ss Tecuichpo, a daughter of Montezuma; and twenty nobles of
high rank. The news of his capture spread rapidly through the fleet
and city, and the feeble resistance the Aztecs still offered ceased
at once.

Guatimozin was brought before Cortez, and behaved with a dignity
and calmness that excited the admiration and respect of the general
and his followers. The next morning, at the emperor's request,
Cortez gave permission for all the survivors of the siege to leave
the town; and issued strict orders, both to the Spaniards and their
savage allies, that no insult or injury should be offered to them.
For three days sad processions of men, women, and children--worn
out with fatigue, wasted with fever and hunger, and in many cases
scarred with wounds--made their way along the causeways. The number
of men, alone, was variously estimated at from thirty to seventy
thousand.

The losses during the siege were also placed at varying figures by
contemporary writers. The lowest estimate was one hundred and
twenty thousand, while some writers place it at double that amount.
The higher figures probably approximate most nearly to the truth,
for the population of the city, in itself very large, was
enormously swelled by the vast number of persons from all the
surrounding cities, who took refuge there at the approach of the
Spaniards.

The Spanish loss was comparatively small, the larger portion of it
being incurred upon the day of the destruction of Alderete's
column. The loss of the allies, however, was very large; as they
were not provided, as were the Spaniards, with armor which defied
the missiles of the enemy. Of the Tezcucans, alone, it is said that
thirty thousand perished.

The amount of booty taken in the city was comparatively small, and
the army was bitterly disappointed at the poor reward which it
reaped for its labors and sacrifices. There can be no doubt that
the Aztec treasures were removed and buried, before the approach of
the Spaniards to the city. Indeed, during the siege the Aztecs
constantly taunted them with shouts that, even if they ever took
the city, they would find no gold there to reward their efforts.

The defense of the city of Mexico has been frequently likened to
that of Jerusalem against Titus. In each case a vast population,
ignorant of the arts of war, resisted with heroic constancy the
efforts of a civilized enemy, and succumbed to hunger and disease
rather than to the foe.

The fate of the Az