Part 19 (1/2)
The city was approached by three solid causeways soer to behold such men and animals as had never been seen in that part of the world”
At any ht have been destroyed, surrounded as they were by overwhelreat day in the history of European discovery, when the Spaniard first set foot in the capital of the Western world Everywhere was evidence of a crowded and thriving population and a high civilisation At the walls of the city they were met by Montezuma himself Amid a crowd of Indian nobles, preceded by officers of state bearing golden wands, was the royal palanquin blazing with burnished gold It was borne on the shoulders of the nobles, who, barefooted, walked sloith eyes cast to the ground
Descending froaudy featherwork powdered with jewels and fringed with silver
His cloak and sandals were studded with pearls and precious stones areeted the King, and spoke of his hty ruler of Spain Everywhere Cortes and his men were received with friendshi+p and reverence, for was he not the long-lost Child of the Sun? The Spanish explorer begged Montezuive up his idols and to stop his terrible hurew angry He was also very anxious He felt the weakness of his position, the little handful of reat populous city, which he had sworn to win for Spain The King o
”Why do aste time on this barbarian? Let us seize hie our swords into his body!” cried the exasperated commander
This is no place for the pathetic story of Montezuma's downfall
Prescott's _Conquest of Mexico_ is within the reach of all It tells of the Spanish treachery, of the refusal of the Mexican ruler to accept the new faith, of his final appeal to his subjects, of chains, degradation, and death It tells of the three great heaps of gold, pearls, and precious stones taken by Cortes, of the final siege and conquest
[Illustration: THE BATTLES OF THE SPANIARDS IN MEXICO Fro a leader of the Spaniards with his native allies defeating the Mexicans]
The news of this immense Mexican Eht honours fro, Charles V, to the triumphant conqueror
Nor did Cortes stop even after this achievement As Governor and Captain-General of Mexico, he sent off shi+ps to explore the neighbouring coasts Hearing that Honduras possessed rich ht be found, Cortes led an expedition by land Arrived at Tabasco, he was provided with an Indian map of cotton cloth, whereon were painted all the towns, rivers, ua With this loomy woods so thick that no sun ever penetrated, and after a march of one thousand miles reached the seacoast of Honduras, took over the country for Spain to be governed with Mexico by himself
This enormous tract of country was known to the world as ”New Spain”
CHAPTER XXIX
EXPLORERS IN SOUTH AMERICA
The success of Cortes and his brilliant conquest of Mexico gave a new impulse to discovery in the New World The spirit of exploration do those living in the West Indies there were olden countries in the West, ru their ears
No sooner had these rich lands been realised than the news of Magellan's great voyage revealed the breadth of the ocean between America and Asia, and destroyed for ever the idea that the Spice Islands were near
Spanish enterprise, therefore, lay in the same direction as heretofore, and we must relate the story of how Pizarro discovered Peru for the King of Spain He had accoazed out on to the unknoaters of the Pacific Ocean below With Balboa after crossing the isthmus of Darien he had reached Panareat nation far to the south Like Mexico, it was spoken of as highly civilised and rich in old and silver Many an explorer would have started off straightway for this new country, but there was a vast tract of dark forest and tangled underwood between Panama and Peru, which had damped the ardour of even the most ardent of Spanish explorers
But Pizarro was a e and dauntless resolution, and he was ready to do and dare the ile shi+p with some hundred men aboard left Pananorant of southern navigation, the Indians along the shore were hostile, his men died one by one, the rich land of Peru was th reached the island of Gallo near the Equator, they awaited reinforcements from Panama Great, then, was the disappointment of Pizarro when only one shi+p arrived and no soldiers News of hardshi+ps and privations had spread through Panama, and none would volunteer to explore Peru By this time the handful of wretchedon crabs picked up on the shore, begged to be taken hoer Then came one of those tremendous moments that lifts the born leader ofhis sword, Pizarro traced a line on the sand fro to the south, ”on that side are toil, hunger, nakedness, the drenching storm, desertion, and death, and on this side ease and pleasure There lies Peru with its riches, here Pana, he stepped across the line Twelve stout-hearted men followed him The rest turned wearily homewards The reduced but resolute little party then sailed south, and a voyage of two days brought theht land of Peru
Communication with the natives assured them that here ealth and fortune to be made, and they hurried back to Panama, whence Pizarro sailed for Spain, for per to find Cortes contributing some of his immense wealth from Mexico towards this new quest
In February 1531 three shty soldiers and thirty-six horses sailed south under Pizarro It was not till the autureat march to the interior A city called Cuzco was the capital--the Holy City with its great Te in the New World, had never yet been seen by Europeans But the residence of the King was at Caxaoal of the Spaniards for the present
Already the neas spreading through the land that ”white and bearded strangers were co upon unearthlydeadly thunderbolts”
[Illustration: PIZARRO From the portrait at Cuzco]
Pizarro's march to the heart of Peru with a mere handful of men was not unlike that of Cortes' expedition to Mexico Both coveted the rich empire of unknown oal lay the stupendous e of the Andes or South American Cordilleras, rock piled upon rock, their crests of everlasting snow glittering high in the heavens Across these and over narrow mountain passes the troops had now to pass So steep were the sides that the horse their horses as best they htful chasms yawned below theht be utterly destroyed by bodies of Peruvians in overwhelher and higher up the dreary heights, till at last they reached the crest Then began the descent--precipitous and dangerous--until after seven days of this the valley of Caxahted eyes, and the little ancient city with its white houses lay glittering in the sun
But dismay filled the stoutest heart when, spread out below for the space of several round