Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 2.djvu/273

 send a canoe with people in search of these Spaniards, and to take a letter of mine, ordering them to return to that place forthwith. This they executed with diligence enough, and I gave them my letter for the Spaniards; so, the next day, at the hour of vespers, the latter arrived accompanied by the townspeople who had gone with them, and the four other canoes full of people and provisions from the town whence they had come; and they told me that they had crossed the river higher up after leaving me, arriving at Ozumazintlan, which they found burned and deserted; and that the natives of Iztapan who accompanied them, had searched for the people and called them, so that many had come very confidently, bringing them provisions and everything they had asked for. And thus, they had left them in their town, and afterwards had gone to Çagoatespan, which they also found deserted, the inhabitants having gone to the other side of the river; but the people of Iztapan had spoken to them, so they had come back rejoicing, and had given the Spaniards a good reception and all the provisions they required. They had waited there for me two days, and, as I did not come, they thought I had gone higher up, so they went on accompanied by the people of that village to the next town, Petenecte, which is six leagues from there, rinding it also deserted but not burned, and the people on the other side of the river; but the people of Iztapan and those of Çagoatespan had reassured the natives, and induced them to come in four canoes to see me, and bring me maize and honey and cacao and a little gold. They had sent two messengers to three more villages up the river, named Coazacoalco, Caltencingo, and Tautitan, so they believed that people from those places would come to speak to me there on the following day. And so it happened that some seven or eight canoes came down the river the next day bringing people from all these towns, who gave me