caliente that skirts the lofty interior threateningly, like the poisoned garment of Hercules, with vegetation bloated by the noxious air and by nourishment sucked from the putrid remains of nature’s opulence, while over all, filled with the remembrance of streams stained sanguine from sacrificial altars, passes with sullen sighs the low-voiced winds. But a change comes gradually as the steep ascent is made that walls the healthful table-land of Anáhuac. On the templada* terrace new foliage is observed, though still glistening with sun-painted birds and enlivened by parliaments of monkeys. Insects and flowers bathe in waves of burning light until they display a variety of colors as wonderful as they are brilliant, while from cool cañons rise metallic mists overspreading the warm hills. Blue and purple are the summits in the distance, and dim glowing hazy the imperial heights beyond that daily baffle the departing sun. And on the broad plateau, whose rich earth with copious yield of gold and grain allures to cultivation, all the realm are out of doors keeping company with the sun. From afar comes the music-laden breeze whispering its secrets to graceful palms, aloft against the sky, and which bend to meet the confidence, while the little shrubs stand motionless with awe. Each cluster of trees repeats the story, and sings in turn its own matin to which the rest are listeners. At night, how glittering bright with stars the heavens, which otherwise were a shroud of impenetrable blackness. In this land of wild Arcadian beauty the beasts are free, and man keeps constant holiday. And how the hearts of these marauders burned within them as they thought, nothing doubting, how soon these glories should be Spain’s and theirs.
The boundary of the Totonac territory was crossed, and on the fourth day the army entered a province called by Cortés Sienchimalen, wherein the sway of Montezuma was still maintained. This made no difference to the Spaniards, however, for the late imperial envoys had left orders with the coast governors to treat the strangers with every consideration. Of this they had a pleasing experience at Xicochimalco,4 a strong fortress