r
that they might take as many of them alive as possible, to have the
satisfaction of sacrificing them to their warrior-god Huitzilopochtli,
after they had amused themselves by making them dance before him,
adorned with feathers.

CHAPTER CLVII.

_How Cortes orders the aqueduct of Chapultepec to be restored; and
of various other matters._

The first duty which Cortes imposed upon Quauhtemoctzin was to repair
the aqueduct of Chapultepec, in order to supply Mexico with fresh water;
also to bury the dead and all other putrid remains of flesh; to clean
the streets, repair the causeways and bridges, and build up the houses
and palaces which had been pulled down during the siege. After the space
of two months the inhabitants were to return to the city, and the
quarter which they and that we were to inhabit was marked out. Besides
these, many other regulations were made, but which I have now forgotten.

Quauhtemoctzin and all his officers, after a time, complained to Cortes
that many of our officers and soldiers had carried off their wives and
daughters, whom they begged might now be restored to them. Cortes, in
answer to this request, told them it would be a difficult matter to get
the women out of the hands of the soldiers again, but promised he would
do his best for them. He then gave them permission to go in search of
the females they spoke of, and to bring those they found into his
presence, that he might see how many of them had become converts to
Christianity, and which of them felt a desire to return to their parents
and husbands, as he would restore all those to them who felt inclined to
leave. Cortes then issued orders to all three divisions to deliver up
all those females who felt any inclination to return to their families.

The Mexicans did not fail to profit by this permission; they went from
one quarter to another, and found most of the women again; but there
were only three that showed any desire to return to their homes; the
rest all remained with our soldiers. Many even concealed themselves on
hearing that their relations were coming in search of them; others
declared they would never again return to the worship of idols; and many
of them were with child.

We now likewise constructed a secure harbour for our brigantines, and
built a fort, to which a special alcalde was appointed, in the person of
Alvarado (if I remember rightly), who filled this command until it was
subsequently bestowe