martial music,* crying, "ala! lala," and throwing dust and straw into the air to conceal the havoc made among their crowded ranks. When the Spaniards, almost exhausted, were anxiously looking for the assistance of their leader, a confused and disordered movement was observed in the rear of the Indian army. Cortes and his horsemen had arrived, and taking the enemy by surprise, charged furiously among them. The natives, who had never before beheld a horse, were terrified at the monstrous apparition, and a general panic ensued. Ordaz, who commanded the main body, redoubled his attack, and the disor derly multitude was soon put to flight. Pursuit was considered imprudent and unnecessary. It became the fashion among Spanish chroniclers to ascribe this victory to the personal exertions of the "blessed St. Jago, who was said to have appeared, mounted on a gray steed, in the thickest of the fight. Others have ascribed it to St. Peter, but old Diaz, who was present, dryly remarks, "it might be the case, and I, sinner as I am, was not worthy to be permitted to see it. What I did see was, Francisco de Morla riding in company with Cortes and the rest, upon a chesnut horse, and that circumstance, and all the others of that day, appear to me, at this moment that I am writing, as if actually passing in the view of these sinful eyes. But although I, unworthy sinner that I am, was unfit to behold either of those holy apostles, upwards of four hundred of us were present; let their testimony be taken." Cortez dismissed his prisoners to carry to their countrymen the stern announcement that, unless they submitted, "he would ride over the land, and put every living thing in it, man, woman, and child, to the sword." The principal caciques of the defeated nation soon presented themselves before him, with * Their instruments of military music were of a rude but effective construction—“Flutes made of great Canes; Sea-shells; and a sort of Drums, made of the Trunk of a Tree, so hollowed, and made thin, that they answered to the Stroke of the Stick a very displeasing Sound." submission and propitiatory offerings. Peaceable intercourse was soon established, and a grand religious ceremony, with all the pomp of Catholicism, was performed with a view to effect their conversion. They gazed with insatiable wonder on the strange persons and accoutrements, and the mysterious rites. of their visitors. The cavalry, as usual, excited their especial terror and curiosity. "When they heard the Horses ney," says an old writer," they had thought the horses could speake, and demanded what they said; the Spaniards answered, these Horses are sore offended with you, for fighting with them, and would haue you corrected: the simple Indians presented Roses and Hennes to the beasts, desiring them to eat and pardon them." Being asked where they obtained their gold, the natives answered, "Culchua," and "Mexico," pointing to the west. Again embarking, the adventurers sailed westward, and soon arrived at the island of San Juan de Ulua, opposite the present site of Vera Cruz. The natives, already conciliated by the visit of Grijalva, came off in numbers to the vessels. Cortes was for a time at a loss how to communicate with them; till accident supplied an interpreter. Among the gifts of the Tabascan caciques were twenty females ("which part of the present," says Diaz, with amusing simplicity, "we held in most special estimation,") one of whom, named by the Spaniards Marina, was of Mexican birth. Her father had been a powerful cacique, but she had been sold into slavery among the Tabascans, whose language she had acquired. With the dialect of that people, a companion of Cortes, who had been long prisoner with the Indians, was familiar, and thus a correct, though circuitous communication was established with the Mexicans. The knowledge of Castilian, which Marina speedily acquired, indeed, soon obviated the necessity of a double interpretation. This woman, destined to play such a conspicuous part in the conquest of her country, was at this time young and beautiful, and is said to have possessed great intelligence and many amiable qualities. She became the mistress of Cortes, to whom afterwards she bore a son. CHAPTER II. THE LANDING AT VERA CRUZ-NEGOTIATION WITH MONTEZUMA- DESTRUCTION OF THEIR IDOLS. ON the 21st of April, 1519, Cortes, with all his troops, landed on the golden soil of Mexico, on the very spot where the town of Vera Cruz now stands. Teuhtile, the chief cacique of the neighborhood, soon came in state to visit him, and ceremonious courtesies were interchanged. To the inquiries of this dignitary, the Spanish commander replied that he had been sent by his master, the powerful king of Spain, with a present to the sovereign of Mexico, and a message which he must deliver in person. The politic cacique expressed surprise at learning that there was another prince as powerful as his master, the great Montezuma; but assured Cortes that he would dispatch the present and ascertain the will of the emperor. The rich and beautifully wrought articles of gold and of other valuable materials, which he presented to the Spanish chief, quite put to shame the paltry offerings which were all that Cortes could find as a gift for the Aztec sovereign. The cacique also dispatched, for the inspection of his master, one of the Spanish helmets, and Cortes suggested the propriety of filling it with gold dust when returned, adding, "that the Spaniards were troubled with a disease of the heart, for which gold was a specific remedy." Accurate pictures of the horses, the cannon, the ships and their strange inhabitants, were likewise made by the native artists for transmission to the court. At this time the throne of the Aztec* empire was filled by the famous Montezuma, who, in 1502, on the decease of his uncle, came by election to the sovereignty. He had been dis *The Aztecs, originally a small tribe settled in the Mexican Valley, by continued encroachments and conquests, became the principal power in the whole region lying between the Pacific and the Gulf; numerous nations, of different languages and origin, being their vassals or tributaries. tinguished both in war and in the services of the national worship-a worship which, with its hideous deities, and its innumerable human sacrifices, was thoroughly interwoven with the entire system of Aztec government and polity. Of this fierce and sanguinary religion he was supposed to be an enthu siastic devotee; and from the stern and melancholy expression of his countenance, his name, signifying the "sad" or "severe man," was derived. On his accession, he speedily became involved in war with his neighbors, and by his military genius extended his conquests widely over the surrounding regions of Anahuac.* In the execution of justice, and in the enlargement and improvement of public works and edifices, he also displayed great ability and munificence. His ostentatious state, however, and the splendor of his court, required great wealth to maintain them, and his exactions, as well from his own people as from the conquered provinces, caused great disaffection and ill-will. Frequent insurrections occurred, to suppress which all his available forces were continually required. Moreover, he had for his mortal enemies Ixtlilxochitl, half-sovereign of the neighboring kingdom of Tezcuco, and the chiefs of the fierce and warlike republic of Tlascala. The condition of the Aztec empire, both from the extent of its conquests, and the heterogeneous materials of which it was composed, had, for several years, been critical in the extreme. For some time before the arrival of the Spaniards, the mind of Montezuma, suspicious and anxious, had been excited by ancient prophecies and recent portents. Quetzalcoatl, the ancient deity of the Aztecs, with fair complexion and flowing beard, it had been foretold, should one day return to resume his empire-and the coming of the white men was by many considered as a fulfilment of this prediction. Strange comets and other prodigies of nature added to his dismay. Ever since the visit of Grijalva, he had been waiting, in * The native title of the extensive tract of country since known as New Spain or Mexico. anxious expectation, for fresh arrivals of the mysterious stran gers; and by his orders, on their landing, rich gifts had been bestowed on them, and the most hospitable and assiduous attention paid them by a multitude of his subjects. On the receipt of the message of Cortes and the descriptions given by his subjects, he held a solemn council, and, despite the remon strances of his sager advisers, determined to send them a magnificent present, and, at the same time, to forbid their approach to his capital. "This," says Mr. Prescott, "was to reveal, at once, both his wealth and his weakness." From the city of Mexico to Vera Cruz the distance is sev enty leagues; yet within eight days from the time the message had been dispatched by Teuhtile, an embassy from the emperor arrived at the camp of the Spaniards. It was accompanied by a hundred slaves, who bore presents of the most precious material and the most admirable workmanship. "The first was a plate of gold of the size of the wheel of a carriage, representing the sun, admirably wrought, and said to be worth upwards of twenty thousand crowns of gold ($230,000); a larger one, equally wrought, of silver, representing the moon; the helmet already mentioned, filled with gold in its native state; thirty pieces of wrought gold, representing ducks, very well executed, others in the forms of deer, dogs, lions, tygers and apes." Besides these, there was a vast quantity of the most delicate fabrics in cotton and variegated feathers, intermingled with pearls and precious stones. With these treasures was delivered a courteous message from the emperor, expressing high respect for the Spanish sovereign, but regretting that the difficulty of the way would prevent the visitors from coming to his capital, and suggesting delicately the propriety of their return. The avarice and ambition of the Spaniards were, of course, only inflamed afresh by these tokens of the wealth and timidity of the emperor; and Cortes, on the return of the ambassadors, sent another urgent request, backed by an insignificant present, for permission to visit the capital. * Bernal Diaz. |