Tlalmanalco

luego otro dia de mañana, partimos destapalapa, muy aconpañados de aquellos grandes caçiques, que atras E dicho, yvamos por nra calçada adelante lo qual es ancha, de ocho pasos, y va tan derecha a la çibdad de mexᶜᵒ que me pareçe que no se torçia poco ni mucho, e puesto ques bien ancha, toda yva llena de aquellas gentes que no cabian, vnos que entravan en mexico y otros que salian, y los que nos venian a ver, que no nos podiamos rrodear de tantos como binyeron, porquestavan llenas las torres e Cues y En las canoas y de todas partes de la laguna, y no hera cosa de maravillar porque jamas avian visto cavallos ni honbres Como nosotros y de que vimos cosas tan admirables no sabiamos que nos dezir, o si era verdad lo que por delante pareçia, que por vna parte En tierra, avia grandes çibdades y En la laguna otras muchas, E viamoslo todo lleno de canoas, y en la calçada muchas puentes de trecho a trecho, y por delante estava la gran çibdad de mexico, y nosotros avn no llegavamos a quatrozientos soldados, y teniamos muy bien en la memoria las platicas E abisos que nos dixeron los de guaxoçingo E tascala y de tamanalco, y con otros muchos avisos q̃ nos avian dado para que nos guardasemos de Entrar En mexico, que nos avian de matar, desque dentro nos tuviesen.

Early the next morning we set out from Iztapalapa, escorted by many of the great caciques I have mentioned. We went on along our causeway. It is eight paces wide, and it heads for the city of Mexico so straight that I do not think it bent at all. Wide as it is, it was packed with more people than it could hold. Some were going into Mexico and others coming out, and others had come to see us, so many that we could hardly make our way through them. People crowded the towers and cues, and canoes came from every part of the lake. That is no wonder, for they had never seen horses, or men like us. Seeing such wonders, we were at a loss for words, and unsure whether what lay before us was real. There were great cities on the shore to one side, and many more out in the lake. The whole lake was covered with canoes, the causeway had many bridges along it, and straight ahead lay the great city of Mexico. And we were not even four hundred soldiers! We remembered very well the talk and warnings of the people of Guaxocingo, Tascala, and Tamanalco, and the many other warnings we had been given. We had been told to beware of entering Mexico, for they would kill us once they had us inside.