Tlaxcalans

Y Pedro de Albarado dejaba recaudo de gente en las espaldas y lados, así para conservar lo ganado como para su defensa; y cómo luego se aderezó el paso, yo con algunos de caballo me fui á ver el mercado, y mandé á la gente de nuestro real que no pasasen adelante de aquel paso. E después que anduvimos un rato paseándonos por la plaza, mirando los portales della, los cuales por las azoteas estaban llenos de enemigos, é cómo la plaza era muy grande y veian por ella andar los de caballo, no osaban llegar; y yo subí en aquella torre grande que está junto al mercado, y en ella tambien y en otras hallamos ofrecidas ante sus ídolos las cabezas de los cristianos que nos habian muerto, y de los indios de Tascaltecal nuestros amigos, entre quien siempre ha habido muy antigua y cruel enemistad. E yo miré dende aquella torre lo que teniamos ganado de la ciudad, que sin duda de ocho partes teniamos ganado las siete; é viendo que tanto número de gente de los enemigos no era posible sufrirse en tanta angostura, mayormente que aquellas casas que les quedaban eran pequeñas, y puesta cada una dellas sobre si en el agua, y sobre todo la grandísima hambre que entre ellos habia, y que por las calles hallábamos roidas las raíces y cortezas de los árboles, acordé de los dejar de combatir por algun dia, y movelles algun partido por donde no pereciese tanta multitud de gente; que cierto me ponia en mucha lástima y dolor el daño que en ellos se hacia, y continuamente les hacia acometer con la paz; y ellos decian que en ninguna manera se habian de dar, y que uno solo que quedase habia de morir peleando, y que de todo lo que tenian no habiamos de haber ninguna cosa, y que lo habian de quemar y echar al agua, donde nunca pareciese; y yo, por no o dar mal por mal, disimulaba en no les dar combate.

Pedro de Alvarado left men to guard his rear and flanks, both to hold what had been won and to protect himself. As soon as the crossing was repaired, I rode with a few horsemen to see the market, and ordered the men of our camp not to go beyond that crossing. We rode about the square for a while, looking at its arcades. The flat roofs above them were full of enemies, but the square was very large, and they could see our horsemen moving about it, so they did not dare come near. I climbed the great tower beside the market. There, and in other towers, we found the heads of the Christians they had killed, set out as offerings before their idols, and the heads of our friends the Indians of Tascaltecal. Between those two peoples there has always been a very old and cruel hatred. From that tower I looked out over the part of the city we had won. Without doubt, we held seven parts out of eight. I saw that so many enemies could not possibly hold out crowded into so small a space. The houses they had left were small, and each one stood by itself in the water. Above all, the hunger among them was terrible: in the streets we found the roots and bark of the trees gnawed. So I decided to stop fighting them for a day or so and to offer them some terms, so that so many people would not die. Truly, the harm being done to them filled me with pity and grief, and I kept sending to offer them peace. But they said they would never surrender. Even if only one of them were left, he would die fighting, and of all they had we would get nothing, for they would burn it or throw it into the water where it would never be found. And I, so as not to return evil for evil, held off from attacking them.