Note 357 — Chapter XIII · ENTRY INTO TLASCALA. September, 1519.

‘Me dijeron ... que para ello habia enviado Muteczuma de su tierra ... cincuenta mil hombres, y que los tenia en guarnicion á dos leguas de la dicha ciudad ... é que tenian cerrado el camino real por donde solian ir, y hecho otro nuevo de muchos hoyos, y palos agudos hincados y encubiertos para que los caballos cayesen y se mancasen, y que tenian muchas de las calles tapiadas, y por las azoteas de las casas muchas piedras.’ Cortés, Cartas, 70. The stream within the temple was a myth, which the Cholultecs sought to maintain in order to frighten their enemies. Oviedo and Gomara relate that Xicotencatl junior was concerned in these plots, and that, warned by his sister, the wife of Alvarado, Cortés had him quietly seized and choked to death, iii. 497; Hist. Mex., 90. Whoever may have been throttled, it certainly was not the general, for he met his fate at a later date. According to Bernal Diaz the whole army was consulted as to whether all were prepared to start for Mexico. Many of those owning estates in Cuba raised objections, but Cortés firmly declared that there was no other way open than the one to Mexico, and so they yielded. Hist. Verdad., 56.