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Leader (1850-1860), 21st July 1855, Edition 2 of 2, Page 17, Jult 21, 1855. J THE LEADEB. 701

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    • Jult 21, 1855. J THE LEADEB. 701

      Jult 21, 1855. J THE LEADEB. 701

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      The Spanish Conquest In America. The Spa...

      rare spirit of sagacious observation-on life and character , expressed in a style of exquisite refinement and felicity ; but while they will expect to find the charms of an essayist , they will not expect to find the painstaking erudition of an historian , and therefore have we made foremost mention of this quality . It is as learned as if it were the dullest of Dryasdust histories . It is as bright , picturesque , and thoughtful as if ancient manuscripts and vellumbound folios had never lain beside the writer . Tha first volume is an enlarged edition of the two volumes previously published on The Conquerors of the New World and their Bondsmen , which have been already noticed iu this journal . The second volume , which is incomparably the best , is devoted to Las Casas—a new figure in History—and Corteu . It concludes with the siege of Mexico . Great has been the pains bestowed on Las Casas and his attempts at colonisation j for not only is haa Casns a great but neglected figure in the story of these times , he is interesting to the author as subservient to one of the great purposes of the book , which is to throw light on the question , to us so -vital , of colonial government . Very picturesque is the description of the Pearl Coast and its Inhabitants , but it is thrown in the shade hy the graphic and original preacntatiou of the religions of the New World , which , by an ingenious fiction , he contrives to picture tu us as they may have appeared to a ship ' s crew sent out by the pious monarch of Spain to inquire into the mutter . Thisship is christened the " Santa Flor ; and the following are come of its discoveries : — Accordingly , the " Santa Flor" not being fitted to receive slaves , nor intended to bring lack gold and pearl ? , may have glided oat very quietly from San Lucar , th « rest of the population being intent upon their owu business , and talking , when they had spare time , of the designs of France , or the schemes of Venice , or of that sure ally and sound theologian , the King of England . . The mariners of the " Santa Flor" would not have departed without confessing , and receiving the Sacrament . This done , they take their departure ; and without any difficulty ( for they liave good chart * on board , and , amongst other maps , that of Juan de la Cosa ) they -steer straight for Trinidad , and then round the south coast of that island , through the " Strait « , t the Serpent , " at which point their investigations commence . Approaching Paria- the earthly Paradise of Columbus— however careful a look-out was kept , no idol and no temple would be seen . Here they find anchorage . By night , sweet odours , varying with every hour of the watch , were wafted from the shore to the vessel lying near ; and the forest trees brought together by the serpent tracerv of myriads of strange parasitical plants , might well seem to the fancy like some great design of building , over which the lofty palms , a forest upon forest , appeared to present a new order of architecture . In the background rose the nii ^ Uke incense . These , however , were but the evening fancies of the manner , who had before him fondlv iu his mind the wreathed pillars of the cathedral of Burgos , or the thousand-columned Christian mosque of Cordova , or the perfect fane of Seville ; and when the moon rose , or the innumerable swarms of luminous insects swept -acrosstne picture , it was but a tangled forest after all , wherein the shaping hand of man had made no memorial to his Creator . _ * «^ i-Occasionally , grand and elaborate dances of men vould be visible through the trees ; but whether theso were meant to express joy , or sorrow , or devotion , would be moot points with the mariners . The voyage is recommenced . They sail by the sandy-shore of Araya , see the lofty cocoa-nut trees that stand over Cuman * , pursue their * a > along that beautiful coast , noticing the Piritu palm at Maracapana then traverse the difficult waters of the gloomy Golfo Triste , pass the province of Venezuela , catch a climpse of the white summits " of the mountains above Santa Martlm , continue on their course to Darien . now memorable for the failure of so many great enterprises—and still no temple , no great idol , no visible creed , no cvlttis . Accustomed to a land at home where every height , seen dimly in the distance , mhrht prove a cathedral tower , a church spire , a pilgrim's oratory , or at least a wayside cross , these religious explorers must often have strained their sight in order to recoirnise some object of a similar character . But on nearing the coast , and bringing dubious objects clearly into view , they would find nothing but the symmetrical aloe or the beds of prickly cactus , like fortresses on the sea-shore ; or if they ventured further inwards , and entered upon the interminable llanos , they belield nothing but a wide waste , like the track of a great conqueror , herblessaud treeless , save where some wUhered-looking palms offered a light and mocking shade , standing up rarer than the ^ nSr ^ n ^ i ^ aiSa- ^ m Panama to Nicaragua-and still nothing , - remind them of religion , unless it were the beauty of nature , and the . townt of Nomb « : do Sf ~ so aaniTd by Nicueaa iu his extremity . Still , if they had landed , they might have found amongst the natives the knowledge that there was One God , and that some BOrt of sacrifices were offered up to him . o . « , vuf « i 1 A Soon , however , in Bailing northward * , white buildings would bo wen , am , dstthe trees , bearing some likeness to truncated pyramids , and , m tli « setting * uu , A ™ k ta ^ Wildbe -see ,, ngain . t the horizon on the t ops of thes e pyramids , from whose gEEL it would bo sadly and reluctantly admitted by the *?™™ % ^ ™ J ™ t gars rs ^ blh ! :- ^ : 1 ^ srx ; : ; ^ ain ^ atg Sent ^ low -lying coast with den * c fore ., ccnn . uj d ^ i ^ the w « tcrt edge , but no fllgiis of temples or of worship , until the Hay of Hondurw is entered b £ these religious explorers , who ., lo ! they como upon « o no In r cxl city , bmfed so long ago , that huge tree , have risen amongst it ,, ruin ,, anid 06 *"" ° 1 ™ £ Site , have twisted their licl . o anna around columns , ana thrown ^ jJ ^^ J ^ rf periAtileo , playing with the HtraiiR * faces in stone , overshadowing w mged * y mboU « 1 SRS aVsal-rindal Ui . truu . oui * . and , mbra < i »« the carve , . ™^ ^ J ^ g * $ SS £ * sES 3 S £ vS £ 32 gs SLult to the nmasod explorers , who return to their vessel with 1 h . t wolunUo Wtfet for the new country which great antiquity engenders in the njnds of « 1 I men , ttjtc 4 a . ly in th < x , e of the pious and learned , to whom , strange to h « v he , past . is ahraj ttfire of a homo for thonght than the future . Theso do not forget he object of thoii Mtakion , and note with <** re the buildings which soon , to have been : « l «™ ted to ^ ligion , ffi j 8 eem the ruins of pyramids , cannot divest themselves of the idea that jUmm asRKS ? s = ar ss & ssz -s r sas ^ SESS flpfc atory , which told of Uio rebellious nature of the elder chiklreai <»'* « 2 u \ W | p had sought to . crcftto for themselves , and whoso impious attempt * h « d resulted in at . .

      the production of common household things , —cups , and jars , and cooking vessels ; while their younger brethren , strong in their humility , were permitted to create man . The crew of the " Santa Flor" resume their voyage , and still steering northwards , - come to the mysterious island of Cozumel , where they are in doubt about the horrors which take place in the way of human sacrifices ; and the beauty of all the buildings they see around them is repulsive in . their sight . Little are these good men consoled by seeing the carved likeness of a cross in this island ; and they moralise on the power of the Evil One , who is allowed foT a time to indulge in mockeries and mummeries of sacred things . Round the dry plains of Merida the vessel makes its way , and then across the Bay of Campeche' to vrhat will be Vera Cruz ; and , wherever they catch a glimpse of land , they make out in the far distance those truncated pyramids which have already caused them so much horror . Abandoning- their vessel , these intrepid explorers move across the grand plateau of " New Spain " as it will be called , beholding the vast pyramids , of Egyptian form and magnitude , which were the boast and delight of Cholula , Tapantla , and Mexico , then called Temixtitan . Shuddering , when they behold the unkempt priests , and hear , from afar off , the dreadful tones of the Mexican teponastli , our travellers creep onwards , no longer in any doubt of the nature of the sacrifices -which those barbaric sounds announce—sacrifices reminding the more learned amongst them of the superstitions of ancient Rome , with all the minute inspection and parade of the creature sacrificed . ' , . Stopping to investigate the mighty city of Temixtitan , the scientific explorers are confounded at discovering so much knowledge of the stars , the nicest meawement of time , with , great skill , and adroitness in the mechanical arts , wise laws , even refined manner-, in a spot which they no-w look upon as the head-quarters of a most bloodthirsty and thoroughly established idolatry . The wise men of this expedition , with all their experience at home , have not yet become accustomed to an assured fact in human life , ^ -namely , -that the utmost * cleverness . and sagacity in one direction may coexist with the utmost abandonment of thought in another . Once being detained in a dense crowd in the square of the great temple , whither our explorers had gone disguised in Mexican costume , they become unwilling ^ spectator * of a iuman sacrifice . At £ wt , they-see six priests , five of them clothed in white , and the sixth , or chief priest , in jred , and otherwise richly attyred . Inquiring his name , they are answered , Tezcatlipuk , or . ' Huitzilopochfli and are astonished , knowing these to be the names of Mexican divinities , and not being aware that the chief priest assumed for the day the name of the god who was honoured by the Scanning this group of priests ^** clo sely , the SpanfefrexploreiB discover that the priesLs are carrying to the upper area of fbe ^ mp . the body of ^ «* edl and Irving mat . The long flights of steps are sl 6 wly mounted , and the unfortunate victim placed upon a large , fonvV-greenrtpne , : Four of ihe attendant priests hold hun . down ^ STarms and legs , while a fifth places a wooden instrument , of a serpent fomi , across k £ SSlt . ThS convex altar raises the body of the victim into an « c ^ shape ^ ud enables the chief priest to make , with more facility , the fatal incision , and to remove % tVJt wlten ^ res ented to the idol , being laid within his ^ couth hand , or * 7 tt £% * ££ * t <>* which I imagine the ^ ?^ £ "S ^ d t'S nesses of this dread scene . Th < J emeralds worn by the chief ppest entered ia the " ul , and to feathers fluttered lightly with the breeze I . The •^ ^? b ^? £ XZ ? SVrJ % ! Z £ ^^ ° & ^^«^ tfi ¦ JZ £ ? uZL / to viewed . iSomonles and thU . « . <»* . «** gW g ^ tz £ r & sssr ^ ss ^ isgtittjzs ^ i & sspz timmmmimM the Aztecs . ¦ , , . i ___' There is more of this , but our extract is already too long . « JoS ?^^ StLrJS 3 ffAW-S ^ W *?* s bE ^^^^^ mwssmsmm has never since been equalled . Like . flomo / *?" . , " £ r ^ Lft subtle craceful beauty HSssssseiHtiss palaces , and her temples . ¦ which irratifles the eye at a dis-Neithor Was hers a beauty , like that of many cUttes , J ^ ^^ ^ absolutely tanoo ; but . vkichdiunuishos ate * c h « d r t 1 ?«*^ Su fro m « far ; she sUU main-I degenerates into squalidity . Sh « wa » , ^ " ^ 7 ^ £ SrttaI and scrupulous , tained her beauty , when narrowly eacAmmodL by tne i ^ £ ndu 8 triotta and , traveller . She was the city , not only of a groat King , f thriving people . th bovo description ia . not fanciful If we descend into details , wo flhall aee that J *« J Iak # ^ communicating with a 1 nor exaggerated . Mexico was situated in a groat *»«

      Jult 21, 1855. J The Leadeb. 701

      Jult 21 , 1855 . J THE LEADEB . 701

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), July 21, 1855, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21071855/page/17/