On the morning of the 5th of July they skirted the lake and turned westward to Tlascala, pursued by increasing forces;[1] owing to which, or to the roughness of the road, or to the guide, less progress was made than on the previous day, and camp was pitched at the deserted hamlet of Xoloc. The following day they proceeded toward the Azaquemecan Mountains, and halted at the town Zacamolco.[2] Observing a mysterious movement among the Indians on the slope, Cortés set out with five horsemen and a dozen foot-soldiers to reconnoitre. After skirting the mountain he came in sight of a large army,[3] with a portion of which he came to close quarters, the fleet natives having gained on the foot-soldiers in making the turn of the hill. In the mêlée Cortés was badly wounded in the head.[4] He retreated to camp and had the wound bandaged, and the forces were hurried away from the town, which appeared too exposed for an attack. The Indians pursued them so closely that two men were killed and a number wounded, beside four or five horses. One of the animals died, and although the troops deplored its loss, the meat proved acceptable, for roasted maize with a little fruit had been their only food for several days.[5] Camp appears to have
- ↑ 'Nos convenia ir muchas veces fuera de camino.' Cortés, Cartas, 138. Owing to the guide's inefficiency, adds Gomara, Hist. Mex., 162.
- ↑ Sahagun also calls the mountain, or the slope, Tona. His confusing versions sometimes reverse all the names. Cortés places it two leagues from the last camp.
- ↑ 'Detrás dél [hill] estaba una gran ciudad de mucha gente.' Cortés, Cartas, 138. Zacamolco is also called a large town. There could hardly be two large towns so close together in a district like this, so that the other must have been Teotihuacan, 'city of the gods,' with its ancient and lofty pyramids, sacred to all Anáhuac, and one of the chief centres of pilgrimage. For description of ruins, see Native Races, iv. 529-44.
- ↑ 'Con un golpe de piedra en la cabeza tan violento, que abollando las armas, le rompió la primera tunica del cerebro.' So Solis defines the wound, which afterward grew dangerous. Hist. Mex., ii. 203. He supposes that it was received at Otumba.
- ↑ 'Le comieron sin dexar [como dizen] pelo ni huesso.' Gomara, Hist. Mex., 162. 'La cabeza cupo a siete o ocho.' The horse was Gamboa's, on
name towns which lie east and north of the Zumpango Lake, and during the rainy season now prevailing the passages between the lakes were rather swampy. Tezcuco was beside too close for the fleeing army. Alaman accepts the route south of Zumpango, Disert., i. 122, against which nearly all the above reasons apply.
