192
MARCH TOWARD MEXICO.
are named Mamexi, Tamalli, and Teuch, the latter proving a most able and trusty guide and counsellor.[1]
The advice of the Totonacs is to take the route through Tlascala, as a state friendly to them and bitterly opposed to the Mexicans, and on the 16th of August the army leaves Cempoala for the interior. Soon begins the gentle ascent which lifts them from oppressive heat and overpowering vegetation to cooler
- ↑ Bernal Diaz states, 65, that on reaching Mexico City 'no llegauamos á 450 soldados,' intimating that they must have amounted to fully this figure on leaving Villa Rica. This would allow fully 120 men to Escalante, which appears a large garrison, even after making allowances for the old and infirm. Gomara places the force at 400 Spaniards, with 15 horses, 6 guns, and 1300 Indians, including Cubans and carriers. Conq. Mex., 67; Herrera dec. ii. lib. vi, cap. i.; Torquemada, i. 411, 517. Ixtlilxochitl increases this to 7 guns, 1300 warriors, and 1000 carriers. 'Con quince de caballo y trescientos peones.' Cortés, Cartas, 52. Cortés refers later on to 400 Cempoalans. He mentions merely 20 carriers. Clavigero has 415 Spaniards, a figure resulting from a misreading of his original. Storia Mess., iii. 36. Solis, Hist. Mex., i. 216-17, followed of course by Robertson, changes the figures to 500 men, 200 carriers, and 400 Indian troops. A page, twelve years old, was left with the lorl of Cempoala to learn the language. 'Tomaron un indio principal que Hamaban Tlacochalcatl para que los mostrase el camino,' taken from the country by Grijalva, and brought back by Cortés. Sahagun, Conq. Mex., 16. Shortly before beginning the march, says Duran, a messenger arrived from Mexico in the person of Motelchiuh, sent by Montezuma to serve as guide, and to provide for the proper service and hospitality on the way. Being told that no guide was needed, he returned, leaving orders with the caciqucs en route to tender good reception to the strangers. Duran, Hist. Ind.,., MS., ii. 405-10.
