ently fought with an utter disregard of danger. The dress of
the warriors was magnificent. Their bodies were protected by a vest of
quilted cotton, impervious to light missiles, and over this the chiefs
wore mantles of gorgeous feather-work, and the richer of them a kind of
cuirass of gold or silver plates. Their helmets were of wood, fashioned
like the head of some wild animal, or of silver surmounted by plumes of
variously coloured feathers, sprinkled with precious stones, beside
which they wore many ornaments of gold, and their banners were
embroidered with gold and feather-work.

The Aztecs worshipped thirteen principal gods, and more than two hundred
of less importance, each of whom, however, had his day of festival,
which was duly observed. At the head of all stood the war-god, the
terrible Huitzilopochtli, whose fantastic image was loaded with costly
ornaments, and whose temples, in every city of the empire, were the most
splendid and stately. The Aztecs also had a legend that there had once
dwelt upon the earth the great Quetzalcoatl, god of the air, under whose
sway all things had flourished and all people had lived in peace and
prosperity; but he had in some way incurred the wrath of the principal
gods, and was compelled to leave the country. On his way he stopped at
the city of Cholula, where a temple was dedicated to him, of which the
great ruins remain to this day. When he reached the shores of the
Mexican Gulf he embarked in his magic boat, made of serpents' skins, for
the fabulous land of Tlapallan, but before he bade his followers
farewell he promised that he and his descendants would one day come
again. The Aztecs confidently looked forward to the return of their
benevolent god, who was said to have been tall in stature, with a white
skin, long dark hair, and a flowing beard, and this belief of theirs
prepared the way, as you will presently see, for the success of
Cortes.[28] The Mexican temples, or teocallis as they were called--which
means 'Houses of God'--were very numerous, there being several hundreds
of them in each of the principal cities. They looked rather like the
Egyptian pyramids, and were divided into four or five stories, each one
being smaller than the one below it, and the ascent was by a flight of
steps at an angle of the pyramid. This led to a sort of terrace at the
base of the second story, which passed quite round the building to
another flight of steps immediately over the first, so