Committed a gross military error, in
entering Mexico without establishing a strong communication of posts
between that insulated city and the land, along one of the causeways;
which he might easily have done along the shortest causeway of Tacuba
or Tlacopan, or by the aqueduct of Chapoltepec. - E.
[2] It is to be noticed that the lake in which the city of Mexico was
built contained water so salt as to be unfit for drinking. - E.
[3] This prince, whom Diaz names Coadlavaca, was brother to Montezuma,
prince of Iztapalapan, and Tlachcocoatl, or grand general of the
Mexican army. - E.
[4] The expression in the text, of having nearly reached the firm land, is
rather obscure, and may possibly mean that they had nearly forced
their way along one of the causeways leading from the insular city to
the continental shore of the lake. - E.
[5] Tlaltelulco was the name of that division of the city of Mexico
through which the Spaniards marched in their way towards the causeway
of Tacuba, and was probably used to summon the inhabitants of that
quarter to the attack. - E.
[6] Clavigero, II. 116, says that the miserable remnant of the Spaniards
assembled in Popotla, a village near Tacuba or Tlacopan. Diaz is often
negligent of dates, but we learn in a subsequent passage, that this
disastrous retreat from Mexico was on the 1st of July 1520. - E.
[7] This place is about nine miles W.N.W. from Mexico, and only about a
mile and a half from Tacuba. Its Mexican name, according to Clavigero,
was Otoncalpolco. It is almost in an opposite direction from the road
to Tlascala, but was probably chosen on purpose to avoid the populous
hostile vale of Mexico, and to get as soon as possible among the hills,
and among some of the conquered tribes who bore the Mexican yoke with
impatience. Clavigero says that the Spaniards procured at this place
some refreshments from a tribe of Otomies, who inhabited two
neighbouring hamlets. - E.
[8] The distance from where they now were to Tlascala was between 80 and
90 miles in a straight line; but as they chose a very circuitous route,
by the west and north of the lakes in the vale of Mexico, before
turning south-eastwards to Tlascala, their march must have much
exceeded that distance. - E.
[9] Named Quauhtitlan by Clavigero, and Guautitlan, Huauhtitlan or
Teutitlan, in Humboldts map of the Vale of Mexico. - E.
[10] As related in the text, this march to the villages appears to have
been made on the same day with that to Guauhtitlan, and the battle of
Otumba or Otompan, to have been fought on the second day of the march
from Popotla or _Los Remedios_. But the distances and difficulty of
the march renders this almost impossible. The chronology and distances,
taking the names of some of the stages from Clavigero, II. 117, and
the distances from Humboldts map, may have been as follows; Retreat
from Mexico to Popotla, 1st July, 9 miles. March to Quauhtitlan, 2d
July, 10 miles. To Xoloc, 3d July, 13 miles. To Zacamolco, 4th July,
10 miles. To Otompan, 5th July, 3 miles: - and indeed these dates are
sufficiently confirmed by Diaz himself in the sequel. - E.
[11] According to Clavigero, II. 118, this standard was a net of gold
fixed to a staff ten palms long, which was firmly tied to his back,
and was called by the Mexicans Tlahuizmatlaxopilli. - E.
[12] Cortes entered Mexico with above 1300 men, and there were there under
Alvarado about 75. Of these above 870 were slain, down to the close of
the battle of Otumba; so that about 500 still remained under the
command of Cortes. Diaz reckons only 440; but these were probably
exclusive of such as were entirely disabled from service by their
wounds. - E.
SECTION XI.
_Occurrences from the Battle of Otumba till the march of Cortes to besiege
Mexico_.
Immediately after the victory, we resumed our march for Tlascala, cheered
by our success, and subsisted on a kind of gourds, called _ayotes_, which
we found in the country through which we passed. We halted for the night
in a strong temple, being occasionally alarmed by detached parties of the
Mexicans, who still kept hovering about us, as if determined to see us
out of their country. From this place we were rejoiced at seeing the
mountains of Tlascala, being anxious to ascertain the fidelity of these
allies, and to hear news from our friends at Villa Rica. Cortes warned us
to be exceedingly cautious of giving any offence to the Tlascalans, and
particularly enforced this advice on the soldiers of Narvaez, who were
less accustomed to discipline. He said that he hoped to find our allies
steady in their attachment; but if they should have changed in consequence
of our misfortunes, although we were now only 440 strong, all wounded and
ill armed, we still possessed vigorous bodies and firm minds to carry us
through, if necessary, to the coast. We now arrived at a fountain on the
side of a hill, where we came to a rampart built in ancient times as a
boundary between the state of Tlascala and the dominions of Mexico. We
halted here, and then proceeded to a town called Gualiopar, or Huejotlipan,
where we halted one day, and procured some food for which we were obliged
to pay. Immediately on our arrival being announced at Tlascala, our
friends Maxicatzin, Xicotencatl, Chichimecatl, the chief of Huexatcinco,
and others, came to wait upon Cortes, whom they embraced, yet kindly
blamed him for having neglected their advice to distrust the treachery of
the Mexicans.
