THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA ENDOWED BY THE DIALECTIC AND PHILANTHROPIC SOCIETIES PS3129 .V5 A5 UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 10002938047 This book is due at the WALTER R. DAVIS LIBRARY on the last date stamped under "Date Due." Hd^ may be renewed by bringing it to the library. DATE DUE RET. r Lb i Q <-woZ DATE DUE RET. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill http://archive.org/details/sketchesofaborigOOvide AMERICAN TABLEAUX, PS J /'■ -5" SKETCHES ABOEIGIIAL LIFE 'Tis like a dream, -when one awakes, — These visions of the scenes of old ; 'Tis like the moon, when morning "breaks ; 'Tis like a tale round watch-fires told. By V. V. VIDE. NEW-YORK: PUBLISHED BY BUCKLAND & SUMNER, 79 JOHN-STREET. 1846. Entered according to Act of Congress, in (he year 1846, by BUCKLAND & SUMIMER, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District of New York- Stereotyped by Vincent L. Dill, 128 Fulton st. Sun Building, N. T. C. A. Alvord, Printer, Cor. of John and Dutch sts. PREFACE. The American Tableaux lay no claim to the res- pect and confidence, which is justly shown to authentic history ; nor do they anticipate the ready favor usually accorded to high wrought romance. They are neither the one nor the other. The general outline is designed to be historical, and true to the characters of individu- als, and the customs of nations and tribes; and the drapery in which it is arrayed is intended rather to illustrate the truth, and place it in bolder relief, than to weaken its force by irrelevant inventions. It is propos- ed rather to shade and color the naked sketches of his- tory, and restore them to their natural setting and ac- companiments, than to alter or distort them. The cha- racters of history are usually stiff, cold, and statue-like, and their drapery, if they have any, is of the same marble rigidity with themselves. The Tableaux would transfer them to canvass in their natural colors, strongly relieved by a back-ground of familiar scenery and every day associations, and shaded or lightened, as the case may be, by the sorrows or joys of social life, and the cares or honors of public station. It may be pre- sumptuous to hope that all this has been accomplished. It is safer to say, it has been attempted. CONTENTS. THE AZTEC PRINCESS. CHAPTER I. SMGE BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE OF TECUICHPO. - 15 The Horoscope — Faith in the revelations of Astrology — Monte- zuma in his palace — The message delivered — Resignation — ■ Fatalism — Infancy of the Princess — The slave Karee — Obtains her freedom — The Chinampa — Genius and faith of Karee — Her devotion to the Princess — Chivalry of the Aztecs. CHAPTER II. YOUTH OF THE PRINCESS — HER EARLY LOVE REVEALED . PROPHETIC ANNOUNCEMENT, AND SUDDEN ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS. - - . - - 27 Superstitious forebodings of Montezuma — Loveliness of his daugh- ter — Her suitors — The Prince of Tezcuco-— -Ka-ree-o-than — A secret revealed — Guatimozin — The ancient legend — The young Pythoness — Her vision — Warning and appeal — The vision realized — The pictured scroll — Agitation of Monte- 1* VI CONTENTS. zuma — A second courier — The royal council — Courtesy to the strangers — Splendid embassy — Their meeting with Cor- tez — Munificent presents — Avarice of the Spaniards — They make interest with the Totonacs, and send proposals to Tlas- cala — Their proposal rejected — They meet and conquer the Tlascalans — An alliance formed — The compeers of Cortez — Xicotencatl — The strength and weakness of the Aztecs. CHAPTER III. SUPERSTITIOUS FEARS AND VACILLATING POLICY OF MON- TEZUMA. - - 45 Frequent embassies and rich presents to the Spaniards — Monte- zuma, fearing to act openly, plots their destruction secretly — - Cortez cautioned by the Tlascalans — His prudence and strict discipline — Cuitlahua urges Montezuma to bold decided mea- sures — Scene in the royal garden — Mysterious chant — Warn- ing—Its effect — Montezuma roused to action — Energy of Cuitlahua — The army in motion to repel the enemy — Confi- dent of victory — The monarch changes his plan — A strata- gem — Cholula — The army arrested in its march — The Span- iards in Cholula — Hospitable reception — Sudden change- Suspicion of treachery — Perilous position and bold bearing of Cortez — His demand upon the Cholulan princes — Charges them with conspiracy — Their alarm and apology — Terrible massacre — Conflict on the great Teocalli — The Spaniards victorious — Painful position of Cuitlahua and his army — Tlas- calans in Cholula. CHAPTER IV. AGITATIONS IN THE CAPITAL — THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD — THE SPANIARDS STEADILY ADVANCING. - 65 Montezuma's duplicity — Shuts himself up in despair — Divided counsels — Mistaken policy — Triumphant advance of Cortez — His ambitious views — His military caution — Montezuma in CONTENTS. Vll his family — His youngest daughter — Her loveliness — Her clouded destiny — The royal household — A family scene — A dark superstition versus a cheerful faith — Excursion on the lake — The royal cortege — The Princess — Guatimozin — The dream and its echo — Prophecy — Signal and sudden return — Preparation to receive the Spaniards — Cacama's embassy to Cortez — Exchange of courtesies — Reception of the strangers at Iztapalapan — Lofty bearing of Cuitlahua — The Capital and its environs. CHAPTER V. ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS AT THE CAPITAL — THEIR RECEPTION BY MONTEZUMA — DETERMINED HOSTILITY OF GUATIMOZIN. - - - 81 Singular relative position of the Spaniard and the Aztec — The power and timidity of the one, and the danger and bold- ness of the other — Speculation — Cortez advancing — The Grand Causeway — The Fort of Xoloc — The Emperor's reti- nue — Abject deference of his lords — Magnificent palanquin— His personal appearance and costume — The reception — Ex- change of presents — Montezuma retires — Cuitlahua escorts the Spaniards to their quarters — Their admiration on seeing the splendor of the city — Curiosity of the people — The omens of that day — Their influence upon Montezuma — Guati- mozin's true devotion to his country — His interview with the Princess — True interpretation of the omens — Filial devotion versus patriotism — The pledge — A new omen — The parrot turned prophet — Karee and her prediction — Extreme sensi- tiveness of the Princess. CHAPTER VI. MUNIFICENCE OF MONTEZUMA — THE ROYAL BANQUET — THE REQUITAL THE EMPEROR A PRISONER IN HIS OWN PALACE. - - - - - 97 Grand military display by the Spaniard^r-The terror of the Vlll CONTENTS. Aztecs — Fearlessness and high purpose of Guatimozin and others — The Banquet — The company — A contrast — The strangers presented to the Queen — Her grace and dignity — Beauty of the Aztec women — Awkward position of the ad- miring Cavaliers- -Their ingenuity in pantomime — Readily matched by the Aztec — Sandoval and the Princess — Cortez and Karee — Guatimozin and Cacama in argument — The Princess interposes — Sternness of Guatimozin — An incident — Orteguilla — Alvarado and the Naiads — Metamorphosed into a flower-god — Pays homage to the Princess — The feast — The true character of the invaders — Bold movement of Cor- tez — Montezuma's blind submission to fate — Voluntarily becomes a vassal to the crown of Spain — A still bolder move- ment of Cortez — Montezuma remonstrates, but yields, and becomes a prisoner in the Spanish quarters — Indignation of the nobles — Portentous omen — Distress in the palace — The Princess expostulates with her father — The parting, and the promised meeting — Guatimozin departs in disgust — His inter- view with the Princess at Chapnltepec — Courageous hopes — Oracle and omens — Timidity made bold by love. CHAPTER VII. TREACHERY AND RETRIBUTION MASSACRE OF THE AZTEC NOBILITY DEATH OF MONTEZUMA. - 121 Cortez visits Vera Cruz — Alvarado in command in the Capital — His character — The Aztec festival — Unprovoked attack and massacre — The whole nation in arms for revenge — Alvarado in imminent peril — Cortez returns — The Aztecs threaten the entire destruction of the Spaniards — Furious assault upon their quarters — Desperate sortie — Implacable spirit of the Aztecs — Their leaders — Cortez persuades Montezuma to interpose — Cacama summoned to the royal presence — His noble reply — The Princes' rendezvous — Guatimozin warned of danger — His escape — Cacama and Cuitlahua arrested — The latter released — Fresh assaults upon the Spaniards — At CONTENTS. IX the instigation of Cortez, Montezuma appears and addresses the people — Their loyalty and deference — Suddenly changed to uncontrollable rage — The Emperor mortally wounded by his own people — A temporary suspension of hostilities — Death of Montezuma — His funeral obsequies. CHAPTER VIII. BRIEF REIGN OF CUITLAHUA EXPULSION OF THE SPAN- IARDS GUATIMOZIN CHOSEN EMPEROR HIS MARRIAGE WITH TECUICHPO. - 137 Cuitlahua elected to the vacant throne — His resolution — Cortez, realizing his danger, resolves to evacuate the city — Attempts to steal away in the night — Assaulted on all sides by the Aztecs — Perils of the retreat — Awful position on the Great Causeway — Hemmed in on all sides — Terrible slaughter — A remnant escape — Cortez in tears — Singular neglect of his adversary — Activity of Cuitlahua — His sudden death — Grief and despondency of the nation — Guatimozin elected to his place — His activity and prudence — He claims the hand pf the Princess — Her timidity and her devotion — Love finding the bright side of the picture — The nuptial festival — Grand procession to the Capital — A nation's welcome. CHAPTER IX. FESTIVITIES AT THE COURT OF GUATIMOZIN THE NEW HYMENEAL VOW. - - 151 Character of Guatimozin — His practical wisdom and activity — Gaiety of the court — The young Queen — Nahuitla, the Prince of Tlacopan — Atlacan, a princess of Tezcuco — Her brother, Maxtli — Her suitors — The Merchant of Cholula — Mercenary views of Maxtli — Endeavors to thwart Nahuitla — ■ How he is thwarted himself— The betrothal — Sanctioned by CONTENTS. the Emperor — The nuptials — Polygamy abjured — A new Imperial statute — Torch dance — Significant pantomime. CHAPTER X. RETURN OF CORTEZ SIEGE OF TENOCHTITLAN BRAVERY AND SUFFERINGS OF THE AZTECS. - 161 Guatimozin prepares for a new invasion — Cortez approaches with a new army — Orders vessels built atTlascala — Takes pos- session of Tezcuco — Makes liberal overtures to Guatimozin — Rejected with scorn — Determined spirit of Guatimozin — Success of Cortez in reducing some of the smaller towns — Narrow escape at Iztalapatan — General defection of the tri- butary cities — How acoounted for — The Spanish fleet on the Lake — Genius of Cortez — Tenochtitlan invested — Prepara- tions for the siege — Spirit of the Aztecs — Their supplies cut off — The Queen in her reverses — Famine — Distress in the city — Love stronger than hunger — The famishing fed — Des- peration — an assault — an ambush — The tide of battle suddenly turned — Perilous position and severe loss of the Spaniards — Cortez narrowly escapes — Disastrous retreat. CHAPTER XL STRAITNESS OF THE FAMINE — THE FINAL CONFLICT FLIGHT AND CAPTURE OF GUATIMOZIN DESTINY FUL- FILLED. --«-*- 179 The Mexicans encouraged — Oracular declaration of the priests — It fails to be fulfilled — Cortez resolves to lay waste the city — A wide spread ruin — Terrible sufferings of the besieged — Love and loyalty outliving hope — Death preferred to submis- sion — Nahuitla proposes a plan of escape — Guatimozin re- jects it, but is overruled by the unanimous voice of his people — Prepares for flight — The battle of the ghosts — The CONTENTS. Xi retreat — Guatimoziu on the lake — Pursued by the enemy — A captive — Brought before Cortez — His noble spirit and bearing — The Queen and the conqueror — Her destiny fulfilled. THE FLIGHT OP THE KATAHBA CHIEF. i»s The dream of Minaree, the young bride of Ash-te-o-lah — Its effect upon the Chief — He goes to the chase — Power and pros- perity of the Katahbas — Beauty of their villages — The wig- wam of Ash-te-o-lah — The Chief in his canoe — The deer — The foe — The chase — He turns upon his pursuers — Slays seven of their number successively — Is taken — Marched off as a captive — His boldness and dignity- — Arrives in the territo- ries of his enemies — Insulted and beaten by the women — Con- demned to the fiery torture — Led out to execution — Breaks away and escapes — Pauses to defy his pursuers — Distances them all — Stops to rest — Finds a place of concealment — Plans the destruction of the pursuing party — Succeeds — Returns home in triumph, laden with trophies and spoils. A.AGE MONICA-THE ITEAN CAPTIVE. - 209 Keverence for the dead — Indian burial — The journey to the Spirit land — The favorite dog killed — Food for journey — Memen- toes of the departed — The grave of an infant boy — The Itean XII CONTENTS. encampment — A sister's grief — Her dream — She visits the grave by moonlight — Her song — Enters a canoe and floats down the stream — A captive, devoted to the '* Great Star" — Pagan rite among the Pawnees — Preparing for the sacrifice — Ignorant of her fate — Gathering of the Pawnees to the festi- val — The victim led to the stake — The terrible orgies com- mence — Are suddenly interrupted — The captive unbound — The flight — Parting with her deliverer — Meets her friends — Reaches her home in safety — Petalesharro, her deliverer^ His person and character — Bloody rite abolished. THE HERMITESS OP ATHABASCA. - 227 The wigwam of Kaf-na-wa-go — His family — Tula, his only daughter — O-ken-ah-ga, her husband — The Athapuscows steal in at night — The chiefs murdered — Tula a captive — Her infant boy murdered before her eyes — The Chippeways in pursuit of the murderers — Following the trail — The enemy overtaken — Retribution wreaked upon the innocent — The deep grief of Tula — Her weary marches — Her captors encamp — The tempest — She escapes in the darkness — Vain attempts to discover her retreat — Seeks to find her way back to her people— The forest — A midnight intruder — She climbs a tree — Is besieged — Assaulted — Repels and destroys the enemy — Intricacies and dangers of the forest — An opening, but no light — Bewildered — Resolves to go no farther — Finds a convenient spot — builds a cabin — her house-keeping — Her ingenuity, industry and taste — The Hermitess discovered — Her solitude reluctantly abandoned — Indian mode of obtaining a wife — Journeyings — A new party — An unexpected meeting. THE AZTEC PRINCESS, OR DESTINY FORESHADOWED Rapacious Spain Followed her "bold discoverer o'er the main ; A ra"bid race, fanatically "bold, And steeled to cruelty "by lust of gold, Traversed the 'waves, the unknown -world explored, The cross their standard, hut their path the sword ; Their steps were graves ; o'er prostrate realms they trod, They worshipped Mammon, while they vowed to God. THE AZTEC PRINCESS. CHAPTER I. BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE OF TECUICHPO. 2Tell me, asmoest ti&ou fnfluence to t&e stars 1 " Wo ! wo ! wo ! to the imperial House of Tenochtit- lan ! Never saw I the heavens in so inauspicious an aspect. Dark portentous influences appear on every side. May the horoscope of the infant daughter of Montezuma never be fulfilled." These were the awful words of the priestly astrolo- ger of Tenochtitlan, uttered with solemn and oracular emphasis from the lofty Teocalli, where he had been long and studiously watching the heavens, and calcu- lating the relative positions and combinations of the stars. A deep unutterable gloom seemed to pervade his soul. Several times he traversed the broad terrace, in a terrible agitation ; his splendid pontifical robes flow- ing loosely in the breeze, and his tall majestic figure relieved against the clear sky, like some colossal mov- ing statue, — and then, in tones of deeper grief than 16 THE HOROSCOPE. before, finding no error in his calculations, reiterated his oracular curse — " Wo ! wo ! wo ! to the imperial House of Tenochtitlan ! M Casting down his instru- ments to the earth, and tearing his hair in the violence of his emotions, he prostrated himself on the altar, and poured forth a loud and earnest prayer to all his gods. "Is there no favoring omen in any quarter, vene- rable father?" inquired the agitated messenger from the palace, when the prayer was ended — " is there no one of those bright spheres above us, that will deign to smile on the destiny of the young princess ? " "It is full of mysterious, portentous contradictions," replied the astrologer. " Good and evil influences con- tend for the mastery. The evil prevail, but the good are not wholly extinguished. The life of the princess will be a life of sorrow, but there will be a peculiar brightness in its end. Yet the aspect of every sign in the heavens is wo, and only wo, to the imperial House of Montezuma." Faith in the revelations of astrology was a deeply rooted superstition with the Aztecs. It pervaded the whole structure of society, affecting the most intelligent and well-informed, as well as the humblest and most ignorant individual. In this case, the prophetic wail- ings of the priestly oracle rolled, like a long funereal knell, through the magnificent halls of the imperial palace, and fell upon the ear of the monarch, as if it had been a voice from the unseen world. Montezuma was reclining on a splendidly embroidered couch, in his pri- vate apartment, anxiously awaiting the response of the celestial oracle. He was magnificently arrayed in his royal robes of green, richly ornamented with variegated THE EMPEROR AND THE PALACE. 17 feather-work, and elaborately inwrought with gold and silver. His sandals were of pure gold, with ties and anklets of gold and silver thread, curiously interwoven with a variegated cotton cord. On his head was a rich fillet of gold, with a beautiful plume bending gracefully over one side, casting a melancholy shade over his handsome but naturally pensive features. A few of the royal princes sat, in respectful silence, at the farther end of the chamber, waiting, with an anxiety almost equal to that of the monarch, the return of the royal messenger. The apartments of the emperor were richly hung with tapestry of ornamental feather-work, rivalling, in the brilliancy of its dyes, and the beautiful harmony of its arrangement, the celebrated Gobelin tapestry. The floor was a tesselated pavement of porphyry and other beautiful stones. Numerous torches, supported in mas- sive silver stands, delicately carved with fanciful figures of various kinds, blazed through the apartment, light- ing up, with an almost noonday brilliancy, the gorgeous folds of the plumed hangings, and filling the whole palace with the sweet breath of the odoriferous gums of which they were composed. The emperor leaned pensively on his hand, seem- ingly oppressed with some superstitious melancholy forebodings. Perhaps the shadow of that mysterious prophecy, which betokened the extinction of the Aztec dynasty, and the consequent ruin of his house, was passing athwart the troubled sky of his mind, veiling the always doubtful future in mists of tenfold dimness. Whatever it was that disturbed his royal serenity, his reverie was soon broken by the sound of an approach- 2* 18 SHADOWS OF DESTINY. ing footstep. For a moment, nothing was heard but the measured tread of the trembling messenger, pacing with unwilling step the long corridor, that led to the royal presence. With his head bowed upon his breast, his eyes fixed upon the pavement, his person veiled in the coarse nequen* and his feet bare, he stood before the monarch, dumb as a statue. " What response bring you," eagerly enquired the emperor, " from the burning oracles of heaven 1 How reads the destiny of my new-born infant ? " " The response be to the enemies of the great Monte- zuma," replied the messenger, without lifting his eyes from the floor, " and the destiny it foreshadows to the children of them that hate him." " Speak," exclaimed the monarch, " What message do you bring from the priest of the stars ?" " Alas ! my royal master, my message is full of wo — my heart faints, and my tongue refuses its office to give it utterance. The old prophet bade me say, that the celestial influences are all un propitious ; that the destiny of the infant princess is a life of sorrow, with a gleam of more than earthly brightness in its evening horizon. And then, prostrating himself upon the great altar, he groaned out one long, deep, heart-rending wail for the imperial House of Tenochtitlan, and the golden realm of Anahuac." A deeper shade came over the brow of Montezuma, and heaving a sigh from the very depths of a soul that had long been agitated by melancholy forebodings of coming evil, he raised his eyes to heaven, and said, * A mantle of coarse cotton fabric, which all who approached the empe- ror were compelled. to, pitt x>n, in tok^n of humility and reverence THE MONARCH AND HIS PEOPLE. 19 "the will of the gods be done." Then, waving his hand to his attendants, they bowed their heads, and retired in silence from the apartment. " It has come at last," inwardly groaned the mo- narch, as soon as he found himself alone — " it has come at last — that fearful prophecy, that has so long hung, like the shadow of a great cloud, over my devoted house, is now to be fulfilled. The fates have willed it, and there is no escape from their dread decrees. I must make ready for the sacrifice." Nerved by the stern influence of this dark fatalism, Montezuma brushed a tear from his eye, and putting a royal restraint upon the turbulent sorrows and fears of his paternal heart, hastened to the apartments of the queen, to break to her, with all the gentleness and cau- tion which her delicate and precarious circumstances required, the mournful issue of their inquiries at the court of heaven, into the future destiny and prospects of their new-born babe. A deep gloom hung over the palace and the city. Every heart, even the most humble and unobserved, sympathized in the disappointment, and shared the dis- tress, of their sovereign. And the day, which should have been consecrated to loyal congratulations, and general festivities, became, as by common consent, a sort of national fast, a season of universal lamentation. The little stranger was welcomed into life with that peculiar chastened tenderness, which is the natural offspring of love and pity — love, such as infant inno- cence wins spontaneously from every heart — pity, such as melancholy forebodings of coming years of sorrow to one beloved, cannot fail to awaken. She was regarded 20 THE INFANCY OF THE PRINCESS. as the most beautiful and the most interesting of all her race. Every look and motion seemed to have its pecu- liar significance in indicating the victim of a remark- able destiny. And it is not to be wondered at, that a superstition so sad, and an affection so tender and soli- citous, discovered an almost miraculous precocity in the first developments of the intellectual and moral qualities of its subject. She was the attractive centre of all the admiration and love of the royal household. Imagination fancied a peculiar sadness in her eye, and her merry laugh was supposed to mingle an element of sadness in its tones. Her mild and winning manners, and her affectionate disposition made her the idol of all whom she loved ; and each one strove to do her service, as if hoping to avert, in some measure, the coming doom of their darling; while she clung to the fond and devoted hearts around her, as the ivy clings to the oak, which receives its embraces, and is necessary to its support. When the young princess, who received the name of Tecuichpo, had arrived at the age of one year, she was given in charge to a young and beautiful slave, whom the Emperor had recently obtained from Azcapozalco. Karee was gifted with rare powers of minstrelsy. Her voice had the sweetness, power and compass of a mocking bird, and all day long she warbled her ever- changing lays, as if her natural breathing were music, and song the natural flow of her thoughts. She soon became passionately devoted to the little pet, and exerted all her uncommon gifts to amuse and instruct her. She taught her all the native songs of Azcapozalco and Mexitli, instructed her in dancing, embroidery and KAREE. 21 feather-work, and initiated her into the science of picture-writing and the fanciful language of flowers. Karee and her royal charge were never apart. Gentle and timid as the dove, Tecuichpo clung to her new nurse, as to the bosom of a mother. Even in her early infancy, she would so sweetly respond, like an echo, to the gentle lullaby, and mingle her little notes so sym- phoniously with those of Karee, that it excited the wonder and admiration of all. Karee was passionately fond of flowers. It was indeed an element in the national taste of this remarkable people. But Karee was unusually gifted in her preceptions of natural beauty, and seemed to have a soul most delicately attuned to the spirit and language of flowers, the painted hieroglyphics of nature. She loved to exercise her exuberant fancy in decorating her little mistress, and often contrived so to arrange them upon the various parts of her person and dress, as to make her at different times, the emblematic representation of every bright and beautiful spirit, that was supposed to people their celes- tial paradise, or to hover, on wings of love and gentle care, about the path of those whom the gods delighted to favor. It was the daily custom for Karee to carry the young princess into the apartment of the Emperor, as soon as he rose from his siesta, to receive the affectionate caresses which her royal father was so fond of lavish- ing upon her. At such times, Tecuichpo would often take with her some rich chaplets of flowers which Karee had woven for her, and amuse herself and her father, by arranging them in a coronet on his brow, or twining them, in every fantastic form, about his person, 22 RESCUE AND REWARD. to make, as she said, a flower- god of him, who was a sun to all the flowers of her earthly paradise. One day, when the young princess was sleeping in her little arbor, the ever watchful nurse observed a viper among the flowers, which she had strown about her pillow, just ready to dart its venomous fang into the bosom of her darling. Quick as lightning she seized the reptile in her hand, and, before he had time to turn upon her, flung him upon the floor, and crushed him under her sandalled heel. Passionately embracing her dear charge, she hastened with her to the apart- ments of the queen, and related the story of her narrow escape, with so much of the eloquence of gratitude for being the favored instrument of her deliverance from so cruel a death, that it deeply affected the heart of the queen. She embraced her child and Karee,.as if both were, for the moment, equally dear to her ; and then, in return for the faithful service, rendered at the hazard of her own life, she promised to bestow upon the slave whatever she chose to ask. " Give me, O give me freedom, and a chinampa, and I ask no more," was the eager reply of Karee to this unexpected offer of the queen. The request was immediately granted ; and the first sorrow that ever clouded the heart of the lovely Tecuichpo, was that of parting with her faithful and loving Karee. A chinampa was a floating island in the lake of Tezcuco, upon whose very bosom the imperial city was built. They were very numerous, and some of them were large, and extremely beautiful. They were formed by the alluvial deposit in the waters of the lake, and by occasional masses of earth detached from the THE CHI NAM PA- 23 shores, held together by the fibrous roots, with which they were penetrated, and which in that luxurious clime, put out their feelers in every direction, and gathered to their embrace whatever of nutriment and support the richly impregnated waters afforded. In the process of a few years accumulation, the floating mass increased in length, breadth and thickness, till it became an island, capable of sustaining not only shrubs and trees, but sometimes a human habitation. Some of these were from two to three hundred feet square, and could be moved about at pleasure, like a raft, from city to city, along the borders of the lake. The natives, who were skilful gardeners, and passionately devoted to the cultivation of flowers, improved upon this beautiful hint of nature, to enlarge their means of sup- plying the capital with fruits, vegetables and flowers. Constructing small rafts of reeds, anchoring them out in the lake, and then covering them with the sediment drawn up from the bottom, they soon found them covered with a thrifty vegetation, and a vigorous soil, from which they were able to produce a large supply of the various luxuries of their highly favored clime. It was to one of these fairy gardens that the beautiful Karee retired, rich in the priceless jewel of freedom, and feeling that a chinampa all her own, and flowers to train and commune with, was the summit of human desire. Karee was no common character. Gifted by nature with unusual talents, she had, though in adverse circumstances, cultivated them by all the means in her power. Remarkably quick of perception, and shrewd and accurate of observation, with a memory that retained every thing that was committed to it, in its 24 THE GENIUS AND FAITH OF KAREE. exact outlines and proportions, she was enabled -to gather materials for improvement from every scene through which she passed. Her imagination was exceedingly powerful and active, sometimes wild and terrific, but kept in balance by a sound judgment and a discriminating taste. Her love of flowers was a passion, a part of her nature. For her they had a lan- guage, if not a soul. And there was not one of all the endless varieties of that luxuriant clime, that had not a definite and emphatic place in the vocabulary of her fancy. The history of her life she could have written in her floral dialect, and to her, though its lines might have faded rapidly, its pages would have been always legible and eloquent. Her attachments were strong and enduring, and there was that element of heroism in her soul, that she would unhesitatingly have sacri- ficed life for the object of her love. It is not to be wondered at, that, with such qualities of mind and heart, Karee was deeply impressed with the solemn and imposing superstitions of the Aztec religion. The rites and ceremonies by which they were illustrated and sustained, were well calculated to stir to its very depths, a soul like hers, and give the fullest exercise to her wild imagination. That pomp- ous ritual, those terrible orgies, repeated before her eyes almost daily from her infancy, had become blended with the thoughts and associations of her mind, and in- timately related to every scene that interested her heart, or engaged her fancy. Yet her soul was not enslaved to that dark and dismal superstition. Though accus- tomed to an awful veneration of the priesthood, she did not regard them as a superior race of beings, or listen HER DEVOTION TO THE PRINCESS. 25 to their words, as if they had been audible voices from heaven. Her spirit shrank from many of the darker revelations of the established mythology, and openly revolted from some -of its inhuman exactions. Its chains hung loosely upon her ; and she seemed fully prepared for the freedom of a purer and loftier faith. Her extreme beauty, her bewitching gaiety, and her varied talents, attracted many admirers, and some noble and worthy suitors. But Karee had another destiny to fulfil. She felt herself to be the guardian angel of the ill-fated Tecuichpo, and her love for the princess left no room for any other passion in her heart. She there- fore refused all solicitations, and remained the solitary mistress of her floating island. Karee's departure from the palace, did not in any degree lessen her interest in the welfare of the young princess. She was assiduous in her attention to every thing that could promote her happiness ; and seemed to value the flowers she cultivated on her chinampa chiefly as they afforded her the means of daily corres- pondence with Tecuichpo. She managed her island like a canoe, and moved about from one part of the beautiful lake to another, visiting by turns the cities that glittered on its margin, and sometimes traversing the valleys in search of new flowers, or exploring the ravines and caverns of the mountains for whatever of rare and precious she might chance to find. The chivalry of the Aztecs rendered such adventures per- fectly safe, their women being always regarded with the greatest tenderness and respect, and treated with a deli- cacy seldom surpassed in the most civilized countries of Christendom. 3 £6 CHIVALRY OF THE AZTECS. This chivalric sentiment was, not improbably height- ened, in the case of Karee, in part by her extreme beauty, and in part by the power of her genius and the bril- liancy of her wit. She commanded respect by the force of her intellect, and the purity of her heart ; while the uncommon depth and splendor of her imagination, when excited by any favorite theme, and the seemingly inex- haustible fruitfulness of her mental resources, invested her, in the view of the multitude, with something of the dignity, and much of the superstitious charm of a prophetess. CWPTEE II. YOUTH OF THE PRINCESS HER EARLY LOVE REVEALED PROPHETIC ANNOUNCEMENT AND SUDDEN ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS. 3Sreatf)e not fits noble name eben to t$e tofntrs, 3Lest tijeg mg lobe vebeal. 3J fmbe mnstfcal lore, 0nts coming ebents cast t|)etv sijattotos oefote. The childhood of the fair princess passed away with- out any event of importance, except the occasional recurrence of those dark prophecies which oversha- dowed her entrance into life. Her father, who had exercised the office of priest before he came to the throne, was thoroughly imbued with the superstitious reverence for astrology, which formed a part of the religion of the Aztecs. To all the predictions of this mystic science he yielded implicit belief, regarding whatever it foreshadoAved as the fixed decrees of fate. He was, therefore, fully prepared, and always on the look-out, for new revelations to confirm and establish his faith. These were sometimes found in the trivial occurrences of every-day life, and sometimes in the sinister aspect of the heavenly bodies, at peculiar KAREE-O-THAN. epochs in the nfe;o;£,his daughter. With this supersti- tious foreboding of^Vil, the pensive character of the princess harmonized so well, as to afford, to the mind of the too credulous monarch, another unquestionable indication of her destiny. It seemed to be written on her brow, that her life was a doomed one ; and each returning year was counted a£*the last, and entered upon with gloomy forebodings of some terrible catas- trophe. As her life advanced, her charms, both of person and character matured and increased; and, at the age of fourteen, there was not a maiden in all the golden cities of Anahuac, who could compare with Tecuichpo. Her exceeding loveliness was the theme of many a song, and the fame of her beauty and her accomplish- ments was published in all the neighboring nations. While yet a child, her hand was eagerly sought by Cacamo, of the royal house of Tezcuco ; but, with the true chivalry of an unselfish devotion, his suit was withdrawn, on discovering that her young affections were already engaged to another. The discovery was made in a manner too singular and striking to be suf- fered to pass unnoticed. In the course of her wanderings in the forest, Karee had taken captive a beautiful parrot, of the most gor- geous plumage, and the most astonishing capacity. This chatterer, after due training and discipline, she had presented to her favorite princess, among a thousand other tokens of her unchangeable affection. Tecuichpo loved the beautiful mimic, to whom she gave the name of Karee- o-than — the voice of Karee, — and often amused herself with teaching her to repeat A SECRET REVEALED. 29 the words which she loved best to hear. Without being aware of the publicity she was thus giving to her most treasured thoughts, she entrusted to the talkative bird the secret of her love, by associating with the most endearing epithets, the name of her favored cavalier. While strolling about the magnificent gardens attached to the palace of Montezuma, Cacamo was wont to breathe out, in impassioned song, his love for Tecuich- po, repeating her name, with every expression of passionate regard, which the language afforded. Ka- ree-o-than was often flying about in the gardens, and soliloquizing in the arbors, the favorite resorts of her beautiful mistress, and often attracted the notice of Cacamo. One evening, as the prince was more than usually eloquent in pouring into the ear of Zephyr the tale of his love, the mimic bird, nerched upon a flower- ing orange tree, that filled the garcren with its delicious perfume, repeated the name of his mistress, as often as her lover uttered it, occasionally connecting with it the name of Guatimozin, and then adding some endearing epithet, expressive of the most ardent admiration. The prince was first amused, and then vexed, at the fre- quent repetition of the name of his rival. In vain did he endeavor to induce the mischievous bird to substitute his own name for that of Guatimozin. As often as he uttered the name of the princess, the echo in the orange tree gave back " noble Guatimozin," or " sweet Guati- mozin," or some other similar response, which left no doubt on the mind of Cacamo, that the heart of his mistress was pre-occupied, and that the nephew of Montezuma was the favored object of her love. The 3* 30 GUATIMOZIN. next day, he bade adieu to Tenochtitlan, placed him- self at the head of the army of Tezcuco, and plunged into a war then raging with a distant tribe on the west, hoping to bury his disappointment in the exciting scenes of conquest. Guatimozin was of the royal blood, and, as his after history will show, of a right royal and heroic spirit. From his childhood, he had exhibited an unusual maturity of judgment, coupled with an energy, activity, and fearlessness of spirit, which gave early assurance of a heroism worthy of the supreme command, and an intellectual superiority that might claim succession to the throne. His training was in the court and the camp, and he seemed equally at home and in his ele- ment, amid the refined gaieties of the palace, the grave deliberations of the royal council, and the mad revelry of the battle-field. His figure was of the most perfect manly proportions, tall, commanding, graceful — his countenance was marked with that peculiar blending of benignity and majesty, which made it unspeakably beautiful and winning to those whom he loved, and terrible to those on whom he frowned. He was mild, humane, generous, confiding ; yet sternly and heroically just. His country was his idol. The one great pas- sion of his soul, to which all other thoughts and affec- tions were subordinate and tributary, was patriotism. On that altar, if he had possessed a thousand lives, he would freely have laid them all. Such was the noble prince who had won the heart of Tecuichpo. Meanwhile, to the anxious eye of her imperial father, the clouds of fate seemed to hang deep and dark over the realm of Anahuac. Long before the prophetic wail, THE ANCIENT LEGEND. 31 which welcomed the lovely Tecuichpo to a life of sor- row, Montezuma had imbibed from the dark legends of ancient prophecies, and the faint outgivings of his own priestly oracles, a deep and ineradicable impression that some terrible calamity was impending over the realm, and that he was to be the last of its native monarchs. It was dimly foreshadowed, in these prophetic revela- tions, that the descendants of a noble and powerful race of men, who had many ages before occupied that beautiful region, and filled it with the works of their genius, but who had been driven out by the cruelty and perfidy of the Toltecs, would return, invested with supernatural power from heaven, to re-possess their ancient inheritance.* To this leading and long estab- lished faith, every dark and doubtful omen contributed its appropriate share of confirmation. To this, every significant event was deemed to have a more or less intimate relation. So that, at this particular epoch, not only the superstitious monarch, and his priestly astrolo- gers, but the whole nation of Azteca were prepared, as were the ancient Jews at the advent of the Messiah, for great events, though utterly unable to imagine what might be the nature of the expected change. These gloomy forebodings of coming evil so tho- roughly possessed the mind of Montezuma, that the commanding dignity and pride of the monarch gave way before the absorbing anxiety of the man and the * One version of this singular prophetic legend represented the expected invaders, as the descendants of the ancient god Quetzalcoatl, who, ages agone, had voluntarily abdicated the throne of Anahuac, and departed to a far country in the East, with a promise to his afflicted people, that his chil- dren would ultimately return, and claim their ancient country, and crown. 32 THE YOUNG PYTHONESS. fatlier, and, in a manner, unfitted him for the duties of the lofty place he had so nobly filled. He yielded, as will be seen in the sequel, not without grief, but with- out resistance, to the fixed decrees of fate, and awaited the issue, as a victim for the heaven-appointed sacrifice. It was about fifteen years after the prophetic announcement of the doom of the young princess of the empire, that Montezuma was reclining in his summer saloon, where he had been gloomily brooding over his darkening prospects, till his soul was filled with sadness. His beautiful daughter- was with him, striving to cheer his heart with the always welcome music of her songs, and the affectionate expression of a love as pure and deep as ever warmed the heart of a devoted child. She had gone that day into the royal presence to ask a boon for her early and faithful friend, Karee. This lovely and gifted creature, now in the full maturity of all her wonderful powers of mind, and personal attractions, had often been admitted, as a special favorite, into the royal presence, to exhibit her remarkable powers of min- strelsy, and her almost supernatural gifts as an impro- visatrice of the wild melodies of Anahuac. Some of her chants were of rare pathos and sublimity, and some- times she was so carried away with the impassioned vehemence of her inspiration, that she seemed an inspired messenger from the skies, uttering in their lan- guage the oracles of the gods. On this occasion, she had requested permission to sing a new chant in the palace, that she might seize the opportunity to breathe a pro- phetic warning in the ear of the emperor. She had thrice dreamed that the dark cloud which had so long hung over that devoted land, had burst in an over- HER VISION. 33 whelming storm, upon the capital, and buried Monte- zuma and all his house in indiscriminate ruin. She had seen the demon of destruction, in the guize of a snow white angel, clad in burnished silver, borne on a fiery animal, of great power, and fleet as the wind, having under him a small band of warriors, guarded and mounted like himself, armed with thunderbolts which they hurled at will against all who opposed their pro- gress. She had seen the monarch of Tenochtitlan, with his hosts of armed Mexicans, and the tributary armies of Tezcuco, Islacapan, Chalco, and all the cities of that glorious valley, tremble and cower before this small band of invaders, and yield himself without a blow to their hands. She had seen the thousands and tens of thousands of her beloved land fall before this handful of strangers, and melt away, like the mists of the morn- ing before the rising sun. And she had heard a voice from the dark cloud as it broke, saying, sternly, as the forked lightning leaped into the heart of the imperial palace, " The gods help only those who help them- selves." Filled and agitated with the stirring influence of this prophetic vision, Karee, who had always regarded her- self as the guardian genius of Tecuichpo, now imagined the sphere of her duty greatly enlarged, and deemed herself specially commissioned to save the empire from impending destruction. Weaving her vision, and the warning it uttered, into one of her most impassioned chants, and arraying herself as the priestess of nature, she followed Tecuichpo, with a firm step into the royal presence, and, with the boldness and eloquence of a prophetess, warned him of the coming danger, and 34 WARNING AND APPEAL. urged him to arouse from his apathy, unbecoming the monarch of a proud and powerful nation, cast off the slavery of his superstitious fears, and prepare to meet, with the power of a man, and the wisdom of a king, whatever evil might come upon him. Rising with the kindling inspiration of her theme, she ventured gently to reproach the awe-struck monarch with his unmanly fears, and to remind him that on his single will, and the firmness of his soul, hung not only his own destiny hut that of wife and children; and more than that, of a whole nation, whose myriads of households looked up to him, as the common father of them all, the heaven- appointed guardian of their lives, liberty and happiness. At length, alarmed at her own energy and boldness, so unwonted even to the proudest noble of the realm, in that royal presence, she bent her knee, and baring her bosom, she lowered her voice almost to a whisper, and said imploringly — Strike, monarch ! strike, this heart is thine, To live or die for thee ; Strike, but heed this voice of mine It comes from heaven through me ; It comes to save this blessed land, It comes thy soul to free From those dark fears, and bid thee stand The monarch father of thy land, That only lives in thee. Strike, father ! if my words too bold Thy royal ears offend ; The visions of the night are told, Thy destiny the gods unfold — Oh ! be thy people's friend, THE VISION REALIZED. 35 True to thyself, to them, to heaven — ■ So shall this lowering cloud be riven And light and peace descend, To bless this golden realm, and save Tecuichpo from an early grave. The vision of the beautiful pythoness had deeply and powerfully affected the soul of Montezuma ; and her closing appeal moved him even to tears. Though accustomed to the most obsequious deference from all his subjects, even from the proudest of his nobles, he had listened to every word of Karee with the profoundest attention and interest, as if it had been from the acknow- ledged oracle of heaven. When she ceased, there was a breathless silence in the hall. The monarch drew his lovely daughter to his bosom in a passionate embrace. Karee remained prostrate, with her face to the ground, her heart throbbing almost audibly with the violence of her emotions. Suddenly, a deep long blast from a distant trumpet announced the arrival of a courier at the capital. It was a signal for all the attend- ants to retire. Tecuichpo tenderly kissing her father, took Karee by the hand, raised her up and led her out, and the monarch was left alone. In a few moments, the courier arrived and entering, barefoot and veiled, into the royal presence, bowed to the very ground, handed a scroll to the king, and departed. When Montezuma had unrolled the scroll, he seemed for a moment, as if struck with instant paral- asis. Fear, astonishment, dismay, seized upon his soul. The vision of Karee was already fulfilled. The pictured tablet was the very counterpart of her oracular chant — the literal interpretation of her prophetic vision. 36 THE PICTURED SCROLL. It announced the arrival within the realms of Monte- zuma, of a band of pale faced strangers, clad in bur- nished armor, each having at his command a beautiful animal of great power, hitherto unknown in that country, that bore him with the speed of the wind wherever he would go, and seemed, while he was mounted, to be a part of himself. It described their weapons, representing them as having the lightning and thunder at their disposal, which they caused to issue sometimes from dark heavy engines, which they dragged along the ground, and sometimes from smaller ones which they carried in their hands. It delineated, faithfully and skilfully their " water houses," or ships, in which they traversed the great waters, from a far dis- tant country. The peculiar costume and bearing of their commander, and of his chiefs, were also happily repre- sented in the rich coloring for which the Aztecs were distinguished. Nothing was omitted in their entire array, which could serve to convey to the eye of the emperor a correct and complete impression of the appear- ance, numbers and power of the strangers. It was all before him, at a glance, a living speaking picture, and told the story of the invasion as graphically and elo- quently, as if he had been himself a witness of their debarkation, and of their feats of horsemanship. It was all before him, a terrible living reality. The gods whom he worshipped had sent these strangers to fulfil their own irresistible purposes — if, indeed, these were not the gods themselves, in human form. The mind of Montezuma was overwhelmed. Like Belshazzar, when the divine hand appeared writing his doom on the wall, his soul fainted in him, his knees ANOTHER COURIER. 37 smote together, and he sat, in blank astonishment, gazing on the picture before him, as if the very tablet possessed a supernatural power of destruction. Paralyzed with the influence of his long indulged fears so singularly and strikingly realized, the monarch sat alone, neither seeking comfort, nor asking counsel of any one, till the hour of the evening repast. The summons aroused him from his reverie ; but he regarded it not. He remained alone, in his own private apart- ments, during the whole night, fasting and sleepless, traversing the marble halls in an agony of agitation. With the first light of the morning, the shrill notes of the trumpet, reverberating along the shadowy slopes of the cordilleras, announced the approach of another courier from the camp of the strangers. It rung in the ears of the dejected monarch, like an alarum. He awoke at once from his stupor, and began to consider what was to be done. The warning of Karee rushed upon his recollection. Her bold and timely appeal struck him to the heart. He resolved to be once more the monarch, and the father of his people. Uttering an earnest prayer to all his gods, he awaited the arrival of the courier. Swift of foot as the mountain deer, the steps of the messenger were soon heard, measuring with solemn pace, the long corridor of the royal mansion, as one who felt that he was approaching the presence of majesty, and bearing a message pregnant with the most import- ant issues to the common weal. Bowing low, with that profouud reverence, which was rigorously exacted of all who approached the presence of Montezuma, he touched the ground with his right hand, and then, his eyes bent 4 38 THE ROYAL COUNCIL. to the earth ; delivered his pictured scroll, and retired. It was a courteous and complimentary message from the strangers he so much dreaded, requesting that they might be permitted to pay their respects to his imperial majesty, in his own capital. The quick-sighted mo- narch perceived at once that prudence and policy required that this interview should be prevented. A council of the wisest and most experienced of the Aztec nobles was immediately called. The opinions of the royal advisers were variously expressed, but all, with one accord, agreed that the request of the stran- gers could not be granted. Some counselled a bold and warlike message, commanding the intruders to depart instantly, on pain of the royal displeasure. Some recommended their forcible expulsion by the army of the empire. The more aged and experienced, who had learned how much easier it is to avoid, than to escape, a danger, proposed a more courteous and peaceable reply to the message of the strangers. They deemed it imworthy of a great and powerful monarch, to be angry, when the people of another nation visited his* territories, or requested permission to see his capital. To manifest, or feel any thing like fear, in such a case, would be a reproach alike upon his courage and his patriotism. So long, therefore, as the strangers con- ducted themselves peaceably, and with becoming defer- ence to the will of the emperor, and the laws of the realm, they should be treated civilly, and hospitably entertained. To this wise and prudent counsel, the monarch was already fully prepared to yield. It was strongly seconded by his superstitious reverence for the heaven- THE AZTEC EMBASSY. 39 sent strangers, and his mortal dread of their superhu- man power. He, therefore, selected the noblest and wisest of his chiefs as ambassadors, to bear his mes- sage, which was kindly and courteously expressed ; at the same time conveying a firm but respectful refusal to admit the foreigners to an interview in the capital, or to extend to them the protection of the court, after a reasonable time had elapsed for their re-embarkation. This message was accompanied with a munificent royal present, consisting of the richest and most beautiful suits of apparel for the chief and all his men, with gorgeous capes and robes of feather-work, glittering with jewels — precious stones richly set in goldj and many magnificent ornaments of pure gold. At the head of this embassy were princes of high estate, and most noble bearing, commanding in person, and of great distinction, both at the court and in the camp. When they arrived near the encampment of the strangers, which was the spot where the city of Vera Cruz now stands, they sent a courier forward, to announce their approach, and prepare for their reception. The meeting of the parties was one of no little pomp and ceremony, for the courtly manners and chivalric bearing of the European cavaliers were scarcely superior, in impressiveness and effect, to the barbaric splendor, and graceful consciousness of power, which character- ized the flower of the Aztec nobility. The chief, advancing towards the invaders, bowed low to earth, touching the ground with his right hand, then raising it to his head, and presenting it to his guest, announced himself as the envoy and servant of the great Monte- 40 THEIR MEETING WITH THE STRANGERS. zuma, sole monarch and master of all the realms of Anahuac ; and demanded the name of the stranger, the country from which he came, and the motives which induced him to trespass upon the sacred territories of his royal master, and to presume to ask an interview with the emperor, in his capital. The Castilian chief- tain, with a courteous and knightly bearing replied, that his name was Hernando Cortez — that he was one of the humblest of the servants of the great Charles, the mighty monarch of Spain, and sovereign ruler of the Indies, and that he had come, with his little band of followers, to pay his court to the great Montezuma, and to baftr to him the fraternal salutation of his master, which he could only deliver in person. The reply of the Mexican was dignified, courteous, and pointed, and left no hope to the Spaniard, that he would then be able to effect his purpose, of visiting in person the golden city. " If," said the prince, " your monarch had come himself to our shores, he might well demand a personal meeting with our lord, the emperor, but when he sends his servant to represent him, he surely cannot presume to do more than com- municate with the servants of the great Montezuma. If it were possible that another sun should visit yonder sky, he might look upon our sun, in his march, and move and shine in his presence. But the moon and the stars cannot shine when he is abroad. They can look upon each other only when he withdraws his light." The royal message having been delivered, the pre- sents which accompanied it were brought forward, and spread out upon mats, in front of the general's tent. MUIs NIFICENT PRESENTS. 41 The Spaniards were struck with surprise and admira- tion at the fineness of the texture of the cloths, the richness of their dyes, the gorgeous coloring and tasteful arrangement of the feather-work, the masterly work- manship and exquisite finish of the jewelry, and, above all, the immense value, and magnificent size of the golden toys which were presented them. They con- ceived, at once, the most exalted ideas of the riches of the country, and the munificence and splendor of the monarch that ruled over it. Their avarice and cupidity were strongly excited, and more than one of the inferior officers, as well as their general, formed the immediate resolution, that, in despite of the imperial interdict, they would endeavor, either by diplomacy or by force, to win their way to the capital, which they supposed must of necessity be the grand depository of all the treasures in the empire. Their intentions were kept secret, even from each other, and, under cover of a spe- cious submission to the expressed will of the monarch, Cortez requested permission to delay his departure, till his men should be recruited, and his stores replenished for his long voyage. Meanwhile, taking advantage of this unauthorized reprieve, the artful and indefatigable Castilian con- trived to draw off from their unwilling and burdensome allegiance to Montezuma, the Totonacs, a considerable tribe, residing in that part of the country where he had effected his landing ; and so to impress them with a sense of his own power and the lenity of his govern- ment, as to bind them to him in a solemn treaty of alli- ance. He also sent an embassy to the Tlascalans, a nation that had long maintained its independence 4* EtTEZ. 42 BOLD ADVANCE OF COR against the ambitious encroachments of Mexico, and held Montezuma their natural and only foe. They were a brave and warlike people, and nearly as far advanced in the arts of civilization as their enemies. Their government was a kind of republic. Cortez, with magniloquent pretensions of invincible power, and inex- haustible resources, proposed to assist the Tlascalans in reducing the power of Mexico, and putting an end to the oppressions and exactions of Montezuma. For this purpose, he asked leave to pass through their country, on his march to the great capital. Distrusting the intentions of the strangers, and fear- ing that, instead of a disinterested friend and ally, they should find in them only a new enemy, whom, once admitted, they could never expel from their dominions, and whose yoke might be even harder to bear than that which the Aztec monarch had in vain attempted to fasten upon them — the proposed alliance of the Spaniards was rejected, with such bold and ample demonstrations of hostility, as left no room for doubt, that any attempt to force a passage through their terri- tories, would be fiercely and ably contested. Never daunted by obstacles, though somewhat per- plexed, the brave Cortez rushed forward, encountered the almost countless hosts of the Tlascalan army, and, after several severe and deadly contests, in which the skill and prowess of his handful of men, with their terrible horses and yet more terrible fire-arms, were nearly overpowered by the immense numbers, astonish- ing bravery, and comparative skill of the enemy, he succeeded in terrifying them into submission, and win- ning them to a treaty of alliance, offensive and defen- THE COMPEERS OF CORTEZ. 43 sive, against the tyrant Montezuma, the common enemy of all the nations of Anahuac. By these singular and unparalleled successes, the little band of Castilian adventurers found themselves fortified, in the heart of the country, in close alliance with two powerful tribes, who swelled their army to ten times its original num- ber, besides supplying them liberally with all the pro- visions that were needed for themselves and horses. Never was adventure so rashly undertaken, or so boldly pushed, as this singular expedition of the Spanish cavaliers. And never, probably, were there associated, in one little band, so many of the master spirits of chivalry, the true material of a conquering army. The compeers of Cortez, who submitted to his authority, and acted in perfect harmony with him, as if they were but subordinate parts of himself, were each competent to command a host, and lead it on to certain victory. The impetuous, daring Alvarado, the cool, courageous, trusty * Sandoval, the high-spirited, chivalrous Olid, the rash, head-long, cruel Yelasquez de Leon, and others, worthy to be the comrades of these, and of Cortez — when have the ranks of the war- god assigned so many master spirits to one enterprize ? And the brave, the gifted, the indomitable Xicotencatl, the mountain chief of Tlascala, whom the Spaniards, with so much difficulty, first subdued and then won to their cause, as an ally — what a noble personification of the soul and spirit of heroism, realizing in personal bravery, martial skill and prowess, and in all the com- manding qualities of person and of character, which go to constitute the victorious warrior, the best pictures of the type-heroes of epic poetry and history. 44 AZTECS — THEIR STRENGTH THEIR WEAKNESS. In all their previous discoveries in the New World, the progress of the Spaniards to victory was easy, and almost unresisted. The invaders of Mexico, however, found themselves suddenly introduced to a new people, and new scenes — to nations of warriors, to races intel- ligent, civilized, and competent to self-government and self-defence. And all the skill, courage, and energy of their ablest commanders, and their bravest men, would have availed them nothing in their herculean enter- prize, if they had not craftily and skillfully worked upon the jealousies and differences existing between the various tribes and nations of Anahuac, and foment- ed the long smothered discontents, and unwritten com- plaints of an over-taxed and sternly-governed people, into open and clamorous resistance to the despotic sway of Montezuma. It is curious and melancholy to observe, how eagerly they shook off* the golden yoke of their hereditary monarch, for the iron one of a new master, and exchanged their long-established servitude to their legitimate king and their pagan gods, for a more galling, hopeless, and wasting slavery to the cruel and rapacious invader, under the life-promising Sign of the Cross, the desecrated banner of the Prince of Peace. HAPTEN III. SUPERSTITIOUS FEAR AND VACILLATING POLICY OF MONTEZUMA. 2Tf)e lanti to as ours— tf)ts jjlorfous lantr — SSTitf) all its toealtf) of toootrs anti streams— ©ur toarrfors, strong m tjeart an"B Imnto, ©ur Sautters, beautiful as trreams, ^ntf tften toe l)earti tl)e omens sag, 2Tfiat (£oTj jjati sent fits angels fort!) 2To stoeep our ancient tribes atoag— While these events were transpiring in the ever moving camp of the victorious invaders, the imperial court of Tenochtitlan was agitated and distracted by the divided counsels and wavering policy of the supersti- tious, fear-stricken monarch, and his various advisers. At one time, deeply offended by their audacious disre- gard of his positive prohibitions, and roused to a sense of his duty as a king, by the prophetic warning of Karee, which never ceased to ring in his ears, Monte- zuma was almost persuaded to give in to the war-party, and send out an army that should overwhelm the strangers at a blow. But, before this noble purpose had 46 TIMID POLICY OF MONTEZUMA. time to mature itself into action, all his superstitious fears would revive, and, without coming to any decision either to move or stand still, he would pause in timid inaction, till some new success had made the invaders more formidable than before, and invested their mission with something more of that preternatural sacredness, which alone had power to unman the monarch, and disarm his craving ambition. At each advance of the conquering Castilians, he realized the growing necessity of prompt and efficient measures of defence, while at the same time he felt a greater reluctance to contend with fate. The result was, that he only dallied with the foe, by continually sending new embassies, each, with larger and richer presents than the preceding, having no effect but to add fuel to their already burning thirst for gold, and strengthen their determination to accomplish their original purpose. These royal embassies were less and less firm and peremptory in their terms, until they assumed the tone of expostulation, and assigning various and often con- flicting reasons why the Spaniards should not pursue their route any farther towards the imperial city. At length, when the courier announced the arrival of the mysterious band at Tlascala, and the consummation of the alliance between them and his old and bitter enemies, together with the defection of many cities and districts, he felt it impossible to remain any longer undecided. His throne trembled under him. He must act, or it would fall, and involve him and his house in inevitable ruin. Instead, however, of a bold and masterly activity in the defence of his capital and crown, he changed his policy altogether, and sending a Montezuma's secret designs. 47 new embassy with more splendid gifts than ever, invited the strangers to his court, and promised them all the hospitalities of his empire. He designated the route they should pursue, and gave orders for their reception in all the towns and cities through which they should pass. Montezuma was politic and wise in some things ; and the purpose he had now in view, if it had not been frustrated, would have been deemed a master-stroke of policy, worthy of the ablest disciples of the Macchia- vellian school. Perceiving the necessity of breaking up this combination of new and old enemies, he had recourse to stratagem to effect it, intending that the strangers, whom he dared not to oppose with direct violence, should fall into the snare they had laid for themselves, in thrusting themselves forward, in despite of his repeated remonstrances, into the heart of his empire. He feared to raise his own hand to destroy them, because they were, in his view, commissioned of heaven to overturn his throne ; but he deemed it per- fectly consistent with this reverence for the decrees of fate, to lay a snare into which they should fall, and so destroy themselves. He little understood the watchful- ness and circumspection of the man he had to deal with, or the tremendous advantage which their armor of proof and their engines of destruction gave the Europeans over the almost naked Mexicans, with their primitive weapons of offence. It was his plan to sepa- rate the foreigners from their new Indian allies, and invite them to come alone to the capital, as was first proposed. And he designed to assign them accommodations in one of the ancient palaces, in the heart of the city, where } 48 HE INFLAMES THE CUPIDITY OF CORTEZ. surrounded by high walls, on every side, they should be shut up from all intercourse with the people, and left to perish of famine. When this purpose was formed, the monarch kept it a profound secret in his own breast. The ambassadors whom he sent to the Castilian camp, were of the highest ranks of the nobility, and were accompanied by a long train of slaves, bearing the rich presents, by which the wily monarch hoped at the same time to display his own royal munificence, and to propitiate the favor of the dreaded strangers. Every new display of this kind only served more effectually to defeat his own hopes ; for the avarice of the Spaniards, whose lust of gold was absolutely insatiable, was so far from being satisfied with this profusion of royal gifts, that it was only the more inflamed with every new accession to their treasures. The only effect, therefore, of these repeated embassies was to confirm the Spaniards in their con- victions of the conscious weakness of the Mexicans, and make them the more resolute in pushing forward to complete the subjugation of the whole country, and possess themselves of all its seemingly inexhaustible treasures of gold. Montezuma had now another difficulty to contend with, in his endeavor to rid himself of the intruders. The Tlascalans represented him to Cortez as false and deceitful as he was ambitious and rapacious, and used every argument in their power to dissuade him from committing himself to his hands. But the bold adven- turer, always confident in his own resources, seemed never to think of danger when an object was to be accomplished, or to regard any thing as impossible WAVERING COUNSELS — SCENE IN THE GARDEN. 49 which he desired to attain. As soon as the door was thrown open to his amicable approach to the capital, he set himself to prepare for the march. The expostulations and suspicions of the Tlascalans made him, perhaps, more careful in his preparations against a surprise, and more rigorous in the discipline of his little corps, than he might otherwise have been. Wherever he was, his camp was as cautiously posted, as fully and rigidly guarded as if. on the eve of battle, he was hourly expecting an assault. This watchfulness was main- tained throughout the whole adventurous campaign, as well when in the midst of friends and allies, as when surrounded by hostile legions. After the royal ambassadors had departed with their pacific message, the mind of Montezuma was harassed and agitated with many doubts of the propriety of the course he had adopted. His nobles, and the tributary princes of the neighboring cities of Tezcuco, Tlacopan, and Iztapalapan, were divided in their opinions. Some complained, though not loudly, of the weak and vacil- lating policy of the king. Some, even of the common people, feared the consequences, anticipating the most disastrous results, in accordance with their superstitious veneration for the oracles of their faith. The third day after the departure of the envoys, the king was pacing up and down one of the beautifully shaded walks of the royal gardens, listening with a disturbed mind to the powerful expostulations of his brother, Cuitlahua, who, from the beginning, had vehemently opposed every concession to the invaders, and urgently solicited per- mission to lead the army against them, and drive them from the land. Suddenly, a voice as of a distant choir 5 50 THE MYSTERIOUS CHANT. of chanters arrested his ear. The melody was solemn, sweet and soothing. It seemed to come sometimes from the upper regions of the air, in tones of silvery- clearness and power, sometimes from beneath, in sup- pressed and muffled harmony, as when the swell organ soliloquises with all its valves closed, — sometimes it retreated, as if dying into an echo along the distant avenues of royal palms and aged cypresses, or the citron and orange groves that skirted the farther end of the garden, and then, suddenly, and with great power, it burst in the full tide of impassioned song, from every tree and bower in that vast paradise of terrestial sweets. Enchanted by the more than Circean melody, the brothers paused in their animated discourse, and stood, for a few moments, in silent wonder and fixed attention. Presently the chanting ceased, and one solitary voice broke forth in plaintive but emphatic recitative as from the midst of the sparkling jet that played its ceaseless tune in the grand porphyritic basin near which they stood. The words, which were simple and oracular, struck deep into the heart of Montezuma, and found a ready response in that of his royal brother. The lion* walks forth in his power and pride, The terror and lord of the forest wide — When the fox appears, shall he flee and hide ? The eagle's nest is strong and high, Unquestioned monarch of the sky — Should he quail before the falcon's eye ? * As Americus Vespucius, in his letter to Lorenzo Di Pier-Francesco De Medici, reports having met with the lion in South America, I have taken the liberty to introduce him as a native in our forests, notwithstanding the prevalent opinion of naturalists to the contrary. THE WARNING. 51 The sun rides forth through the heavens afar, Dispensing light from his flaming car — Should he veil his glory, or turn him back, "When tlmmeteor flashes athwart his track. ? Shall the eagle invite the hawk to his nest ?' Shajl the fox with the lion sit down as a guest ? Shall the meteor look out from the noonday sky, When the sun in his power is flaming by ? The pauses in this significant chant were followed by choral symphonies, expressing, as eloquently as inarticulate sounds could do, the most earnest remon- strance, the most moving expostulation. When this was concluded, the same sweet voice broke forth again, in tones of solemn tenderness and majestic power, in a prophetic warning to Montezuma. Beware, mighty monarch! beware of the hour, When the pale-faced intruder shall come to this bower ! Beware of the weakness that whispers of fear, When the all-grasping, gold-seeking Spaniard is near! Beware how thou readest the dark scroll of fate J Its mystic revealings may warn thee too late, That the power to command, and the strength to oppose, Are gone, when thou openest the gate to thy foes. The white men are mortal — frail sons of the earth, They know n °U they claim not, a heavenly birth; They bow to disease, and they fall by the sword, Pale fear can disarm them, grim death is their lord ; And those terrible coursers, so fiery and strong, That bear them like ravenous tigers along, The fleet winged arrow shall pierce them, and slay, And leave them to eagles and vultures a prey. Up, monarch ! arouse thee — the hour is at hand When the dark howling tempest shall sweep o'er thy land. 52 THE MONARCH ROUSED. Thy doubts and thy fears, ever changing, are rife With peril to liberty, honor and life ; And this timid inaction shall surely bring down To the dust, in dishonor, thy glorious cro^n ; And leave, to all time, on thy once-honored head, The curse of a nation forsaken, betrayed. Oh ! rouse thee, brave monarch! there's power in thy hand To scatter the clouds that hang over thy land. Speak, speak but the word, there is magic in thee, Before which the ruthless invader shall flee, And myriads of braves, all equipped for defence, Shall leap at thy bidding, and banish him hence ; And the gods, who would frown on the recreant slave, Will stand by their altars, and fight for the brave. The effect of this mysterious warning upon the mind of Montezuma was exceedingly powerful, and seemed, for a time, to change his purpose and fix his resolution. With an energy and decision to which he had long been a stranger, he turned to his brother, and said, " Cuitlahua, you are right. This realm is mine. The gods have made me the father of this people. I must and will defend them. The strangers shall be driven back, or die. They shall never profane the temples and altars of Tenochtitlan, by entering within its gates, or looking upon its walls. Go, marsh all your host, and prepare to meet them, before they advance a step farther." Exulting in this sudden demonstration of his ancient martial spirit in his royal brother, and fired with a double zeal in the cause he had so much at heart, by the thrilling influence upon his soul of the mysterious oracle, whose message had been uttered in his hearing, Cuitlahua scarcely waited for the ordinary courtesy of THE ARMY IN MOTIOjST CUITLAHUA. 53 bidding farewell to the king, but flew with the speed of the wind, to execute the grateful trust committed to him. Despatching his messengers in every direction, only a few hours elapsed before his army was drawn up in the great square of the city ; and, ere the sun had gone down, they had passed the gates, traversed the grand causeway that linked the amphibious city with the main land, and pitched their camp in a favorable position, several leagues on the way to Cholula. The ardent imagination of the prince of Iztapalapan kindled at the prospect now opened before. The clouds, so long hanging over his beloved country, were dissipated as by magic, and the clear light of heaven streamed in upon his path, promising a quick and easy conquest, a glorious triumph, and a permanent peace. He had been in many battles, but had never been defeated. He believed the Mexican army invincible any where, but especially on their own soil, and fight- ing for their altars and their hearths. Terrible as the invading strangers had been hitherto, he had no fear of the coming encounter. He confidently expected to annihilate them at a blow. Happily his soldiers were all animated with the same spirit, and they took to their rest that night, eager for the morning to come, that should light them on their way to a certain and glorious victory. No sooner had the army departed, than a change came over the spirit of the ill-fated Montezuma. The demons of doubt and fear returned to perplex and harrass his soul, and to incline him again to that vacillating policy, those half way measures, by which his doom was to be sealed. In an agony of distrust and suspense, 5* 54 THE HIGH RESOLVE ABANDONED. he recounted to himself the history of the past, review- ing all those dark and fearful prophecies, those oft- repeated and mysteriously significant omens, which, for so many years, had foreshadowed the events of the present day, and revealed the inevitable doom of the empire, sealed with the signet of heaven. The impres- sions produced by the recent warnings of Karee faded and disappeared before the deep and indelible traces of those ancient oracles, on which he had been accus- tomed from his youth sacredly to rely. He was once more adrift in a tempest of contending impulses, at one moment abandoning all in a paroxism of despair, at another, vainly flattering himself with the hope of deliverance in some ill-formed stratagem, but never nerving himself to a tone of resolute defiance, or ven- turing to rest a hope on the issue of an open encounter. The result of all this agitation was, another aban- donment of his noble purpose of defence, and a new resort to stratagem. But the plan of operations, and the scene of execution, were changed. Cholula was selected as the theatre of destruction. The Spaniards had already been invited to take that city in their route, and orders had been given, and preparations made, for their hospitable reception. It was now resolved to make their acceptance of that invitation the signal and seal of their destruction. They were to be drawn into the city, alone, under the pretence that the presence of their Tlascalan allies, who were the ancient and bitter enemies of the Cholulans, would be likely to create dis- turbance in the city, and lead to collision if not to bloodshed. The Cholulans were instructed to provide them with a place of encampment, in the heart of their THE STRATAGEM. 55 city, where they could easily be surrounded, and cut to pieces. The streets of the city were then to be broken up by deep pits in some places, and barricades in others, to impede the movements of the horses, more dreaded than even the thunder and lightning of their riders. This being completed under cover of the night, the city was to be filled with soldiers ready to do the work of execution, while the brave Cuitlahua, with the flower of the army of Tenochtitlan, was to encamp at a convenient distance without the walls, to render prompt assistance, in case it should be needed. This plan being fully arranged in the mind of the Emperor, messengers were despatched with the light of the morning, to arrest the movements of Cuitlahua, and convey the necessary orders to the governor of Cholula. The warlike chieftain was deeply chagrined, and bit- terly disappointed, in finding his orders so suddenly countermanded. He saw only certain ruin in the ever- wavering policy of the king, and was unable to con- ceive of any hope, except in striking a bold and decisive blow. He was willing to stake all upon a single cast, and drive back the insolent invader, or perish in the attempt But Montezuma was the absolute monarch. His word was law; and, though not irreversible like that of the Medo-Persian, it was never to be questioned by any of his subjects. The hero must therefore rest on his arms, and await the issue of a doubtful stratagem. Meanwhile, the eager and self sufficient Castilians had pushed forward to Cholula, and entered its gates, under a royal escort, that came out to meet them, and amid the constrained shouts and half hearted congratu- lations of a countless multitude of natives, who with 56 CORTEZ ENTERS CHOLULA. mingled fear, hatred and curiosity, gazed on the con- querors as a superior race of beings, and made way for them on every side, to take possession of their city. They were received with the greatest deference and consideration by the chiefs of the little republic, and the ambassadors of Montezuma, who had halted on their way, to prepare a more honorable reception for their guests, and further to ingratiate them with their master, by doing away, as far they could, the unfavor- able impressions of him and his people, which might have made on their minds, by their intercourse with their old and implacable enemies of the republic of Tlascala* Such was the mutual jealousy and hatred of these neighboring nations, that, while the Cholulans could ? in no wise agree to admit the Tlascalans to accompany Cortez into their city, they, on their part, were ex- tremely reluctant to allow him to go in alone, assuring him in the strongest terms, that they were the most treacherous and deceitful of men, and their promises and professions utterly unworthy of confidence. Scorn- ing danger, however, and determined at all hazards, to embrace every opening that seemed to facilitate his approach to the Mexican capital, he marched fearlessly in, and took up his quarters in the great square, or market place. Here s ample accommodations were pro- vided for him and his band. Every courtesy was extended to them by the citizens and their rulers. Their table was amply supplied with ail the necessaries and luxuries of the place. They were regarded with a kind of superstitious awe by the multitude, as a race of beings belonging to another world 3 of ethereal mouldy TREACHERY APPREHENDED. 57 and supernatural powers ; and their camp was visited by those of all ranks, and all ages, eager to catch a view of the terrible strangers. A few days after their arrival, a new embassy from the imperial palace was announced. They held no communication with Cortez, but had a long consulta- tion with the previous envoys still remaining there, and with the authorities of the city. From this time, there was a striking change in the aspect of the Cholulans towards their guests. They were soon made to per- ceive and feel that, though invited, they were not welcome guests. The daily supplies for their table were greatly diminished. They received but few and formal visits from the chiefs, and but cold attention from any of the nobles. Cortez was quick to perceive the change, but unable to divine its meaning. It caused him many an anxious hour, especially when he remembered the serious and urgent representations of his Tlascalan allies of the deceitful and treacherous character of the Cholulans. His apprehensions were by no means diminished, when he learned from the morn- ing report of the night guards, that through the entire night, which had hitherto been a season of perfect silence and repose in the city, sounds were heard on every side, as of people earnestly engaged in some works of fortification, sometimes digging in the earth, sometimes laying up stones in heaps, and in various other ways, " vexing the dull ear of night with uncouth noise." It was found, on examination, that the streets in many places were barricaded, and holes, in others, were lightly covered with branches of trees. Unable to explain these matters, and not wishing to give offence 58 SUSPICIONS CONFIRMED. to his entertainers by enquiring too curiously into what might be no more than the ordinary preparation for a national festival, he sent one of his chief officers to report to the Tlascalan commander, without the gates of the city, and enquire what might be the meaning of these singular movements. Having learned in reply, that a hostile attack was undoubtedly contemplated, and that a large force of Mexicans, under command of the brave Cuitlahua, brother of Montezuma, was en- camped at no great distance, ready to co-operate with the Cholulans at a moment's warning, and that a great number of victims had been offered in sacrifice, to pro- pitiate the favor of their gods, the haughty Spaniard found his position anything but agreeable. He was a stranger to fear, but he was certainly most sadly per- plexed. And, when, in addition to the information already received, he learned from Marina, his female interpreter, that she had been warned by a friend in the city to abandon the Spaniards, that she might not be involved in their ruin, he was, for a time, quite at a loss what to do. To retreat, would be to manifest fear, and a distrust of his own resources, which might be fatal to his future influence with the natives. To remain where he was— inactive, would be to stand still in the yawning crater of a volcano, when the over- charged cauldron below had already begun to belch forth sulphureous flames and smoke. The character of the conqueror was one precisely adapted to such exigencies as this. Through the whole course of his wonderful career, he seems to have rushed into difficulty, for the mere pleasure of fighting his way out. In order to extricate himself, he never BOLD BEARING OF CORTEZ. 59 lost a moment in parleying or diplomacy. His mea- sures were bold, decided, and direct, indicating a self- reliance, and a confidence in his men and means, which is the surest guaranty of success. In this case, having satisfied himself of the actual existence of a conspiracy, he sent for trie chief rulers, upbraided them with their want of hospitality, informed them that he should leave the place at break of day the next morn- ing, and demanded a large number of men, to assist in removing his baggage. Promising to comply with this demand, which favored the execution of their own designs, the chiefs departed, and Cortez and his band, sleeping on their arms, prepared for the coming conflict Punctually, at the peep of dawn, the princes of Cho- lula marched into the court, accompanied by a much larger number of men than Cortez had required. With a calm bold air, the haughty Castilian confronted them, charging them with treachery, and detailing all the cir- cumstances of the concerted massacre. He upbraided them with their duplicity and baseness, and gave them to understand that they should pay dear for their false- hearted and cruel designs against those, who, confiding in their hospitality and promises of friendship, had come to their city, and slept quietly within their gates. Thunderstruck at this unexpected turn of affairs, and fearing more than ever the strange beings, who could read their very thoughts, and fathom the designs which were yet scarcely matured in their own bosoms, the disconcerted magnates tremblingly pleaded guilty to the charge, and attempted to excuse themselves, by urging their allegiance to Montezuma, and the duty GO THE CHOLULANS SURPRISED. and necessity of obeying his commands, however repugnant to their own feelings. It was not the policy of Cortez to admit this plea, in extenuation of their treachery. He preferred to cast the whole burden upon them alone, and leave the way open for an easy disclaimer on the part of the emperor, hoping thereby the more readily to gain a peaceable entry into the capital. Without waiting, therefore, for any further explanations, or instituting any inquiry into the comparative guilt of the parties, he gave the signal to his soldiers, who, with a general discharge of their artillery and fire arms, rushed upon the unpre- pared multitude, mowing them down like grass, and trampling them under the hoofs of their horses. A general massacre ensued. Not one of the chiefs escaped, and only so many of their panic-struck follow- ers, as could feign themselves dead, or bury themselves, till the tempest was past, under the heaps of their slain comrades. Thus taken by surprise, and driven, before they were ready, into an unequal conflict with enemies who had, by some miracle, as they supposed, anticipated their movements, and struck the first blow, the Cholu- lans rushed in from all parts of their city, hoping to retrieve, by their numbers and prowess, the disadvan- tage of the lost onset. Cortez had prepared for this. He had ordered his artillery to be stationed at the main entrances to the square, where they poured in a raking fire upon the assailants, rushing in from all the ave- nues. The surprise being so sudden, and the leaders having been shot down at the first charge, confusion and consternation prevailed among the discomfitted TERRIBLE MASSACRE. 61 Cholulans, who alternately fled, like affrighted sheep, from the scene of slaughter, and then rushed hack, like exasperated wolves, to the work of death. la anticipation of this conflict, the Spanish general had concerted a signal with his Tlascalan allies, with- out the gates, who now came rushing in, like hungry tigers, revelling in the opportunity to inflict a terrible vengeance upon their ancient enemies. Falling upon their rear, as they crowded in from the remoter quarters of the city towards the field of carnage, they drove them in upon the weapons of the Spaniards, from which there was now no escape. Turning upon this new enemy, they fought with desperate bravery, to win a retreat. But they were cut down on this side ahd that, till the streets were scarcely passable for the heaps of the dead and dying that cumbered them. Those who took refuge in their houses and temples, found no safety in such retreats, for they were instantly fired by the Tlascalans, and their defenders perished miser- ably in the flames. There was one scene in the midst of this desolating conflict, that was truly sublime, — one of those strange combinations of moral and physical grandeur, which sometimes occur in the dark annals of human warfare, investing with a kind of hallowed interest, which the lapse of ages serves only to soften, but never destroys, those spectacles of savage but heroic cruelty, where every death is elevated into a martyrdom, and the very ground saturated with human blood becomes a conse- crated field, clothed with laurels of never-fading green. It was the last act in that bloody drama, enacted on the lofty summit of the great Teocalli, the principal temple 6 62 THE GREAT TEOCALLI TAKEN. of Cholula, and the centre of attraction to all the vota- ries of the Aztec religion, throughout the wide realms of Anahuac. Driven from street to street, and from quarter to quarter, and falling back, as a forlorn hope, upon the sanctuary, and the support and encourage- ment of the hoary men, who presided over the myste- ries of their faith, they made a bold and desperate stand, in defence of all that was dear and holy in their homes and their altars. Step by step, they contested this hallowed ground, till they reached the upper ter- race, where the great temple stood. This was an area of four hundred feet square, at an elevation of two hundred feet from the level of the surrounding streets. On this elevated platform, the furious combat- ants fought hand to hand ; the priest, in his sacred garments, mingling in the savage conflict with the humblest of his followers — the steel-clad Castilian, the Tlascalan and the Cholulan, of every rank and grade, each eager only to slay his man, grappled in the mortal conflict, till one or the other fell in the death struggle, or tumbled over the side of the mound, to be dashed in pieces below. As the half-armed, half-naked natives melted away before the heavy and destructive weapons of the invulnerable Spaniards, they were repeatedly offered quarter, but scorned to accept it. One only sub- mitted, when, pierced with countless wounds, he could stand no longer. All the rest, to a man, fought despe- rately till he fell, and many, even then, in the agonies of the last struggle, seized their antagonists by the legs, and rolled with them over the parapet, to the certain death of both. At length the conflict ceased for want of a victim, PAINFUL POSITION OF CUITLAHUA. 63 and the conquering Castilian, with a few of his Tlas- calan allies, stood alone, in undisputed possession of this lofty vantage ground. The disheartened Cholulans, without leaders, without counsellors, seeing their sacred temple in the hands of their enemies, felt that all was lost. Not another blow was struck, but every where they bowed in submission to the irresistible conqueror. The thunder of the artillery, and the smoke of the burning buildings, rising in a heavy column to the skies, announced to the Mexican army the conflict that was raging within the city. But, having orders not to engage in the fray, unless notified by the Cholulan chiefs that his assistance was necessary, the brave Cuitlahua was compelled to wait the summons. Burn- ing to vindicate the honor of the Mexican arms, the hero chafed under this cruel restraint, like a tiger chained in full view of his prey. He little doubted that the Castilians would fall by the hands of the Cholulans, encompassed as they were on every side, with no room for escape, or for the action of their horses. But he longed to have a share in the victory. Drawing up his forces in the order of march, he stood, the whole day, in readiness to move at a moment's warning ; and in this attitude, he was still standing, when the tidings of the terrible disaster in the city reached him. His veteran legions were with difficulty restrained from rushing to the rescue. The army was almost in a state of mutiny, from their eagerness to avenge their slaughtered brethren in Cholula ; and all the military authority, and unbounded influence of Cuitlahua were required to keep them in a state of due subordination. The influence and authority of Cortez, on the other 64 THE TLASCALANS IN CHOLULA. hand, were scarcely sufficient to restrain his victo- rious allies from ravaging the city, and putting men, women, and children to an indiscriminate slaughter. So bitter and pervading was the old national animo- sity, that life was scarcely worth possessing to a Tlas- calan, if he must share its daily blessings side by side with the Aztec. He hated the whole nation with a perfect implacable hatred. He execrated the very name, and never uttered it without a curse. Of this universal malediction, the Cholulan was honored with more than his appropriate share. The other sub- jects and tributaries of Montezuma they feared as well as hated. The Cholulans they affected also to despise, though their contempt was not so thorough as to miti- gate in the least their fierce and uncontrollable hatred. CHAPTER IV. AGITATIONS IN THE CAPITAL — THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD THE SPANIARDS STEADILY ADVANCING. JFor monarcf)s tremble on tfjefr thrones, &nfc 'neatj) tf?e {jem^lit crotou, ©ate, fear, an"3 enbj tttoell— -SEfjci) eome, J&gstertous, tireatieti flanfc ! ©£tt!) clans of trumpet, tore$ anti firantf ; SStftf) Ifjjljtmnfi speett, toft!) Ifajbtmuij $otoer, STJjeg scale t$c loftg mountain totoer, ^rtB stozzg alono, tije bale— ©Sftjo sijall arrest tljetr prouS career, ^nU sabe our Tioomett Iant« 1 This position of affairs suited the timid and vacillating policy of Montezuma. Finding that Cnitlahua, and his forces, had taken no part in the affair, and had not even visited the city, he immediately sent an embassy to the Spanish camp, disclaiming all participation in the treacherous counsels and doings of the Cholulans, and severely blaming them for their unheard of outrage upon the rites of hospitality. Whether the sharp- sighted Castilian placed any confidence in these pro- fessions, or not, it suited his designs to appear to do so. 6* 66 MONTEZUMA IN DESPAIR. With the utmost seeming cordiality, he assured the royal messengers that it gave him the most heartfelt satisfaction to know that the treatment he had received at Cholula was not instigated or countenanced by their august master, that it was unworthy of a great and wise monarch, and that he should proceed on his route to the capital, with the same confidence as before, arid visit the emperor as if nothing had happened to hinder his progress. Withdrawing the forces under Cuitlahua, and giving orders every where for the hospitable reception and entertainment of the Castilians, whom he had no longer the heart to oppose either by stratagem or by force, Montezuma retired within his palace, and for several days shut himself up from all intercourse with his chiefs. He was now fully convinced that his destiny was sealed, and with it that of his family and crown. He was in the hands of an unappeaseable fate. He gave himself up to fasting, prayer and sacrifice. He consulted all his oracles anew. But they gave no response. He then sought counsel of his chiefs, and the sages of his court. Here again he was distracted by the divided opinions of his friends. While many of the princes, overawed by the invincible courage and invariable success of the Castilians, advised a frank and courteous reception, there was still a powerful war- party, with the brave Cuitlahua at their head, who were eager to measure lances with the strangers, and show them that, in order to reach the capital, they had other foes to contend with and overcome, than half savage Tlascalans, or trading Cholulans. Montezuma found no difficulty in following the TRIUMPHANT ADVANCE OP CORTEZ. 67 counsel of the majority, though the mystic warning of Karee had not wholly faded from his mind. A new embassy was immediately despatched, consisting of a numerous suite of powerful nobles, and a long train of servants bearing rich presents of gold, and other valua- bles, and charged with a message couched in terms of humble and earnest supplication, proposing, if the Spaniards would now return, not only to send them home laden with gold to their utmost wish, but to pay an annual tribute of gold to their master, the king of Spain. Finding that this bribe only fired the grasping conqueror with a more fixed determination to secure the whole prize for which he had so long, and against such fearful odds, contended, the messengers yielded the point, and threw wide open to the dreaded foe every avenue to the heart of the empire, assuring him, in the name of the Emperor, that he should be received as a brother, and entertained with the consideration due to the powerful representative of a mighty monarch. The march of the Spaniards was now a continued triumph. No longer compelled to fight their way on, they had time to enjoy the rich and varied scenery, to scale the mountain, explore the caverns and ravines of the sierras, and the craters of the volcanoes, and show to the admiring natives, by their agility and love of adventure, that righting and conquest had neither tamed their spirits, nor exhausted their physical powers. As they advanced, they were continually suprised and delighted with the growing evidences of civilization and high prosperity which met them on every side. In the cultivation of the land, in the style of architecture, and in all that constitutes the refinement, or contributes to 68 HIS AMBITIOUS VIEWS HIS CAUTION. the comfort of life, the regions they were now traversing very far exceeded the best of those through which they had passed. They were continually gaining more exalted ideas of the power, wealth and glory of the great Montezuma, and more enlarged views of the mag- nificence of their own adventure, and the importance of their position and movements. The ambition of Cortez reached to the viceroyalty of this splendid empire ; and, though accompanied by a mere handful of men, their past achievements inspired him with confidence, that he could carry every thing before him. Though entertained with lordly munificence in every place through which he passed, and visited and com- plimented by envoys from all the states embraced in the Mexican domain, the sagacious Spaniard relaxed none of his vigilance, nor diminished aught of the strict discipline of his little corps. With an eye ever awake to his own safety, and feeling that the artful contriver of one stratagem could easily invent another, he advanced from post to post, in martial array, always ready for the exigency that might arise. His course, however, was unmolested. The resources and hopes of the great king seemed to have been exhausted. In passive despair, he was waiting for the hour of his doom. The terror of the events we have described fell not alone upon the unfortunate Montezuma ; nor did they affect him only as monarch of the realm. As a parent, fondly devoted to his children, whose destiny was wrapped up in his, as the father of his people, to whom he had been a kind of demi-god, the vicegerent of heaven, entitled to their unqualified reverence, obe- FATHER AND DAUGHTER. 69' dience and love, he felt with tenfold intensity the bitterness of his humiliation. Tn all his sufferings and distresses his wives and children shared, showing, by every token in their power, their profound respect and affection, and their tender sympathy in all his cares. In these lovely demonstrations of filial affection, none were more assiduous or warm-hearted, and none more successful in reaching the heart of the broken spirited monarch, or winning from him an occasional smile of hope, than Tecuichpo. Just ripening into womanhood, with every gift of person, mind and heart that could satisfy the pride of the monarch, and requite to the full the yearning love of the father, the fair princess lavished on him all her powers of persuasion and condolence. It was all in vain. It even aggravated his sorrows; for it was on her account, and that of others dearer to him than his own life, that he suffered most deeply. The mysterious shadows that had brooded so darkly over the infancy of his lovely daugh- ter, had never ceased to shed a chilling gloom over his mind. Her clouded destiny was linked with his, not merely as a child, but as one specifically marked out, by infallible signs from heaven, for a signal doom. His superstitious faith invested her and her fate with a peculiar sacredness. She was as one whom the gods had devoted to an awful sacrifice, from which neither imperial power nor paternal love could rescue her. It therefore pierced his soul with a deeper pang to gaze upon her loveliness, and witness her amiable efforts to soothe and sustain him in the midst of calamities that were more terrible and overwhelming to her, than even to himself. If, by offering himself as a sacrifice to his *70 THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. offended gods, he could have propitiated their favor for his family and his people, and handed down to his pos- terity an undiminished empire and an untarnished crown, he would have gone with as much pride and pleasure, to the altar, as to a triumphal festival that should celebrate his victory, and clothe his brow with unfading laurel. But in this sacrifice there was no substitution. He was himself the most distinguished victim, destined to the highest and hottest place on the great altar of his country, where a hecatomb would scarce suffice to appease the anger of the offended gods. Gathering his royal household around him, he explained to them the peculiarity of his position, avow- ing his entire confidence in the ancient prophecy, which declared that the realm of Anahuac belonged to a race of white men, who had gone away, for a season towards the rising sun, and who, after the lapse of ages, were to return in power, and claim their inheritance. It was the predestined arrangement of the gods, and could not be resisted. He had, from the beginning felt that resist- ance was wholly vain, and had only attempted it, in deference to the urgent advice and solicitations of his' best and most experienced counsellors. For himself, he was ready, at any time, to stand at his post, and die, if necessary, in defence of his crown and his people. But he could not contend with the gods. Empires and crowns, and the lives and happiness of nations, were at their disposal, and kings and subjects alike must sub- mit to their righteous requirements. It was but the dictate of common piety to say " the will of the gods be done." Hard and trying as it was, he felt it incum- bent on him to relinquish his crown and his honors, at A FAMILY SCENE. 71 their bidding, as cheerfully as he should lay down his life, when his destined hour should arrive. He coun- selled them to bow submissively to their inevitable fate, in^the hope that, though humbled, broken and scattered in this world, they might meet and dwell together in peace in the paradise of the gods. His wives and children wept around him. They besought him to hope yet for the best — to turn away his thoughts from the dark visions on which he had dwelt too long and too intensely. Their mysterious forebodings of evil might yet be averted, through the favor of the gods, to whom a childlike, cheerful confi- dence in their benignity and paternal regard, was more acceptable, than that blind abandonment, sometimes mistaken for submission, which views them as stern, arbitrary, and implacable tyrants, rather than as parents of the human family, watching over it for the good of mankind, and ordering all events for the welfare of their true children. This was a cheerful faith, and, seasonably adopted, might have saved the life and throne of Montezuma, and preserved, for many years, the integrity of his empire. But his heart was not prepared to receive it. Steeped in the dismal superstitions of the Aztec faith, and yielding himself unreservedly to the guidance and dictation of its constituted oracles, he had never, for a moment, allowed himself to falter in his conviction, that the Aztec dynasty was to terminate with him, and that he and his family were doomed to a terrible destruction, in the overthrow of the sacred institutions of his beloved land. The scene was too thrilling for the tender heart of 72 EXCURSION ON THE LAKE. Tecuichpo, and she swooned away in the arms of her father, who had drawn her towards him in an affec- tionate embrace. The attendants were called, and, as soon as the unhappy princess was restored to conscious- ness, the king directed the royal barges to be prepare'd, and went out, with all his household, to enjoy the invi- gorating air of the lake, and seek relief from the dark thoughts that oppressed and overwhelmed them, in contemplating, from various points in view, the rich and varied scenery of that glorious valley. It was a brave spectacle to behold, when the impe- rial majesty of Tenochtitlan condescended to accom- pany his little fleet on such an excursion. The gaily appointed canoes, with their gorgeous canopies of embroidered cotton, and feather- work ; the splendid robes and plumes of the king and his attendants ; the rich and fanciful attire of the women ; the light, grace- ful, arrowy motions of the painted skiffs, as they danced along the waves ; together with the wonderful beauty of the lake, and its swimming gardens of flowers, presented a toute ensemble more like the fairy pictures of some enchanted sphere, than any thing we can now realize as belonging to this plain, prosaic, matter-of-fact world of ours. On this occasion, it seemed more gay and fairy-like than ever, in con- trast, perhaps, with the deep gloom that had settled on the land, pervading every heart, with its sombre shadows. The light pirogues of the natives, flying hither and thither over the glassy waters, on errands of business or of pleasure, arrayed in flowers, or freighted with fruits- and vegetables for the grand market of Tenoch- HOPE REVIVING. 73 titlan, made way, on every side, for the advance of the royal cortege, which, threading the shining avenues between the gaily-colored chinampas, that spotted the surface of that beautiful lake, like so many islands of flowers on the bosom of the ocean, danced over the waters to the sound of music, and the merry voices of glad hearts, rejoicing in the sunny smiles that now played on the countenance of the king, as if the clouds that had so long overshadowed it, were never to return. Tecuichpo, restored to more than her wonted gaiety, was full of life and animation. Never had she seemed, in the eyes of her doting father, and of the admiring courtiers, half so lovely as at this moment. She was the centre attraction for all eyes. Her resplendent beauty, her fairy-like gracefulness of motion, and the artless simplicity of her manners, won the admiring notice of all. Her gaiety was infectious. Her merry laugh reached, with a sort of electric influence, every heart in that bright company, and compelled even her father to abandon, for the time, his sad and solemn reflections, and give himself up to the spirit of the hour and the scene. Guatimozin was there, and exerted all his eloquence to keep up the spirit of the hour, in the earnest hope that Montezuma would put on all the monarch again, and assert the majesty of his insulted crown, and the rights of his house and his people, in despite of omen or legend, and in the face of every foe. Tecuichpo became more and more animated, till she seemed quite lifted above herself and the world about her. Suddenly rising in the midst, and pointing, with great energy of expression, to the royal eagle of Mex- 7 74 THE DREAM AND ITS ECHO. ico, then sweeping down from his mountain eyrie, to prey upon the ocelot of the distant valley, she ex- claimed — 'Tis he ! 'Tis he ! our imperial bird ! Whom the gods to our aid have sent ; I saw him in my dream, and heard, As down from his airy flight he bent, His victor shout, with the dying wail, Of the coming foe, borne on the gale ; While the air was dark with the gathering throng Of bold young eaglets, that swept along From every cliff, in fierceness and wrath, To gorge on their prey, in the mountain path. When she ceased, an echo from a richly cultivated chinampa, which they were then passing, seemed to take up and prolong the strain. I saw it too, and I heard the scream, In the midst of my dark and troubled dream ; 'Twas a dream of despair for our doomed land, For his wings were bound by the royal hand ; His talons were wreathed with a golden chain, He smelt the prey, and he chafed in vain, For they trampled him down, in their brave career, While our monarch looked on with unmanly fear, Till his crown and his sceptre in dust were laid low, And proud Tenochtitlan had passed to the foe. The last words of this solemn chant died away on the ear, just as the royal barge rounded the little arti- ficial promontory, which the ingenious Karee had constructed, for the double purpose of an arbor and look-out, at one of. the angles of her chinampa. Lean- ing over the brow, and supporting herself by the over- SUDDEN RETURN. / 5 hanging branch of a luxuriant myrtle, she dropped a wreath of evergreen upon the head of Tecuichpo, and said — Oh ! child of doom, Thy long sealed destiny is come — One brief, dark, dreadful night, Then on those blessed eyes Another day shall rise, Fair, glorious, bright, With an unearthly endless light. Thou shalt lay down An earthly crown, To win a starry sceptre in the skies At this momentj signals were heard among the dis- tant hills, which, answered and repeated from countless stations along the wild sierras, and reverberated by a thousand echoes as they came, burst upon the quiet valley, like the confused shouts of a mighty host rush- ing to battle. It fell like a death-knell upon the ear of Montezuma. It announced the arrival, within the mountain wall which encompassed his golden valley, of the dreaded strangers. It heralded their near ap- proach to his capital, and the exposure of all he held dear to their irresistible power — their terrible rapacity. His heart sunk within him. But he had gone too far to retract. It was the act of the gods, not his. Banish- ing from his mind the impressions of the scenes just passed, he waved his hand to the rowers, and instantly every prow was turned, and the gaily caparisoned, but melancholy, terror-stricken pageant moved rapidly back to the city. Tenochtitlan was now alive with the bustle of pre- 76 THE SPANISH QUARTERS — CACAMA's EMBASSY. paration. It was the preparation, not for war, which would far better have suited the multitude both of the chiefs and the people, but for the hospitable reception and entertainment of the strangers. The great imperial palace, which had been the royal residence of the father of Montezuma, was fitted up for their accommodation. With its numberless apartments, its spacious courts, and magnificent gardens, it was sufficient for an army much larger than that of the Castilians, swelled as it was by the company of their Tlascalan allies. Every room was newly hung with beautifully colored tapestry, and furnished with all the conveniences and luxuries of Mexican life. The appointments and provisions were all on a most liberal scale, for the Emperor was as generous and munificent as the golden mountains from which he drew his inexhaustible treasures. Intending that nothing should be wanting to the graciousness of his submission to this act of constrained courtesy, Montezuma proposed to his brother Cuitlahua, to choose a royal retinue from the flower of the Aztec nobility, and go out to meet the strangers, and bid them welcome, in his name, to his realm and his capital. From this the soul of the proud undaunted soldier revolted, and he entreated so earnestly to be excused from executing a commission, so much at variance with his feelings and his convictions, that the monarch relented, and assigned the mission to Cacama, the young prince of Tezcuco. Nothing could exceed the gorgeous splendor of this embassy. Borne in a beautiful palanquin, canopied and curtained with the rarest of Mexican feather- work, richly powdered with jewels, and glittering with gold, EXCHANGE OF COURTESIES. 77 Cacama, preceded and followed by a long train of noble veterans and youths, all apparelled in the gayest costnme of their country, presented himself before the advancing host. His approach, and the errand on which he came, having been announced by a herald, Cortez halted his band, and drew up his forces in the best possible array, to give him a fitting reception. The meeting took place at Ajotzinco, on, or rather within, the borders of the lake Chalco, the first of the bright chain of inland lakes which the Spaniards had seen, and the place where they first saw that species of amphibious architecture, which prevailed so extensively among the Mexicans. When the royal embassy arrived in front of the waiting army, Cacama alighted from his palanquin, while his obsequious officers swept the ground before him, that he might not soil his royal feet, by too rude a contact with the earth. He was a young man of about twenty five years, with a fine manly countenance, a noble and commanding figure, and an address and manners that would have done honor to the most courtly knight of Christendom. Stepping forward with a bland and dignified courtesy, he made the customary Mexican salutation to persons of high rank, touching his right hand to the ground, and raising it to his head. Cortez embraced him as he rose, and the prince, in the name of his royal master, gave the strangers a hearty welcome, assuring them that they should be received with a hospitality, and treated with a respect, becoming the representatives of a great and mighty prince. He then presented Cortez with a number of large and valuable pearls, which act of munificence was immediately returned by the present /8 RECEPTION AT IZTAPALAPAN. of a necklace of cut glass, hung over his neck by Cor- tez. As glass was not known to the Mexicans, it pro- bably had in their eyes the value of the rarest jewels. This interview being over, the royal envoy hastened back to the capital, while the Castilians and their allies, in the two-fold character of hostile invaders and invited guests, followed his steps by slow, easy and cautious marches. After a few days, during which they passed through large tracts of highly cultivated and fertile ground, and several of the beautiful towns and cities of the plateau, they arrived at Iztapalapan, a place of great beauty, and large resources, and the residence of Cuitlahua, the noble brother of Montezuma. At the command of the Emperor, Cuitlahua, as governor of this place, received the strangers with courtesy, and treated them with attention. But it was a cold courtesy, and a constrained attention. With a proud and haughty mem, the brave soldier exhibited to the wondering strangers, all the riches and curiosities of the place, disposing every thing in such a manner as to impress them most powerfully with the immense wealth of the empire, and the irresistible power of the Emperor. He collected around him all the richest and most potent nobles in his neighborhood, and displayed a magnifi- cence of style, and a prodigality of expenditure, that was truly princely. The extent and beauty of his gardens, his beautiful aviary, stocked with every variety of the gorgeously plumed birds of that tropical clime, his menagerie, containing a full representation of all the wild races of animals in Anahuac, struck the Spaniards with surprise and admiration ; while the architecture of his palaces, and the many refinements of his style of LOFTY BEARING OF CUITLAHUA. 79 living, gave them the highest ideas of the advanced state of civilization to which the Mexicans had attained. But, so far from disheartening them in their grand design, all they saw of wealth and splendor in the inferior cities, only served to inflame their desire to see the capital, and learn if any thing more brilliant and wonderful than they had yet seen, could be furnished at the great metropolis. While they were daily more and more convinced of the power and resources of their enemy, and the seeming impossibility of their own enterprise, they were also daily more and more inflamed with the desire and purpose to possess themselves of the incalculable treasures which every where met their eyes. The cold aspect, and lofty bearing of the Prince Cuitlahua, the commander-in-chief of the Mexican armies, and heir apparent to its throne, left no doubt that the final struggle for power would be ably and bit- terly contested, and that the wealth they so ardently coveted, would be dearly bought. To a heart less bold and self-reliant than that of Cortez, it would have been no enviable position, to be shut up, with his little band of followers, within the gates of a city, commanded by so brave and experienced a soldier, whose personal feelings and views were known to be of the most hostile character. To the iron-hearted Castilian, it was but a scene in the progress of his romantic adventure ; and, the greater the difficulty, the more imminent the peril, the more cordially he trusted to his good genius, or his patron saint, he seems not to have known which, to carry him triumphantly through. They were now but one day's march, and that a short and easy one, from the imperial city. Already 80 THE CAPITAL AND ITS ENVIRONS. they had seen it from a distance, resting, or rather riding, on the hosom of the lake, glowing and glittering in the sunbeams, like some resplendent constellation, transferred from the azure above to the azure below. They had seen its noble ally, the metropolis of the sister kingdom of Tezcuco, shining in rival though unequal splendor, on the opposite shore of the lake, and many other splendid cities, beautiful towns, and lovely hamlets, studding its bright border, in its entire circuit, like mingled gems and pearls, richly set in the band of the imperial diadem, all reposing under the shadow, and eclipsed by the superior glory, of the capi- tal, the crowning jewel of the Western World. They had seen the chinampas, those wandering gardens of verdure and flowers, seeming more like the fairy crea- tions of poetry, than the sober realities of life, and reminding them of those islands of the blest, which they had been told, in their childish days, floated about in the ethereal regions above, freighted with blessings for the virtuous, and sometimes stooping so near to earth as to permit the weary and the waiting to escape from their toils and trials here, and find repose in their celestial paradise. They had seen and admired the wonderful ^works of art, the causeways of vast extent, constructed with scientific accuracy, and of great strength and durability — the canals and aqueducts, and bridges, which would have done honor to the genius and industry of the proudest nation in Europe. It now remained to them to see the imperial lord of all these wide and luxuriant realms, * and to enter, as invited guests, into the gates of his royal abode. CHATTER T ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS AT THE CAPITAL. THEIR RECEPTION BY MONTEZUMA. DETERMINED HOSTILITY OF GUATIMOZIN. 3^arft! at tf)e bcr# portals nob) tijey stanti, 2Beman*0fnu entrance. <£an £ simt tljem out, OT&en all ti>e gotis commtssfon tljem to come 1 <£an toe atimft ti)em, anti pceserbe fntact &ux !)onor antr tf)e state ? The spectacle of this day, the eighth of November, 1519, has not its parallel in the annals of history, and will probably never be repeated in the history of man. The sovereign and absolute monarch of a populous and powerful empire, stooping from his imperial throne, flinging wide open the gates of his capital, and conde- scending to go out, and receive with an appsttent wel- come an invading foe, whom he had in vain attempted to keep out, but whom he had now the power to crush under his feet in a moment. That invading foe con- sisted only of a few hundred adventurers, three thousand miles from home, in the heart of the country they had ravaged, and surrounded by countless thousands of exasperated foes, burning to revenge the injuries and insults they had received at the hands of the strangers, 82 POSITION OF SPANIARD AND AZTEC. and only held back from rushing upon them., like herds of ravening tigers, by the strong arm of the royal pro- hibition. Their position was like that of a group of children in a menagerie, amusing themselves with teasing and exasperating the caged animals around them. The furious creatures glare on them with looks of rage, growling fiercely, and gnashing their teeth. The keeper sympathizes with his enraged subjects, burning to let them loose upon their annoyers, but restrained by that mysterious agency, in which the divine hand is every where moulding and subduing the natural impulses of humanity, and working out its own wise ends by the wrath and passions of men. Let the keeper but raise the bar of that cage for a moment, and not one of the bright group would be left to tell the tragic issue of their sport. Let the terror- stricken Montezuma put on once more the air of a monarch, and raise his finger as a signal for the onset, before the enemy has become entrenched in his fort- ress, and few, if any, of that brave band would be left to tell the world of their fate — the marvellous story of the Conquest would never be told ; the Aztec dynasty would outlive the period assigned it by those mystic oracles ; and Montezuma, recovered from the dark dreams of an imagination disordered by superstition — the long dreaded crisis of his destiny passed — would have swayed again the sceptre of undisputed empire over the broad and beautiful realms of Anahuac. Having once vanquished and destroyed the terrible strangers, and stripped them of that supernatural de- fence, which the idea of their celestial origin threw around them, he would never again have yielded his SPECULATION CORTEZ ADVANCING. 83 soul to so unmanly a fear. If such had been the issue of the invasion of Cortez and his band, it is doubtful whether the Aztec dynasty would ever have been over- thrown. The civilization of Europe would soon have been engrafted upon its own. Christianity would have taken the place of their dark and bloody paganism; which, with a people so far enlightened as they were, could not have endured for a moment the noon-day blaze of the gospel ; and the terrible power of that hea- then despot would have been softened, without weak- ening it, into the consolidated colossal strength of an enlightened, Christian, peaceful empire. Christianity propagated by fire and sword consumes centuries, and wastes whole generations of men, in effecting a revolu- tion, which they who go with the olive branch in their hand, and the gospel of peace in their hearts, require only a few years to accomplish. Witness the recent triumphs of a peaceful Christianity in the Sandwich Islands, as contrasted with the bloody and wasting Crusades of Spaniards in all portions of the new world. With the earliest dawn, the reveille was beaten in the Spanish camp, and all the forces were mustered and drawn up in the order of their march. Cortez, at the head of the cavalry, formed the advanced guard, followed immediately by the Castilian infantry in solid column. The artillery and baggage occupied the centre, while the dark files of the Tlascalan savages brought up the rear. The whole number was less than seven thousand, not more than three hundred and fifty of whom were Spaniards. Putting on their most imposing array, with gay flaunting banners, and the stirring notes of the 84 THE GRAND CAUSEWAY. trumpet, swelling over lake and grove, and rolling away in distant echoes among the mountains, they issued forth from the city, just as the rising sun, surmounting the eastern cordillera, poured the golden stream of day over the beautiful valley, and lighted up a thousand resplendent fires among the gilded domes, and enameled temples of the capital, and the rich tiara of tributary cities and towns that encircled it. Moving rapidly forward, they soon entered upon the grand causeway, which, passing through the capital, spans the entire breadth of the Tezcucan lake, constituting then the main entrance, as its remains do now the principal southern avenue, to the city of Mexico. It was com- posed of immense stones, fashioned with geometrical precision, well laid in cement, and capable of withstand- ing for ages the play of the waters, and the ravages of time. It was of sufficient width, throughout its whole extent, to allow ten horsemen to ride abreast. It was interrupted in several places by well built draw bridges for the accommodation of the numerous boats, that carried on a brisk trade with the several towns on the lake, and for the better defence of the city against an invading foe. At the distance of about half a league from the capital, it was also traversed by a thick heavy wall of stone, about twelve feet high, surmounted and fortified by towers at each extremity. In the centre was a battiemented gateway, of sufficient strength to resist any force that could be brought against it, by the rude enginery of native warfare. This was called the Fort of Xoloc. Here they were met by a very numerous and power- ful body of Aztec nobles, splendidly arrayed in their RETINUE OF THE EMPEROR. 85 gayest costume, who came to announce the approach of Montezuma, and again in his name to hid the strangers welcome to the capital. As each of the chiefs presented himself, in his turn, to Cortez, and made the customary formal salutation, a considerable time was consumed in the ceremony ; which was somewhat more tedious than interesting to the hot spirited Spaniards. When this was over, they passed briskly on, and soon beheld the glittering retinue of the Emperor emerging from the principal gate of the city. The royal palanquin, blazing with burnished gold and pre- cious stones, was borne on the shoulders of the principal nobles of the land, while crowds of others, of equal or inferior rank, thronged in obsequious attendance around. It was preceded by three officers, bearing golden wandsf Over it was a canopy of gaudy feather- work, powdered with jewels, and fringed with silver, resting on four richly carved and inlaid pillars, and supported by four nobles of the same rank with the bearers. These were all bare-footed, and walked with a slow measured pace, as conscious of the majesty of their burden, and with eyes bent on the ground. Arrived within a convenient distance, the train halted, and Montezuma, alighting from his palanquin, came forward, leaning on the arms of his royal relatives, the lords of Tezcuco and Iztapa- lapan. As the monarch advanced, under the same gorgeous canopy which had before screened him from the public gaze, and the glare of the mid-day sun, the ground was covered with cotton tapestry, while all his subjects of high and low degree, who lined the sides of the causeway, bent their heads and fixed their eyes on the ground, as unworthy to look upon so much majesty. 8 86 THE PERSON OF MONTEZUMA. Some prostrated themselves on the ground before him, and all in that mighty throng were awed by his pre- sence into a silence that was absolutely oppressive. The appearance of Montezuma was in the highest degree interesting to the Spanish general and his fol- lowers. Flung over his shoulders was the tilmatli, or large square cloak, manufactured from the finest cotton, with the embroidered ends gathered in a knot round his neck. Under this was a tunic of green, embroidered with exquisite taste, extending almost to his knees, and confined at the waist, by a rich jeweled vest. His feet were protected by sandals of gold, bound with leathern thongs richly embossed with the same metal. The cloak, the tunic, and the sandals were profusely sprink- led with pearls and precious stones. On his head was a panache of plumes of the royal green, waving grace- fully in the light breeze. He was then about forty years of age. His person was tall, slender, and well proportioned. His com- plexion was somewhat fairer than that of his race generally. His countenance was expressive of great benignity. His carriage was serious, dignified and even majestic, and, without the least tincture of haugh- tiness, or affectation of importance, he moved with the stately air of one born to command, and accustomed to the homage of all about him. The strangers halted, as the monarch drew near. Cortez, dismounting, threw his reins to a page, and, supported by a few of his principal cavaliers, advanced to meet him. What an interview ! How full of thrill- ing interest to both parties ! How painfully thrilling to Montezuma, who now saw before him, standing on HIS INTERVIEW WITH CORTEZ. 87 the very threshold of his citadel, the all-conquering white man, whose history was so mysteriously blended with his own ; whose coming and power had been foreshadowed for ages in the prophetic traditions of his country, confirmed again by his own most sacred oracles, and repeated by so many signs, and omens, and fearful prognostics, that he was compelled either to regard him as the heaven-sent representative of the ancient rightful lords of the soil, or to abandon his early and cherished faith, the religion of his fathers, and of the ancient race from which they sprung. Putting a royal restraint upon the feelings which almost overwhelmed him, the monarch received his guest with princely courtesy, expressing great pleasure in seeing him personally, and extending to him the hospitalities of his capital. The Castilian replied with expressions of the most profound respect, and with many and ample acknowledgements for the substantial proofs which the Emperor had already given of his more than royal munificence. He then hung on the neck of the king a sparkling chain of colored crystal, at the same time making a movement, as if he would embrace him. He was prevented, however, by the timely interference of two Aztec lords from thus pro- faning, before the assembled multitudes of his people, the sacred person of their master. After this formal introduction and interchange of civilities, Montezuma appointed his brother, the bold Cuitlahua, to conduct the Spaniards to their quarters in the city, and returned in the same princely state in which he came, amid the prostrate thousands of his subjects. Pondering deeply, as the train moved slowly 88 ENTRY IN THE CAPITAL. on, upon the fearful crisis in his affairs which had now arrived, his ear was arrested by a faint low voice in the crowd, which he instantly recognized as Karee's, breath- ing out a plaintive wail, as if in soliloquy with her own soul, or in high communion with the spirits of the unseen world. The strain was wild and broken, but its tenor was deeply mournful and deprecatory. It concluded with these emphatic words — The proud eagle may turn to his eyrie again, But his pinions are clipped, and his foot feels the chain, He is monarch no more in his wide domain — The falcon has come to his nest. With an air of bold and martial triumph, their colors flying, and music briskly playing, the Spaniards, with the singular trail of half savage Tlascalans, the deadly enemies of the Aztecs, made their entrance into the southern quarter of the renowned Tenochtitlan, and were escorted by the brave Cuitlahua, to the royal palace of Axayacatl, in the heart of the city, once the residence of Montezuma's father, and now appropriated to the accommodation of Cortez and his followers. As they marched through the crowded streets, new subjects of wonder and admiration greeted them on every side. The grandeur and extent of the city, the superior style of its architecture, the ample dimensions, immense strength, and costly ornaments of the numer- ous palaces, pyramids and temples, separated and surrounded by broad terraced gardens in the highest possible state of cultivation, and teeming with flowers of every hue and name — the lofty tapering sanctuaries, and altars blazing with inextinguishable fires, — and CURIOSITY OF THE PEOPLE. 89 above all, the innumerable throngs of people who swarmed through the streets and canals, filling every door-way and window, and clustering on the flat roof of every building as they passed, filled them with mingled emotions of admiration, surprise and fear. The swarming myriads of the Aztecs were, on their part, no less interested and amazed at the spectacle presented by their strange visitors. An intense and all-absorbing curiosity pervaded the entire mass of the people. Nothing could surpass their wonder and admiration of the prancing steeds, or four legged and double-headed men, as to their simple view they seemed to be, the rider as he sat with ease in his saddle, appear- ing to be but a part of the animal on which he rode. The piercing tones of the loud mouthed trumpets, astonished and delighted them exceedingly. But the deep thunder of the artillery as it burst upon them amid volumes of sulphurous smoke and flame, and then rolled away in long reverberated echoes among the moun- tains, filled them with indescribable alarm, and made them feel that the all-destroying god of war was indeed among them in the guise of men. While these scenes were enacting in the city, the palace was shrouded in the deepest gloom. When the monarch arrayed himself, in the morning, to go forth to meet the strangers, several incidents occurred, which were deemed peculiarly ominous, confirming all the superstitious forebodings of the king, and tending to take away from the yet trusting hearts of his house- hold, their last remaining hope. The imperial clasp, which bound his girdle in front, bearing as its device, richly engraven on the precious chalchivitl } the emblem 8* 90 OMENS GUATIMOZIN. of despotic power, which was the eagle pouncing upon the ocelot — snapped in twain, scattering the fragments of the eagle's head upon the marble pavement. The principal jewel in the royal diadem was found loose, and trembling in its setting. But, more portentous than all to the mind of the devout Montezuma, the priest, who had charge of the great altar on the Teocalli of Huitzilopotchli, had been seized with con- vulsions during the preceding night, and fallen dead at his post. The perpetual fire had gone out, for want of a hand to replenish it, and when the morning sun shot his first beams upon that high altar, there was not a spark among the blackened embers, to answer his reviving glow. It was impossible to shake off the influence of pre- sages like these. From infancy, he had been taught to read in all such incidents, the shadowy revealings of the will of the gods, the dark lines of destiny fore- shown to the faithful. The soul of Montezuma was oppressed almost to sinking. But he roused himself to his task, and went forth, feeling, as he went, that the ground trembled beneath his feet, while an untimely night gathered at noon-day over the sky. Among the noble princes who graced the court of Montezuma, there was no one of a nobler bearing, or a loftier heart, than his nephew Guatimozin, the favored lover of Tecuichpo. Unlike her disappointed suitor, the Prince of Tezcuco, he had uniformly and power- fully opposed the timid policy of the king, and urged, with Cuitlahua, a bold and unyielding resistance to the encroachments of the intruding Spaniards. His reluct- HIS DEVOTION TO HIS COUNTRY. 91 ance to their admission to the capital was so great, that he refused to witness the humiliating spectacle ; prefer- ring to shut himself up in the palace, and sustain, if he could, the fainting courage of the princess, and her mother. All that could be done by eloquence, inspired by patriotic zeal and inflamed by a pure and refined love, was attempted by the accomplished youth, till, excited and inflamed by his own efforts to comfort and persuade others, and nerved to higher resolves,- by a new contemplation of the inestimable heart-treasures, which were staked upon the issue, a new hope seemed to dawn upon the clouded horizon of their destiny. " My fair princess," cried the impassioned lover, " it shall not be. These wide and glorious realms, teeming with untold thousands of brave and patriotic hearts, ready and able to defend our altars and our hearths, shall never pass away to a mere handful of pale-faced invaders. They must : they shall be driven back. Or, if our gods have utterly deserted us — if the time has indeed come, when the power and glory of the Aztec is to pass away for ever, let the Aztec, to a man, pass away with it. Let us perish together by our altars? and leave to the rapacious intruder a ravaged and depopulated country. I jet not one remain to grace his triumph, or bow his neck to the ignominious yoke." " Nay, my sweet cousin," she replied, with a tone and look of indescribable tenderness, " we will indeed die together, if need be, but let us first see if we cannot live together." " Live 1 " exclaimed Guatimozin. " Oh ! Tecuichpo, what would I not attempt, what would I not sacrifice, 92 OMENS INTERPRETED. to the hope of living, if I might share that life with you. But my country ! my allegiance ! how can I sacrifice that which is not my own? — that inheritance which was all my birth-right, and which, as it pre- ceded, must necessarily be paramount to, all the other relations of life." " But, my father ! dear Guatimozin ! must he not be obeyed ? " " Yes, and he shall be. But he must be persuaded, even at this late hour, to dismiss the strangers, and banish them for ever from his domains. He has no right to yield it up. It belongs to his subjects no less than to him. He belongs to them, by the same sacred bond that binds them all to him. He may not sacrifice them to a scruple, which has in it more of superstition than of religion. I must go to the Temple of Cholula, and bring up the hoary old prophet of Q,uetzalcoatl, and see if he cannot move the too tender conscience of your father, and persuade him that his duty to his gods cannot, by any possibility, be made to conflict with his duty to his empire, and the mighty family of depend- ent children, whom the gods have committed to his care." " Oh ! not now, Guatimozin, I pray you. Do not leave us at this terrible moment. Stay, and sustain with your courageous hopes the sad heart of my dear father, who is utterly overwhelmed with the dire omens of this dismal morning." " Omens ! Oh ! Tecuichpo, shall we not rather say that the gods have thus frowned upon our cowardly abandonment of their altars, than that they design, in these dark portents, to denounce an irreversible doom, FILIAL DEVOTION VERSUS PATRIOTISM. 93 which our prayers cannot avert, nor our combined wis- dom and courage prevent ? " At this moment Montezuma returned. But the deep distress depicted in his countenance, and the air of stern reserve which he assumed in the presence of those whose counsels would tend to shake his resolve, effectually prevented Guatimozin from pursuing, at that moment, the object nearest his heart. He retired into the garden, where he was soon joined by the fair prin- cess, who wished to divert him from his purposed visit to Cholula, knowing full well it would be a fruit- less mission. " But why, my brave cousin, may not my father be right, in feeling that these strangers are sent to us from the gods ? And if from the gods, then surely for our good; for the gods are all beneficence, and can only intend the well-being of their children, in all the changes that befal us here. Perhaps these strangers will teach us more of the beings whom we worship, and direct us how we may serve them better than we now do, and so partake more largely of their favor." " Alas ! my beloved, how can we hope that they who come to destroy, whose only god is gold — to the possession of which they are ready to sacrifice life, love, honor, every thing — how can we hope that they will teach us any thing better or higher than we learn from the ancient oracles of our faith, and the holy priesthood of our religion ? No, it cannot be. Their pathway is drenched in blood, and so it will be, till the throne, and he who honors it, are laid in dust at their 94 THE PLEDGE A NEW OMEN. feet, and you and I, and all the myriads of our people, have become their abject slaves." " Say not so, I beseech you, dear Guatimozin. Where my father leads, I must follow, and hope for the best. And you must follow too, for I cannot go without you. Here, take this rose, and wear it as a pledge to me, over this sparkling fountain, that you will no more hazard the imperial displeasure, and the anger of the gods, by your bold and rash resistance of the known decrees of fate. And I will weave a chap- let of the same, to lay upon the altar, to propitiate for us all the favor of heaven." There was too much real chivalry in the heart of Guatimozin, to resist the earnest love and eloquent persuasion of his lady-love. He kissed her fair cheek in token of submission to her sway, and then led her to the palace, to learn if any thing new had transpired to encourage his hope that his wishes would yet be rea- lized, in the exclusion of the Spaniards from the city. As they passed along, they heard Karee-o-than, the gar- rulous pet of the Princess, seemingly soliloquising among the branches of the flowering orange that hung over her favorite arbor. They paused a moment, but could gather nothing from his chatterings but " Brave Guatimozin ! noble Guatimozin ! all is yours." " An omen ! my sweet cousin, a genuine emphatic omen ! Even Karee-o-than encourages me in my trea- son. I wish I knew how she would respond to the name of this redoubtable Cortez. Pray ask her, Tecuichpo, what she thinks of the Spaniard." " Fear you not to trifle thus ? " asked Tecuichpo. " Fear not, brave Guatimozin ! " responded the parrot. THE PROPHETESS AND THE DAUGHTER. 95 " There, I have it again, my love ; all she says is against you. And what do you say of Malinche, pretty Karee-o-than ? " " Poor Malinche ! brave Guatimozin." " Bravo ! " exclaimed the Prince, " the bird is as good as an omen, and I" At that moment, Karee appeared, and coming to- wards them in great haste and trepidation, informed them that the Spaniards had already reached their quarters in the old palace, and that Montezuma had gone thither, in royal state, to receive them. " And what think you of all these things, my fairy queen," asked Guatimozin, playfully. " Wo ! wo ! wo ! to the imperial house of Tenoch- titlan!" energetically replied Karee, — u its glory is departed for ever, — its crown has fallen from the head of the great Montezuma, and there is none able to wear it, or to redeem it from the hand of the spoiler. Thou, most noble Prince, wilt do all that mortal courage and prowess can do, to rescue it from desecration, and to protect the house of Montezuma from the cruel fate to which he has delivered it up ; but it will be all in vain. He must perish by an ignominious death. They must pass under the yoke of the strangers, and thou, too, after all thy noble struggles and sacrifices, must perish miserably under their cruel and implacable rapacity." This was too much for Tecuichpo. She looked upon Karee as an inspired prophetess, and had always found it exceedingly difficult to sustain the filial confidence which sanctified every act and every purpose of her royal father, when the powerful incantations of Karee w T ere directed against them. It was a continual strug- 96 SENSITIVENESS OF TECUICHPO. gle between an affectionate superstition, and filial love. But that first, and holiest, and strongest instinct of her heart prevailed, and she clung the more warmly to her father, when she found that every thing else was against him. But now the shaft had pierced her at another and an unguarded point. Her spirit fainted within her. She swooned in the arms of Guatimozin, and was borne to her apartment in a state of insensi- bility, where, under the kind and skilful nursing of Karee, and the affectionate assurances of Guatimozin, she was soon restored to health, and her accustomed cheerfulness. But these ceaseless agitations, these painful alternations of hope and fear, were slowly wearing upon her gentle spirit, and undermining a frame so delicately sensitive, that, like the aspen, It trembled when the sleeping breeze But dreamed of waking. CHAPTER VI. MUNIFICENCE OF MONTEZUMA. THE ROYAL BANQUET. THE REQUITAL. THE EMPEROR A PRISONER IN HIS OWN PALACE. "SSTas t&at tjwntier *" STJjose spletrtifB Jails resountr totti) rebelrg, ^no* sans, anto trance leati on tfie tartrg tiaton. Sfxom tlje Jail of fns fatfjers fn anjjufsf) tie tUti f Nor again toftl its marble re=ecije fcfs treat*. Montezuma was always and every where munificent. When he had, though reluctantly, admitted the stran- gers into his capital, he prepared to give them a royally hospitable entertainment. Partly by way of triumph in the success of their movements hitherto, and partly by way of amusing, and at the same time overawing their entertainers, the Spaniards, the day after their arrival in the city, made a grand military display in their quarters, and in the neighboring streets. They exercised their prancing steeds in all the feats of horse- manship, racing, leaping, and careering, in all the wild majesty of the trained charger, under the three fold dis- 9 98 MILITARY DISPLAY ITS EFFECT. m cipline of bit and spur, and cheering shout. They rushed upon each other in the mock warfare of the tournament, with clashing sword and glancing spear, and then, discharging their carbines in the air, separa- ted amid clouds of dust and smoke, as if driven asunder by the bolts of heaven in their own hands. The astonished natives, accustomed only to the simple weapons of primitive warfare, looked on with undis- guised admiration, not unmixed with fear. The strange beings before them, wielding such unwonted powers, seemed indeed to have descended upon earth from some higher sphere, and to partake of that mysterious and fearful character, which they had been wont to ascribe to inhabitants of the spiritual world. But when, in closing off the day's entertainment, they brought out the loud-mouthed artillery, and shook the very foundations of the city with their oft-repeated thunders, the spirit of the Aztec sunk within him, and he felt, as he retired to his dwelling, that it was for no good end, that men of such power, having such fearful engines at their com- mand, had been permitted to fix their quarters in one of the fortresses of Tenochtitlan. " Alas ! " said an ancient Cacique from the northern frontier, " we are fallen upon evil times. Our enemies are even now in the citadel — enemies whom we know not, whose mode of warfare we do not understand, whose weapons defy alike our powers of imitation and resistance. Let us abandon the field, and retire to the far north, whence our fathers came, and rear a new em- pire amid the impregnable fastnesses of the mountains." "Who talks of abandoning the field to the enemy?" interrupted Guatimozin, — " Let no Aztec harbor so base THE TRUE SPIRIT AMONG THE PEOPLE. $9 a thought. Rather let us stand by our altars and die, if die we must." "Right/' cried the youthful prince Axayatl, from the southern slope of the Sierra, " why should the all- conquering Aztec tremble at this display of the myste- rious strangers ? Are not the millions of Anahuac a match for a few hundred of their enemies, in whatever form they come? Be they gods, or be they demons, they belong not to this soil, nor this soil to them, and, by all our altars and all our gods, they must retire or perish, though we, and our wives, and our children perish with them." " Give us your hand, brave Axayatl," exclaimed Cuitlahua and Guatimozin, at the same instant, " be that our vow in life and in death, and wo to the base Aztec, that abandons the standard of Montezuma, or whispers of submission to the haughty stranger." Thus were the councils of the people divided between a timid superstition, and a bold uncompromising patriot- ism. There wanted not the material, if well directed, to annihilate, at a blow, the hopes of the daring inva- ders. The arm of the nation was strong and sinewy, but " the head was sick, and the heart faint." The Emperor, the hitherto proud and self-sufficient Monte- zuma, — Like a struck eagle fainting in his nest, had cowered to a phantom of his own diseased imagi- nation, and weakly consented to regard them as gods, whose passions, appetites and vices proved them to be men, and whose diminished numbers, after every battle they had fought, showed they were of mortal mould. 100 THE ROYAL BANQ.UET. On the following day, a magnificent banquet was prepared for Cortez, and his officers, in the imperial palace. It was graced by the presence of all the nobility of Azteca, with all the pride and beauty of their household divinities — for, among this refined people, the wife and the daughter held her appropriate rank, and woman exercised all the influence, which, among (so called) civilized nations, Christianity alone has assigned her. Every apartment of that spacious and magnificent pile blazed with the light of odoriferous torches, which sent up their clouds of incense from hundreds of gold and silver stands, elaborately carved and embossed in every form that fancy could suggest, or ingenuity invent. Flowers of every hue and name were profusely distributed through the rooms, clustered in beautiful vases, or hung in gorgeous festoons and luxurious chaplets from the walls. The costume of the monarch and his court was as rich and gorgeous, as the rare and variegated plumage, with a lavish use of gold and gems, could make it. The women were as splendidly apparelled as the men. Many of them were extremely beautiful. Some were distinguished for their easy refinement of manners, which charmed, no less than it astonished, the Castilian knights, who had been accustomed to suppose that nothing so beautiful, or refined, could be found without the borders of Spain. By special command of the Emperor, all his nobles were present at this festival, so that Guatimozin, con- trary to his own will and purpose, was brought into contact with Cortez, and his steel-clad cavaliers. Tecuichpo also was there, in all her maiden loveliness, outshining all the stars of that splendid galaxy. And A CONTRAST. 101 yet she was as a star in eclipse, for her soul was oppressed with those mysterious shadows that hung over her destiny and that of her father, as connected with the coming of these white men. Karee was there in attendance upon her mistress, as she still delighted to call her ; but her attention was more absorbed by the strangers than by Tecuichpo. She watched every movement, and scanned every countenance with a scru- tiny that did not escape their observation, in order to read, as well as she could, the character of each. Her scrutiny satisfied herself, and she whispered in the ear of the Princess, that " if these were gods, they came from the dark, and not from the sunny side of heaven," It was a rare spectacle, which this royal banquet presented. The contrast between the steel-clad cava- liers of Castile, whose burnished armor blazed and glittered in the brilliant torch-light, and rung under their heavy martial tramp upon the marble floor, and the comparatively fairy figures of the gaudily apparelled Aztecs, was as strong as could possibly be presented in a scene like this. The costumes and cus- toms of each were matter of wonder and admiration to the other. The Aztec trembled at the mysterious power, the incomprehensible weapons, of the white man. The Castilian, if he did not tremble, fully appre- ciated the danger of a little band, separated and scat- tered among a festive throng of warlike men, amid the interminable labyrinths of the imperial palace, and under the eye of a monarch whose word was absolute law to all the myriads of his people. But, whatever was passing in the inner man, the Aztec and the Castilian, alike, appeared perfectly at 102 PRESENTATION TO THE Q.UEEN. ease, each abandoning himself to the festivities of the occasion, as if each, unannoyed by the presence of a stranger, were revelling in the security of his own castle, and celebrating some time-honored festival of his own people. With a benign dignity and grace, the Queen, and her suite of high-born ladies, received the homage of the cavaliers, after they had been presented to the Emperor. She was struck with admiration at the graceful and dignified bearing of the Castilian, which, while it showed all the deference and respect due to her sex and her rank, had nothing in it, of that abject servility, which placed an impassable barrier between the Aztec noble and his monarch, and made them appear to belong to distinct races of being. To the chivalrous, impassioned Castilian, accustomed to worship woman, and pay an almost divine homage to beauty, in the courtly halls and sunny bowers of Spain, the scene pre- sented a perfect constellation of grace and loveliness. The flashing eye of the Aztec maiden, as lustrous and eloquent as any in the gardens of Hesperides ; the jetty tresses, glittering with gems and pearls, or chastly decorated with natural flowers ; the easy grace of the loose flowing robe, revealing the full rich bust and the rounded limb, in its fairest proportions, won the instant admiration of every mailed knight, and brought again to his lips his oft-repeated vows of love and devotion. But of little avail were honied lips and eloquent tongues to the gallant cavaliers at that magic fete. They formed no medium of communion with the bright spirits, and gay hearts around them. The doom of Babel was on them all, and there was no interpreter. PANTOMIME — SANDOVAL AND THE PRINCESS. 103 Nothing daunted by obstacles seemingly insurmount- able, the gay Spaniards resolved, that, where bright eyes were to be gazed on, and sweet smiles won from the ranks of youth and beauty, they would make a way for themselves. The first ceremonies of presentation over, each knight addressed himself to some chosen fair one, and by sign and gesture, and speaking look, and smile of eloquent flattery, commenced a spirited pantomimic attack, to the infinite amusement of all the gay throng around. It was met with wonderful spirit, and ready ingenuity, by the Aztec maidens, to whom the dialect of signs, and the language of hieroglyphics was perfectly familiar ; that being the only written lan- guage of all the nations of Anahuac. The spirit and interest of the scene that followed sur- passes all attempt at description. Abandoned to the gaiety of the hour, the Spaniards forgot alike their schemes of ambition and aggrandisement, and the peculiar perils whieh surrounded them; while the Aztec revellers dismissed, for the moment, both their superstitious dread of the white man, and their patri- otic disgust at his daring pretensions to universal dominion. The noble Sandoval, attracted by the mild beaming eye, and sweet smile of the Princess Tecuichpo, with a profound obeisance, laid his plumed helmet at her feet, and choosing, from a vase at her side, a half blown rose, which he gracefully twined with a sprig of ama- ranth, he first pressed it to his own heart and lips, and then placed it among the glittering gems upon her bosom. With queenly courtesy and grace, the fair princess received this gallant token, and instantly 104 CORTEZ AND KAREE — AN ARGUMENT. responded to it, by stooping down, and weaving among the plumes, so courteously laid at her feet, another, of such rare beauty and brilliancy of hue, that it quite eclipsed the gayest feather in the hall. Cortez and Alvarado were, each in his turn, struck with the deep, dark, piercing eye of Karee, and each put forth his best endeavor to win from her a smile. But it was so coldly given, and accompanied with a look so deep and searching, that the general quailed before it, as he had never done before to mortal eye. Instantly recovering himself, he put on such a smile of blended grace and dignity, as melted at once the icy reserve of the maiden, and opened the way for a long and animated parley. It was full of sparkles and power, but could not be translated into any living tongue, without losing all its force and brilliancy. Meanwhile, an animated discussion had arisen be- tween Guatimozin and the Prince of Tezcuco, touching the propriety of receiving gifts from the strangers, or, in any way, acknowledging their claims as friends. The showy trinket, which Cacama had received from Cor- tez at Ajotzinco, and which he displayed on his per- son at this festival, gave rise to the dispute. " It is wrong/' urged Guatimozin, " wrong to our country and wrong to ourselves. Let them gain what they can from the exuberant munificence of the Empe- ror, and let them stay in peace, while he permits and requires it, — but let us not weaken our hands, by touching their gifts, or accepting their tokens. When they depart, let them not boast that they have left any remembrancer behind them, or laid claims upon our hands, by their gifts, which we have freely accepted ." AN INCIDENT. 105 "Surely, my dear cousin," said the Princess, "you make too much of so small a matter. They are but common courtesies, and too trifling for such grave con- sideration and argument." " Not so, believe me, my fair cousin. They take us on the weak side of the heart — they blind our eyes to our true relations, unnerve our arms, and blunt our weapons of defence." " What then would you do," asked Cacama, as if more than half persuaded that Guatimozin was right in his views of duty. " Do," replied the Prince, with startling energy of tone and manner, " I would fling it at his feet, or tram- ple it under my own, before his eyes, and show him that I scorn him and his gifts alike." Tecuichpo turned suddenly round at this remark, as if fearing the stranger would understand it, and in her agitation, dropped a magnificent jewel from her dress, and with it the rose so gallantly presented by Sandoval. A dozen princes and cavaliers sprang, at the same instant, to replace the precious toy. Pedro Orteguilla, the beautiful young page of Cortez, was so fortunate as to recover it. Doffing his cap, and kneeling gracefully at her feet, he presented it to the Princess with an air of admiring deference, and, by signs, solicited the honor of replacing it upon her arm. This little incident put an end to the discussion, which was growing too warm for the occasion, and the festivities went on as gaily as before. A group of sprightly, mischief loving girls, who had clustered round the cool basin of a sparkling jet d* eau, and were amusing themselves by free and fearless 106 4.LVARAD0 AND THE NAIADS. comments upon the appearance and manners of the strangers, arrested the eye of the impulsive, humor loving Alvarado, and drew him to solicit a share in their sport ; for, in beating a retreat from the eagle glance of Karee, he had strolled into an illuminated arbor, in one of the open courts of the palace. With hand, and eye, and lip, now appealing in emphatic gesture to the stars above, and now, with ready tact and admirable sagacity distributing the flowers among the gay naiads of the fountain, he soon ingratiated himself into their favor, and engaged them in a brilliant and animated pantomime, which, if it wanted the elo- quence of words, found ample compensation for that defect, in the merry shout and ringing laugh, that accompanied each labored attempt to utter, or interpret, a sentiment. The gallant cavalier soon found himself loaded with a profusion of floral favors. For every flower he bestowed upon the fair nymphs, he received an appropriate return, till his hands were full, and he found it necessary to arrange them upon his person. Instantly the whole group, as by one impulse of artistic taste, seized the idea, and resolved to array him as a flower-god. The magnificent cactus flashed among the plumes of his helmet — a pair of splendid magnolias, tastefully adjusted on either shoulder, sup- plied the place of the silver epaulette — a rich cluster of unfading forget-me-not, covered and eclipsed the gilded star upon his breastplate ; while every joint in his armor, and every loop and button of his doublet, was set with its appropriate garden gem. Long wreaths of a blossoming vine were dexterously inter- twined with flowers of everv brilliant hue, and hung THE METAMORPHOSES THE FEAST. 107 like a gorgeous sash over his right shoulder, its gay streamers waving in the gentle breeze, or winding them- selves about the scabbard of his sword. His hands were gloved with a moss of the most delicate green velvet, dotted with golden stars, and his boots trans- formed into buskins of the most approved classic pat- tern, by alternate bands of jessamine and scarlet lobelia, crossed and plaided with strings of anemone and hya- cinth. Thus arrayed, his face skilfully masked with the flowering wax-plant despoiled of its leaves, he was conducted into the presence of the Q,ueen, under a continually increasing escort of bright girls and fair dames, where, with due reverence to her majesty, and with the gallantry becoming a true knight, he begged, by significant looks and signs, to be permitted to lay all his bright honors at the feet of the lovely Tecuichpo. The signal being given at this moment, he offered his arm to the Princess, and led the way into the ban- queting hall, where the luxuries of all the climes of earth seemed to be spread out in endless profusion, and where, the native song of the Aztec alternating with the martial strains of the Castilian band, the night wore away with feasting and revelry. The day had almost dawned, when the strangers, laden with presents- of inestimable value, returned to their quarters, burdened with the weight of their trea- sures, and deeply* impressed with the more than regal munificence of their host, and the unimagined loveli- ness and grace of the fair beings, who gave life and beauty to his magnificent court. " If these white gods can be bought, dear father," the 108 A BOLD RESOLVE. Princess naively remarked, as they took their leave, "you have surely paid a price worthy of the ransom of the proudest monarch on earth." " The more you bribe them," interrupted Guatimozin, " the less you bind them. They have not the soul of an Aztec, who scorns to receive a favor that does not pledge his heart in return. The Spaniard's heart has nothing to do with his hand. He takes your gift, only to be the better able to plot and compass your ruin." The Emperor sighed, as he listened to a remark, to which he could make no reply. It brought again before his agitated mind, the only course he could safely adopt in the present crisis of his affairs. In vain did his paternal heart second the suggestion, and his kingly pride urge its immediate adoption. He had not the moral courage to execute his own resolve. Superstition had wholly unmanned him. The victorious Spaniard had now reached the goal he had so long aimed at. But his position was far from agreeable, or promising. With a small force, he was completely shut up in the heart of an immense and powerful empire, teeming with millions of warriors, who were deemed terrible and invincible by those whom he had found so formidable, and who might, at a word or a look from their sovereign, either rush in and overwhelm him at once, or withhold all supplies, and leave them to perish of famine in their quarters. Cortez realized the critical position into which he was drawn, and resolved immediately on one of his bold measures, to turn it to his own advantage. Soliciting an interview with Montezuma, in which he was accom- BLIND SUBMISSION TO FATE. 109 panied by some of his bravest cavaliers, he informed the monarch, that it was not an idle curiosity that had drawn him to encounter the perils, and undergo the toils, of the adventure that had brought him to the capital. He came, as the accredited ambassador of the mighty monarch of Castile, to whom many kings and many broad lands were tributary, and who was the rightful lord of all the territories on which his armies had set their foot. And the object of the present inter- view was, to demand of the king an acknowledgment of his allegiance to his royal master, and his consent to pay an annual tribute for his crown. The mind of the superstitious Montezuma had long been preparing for this acknowledgment. With little apparent constraint, therefore, he responded to this haughty demand — that the oracles of his religion had long ago instructed him, that the territories over which he reigned belonged to a race of white men, who had removed to other lands beyond the rising sun, but would return, in process of time, invested with more than mortal power, to claim their original inheritance. For his part, he was fully convinced that that time had now arrived — that the Spaniards were the men of des- tiny foretold by a long line of presages and traditions, and that he was fully prepared to acknowledge the king of Castile as his lord, and pay allegiance to him as such. " And recognize me," interposed the wily Castilian, " as his accredited ambassador, and representative ? " The monarch assented. The Aztec nobles, who surrounded the throne, were thunderstruck at the humble tone, and humiliating 10 110 A NEW INSULT MEDITATED. attitude assumed by their once proud and imperioi lord. But they were accustomed to unqualified anc' unquestioning submission to the word of the king. They accordingly, at his command, gave a full assent to all that he had said, and agreed to recognize Cortez as the representative of their new sovereign. Guati- mozin left the hall in disgust, and hastened to Iztapa- lapan, to report the progress of their humiliation to Cuitlahua. Even with this arrangement, which had been accom- plished so much more easily than he had expected, Cortez was by no means satisfied. He was still in the power of the Mexican, and could never feel safe in the position he held, without some substantial pledge, that the peace of the city would be preserved, and the ground he had already secured be left to him in undis- turbed possession. To secure this, he conceived and executed a bolder and more audacious measure than that which we have just related. Soliciting another and a private interview with the Emperor, and direct- ing his best and bravest cavaliers, with some of their chosen men, to keep near and about the palace, and be in readiness to sustain and defend him, if any resist- ance or outbreak should follow his daring attempt, he entered the royal presence. As the Spaniards always carried their arms, it excited no suspicion, to see them on this occasion fully equipped. This disposition of his men and officers being effected, the bold cavalier addressed himself, in a stern voice, to the Emperor, charging him with secretly designing the destruction of his guests, and alleging, in support of the charge, some of the incidents already related, and others Ill of more recent occurrence, in which some of the vassals of Montezuma had surprised and slain a party of Spaniards, who relied upon their hospitality. These were artfully woven into a tale of imaginary wrongs, for which he boldly pretended to claim instant redress, or rather security against their repetition. The monarch was thunderstruck at the charge, while he, as well as the few attendants that remained near his person, with difficulty restrained the expression of their indignation at the disrespectful tone of the address, so unlike that to which the royal ears were accustomed. He peremptorily denied the charge. But Cortez was not to be foiled thus. He knew that he had now gone too far to retract, and that the change of feel- ing now produced would ensure his speedy destruction, if he failed of securing the object of the present inter- view. He, therefore, repeated the charge, assuring the monarch that such was the belief of all his men, and that nothing would convince them of his innocence, or make them willing to rest quietly in the capital, but the consent of the king to transfer his residence, for a time, to their quarters. And this he boldly demanded of him, in the name of their common sovereign, the great king of Castile, and he could not refuse obedience, without breaking allegiance with him. " When was it ever known," exclaimed the asto- nished and offended king," that the monarch of a great people voluntarily left his own palace, to become a prisoner in the camp of a foreign nation. If I should consent to such indignity, my own subjects would every where cry out against it, and a storm would be raised, which could only be hushed when the last Spaniard 112 OFFENDED PRIDE, AND BRAZEN IMPUDENCE. was sacrificed to the outraged honor of their king, and the wrath of their offended gods." " No, my imperial lord," replied the politic and smooth tongued knight, " your majesty entirely misap- prehends my meaning, and the position in which I would place you. I only propose a temporary removal from one of your royal palaces to another, a thing of frequent occurrence, and therefore not likely to excite remark among your people. You can bring all your household and your court with you, and have the same royal attendance, as you now do. This show of confi- dence and regard, on your part, will inspire my men with new confidence in your kind intentions, and give stability in the eyes of your own people, to the friendly relations existing between us." Montezuma still protested that it was unworthy the dignity and majesty of the sovereign lord of Anahuac, thus to submit his motions to the direction of strangers, as it was a daring presumption and impiety, on their part, to suggest it. He therefore, peremptorily declined the proposal, and requested the general to say no more about it, if he would retain the position he now held in his regard, and that of his people. Upon this, the iron-souled Castilian assumed a loftier aspect, and a bolder tone, and abruptly assured the monarch that it was a point he was not at liberty to dispense with. If he would not remove peaceably and quietly to the Spanish quarters, he must be carried there forcibly, though it should involve a struggle that should drench the palace in blood, and sacrifice the life of every man in his army. Suddenly, the spirit of the monarch was gone. His INDIGNATION OP THE NOBLES PORTENTOUS OMEN. 113 old dread of the white man revived in all its power. He felt himself compelled by his destiny, to do as he was required. Signifying his assent to the haughty demand of the stranger, he ordered his nobles to make ready his palanquin, that he might go in royal state 3 and not appear in the eyes of his subjects, as he passed along, as a prisoner in his own capital. With looks of astonishment, not unmingled with indignation, the proud chiefs obeyed, marching under their royal burden, with solemn pace and downcast looks, in utter silence, but nursing in their hearts an implacable hatred against the insulting Castilians, and a burning rage, which was yet to burst upon their devoted heads in an overwhelming storm of wrath. As they passed the threshold of the imperial palace, which their once proud but now humbled lord was never to recross, they heaved a deep sigh, as if the dark sha- dows of the future already hung frowningly over their heads. It was responded >to by a deep, mysterious, sepulchral groan, which seemed to issue from the very heart of the earth, while, at the same instant, a royal eagle, sailing proudly over the capital, struck by an invisible leaden messenger from one of the sure-sighted marksmen in the Castilian camp, fluttered in his lofty flight, drooped his strong wing, and, with a terrible death shriek, the blood streaming freely from his wound, fell into the court, at the very feet of the royal procession. The fate of Montezuma, and of his empire, was now sealed. He had, with his own hand, taken the crown from his head, and laid it at the feet of the Spaniard. And, more than all, he had humbled himself in the 10* 114 DISTRESS IN THE PALACE. eyes of his own subjects, and diminished, though few were hardy enough to avow it, the profound respect and reverence with which they were accustomed to regard him. To his own immediate household, he had repre- sented this removal as a voluntary act of courtesy, on his part, designed to compliment the strangers, by becoming, for a time, their guest, and to inspire them, by his personal presence among them, with confidence in his professions of regard, as well as to show his own people how strong the bond of amity was between them. At the same time, however, that he assured them of his personal safety and his confidence that •all would end well, he recommended his wives and children to leave him, for the present, and take up their abode in his rural mountain palace at Cha- poltepec. The timid and sensitive Tecuichpo was thrown into the deepest distress by this suggestion. She could not doubt the repeated assurances of her royal father, and yet she could not divest herself of the sad impression that his liberty, and perhaps his life, was in danger, in thus separating himself from the strong arms and devoted hearts of his own people, his natural protectors, and throwing himself, unarmed, into the garrison of the fearful strangers. What security could she have that he would ever return, or that violence would not be offered to his sacred person by those who looked upon him only as the vassal of their own sovereign, to be used for his purposes and theirs, as their own sel- fishness and rapacity might dictate. " Leave us not, my dear father," she exclaimed, " or at least compel not us to leave you. Rather in dark- THE PARTING. 115 ness and in trouble than at any other time, would we stand at your side, to administer, as far as we may, to your comfort, and to share, and perhaps lighten, your sorrows." " Nay, my beloved child," the grateful monarch calmly replied, " I have no need, at this time, of your solace, or your counsel. I go among friends, who respect my person and my authority, and who well know that their own safety in Tenochtitlan, depends entirely upon retaining my friendship, which alone can shield them from being overwhelmed, and swept away like chaff, before the countless hosts of my warrior bands. Why then should I fear for myself. But for you, and your mother, and your sisters, the camp of the strangers is not a fitting place for you. They have customs of their own, and are slow to recognize the pro- priety of ours, deeming us, as they do, an inferior race of beings. They are bold and free in their manners, quite too much so for the refined delicacy of an Aztec maiden, or an Aztec matron, as you yourself both saw and felt, at the festival of their reception. How shall I expose you to the rude gaze of these foreign cavaliers, and perhaps to the rude speeches of their soldiers. No, my beloved, go to your retirement at Chapoltepec, and train the flowers there for my coming, which will be at the approaching festival of the new moon." " But will you certainly come to us then, my dear father ? Karee says " " Trouble me not with the dreams of Karee, my sweet child. They are not always as loyal as they should be. I believe I am right in what I am now doing, and I cannot be diverted from it by the mystic 116 GUATIMOZIN LEAVES THE CAPITAL. night visions of your favorite. Go, and the gods be with you." So saying, he tore himself from her embrace, and' returned to his own apartments to attire himself for the removal. The fiery, high spirited Guatimozin was so disgusted with this act of suicidal cowardice, on the part of his royal master, that he withdrew at once from the city, taking with him his servants and retainers, as well as his immense private treasures, and took up his abode at his country palace or castle, where he lived in all the pseudo-regal state and magnificence of a feudal baron, or a petty sovereign. Here he opened a correspond- ence with a large number of the principal nobles of the realm, who, like him, felt that the time had come to prepare for a terrible crisis. They concerted no mea- sures, for they dared not move openly without the com- mand or assent of their master ; but they exchanged sentiments, and encouraged each other in their patriotic purpose, to defend their country from subjugation to a foreign foe, and their altars from desecration. Passing Chapoltepec on his way, the noble Prince sought an interview with his lovely mistress, to inform her that, while the pledge he had given, in accepting the proffered rose, over the sparkling fountain of Tenochtitlan, should be sacredly regarded, he must be allowed to see with his own eyes, when danger was near, and to raise his arm in her defence, and in that of his country, from whatever quarter the threatened danger might come. He found her, bathed in tears, wandering wildly up and down, amid the shade of the tall cypresses that overhang and almost bury that MEETS TECUICHPO AT CHAPOLTEPEC. 117 mountain retreat. Her raven hair had escaped from its pearl-studded band, and was flying loosely in the breeze ; the wonted bloom was gone from her cheek, and the brilliant lustre of her dark flashing eye had given way to a sad and subdued expression, which was more in keeping with the uniform mildness and gentleness of her spirit. Separated from her adored parent, and banished from the city of her love and her pride, she began to feel more deeply than she had ever done, the terror of those dark omens which had clouded her destiny, and marked her out as the doomed Prin- cess of Anahuac. While she could cling to her father, and feel that she was to share all that might befal him, and perhaps, by sharing it, extract some portion of the bitterness from the cup which he was compelled to drink, she was calm and hopeful. But now, the sheet- anchor of her soul was gone, and she was drifting, at the mercy of the waves, she knew not whither. " My sweet cousin," said Guatimozin gently, as he arrested her flying step, " why this sudden abandon- ment to grief and despair. Dark as the clouds may be over our heads, all is not lost. Know you not, my love, that ten thousand times ten thousand brave hearts and strong arms are pledged, by every bond of loyalty and love, to rush to the rescue, the moment that any violence is offered to the sacred person of our lord. Be assured not a hair of his head shall be touched." " Ah ! my brave Guatimozin ! I know full well your courage and your zeal. But of what avail to us will be the direst vengeance your arms can wreak on the strangers, after the violence is done, and the honored 118 COURAGEOUS HOPES. head of my father — oh ! that I should live to speak it ! — laid low at their feet ! " " Fear not, my beloved, they dare not, with all their boasted power, they dare not lay a rude hand upon that sacred person. They know, they feel, that they are treading on a mighty volcano, that may burst out at any moment, and overwhelm them in hopeless destruction. It is this sense of impending danger only that has induced them to invite the Emperor to their quarters, and so to urge their suit, that he could not, as their professed friend, deny it. While he is there, they will feel safe, for his hand alone can stay the pent up fires, that they break not forth at once. Fear not. I go to-night to Iztapalapan, to confer with your royal uncle, the intrepid Cuitlahua. The noble Cacama joins us there, convinced already that his was a mis- taken policy, when he counselled your father to receive the strangers courteously, and treat them as friends." " And what can Cacama do ?" " That is yet to be seen. He is convinced of his error, and is ready to atone for it with his life. With Cacama, with Cuitlahua, with a thousand more like them — chiefs who never feared danger, and never knew defeat — why should we despair, or even doubt?" " Bat how know you, Guatimozin, that these Cas- tilian strangers regard their own safety as any way involved in that of Montezuma ? " " I gathered it from the oracle, my love, and from omens which never deceive." " What oracle ? What omens ? I pray you ex- plain?" " The omens were their own troubled looks and TIMIDITY MADE BOLD. 119 clouded brows, while this strange negotiation was pending, and the guarded watchfulness, with which they now protect their guest, and prevent the intrusion upon his privacy of any considerable number of his friends, at the same time." " Prince Guatimozin, do I understand the import of those terrible words? Is my father already a prisoner in his own palace ? " "What else, my sweet cousin, seeing he cannot come forth, if he would, and we can only approach him by permission ? " " O ye gods ! has it come to this ? Fly, Guatimozin. Fly to Iztapalapan. I release you from your pledge, Sound the alarm throughout the realm. And, if need be, / will arm, and with you to the rescue." " Not so fast, brave princess ; it is just this rashness that may endanger the precious head we would rescue. His life is safe at present ; let us not put it to hazard, by moving too soon, or striking a useless blow." " But I see not yet, my dear cousin, how it is ascer- tained that my father is secure from further outrage. May it not be their policy to take away the head, hoping thus to dishearten and distract our people, and make them an easy prey to their victorious arms." " If so, they know not the spirit of the Aztec. To a man, throughout these broad realms, they would shed their last drop, to avenge the foul sacrilege, nor rest in their work of vengeance, till every altar in the land was drenched in the blood of the captive foe. But you forget that I have oracle as well as omen to sustain my faith." " What oracle has condescended, at last, to give us i20 ARE THE GODS TREACHEROUS ? light ? I thought they had all been silent, not deign- ing, since the advent of these mysterious strangers, any response to our prayers." " Karee is never deaf, or silent, where the welfare of Tecuichpo is concerned." " Karee ? " " Yes, love, Karee ! I want no better or more trusty oracle. She has, you know, a sort of ubiquity. No- thing escapes her keen observation. Few mysteries are too deep for her sagacity to unravel. In her brief occasional encounters with the strangers, she has gathered the meaning of not a few of the words of their strange tongue. What she has once heard she never forgets. Presuming that no one could understand them, they have talked freely and boldly in her pre- sence. And it is from her that I learn, that the Cas- tilian general said to one of his officers, as he. crossed the court yard, this morning — i While we have the Emperor with us, we are safe. We must see to it, he does not escape.' " " Escape 1 " shrieked the agitated Princess ; " then he is indeed a prisoner. But these white men are gods, are the gods treacherous 1 " " The gods of the deep are all treachery, but not those of the blue fields and bright stars above us. But, be they gods from below, or gods from above, they are not the gods of Anahuac, nor shall they claim a foot of its soil, till it is drenched with the blood of the Aztec. Farewell. Fear not. I will yet see you return in triumph to the imperial halls of Tenochtitlan." HAPTEE VII. TREACHERY AND RETRIBUTION MASSACRE OF THE AZTEC NOBILITY. DEATH OF MONTEZUMA. ^totJ bloottg treason triumph. jFeelfnjj tiles not fig t!)e fenlfe; 2Tf)at cuts at once anti fcllls ; Its tortureti strife £s toft!) tilstlileTi affliction, crop ug tirop 0onnQ It's oltterness. ©ur tooriH is rife 3TOf) jjrfef anti sorroto ; all tfjat toe tooultr prop, ©r tooultt ue propped toltf), falls ; tofjere sfjall tie ruin stop 1 Passing lightly over some of the subsequent incidents of this stirring period, we must hasten to the catas- trophe of our long drawn tale. Secure in the possession of his royal prisoner, Cortez now thought he might safely leave the capital, for a while, and respond to a demand which pressed urgently upon him, to relieve his little colony at Vera Cruz, threatened with destruction, not by the natives, but a new band of adventurers from Spain, who had come to dispute the spoils with the conquerors. Leaving one of his principal officers in command, with a part of the forces, he placed himself at the head of the remainder, and marched quietly off on his new expedition. 11 122 THE FESTIVAL TERRIBLE MASSACRE. Alvarado was a brave knight, but of a rash and headlong disposition, and utterly destitute of that cool prudence and far-seeing sagacity which was requisite for so important a station. He soon involved himself in a most wicked and unjust quarrel with the Aztecs, which had well nigh overwhelmed him and his dimi- nished band in utter ruin. Not long after the departure of Cortez, one of the great national festivals of the Aztecs occurred, at which the flower of the nobility, not of Tenochtitlan alone, but of all the neighboring cities and towns, were present. They came only to the peaceful performance of the wonted rites of their religion, and consequently came unarmed. Their numbers were very great. They were all appa- relled in the richest costume of their country. Their snow white vestments, their splendid mantles of feather- work, powdered all over with jewels ; their sandals of gold or silver, and their gaudy head-dresses of many- colored plumes, made an imposing and magnificent display, as they moved in solemn procession, to the simple music of their shells and horns, towards the court yard of the great Teocalli, where the festival was to be celebrated. The immense area was thronged; with the gay multitude of worshippers, who, unsuspi- cious of treachery, gave themselves up to the wild dances and all the customary evolutions of Indian fes- tivity. In the midst of their solemn sports, Alvarado with his band of armed followers, rushed in, like so man tigers let loose upon their prey, and put them to a indiscriminate slaughter. Scarce one of that gay com pany escaped the ruthless massacre. The holy place was drenched with the best blood of Anahuac, and : ALVARADO IN PERIL. 123 mourning, desolation, and wo were carried into all the principal families in the land. It was a fearful stroke, and fearfully was it repaid upon the heads of the guilty murderers. On every side the cry of vengeance arose, and its hoarse murmurs came rolling in upon the capital, like the distant howl- ings of a gathering tempest. Myriads of outraged Aztecs, smarting and chafing under their wounds, and thirsting for a worthy revenge, thronged the avenues to the capital, and demanded the treacherous strangers to be offered in sacrifice to their offended gods. Guati- mozin, and many other brave, powerful, fearless chiefs were there, eager to seize the opportunity to chastise the insolent intruder. Day after day, they stormed the quarters of the beleaguered foe, pouring in upon them vollies of arrows, darts and stones, that sorely discom- fited, though it could not dislodge them. Every assail- able point was so well guarded by those terrible engines of destruction, the fire-belching artillery, that the assail- ants, numerous as they were, and spurred on by an ungovernable rage, could make but little impression upon them. Nevertheless, they would inevitably have carried the defences, and swept away the little band of ruthless murderers, had not Montezuma interposed, and besought them, for his sake, to desist from their hostile attacks. From regard to his safety, they suspended their active operations, but did not relinquish their settled purpose of vengeance. One means of annoyance was left to them, which would soon have reduced the fortress to submission, had not an unexpected succor arrived. All supplies were cut off from the camo, — already famine began to 124 RETURN OF CORTEZ. stare them in the face, and relax the iron sinew and with it the iron will, of the haughty Castilian. They were beginning to be reduced to extremities. A few days more, and the undefended garrison would have fallen into the hands of those merciless avengers of blood, who would have doomed every individual to the sacrifice. At this critical juncture, the all powerful, invincible Cortez returned, his forces greatly increased by the accession of the very band that had been sent against him — Narvaez, who had been commissioned to dis- place him, having become his friend, and arrayed him- self, with his whole company and munitions of war, under his banner. Hearing of the disastrous position of his friends in the capital, he hastened with rapid strides and forced marches to their relief. His progress was unimpeded by any hostilities on the part of Aztecs, or their allies, till he entered the city, and joined his forces with those of Alvarado in the beleaguered citadel. It seems to have been the purpose of the chiefs to per- mit a free ingress of the entire force of the enemy, pre- ferring rather to shut them up to famine there, than to meet them in the open field. No sooner was the General, with his augmented army, enclosed within the walls of the fortress, than active and fearful demonstrations of the roused and unappeasable spirit of the people began to be made. The streets and lanes of the city, which were silent and deserted as he passed through them to his quarters, began to swarm with innumerable multitudes of war- riors, as if the stones, and the very dust of the earth, were suddenly transformed into armed men, The flat THE AZTEC ROUSED TO REVENGE. 125 roofs of their temples and dwellings were covered on every side with fierce wild figures, frantic with rage, who taunted the Spaniards with their cruel treachery, and threatened them, in the most violent language, with a terrible revenge. "You are now again in our power," they cried, " and you cannot escape. Shut up in your narrow quarters, you are doomed to the linger- ing tortures of famine, and wo to the traitorous Aztec, that furnishes a morsel to relieve your hunger. When, at length, the faintness of death overtakes you, and you can no longer offer resistance to our arms, we will again spread the tables in your prison-house, and fatten you for the sacrifice." No longer restrained by their reverence for Monte- zuma, whose pusillanimity had been the cause of all his and their troubles, they recommenced their active operations, and stormed the defences with an energy and perseverance that was truly appalling. Day after day they deluged the place with arrows and missiles of every kind, which fell in pitiless showers upon the heads of the beseiged, till scarcely one wasjeft without some wound or bruise. In vain did they apply, as before, to their royal prisoner, to appease the rage of his subjects, and induce them once more to send them the customary supplies. In moody silence he shut himself up in his room, brooding over the ingratitude and treachery of Cortez, and the injuries and insults he had received at his hand. Exasperated by this sudden reversal of his schemes of conquest, and maddened by the sense of hunger which began to be severely felt in his camp, Cortez resolved to strike terror into the ranks of the besiegers, 11* 126 DESPERATE SORTIE. by a vigorous sortie at the head of all his cavalry. First sweeping the avenue by a well directed fire from his heavy guns, which were planted at the main entrance of the fortress, he rushed out, with all his steel clad cavaliers, trampling the unprotected assail- ants under the iron hoofs of the horses, and. dealing death on every side. The mighty mass gave way before the terrific charge of the advancing column, but immediately closed in upon its rear as it passed, till it was completely swallowed up in an interminable sea of fierce and angry foes, whose accumulating waves swept in from every avenue, and threatened to sweep them all away, in despite of the fury and power of their dreaded chargers. Convinced of his danger, the intrepid Castilian wheeled his horse about, and with a furious shout, called on his brave band to break a way through the serried ranks of the enemy. Plunging, rearing and leaping, under the double spur of the rider, and the piercing shafts of his foe, the fiery animals broke in upon the living wall that impeded their way, and rushed fiercely on, trampling down hundreds in their path, till they regained the open avenue, that was defended by their own artillery. It was not without serious loss, however, that this retreat was achieved. The fierce Aztecs threw themselves upon the horses, in the crowd, hanging upon their legs, sometimes inflict- ing serious wounds upon them, and sometimes grap- pling with their riders, dragging them from their saddles, and carrying off to captivity or sacrifice. At the same time, they were sorely beset by showers of stones and darts that poured upon their heads from every building as they passed, battering and breaking THE ASTEC LEADERS. 127 their armor, and terribly bruising both the horse and his rider. These sorties were several times repeated, but always with the same doubtful success. The loss of the Span- iards was always much less than that of their enemy. But the latter could better afford to lose a thousand, than the former to lose one. Their ranks were instantly replenished with fresh combatants, who crowded in upon the scene of conflict, like the countless thousands of the over-peopled North, that swarmed upon the fair fields of Italy, as if some used-up world had been sud- denly emptied of its inhabitants. Their numbers seemed rather to increase than to diminish with every new onset. In the same proportion their fierce resolu- tion increased. The haughty Spaniard was now convinced that he had wholly mistaken the character of the people, whom he had thought to trample down at his pleasure. A spirit, was raised which could not be laid, either by persuasion or by force. He saw and felt his danger, without the power to avert it. At length, either by threats or entreaties, or both, he prevailed on the cap- tive Montezuma once more to interpose in his behalf, by employing what authority remained to him against his own best friends and faithful subjects. The Aztecs, forsaken of their monarch, had bold and talented leaders, who were competent both to devise and to execute the measures deemed necessary for the public good, and to lead on their marshalled hosts, to battle and to victory. Cacama, the young Prince of Tezcuco, burning to retrieve his fatal error in counselling and aiding the friendly reception of the 128 CORTEZ ATTEMPTS TO DISPERSE THEM. Spaniards, now joined all his resources with those of Cuitlahua and Guatimozin, in endeavoring to recover the ground they had lost. Their first object was, to rescue the Emperor from his inglorious imprisonment, never doubting that, with his sacred person at their head, they would be able to annihilate the treacherous intruders at a blow. Not far from the city of Tezcuco, and standing out on the bosom of the lake, several hundred yards from the shore, was a solitary castle of a heavy and sombre architecture, built upon piles, at such an elevation as to be above the influence of any extraordinary swell in the waters of the lake. Consequently, when at its ordi- nary level, boats could pass freely under. At this place the princes were accustomed to meet for private delibe- ration. Cortez was informed of these meetings, and knew too well the effect of the counsels there matured, not to wish them broken up. With a boldness of design peculiar to himself, he resolved to make Montezuma the instrument of their destruction. He represented to that monarch the danger to his own interests, of allow- ing such a junto of able and ambitious men to assume the guidance of the public affairs, and undertake to direct the movements of the people. " What can they do more," he craftily exclaimed, " but assume the reins of government, under the specious pretence, which they now falsely set up, that their king is deprived of his freedom to act, and therefore no longer a king. If, now, you would save your sceptre and your crown, assert at once your imperial prerogative — show them you have still the power to speak and to act — command CACAMA SUMMONED HIS REPLY. 129 them, on pain of your royal displeasure, to lay down their arms, desist from their treasonable assemblages, and repair at once to your court, to answer for their unloyal designs." Misled by false representations of the facts, and deceived by the specious arguments of the Spaniard, Montezuma despatched a message to the lord of Tez- cuco, under the great seal of the empire, which it was high treason to disregard, commanding him instantly to appear before his master, to answer for his irregular and ill-advised proceedings. Cacama was too well aware of the real position of Montezuma, and of the constraint under which he acted, to give any heed to his mandate. " Tell my royal master," he replied, " that I am too much his friend to obey him in this instance. Let him banish the false-hearted Spaniards from his capital, the vipers whom he has taken to his bosom — let him ascend once more his imperial throne, not as a vassal, but as the rightful lord of all these realms, and Cacama will joyfully lay his crown, his life, his all, at his feet. Montezuma is my master when he is master of himself. To that dignity we intend to restore him, or perish in the attempt." On the evening of the fourth day after the return of the royal messenger, with this spirited reply of Cacama, a light pirogue, guided by a single hand, its sole occu- pant, might have been seen gliding silently over the Lake to the water-palace, the chosen rendezvous of the patriot princes. By the proud and majestic bearing of the boatman, it could be no other than Guatimozin. Securing his skiff by a cord passed through the fingers 130 THE RENDEZVOUS THE WARNING. of a gigantic hand, curiously carved from the jutting rafters on which the floor of the palace was laid, he ascended the steps to the hall, which he found unoccu- pied and still. He was presently joined by Cuitlahua and Cacama, arriving from different directions, in the same stealthy manner. Their number was soon in- creased by the arrival of four Tezcucan lords, from whom some important communications were expected. Scarcely had they entered the hall, and seated them- selves, when, a slight noise from without attracting his attention, Guatimozin rose, and went towards the door, to ascertain the cause. " It is only the chafing of our pirogues against the piles," said one of the new comers — " let us proceed to business." Guatimozin, true to his own impulses, heeded not the remark. Stepping upon the outer battlement, he dis- cerned a slight figure in a canoe, moving in the shadow of the building, and apparently seeking concealment. Supposing it might be a servant, left by the Tezcucans in charge of their boats, he was about returning, when a gentle voice whispered his name. " Who calls Guatimozin?" he replied in a whisper, at the same time leaning towards the intruder. " Beware of the Tezcucans, beware." The voice was Karee's, but the skiff shot away, like an arrow, before the Prince had time for further parley. Returning to the council, he instantly demanded, as if nothing had happened, that the plans of the evening should be laid open. A pictured scroll was then produced by the Tezcu- cans, representing the contemplated movements of the THE ESCAPE. 131 enemy, which they professed to have ascertained from authentic sources, and delineating a plan of operations against them. Guatimozin, somewhat bewildered by the warning he had received, sat down with his friends to the examination of this scroll. But, while seemingly intent upon that alone, he contrived to keep a close watch upon the movements of the Tezcucans. It was soon evident that their thoughts were not wholly engrossed by the business before them. A slight noise from without, followed instantly by an exchange of significant looks between two of the party, confirmed his suspicions. Instantly dashing away the false scroll, and springing to his feet, he boldly charged the traitors with a conspiracy, and demanded an immediate expla- nation. Alarmed at this mysterious and premature dis- closure of their designs, the chief of the party, without venturing a word of reply, gave a shrill, piercing whis- tle, which was immediately responded to from without. Finding himself entrapped, and not knowing what numbers he might have to contend with, Guatimozin sprang to the door, stretching one of the conspirators on the floor as he passed, and succeeded in reaching his skiff, just as a band of armed men rushed in from the other quarter. Cuitlahua also effected his escape, though not without a desperate encounter with one of the advancing party, who attempted to arrest his flight. To seize his antagonist with a powerful embrace, to fling him over the parapet into the water, and to plunge in after him, was the work of an instant. Swimming under water for some distance, and rising to the surface within the shadow of the building, he took possession of the nearest canoe, and, following in the wake of 132 CACAMA AND CUITLAHUA ARRESTED. Guatimozin, was soon out of the reach of danger, or pursuit. Cacama, unsuspicious of danger, and intent only on the object of their meeting, was so engrossed with the scroll, and the plans delineated upon it, that he did not fully comprehend the meaning of this sudden interrup- tion of their council, until his two friends had disap- peared, and, in their place, a band of twenty armed men stood before him. Resistance was vain. By order of the chief of the conspirators, he was seized, securely bound, and carried a prisoner to Tenochtitlan. There, though treated with indignity by Cortez, and with severity by Montezuma, he maintained a haughty and independent bearing, sternly refusing to yield, in the slightest degree, to the insolent dictation of the one, or the pusillanimous policy of the other. Cuitlahua was afterwards seized in his own palace of Iztapala- pan ; but, after a short detention, was released again, at the instigation of Montezuma. These outrages, so far from intimidating the people, only excited and incensed them the more, and led to other and more desperate assaults upon the beleaguered foe, till Cortez, apprehensive of ultimate defeat and ruin, applied once more to Montezuma, proposing that he should appear in person before his people, and require them to lay down their arms, retire to their homes, and leave his guests in peaceable possession of the quarters he had voluntarily assigned them. Arrayed in his royal robes, with the imperial diadem upon his head, preceded by his officers of state, bearing the golden wands, the emblem of despotic power, and accompanied by a considerable train of his own nobles, MONTEZUMA ADDRESSING HIS PEOPLE. 133 and some of the principal Castilian cavaliers, the unfor- tunate monarch appeared on the battlements, to remon- strate with his own people for their zeal in the defence of his crown and honor, and appease the rage of his subjects for insults offered to his own person, and to those of his loyal nobles. His presence was instantly recognized by the thronging multitudes below and around. Some prostrated themselves on the earth in profound reverence, some bent the knee, and all waited in breathless silence .to hear that voice, which had so long ruled them with despotic sway. With a sad, but at the same time a calm and digni- fied tone, the monarch addressed them, " My children," said he, " why are you here in this fierce array. The strangers are my friends. I abide with them as their voluntary guest, and all that you do against them is done against me, your sovereign and father." When the monarch declared himself the friend of the detested Spaniard, a murmur of discontent and rage arose, and ran through the assembled host. Their ungovernable fury burst at once the barrier of loyalty, and vented itself in curses upon the king who could, in the hour of their peril, thus basely forsake his people, and endeavor to betray them into the hands of a treacherous and blood thirsty foe. " Base Aztec ! " they cried, " woman ! coward ! go back to the viper friends whom you have taken to your bosom. No longer worthy to reign over us, we cast away our allegiance for ever." At the same moment, some powerful arm, more fearless than the rest, aimed a huge stone at the unprotected head of the king, which brought him sense- less to the ground. His attendants, put off their guard 12 134 MONTEZUMA MORTALLY WOUNDED. by the previous calm and reverential attention of the crowd, were taken by surprise. In vain they inter- posed their shields and bucklers, to protect his person from further violence. The fatal blow was struck. The great Montezuma had received his death-wound from the hand of one of his own subjects, who, but a moment before, would have sacrificed a hundred lives, had he possessed them, to shield the person of his mon- arch from violence and dishonor. The effect of this unexpected catastrophe seemed equally appalling to both the belligerent parties. The Aztecs, struck aghast at their own sacrilegious deed, dispersed in sorrow and shame to their homes ; while the Spaniards felt that they had lost their only remain- ing hold upon the forbearance and regard of a mighty people, whose confidence they had shamefully abused, and whose altars and houses they had wantonly dese- crated. It was a season of agonizing suspense. To retreat from their post, and abandon the conquest which they once imagined was nearly achieved, might be as disastrous as it would be humiliating. To remain in their narrow quarters, surrounded with countless thou- sands of exasperated foes, on whom they must be dependent for their daily supplies of food, seemed little better than madness. To the proud spirit of the haughty Castilian, the alternative was scarcely less to be dreaded than martyrdom. It was manifestly, how- ever, the only resource, and he resolved to evacuate the city. Meanwhile, active hostilities had been temporarily suspended. The unhappy Montezuma, smitten even more severely in heart than in person, refused alike the DEATH OF MONTEZUMA. 135 condolence of his friends and the skill of the Castilian surgeon. Tearing off the bandages from his wounds, " leave me alone," he cried, " I have already outlived my honor and the affection and confidence of my peo- ple. Why should I look again upon the sun or the earth. The one has no light, the other no dowers for me. Let me die here. I feel indeed that the gods have smitten me, when I fall by the hand of one of my own people." In this disconsolate mood, the spirit of Montezuma took its flight. In vain did the Castilian general endeavor to suppress, for a time, the tidings of his death. The loud wailing of his attendants, would have published it far and wide among the thousands of affectionate hearts, that listened for every sound that issued from the palace, if they had not, unknown to the Spaniards, established a kind of telegraphic signal, by means of which they communicated to the priests on the great Teocalli, daily reports of the progress of his disease. When the sad signal was given, announc- ing the solemn fact, that the great Montezuma had laid down his honors and his troubles together, it was responded to by the mournful tones of the great drum of the temple, by ten measured muffled strokes, convey- ing the melancholy intelligence to every dwelling in Tenochtitlan. The breathing of that populous city was now one universal wail, that seemed to penetrate the very hea- vens. Partly from a sincere regard for the fallen monarch, and partly from the hope that he might thus conciliate the good will of his afflicted subjects, Cortez directed his remains to be placed in a splendid coffin, 136 FUNERAL OBSEQUIES. and borne in solemn procession, by his own nobles, to his palace, that it might be interred with the customary regal honors. It was received by his people with every demonstration of affectionate joy and respect. Con- veyed with great pomp to the castle of Chapoltepec, followed by an immense train of priests, nobles, and common people, it Avas interred amid all the imposing ceremonies of the Aztec religion. His wives and children, frantic with grief, gathered around those hal- lowed remains, and testified, by all those tender and delicate tokens which seem the natural expression of a refined feminine sorrow, their profound sense of the inestimable loss they had sustained. By one of those singular coincidences, which tend so strongly to confirm the too easy credulity of the super- stitious, and give an unnatural emphasis to the com- mon accidents of life, it was the festival of the new moon, the very day on which Montezuma had pro- mised Tecuichpo that he would join the household circle at Chapoltepec, that his lifeless remains were borne thither, in the solemn funereal procession. " Alas ! my father," she cried, " is this the fulfilment of that only promise which sustained my sinking cou- rage in the hour of separation?" She said no more. The more profound the sorrow, the fewer words it has to* spare. " The shallow murmur, but the deep are dumb." CHAPTER Till. BRIEF REIGN OF CUITLAHUA. EXPULSION OF THE SPAN- IARDS. GUATIMOZIN CHOSEN EMPEROR. HIS MARRIAGE WITH TECUICHPO. ^Jrtef Mlotos rjrfet 2T|)e crotoneti fceati So late ttie nation's $ope, fa lain 3Loto tn t|je fcust. defeat anti triumph, tears autt smiles, SQLtfe, treat!), tr? e fllovg anti ttje fceptfis of sfiame, 2T|)e funeral pall anti t|)e pure orfTral robe, En close prortmitg— The sacred dust restored to its native earth, and the last hallowed rites performed over the sepulchre of the departed, the thoughts of the people were immediately turned to the succession. All eyes were fixed on Cuit- lahua, the noble brother of Montezuma, whose intre- pid spirit, and deadly hatred of the intruding Spaniards, accorded with the now universal sentiment of the nation. He was elected, without a dissenting voice, by the grand council of the nobles. Accepting, with alac- rity, the post of responsibility and danger, he was immediately inaugurated and crowned, with all the 12* 138 CORTEZ EVACUATES THE CAPITAL. gorgeous rites, and imposing ceremonies which a pagan priesthood delight to throw around every important event, in which their holy influence is necessarily involved. During the progress of these mournful and exciting events, the rigors of the siege had not been materially relaxed, though all active hostilities had been sus- pended. They were now to be renewed with tenfold energy, under the lead of their warlike monarch, who had often led the armies of Anahuac to victory, and who had never known defeat. When the Castilian general was informed that the heroic Cuitlahua had been placed on the throne of Mon- tezuma, and was about to take the field in person, he perceived the necessity of adopting prompt and decided measures. The retreat had already been resolved on. It was now to be put in execution, and that, without delay. As it was the custom of the Aztec, to suspend all hostilities during the night, Cortez determined to avail himself of that season to make his escape. Accordingly, every thing being made ready for the departure, and the city being hushed in a seemingly profound repose, the gates were thrown open, and the little army, with its long train of Indian allies, sallied stealthily forth, not to the stirring notes of drum or trumpet, but with hushed breath and a cautious tread, ill accordant with the haughty bearing, and vaunting air, with which they had hitherto attempted to lord it over the proud metropolis of Anahuac. But, though quiet, the sagacious and determined Aztec was wide awake. He had anticipated this stealthy movement of his pent up foe, and resolved that PERILS OF THE RETREAT. 139 he should not thus escape the snare into which his own audacious insolence had drawn him. The last files of the retreating army had not yet passed out from their entrenchments, when a long loud blast from the horn of the great Teocalli, stirred the city to its utmost bor- ders, calling out the mighty host, who had slept upon their arms, eager for the summons which should bring them once more to an engagement with their foe. Confident as the Spaniard was in the overwhelming power of his cavalry and artillery, he preferred rather to make good his retreat, while he could, than to show his prowess in these perilous circumstances. The hoarse distant murmurs which fell upon their ears at every street as they passed, indicated too plainly the mustering of a mighty host, which soon came rushing in upon them from all quarters, like the swelling surges of a stormy sea, each higher and more terrible than that which preceded. They fell upon the flying foe with the ferocity of tigers, about to be disappointed of their prey. From every lane and alley, and from the roof of every house, they pelted them with ceaseless vollies of stones. They grappled with them, man to man, reckless of life or limb, so that they could maim or destroy an enemy. Alvarado, with a portion of the cavalry, brought up the rear of the retreating army, in order to repel, with an occasional charge upon the enemy's ranks, those furious onsets which might have overwhelmed the small body of Spanish infantry, or the unmailed and lightly armed Tlascalan allies. The cavalier and his horse, encased in armor of proof, could better cope with the weapons and missiles of their assailants, while they 140 THE CONFLICT — AN AWFUL CRISIS, often turned upon them, wkh a fierce and irresistible charge, trampling hundreds in the dust, and mowing down whole ranks on this side and that, with their trenchant broadswords. In this manner the fugitives denied through the great southern avenue, and came out upon the grand cause- way, by which they had twice entered the city. Here they were met by new and fresh squadrons of the enemy, thronging the sides of the dike in their light canoes, and showering down arrows thick as hail upon the advancing column. Sometimes keeping upon the causeway, they would grapple each with his man, and drag him off into the water, to be picked up by those in the canoes, and hurried off to a terrible and certain fate, on the great altar of their War-god. Their numbers increased every moment, till the lake was literally alive with them. At length the advancing column was brought to stand ; while a cry of despair from the van revealed the fearful position in which they stood in the midst of their implacable foes. The bridges which intersected the dike had been removed by order of the Emperor. They had now reached the first opening thus made in the causeway. A sudden shout from the myriads of Aztec warriors that hung about them on all sides, told at once their own wild triumph, and the awfully peril- ous position of their enemy. Crowded together on a narrow causeway, in ranks so close as to render their arms and their weapons almost entirely useless- — arrested in front by a wide chasm which it was impos- sible to pass — their retreat cut off in the rear, by the living masses that blocked up every avenue, and pressed HEMMED IN ON ALL SIDES. 141 them forward upon the crowded ranks of their com- rades — assailed on both sides from the water, through the whole length of the closely compacted column — while all these dangers were enhanced a hundred-fold by the darkness of the night — there seemed no possi- bility of escape for one of that brave host. Cortez was with the principal part of the cavalry in the centre of the column, so wedged in by the com- pacted mass of his own forces, as to be quite unable either to advance or retreat, without trampling them under his feet, or crowding them off the causeway. He comprehended in a moment the perilous position he was in. But such was the utter confusion and dismay of the whole army, and such the horrid din of clashing arms, and the yet more horrid yells of the savage foe, that he in vain attempted either to direct or encourage his men. His voice was drowned in the uproar. Sandoval, one of his bravest and most trusty officers, who led the van, with a few other cavaliers as bold as himself, resolved to push forward at any personal hazard, rather than stand still to perish in one confused mass, dashed their steeds into the water, and made for the other side of the gap. Some succeeded in effecting a landing, while others, with their horses, perished in the attempt, or fell into the hands of the watchful boat- men. The first movement being thus made, an impetus was given to the moving column from behind, that drove the front ranks, nolens volens, into the breach. By far the greater part sank to rise no more, or were picked up by the Aztecs, and hurried away to a far more terrible death. At length the breach was filled up by the bodies of the dead, and the baggage and artil- 142 CORTEZ IN TEARS ACTIVITY OF CUITLAHUA. lery which occupied the centre, so that the rear had a clear passage over the fatal chasm. A second and a third breach was yet to be passed. It was accomplished as before, only by making a bridge of the bodies of one half, for the other half to walk upon. Meanwhile the enemy hung upon flank and rear, with unappeasable rage, striking down and picking up vast numbers of victims, until, when «the last breach was cleared, and a footing gained upon terra-firma, there was scarce a remnant left of the gallant band that entered upon that fatal causeway. The iron-hearted Cortez was so overcome with the sight of his shattered band, and the absence of so many brave comrades, when the morning light appeared, that he sat down upon a rock that overlooked the scene of desolation, and gave vent to his emotions in a flood of tears. Had the Mexicans followed up this success by falling upon the broken dispirited remnant of the Castilian army, they would probably have vanquished and destroyed them to a man. They were suffered, how- ever, to proceed unmolested for several days, until their strength and spirits were somewhat recruited. Then, though attacked by immensely superior numbers, they succeeded in putting them to rout. The new Emperor, Cuitlahua, having signalized his accession to the throne by the almost total destruction of the formidable foe, who had spread the terror of his arms far and wide through all the realms of Anahuac, proceeded to fortify his capital and kingdom against another invasion. The dikes and canals were thor- oughly repaired, the walls were strengthened and extended, the army enlarged and improved in discip- HIS BRIEF REIGN AND SUDDEN DEATH. 143 line by some of the lessons which so able a general, was not slow to learn from the Spaniards. The immense treasures they had drawn from the munificent Montezuma, and which, in the disasters of that melan- choly night, they had been compelled to leave behind, were all recovered and expended in these works of defence. Their arms, too, were gathered up, and served to improve and render more effective many of the more primitive weapons of the Aztecs. In the midst of these wise and patriotic efforts to guard against the probable return of the Spaniards, Cuitlahua was seized with a loathsome disease, which in a few days brought him to the grave, after a brief reign of four months. This was a terrible blow to the nation. It was felt throughout all the borders of Anahuac, as the severest frown of their gods. But partially recovered from the shock occasioned by the death of Montezuma, they were now beginning to feel their hopes renewed, and their courage reviving, under the bold and decided measures, and the signal successes of their new Empe- ror. He was the idol of the army. His intrepid bravery, his high military talents, his unyielding patriotism, and deadly hatred of the white men, had secured for him the confidence of all the wisest and best men of the realm, so that, with one heart and one voice, they ral- lied around his standard, assured that, under his ener- getic sway, the ancient glory and pre-eminence of the Aztec crown would be not only ably asserted, but effec- tually re-established. His fall, like a mighty earthquake, shook the empire to its centre. For a moment it seemed as if all was lost — hopelessly, irretrievably lost. The long funereal 144 GUATIMOZIN RAISED TO THE THRONE. wail, that swelled up from every dwelling and every heart in that devoted land, seemed like the expiring groan of a world. But it was only for a moment. The first shock past, they found themselves still standing, though among ruins. Their land, their temples, their dwellings, still remained. Their wise and experienced counsellors were all in their midst. Their host of armed men were still at their post, unbroken, undivided, unappalled. The imperial mantle had not fallen to the earth. As by immediate direction from heaven, all eyes were turned to Guatimozin. He was nephew to the last two monarchs, and though only a young man, had distinguished himself both in the council and in the field. He had uniformly opposed the admission of the Spaniards to the capital. He had been prominent in all the recent attacks upon their quarters, and had espe- cially signalized himself in the terrible overthrow of the disastrous night of their retreat. He had all the cool- ness and intrepidity of a veteran warrior, with all the fire and impetuosity of youth. He was about twenty- five years of age, of an elegant commanding figure, and so terrible in war that even his followers trembled in his presence. The young prince felt the extreme difficulty of the crisis, but did not shrink from the arduous and perilous post assigned him. With a prudence and circumspec- tion, only to have been expected from one long accus- tomed to the cares and perplexities of government, he set himself to fortify every assailable point, and to pre- pare for the worst that might arise, in the event of another invasion. The works commenced during the HIS INTERVIEW WITH THE PRINCESS. 145 brief reign of Cuitlahua were carried forward to their completion. By means of regular couriers and spies, a constant communication was kept up with all parts of the country. The movements of the Spaniards were narrowly watched, and their supposed designs fre- quently reported to the Emperor. Nothing was omitted which a sagacious and watchful monarch could do or devise, to make ready for a severe and protracted con- test, in whatever form it might come. Thus established on the throne, and strengthened against a sudden surprise, the ardent young monarch repaired to Chapoltepec, where the bereaved household of Montezuma still remained, in sad but peaceful seclu- sion, and claimed the hand of the fair Princess Tecuichpo. Her retiring disposition would have pre- ferred a humbler and more quiet station. She had seen enough of the agitations and burdens of a crowned head; enough of the gaudy emptiness of life in a palace, and longed to hide herself in some sweet, sequestered spot, away from the noisy parade and anx- ious bustle of a court, where her own home would be all her world. " Oh ! that that crown had fallen on some other head," she exclaimed. " Though there is not another in Anahuac so worthy to wear it, not one who would so well sustain its ancient glory, yet I would not that you should bear the heavy burden, or be exposed to that desolating storm that is gathering over our devoted capital and throne." " Said I not, my beloved, that I would yet lead you back in triumph to the royal halls of your ancestors 1 I have come to redeem my pledge. Shrink not from a 13 146 HER TIMIDITY AND HER DEVOTION. station which no other can so well adorn. Rather, far rather would I, if I could, retire with you to the quiet shades of private life, and find a home in some sweet glen among the mountains, than wear the crown and claim the homage of a world. But, my sweet cousin, the crown must be defended, the throne must be sus- tained against the insolent pretensions of these stran- gers. And / must do my part in the defence. I dare not, either as monarch or as subject, withhold myself from this great work. If I perish, I fall in the service of my country and her altars. And the higher the sta- tion I hold, the greater the service I render — the heavier the burden I bear, the brighter the honors I shall win. As well perish on the throne, as fighting at its foot. I should be unworthy of the daughter of Montezuma, if I held any thing too dear to sacrifice on the shrine of my country." " Noble Guatimozin, my heart is yours — my life is devoted only to you. Lead me where you will, so that 1 can share your burdens, and lighten your cares, and not prove unworthy of such a father and such a lord. But you forget that mine is a doomed life, that oracles and omens, signs and presages, have all conspired against me from my birth." " Nay, my love, it is you that forget, not I. For the very oracles and omens that foreshadowed for you a clouded morning, promised with equal distinctness a bright and glorious evening. The tempestuous morn- ing is passed. The glorious mid-day and the golden evening are yet to come." " You are quite too fast, 1 fear, my brave cousin, it was only the evening that was to have light. The LOVE LOOKING ON THE BRIGHT SIDE. 147 sunset hour of life was to be clear. But what, my dear Guatimozin, what do you suppose that light is to be ? and whence shall it come ? " " What can it be, but to restore, in your own person and family, the disputed pre-eminence of the Aztec dynasty, the tarnished glory of its crown. Rely upon it, my gentle cousin, that is your destiny. The timid dove of Chapoltepec shall be transformed to the royal eagle of Tenochtitlan." " That cannot be. I rather fear that the deep cloud of my doom will overshadow and darken your life. Better far that I should suffer and perish alone." " It must be, Tecuichpo, it shall be. Have not the gods given you to me ? Have they not made me the defender of the Aztec throne ? How then can you doubt that they call you to share and adorn it ? " " Oh ! my lord ! those terrible omens — they are but half fulfilled, and the promised light is yet far in the distance. Could I be sure that you would share that light with me ." " Come then with me to the palace. It will be all light for me when you are there, and sure I am that time will re-interpret those sad omens for you, and turn them all to sunshine." Suddenly the palace of Chapoltepec was changed from a house of mourning to a house of feasting. The nuptial rites of the youthful Emperor with the beautiful princess, were celebrated with great pomp. The fes- tivities continued through several days, and were hon- ored by the presence of all the nobility of the empire. The most costly entertainment was provided for the numerous guests. The most munificent royal largesses 148 THE NUPTIAL FESTIVAL. were bestowed upon the priests, and upon those who took a prominent part in the grand ceremonies, and gifts of great value lavishly distributed among all the inferior attendants. The brilliant and odoriferous trea- sures of the royal gardens, and of the chinampas of the great lake were exhausted in adorning the halls and chambers of the palace. The refined taste, and exquisite invention of Karee was every where appa- rent. The place, on the day of the nuptials, might have been taken for the realm and palace of Flora. The very air was redolent of the incense of flowers, which brightened the day with their bloom, and of the odoriferous gums, whose blaze extended the reign of day far into the realms of night. It was a national festival, a season of universal rejoicing. The people now believed that their days of darkness and temporary depression were passed, and that all the power and glory of the days of Montezuma would be restored, under those happy auspices which made his favorite daughter a sharer of his throne. The priests sanctioned and confirmed this belief, to the utmost of their power and influence, giving it out, with that oracular force and dignity, which they so well knew how to assume, that such was the true interpreta- tion of all the singular predictions and presages, which intimated that the life of the princess would close with unusual splendor. In this manner, they encouraged the hopes of the nation, confirmed its allegiance to its new Emperor, and united all its forces in a solid phalanx of resistance to every foreign encroachment. When these ceremonies were concluded, and the imperial pageant passed from Chapoltepec to the capi- GRAND PROCESSION. 149 tal, there was a new and still more imposing display of the reverence and loyalty of this singular people, and of the more than oriental magnificence with which they sustained the splendors of royalty. The road, through the entire distance, was swept, sprinkled, and strewed with flowers. The elite of the army, and the nobility in the gayest costumes, formed a brilliant and numer- ous escort, accompanied with flaunting banners, and every species of spirit-stirring music then known to Aztecs. The imperial cortege, consisting of a long array of magnificent palanquins, with their gorgeous canopies of feather-work, all a-blaze with gold and jewels, borne on the shoulders of princes and nobles, occupied the centre of the grand procession. Those of the Emperor and Empress, which moved side by side, were distinguished by the exceeding costliness and beauty of their decorations, and by the superior height of their canopies, whose sides and ends curved grace- fully to a point in the centre, about three feet above the cornice, which was surmounted by the imperial diadem of Mexico. These were followed by the queen mother, and other members of the royal household, conveyed in a style but little inferior to the first. This cortege was immediately preceded and followed by all the priests and prophets of the nation, in their splendid pontificals, and bearing the showy insignia of their various orders. An immense train of the most respectable citizens, mer- chants, mechanics, artizans, husbandmen, and men of every honorable profession brought up the rear. They were scarcely less gay and brilliant in their costume than the escort and immediate attendants of the mon- arch, though somewhat less uniform in the style of 13* 150 WELCOME TO THE CAPITAL. their decorations. The road, through its entire length, was flanked by women and children, young men and maidens, in their gala dresses, with baskets and chap- lets of flowers, which they continually showered upon the path, in front of the royal palanquins, thus renew- ing, at every step of its progress, the floral carpet, whose freshness and beauty the long escort had tram- pled out. Ever and anon a shout would go up from that vast multitude, so loud and long, that its echoes, reverberated along the mountain walls that shut in that beautiful valley from the great world, would be heard for many a league around. Then, from some little group of trained chanters, a song of right loyal welcome would burst forth, accompanied with showers of roses, and followed by a chorus from thousands of sweet voices — Welcome ! welcome ! warrior, king — Thrice welcome with the prize you bring. Star of Montezuma's line, O'er the empire, rise and shine ! Flower of Montezuma's race Return, thy father's halls to grace ! Welcome, thrice welcome, mighty one ! The nation's heart shall be thy throne. CHAPTER IX. FESTIVITIES AT THE COURT OF GUATIMOZIN. THE NEW HYMENEAL VOW. Weaken jjabe to gfoam one, antr so prodafmeU JStzx full equalftg to man. ?^e tofjo Can asfc for more, ftnotos not tfje toortt) of one, &nti so treserbes not ang— The imperial court of Tenochtitlan was now again the radiant centre of attraction to the confederated and. tributary nations of Anahuac. The terror of Guatimo- zin's arm was even more dreaded than that of Monte- zuma. He was a mighty man of valor, of that impetu- ous courage, and that bold directness of action, which executes at a blow the purposes and plans, which, with common minds, would require time and deliberation. He was at the same time of a generous magnanimous disposition, open, frank, unsuspecting, and won the affectionate regard, as well as the prompt unquestion- ing obedience of his people. He had too much good sense, and too wise a regard to the dignity of those who should attend upon the person of majesty, to require of his nobles, the officers of his court and household, those humiliating attentions which were 152 guatimozin's wisdom and activity. exacted by Montezuma. He saw that the only effect of such exactions was to weaken and eifeminate the character of some of his greatest chieftains, reducing them from proud and powerful friends to fawning cringing slaves. They were no longer shrouded in the sombre nequen, as they entered the royal presence, nor did they go barefoot, with their eyes cast down to the earth, when they bore the monarch in his luxurious palanquin. Arrayed in. all their costly finery, with golden or silver sandals, and with a bold, manly, cheer- ful bearing, as if they gloried in the precious treasure which it was their privilege, more than their duty, to protect and to care for, the imperial palanquin seemed rather their trophy than their burden, which they were far more ready to bear, than their master was to occupy. He was too active and stirring a spirit, to submit often to such a luxurious conveyance. He was ever in the midst of his chiefs, consulting and acting for the public good. He freely discussed with them the great mea- sures of defence, which he put in progress, and evinced the remarkable and rare good sense, to adopt wise and politic suggestions, however humble the source from which they emanated, and to change his opinion at once when it was shown to be wrong. He superin- tended, in person, the repairing and enlarging of the fortifications, and the improvement of the tactics and discipline of the army, By a frugal expenditure of the vast revenues of the crown, and a careful preservation of the treasures left by his predecessors, he accumulated an amount more than equal to the exigencies of a long and wasting struggle with all the combined foes of the realm. THE PRINCE OF TLACOPAN. 153 Meanwhile, the gay saloons of the palace of Monte- zuma were gayer than they had ever been. For a brief season, the clouds that had so long hung over the fate of the lovely Tecuichpo seemed to be dissipated. The skies were all bright above her, and every thing around her wore a cheerful and promising aspect. Attracted by her resplendent beauty, the unaffected ease and graciousness of her manners, and the queenly magnificence of her court, the youth, beauty, wit, talent and chivalry of the nation, gathered about her, and made her life a perpetual gala-day, rivalling in bril- liancy and effect the best days of the gayest courts in Europe. Conspicuous among the gay multitude that flitted about the court, was Nahuitla, Prince of Tlacopan, a young chief of the Tepanecs. He was just ripening into manhood, of an uncommonly lithe and agile frame, exceedingly fair and graceful, and gifted with unusual powers of intellect. He was one of the rarest geniuses of the age, and astonished^and amused the court with the variety and beauty of his poems, and other works of taste. Nor did his intellectual accomplishments exceed his heroism and loyalty. Guatimozin had not an abler or more devoted chieftain in all his realm. It was he who fought side by side with the Emperor in all his after conflicts, endured with him the horrors of the wasting siege and painful captivity which fol- lowed, and finally shared his cruel and shameful mar- tyrdom, at the hands of the then terror-stricken and cowardly Cortez, declaring with his last breath, that he desired no better or more glorious lot, than to die by the side of his lord. 154 PRINCESS ATLACAN, OF TEZCUCO. Nahuitla, like all good knights and brave soldiers, to say nothing of true poets, had a heart warmly suscepti- ble of tender impressions, and could not resist the bright eyes and witching smiles, that illuminated the saloons and gardens of the imperial palace. Promiscuous flirta- tion was less hazardous in Tenochtitlan than in most of the capitals of Christendom. The wealthy nobles being allowed to marry as many wives as they could support, the young prince could win the affections of all the bright daughters of the valley, without at all apprehending a suit for breach of promise, or a con- spiracy against his own life, or that of his favorite, by some disappointed rival. How many conquests he made in one brief campaign, does not appear in the chronicles of the day. Atlacan, a princess of Tezcuco, was his first trophy. She was very fair and highly gifted, resembling in many points of person and charac- ter, the guardian genius of the young Empress, the talented Karee. At his first encounter with the Tezcucan princess, Nahuitla was deeply impressed with a peculiar expres- sion of thoughtfulness, shading a brilliantly beautiful countenance, and imposing a kind of constrained awe upon the stranger. This shadow gradually disappeared upon a further acquaintance, till the whole face and person were so lighted up with the fire of her genius and wit, that it seemed as if invested with a superna- tural halo. Their intercourse was a perfect tourna- ment of wit, and their brilliant sallies and sparkling repartees, were the theme of universal admiration. The princess Atlacan was always attended by a very prudent, watchful, anxious chaperone, of a fair HER BROTHER AND THE MERCHANT OF CHOLULA. 155 exterior, and pleasing manners, who had passed the meridian of life, and begun to wane into the cool of its evening. She had also a brother, Maxtli, considerably older than herself, who, from a two-fold motive, seemed to delight in disappointing her expectations, and thwarting her plans. He was a cold, mercenary, self- ish man, who sought only his own aggrandizement. The princess was a special favorite of her father, who was a prince of the highest rank, and nearly related to the reigning king of Tezcuco. She had already received many substantial proofs of parental partiality, which her avaricious brother would fain have claimed for himself. Her brilliant qualities and growing influ- ence made her an object of jealousy, as seeming to stand in the way of his own preferment. He had used every exertion to dispose of her in marriage to some of her numerous suitors, and had particularly advocated the cause of a wealthy young merchant of Cholula, who rejoiced in the euphonous name of Xitentloxiltlitl, from whom Maxtli had received large presents of gold and jewels. Atlacan despised the merchant, who fondly imagined that his gold could purchase any jewel in the realm. She would not listen to his proposals. It was not pride of family, for in Auahuac, under the Aztec dynasty, the merchant was a man of note, scarcely inferior to the proudest noble. But the merchant was only a mer- chant, a man of one idea, and that was gold, without refinement, without sentiment, without heart, like the majority of the same class of mere money mongers all the world over. Maxtli was enraged by his sister's refusal of this alii- 156 THE LOVERS ESCAPE. ance, which, if it had been consummated, he would have made subservient to his own interests. He deter- mined, from mere revenge, to throw obstacles in the way of her alliance with the gifted prince of Tlacopan. The annoyances he invented, and the frequent pruden- tial interposition of her cautious chaperone, who was in the pay of Maxtli, made her position rather a difficult one, and often put her disposition to the severest test. It chanced, one lovely evening, that the lovers had stolen a march upon both their tormentors, and found, in the royal gardens, a few moments of that un watched uninterrupted conference, which only those in the same delicate relation, at the same period of life, know how to appreciate. Their absence from the saloons was soon noticed. The duenna was severely censured, and sent in pursuit of the fugitive. Karee, who was in the secret of the escape, led her a long and wearisome chase, through the numberless halls and corridors of that immense pile, and finally left her, at the furthest extremity of the building, to find her way back as she could. Then, returning to Maxtli, who could scarce restrain his rage that they had so long eluded him — " My lord," said she, " can you tell me where I shall find your sister ? I have a message for her, which I can only deliver to her personally." " I know not," he replied angrily, "but she is probably flirting somewhere with that fool fop, the royal bard of Tlacopan. But from whom does your message come?" " That can only be made known to herself. I saw her some time since, in the garden, leaning upon the arm of this same royal bard, the only young prince in Anahuac worthy of such a jewel." PURSUIT AND RETURN. 157 The prince bit his lip with vexation, and Karee ran off toward the garden. In a few moments, the poor old chaperone came blustering along, out of breath and out of humor. " Fie upon the giddy girls of this generation," she exclaimed, " they know nothing of propriety. I won- der what would have been thought of such actions when 7" was young ! " "Hasten to the garden," said Maxtli, impatiently, " your hopeful pupil is there, and that rhyming fop is with her." He might as well have sent her to the labyrinth of Lemnos or Crete. Covering an immense area, and traversed in every direction by serpentine walks, shaded lanes, and magnificent avenues, one might have wan- dered up and down there a week, without finding one who wished to elude pursuit. She obeyed his direc- tions, however, and was soon lost in mazes more intri- cate and perplexing than those of the palace. Presently the truants returned, by a different path from that which their pursuer had taken. The princess wore in her bosom a significant flower, which she had received and accepted from her admirer. With a light and joyous step, he led her through the crowded saloon, and presented her to the queen, craving her sanction to the vows they had just plighted to each other. Grace- fully placing a chaplet of white roses and amaranths on their heads, the Empress gave them her blessing. Guatimozin, approaching at the same instant, confirmed it with hearty good will, and requested that the nup- tials might be celebrated at an early day, and in his own palace? •. 14 158 POLYGAMY ABJURED. So distinguished a favor could not be refused. In the course of the next week the solemn ceremonies were performed, with all the imposing pomp of the Aztec ritual. A royal banquet was prepared, and the palace resounded with joyous revelry and music. When the officiating priest had uttered the last solemn words which sealed the indissoluble bond, Nahuitla stood forth, and publicly avowed his belief, that the gods designed only one woman for each man, solemnly renounced the old doctrine of polygamy, and pledged to his young bride, in the presence of his royal master, and the brilliant throng that had witnessed his vows of love and constancy, an undivided heart, and an undivided house. Struck with surprise and admiration at this unex- pected scene, and impressed with the truth and purity of the sentiments, and the soundness of the conclusions, which the brave prince had proclaimed, the Emperor rose from his throne, and, with a bland but dignified and solemn air, addressed him : — " You are right, Nahuitla, my brave prince ; I feel it in my heart, you are right. I feel it in the claim which your Empress and mine, (looking affectionately at Te- cuichpo,) has in the undivided empire of my heart, and in that sacred bond of union which is so close, that it cannot be shared by another without being broken. In the presence of these holy men, and of these my witnessing people, I solemnly subscribe to the same pure vow which you have uttered, pledging my whole self, in the marriage covenant to this my chosen and beloved queen, even as she has pledged her whole self to me. And I ordain the same, as*the law of TORCH DANCE. 159 this my realm, and binding on all my loyal subjects for ever." * If the noble Guatimozin had been permitted to sway the Aztec sceptre in peace, his name would be embalmed in the hearts of all the women of Anahuac, and the anniversary of the nuptials of Nahuitla and Atlacan would be celebrated, to this day, as the house- hold jubilee of the nation. The conclusion of this festival — the last of the kind that was ever celebrated in the halls of Montezuma — was a unique and magnificent specimen of Aztec taste and luxury. At a signal from the master of ceremo- nies, the royal garden was suddenly illuminated by a thousand torches, borne by as many well trained ser- vants in white livery. They were so stationed as to represent, from different points of view, groups of bright figures whirling in the mazy evolutions of a wild Indian dance. The harmony of their movements, and the picturesque effect of their frequent changes of position, was truly wonderful. It seemed more like magic than any thing belonging to the ordinary denizens of earth. By continually passing and re-passing each other, * If this incident be deemed apocryphal, by the rigid historian, the fable is fully justified by the known state of public sentiment among the Aztecs at this time. Sagahun, according to a note in Prescott, states, that poly- gamy, though allowed, was by no means generally practised among them ; and that the prevailing sentiment of the nation was opposed to it. One of the very few relics of their ancient literature, which were preserved in the general devastation of the conquest, is a letter of advice from a father to his child, on the eve of her marriage, in which he declares that it was the purpose of God, in his grand design of replenishing the earth, to make the sexes equal, and to allow only one wife to each man ; and any deviation from this arrangement, was contrary to the plainest laws of nature. 160 SIGNIFICANT PANTOMIME. approaching and receding, raising and depressing their torches, the bearers were enabled to describe a great variety of fantastic figures. So well did they perform their parts, that, to the crowd of spectators from the palace, it was a perfect pantomime of light. At length the dance ended, and the figures of the various groups in light, gathering around a high altar, all of fire, seemed waiting for some sacred rite to be performed. Presently a tall princely figure was seen, approaching with slow and solemn pace, leading a lovely female to the altar. The high priest joined their hands in the indissoluble bond, and waved his wand of fire over their heads, in token of the divine blessing ; upon which the dance of the torches was instantly renewed, accompanied with strains of the most joyous music, each group breathing out its peculiar airs and melodies, while the whole were beautifully blended and harmonized by the master spirit of the fete. It seemed like the bridal of two angels of light, witnessed and celebrated by all the stars and constellations of the celestial spheres. The sudden extinguishment of these pantomimic stars, revealed to the surprised revellers the presence of the dawn, before whose coming the stars of every sphere go out, and revelry gives place to the sober reali- ties of life. CHAPTER X. RETURN OF CORTEZ. SIEGE OF TENOCHTITLAN. BRAVERY AND SUFFERINGS OF THE AZTECS, OT&at totll not man ensure, anti tooman too, 2To jjuarti tt)c Jjeartf) autJ altar 1