wept, and garnished. The Totonac
chiefs, and the priests clotted with the blood of their brutal
sacrifices, now docile as children, obeyed obsequiously the demands of
the haughty reformer. He ordered these unenlightened pagan priests to
have their heads shorn, to be dressed in the white robes of the
Catholic priesthood, and, with lighted candles in their hands, they
were constrained to assist in performing the rites of the papal
Church. An image of the Virgin was installed in the shrine which had
been polluted by all the horrid orgies of pagan abominations. Mass was
celebrated upon the altar where human hearts, gory and quivering, had
for ages been offered in awful sacrifice. The prayers and the chants
of Christianity ascended from the spot where idolaters had slain their
victims and implored vengeance upon their foes.

Cortez then himself earnestly and eloquently harangued the people,
assuring them that henceforth the Spaniards and the Totonacs were
Christian brothers, and that under the protection of the Holy Virgin,
the mother of Christ, they would both certainly be blessed.

Violent as were these deeds, it is undeniable that they ushered in a
blessed change. The very lowest and most corrupt form of Christianity
is infinitely superior to the most refined creations of paganism.
The natives gradually recovered from their terror. They gazed
with admiration upon the pageant of the mass, with its gorgeous
accompaniments of incense, music, embroidered robes, and solemn
processions. The Spanish historians who witnessed the scene record
that many of the Indians were so overcome with pious emotion, in thus
beholding, for the first time, the mysteries of Christianity, that
they freely wept. No more resistance was made. The Totonacs, thus
easily converted, apparently with cheerfulness exchanged the bloody
and hideous idols of Mexico for the more attractive and more merciful
idols of Rome. Let not this remark be attributed to want of candor;
for no one can deny that, to these uninstructed natives, it was merely
an exchange of idols.

Cortez had now been in Mexico nearly three months. Every moment
had been occupied in the accomplishment of objects which he deemed
of fundamental importance. He was, however, evidently somewhat
embarrassed respecting the validity of his title to command. It was
at least doubtful whether the king would recognize the authority of a
colony established in so novel a manner. Cortez also well knew that