If you will look upon a map of Spain, in the province of Estremadura, you will find the small town of Medellin. At this place, in the year 1485, Hernan Cortes was born of poor but respectable parents. His parents (Don Martin Cortes de Monroy and Doña Catalina Pizarro de Altamirano) were of noble descent, had been once rich, but were now reduced. Whatever others may think, I consider it fortunate that young Cortes was born poor. Had he been the child of a rich man, he might have been reared in the midst of foolish luxuries and indulgences, led a life of idle dissipation, and proved utterly worthless: as it was, his poverty forced him to make exertions and to struggle with the world. Poverty helped him, as it has helped many others; it taught him to rely upon his own energies. It was particularly fortunate in his case; for his natural temperament, as you will see, was just such as to ruin him, had he been born to a rich inheritance. Of the earliest years of his boyhood I can tell you nothing, except that he was a warm-hearted, sprightly, and intelligent lad, admired and beloved by all who knew him. At the age of fourteen he gave such promise of future usefulness, that his father determined he should have the advantage of an education, to fit him for the study of the law. Young Cortes was sent, therefore, at this time, to the celebrated University of Salamanca. Here, for the first time, he disappointed the expectations of his friends. His ardent and restless nature could not well bear the close industry and confinement of college life, and boys of inferior parts outstripped him in his studies. At the end of two years, I am sorry to say that he was worse than lazy. He was now so weary of his situation, that he became the leader of many wild and mischievous irregularities--so much so, that more than once he came near being expelled from the University. At length, to the great sorrow of his father, he left Salamanca, and returned to Medellin. Here, laying aside all books, he devoted himself to active and manly sports, and made himself skilful in horsemanship and the use of arms.