way, if not both” (Stebbins, 2015, p. 3). By “sat-
isfying” and “fulfilling,” Stebbins acknowledged different types of subjec-
tive well-being (see Huta & Waterman, 2014). Its focus on positive
aspects of leisure experience is congruent with the overall emphasis on
positivity in PSL. However, scholars without formal training of leisure
studies should be aware that people can feel dissatisfied or even discrimi-
nated during their leisure experience; leisure is not entirely positive.
Moreover, there is still no consensus among leisure researchers regarding
what leisure is—across leisure as free time, activity, psychological experi-
ence, and state of mind (e.g., Henderson, 2008). Having said that, there
is emerging empirical evidence that prove people across cultures associate
leisure with positivity and freedom (e.g., Gui, Walker, & Harshaw, in
press; Ito & Walker, 2014), which is consistent with Stebbins’ conceptu-
alization. As subjectivity and inter-subjectivity are crucial in PSL, we
contend that Stebbins’ definition of leisure provides PSL scholars with a
good starting point.
Now that PSL has been formally defined, and each of the three com-
ponents is unpacked, one may wonder how PSL studies look like. Of
course, this is discussed in the rest of this book. However, we also note
that there are extant leisure studies that can be considered as PSL. This
fact reinforces potential contributions of PSL to the literature. One of the
simplest examples would be a stream of research on family leisure (Hodge
et al., 2015). By definition, family requires a relationship among two or
more people who closely relate to one another, and thus qualifies as a
social unit that PSL focuses on. Dozens of past studies in this area have
shown that, for instance, family leisure can be separated into core leisure
(i.e., ordinary, home-based activities) and balance leisure (i.e., infrequent,
 1 Introduction to Positive Sociology of Leisure 5

resource-intensive activities outside home), and that each of them

uniquely contributes to family functioning and satisfaction (Agate,
Zabriskie, Agate, & Poff, 2009; Zabriskie & McCormick, 2003). A key
theory identified by advocates of positive sociology is social capital (e.g.,
Kroll, 2014; Thin, 2014), which has been also used in leisure studies
(Glover, 2016). For example, Son, Yarnal, and Kerstetter (2010) studied
members of Red Hat Society in the United States to find that middle-­
aged and older women connected with others of similar social back-
grounds (bonding) and with those of different backgrounds (bridging)
through club activities, which then led to social support for other mem-
bers in need and civic engagement (e.g., volunteering) beyond the asso-
ciation. Another useful concept that can guide PSL is resistance (Sharpe,
2008). Sharpe’s work on a music festival with political goals to promote
social changes, such as anti-consumerism, environmentalism, and cul-
tural diversity, pointed out that the leisure event played a critical role in
facilitating social changes, by not making overtly political space, but
rather infusing the political within the enjoyable. As seen in these exem-
plars, the spirit of PSL has long lived in the leisure literature.

Why Positive Sociology of Leisure?

The next important question to facilitate PSL scholarships is: why should
we care about PSL now? To understand the rationale behind the current
collective efforts to advance PSL, we must clarify the state of two aca-
demic fields in which PSL is situated: sociology of happiness and leisure
studies.
Sociology of happiness, or positive sociology, is rather a new subfield
within broader sociology (Kroll, 2014; Thin, 2014; Veenhoven, 2016).
Although “happiness” was a topic of interest for early sociologists, such as
Marx and Durkheim, the concept was often equated with shallow plea-
sure arising from consumption or with a part of neoliberalist and indi-
vidualist discourse, which then was “problematized” and used to trigger
sociological inquiries (Cieslik, 2015; Thin, 2014). More recent sociolo-
gists of happiness acknowledge that happiness, or well-being, is concep-
tualized and experienced more holistically beyond mere pleasure,
6 S. Kono et al.

encompassing altruism and compassion (Cieslik, 2015; see also Huta &
Waterman, 2014). Besides a collection of quantitative data regarding
well-being and social correlates across nations, sociology has made only
limited contributions to happiness studies, especially in terms of theoriz-
ing how happiness is experienced within a particular socio-cultural con-
text (Cieslik, 2015; Kroll, 2014; Thin, 2014; Veenhoven, 2016). From
the PSL perspective, the lack of attention to leisure within sociology—
including sociology of happiness—is concerning (Stebbins, 2018). For
instance, the world leading sociologist of happiness, Veenhoven’s data-
base operationalizes leisure as free time or activities, which does not
reflect more complex and nuanced understanding of this key concept in
the leisure literature (Henderson, 2008). Thus, sociology of happiness
has a long way to go, especially in relation to leisure.
With regard to leisure studies, we observe that the field may have expe-
rienced a so-called “critical turn” through which critical theories—femi-
nism, critical race theory, critical disability theories, and so on—become
predominant or at least privileged within academic discourse. It has been
widely known that European Leisure Studies tend to adopt and appreciate
critical studies due to its influence by critical sociology and socio-cultural
studies (Coalter, 1997). Moreover, even in North American Leisure
Sciences, critical lenses are well-represented in recent journal special issues,
such as feminism (Fullagar, Rich, Pavlidis, & van Ingen, 2019; Parry &
Fullagar, 2013) and social justice (Mowatt & Schmalz, 2014; Stewart,
2014). Although leisure studies have been clearly enriched by these criti-
cal voices, critical studies tend to need problematizing social conditions,
and thus may not be conducive to positive sociology (Cieslik, 2015;
Thin, 2014; Veenhoven, 2016). In this regard, we suggest that PSL is
complementary, not competing, to critical studies of leisure. While criti-
cal perspectives help scholars reveal problems and address them within
leisure contexts, PSL is aimed at understanding and facilitating the
achievement and maintenance of optimal social aspects of leisure life
(Stebbins, 2009). The lack of problematization in PSL should not be
equated with “uncriticalness.” Both critical studies of leisure and PSL can
be done thoughtfully and rigorously. Both streams of research can advance
the wider leisure scholarship.
 1 Introduction to Positive Sociology of Leisure 7

The above suggests that PSL can contribute to both sociology of hap-
piness (and mainstream sociology) and leisure studies. In addition, it is
noteworthy that there is growing attention to the intersection between
leisure and well-being from a psychological perspective (Stebbins, 2015).
For example, the Journal of Positive Psychology recently published a special
issue on Leisure and Positive Psychology: Complementary Science for Health
and Well-Being (Schmalz & Pury, 2018). Mainstream psychologists have
published on the relationship between leisure and well-being (e.g.,
Kuykendall, Tay, & Ng, 2015; Newman, Tay, & Diener, 2014). A pre-
mier leisure journal, Leisure Studies, has also launched a special issue on
Leisure Cultures and Wellbeing, while psychological publications on well-­
being by leisure scholars accumulate (e.g., Freire, 2013). Nevertheless, as
noted earlier, neither well-being nor leisure is a sole jurisdiction of psy-
chology; both require an interdisciplinary approach and sociological per-
spective. It is crucial to recognize that both well-being and leisure are
socially constructed. What people mean by well-being and leisure differ
across social groups (e.g., gender, age, social class), cultures, and times.
This very nature of well-being and leisure necessitates focused collective
efforts to understand positive social aspects of leisure life, that is, PSL.

The Structure of the Current Volume

Although the current volume is a collection of chapters freely developed
by contributors with a broader focus on PSL, one can find five distinct
themes within the rest of this book. In Chap. 2, Stebbins, the founder of
PSL, joins us to further describe and contextualize the background and
agendas of this sub-field.
The next three chapters address the first broad topic of meanings of
leisure. In Chap. 3, Heikkinen and Alfredsson-Olsson presents a qualita-
tive study of emotions experienced through gray dancing and between
dance couples and their contributions to a good life by using a serious
leisure perspective among others. In Chap. 4, Diaz and Lazcano report a
case of Colombian children living in an economically deprived condition
yet creatively explore meaningful leisure experiences. Heikkilä in Chap. 5
shows what leisure practices Finnish people from lower socio-economic
8 S. Kono et al.

class believe contribute to their happiness. Lee, Peretti, and Wu in Chap.

6 suggest how serious commitment to indoor climbing generates dynamic
social practices among climbers.
The following section addresses the second theme of ageing. Son and
Dionigi in Chap. 7 offer a comprehensive, balanced review of the litera-
ture on sport-as-leisure for older adults, including the issues of resilience
and community. In Chap. 8, Sweeney and Zorotovich show how retirees
form sub-groups in their community to access social capital and avoid
failing retirement. Chapter 9 by Wanka reveals, using both quantitative
and qualitative data, that retirees experience dynamic changes in leisure
practices during this transitional period while subjective assessment of
the changes as positive or negative seem to interact with various socio-­
demographic factors.
The third theme is sex, sexuality, and family. In Chap. 10, Harman and
Wong discuss the implications of LGBT+ individuals in a ballroom danc-
ing television show for wider social inclusion of this minority group.
Hallmon and McMillion in Chap. 11 share a qualitative study of how
African American mothers socialize and navigate racialized discourses
with their children’s through their choices of recreation activities.
Chapter 12 by Hirayama critically examines the significance of seemingly
deviant sexual behaviors, such as masturbation and affairs, to conceptual-
ize sexual happiness among Japanese women who tend to experience
sexlessness.
What follows is the fourth section on community, youth, and education.
Webb in Chap. 13 discusses the potential implications of positive youth
development, beyond well-documented individual benefits, for commu-
nity development. In Chap. 14, Son, Weybright, Janke, and Payne extend
the importance of leisure education beyond the traditional clinical popu-
lation to wider community. In Chap. 15, Beniwal critically analyzes the
data on video game use among Indian youth for their creativity and
development. Chapter 16 by Spring and Wakefield demonstrate a case in
which tourism resulted in a better understanding of cultural significance
of a heritage among visitors and hosts.
The last, fifth section is concerned with the topic of arts and creativity.
Chapter 17, Ross, Iwasaki, Bauer, and Heintzman critically reflect on the
concept of transformation and its intersection across play, spirituality,
 1 Introduction to Positive Sociology of Leisure 9

and social institution of recreational therapy. Sharma in Chap. 18 dis-

cusses the benefits of community art programs including skill develop-
ment, identity exploration, and networking. Chapter 19 by Baweja
re-conceptualizes the potentials of a seemingly mundane artistic activity,
doodling, and its benefits to individuals and groups. In Chap. 20, the
editors review all the chapters, provide summary comments, and lay out
agendas for future studies of PSL.

References
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satisfaction and satisfaction with family life. Journal of Leisure Research,
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Cieslik, M. (2015). ‘Not smiling but frowning’: Sociology and the ‘problem of
happiness’. Sociology, 49(3), 422–437.
Coalter, F. (1997). Leisure sciences and leisure studies: Different concept, same
crisis? Leisure Sciences, 19(4), 255–268.
Easterlin, R. A. (2004). The economics of happiness. Daedalus, 133(2), 26–33.
Freire, T. (Ed.). (2013). Positive leisure science: From subjective experience to social
contexts. New York: Springer.
Fullagar, S., Rich, E., Pavlidis, A., & van Ingen, C. (2019). Feminist knowledges
as interventions in physical cultures. Leisure Sciences, 41(1–2), 1–16.
Glover, T. D. (2016). Leveraging leisure-based community networks to access
social capital. In G. J. Walker, D. Scott, & M. Stodolska (Eds.), Leisure mat-
ters: The state and future of leisure studies (pp. 277–285). State College,
PA: Venture.
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Leisure Sciences.
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Leisure Sciences, 33(4), 341–346.
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Another random document with
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from this 800 men stated to have been lost before entering Tlascala, not counting
those who fell in other provinces, leaves about 580; yet he acknowledges only 440
alive. Hist. Verdad., 108 et seq. Herrera is also contradictory, admitting in one
place 500, and in another ‘less than’ 400 soldiers and 600 allies. Oviedo reduces
the soldiers to 340. iii. 513. Vetancurt adopts Bernal Diaz’ 440 soldiers and
Herrera’s 600 allies. Prescott hastily declares Gomara as nearest to the truth, yet
he departs from him in the result. With regard to the allies, he reckons the full
number of all who were brought to Mexico, while it is pretty obvious, from figures
and facts, that a portion must have been allowed to return home during the
inaction of the emperor’s captivity. The list of losses, as given by different
authorities, stands as follows: 150 soldiers, over 2000 allies, Cortés; over 200
soldiers, over 2000 allies, Lejalde, Probanza; nearly 200 soldiers, over 1000 allies,
Solis; 300 soldiers, over 2000 allies, at one bridge, Sahagun, 122; 450 soldiers,
4000 allies, Gomara, followed by Ixtlilxochitl, Clavigero, Camargo, and others;
over 500 soldiers in all New Spain, Carta del Ejército; over 600 soldiers,
Robertson; over 600 soldiers, B. V. de Tapia, in Ramirez, Proceso contra
Alvarado, 38; 800 soldiers in all New Spain, Cortés, Residencia, i. 42; 870 soldiers
in all New Spain, Bernal Diaz; 1170 soldiers, 8000 allies, Cano, in Oviedo, iii. 551.

[858] The loss in horses varies from 45, in Cortés, to 56, in Lejalde, Probanza,
both acknowledging 24 left.

[859] ‘Perdidose todo el oro y joyas y ropa,’ etc. Cortés, Cartas, 135. It had been
confided to Tlascaltecs, and was nearly all lost, says their chief. Camargo, Hist.
Tlax., 169-70. The officers testified afterward before public notary: ‘Se perdió todo
el dicho oro é joyas de SS. AA., é mataron la yegua que lo traia.’ Lejalde,
Probanza, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. 425. Two witnesses during the residencia of
Cortés stated that the general had two mares, one given to carry the royal
treasures and the other laden with his own. The latter being lost, he claimed the
other to be his, and in this manner appropriated 45,000 pesos or more which
belonged to the king. Cortés, Residencia, i. 69, 101-2. Not long after the retreat he
called on all to declare, under penalty, what gold they had saved of that taken from
the unappropriated piles. From those who did so the treasures were taken,
although it was understood that they had been given to them. All this Cortés kept.
Id., 101-2, 241-2; ii. 402. Many refused to surrender, and since the leaders had
also secured shares from the common pile, the order to reveal possession thereof
was not enforced, says Bernal Diaz. He adds that one third was to be retained by
the possessor as a reward. Cortés kept as a forced loan what had been
surrendered. Hist. Verdad., 117-18. The loss of treasure, that thrown away by
carriers and pressed soldiers, or sunken with their bodies, has been estimated at
from several hundred thousand pesos to over two millions, in the values of that
time; to which Wilson sarcastically objects, that ‘nothing was really lost but the
imaginary treasure, now grown inconveniently large, and which had to be
accounted for to the emperor. The Conquistador was too good a soldier to hazard
his gold; it was therefore in the advance, and came safely off.’ Conq. Mex., 412-
13.

[860] ‘Si esta cosa fuera de dia, por ventura no murieran tantos,’ adds Gomara,
Hist. Mex., 161. While grieving he recognized ‘el manifiesto milagro que la reyna
de los angeles su abogada, el apostol San Pedro, y el de los egércitos Españoles
Santiago, habian hecho en haberse escapado él.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., 302.
Vetancurt moralizes on the flight as a chastisement by God, who saved the
remnant to spread the faith. Teatro Mex., pt. iii. 145-6.

[861] On a later page Bernal Diaz says he fell at Otumba. Hist. Verdad., 107, 246.

[862] Herrera attempts to save somewhat the reputation of the astrologer by the
statement that he prophesied death for himself or his brother.

[863] Every one, say Cortés and Herrera; but Ixtlilxochitl states that one sister of
King Cacama was saved, and he intimates that one or two of his brothers also
escaped. He is contradictory, however. Hist. Chich., 302, 390. The one who
escaped must have been Cuicuitzcatl, the newly made king of Tezcuco. Brasseur
de Bourbourg adds two of his brothers, probably from misinterpreting Ixtlilxochitl.
Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 339.

[864] Ixtlilxochitl names some of the chiefs to whom these offers were made. Hist.
Chich., 302.

[865] Ávila, a veritable martinet, maimed a soldier with a blow for stepping from
the ranks to pluck some fruit. Herrera, dec. ii. lib. x. cap. xii. The same story has
been told of Ávila in Cempoala.

[866] Cortés allows the five scouts to defeat the enemy, who are frightened by the
supposition that a larger force is upon them. Cartas, 137. Herrera is more explicit
with regard to the ambuscade, and makes Ordaz lead up the reinforcements. dec.
ii. lib. x. cap. xii.

[867] ‘Mas no cenar.’ Gomara, Hist. Mex., 162. Sahagun states, however, that this
was the town to which the Otomís had on the preceding day invited them, chiefly
because they were related to the Otomís of the Tlascaltec division under Cortés.
Hist. Conq., 34-5. A risky proceeding, if true, for an isolated community, on whom
might fall the vengeance of the hostile Mexicans. In the account of the route
followed to Tlascala Cortés is still the best guide, for he not only kept a record, but
wrote his report while the occurrences were yet fresh. He is wanting in details,
however, and fails to give names to localities. These omissions are remedied by
Sahagun, who now seems more reliable. Other authors are vague or misleading
for the route, but the occasional incidents told by them are noteworthy. Bernal Diaz
indicates only one stopping place, Quauhtitlan evidently, before Otumba is
reached. Camargo skips to a place adjoining Otumba, and Ixtlilxochitl takes the
army to Quauhximalpan, a place which modern maps locate south of Remedios.
He resumes the northern route, but names some towns that cannot be identified.
Gomara adheres pretty well to Cortés, but his commentator, Chimalpain, supplies
names for places, which differ from Sahagun and indicate a deviation from the
extreme northern course, as will be seen. Torquemada follows chiefly Sahagun,
whom he recommends. Orozco y Berra has closely studied the journey, and
throws much light on it, more so than any other writer; yet his conclusions are not
always satisfactory. Itinerario del Ejercito Español, in Mex. Not. Ciudad., 246 et
seq. I have already spoken at length, in Native Races, iii. 231-6, on the life and
writings of Father Sahagun, and will here refer only to the twelfth book of his
Historia General, inserted by Bustamante, at the beginning of the set, under the
title of Historia de la Conquista de Mexico. This copy is from one found by Muñoz
in the Franciscan convent of Tolosa, in Navarre. Another copy of the twelfth book,
in possession of Conde de Cortina, claimed as the true original, was published
separately by the same editor, at Mexico, 1840, with lengthy notes from Clavigero
and other writers to complete the chain of events, and to comment on the
suppression in the former issue of statements concerning Spanish misdeeds. It
has also an additional chapter. Neither copy, however, corresponds quite to that
used by Torquemada, who in more than one instance quotes passages that are
startling compared with the modified expressions in the others. The severity of the
friar toward Spanish conquerors was no doubt a strong reason for the suppression
of his work. The twelfth book begins with Grijalva’s arrival and the omens
preceding it, and carries the narrative of the conquest down to the fall of Mexico.
According to his own statement, on page 132, it is founded to a great extent on the
relations given him by eye-witnesses, soldiers who had assumed the Franciscan
robe and associated daily with the friar; but much is adopted, with little or no
critique, from superstitious natives, the whole forming a rather confusing medley,
so that it is difficult to extract the many valuable points which it contains. This
difficulty is, of course, not encountered by such followers as Bustamante and
Brasseur de Bourbourg, and similar supporters of native records or anti-Spanish
versions.
In the Native Races I give the traits which characterize the French abbé and
his famous works on Central American culture and antiquities, and it remains only
to refer briefly to his version of the conquest, comprised in the fourth volume of the
Histoire des Nations Civilisées. His pleasing style lends attraction to every page,
but his faults become more conspicuous from the comparison presented by a vast
array of authorities, revealing the indiscreet and enthusiastic readiness to accept
native tales, or anything that favors the hypotheses by which he is ruled, and in
the disposition to build magnificent structures on airy foundation. His version,
indeed, strives rather to narrate the conquest from a native standpoint, and to use
Spanish chronicles only as supplementary authority. To this end he relies chiefly
on the now well known writings of Sahagun, Ixtlilxochitl, Camargo, and
Torquemada, and it is but rarely that he is able to quote the often startling original
manuscripts possessed only by himself.

[868] ‘Mordiendo la tierra, arrancando yeruas, y alçãdo los ojos al cielo, dezian,
dioses no nos desampareys en este peligro, pues teneys poder sobre todos los
hombres, hazed que con vuestra ayuda salgamos del.’ Herrera, dec. ii. lib. x. cap.
xii.

[869] Herrera conforms to Cortés and Gomara in admitting a stay of two nights at
one place, but makes this Tecopatlan, called ‘duck town,’ from its many fowl. This
is evidently Tepotzotlan. But it was not near the lake like Citlaltepec, and ‘duck
town’ applies rather to a lake town, in this region, at least. Cortés also writes, in
Cartas, 137, ‘fuimos aquel dia por cerca de unas lagunas hasta que llegamos á
una poblacion,’ and this does not apply well to Tepotzotlan, which lies a goodly
distance from the lakes, requiring certainly no march along ‘some’ lakes to reach
it. Hence the Citlaltepec of Sahagun must be meant. This author, however,
supposes the Spaniards to stay one night at each place. Hist. Conq., 36 (ed.
1840), 129. Ixtlilxochitl calls the place after Tepotzotlan, Aychqualco. Hist. Chich.,
302. At Tepotzotlan, says Vetancurt, some of the people remained to receive the
Spaniards—this is in accordance with one of Sahagun’s versions—and here
remained to hide the son of Montezuma, whom he supposes to have escaped with
the troops. Teatro Mex., pt. iii. 144. According to Chimalpain’s interpretation the
Spaniards stay the two nights at Quauhtitlan, and thence proceed by way of
Ecatepec, now San Cristóbal, skirting the northern shore of Tezcuco Lake, and on
to Otumba. Hist. Conq., i. 304-5. This route certainly appears the most direct, but
there is no authority for it. The sentence from Cortés might no doubt be adopted
equally well for this road; but Sahagun, Ixtlilxochitl, and Herrera name towns which
lie east and north of the Zumpango Lake, and during the rainy season now
prevailing the passages between the lakes were rather swampy. Tezcuco was
beside too close for the fleeing army. Alaman accepts the route south of
Zumpango, Disert., i. 122, against which nearly all the above reasons apply.

[870] ‘Nos convenia ir muchas veces fuera de camino.’ Cortés, Cartas, 138.
Owing to the guide’s inefficiency, adds Gomara, Hist. Mex., 162.

[871] Sahagun also calls the mountain, or the slope, Tona. His confusing versions
sometimes reverse all the names. Cortés places it two leagues from the last camp.

[872] ‘Detrás dél [hill] estaba una gran ciudad de mucha gente.’ Cortés, Cartas,
138. Zacamolco is also called a large town. There could hardly be two large towns
so close together in a district like this, so that the other must have been
Teotihuacan, ‘city of the gods,’ with its ancient and lofty pyramids, sacred to all
Anáhuac, and one of the chief centres of pilgrimage. For description of ruins, see
Native Races, iv. 529-44.

[873] ‘Con un golpe de piedra en la cabeza tan violento, que abollando las armas,
le rompió la primera tunica del cerebro.’ So Solis defines the wound, which
afterward grew dangerous. Hist. Mex., ii. 203. He supposes that it was received at
Otumba.

[874] ‘Le comieron sin dexar [como dizen] pelo ni huesso.’ Gomara, Hist. Mex.,
162. ‘La cabeza cupo a siete o ocho.’ The horse was Gamboa’s, on which
Alvarado was saved after his leap. Herrera, ii. x. xii.; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad.,
107. Ixtlilxochitl says that Zinacatzin, of Teotihuacan, killed it—he whom we shall
find leading the enemy on the morrow.

[875] ‘Y pareció que el Espíritu Santo me alumbró con este aviso,’ exclaims
Cortés, Cartas, 139. Many a soldier carried a comrade on his back. Gomara, Hist.
Mex., 163.

[876] According to Cortés, whose dates I have already shown to be reliable. He

makes it a Saturday. Prescott makes it the 8th, a mistake which has been copied
by several writers, including Brasseur de Bourbourg and Carbajal Espinosa.

[877] ‘Llanos de la provincia de Otupam.’ The battle taking place near Metepec.
Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., 302-3. Plain of Otumpan, also called Atztaquemecan.
Camargo, Hist. Tlax., 170. ‘Los Llanos de Apan.’ ‘El Valle de Otumba.’ Lorenzana,
in Cortés, Hist. N. España, xiv. 148. Clavigero calls it the plain of Tonan, derived
from Sahagun, who applies the name to the slope of the range bordering it.

[878] Following the intimation given by Sahagun, Torquemada states that the
enemy came pouring in from rear and sides to surround the troops, i. 508.

[879] While they were halting, writes Ojeda, a big Indian with club and shield
advanced to challenge any Spaniard to single combat. Ojeda responded, but in
advancing against the man his negro slave followed him, and either the sight of
two frightened the native or he sought to decoy them, for he retreated into a
copse. Herrera, ii. x. xiii.

[880] Camargo, Hist. Tlax., 171-2; Torquemada, i. 509. Ixtlilxochitl spells the name
Zihuatcatlzin, and Oviedo calls it Xiaquetenga, based probably on that of the
Tlascaltec chief. Duran, Hist. Ind., MS., ii. 480. ‘La flor de Mexico, y de Tezcuco, y
Saltocan.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 108.
[881] Solis clears the way with volleys, but only seven muskets remained and no
ammunition.

[882] Camargo states that he lived to an age exceeding 130 years. Heroes in all
ages have enjoyed the privilege of not being tied down to laws governing ordinary
mortals.

[883] An ill-natured brute, which attacked the enemy with teeth and hoofs. He did
good service all through the following campaign, till he fell in one of the last battles
of the great siege. Camargo, Hist. Tlax., 172.

[884] ‘Duró este terrible conflicto por mas de cuatro horas.... Llegado el medio dia,
con el intolerable trabajo de la pelea, los españoles comenzaron á desmayar.’
Sahagun, Hist. Conq. (ed. 1840), 132.

[885] ‘En vnas Andas, vn Caballero mandando, con vna Rodela Dorada, y que la
Vandera, y Señal Real, que le salia por las Espaldas, era vna Red de Oro, que los
Indios llamaban Tlahuizmatlaxopilli, que le subia diez palmos.’ Torquemada, i.
509. ‘Su vandera tendida, con ricas armas de oro, y grandes penachos de
argenteria.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 108. Ixtlilxochitl calls the gold net
matlaxopili. Hist. Chich., 303. Camargo more correctly agrees with Torquemada.

[886] The accounts of this incident vary greatly. According to Bernal Diaz ‘Cortes
dió vn encuẽtro cõ el cauallo al Capitã Mexicano, hizo abatir su vãdera ... quiẽ
siguiò al Capitan q̄ traia la vandera que aun no auia caido del encuentro que
Cortes le diò, fue vn Juan de Salamanca, natural de Ontiueros, con vna buena
yegua ouera, que le acabò de matar.’ Hist. Verdad., 108. The banner could not
have fallen without the general. Gomara intimates that Cortés charged alone
against the ‘capitan general, y diole dos lançadas, de que cayo y murio.’ Hist.
Mex., 163. This is also substantially the view of Duran and Camargo. Herrera
leaves the impression that Salamanca alone follows Cortés in the charge, and
cuts off the head and banner of the commander after his chief had wounded and
overthrown him. dec. ii. lib. x. cap. xiii. Torquemada, Clavigero, Prescott, and
others, also assume that Cortés lances the generalissimo, but they let the cavalry
follow. Sahagun, who obtained his information from participants that afterward
became friars, merely states that Cortés and one other led the charge, which
resulted in the overthrow of the general and his banner. Hist. Conq. (ed. 1840),
132. Cortés is still more reticent in saying: ‘quiso Dios que murió una persona
dellos, que debia ser tan principal, que con su muerte cesó toda aquella guerra.’
Cartas, 139. The assumption that Cortés overthrew the commander with his lance
rests chiefly on the fact that Cortés as leader of the charge receives credit for
everything that happens. Writers also forget that the commander was carried aloft
in a litter the better to observe the movements of the army. His burdened carriers
would with greater likelihood have been overthrown by the horses or in the
disorder created by their advance. This supposition is confirmed by Cortés’
reference to the affair, wherein he gives credit to none for the act, his usual
custom when some one else performed a noteworthy deed. He was seldom chary
in giving credit to himself for achievements, as may be gathered alone from his
account of the stay in Mexico City, which announces that he it was who tore down
the idols, who captured the temple after another had failed to do so, who single-
handed covered the retreat of his comrades on the Tlacopan causeway on the
morning preceding the flight, and who with less than a score that ‘dared stay with
him’ protected the retreat of the last remnant from the city. The supposition
receives further support from the permission given by the emperor to Salamanca
to add to his escutcheon the trophy taken from the commander. This implies that
although the victory was due to Cortés he could not have inflicted the mortal
wound. Salamanca became alcalde mayor of Goazacoalco. Bernal Diaz, Hist.
Verdad., 108, 111.

[887] ‘Los principales, lleuarõ cõ grã llanto, el cuerpo de su general,’ says Herrera;
but this is doubtful, to judge also from his subsequent observations.

[888] ‘Murieron ... casi todos los amigos de los españoles, y algunos de ellos
mismos.’ Sahagun, Hist. Conq. (ed. 1840), 132. Solis acknowledges only
wounded, of whom two or three died afterward. Hist. Mex., ii. 203. Cortés did not
escape additional wounds, from which he was soon to suffer intensely.

[889] The natives were particularly ready to testify to this supernatural aid, as
Camargo relates, Hist. Tlax., 172, perhaps for their own credit, as good converts
and brave warriors.

[890] ‘Never,’ writes Gomara, ‘did a man show such prowess as he, and never
were men so well led. He by his own personal efforts saved them.’ Hist. Mex., 163.
‘Se tuuo la vitoria despues de Dios, por el valor de Cortés.’ Herrera, dec. ii. lib. x.
cap. xiii. While quite prepared to uphold the general as a hero, Bernal Diaz takes
exception to this praise as unjust to his many followers, who not only did wonders
in sustaining him, but in saving his life. Hist. Verdad., 111.

[891] Ixtlilxochitl assumes that another army was encountered and routed with
great slaughter, a few leagues ahead, at Teyocan. Hist. Chich., 303.

[892] Ixtlilxochitl. Chimalpain calls it Apam, which appears to have been situated
farther north. Lorenzana refers to all this extent as the plains of Apan, the name
which it now bears. Camargo names the plains of Apantema, Tacacatitlan, and
Atlmoloyan as traversed by the army to reach Tlascala. Hist. Tlax., 172.

[893] Cartas, 140. ‘Pues quizà sabiamos cierto, que nos auian de ser leales, ò que
voluntad ternian.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 108.
[894] Brasseur de Bourbourg gives to a village here the name of Xaltelolco. Hist.
Nat. Civ., iv. 352. Ixtlilxochitl refers to it as Huexoyotlipan, and states that
Citlalquiauhtzin came up with food and presents from the lords.

[895] Cortés calls the town Gualipan; Bernal Diaz, Gualiopar; Gomara, Huazilipan;
Herrera gives it 2000 houses.

[896] ‘Yo queria,’ said Maxixcatzin, ‘yr en vuestra busca con treynta mil guerreros.’
Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 109. This is confirmed by the Aztec version of Duran,
which says that the rumor of Tlascaltec preparations helped to intimidate the
proposed Mexican reinforcements for Otumba. Hist. Ind., MS., ii. 483. According to
Oviedo, 50,000 warriors, followed by 20,000 carriers, met the Spaniards at the
frontier, iii. 514. Camargo extends the number to 200,000, ‘who came too late, but
served nevertheless to check pursuit from the enemy.’ Hist. Tlax., 173. Gomara
stamps Oviedo’s statement as hearsay, but adds that the Tlascaltecs declared
themselves prepared to return with the Spaniards at once against Mexico. This
Cortés declined to do for the present, but allowed a few soldiers to join a band in
pursuit of marauding stragglers. Hist. Mex., 164. The delay in collecting the
proposed reinforcements may have been due to the small faction hostile to the
Spaniards, headed by the captain-general, Xicotencatl the younger, who seems
never to have forgiven the disgrace of defeat which they had been the first to inflict
upon him. He had accompanied the lords to Hueyotlipan, perhaps to gloat over the
misfortune of his victors. According to Herrera, Captain Juan Paez—Torquemada
writes Perez—was one of the invalids at Tlascala, and to him 100,000 warriors
had been offered to go to the aid of his general; but he declined, on the ground
that his strict orders were to remain with his 80 men at Tlascala. For this he was
naturally upbraided by Cortés as a coward, fit for hanging. The story is not very
probable. dec. ii. lib. x. cap. xiv,; Torquemada, i. 512.

[897] ‘Que estimó él mucho, y puso por una de sus armas.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Hist.
Chich., 303.

[898] Cortés, Cartas, 140. Bernal Diaz intimates one day.

[899] ‘Cõ mas de duzientos mil hombres en orden: yuan las mugeres, y niños, en
la delantera.’ Herrera, dec. ii. lib. x. cap. xiii. This order may have been intended to
signify peace and welcome.

[900] Camargo differs from Bernal Diaz, in intimating that all were lodged in
Maxixcatzin’s palace, while Ixtlilxochitl assumes that Cortés was the guest of
Xicotencatl. ‘Magiscacin me trajo una cama de madera encajada, con alguna ropa
... y á todos hizo reparar de lo que él tuvo.’ Cortés, Cartas, 141.
 CHAPTER XXVIII.
INVALUABLE FRIENDSHIP.

July-September, 1520.

Divers Disasters to the Spaniards—Mexico Makes Overtures to Tlascala

—A Council Held—Tlascala Remains True to the Spaniards—
Disaffection in the Spanish Army—Cortés again Wins the Soldiers to
his Views—Renewal of Active Operations against the Aztecs—Success
of the Spanish Arms—Large Reinforcements of Native Allies—One
Aztec Stronghold after another Succumbs.

At Tlascala were certain invalid Spaniards, who praised the

natives for their kind treatment, and for the almost universal
sympathy exhibited with regard to the misfortunes at Mexico. The
army now learned that disaster had also befallen the Spaniards in
other parts of the country. The news of the flight had spread with
marvellous rapidity, and Cuitlahuatzin’s envoys had not failed to
magnify the successes of his arms while urging throughout the
country the extermination of the invaders. This advice had found
ready acceptance in the provinces west and south of Tlascala, which
had additional reasons for hostility in the assumption of the little
republic since she became the ally of the strangers.
Shortly after the departure of the army from the coast a party of
fifty men with five horses had followed with baggage and valuables.
At Tlascala a portion of them, with two horses, under Juan de
Alcántara senior, received the portion of treasure set aside during
the late repartition for the coast garrison, estimated at sixty thousand
pesos. With this they set out on their return to Villa Rica,
accompanied by a few invalids. On the way they were surprised and
slaughtered, the treasures and effects being distributed as spoils.
[901]

The larger division of the party, under the hidalgo Juan Yuste,
[902] which were to join Cortés, also picked up some convalescents,
together with additional treasure and baggage, and proceeded to
Mexico by the way of Calpulalpan. They numbered five horsemen,
forty-five foot-soldiers, and three hundred Tlascaltecs, the latter
under command of one of Maxixcatzin’s sons. Advised of their
approach the natives of Zultepec, among others, were induced, more
by cupidity than patriotic zeal, to form an ambuscade along the steep
declivity of a narrow pass which had to be followed. Here they fell
upon the party on all sides as they descended in single file,
encumbered beside by their burdens. Resistance was ineffective,
and those not slain were carried to Tezcuco to be offered up to the
idols, while their effects were distributed, some of the trophies being
dedicated to temples of the Acolhuan capital, there to tell the
mournful tale to the returning conquerors.[903]
About this time a vessel arrived at Villa Rica with three or four
score of adventurers, under Captain Coronado, and being told of the
fabulously rich Mexico they resolved to lose no time in following the
army, in order to secure a share of treasures. It was just after the
flight from Mexico, and the provinces were in arms, elated at the
triumphs at the lake. On approaching the Tepeaca district the party
was surprised, and partly slaughtered, partly captured, the prisoners
being distributed among the towns of the province for sacrifice.[904]
These reports created no small alarm for the safety of Villa Rica,
and several Tlascaltec messengers were sent with letters, by
different routes, to bring news. Orders were also given to the
comandante to forward powder, fire-arms, bows, and other
necessaries that he could spare, together with some men, sailors, if
no others were available. The reply was reassuring, for although the
natives had fuller particulars of the disaster at Mexico than Cortés
had chosen to impart to the garrison, yet everything remained quiet.
The remittance of war material was small, and the men who
convoyed it numbered less than a dozen, men stricken by disease,
and led by Lencero, who became the butt of the drôles de corps.[905]
Every attention and comfort was tendered at Tlascala to the
Spaniards while caring for their wounds and awaiting the
development of projects. Hardly a man had arrived scathless, and
quite a number had received injuries which maimed them for life or
resulted in death.[906] Cortés’ wounds were most serious. The
indomitable spirit which sustained him so far now yielded with the
failing body. Severe scalp cuts brought on fever,[907] which caused
his life to hang in the balance for some time. Finally his strong
constitution and the excellent empiric methods of the native herb
doctors prevailed, to the joy, not alone of Spaniards, but of
Tlascaltecs, who had shown the utmost anxiety during the crisis.
During this period of Spanish inaction the Mexicans were
energetically striving to follow up their blow against the invaders. The
first act after ridding the capital of their presence was one of
purgation, in which the victorious party fell on those whose
lukewarmness, or whose friendly disposition toward Montezuma and
his guests, had hindered the siege operations and aided the enemy.
A tumult was soon raised, wherein perished four royal princes,
brothers and sons of Montezuma,[908] whose death may be
attributed to Cuitlahuatzin’s desire to remove any dangerous rival to
the throne. Not that this was a necessary precaution, since his
standing, as a younger brother of Montezuma, and his successful
operations against the Spaniards, were sufficient to raise him above
every other candidate.[909] Furthermore, as commander-in-chief of
the army and as leader of the successful party, he held the key to the
position, and accordingly was unanimously chosen. About the same
time Cohuanacoch was elected king at Tezcuco, in lieu of the
younger brother forced on the people by Cortés, and
Quauhtemotzin, nephew of Montezuma, rose to the office of high-
priest to Huitzilopochtli. The coronation was the next prominent
event,[910] for which the indispensable captives had already been
secured from the fleeing army. What more precious victims, indeed,
could have been desired for the inaugural than the powerful
Spaniards and the hated warriors of brave Tlascala? And what
grander site for the ceremony than the great temple, recovered from
the detested intruders and purified from foreign emblems? In
connection with this came a series of festivals.[911]
The utmost activity was displayed in repairing the damage
caused by the Spaniards, and in fortifying the city and its approaches
against a possible future invasion. The construction and discipline of
the army were improved in some degree after the examples given by
the Europeans; its tactics were revised, and its arms perfected with
the aid of captured weapons, the Chinantec pike being also
introduced and tipped with Toledo blades or other metal points.
Envoys were despatched to near and distant provinces, bidding for
their support by remission of taxes and tributes, by restoration of
conquered territories, by patriotic appeals, and by roseate views and
promises.[912] The Spaniards were painted as selfish, perfidious,
and cruel, intent on conquering the whole country, on enslaving the
people, on extorting their substance, and on overthrowing social and
religious institutions. Spoils and heads of Spanish men and horses
were sent round to disabuse the people of their supposed
invulnerability; and as a further encouragement the dreaded Cortés
was declared to have fallen.
 The most important missions were those to Michoacan and
Tlascala, the former an independent kingdom of considerable extent,
stretching westward beyond the lake region to the Pacific, over an
undulating, well watered territory, which abounded in all the
resources of a rich soil and a tropic climate. The inhabitants, the
Tarascos, were distinct from the Aztecs in language, but fully their
equals in culture, which was of the Nahua type, and as a rule
successful in resisting the armed encroachments of the lake allies.
The present ruler was Zwanga, who held court at Tzintzuntzan, on
Lake Patzcuaro. He received the embassadors of Cuitlahuatzin with
due attention, but hesitated about the answer to be given. The
Aztecs had from time immemorial been the enemies of his people,
and to aid them would surely bring upon him the wrath of the
Spaniards, who must still be powerful, since the Mexicans came to
plead for his alliance. In this dilemma it was resolved, with the advice
of the council, to send plenipotentiaries to Mexico, in order to learn
more fully the condition of affairs, and there determine what should
be done.[913]
More decisive in its results was the mission to Tlascala.
Regarded as the most important of all, it was intrusted to six
prominent men, of acknowledged talent for negotiation. They came
fortified with choice presents of robes, feathers, salt, and similar
desirable commodities, and were received with customary courtesy
by the assembled lords and council. The eldest was the first to
speak. He recalled the intimate relationship between Mexico and
Tlascala in blood and language, deplored the feud which had so long
existed, and urged the establishment of permanent peace, for mutual
benefit, whereby the Tlascaltecs would gain all the advantages of a
long prohibited trade. One obstacle alone interposed to prevent a
happy harmony, which was the presence of the Spaniards, to whom
was due the unfortunate condition of the whole country. Their only
aim was to make themselves masters, to overthrow the gods of the
natives, to enslave the inhabitants, and impoverish them by
exactions.
The Tlascaltecs would after rendering service be treated with the
same base ingratitude and perfidy as the over generous Montezuma,
and reap not only universal detestation, but the anger of the gods.
Better, therefore, to seize the present favorable opportunity to deliver
themselves from dreadful calamities, to establish prosperity and
independence on a firm basis, and by a joint alliance recover the
alienated provinces and share the revenues therefrom.[914] The first
step to this desirable end was the destruction of the Spaniards, now
at their mercy, whereby they would gain also the gratitude of
neighboring peoples, the fame of patriots, and the blessing of the
gods.
The speech delivered, together with the presents, the envoys
withdrew to let the council deliberate. Bitter as was the enmity
between the two peoples, intensified by the recent defeat, there were
not wanting persons to whom the argument and offers seemed all
that the most brilliant fortune could bring. What, indeed, had they in
common with a strange race by whom they had been conquered,
and whose presence portended many changes in their social and
religious institutions, transmitted by their forefathers, and upheld with
the blood of generations? Their independence would be
endangered. Besides, the invaders had been shamefully defeated,
and might never again hold up their heads. The whole country was
mustering to drive them out, and, if successful, woe to Tlascala, as
their ally. In any case a struggle was in prospect, wherein their sons
and brethren would be sacrificed by the thousands. And for what?
For the benefit of strangers, always ready with their yoke of slavery.
On the other hand, they were offered the peace so long desired, with
its accompanying blessings; deliverance from the trade blockade
and seclusion which had so long afflicted them, together with the
attractive adjunct of assured independence, and the triumphant and
profitable position of conquering allies of the Mexicans.[915]
The strongest advocate of these views was Xicotencatl junior,
who had never forgotten the several Spanish victories that checked
his triumphal career as soldier and general, and humiliated him in
the eyes of the whole people. Yet this feeling was tinged with love for
the independence and welfare of the country, threatened, in his
eyes, by the invaders. With the news of disaster at Mexico his party
had assumed respectable proportions. Some of its members were
impelled by motives similar to his own; some were bribed by
Mexican gifts, and promises of wealth and preferment; some were
tempted by the arms, baggage, and treasure of the fugitives, whom it
seemed easy now to overcome. Not a few considered the burden of
maintaining a horde of strangers, with the prospect of afterward
yielding them service and blood for their aggrandizement. When the
collectors of provisions for the Spaniards made their rounds they
could not but observe the bitter feeling which prevailed in some
quarters.[916] The elder Xicotencatl appears to have remonstrated
with his son for breeding trouble; but this availed little, as may be
supposed. During the deliberation of the council on the Mexican
proposal the young chieftain stepped beyond the timid suggestions
of those who inclined toward an Aztec alliance, and boldly advocated
it as the only salvation for Tlascala.
Next spoke the wise Maxixcatzin, the leading representative of
the republic. In his chivalrous nature devotion to the Spaniards
exercised an influence, while as ruler of the richest district, in
agriculture and trade, he had also an eye to the benefits which would
accrue from an alliance with them. He recalled the many instances of
treachery and want of good faith on the part of the Mexicans to show
how little their promises could be relied on. It was merely the
presence of the Spaniards that prompted their offer of alliance, which
was to restore Mexico to its former terrorizing strength. This
accomplished, the ancient enemy would not fail to remember that
Tlascala, in addition to the old-standing enmity, had been one of the
chief instruments in their late suffering and humiliation, and had
figured as conqueror and master over them. They would lose no time
in avenging themselves, and by the destruction of the republic
remove forever so dangerous an enemy. Far better, then, to maintain
the friendship of the Spaniards, whose good faith had been tried,
and whose prowess was not broken by one defeat. Previous to their
arrival they had been suffering from the want even of necessaries,
and had been exposed to incessant ravages and warfare, which
threatened their very existence. With the Spaniards’ aid they had
been freed from this want and danger; they had enriched themselves
with trade and spoils, and had raised the republic to the most
prominent position it had ever occupied, all far beyond what the
Mexicans would ever permit. What did the gods say? Oracles and
omens had foretold the doom of the empire. It was in vain to struggle
with fate, which had decreed the control to the new-comers. The
interests of the state demanded the friendship of these destined
victors, who offered them wealth and glory, while good faith and
honor demanded loyalty to the invited guests, from whom so many
benefits had already sprung.
Observing the effect of the appeal on the wavering members,
young Xicotencatl hastened to defend his cherished plans, but with
such imprudence as to rouse Maxixcatzin to strike him. He was
thereupon jostled out of the council-chamber, badly bruised and with
torn clothes.[917] Against this expulsion none of his supporters
ventured to remonstrate, and the vote being unanimously in favor of
Maxixcatzin’s views, the Aztec envoys were notified accordingly.[918]
How momentous this discussion! And did the council of Tlascala
realize the full import of their acts? For thereby they determined the
present and permanent fate of many powerful nations besides
themselves. Undoubtedly the country would at some time have fallen
before the dominant power; but, had it been possible for the nations
of the great plateau to combine and act in unison, very different
might have been their ultimate condition. Cortés and his company
owed their safety to a decision which kept alive discord between the
native tribes, while the Tlascaltecs were saved from what probably
would have been a treacherous alliance, perhaps from annihilation,
only to sink into peaceful obscurity and merge into the mass of
conquered people.[919] They endeavored to keep the disagreement
in the council-chamber a secret from Cortés, but he heard of it, and
failed not to confirm Maxixcatzin in his devotion by holding forth the
most brilliant prospects as the result of this alliance. The words by
which the council decided for Cortés were to him as drops of
perspiration on the lately fevered brow, which tell that the crisis is
passed.
There was another cloud about this time appearing on the
horizon of the fortunes of Cortés. During his stay at Tlascala the men
of Narvaez began again to moot the subject of return. The golden
vision of Mexico’s treasures had been rudely dissipated, leaving only
the remembrance of hardships and disgrace. The flowery Antilles
appeared more alluring than ever to these gold-seekers, only too
many of whom were more accustomed to the farm than to the camp.
They could think of nothing but the ease and security of the fertile
plantations, where nature unloaded its wealth, and where docile
natives ministered to every want. In furtherance of this idea it was
urged on Cortés, by Duero and other leaders, to retire, to Villa Rica
before the Mexicans had succeeded in their efforts to cut off his
retreat. There they would intrench themselves while awaiting aid
from the islands and arranging a fresh campaign, having the vessels
to fall back on, if necessary. But to these intimations Cortés would
not for a moment listen. And there were many reasons for this—his
ambition to be all or nothing in this enterprise, his crimes against
Velazquez, his irregularities regarding the king’s interests, which only
brilliant success could redeem. As well might they talk to the
unyielding hills; he would join his dead comrades in the canals of
Mexico, or voluntarily ascend to the sacrificial stone, but he would
not turn back from this adventure.
When the general revealed his firm intention to renew the
campaign as soon as possible, the outcry became loud. The Noche
Triste and the narrow escape at Otumba had left impressions too
horrible to be easily forgotten. They shuddered at the thought of
renewing such risk, and cursed the gold which had allured them to
former discomfitures. If the general wished to throw away his life he
might do so, but they were not such madmen. Moreover, it was
highly imprudent to place so much faith in the Tlascaltecs, who might
at the first encounter with the enemy abandon or betray allies
differing so greatly in language, religion, and customs. A formal
demand was therefore addressed to him, through the notary, to
return to Villa Rica, on the ground of their small number and
dismembered condition, devoid as they were of clothing, arms,
ammunition, and horses, and with so many maimed and wounded.
They were wholly unfit to undertake any campaign, much less
against an enemy who had just defeated them when they were far
stronger in number and armament than now. Declared, as it was, in
the name of the army, though in truth by the men of Narvaez only,
[920]and headed by such persons as Duero, with invocation of the
imperial name, the proposal placed Cortés in a dilemma. Yet it
roused in him only a firmer determination. He was more master now
than ever he could be under the new proposal; and Cortés loved to
be master. The same reasons which had moved him before to
advance into Mexico in quest of independent fame and wealth, and
to evade the prospective disgrace and poverty, imprisonment and
death, were reasons stronger now than ever.
Here was another of those delicate points on which the destiny
of the Estremaduran seemed ever turning. Rousing himself to meet
the issue, though still weak with disease, he summoned an
audience. “What is this I hear?” he asked of the assembled soldiers.
“Is it true that you would retire from the fertile fields of New Spain,
you, Spaniards, Castilians, Christians! leave the ship-loads of gold
which in the Aztec capital we saw and handled; leave still standing
the abominable idols with their bloody ministers, and tamely summon
others to enjoy the riches and glories which you are too craven to
achieve? Alack! for your patriotism, for duty to your emperor, to God,
for the honor of Spanish arms! Know you not that one step further in
retreat than necessary is equivalent to the abandonment of all? Or
perhaps the fault is my own. I have been too careful of mine ease,
too cowardly to expose my person to the dangers into which I
directed you; I have fled before the foe—help me to remember,
friends—I have left my comrades to die unaided on the battle-field
while I sought safety, I have fed while you starved, I have slept while
you labored, or my too sluggish brain has refused the duty due by
your commander.” The speaker paused, but only for a moment. At
this, the very beginning of his plea, a hundred eyes were
affectionately regarding him through their moisture, a hundred
tongues were denying all insinuations of baseness as applied to him,
their great and brave commander. Already their hearts were aflame
with avarice and ambition; aflame, like St Augustine’s, with Christian
zeal and fervency of devotion, soldier fanatics as they were, stern,
forehead-wrinkled men—for fighting men, no less than fighting dogs,
display a gravity in their every-day demeanor unknown to tamer
spirits. “Are not my interests yours, and yours mine?” continued
Cortés. “Therefore, I pray you, ascribe not my views to disregard of
your wishes, but to a desire to promote the good of all. What people
going to war that does not sometimes suffer defeat; but what brave
men ever abandoned a glorious campaign because of one repulse?
And do you not see that it is more dangerous to go than to remain—
that to retreat further would only invite further attack? I will not allude
before soldiers of mine,” concluded the speaker, “to the everlasting
infamy of abandoning these brave Tlascaltecs to the enmity of the
combined forces of the plateau for having stood the Spaniards’ friend
in time of danger. Go, all of you who will! abandon your sacred
trusts, and with them the riches in mines, and tributes here awaiting
you, and fair encomiendas, with countless servants to attend before
your new nobility; for myself, if left alone, then alone will I here
remain and general Indians, since Spaniards have all turned
cowards!”
Hearts of steel could not withstand such words so spoken; and
loud came the shouts of approval from Cortés’ old comrades, who
swore that not a man should be allowed to endanger the common
safety by leaving. This manifestation was in itself sufficient to shame
the disaffected into resignation, although not into silence, for
mutterings were frequent against the quality of persuasion employed
by the general and his beggarly followers, who had nothing to lose
except their lives. In order somewhat to allay their discontent Cortés
promised that at the conclusion of the next campaign their wishes
should be consulted, and the first favorable opportunity for departure
be tendered them—a cool proposal, affecting only those who would
be left of them, yet made with sober visage by the artless Cortés.
[921]

The determination of Cortés was now what it always had been,

namely, to conquer and become master of all New Spain; and the
greater the difficulty the greater the glory. Fearing that further evil
might result from continued inactivity, and from remaining a burden
on the allies, Cortés resolved to lose no time in taking the field.[922]
In the fertile plains to the south of Tlascala lay the rich province of
Tepeyacac,[923] euphonized into Tepeaca, long hostile to the
republic. Intimidated by the subjugation of Tlascala and Cholula, the
three brothers who ruled it[924] had tendered their submission to the
conquerors, only to return to their old masters, the Aztecs, the