After a day’s hard march the army came in sight of Quauhnahuac,25 capital of the Tlahuicas. They were one of the Nahuatlaca tribes, which according to tradition had entered the Anáhuac country to supplant the Toltecs. Coming rather late, they found their brethren already in possession of the lake region, and so they crossed the range to seek a home on the headwaters of the Zacatula, where soon a number of settlements rose round Quauhnahuac. They afterward fell under the sway of the Chichimecs, and finally the Aztecs took advantage of internal discord to establish sovereignty,26 maintaining it by a garrison in the capital. This was a natural stronghold, situated on a tongue of land between two steep ravines over forty feet in depth, and through which ran a little stream during the rainy season. It was further protected by strong walls, particularly on the side where a strongly guarded gate opened to a fine stretch of country. Two other entrances faced the ravines,
sometimes spanned by bridges, which were now removed.
Situated at the gateway to the tropical southern valleys, between which and the colder lake region interposed a range of mountains, the spot stood as a new Eden in its manifold beauties. A sight even of the pine-fringed mountains that rolled off toward the north, with their green slopes shaded by oak and birch, and bathed in soft though bracing airs, was refreshing to the indolent inhabitants of the burning plain beyond. On the other hand the sturdy toilers of the northern plateaux might in this sunny south seek relaxation in the varied charms of a softer air balmy with the incense of a more lustrous vegetation.27
It was an opulent community that of Quauhnahuac, surrounded as it was by endless resources and advantages, and the people were in no mood tamely to yield their wealth to invaders. And in this determination they were sustained by their lord, Yohuatzin,28 who was not only a vassal but a relative of Quauhtemotzin. Confident in the impregnable position