Page:The Mastering of Mexico.djvu/140

108 mountain through a pass and reached Texutla, where again the folk were friendly to us because they refused to pay tribute to Montezuma. After we left this township we finished the ascent of the mountain and came to a wild and rugged region where we had excessive cold, and the very first night rain and hail. Our provisions were all gone and the wind came across the snow hills and chilled us till we shook with cold. No one can wonder we suffered, for we had come suddenly from the climate of Cuba, and the hot coast of Vera Cruz, and in a frost-bound country had nothing with which to cover ourselves. In another pass which we entered we found groups of houses and large temples with huge piles of firewood near for use in the idol-worship. Still there was nothing to eat, and the weather was bitterly cold. Our march now lay across the land belonging to the town of Xocotlan. We sent on two Cempoalans to tell the cacique of our coming and gain a favorable reception, but even then we marched in close order and always guardful. The town was subject to Montezuma and everything looked different. Still, we were as much pleased with it as with a Spanish town—its gleaming whitewashed balconies, the dwellings of its caciques, and its lofty temples wholly built of stone and whitened. The chief cacique came to meet us, since our messengers had made known our