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Show HISTO .RY OF MEX,ICO. flaves' to be hanged, becaufe they ftole a turkey and aooK x.. two Moors, his /\.. h ~ 1 By thefe and other fimilar punimments, c two cotton mant es. ' . h [c . made his orders be regarded, which greatly contnbutcd to t e pre et-vation of his troops. . . h h h h ld After he had made all the difpofitlOnS whtc e t oug t wou . con-duce to th e h appy l·unU· C of llt's enterprife, he at length. marched W8lt h1 all . 1 . S . ds and a confiderable number of the allies, on the 2 t 1 of us pamar , h . fi {\: heard mafs and invoked the Holy Spirit. December, 1520, avmg r ' . . 1 h' . h h [c to take the whole army of the alltes Wlt 1 tm, He dtd not t en c oo e • f h d' a.· wht.c h ha dbe en revt.e wc d the day before , both on account o t e tut. - lt which ' there would be to maintain fo numerous an army m cTu y d becaufe he thought it necelfary to leave the greater part ezcuco, an · b · of them in Tlafcala to guard the brigantin~s, when 1t !hould e tane to tramr.p or ttl1 -em. Of the three roads ' which led to Tezchu cMo, C·o rtes chofe the mofi: difficult, being wifely perfuaded that t e extcans would not expeCt him there, and his march would confequently be. more fafe. He proceeded therefore by Tetzmcllocan, a ~illage belongmg to the fi:ate of Huexotzinco. On the 3oth, they dtfcovered, from .the h' heft fummit of thofe mountains, the beautiful vale of Mextco, p~~tly with gladnefs, becaufe there lay the objeCt o~ th~ir defires ; partly with fome difgufi:, from the remembrance of thetr dtfafl:ers. In beginning to defcend towards that vale, they found the way obfi:rueted with trunks and branches of trees laid acrofs it defignedly, and were obliged to employ a thoufand Tlafcal.ms to clear it.. As foon as they reached the plain, they were attacked by fome flymg troops of the enemy; but upon fome of them being killed by. the Spaniards, the .Fell: fled. That night they quartered in Coatepec, a place about etght miles difiant from Tezcuco; and the day following, as they were marching towards that capital, in fome doubt and anxiety concerning the difpofition of the Tezcucans, but at ~h e fame time refolved not to return without having taken fome revenge of their enemies, they f.1w coming to them four refpe~able perfops unarmed, one of them with a little golden flag in his hand; and Cortes recollecting that this was an enfign of peace, he advanced to confer with them. Thefe four melfengers were fent by ki:ng Coanacotzin to compliment the Spaniili general, to invite him to the COI} r t, and to requdl: him not to· com-mit H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M .E X I C 0. mit any hofl:ilitieH in his fl:ates, which prefented him the flag, contain ing thirty·-two ounces of gold. Cortes, notwithfianding this lhcw of fr iend{hip, reproached them for the death they had a few months before been the cauie of to fo rty- five Spaniards, five horfes, and three hundred T lafcalaQS, who accomp.wied them lo.u.kd with gold, fi lver. alld arms for the Spaniards who were then in Mexico, and executed wi th fuch inhtu"?ani ty, that they had hung up the fkins of the Spaniards, with their arms and habits, and thole of the horfes with the~r armout·, as trophies in the te;:mplcs of Tcz uco. Ht: added, that although it was impoHible to compenGtt~ the:: lofs of his people, they mufi: at leaH: pay the gold and fi lver which th ey had robbed from them; that if they did not make the due f.1tisfacbo n, he would, for ev ry Span iard they had killed, flay a thoufwd Tezcucans. The meffengers an[wered, that the Mexica11 s, and not the Tczcucans, unucr whofe orders the Zoltcpechcfe had at'l:ed, were blame.1ble for th ;It; but, notwithfi:anding. they would ufe every endewour to make all be refi:ored to him ; and h;wiug tJ.ken polite leave . of the Spaniih general, re turned in hafte to T <:zcuco with the n ~ws of the near arrival of the Spaniards at that court. Cortes entered with his army into T ezcuco, on the lafi: day of that year. Some nobles came out to meet him, and conduCted him to one of the pab ces of the late ki ng Nezahuakojotl, which was fo large, that llOt only the fix hundred Spaniards were lodged in it, but, according to what Cortes u1ys, it could have accommodated fix hund re::d more. T lut general foon perceived the concourfe of people in the il:reets remarkably dimini{hed, as he thou _sht he did not fee the third part of of the inhabitants which he had feen upon former occaiions, and particub rly obfcrvcd that the women and children were out of the way, which w.ts a manifefi: token of fomc evil difpofition in that court. Jn order to lefit:n the difirufi: of the ci ti zens, and avoid any accident to his own people, he publi ih.:d a proclamation, in which he furb1d, under pai n of death, any of his foldic't·s to leave their quarters without his pcrmi(lion. After din ner, they Qbferved from the terraces of the palace a great number of people:: abandoning the city, fome. withclr.lwing to the neighbouring woods, :md others to diffe::rent p\.1ces around the lake. Th'- night fo llo·,ving, the king Coanacotzin abfcntctl, T 2 tran fport- 139 'POOK X. ~ SecT. II. Emr1 of tile Span1 ards into Tc~c u c o , nnd revolu tions in that court. • |