440 



HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



which we are ignorant ; and there was now in it a gar- 

 rifon of from five to fix thoufand Mexican troops. All 

 thefe particulars having been communicated to Cortes, he 

 was induced to make an expedition againit Itzocan. His 

 army was fo much increafed, that it amounted, accord- 

 ing to his own affirmation, to about the number of a 

 hundred and fifty thoufand men. He flormed the city 

 on that fide where the entry was lead difficult. The 

 Itzocanefe, feconded by the royal troops, made at firfl: 

 fome refinance ; but having been at laft overcome by fu- 

 perioriry of force, they went into confufion, and fled by 

 the oppofite part of the city : and, having croffed the ri- 

 ver, they raifed the bridges to prevent the purfuit of the 

 enemy. The Spaniards and the allies, in fpite of the 

 difficulty of getting acrofs the river, chafed them four 

 miles, killing fome, making others prifoners, and finking 

 terror and difmay to the whole. Cortes, having return- 

 ed to the city, made all the fanctuaries be fet on fire, and 

 by means of fome prifoners recalled the citizens who 

 were fcattered through the mountains, and invited them 

 to return without fear to inhabit their houfes. The lord 

 of Itzocan had abfented from the city, and fet out for 

 Mexico, whenever the army of the enemy came in fight. 

 That was fufficient to the nobility to declare the fiate 

 vacant, particularly as in all probability he was not very 

 acceptable to them : on which account they agreed, 

 with the authority and under the protection of Cortes, 

 to give it to a fon of the lord of Qiiauhquechollan and a 

 daughter of that lord who was put to death by Monte- 

 zuma j and becaufe he was ftill a youth of few years, his 

 father, his uncle, and two other nobles, were appointed 

 his tutors. 



The fame of the victories of the Spaniards fpread fud- 

 denly through all the country, and drew the obedience 



