Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 1.djvu/38

26 and martial character, enabled it to resist the combined forces of the Aztecs for upwards of two hundred years.

Such was the state of the empire when the news of Cortéz's arrival became the subject of discussion in Mexico. Some were for open or wily resistance. Others were oppressed with superstitious fears. But Montezuma, adopting a medium but fatal course, resolved, without delay, to send an embassy with such gifts as he imagined would impress the strangers with the idea of his magnificence and power, whilst, at the same time, he courteously commanded the adventurers to refrain from approaching his capital.

Meanwhile the Spaniards restlessly endured the scorching heats and manifold annoyances of the coast, and were amusing themselves by a paltry traffic with the Indians, whose offerings were generally of but trifling value. After the expiration of a week, however, the returned couriers and the embassy approached the camp. The time is seemingly short when we consider the difficulty of transportation through a mountain country, and recollect that the Mexicans, who were without horses, had been obliged to traverse the distance on foot. But it is related on ample authority,—so perfectly were the posts arranged among these semi-civilized people,—that tidings were borne in the short period of twenty-four hours from the city to the sea, and, consequently, that three or four days were ample for the journey of the envoys of Montezuma, upon a matter of so much national importance.

The two Aztec nobles, accompanied by the Governor of the province, Teuhtle, did not approach with empty hands the men whom they hoped to bribe if they could not intimidate. Gold and native fabrics of the most delicate character; shields, helmets, cuirasses, collars, bracelets, sandals, fans, pearls, precious stones; loads of cotton cloth, extraordinary manufactures of feathers, circular plates of gold and silver as large as carriage wheels, and the Spanish helmet filled with golden grains; were all spread out, as a free gift from the Emperor to the Spaniards!

With these magnificent presents, Montezuma replied to the request of Cortéz, that it would give him pleasure to communicate with so mighty a monarch as the king of Spain, whom he respected highly, but that he could not gratify himself by according the foreign envoy a personal interview, inasmuch as the distance to his capital was great, and the toilsome journey among the mountains was beset with dangers from formidable enemies. He could do no more, therefore, than bid the strangers farewell,