The Spanish in the Southwest . ward theblue mountains rising before them in the west, they musthave realized that the surest way to preserve their liveswas by giving implicit obedience to Cortes. Stories of the city of Mexico, the capital of the Aztecs,continued to reachCortes as he traveledtoward the made him all themore determined tovisit that city, and findout for himself howmuch truth there wasin the reports about itsvast wealth and storesof precious stones. Atone of the cities con-quered on the march,the Spaniards were met by some messengers from theking of the Aztecs. The
The Spanish in the Southwest . ward theblue mountains rising before them in the west, they musthave realized that the surest way to preserve their liveswas by giving implicit obedience to Cortes. Stories of the city of Mexico, the capital of the Aztecs,continued to reachCortes as he traveledtoward the made him all themore determined tovisit that city, and findout for himself howmuch truth there wasin the reports about itsvast wealth and storesof precious stones. Atone of the cities con-quered on the march,the Spaniards were met by some messengers from theking of the Aztecs. The name of this king was Mon-tezuma, and he was the ruler of the most powerful nationin the country. He was so feared by many of the smallstates, and so hated by others, that all along his route,Cortes found tribes who were ready to help him in hisattack on the dreaded king. Soon after Cortes landed on the shore of Mexico, wordhad been sent him by Montezuma that he wished to be-come a vassal of the king of the white mans A Spanish ship of the time of Cortes 46 Discoverers and Explorers He promised to send across the seas a yearly tribute ofgold, silver, slaves, and anything that he had. The mes-sengers who met Cortes at the conquered town had cometo assure him again of the good will of Montezuma, and toask that the Spaniards should come no nearer the Azteccapital. The roads were bad, they said; Mexico was onthe water and could be reached only with canoes ; thecountry was so barren that the Spaniards would suffer forthe necessities of life ; and it would be better for everybodyif these strange white men would stay near the coast, orleave the country entirely, sailing away in their greatwinged ships. Cortes could not be deceived by such weakexcuses; and, besides, the messengers had something toadd which, instead of hurrying him away as they hoped,quickly decided him and all his men to press on to Mex-ico. They brought him an abundance of rich presents. The Aztecs thought t
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