e greatest advantage. Cortez and his officers viewed with
admiration the various manufactures of the country. Cotton stuffs so
fine as to resemble silk. Pictures of animals, trees, and other natural
objects, formed with feathers of different colours, disposed with such
skill and elegance, as to resemble, in truth and beauty of imitation,
the finest paintings. But what chiefly attracted their eyes were two
large plates of circular form; one of massive gold, representing the
sun, the other of silver, an emblem of the moon. These were accompanied
with bracelets, collars, rings, and other trinkets of gold, and with
several boxes filled with pearls, precious stones, and grains of gold
unwrought, as they had been found in the mines or rivers.

Cortez received all these with an appearance of profound respect for the
monarch by whom they were bestowed; but when the Mexican informed him
that their master would not give his consent that foreign troops should
approach nearer to his capital, or even allow them to continue longer in
his dominions, the Spanish general declared that he must insist on his
first demand, as he could not, without dishonour, return to his own
country until he was admitted into the presence of the princes whom he
was appointed by his sovereign to visit.

He first caused all his vessels to be burnt, in order to cut off the
possibility of retreat, and to show his soldiers that they must either
conquer or perish. He then penetrated into the interior of the country,
drew to his camp several caziques, hostile to Montezuma, and induced
these native princes to assist him.

After surmounting every obstacle he arrived with his army in sight of
the immense lake on which was built the city of Mexico, the capital of
the empire.

In descending from the mountains of Chalco, the vast plain of Mexico
opened gradually to their view, displaying a prospect the most striking
and beautiful: fertile and cultivated fields, stretched out further than
the eye could reach, a lake resembling the sea in extent, encompassed
with large towns, and the capital city rising upon an island, adorned
with temples and turrets.

Many messengers arrived one after another from Montezuma, one day
permitting them to advance, on the next requiring them to retire, as his
hopes or fears alternately prevailed, and so wonderful was his
infatuation that Cortez was almost at the gates of the capital before
the monarch had determined whether to receive