wine, with its penetrating sweetness, lulling the senses and calling up happy visions, this delights him, and specimens of both are deposited upon the altar of Quetzalcoatl at Tula. Finally, on seeing the glass necklace, he declares the giver to be indeed the Acatl Ynacuitl, the travelling god of the reed; and deeming himself unworthy of so brilliant an adornment, he consecrates it to the gods. The best painters are called to give a superior representation of the strange visitors from the rude drawings brought by the messengers, and from their description, while the old and wise men are asked for recollections and ideas which may throw light upon the subject. After much search a tradition is raked up, wherein a race is to come from the east mounted on serpents or masted mountains, and with them a white, bearded people, astride of big deers and eagles, who will land at Tzonapan, and obtain possession of all the land. They are also described as a one-legged people, with the face in the middle of the body, of white complexion and with long beard. In confirmation thereof is produced an old painting, which agrees with those depicting the late arrivals. Convinced of the identity, Montezuma orders the governors of the coast provinces to maintain a close watch for the return of the strangers, so that he may receive speedy notice. _Tezozomoc_, _Hist. Mex._, ii. 241-50; _Duran_, _Hist. Ind._, MS., ii. 359-92. This chapter presents but a faint picture of the state of affairs within the Mexican empire at the time of the arrival of Cortés. As I said at the outset, all this I have given in my _Native Races_, and can not of course repeat it here. Further authorities on omens and on the state of the Aztec empire, most of them, however, of no value, are _Carbajal Espinosa_, _Hist. Mex._, ii. 5-12; _Beltrami_, _Mexique_, ii. 137-9 and 142-3; _Zamacois_, _Hist. Méj._, iii. 130-2; _Vetancvrt_, _Teatro Mex._, pt. iii. 124-6; _Bos_, _Leben der See-Helden_, 4-5; _Hazart_, _Kirchen-Geschichte_, ii. 505-8; _Touron_, _Hist. Gen. Am._, iii. 127-34; _Viagero Univ._, xxvi. 192-237; _Larenaudière_, _Mex. et Guat._, 73-5; _Lafond_, _Voy._, i. 105-7; _Eggleston’s Montezuma_, 11-17; _Sammlung aller Reisebesch._, xiii. 289-91; _Russell’s Hist. Am._, i. 76-9; _Laharpe_, _Abrégé_, ix. 268-73; _Du Perrier_, _Gen. Hist. Voy._, 332-6; _Burke’s Europ. Set._, i. 71; _Smollett’s Voy._, i. 214-19; _Chevalier_, _Mexique_, 7-22; _Mexique Études_, 9-10; _Robertson’s Hist. Am._, ii. 17-18; _Bussierre_, _L’Emp. Mex._, 119-30; _Manzi_, _Conq. di Mess._ 14-19; _Roure_, _Conquête du Mex._, 211-20. CHAPTER VIII. THE COMBATANTS SALUTE. APRIL-MAY, 1519.