, and had him baptised with
great solemnity, standing godfather on the occasion, and giving him his
own name, Don Hernando Cortes Ixtlilxochitl; and to retain him in the
Spanish interest and in our holy faith, he appointed three Spaniards to
attend upon him, Escobar, who was made captain or governor of Tezcuco,
Anthonio de Villa Real, and Pedro Sanches Farfan. In the next place,
Cortes required the new prince of Tezcuco to supply him with a number of
labourers to open up the canals leading to the lake, on purpose to admit
our vessels which were to be put together at Tezcuco. He also informed him
of our intentions to besiege Mexico, for which operation the young prince
engaged to give all the assistance in his power. The work on the canals
was conducted with all expedition, as we never had less than seven or
eight thousand Indians employed[2]. As Guatimotzin, the reigning monarch
of Mexico, frequently sent out large bodies of troops in canoes on the
lake, apparently with the hope of attacking us unprepared, Cortes used
every military precaution to guard against any sudden attack, by assigning
proper posts to our several captains, with orders to be always on the
alert. The people in Huexotla, a town and district only a few miles from
Tezcuco, who had been guilty of murdering some of our countrymen on a
former occasion, petitioned Cortes for pardon, and were taken into favour
on promise of future fidelity.

Before his elevation to the throne of Mexico, Guatimotzin had been prince
or cacique of Iztapalapa, the people of which place were determined
enemies to us and our allies[3]. We had been now twelve days in Tezcuco,
where the presence of so large a force occasioned some scarcity of
provisions, and even our allies began to grow somewhat impatient of our
inactivity. From all these considerations, Cortes determined upon an
expedition to Iztapalapa, against which place he marched at the head of 13
cavalry 220 infantry, and the whole of our Tlascalan allies. The
inhabitants had received a reinforcement of 8000 Mexican warriors, yet
they fell back into the town on our approach, and even fled into their
canoes and the houses which stood in the water, allowing us to occupy that
part of the town which stood on the firm land. As it was now night, we
took up our quarters for the night and posted our guards, unaware of a
stratagem which had been planned for our destruction. On a sudden there
came so great a body of water into the str