heir struggle with his countrymen.

The Tezcucans gradually returned after Cortez had nominated a new
sovereign, and Cortez at once set a large number of them to dig a
canal from the town itself to the lake, so that the men putting
together the ships could labor under his very eye.

Several of the cities round sent in to make their submission; and a
week after his arrival Cortez marched, with a body of Spaniards and
allies, against Iztapalapan, a town of fifty thousand inhabitants,
lying near the narrow tongue of land dividing the great lake from
that of Xochicalco.

The natives came out to meet them, and fought bravely, but were
driven into the city. The greater part of those who could not
escape were slaughtered. While engaged in the work of plunder, the
Spaniards were alarmed by a rush of water; the natives having
broken the bank of the great lake. The troops with the greatest
difficulty escaped with their lives, many of the allies being
drowned.

The fate of Iztapalapan excited consternation among the other
cities, and many sent in to make their submission, among them
Otompan and Chalco. Not only had the Mexican Empire fallen to
pieces, by the detachment of its distant provinces; but even near
home long smoldering rivalries broke into flame. The Aztecs were
but a small portion, even of the people of the Valley of Mexico;
and the greater portion of these were glad to take advantage of the
distress of the capital to break up the union that had so long
existed. Cortez, by promises and presents, assisted the work.

After some weeks' stay at Tezcuco, the news came that the ships
were all completed, and ready to be carried down; and two hundred
foot and fifteen horse, under the command of Sandoval, were sent to
escort them. But scarcely had he reached the frontier of Tlascala
than he saw a vast procession advancing. The ships had already been
put together, and tried on a lake among the hills; and were now
being brought down in pieces by an immense number of porters, with
a great military escort. Sandoval sent the larger portion of the
Indian escort home, but kept twenty thousand of the best warriors.
After four days of painful labor, the host of porters and fighting
men reached Tezcuco. It was, indeed, an immense undertaking that
had been accomplished; for the whole of the wood and iron work, of
thirteen ships, had to be carried for upwards of sixty miles, over
a difficult and mountainous country.

A few days lat