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 248 army of fifty thousand men, foreseeing, no doubt, an opportunity for revenge upon the Cholulans for past offences. Cortez would accept of only six thousand, and even these, when he approached the city of Cholula, were obliged to encamp outside upon the plain.

The holy city of the priests was eighteen miles distant from Tlascala, and about sixty from Mexico, situated (as now) in the centre of a beautiful and highly-cultivated plain. It was very populous, containing, according to Cortez himself, who described it in one of his letters, above forty



thousand houses. It was celebrated for its commerce and its manufactures of cotton and pottery. Famous above all, was it, as the site of the holy pyramid of Quetzalcoatl, which towered above the plain and supported the sanctuary of that divinity, who (it will be seen, by referring to Chap. II.), dwelt here many years prior to his final departure from Anahuac. The city was full of temples and priests, and the latter came out to meet them, fumigated them with incense, and welcomed them to their houses, except their enemies, the Tlascallans, whom they insisted should camp