CHAPTER XIII. 650–1500.

and fifty miles in circumference, we cannot but be surprised that such remarkable results were achieved from such paltry beginnings and upon so narrow a theatre. The subjugation of so large a territory and such numerous tribes, by the Aztecs and Tezcocans is perhaps quite as wonderful an achievement, as the final subjugation of those victorious nations by the Spaniards. But in all our estimates of Spanish valor and generalship, in the splendid campaigns of Cortéz, we should never forget,—as we have remarked in the text,—the material assistance he received from his Indian allies—the Tlascalans.