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Show 62 !OOK Vlll. ~ S ltCT. xxxrv. Enrrr of rhe Sp:Hll:ll'tiS i nto htapalapan. II I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. prince Ixtlilxochitl, whofe attachment to the Spat1ia1·ds was now ftrongly apparcn t. Tezcuco then, though fomewhat inferior to Mexico in fplendour and magnificence, was the largefl: and rno!l: populous city of the country of Anahuac: its population, including the cities of Hu.exotla·~ Coatlich~ n, and Atenco, which were fo near as to appear like its fuburbs, occupied one hundred and forty thoufand houfes: to the Spaniards it feemed twice as large as Seville. The gmndeur of the temples and royal palaces, the beauty of the firects, the fountains and gardens, furni{hcd ample variety of fubjeCl: for their admiration. Cortes entered into this grc~t city accompanied by the two princes and many of the Acolhuan nobility, amidfl: an infinite concourfe of people. He was lodged with all his army in the principal palace of the king, where the treatment to his pcrfon was fuitablc to the dwelling. There the prince Ixtlilxochitl explained his pretended right to the kingdom of Acolhuacan, and his complaints again!l: his brother Cacamatzin and the king of Mexi o his uncle. · Cortes promifed to put him in poffeffion of the throne, as foon as he had fini{hed his negociations in Mexico ; and, without ll:opping in that court, he marched towards Iztapalapan. lztapalapan was a large and beautiful city, fituatcd towardll the po:nt of that fmall peninfuln which is between the two lakes of Chalco to ·the fouth and ezcuco to the north : from thi8 peninfula a road led to the little ifbnd of Mexico, which was paved for more than [even miles, and mndc on the lake many years before. The population c;>f lztapalapan confi!l:ed then of more than twelve thoufand houfes, built chi fly on feverallittle Wands contiguous to each other and the fame pen.infL~la, clofe to which were innumerable floating fields and garden s. fh1s c1ty was then governed by the prince uitlahuatzin, brother of Montezuma, and hi immediate fucce!for in the crown of Mexico · who, .together with .his other brother Matlatzincatzin lord of the cit~ of Cojohuacan, rcce1vcd Cortes with the tune ceremonies ufcd by the other lords through. whofe cities he ,paGed. Ie was complimented in 1an d e lega· nt h·a rangue, and he, and. his troops which a' cco mpan1·c d h1' m, o ged m h1s own oabce. Th1s was an extenfive and moil: cap.1cious 8 edifice H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. edifice of fione and lime, fre!h built, and not yet completed : befides many halls and chambers of excellent accommodation, the roofs of which were cedar, and the walls covered with fine cotton tapefiry, and b .. fides many large fquares where the allied troops were quartered, it had a garden of furprizing extent and beauty, already defcribed by us when we treated of the agriculture of the Mexicans. After dinner the prince conduCted his guell.s to this gardcn 1 where they received great recreation, and were imprelfed with a very elevated idea of Mexican. magnificence. In this city the Spaniards obferved, that infiead of munnurings and complaints as elfewhere, they heard nothing but praifcs of the government; fuppoft:d to have been owing to the neighbourhood of the court, which made the inhabitants more c:mtious in [peaking. The next day the Spaniards marched along that road which united, as we have already mentioned, Iztapalapan with Mexico, which was. interfetted by feven finall canals for the pafi:1ge of boats from one lake to the other, and over thefc were wooden bridges. for the convenience of p~ffengcrs, which lifted up eafily when it was neceflary to obfiruCl: the palfage of an enemy. After having palfed through Mexicaltzinco, and viewed Colhuacan, Huitzilopocho, Cojohuac~n, and Mixcoa,c, cities all fituated upon the borders of the lake, they arrived, amidfl: an. immenfe concourfe of people, at a place called Xoloc·, where this and the road of Cojohuacan met each other. In the angle formed by thefe two roads, which is not more than half a league difl:ant from the capital, there was a baftion with two little towers, furrounded by a wall more than ten feet high, with battlements,. two, entrances, and a draw-bridge; a place moft memorable in the hi!l:ory of Mexico, from having been the camp of the Spani01 general in the fiege of that great ~ity; there the army made a halt, to receive the compliments of more than a thoufand Mexican nobles, all uniformly dreifed, who, in paffing before the Spanifh genera1, made a bow with the ufual ceremony of touching the earth and kiffing the hand. Thek compliments being over, in· which• the fpace of an hour was confumed., the Spaniards continued thetr courfe, all in as regular order as if they had been going to the field of battle.. A little way before· they BOOKVIIT. L .. , , j:lecT. XXXV. Entrr of'the Spanlllrds into MexiCQ4. |