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272 hoped some day to displace Cacama. Imbued more than ever with his ambition, he hastened to intercept the Spanish captain, in order personally to promote his views and induce him to come northward to Tezcuco and to his own capital. Cortés was full of promises, but it did not just then suit him to disarrange the plan he had formed, and so Ixtlilxochitl had to wait.

It is this meeting no doubt which has been wrongly extended by several authorities into a visit to Tezcuco.

As the Spaniards approached Iztapalapan, Cuitlahuatzin, the brother of Montezuma and lord of the city, came forth in company with Tezozomoc, lord of the adjoining Culhuacan, and a number of other caciques and nobles, to escort his guests to their quarters in his palace. The city with its ten thousand to twelve thousand houses was constructed partly on piles, and crossed by canals, on either side of which rose substantial buildings, chiefly of stone, a large proportion being, according to the conqueror, "as fine as the best in Spain, both in extent and construction." The Spaniards were awed by the beauty of the place. The palace was particularly fine and spacious, with courts shaded by awnings of brilliant colors