Mexico and her military chieftains : from the revolution of Hidalgo to the . ndex of a certainstage of civilization; but it must be remembered, thatthe age when Bernal Diaz wrote was that when all theworld believed the stories of the Great Cham, andwhen the King of the Cannibal Isles was devoutly be-lieved to exist. Popular tradition told of the existenceof an island where demons hovered above every hill,and pictured the prototype of Shakspeares Caliban andProspero as stern realities. While Cortes and Pizarrowere waging war in Mexico and Peru, Gonsalvo ofCordova, in Italy, was winni
Mexico and her military chieftains : from the revolution of Hidalgo to the . ndex of a certainstage of civilization; but it must be remembered, thatthe age when Bernal Diaz wrote was that when all theworld believed the stories of the Great Cham, andwhen the King of the Cannibal Isles was devoutly be-lieved to exist. Popular tradition told of the existenceof an island where demons hovered above every hill,and pictured the prototype of Shakspeares Caliban andProspero as stern realities. While Cortes and Pizarrowere waging war in Mexico and Peru, Gonsalvo ofCordova, in Italy, was winning laurels at the head ofhis troops, by the side of which nothing but exagge-ration could place the conquests in America. The book of Bernal Diaz tells of vast temples, ofcostly edifices, and of all the comforts of private life;yet, strange to say, not one relic of those times hasreached us. The halls of Montezuma have left nomore trace than the palace of Aladdin, and of all thebuildings of hewn stone that Diaz and his contemporariesand immediate successors speak of, not one renmant. ?=in||p|Bi^,Tp!fiiii|^^ Iii^illi !illMil!BI:ill| iliillii CITY AND VALLEY OF MEXICO. 285 exists. Yet all these stories tell us of no ruin ofMexico, but would induce the belief that the peoplemerely changed their ruler; that the Aztecs obeyed aviceroy of Charles V., instead of Montezuma. It is not, however, to be denied, that there are vastruins in Mexico—pyramids and temples that speak ofa highly cultivated race, certainly acquainted with thearts of civilization. These ruins yet remain, and thetraveller, when he gazes on them, is satisfied he lookson the wreck of a cultivated race, whose antiquity ismore venerable than that of the Pharaohs or Brah-minical rulers. It no more follows, however, that theMexican or Aztec races were the authors of these,because Europeans found them beneath their shadows,than that the colossal remains of Egypt, or the beau-tiful columns of Tadmor and Palmyra, are to bea
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