These promises did not reach Cortés till he was descending from the sierra. He replied that details were best arranged by a personal interview, and that the Spaniards came with peaceful motives.
Montezuma was now plunged in deep despair. At last he summoned a council to consult his nobles and especially his nephew, the young King of Tezcuco, and his warlike brother. The latter advised him to "muster as large an army as possible, and drive back the invaders from his capital or die in its defense." "Ah!" replied the monarch, "the gods have declared themselves against us!" Still another embassy was prepared, with his nephew, lord of Tezcuco, at its head, to offer a welcome to the unwelcome visitors.
Cortés approached through fertile fields, plantations, and maguey-vineyards till they reached Lake Chalco. There they found a large town built in the water on piles, with canals instead of streets, full of movement and animation. "The Spaniards were particularly struck with the style and commodious structure of the houses, chiefly of stone, and with the general aspect of wealth and even elegance which prevailed."
Next morning the King of Tezcuco came to visit Cortés, in a palanquin richly decorated with plates of gold and precious stones, under a canopy of green plumes. He was accompanied by a numerous suite. Advancing with the Mexican salutation, he said he had been commanded by Montezuma to welcome him to the capital, at the same time offering three splendid pearls as a present. Cortés "in return threw over the young king's neck a chain of cut glass, which, where glass was as rare as diamonds, might be admitted to have a value as real as the latter."
The army of Cortés next marched along the southern side of Lake Chalco, "through noble woods and by orchards glowing with autumnal fruits, of unknown names, but rich and tempting hues." They also passed "through cultivated fields waving with the yellow harvest, and irrigated by canals introduced from the neighboring lake, the whole showing a careful and economical husbandry, essential to the maintenance of a crowded population." A remarkable public work next engaged the attention of the Spaniards, viz., a solid causeway of stone and lime running directly through the lake, in some places so wide that eight horsemen could ride on it abreast. Its length is some four or five miles. Marching along this causeway, they saw other wonders; numbers of the natives darting in all directions in their skiffs, curious to watch the strangers marching, and some of them bearing the products of the country to the neighboring cities. They were amazed also by the sight of the floating gardens, teeming with flowers and vegetables, and moving like rafts over the waters. All round the margin, and occasionally far in the lake, they beheld little towns and villages, which, half concealed by the foliage, and gathered in white clusters round the shore, "looked in the distance like companies of white swans riding quietly on the waves." About the middle of this lake was a town, to which the Spaniards gave the name of Venezuela[22] (i. e., "Little Venice"). From its situation and the style of the buildings, Cortés called it the most beautiful town that he had yet seen in New Spain.
After crossing the isthmus which separates that lake from Lake Tezcuco they were now at Iztapalapan, a royal residence in charge of the Emperor's brother. Here a ceremonious reception was given to Cortés and his staff, "a collation being served in one of the great halls of the palace. The excellence of the architecture here excited the admiration of the general. The buildings were of stone, and the spacious apartments had roofs of odorous cedar-wood, while the walls were tapestried with fine cotton stained with brilliant colors.
"But the pride of Iztapalapan was its celebrated gardens, covering an immense tract of land and laid out in regular squares. The gardens were stocked with fruit-trees and with the gaudy family of flowers which belonged to the Mexican flora, scientifically arranged, and growing luxuriant in the equable temperature of the table-land. In one quarter was an aviary filled with numerous kinds of birds remarkable in this region both for brilliancy of plumage and for song. But the most elaborate piece of work was a huge reservoir of stone, filled to a considerable height with water, well supplied with different sorts of fish. This basin was 1,600 paces in circumference, and surrounded by a walk."
Readers must remember that at that age no beautiful gardens on a large scale were known in any part of Europe. The first "garden of plants" (to use the name afterward applied by the French) is said to have been an Italian one, at Padua, in 1545, a whole generation after the time of the arrival of Cortés in Mexico. It was only under Louis "Le Magnifique" that France created the Versailles Gardens, and not till the time of George III and his tutor Bute could we boast of the gardens at Kew, now admired by all the world. The ancient Mexicans, therefore, under their extinct civilization, had developed this taste for the beautiful many ages before the most cultivated races in Europe.
Cortés took up his quarters at this residence of Iztapalapan for the night, expecting to meet Montezuma on the morrow. Mexico was now distinctly full in view, looking "like a thing of fairy creation," a city of enchantment.
There Aztlan stood upon the farther shore;
Amid the shade of trees its dwellings rose,
Their level roofs with turrets set around
And battlements all burnished white, which shone
Like silver in the sunshine. I beheld
The imperial city, her far-circling walls,
Her garden groves and stately palaces,
Her temples mountain size, her thousand roofs.
And when I saw her might and majesty
My mind misgave me then.
Madoc, i, 6.