Note 11 — Chapter VII · March to the Sacred City of Cholula—The Natives Plot the Destruction of the Spaniards—Cortes Discovers their Treachery and Slaughters Several Thousand Indians—March to Mexico—Montezuma Meets the Strangers and Escorts them to the Capital

The City of Mexico at the time of the conquest was in all its splendor and, as described by Cortes, “a thing of fairy creation rather than the work of mortal hands.” It was about twelve miles in circumference, intersected by canals, and connected with the mainland by six causeways. The lake has diminished in depth and extent and is now two and a half miles away from the city.