English: An illustrated panel appearing on fol.54 of Book XII of the
en:Florentine Codex, the 16th-century compendium of materials and information on Aztec and Nahua history collected by Fray Bernardino de Sahagún. The drawing shows Nahuas infected with
smallpox disease. The illustration accompanies text written in Nahuatl, which in English translation says in part:
". . . [The disease] brought great desolation: a great many died of it. They could no longer walk about, but lay in their dwellings and sleeping places, no longer able to move or stir. They were unable to change position, to stretch out on their sides or face down, or raise their heads. And when they made a motion, they called out loudly. The pustules that covered people caused great desolation; very many people died of them, and many just starved to death; starvation reigned, and no one took care of others any longer.On some people, the pustules appeared only far apart, and they did not suffer greatly, nor did many of them die of it. But many people's faces were spoiled by it, their faces were made rough. Some lost an eye or were blinded."
English translation is as given in:
- Lockhart, James (1993). We People Here: Nahuatl Accounts of the Conquest of Mexico. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp.181–185.