ch of feathers of the royal green color. A man about
forty; tall and rather thin; black hair, cut rather short for a person
of rank; dignified in his movements; his features wearing an expression
of benignity not to be expected from his character.

After dismounting from horseback, Cortes advanced to meet Montezuma, who
received him with princely courtesy, while Cortes responded by profound
expressions of respect, with thanks for his experience of the Emperor's
munificence. He then hung round Montezuma's neck a sparkling chain of
colored crystal, accompanying this with a movement as if to embrace him,
when he was restrained by the two Aztec lords, shocked at the menaced
profanation of the sacred person of their monarch and master.

Montezuma appointed his brother to conduct the Spaniards to their
residence in the capital, and was again carried through the adoring
crowds in his litter. "The Spaniards quickly followed, and with colors
flying and music playing soon made their entrance into the southern
quarter."

On entering "they found fresh cause for admiration in the grandeur of
the city and the superior style of its architecture. The great avenue
through which they were now marching was lined with the houses of the
nobles, who were encouraged by the Emperor to make the capital their
residence. The flat roofs were protected by stone parapets, so that
every house was a fortress. Sometimes these roofs seemed parterres of
flowers ... broad terraced gardens laid out between the buildings.
Occasionally a great square intervened surrounded by its porticoes of
stone and stucco; or a pyramidal temple reared its colossal bulk crowned
with its tapering sanctuaries, and altars blazing with unextinguishable
fires. But what most impressed the Spaniards was the throngs of people
who swarmed through the streets and on the canals."

Probably, however, the spectacle of the European army with their horses,
their guns, bright swords and helmets of steel, a metal to them unknown;
their weird and mysterious music--the whole formed to the Aztec populace
an inexplicable wonder, combined with those foreigners who had arrived
from the distant East, "revealing their celestial origin in their fair
complexions." Many of the Aztec citizens betrayed keen hatred of the
Tlascalans who marched with the Spaniards in friendly alliance.

At length Cortes with his mixed army halted near the center of the city
in a great open space, "where rose the huge