[1] According To Clavigero, II.

135, the Spanish force at this time amounted to forty cavalry, divided into four troops, and 550 infantry, in nine companies:

But he swells the auxiliary force of the Tlascalans to 110,000 men. - E.

[2] In the very imperfect maps of Diaz and Clavigero, Tezcuco is placed near the mouth of a rivulet which discharges itself into the lake of Mexico: In the former, the buildings are represented as extending two miles and a half along the rivulet, and coming close to the edge of the lake; but the map of Clavigero has no scale. In the map given by Humboldt, Tezcuco is placed on a rising ground, near two miles from the edge of the lake. But the lake has since the time of Cortes been much diminished in extent by a grand drain, insomuch that Mexico, formerly insulated, is now a mile and a half from the lake. - E.

[3] On this occasion Diaz mentions the inhabitants of Chalco, Tlalmalanco, Mecameca, and Chimaloacan, as the allies of the Spaniards; but these states do not appear to have submitted to the Spaniards till afterwards. Cortes employed the interval, from his arrival at Tezcuco in the end of December 1520, to the investment of Mexico, at the end of May 1521, five months, in detaching a great number of the native states from their dependence upon Mexico. - E.

[4] From the circumstance of the gold, it is probable Yuste and his companions had been slain on their retreat from Mexico, not on their way there as stated in the text. From this and other similar incidents, of parties of Spaniards having been slain in different places after the retreat from Mexico, it is highly probable that several detached parties made their escape, who missed forming a junction with Cortes. He, it will be recollected, made a detour round the west and south sides of the lake; and it is probable that they had turned to the east, as the nearest and most direct way to Tlascala and Villa Rica. - E.

[5] Clavigero, II. 146, exaggerates the armed escort to 30,000 Tlascalan warriors, commanded by three chiefs, Chichimecatl, Ayotecatl, and Teotlipil. Diaz calls the two last, Teuleticle and Teatical; but though his facts are fully more to be depended upon, Clavigero may be accounted better versant in Mexican orthography. - E.

[6] Clavigero, II. 146, quotes Diaz as saying that it extended six miles from front to rear. This may very likely have been the case, but Diaz nowhere specifies the length of the line. - E.

[7] Clavigero says, 350 Spanish infantry, 25 horsemen, and 30,000 Tlascalans, with six small cannon. - E.

[8] Clavigero, II. 147, says that Cortes endeavoured at this time, but in vain, to come to an amicable agreement with the court of Mexico. - E.

[9] In this expedition Cortes appears, by the information of Clavigero, II. 152, to have crossed the southern mountains of the Mexican vale, and to have reduced Huastepec, Jautepec, Quauhnahuac, and other towns belonging to the Tlahuicas, who were subject to the Mexican empire; thus judiciously using his endeavours to strengthen his own party and to weaken that of the Mexicans, before proceeding to assail the capital of that powerful empire. - E.

[10] This beautiful city was the largest in the vale of Mexico, after the capital and the royal residences of Tezcuco and Tlacopan, and was famous for its floating gardens, whence it derived its name, signifying flower gardens in the Mexican language. - Clavig. II. 155.

[11] Diaz mentions a poem circulated at the time, as beginning in reference to the melancholy of Cortes on this occasion, somewhat in the following strain:

In Tacuba was Cortes, with many a gallant chief; He thought upon his losses, and bow'd his head with grief.

[12] Clavigero, II. 159, carries the number of allies which joined Cortes on this occasion, to more than 200,000 men. In his enumeration of the several divisions of the army appointed for the investment of Mexico, Diaz makes the Indian allies very little more than 24,000 warriors. - E.

[13] Diaz mentions, that about this time intelligence came to Tezcuco, that three of our soldiers who had been left by Pizarro to search for mines in the country of the Zapotecas had been put to death by the Mexicans, one only, named Barrientos, having escaped to Chinantla, where he was protected by the natives. - E.

SECTION XIII.

_Narrative of Occurrences from the commencement of the Siege of Mexico to its Reduction, and the Capture of Guatimotzin_.

Having thus, by the occupation of Tacuba, commenced the investment of the great and populous city of Mexico, we soon found the enemy around us in great numbers; and as the first operation, it was determined on the following day, that our divisions should march to Chapoltepec to destroy the aqueduct at that place, by which the city of Mexico was supplied with fresh water. We set out accordingly with our allies, and although the enemy attacked us on our march, we repelled them and succeeded in our object of cutting off the pipes, so that from that time the city of Mexico was deprived of fresh water. It was now determined to endeavour to penetrate to the city of Mexico by the causeway of Tacuba, or at least to attempt getting possession of the first bridge on that causeway; but on our arrival there, the prodigious number of boats which covered the water on both sides, and the multitude of Mexican troops which thronged the causeway to oppose us, was perfectly astonishing. By the first flight of arrows which they discharged against us, three of our men were slain and thirty wounded; yet we advanced to the bridge, the enemy retiring before us, as if by a concerted stratagem, so that we were exposed on both flanks, on a narrow road only twenty feet wide, as a butt for the innumerable arrows of the Mexicans in the canoes, and neither our musquetry nor crossbows were of any avail against the people in the canoes, as they were effectually protected by high wooden screens.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 70 of 216
Words from 70780 to 71807 of 221091