TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 
123 
Senora, and the bodies of his companions rotting and beating 
among* the breakers ! A sad end to those men was that! A 
dolorous termination to Cortez’ hopes of discovery ! and dread¬ 
ful to the people of La Paz, on a heated and desolate shore, 
starving and thirsting, the living eating the dead and drinking 
their blood! On his return he finds the few wretched ones 
who yet live, mad with hunger ! They shout with wild ma¬ 
niac joy, and rush into the surf! They try to swim to the 
ship for food and are cast back upon the shore by the surges! 
Many perish in the angry waters! Cortez lands and gives 
them food in sparing quantities. But the tides of life have 
been ebbing too long! Their dying energies are overtaxed ! 
They die by twenties and are buried among the brambles with 
the holy water sprinkled on them for a coffin and winding 
sheet! The rude cross of wood stands over each one’s grave, 
the symbol of faith and life to come! And now the deep de¬ 
sert, red and toneless, hears their requiem, in the clanking 
cable of Cortez’s ship, as the wailing crew heave the anchor, 
and depart from the eastern shore of Lower California ! 
Meantime report at Mexico says that the murderer of Gua- 
timozin and Montezuma has perished in the western seas, 
Cortez is the name of a corse bloated and sunken in their 
depths. The caciques of the fallen dynasty shout for glad¬ 
ness among the mountains of Mexico. Their enslaver no 
longer breathes. The great relentless heart of Cortez is 
rotting. His fiery eye has ceased to burn. His unconquera¬ 
ble soul no longer hovers over their native vales, and the 
sound of his terrible voice is for ever hushed. This belief 
rouses their lost courage. They gather around their ancient 
altars. The holy Sun is besought to blight their oppressors 
with his fervent fires, and send life, love, and true hearts 
among his fallen children. They worship in their ancient 
temples, and vow that they will be free. 
The Marchioness Donna Juanna de Zunniga, daughter of 
the Count de Aguilar and cousin to the Duke de Bejan, has 
loved the student of Salamanca, and become his second wife 
