enterprise. On February 10, 1519, he sailed to the conquest of Mexico,
accompanied by some six hundred and fifty white men and a few Indians.
Cortes was in his thirty-fourth year when he entered on this the
greatest of his enterprises. He was pale faced and dark eyed, somewhat
slender in build, but of an iron strength and constitution. In temper
he was patient though liable to fits of passion, and in disposition
frank, merry, and generous, but most determined. He dressed richly and
was constant in his religious exercises. Such was the great captain, a
man suited by circumstances and nature to the desperate undertaking
which it was his destiny to bring to a successful issue.

Having touched at the island of Cozumel on the coast of Yucatan,
Cortes sailed up the Tabasco River and began his work of conquest by
attacking a great army of Indians in the neighborhood of that town.
For a while the natives held their own notwithstanding their dismay at
the sound and effects of fire-arms; but the appearance of the
horsemen, whom they took to be strange animals, caused them to flee in
terror leaving many hundreds of their warriors dead upon the field. On
the morrow they made their submission, bringing women and other gifts
as a peace-offering. Among these women was one named Malinche, or by
the Spaniards Marina, whom Cortes took as a mistress and who is
described by Camargo as having been "beautiful as a goddess." It was
this lady, born to be the evil genius of her country, who instructed
her lord and master in the habits, traditions, and history of the
Aztecs, and of the land of Anahuac which they inhabited together with
other tribes. She was Cortes' interpreter and confidante, whose
business it was to gain information from the Indians, which he could
use, and whose wit and devotion more than once saved him from
disaster. So invaluable were her services to Cortes that it is
doubtful if without her aid he would have succeeded in conquering
Mexico, and it was from her that he acquired the name of Malinche by
which he was known among the Indian races. Her reward, when she had
served his purpose and he was weary of her, was to be given by him in
marriage to another man.

Leaving Tabasco Cortes sailed along the coast till he reached the spot
where the city of Vera Cruz now stands, whence he opened
communications with Montezuma, Emperor of the Aztecs. In due course
envoys arrived from the monarch laden with magnificent gifts, who
deli