e. She
had never been instructed in the school of Christ. Polygamy was the
religion of her land. She deemed herself the honored wife of Cortez,
and dreamed not of wrong. Marina was in all respects an extraordinary
woman. Nature had done much for her. In person she was exceedingly
beautiful. She had winning manners, and a warm and loving heart.
Her mind was of a superior order. She very quickly mastered the
difficulties of the Castilian tongue, and thus spoke three languages
with native fluency--the Mexican, the Yucatanese, and the Spanish. "I
am more happy," said she one day, "in being the wife of my lord and
master Cortez, and of having a son by him, than if I had been
sovereign of all of New Spain."

Her career had been eventful in the extreme. She was the daughter of a
rich and powerful cacique, who was tributary to the Emperor of Mexico.
Her father died during her infancy, and her mother married again. A
son by her new husband gradually estranged the affections of the
unnatural mother from her daughter. These feelings increased, till
she regarded the child with deep dislike, and secretly gave her away
to some slave-drivers, circulating the report that the child was dead.
The slave-merchants brought her from her distant home, where the
language of Mexico was her native tongue, and sold her to one of the
chiefs of Tabasco. Here she acquired the language of Yucatan.

There was much in the energy, magnanimity, fearlessness, and glowing
temperament of Cortez to rouse a woman's love. Marina became devotedly
attached to him. She watched over his interests with a zeal which
never slumbered; and when she became the mother of his son, still more
tender ties bound her to the conqueror of her race. In subsequent
scenes of difficulty and danger, her acquaintance with the native
language, manners, and customs made her an invaluable acquisition to
the expedition.

After a few days spent at Tabasco, the hour for departure came. The
boats, decorated with the banner of the cross, and with palm leaves,
the symbols of happiness and peace, floated down the beautiful river
to the squadron riding at anchor at its mouth. Again spreading the
sails, and catching a favorable breeze, the adventurers were wafted
rejoicingly on toward the shores of Mexico. The newly-converted
natives were left to meditate upon the instructions which they had
received--to count the graves of the slain--to heal, as they could,
the gory wounds and splintered bo