Land of Flowers, and sent him thither again to establish a colony. The aged veteran did not, however, reach his province until the year 1521, and then it was only to find the Indians in a state of bitter hostility. Scarcely had he landed when they fell upon him in a furious battle; many of the Spaniards were killed outright, and the rest had to betake themselves to the ships for safety. Ponce de Leon himself received a mortal wound from an arrow, and was carried back to Cuba to die.

CHAPTER IV.

SPANISH DISCOVERIES IN AMERICA.-CONTINUED.

THE year 1517 was marked by the discovery of Yucatan and the Bay of Campeachy by FERNANDEZ DE CORDOVA. While exploring the northern coast of the country, his company was attacked by the natives, and he himself mortally wounded. During the next year the coast of Mexico was explored for a great distance by GRIJALVA, assisted by Ccrdova's pilot; and in the year 1519, FERNANDO CORTEZ landed with his fleet at Tabasco and began his famous conquest of Mexico.

As soon as the news of the invasion spread abroad, the subjects of the Mexican empire were thrown into consternation. Armies of native warriors gathered to resist the progress of the Spaniards, but were dispersed by the invaders. After freeing the coast of his opponents, Cortez proceeded westward to Vera Cruz, a seaport one hundred and eighty miles south-east of the Mexican capital. Here he was met by ambassadors from the celebrated Montezuma, emperor of the country. From him they delivered messages and exhibited great anxiety lest Cortez should march into the interior. He assured them that such was indeed his purpose; that his business in the country was urgent; and that he must confer with Montezuma in person.

The ambassadors tried in vain to dissuade the terrible Spaniard. They made him costly presents, and then hastened back to their alarmed sovereign. Montezuma immediately despatched them a second time with presents still more valuable, and with urgent appeals to Cortez to proceed no farther. But the cupidity of the Spaniards was now inflamed to the highest pitch, and burning their ships behind them, they began their march towards the capital. The Mexican em

peror by his messengers forbade their approach to his city. Still they pressed on. The nations tributary to Montezuma threw off their allegiance, made peace with the conqueror, and even joined his standard. The irresolute and vacillating Indian monarch knew not what to do. The Span

iards came in sight of the city-a glittering and splendid vision of spires and temples; and the poor Montezuma came forth to receive his remorseless enemies. On the morning of the 8th of November, 1519, the Spanish army marched over the causeway leading into the Mexican capital and was quartered in the great central square near the temple of the Aztec god of

war.

FERNANDO CORTEZ.

It was now winter time. For a month Cortez remained quietly in the city. He was permitted to go about freely with his soldiers, and was even allowed to examine the sacred altars and shrines where human sacrifices were daily offered up to the deities of Mexico. He made himself familiar with the defences of the capital and the Mexican mode of warfare. On every side he found inexhaustible stores of provisions, treasures of gold and silver, and what greatly excited his solicitude, arsenals filled with bows and javelins. But although surrounded with splendor and abundance, his own situation became extremely critical. The millions of natives who swarmed around him were becoming familiar with his troops and no longer believed them immortal. There were mutterings of an outbreak which threatened to overwhelm him in an hour. In this emergency the Spanish general adopted the bold and unscrupulous expedient of seizing Montezuma and holding him as a hostage. A plausible pretext for this outrage was found in the fact that the Mexican governor of the province

adjacent to Vera Cruz had attacked the Spanish garrison at that place, and that Montezuma himself had acted with hostility and treachery towards the Spaniards while they were marching on the city. As soon as the emperor was in his power, Cortez compelled him to acknowledge himself a vassal of the king of Spain and to agree to the payment of a sum amounting to six million three hundred thousand dollars, with an annual tribute afterwards.

In the mean time, Velasquez, the Spanish governor of Cuba, jealous of the fame of Cortez, had despatched a force to Mexico to arrest his progress and to supersede him in the command. The expedition was led by PAMPHILO DE NARVAEZ, the same who was afterwards governor of Florida. His forces consisted of more than twelve hundred well armed and well disciplined soldiers, besides a thousand Indian servants and guides. But the vigilant Cortez had meanwhile been informed by messengers from Vera Cruz of the movement which his enemies at home had set on foot against him, and he determined to sell his command only at the price of his own life and the lives of all his followers. He therefore instructed Alvarado, one of his subordinate officers, to remain in the capital with a small force of a hundred and forty men; and with the remainder, numbering less than two hundred, he himself hastily withdrew from the city and proceeded by a forced march to encounter De Narvaez on the sea-coast. On the night of the 26th of May, 1520, while the soldiers of the latter were quietly asleep in their camp near Vera Cruz, Cortez burst upon them with the fury of despair, and before they could rally or well understand the terrible onset, compelled the whole force to surrender. Then, adding the general's skill to the warrior's prowess, he succeeded in inducing the conquered army to join his own standard; and with his forces thus augmented to six times their original numbers he began a second time his march towards the capital.

While Cortez was absent on this expedition, the Mexicans of the capital rose in arms, and the possession of the country was staked on the issue of war. Alvarado, either fearing a revolt or from a spirit of atrocious cruelty, had attacked the Mexicans while they were celebrating one of their festivals, and slain five hundred of the leaders and priests. The people in a frenzy of astonishment and rage flew to their arms and laid siege to the palace where Alvarado and his men were fortified. The Spaniards were already hard pressed when Cortez at the head of his new army reached the city. He entered without opposition and joined Alvarado's command; but the passions of the Mexicans were now thoroughly aroused, and not all

the diplomacy of the Spanish general could again bring them into subjection. In a few days the conflict began in earnest. The streets were deluged with the blood of tens of thousands; and not a few of the Spaniards fell before the vengeance of the native warriors. For months there was almost incessant fighting in and around the city; and it became evident that the Spaniards must ultimately be overwhelmed and destroyed.

To save himself from his peril, Cortez adopted a second shameless expedient, more wicked than the first. Montezuma was compelled to go upon the top of the palace in front of the great square where the besiegers were gathered and to counsel them to make peace with the Spaniards. For a moment there was universal silence, then a murmur of vexation and rage, and then Montezuma was struck down by the javelins of his own subjects. In a few days he died of wretchedness and despair, and for a while the warriors, overwhelmed with remorse, abandoned the conflict. But with the renewal of the strife Cortez was obliged to leave the city. Finally a great battle was fought, and the Spanish arms and valor triumphed. In the crisis of the struggle the sacred Mexican banner was struck down and captured. Dismay seized the hosts of puny warriors, and they fled in all directions. In December of 1520, Cortez again marched on the capital. A siege, lasting until August of the following year, ensued; and then the famous city yielded. The empire of the Montezumas was overthrown, and Mexico became a Spanish province.

Among the many daring enterprises which marked the beginning of the sixteenth century, that of FERDINAND MAGELLAN is worthy of special mention. A Portuguese by birth, a navigator by profession, this man, so noted for extraordinary boldness and ability, determined to discover a south-west rather than a north-west passage to Asia. With this object in view, he appealed to the king of Portugal for . ships and men. The monarch listened coldly, and did nothing to give encouragement. Incensed at this treatment, Magellan threw off his allegiance, went to Spain-the usual resort of disappointed seamen-and laid his plans before Charles V. The emperor caught eagerly at the opportunity, and ordered a fleet of five ships to be immediately fitted at the public expense and properly manned with

crews.

The voyage was begun from Seville in August of 1519. Sailing southward across the equinoctial line, Magellan soon reached the coast of South America, and spent the autumn in explorations, hoping to find some strait that should lead him westward into that ocean which Balboa had discovered six years previously. Not at first successful in this effort,

he passed the winter-which was summer on that side of the equator— somewhere on the coast of Brazil. Renewing his voyage southward, he came at last to the eastern mouth of that strait which still bears the name of its discoverer, and passing through it found himself in the open and boundless ocean. The weather was beautiful, and the peaceful deep was called the Pacific.

Setting his prows to the north of west, Magellan now held steadily on his course for nearly four months, suffering much meanwhile from want of water and scarcity of provisions. In March of 1520 he came to the group of islands called the Ladrones, situated about midway between Australia and Japan. Sailing still westward, he reached the Philippine group, where he was killed in a battle with the natives. But the fleet was now less than four hundred miles from China, and the rest of the route was easy. A new captain was chosen, and the voyage continued by way of the Moluccas, where a cargo of spices was taken on board for the market of Western Europe. Only a single ship was deemed in a fit condition to venture on the homeward voyage; but in this vessel the crews embarked, and returning by way of the Cape of Good Hope arrived in Spain on the 17th day of September, 1522. The circumnavigation of the globe, long believed in as a possibility, had now become a thing of reality. The theory of the old astronomers, of Mandeville and of Columbus had been proved by actual demonstration.

The next important voyage undertaken to the shores of America was in the year 1520. LUCAS VASQUEZ DE AYLLON, who had been a judge in St. Domingo and had acquired great riches, conducted the expedition. He and six other wealthy men, eager to stock their plantations with slaves, determined to do so by kidnapping natives from the neighboring Bahamas. Two vessels were fitted out for the purpose, and De Ayllon commanded in person. When the vessels were nearing their destination, they encountered a storm which drove them northward about a hundred and fifty leagues, and brought them against the coast of South Carolina. The ships entered St. Helena Sound and anchored in the mouth of the Cambahee River. The name of Chicora was given to the country, and the river was called the Jordan. The timid but friendly natives, as soon as their fears had subsided, began to make presents to the strangers and to treat them with great cordiality. They flocked on board the ships; and when the decks were crowded, De Ayllon, watching his opportunity, weighed anchor and sailed away. A few days afterward an avenging storm sent one of the ships to the bottom of the sea, and death came mercifully to most of the poor wretches who were huddled under the hatches of the other.