how some of the natives had fought them, but that, at the end, some of their free will, and some by compulsion, had sued for peace. They brought me some lords of those provinces, whom, notwithstanding that they were entirely to blame for their rebellion and the death of the Christians, I pardoned, because they promised me that from henceforth they would be good and loyal vassals of Your Majesty. Thus, that undertaking was finished, in which Your Majesty was well served, not only in the pacification of those natives, but also in insuring the safety of all the Spaniards who will have to come and go through these provinces, to and from the city of Vera Cruz.
The second day after Christmas, I held a review in the city of Tascaltecal, and found forty horsemen and five hundred and fifty foot-soldiers, eighty of
Review of
the Forces
at Tlascala
them cross-bowmen and musketeers, with eight or nine field-pieces, but very little powder. I divided the horsemen into four troops of ten each, and formed nine captaincies of sixty Spanish foot each. All being assembled for this review, I spoke to them as follows: They already knew that they and I had come to serve Your Sacred Majesty by settling in this country; and they likewise knew how all the natives of it had acknowledged themselves as vassals of Your Majesty, and how they had persevered as such, receiving good deeds from us and we from them, until, without any cause, all the inhabitants of Culua including the people of the great city of Temixtitan, and those of all the other provinces subject to it, had revolted against Your Majesty; yet more, they had killed many of our relatives and friends, and had expelled us from their country. That they should remember how many dangers and hardships we had endured, and how it was profitable to the service of God and Your Catholic Majesty to return and recover what was left,