Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 2.djvu/289

 follow my trail. I took a narrow path through the forest which was level and straight enough, but through such a dense growth that I walked leading my horse; and all my people followed me, one behind the other, in like manner. We marched in this wise until nightfall, when we were stopped by a morass which could not be traversed without first making some preparations; seeing which, I gave orders which were passed from one man to the other to return to a small cabin we had passed in the evening, and there we spent the night, though neither we nor the horses had any water.

The next morning, after preparing the morass with branches of trees so as to pass it, we crossed, though with much difficulty, leading our horses, and, three leagues beyond the place where we had passed the night, we beheld a town built upon a hill. Thinking that we had not been seen, I approached it with caution, and found it was so completely closed round that we could discover no entrance. At last we discovered one, but found the town abandoned, though full of provisions of all kinds, such as maize, fowls, honey, beans, and other products of the country, for, as the inhabitants were taken by surprise, they had no time to carry off their provisions which, as it was a fortified town, were very plentiful. The town is situated upon a lofty rock, having a great lake on one side and on the other a deep stream which empties into the lake; there is but one accessible entrance, and all is surrounded by a deep moat behind which there is a palisade, breast high; and beyond this palisade there is an enclosure of very thick planks, two fathoms high, with loop-holes at all points from which to shoot arrows; its watch towers rise seven or eight feet higher than the said wall, which was also provided with towers, on the top of which were many stones with which to fight from above. All the houses of the town had loop-holes and were fortified, while the streets were