ears, and even amassed a considerable sum of money. But at last
news came of an exploring expedition which had set out in 1518 under
Grijalva, the nephew of Velasquez. He had touched at various places on
the Mexican coast, and had held a friendly conference with one cacique,
or chief, who seemed desirous of collecting all the information he could
about the Spaniards, and their motives in visiting Mexico, that he might
transmit it to his master, the Aztec emperor. Presents were exchanged at
this interview, and in return for a few glass beads, pins, and such
paltry trifles, the Spaniards had received such a rich treasure of
jewels and gold ornaments that the general at once sent back one of his
ships under the command of Don Pedro de Alvarado to convey the spoil,
and acquaint the governor of Cuba with the progress of the expedition,
and also with all the information he had been able to glean respecting
the Aztec emperor and his dominions. Now in those days nothing whatever
was known about the interior of the country or of its inhabitants--it
was as strange to the explorers as another planet.

THE WONDERS OF MEXICO

This was what they had to tell the governor. Far away towards the
Pacific Ocean there stood, in a beautiful and most fertile valley, the
capital of a great and powerful empire, called by its inhabitants
'Tenochtitlan,' but known to the Europeans only by its other name of
'Mexico,' derived from 'Mexitli,' the war-god of the Aztecs. These
Aztecs seem to have come originally from the north, and after many
wanderings to have halted at length on the south-western borders of a
great lake, of which there were several in the Mexican valley. This
celebrated valley was situated at a height of about 7,500 feet above the
sea, and was oval in form, about 67 leagues in circumference, and
surrounded by towering rocks, which seemed to be meant to protect it
from invasion. It was in the year 1325 that the Aztecs paused upon the
shore of the lake, and saw, as the sun rose, a splendid eagle perched
upon a prickly pear which shot out of a crevice in the rock. It held a
large serpent in its claws, and its broad wings were opened towards the
rising sun. The Aztecs saw in this a most favourable omen, and there and
then set about building themselves a city, laying its foundations upon
piles in the marshy ground beside the lake, and to this day the eagle
and the cactus form the arms of the Mexican republic.

[Illustration]

The l