THE CITY OF MEXICO 190 THE FALL OF MONTEZUMA 222 THE BATTLE UPON THE CAUSEWAY 232 THE CAPTURE OF GUATEMOZIN 260 HERNANDO CORTEZ. CHAPTER I. THE DISCOVERY OF MEXICO. The shore of America in 1492.--Doubt and alarm.--A light appears.--He watches the light.--The shore is seen.--The Spaniards land and are hospitably received.--Mexico is discovered.--Arts and sciences of the Mexicans.--The mines of precious metals.--Code of laws.--Punishments. --Slavery.--Military glory.--Mexican mythology.--The three states of existence.--Infant baptism.--Worship.--The temples and altars.--Mode of offering sacrifice.--City of Mexico.--Montezuma.--Civilization of the inhabitants.--The Governor of Cuba resolves to subjugate the country.--Motives for carrying on conquests.--Hernando Cortez. Three hundred and fifty years ago the ocean which washes the shores of America was one vast and silent solitude. No ship plowed its waves; no sail whitened its surface. On the 11th of October, 1492, three small vessels might have been seen invading, for the first time, these hitherto unknown waters. They were as specks on the bosom of infinity. The sky above, the ocean beneath, gave no promise of any land. Three hundred adventurers were in these ships. Ten weeks had already passed since they saw the hills of the Old World sink beneath the horizon. For weary days and weeks they had strained their eyes looking toward the west, hoping to see the mountains of the New World rising in the distance. The illustrious adventurer, Christopher Columbus, who guided these frail barks, inspired by science and by faith, doubted not that a world would ere long emerge before him from the apparently boundless waters. But the blue sky still overarched them, and the heaving ocean still extended in all directions its unbroken and interminable expanse. Discouragement and alarm now pervaded nearly all hearts, and there was a general clamor for return to the shores of Europe. Christopher Columbus, sublime in the confidence with which his exalted nature inspired him, was still firm and undaunted in his purpose. [Illustration: AMERICA DISCOVERED.]