stones; and thereon appeared two hideous idols, seated upon thrones of state, in all the splendor of barbaric ornament; while before them stood the terrible stone of sacrifice. This was a green mass of rock, five spans high, presenting a sharp angle at the top, over which the miserable victims were stretched, while the priest gashed open the living body with a rude knife of flint, and tore out the palpitating heart. "I devoted them and all their wickedness," says Diaz, "to God's vengeance, and thought that the time would never arrive that I should escape from this scene of human butchery, horrible smells, and more detestable sights." He tells of an apartment filled with wild animals and venomous reptiles, who were fed with the sacrificial flesh. Of these, the most dangerous serpents had "in their tails somewhat that sounds like castanets.' "These beasts and horrid reptiles were retained to keep company with their infernal gods, and when these animals. yelled and hissed, the palace scemed like hell itself." From this elevation, a beautiful view was obtained of the whole of the great salt lake in which the city stood, the towns of the vicinity, the long and well-built causeys connecting them, and the magnificent mountains beyond.

It would be tedious to relate the ceremonies of the royal court, although many of them are singular, and well worth the examination of those who would obtain a complete knowledge of a time and people varying so widely from any thing now known on earth. Among Montezuma's means of luxury or relaxation, were the habits of smoking tobacco, drinking a fermented liquor of no little potency, and listening to the remarks of a set of buffoons whom he kept about him, in the same capacity as that of the courtfools of a past age in Europe.

An analogy to rites and customs of the Old World, no less striking, was noticed in many of the popular religious observances. "It should seem that the Devil," as

De Solis has it, "the inventor of these rites, was ambitious to imitate baptism and circumcision, with the same pride with which he endeavored to counterfeit the other ceremonies, and even the sacraments of the Catholic church; since he introduced among these barbarians the confession of sins, giving them to understand that thereby they obtained the favor of their gods. He instituted likewise a ridiculous sort of communion, which the priests administered upon certain days in the year, dividing into small bits an idol made of flour, mixed up into a paste with honey, which they called the God of Penitence."—“Nay, they even gave their chief priests the title of Papas in their language; by which we find that this imitation cost Satan a very particular study and application."

Marriages were performed by the priest's tying the veil of the woman to a portion of the man's dress, after certain prescribed preliminaries. In this guise the pair walked home together, and concluded the ceremony by pacing seven times round the domestic hearth. Divorces were at the discretion of the parties, and when they took place, the sons belonged to the man, the daughters to the woman. Hasty separations were guarded against by a provision that, should they again cohabit after having once broken the bond of union, both should be put to death. In some instances, on the death of the husband, his wife would immolate herself, according to the custom until recently so prevalent in India.

CHAPTER V.

SEIZURE AND IMPRISONMENT OF MONTEZUMA.- EXECUTION OF QUALPOPOCA AND HIS COMPANIONS. OMINOUS PROSPECTS. EXPEDITION

OF PAMPHILO DE NARVAEZ.-SUCCESS OF CORTEZ AGAINST HIM. RETURN TO MEXICO.- OUTRAGE BY ALVARADO, AND CONSEQUENT TROUBLES.. -DEATH OF MONTEZUMA. — THE "NOCHE TRISTE."

BATTLE OF OBTUMBA, AND ARRIVAL AT TLASCALA.

“And sounds that mingled laugh, and shout, and scream,

To freeze the blood in one discordant jar,

Rung to the pealing thunderbolts of war."

CAMPBELL.

CORTEZ was not yet satisfied; he felt his situation to be precarious, and that his object would not be fully accomplished until he had acquired complete mastery over the inhabitants of the imperial city. While he was on his march to Mexico, Juan de Escalente, commander of the garrison left at Vera Cruz, had, with six other Spaniards, perished in a broil with the natives. One soldier was taken prisoner, but dying of his wounds, his captors carried his head to Montezuma. The trophy proved an object of terror to the king, who trembled as he looked on the marks. of manly strength which its contour and thick curled beard betokened, and ordered it from his presence.

Cortez knew of these events when at Cholula, but had kept them concealed from most of his people. He now adduced them, in select council of his officers, as reason— with other matters-for the bold step he purposed. This was to seize the person of Montezuma.

On the eighth day after the arrival at the city, Cortez took with him Alvarado, Velasquez de Leon, Avila, Sandoval, and Francisco de Lujo, and, ordering a number of his soldiers to keep in his vicinity, proceeded to the royal

palace. He conversed with Montezuma concerning the attack on the garrison at the coast, and professed belief in the Mexican prince's asseverations that he had no part in it; but added that, to quiet all suspicion on the part of the great emperor of the East, it would be best for him to remove to the Spanish quarters! Montezuma saw at once the degradation to which he was called upon to submit, but looking on the fierce Spaniards around him, and hearing an interpretation of their threats to despatch him immediately if he did not comply, he suffered himself to be conducted to the palace occupied by his false friends.

Cortez, while he kept and vigilant guard, al

To hide his disgrace from his subjects, the unhappy monarch assured the astonished concourse in the streets that he went of his own free will. his prisoner secure by a constant lowed him to preserve all the outward tokens of royalty. Meanwhile, Qualpopoca, the governor of the district where Juan de Escalente lost his life, was sent for, together with his associate officers. When they arrived, Cortez was allowed by Montezuma to punish them at his own discretion, and the inhuman monster caused them to be burned alive in the sight of the populace. The fuel used for this purpose consisted of the royal stores of arrows, darts, and other warlike implements. Still further to quell the spirit of the king, fetters were placed upon his ankles during the execution of this cruel sentence.

The people of Mexico could not be blinded to the true position of their sovereign, and it was not long before ominous signs appeared of a general determination to avenge his wrongs, and vindicate the insulted honor of the nation. The young lord of the ancient and powerful city of Tezcuco was foremost in arousing this spirit of resistance, but by artifice and treachery he fell into the hands of the Spaniards, and his brother was proclaimed governor in his stead.

The king was brought so low as to consent to acknowledge himself a subject of the Spanish emperor; and he delivered up to Cortez treasures of gold and silver, to the amount, according to computation, of more than six millions of dollars, as a present to his new sovereign. But a small portion of this wealth was reserved to be sent to Spain; the rest was divided among the conquerors, the chiefs and officers appropriating the lion's share.

The next movement was to establish the Christian ceremonies of worship upon the very site so long venerated as the palace of the great god of war. After strong opposition, a portion of the area on the summit of the chief temple was set apart for the Spaniards' use in the solemnities of their religion, while the blood-stained idol and the stone of sacrifice maintained their old position.

At these sacrilegious innovations, the whole populace became more and more exasperated. Montezuma warned his oppressors of the storm that would break upon them, declaring that if he should but give the sign, his whole people would rise as one man to release him and destroy the hated whites. The unfortunate monarch seems to have been distracted and overcome by emotions of the most conflicting nature. For some of the Spanish officers he had contracted no small degree of personal attachment, while he must have felt continually galled by the restraint placed upon his person, and by the consciousness that he was now but a tool in the hands of the proud invaders of his dominions. The mildness and dignity of his demeanor excited sympathy and respect from his jailers, and Cortez exacted the utmost deference and respect towards his captive from all around him.

The prudent general saw the necessity for every precaution against an attack from the natives, and, to guard against his retreat being cut off, on such a contingency, had two vessels built and furnished from the stores saved

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