[30] [That is to say, the more violent part of the rainy season, which lasts, in fact, from May or June to October. Conquista de Méjico (trad. de Vega), tom. ii. p. 165.] [31] “Porque nouenta y tres dias estuuímos sobre esta tan fuerte ciudad, cada dia é de noche teniamos guerras, y combates; é no lo pongo aquí por capítulos lo que cada dia haziamos, porque me parece que seria gran proligidad, é seria cosa para nunca acabar, y pareceria á los libros de Amadis, é de otros corros de caualleros.” Hist. de la Conquista, ubi supra. [32] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, ubi supra.--Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 33. [33] Bernal Diaz, Hist. de la Conquista, cap. 151.--Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 34. [34] I recollect meeting with no estimate of their numbers; nor, in the loose arithmetic of the Conquerors, would it be worth much. They must, however, have been very great, to enable them to meet the assailants so promptly and efficiently on every point. [35] Defensa, MS., cap. 28.--Sahagun, Hist. de Nueva-España, MS., lib. 12, cap. 34.--The principal cities were Mexicaltzinco, Cuitlahuac, Iztapalapan, Mizquiz, Huitzilopochco, Colhuacan. [36] “Y como aquel dia llevabamos mas de ciento y cincuenta mil Hombres de Guerra.” Rel. Terc., ap. Lorenzana, p. 280. [37] “Y vea Vuestra Magestad,” says Cortés to the emperor, “que tan ancha puede ser la Calzada, que va por lo mas hondo de la Laguna, que de la una parte, y de la otra iban estas Casas, y quedaba en medio hecha Calle, que muy á placer á pie, y á caballo ibamos, y veniamos por ella.” Rel. Terc., ap. Lorenzana, p. 260. [38] The greatest difficulty under which the troops labored, according to Diaz, was that of obtaining the requisite medicaments for their wounds. But this was in a great degree obviated by a Catalan soldier, who by virtue of his prayers and incantations wrought wonderful cures both on the Spaniards and their allies. The latter, as the more ignorant, flocked in crowds to the tent of this military Æsculapius, whose success was doubtless in a direct ratio to the faith of his patients. Hist. de la Conquista, ubi supra. [39] Diaz mourns over this unsavory diet. (Hist. de la Conquista, loc. cit.) Yet the Indian fig is an agreeable, nutritious fruit; and the _tortilla_, made of maize flour, with a slight infusion of lime, though not precisely a _morceau friand_, might pass for very tolerable camp fare. According to the lively Author of “Life in Mexico,” it is made now precisely as it was in the days of the Aztecs. If so, a cooking receipt is almost the only thing that has not changed in this country of revolutions.{*}