The Project Gutenberg EBook of Montezuma's Daughter, by H. Rider Haggard

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

Title: Montezuma's Daughter

Author: H. Rider Haggard

Release Date: May 13, 2006 [EBook #1848]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MONTEZUMA'S DAUGHTER ***

Produced by Donald Lainson and Anonymous Volunteers

MONTEZUMA'S DAUGHTER

by H. Rider Haggard

NOTE

The more unpronounceable of the Aztec names are shortened in many
instances out of consideration for the patience of the reader; thus
'Popocatapetl' becomes 'Popo,' 'Huitzelcoatl' becomes 'Huitzel,' &c.
The prayer in Chapter xxvi. is freely rendered from Jourdanet's French
translation of Fray Bernardino de Sahagun's History of New Spain,
written shortly after the conquest of Mexico (Book VI, chap. v.), to
which monumental work and to Prescott's admirable history the author of
this romance is much indebted. The portents described as heralding the
fall of the Aztec Empire, and many of the incidents and events written
of in this story, such as the annual personation of the god Tezcatlipoca
by a captive distinguished for his personal beauty, and destined to
sacrifice, are in the main historical. The noble speech of the Emperor
Guatemoc to the Prince of Tacuba uttered while they both were suffering
beneath the hands of the Spaniards is also authentic.

DEDICATION

My dear Jebb,

Strange as were the adventures and escapes of Thomas Wingfield, once of
this parish, whereof these pages tell, your own can almost equal them
in these latter days, and, since a fellow feeling makes us kind, you at
least they may move to a sigh of sympathy. Among many a distant land
you know that in which he loved and fought, following vengeance and his
fate, and by your side I saw its relics and its peoples, its volcans
and its valleys. You know even where lies the treasure which, three
centuries and more ago, he helped to bury, the countless treasure that
an evil fortune held us back from seeking. Now the Indians have taken
back their secret, and though many may search, none will lift the graven
stone that seals it, nor shall the light of day shine again upon the
golden head of