Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin, [124]; his character, [124]—A coronation festival, [125]—Royal robes, [125]—The life of an Aztec king, [126]; his capital, [126]—Diaz's description, [127]—A life of pleasure, [128]—State correspondence, [128]—Chapultepec, [129]—Montezuma's cypress, [129]—Clouds on the horizon, [130]—Sinister predictions, [130]—The coming of the white men, [131]—An unhappy monarch, [131]—Landing of the strangers, [132]—Velasquez de Léon, [132]; his expedition to Yucatan, [133]—Grijalva visits Mexico, [133]—Montezuma's embassy, [133].
XIII.
Cortés [135]-144
Birth, [135]; enters the army, [135]; visits Cuba, [135]—An attractive portrait, [135]—Defects of character, [136]—Velasquez and Grijalva's expedition, [136]—A love story, [137]—Cortés receives a commission, [137]; his companions, [137]—Jealousy of Velasquez, [137]—The squadron, [138]—Jérome d' Aguilar, [138]—First conflict with the Aztecs, [139]—Palm Sunday, [139]—A happy people, [140]—Rumors of danger, [140]—Presents to the strangers, [141]—Cortés as Quetzalcoatl, [141]—Easter, [141]—A perplexed council, [142]—Mistaken policy, [142]—Vera Cruz, [142]—Cortés visits Cempoallan, [143]—Tlaxcalla, [143]—The ships destroyed, [144].
XIV.
Malintzi [145]-150
Her birthplace, [145]—The little duchess is made a slave, [145]—Life in Tabasco, [146]—Arrival of Cortés, [146]—Treaty of alliance, [146]—The heiress-slave becomes a Christian, [146]—Marina or Malinche, [146]—A new interpreter, [147]—A beautiful picture, [147]—Splendid gifts, [148]—Malintzi's beauty, [149]; her devotion to Cortés, [149]; its result, [149].
XV.
Tlaxcalla [151]-157
An isolated province, [151]—Exaggerated reports, [151]—Efforts for the friendship of the Tlaxcallans, [152]—A trap for the Spaniards, [152]—A battle, [152]—Defeat of the Tlaxcallans, [153]—Peace concluded, [153]—Christianity introduced, [153]—Cholula, [154]—Slaughter of the Cholultecas, [154]—Alliance with Ixtlilxochitl, [154]—Cacamatzin imprisoned, [155]—Cortés reaches Mexico, [156]—Cortés and Montezuma, [157]—A lesson and a vow, [157].