tez, where they were all warmly
welcomed. "Thus," says Clavigero, "the farther the Spaniards advanced
into the country, the more they continued to increase their forces;
like a rivulet which, by the accession of other streams, swells in its
course into a large river."

[Illustration: FIRST VIEW OF THE MEXICAN CAPITAL.]

For several days they toiled resolutely along, "recommending," says
Diaz, "our souls to the Lord Jesus Christ, who had brought us through
our past dangers," until, from the heights of Ithualco, they looked
down over the majestic, the enchanting valley of Mexico. A more
perfectly lovely scene has rarely greeted human eyes. In the far
distance could be discerned, through the transparent atmosphere,
the dim blue outline of the mountains by which the almost boundless
basin of Mexico was girdled. Forests and rivers, orchards and lakes,
cultivated fields and beautiful villages adorned the landscape. The
magnificent city of Mexico was situated, in queenly splendor, upon
islands in the bosom of a series of lakes more than a hundred miles
in length. Innumerable towns, with their lofty temples, and white,
picturesque dwellings, fringed the margin of the crystal waters. The
circumference of the valley girdled by the mountains was nearly two
hundred miles.

The Spaniards gazed upon the enchanting scene with amazement, and many
of them with alarm. They saw indications of civilization and of power
far beyond what they had anticipated. Cortez, however, relying upon
the efficiency of gunpowder, and also deeming himself invincible while
the sacred banner of the cross waved over his army, marched boldly on.
The love of plunder was a latent motive omnipotent in his soul, and he
saw undreamed of wealth lavishly spread before him. Though Cortez was,
at this period of his life, a stranger to the sordid vice of avarice,
he coveted intensely boundless wealth, to be profusely distributed in
advancing his great plans.[D]

[Footnote D: Hon. Waddy Thompson thus describes the appearance of the
great valley of Mexico at the present time. "The road passes within
about twenty miles of the mountain of Pococatapetl, the highest point
of the territory of Mexico; but the brightness of the atmosphere, and
a tropical sun shining upon the snow with which it is always covered,
makes the distance seem very much shorter--not, indeed, more than one
or two miles. In descending the mountain, at about the distance of
twenty-five miles the first