And now, before I go on to speak of the siege of Mexico, I must tell of
one more matter, namely of how I and Otomie my wife went up among the
people of the Otomie, and won a great number of them back to their
allegiance to the Aztec crown. It must be known, if my tale has not
made this clear already, that the Aztec power was not of one people,
but built up of several, and that surrounding it were many other tribes,
some of whom were in alliance with it or subject to it, and some of whom
were its deadly enemies. Such for instance were the Tlascalans, a small
but warlike people living between Mexico and the coast, by whose help
Cortes overcame Montezuma and Guatemoc. Beyond the Tlascalans and to the
west, the great Otomie race lived or lives among its mountains. They
are a braver nation than the Aztecs, speaking another language, of a
different blood, and made up of many clans. Sometimes they were subject
to the great Aztec empire, sometimes in alliance, and sometimes at open
war with it and in close friendship with the Tlascalans. It was to
draw the tie closer between the Aztecs and the Otomies, who were to the
inhabitants of Anahuac much what the Scottish clans are to the people
of England, that Montezuma took to wife the daughter and sole legitimate
issue of their great chief or king. This lady died in childbirth, and
her child was Otomie my wife, hereditary princess of the Otomie. But
though her rank was so great among her mother's people, as yet Otomie
had visited them but twice, and then as a child. Still, she was well
skilled in their language and customs, having been brought up by nurses
and tutors of the tribes, from which she drew a great revenue every year
and over whom she exercised many rights of royalty that were rendered to
her far more freely than they had been to Montezuma her father.

Now as has been said, some of these Otomie clans had joined the
Tlascalans, and as their allies had taken part in the war on the side of