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Misplaced Talent
Misplaced
Talent
A Guide to Making Better
People Decisions

Joe Ungemah
Cover design: Michael J. Freeland
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Copyright © 2015 by Joe Ungemah. All rights reserved
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Ungemah, Joe.
Misplaced talent : a guide to making better people decisions / Joe Ungemah.
â•…â•… pages cm
╇ Includes index.
â•… ISBN 978-1-119-03094-2 (hardback); ISBN 978-1-119-03097-3 (pdf);
â•… ISBN 978-1-119-03090-4 (epub)
╇ 1.╇ Decision making.╅ 2.╇ Personnel management.╅ I.╇ Title.
╇╇ HD30.23.U54 2015
╇╇ 658.3′128—dc23
2015008302
Printed in the United States of America
10â•… 9â•… 8â•… 7â•… 6â•… 5â•… 4â•… 3â•… 2â•… 1
 Contents
Foreword ix

Preface xiii

Chapter 1. Frameworks 1
Origins of Job Analysis 2
The Art and Science of Job Analysis 8
Behavioral Simplicity 13
The Tradeoffs 17
The Good and Bad of Frameworks 21

Chapter 2. Talent Acquisition 27

More Than a Single Brand 29
Let’s Be Realistic 35
Compelling Themes 40
From Message to Market 46
How It’s Done 50

Chapter 3. Capability Assessment 57

Evaluating Value and Risk 59
Legal Requirements 66
Assessment by Interview 68
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities 77
Work Simulations 88
Where to from Here? 94

Chapter 4. Psychometric Assessment 97

But First, an Experiment 98
Employee Needs 101
Personality Traits 104
Shared Values 112
Motivated Employees Are Engaged Employees 115

v
vi Contents

Changes in Motivation with Age

and Generations 118
Restoring the Balance with
Person-Environment Fit 122

Chapter 5. Employee Development 127

Psychological Contract 129
Assessment for Development 133
Developmental Challenges 140
Support Through Coaching and Mentoring 146
Moving Together or Apart 151

Chapter 6. Change 155

Breaking the Psychological Contract 157
Succession Planning 159
High Potentials and the Learning Agile 163
Driving Performance 168
Big Data and Monitoring Change 173
From a Balanced to a Transactional Contract 175

Conclusion 177

About the Author 181

Acknowledgments 183

Resources 185

Index 195
 List of Figures
Figure 1.1. Image from Frank and Lillian Gilbreth’s 1918 Ball
Brothers Mason Jar Study That Targeted How to
Improve Worker Efficiency by Reducing Motion 4
Figure 1.2. Image of U.S. Army Air Corps Cadets in 1942
Taking a Group Test to Help Determine Their
Proficiency as Pilots, Navigators, or Bombardiers 5
Figure 1.3. Summary of Job Analysis Techniques by
Source of �Information 10
Figure 1.4. Example of a Blended Competency Framework 20
Figure 2.1. Three Lists of the Top Twenty-Five Companies 34
Figure 3.1. Summary of Types of Reliability and Validity 63
Figure 3.2. Example of a Competency-Based Interview for
Customer Service 69
Figure 3.3. Image of Calipers Used for Craniometry 80
Figure 3.4. Image of a Comparison Between Two Men,
One Sane and the Other Insane, in the
Cranial Shapes of Their Skulls 81
Figure 3.5. Images of Seventeen Known Criminals 82
Figure 3.6. Comparison Among Embryos to Illustrate
Recapitulation 83
Figure 3.7. Simple Example of an Assessment Matrix 90
Figure 3.8. Simple Example of an Assessment Center
Timetable 91
Figure 4.1. Image of Phrenological Organs 105
Figure 4.2. Image of a Servants’ Employment Agency Where
Heads Are Examined to Determine Suitability 106
Figure 4.3. Image of a Sample Inkblot Used in Projective
Techniques 107
Figure 4.4. Example of Dimensions from a Personality Profile 109

vii
viii List of Figures

Figure 4.5. Summary of Age and Generation Trends

for Motivation 122
Figure 4.6. Key Characteristics of Person-Environment Fit 126
Figure 5.1. Four Different Types of Psychological Contracts 132
Figure╛╛╛5.2. Sample Output from a 360-Degree
Feedback Report 137
Figure 6.1. Example of a Talent Board Broken Down by
Level and Department 162
Figure 6.2. Example of a Nine-Box Grid of Performance
and Potential 165
Figure 7.1. Summary of How to Assess, Develop, and
Support Staff 179
 Foreword

W hen Joe asked me to write a foreword for his book, Misplaced

Talent, the request arrived on the very same day that I com-
pleted an article I was working on with a colleague from another uni-
versity looking at the relationship between science and practice (“the
science‐practice gap”). We reported on some research we had been
doing on the ways in which practitioners bring scientific evidence
to bear in their practice within the field of “occupational psychol-
ogy,” as we Brits call it, or, for those with a more European or North
American background, work or industrial‐organizational psychology.
Despite differences in name, what comes through from the
wealth of international experience upon which this book is based
is that there are many more commonalities than differences when
we look at how psychology has been applied to the world of work
across the globe, but yet practitioners can sometimes struggle in their
attempts to translate and apply to their own practice the very rich
body of scientific research and theory upon which the profession is
based. This is why Misplaced Talent is such a useful book.
Recognizing that the fundamental drivers of performance in the
workplace stem directly from the most basic and deeply held set of
motivations and desires that we all share in common as members
of the human race, Joe’s ability to see beyond the surface details,
through to the very heart of what drives human beings in a work
context, and then to use the insights thus gained to see the bigger
organizational picture is what characterizes both his own work as a
practitioner and this book.
I recall a time over a decade ago when I invited Joe to make
a presentation at the university research centre I was running at
the time. Duly armed with enough data to satisfy the hardest‐nosed
of empiricists, along with a PowerPoint presentation of accompa-
nying statistical analyses that would leave even the most eager of
statisticians similarly sated, he scrolled effortlessly through his slides,
pointing out the key findings to the varied audience of economists,

ix
x Foreword

�
sociologists, psychologists, and other assorted disciplinary specialists
that are to be found in most university‐based business schools.
After the presentation, the usual round of questions and answers
began, whereupon, of course, I expected the conventional criticisms
to emerge—the sociologists taking one point of view, the economists
another, and so forth. Instead, I was surprised that, although each
group had a range of challenging and probing questions, they all
seemed to agree on the main points that he had managed to distill
from the data.
In Misplaced Talent, Joe achieves a similar effect—firmly evi-
dence‐based and drawing from well‐established research findings
while at the same time highlighting the key points that are most use-
ful for practitioners when considering how to apply these ideas to
the particular talent management issues they are facing. His book is
very clearly a product of his own personal embodiment of the sci-
entist‐practitioner model to which all work and organizational psy-
chologists aspire.
The scientist‐practitioner model, which emphasizes both meth-
odological rigor and also relevance to the reality of work organiza-
tions, on the other, reflects what has been termed the “rigor‐relevance
debate. According to this debate, the research‐practice gap arises
through academics engaging too often in what has been termed “pe-
dantic science” (obsessed with meticulous theoretical and method-
ological precision, but of little practical value or relevance to those
working in organizations) and practitioners sometimes resorting to
popularist science, based more on commercial interests and client
acceptability than sound scientific research.
A similar debate on the relationship between science and practice
has taken place within the field of management more widely. Denise
Rousseau, in her presidential address to the Academy of Manage-
ment, called for practitioners to adopt an evidence‐based approach,
defining evidence‐based management as “translating principles
based on best evidence into organizational practices” and position-
ing the approach as a response to the research‐practice gap that was
bemoaned by both scholars and practitioners. Both seemed to ac-
knowledge that management practice was often, if not usually, based
on something other than the best available scientific evidence—a
suspicion supported by research indicating that less 1 percent of HR
 Foreword xi
managers regularly read the academic literature. It is for this reason
that Misplaced Talent is such a timely and useful book.
Based on sound evidence, but at the same time questioning the
suitability of some tried‐and‐tested approaches within their contexts
of application, the book advances practice‐based knowledge by
drawing key lessons from the academic literature and scrutinizing
the ways in which they have been applied or, on occasion, misap-
plied in practice. A key feature is how these have been summarized
into practical, useful pointers for practitioners, illustrating relevant
issues and dilemmas through copious examples from the author’s
own practice that bring to life the challenges facing practitioners in
the contemporary, fast‐changing workplace.
The picture emerging from our work at the Centre for Progres-
sive Leadership of the role that business leaders and top talent of
the future will play in this changing landscape is very different from
the one played out in organizations today. We live in exciting times,
and the increasingly networked context in which organizations find
themselves means that their scope will only become wider as com-
plex networks of suppliers, partners, customers, and other stakehold-
ers emerge and interact in increasingly sophisticated and unpredict-
able ways.
Those at the top of the organization will, as I have argued else-
where, need to become both “business model innovators” and “social
facilitators,” while the way in which roles are continually reconfig-
ured will present a challenge to those lower down in the hierarchy,
even as those hierarchies themselves shift their shapes.
Those charged with matching people to these new roles must
align a more diverse set of people through networks of “open in-
novation” and, while we cannot predict exactly how the story will
unfold, the only certainty is that the organizations of tomorrow will
be radically different from those of today in ways that we have yet
to imagine. Misplaced Talent provides a valuable resource for any
practitioners faced with the immense challenge of responding to
these trends as they negotiate their way through this rapidly chang-
ing backdrop to develop the dynamic capabilities upon which the
organizations of the future will depend.
One of the central themes of the book is person‐environment fit
(P‐E fit), which is often misunderstood as being concerned simply
xii Foreword

with the degree of match (or mismatch) between a person and his or
her environment. This is structural and static, whereas a more trans-
actional framework has the potential to be process‐oriented, taking
account of the dynamic nature of the relationship between the per-
son and the environment as the individual engages in “commerce”
with that environment.
Such a conceptualization engenders a systems view of people at
work, with each component of the system being dependent upon
the others. The adoption of a P‐E fit perspective presents a challenge
to both the practitioner and researcher. Compromises will have to be
made in the short term, as currently available tools and techniques
account for only a static perspective. While the profession of oc-
cupational psychology may be some way off from realizing the full
potential of P‐E fit, it does at least now have somewhere to begin in
Misplaced Talent.
The book represents both a valuable resource for the practitioner
and a forward‐thinking contribution to the profession as a whole as
it begins rising to the challenge of a greater understanding of how an
individual’s personal values, goals, and commitments express what is
important to him or her in particular transactions with the work en-
vironment and what this, in turn, means for him or her personally, in
terms of their significance for the values and beliefs that are held dear.
In this sense, then, Joe offers the reader a chance to consider how
people’s personal characteristics and belief systems act as a “percep-
tual lens” that enables them to create meaning out of their work lives.
This focus on individual subjectivity and personal meaning goes some
way toward providing a foundation for a fuller understanding of how
people perform at their best at work, based on a genuinely cognitive‐
phenomenological account of human functioning.
The book provides readers with an opportunity to consider how
well they understand the drives and desires of those around them,
and also invites a critical evaluation of how work is designed and
how they select and develop those who do it.

Professor Dean Bartlett, Ph.D., C.Psychol., FHEA, AFBPsS,

HCPC, Registered Occupational Psychologist
London, April 2015
 Preface

I spend the better part of my day helping organizations make better

people decisions. From redesigning a recruitment process, to run-
ning focus groups with leaders to define what good talent looks like
or facilitating individual and group development, I am on the front
line, working directly with leaders and professional talent managers
to improve how their organizations are attracting and retaining the
best workers.
What has spurred me to write this book is a feeling that the tools
and processes that I help set in motion swim against the tide of how
organizations naturally operate. Tendencies like hiring the candidate
who feels right or arguing that a department really is not like any
other in the company (and, therefore, common job definitions don’t
apply) undermine the architecture that I put in place.
This had led me to question the work that I do. Are the tools and
techniques that I promote really cut out for the job? Are there better
ways to manage talent than what is accepted as common practice?
Is the support that I typically offer inadequate to ensure long‐term
change?
I have concluded that there is plenty of scope to improve how
organizations make people decisions. I believe we are in a state of
misplaced talent. At times, we park our best and brightest staff in the
wrong places, where they are either not maximizing what they can
do or become at risk of drifting away due to lack of interest in the
job. At other times, we can forget what really matters to the organi-
zation, placing too much emphasis on jobs and functions that have
minimal impact on what a company is tasked to do. And still other
times, we bet on the wrong talent to lead and grow our businesses,
overlooking employees or applicants who are more deserving and
capable.
By taking a step back, questioning what works, and becoming bet-
ter advocates, we can make headway against bad practice. This book
will help us do that. It is intended for anyone responsible for making
people decisions in the workplace. Whether you work in an advisory
xiii
xiv Preface

capacity or as a people leader with full responsibility for your staffing

decisions, the topics discussed in this book will have relevance for
you. I use the term “practitioner” liberally, to designate any individual
who is involved in advising or making people decisions.
If, like me, you work in an advisory capacity, we have an obliga-
tion to promote the benefit of tools and techniques that are known to
improve people decisions in the organizations we are servicing. Our
job is to steer organizational leaders toward proven techniques and
away from pseudo‐science, while balancing needs for cost‐effective-
ness and efficiency.
Leaders, too, have an obligation to ensure that they are valuing
people decisions as highly as the other decisions they make. If lead-
ers uniformly spent the same amount of time and energy on people
decisions as they do on strategy or finance, I believe that organiza-
tions would look and feel very different than they do today.
When it comes to the techniques that constitute good people
practice, not much has changed in recent history. Competency �design,
assessment to inform hiring, and psychometric‐led development are
used as much today as they were five decades ago. Online technol-
ogy may have increased tool accessibility and speed, but fundamen-
tally, the job of a practitioner still involves conducting job analysis,
recruiting talent, assessing capability and motivation, developing
staff, and implementing change programs.
What has changed is the desire and ability for organizations to
question the return on investment that their people practices have on
improved business efficiency, staff engagement, and performance.
Like never before, organizations have at their disposal vast amounts
of data on employees, customers, and financial indicators that can
and are being used to validate whether people practices are adding
value to the business. Coupled with a continuing need to save cost
following the recent recession, only those programs that are able to
prove their value are spared.
A storm is brewing. On one hand, organizations are expecting
more from us as practitioners, to demonstrate the value of what we
bring to the business. Yet on the other hand, people decisions are
routinely made without the rigor and discipline they deserve. I believe
that now is the time to take a hard look at the tools and techniques
we employ and determine which ones have the right to be widely
 Preface xv
adopted in our organizations. Only then can we engage businesses
about the value we bring them through improved people decisions.
In this book, I will take us on a tour of current people practices.
This book diverges from an academic discourse on talent manage-
ment by focusing on what those of us on the front line witness and
advise our clients to adopt. I will lay on the line the potential ben-
efits and drawbacks of various approaches, sometimes arguing that
specific tools and techniques do more harm than good and should
therefore be abandoned. More often, I will demonstrate that the tools
and techniques are sound, but the ways in which they are applied
are in drastic need of improvement. I passionately believe that there
is an incredible amount of potential to improve the lives of employ-
ees and the organizations they work for, if we can focus our efforts
on the right set of practices.
We will know that we have succeeded as practitioners when
the employment relationship leaders share with their employees has
improved. Like any other social relationship, both parties need to
feel fulfilled and trust that they are moving in a common direction.
The decisions leaders make about recruitment, assignment of work
responsibilities, staff recognition, and discipline (among others) act
either toward or against a strong employment relationship. We as
practitioners can ensure that the best decisions are made by put-
ting in place structures and techniques that heighten the quality and
transparency of the information guiding their judgment.
The term person‐environment fit has been coined to express the
quality of the employment relationship. The fit between an employee
and his or her workplace is said to be high when three conditions are
met. First, organizations effectively apply the knowledge, skills, and
abilities of employees to accomplish job tasks. Second, organizations
fulfill the tangible and intangible needs of their staff. Third, employ-
ees feel that their efforts are coordinated and contributing toward a
common purpose. A fuller account of the person‐environment model
is presented later in the book. For now, these three tenets provide
an underlying structure to the book that will aid us in evaluating the
contribution different techniques make.
In Chapter 1, we will look at how organizations identify and struc-
ture their expectations of staff performance and the type of work-
place they cultivate. The discussion begins by reviewing the origins of
xvi Preface

job analysis, as characterized by Taylorism and the Human Relations

Movement, followed by the arrival of competencies as the primary
vehicle organizations use to set a benchmark for people decisions. I
will argue that frameworks often fall short in delivering useful guid-
ance, with content that is heavily slanted toward behaviors (ignoring
skills or experience) and too generic in terminology (glossing over
functional differences), resulting in employees focusing energy in the
wrong places.
With the criteria set for what type of talent organizations are
looking for, attention turns toward finding the talent that will meet
these needs. Chapter 2 explores what companies are doing to pro-
mote an appealing “employer brand,” how they define an “employer
value proposition,” and source the best possible talent available. Al-
though some companies have a clear and effective strategy about
how to attain top talent, more common are haphazard campaigns
based on limited insight about what an employer can bring its staff.
Offering the wrong type of incentives or over‐promising on commit-
ments makes for an unstable employment relationship.
Chapter 3 unpacks the first tenet of person‐environment fit, spe-
cifically that organizations effectively apply the knowledge, skills,
and abilities of their employees. We will look at the tools and tech-
niques practitioners employ to identify the capabilities of staff, in-
cluding ability tests, interviews, and job simulations. By using the
criteria of reliability and validity as our guide, I will argue that more
can be done to correctly identify the best candidate for the job.
Focus turns to the fulfillment of employee needs (the second
tenet of person‐environment fit) in Chapter 4. Practitioners today use
a variety of psychometrics to identify the personality characteristics,
motivators, and values of current and future employees. However,
the quality and relevance of these tools vary greatly and, therefore,
have the potential to misrepresent what an employee desires from
his or her workplace. Without validation and exploration of what
could be reasonably accommodated, too much is assumed about
what drives and engages talent.
The last tenet of person‐environment fit, where both parties feel
that they are moving in the same direction, will be discussed in
Chapter 5. The chapter introduces the term psychological contract,
which represents the glue that binds employees to their workplace.
 Preface xvii
We will investigate the various ways practitioners attempt to invest in
the psychological contract, including raising self‐awareness, coach-
ing and mentoring, skills training and certification, and job rotations.
I will argue that so‐called development programs are often assess-
ments in disguise, whereby the information gained about employees’
weaknesses can be used against them in future promotion decisions
or job reassignments. Moreover, development has a tendency to fo-
cus on a narrow set of organizational priorities, which effectively
build skills, but do little to improve the psychological contract and
keep employees engaged in the long term.
In Chapter 6, we will look at what practitioners do to repair a
broken psychological contract. There are many causes for a break-
down. For example, economic challenges can make for a more
stressful workplace environment. Alternatively, the favoritism shown
to employees engaged in high potential programs can cause a rift
with those not selected for the program. Employees, too, can be at
fault in breaking the psychological contract by failing to perform
well in their jobs. Practitioners attempt to remedy breakdowns in the
psychological contract by redeploying staff, preparing for change
through succession planning, and introducing performance manage-
ment systems. Yet, many of these initiatives fundamentally change
the psychological contract from a relational to a transactional type,
which can snowball into further breakdown and only works to pro-
long the inevitable loss of talent from the organization.
Each of the chapters is written in a way that allows you to dip in
and out of the book, depending on what types of people decisions
are of most relevance and interest to you. A table of contents by topic
is presented for quick reference. I hope that this book challenges you
to consider for yourself which practices will make for better people
decisions in your own workplace. With a little luck and diligence,
we might be able to declare that we have successfully found the best
talent for our organizations, deployed them in the right places, and
kept them very happy and productive. At least, this should be our
ambition.
Chapterâ•› 1
Frameworks

W ithout having job criteria in place, there is simply no way of

predicting with any degree of confidence whether your people
decisions are fair and rational. Practitioners rely on job descriptions
and talent management frameworks to combat the risks of poor peo-
ple decisions, because when you start racking up all the direct and
indirect costs of an unfilled vacancy or a poorly placed new hire, the
costs are striking, especially for roles that are core to the business.
One of my clients put its business analytics team to the task of
figuring out how much it costs to replace a front‐line employee. These
are not high level positions, but rather staff working in retail branches
and call centers. By the time the analyst calculated the cost of adver-
tisement, the time spent by the recruitment team to screen and inter-
view candidates, the loss of productivity because the role was vacant,
and the cost to induct a new employee, the total figure was a stagger-
ing $57,000 per vacancy.
You might be skeptical and think this sounds too high, but even if
you accept that the cost is only half as high, the damage of hiring the
wrong people or failing to address engagement issues are substan-
tial. When you consider that an annual turnover rate of 30 percent is
the norm for certain industries, a modest improvement in retention
(i.e., people staying on for a few extra months on average) can save a
large organization millions of dollars and potentially gain a few cus-
tomers along the way, through a more positive customer experience
with an engaged company representative.
Before employees can be hired or money spent on development,
practitioners must establish criteria about what they are trying to ac-
complish. For recruitment, identifying critical skills and experiences

1
2 Misplaced Talent

ensure that they hire the candidate most likely to perform well on
the job. For development, understanding what needs to be improved
and for what reason can ensure that training budgets are invested
wisely.
This chapter is devoted to exploring the frameworks put in place
by practitioners to help guide people decisions throughout their or-
ganization. By defining what the employee and organization, respec-
tively, bring to the table, as well as the glue that holds them together,
it is hoped that decisions can be made by their collective ability to
strengthen the employment relationship.
The chapter begins by charting the origins of job analysis and
the subsequent change in emphasis from the division of labor to the
drivers of employee performance, followed by the rise of behavioral
competencies as the language practitioners use to define the work-
place. We will then look at the complexities of defining a structure
that works effectively across levels, functions, and jobs, as well as
two of the common applications for talent management frameworks
in recruitment and development.
I aim to demonstrate that there exists an inherent tradeoff be-
tween defining a framework that accounts for the intricacies between
jobs and its usefulness for making sound talent management deci-
sions. The role of the practitioner is to use his or her best judgment
in weighing the pros and cons of each alternative, settling on the
framework that will have maximum utility for the organization at this
specific point in time. Right now, I believe that the pendulum has
swung too far, with frameworks accounting for only a fraction of the
employment relationship (focusing excessively on behaviors) and
applying generic language across highly divergent roles. Together,
these trends provide practitioners with the greatest opportunity to
help their organizations reframe what top talent looks like.

Origins of Job Analysis

Modern day practitioners are not the first to be interested in the
content and structure of jobs. The origins of job analysis are evident
with the development of more complex and interdependent civiliza-
tions. For example, Imperial China had a long‐standing tradition of
regularly testing the worthiness of government officials. In 1115 BCE,
 Frameworks 3
six skill sets were defined as part of this testing regime, specifically
writing, arithmetic, music, archery, horsemanship, and ceremonies
and rites. As a second example from the other side of the world,
Socrates in the 5th century BCE mused about the allocation of work
in his description of the ideal state.
The first major work that can be considered a precursor to job
analysis was completed in 1747. Diderot, busily writing his encyclo-
pedia, was so disturbed by the lack of clarity around how jobs were
defined in the trades, arts, and crafts that he took it upon himself
to create a job classification system. Diderot kicked off a trend that
would continue in France for nearly a century. Between 1780 and
1830, France defined an encyclopedia of occupations and the basic
qualifications required for civil service, implementing bureau exami-
nations to select the most suitable candidates. The British Empire
was quick to follow, similarly focused on the civil service and the
challenge of effectively managing colonies located around the world.
The late 19th century witnessed reform in the United States, initi-
ated by Lincoln voicing his displeasure at the “inefficient and waste-
ful results of political appointments.” A firm tradition of assessing
abilities and skills was thus established. The full potential of job
analysis was not realized until it was applied beyond the civil service,
coinciding with the establishment of Industrial Psychology as some-
thing different than other psychological disciplines. Early pioneers
include Frederick Taylor, who relied on job analysis to fuel his prin-
ciples of Scientific Management; Hugo Munsterberg and his quest to
identify worker characteristics that would result in greater job fit; and
Frank and Lillian Gilbreth with their development of time and motion
studies (see Figure 1.1).
A huge amount of momentum for job analysis was gained as an
outcome of the First World War. The U.S. Army was keen to improve
how soldiers were selected and placed into service (Figure 1.2).
When the Great Depression hit, attention turned to utilizing worker
abilities and getting the great masses of civilians back to work. The
Social Science Research Council and the National Research Council
sought to utilize job analysis to identify the core characteristics of
jobs and how they differ by vocation. This work led the U.S. Em-
ployment Service to establish the Occupational Research Program
in 1934, which sought to draft a Dictionary of Occupational Titles
4 Misplaced Talent

Figure 1.1â•… Image from Frank and Lillian Gilbreth’s 1918 Ball Brothers Mason Jar
Study That Targeted How to Improve Worker Efficiency by Reducing Motion

(DOT) and create a taxonomy of worker characteristics that could

be used to select candidates. The program resulted in a taxonomy of
forty‐five characteristics used by states to hire and relocate staff, with
the DOT itself published in 1939.
Although interest in job analysis has remained steady, especially
in light of Equal Employment Opportunity legislation, a major over-
haul of the DOT did not occur until 1995, with the creation of O*Net.
A consortium of prominent psychologists was hired by the U.S. De-
partment of Labor to replace the DOT with a new classification of
jobs that were representative of the U.S. economy. In addition to
basic labor market information, O*Net provides a breakdown of each
job by four categories.

◆⊃ Worker Characteristics: Abilities, Interests, Values, and

Styles held by the employee that are considered enduring and
likely to influence their performance and acquisition of skills.
 Frameworks 5

Figure 1.2â•… Image of U.S. Army Air Corps Cadets in 1942 Taking a Group Test to
Help Determine Their Proficiency as Pilots, Navigators, or Bombardiers

◆⊃ Worker Requirements: Skills, Knowledge, and Education

that are gained by the employee by either doing their jobs or
in preparing for a career.
◆⊃ Occupational Requirements: Tasks required by the em-
ployee and the Tools and Technology that he or she will
likely utilize on the job.
◆⊃ Occupation‐Specific Information: Work Activities de-
scribing the behaviors expected from employees and the Work
Context (aka environment) that they are likely to experience.

O*Net was an ambitious project and the final product contains

571 job elements across 821 detailed occupations. Such an array of
job elements provides a mindboggling number of potential combina-
tions, and practitioners are well aware of the value O*Net brings to
their toolbox.
6 Misplaced Talent

I have had the pleasure of working alongside one of the creators

of O*Net. Wally Borman is an expert practitioner, having a résumé
that would make anybody deeply envious. Wally is the “chief scien-
tist” at PDRI, as well as a professor of IO psychology at the University
of South Florida. He has penned over 350 publications, served as
president for the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychol-
ogy, edited four professional journals, and above all, is one of the
most genuine and supportive people I have worked with.
When writing this chapter, I arranged some time to speak with
Wally about the creation of O*Net and what it strove to achieve. Ac-
cording to Wally, the motivation for O*Net was to get beyond the DOT,
which had a clumsy underlying framework that failed to provide a true
comparison between jobs and did little beyond providing generic job
descriptions. True comparison between jobs, with rich and thorough
taxonomy, was beyond the DOT and required a major rework.
To create the content used across worker characteristics, worker
requirements, occupational requirements, and occupation‐specific
information, the O*Net designers relied on a combination of exist-
ing theory, logic, and their extensive practical experience working
in the field performing job analysis. For example, O*Net’s taxonomy
for work styles is based on the Big 5 personality model, which is the
most highly researched and validated personality structure available
today. Moreover, Wally was keen to point out that O*Net has a hi-
erarchical structure that extends beyond the categorization of jobs.
The hierarchy applies at a lower level to the work activities that drive
these distinctions, accomplished by looking at differences among
task complexity, importance, and frequency.
According to Wally, the greatest challenge in creating O*Net was
not in drafting the content, but in gaining enough data to validate
what was written. Realizing how enormous the task was of surveying
job incumbents from each of the 821 jobs included in O*Net, the de-
signers decided instead to opt for a practical approach. The designers
targeted eighty jobs, which, surprisingly, made up 80 to 90 percent of
people employed in the U.S. economy at the time. The design team
went out to organizations with significant populations of employees
working in these occupations and was warmly welcomed.
But the designers hit a roadblock. Despite a resounding initial in-
terest from employers to participate, the response rate was shockingly
 Frameworks 7
poor, and solid data was captured for only thirty‐five of the jobs. The
design team went to Plan C and used other industrial psychologists to
validate O*Net’s content. This is a lesson for any practitioner working
on a large scale job analysis project. Gaining commitment from job
incumbents or subject matter experts is usually not a problem until
they see the full extent of what is asked of them.
With the content validated to the highest practical degree, O*Net
provides a solid foundation for a range of talent management activi-
ties. Wally points out its usefulness in providing criteria for recruit-
ment or reward decisions, identifying training requirements, guiding
the redeployment of staff, and informing career guidance. As an area
of future application, Wally believes that O*Net could be used to
inform what types of reasonable accommodation could be made for
people with disabilities. But for this to occur, he believes that O*Net
requires even more granular content and extensive validation with
job incumbents.
Unless your day job looks like mine, you are probably wonder-
ing why anyone would ever need to do job analysis again. It appears
that O*Net has done it all. O*Net has a robust content model, applies
to every conceivable role in the U.S. economy (which translates well
to an international context), has been validated, and, best of all, is
free to use courtesy of the U.S. Department of Labor (a link is pro-
vided in the notes section of this book).
Yet, for all these advantages, O*Net does not provide a total solu-
tion. The language used in O*Net is necessarily generic and therefore
cannot account for how a given occupation is interpreted by each
organization. One of the popular statistics HR professionals quote is
a finding that it takes six to eight months for the average employee to
become fully competent in his or her role. Assuming that a suitably
qualified candidate was chosen (having the skills and experiences
that would be listed on O*Net), then it is not too much of a stretch to
imagine that the six to eight months a new employee requires is due
to the way job roles are interpreted and connected to work within a
specific organization.
Bottom line, job analysis is required to capture all the idiosyn-
crasies that fall between the cracks of the generic job descriptions.
What makes Microsoft different from Apple or Coca‐Cola different
from Pepsi has a lot to do with the mix of talent they have working in
8 Misplaced Talent

their organizations and the processes that they have defined for how
individuals work together. Competitive advantage from a people per-
spective is having insight into what makes your culture, processes, and
roles different from those of your rivals and then finding and nurturing
the talent according to what you find. It all depends on job analysis.

The Art and Science of Job Analysis

To conduct a job analysis, practitioners are tasked with defining the
essence of a job, accomplished through interviews, focus groups,
questionnaires, observation, or existing knowledge. This information
is bundled together into a snapshot of a job that represents what em-
ployees are doing at that particular moment in time. As a job adapts
and changes to new ways of working or different end products, the
onus is on the practitioner to revise the job description. The reality is
far from ideal, and I will talk more about this in a few minutes.
Below, I will present eight popular ways of conducting a job analy-
sis. Each employs a slightly different way at gaining relevant informa-
tion and, as a result, yields different information about tasks, behaviors,
or personal attributes. No matter which combination of techniques is
chosen, a successful job analysis is systematic (having a predefined ob-
jective and structure), comprehensive (gaining multiple, relevant view-
points that represent the job), and timely (before any major staffing
decisions are made). When done right, job analysis forms the basis for
selection, appraisal, compensation, and development activities, as well
as compliance with fairness legislation. Here are the main techniques
trained practitioners utilize.

Work Logs
Job incumbents are asked to keep a written record of the work they
accomplish, either after a specified period of time (e.g., hourly or
daily) or when they switch between tasks. Individual accounts of
the workday are compiled across job incumbents to discover the key
activities that make up a particular job.

Structured Observation
A trained observer watches job incumbents fulfill their work through-
out the day, using a checklist of tasks as a reference. The observer
keeps track of the frequency of tasks, duration, and accuracy of the
 Frameworks 9
items included in the checklist. The observer will often ask questions
of the job incumbent about what he or she is doing, how he or she
is doing it, and why it has to be done in order to fully capture key
activities and necessary behaviors.

Job Sample
Trained observers take on the job for a set period of time. Through
their experience, they take note of how they use their time, the tasks
they are asked to accomplish, the approach they take in fulfilling
tasks, and the required skills they should have to effectively accom-
plish their work. This technique is more appropriate for jobs that can
be learned quickly or that take advantage of transferrable skills.

Hierarchical Task Analysis

This technique involves breaking a job down into the typical tasks per-
formed and then breaking these down into subtasks, usually through
an interview with job incumbents or a line manager. The technique
elicits information around the key objectives of a job and the skills
and abilities that employees should have to fulfill them.

Repertory Grid
In this technique, a line manager is interviewed and presented with
a series of staff comparisons. With each comparison, the manager
is asked to differentiate how two staff members are different from a
third staff member in their effectiveness in performing the job. The
technique can elicit a broad range of content, from how someone
treats colleagues or customers to the skills he or she brings to the
workplace. In my experience, coordinating the range of comparisons
(to ensure a range of unique combinations) and explaining the task
to the manager makes this technique impractical.

Critical Incident
Job incumbents or managers are interviewed and asked for examples
of critical situations that involved the target job. An example could
involve the winning of a key account, prevention of a major catastro-
phe, or major change in a business process. The interviewer explores
the incident from multiple vantage points, asking how the job incum-
bent solved the situation, the skills or experiences that enabled her
and what could have been done differently.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 This passive or defensive policy did not suit the Spaniards, while
it encouraged the Aztecs. Therefore two corps were formed, each of
two hundred men, besides allies, under Cortés and Ordaz. Clearing
a path with a volley of artillery, they sallied in different directions to
drive back the assailants, who hurried for safety into lanes and
houses, and behind barricades. This comparative freedom of
advance appears to have been permitted to entice the Spaniards
into a disadvantageous position, for soon the natives reappeared in
swarms in the rear and along the flanks, showering arrows and
stones, and coming to close quarters with spears and swords. The
heaviest attack was from the roofs, on which large supplies of
missiles had been collected, and from which commanding position
the enemy was able to direct the discharges with terrible effect,
particularly upon the naked Tlascaltecs. Several Spaniards also fell,
and the greater number were wounded. Ordaz received three cuts,
and Cortés a wound which maimed two fingers of the left hand.[767]
The assailants were comparatively safe, for those on the roofs could
be picked off only by archers and musketeers, and those below took
refuge when pressed, only to return to fresh attack. Efforts were
made to fire the houses, but this was slow work, since they were
constructed almost wholly of adobe or stone, and were filled with
defenders. Nor would the fire spread, owing to the detached form of
the buildings, separated by alleys or canals, so that the torch had to
be applied to each.
Thus matters continued until Ordaz, who was engaged on the
street to the west of the fort, sent word to Cortés, who was pressing
forward in the direction of the Iztapalapan causeway, that he was
losing ground. Leaving his own forces, the general hurried to the
scene with a few horsemen, and heading the charge, drove back the
warriors at the most exposed point, so as to relieve the infantry in the
retreat which was now found necessary. Returning to his men he
found them also retreating, those who headed the column, including
Andrés Duero, the Cuban secretary, having been cut down. “Shame
upon you!” exclaimed Cortés to the corps, as he led the horsemen to
the rescue of the fallen cavaliers. He was just in time to save them,
for a moment more and Duero, at least, would have been slain. The
elated warriors fell back before the charge of the terrible Malinche,
although they soon recovered. Cortés then concluded to retreat, but
this proved no less dangerous than the advance, and among others
Lezcano was dragged from his horse and killed, after having
distinguished himself for bravery and execution. The fort had
meanwhile sustained an active siege, and when the retreating corps
approached it they found more enemies in waiting, who, fearful of
losing their prey, rushed forward with greater fury than ever. An
entrance was finally effected, the forces in the temple being at the
same time withdrawn for the greater safety of themselves and the
fort.[768]
Swelling with triumph the Aztecs now directed all their efforts
against the Spanish quarters. Burning arrows and whirling brands
began to mingle with their missiles. Although the building itself was
of stone, the roof and portions of the outwork, and the Tlascaltec
camp in the yards, were of inflammable material, and more than
once the flames burst forth, filling the whole place with suffocating
smoke, and calling for the greatest exertions to subdue them. The
little water at hand could not be spared, and so earth was cast up,
and portions of the wall were torn down to check the fire and to stop
the gaps. The assault continued all day, till darkness sent most of the
warriors to their homes.[769]

FOOTNOTES
[744] Which speaks little to the credit of either Mary or Santiago. Bernal Diaz, Hist.
Verdad., 102. ‘Otro miraglo ... é fué muy notorio.’ ‘Ya sé que los incrédulos ... dirán
que mi ocupaçion en esto de miraglos, pues no los ví, es supérflua ... é yo hablo
que esto é más se puede é debe creer;’ for did the Indians have mysteries and
miracles, surely God, the virgin, and the saints could effect greater deeds. Oviedo,
iii. 511. He quotes from Livy and others concerning the reliable miracles of Roman
times. Prescott and others transfer the miracles to the siege under Cortés for
greater effect. Bustamante, the modern champion of the shrines of Mexico, who is
ready to uphold any deed attributed to these images, is rather incredulous about
miracles recorded in favor of Spanish cutthroats. See Chimalpain, Hist. Conq., i.
283 et seq. ‘Si no oviéssemos miedo de esse del caballo blanco, ya vosotros
estaríedes coçidos,’ cried some, Oviedo, iii. 511, while the more valiant added that
‘con todo esto si no soltays a Motecçumacin, y os vays luego, presto sereys
muertos.’ Gomara, Hist. Mex., 152.

[745] Cortés, Cartas, 127. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 101-2, says seven, two
having been taken alive. ‘Mataron a Peña, el querido de Motezuma,... Valdibia, y
Juan Martin Narizes.’ Herrera, dec. ii. lib. x. cap. vii.

[746] ‘Tuvieron guerra con los yndios en esta Cibdad dos medios dias que fueron
jueves e viernes.’ ‘Guerra casy dos dias.’ Lopes and Flores, in Ramirez, Proceso
contra Alvarado, 131, 134. ‘Dieron bateria los Mexicanos á los Españoles siete
dias, y los tuvieron cercados veinte y tres dias.’ Sahagun, Hist. Conq., 29.
‘Cercados los españoles ocho dias.’ Id. (ed. 1840), 105. ‘Pelearõ y combatieron la
casa diez dias arreo.’ Gomara, Hist. Mex., 151. Torquemada explains this by
assuming two days of fighting and eight days of close siege, with attacks upon all
who sallied, i. 490. Sahagun states that Itzquauhtzin, governor of Tlatelulco,
accompanied Montezuma to the roof and spoke to the people, representing that
the Spaniards, as the mightier race, would inflict great injury on them unless they
ceased to fight, and that the emperor would be murdered. The Mexicans
responded with insults and missiles, but as the soldiers interposed their shields no
harm was done. They appear to have stopped active operations, however. Hist.
Conq., 28-9. The insults and missiles belong no doubt to the later siege under
Cortés. Duran states, however, that Montezuma was henceforth looked on as an
accomplice of the Spaniards, and discarded as a ruler, it being resolved to kill him
and his family. Hist. Ind., MS., ii. 463. According to Oviedo the news came at this
time of the victory over Narvaez, ‘é Monteçuma mandó á los indios que dexassen
de pelear é dexassen venir los otros chripstianos, porque á todos juntos
matassen; é aquesto se cree que fué su intento.’ iii. 512. That he may have urged
this with intent or as a bait is not unlikely, but it should apply equally to Narvaez’
men, since it appears that their defeat could not yet have been known. When
known, however, it must have had its effect. ‘Quando supieron nuestra vitoria,
cessarõ de dalle guerra.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 101. Yet Gomara writes that
on learning of the large forces coming against them, the besiegers resumed the
attack at one time. Hist. Mex., 151.
[747] This spring was rediscovered during the reign of Viceroy Revilla Gigedo.
Bustamante, Mem. Piedad Mex., 7. A pool of sweet water was the chief
inducement for founding the city on this site in 1325. Native Races, ii. 559-61; v.
345 et seq.

[748] Cortés, Cartas, 126. The Spanish messenger from Mexico returned
wounded. Peter Martyr, dec. v. cap. v. With him, or about the same time, arrived
four chiefs sent by Montezuma to complain that Alvarado had attacked the nobles
without cause. While defending themselves six soldiers had fallen. Cortés told the
chiefs with stern countenance that he was returning to investigate the matter. A
letter was sent to Alvarado enjoining him to guard the emperor closely. Bernal
Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 101.

[749] And the zealous aid of Velazquez de Leon, who did so much toward
securing the Goazacoalco command for Cortés when Narvaez sent letters to win it
over. Cortés, Residencia, i. 409; ii. 6, 31, 165-6. He is accused by his enemies of
impiety and licentiousness, and as one whom the general favored above more
worthy men. Solis assumes that Sandoval nominally retained the command of the
coast province, Rangel being merely his lieutenant. Hist. Mex., ii. 108.

[750] ‘Llegò aquel dia [the first] à la Rinconada, el segundo caminò siete Leguas
... llegò à Tlaxcalla à diez y siete de Junio.’ Torquemada, i. 492. Herrera tells a
long story of suffering from hunger and thirst during the march through the desert.
Marquez and Ojeda were sent ahead to Tlascala for supplies, and came back with
1200 carriers laden with fowl, bread, fruit, and other refreshments. Cortés, among
others, was found starving, and a number were discovered on the road almost
dead. All, it seems, were rescued. dec. ii. lib. x. cap. vii. There are several reasons
for believing that Herrera, who is somewhat confused about this period, has
confounded the present march with the flight from Mexico to Tlascala of a month
later, when the people were really starving. This seems confirmed by the
erroneous statement that the troops arrived at Tlascala July 17th, the time,
according to Herrera’s own later statement, when they reached that place after the
flight. The account also intimates that the starving army was met among the Otomí
settlements, where food could readily be obtained, without the necessity for
Marquez and Ojeda to go ten leagues farther, to the capital, to obtain it. These and
other discrepancies are overlooked by all who refer to the march. Prescott dwells
in particular on the suffering from thirst, forgetful of the statement on a previous
page that the rainy season had begun about three weeks before, and that water
must have been abundant along the whole route. Solis finds that the effeminate
followers of Narvaez endured the suffering remarkably well. Hist. Mex., ii. 109.

[751] ‘Embiò a fray Bartolome de Olmedo ... a Motezuma.’ Herrera, dec. ii. lib. x.
cap. vii. It is unlikely that so valuable a man would have been sent while affairs
were threatening.

[752] Narvaez landed with about 900 soldiers, including 80 horsemen, 120 with
bows, and 80 with fire-arms. A number had been picked up at Cozumel, but an
equal proportion perished by shipwreck. Cortés had about 250 men, and 200 were
probably left on the coast, of garrison, guards, and invalids. To the 950 soldiers
thus taken may be added at least 150 from the crews of the dismantled or
destroyed vessels. Prescott manages to mysteriously increase the horses and
projectile arms beyond what he previously assigns to Narvaez and Cortés. One
thousand infantry, 100 horsemen, and many allies, say Gomara and Herrera. The
Probanza de Lejalde, in Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. 425, indicates 80 horses. Bernal
Diaz places the figures as high as 1300 soldiers, including 96 or 97 horsemen, 80
archers, 80 musketeers, and 2000 Tlascaltec warriors; while Cortés, with a
prudent desire to cover the subsequent losses at Mexico, reduces them to 500
infantry and 70 cavalry. Solis gives the reason of the profound historian for the
small number of allies taken to Mexico: ‘Por no escandalizar á Motezuma, ó poner
en desesperacion á los rebeldes.’ Hist. Mex., ii. 111.

[753] The arrival at Tezcuco is evidence enough that a more northern road was
taken than the one previous. The middle route by Telapon appears somewhat
more direct for Mexico, but requires a detour to reach the Acolhua capital, and it is
not likely that an army in hurried march could afford to go out of its way. Hence the
Calpulalpan road must have been followed.

[754] See Native Races, ii. 162-3, 168-73, 569; v., passim; Motolinia, Hist. Ind.,
181-3.

[755] Cortés writes that he was on the point of sending a Spaniard to Mexico with
Tezcucan rowers, a chief being taken as hostage, but just then came this canoe.
Cartas, 127.

[756] Two, named Santa Clara and Pedro Hernandez, says Herrera, dec. ii. lib. x.
cap. vii.

[757] ‘Parò en Tepeaquilla, lugar a legua de Mexico.’ Id. Now the shrine of
Guadalupe. Prescott assumes that the Iztapalapan road was taken, as before, but
it was avoided probably because Cortés feared the fort Xoloc, which guarded the
centre. It was also longer, and had more movable bridges than the other
causeways.

[758] ‘Riñas por San Iuan pazes para todo el año.’ Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt. iii.
139. The following day a dress was found hanging from a beam, and in a square a
pile of bread, with over 500 fowl, without a guard. This Cortés considered less
favorable, and said ‘que serian riñas de por San Iuan.’ Herrera, dec. ii. lib. x. cap.
vii.-viii.

[759] ‘Para dar á entender con esto que ellos estaban de guerra y muy ofendidos
de los españoles que él habia dejado.’ Sahagun, Hist. Conq. (ed. 1840), 108. His
account of deserted streets, applied to Cortés’ first arrival in Mexico, belongs no
doubt to this occasion. Duran argues that had the massacre taken place before
Cortés’ arrival he would not have been allowed to enter. Hist. Ind., MS., ii. 470.
Equally in the dark is Acosta, who assumes that the Indians were openly at war,
but the custom being to rest every fourth day, Cortés managed to enter during the
cessation of hostilities. Hist. Ind., 522. Oviedo looks on the non-resistance of the
Indians as a wile to entrap all the Spaniards. iii. 510.

[760] Herrera writes amusingly that Cortés shouted before the closed gates,
‘Open!’ ‘Who is there?’ demanded Alvarado. ‘I,’ replied Cortés. ‘Do you come with
full liberty, and power to command, as before?’ ‘Yes, and with victory, and greater
forces.’ Alvarado thereupon opened, kissed his hand, and surrendered the keys!
dec. ii. lib. x. cap. viii.

[761] ‘Con que aventuró la mayor parte de sus fuerzas.’ Solis, Hist. Mex., ii. 120.
Or perhaps because he had not had recourse to some safer measure, such as
arresting the leaders of the proposed plot, for hostages. ‘Le dixo muy enojado, q̄
era muy mal hecho, y grande desatino, y poca verdad ... no le hablò mas en ello.’
Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 102. Cortés would hardly have told him that he lied,
since his statements were confirmed by so many; they certainly were years after.
Vetancurt supposes that Cortés told him he should have allowed the emperor to
attend the festival, and should have awaited the attack rather than opened the
war. Teatro Mex., pt. iii. 140. ‘Dissimulo por no enojar a los que lo hizieron.’
Gomara, Hist. Mex., 151.

[762] Solis supposes, however, that the two met in friendly intercourse, and takes
Bernal Diaz and Herrera to task for asserting the contrary. Hist. Mex., ii. 112-14.
He refers to Cortés’ friendly message from Tezcuco, which is doubtful, and to
Gomara, who certainly allows Cortés to refer to Montezuma and his courtiers as
‘dogs.’ Hist. Mex., 153. In the testimony during Cortés’ residencia the discourtesy
is asserted. Cortés, Residencia, i. 42 etc. Clavigero suggests ‘ch’era d’uopo il far
sembianza di credere il Re colpevole dell’inquietudine.’ Storia Mess., iii. 121.

[763] Native Races, ii. 134-6; v. 462-4; ‘Il y joignait, comme de coutume, la charge
du grand prêtre de Huitzilopochtli.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., iv. 309.
Gomara assumes that Cortés orders a chief to open the market. He, offended at
the insults used, goes only to rouse the people. Hist. Mex., 153. Ixtlilxochitl
supposes that the chief is offended at the reprimand administered for delaying to
open the market. Hist. Chich., 301. ‘Mandò Hernando Cortes llamar a los mas
principales caualleros, hizoles vna larga platica diziẽdo, que les perdonaua lo
passado, con que para adelãte fuessen ... amigos: ... sin responder ... se fueron.’
Herrera, dec. ii. lib. x. cap. viii.

[764] Duran enumerates some of the provinces summoned, as Xilotepec and

Matlaltzinco. ‘Mandó llamar á ... Encantadores y Hechiceros para que los
asombrasen y los mostrasen algunas visiones de noche, ... para que alli muriesen
de espanto.’ Hist. Ind., MS., ii. 462-6.

[765] Cortés describes first a brief attack, then a sally, succeeded by a fresh
assault on the fort, while Bernal Diaz and Herrera let a force advance against the
Indians before they reached the palace. I follow Cortés as the chief guide,
because his account of all this period was written while quite fresh in his mind, and
appears the most sensible and correct, while the other versions depend more or
less on faint recollection and hearsay. Cortés as a rule did not wait till the enemy
approached, but he may not have been prepared for the sudden attack. Yet it is
probable that he wished in his report to lay the responsibility of the attack upon the
enemy. I do not think Cortés inclined to misrepresent in general or without an
object.

[766] For war customs see Native Races, ii. 400-32.

[767] ‘Sinistræ manus digitis duobus mutilis.’ Peter Martyr, De Insvlis, 5. Cortés
also says ‘quedé manco,’ Cartas, 142, 131, yet Cano ridicules the statement, and
declares ‘nunca fué manco dellos ni le faltan.’ Oviedo, iii. 551-2.

[768] Cortés, Cartas, 128-9. Bernal Diaz speaks of a sally by Ordaz, with 400
men, before the natives reach the fort. He is sorely beset, as related, and retires
with a loss of 23 soldiers. Hist. Verdad., 102-3. Herrera’s account, as usual, is
confused. After Rio returns wounded to report the uprising of warriors, five
horsemen rally to reconnoitre. The following day Ojeda and Marquez set out to
forage, and come to announce the approach of assailants. Two hundred men now
make a sortie and kill a multitude without losing a man. dec. ii. lib. x. cap. viii. It is
useless to follow this author here except for incidents.

[769] Bernal Diaz places the dead at 35 soldiers, besides a large number of allies.
Eight fell during the first discharge upon Ordaz’ party and fifteen more before he
regained the fort, while of the 46 wounded among the garrison twelve died. Hist.
Verdad., 103. Cortés, with his usual prudent suppression of evil news, allows four
deaths and over 80 wounded. He never refers to those who die of wounds.
Gomara follows him. Hist. Mex., 153.
 CHAPTER XXIV.
FIGHT UPON THE TEMPLE SUMMIT.

June, 1520.

The Natives Continue the Assault—Their Fierce Bravery—The Spaniards

Build Turrets—Still the Mexicans Prove too Strong for Them—
Montezuma Called to Intercede—He is Insulted and Stoned by his
Subjects—Cortés Attempts Egress by the Tlacopan Causeway—Failure
of Escobar to Take the Pyramid—Cortés Gains the Slippery Height—
The Gladiatorial Combat there.

At dawn the assault was renewed with the same fierceness as

before, and with even less regard for the sweeping volleys of the
cannon, which were fired without aim into the packed masses of the
natives, bringing them down by the score. The gaps were quickly
closed, and the rapidly repeated shots seemed to make no more
impression on the surging mass than pebbles dropped into the
boiling surf. It was a critical time for Cortés, who seemed not yet to
recognize the full extent of the danger. He felt the necessity of open
communication with the mainland, for obvious reasons, and to this
end, in the course of the morning, he arranged another sortie like
that of the preceding day, but in one direction only. The Indians
retired, as before, into lanes and buildings, and beyond canals,
raising; the bridges behind them. Barricades having been thrown up
to impede the advance since the last sally, some guns were brought
to the front, and with their aid a few of the obstructions were
demolished and more than one bridge was gained, together with a
number of houses, to which the torch was applied. The discharges
from the roofs were kept up with galling pertinacity, although the
effect was not so fatal as during the preceding day, owing to the
experience then gained. The forces below, who had retired before
the charges of the advance, rolled back like recurring billows, and in
ever increasing number, upon flank and rear, as if to overwhelm
them. Such were their numbers and stubborn recklessness that ten
thousand Hectors and Rolands, says Bernal Diaz, could have
effected nothing against them, and soldiers from the Italian war
swore that never among Christians or Turks had they witnessed
such fierceness. Considerable alarm was also created by the
appearance of long pikes, like those of the Chinantecs, directed
particularly against the cavalry. Fortunately they were not numerous,
nor were the pikemen sufficiently practised to be very dangerous.
Worn out in the unequal contest Cortés turned to gain his camp,
which was no easy task, since the natives were massed in greatest
number in the rear, determined to cut off retreat. The fort was gained,
nevertheless, although hardly a man escaped uninjured, while about
a dozen were killed; one unfortunate soldier being captured and
sacrificed in full view of the garrison.[770]
It had been found that the greatest danger to the sallying parties
came from the roofs, whence discharges could be directed with
comparative impunity and with greater effect than from the ground.
In order to counteract them, three mantas, or movable turrets, were
planned, whose occupants were to devote their attention wholly to
clearing the roofs of assailants. The completing of these machines
and other preparations kept the garrison busy all the 27th of June, so
that no sally was made. Ascribing this to fear, the Indians became
more pressing in their assault, and more profuse with their insults.
“Dogs!” cried some, “of hunger and thirst shall you die!” Others
shouted, “Here is a piece of my tortilla!” at the same time flinging
them unpalatable fragments of toasted bread. “Eat it, you perjured
villains, who can fight only on the backs of animals; for soon shall
your own bodies be cut up for food and cast before the beasts!” The
enemy appeared more numerous than ever, and the roofs and yards
were literally covered with their missiles. The greatest danger to the
Spaniards lay in the operations of the battering and mining parties,
who, regardless of bullets from the wall turrets, sought steadily to
open fresh breaches. Conspicuous in the hostile camp was a richly
dressed Indian, surrounded by a staff of finely attired warriors, who
seemed to direct operations, and whose orders were received with
the deepest reverence. This personage the prisoners declared to be
Cuitlahuatzin, and the next in rank Quauhtemotzin.[771] Charge after
charge was made by his direction, and with a vehemence that
threatened to carry everything before it; and loudly rang the yells,
whether of delight at some advantage gained or of fury over a
repulse.
Thus the besieged were harassed beyond endurance. Large
numbers were wounded, and all were exhausted from vigils, hard
fighting, trying work, and the want of sufficient water and food; for in
view of the stoppage of supplies, rations had been reduced. Those
of the Narvaez expedition were particularly disheartened, and
bestowed freely their maledictions, first on Velazquez, who had sent
them to such a country, and then upon Cortés, whose promises of
golden treasures and well stocked encomiendas had lured them to
this plight. Perceiving, however, that unity of purpose alone could
save them, they stifled regrets and showed Cortés that something
must immediately be done to stay the onslaught, lest the building fall
about their ears. It was exceedingly disagreeable, but it must be
done; the proud Spanish general must sue to the greatly injured
captive king, pleading for his influence in behalf of peace.[772]
Montezuma had all these days been closely confined to his rooms
brooding over the insults offered him, and apparently indifferent to
the danger from without. When the message was brought he sullenly
said, “Why does Malinche address himself to me, who care no
longer for life? I will not listen to him, for he it is who has brought me
into this plight.” He intimated further that the promises of the general
could not be relied upon, and that his words carried a double
meaning. Olmedo and Olid, who had come to urge the request, had
recourse to soothing words and persuasion, and succeeded in
mollifying him somewhat.[773] He replied, however, that it was
probably too late to appease the Mexicans by promises. “They have
now a new leader,” he said, “who is resolved to spare no Spaniard,
and I believe that you have all to die in this city.”[774] Nevertheless he
yielded, and as befitted the momentous point at issue, he arrayed
himself in the richly bejewelled robes of state, and placed upon his
head the mitred copilli, beneath whose precious feathers gleamed
the golden plate.[775] Carefully guarded he ascended to the roof and
stepped to the parapet, preceded by a courtier who bore the triple
wand of the empire, as was customary on such occasions. Instantly
the tumult was hushed, even before the leaders could issue orders
for a stay of hostilities; instantly a thousand heads were bent in
humble adoration before the august majesty of their sovereign. This
attitude, however, was assumed but for a moment; soon these same
heads were held higher than ever. Then the chiefs drew near to
listen to the unhappy monarch.
Montezuma had appeared with a feeling of mingled fear and
doubt as to what his reception might be, and he did not fail to
observe that the accustomed reverence was shown only for an
instant, involuntarily, as it were, and that silence was prompted
rather by curiosity than respect. The urgency of the moment
demanded that he should speak, but it was rather as supplicant than
ruler that he turned to his people.
 “You are in arms, my children,” he said, “in hot battle. Why is
this? You will be slain, and there will be heard throughout the land for
many years the wail of wives and little ones. You would give me my
liberty, and I thank you. You do not turn from me in anger, and I
thank you. You have not chosen another king in my stead, and I
thank you. Such an act would displease the gods, and bring
destruction on all. And see! I am no prisoner. Go your way; I am free.
By divine command I must remain the guest of the Spaniards yet a
little longer, and you must not molest them, for soon they will return
whence they came. Alas, my people, my country, my crown!”[776]
With a heavy sigh, and midst copious tears, his head fell on his
breast. The monarch’s strength had indeed departed. The people
knew that he spoke falsely, that he was little better than imbecile,
unfit to be their sovereign. Oh, if he but had the good fortune to die
while helping them to grind to powder these hated enemies! Only a
little while ago his words would have been received as the
utterances of a deity. Now the scales had fallen from their eyes, and
they saw him as he was. They could bear no more. Jeers and
groans reached him from every direction. “Coward! chicken! Woman
to the Spaniards, fit only for the gown and the spindle! Murderer of
your nobles!” Such were the cries which now reached his ears as he
stood stupefied with agony. Presently came a shower of arrows and
stones, and before the Spanish guard could interpose their shields
several missiles struck him, one on the left temple, which caused
him to fall senseless into the arms of the by-standers.[777]
Startled by the crime they had committed, awe fell upon the
multitude as the stricken sovereign was led away. Taking advantage
of this feeling Cortés beckoned the chiefs to a parley with a view to
explain what Montezuma had intended to convey. He had always
wished them well, he said, and felt grieved to wage war for what had
occurred during his absence. He desired peace, yet the desire was
not prompted by fear, but by consideration for their safety and that of
the city. The chiefs replied that the Spaniards must leave the country
to the natives, and depart at once. That was exactly what they
wished to do, replied Cortés, but they would not be driven away. If
the Mexicans desired them to go, they must abandon the siege, tear
down the barricade, and retire to their homes; they must likewise
restore the bridges and supply provisions. To this the chiefs declined
to listen, declaring that they would not lay down their arms so long as
there was a Spaniard left on whom to use them.[778] The evident
desire of the besieged for peace served only to encourage the
Indians, and the assault was renewed with an increased ardor that
taxed the defenders to the utmost.
And now, whatever the cost, a way out of this place must be
opened. Cortés knew of three causeways which led to the mainland,
the only means of exit for his forces. He knew that they were low and
narrow, exposed on both sides to the attacks of canoe fleets, and
intersected by a number of bridges which were perhaps by this time
raised. Each of these openings was an almost impassable chasm.
The southern causeway to Iztapalapan was two leagues in length,
and provided with seven drawbridges, besides a strong fortress,
which rendered it impassable to an enemy. The northern, leading to
Tepeyacac, was one league long, while the shortest, conducting
westward to Tlacopan, half a league distant, was broken by only
three bridges.[779] Cortés resolved to undertake the passage by this
last named causeway. During the night had been completed three
mantas, of light framework and planks, each to hold twenty
musketeers and archers, with which it was hoped to check the
assailants on the roofs. These mantas were built with two chambers,
provided with loop-holes; the upper ranged on a level with the
house-tops of ordinary one-story buildings of the city, and had doors,
so as to allow of sallies upon the roofs.[780]
 The following morning, June 28th, Cortés placed himself at the
head of five hundred Spaniards and over three thousand allies, and
took the direction of the Tlacopan causeway.[781] By a sudden
charge the cavalry drove back the Indians and allowed the free
passage of the mantas, which were drawn and pushed by
Tlascaltecs, and protected by bodies of infantry. A corps of pioneers
accompanied them with pickaxes, mattocks, crow-bars, and ladders,
to destroy barricades and walls, and to scale buildings. Four cannon
were also brought. The rear was protected by a portion of the
cavalry. The Aztecs were at first amazed at the curious moving
turrets, and feared that they might contain more terrible destroyers
even than the grape-charged guns; but finding them less dangerous,
they continued their efforts, and fast and thick poured the stones and
arrows on the line of advance, particularly on the engines, which
were severely damaged. The march proceeded, however, with more
or less interruption till a raised bridge was reached on the main road,
where the Indians had gathered in vast numbers, with an evident
determination to check the expedition. The turrets were brought
alongside the houses adjoining the canal in order to clear the
crowded roofs, but regardless of the volleys from the firelocks, the
natives on the roofs plied their missiles only the faster, letting fly
heavy rocks[782] upon the engine coverings, so as to render them
untenable and hinder the manœuvring of the cannon. This success
enabled the warriors beyond the canal and behind the barricades to
maintain their assault with great effect, and to prevent a further
advance. They gained a considerable advantage by a change of
tactics in directing the missiles to a great extent against the legs of
the Spaniards, to their serious discomfiture.[783] After spending the
greater part of the forenoon in an unsuccessful attempt to destroy
the houses nearest the canal, and to fill a passage across it, the
troops retired to the fort greatly disheartened. Even the Tlascaltecs,
who were usually so glib of tongue in replying to Aztec taunts, for
once held their peace.[784]
Meanwhile the battle raged fiercely round the fort. The temple in
front of it, since its evacuation by the Spaniards, had been occupied
by some five hundred Mexicans, chosen men,[785] who introduced a
large quantity of ammunition and supplies, and began to batter the
besieged quarter. It was this shower which had first damaged the
turrets and harassed the march. Perceiving the danger of leaving so
commanding a position in hostile hands, Cortés had sent his
chamberlain, Escobar, with one hundred men[786] and some allies to
dispossess them. This was no easy task, for the pyramid was of
great extent and over eighty feet in height, composed of a series of
abrupt stone terraces, each receding about six feet from the one
beneath, and so arranged that the ascent led along the entire circuit
of each ledge before the steps conducting to the next could be
gained.[787] Twenty men, says Cortés, could have held it against a
thousand; yet the one hundred were to attempt it. Step by step they
fought their way, beneath showers of arrows, and against javelins,
and sword and lance thrusts from the upper ledges. More dangerous
even than these weapons were the cumbrous missiles in the shape
of heavy stones and timber which came crashing down upon them.
Three times[788] did Escobar lead his men to the charge, only to see
them repulsed and sent rolling down the steps and over the ledges.
Finally he sent word to Cortés that the task was impracticable. The
general received this notice while vainly battling at the canal, and he
eagerly seized upon it as excuse for changing his base of operation.
He hurried to the spot, threw a cordon round the pyramid, and
although badly wounded in the left hand he immediately led his men
to the charge. The Spaniards were making fair progress, when two
heavy beams, which had been reserved at the summit for the last
extremity, were loosened and sent tumbling down the side, so
directed as to sweep to destruction the assailants along its entire
length. At about the centre of their terrible passage, full before them,
stood Cortés. Immediate death for himself and his brave comrades
seemed inevitable, when behold! by some unseen finger the beams
were turned end foremost and shot harmlessly through the opening
made for them by the soldiers. “Thanks be to God and the virgin,
whose image was placed in this tower!” cried Cortés, as without the
loss of a moment he sprang forward and speedily gained the
summit. There the fight assumed the form of a gladiatorial combat, a
hand-to-hand and line-to-line conflict, poised in mid-air on this
narrow slippery summit, and in full view of the whole city. As if by
common consent the combatants below paused in their bloody work
and stood breathless, lost in the more thrilling sight above.
At the eastern end of the platform stood the two three-story
chapels, over fifty feet in height, originally dedicated to Huitzilopochtli
and Tezcatlipoca. Against this the Indians had massed themselves,
fierce in their desperation. The Castilians had taken their stand at the
other end. It was an awful situation, dire destruction being inevitable
to one side or the other. With nerves and sinews strained to their
utmost tension, they stood between attacks regarding each other,
regarding every motion, anon picking from the other’s number with
javelin, dart, or musket, as they were able. It was with difficulty the
Spaniards could stand, and there was no railing round the slippery
height; but fortune again assisted by unveiling the sun and sending
its blinding rays full in the face of the enemy. Every now and then the
soldiers charged in solid phalanx into the centre of the opposite
mass, only to be obliged to retire under the pressure of its weight,
and to receive the counter-charge, encouraged by wildly
gesticulating priests, who flitted to and fro in bloody robes and
dishevelled hair. Aware of the inferiority of their weapons, the natives
sought rather to seize hold of the Spaniards, singly or in groups, and
with the recklessness of doomed men to hurl themselves with their
victims from the dizzy height. In one instance Cortés himself was
selected for this terrible fate. Inspired to martyrdom and revenge, two
young nobles watched their opportunity, and approached him on
their knees, as if pleading for mercy. Ere he had time to consider the
situation they had seized him in their arms and were struggling to
gain the edge. One moment more and he would have been dashed
to death, but by putting forth his whole strength, nerved by
desperation, he succeeded in freeing himself from their grasp. Ojeda
was singled out for a similar attempt, and would have perished had
not a Genoese come to his aid.[789]
For three hours the struggle lasted, while one Indian after
another was picked off by the bullet and the arrow, or pierced by the
pike and sword, or sent headlong over the platform, either to be
crushed by the fall or to be transfixed by the Spaniards on the ledges
below. As their number diminished, many a one sought the higher
martyrdom by leaping from the sacred spot into paradise. Thus
melted away that fated band of Aztec warriors. At the portal of
Huitzilopochtli’s chapel fell the last defender; and two priests, one of
them the high-priest, alone remained to offer themselves as
captives. On entering the chapel consecrated to the virgin no traces
appeared of the holy emblems, only evidences of idolatrous rites,
and upon the altar stains from the blackened hands of the temple
attendants.[790] In the adjoining chapel the war-god was found
reinstalled in all its glittering hideousness. Some consolation for this
sacrilegious intrusion was offered to the victors in despoiling it of the
rich ornaments, while the cacao and other provisions stored here by
the garrison proved a prize to the half-famished Spaniards. The
Tlascaltecs, so long deprived of meat, pounced upon the bodies of
the slain heroes to secure them for a feast, which should not only
satisfy the cravings of hunger, but infuse their hearts and minds with
some of the qualities of the valiant dead.[791] The chapels were then
fired. The upper portion of the structure being of wood, the flames
rose in columns heavenward, heralding the triumph of the Spaniard,
and striking the Indian with awe. It was a great and thrilling feat, this
fight upon the temple top; and so the natives regarded it, their heart,
and mind, and paintings being all stained sanguine over its
remembrance.[792]

FOOTNOTES
[770] Bernal Diaz mentions the death of ten or twelve, but Cortés acknowledges
only three score of wounded. On this occasion, apparently, Herrera allows Cortés
to gain Tacuba, whither he might have retreated in safety with all his forces and
wealth; yet he states that the return fight proved most severe, the fort being
regained with difficulty, after the loss of two guns and several soldiers, one taken
alive. dec. ii. lib. x. cap. ix. Solis manages to transform the operation into a victory,
wherein Cortés stays the slaughter out of mercy. Prescott is quite arbitrary in the
use of the chronicles. He combines the incidents of several days into one and
transposes them at pleasure, with the sole aim apparently of presenting an
exciting description of what the siege might have been. A few facts are elaborated,
and the rest sacrificed to style.

[771] Marina asked Montezuma if a new king had been chosen, but he did not
think they would elect one while he lived. Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt. iii. 141.

[772] ‘Fue acordado de demandalles pazes para salir de Mexico, ... acordò
Cortes, que el gran Monteçuma les hablasse.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 104.
‘Muteczuma ... dijo que le sacasen ... y que él hablaria á los capitanes.’ Cortés,
Cartas, 129-30. The latter statement may be Herrera’s authority for saying that
Montezuma was the first to propose speaking to the Mexicans. dec. ii. lib. x. cap.
x. Observing Cuitlahuatzin’s regal authority over the besieging forces, Montezuma
was seized with a fit of jealous alarm for throne and life. ‘Chiamò Cortès, ...
pregandolo instantemente di non differir più la sua partenza.’ Clavigero, Storia
Mess., iii. 124. This implies that the emperor was not aware of the vain efforts
made to open communication with the mainland, or even to approach it. Cortés
had to urge him in any case to speak to his subjects, an unwelcome task in view of
his declining influence and of the merely partial success of the former appeal.

[773] Among other reasons it was represented that Cortés was not to blame for
the late massacre. ‘Que si la indignacion de los mexicanos podia templarse con el
castigo de los culpados ... le prometia castigar.’ So says the native version of
Tezozomoc, Recop. tradiciones, MS., cap. vi.; Chimalpain, Hist. Conq., 287-8.

[774] He felt no eagerness to plead in behalf of those who had caused all his
misfortunes, and he was only too conscious that his pusillanimity must have
degraded him in the eyes of his subjects, while the elevation of his brother to the
leadership must have diminished the influence which till then may have remained
with him. He could hardly avoid a feeling of jealousy at the thought of this
elevation; and if he, during an impulse of anger against Cortés, had counselled the
proceedings of Cuitlahuatzin, he now felt probably both grieved and terrified at the
storm he had raised. He also harbored a wholesome fear of Malinche, and the
prospect of his speedy departure helped to stir anew the embers of hope. All might
yet be well: the capital might be spared further desolation, and he again resume
his former grandeur.

[775] See description of his first meeting with Cortés, Native Races, ii. This
appearance of the emperor took place on the 27th of June, as Cortés states, but
Bernal Diaz, Herrera, and Ixtlilxochitl place it respectively on the 5th, 6th, and 7th
day of the siege.

[776] Herrera, dec. ii. lib. x. cap. x.; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 104. ‘No
molestàsen à los estrangeros y fuésen sus amigos, pues su persona corria
riesgo.’ Tezozomoc, Recop. tradiciones, MS., cap. vi. Cortés, followed by Gomara,
gives him no time to speak ere the people assault.

[777] They would no longer recognize him as emperor, etc. Saying this, a chief
threw a stone which struck Montezuma on the forehead. Duran, Hist. Ind., MS., ii.
468. Acosta attributes this first throw to ‘Quicuxtemoc,’ the later king of Mexico.
Hist. Ind., 523. ‘Ma io nol credo,’ says Clavigero, Storia Mess., iii. 126. ‘Aunque vn
Castellano tenia cuydado de arrodelar a Motezuma ... le acertò vna piedra en las
sienes.’ Herrera, dec. ii. lib. x. cap. x. Had not the Spaniards held up a shield
before Montezuma the people would have known it was he and not thrown the
stone which killed him, says Cano, his later son-in-law. Oviedo, iii. 550. Gomara is
inclined to believe this, for his people ‘no lo quisieran hazer mas que sacarse los
ojos.’ Hist. Mex., 154. ‘Una saéta alcanzó al emperador en el estòmago que lo
atravezó por el baso, y una piedra le dió en la sien izquierda.’ The people would
never have thrown missiles, for they pitied him, and were prepared to obey his
injunctions, but Cacama, who stood behind the emperor, made signs that they
should continue the attack without regard for him or for the monarch. Tezozomoc,
Recop. tradiciones, MS., cap. vi. According to Bernal Diaz, the four chiefs who had
approached to confer with him expressed their sympathy for his misfortunes. They
had now chosen as leader ‘Coadlabacan, señor de Iztapalapa,’ and had sworn to
the gods to continue the war till all Spaniards were exterminated. Yet they prayed
daily to the gods for his safety, and if all went well he would more than ever be
their lord. They had hardly finished when showers of missiles fell, of which three
stones and an arrow hit him, on the head, arm, and leg. Hist. Verdad., 104.
‘Remorse succeeded to insult,’ and they fled, says Robertson, Hist. Am., 90, a
statement which Prescott improves by stating that the square before the fort was
left empty. But remorse must have been brief, for the main authorities, Cortés,
Gomara, Bernal Diaz, and Torquemada, either declare or intimate that the assault
never stopped. ‘No por eso cesó la guerra y muy mas recia y muy cruda de cada
dia.’ Cortés, Cartas, 130.

[778] ‘Esta Fortaleza casi no tiene exemplar,’ exclaims Lorenzana, forgetting that
Cortés’ firmness was due to the justifiable fear that a trap was intended. Cortés,
Hist. N. España, 136-7. Cortés concludes the sentence about Montezuma’s being
wounded by saying that he died within three days. He thereupon resumes the
account of parleys and siege operations, leaving the impression that these took
place after his death, while such was not the case. Nevertheless, Gomara,
Herrera, and others, Bernal Diaz not excluded, are misled, by this vagueness
evidently, into extending the siege and confounding the events, so that modern
historians have all more or less remained mystified. Solis assumes that during
Montezuma’s illness the siege was conducted only by straggling parties, the main
forces being occupied with crowning the new emperor. Hist. Mex., ii. 155-6. This is
probably due to a misconstruction of Bernal Diaz.

[779] ‘En esta auia tres no mas, y en la de Yztapalapà, siete.’ Herrera, dec. ii. lib.
x. cap. xi.; Native Races, ii. 561 et seq.

[780] Cortés, Cartas, 130, 133. ‘Quatro ingenios ... en que pudiessen yr veynte y
cinco hombres,’ says Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 103. ‘Tres mantas ... cõ sus
ruedas; leuauan treynta hombres a cada vna, cubierta con tablas gruessas de tres
dedos.’ Herrera, loc. cit. Drawn by men within, adds Peter Martyr, dec. v. cap. v.
‘Cabia cada vno veynte hombres, con picas escopetas y ballestas y vn tiro.’
Gomara, Hist. Mex., 154.

[781] Herrera unwisely assumes that the three towers with their forces were
respectively directed against the three causeway approaches.

[782] ‘De tres y quatro arrouas, que maltrataron a los que yuan en los ingenios, y
rompieron las tablas.’ Herrera, dec. ii. lib. x. cap. xi.

[783] ‘Hirieron a mas de docientos Castellanos.’ Id., cap. ix.

[784] ‘Nos mataron un español y hirieron muchos.’ Cortés, Cartas, 130-1.