74 



FRIGHTFUL CONDITION OF THE CITY. 



sive disorders, the consequences of famine and improper food. 

 There was no water ; the ground had been torn up and the roots 

 gnawed. The very trees were stripped of their bark ; yet, not- 

 withstanding they usually devoured their prisoners, no instance 

 occurred when, amidst all the famine and starvation of this siege, 

 they preyed upon each other. 1 The remnant of the population 

 went, at the request of the conquered Guatemozin, to the neigh- 

 boring villages, until the town could be purified and the dead 

 removed." 



1 This fact, as stated by Bernal Diaz, is doubted by some other writers, and 

 seems, unfortunately, not fully sustained by authority. 



