24 



AGUILAR AND MARIANA INTERPRETERS. 



attempted, as usual, to impress the truths of Christianity upon the 

 natives, and had closed the ceremonies of the day by a pompous 

 procession, with all the impressive ceremonial of the Roman 

 church, the fleet again sailed towards the empire Cortez was 

 destined to penetrate and subdue. 



In Passion week, of the year 1519, the squadron dropped anchor 

 under the lee of the Island or reef of St. Juan de Ulua. The 

 natives immediately boarded the vessel of the Captain General ; 

 but their language was altogether different from that of the Mayan 

 dialects spoken in Yucatan and its immediate dependencies. In 

 this emergency Cortez learned that, among the twenty female 

 slaves who had been recently presented him, there was one 

 who knew the Mexican language, and, in fact, that she was an 

 Aztec by birth. This was the celebrated Marina or Mariana, 

 who accompanied the conqueror throughout his subsequent adven- 

 tures, and was so useful as a sagacious friend and discreet inter- 

 preter. Acquainted with the languages of her native land and of 

 the Yucatecos, she found it easy to translate the idiom of the 

 Aztecs into the Mayan dialect which Aguilar, the Spaniard, had 

 learned during his captivity. Through this medium, Cortez was 

 apprised that these Mexicans or Aztecs were the subjects of a 

 powerful sovereign who ruled an empire bounded by two seas, 

 and that his name was Montezuma. 



On the 21st of April the Captain General landed on the sandy 

 and desolate beach whereon is now built the modern city of Vera 

 Cruz. Within a few days the native Governor of the province 

 arrived to greet him, and expressed great anxiety to learn whence 

 the "fair and bearded strangers" had come? Cortez told him 

 that he was the " subject of a mighty monarch beyond the sea 

 who ruled over an immense empire and had kings and princes for 

 his vassals ; — that, acquainted with the greatness of the Mexican 

 emperor, his master desired to enter into communication with so 

 great a personage, and had sent him, as an envoy, to wait on 

 Montezuma with a present in token of his good will, and a 

 friendly message which he must deliver in person." The Indian 

 Governor expressed surprise that there was another king as great 

 as his master, yet assured Cortez that as soon as he learned 

 Montezuma's determination, he would again converse with him on 

 the subject. Teuhtle then presented the Captain General ten 

 loads of fine cottons ; mantles of curious feather work, beautifully 



