474

APPENDIX.

[Part II.

our past troubles were soon forgotten, as are the dangers of the sea bythe weather-beaten sailor, who, on his arrival in port, thinks no moreof the perils he has encountered. We still suffered greatly from hun-ger ; for even the unsavory roots were procured with the greatest dif-culty ; and, after we had been occupied many hours in collecting them,they were devoured with the greatest eagerness, in the shortest spaceof time imaginable.

No. XY. - See Vol. HI., p. 343.

LAST LETTER OF CORTÉS TO THE EMPEROR.

I

[I give this Letter of Cortés entire, Ultima y SentidísimaCarta , his “ Last and most touching Letter,” as it is styledby Vargas Pontje, who has embraced it in his important col-lection from the archives of Seville . It may be called touch-ing, when we consider the tone of it, as compared with theformer correspondence of its author, and the gloomy cir-cumstances under which it was written. Yet we are not totake the complaints contained in it of his poverty too literal-ly ; since, at his death, but three years after, he left im-mense estates. But these estates were so much embarrassedby his expensive and disastrous expeditions in the SouthSea, that his income during the rest of his life seems tohave been scarcely sufficient to meet his ordinary expendi-ture. The last days of Cortés, wasted in ineffectual at-tempts to obtain redress from the Court whom he had sosignally served, remind us of the similar fate of Columbus.The history of both may teach us, that the most brilliantcareer too often leads only to sorrow and disappointment,as the clouds gather round the sun at his setting.]

Pensé que haber trabajado en la juventud me aprovechara para queen la vejez tubiera descanso, y así á quarenta años que me he ocupado