[265] ‘Y todos â vna le respondimos, que hariamos lo que ordenasse, que echada estaua la suerte de la buena ò mala ventura.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 40.
[266] Bernal Diaz states, 65, that on reaching Mexico City ‘no llegauamos á 450 soldados,’ intimating that they must have amounted to fully this figure on leaving Villa Rica. This would allow fully 120 men to Escalante, which appears a large garrison, even after making allowances for the old and infirm. Gomara places the force at 400 Spaniards, with 15 horses, 6 guns, and 1300 Indians, including Cubans and carriers. Conq. Mex., 67; Herrera, dec. ii. lib. vi. cap. i.; Torquemada, i. 411, 517. Ixtlilxochitl increases this to 7 guns, 1300 warriors, and 1000 carriers. ‘Con quince de caballo y trescientos peones.’ Cortés, Cartas, 52. Cortés refers later on to 400 Cempoalans. He mentions merely 200 carriers. Clavigero has 415 Spaniards, a figure resulting from a misreading of his original. Storia Mess., iii. 36. Solis, Hist. Mex., i. 216-17, followed of course by Robertson, changes the figures to 500 men, 200 carriers, and 400 Indian troops. A page, twelve years old, was left with the lord of Cempoala to learn the language. ‘Tomaron un indio principal que llamaban Tlacochalcatl para que los mostrase el camino,’ taken from the country by Grijalva, and brought back by Cortés. Sahagun, Conq. Mex., 16. Shortly before beginning the march, says Duran, a messenger arrived from Mexico in the person of Motelchiuh, sent by Montezuma to serve as guide, and to provide for the proper service and hospitality on the way. Being told that no guide was needed, he returned, leaving orders with the caciques en route to tender good reception to the strangers. Duran, Hist. Ind., MS., ii. 405-10.
[267] Meaning ‘Spring in the Sand.’ Rivera, Hist. Jalapa, i. app. 7. ‘Y la primera jornado fuimos â vn pueblo, que se dize Xalapa.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 41. But the road was too long for one day’s march. I may here observe that Bernal Diaz is remarkably faulty in his account of this march and of the campaign into Tlascala, and this is admitted by several writers, who nevertheless follow him pretty closely. The place is known the world over for its fairs and productions, particularly for the drug bearing its name, and is famous in the neighboring districts for its eternal spring and beautiful surroundings.
[268] Identified with Naulinco. Lorenzana, Viage, p. ii.
[269] Cortés refers to a friendly chat with the governor, who mentioned the orders he had received to offer the Spaniards all necessities. Cartas, 57.
[270] ‘Por ser el primero que en estas tierras habíamos pasado. El cual es tan agro y alto, que no lo hay en España otro.’ Cortés, Cartas, 57. ‘Hoy se llama el Paso del Obispo.’ Lorenzana, ubi sup. ‘Ay en ella muchas parras con vuas, y arboles cõ miel.’ Gomara, Hist. Mex., 68.
[271] ‘Hoy se nombra Ixhuacán de los Reyes.’ Lorenzana, Viage.
[272] ‘De Nauhcampa, quatre parties, et tepetl, montagne.’ Humboldt, Vues, ii. 191. Equivalent to the Spanish name of Cofre de Perote.
[273]Lorenzana believes it to be the later Sierra de la Agua. A map with profile of the route is given in Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., ii. 201; and a still better map by Orozco y Berra, Itinerario, in Noticias Mex., 233.
[274] The name must not be confounded with Zacatlan, as Ixtlilxochitl calls it, for this lies north of Tlascala. ‘Este valle y poblacion se llama Caltanmi.’ ‘Tenia las mayores y mas bien labradas casas que hasta entonces ... habiamos visto.’ Cortés, Cartas, 58. Lorenzana says, ‘the present Tlatlanquitepec,’ in the lower lying portion of which stood the palace of Caltanni, ‘house below;’ and there stands the big tree to which the natives say that Cortés tied his horse. Viage, pp. iii.-iv. ‘Llamase ... Zaclotan aquel lugar, y el valle Zacatami.’ Gomara, Hist. Mex., 68; Oviedo, iii. 260. Cocotlan. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Verdad., 41.