ached by any other
voyager for ten or twelve years after. A great part of the kingdom
of Brazil was embraced in this extent, and two successive Castilian
navigators landed and took formal possession of it for the crown of
Castile, previous to its reputed discovery by the Portuguese Cabral;
although the claims to it were relinquished by the Spanish Government,
conformably to the famous line of demarkation established by the treaty
of Tordesillas.

While the colonial empire of Spain was thus every day enlarging, the man
to whom it was all due was never permitted to know the extent, or the
value of it. He died in the conviction in which he lived, that the land
he had reached was the long-sought Indies. But it was a country far
richer than the Indies; and had he on quitting Cuba struck into a
westerly, instead of southerly direction, it would have carried him into
the very depths of the golden regions, whose existence he had so long
and vainly predicted. As it was, he "only opened the gates," to use his
own language, for others more fortunate than himself; and, before he
quitted Hispaniola for the last time, the young adventurer arrived
there, who was destined by the conquest of Mexico to realize all the
magnificent visions, which had been derided only as visions, in the
lifetime of Columbus.

* * * * *

From "The History of the Conquest of Mexico."

=_127._= PICTURE-WRITING OF THE MEXICANS.

While these things were passing, Cortes observed one of Teuhtlile's
attendants busy with a pencil, apparently delineating some object. On
looking at his work, he found that it was a sketch, on canvas, of the
Spaniards, their costumes, arms, and, in short, different objects of
interest, giving to each its appropriate form and color. This was the
celebrated picture-writing of the Aztecs, and as Teuhtlile informed him,
this man was employed in portraying the various objects for the eye of
Montezuma, who would thus gather a more vivid notion of their appearance
than from any description by words. Cortes was pleased with the idea;
and as he knew how much the effect would be heightened by converting
still life into action, he ordered out the cavalry on the beach, the
wet sands of which afforded a firm footing for the horses. The bold
and rapid movements of the troops, as they went through their military
exercises, the apparent ease with which they managed the fiery animals
on which they were mounted, the