for a moment had been shaken, he submitted himself calmly
to his fate,--while the Spaniards, gathering around, muttered their
_credos_ for the salvation his soul. Thus by the death of a vile
malefactor perished the last of the Incas.

* * * * *

=_George Bancroft, 1800-._= (Manual, pp. 487, 491, 531.)

From the "History of the United States."

=_129._= VIRGINIA AND ITS INHABITANTS IN EARLY TIMES.

The genial climate and transparent atmosphere delighted those who had
come from the denser air of England. Every object in nature was new and
wonderful. The loud and frequent thunder-storms were phenomena that had
been rarely witnessed in the colder summers of the north; the forests,
majestic in their growth, and free from underwood, deserved admiration
for their unrivalled magnificence; the purling streams and the frequent
rivers, flowing between alluvial banks, quickened the ever-pregnant soil
into an unwearied fertility; the strangest and the most delicate flowers
grew familiarly in the fields; the woods were replenished with sweet
barks and odors; the gardens matured the fruits of Europe, of which the
growth was invigorated and the flavor improved by the activity of the
virgin mould. Especially the birds, with their gay plumage and varied
melodies, inspired delight; every traveller expressed his pleasure in
listening to the mocking-bird, which carolled a thousand several tunes,
imitating and excelling the notes of all its rivals. The humming-bird,
so brilliant in its plumage, and so delicate in its form, quick in
motion, yet not fearing the presence of man, hunting about the flowers
like the bee gathering honey, rebounding from the blossoms into which
it dips its bill, and as soon returning "to renew its addresses to its
delightful objects," was ever admired as the smallest and the most
beautiful of the feathered race. The rattlesnake, with the terrors of
its alarms and the power of its venom; the opossum, soon to become as
celebrated for the care of its offspring as the fabled pelican: the
noisy frog, booming from the shallows like the English bittern; the
flying squirrel; the myriads of pigeons, darkening the air with the
immensity of their flocks, and, as men believed, breaking with their
weight the boughs of trees on which they alighted,--were all honored
with frequent commemoration, and became the subjects of the strangest
tales. The concurrent relation of all the Indians justifie