BERN AI DIAZ ON THE TEMPLES. 447 



tempie ; " but when they saw that we were preparing 

 to ascend the great flight of steps" they said " they 

 could not help themselves ; and they had hardly said 

 this, when fifty of us, going up for the purpose, threw 

 down and broke in pieces the enormous idols which we 

 found within the temple." Cortez then caused a num- 

 ber of " Indian masons to be collected, with lime, which 

 abounded in that place, and had the walls cleared of 

 blood and new plastered" 



As they approached the territory of Mexico, he con- 

 tinues, " Appearances demonstrated that we had entered 

 a new country, for the temples were very lofty, and, to- 

 gether with the terraced dwellings and the houses of the 

 cacique, being plastered and whitewashed, appeared very 

 well, and resembled some of our towns in Spain." 



Farther on he says, " We arrived at a kind of fortifi- 

 cation, built of lime and stone, of so strong a nature that 

 nothing but tools of iron could have any effect upon it. 

 The people informed us that it was built by the Tlasca- 

 lans, on whose territory it stood, as a defence against 

 the incursions of the Mexicans." 



At Tehuacingo, after a sanguinary battle, in which 

 the Indians " drew off and left the field to them, who 

 were too much fatigued to follow," he adds, "As soon 

 as we found ourselves clear of them, we returned thanks 

 to God for his mercy, and, entering a strong and spa- 

 cious temple, we dressed our wounds with the fat of In- 

 dians." 



Arrived at Cholula, Cortez immediately " sent some 

 soldiers to a great temple hard by our quarters, with or- 

 ders to bring, as quietly as they could, two priests." 

 In this they succeeded. One of them was a person of 

 rank and authority over all the temples of the city. 

 Again • " within the high walls of the courts where we 



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