58 MILITARY EXPEDITIONS OF CORTEZ IN THE VALLEY. 



put together and tried on the waters of Zahuapan; and which, 

 after a successful experiment, they had taken to pieces again and 

 borne in fragments to Tezcoco. 



Early in the spring of 1521, Cortez entrusted his garrison at 

 Tezcoco to Sandoval, and, with three hundred and fifty Spaniards, 

 and nearly all his Indian allies, departed on an expedition designed 

 to reconnoitre the capital. He passed from his stronghold north- 

 wardly around the head of the lakes north of Tezcoco,- — one of 

 which is now called San Cristoval, — and took possession of the 

 insular town of Xaltocan. Passing thence along the western 

 edge of the vale of Anahuac or Mexico, he reached the city of 

 Tacuba, west of the capital, with which so many disastrous recol- 

 lections were connected on his first sad exit from the imperial city. 

 During this expedition the troops of the conqueror were almost 

 daily engaged in skirmishes with the guerilla forces of the Aztecs ; 

 yet, notwithstanding their constant annoyance and stout resistance, 

 the Spaniards were invariably successful and even managed to 

 secure some booty of trifling value. After a fortnight of rapid 

 marching, fighting and reconnoitering, Cortez and his men re- 

 turned to Tezcoco. Here he was met by an embassy from the 

 friendly Chalcans and pressed for a sufficient force to sustain them 

 against the Mexicans, who despatched the warriors of certain 

 neighboring and loyal strongholds to annoy the inhabitants of a 

 town which had exhibited a desire to fraternize with the invading 

 Spaniards. Indeed, the Aztecs saw the importance of maintaining 

 the control of a point which commanded the most important 

 avenue to their capital from the Atlantic coast. The wearied 

 troops of Cortez w^ere in no plight to respond to the summons of 

 the Chalcans at that moment, for their hurried foray and incessant 

 conflicts with the enemy had made them anxious for the repose 

 they might justly expect in Tezcoco. Nevertheless, Cortez did 

 not choose to rely upon his naval enterprise alone ; but, conscious 

 as he was of holding the main key of the land as well as water, he 

 despatched, without delay, his trusty Sandoval with three hundred 

 Spanish infantry and twenty horse to protect the town of Chalco 

 and reduce the hostile fortifications in its vicinity. This duty he 

 soon successfully performed. But the Aztecs renewed the assault 

 on Chalco with a fleet of boats, and were again beaten off with the 

 loss of a number of their nobles, who were delivered by the victors 

 to Sandoval whom Cortez had sent back to support the contested 

 town as soon as the news of the fresh attack reached him. 



