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Show 114 BOOK IX. \ .. S!!.cT. XX. Terrible defeat f.u IIi: red by the Spamards in their ICtrcat, H I S T 0 R y 0 F M $ X I C 0. ml.h .t ary fl .11 d d ce to depart during the night, with all poffible <.1 an pru en , h f . I ·r · h d been poffible to conceal the marc o mne t 1ou-fecrecy : as 1 1t a . 'll d b fand men, with their arms, their horfes, thelr artl ery, an aggagc, from the deteCtion of fo numerous and ~atchful an enemy.. They fixed the night of the firft of July for th~1r departurc (p), a mght the m01111. U nlucky and memorable to the Spamards, fr.o m the great f1augh- 1 f r h r. tr. d which account they gave 1t t 1e name o not:tJI! ter t ey 1unere , on . . . . ., tr'J.·n. e , by w h'1 c h ' t ·5 1lill known m the1r hdl:ones. Cortes ordeted a 1 1 . bridge of wood to be made, which could be earned by forty men, to ferve for the paffing of ditches. He then made all the gold, filver, d gems which they had hitherto amalfed, to be brought out, took athne fifth p' art of it which belonged to the king, ~nd con fi~ ~ne d · 1 lt .to t 1e officers belonging to his majefty, declaring the 1mpoffib1~1ty ~h1ch he found of preierving and faving it. He left the reft to h1s officers and fold iers permitting each of them to take what he pleafed ; buc: at the f.1m~ time, he warned them how much fitter it would be to abandon it all to the enemy; for, when free of that weight,. they would fi~d lefs difficulty to f.we their lives. Many of them, rather than. be .d1fappointed of the principal objeCt of their defires, and the only frUit of their labau'ts,.. loaded thcmfelves with that heavy bu'rden, under the weight 'of which they fell viCtims at once to their avarice and. the rc .. vengct of their enemies. . . Ctn:tcs ordered his march in the greateft filcnce of the mght, whtch· was (elldcred ftill darker by a cloudy iky,. and more troublefome and dangerous by a fmall rain which never ceafed falling. He committed the van gpard to the invincible Sandoval, with fame other officers, and two hundred infantry and twenty horfes; the rear guard to Pedro de Alvarado, with the greater part of the Spanilh. troops.. In the body of the army the prifoners were condutl:ed, with. the fervants and . baggage people. w:here Cortes took alfo. his ftation,, with five horfes and an, hundred infan.try, in order to give fpeedy relief. wherever it .!hould be nece~ry ~ The auxiliary troops of T lafcala,, Chempoalla, (p) B. Diaz fays, that the dcfe:lt of the Spaniards happened on the night of the tenth ?f July ; but we believe this co have been a mittake of the p ri n t ~ r, as Cortc3 allirms1 .. thnt in the1r retreat,_ they arrived at Tlafcala on the tenth of J uly; and from the j urn:d of t heir marcll· kept by this con'l ueror, it is evident thnt their defeat could 110t ha1'e happ ucd on :tny other• day. than the fidl of J ul Y.• and. H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. and Cholula, which amounted then to more than feven thoufand men, BOOK IX. were dift ributed among the three divifions o( the army. Having fidl: ' implored the proteCtion of Heaven, they began to march by the way of .Tlacopan. The greatell: part of them pafit:d th~ firll: ditch or canal by the aflifiance of the bridge which they carried with them, without meeting any other reiiftance than the little which the centinels who guarded that poll: were able to make; but the priefis who watched in the temples having perceiv.ed their departure, cried loudly " to arms," and roufed the people with their horns. In an inHant the Spaniards found themfelves attacked by water and by land, by an infinity of enemies, who impeded their own attack by their number and confufi on. The encounter at the fecond ditch was moft terrible and bloody, the danger extreme, and the efforts of the Spaniards to efcape moft extraordinary. The deep darkncfs of the night, the founds of arms and armour, the threatening clamours of the combatants, the lamentations of the prifoncrs, and the languid groans of the dying, made impreffions both horrid and piteous. Here was heard the voice of a foldier calling earnell:ly for help from his companions, another imploring in death mercy from Heaven: all was confufion, tumult, wounds, and fiaughter. Cortes, like an aCtive feeling general, ran intrepidly here and t.here, frequently paffing and · repaffing· the ditches by fwimming, encouraging fame of his men, affill:ing ~thers , and preferving the remains of his harralfed little army, at the utcnoft ri!k of being killed or made prifoner, in as much order as poffible. The fecond ditch was fo filled with dead bodies, that the rear guard palfed over the heap. Alvarado, who commanded it, found himfelf at the third ditch fo furioufly charged by the enemy, that, not being able to face about to them, nor fwim acrofs without evident danger of peri! hing by their hands, fixed a lance in the bottom of the ditch, grafp-ing the end of it with his hands, and giving an extraordinary fpring to his body, he vaulted over the ditch. This leap, confidcred as a prodigy o~agility, obtained to that place the name which it ftill preferves of Saito d'-A ivarado, or Alvarado's leap. The lofs {ull:ained by the Mexicans on this unlucky night was unquefiion ably great: concerning that of the Spaniards, authors are, as QL2 Jn \ .. ' \ |
