Our troops in the brigantines had now a great advantage over us in making booty, for they were able to get at all the houses that lay in the lake, in which the Mexicans had concealed all their wealth; and also to those places in the lake which were thickly grown with reeds, and whither those Mexicans, whose houses were pulled down during the siege, fled with all their property; besides which, they had had frequent opportunities, while foraging in the country, to plunder several distinguished Mexicans, who had fled to seek refuge among the Otomies. We other soldiers, who fought away on the causeways and mainland, derived no such benefits; all we got were severe wounds from arrows, stones, and lances. Whenever we did penetrate into the houses, the inmates had already escaped with their valuables; for we were unable to get at the houses without first filling up a canal, or throwing a bridge across, which took up a considerable time: and this was my reason for observing in a former chapter, that the troops whom Cortes selected for the service of the brigantines fared better than those who were stationed on the mainland. There was not the slightest doubt about this; for when Cortes asked Quauhtemoctzin after Motecusuma's treasure, he and his generals declared that the greater part of it had been carried off by the crews of the brigantines.
As the atmosphere of the town had become perfectly pestiferous, from the decomposed bodies, Quauhtemoctzin requested Cortes to allow the whole of the inhabitants, with the remaining part of his troops, to leave the city. This our general readily granted, and the causeways were crowded for three days and nights with men, women, and children, on their way to the mainland. These poor beings were quite emaciated, and had a death-like appearance; their bodies covered with filth, and they spread around them so abominable a stench, that we grew miserable at the very sight.
As soon as all the inhabitants had left the city, Cortes sent some persons there to see how things looked in general. The houses were found crammed with dead bodies, and among them several poor people were found still alive, though too weak to stand, and lying in their own filth, like those hogs which are fed upon nothing but grass. Every spot of earth in the town looked as if it had been ploughed up, for the famished inhabitants had dug up every root out of the ground, and had even peeled the bark from the trees, to still their hunger; neither did we find any fresh water, for that in the wells was of a salty flavour; and yet during this horrible famine the Mexicans had not eaten the flesh of their countrymen, though they so greedily devoured that of the Tlascallans and Spaniards.[28] Certainly no people ever suffered so much in this world from hunger, thirst, and the horrors of war, as the inhabitants of this great city.