Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 1.djvu/271

Rh of my experienced people to ascertain all these matters. They went with the messengers, whom that chief Tuchintecla had sent to me, taking some things for him which I gave them. Upon their arrival, they were well received by him; and they again examined and sounded the harbour and river to see whether a town might be founded. They afterwards brought me a long and exact description, saying that there was everything necessary for a settlement, and that the chief of the province was very content, strongly desiring to serve Your Highness. When this account came, I immediately dispatched a captain, with one hundred and fifty men, to lay out, and build a town, and construct a port; for the chief of that province had offered to do this as well as everything else that might be necessary or commanded by me; and he even built six houses on the site chosen for the town, and said that he was very pleased we should come there to settle, and remain in his country.

In the past chapters, Most Powerful Lord, I have said that, at the time of my coming to the great city of Temixtitan, a great lord had come, on behalf of Montezuma, to meet me on the road, who, as I learned afterwards, was a near relative of the latter's, and had dominions called Haculuacan, adjoining those of Montezuma. The capital of, these is a very great city on this salt lake, six leagues by canoe, and ten by land, from this city of Temixtitan. The city is called Tezcuco, and it may have