A KINGDOM DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF
unknown to Europeans. Twelve Totonacs met them to act as guides through the jungle, where rioted the prickly aloe, and where gorgeous tropical creepers and dark purple vines clothed the trunk of every tree. Roses, honeysuckle, and flowers of every hue vied with the colours of the brilliant birds and butterflies. Few were the songsters, but the scarlet cardinal sang sweetly as a nightingale, and the strange mocking-bird roused the echoes of the forest.
Amidst all this varied beauty stood a temple and on its altar the mangled corpse of a human being. Shuddering, the Christians turned away, vowing to purge the land of its savage blood-stained deities.
Next morning as they drew near Cempoalla, they were met by crowds of people in holiday attire, who flung on them garlands of flowers, and decked the horses with chaplets of roses. Women in gay cotton robes mingled freely in the throng.
Entering the city the Spaniards were struck with the appearance of the houses, which were well built and plastered with stucco. They were led at once to the palace, where they were received by the lord of Cempoalla, whom Bernal Diaz distinguishes as "the fat cacique" Quarters were provided for the whole army in the wide courtyard of the chief temple, and the general gave strict orders that no annoyance was to be offered to the natives.
On the morrow Cortés, with Marina and one of his officers, visited the palace, where the cacique gave him much information as to the condition of Anahuac. "The great Montezuma," he said, "dwells in a strong city in the midst of a lake far off among the mountains.
