Page:Young Folks History Of Mexico.pdf/252

246 At the entrance to the city, which the soldiers said would compare favorably with Granada at the time of its capture from the Moors, they were received by a crowd of near one hundred thousand people. Arches of flowers were sprung across the streets by the inhabitants, who gave flowers to the soldiers and hung garlands upon the necks of the horses.

[A. D. 1519.] This day of music and rejoicing was the twenty-third of September, a day celebrated even in modern times by the people of Tlascala. The officers and troops were assigned quarters, each man being given a bed of nequen, or aloe-fibre, to sleep on. Not yet fully satisfied as to the good faith of the Tlascallans, Cortez kept his men under arms, keeping watch at night, and sentinels at the doorways and on the parapets; and when the senate complained of their lack of faith in their good intentions the general told them it was the custom of his country, and they were satisfied. Many of the cotton garments presented by Montezuma were given by Cortez to the Tlascallan chiefs, for, through poverty, they yet wore dresses of nequen, cotton being a coast product, and prohibited.

With all his powers of persuasion, Cortez could not induce these people to turn from their idols, who, they said, gave them rain, and victories over their enemies. He showed them a "beauteous image of our Lady," but, though they promised to respect her, they could not be induced to abandon their other gods in her favor.

The Tlascallans so far yielded to the advice of Cortez as to break the wooden cages in which they confined prisoners destined for sacrifice, to set these wretches free, and promise to desist from this horrid practice in the future. They strongly advised him not to advance any farther, but