wall with towers,
and its apartments and courts were so large as to accommodate both the
Spaniards and their Indian allies.

The first care of Cortez was to take precautions for his security, by
planting artillery so as to command the different avenues which led to
it, and posting sentinels at proper stations, with orders to observe the
greatest vigilance.

In the evening Montezuma returned to visit his guests, with the same
pomp as in their first interview, and brought presents of great value
not only to Cortez and his officers, but even to the private men. A long
conference ensued, in which Cortez, in his usual style, magnified the
power and dignity of his sovereign.

Next morning Cortez and some of his principal attendants were admitted
to a public audience of the emperor; the three following days were
employed in viewing the city, the appearance of which was so far
superior to any place the Spaniards had beheld in America, and yet so
little resembling the structure of an European city, that it filled them
with surprise and admiration.

Mexico, or Tenuchtitlan, as it was anciently called, is situated on some
small islands, near one side of a large lake, which is ninety miles in
circumference. The access to the city was by artificial causeways or
streets, formed of stones and earth, about thirty feet in breadth. These
causeways were of considerable length: that on the west extended a mile
and a half; that on the north-west three miles, and that towards the
south six miles. On the east, the city could only be approached by
canoes.

Not only the temples of their Gods, but the palaces belonging to the
monarch, and to persons of distinction, were of such dimensions that
they might be termed magnificent.

But, however the Spaniards might be amused or astonished at these
objects, they felt the utmost anxiety with respect to their situation.

They had been allowed to penetrate into the heart of a powerful
kingdom, and were now lodged in its capital without having once met with
open opposition from its monarch; but they had pushed forward into a
situation where it was difficult to continue, and from which it was
impossible to retire without disgrace and ruin.

They could not, however, doubt of the hostility of the Mexicans, more
especially as, on his march, Cortez received advice from Vera Cruz,
where he had left a garrison, that a Mexican general had marched to
attack the rebels whom the Spaniards had encouraged t