The History of the Conquest of Peru | Page 6

the spectator, whose eye ranges over the ground from a more distant
and elevated point, though the individual objects may lose somewhat of
their vividness, takes in at a glance all the operations of the field.
Paradoxical as it may appear, truth rounded on contemporary testimony
would seem, after all, as likely to be attained by the writer of a later day,
as by contemporaries themselves.
Before closing these remarks, I may be permitted to add a few of a
personal nature. In several foreign notices of my writings, the author
has been said to be blind; and more than once I have had the credit of
having lost my sight in the composition of my first history. When I
have met with such erroneous accounts, I have hastened to correct them.
But the present occasion affords me the best means of doing so; and I
am the more desirous of this, as I fear some of my own remarks, in the
Prefaces to my former histories, have led to the mistake.
While at the University, I received an injury in one of my eyes, which
deprived me of the sight of it. The other, soon after, was attacked by
inflammation so severely, that, for some time, I lost the sight of that
also; and though it was subsequently restored, the organ was so much
disordered as to remain permanently debilitated, while twice in my life,
since, I have been deprived of the use of it for all purposes of reading
and writing, for several years together. It was during one of these
periods that I received from Madrid the materials for the "History of
Ferdinand and Isabella," and in my disabled condition, with my
Transatlantic treasures lying around me, I was like one pining from
hunger in the midst of abundance. In this state, I resolved to make the
ear, if possible, do the work of the eye. I procured the services of a
secretary, who read to me the various authorities; and in time I became
so far familiar with the sounds of the different foreign languages (to
some of which, indeed, I had been previously accustomed by a
residence abroad), that I could comprehend his reading without much
difficulty. As the reader proceeded, I dictated copious notes; and, when
these had swelled to a considerable amount, they were read to me
repeatedly, till I had mastered their contents sufficiently for the

purposes of composition. The same notes furnished an easy means of
reference to sustain the text.
Still another difficulty occurred, in the mechanical labor of writing,
which I found a severe trial to the eye. This was remedied by means of
a writing-case, such as is used by the blind, which enabled me to
commit my thoughts to paper without the aid of sight, serving me
equally well in the dark as in the light. The characters thus formed
made a near approach to hieroglyphics; but my secretary became expert
in the art of deciphering, and a fair copy--with a liberal allowance for
unavoidable blunders--was transcribed for the 'use of the printer. I have
described the process with more minuteness, as some curiosity has
been repeatedly expressed in reference to my modus operandi under my
privations, and the knowledge of it may be of some assistance to others
in similar circumstances.
Though I was encouraged by the sensible progress of my work, it was
necessarily slow. But in time the tendency to inflammation diminished,
and the strength of the eye was confirmed more and more. It was at
length so far restored, that I could read for several hours of the day
though my labors in this way necessarily terminated with the daylight.
Nor could I ever dispense with the services of a secretary, or with the
writing-case; for, contrary to the usual experience, I have found writing
a severer trial to the eye than reading,--a remark, however, which does
not apply to the reading of manuscript; and to enable myself therefore,
to revise my composition more carefully, I caused a copy of the
"History of Ferdinand and Isabella" to be printed for my own
inspection, before it was sent to the press for publication. Such as I
have described was the improved state of my health during the
preparation of the "Conquest of Mexico"; and, satisfied with being
raised so nearly to a level with the rest of my species, I scarcely envied
the superior good fortune of those who could prolong their studies into
the evening, and the later hours of the night.
But a change has again taken place during the last two years. The sight
of my eye has become gradually dimmed, while the sensibility of the
nerve has been so far increased, that for several weeks of the last year I
have