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Show I BOOK X. .....rv--J SecT. V. Tranfport of the m:~tcrials of the brig:mtinei. H I S T 0 R y 0 F M E X I C 0. It being now time to tranfport the timber, ~ails, cordage, and iron, r h b 'gantines Cortes fent Sandoval Wlth two hundred Sp::tIOf t e n • · h · fi fl: · ds and fifteen horfes for that purpofe, chargmg tm to go r ~~a~olrepec, and take ample revenge on thofe citizens for the flaughter of the forty-five Spaniards and three hundred Tlafcalans, . of whom we have already made mention. The Zoltepechefe,. when they perceived this Horm· coming upon them, deferted the1r .houfes to fave their lives by flight, but they were purfued by the Spamards, and many of them killed, and others made fiaves. From thence Sandoval marched to Tlafcala, where he found every thing ready for t~1e tr~nfport of the finifhed materials of the brigantines. The firfi bngan~me was built by Martino Lopez, a Spaniili foldier, who was an engmeer m the army of Cortes, and was put to proof in the river Zahuapan. After that model the other twelve were built by the Tlafcalans. The tranfport of them was executed with great rejo~cing an.d expedi:ion by the Tlafcalans, the load appearing to them of httle we1ght, whtch was to contribute to the ruin of their enemies. Eight thoufand Tlafcalans carried on their backs the beams, fails, and other materia~s, neceffary for the confiruCl:ion of the brigantines ; two thoufand were loaded with provifions, and thirty thoufand were armed ~or. d~fence, un~er ~he command of the three chiefs Chichimecatl or Chtchtmecateutl:lt, Ajotecatl, and Teotepil or Teotlipil. This convoy occupied, according to Bernal Diaz, upward of fix miles of fpace, from van tG rear. When they fet out from Tlafcala, 'Chichimecatl commanded the vanguard, but whenever they got without the dominions of the republic, Sandoval gave him the rear-guard, fearing fome attack from the enemy. This occafioned great difgufl: to the Tlafcalan, who boail:ed of his bravery, alledging1 that in an the battles in which he had ever been concerned, he had always, in example of his ancefiors, taken the moil: dangerous poll; and Sandoval was obliged to make ufe of arguments and entreaties to, pacify him. Cortes,. arrayed in his rnofi fplendid apparel, and ac.companied by all his officers, . came to meet them, ancl embraced and thanked thofe Tlafcalan lords for their kind fcrvices .. Six: hours were fpent in ' entering_ into Tezcuco in the befi: order, and' with .. ' H l S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. 147 with the cry of Crijlile ! Cajlile / Tlcrji:ala .' Tlajca/a .' in the midfi of BOOK X. the noife of the military mulic. ~ T he general Chichimccatl was hardly arrived, when, without tak- s ~ cT. VI. E" pt:di·iou ing any rcfl: after the f<ltigue of his journey, he requcfl:ed Cortes to againtl the elllploy him and hi s troops againInt t 11 e enemy. Co rtes , w11 o wai·t e d fco r ctoitciaesn oafn dX al nothing clfe than the arrival of the auxiliary troops of Tlafcab, to exe- Tlacopa.n. cute an expedition which he had been meditating for fome time, after leaving a {hong garrifon in Tczcuco, and giving the proper orders for the completing of the brigantines, fct out on his march in the be.ginning of fpring I 521, with twenty-five horfes, and fix .linall pieces of artil-lery, three hundred and fifty Spaniards, thirty thoufand Tlalcalans, and a part of the T ezcucan nobility; and becaufe he was afraid that the Tezcucans, whom he did not altogether trufi, might give fecret advice. to the enemy and f rull:rate his deligns, he left Tezcuco without pub-lilhing the object of his expedition. The army .travelled twelve miles towards the north, and rem~ined that night under the open fky. The next day it proceeded to attack Xaltocan, a {hong city fituated in the middle of a lake, with a roc~d le.1ding to it, cut like thofe of Mexico, with feveral ditches. The Spanilh infantry, affified by a conliderable number of the allies, paifed the ditches, through a thick D1ower of darts, arrows, and ftones; by which many were wounded; but the citizens not being able to endure longer the flaughter which the Spa-nilh arms made of them, abandoned the city, and faved themfelves by flight. The conquerors plundered the city, and fet fire to fome of the houfes. The day following they proceeded towards the large and beautiful city of ~auhtitlan, as Cortes jufily calls it, but they found it depopulated; the citizens having been terrified by what had happened to Xaltocan, and betaken themfelves to fome place of fecurity. From thence they paired to Tenajocca, and to Azcapozalco, and bczcaufe they met with no refilhnce from any of thofe three cities they did them no hurt. At lafi they came to the court of Tlacopan, the limi~ which Corte~ had propofed to himfelf for the expedition, where he meant to folicit fome accommodation with the court of Mexico, and if that ihould not fucceed, to inform himfelf in the neighbourhood of its defigns· and preparations. He found the citizens · of that U 2 place |