CHAPTER XXXIV. THE CONQUEST ACHIEVED. July-August, 1521.

“I swear,” writes Bernal Diaz, “that the lake and houses and abodes were so full of bodies and heads of dead men that I am unable to convey an idea thereof; for in the streets and courts of Tlatelulco there were no other things, and we could walk only amidst dead bodies.”⁴⁰ Many became sick from the stench, and Cortés ordered fires to be lighted to purify the air. Natives were sent to bring forth the dead, and with them went Spaniards seeking for gold, silver, precious stones, and plumage, leaving textile fabrics and other less valued effects to the allies; but the quantity known to have been obtained fell far below their extravagant expectations, and in their disappointment the soldiers searched the persons of fugitives, looking into their very mouths for hidden gold, says a native record. Bernal Diaz complains that the brigantine crews had already plundered the wealthiest persons, who were in the canoes, and had sacked