m medium of his own fond
imagination, giving them a higher tone of colouring and larger
dimensions than were strictly warranted by the fact." Or, as Mr.
Bandelier puts it, when it comes to general statements about numbers
and dimensions, "the descriptions of the conquerors cannot be taken as
facts, only as the expression of feelings, honestly entertained but
uncritical." From details given in various Spanish descriptions,
including those of Cortes himself, it is evident that there could not
have been much difference in size between Tlascala and its neighbour
Cholula. The population of the latter town has often been given as from
150,000 to 200,000; but, from elaborate archaeological investigations
made on the spot in 1881, Mr. Bandelier concludes that it cannot have
greatly exceeded 30,000, and this number really agrees with the
estimates of two very important Spanish authorities, Las Casas and
Torquemada, when correctly understood.[97] We may therefore suppose that
the population of Tlascala was about 30,000. Now the population of the
city of Granada, at the time of its conquest by Ferdinand and Isabella,
is said by the greatest of Spanish historians[98] to have been about
200,000. It would thus appear that Cortes sometimes let his feelings run
away with him; and, all things considered, small blame to him if he did!
In studying the story of the Spanish conquest of America, liberal
allowance must often be made for inaccuracies of statement that were
usually pardonable and sometimes inevitable.

[Footnote 96: "La qual ciudad ... es muy mayor que Granada, y
muy mas fuerte, y de tan buenos edificios, y de mucha mas
gente, que Granada tenia al tiempo que se gano." Cortes,
_Relacion segunda al Emperador_, ap. Lorenzana, p. 58, cited in
Prescott's _Conquest of Mexico_, vol. i. p. 401 (7th ed.,
London, 1855).]

[Footnote 97: See Bandelier's _Archaeological Tour in Mexico_,
Boston, 1885, pp. 160-164. Torquemada's words, cited by
Bandelier, are "Quando entraron los Espanoles, dicen que tenia
mas de quarenta mil vecinos esta ciudad." _Monarquia Indiana_,
lib. iii. cap. xix. p. 281. A prolific source of error is the
ambiguity in the word _vecinos_, which may mean either
"inhabitants" or "householders." Where Torquemada meant 40,000
inhabitants, uncritical writers fond of the marvellous have
under