206 Distinctive Characteristics of the 



had few charms, and his navigation has been almost exclu- 

 sively restricted to lakes and rivers. A canoe excavated from 

 a single log, was the principal vessel in use in the new world 

 at the period of its discovery. Even the predatory Charibs, 

 who were originally derived from the forests of Guayana, 

 possessed no other boat than this simple contrivance, in which 

 they seldom ventured out of sight of land ; and never ex- 

 cepting in the tranquil periods of the tropical seas, when they 

 sailed from shore to shore, the terror of the feebler natives of 

 the surrounding islands. The canoes of the Arouacs of Cuba 

 were not more ingeniously contrived than those of the ruder 

 Charibs ; which is the more surprising since their island was 

 the centre of a great archipelago, and their local position, 

 therefore, in all respects calculated to develope any latent 

 nautical propensities. When Cortez approached in his ships 

 the Mexican harbor of Tobasco, he was astonished to find 

 even there, the sea-port, as it were, of a mighty empire, the 

 same primitive model in tlie many vessels that skimmed the 

 sea before him. Let us follow this conqueror to the imperial 

 city itself, surrounded by lakes, and possessed of warlike 

 defences superior to those of any other American people. The 

 Spanish commander, foreseeing that to possess the lake would 

 be to hold the keys of the city, had fifteen brigantines built 

 at Tlascala ; and these being subsequently taken to pieces, 

 were borne on men's shoulders to the lake of Mexico, and 

 there re-constructed and launched. The war thus com- 

 menced as a naval contest ; and the Spanish historians, while 

 they eulogize the valour of the Mexicans, are constrained to 

 admit the utter futility of their aquatic defences : for although 

 the subjects of Montezuma, knowing and anticipating the 

 nature of the attack, came forth from the city in several 

 thousand boats, these were so feebly constructed, and man- 

 aged with so little dexterity, that in a few hours the^^ were 

 all destroyed, dispersed or taken by the enemy. 



Turning from the Mexicans, we naturally look to the Pe- 

 ruvians for some further advances in nautical skill ; but 

 although their country was comparatively a narrow strip of 

 land with an extended frontier on the ocean, we find even 



