of two miles along the water until we came to a spot where the latter was sufficiently shallow for us to wade through, though even then it reached almost up to our arms. Only a few of the inhabitants had remained in the town, the rest having fled immediately on our approach, with all their property which they concealed among the reeds in the neighbourhood of their cultivated fields; but several of our men quartered themselves for the night among the maise plantations, feasted plentifully off the fruit, and took care to provision themselves for the next day's march.
Adjoining this township lay a fresh water lake of considerable extent, which abounded with large fish covered with sharp prickles, and very much resembled the disgusting-looking and insipid-flavoured fish called the shad. By means of a few old cloaks and tattered nets which we found in the deserted habitations, we dragged the lake from one end to the other, and succeeded in taking above 1000 of these ugly fish. Among the fields we likewise captured a few of the inhabitants, who were requested by Doña Marina to guide us to the towns where the men with the beards and horses had settled. With this they readily complied, for they soon perceived it was not our intention to harm them in any way, and five of them immediately accompanied us. At first the road along which we marched was very broad, but this gradually became narrower as we approached a broad river or estuary, which was much frequented by canoes. Here the inhabitants ferried across to the opposite township of Tayasal, situated on an island, and of which the houses and temples were covered with white plaster, so that they could be seen to a vast distance. All the lesser townships in this neighbourhood were subject to the first mentioned.
As our road was becoming very narrow, and we found that it terminated in a small path, we resolved to encamp for the night in the vicinity of some elevated mountains. During the night-time Cortes despatched four companies along the footpaths which led to the estuary, in search of