Aboriginal Race of America. 133 



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 the 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 supe- 

 rior 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 commenced 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 

 attacks, came forth from the city in several thousand boats, these 

 were so feebly constructed, and managed with so little dexterity, 

 that in a few hours they were all destroyed, dispersed, or taken by 

 the enemy. 



Turning from the Mexicans, we naturally look to the Peruvians 

 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 here the same primitive vessels 

 and the same timid navigators. It is indeed questionable whether 

 they ever designedly lost sight of land, nor does it appear that they 

 made the sea subservient to their conquests. These were uniformly 

 prosecuted by land, excepting perhaps those of the Incas, in their 

 efforts to subdue the fierce islanders of Titicaca ; but even the partial 

 pen of Garcilaso limits all these inventions to log canoes and rafts of 

 reeds ; nor does it appear that the ingenuity of these people, so 

 abundantly displayed on many other occasions, had ever added an 

 improvement to the primeval germ of navigation. 



Nor are those tribes which depend almost wholly on fish for their 

 daily subsistence, much better provided than the others. The 

 Chenouks and other nations on the western coast of America, have 



