This led through Tezmeluca,[1] a village in Huexotzinco, six leagues from Tlascala, where camp was formed. Here began a three-league ascent of the pass, and the Tezcucan border was crossed amidst intense cold, the gradually dwindling vegetation giving freer scope to the bleak wind which came whistling from the summits. A league farther a convenient spot was found for a halt, and the tired and shivering soldiers were soon huddling round fires. On the following day a thick pine forest was entered, and soon after the road was found blocked with felled trees. This created no little stir among the men, but Cortés, who had not expected an unobstructed path, sent forward a body of natives to clear it.[2] With forces massed and arms prepared, Cortés thereupon led the way, and in half a league open ground was gained, to the relief of all. The difficulties of the march were passed, and behind the army now lay the grim expanse of barren rocks and hoary peaks; while beneath a pale-blue sky they descended the wooded slopes to the valley below, rich in variegated hues of field and garden, and enlivened with the gleaming white of human habitation. Beyond spread the glassy surface of the lakes, bordered on the farther side by the misty outline of low ranges, fading in the distance like the glories of the now fading empire. The queen city was the theme, however, and while some descanted to late recruits on its wealth and beauties, others stood silently gazing on the spot so dimmed with sad remembrances. Thus pondering on the past they could almost hear the voices of fallen comrades calling on them for vengeance, and "we vowed," writes
- ↑ 'Lugar de Enzinas.' Herrera, loc. cit. Now San Martin Tezmeluca. Bustamante, in Chimalpain, ubi sup.
- ↑ Herrera leaves the impression that a new road was now opened to escape the entrenchments and traps already formed by the enemy. But he is evidently wrong.
mas agro y fragoso.' Cortés, Cartas, 167. Yet Lorenzana adds a note of explanation which shows that he misunderstands the text. Ixtlilxochitl calls the road Tlepehuacan. Hist. Chich., 306. Through the Rio Frio Mountains. Chimalpain, Hist. Conq., ii. 19. The present improved road from Vera Cruz to Mexico. Orozco y Berra, in Noticias Mex., 255.
