was captured by a French cruiser and the valuable booty transferred to France. It was a cause of great sorrow and chagrin to the Spaniards to learn that this royal gift, which they had toiled so hard to obtain, which had cost so many lives, and for which they had even sacrificed their souls, had been diverted into the coffers of a strange king. The King of France and his subjects rejoiced greatly, and the former is said to have then had his eyes opened to the extent of the possessions of his brothers, the Kings of Spain and Portugal, in the New World. He sent over to them asking how it was that they had agreed to divide the world between them without giving him a share, and asked to see the will of our father Adam, by which he had made them exclusively his heirs.
The downfall of the Aztec capital was also that of the empire; the Spaniards were now masters of the entire territory, except certain remote portions, which they soon subdued. Indians from all parts of the country flocked to the vale of Anahuac to look upon the ruins of a city that had seemed to them impregnable. The great kingdom of Michoacan was the first to send embassadors to the conquerors. After sending several messengers, the king himself came to behold with his own eyes that which his ears refused to credit. He brought a large quantity of gold and pearls, and declared himself a tributary of the King of Spain. Spanish soldiers were sent back into his country, and through it to the coast of the Pacific, at Colima.
In two months the city had been cleansed and was ready for occupation. To the Indians, Cortez assigned one district, and to the Spaniards he gave another. That portion formerly occupied by the temples and royal palaces had been levelled to the ground; the remainder of the city was nearly in ruins. Buildings were repaired, and the work of construction immediately commenced; and (as predicted
