Second Letter 195 received me very well, and courteously gave me the necessary provisions for my march, saying that they knew very well I was going to see Montezuma their lord, and that I might rest assured he was my friend, for he had ordered them, in every case, to give me a good reception, as by so doing they would render him a seryice. I thanked them for their courtesy, saying that Your Majesty already knew of Montezuma, and had ordered me to visit him.
I next crossed a pass, which is at the end of this province, and to which we gave the name of Puerto del Nombre de Dios,[1] on account of its being the first we have traversed in this country. So steep, and so high, is it, that in all Spain there is none so difficult. I passed with entire safety, and without any opposition, and, on the descent of the said pass, there are other hamlets belonging to a town and fort, called Ceycocnacan,[2] which also belongs to Montezuma. Here we were as well received as we had been at Sienchimalen, and the people repeated what the others had told us of Montezuma's good will, and I satisfied them in the same manner.
Thence I travelled three days through a desert, which, on account of its sterility, and want of water, and the very great cold which prevails, is uninhabitable; where God knows all the trouble which the men suffered from hunger and thirst, especially from tempests of hail and rain which overtook us, making me fear that many people would die of cold; and certain Indians from the Island of Fernandina did die, because they were ill-clad. At the end of these three days, we traversed another pass,[3] although not so steep as the first one, on the top of which was a small tower an oratory, where were kept certain
