"When the Mexicans saw them, they fell into confusion. They were driven hither and thither; they fled without purpose, they dragged their feet with fear... The strangest thing was their deer which carried them on their backs wherever they wished to go. They were as tall as the roof of a house... The people could not sleep, or eat; they could do nothing. They asked themselves: What will happen to us? Who will outlive it? The people were terrified."

The Florentine Codex, compiled by Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún, c.1540–1585. Based on interviews with surviving Aztec informants conducted decades after the conquest. Book XII deals with the conquest itself.