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    rare spirit of sagacious observation on life and character , expressed in a style pf exquisite refinement and felicity ; but while they will expect to find the charms of nn 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 . Th a first volume is an enlarged edition of the two volumes previously published on The Conqueror * of the New World and their Bomlsmen , which have been already noticed iu this journal . The second volume ,-which is incomparably the best , is devoted to L : is Casas—a new figure in History—and

    Cortefl . 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 Z « aa Casus 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 , 'wnich is to throw light on the question , to us so "vital , of colonial government . Very picture ^ cjue is the description of the Pearl Coast and its inhabitants , bnt it is thrown in tbo shade by the graphic and original preacntatiou of the religions of the New World , which , by an ingenious fiction , he contrives lo 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 matter . This ship is christened the " Santa Flor : ' and the following are come of its

    dis-: — Accordingly , the " Santa Flor" not being fitted to receive slaves , nor intended to bring back 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 hod spare time , of the designs of France , or the schtmes of Venice , or of that sure ally end pound 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 charts 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 of the Serpent , " at which point their investigations commence . Approaching Paria—the farthly 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 tracery 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 mist , like incense . These , however , were but the evening fancies of the mariner , who had before him , fondly in his mind the wreathed pillars of the cathedral of Burgos , or the thousand-columnetl Christian mosque of Cordova , or the perfect fane of Seville ; and when the moon rose , or the innumerable swarms of luminous insects swept across-the picture , it was bnt a tangled forest after all , wherein the shaping band of man had made no memorial to his Creator .

    Occasionally , grand and elaborate dances of men would 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 Cumani , pursue their way along that beautiful coast , noticing the Piritu palm at Maracapana , theu traverse the difficult waters of the gloomy Golfo TrLste , pass the province of Venezuela , catch a glimpse of the white summits " of the mountains above Santa Martha , 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 cvlttts .

    Accustomed to a land at home where every height , seen dimly in the distance , might prove a cathedral tower , a church spire , a pilgrim ' s oratory , or at least a wayaide cross , these religious explorers must often have strained their sight in order to recognise 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 tho beds of prickly cactus , like fortresses on the sea-shore ; or if they ventured further inwards , and entered upon the interminable llanos , they beheld nothing but a wide -waste , like the track of a great conqueror , herblessaud treeless , save where some Hfithcred-looking palms oflfervd a lkjht and mocking shade , standing up rarer than the masts of lone vessels on great-: seas .

    From Darien to Panama — from Panama * to Nicaragua—and still nothing to remind them of religion , unless it were the beauty of nature , and the town of Nombre do DiOfl , eo named by Nicucsa in his extremity . Still , if they had landed , they might have found amongst the natives the knowledge that there was One God , and that some sort of sacrifices were offered up to him . Soon , however , in Bailing northwards , white buildings would bo seen amidst the trees , bearing some likeness to truncated pyramids , and , in tli < setting sun , dark figures would be . seen against the horizon on the tops of these pyramids , from whose gestures it would bo sadly and reluctantly admitted by the horror-stricken crew that they -were looking upon that affront to Heaven , a human sacrifice- Then some of the Cl « w would be heard to regret ( though it would be called a false philosophy by others ) the poor and meagre , religion of the natives of the Pearl Coast , \ vh « . > re there were no temples and no statute j and wherv , when they landed , they found no cultus beyond

    that pertaining to witchcraft . Again , a long extent of low-lying coast with dense forests coming down to the Water ' s edge , bnt no signs of temples or of worship , until the Hay of Honduras is entered by theao religious explorers , when 1 «! they como upon aomo buried city , buried no long ago , that huge trees have risen amongst its ruins , and gigantic parasites have twisted their lithe urnia around columns , and thrown their shoote along Piwfotilcs , playing with tho t » trango Auren in stone , overshadowing winged * ymboU of powe * and sacrificial instrument * , and embracing the carved imagery of fruito nnd % !< e * a , their kindred- No living creatures , but the animals which have reUkentheir Qjra , are to be seen thtr « i ; and none remain to tell by word or gesture the meaning of burthened earth and

    the mounds of Htone which for miles around render the uneven auBcuH to the nmazod explorers , who return to their vessel with that iuvoluntary Wapeiit for tho new country' which great antiquity engenders in the minds of all men , medially in those of the pious and learned , to whom , strange to h « j-, the past ia always TOOT * of a homo for thought than the future . Theso do not forget the object of their ttUlrion , and noto with dare tho buildings which sooin to have boon devoted to religion , Wly seeing tho ruins of pyramid * , cannot divest themselves of tlic idoa that those buildings havo been saorad to no good purpose , and that the city luis been condemned of . pod for Ua inhuman and bloody idolutrhv * . If the religious explorers had the WMppgato make their way into tho country , they eaine . upon a people whoso religious tnditjiona must have reminded them of tho fallen angola of sacred , and tho Tltaua of WMiBla story , which told of the rebellious nature of the elder children of a great doity , fljflo h « d sought to , create , for themselves , ami whoso impious attempts had resulted in * •( . ¦ ,

    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 ' Ihe 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 buildingB they see around them is repulsive ia 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 . Bound the dry plains of Merida the vessel makes its way , and then across the Bay of CampecM to what 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 teponaxili , 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 Tembttitan , the scientific explorers are confounded at discovering so much knowledge of the stars , the nicest measurement of time , with , great skill and adroitness in the mechanical arts , wise laws , even refined manner-, in a spot which they now 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 became 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 spectators of a tuman sacrifice . Atikst , they . see eix priests , five of them clothed in white , and the sixth , or chief priest , injred , and otherwise richly attjred . Inquiring his name , they are answered , Tezcatlipuk , or Huitzilopochtli , and are astonished , knowing these to be the names of Mexican divinities , and not being aware that th « chief priest assumed for the day the name of the god who was honoured by the sacrifice . . " ¦¦ ' ' ' r - . < . ; - . / i ' ..- ¦•

    -Scanning this group of priests ^ srore closely , the Spanish : explorers discover that the priesLs are carrying to . the upper area , of JJ ^ ejtemp le . the body qf a naked and Irving man . The long nights of steps are slowly mounted , and the unfortunate victim placed upon a large , convex , green stone , : Four of iheattendant priests hold him down -by the arms and ; legs , while a fifth places a wooden . instrument , of a . serpent form , across his throat . The convex altar raises the body of the victim into an arched shape , and enables the chief priest to make , with more facility , the fatal incision , and to remove the heart of the victim . ' .- - . ..-..- ¦ . - - The heart was then presented to the idol , being laid within his xmconth hand , or placed upon Ids altar . . . _ - - ¦

    . It was a beautiful-day on which I imagine the pious explorers to have been witnesses of this dread scene . Tha emeralds worn by the . chief priest glittered ia the sun ; and Jiia feathers fluttered lightly -wi $ athe breeze . The bright pyramidal temples were reflected in the lake and in , a thousand minor -mirrors , formed by the . enclosed waters in the water-streets- Abuay pleasau * noise froin the adjacent marketplace was heard throughout the great square . The victim , had uttered no sound . lie knew the inutility of any outcry . In Mexico , priests , victims , . and ^ people , were alike accustomed to view such ceremonies , and this was one of the qrdinary sacrifice * . The expression of the faces in . the crowd , was calm . and almost self-satisfied- AJl hardl intil the led bodhurled

    around was beautiful and serene , and it was y * mang y , down from the upper area of the temple , had com& near ta the feet . « £ the astounded voyagers , that they could believe they had really seen what . passed before their eyes . Without saying a word to each other , they withdraw from the great square , and are no more seen in the streets of Mexico that day . If the passion for research did not suffice to conquer all disgust , they would , doubtless , have quitted tie city on that evening ; but a strange fascination retains them within its walla , and they regard , with still greater curiosity than ever , the marks of high civilisation and careful polity , which were to be seen in every district of that vast and unholy metropolis ? of

    the Aztecs . There is more of this , but our extract is already too long . The story of Cortes and the conquest of Mexico is not nevr like that of Las Casas , but we are muck mistaken if it doea not entirely change the reader ' s conceptions derived from previous Listorians , and give him in exchange a more vivid , as well as more veritable , idea of Mexico and of Cortes . The narrative is rapid yet full of detail , informed by -a wise humane spirit , made picturesque by artistic use of erudition ; as the reader may judge from a couple of extracts . Herejs a bit from the description of Mexico : — Who shall describe Mexico—the Mexico of that age ? It ought to be one who had seen all the wonders of the world ; and he should have for an audience those who bad dwelt in Venice and Constantinople , % to had looked down upon Granada from tho Altiambra , and who had studied all that remains to be seen of the hundredcated Thebesof Bablonand of Nineveh

    , y , , .. , The especial attributes of the most beautiful cities m the world were here conjoined ; and that which was the sole boast of many a world-renowned name formed but one of the channa of this enchantress among cities . Well might the rude Spanisn aoldicr find no parallel but , in the imaginations of his fiwourite Romance . Like Granada , encircled , but not frowned upon ,, by mountains ; fondled and adorned by water , like Venice ; as grand in its buildings as Babylon of old ; and rich Tvith gardens , hke DamascuB 5—the great city of Mexico was at that time the fairest in the world , and has never since been equalled . Like , some rare woman , of choicest parentage , tue descendant of two royal houses far apart , who joins the soft , subtle , graceful beauty of the South to the fair , blue-cycd , blushing beauty of the North , and sits enthroned in the hearts of all beholder * , —so sat Mexico upon the waters , with a diadem ^ of gloaming towers , a fair expanse of flowery meadows on her breast , a circle ofmountains as her zone : and , not unwomanlike , rejoicing in the reflexion <* »<* ^™ JJ self from the innumerable mirrors which were framed by her streets , her courts , her « ye

    palaces , and her temples . . ,.. » •* - * . i , A * vn at a dis-P Neither was hers a beauty , like that of many cities ^ . ch gratule ^ Je « t « 0 U tanoo j but wkioh diminishes ateoch advancing ^ of tho ^ bd j rfdajuDtU j r tjoUxte y degenerates into squalidity . She was beautifiil ^ hen see n * £ «* ' ^ ° crupulotta taincd her beaut * when narrowly / " ^ "LJf k ^ S of « ? ndustrious and traveller . She was the city , not only of a great king , out o » thriving people . ' tttat th « nhovo description is . fanciful If we descend into details , we flhall flee that ^ JJo «™ J » ™ communicating with a nor exaggerated . Mexico waa situated in a groat salt *»*•>

    Untitled Article

    July 21 , 1855 . j THE LBADBB , 701

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 21, 1855, page 701, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2100/page/17/