CONQUEST OF MEXICO.
CHAPTER I.
Ancient Mexico.—Climate and Products. — Primitive Races.
—Aztec Empire.
Of all that extensive empire which once acknowl-edged the authority of Spain in the New World, noportion, for interest and importance, can be com-pared with Mexico ; — and this equally, whether weconsider the variety of its soil and climate; the in-exhaustible stores of its mineral wealth; its scenery,grand and picturesque beyond example; the charac-ter of its ancient inhabitants, not only far surpassingin intelligence that of the other North Americanraces, but reminding us, by their monuments, ofthe primitive civilization of Egypt and Hindostán ;or lastly, the peculiar circumstances of its Con-quest, adventurous and romantic as any legend de-vised by Norman or Italian bard of chivalry. It isthe purpose of the present narrative to exhibit the