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ies, and Cortes commanded all the chiefs into his
presence, when he addressed them at some length, and requested them to
return to their camp, which they accordingly complied with, the
Sempoallans alone remaining within the town.[35]

While all this was going on, several caziques and papas arrived from
other quarters of the town, who were said to have taken no part in this
treacherous movement; which may, indeed, have been the case, as in this
large town every quarter had its own regiment and peculiar regulations.
These people begged Cortes and all of us to pardon them, as the real
traitors had now received their deserved punishment. In this prayer they
were joined by our friends, the two papas, who had first discovered the
plot to us, and the old wife of the Indian chief, who was to have been
Doña Marina's mother-in-law.

Cortes at first appeared very little disposed to listen to their
prayers; but at length he sent for the two ambassadors of Motecusuma,
whom we had kept in close confinement. He began by telling them, that
though the whole town, with all its inhabitants, had merited total
destruction, he would, nevertheless, substitute mercy for justice in
consideration of their monarch Motecusuma, whose subjects they were; but
he expected they would in future show a better disposition towards us,
and give us no further cause to renew such a scene as had just taken
place, otherwise they would undoubtedly forfeit their lives. He next
sent for the caziques of the Tlascallan camp, and ordered them to
liberate the prisoners they had taken, as they had now sufficiently
revenged themselves. It was with difficulty we could persuade the
Tlascallans to comply with this, for they maintained that the Cholullans
had deserved a good deal more at their hands for the many times they had
suffered from them; however, as it was Cortes' wish, they liberated a
great number of their captives; but carried off a great deal of booty,
consisting in gold, cloaks, cotton, salt, and other matters.

Cortes then brought about a reconciliation between these two tribes, and
as far as I know, the good understanding which grew up between them was
never after disturbed. He then desired the caziques and papas to order
all the inhabitants into the town again, and to open the tiangues[36] or
markets, at the same time assuring them that no further harm should
befall them. The chiefs accordingly promised that all the inhabitants
should return to the town within the space of five days, as most of them
had fled to the woods; and added, that they feared Cortes would elect a
cazique to whom they might be averse in the room of him who had been
killed in the recent attack. Our general, however, merely inquired who
the rightful successor was according to their laws; and on being
informed the late cazique's brother, he appointed him governor.

As soon as the town was again filled with people, and the markets
frequented as usual, Cortes assembled the papas, chiefs, and the
principal inhabitants, and explained to them the nature of our holy
religion, and showed them the necessity of abolishing their idolatry and
human sacrifices, and their other abominations. He likewise showed them
the delusion they lived under with respect to their idols, which were
nothing but evil spirits from whom they could expect nothing but
falsehood. They should remember how these had lately promised them the
victory over us, and how all their promises had terminated. They should,
therefore, pull down and destroy those lying and deceitful idols, or
leave that work to us, if they declined doing it themselves. At present
he desired they would clear and fresh plaster one of their temples, that
we might fit it up for a chapel and erect a cross there. These words
seemed to cheer them up a little, and they gave a solemn promise to
destroy their idols, but continually postponed the fulfilment whenever
we put them in mind of it. On this matter father Olmedo set Cortes' mind
at ease, by assuring him it would be of little use if even the Indians
did abolish their idols, unless they had previously received some notion
of our religion and faith. We ought first to see what impression our
march into Mexico would make upon them. Time alone could be our surest
guide as to our further proceedings. For the present we had done
sufficient by admonishing them to piety, and by erecting a cross there.

Respecting the town of Cholulla, I have further to remark; that it lay
in a valley, and was surrounded by the townships Tepeaca, Tlascalla,
Chalco, Tecamachalco, Huexotzinco, and so many others that I am unable
to enumerate them all. The country furnished quantities of maise and
various leguminous plants, and particularly maguey, from the sap of
which the inhabitants make their wine.[37] In the town itself various
kinds of earthenware pots are made, embellished with black and white
colours, which are burnt in; with these it supplies Mexico and the
neighbouring provinces. In this respect Cholulla is equally celebrated
in this country, as the towns Talavera and Valencia are in Spain. At
that time Cholulla had above a hundred very high towers, the whole of
which were cues or temples, on which the human sacrifices were made and
their idols stood. The principal cu here was even higher than that of
Mexico, though the latter was, indeed, magnificent and very high.[38] It
is said to have contained one hundred courts, and an idol of enormous
dimensions, (the name of which I have forgotten,) which stood in great
repute, and people came from various parts to sacrifice human beings to
it and bring offerings for the dead.[39] I well remember when we first
entered this town, and looking up to the elevated white temples, how the
whole place put us completely in mind of Valladolid.

I must now say a few words respecting the troops which Motecusuma had
despatched here. These lay in ambush in the immediate vicinity of the
town, and had planted stakes in the ground, and dug deep holes to render
our cavalry incapable of acting. But when they were informed of what had
taken place there, they immediately returned to Mexico to bring the
intelligence to Motecusuma. However rapidly their departure may have
been, we, nevertheless, were immediately apprized of it by the two
distinguished personages who were with us. Motecusuma was excessively
vexed and grieved at the news, and instantly ordered a number of Indians
to be sacrificed to his warrior god Huitzilopochtli, that he might
reveal to him whether he should obstruct our march to Mexico, or allow
us peaceable entrance into his metropolis. Two whole days did he spend
with his papas in devotional exercises, and in sacrificing human beings
to his idols, and at length was advised by them to send us ambassadors
to apologise for the occurrence at Cholulla. He was further to allow us
to march into Mexico, under every show of friendship; but when we had
entered the town to deny us provisions and water, break down the
bridges, shut us in, and put

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