s
led to the summit of the temple. Several large altars stood here,
besmeared with the blood of human sacrifices, and there was also a
hideous image of a dragon polluted with gore.

From this towering eminence the whole adjacent country lay spread out
before the eye of Cortez in surpassing loveliness. Gardens, groves,
villages, waving fields of grain, and the wide expanse of the placid
lakes, covered with boats gliding rapidly over the mirrored waters,
presented a scene of beauty which excited the enthusiasm of Cortez to
the highest pitch. They then entered the sanctuaries of the temple,
where human hearts were smoking, and almost throbbing, upon the altars
before the revolting images of their gods. On the summit of the
temple there was an enormous drum or gong, which was struck when the
miserable victim was shrieking beneath the knife of sacrifice. Its
doleful tones, it was said, floating over the still waters of the
lake, could be heard at the distance of many miles.

From these sickening scenes Cortez turned away in disgust, and
exclaimed indignantly to Montezuma,

"How can you, wise and powerful as you are, put trust in such
representatives of the devil? Why do you allow your people to be
butchered before these abominable idols? Let me place here the cross,
and the image of the blessed Virgin and of her Son, and the influence
of these detestable idols will soon vanish."

Montezuma, shocked by words which he deemed so blasphemous, and
dreading the swift vengeance of the gods, hurried his irreverent guest
away.

"Go," said he, "go hence, I entreat you, while I remain to appease, if
possible, the wrath of the gods whom you have so dreadfully provoked."

But these scenes aroused anew the religious zeal of Cortez and his
companions. As they returned to their lodgings, they immediately
converted one of the halls of their residence into a Christian chapel.
Here the rites of the Roman Catholic Church were introduced, and the
whole army of Cortez, with soldierly devotion, attended mass every
day. Good Father Olmedo, with perhaps a clouded intellect, but with
that recognition of the universal brotherhood of man which sincere
piety ever confers, prayed fervently for God's blessing upon his frail
children of every name and nation.

The Spaniards estimated the population of the city at about five
hundred thousand. The streets were very regularly laid out at right
angles. Many of them were wide, and lined with shade-tree