tried with
fine cotton stained with brilliant colors.

"But the pride of Iztapalapan was its celebrated gardens, covering an
immense tract of land and laid out in regular squares. The gardens were
stocked with fruit-trees and with the gaudy family of flowers which
belonged to the Mexican flora, scientifically arranged, and growing
luxuriant in the equable temperature of the table-land. In one quarter
was an aviary filled with numerous kinds of birds remarkable in this
region both for brilliancy of plumage and for song. But the most
elaborate piece of work was a huge reservoir of stone, filled to a
considerable height with water, well supplied with different sorts of
fish. This basin was 1,600 paces in circumference, and surrounded by a
walk."

Readers must remember that at that age no beautiful gardens on a large
scale were known in any part of Europe. The first "garden of plants" (to
use the name afterward applied by the French) is said to have been an
Italian one, at Padua, in 1545, a whole generation after the time of the
arrival of Cortes in Mexico. It was only under Louis "Le Magnifique"
that France created the Versailles Gardens, and not till the time of
George III and his tutor Bute could we boast of the gardens at Kew, now
admired by all the world. The ancient Mexicans, therefore, under their
extinct civilization, had developed this taste for the beautiful many
ages before the most cultivated races in Europe.

Cortes took up his quarters at this residence of Iztapalapan for the
night, expecting to meet Montezuma on the morrow. Mexico was now
distinctly full in view, looking "like a thing of fairy creation," a
city of enchantment.

There Aztlan stood upon the farther shore;
Amid the shade of trees its dwellings rose,
Their level roofs with turrets set around
And battlements all burnished white, which shone
Like silver in the sunshine. I beheld
The imperial city, her far-circling walls,
Her garden groves and stately palaces,
Her temples mountain size, her thousand roofs.
And when I saw her might and majesty
My mind misgave me then.

_Madoc_, i, 6.

That following day, November 8, 1519, should be noted in every calendar,
when the great capital of the Western World admitted the conquering
general from the Eastern World. The invaders were now upon a larger
causeway, which stretched across the salt waters of Lake Tezcuco; and
"had occasion more than ever to admire the mechanical scienc