The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo Vol. 2

1/25/22, 8:50 PM The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo written by himself, containing a true an…
In the meantime the caziques from the other rock had arrived in ourcamp; and after giving
many reasons why Cortes should pardon them,he granted them their request, and declared
them vassals of our emperor.
As water was so very scarce in the whole of this district, we marchedback to the town of
Huaxtepec, where those extensive gardens where, which I have mentioned above: and I
must declare, that during thewhole course of my life I never beheld such a splendid spot! I
therefore drew the attention of Cortes to them, and he instantly repaired thither with
Alderete, the royal treasurer. They both walked about inthe garden for a length of time, and
acknowledged they had never seen any thing so beautiful in Spain. [14] The whole of us
encampedfor the night in this garden, and the caziques of the township came tooffer their
services to Cortes; for Sandoval, on his visit here, had concluded peace with them. The
following morning we marched towardsCuernavaca, and came up with a strong body of
Mexicans who hadbeen drawn out of this town to oppose us; but our cavalry chargedthem
with great impetuosity, put them to flight, and pursued them for about three miles, up to
another large township, called Teputztlan.Here the Mexicans were so very careless, that our
troops fell uponthem before their spies could give notice of our approach, and wemade a
considerable booty, besides taking many fine female prisoners; but the Mexicans and the
other inhabitants fled precipitately fromthe town.
Cortes sent three or four several times to the caziques of this district,desiring them to come
and sue for peace, otherwise we should burn down their town and put them all to death.
However, they eachtime sent word that they had no wish to come, and we set fire to half
the houses of the town, in order to frighten the other towns of thisdistrict into obedience. It
was not till then that the caziques ofYauhtepec, through which we had passed this day,
made their appearance,and declared themselves vassals of our emperor.
The next day we marched to Coadalbaca, which we often erroneouslytermed Cuernavaca.
[15]
In this town lay a strong garrison ofMexicans, besides the troops of the place itself, and
it was rendereddifficult of access from a hollow eight fathoms deep, which lay in frontof
the town, and through which a small stream of water flowed. Therewas no other way for
our cavalry to get into the town than by twobridges, but these had been burnt down by the
enemy, who were stronglyentrenched on the other side of this deep hollow, and incessantly
annoyedus with their arrows, lances, and slings. While they were thusattacking us Cortes
received information that a couple of miles furtherup there was a spot where our cavalry
could pass over. Our general,therefore, immediately repaired thither with the horse, while
the rest of us strove to get over in the best way we could. We succeeded above our
expectations, by climbing up and along the branches of thetrees which grew on each side of
this hollow, but this was attended byconsiderable danger, and three of our men fell down
into the water,one of whom broke his leg. My head grew quite dizzy as I thuspassed across
the depth; but as soon as twenty or thirty of us, with a great number of Tlascallans had
reached the opposite side, we fellupon the rear of the Mexicans before they were in the
least aware ofit; for they had considered it an impossibility for us to pass the hollow,and
imagined in their astonishment, when they saw us approaching,that we were much more
numerous than was really the case, particularlyas Oli, Alvarado and Tapia, with the greater
part of our cavalrywho had risked their lives by crossing a bridge which had been almost
burnt down, appeared there at the same time. We now fell in a bodyupon the enemy, who
instantly turned round and fled to the mountains,and other parts of this deep hollow, where
we could not possibly follow them. A short time afterwards Cortes arrived with the
remainingcavalry, and we now took possession of the town without anyfurther opposition.
Here we took many fine Indian females prisoners, and otherwise made a rich booty,
particularly of large sized mantles.Our general now allowed us to rest for the remainder of
the day, andwe all quartered ourselves comfortably in a garden belonging to thechief of the
town.
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