piles under water at the place to which our vessels were to be inveigled.  On the appearance of the decoy-canoes, our two vessels made immediately towards them, the canoes rowing away towards the ambush followed by our brigantines.  As soon as they arrived at the place, the thirty piraguas immediately surrounded them, and wounded every officer, soldier, and mariner on board, by their first flight of arrows.  Our vessels could not move on account of the piles, and the enemy continued the assault with the utmost vigour.  One of the captains, named Portilla, was slain, and Captain Pedro Barba, the commander of our crossbows, died of his wounds.  This ambush completely succeeded, as the two brigantines fell into the hands of the enemy.  They belonged to the principal division of our flotilla, which was commanded by Cortes in person, who was much exasperated by the loss; but he soon repayed the enemy in their own way.  He constantly sent out some vessels every night to scour the lake, and on one occasion they brought in some prisoners of consequence, from whom he learnt that the enemy had formed another ambuscade of forty large piraguas and as many canoes.  He now laid a plan to turn their schemes against themselves; for which purpose he sent six vessels one night with muffled oars, to conceal themselves in a water-cut at the edge of the lake, covered with bushes and tall reeds, about a quarter of a league from the ambushment of the enemy.  A single brigantine was then sent out early in the morning, as if in search of the canoes which carried provisions to Mexico, and having the prisoners on board to point out the place where the enemies fleet lay concealed.  The enemy sent as before some loaded canoes to decoy the brigantine towards the ambush, and our vessel pursued them until near the place, where it lay-to, as if fearful to approach.  The Mexican fleet now sallied out upon them, and our brigantine rowed away towards the place where the six others were concealed, closely followed up by the enemy.  When arrived near enough, the brigantine fired two shots as a signal, on which the other vessels pushed out against the enemy, running down many of their vessels, dispersing all the rest, and making a great number of prisoners.  This sickened them at ambushments, and from henceforwards they did not attempt to cross the lake in their canoes so openly.

Our three divisions of the land army continued to pursue their plan for gradually advancing along the causeways.  Always as we gained ground, we pulled down the houses on each side, filling up the ditches or canals which intersected the causeways, and strengthening our posts; in which, and in all the operations of the war, we were excellently seconded by our brave Tlascalan allies.  On our attack, the Mexicans broke down one of the bridges in the rear of their own barricades and parapets, leaving one narrow passage at a place where the water was very deep as a decoy, and even dug trenches and pitfalls where the water