The 14th of August the troops entered the surrendered quarters to review their work and its results. “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 the treasure-houses while the others were fighting. They in their turn affirmed that the Mexicans had cast their treasures into the lake. The mysterious depths harbor many secrets, and beneath the waters, round the famed city of the Aztecs, tradition still places glittering deposits of untold extent.
Three or four days after the fall, Cortés passed over to Coyuhuacan with the greater part of his forces, there more formally to celebrate the end of the siege in banqueting and thanksgiving. A feature of the performance was a solemn procession by all the soldiers, bareheaded, with banners, raising their voices in praise to God, who had given them the victory, and who was so soon to be worshipped from gulf to southern sea.41
The services of the allies being at present no longer needed, Cortés assembled them to speak farewell. He dwelt in flattering terms on their