Sketches of Aboriginal Life

very portals

rance. Can I

ods commission

them, and p

r and th

eet in a moment. That invading foe consisted 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, and only held back from rushing upon them, like herds of ravening tigers, by the strong arm of the royal prohibition. Their position was like that of a group of children in a mena

ld 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 defence, which the idea of their celestial origin threw around them, he would never again have yielded his 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 overthrown. 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

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 composed of immense stones, fashioned with geometrical precision, well laid in cement, and capable of withstanding for ages the play of the waters, and the ravages of

ntezuma, and again in his name to bid the strangers welcome to the capital. As each of the chiefs presented himself, in his turn, to Cortez, and made the cu

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 Iztapalapan. As the monarch advanc

thered 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 le

generally. His countenance was expressive of great benignity. His carriage was serious, dignified and even majestic, and, without the least tinctu

im, standing on 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

plied with expressions of the most profound respect, and with many and ample acknowledgments 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 co

ate thousands of his subjects. Pondering deeply, as the train moved slowly 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, breat

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no more in h

has come

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 roya

rous 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,-

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, appearing 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 t

rial clasp, which bound his girdle in front, bearing as its device, richly engraven on the precious chalchivitl, the emblem 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

s of the will of the gods, the dark lines of destiny foreshown to the faithful. The soul of Montezuma was oppressed almost to sinking. But he roused himse

tance to the encroachments of the intruding Spaniards. His reluctance to their admission to the capital was so great, that he refused to witness the humiliating spectacle; preferring 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

s 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

f indescribable tenderness, "we will indeed die together, i

I might share that life with you. But my country! my allegiance! how can I sacrifice that which is not my own?-that inheritanc

ar Guatimozin! must

ame 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 Quetzalcoatl, and see if he cannot mo

t. Stay, and sustain with your courageous hopes the sad heart of my dear fat

ly abandonment of their altars, than that they design, in these dark portents, to denounce an

e counsels would tend to shake his resolve, effectually prevented Guatimozin from pursuing, at that moment, the object nearest his heart. He retired into the gar

ur 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 strang

ope 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 dre

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 yo

earn if any thing new had transpired to encourage his hope that his wishes would yet be realized, in the exclusion of the Spaniards from the city. As they passed along, they heard Karee-o-thán, the garrulous pet of the Princess

ges me in my treason. I wish I knew how she would respond to the name of this

o trifle thus?"

Guatimozin!" resp

he says is against you. And what do you

ché! brave

rince, "the bird is as g

ation, informed them that the Spaniards had already reached their quarters in the

hese things, my fairy queen,

e 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 wil

al 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 i

d when the sl

amed of