We Escaped With Some Difficulty, Two Only Of Our Allies Being
Drowned; But All Our Powder Was Destroyed, And We Passed A Very
Uncomfortable Night, Without Food, And All Wet And Very Cold; And Were
Very Much Provoked At The Laughter And Taunts Of The Mexicans From The
Lake.
At daybreak, large bodies of Indians crossed over from Mexico and
attacked us with such violence, that they killed
Two of our soldiers and
one horse, and wounded many of us, and were repelled with much difficulty.
Our allies also suffered considerable loss on this occasion; but the enemy
were at last repulsed, and we returned to Tezcuco very little satisfied
with the fame or profit of this fruitless expedition. Two days after our
retreat from Iztapalapa, the inhabitants of these neighbouring districts,
Tepetezcuco, Obtumba or Otompan, and some others in that quarter, sent to
solicit pardon for the hostilities they had formerly committed against us,
alleging in excuse that they had acted by the orders of their sovereign
Cuitlahuatzin, the immediate successor of Montezuma. Cortes, knowing that
he was not in a situation to chastise them, granted them pardon on promise
of future obedience. The inhabitants also of a place which we named
Venezuela, or Little Venice, because built in the water, who had been
always at variance with the Mexicans, now solicited our alliance, and
engaged to bring over their neighbours to our party. This circumstance was
of much importance to our views, from the situation of that place on the
lake facilitating our future operations, especially those of our naval
force.
We soon afterwards received intelligence, that large bodies of Mexican
troops had attacked the districts which were in alliance with us, by which
the inhabitants were compelled to fly into the woods for shelter, or to
take refuge in our quarters. Cortes went out with twenty of our cavalry
and two hundred infantry, having Alvarado and De Oli along with him, to
drive in the Mexicans. The real cause of contention on the present
occasion was concerning the crop of maize growing on the borders of the
lake, which was now fit to reap, and from which the natives had been in
use to supply our wants, whereas it was claimed by the Mexicans, as
belonging to the priests of their city. Cortes desired the natives to
inform him when they proposed to cut down this corn, and sent upwards of a
hundred of our men and a large body of our allies to protect the reapers.
I was twice on that duty, and on one of these occasions, the Mexicans came
over to attack us in above a thousand canoes, and endeavoured to drive us
from the maize fields; but we and our allies drove them back to their
boats, though they fought with great resolution, killed one of our
soldiers and wounded a considerable number. In this skirmish, twenty of
the enemy were left dead on the field, and we took live prisoners.
Chalco and Tlalmanalco were two places of material importance to us at
this time, as they lay in the direct road between Tlascala and our
head-quarters at Tezcuco, but both of them were garrisoned by Mexican
troops; and though Cortes was at this time solicited by several important
districts to enable them to throw off the yoke of Mexico, he considered it
as of the first necessity to dislodge the Mexicans from these two towns,
on purpose to open a secure communication with our allies, and to cover
the transport of our ship timber from Tlascala.
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