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Show --- . uo noo'K IX. ~ S1tC1' , · XXIIT. Return of the pania rds i•l· tu Tla!i·ai,l. HISTOR Y 0 • f I\1 I~ X I C 0 . hns l)en. {hcd, an d m.a ny of the Spaniards in propdo r tion to tl number l 'f l . t. o )S and all of them came off woun cu. 0 t lCI I' I 0 f , < • • • • ·~ {i d 'l'he S aniard s, tired at length with purfu~ng the ugltt\ ~ • · re u~e thc1.r marPc I .J 'I'l·ilfcala by the eaftcrn p:trt of that pbtn, rcmam- 1 towarus ' 1 1 · r. If f ing't.h at m. ght uu dC l. t l1 C op eI ) fky , where the gene. ra 1rl. lnier , a1 tc. r th . f.a t.l oue. and woun ds 1 lnd recci vcd kej1t guard 111 periOll I Or t 1Clr 1C " , , 1 d. d grc·tter i.e cun.t y. Thc, S... 1 Y' tnia' rds were now not more than ·f ou· r 11U ll !e and. forty m. num b ,. Bc!idt:s thofc who lud been flam Jn t 1e cn'- CJ • • d fi g·1gcmcnts, pr.ec.c d"m g tll .v,. unfortunate night of thc1r e. parture rom1 1\.lcxico, there peri01cd during it. and the fix days followmg, as Berna Dia:t, an cyc-wituefr aOirms, eight hundred _a.ncr feventy,. many of whom having been made priioners by the. Mextcans, were mhumanly ftc rificed in the greater temple of the capttal. . The next day, the 8th of July, I szo, they entere~, ma~mg ejaculations to heaven, and returning thanks . to. the Alm1ghty, mto t I1 C d0 1TI1· 11·l 0l1S 0 f Tlar1.1c ·' tla ' and arrived at Hue'Jt otllpan (•y ), a confi•d e•r - nble city of that republic. They feared fl:ill to find fome _ch.ange :.n the fidelity of the Tlafcalan s, well knowin~ how com~on Jt IS to 1ec men abandoned in their misfortunes by thetr dearefl: fnends : but ~hey were foon undeceived by meeting with the moll: fincere demonfl:rat1ons of efl:eem and compailion for the difafi:ers. they_ had undergo~e. !he four chiefs of that republic had no fooner mtel11gence of their arnval, than they came to Huejotlipan to pay their CQtnplimer~ts to them, accompanied by one of the principal lords of Huexotzmco, an~ many of the nobility. The prince Maxixcatzin, though feverely af!IJtl:ed by the death of his daughter, endeavoured to confole Cortes w1th hopes . . . au thor, folely attentive to the ornament of his fiyle, nnd the panegyric of his her~, took lit. tie not.c of numbers. He affirms, that Cortes, after the dl'foat of N~rvaez, ~arned dt:vcn hundred men with him to Mexico, who with othet· eighty th:lt1 nccordmg to Ius nccounr,. remained with AlvOlr,tdo, mnkc eleven hundred 11nd eighty. In rhe engagements, preccdmg the defeat of the Spnniards at Mexico, he mnkes no mention of nny death. In the defe at h,e reckons two hundred only to have been killed; and, in his account of their journey to Tlafcaln, he fpeaks of no other but the two or three who died in Tll\fcala of the wounds they had received at Otompan. Where then are, o1· how havt: the other five hundred men nnd upwards difuppearcd, which nre wanting to make up the nnmbcr of eleven hundred and eighty. \~'o hs\Ve a very different iden given us of the battle of Otompnn fmm thofe who were prefcnt at tt, :u appears from the letters of Cortes, nnd the Hiflory of ~crnal Dbz. . . . (y) Hucjotlip:m is c;liled by Cortes nnd Herrera Gunltpa11, by Bernal D1nz Gunltopar, Rt\,tl by Solis Gualipar. of H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X 1 C 0. of revenge, which he afiured him he might obtain from the cou rage of the Spaniards and the forces of the republic, which from that time he promifcd him, and all the other chiefs made offers to the fame purpofe. Cortes returned them thanks for their kind willies and offers, and laying hold of the fl:andard which he had taken the day before from the Mexican general, he prefented it to Maxixcatzi n, and gave to the other lords fome other valuable fpoils. The Tla(calan women conjured Cortes to revenge the death of their fons and relations, and vented their grief in a thoufand imprecations again fi: the Mexican nation. After rcpofing three days in this place, they proceeded to the capital of the republic, difl:ant about fifteen miles, for the more fpeedy cure of their wounded, of whom, however, eight foldiers died. The concourfe of people at their entry into Tlafcala was great, and perhaps greater than when they made their firfi: entry in'to tha.t city. The reception which Maxixcatzin gave tlu:m, and the care he took of them were becoming his generofity of mind, and dcmonfl:rative of the fincerity of his fi-iendfhip. The Spaniards acknowledged themfelves every day more and more obliged to that nation , the friendlhip of which, by being properly cultivated, proved the mofi: eifetl:ual means not only for the conquell: of the capital of the Mexican empire, but alfo of all the provinces which oppofed the progrefs of the Spanilh arms, and for the fubduing of the barbarous Chichimecas and Otomies, by whom the conquerors were long harrafled. l2I B·OOK IX. 1....---v- While the Spaniards were repofing after their fatigues and recovering of their wounds in Tlafcala, the Mex icans were employed in repairing the evils done to their capital and their kingdom. The loffes and injuries which they had fufi:ained in the fJnce of one year, were truly heavy and difl:reiling; for, bcfides immenfe fums of gold and fil- c~. v.er, gems, and oth c~ precious things, ·expended partly in prefents to the Spaniards, partly in honnge to the king of Splin, of which they recovered but ·littl e, the f.nne of their arms was obfcured, and S£cr.XXIV. Etc lion and proceedi ngs of the king Cuitlabuatzin in M.cxi· the refpecl: of the crown of Mexico diminifhed ; the Totonacas, and other people, had renounced their obedience ; all their enemies had grown more infolcnt; their temples were mate~·ially damaged, and their religion fpurned at; many houfes of the city were totally demoli{hed, and· above all other grievances, they had lofl: their king, feveral royal VoL.ll. R per- -- |