Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 2.djvu/74

 bother us any more, and we continued our march. At ten o'clock in the morning we arrived in the city of Cuyoacan two leagues from Suchimilco, as well as from the cities of Temixtitan, Culuacan, Uchilubuzco, Iztapalapa, Cuitaguaca, and Mizqueque, all of which are situated on the water, the furthest being about a league and a half distant. We found it deserted, and lodged in the house of the chief, where we remained two days.

Since I was to lay siege to the great city of Temixtitan as soon as the brigantines were finished, I wished first to see the port of the city and the entrances and exits, and where the Spaniards might attack or be attacked. The day after we arrived, therefore, I took five horsemen and two hundred foot soldiers and went, by a causeway leading into the city of Temixtitan, to the lake which was very near, where we saw an infinite number of canoes on the water with countless warriors in them. We reached a barricade they had erected across the causeway, and the foot soldiers began to attack it; although it was very strong and a stout resistance was offered and ten Spaniards were wounded, we finally won it, killing many of the enemy, although the archers and musketeers exhausted their arrows and powder. From this place, we saw how the causeway led directly through the water until it entered the city of Temixtitan, a full league and a half distant, and that likewise on the other, which goes to Iztapalapa, there were crowds of innumerable people. When I had considered all that it was necessary to observe, for it was likely that a garrison of horsemen and foot soldiers would have to be established here in this city, I ordered our people to retire, and we returned to the town, burning their houses and the towers of their idols.