except by two ways, which were then unknown to us; and even to reach them we would have been obliged to make a circuit of about a league and a half. An entrance also could be effected by wooden bridges had they not removed them. The place was so secure and protected, that even had we been ten times as many they could have held it notwithstanding. Upon our approach, they discharged many darts, arrows, and stones at us; but while they were skirmishing with us in this manner, an Indian of Tascaltecal crossed unobserved by a very dangerous pass, and when the enemy suddenly saw him they believed the Spaniards were entering the same way, and thus in a panic they fled with the Indian behind them. Three or four lads, servants of mine, and two from another company, when they saw the Indian cross, followed him, and also reached the other side. I led the horsemen along the sierra to find an
indeed remarkable, and is described by Bernal Diaz, who claims also to have followed on the heels of the intrepid warrior. Two immense trees growing on opposite sides of the ravine, inclined towards one another until their branches met; seeing this the bold Tlascalan con- ceived the plan of crossing by this aërial bridge, and, with an agility worthy of his conception, he safely passed on the swaying boughs over the dizzy height, and slid down the tree trunk on the other side, while the garrison of Cuernavaca were fighting elsewhere, and unobservant of his achievement. About thirty Spaniards and a number of Tlas- calans followed his example, three of whom lost their balance and fell into the stream below. Bernal Diaz says that it was a frightful undertaking, and that he himself became quite blind and giddy from the great height and danger. Indeed it was no small thing for a man, weighted with arms and armour, to essay such a feat, and if the credit of the invention belongs to the Tlascalan, we cannot withhold our admir- ation from the thirty Spaniards who had the hardihood to follow him.
Cuernavaca is the present capital of the State of Morelos, and is one of the most beautiful and interesting towns in Mexico, while its situa- tion is hardly excelled in picturesqueness and grandeur by any other in the world. The palace, which Cortes afterwards built there, still stands, and a charming villa, with luxuriant gardens overhanging the great barranca which was built by a Spaniard, Laborda, in the XVIIIth century, became a favourite resort of the unfortunate Em- peror Maximilian during his brief and luckless reign.
