DEPARTURE OF CORTEZ FROM CUBA.
"Those who have studied history carefully know that Cortez sailed from Cuba to make the conquest of Mexico. He had a fleet of eleven vessels; the largest of them was of one hundred tons, three were of seventy tons each, and the rest were open barks. His whole force consisted of one hundred and ten seamen, five hundred and fifty-three soldiers, two hundred Indians, and a few Indian women for servants. His regular soldiers consisted of sixteen horsemen, thirty musketeers, and thirty-two cross-bowmen; all the rest of the soldiers were armed with swords and spears. In addition to these he had fourteen pieces of artillery, with an abundance of ammunition; and he had sixteen horses, which were the first ever seen in America. This was the force with which he started for the conquest of a people numbering millions, and ruled by a king, with a large army equipped with spears and bows and arrows, and protected by coats of mail of thick wadding.
THE FIRST MASS IN THE TEMPLES OF YUCATAN.
"He landed first on Cozumel Island, near the coast of Yucatan, where he proceeded to convert the natives to Christianity. He did it in a very summary way: by calling on the natives to destroy their idols and embrace the new religion. When they declined to do so, he set his soldiers to breaking and overturning the idols and throwing them out of the temples. Then he erected an altar, reared a cross and an image of the Virgin, and ordered one of the priests who accompanied him to celebrate mass, which was done in the presence of his kneeling followers.
BATTLE WITH THE INDIANS.
"From Yucatan he sailed for the coast of Mexico, which he reached at the mouth of the Tabasco River. Here he landed, and after a fight with the Indians, which was won chiefly by the terror inspired by his horses and the sound of the guns, which the natives took for thunder, he occupied Tabasco. Shortly afterwards he had another battle with a force which his historians estimated at 40,000. This army he defeated, and he celebrated mass on the battle-field in thanks for his triumph over the heathen.