ently learnt, had either, out of veneration or
fear, taken it away, and put it carefully by. We now set fire to the
Mexican idols, and part of the chapel was on this occasion burnt down,
with Huitzilopochtli and Tetzcatlipuca. While we were occupied with this
work, the battle on the platform continued without intermission; for
here stood a number of priests, and more than three or four thousand of
the principal Mexicans, who fell upon us with great fury, and even beat
us back again down the steps of the temple. Nor was it these alone who
here set upon us; but numbers of warriors also annoyed us from the
landings and battlements of this building, so that we scarcely knew
which way to turn our arms.

We had now made every possible exertion, and undergone the greatest
perils. Our towers were smashed to pieces, the whole of us were covered
with wounds, and forty-six of our men had been killed. We therefore
determined to retreat to our quarters in the best way we could. But our
position for the moment was not bettered by this step; for the Mexicans
now fell upon us in terrific crowds both in our rear and in our flanks:
it is impossible to imagine the sight unless one had seen it. Neither
have I at all mentioned the numbers who attacked our quarters after we
had sallied out, and the difficulty our men had who were left behind to
prevent the enemy from setting fire to them. In this battle we took two
chief papas prisoners, whom Cortes ordered to be kept in close custody.

I have seen many pictures among the Mexicans and Tlascallans which
represented our storming this great temple. In their eye it was
considered a piece of astonishing heroism. In these pictures they had
not omitted to depict our killed, and how great numbers of us were
wounded, with the blood streaming from our bodies. And indeed it was no
trifling matter, after our towers had been destroyed, to storm this
great building, and set fire to the idols, considering that it was
defended so vigorously by large bodies of the enemy, both from the
platform and from the landings, and by those who were stationed in the
open space below.

The retreat to our quarters was no less perilous; and if the multitude
through which we had to cut our way was vast, that in front of our
quarters was no less so. We just arrived in time, for the enemy had
already made breaches in the walls, and a good many had forced their way
through them into the rooms. Our arrival certainly put a sto