the country when the Spaniards arrived.

The chief business of this "New History" is to set forth these views.
Under the treatment of its author, Montezuma becomes a rude Indian
sachem, his kingdom a confederation of barbarous Indian tribes like that
of the Iroquois, the city of Mexico a cluster of mud huts or wigwams in
an everglade, its causeways rude Indian footpaths, its temples and
palaces pure fictions of lying Spanish romance, and all previous
histories of the Aztecs and their country extravagant inventions with a
"Moorish coloring." He would have us believe that what he calls "the
pretended civilization of Montezuma and his Aztecs" was a monstrous
fable of the Spaniards, a "pure fabrication," encouraged by the civil
authority in Spain, and supported by the censorship of the Inquisition.
Therefore he undertakes to destroy "the fabric of lies," unveil those
"Mexican savages" the Aztecs, and tell a "new" story of their actual
character and condition.

Of course, views so preposterous do not find much favor. If the Mexicans
had been nothing more than this, the experience of Cortez among them
would have been like that of De Soto in his long and disastrous march
through Florida, the Gulf regions, and the country on the lower
Mississippi. Cortez and his men had a different fortune, because their
march was among people who had towns, cities, settled communities, and
the appliances and accumulations of civilized life. Doubtless some of
the Spaniards exaggerated and romanced for effect in Spain, but they did
not invent either the city of Mexico or the kingdom of Montezuma. We can
see clearly that the Mexicans were a civilized people, that Montezuma's
city of Mexico was larger than the present city, and that an important
empire was substantially conquered when that city was finally subjugated
and destroyed.

That the ancient city of Mexico was a great city, well built partly of
timber and partly of cut stone laid in a mortar of lime, appears in all
that is said of the siege, and of the dealings of Cortez with its people
and their rulers. Montezuma, wishing to remove false notions of the
Spaniards concerning his wealth, said to Cortez during their first
interview, "The Tlascalans, I know, have told you that I am like a god,
and that all about me is gold, silver, and precious stones; but you now
see that I am mere flesh and blood, and that _my houses are built of
lime, stone, and timber_." Lime, stone, and timber! This wa