HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



5 



8th. No perfon fhall ill ufe the allies, but, on the contra- 

 ry, muft exert every means to maintain their friendfliip. 



And becaufe it is of no fervice to publifh laws, if the 

 obfervance of them is not zealoufly attended to, and de- 

 linquents puniftied, he ordered two Moors, his flaves, 

 to be hanged, becaufe they ftole a turkey and two cot- 

 ton mantles. By thefe, and other fimilar punifliments^, 

 he made his orders be regarded, which greatly contri- 

 buted to the prefervation of his troops. 



After he had made all the difpofitions which he 

 thought would conduce to the happy iffiie of his enter* 

 prife, he at length marched with all his Spaniards, and 

 a confiderable number of the allies, on the 28th of De- 

 cember, 1520, having firft heard mafs, and invoked the 

 Holy Spirit. He did not then choofe to take the whole 

 army of the allies with him, which had been reviewed 

 the day before, both on account of the difficulty which 

 there would be to maintain fo numerous an army in Tez- 

 cuco, and becaufe he thought it neceffary to leave the 

 greater part of them in Tlafcala to guard the brigan- 

 tines, when it mould be time to tranfport them. Of the 

 three roads, which led to Tezcuco, Cortes chofe the 

 moft difficult, being wifely perfuaded that the Mexicans 

 would not expect him there, and his march would con- 

 fequently be more fafe. He proceeded therefore by 

 Tetzmellocan, a village belonging to the flate of Hu- 

 exotzinco. On the 30th, they difcovered, from the high- 

 eft fummit of thofe mountains, the beautiful vale of 

 Mexico, partly with gladnefs becaufe there lay the ob- 

 ject of their defires ; partly with fome difguft, from the 

 remembrance of their difafters. In beginning to defcend 

 towards that vale, they found the way obftru&ed with 

 trunks and branches of trees laid acrofs it defignedly, 



and 



