summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/42823-0.txt
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
Diffstat (limited to '42823-0.txt')
-rw-r--r--42823-0.txt6909
1 files changed, 6909 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/42823-0.txt b/42823-0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..61c4506
--- /dev/null
+++ b/42823-0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,6909 @@
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42823 ***
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+ file which includes the original illustrations.
+ See 42823-h.htm or 42823-h.zip:
+ (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42823/42823-h/42823-h.htm)
+ or
+ (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42823/42823-h.zip)
+
+
+ Images of the original pages are available through
+ Internet Archive. See
+ https://archive.org/details/storiesofeldorad00waitrich
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+ Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
+
+
+
+
+
+THE STORIES OF EL DORADO
+
+ * * * * * *
+
+Printed and
+Engraved by
+Sunset Press
+San Francisco
+
+ * * * * * *
+
+
+THE STORIES OF EL DORADO
+
+by
+
+FRONA EUNICE WAIT
+
+
+ Happiness is found only in El Dorado, which no
+ one yet has been able to reach.
+ --Spanish Proverb
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Copyrighted 1904, by Frona Eunice Wait
+San Francisco, California
+
+
+
+
+ This book is dedicated to dear little Jack Morgan
+ Gillespie, with the most affectionate and sincere regards of
+ his devoted friend,
+ FRONA EUNICE WAIT
+
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+"It has only recently been recognized as a fact," says Prof. A. F.
+Bandelier, "_that on the whole American continent_, the mode of life
+of the primitive inhabitants was formed on _one_ sociological
+principle, and consequently the culture of these peoples has varied,
+locally, only in _degree_, not in _kind_. The religious principles
+were fundamentally the same among the Sioux and the Brazilians, and
+physical causes more than anything else have been at the bottom of the
+local differences." Such has been my own experience in studying the
+stories of El Dorado which form the subject of this book, and in
+presenting a man--a culture hero--who came by sea from the East, I am
+justified by a more complete set of records than is known to the
+superficial student. As this man's principles of life were the same,
+we are forced to the conclusion that all the heroes were one
+conception, handed down by oral tradition, but widely separated as to
+locality, by the lapse of time, by migrations and commercial relations
+of the different tribes.
+
+As to where these myths originated, or how old they are, I have
+nothing to suggest, since in presenting these simple variants, it is
+no concern of mine. It is sufficient for my purpose to know that they
+exist. To me they lend a dignity to our country by investing it with a
+misty past, replete with a mythology as rich and sublime as that of
+any of the races of antiquity. Not only will the study of them
+inspire patriotism and make us better acquainted with the inner lives
+of the red men, but it will tend to create an interest in our sister
+republics which cannot fail to be of lasting practical benefit. We
+know much more of Europeans than we do of the peoples of this
+continent.
+
+If mythology is to be taught in the schools at all, surely our own
+should have consideration, and in familiarizing ourselves with the
+traditions of El Dorado, we shall have one more incentive for higher
+living. We shall learn that the great souls of the races that have
+preceded us, in the Americas, have faced the same problems of life,
+which are the heritage of our common humanity; that within its dark
+shadows they too have struggled, hoped, and prayed.
+
+No words incorporated into the English language have been fraught with
+such _stupendous consequences_ as El Dorado. When the padres attempted
+to tell the story of the Christ, the natives exclaimed "El Dorado," or
+what the imperfect translations have made El Dorado--the golden. As
+the ignorant sailors and adventurers had been kept from mutiny by
+Columbus' promise of gold, it is no wonder that they seized upon the
+literal meaning instead of the spiritual one.
+
+The time, being that of Don Quixote and of the Inquisition, accounts
+for the childish credulity on one side and the unparalleled ferocity
+on the other. The search for El Dorado, whether it was believed to be
+a fabulous country of gold, or an inaccessible mountain, or a lake,
+or a city, or a priest who anointed himself with a fragrant oil and
+sprinkled his body with fine gold dust, must always remain one of the
+blackest pages in the history of the white race. The great heart of
+humanity will ever ache with sympathy for the melancholy and pitiful
+end of the natives, who at the time of the conquest of Mexico were
+confidently expecting the return of the mild and gentle Quetzalcoatl,
+the Mexican variant of this universal myth. None of the cruelties
+attributed to the Indian had its origin in resistance to the
+acceptance of a new faith. On the contrary he fought solely in defense
+of his home, and from Patagonia to Alaska was always willing to listen
+to the Christian ideas of God and the hereafter.
+
+I have devoted the first seven variants to the original myth, while
+the others pertain to the transitions to, and misconceptions of, the
+name El Dorado. A lust for gold acquired by conquest was the
+underlying motive of the discoveries and explorations made in the
+western hemisphere, and is the beginning of all American history. We
+have unconsciously added some variants to it in California, where the
+mythical kingdom of Quivera became the land of gold of the '49 epoch.
+El Dorado has long been a household word for anything rich and golden.
+
+I begin by bringing the Golden Hearted from an island in the east, the
+Tlapalla, from whence he came, and to which he returned in the legend.
+In all variants he gave a distinct promise of return. This accounts
+for the awe inspired by Europeans in the minds of the natives, causing
+them everywhere to fall easy victims to the unscrupulous adventurers
+swarming into their country. That there should have been confusion
+seems unavoidable under the circumstances, but certainly Fate never
+played a more cruel prank than to have one race of men speak and act
+constantly from the standpoint of tradition and religious belief,
+while the other thought solely of material gain.
+
+Only in Hiawatha and the Pueblo Montezuma have I taken liberty with
+the original. The former is based on the recent researches into
+Algonquin and Chippewa myths of Michabo, the great White Hare. In the
+Pueblo Montezuma I have followed Prof. Bandelier as to the latest
+conceptions of the Wrathy Chieftain. My authority for making the
+Amazon Queens degenerate priestesses of the sun, is J. A. Von Heuvel,
+the defender of Sir Walter Raleigh's connection with the South
+American version of the El Dorado legend. To Hubert Howe Bancroft's
+abridgement of Father Sahagan's translation of the Popol Vuh am I much
+indebted.
+
+In all accessories I have utilized the products or characteristics of
+localities visited by the mythical hero, but have avoided investing
+him with a religious character or surrounding him with supernatural
+phenomena. It will be wise to make a distinction between the purely
+mythical, and that which led to history.
+
+
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS
+
+
+ PAGE
+
+ THE HAPPY ISLAND 11
+
+ ZAMNA, THE EYE OF THE SUN 18
+
+ VOTAN, THE PEOPLE'S HEART 31
+
+ LORD OF THE SACRED TUNKEL 39
+
+ THE STARS' BALL 45
+
+ THE NATIONAL BOOK 52
+
+ MANCO-CAPAC, THE POWERFUL ONE 61
+
+ BOCHICA AND THE ZIPA 71
+
+ THE SONG OF HIAWATHA 78
+
+ MICHABO, THE GREAT WHITE HARE 80
+
+ THE BIRTH OF CORN 90
+
+ THE WRATHY CHIEFTAIN 99
+
+ QUETZALCOATL, THE PLUMED SERPENT 109
+
+ CHOLULA, THE SACRED CITY 117
+
+ TULLA, THE HIDING NOOK OF THE SNAKE 125
+
+ DEPARTURE OF THE GOLDEN HEARTED 132
+
+ EL DORADO, THE GOLDEN 140
+
+ BIMINI, THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH 151
+
+ MONTEZUMA AND THE PABA 161
+
+ THE CHILD OF THE SUN 176
+
+ THE GILDED MAN 189
+
+ THE WHITE SEA OF THE MANOAS 197
+
+ THE MOUNTAIN OF GOLD 207
+
+ THE AMAZON QUEENS 219
+
+ THE SEVEN CITIES OF CIBOLA 228
+
+ THE KINGDOM OF QUIVERA 240
+
+ THE LAND OF GOLD 250
+
+ THE NEW EL DORADO 262
+
+ APPENDIX 271
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+ PAGE
+
+ LEAVING THE HAPPY ISLAND (Drawing by Xavier Martinez) 17
+
+ "EACH STITCH MUST BE COUNTED" (Painting, The Weaver,
+ by Amadee Joullin) 21
+
+ THE BALL PLAYER (Drawing, Xavier Martinez) 30
+
+ "WHO ART THOU?" (Painting, Alexander Para, Mexico City) 35
+
+ "AN OLD-FASHIONED ALMANAC" (Photograph, Calendar
+ Stone, Mexico City) 48
+
+ "BEHOLD THE FIRST WORD" (Painting, The Hieroglyph
+ Maker, A. Joullin) 55
+
+ THE TAPIR (Tail-piece) 60
+
+ A SUSPENSION BRIDGE (Drawing by Xavier Martinez) 64
+
+ "THE PEOPLE SHOUTED 'HAILLE'!" (Painting, The Sun
+ Worshippers, E. Narjot) 69
+
+ "THE FLOWER-LADEN BALSA" (Tail-piece) 77
+
+ "THE HOUSE OF WUNZH" (Tail-piece) 89
+
+ THE WRESTLING MATCH (Tail-piece) 93
+
+ "THE WRATHY CHIEFTAIN" (Painting by J. W. Clawson) 104
+
+ THE POTTERY MAKER (Drawing, X. Martinez) 107
+
+ "THE HUMMING-BIRD ALIGHTED" (Drawing, X. Martinez) 111
+
+ "THE SNAKESKIN CANOE" (Drawing, X. Martinez) 124
+
+ "HERE IS MEDICINE FOR YOU" (Drawing, X. Martinez) 129
+
+ "A SONG OF FAREWELL" (Drawing, X. Martinez) 137
+
+ THE TORCH BEARERS (Tail-piece) (Drawing, X. Martinez) 139
+
+ "ON, AND ON THE CARAVELS SAILED" (Official photograph) 147
+
+ "LAND! LAND AHEAD!" (Official photograph) 148
+
+ "THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH" (Drawing, X. Martinez) 159
+
+ "THEIR NAKED BODIES HACKED TO PIECES" (Drawing, X.
+ Martinez) 185
+
+ DRYING INDIA RUBBER 201
+
+ "THE OLD WITCH, MONELLA" 214
+
+ "A FLOWER OFFERING" (Sketch by X. Martinez) 224
+
+ "ONE OF THE SEVEN CITIES" (Sketch by X. Martinez) 235
+
+ "FRAY MARCOS" 239
+
+ "AN OLD COMMUNITY HOUSE" 249
+
+ "DISCOVERY OF SAN FRANCISCO BAY" (Painting, Arthur
+ Matthews, by courtesy of S. F. Art Association) 253
+
+ "A PRAIRIE SCHOONER" 261
+
+
+
+
+The Happy Island
+
+
+A long time ago there was a beautiful island close by the place in the
+east where the sun rises. The sea was all around it, and at noonday
+the sun in the sky seemed to slant just above it. Being near the
+equator and in a tropic clime the winds were soft and warm and full of
+the odor of sweet flowers. Sometimes the sea was smooth and clear as
+glass and then the goldfish and sea mosses floated near the surface
+and glittered in the sunlight.
+
+At night the moon came out big and round like a silver ball and the
+stars shone very clear because there was no smoke nor fog in the air.
+In the moonlight the queer little flying fish would jump up out of the
+water and dart forth and back in the funniest way as if they were
+playing some kind of game. Their tiny wet wings glistened like silver
+gauze, and, when everything else was still, made a peculiar whirring
+sound by all flapping at once.
+
+The beach was strewn with quantities of conch and abalone shells, also
+other species of all shapes and sizes and they were as dainty in color
+as it is possible to imagine. The children of the Happy Island often
+held the larger ones to their ears to listen to the murmurs and
+complaints of the insects and other forms of life living inside them.
+This was only a fancy, but many sea shells do have a soft musical
+cadence if we care to hear it. Some poets believe that they were the
+first musical instruments, and that the inhabitants of the sea send
+messages ashore in this manner.
+
+The ferns grew almost as tall as the trees and there were hundreds of
+birds skimming through the air, or flitting through the branches
+singing and chattering and having a very happy time. They were not
+afraid because no one threw stones at them or tried to frighten them.
+Everybody was glad to see them put up their little bills and ruffle up
+their throats in singing, or else spread out their wings and splash
+water all over their backs while they stood on a pebble or twig taking
+a morning bath. The people said that when the birds were twittering
+and chirping they were talking to each other. When they were singing
+they were telling God how thankful they were for the warm sunshine and
+plenty to eat.
+
+There was a wonderful city in the center of the island named the City
+of the Golden Gates because it was surrounded by a high wall of very
+thick stones, with a great number of gates of gold through which the
+animals and people passed in and out. Here lived the Old Man of the
+Sea, as the king was called, and his son was a beautiful youth known
+as the Golden Hearted because he was so gentle and kind. He was a
+swift runner and could shoot well with a bow and arrow and was strong
+enough to wrestle with a big man, but he preferred to make gold
+ornaments and vessels for his father and was often permitted to go
+into the king's treasure house to watch the workmen polish the
+precious gems which they found in great abundance by digging into the
+mountains near the city.
+
+The people knew all about white and black pearls and how to get them
+from the bed of the ocean. In full sight of the island was a large
+reef of pink and white coral and the young prince went there many
+times to see the curious little insects building their graceful, airy
+houses over some rock hidden by the water. He sometimes imagined that
+he heard the mermaids calling to him. What he really did hear was the
+wind dashing the waves in and out of the coral chambers as if it were
+determined to wash them away. The reef was an excellent place to fish,
+and the Golden Hearted and his companions had many a fine day's sport
+there while the divers were searching for the pearl oysters. He fished
+with a drag-net made by himself, and he could let it out and haul it
+in again like a regular sailor. He never killed any of the fish, and
+the divers would not give him the pearls they found because they were
+compelled to kill the oysters to get them, and this they said made the
+pearls unlucky and was the reason why they are round and shining like
+tear drops. The miners brought him all the emeralds they could find,
+because this was the happiness-bringing stone. Its color is like the
+soft grass in the springtime, and they wanted him to be always young
+and have everything his heart desired.
+
+The royal gardens were his special care and in them he was allowed to
+cultivate any kind of tree or plant or grain. Then from them he must
+learn the names and habits of the trees producing the best wood for
+building houses, what plants were good to heal the sick, and all about
+the grains useful for food either for man or animals. Every flower
+that had a perfume grew in a separate part of the garden, and those
+shedding their fragrance at night only were in a bed by themselves. He
+was required to know the difference between single and double species
+and why there is such a difference in the same family of plants.
+
+Honey bees, big-winged butterflies, crickets and beetles hid in the
+flowers or flew above them, and these all taught a lesson to the young
+prince who had no other books. The honey bee was an industrious little
+fellow continually building a piece of comb or else filling it with
+honey. The butterfly, on the other hand, did not work at all but
+changed from an ugly grub into a caterpillar and finally into a
+gorgeous butterfly with spotted wings and bright eyes. The king told
+his son that the butterfly was like a soul--the immortal part of
+ourselves--and he wished him to be as busy as the bee, and to do no
+more harm to other creatures than does the pretty butterfly.
+
+The cricket was a cheerful, merry chap, usually singing at the top of
+his voice, and the beetle tried to push all of the dirt out of the
+garden. If he found anything he did not like he would roll and tumble
+with it, even if it were much bigger than himself. This amused the
+Golden Hearted very much, and when he grew tired of his own
+occupations he would run out into the garden and watch the beetles.
+
+One day he went into the splendid throne-room where his father was
+giving audience to some wise old men who were foretelling what was
+going to happen to the king and the people of the Happy Island. They
+urged the king to send some member of his household to the strange
+land over the sea, toward the setting sun, where the people were in
+barbarism.
+
+The Golden Hearted was much interested and thought here was an
+opportunity to do some good for the weak and helpless. Springing
+forward he said:
+
+"Dear father, let me go. I am able to sail the seas and am willing to
+devote my life to teaching these poor people how to live like
+brothers."
+
+The king felt proud of the young prince, but he loved him so dearly
+that it was hard to let him go, and also hard to refuse such a noble,
+manly request.
+
+"Do you know, my son, this will entail a great deal of hardship and
+self-denial?" he asked.
+
+"Yes, father, but God intends us to earn all the good things in life;
+He will not give them to us for nothing. That is His good law, which
+makes us healthy, happy and wise--three of the most precious
+possessions in the world."
+
+"Go, my Golden Heart, and may God bless and keep you always," said the
+king. "Take a green-throated humming-bird for your guide, and when you
+find the land, journey on until you come to a place where a cactus
+grows at the base of a rock and there is a golden eagle soaring in the
+air above it. Halt there and found a city, and name it in honor of the
+sun."
+
+Then all the wise men begged to go with him, and for days after there
+were great preparations made for the departure of the king's son. At
+daybreak one morning he set sail in a snake-skin boat, and all the
+inhabitants came with the king to throw flowers and emeralds into the
+sea because they wished to show respect to the Golden Hearted. It was
+their method of blessing him and wishing him good luck. The whole
+shore line, as far as he could see, was lighted up by bonfires where
+the people burned resin and perfume to commemorate his going.
+
+At the water's edge stood the old sea king with his long white hair
+and beard blowing in the wind. By his side was a cream-white horse
+with three plumes in the top of its bridle reins and a square, red
+blanket edged with deep fringe on its back. Crowns and moons and stars
+of gold and silver were scattered over the blanket to show that the
+horse belonged to the royal prince. Back of the king was a long line
+of young warrior priests mounted on white horses, with red blankets,
+and carrying reversed spears in their hands. They bowed their heads
+when the poor old father leaned over on the horse's neck and cried as
+if his heart would break as the boat with his only son in it pushed
+off from the shore. Snatching a torch from the hand of an attendant,
+the Golden Hearted waved it on high. Fire with them was a symbol of
+wisdom, and when the king saw it, he answered the signal by waving a
+torch, and the warrior priests flashed their spears in the bright
+sunlight, and the people sent up a deafening shout.
+
+This meant that they were willing to sacrifice their future king for
+the good of a strange race of men who needed a teacher to show them
+how to cultivate the land and how to build cities and live civilized.
+The people of the Happy Island would not send a common man for a
+teacher. No, indeed; they gave the best they had--their dearly loved
+prince with the golden heart--to help their less fortunate neighbors.
+And he gave up all luxury and comfort because he would rather be
+useful, than live in ease as a king. The name of the island was
+Atlantis, and the new country was our own--America.
+
+ [Illustration: LEAVING THE HAPPY ISLAND]
+
+
+
+
+Zamna, the Eye of the Sun
+
+
+"Ho There! Who comes to us in a canoe?" cried the people
+in the strange land when the Golden Hearted and the wise men arrived
+from the Happy Island. Many of the natives ran away and others hid in
+the bushes because they were afraid they were going to be killed. None
+of them were ever so badly frightened in their lives, and none had
+ever seen white men before.
+
+"Do you come to fight us? Are you warriors?" they asked.
+
+"I am your friend, not your foe," answered the young prince kindly,
+and holding a white flag high over his head. "To be a warrior is to
+have been in many battles, and I never marched a day under the banner
+of the king, my father. I come wholly in peace."
+
+"He is only a lad. Surely we need not fear him," said the people
+coming back to crowd around him on shore and to examine his boat and
+clothes with much curiosity. "Why, then, are you here?" they finally
+asked.
+
+"I am sent by my father to teach you the Good Law."
+
+"We already know how to shoot an arrow through the heart of an eagle.
+We have taken many captives in battle, and are a scourge to our
+enemies," they answered proudly. They were still suspicious of their
+visitors.
+
+"You crush a worm without mercy, never thinking it has the same right
+to live as you have, and that in itself it is more wonderful than all
+these things," said the Golden Hearted, reprovingly.
+
+The natives were greatly astonished. Never had they heard any one
+speak like this, and they could not imagine what sort of young man he
+was. If he did not like the chase, and was not a warrior, and did not
+believe in killing things, they could not understand him at all.
+
+"What do you mean by the Good Law? What is it anyhow?"
+
+"It is to be gentle and kind to all creatures, and to treat your
+neighbor as if he were your brother. You must be just to the plant, to
+the bull, to the horse and to the dog. The earth too has a right to be
+cultivated. Neglect it, and it will curse you; fertilize it, and it
+will show gratitude in a thousand ways. May your fields bring forth
+all that is good to eat, and may your countless villages abound with
+prosperity."
+
+The Golden Hearted was so modest and sincere in speech and so well
+mannered that they were pleased with him, and were beginning to feel
+quite friendly. The wise men also said many nice things to them and
+did all they could to make the situation pleasant.
+
+To show appreciation and to welcome the young prince, the natives gave
+him a handful of fireflies, because light with them was a symbol of
+order, peace and virtue. This was a delicate, pretty compliment and so
+delighted the Golden Hearted that he scattered them all over his head.
+When they lit in his soft, wavy, yellow hair, their bulging eyes and
+gauzy wings sparkled like diamonds and they did not try to fly away
+because he sang to them:
+
+"Firefly, firefly! bright little thing, Light me to bed and my song I
+will sing. Give me your light as you fly o'er my head That I may
+merrily go to my bed. Give me your light o'er the grass as you creep
+That I may joyfully go to my sleep. Come little firefly, come little
+beast, Come and I'll make you tomorrow a feast; Come, little candle,
+that flies as I sing, Bright little fairy bug--Night's little king.
+Come, and I'll dance as you guide me along, Come, and I'll pay you, my
+bug, with a song."
+
+Each fly has four spots, one back of each eye and under each wing
+which it can make as bright as candle light when it chooses. Its body
+is about an inch and a half long.
+
+ [Illustration: "EACH STITCH MUST BE COUNTED"]
+
+When the prince put the fireflies in his hair, the natives present
+touched the ground with their right hands and placed them over
+their hearts in token of respect. He, in turn, gave them the white
+flag he carried because it was an emblem of peace, friendship,
+happiness and prosperity, as well as purity and holiness, and he
+intended to bring them all of these things.
+
+"What is your wish?" asked the natives of each of the wise men.
+
+"We desire to bathe in the warm surf of these shores and then to make
+a thank offering for our safe arrival and your kindly greeting," they
+answered.
+
+Criers with shrill trumpets and drums ran up and down the beach to
+call in the fishing boats.
+
+"The men wearing skirts are coming into the sea," they shouted, and
+the Golden Hearted and his followers looked at each other with a smile
+when they heard what the criers said. The natives wore only breech
+clouts and feather and shell ornaments, much like the Indians of
+today. Never before had they seen men wearing long white robes, beards
+and high-crowned hats without rims, and having a square black cloth
+hanging over the shoulders in the back like a veil.
+
+"Is there something else needed to make you more content and
+comfortable?" asked the criers when the fishermen had all come ashore.
+
+"We need wood and stones to build an altar for our sacrifice," replied
+the Golden Hearted.
+
+While the newcomers were splashing in the surf, the porters brought
+arms full of wood, and stones large and small and piled them near the
+boat and waited to see what the visitors would do with them.
+
+"Why do you wear skirts like women?" they next inquired, as the
+bathers were putting on their robes after a long swim.
+
+"Because we work for humanity," said the young prince. "No man is
+really great who has not developed a woman's tenderness in his heart,
+and that our fellows may know that we have this quality, we wear
+skirts and robes."
+
+This is why in our day the king and priest and judge wear long gowns.
+The king rules men, women and children alike; the judge administers
+the law for all of them, and the minister prays for the good as well
+as the bad. For this reason we should respect their robes when we see
+them.
+
+The natives did not know the name of the young prince but when they
+saw him take a piece of mica and hold it over a bit of cotton until
+the sun set it on fire, they exclaimed "Zamna!" meaning "Eye of the
+Sun," and this was what they called him while he lived in that
+country. The wise men had placed some copal on top of the altar they
+had made of wood and stone and it was not long before the cotton and
+copal began to burn. As it did so, the Golden Hearted pointed with his
+finger to a ray of the midday sun. First he and his followers held
+their arms high overhead, then they sat in a squatting position and
+recited all the incidents of their journey. Finally they all
+prostrated themselves on the ground and returned thanks for their
+safety and good health. Rising to their feet, the wise men began to
+chant with bared heads and faces turned toward the east.
+
+The natives thought this a very strange performance and debated among
+themselves whether it could be part of the Good Law they were soon to
+learn.
+
+"Do you come to destroy our old faiths, and to bring us a new god?"
+they asked as the wood on the altar burned low and the chanting
+ceased.
+
+"To attack any form of worship is like fighting darkness with a stick.
+The only way to overcome the blackness of night dwelling in men's
+hearts is to kindle a light--and the light of the world is love,"
+responded the Golden Hearted as he slipped his arm through that of the
+native who had asked him the question. "I did not come to quarrel with
+you. I want you to think of me as a brother ready and willing to serve
+you always. In my father's kingdom, the man who serves faithfully in
+any capacity is the one most honored. Take this cross to the chief of
+your village and say to him that He who is the Dew of Heaven, Lord of
+the Dawn, and of the Four Winds, sends his only son with a message of
+peace and good will to all his people. Show him the red hand painted
+in the center and tell him that it is not meant to convey strength,
+power and mastery, but that it is raised thus as an act of
+supplication."
+
+As the swiftest courier in the group was girding a red sash tightly
+around his waist making ready for a quick run, the fishermen came up
+from their huts and invited the travelers to come and share their
+humble noonday meal. The Golden Hearted was glad to accept the
+extended hospitality, not because he had no provisions of his own, but
+because he valued their good opinion and was ready to do whatever he
+thought would please them.
+
+They were a gentle, kindly folk, these simple fishermen. Not only were
+they industrious, but they were polite and reverential to their
+superiors and as happy as a lot of children when they found the
+strange prince under their roof. In all the after years they would
+have been willing to die for him.
+
+The wise men of his company were so strict in their habits that they
+refused to eat the flesh of any animal, and their simple meal was soon
+finished. But while every one else was at the table they performed a
+sacred dance in a pompous and solemn style, circling around the Golden
+Hearted who sat by himself. They had green palms in their hands and
+every once in a while they would bow to the prince. In a peculiar
+sing-song way they chanted a long poem telling about the history of
+the Happy Island.
+
+Imagine how funny they must have looked whirling round and round with
+their long robes, black veils and wide sleeves filled with the wind.
+They kept on their high hats and with their long beards and hair
+flying in every direction, it was no wonder that the fishermen and
+other people laughed and thought it was some kind of game. The dancers
+were not at all offended, and when the natives asked if they knew how
+to play ball, they answered good naturedly:
+
+"No, but we would like very much to learn."
+
+"Come out here into the alley and we will teach you. By and by you may
+give us lessons in many things, but we are going to give you the first
+one."
+
+Then they all laughed, and so did the young prince and the wise old
+men.
+
+The alley where they played ball was one hundred feet long and had
+smooth, white-washed walls about twelve feet high in the center, but
+lower at each end where there was a rectangular nook for the players
+to rest. The walls were quite thick at the base but tapered toward the
+top which was finished with battlements and turrets.
+
+Before the game began, the oldest player among them threw the small,
+solid, India-rubber ball four times around the alley muttering some
+words to himself all the time. The owner of the ground made the old
+man a trifling present, and then the game began in good earnest.
+
+The rule was to hit the ball only with the knee, elbow or shoulder,
+not with the hands nor feet. The wise men with their long gowns and
+veils had a hard time keeping up with the native players, who wore
+very little clothing and were quick and sure footed. Two on each side
+played at a time, and the great point was to send the ball against
+the opposite wall or else over it as often as possible without
+allowing it to touch the ground. There were two referees; one being
+the Golden Hearted and the other, the oldest player.
+
+Everybody shouted and laughed at the clumsy playing of the wise men
+who tried ever so hard to imitate the things they saw the others
+doing. It was a great effort for them and they panted and blowed as
+they ran. Very often they tumbled heels over head by stepping on their
+skirts in front. Then they would all go down together in a heap, one
+on top of the other, and the referees would have much to do before
+they could get them all straightened out again. It was jolly good fun,
+but required considerable time and patience even for an expert player
+to send the ball over the wall with either his elbow, knee or
+shoulder.
+
+In the center of the wall on each side was a huge stone carved with
+images, having a hole in the center barely big enough for the ball to
+go through. Whoever was skilful enough to make a drive through one of
+them, not only won the game for his side, but was entitled to the
+cloaks of all those present. Of course, this was a very difficult feat
+to accomplish and made quite a hero of the man who succeeded, so every
+player tried for the honor.
+
+This day the young native who first hailed the Golden Hearted when he
+landed, by a lucky toss of the elbow sent the ball flying through the
+hole on the wise men's side. In a moment the spectators scrambled
+down from their seats and ran away as fast as they could go. The wise
+men stood looking after them in wide-eyed astonishment, and before
+they had time to get out of the alley the victor stripped them of
+their veils and then their tall hats looked like a piece of stove pipe
+with a cover over one end of it.
+
+The Golden Hearted insisted that each man should give back whatever he
+had won in a bet on the game, and for each loss of this kind he gave
+both winner and loser a present, and promised to teach their sons and
+daughters how to weave cloth having figures in it. In such a way he
+taught them how to count, and to this day they have no other method of
+reproducing a pattern perfectly. Each stitch must be counted and only
+a certain number of each color put in, and all this must be carried in
+the head. The weavers are not allowed to write it down.
+
+At nightfall the runners came in breathless with haste to say that the
+chief of the village was sending a councilor and official guide to
+welcome and escort the strange white men to his dwelling. But the
+Golden Hearted was not in a hurry to leave the fishermen and common
+people with whom he had spent the day, except for a short visit. When
+he returned he taught them how to make sun-dried bricks with which to
+build houses, also to shape the round water jars of brown pottery and
+how to ornament them and the gourds they drank from. The wise men
+assisted him in all this, and in time, the natives not only built
+comfortable houses for themselves but learned how to fashion many
+pretty designs of cornices and wall decorations out of stucco which
+they tinted many colors.
+
+The first thing he did when he went to the village was to make the
+chief king, and then he ordered some of the wise men who were
+architects and engineers to lay out a splendid city and help the
+natives to build it. Before he came there were nothing but trails from
+one part of the country to the other and the simple tradesmen did not
+know how to exchange their wares. The Golden Hearted became the patron
+of the builders and traders and lived many years with the people of
+Aztlan.
+
+While in that country, he occupied himself with the building of a
+sacred temple dedicated to those who served the Good Law. It had four
+beautiful halls facing the four cardinal points of the compass. That
+on the east was the Hall of Gold and its walls were almost covered
+with plates of the precious metal having delicately-chased pictures
+over its shining surface. To the west was the Hall of Emeralds and
+Turquoises where many gems were studded into the plaster. The south
+hall was finished in silver while the northern hall was made of jasper
+stuck with colored shells in curious patterns. In each room there was
+a tapestry of yellow, blue, white and red feather mosaic that was as
+fine as a painting and in some cases perfectly represented men and
+animals. In front of the main entrance for many years stood a winged
+lion cut out of granite holding an image of the Golden Hearted in his
+mouth.
+
+The name of the city was Mayapan and the king who had been merely a
+village chief was the celebrated Cocomes of the olden times.
+
+ [Illustration: THE BALL PLAYER]
+
+
+
+
+Votan, the People's Heart
+
+
+One evening the Golden Hearted saw a ball of fire rise in the East
+just about where the Happy Island was located, and it followed the
+course of the sun. Then he knew it was time for him to take some of
+the wise men and go into a new place, so he lay awake long into the
+night and thought how best to begin to get ready. He knew the people
+loved him very much, but he remembered his oath to his father, the
+king, and though he was sad at heart, he determined to leave the next
+day but one. He had not yet spoken to anybody about his intention, but
+it must have been right else it would not have happened that a whole
+lot more wise men came to the city that very day.
+
+ [Illustration]
+
+"Now," he said to himself, "I can leave these wise men to help the
+poor natives, and I will take seven of their families with me."
+
+Seeing that it was daybreak and the sun about to rise, the Golden
+Hearted sprang out of bed and hastily washing his face and hands,
+threw the window wide open and lifting his arms high overhead said:
+
+"Hail! Beauty of the Day! Homage to thee who riseth above the horizon.
+I come near to thee. Thou openest the gates of another day. Great
+Illuminator out of the golden, place thyself as a protector behind me.
+Guide and keep me safe on the journey that I am about to undertake."
+
+Then he dressed himself as quickly as possible and went out to find
+the wise men and tell them what he was going to do. They were willing
+to go with him, but King Cocomes was greatly disappointed, though he
+felt more contented when the Golden Hearted promised to come back
+again.
+
+"Quiet thy heart, great king, and trust in my love," was what the
+young prince said to him.
+
+The travelers had to pass through the country of the Quinames who were
+a very wild people. They went about naked with long matted hair
+hanging over their shoulders, and they ate raw meat, fruits and herbs.
+They knew nothing about cooking, but could make pulque, a kind of
+beer, out of maguey plant, a cousin of the cactus family. On this they
+often got very drunk. Then they were fierce and quarrelsome. At all
+times these people were proud of their strength and cunning in battle
+and in hunting the ferocious beasts roaming over the hills and plains.
+The Quinames were really a dreadful set of men, but the Golden Hearted
+was not afraid of them. He heard all kinds of stories about their
+cruelty and savage ways of living, but he went quietly among them and
+parceled out the land and showed them how to cultivate it. The
+Quinames lived entirely by hunting and fishing and had no houses. When
+one place did not suit them any longer, they moved to another, and
+would never have learned how to live civilized except for the coming
+of the prince and the wise men.
+
+And what a terrible journey it was! It was in a tropic country where
+there was so much warm rain that everything grew rank and luxuriant.
+For whole days the Golden Hearted marched in the shadow of ferns as
+big as trees and the ground was covered with briers and nettles.
+Sometimes he had to go around muddy swamps or right through bushes
+filled with snakes. Then, too, he had to swim across wide rivers and
+climb steep, rocky mountains. In the tangled leaves and vines hundreds
+of parrots screamed and screeched at them, while on all sides the
+monkeys threw sticks from the branches of the trees. Gnats and other
+poisonous insects stung his hands and face.
+
+He traveled like this many days. Whenever he went into camp, the
+Golden Hearted would invite the Quinames to dine with him in order
+that he might teach them how to eat cooked food out of dishes. They
+could not understand the use of cups and basins, because they drank
+out of cocoa-nut shells and had never seen a napkin or tablecloth.
+They had always been in the habit of taking the food in their fingers
+and pulling it apart, and were not very nice about keeping their hands
+clean either.
+
+Of course, all this was very disagreeable to the Golden Hearted, but
+he was as patient and kind as possible and those fierce Quinames would
+not have harmed a hair in his head. When they asked him where he was
+going he always answered, "To seek my brothers, the Culebra, of whom
+thou shalt know more by and by."
+
+"And from where comest thou?"
+
+"From the mountain of Little Descent, and where I tarry, there will I
+build Nachan, the city of Serpents."
+
+The ignorant barbarians did not know that the word serpent meant
+wisdom in the language of the Happy Island, but the wise men were much
+pleased because they knew that this city was to be a great seat of
+learning and that they would have charge of the temples and schools
+when it was completed.
+
+"Who art thou and thy followers?" was often asked of them on the way.
+
+"We are Chanes and the sons of Chanes," but this did not mean anything
+to the savages either, because they did not know that "Chane" was the
+name of the wise men in their own country.
+
+One day a culprit was brought before the Golden Hearted accused of
+stealing a curious looking stick with yellow grains fastened all
+around it. The Quinames said it was good food and they pulled off its
+green wrappings and held it before the fire until it was browned and
+then ate it. The Golden Hearted and the wise men had never seen this
+plant before and were very much interested in their discovery. But
+they did not think it well to say so.
+
+ [Illustration: "WHO ART THOU AND THY FOLLOWERS?"]
+
+"Dost thou say this man is a thief?" asked the Golden Hearted.
+
+"Yes, yes; we knew where the bush grew, but we were waiting until it
+should be more yellow before giving it to thee," said the captors.
+
+"I will prove thee," said the Golden Hearted to the accused. He took a
+piece of finely-polished black stone from his breast pocket and held
+it up before the prisoner saying, "Look into its shining face and
+beholding thine own image, swear by the Heart of Heaven to speak the
+truth."
+
+The poor savage nearly died of fright when he saw himself because he
+thought it was an omen of instant death. He quaked and trembled and
+his eyes were as big and round as walnuts.
+
+"From whence came this goodly seed?" asked the Golden Hearted kindly.
+
+"From the edge of the wood where a silver band of water rots an old
+tree," answered the man, still pallid with fear.
+
+"Take thy share, and leave me what thy accusers intended for me."
+
+The prisoner stared at him stupidly for a moment then his better
+nature spoke and he took only one grain, and would have fled into the
+jungle if the Golden Hearted had not caught him by the mantle.
+
+"Look again into the mirror of truth."
+
+This time the savage was not so afraid and he gazed curiously at the
+stone for some time. Its surface was perfectly blank.
+
+"Tell me what thou seest?"
+
+"Nothing but its own dark face speaks to the eye of thy servant,"
+responded the accused.
+
+"Then know, my brothers," said the Golden Hearted turning to the
+astonished Quinames, "this man is innocent and must go free."
+
+"Thou art welcome to my life," exclaimed the accused joyfully; "thou
+hast saved it and it is thine to command."
+
+"Use it to perfect the growth of this strange seed so that thy fellows
+and all grain-eating creatures may profit by thy labors."
+
+The grain found in this manner is known to the people of that country
+to-day as maize. We call it Indian corn.
+
+When the wise men heard about it, they begged the Golden Hearted to
+let them build a white house where any one accused of crime would be
+safe until the judges could decide whether they were guilty or not.
+The prince thought it was a very good plan and said:
+
+"I will put the black stone in it and will make a law that no man
+shall be called guilty if the surface of the stone does not change
+when he is made to look into it. And to commemorate our safe passage
+through this wild country, I will order several white houses built,
+and each one shall be called Refuges Against Fear."
+
+In those days no one seemed to think it was wrong to kill a person who
+was said to be a thief or had done anything his neighbors did not
+like, so it was very necessary for the Golden Hearted to teach them to
+be just to each other. He told the Quinames that they must be sure
+about a thing before they acted harshly, and he cautioned them to be
+careful about believing or repeating unkind remarks they heard. It was
+quite a long time before the Quinames would even try to do this, but
+finally they helped to build the houses and were honorable enough not
+to harm any one once inside the walls. Many a useful life was saved in
+this manner, but sometimes a poor refugee was overtaken and beaten to
+death with clubs before reaching the house.
+
+Because the Golden Hearted succeeded in persuading the warlike
+Quinames to live peaceably with their neighbors and to treat each
+other well, he was called in that and many other countries, Votan, The
+People's Heart, to distinguish him from the Heart of Heaven which was
+their name for God. His was truly a great work because it was done
+without a selfish motive and for no reward except the good of his
+fellow men.
+
+ [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+Lord of the Sacred Tunkel
+
+
+No one living can tell how many years ago it was that the Golden
+Hearted built Nachan, the city of wise men, nor how many years it took
+to do the work, but it has always been said to be a very beautiful
+place. Anyhow, it was after he left the Quinames, and it was in a
+country very much more civilized.
+
+The Golden Hearted had many happy days there.
+
+Even if he was a grown man and a great prince, he was very fond of
+children and one day he visited the Temple of the Sun where the pupils
+from school were having a holiday. They all had on their best clothes,
+and their faces and hands were clean, but they were shouting, and
+singing and playing games, very much like the boys and girls we know.
+They felt sure that the Golden Hearted was their good friend and when
+they saw him coming they ran out into the courtyard and crowded around
+him as thick as flies.
+
+"A story! a story!" they said; "Please, good Prince, tell us a story."
+
+"What shall it be about?" asked the Golden Hearted with a pleasant
+smile.
+
+"Something very perfect and beautiful," they said.
+
+"Let me think what we have in the world that is both perfect and
+beautiful. Which would you prefer, something man has made, or that God
+has made?"
+
+The children were very much puzzled to know which to choose. They
+tried hard to think what man had made that was without any faults and
+could not be imitated or improved, either in appearance or quality,
+but they were not satisfied with anything. Then they began to think
+about the trees, the flowers, the precious stones, the sky and the
+sea, and were getting more and more confused all the time when the
+Golden Hearted laughed and said:
+
+"I will tell you what we will do. We will send for the wise men and
+ask them to choose."
+
+The wise men thought it was great fun, so they hurried as fast as they
+could and were quite out of breath when they got near enough to speak
+to the Golden Hearted.
+
+"Tell me something you know in the world that is both perfect and
+beautiful," he said to the wise man who had charge of the Temple of
+the Sun, and was first to arrive.
+
+"The great, blazing, glorious sun," he replied.
+
+"None but God could have made it, and we adore it and sacrifice to it
+because it is the mask behind which God hides His ever-smiling face."
+
+Many of the children shaded their eyes with their hands and took a
+quick look at the sun overhead, and thought that was a good answer.
+
+"What do you know in the world that is both perfect and beautiful?"
+asked the prince of the next comer, who was a man wise in the art of
+working metals. He had not heard the first answer, but, without
+stopping a minute to think, said:
+
+"Gold; because it is like the substance of the sun and cannot be made
+by putting any metals together nor by any mixture of chemicals."
+
+The Golden Hearted knew that was a correct answer but he wanted the
+children to be satisfied, and he was not sure that all of them
+understood it.
+
+"Do you know that way down in the earth gold is created, and yet it is
+shining and bright and yellow like the light of the sun? This accounts
+for its beauty, and it is perfect because it is absolutely pure in
+itself."
+
+The next man that came along was wise, but he looked like a farmer.
+
+"What have you seen in your life that cannot be improved or made
+prettier?"
+
+"Wheat," was his quick reply, "because it is not a blend of any of the
+grains or grasses but grows out of the ground perfect. It is beautiful
+in every phase of its life whether it waves in the wind like a sea of
+emeralds or ripens into great sheaves of gold, or its plump grains
+tempt you to satisfy hunger. It is the best friend man has, and it
+would be very hard for him to live without it."
+
+That was such a sensible answer, that the children all clapped their
+hands with delight because they knew at once that it was correct. Just
+then the Golden Hearted looked up and saw one of his best perfumers in
+the group of wise men.
+
+"Will you give us an answer to this question?" he asked.
+
+"I should differ from all the others"--began the man.
+
+"Never mind, tell us what in your line is the most perfect and
+beautiful thing you know."
+
+"A jasmine blossom," replied the perfumer, "because its delicate odor
+cannot be imitated no matter what combination of oils or extracts we
+make. I cannot say that of any other flower in the world."
+
+The children could have answered that question themselves if they had
+only thought quickly enough. They were quite familiar with the dainty
+little white flowers and tender vine of the jasmine as well as its
+sweet smell, because it grew wild in their country.
+
+While the perfumer was talking, the Golden Hearted picked up a shining
+pebble near his feet.
+
+"Now, children," he said, "in this small rough stone I find something
+perfect and beautiful. It is an opal, the only one of the precious
+gems I do not know how to counterfeit. Join hands, as many of you as
+can, and dance around me while I sing you a song about the birth of
+the opal."
+
+One of the wise men gave him a Sacred Tunkel, a kind of guitar which
+he brought from the Temple of the Sun, and this was what he sang:
+
+The Birth of the Opal
+
+ A dew drop came with a spark of flame
+ He had caught from the sun's last rays
+ To a violet's breast, where he lay at rest
+ Till the hours brought back the day.
+
+ The rose looked down with a blush and a frown
+ But she smiled all at once to view
+ Her own bright form with its coloring warm
+ Reflected back by the dew.
+
+ Then the stranger took a stolen look
+ At the sky so soft and blue,
+ And a leaflet green with its silver sheen
+ Was seen by the idler too.
+
+ A cold north wind, as he thus reclined,
+ Of a sudden raged around,
+ And a maiden fair, who was walking there
+ Next morning an opal found.
+
+Some of the pupils were inclined to think that the singing of the
+Golden Hearted was the most perfect and beautiful they had ever heard
+and they all liked to listen to the low plaintive notes of the
+Tunkel. Those that could not take part in the dance gathered around
+their teachers and asked:
+
+"What shall we do to honor the good prince and show him how much we
+appreciate his efforts to amuse and please us?"
+
+"Ask him to allow you to answer your own question," they said, "and
+then tell him something about your feathered friends. Have you
+forgotten the hermit of the woods with its rainbow plumes three feet
+long and its gay scarlet breast?"
+
+The name of this bird is the Quetzal, and it lives on the high
+mountain tops all alone and is only about the size of a pigeon.
+
+When the Golden Hearted finished singing and the dancers were all
+standing still, a bright-faced boy approached and said, "We have an
+answer to our own question, good prince."
+
+"Say on, my little man, I am listening to you."
+
+"It is the Quetzal, the rarest bird in the world, and the most perfect
+and beautiful of all feathered creatures. With its brilliant luster
+plumes I crown you Lord of the Sacred Tunkel, as a reward for your
+sweet singing. May the children of every land know and love you as we
+do."
+
+The Golden Hearted was much surprised and pleased with his new crown
+and ever after wore the feathers of the Quetzal in his head dress. So
+long as he remained in Nachan, he was called the Lord of the Sacred
+Tunkel because he could play so well upon this queerly-shaped guitar.
+
+
+
+
+The Stars' Ball
+
+
+It was not so very long after the children had crowned him Lord of the
+Sacred Tunkel until the Golden Hearted planned to have them all with
+him again. He made up his mind to spend his lifetime teaching because
+he thought that was the most useful thing he could do, but he was
+determined to make the lessons for the children as pleasant as
+possible. He and the wise men taught the older people how to divide
+the days into weeks, months and years, and how to make a calendar, and
+all about the sun and the moon and the stars, but this was too hard
+for the children. So he decided to take them up on the roof of the
+Temple of the Sun in the moonlight and tell them some simple pretty
+story about the sky at night.
+
+In that country, the houses were built with flat roofs covered with
+red tiles, and there was either a ladder or a winding staircase from
+the ground, so it was not much trouble to get up on the roof. In fact,
+many of the dwellings had beautiful potted plants up there, and it was
+really a pleasant place to go of a warm summer evening. This night
+there was not a breath of air, and the children did not need anything
+on their heads nor any wraps. Only around the lower edges of the sky
+were there clouds and these were soft and white like big piles of
+cotton. The whole heavens looked like a bright blue veil thickly
+sprinkled with diamonds. It was very still and quiet and there were so
+many flowers in bloom that the very atmosphere was fragrant with them.
+In the mill pond close by the frogs croaked, and around the eaves of
+the houses the crickets and katydids were singing an evening hymn.
+
+It was just a lovely night to go out and nearly every one was in the
+street. The doors and windows were wide open, and the people went
+about bareheaded and laughed and chatted to their heart's content.
+
+"The goodness of this perfect night be upon my little friends," said
+the prince, when he came up on the roof of the Temple and found a lot
+of children he knew. "I have invited you to witness the stars' ball
+to-night, but before we begin, I must introduce you to the most
+prominent ones."
+
+Then he pointed out the milky way with its millions of stars that
+looked like little pin heads in a band of light because they were so
+far away. Below the handle of the big dipper, and off to one side was
+the north star. Jupiter with his broad dark bands and tiny moons was
+there, and so was Saturn with his three rings. Over in another place
+was Mars twinkling and batting his eyes as if he wanted to fight
+something. The Dog Star was still lower down and quite by himself.
+
+"I will first make you acquainted with the big-faced, silver moon,"
+said the prince. "She is sailing along as if she were in a great
+hurry, but there will be time enough for you to see the man up there
+if you look sharp about it."
+
+The children knew there was not a surely man in the moon so they all
+laughed and clapped their hands and then threw kisses at the beautiful
+queen of the night.
+
+"I cannot show you Mercury, the messenger of the sun, because he is
+such a sleepy head he has already gone to bed. He never stays up long
+after the sun goes down, but he is an industrious little fellow and
+often gets up first in the morning."
+
+The children thought that was a very funny way to speak of a star, but
+they saw the prince was in a good humor and they enjoyed listening to
+what he said.
+
+"Venus is our evening star," he continued, pointing to the brightest
+object in the western sky, "and she is winking and smiling at us. Look
+closely now, and see if you can find her."
+
+ [Illustration: "AN OLD-FASHIONED ALMANAC"]
+
+When all the children had seen her, the Golden Hearted turned to
+another part of the heavens and said, "Here is old Father Time, who
+frowns and scowls, and finally grinds the life out of our bodies." He
+was speaking about Saturn because it rolls and tumbles one way while
+its three rings whirl around the other way, and all the people in
+olden times believed that the stars could give good or bad luck and
+could make our lives long or short. There were a number of this
+kind of fortune tellers among the wise men, so of course the prince
+knew what they thought about the stars. The children understood it
+too, and when he pointed out Saturn, they said to each other in a
+whisper, "It is the death star; let us hope it will not shine upon us
+nor upon those we love."
+
+"If we have need to fear the Master of Time, we have every reason to
+love the broad-belted planet with its sturdy little companions. It has
+been rightly named 'The Beneficent,'" said the prince--indicating the
+position of Jupiter among the stars. "Its children pop in and out
+behind it as if they were playing hide and seek."
+
+For ages people thought that Jupiter gave them good luck and made them
+wise, tender and kind. This is why the children said, "The big, white,
+shining star has a heart like our prince."
+
+Mars is the nearest planet to us, and he sputters and fumes as if he
+really had as bad a temper as these people credited him with. All the
+wars and troubles they had came from him, they said, and the children
+did not care to look at him very long. He gives out a beautiful red
+light, while Jupiter is bluish white, and the Dog Star has all colors
+like the rainbow.
+
+"Now," said the prince, "I will show you the most important group in
+the sky. It is the Pleiades, directly over our heads at this time.
+There are seven of these sisters, and the pale, dim one is the center
+of the whole system of stars because all the rest of them circle
+around her."
+
+Then he explained to them how each star and planet, as well as the
+earth, turns over and over of its own accord, besides going around the
+sun in a very wide circle. All the stars are wonderful tumblers and
+they spin around just like tops, and this whirling motion was what
+made the prince say that they were having a ball. When they twinkled
+and sparkled, he said they were dancing.
+
+As soon as he sat down, one of the children got the Sacred Tunkel, and
+then some took hold of his hands, others held on to his mantle and
+still others put their arms around his neck and begged him to sing for
+them. He did not wish to refuse them, but he did not know any song
+suitable for the occasion so he made this up as he went along:
+
+ Oh! the stars one and all
+ They had a great ball
+ One night way up in the sky;
+ They invited the earth
+ To join in their mirth
+ But it feared to go up so high.
+
+ No fiddler had they
+ Their music to play,
+ And the stars were afraid 'twould fail;
+ But the man in the moon
+ He whistled a tune
+ And the comet kept time with his tail.
+
+ They danced and they danced,
+ And they pranced and they pranced,
+ Till the moon said 'twas all he desired,
+ For his lips were so sore
+ He could whistle no more,
+ And the comet began to get tired.
+
+ So they faded away
+ In the dim light of day
+ The moon and the stars from the ball.
+ But, sad to relate,
+ Next night they were late,
+ And came near not shining at all.
+
+ [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The National Book
+
+
+Because it is possible for persons to do both good and evil in their
+lives, and to think good and bad thoughts, the wise men and the Golden
+Hearted studied how to keep these ideas before the people all the
+time. In those days, the natives of that country had no books and no
+way of writing and it was necessary to select some familiar object to
+represent the meaning of many things. Whatever is used for such a
+purpose, is called a symbol.
+
+The hippopotamus, the crocodile and the tapir are to this day said to
+be symbols of humanity because they have two natures. They can live in
+the water or on the land, and search for food either in the day or
+night time. Of the three animals, the wise men selected the tapir
+because it is a shy, inoffensive creature, not much larger than a
+sheep and lives on green grasses and herbs. During the day it sleeps
+quietly in the water or on the bank of a stream and at night comes on
+land to get food. When its coat is dry, it is of a dark brown color,
+but when wet, it is black and shining. A tapir looks very much like a
+fat donkey except that its ears are not so long and its nose not quite
+so stumpy. At Nachan the wise men raised great herds of them as an
+example and illustration of our good and bad self.
+
+The Golden Hearted realized that he must do more than found a large
+city and teach the children, so he had a Dark House built away under
+ground where he could store treasures and all the records of his
+journey. This was a secret passageway, and in its halls and labyrinths
+he had quantities of statuary and pottery put for safe keeping. While
+this was being done, he wrote a book called in his language "The Popol
+Vuh" but we would say it is a national book because it tells all about
+the beginning of the world and is divided into four parts. It is a
+most singular story, and has been translated so we can read it for
+ourselves. It is said to be the oldest book in America, and the Golden
+Hearted kept an order of wise men in the Dark House underground to
+guard it from one generation to another.
+
+
+The Popul Vuh
+
+This is the beginning of the history of things which came to pass long
+ago; of the division of the earth, the property of all; its origin and
+its foundation, as well as the narrative of our life in the land of
+shadows, and of how we saw the light. It is the first book written in
+the olden times, but its view is hidden from him who sees and thinks.
+
+Behold the first word and the first discourse. There was as yet no
+man, nor any animal, nor bird, nor fish, nor crawfish, nor any pit,
+nor any ravine, nor green herb, nor any tree.
+
+Nothing was but the firmament.
+
+The face of the earth had not yet appeared--only the peaceful sea and
+all the space of heaven. There was nothing yet joined together,
+nothing that clung to anything else; nothing that balanced itself,
+that made the least rustling, that made a sound in the heaven. There
+was nothing that stood up; nothing but silence and darkness and night
+time.
+
+Alone were those that engender, those that give being; they were upon
+the waters like a growing light. They consulted together and
+meditated; they mingled their words and their opinions.
+
+"Earth!" they said, and on the instant it was formed; like a cloud of
+fog was its beginning.
+
+Then the mountains rose over the water like great lobsters. In an
+instant the mountains and plains were visible and the cypress and the
+pine trees appeared.
+
+The Heart of Heaven cried out and said:
+
+"Blessed be thy coming. Our work and our labor has accomplished its
+end."
+
+The earth and its vegetation having appeared, it was peopled with the
+various forms of animal life. And the makers said to the animals,
+"Speak now our name. Honor Him who begets and Him who gives
+being. Speak, call on us, salute us."
+
+ [Illustration: "BEHOLD THE FIRST WORD"]
+
+But the animals could not answer. They could only cluck and croak,
+each murmuring after its kind in a different manner.
+
+This displeased the creators, and they said to the animals:
+
+"Inasmuch as ye cannot praise us, neither call upon our names, your
+flesh shall be humiliated. It shall be broken with teeth. Ye shall be
+killed and eaten."
+
+The first man was made of clay, but he was watery, had no strength and
+could not turn his head. His face looked one way all the time. He was
+given a language, but he had no intelligence, so he was consumed in
+water.
+
+"Let us make an intelligent being who shall adore and invoke us," said
+the Thunderbolt and the Lightning Flash.
+
+It was decided that a man should be made of wood and a woman of a kind
+of pith. They were made but the result was in no wise satisfactory.
+They moved about perfectly well it is true; they increased and
+multiplied and peopled the world with little wooden manikins like
+themselves, but the heart and intelligence were wanting. They had no
+memory of their Maker; they lived like the beasts and forgot the Heart
+of Heaven. They had neither blood nor substance, nor moisture nor fat.
+Their cheeks were shriveled; their feet and hands dried up.
+
+Then was the Heart of Heaven very wroth, and he sent ruin and
+destruction upon these ingrates. He rained upon them night and day
+with a thick resin and the earth was all dark.
+
+The men went mad with terror. They tried to mount up on the roofs, but
+the houses fell with them. They tried to climb the trees, but the
+trees shook them from their branches. They tried to hide in the caves
+and dens of the earth, but these closed against them.
+
+Then their heads were cut off, and their bones broken and bruised, and
+their eyes picked out by the birds, and their flesh eaten by wild
+beasts.
+
+Thus were they all devoted to chastisement and destruction save only a
+few who were preserved as memorials of the wooden men. These now exist
+in the forests as little apes.
+
+In the night the gods counseled together again. "Of what shall we make
+man?" they said.
+
+Then the Creator made four perfect men out of white and yellow corn.
+The name of the first one was The Tiger With the Sweet Smile, the
+second one was called The Tiger of the Night, the third one was The
+Distinguished Name, and the fourth was The Tiger of the Moon. They had
+neither father nor mother, but their coming into existence was a
+miracle wrought by the special intervention of Him who is
+pre-eminently the Creator.
+
+At last were there found men worthy of their origin and their destiny.
+Verily the gods looked on beings who could see with their eyes and
+handle with their hands and understand with their hearts. Grand of
+countenance and broad of limb, the four sires of our race stood up
+under the white rays of the morning star.
+
+Their great, clear eyes swept rapidly over all. They saw the woods,
+the rocks, the lakes and the sea; the mountains and the valleys, and
+they gazed up into heaven not knowing what they had come so far to do.
+Their hearts were filled with love, obedience and fear. Lifting up
+their eyes, they returned thanks saying:
+
+"Hail! O Creator, Thou that lovest and understandest us! We offer up
+our thanks. We have been created--abandon us not, forsake us not! Give
+us descendants and a posterity as long as the light endures. Give us
+to walk always in an open wood in a path without snares; to lead quiet
+lives free of all reproach."
+
+But the Gods were not wholly pleased with this thing. Heaven, they
+thought, had overshot its mark. These men were too perfect; knew,
+understood and saw too much.
+
+"What shall we do with man now?" they said. "This that we see is not
+good. Let us contract man's sight so he may see only a little of the
+surface of the earth and be content."
+
+Thereupon, the Heart of Heaven breathed a cloud over the pupils of the
+eyes of the men, and a veil came over each eye as when one breathes on
+the face of a mirror. Thus was the globe of the eye darkened, nor was
+that which was far off clear to it any more.
+
+Then they fell asleep and when they woke up, the gods had brought each
+one of them a wife. They lived tranquilly together for a long time
+waiting for the rising of the sun, because they had nothing but the
+morning star for a light.
+
+But no sun came, and the four men and their families grew uneasy.
+
+"We have no one to watch over us, no one to guard our symbols," they
+said. So they all set out for the Seven Caves.
+
+Poor wanderers. They had a cruel way to go, many forests to penetrate,
+many high mountains to climb, and a long passage to make through the
+sea. Much hail and cold rain fell on their heads, and when their fires
+all went out they suffered from hunger as well as cold.
+
+At last they came to a mountain and here they rested. While there they
+were told that the sun was coming very soon. Then they shook their
+incense pans and danced for very gladness. As the sun commenced to
+advance, the animals, great and small, were filled with delight. They
+raised themselves to the surface of the waters, they fluttered in the
+ravines, and gathering at the edge of the mountains, turned their
+heads together toward that part from which the sun came.
+
+The lion and the tiger roared, and the first bird that sang was the
+Quetzal. All the animals were beside themselves at the sight. The
+eagle and the kite beat their wings, and the men prostrated
+themselves on the ground.
+
+The sun and the moon and the stars were all established. Yet was not
+the sun the same as now. His heat wanted force, and he was but as a
+reflection in a mirror. Nevertheless he dried up and warmed the
+surface of the earth and answered many good ends.
+
+There was another wonder when the sun rose. The tribal gods who had
+punished these poor people so were turned into stone. And so were all
+the mammoth lions, tigers, vipers, and other fierce and dangerous
+animals.
+
+ [Illustration: THE TAPIR]
+
+
+
+
+Manco-Capac, the Powerful One
+
+
+"It is time for us to go away from this place," said the wise men to
+the Golden Hearted one day when they were finishing the Dark House,
+where they were going to leave the National Book.
+
+"Why do you think so?" asked the prince, laying down an axe made of
+copper and tin which he was sharpening for one of the workmen.
+
+"Because we have yet to find the spot where the gold wedge your
+father, the king, gave you will sink into the earth of its own
+accord."
+
+"That is to be in the Place of Gold, and among the Children of the
+Sun."
+
+"Yes; and we are not far from the country known as the "Four Quarters
+of the World" where they live. We must go to them at once, and there
+we will build Cuzco, and make it the navel or center of all their
+possessions. Under the name of Manco-Capac, the powerful one, you will
+be the first Inca or ruler, and your banner will be a rainbow, to show
+that you serve the Children of the Sun."
+
+The Golden Hearted did not wish to become a ruler but he did not see
+how he could refuse obedience to the faithful old wise men, so he
+said:
+
+"I will go with you and do as you say, but tell me how you intend to
+build this wonderful city of Cuzco?"
+
+"You must not feel that we compel you to go," said the wise men,
+looking ready to cry, because they thought the young prince was not
+pleased with them. "It was your father's command, and our promise to
+him."
+
+"I know that," said the prince impatiently, "but how are you going to
+make Cuzco the center of everything?"
+
+"By building the streets on the four points of the compass, and by
+connecting it with royal roadways to the four corners of the kingdom.
+We shall have no trouble doing so, for our reports say that the
+natives are mild and gentle, and that there are stones in that country
+as broad and long as a room."
+
+When he and the wise men started to make the journey over the
+mountains, they put all of their belongings on the backs of the
+llamas--a kind of little camel not much larger than a sheep and which
+is used in that country to-day for pack animals, instead of burros or
+mules. They put the load on the llama's back without any girt or pack
+saddle, and its long, bushy wool holds all the things in place. It has
+a sharp-pointed, horny toe like a hook, which it fastens in the steep
+rocks, and then it can climb over rough places without much trouble.
+When a llama gets angry he does not spit like an ordinary camel, but
+lies down like a stubborn mule. No matter what you do to him, he will
+not budge an inch, and then the load has to be taken off, and he must
+be coaxed and fed before he will go any farther.
+
+One day the wise men and the Golden Hearted came to a wide rocky chasm
+in the side of the mountain hundreds of feet deep, having a
+swift-running river at the bottom. There were so many sharp rocks
+sticking up and the water dashed over them so fast that it was all in
+a white foam, and nothing could have swam across it. The native
+servants and workmen did not know what to do.
+
+"How are we to cross this deep canyon?" they asked.
+
+"We will help you make a suspension bridge," said the wise men.
+
+"But we have no tools"--they began.
+
+"You have your two hands and some copper axes and that is sufficient."
+
+"We can fell trees and bring stones, but there are not enough to span
+such a dangerous place," they said, still doubtful about the outcome.
+
+"Take your axes and cut all the maguey you can find," said the wise
+men. "Bring it here and pile it up; then we will tell you what next to
+do."
+
+The wise men and the Golden Hearted made some heavy clubs out of the
+hard wood they found growing near by. With these in a short time they
+beat the maguey until its fibers fell apart in coarse strands, which
+the sun dried. Then they helped the natives braid it into heavy, thick
+ropes. When they got enough of these made, they wove them together
+into a stout cable chain, long enough to stretch across the river.
+
+"What shall we do with the ends?" asked the natives. "We cannot tie
+them to a tree."
+
+"Certainly not, but you can gather big and little stones for us,"
+answered the wise men.
+
+ [Illustration: A SUSPENSION BRIDGE]
+
+With these they built immense buttresses on the bank of the river,
+wide at the bottom and narrow at the top so they would not tumble down
+nor slip into the waters. Of course they had to leave holes in the
+sides to fasten the cables into. It took several strands to make the
+bridge wide enough, and even then the natives were afraid they would
+fall into the water.
+
+"We need a railing at each side," they said.
+
+"Very well; make one out of the ropes," said the wise men. When this
+was done the natives were still unwilling to try to go across.
+
+"We cannot take a single step. Our feet get tangled in the meshes of
+the cable."
+
+"Overcome this by making some rough boards and laying them all the way
+over."
+
+It was indeed a novel suspension bridge, for when the planks were put
+onto the cable it sagged in the middle and swayed forth and back in
+the wind like a swing. Imagine how frightened the natives must have
+been at first, but in that mountainous country they never build any
+other kind of bridges and they use them now all of the time.
+
+"In this open stretch of valley and plain we will plant sweet-smelling
+trees and shrubs by the roadside so that travelers may be refreshed by
+the shade and enjoy the perfume, and we will also teach the Children
+of the Sun to build tambos or post houses," said the Golden Hearted,
+when once they were over the mountains. This they did at every point
+where they stopped to rest, and at each one they left a band of
+chasquis, or runners in charge. The word chasqui means "one who makes
+an exchange," and these men and boys not only carried the news like
+our postmen and messengers, but they traded news with each other and
+with every one else they met. Before allowing any of the runners to go
+out the Golden Hearted said: "I will make you keepers of the Quippos,
+or knotted cords. The red ones mean war, or other bad news, while the
+white ones are for peace and prosperity. In the springtime if the
+crops are good, you must carry bands of green cords. If you wish to
+spread the reports of gold and silver use that kind of quippo, so that
+the people seeing you far off may know the import of your message.
+Count them always by tens and twenties, and use diligence and care to
+be accurate and quick in your calculations."
+
+This was a queer kind of arithmetic but it was astonishing how soon
+the boys learned it. In after years there were bands of strolling
+singers and poets who went about the country, and they used the
+quippos to recall the things they wanted to remember, such as the
+brave deeds of their ancestors and the names of their heroes. So long
+as the inhabitants of this country were called Children of the Sun,
+they had no other books and they trained young men to be experts in
+reading them. The language of the Quippos is said to be very correct
+and elegant.
+
+The first thing the Golden Hearted did when he arrived at the end of
+his journey was to divide the land into three parts--one for the sun,
+one for the king and one for the people. Then he appointed beautiful
+young girls to be Virgins of the Sun and placed them in charge of
+elderly women, who taught them how to spin and weave the fine hair of
+the vicuna into hangings for the Place of Gold which the wise men had
+already commenced to build. The girls knew how to embroider
+beautifully, and it was a part of their duty to keep the sacred fires
+always burning on the altar. The Golden Hearted lighted the fire
+himself, and it was kept burning night and day for hundreds of years.
+In the Houses of the Virgins no man, not even the king, could go, and
+if any one ever did, the people not only killed him but tore down his
+house. When they did anything of this kind they called it "sowing the
+ground with stones," and ever afterward his family and friends wore
+mourning on account of the terrible disgrace.
+
+The Place of Gold was a temple in the center of Cuzco so named because
+the gold wedge sunk immediately into the ground when it was tried, and
+the wise men said it was appropriate because "gold was the tears wept
+by the sun." It is said that no building in the world was ever more
+beautiful than this wonderful temple. The wise men and the Golden
+Hearted did the best work they knew how, and there was plenty of gold
+and precious stones in the mountains, so they could use as much as
+they liked. In front of the eastern entrance was a huge sunburst made
+like a human face, with rays of light starting out in every direction.
+Each ray was thickly set with emeralds, and when the sun rose in the
+morning, the reflection of the shining gold and the sparkle of the
+emeralds lighted up the whole temple. Besides this they had burnished
+plates and cornices and vases and animals and flowers of gold all
+around the walls, and the water urns and incense pans were also of the
+bright yellow metal.
+
+"We will celebrate a great festival of Rami; the renewal time, when
+the sun is coaxing the earth back to fertility; when the buds and
+leaves are putting forth, and the birds are beginning to nest," said
+the Golden Hearted, as soon as the temple was completed.
+
+"Show the Children of the Sun that we honor the soil by turning the
+first sod yourself," said the wise men, when told about the coming
+celebration.
+
+"I will," said the prince, who was now called Manco-Capac, and was the
+ruler of the kingdom, "and the Virgins of the Sun shall drop the
+seeds. Let every one come in holiday clothes and with songs and
+dancing and feasting we will commemorate the day."
+
+The next morning all the people came together to watch the sun rise.
+The Virgins were dressed in white with wreaths of flowers on their
+heads and every one wore ornaments and jewels and was as blithe and
+gay as if he were going to a picnic.
+
+ [Illustration: "THE PEOPLE SHOUTED HAILLE HAILLE!"]
+
+Just as the sun peeped up over the edge of the horizon and smiled
+"good morning" to them, the Golden Hearted poured a libation on the
+ground from a golden goblet, and the people all shouted "Haille!
+Haille!" meaning triumph. The prince, the wise men and everybody faced
+the risen sun with bared heads and bowed three times. Then the prince
+said:
+
+"Many think that the Sun is the Maker of all things. But he who makes
+should abide by what he has done. Now many things happen when the sun
+is absent; therefore he cannot be the universal creator. And that he
+is alive at all is doubtful for his trips do not tire him. Were he a
+living thing he would grow weary like ourselves. Were he free he would
+visit other parts of the heavens. He is a tethered beast who makes a
+daily round under the eye of the Master. He is like an arrow which
+must go whither it is sent; not whither it wishes. I tell you that he,
+our father and master, the Sun, must have a lord more powerful than
+himself who constrains him to his daily circuit without pause or
+rest."
+
+The Golden Hearted spoke like this because he did not wish the
+Children of the Sun to believe it was really their father or God
+either.
+
+All the assemblage took off their sandals and went into the Place of
+Gold and prayed; then came out to the court yard and offered up
+sacrifice of perfumes, fruits and flowers. When this was done they
+hurried to the fields and after the Golden Hearted turned the first
+sod every one else began to work. They had no plows, and those who did
+not break the ground with a dull saber, dropped seeds all day long. As
+the sun went down they laid aside their toil, and marched home
+shouting and singing, because now they were going to have a feast,
+with bonfires and dancing as late into the night as they wished.
+
+
+
+
+Bochica and the Zipa
+
+
+In the Cinnamon country not far from Cuzco lived the Muscas, a rich
+and powerful nation who were less civilized than the Children of the
+Sun and were so quarrelsome that they constantly disputed among
+themselves. Finally the Zipa, or king, died and then there was great
+danger of war breaking out between the different factions as to who
+should be the new ruler.
+
+At last the oldest son of the dead Zipa came to Cuzco to ask the
+Golden Hearted to decide who should inherit the kingdom.
+
+"This is a matter of grave moment," said he, "and I must warn you that
+my time of ruling the Children of the Sun is near an end. Soon must I
+go to build the temple of Guatavita, the Good Life, and then must I
+leave this part of the world for another clime where much work awaits
+me."
+
+"Come to us and build the temple of Good Life, and I promise you that
+both I and my brave Muscas shall be the guardians of your teachings.
+You shall be a demi-god among us."
+
+"I have no wish to be anything more than an elder brother to you and
+your people," replied the Golden Hearted. "I am come from my home to
+serve humanity and must go with you if you need me--not because you
+wish to honor me."
+
+The son of the Zipa then offered him many presents of gold, rich
+cloth, and precious stones, but the Golden Hearted refused to accept
+any of them. Finally the young man said:
+
+"I am greatly disappointed, good prince, and have only this piece of
+bark and a strange kind of fruit to offer you. The bark is royal in my
+country because it cures the hated fever and is worthy your best
+confidence. As to the fruit, taste it for yourself."
+
+To his surprise the Golden Hearted and the wise men were much pleased
+with the bark which we know to-day as Peruvian and from which quinine
+is made, and the pineapple tastes as sweet to us as it did to the
+Golden Hearted.
+
+The son of the Zipa and his nobles conducted the wise men and the
+Golden Hearted over one elevated table-land after another until they
+came to one of the highest lakes in the world, where people can live,
+and its name is Gautavita.
+
+"These terraced mountain sides show that your example has been well
+profited by the Children of the Sun," said the son of the Zipa, as
+they trudged along the royal roadway leading from Cuzco to the
+cinnamon country. "The instruction of the wise men in building canals
+and aqueducts has turned this into a garden spot even though nature
+intended it to be barren."
+
+The Golden Hearted thought this would be a good opportunity to let his
+new friend know that he did not approve of war, and that the adherents
+of the Good Law, must not fight among themselves, so he said gently:
+
+"All that you see before you is the working out of a fixed principle.
+Universal kindness is the secret of our success. Treat the earth
+gently and with consideration and she blesses you seven fold. Dig into
+her bosom and she yields her choicest treasures, and the beasts and
+birds respond to your affectionate touch. The heart of the man is the
+same, my friend. The obedience and allegiance of your subjects must
+come from the heart. If when I go among them they tell me they wish
+you to be their Zipa then will I go to your opponent and persuade him
+to relinquish his claim in your favor."
+
+"And if he does not consent--"
+
+"Then must you yield to him peaceably. I will not allow any blood shed
+on either side."
+
+The son of the Zipa knew by the firm tone of the Golden Hearted that
+he meant what he said and his face turned a bright red, because he
+thought his own selfish purpose was known to his guest. Down in his
+heart he was planning to go into the capital city with a grand
+flourish and pretend that the Children of the Sun had sent their ruler
+and wise men to help him capture the throne. Now he knew very well he
+would not dare do anything of the kind.
+
+"But you do not know my people, good prince," he said. "They will
+never obey a Zipa they do not fear."
+
+"I am not familiar with the faces of your subjects, but I know the
+heart of all mankind, and whether he be white or black, young or old,
+the child of fortune or the opposite, he is amenable to the law of
+love. Win his affection and he will serve you as faithfully and
+obediently as a dog."
+
+"I am afraid my turbulent warriors would not respect such a policy,"
+replied the son of the Zipa, shaking his head.
+
+"Remember in dealing with either man or animal that fear degrades
+while love ennobles."
+
+By this time they were coming in sight of the calm peaceful waters of
+the lake stretched out like a sheet of glass before them.
+
+"Water," said the Golden Hearted, "is like a pure mind--limpid and
+clear. It permits us to look into its depths for hidden treasures, or
+to see our own image reflected back from its surface. Let your heart
+and mind be such a mirror, and trust your people to make the right
+selection."
+
+With this he laid his hand upon the shoulder of his young companion
+and as their eyes met, the son of the Zipa felt certain that he had a
+loyal and disinterested friend who would help him in the right way.
+
+The next morning the prince and the wise men called the nobles and
+warriors together, and listened patiently to all they had to say for
+and against the two candidates. As he came into the audience chamber
+the strange one scowled and frowned at the visitors, but to his
+surprise the Golden Hearted took his hand and said:
+
+"We have made a long, wearisome journey, my brother, in order to serve
+your own and your state's best interest. Speak freely that we may be
+able to judge fairly between the two."
+
+"There is nothing to tell that my warriors do not already know," was
+the curt reply. "I am able to crush opposition and to command respect
+and obedience. I do not need your assistance, sir."
+
+For a moment there was a look of pain on the face of the Golden
+Hearted. Then he said gently:
+
+"You, more than any one else need help, because you are unable to
+govern yourself much less a rich and prosperous nation."
+
+When it became known that the representatives of the Children of the
+Sun would not compel the people to accept a Zipa they did not like,
+they came out of their houses where they had been hidden all day for
+fear of violence, and marched up and down the streets playing on shell
+trumpets, gongs and kettle drums, and shouting the name of the oldest
+son of the Zipa who was in due time crowned as the rightful heir to
+the throne.
+
+His first official act was to pierce the upper part of the ear of his
+subjects and put in gold wheels of fine filigree work, as large around
+as an orange. As he did so he said to each one:
+
+"Swear by Him who gives and sustains life in the Universe, that you
+will faithfully keep the Good Law brought to us from the sea, by
+_Bochica, our deliverer_."
+
+This was the name the Zipa gave the Golden Hearted, and as each man
+passed by him he gave them a little cake made of corn meal, and
+continued:
+
+"To-morrow our good friends leave us for many days to come, but
+Bochica will return again, and to show him that we will do his bidding
+willingly let us take balsas or rafts with sails and go out on the
+lake where he may see the intent of our minds reflected in the water.
+Put wreaths of many colored flowers on the balsas, and carry with you
+gold and emeralds which we will cast into the lake in token of our
+pledge to him."
+
+For hundreds of years afterwards, the Mucas and their descendants kept
+this holiday as an anniversary of the departure of the prince and the
+wise men. They knew that he was called the Golden Hearted in the Happy
+Island, and every year they selected a young priest from the temple of
+Gautavita, to impersonate him. After his bath the priest smeared
+himself all over with a fragrant oil, and then his attendants blew
+gold dust through reeds onto his body until he looked like a solid
+statue. They put him in the center of the flower-laden raft, and with
+chants and hymns rowed out on the lake and threw emeralds and gold
+dust into it. The young men wore white shirts with a red cross on the
+breast, and tied a red sash around their waists. On their heads were
+crowns of flowers and evergreen leaves to show that their virtues
+would continue as long as they lived, and that they were followers of
+the teachings of the Golden Hearted. They were always hoping and
+praying for his return.
+
+We shall hear more of this ceremony and what came of it when we read
+the story of the Gilded Man.
+
+ [Illustration: "THE FLOWER-LADEN BALSA"]
+
+
+
+
+Song of Hiawatha
+
+
+ Ye who love the haunts of nature,
+ Love the sunshine of the meadow,
+ Love the shadow of the forest
+ Love the wind among the branches,
+ And the rain-shower and the snow-storm
+ And the rushing of great rivers
+ Through their palisades of pine trees,
+ And the thunder in the mountains
+ Whose innumerable echoes
+ Flap like eagles in their eyries;
+ Listen to these wild traditions,
+ To this song of Hiawatha!
+
+ Ye who love a nation's legends,
+ Love the ballads of a people,
+ That like voices from a far off
+ Call to us to pause and listen,
+ Speak in tones so plain and child-like,
+ Scarcely can the ear distinguish
+ Whether they are sung or spoken--
+ Listen to this Indian Legend,
+ To this song of Hiawatha!
+
+ Ye whose hearts are fresh and simple,
+ Who have faith in God and nature,
+ Who believe that in all ages
+ Every human heart is human,
+ That in even savage bosoms
+ There are longings, yearnings, strivings
+ For the good they comprehend not
+ That the feeble hands and helpless,
+ Groping blindly in the darkness,
+ Touch God's right hand in the darkness
+ And are lifted up and strengthened
+ Listen to this simple story
+ To this song of Hiawatha!
+
+ Ye, who sometimes in your rambles
+ Through the green lanes of the country,
+ Where the tangled barbary bushes
+ Hang their tufts of crimson berries
+ Over stone walls gray with mosses,
+ Pause by some neglected grave-yard
+ For a while to muse, and ponder
+ On a half-effaced inscription,
+ Written with little skill of song-craft,
+ Homely phrases, but each letter
+ Full of hope and yet of heart-break,
+ Full of all the tender pathos
+ Of the Here and the Hereafter--
+ Stay and read this rude inscription,
+ Read this song of Hiawatha!
+ --Henry W. Longfellow.
+
+
+
+
+Michabo, the Great White Hare
+
+
+Unless you know what river was called the "Father of Waters" it will
+be a secret as to where the Golden Hearted and the wise men went when
+they took leave of the Zipa. There are many quaint stories told about
+this river, and also about the queer mounds and earthworks built by a
+strange race of men who lived ages ago in that part of our country.
+Their descendants are not very civilized and seem to have forgotten
+much that their ancestors knew although they have some very pretty
+ideas. For instance, they imagine that they hear voices in the growing
+branches and whispering leaves of the trees, and they see little
+vanishing men in the cliffs everywhere. They say that the Great Spirit
+makes the Indian summer by puffing smoke out of his cheeks, from his
+great peace pipe.
+
+Before the Golden Hearted came they built a medicine lodge--a kind of
+temple facing the sunrise, in a place called the "Moon of Leaves."
+When it was finished, Wunzh, a youth of noble character and tender
+heart, summoned the spirits of the four quarters of the world and the
+day maker to come to his fire and disclose the hidden things of the
+distance and future.
+
+No one can tell why they named the Golden Hearted, "Michabo, the Great
+White Hare," unless it was because he came in the time of the year
+represented in their calendar by a rabbit. They kept a record of the
+seasons by crude pictures drawn on the inside bark of trees, and with
+them the months were called moons.
+
+No one blames them for saying the wise men were jossakeeds or
+prophets, because they really did look peculiar in their long robes,
+beards and tall black hats, especially to men who had on buffalo robes
+and feather head dresses.
+
+Wunzh and his tribe received the Golden Hearted with solemn faces and
+much respect when they heard that he came from the Four Quarters of
+the World, which we know was the land of the Inca, very far south.
+
+"Welcome, great white chief," they said, "come and sit by our council
+fire. Our hearts have long been weary waiting for you."
+
+When they were all seated Wunzh handed the Golden Hearted a peace pipe
+shaped like a tomahawk filled with tobacco and already lighted. Not a
+word was spoken until every one present had taken three whiffs out of
+the pipe. Then the Golden Hearted said:
+
+"I come to speak for my brothers, the fish, the animals, the creeping
+things and the feathered messengers of the air. I often listen to
+their complaints and they charge you with slaying them for food when
+the grains and fruits would serve you better."
+
+"We are not disdainful of the grapes and berries concealed in our
+forests," replied Wunzh, "but we have no grain save rice and this must
+be carried on our backs for many days. Our snows and chill winds kill
+the plant before its seeds appear."
+
+"Whatever the reason may be you will never do any real good in the
+world until you learn how to fast days at a time and can live without
+eating so much flesh. Even your vaunted skill with bow and arrow is
+not genuine. I am a better shot."
+
+The wise men were alarmed for a moment fearing that Wunzh would be
+angry and that his followers would be offended also. Besides they had
+never heard the Golden Hearted speak boastfully before, and they were
+puzzled to know what would happen next.
+
+"I am willing to try the bow with my friend," said Wunzh, with a flash
+of the eye and a toss of the head, which showed that he was vain and
+had an uncertain temper.
+
+"When will it suit you to make the contest," quietly asked the Golden
+Hearted, as he arose and turned to leave the council fire.
+
+"To-morrow's sun," answered Wunzh, haughtily, "and when it is so
+high," indicating a space in the sky that would make it quite early in
+the morning.
+
+"Let it take place in the large square surrounded by your lodges,"
+said the Golden Hearted, carelessly as he walked toward the one
+assigned for his use.
+
+To the wise men he said:
+
+"Leave me for a little time, I wish to be alone."
+
+They wondered what he could mean by such language and such actions. It
+was evident that he did not intend to make any explanation to them, so
+they could only wait to see what the outcome would be.
+
+Once inside the tent the Golden Hearted began to work on a plaited
+disc of straw. As soon as it was finished, he drew rings of red, blue,
+black and white all around the big yellow center, and was propping it
+up to dry when Wunzh appeared at the door of the lodge.
+
+"I have come to show you the center pole where you may hang up the
+target, and we will then step off the distance between the different
+shooting stations," he said. "The rule requires each of us to speed
+two dozen arrows from the nearest point, twice that many from the
+middle ground, and seventy-two from the outside post."
+
+While in the Happy Island, the prince had learned all about the use of
+the bow and arrow, but this was the first time he had an opportunity
+to show his skill, and the wise men were anxious that he should not
+fail, because they knew that the friends of Wunzh would not have much
+respect for him if he did. They could not understand how he could be
+so smiling and unconcerned.
+
+The fame of Wunzh as a bowman was known far and wide and the
+descendants of the Mound Builders were certain he would win. At
+daybreak the next morning there was a solid line of warriors around
+the ring where the trial was to be made, and they were as motionless
+and stolid looking as if they had been carved out of wood. No one
+could tell by their faces what they were thinking and they would not
+have turned their heads for anything. Some of them made a kind of
+music on a tom-tom or Indian drum and Wunzh and the Golden Hearted
+marched in step like soldiers, and smiled and bowed to everybody as
+they came into the ring. The Golden Hearted knew all the time that he
+was the doubtful one, and just for a moment he glanced at the anxious
+faces of the wise men. Though not sure in their hearts they nodded
+encouragingly and before he had touched a bow every eye in the crowd
+was upon him.
+
+The keepers of the bows and arrows were very fair minded, and were
+careful to see there were no knots or gnarls or cracks in the waxy
+brown hunting bow made of straight grained mulberry wood. The one to
+be used was six feet long and its tips were of polished elk horn, and
+there was a buckskin handhold in the center. The hickory arrows were
+as smooth as glass with very sharp saw-teeth edges on the flint heads.
+Around the notch end there were three vanes of eagle feathers.
+
+The descendants of the Mound Builders were courteous enough to give
+their guest the first shot. As the Golden Hearted pulled a buckskin
+shield over his right hand he looked up at the wise men, and his eyes
+said:
+
+"Trust me! I shall not fail."
+
+Then he stooped quickly and raised the bow from the ground and placed
+it against his knee cap to get a good purchase. With an upward body
+movement he drew the long bow as far as he could, faced the painted
+disc target and let fly. Like the arrow that sped so swiftly that it
+caught fire as it flew, this one sang through the air and imbedded
+itself in the blue ring where it rocked and shook violently.
+
+"The Great White Hare has won five points!" shouted the tally keepers
+in the Judge's corner.
+
+"What skill!" said one pointing to the still quivering arrow. "What
+strength!" said another, while the wise men began to feel very proud
+indeed.
+
+It was such hard work that the face of Golden Hearted was flushed but
+he shut his teeth together hard, and was determined to make a still
+better effort.
+
+His second shot sent the arrow into the red ring nearly opposite the
+blue, and this scored him seven points.
+
+"There is fine aiming!" said the judges to each other, while the other
+people leaned over in their seats and watched intently.
+
+There was just a shadow of a smile on the lips of the Golden Hearted,
+as he made ready for the final shot from the first station.
+
+"Ping!" and the third arrow fairly whistled as it hit the exact center
+of the yellow spot.
+
+Instantly the whole crowd were on their feet, all talking at once and
+making so much noise that the tally keepers could not be heard.
+
+"Five--seven--nine are the points; twenty-one for final score," they
+shouted.
+
+The Golden Hearted flung down his bow and stepped to one side to make
+room for Wunzh. He stood wiping the perspiration off his forehead and
+was pleased because he saw that every one felt kindly toward him.
+
+"Now the jossakeeds will learn how to shoot!" exclaimed the men who
+had backed Wunzh.
+
+"He will never equal the first score," said others who were skillful
+with a bow and arrow themselves and knew how hard it was to make such
+fine shots.
+
+Wunzh sent his first arrow with a vim and energy that showed he had
+been in constant practice, but all three of his darts sped feebly and
+barely indented the black ring.
+
+"The jossakeeds hold the first station," announced the judges. "Move
+on to the next one."
+
+Now came the real test of skill, and every man was interested because
+they all made use of the bow and arrow, in hunting and in war, and had
+no other kind of weapon except a knife. Hundreds of the spectators
+left their seats and crowded around the contestants.
+
+The heavy hunting bow was laid aside now and one made of elastic but
+tough yew was substituted. The arrows had finely-pointed obsidian
+heads, matched and smooth but sharp as a needle.
+
+The Golden Hearted was careful to see that the yew was properly
+seasoned and when satisfied, he placed the arrow on the left side of
+the bow with its notch set on the string. He drew the string back to
+just below the chin, aimed over the arrow tip and let fly.
+
+The spectators were quick to see that his aim, draw, finish and loose
+was perfect even in speeding the arrows so fast they could scarcely be
+seen. When shooting three at a time he drove all of them into the
+yellow center within a quarter of an inch of each other!
+
+The friends of Wunzh shouted and screamed:
+
+"It is not fair! He uses too many arrows. Give us justice!" until the
+judges were compelled to order the warriors to drive the crowd back
+again with the points of their spears.
+
+In the noise, confusion and excitement every one forgot the birds
+perched on a cross bar at the top of the pole supporting the target.
+There was a blue jay, a raven, a white dove and a green parrot. Each
+had a string attached to one leg. Now of course they remembered and
+crowded around to hear what the judges would say.
+
+"Will the prince of the jossakeeds take a shot at the birds before
+being crowned with the Yew wreath of valor?"
+
+As soon as the Golden Hearted could make himself heard he said:
+
+"I am willing to comply with your request, but I hope I shall not hurt
+any of the birds."
+
+"The parrot shall cry your aim, and must remain unharmed. You may kill
+the blue or the black bird, but you must release the peaceful dove
+uninjured. Will you remember these conditions?"
+
+The Golden Hearted came within range and waited for a favorable
+opportunity. By a sudden jerk of the cord coming down the side of the
+pole the cross bar was set to whirling rapidly and this frightened the
+birds until they tried to fly away. The parrot was chained fast and to
+make the aim more difficult, the other birds were fastened by strings
+of different lengths. The marksman must free each one of them and then
+hit it before it could escape. The first liberated was the blue jay.
+The Golden Hearted cut the cord neatly and wounded the bird while it
+was still rising. The arrow fell near the base of the pole bringing
+the right wing with it.
+
+This won him the wreath, and he now turned to the wise men for a
+signal. They could demand the last three shots. Would they do it? He
+inclined his head toward them as one of the number picked up a black
+flag and waved it. There was an answering shout and a cheer, and the
+Golden Hearted prepared to shoot again. This time he aimed at the
+raven and cut the string near the pole. Its weight caused the captive
+to fly in an oblique line downward for a moment. Quick as a flash the
+second arrow sped and the raven fell to the ground pierced through the
+heart! Without looking to see what had happened the Golden Hearted
+shot at the dove and as it flew up in a circle everybody saw that it
+was unharmed.
+
+ [Illustration: "THE HOUSE OF WUNZH"]
+
+Then they fought and struggled with each other for the privilege of
+carrying the victor off the grounds, but the Golden Hearted escaped
+through a side door and ran away as fast as he could. He did not wish
+to speak to any one nor have them see how unhappy he felt. He really
+was heartbroken because he had killed the raven.
+
+
+
+
+The Birth of Corn
+
+
+Wunzh was greatly disturbed and downcast over his defeat because he
+thought the Great Spirit had sent the Golden Hearted in answer to his
+supplications, and he now felt certain that he was in disfavor. He lay
+awake all night thinking what he could do to win a token of good will
+from the Great Spirit. He knew better than to ask anything for
+himself, but begged and implored that it should be something for the
+benefit of his tribe.
+
+"Michabo says I eat too much flesh, and that I must learn to fast
+before any good will come to me," he said over and over to himself.
+"He shall see that I know how to obey even if my arrows do go wide of
+the mark." There was a great lump in his throat and to tell the truth
+there were a few tears trickling down his cheeks, but he brushed them
+away quickly as he rose to his feet and shook out the buffalo robes
+which had answered for his bed.
+
+"I will go to a secret place in the forest and build me a lodge, and
+there I will stay and fast until the Great Spirit grants my wish."
+
+He told no one of his intention and was gone several days before he
+was missed at the council fires where the wise men were instructing
+the medicine men in the use of a wampum belt made of different colored
+beads. The colors were the same as the Quippos and the counting with
+them was done in the same manner. While the women were weaving a very
+handsome wampum belt to be used as a council brand of authority, the
+wise men helped build a Long House in the center of the confederation
+of tribes to put it in. Then they ordered four other Long Houses built
+on the north, east, south and west corners of the country, so that the
+runners would have some place to stay when they started with the
+wampum belt to let the outside tribes know the will of the council.
+
+The Golden Hearted did not seem to take any interest in this work at
+all, but went among the people playing all kinds of pranks. Sometimes
+he frightened them nearly to death, and then again he would set them
+into roars of laughter by the funny things he did. He invented so many
+tricks and was so full of mischief that every one was on the lookout
+and attributed all the happenings they could not account for in any
+other way to him whether he did them or not.
+
+"What has become of Wunzh? Has anybody seen him?" began to be constant
+queries, and his family looked very sad indeed. The Golden Hearted
+knew where he was and that he was fasting, so he waited until
+nightfall and then dressed himself in rich garments of green and
+yellow shading into light and dark tints. Putting on his crown with
+the long green Quetzal plumes he slipped off into the woods to find
+Wunzh. Approaching the lodge he said:
+
+"I am sent to you, my friend, by that Great Spirit who made all things
+in the sky and on the earth. He has seen and known your motives in the
+fasting. He sees that it is from a kind and benevolent wish to do good
+to your people and to procure a benefit for them and not for strength
+in war or the praise of warriors. I come to show you how to do your
+kindred good, but you must rise and wrestle with me."
+
+Wunzh knew that he was weak from fasting, but felt his courage rising
+in his heart, and he got up immediately determined to die rather than
+fail.
+
+He instantly clinched with the Golden Hearted and wrestled with him
+until nearly exhausted.
+
+"My friend, this is enough for to-day. I will come again to try you
+to-morrow at the same hour."
+
+The Golden Hearted came dressed in the same fashion and wrestled with
+Wunzh for three successive evenings. Each day the faster's strength
+grew less and less, but he was more determined than ever.
+
+ [Illustration: THE WRESTLING MATCH]
+
+"To-morrow will be your last trial. Be strong, my friend, for
+this is the only way you can overcome me and obtain the boon you
+seek."
+
+The next day the poor youth exerted his utmost power and after awhile
+the Golden Hearted ceased wrestling.
+
+"I am conquered," he said, and went into the lodge and began to teach
+Wunzh. "You have wrestled manfully and have fasted seven days. Now you
+must strip off my clothing and throw me down. Clean the earth of roots
+and reeds; make it soft and bury these garments here. When you have
+done this be careful never to let the grass grow over the spot. Once a
+month cover it with fresh earth. If you follow these instructions you
+will do great good to your fellow creatures."
+
+In the morning the father of Wunzh came with some slight refreshments,
+saying:
+
+"My son, you have fasted long enough. If the Great Spirit intends to
+favor you he will do it now. It is seven days since you tasted food
+and you must not sacrifice your health. That the Master of Life does
+not require of you."
+
+"Wait, father, until the sun goes down. I have a particular reason for
+extending my fast until that hour."
+
+"Very well," said the father, kindly. "I will wait until you feel
+inclined to eat."
+
+Even though he was hungry the young man felt strangely renewed and
+strengthened and when it was night he was ready to wrestle with the
+Golden Hearted again. When he thought he had killed the prince he
+took off his garments and plumes and buried them as he had been told
+to do. Afterwards he returned to his father's lodge and partook
+sparingly of food, but he never for a moment forgot the new-made
+grave.
+
+Because he was so full of pranks and tricks, the descendants of the
+Mound Builders saw something mysterious and strange in everything the
+Golden Hearted did, and when he built a boat to go down the great
+river in, they said it was a magic canoe and expected almost anything
+to happen. However before he and the wise men went away, they made him
+the father and guardian of their nation, and they have considered him
+as such ever since.
+
+Weeks went by and the summer was drawing to a close when Wunzh
+returned after a long absence in hunting. Going to his father he
+invited him to come to the quiet lonesome spot where he had fasted so
+long. There in a circle freed from weeds stood a tall graceful plant
+with bright colored silken hair surmounted by nodding plumes,
+luxuriant green leaves and clusters of golden grain on each side.
+
+"It is my friend, and the friend of all mankind. It is Mondamin, the
+spirit of corn. We need no longer rely on hunting alone for so long as
+this gift is cherished and taken care of the ground itself will give
+us a living. See, my father," said Wunzh, pulling off an ear, "this is
+what I fasted for. This is why Michabo put me through so many trials.
+But the Great Spirit has listened to my voice and sent us something
+new. Our people need no longer depend upon the chase and the water for
+food."
+
+Then he told his father how he had wrestled with the Golden Hearted,
+and how he had torn off his garments.
+
+"He said I was to treat the ear in the same manner, and when it was
+stripped I must hold it to the fire until the outer skin becomes brown
+while all the milk is retained in the grain."
+
+The whole family of Wunzh joined in a feast on the roasted ears, and
+were very grateful for such a rich blessing. And this is the way the
+Indians say corn came into the world.
+
+We learned its use from them, and also to hold the old-fashioned
+husking bees where all the young people got together and pulled off
+the husks after the ripe ears of corn had been gathered into the barn.
+It was always great fun, especially when they found red ears, but let
+us see what the Indians used to say about it:
+
+ Then Nokomis, the old woman,
+ Spake and said to Minnehaha:
+ "'Tis the moon when leaves are falling
+ All the wild rice has been gathered
+ And the maize is ripe and ready;
+ Let us gather in the harvest,
+ Let us wrestle with Mondamin,
+ Strip him of his plumes and tassels,
+ Of his garments green and yellow."
+ And the merry Laughing Water
+ Went rejoicing from the wigwam,
+ With Nokomis old and wrinkled,
+ And they called the women round them,
+ Called the young men and the maidens,
+ To the harvest of the cornfields,
+ To the husking of the maize ear.
+ On the border of the forest,
+ Underneath the fragrant pine-trees,
+ Sat the old man and the warriors
+ Smoking in the pleasant shadow
+ In uninterrupted silence
+ Looked they at the gamesome labor
+ Of the young men and the women;
+ Listened to their noisy talking,
+ To their laughter and their singing
+ Heard them chattering like the magpies,
+ Heard them laughing like the blue-jays,
+ Heard them singing like the robins.
+ And whene'er some lucky maiden
+ Found a red ear in the husking
+ Found a maize-ear red as blood is,
+ "Nuska!" cried they all together,
+ "Nuska! you shall have a sweetheart,
+ You shall have a handsome husband!"
+ "Ugh!" the old men all responded
+ From their seats behind the pine-trees.
+ And whene'er a youth or maiden
+ Found a crooked ear in husking,
+ Found a maize-ear in the husking
+ Blighted, mildewed or misshapen,
+ Then they laughed and sang together,
+ Crept and limped about the cornfields,
+ Mimicked in their gait and gestures
+ Some old man bent almost double,
+ Singing singly or together
+ Till the cornfields rang with laughter,
+ "Ugh!" the old men all responded,
+ From their seats behind the pine-trees.
+
+The Indians have many pretty stories about the birth of corn. When the
+two little slender green leaves come up through the ground they say
+that it is the long green plumes of the crown buried by Wunzh and when
+it is ready for harvest they think the green and gold of the leaves
+and grain are the rest of the garments turned into a plant. They say
+that if you stand near a cornfield in the moonlight you can hear
+Mondamin, the corn spirit, murmuring and complaining of the way we
+treat him to the wind, the stars, and the little insects hidden in the
+glossy leaves and silken tassels.
+
+ [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Wrathy Chieftain
+
+
+After sailing down the great river for many days the Golden Hearted
+and the wise men came into a trackless waste with no means of finding
+their way out except by watching where the sun rose and shooting an
+arrow ahead of them. This was very slow work and they all grew quite
+discouraged over it.
+
+"It is altogether too bad that for fear of getting lost we must halt
+each time and speed another arrow before we overtake the last one,"
+said the Golden Hearted one day when they were nearly worn out with
+the heat and dust of a country not much better than a desert. "I have
+a feeling," he continued, "that we will not be well treated by the
+people we find here. I do so wish we might come to the cactus and the
+rock with a serpent at its base where my father commanded me to found
+a city in honor of the sun."
+
+"We are going in the right direction," answered the wise men, "but the
+end of our search is not yet."
+
+"And much as my heart yearns for the Happy Island I will not return to
+my father until all his wishes have been fulfilled."
+
+Through the murky gray clouds the stars did not make much light, and
+there was only a thin crescent moon, which gave a sense of utter
+loneliness to the Golden Hearted when he went to bed that night. The
+coyotes all around him howled and that made it worse, but he finally
+fell asleep. By and by he was awakened by a cold, wet nose touching
+his hand, and when he raised up on his elbow to see what it was, there
+stood a coyote. They are not very dangerous animals but they are
+sneaking and treacherous. Now we know that the Golden Hearted was
+gentle and kind to all creatures, and the coyote must have known it
+too, for it rubbed its head on his hand and did not seem in the least
+afraid.
+
+"Come, my good fellow, let us be friends," said the Golden Hearted. "I
+will not hurt you, and you can guide me to my brethren. I have never
+seen their faces, but wish very much to find them."
+
+The coyote wrinkled up his nose and made a funny little sneezing sound
+as if he were talking, and he wagged his tail as friendly as a dog.
+Maybe he did not understand what was said to him, but anyhow he felt
+safe enough to lie down close to his new friend and go sound asleep.
+When the wise men saw him the next morning, they said:
+
+"It is a good omen and means that we shall soon come to a stopping
+place where strange events will happen."
+
+This put the Golden Hearted into a better humor because he felt less
+doubtful and discouraged and he was much interested in the antics of
+the sagacious little companion that trudged by his side all day long.
+The coyote was enterprising enough to kill as many birds as it needed
+for food, without going far out of the way and was not a whit of
+trouble to anybody. There was not a tree nor a shrub to hide the
+nakedness of the dusty plains, nor was it possible to rest with any
+comfort until after the sun went down.
+
+All of a sudden the coyote stopped short, pricked up its ears and
+listened intently.
+
+"Yelp! yelp! yelp!" was what the Golden Hearted heard, and it sounded
+as if there were hundreds of young puppies everywhere. Looking closely
+he discovered little heaps of earth with a smooth-headed animal
+sitting on all fours beside it and yelping a protest to being
+disturbed. They were right in the midst of a village of prairie dogs,
+which are about the size of a jack-rabbit, but not nearly so
+destructive.
+
+"Come and see what I have found," called out the Golden Hearted to the
+wise men who were coming up behind him. At the sound of his voice the
+prairie dogs gave a quick, short yelp, their heels twinkled in the air
+for a second, and they fairly turned a somersault diving into their
+holes. By the time the wise men were ready to look there was not a
+whisker of an inhabitant to be seen.
+
+"What is it?" they said, "Where! we do not see anything."
+
+"Watch these fresh piles of dirt, and you will see something come out
+of them," said the Golden Hearted.
+
+"Yes;" said one, "there are some rattlesnakes."
+
+"And here are some owls," said another. "Is it possible that you have
+never seen these creatures before?" and the wise men laughed at the
+Golden Hearted and thought they had a good joke on him.
+
+"Let us keep quiet for a while. I tell you there is something else in
+those burrows besides snakes and owls," he insisted seriously.
+
+Not hearing any more noise, one after another of the little prairie
+dogs put its head up out of the hole, and then stole forth cautiously
+to talk the matter over with its next door neighbor. There were
+regular beaten pathways or lanes from one burrow to another and they
+were evidently on very friendly footing with each other.
+
+"These are indeed curious little animals," said the wise men, now much
+interested. "They not only live in communities, but keep the peace
+with their brothers, the snake and the owl. There is certainly no
+greater source of knowledge than the book of nature. Here God puts
+before us the thing He wishes us to learn."
+
+At the very first words of the wise men the prairie dogs scampered
+back into their holes; and before they showed themselves again a party
+of husbandmen came along on their way to a harvest field which they
+said was a day's journey ahead.
+
+"Why do you linger in this desert?" they asked of the Golden Hearted.
+"There are habitations farther on where the earth is watered."
+
+"We are seeking those who need our assistance and must only tarry
+where we are welcome," he answered.
+
+"Then come to our commune. We have no one to show us how to heal the
+sick nor to coax fertility out of this barren soil," they said. "If
+you will go, we will remain for the night and lead the way."
+
+So it was arranged and to everybody's comfort and joy it began to rain
+shortly after and then the air was much more cool and pleasant.
+
+The little prairie dogs were not so well pleased with this
+arrangement. They stuck their noses up into the moist air and whined
+and yelped half of the night. There can be no doubt that they were
+holding an indignation meeting, and were having a noisy and windy
+debate. May be they were comparing notes about the tall hats and veils
+of the wise men, or they may not have thought their long beards
+becoming. Or who shall say that they were not in their own peculiar
+fashion devising plans for safety, and to vindicate their
+offended dignity? They may have objected seriously to having strange
+men intruding upon their privacy, and it must not be considered a
+reflection on their courage because they scampered out of sight at the
+sound of a human voice. It was quite enough to frighten inoffensive
+little animals like these.
+
+ [Illustration: "THE WRATHY CHIEFTAIN"]
+
+It is said that Katzimo, the enchanted Mesa, was the first
+stopping-place of the Golden Hearted, and it is certain that the wise
+men taught the husbandmen in that part of the world how to make
+irrigating ditches and canals all through their inhospitable country,
+because there are many remains of these waterways still to be seen.
+Some say, too, that these people got the idea of living in pueblos or
+villages from studying the habits of the prairie dogs and to this day
+the coyote is thought to be a good friend by the descendants of these
+ancient husbandmen.
+
+"The hunters are angry with you for teaching the tillers of the soil
+how to make the land fertile without making it easier for the men of
+the chase to get food for themselves and families," said an old woman
+to the Golden Hearted, one day as he stood watching her make a water
+jar of clay. She would not have spoken had he not shown her how to
+make a pretty design and also how to ornament it differently from
+anything she had seen before.
+
+"I am willing to teach them to weave blankets and baskets," he
+replied. "The Good Law spares the life of every creature and forbids
+our eating its flesh for food. The hunters should give up the chase
+and fighting."
+
+"They say that only women should do these things," said the old
+pottery maker, "and they disdain to carry the rocks and mud to make
+our dwellings."
+
+"In this they are wrong," said the Golden Hearted, kindly, as he
+turned to greet some of the wise men. "We must hasten our task for
+already is discontent showing itself among the tribes," he said to
+them.
+
+"We must kindle the sacred fires and build the temple at once," they
+said. "We have heard murmurings and complaints of late and know your
+words are true."
+
+As soon as possible they began the work of construction of what is now
+known as the Casa Grande long since in ruins, of which we shall hear
+more in the story of the Kingdom of Quivera. The wise men kindled and
+guarded the sacred fires, and when leaving appointed warriors to take
+turns in watching them.
+
+"You must serve for two successive days and live during that time
+without food, drink or sleep," they said, and that mandate has been
+kept to this day. In the meantime the Golden Hearted busied himself
+with teaching them the use of herbs and plants for medicine and had
+them go into estufas or sweat houses when they were ill or wished to
+purify themselves of a sin or fault.
+
+Tradition says that the hunters lured the Golden Hearted away from
+his comrades and tried to kill him, and that they threw the wise men
+over the edge of the cliff, but it has been so long ago that no one
+can remember what it was they did that wounded and hurt him. One day
+he planted a tree upside down and calling all the people about him
+said:
+
+"Many, many years from now a strange nation will oppress you, and
+there will be no more rain. I charge you to guard the sacred fires
+well until the tree I have planted falls. Then I will come back and
+bring a white race that will overcome your enemies. After that the
+rain will fall, and the earth will be fertile again."
+
+ [Illustration: THE POTTERY MAKER]
+
+The simple, frugal husbandmen and weavers are still looking for his
+return and they believe he will descend from the sky by the columns
+of smoke they guard. It has been so long ago that they think he lives
+in the sun now, and build their houses with an opening to the east
+which is never closed.
+
+"We do this that he may find a welcome when he comes," they say.
+
+Once every fifty years they put out all the sacred fires and go up on
+the high mountain tops just before dawn, and wail and mourn and break
+pottery, imploring the shining orb to bring back him
+
+ "Who dwelt up in the yellow sun
+ And sorrowing for man's despair
+ Slid by his trailing yellow hair
+ To earth to rule, by love and bring
+ The blessedness of peace."
+
+ [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Plumed Serpent, Quetzalcoatl
+
+
+Far as the eye could reach stretched the beautiful valley of Anahuac,
+where the air was sweet with the breath of flowers, and the earth
+seemed to melt perfectly into the sky.
+
+"Oh! that mine eyes should see the splendor of this vision," said
+Mexi, the oldest of the wise men and the most learned, clasping his
+hands in rapture. "Oh! that I have been spared to see the fruition of
+thy will, great king and brother. Now may I go hence in peace."
+
+As he ceased speaking he tottered and would have fallen had not one of
+the tamanes or porters, seated on mats under the shade of a giant oak,
+hastily risen, and caught him as his head fell forward on his bosom.
+
+"The elements have undone thee," cried the Golden Hearted, kneeling
+hurriedly by his side and supporting the drooping head on his knee.
+"Thou art sadly in need of rest," he continued, alarmed at the pallor
+overspreading Mexi's finely wrinkled face.
+
+The old man pushed the thin white locks of hair off his forehead, let
+the mantle slip back from his throat, and seemed to breathe easier.
+
+"I am come to my final rest," he replied with a feeble smile. "It is
+not given me to enter the promised land."
+
+The tawny, broad-shouldered, half-clad tamanes, laid down the thin
+cakes of ground corn they were eating and came near to the stricken
+old man, while the other wise men took off their hats and listened
+with bowed heads to what their comrade and leader said. They had
+stopped to rest and refresh themselves with food under the cool
+inviting shade of the trees where they could listen to the murmur of
+waterfalls, and feast, the eyes on the landscape surrounding them.
+
+"There!" said Mexi, attracted by the buzzing of tiny wings, "is the
+green-throated humming-bird thou wert to follow as thy guide to the
+spot where a city is to be built in honor of the sun."
+
+The Golden Hearted held up his hand with the forefinger extended and
+in a moment the little humming-bird lighted on it and looked at him
+curiously, as though obeying the will of some one. He did not touch it
+nor attempt to move for a few moments. Then he said:
+
+"Little brother, spend the remainder of thy days with me. I need thee
+sorely, and have long waited for thy guidance."
+
+In the meantime the wise men had given Mexi a cup of chocolate, not in
+a thin liquid like we know it, but thick like a cold custard, and with
+whipped goat's cream on top.
+
+ [Illustration: "THE HUMMING-BIRD ALIGHTED ON HIS FINGER"]
+
+"Thou art kind," he said growing weaker and more faint all the
+time, "to try to prolong a life already spent." Turning his eyes
+toward the Golden Hearted he continued: "Lying next my heart thou wilt
+find a bundle of mystery. Carry it without opening until the time of
+thy departure from this strange land is at hand. Open then and thou
+wilt find directions for thy special work."
+
+He did not speak again and when they tried to rouse him there was a
+smile of infinite peace on his face, but nothing save the lifeless
+body was before them. The gentle, sweet spirit of the old man had gone
+back to God.
+
+"We will neither weep nor mourn for him," said the wise men to the
+Golden Hearted. "It would not be his wish, and we will show our love
+by obeying him."
+
+And so they left him sleeping in a dell of ferns and mosses, in sight
+of Anahuac, the land by the side of water, as its name indicates, and
+continued their journey southward.
+
+On the way the wise men found a little creature, looking like a black
+currant with neither head, legs nor tail, so far as they could see. It
+is fat and dark and round, but if you squeeze him his blood is a
+brighter color than currant juice, and much more valuable because we
+get cochineal red of one, and currant jelly from the other. It was in
+the valley of Anahuac that the cochineal bug was first found, and it
+lives on the leaves of the prickly pear, or tuna cactus--the common
+kind with leaves shaped like a ham, and covered with long sharp
+needles.
+
+The young cochineal bugs are so stupid that they must be tied on the
+leaves of the prickly pear to keep them from falling off and starving.
+In this way, too, they keep dry and warm in winter, but as soon as
+they are grown they are ruthlessly shaken to death and dried in the
+sun. Then the queer, shriveled dead bugs are put up in bags and sold.
+
+"In the hot lands far to the south, the woods are full of rare orchids
+and other gems of the flower kingdom," said the Golden Hearted one day
+after a search for plants by the wayside, "but the vanilla bean is the
+only one fit for food. It will be well worth our while to study this
+strange branch of husbandry as soon as possible."
+
+It was a long time before they came to a place near the seashore where
+a number of women were picking the ripe pods from vanilla vines which
+overran the trees and shrubs completely. The younger women had on
+bright-colored petticoats and gay scarfs over their long black hair,
+and they were storing the bean pods in wide-mouthed baskets strapped
+across their foreheads.
+
+"What next do you do with these pods?" he asked of a young girl
+passing him with a full basket.
+
+"We carefully assort them and then plunge the packages into hot water,
+before laying them out on mats to drain. For a week the beans are
+exposed to the heat of the sun, laid between woolen blankets. After
+this we pack them in ollas and keep them warm so as to promote
+fermentation while drying. This makes them soft, pliable, free from
+moisture, and of a dark chocolate color thickly frosted with
+needle-like crystals of acid."
+
+And to this day if you buy vanilla beans they come in packages wrapped
+in silver foil, and have a delicious odor.
+
+The bean is from six to nine inches long, and must be ground fine
+before it can be used in making the chocolate we are all so fond of,
+but it is dried and packed in the same manner as that described to the
+Golden Hearted.
+
+It was not many days after leaving the wooded plains, that the
+travelers came in sight of four beautiful lakes with the frowning
+cliffs of Chapultepec outlined against the sky. Always on the alert
+for a sign the wise men said to each other in awe-stricken whispers:
+
+"We must be near the place."
+
+"Do you not see the rock with the flowering cactus!"
+
+"And an eagle circling in the air with a serpent in its claws!"
+
+"Oh! thou seen and unseen powers! search our hearts that thou mayst
+know all our gratitude," cried the Golden Hearted, falling on his
+knees and then prostrating himself on the ground, as did all the wise
+men.
+
+"I am Guatamo," said a voice, and when the Golden Hearted looked up, a
+man old as Mexi stood blessing him. "Rise and receive word from thy
+father, the king from whom I am come. Fear me not; these hands have
+guided thy baby footsteps. Now must thou lend ear to my counsel."
+
+The Golden Hearted was overjoyed to see some one from his father's
+court, and also glad to know that his wanderings in search of the
+place to honor the sun was over.
+
+"This is not a promising outlook," said Guatamo, "but in the parchment
+scroll thou wilt find ample instructions to drain and render this a
+garden spot of exceeding loveliness. Hasten thy task since thy father
+is no longer living, and thy native land longs to see thee again."
+
+Acting upon this advice the Golden Hearted and the wise men set to
+work at once to build the city, and to teach the willing natives to
+cultivate the land, and to make handsome mosaics out of the
+bright-colored feathers of the birds found in the forests in such
+numbers. Of course the birds were not killed to get their feathers,
+but in the royal gardens there were thousands of them kept during the
+moulting season, and then the feathers were picked up and assorted for
+use. Not only could they make perfect representations of birds and
+animals with them, but whole landscape scenes, including mountains,
+sea and sky. When finished it was necessary to touch them to know that
+feathers instead of paint had been used.
+
+"The Nahuas have come from Aztlan, the white country, and must be
+obeyed," was the word carried from one tribe to the other by the
+runners, and the wise men could only smile when they heard themselves
+called Nahuas, or wizards. The simple natives thought them capable of
+performing miracles because they were wise in the arts and knew how to
+heal the sick. The name of the Golden Hearted became Quetzalcoatl, the
+plumed serpent in their language, but we must remember that he wore
+the Quetzal plumes in his head-dress, the same as a king wears a gold
+and jeweled crown, and that a serpent in many of the languages of the
+ancient people meant a very wise man. In English we would say that the
+Golden Hearted was the wise king, which was not only true but a very
+simple name for him. The wonderful city he built was called
+Tenochtitlan, which signified "in honor of the sun," as his father had
+commanded him to do, and on the spot where it stood is the City of
+Mexico to-day. We shall hear very interesting things about the
+teocalli, or temple he built in Tenochtitlan, when we come to the
+story of "Montezuma and the Paba," for this is one of the most famous
+places in the new world, and no one can afford to be ignorant of its
+traditions and history.
+
+ [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+Cholula, the Sacred City
+
+
+It was in the Tonituah, or great sun age, that the wise men and the
+Golden Hearted built the Memento for Generations, on the plains of
+Puebla. It is not so high, but is twice as long as any other pyramid
+in the world, and is truncated, that is to say, it has four terraces
+which are reached by long circular staircases. On top there is an acre
+of ground on which once stood a wonderful teocalli or temple, built by
+the wise men, and dedicated to the Golden Hearted. Each generation
+added something to the beauties of the Sacred City, Cholula, which
+sprang up near the pyramid, and for all time it will be one of the
+most wonderful things ever done by primitive men, who did not have our
+kind of implements to work with.
+
+The Golden Hearted lived in Cholula twenty years, and during that time
+he taught so many men how to make fine filigree work in gold and
+silver that there were whole streets filled with them, and the
+ornaments they made were famous for delicacy of design and finish.
+
+There was also a mountain of outcry, where the laws enacted by him
+were proclaimed by runners, but it is difficult to say whether this
+was Orizaba, with her conical snow-capped head far to the east, or
+whether it was huge Popocatepetl, or his twin sister who stood like
+colossal sentinels to guard the enchanted regions.
+
+"It is necessary to construct a calendar stone, so that the people
+will know when to hold festivals, and what ceremonies to perform,"
+said the son of Guatamo to the Golden Hearted, one day while the long
+line of men were passing bricks by hand from the lower to the upper
+terrace of the pyramid which they were trying to finish.
+
+"I have been thinking about it," he replied, "and have decided to ask
+a certain old woman, and her husband, to help select the signs."
+
+"Be sure to make them plain to the people and appropriate to the
+subject," said the son of Guatamo, who had now become the chief
+adviser of the Golden Hearted. All of the wise men were still called
+Nahuas, or wizards, and the Golden Hearted was their plumed serpent,
+or wise king.
+
+In the evening of that day, the Golden Hearted approached the hut of a
+famous soothsayer and story-teller--the old woman he wished to consult
+about the calendar. Standing in front of the door of the hut he said:
+
+"A humble applicant claims thy assistance in a matter of great import
+to thy fellows now and for all time. Wilt thou kindly hear me?"
+
+"Since it is always for thy brothers and never for thyself thou art
+constrained to invoke aid, I am honored by thy confidence," she said.
+"I have long been expecting thee."
+
+"Then thou knowest that I wish to invent a calendar which can be cut
+in enduring stone?" he asked, considerably surprised that she should
+already know his thoughts.
+
+"Yes," she said, "and so well do I understand thy wishes and needs
+that I have the first sign ready for thee." Motioning him to follow
+her into an inner room, she showed him a water-snake she had painted
+on a piece of parchment, and continued:
+
+"Make it the sign of the serpent, the symbol of wisdom, since thou art
+come to teach brotherhood to all our tribes."
+
+A queer hunchbacked old man sat huddled up in a corner looking over a
+set of parchment leaves lying on a table before him, and muttering to
+himself in a low tone.
+
+"My husband must make the next selection," said the old crone, going
+up to him and taking a paper out of his hands. "He makes it two
+cones," she continued, examining the design closely.
+
+"Now it is my turn to choose," said the Golden Hearted, "and I will
+select the three houses from this pile, and make that the third sign."
+
+They took turns about until twelve signs were chosen, then the Golden
+Hearted said:
+
+"I will make the last design myself, but not until my time of
+departure is at hand."
+
+"Before going, do not forget to inscribe the face of the pyramid, and
+also to explain its import fully," said the story-teller as the Golden
+Hearted was leaving her hut.
+
+"Thou art better able than I am to tell the hidden significance of
+that wonderful pile," he answered.
+
+"But it is thy duty; shirk it not," she said with decision.
+
+Not long afterward he called all the workmen and their families
+together and said:
+
+"There has now come a time in my life when I must live in seclusion
+away from the thoughts and occupations of my associates. But before
+going up on top of the pyramid to live alone until the altars in its
+temples are ready to receive the sacred fire, I will tell you why we
+have tarried so long and made such a wonderful structure. It is really
+a pillar of the Cosmos, or world, and is a center of fire which is the
+essence of all life."
+
+The name pyramid means a place of fire or a volcano, and the Goddess
+Pele, of the native Hawaiians, is the spirit of the volcano.
+
+"A pyramid," continued the Golden Hearted, "is the ideal form of the
+principle of stability because it cannot be destroyed. An earthquake
+will not shake it down, nor can it be set on fire. Being so big at the
+bottom and so heavy it is secure from floods of water, nor can the
+wind possibly blow it over. Neither time nor the elements will have
+any influence on this cunningly constructed pile, and for this reason
+it is like a noble character, which no adverse circumstance ever
+changes."
+
+Approaching the front of the pyramid, he pulled down a cloth hanging
+over the inscription cut in symbols on the face of a huge piece of
+granite.
+
+ BEFORE THE LIGHT WAS OBSCURED THIS MEMENTO FOR GENERATIONS
+ WAS BUILT BY SERPENT KINGS. THEY WERE SCATTERED OVER THE
+ EARTH TO CARRY TRUTH AND WISDOM. THEY WILL COME AGAIN TO
+ RECEIVE THE TREASURES HIDDEN IN MY BOWELS. THEN ALL MEN
+ WILL SPEAK AND HEAR THE GREAT IMPERISHABLE TRUTH.
+
+The next morning the Golden Hearted called his little band of wise men
+around him and said:
+
+"In the Bundle of Wonderful Things given me by Guatamo, I find my
+father's final command. It imposes seclusion upon me in this spot. The
+temple requires a central spire and I shall build and cover it with
+pure gold. Go thou to the valley and make thy life apart from me. I
+love thee well, and shall miss thee sadly, but I have need to be
+alone."
+
+"What wilt thou have us do?" asked the son of Guatamo.
+
+"Go thou amongst thy fellows and teach them the arts of peace. Show
+them how to coax fertility anew out of the soil, and strengthen civil
+power until I call thee."
+
+It was several months before the spire was finished, and then it
+required several days to make a llama of beaten silver as an emblem of
+suffering innocence to put on the altar. The llama seated upon the
+back of an eagle was rescuing a rabbit from the fangs of a
+rattlesnake.
+
+"This quaint symbol shall represent the unequal conflict between the
+good and bad things in life, but the llama compelling the serpent to
+give up its prey means that good shall finally triumph," said the
+Golden Hearted, to himself, as he put the offering in place on the
+altar.
+
+"I have only a few days more in this beautiful spot, then must I
+return to good King Cocomos, my life-long friend and follower. Well
+indeed has he kept his promise to me, and not only are his subjects
+blessed with all the arts of civilization, but they are a shining
+example to other less favored races. I must offer a fitting
+sacrifice," he continued, "on this newly erected altar before I go."
+
+There were eight altars in the temple on top of the pyramid, and at
+sunset on the last day of his stay, the Golden Hearted placed the
+llama on the one facing the east. At the same time the son of Guatamo
+headed a procession of wise men at the base of the pyramid, who slowly
+climbed to the top. They performed sacrifice on each terrace as they
+ascended, and did not reach the temple until midnight.
+
+The Golden Hearted was alone in the great dark structure intently
+watching the constellation of the Pleiades directly overhead. As
+Alcyone, the dim star in the center of the group, approached the
+zenith, he sprang forward with a glad cry and vigorously swinging a
+copper hammer made the sparks fly from a piece of flint. The son of
+venerable Guatamo held the bit of cotton over it and carefully nursed
+the fire into a blaze. As the light streamed up toward the heavens
+shouts of joy and triumph burst forth:
+
+"Once more the children of men receive a direct ray from the
+spiritual sun! Awake! awake! and hear the glad tidings!"
+
+Runners with torches lighted at the blazing beacon sped in every
+direction carrying the cheering element to all parts of the country.
+Long before sunrise it was brightening the altars and hearthstones in
+every house. The Golden Hearted prayed before the eastern altar, and
+then took an affectionate farewell of the young priest of the Order of
+Quetzalcoatl left in charge, but before descending, he gazed long at
+the matchless scenery below. Soft spring verdure lay on all sides, and
+he drew courage and inspiration from that fact. At the foot of the
+pyramid he said:
+
+"Be of good cheer. A long era of peace and prosperity is for thee and
+thine. Let this knowledge be thy secret refuge lest thou be tempted to
+depart from the way. Grieve not for me, in the fullness of time I will
+come again."
+
+Then he set out for the Kingdom of Tlapalla, accompanied by four
+youths of noble birth. At the water's edge he took leave of them
+saying:
+
+"Guard well the temple and the sacred fires, for when I come again, I
+will bring disciples with me who shall possess and rule the land."
+
+When the four youths returned to Cholula and told all their master had
+said to them, the people divided their province into four
+principalities and gave the government to the four young nobles. Ever
+after, four of the descendants of these youths continued to rule as
+priests of the Order of Quetzalcoatl in the sacred city until the
+Spaniards came, which we will know all about when we read the story
+of "El Dorado, the Golden."
+
+One of the first things done by the noble youths when they became
+rulers was to make a statue of the Golden Hearted in a reclining
+position, because they said that he had gone to sleep in the bosom of
+the sun. When the wind blew they said he was sweeping the roads, and
+that he was the god of fertility. Not any place else in the new world
+was there so much reverence and respect paid to a statue as to this
+one of the Golden Hearted which was for ages kept in the temple he
+built on the top of the pyramid. For hundreds of miles around people
+came to do reverence to it, and even if it did have a black face, the
+ancient Aztecs always called him their "Fair God." And to this day the
+calendar stone and many other wonderful things in Mexico are said to
+have been made by him.
+
+ [Illustration: THE TORCH BEARERS]
+
+
+
+
+Tulla, the Hiding Nook of the Snake
+
+
+No doubt you remember that the wise men built a Dark House in Nachan
+to hold the National Book, and such other treasures as the Golden
+Hearted did not wish to carry with him. And you also remember that he
+left a number of wise men in charge, and that he promised to return.
+The great pyramid at Cholula was not all finished, but it was far
+enough along so he could leave the son of Guatamo to go on with the
+work while he paid a visit to his old friends in Nachan.
+
+When he arrived there, he found a splendid city having whole houses of
+silver, others of turquoise, some of white and red shells and some of
+rich feathers. Cotton grew there in all colors, so it was not
+necessary to dye it, and the people were rich and prosperous. A great
+and mighty king ruled them, but he finally grew jealous because the
+people seemed to think that all their good fortune came from obeying
+the commands given them by the Golden Hearted when he visited them as
+a mere youth.
+
+They did everything in their power to honor the good prince. When he
+promulgated a new law, they ran to the mountain tops and proclaimed it
+in a loud voice, and then the swift-footed couriers dashed through the
+country with lighted torches and repeated it to every one they met.
+One day a young man came to him and said:
+
+"Good prince, be on your guard. The king no longer loves you."
+
+"Why do you say this to me?" asked the Golden Hearted.
+
+"Because I know he plots to injure you. He is angry because you are
+helping the wise men build Tulla. He calls it the Hiding Nook of the
+Snake to show contempt for you."
+
+"Again I ask why do you say such things to me?" There was so much
+reproach in the tones of the voice of the Golden Hearted that the
+young man hung his head and stammered:
+
+"Forgive me, but I wanted you to know there is danger for you here,
+and I am ready to serve you faithfully."
+
+The Golden Hearted made no reply, but taking a thoroughly-dried cactus
+needle from a shelf, stuck it through his ears and was beginning to
+pierce his tongue when the young man sprang forward and caught his
+hand.
+
+"Why, good prince," he cried in a startled voice, "do you maltreat
+your poor ears and tongue? It is I who have spoken evil, not you."
+
+"But I listened, and that is an offense against the Good Law. Do you
+think I will not punish myself for disobedience?"
+
+"Oh," said the young man, with tears streaming down his face, "the
+sight of blood makes my heart ache, and I, too, will be punished." And
+with that he stuck cactus needles through his ears and tongue.
+
+"My friend," said the Golden Hearted, "I thank you for your kind
+thought of me, but I must beautify Tulla even if it does displease the
+king, and he is right in calling it the Hiding Nook of the Snake,
+because it will be a treasure-house of the wisdom inherited from the
+philosophers and wise men of your race. You should always bear in mind
+that a serpent is a symbol of wisdom, and not a thing to despise. The
+king compliments me, even though he knows it not."
+
+The young man went out of the room with the thorns still sticking in
+his ears, and when he spat blood, his companions said:
+
+"Why does your mouth bleed?" and he answered:
+
+"Because I have been speaking evil of some one."
+
+"Open your mouth and let us see," they said.
+
+"It is only needful to examine the tongue. I have pierced it with the
+sharp needle of the cactus."
+
+"Who gave you leave to do such a thing?"
+
+"No one," he answered, "but when the Good Prince inflicted that
+penalty on himself for merely hearing what I said, I could do no less
+than follow his example."
+
+"And we will do likewise," they said, and in after years, every
+devotee of the teachings of the Golden Hearted punished himself in
+this manner for evil speaking or listening to others saying unkind
+things of a fellow creature.
+
+Of course we know that the king really was jealous of the Golden
+Hearted, and was determined that he should not stay long in Tulla,
+which bade fair to rival his own city with which it was connected by
+the secret passageway containing the Dark House. During the years of
+his absence, the wise men left in Nachan had been at work on this
+wonderful city, and it was very beautiful indeed, even before the
+Golden Hearted saw it at all. When he came the inhabitants received
+him with great rejoicing, and then the king of Nachan began to be
+afraid that he would have too great a following.
+
+The king had no excuse to fight the Golden Hearted, because he always
+put his fingers in his ears when they talked of war in his presence,
+and under no circumstances would he have been made king himself. He
+only wanted to teach and help the people in a peaceable and kind way.
+
+The king knew all this, but he was uneasy and wanted the Golden
+Hearted to go away. So he hired a native wizard to play a cunning
+trick upon the Golden Hearted. Disguising himself as one of the wise
+men, the wizard went to his house and said to his servant:
+
+"I wish to see and speak to your master."
+
+"Go away, old man, you cannot see the prince for he is sick. You will
+annoy him and cause him heaviness."
+
+"But I must see him," persisted the pretended old man.
+
+"Wait a moment and I will ask him," said the servant, and he went and
+told the Golden Hearted that a strange old man was determined to see
+him.
+
+"Let him come in," said the sick man.
+
+Tottering up to the bedside as if he were very feeble, the intruder
+said with well-feigned sympathy:
+
+"How are you, my lord? Here is a medicine I have brought for you."
+
+ [Illustration: "HERE IS MEDICINE FOR YOU"]
+
+"You are welcome; I have been expecting you for many days," and the
+Golden Hearted held out his hand in a friendly manner.
+
+"How is your body, and how is your health?" again asked the visitor,
+seating himself by the bedside.
+
+"I am exceedingly sick. All my body is in pain, and I cannot move my
+hands nor my feet."
+
+"The medicine I have is good and wholesome. If you will drink it you
+will be healed and eased at heart." As he said this, the wizard held
+up a small silver cup and put a white powder in it. "Drink this and
+you will then have in mind the toils and fatigues of death, and of
+your departure."
+
+"Where have I to go?" cried his listener in surprise.
+
+"To Tlapalla (which was their name for the Happy Island), where The
+Old Man of the Sea is waiting for you. He has much to tell you, and
+when you return you will be young and handsome. Indeed you will be a
+mere boy again." Seeing that the Golden Hearted merely stared at him,
+he said: "Sir, drink this medicine."
+
+But the sick man did not wish to do so.
+
+"Drink, my lord, or you will be sorry for it hereafter," urged the
+wizard.
+
+"No, no; I will not drink it."
+
+"At least rub some on your brow and taste a sip." So the Golden
+Hearted drank a little to try it, saying:
+
+"What is this? It seems to be a thing very good and savory. Already I
+feel myself healed. I am well."
+
+"Drink some more, my lord, since it is good. The more you drink, the
+better you will feel."
+
+The sick man swallowed considerable more and then he was drunk. It was
+not medicine at all that the wizard gave him, but a white wine made
+from the maguey plant and the powder he put in it was to make the
+Golden Hearted believe that he must go away.
+
+For days after he was very sad and wept continuously, but he began to
+get ready to leave Tulla. No matter what was said to dissuade him, he
+could never get rid of the idea that he must take all of his followers
+and go as quickly as possible.
+
+The wise men, seeing that he was determined, gathered up all the
+picture writings they had made as a record of their journeys, and
+putting them into an ark, carried it swung on a pole with them. Before
+leaving, they called the people together and said:
+
+"Know that the Golden Hearted commands you to remain here in these
+lands of which he makes you master and gives you possession. He goes
+to the place whence he and we came, but he will return to visit you
+when it shall be time for the world to come to an end. You must await
+him in these lands, possessing them and all contained in them since
+for this purpose came we hither. Remain, therefore, for we go with the
+Golden Hearted."
+
+
+
+
+The Departure of the Golden Hearted
+
+
+The poisoned wine worked in the brain of the Golden Hearted and caused
+him to do many singular things. For instance he burned all the
+beautiful houses built for him by the wise men and ordered much of his
+treasure to be buried in the mountains and ravines. When he left
+Tulla, he took all the bright-plumaged singing birds with him, and
+would only allow nineteen of the wise men to go with him.
+
+Two of these knew all about fishing, and two knew about farming, and
+one was a weather prophet who studied the clouds and winds, and could
+foretell storms, while all the rest were priests who kindled the
+sacred fires and taught the people the Good Law.
+
+As soon as the King of Tulla found he was leaving, he took an army and
+followed after him, laying the country waste and taking captive as
+many of the people as he could find.
+
+"Good prince, why do you not let us make war upon your and our enemy?"
+the warriors often asked him, but he always put his fingers in his
+ears and replied sadly:
+
+"You do not understand the Good Law, my friend. The only way to
+overcome hate is with love. It is fully time for me to return to
+Tlapalla."
+
+He traveled on until he came to a place where there was a great tree,
+high and very thick. Here he sat down to rest.
+
+"Bring me a mirror," he said to his servant, and when he saw his face
+reflected in it, he cried out:
+
+"Take it away. I am already old." Then the wise men knew that the drug
+in the wine was making him mad again and they did not try to hinder
+him when he began throwing stones at the tree.
+
+"I will make these stones stick into your bark until you look like a
+porcupine and the wind cannot blow them out," he said, and for a long,
+long time, the tree was pointed out to travelers as being enchanted,
+because the god of wind had hurled his wrathful breath upon it. From
+all accounts the tree was full of sharp rocks from top to bottom and
+must have looked very queer indeed.
+
+The flute players tried to divert his attention as they marched along
+the wood, but he was very weary and finally sat down to rest on a
+stone by the roadside.
+
+"O, Thou of infinite mercy and compassion, dry the hot tears that
+flood and burn my face," he said brokenly as he looked toward Tulla.
+People now say that his tears marked and ate into the stone, and that
+the print of his hands is still to be found on it.
+
+After he had reached a very wide river and had commanded his followers
+to help build a bridge across it, he was met by some men who tried to
+stop him.
+
+"Where are you going?" they asked, "and why do you leave your city? To
+whose care will you commend it, and who will do penance in it?" The
+Golden Hearted answered them firmly:
+
+"You can in no wise hinder me, for I must go."
+
+"But where are you going?" they insisted.
+
+"To Tlapalla," he answered.
+
+"For what purpose are you going?"
+
+"The sun calls me," he said.
+
+"Go then," they replied, "but leave behind all the mechanical arts,
+the melting of silver, the working of precious stones and of masonry,
+picture writing, feather work and other crafts." And then they would
+have robbed him, but he threw all his rich jewels into a fountain.
+Among his tormentors was the pretended old wizard who tried to induce
+him to drink more wine.
+
+"No, I can not drink it. I can not even taste it again," he said, and
+that night in his sleep he turned his head from side to side and tore
+his hair with his hands.
+
+The next morning in passing between a volcano and the snowy mountain
+tops, all his servants being hunchbacked, died of cold, and he had no
+way to get down the steep mountain side except to slide in a squatting
+position with his feet close together.
+
+In one place he stopped and built a square stone court for ball play,
+and taught the people how to play the game. Now it is said that he
+drew a line through the center of the court, and that made the deep
+gash in the mountains still to be seen.
+
+In another place he threw a dart at a tree and pierced it in such a
+manner that it looked like a cross, and after that a cross was called
+"The Tree of Our Life," in memory of this event. Some say that he
+built houses with certain underground passageways where he hid picture
+writing and records of his teachings, and just before arriving at the
+water's edge, he set up and balanced a great stone so that it could be
+moved with one's little finger, but a whole multitude could not
+displace it.
+
+No doubt you remember the village chief where the Golden Hearted went
+when he first arrived from the Happy Island, and also that he sent
+this chief a cross with a hand in the center. Now that he was going
+home again, the Golden Hearted thought he would visit the chief and
+see how he and his people were progressing.
+
+Imagine his surprise in finding that they had dedicated a temple to
+him, and that in the middle of the square tower was a terra cotta
+statue of himself dressed as a warrior holding an arrow in his hand,
+and because the statue was hollow they thought it was an oracle. His
+name in their language was Cukulcan, but the common people called him
+"The Working Hand," and had great respect for a huge stone cross
+erected in the turreted courtyard in front of the temple, which had a
+big red hand in the center.
+
+When the Golden Hearted went among the people, he found that they
+remembered everything he had told them, and that on the anniversary of
+his coming great crowds of people came on a pilgrimage to the oracle
+statue in the temple. It did no good for him to tell them that he was
+simply an elder brother and teacher come to give them aid in a simple,
+kindly way. They believed he was sent by God, and for ages after the
+people made pilgrimages to this shrine, and held it in very great
+esteem.
+
+Realizing that it was time for him to go down to the sea coast among
+the fishermen he had first seen, he went to the temple service one
+morning, and after praying before the altar, picked up a sacred Tunkel
+and sang them a prophetic song of farewell:
+
+ "Ye men of Itza hearken to the tidings
+ Listen to the forecast of this cycle's end,
+ Four have been the ages of the world's progressing
+ Now the fourth is ending and its end is near,
+ A mighty lord is coming, see you give him honor,
+ A potent lord approaches to whom all must bow
+ I, the prophet, warn you, keep in mind my boding,
+ Men of Itza mark it, and await your lord."
+
+ [Illustration: "A PROPHETIC SONG OF FAREWELL"]
+
+"Waste not your time in idle repining," he said in farewell, "I go for
+purification, but will surely come again."
+
+He only spent time enough on the seashore to build and provision a
+balsa, or boat with sails, and then he said "good bye" to the
+fisherfolk, and sailed away toward the east with a few of the wise men
+for companions. Just before he stepped into the boat he turned to the
+wise men, who were to remain and said:
+
+"It wrings my heart to part from you, but there is need for you to
+stay here in order to complete the tasks already begun." As he
+embraced and kissed each one on the cheek he named their special duty,
+and had no fear that his orders would not be fully carried out.
+
+"You must go to the son of Guatamo, and tell him my work is finished."
+
+To another he said:
+
+"You must go about and teach in my stead. I will come again, but at
+another time."
+
+It was difficult for him to persuade the fisherman not to accompany
+him.
+
+"Have no fear. Mine is a staunch bark capable of riding the storm and
+stress of the angry sea. Farewell, beloved, I will return to you, when
+the time and seasons are propitious."
+
+The people on shore turned again and again to throw kisses to him,
+while the fishermen in their little boats put out to sea with him, and
+strained their vision to catch a last glimpse of his flower-laden
+balsa.
+
+The wise men and priests in the temples where-ever he had been, began
+at once to guard the sacred fires and to watch and pray for his safe
+return. Lest they should forget his sayings they engraved them on
+stone, and taught them to the people so that his name was a household
+word for generations. His was the only civilization known in the
+Americas before the advent of the white men.
+
+ [Illustration: "THE SNAKE-SKIN CANOE"]
+
+
+
+
+El Dorado, the Golden
+
+
+We have read somewhere that "in 1492 Columbus sailed the waters blue,"
+and we know that the big Exposition held in Chicago in 1893 was to
+commemorate the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of
+America, but no one can possibly tell how long it was after the Golden
+Hearted sailed away, until Columbus came.
+
+And nobody knows where the Golden Hearted went.
+
+He said he was going to Tlapalla, which we know meant the Happy
+Island, but no one can find it any more, and there are traditions
+which say that the island, with all its inhabitants, sank in the
+ocean. This may be why the Golden Hearted never came back again. Of
+course the wise men and the primitive people in the Americas believed
+that he would return because he said he would, and they watched and
+waited all the long years from one generation to another. Many times
+bright and promising young men, just out of the universities, or fresh
+from victories on the battle fields, would take the vows of a priest,
+and give up all their hopes and ambitions to serve in the temples
+erected in honor of the Golden Hearted. They did not know anything
+more about him than we do, but they had faith in him.
+
+They said:
+
+"All the good we know comes from him, and when he returns all wrongs
+will be righted and every heart made to rejoice. He will give us
+everything we wish for."
+
+Several times during the year whole nations would fast and do severe
+penance to induce him to come quickly. Not one of them could be made
+to believe that he was dead.
+
+"No, no," they said, "he is asleep in the bosom of the sun. He will
+surely come again; he promised us he would."
+
+Then they would get the idea that he was offended, and the kings would
+order great sacrifice to be made to appease him. In some places I am
+sorry to say they offered the quivering, bleeding hearts of human
+beings by the hundreds, but still he did not come. In other places
+they remembered his gentleness and only laid fruit, flowers and
+perfumes on the sacred fire altars which they still kept burning.
+There were many places where they carefully preserved his sayings by
+cutting them in sign language on the stones of the temples, and every
+child was taught to imitate his virtues and follow his example.
+
+For several years before Columbus arrived the priests and wise men had
+been prophesying that the Golden Hearted was soon to return, that the
+sun was bringing him back, accompanied by companions like himself, who
+would rule over them. Not even the great-great-grandfathers of the men
+then living had seen the Golden Hearted, so they did not know how he
+looked, but their traditions said that he was a bearded white man, and
+we shall see by and by what a curious mistake this led them to make
+about the first white men who came to them after the discovery of
+America.
+
+Before we can understand how such things could happen, we must
+remember that the people in Europe did not know there was an America,
+and that many of them had very queer ideas about the shape of the
+earth. Some said it was four-cornered and square like a dry goods box,
+and others thought it was round and flat like a plate, surrounded by
+water which finally changed into vapor and mist, and that whoever
+ventured far out into the misty clouds fell through and went--heaven
+knows where!
+
+In the quaint old Italian city of Genoa was born a little boy named
+Christopher Columbus, who was to change all this, and be the innocent
+cause of much suffering to the descendants of the races who had been
+visited by the Golden Hearted. When a mere lad at school, he was
+greatly interested in boats, and he not only studied geography and
+history, but read all the books of travel he could find, and dreamed
+night and day of a great long voyage he was going to make on the ocean
+some time. He did not waste his time fishing and playing on the beach
+like other boys, but picked up the chips that washed ashore and
+examined them very carefully, because he believed that if there was an
+unknown land some where in the west, that the waves would bring
+something ashore from there. He was really quite an old man before he
+found anything, but one day he picked up some strange chips at Cadiz
+that had been cut by hand, and then he knew he was right.
+
+Sailors always do have wonderful tales to tell about the sea, and in
+those days they were so superstitious that they were sure that there
+were huge monsters living in the distant waters just waiting to eat up
+any sailor foolish enough to venture near them. There was not one of
+them willing to listen to Columbus, when he tried to explain that the
+earth is round like an orange, and that we live on the outside of it.
+He said to them repeatedly:
+
+"If we sail west steadily, we shall in time arrive back at the place
+from which we started." Finally, not only the sailors, but the people
+in the streets pointed their fingers at him and said:
+
+"There goes the crazy old man, who thinks the world is as round as an
+apple."
+
+The more he talked and reasoned and argued and even drew maps to prove
+that he was right, the more everybody shook their heads and called him
+crazy.
+
+Columbus was about to give up in despair because he was very poor, and
+there seemed to be no way by which he could demonstrate that his
+theory of the shape of the earth was correct.
+
+And now comes a curious coincidence.
+
+He was a very devout Christian, and felt certain that the inhabitants
+of this strange country in the west had never heard of our God nor of
+his beloved son Jesus, and his heart was fired with zeal to reach
+these poor heathens and tell them the story of the Christ.
+
+About this time some influential friend secured an audience for him
+with the King of Portugal, but it did no good to tell his story to the
+rich monarch, who was neither of a scientific nor a religious turn of
+mind, and he might as well have talked to the wind. Utterly
+discouraged Columbus decided to go to Spain, which is a near neighbor
+of Portugal, and see if he could not induce the famous King Ferdinand
+and Isabella, the queen, to give him boats to make his longed-for
+voyage. The queen especially was very pious and was much interested in
+Columbus' story about the heathens, but the ministers of her court
+laughed at Columbus and said:
+
+"It is a foolish dream which can never be carried out."
+
+Almost heart-broken Columbus silently turned his back on the Spanish
+capital and walked a long way to a seaport called Palos, where there
+was a queer old convent in which strangers were made welcome by the
+kind monks living in it. Knocking upon the gate, he said to the
+porter:
+
+"Will you please give me a bit of bread and a drink of water."
+
+Fortunately, the prior, a learned man and an intimate friend of Queen
+Isabella came along, and was quick to see that Columbus was no common
+beggar. He invited him in, and after listening quietly and
+thoughtfully to his visitor's plan of crossing the ocean to convert
+the heathen to Christianity, he borrowed a mule and rode miles across
+the country to the castle where the Queen was staying and persuaded
+her to help Columbus.
+
+"It is your duty," he said. "God has given you riches and many
+blessings that you may assist your fellow men, and these strange
+people know nothing of our God, and they need teachers to help them
+find the right way of living."
+
+Queen Isabella was so impressed with what he said that she immediately
+petitioned the Royal Treasurer to give Columbus money to make his
+voyage of discovery.
+
+"Your majesty, there is no money to spare," was the polite answer of
+the Treasurer, who, like all the rest of the court, thought Columbus
+was a visionary dreamer if not crazy.
+
+"Very well," she said. "I will pawn my crown jewels," and she did.
+This was a most noble and courageous act on her part, for a queen in
+those days was scarcely considered dignified or respectable without
+splendid crown jewels to wear on public occasions, but she was bent
+upon sending the gospel of Christ to the heathen in America. Does it
+not seem strange that the Golden Hearted and the Queen of Spain should
+be credited with the same desire to help the people of the Americas,
+and that they lived hundreds of years apart and could never have known
+of each other, and that one incident is a fact of history and the
+other only a legend?
+
+But as soon as Columbus secured the money another difficulty arose. No
+sailor could be found who would risk his life on an unknown sea with
+such a crazy old man. Finally Queen Isabella had to promise liberty
+and full pardon to the convicts in the prisons before Columbus could
+get any one to go with him. It was a terrible thing for him but he had
+a brave heart, and the monks from the convent at Palos sent some of
+their number with him to teach the natives.
+
+On and on, the three caravels, the Santa Maria, the Pinta and Nina,
+sailed without finding land, until their provisions were getting low
+and the crews of convicts were about to mutiny and kill Columbus. In
+order to keep them quiet he told them wonderful stories of the riches
+of this land they were trying to find.
+
+"You can have all the gold, and silver, and precious gems you can
+carry," he promised them. In an instant you could see the cunning and
+greed in their wicked faces. They did not care whether the earth was
+round or flat, nor what became of the natives, if they only had gold,
+and then they would gather around Columbus and question him closely
+about the size of the nuggets and precious stones. Of course he could
+only guess at it, but he knew that to save his life he must say
+something, so he replied:
+
+"I firmly believe that there are immense pieces of solid gold to be
+found there, and that it is abundant."
+
+ [Illustration: "ON AND ON THE THREE CARAVELS SAILED."]
+
+Some thought they would find it in lumps as big as a house, and they
+all expected to pick up hands full of gems just anywhere. Columbus had
+strained his eyes looking for the land until he was nearly blind, but
+one night he imagined he saw a glimmer of light ahead. Where there was
+light there must be land, he thought. So he called one of the sailors
+to him and asked him what he saw.
+
+ [Illustration: "LAND! LAND AHEAD!"]
+
+"A light! a light!" cried the sailor joyfully. But it was not until
+nearly two o'clock in the morning that the commander of one of the
+other boats started the cry:
+
+"Land! Land ahead!"
+
+You can imagine what excitement there was on all the caravels, and how
+thankful Columbus was. The padres gathered around him, and as he
+sprang ashore, he dropped on his knees and stooped and kissed the
+ground. Even the sailors forgot about the gold while he and the padres
+prayed and thanked God for giving mankind a new world.
+
+Immediately the flag of Spain was planted and the land claimed for
+King Ferdinand and Isabella, but wonderful indeed were the things
+surrounding them. Men and women of a bronze color crowded around them
+and offered them strange, but delicious fruits and flowers and brought
+them food and water. In his first letter to Queen Isabella, Columbus
+said of them:
+
+"There is not in all the world a better people nor a better land.
+Their converse is ever sweet and gentle, and is accompanied by a
+smile. They truly love their neighbor as themselves."
+
+Finding them docile and kind the padres set about teaching them, and
+the simple natives were very willing listeners. It was quite a long
+time before they could understand each other well, but the padres told
+the story of the Christ the first time they held a service, which was
+on a Sunday. Remembering the precepts of the Golden Hearted, the faces
+of the natives lighted up understandingly when they heard the words of
+Jesus which bade them be loving and kind to each other, and they
+nodded their heads and exclaimed:
+
+"El Dorado! El Dorado!"
+
+At least that is what the ignorant convict sailors thought they said.
+The words "El Dorado" in Spanish, which was their mother tongue, meant
+"The Golden," or "The Gilded One." We know they were eager and greedy
+to find gold and that they had been told to help themselves freely to
+all they could get, so they immediately began to question the simple
+natives.
+
+"Yes, yes; we have plenty of gold," the natives said, in surprise,
+because they did not value it at all, except for ornaments, and they
+ran to fetch some for their visitors. When they saw how glad it made
+the sailors, they were happy and content as a lot of children, and
+they not only brought all they had, but told where there was plenty
+more to be found.
+
+ [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+"Bimini, the Fountain of Youth"
+
+
+When Columbus sailed back to Spain and told the story of his wonderful
+discoveries the people did not believe him at first, but when he
+showed them the gold and silver ornaments, and the strange red men,
+they were so amazed that they forgot even to ask questions.
+
+The news was so startling that it simply took their breath away and
+they stared at each other stupidly. Then they said in awe-stricken
+whispers:
+
+"How can such things be? Is the world coming to an end? Are we going
+to die? Or are _we_ crazy? Maybe our ears and eyes are fooling us."
+
+But Columbus only smiled and said:
+
+"My friends, you see I was right. The earth is round, and I have not
+only found India with its untold riches, but I have brought some of
+its people home with me."
+
+And that is why today we call the red men Indians. Columbus did not
+know that he had discovered a new continent, so it was natural for him
+to speak of the natives as Indians. And I am sure you will pity him
+when I tell you that he died without ever knowing the difference.
+
+All Europe was in a fever of excitement over his voyage, and it was
+not long before he fitted out other vessels and sailed across the
+ocean again to find the northwest passage which he believed would
+shorten the route to India. Rich men, and learned ones, were ready to
+go with him, and the sailors expected to find gold and precious stones
+scattered all over the ground. Every word that the convicts told them
+about El Dorado they thought meant gold, and the wildest and most
+exaggerated stories were soon in everybody's mouth.
+
+The padres, too, were enthusiastic over the prospect of converting the
+heathen, but nobody took the trouble to find out what the Indians
+believed about God. Every one misunderstood the meaning of El Dorado
+and never dreamed that there had been such a teacher as the Golden
+Hearted, or that the Indians already knew how to be brotherly and
+kind.
+
+Even the most learned men in those days were ready to accept the
+existence of a mythical city called Cathay as true.
+
+They thought it was situated somewhere between the island of
+Newfoundland and Florida, where they expected to find the spice
+groves. Another story very common in Europe said that there was among
+the beautiful summer isles of the west, one that conferred immortality
+and was spoken of as the Island of Perpetual Youth. Among those whose
+imagination was fired by this romance was a brave knight named Ponce
+de Leon, who was Columbus' companion on his second voyage. He did not
+care for the gold of the new world, for he was already rich, but he
+was old, and he wanted to renew his youth. King Ferdinand commissioned
+him Governor of Porto Rico, but he soon tired of it, and was
+determined to discover the magic spring.
+
+"For what reason should I stay here and lord it over these half-naked
+savages," he said to his relatives and friends when they tried to
+dissuade him from undertaking such a perilous search. "Let us go where
+we can bathe in those enchanted waters and be young once more. I need
+it and so will you before very long."
+
+"But how do you know there is such a place?" they asked.
+
+"By hearing the full particulars of an old Indian who went there and
+washed himself and drank from the spring until he was restored to
+youth and vigor. Let us go and be like him."
+
+To find this new marvel he set sail with three brigantines, and the
+adventurers with him floated over the summer sea, as men bent upon
+pleasure, and to whom time was long and burdened with no serious
+duties. They sailed from island to island touching here and there as
+fancy led them. They sought the safest and pleasantest coves, where
+the shades were deepest in the noonday sun, and the waters coolest;
+where the fruits were the sweetest, the Indians most friendly and
+their women the loveliest. At last they came to an inlet which led
+invitingly up among wooded banks and flowering valleys. Here the old
+knight said:
+
+"Let us disembark and strike inland. My heart tells me that we have
+found the Fountain of Youth."
+
+"Nonsense," said his younger kinsman, "our way lies by water."
+
+"Then leave me here with my men," he replied, and after an angry
+discussion five men, long past middle age, and who had come with him
+from Spain, were left on shore. The first thing they did was to climb
+to the top of a hill and set up a cross which they had brought with
+them. As soon as it was in place they all removed their helmets and
+prayed before it. One of the men said to him:
+
+"The ground is pawed up as if cattle ranged here, and this path has
+been trod by human feet."
+
+"You are right," said Ponce de Leon, "lead the way and we will
+follow."
+
+Taking the path they met about fifty Indian bowmen, who seemed to
+their startled vision like a whole company of giants, but, who proved
+to be of a very friendly disposition.
+
+The grizzled old knights were anxious to inquire about the fabled
+Fountain, so they gave the Indians strings of gay-colored beads, and
+some little bells. In return they received an arrow, as a token of
+good will. After a long parley the bowmen turned back to their huts.
+"We will bring you food in the morning," they said, and at daybreak
+they appeared again bringing plenty of fish, roots and fruits. When
+they saw that the men were chilly from the cold night air, they said
+to each other:
+
+"Let us carry our brothers to our homes where they can get warm."
+
+"But they will suffer on the way," said the chief. "Go before us and
+build big fires and we will stop at each one to rest our weary arms."
+
+The Spanish knights did not know what to make of this kind of
+treatment, but they offered no resistance when the stalwart warriors
+took them on their backs and started through the woods. The Indians
+carried them very carefully, and at last set them down before the
+doors of their huts where the women brought them food and drink.
+
+"I wonder what they intend to do with us," said the knights among
+themselves. On hearing this remark Ponce de Leon replied:
+
+"It is just possible that they will offer us as a sacrifice, for it is
+quite plain that they think we are supernatural beings."
+
+"Let us get away from them as quickly as we can," they said, fearing
+that something terrible would happen.
+
+"Before we go we must try to find out about the magic spring we are
+seeking," replied Ponce de Leon, unwilling to give up his project. It
+required considerable time and patience to make the Indians comprehend
+what he wanted, but they stoutly maintained that they knew nothing
+about it.
+
+"These redskins are cunning rascals, and will not tell us where to
+find the Fountain of Youth," said Ponce de Leon, in explanation,
+after his fruitless talk with them, "but God giving us strength we
+will find it yet."
+
+So they went slowly and carefully over the whole country, stopping at
+each spring to take off their clothes and jump into it, then they
+would drink as much of the water as they could, and sit down and wait
+to see if it would make them young again. As they went farther away
+from the coast the Indians became more and more friendly, because they
+thought the white men had come from Heaven.
+
+"We must bring them food, build houses for them and bear all their
+burdens," they said among themselves. Some went out on the hills and
+killed deer with their bows and arrows, while others killed rabbits by
+going in a big wide circuit and then gradually closing in on the game.
+When near enough they knocked the rabbit on the head with a wooden
+club as it ran by them.
+
+"Breathe upon and bless our food," they said to the knights, after
+giving them all they wanted for themselves, "so that we may feel sure
+in our hearts that you are pleased with us."
+
+At first only the men made these requests, but finally the women
+brought wild fruits and berries, which they wanted the visitors to see
+and touch before they would eat. All this was very troublesome to the
+knights, but if they refused or acted as if they were offended, the
+poor Indians were terrified, and falling on their faces would cry
+out:
+
+"We shall die unless we have the favor of our good and wise white
+brothers."
+
+Farther on, the people did not venture to come out in the paths and
+gather round them as the first had done, but stayed meekly in their
+houses, sitting with their faces turned to the wall, and with all
+their property heaped up in the middle of the floor.
+
+"We could easily plunder and rob these simple folk," said Ponce de
+Leon, "but I charge you on your honor as knights to take nothing you
+do not pay for."
+
+In spite of this the natives loaded them with valuable skins and other
+presents, and were eager and willing to show all the springs and
+creeks in their neighborhood.
+
+"They pretend to know nothing of the miraculous gifts of the Fountain
+of Youth, but their own splendid endurance of heat and cold, and the
+fatigues of travel show how perpetually young and active they are. If
+their bodies were pierced through with arrows they would soon recover.
+They are trying to mislead us and conceal the source of their
+strength, but we will soon find it," the Spanish knights said, and
+Ponce de Leon, their leader, heartily agreed with them.
+
+Never in the world had there been such a strange journey undertaken by
+gray and careworn men. On and on they went searching in the heart of
+the woods for a fountain where they could renew their youth. Yellow
+jasmine trailed in festoons above their heads; wild roses grew at
+their feet; the air was sweet with the odor of pine, while long gray
+moss hung from the branches of the live-oaks.
+
+Finally they came to a spring which widened into a natural basin and
+bubbled up in such a cool, delicious manner, that Ponce de Leon
+plunged into it with joy. Coming up on the bank to dress himself, he
+exclaimed:
+
+"It is enough. I have bathed in the Fountain of Youth. See, I am young
+again."
+
+His companions hastened to try it, and they too said the same.
+
+"Hurrah! hurrah! the Fountain of Youth has been found! Let us make
+haste to tell the world of your discovery."
+
+But they were mistaken and had not counted on what the Indians would
+do about it. When they found that the white men wanted a boat to go
+down the river they were eager to get it for them, but when they
+understood that they were going away, they wept bitterly, and tried
+every way to persuade them to stay.
+
+"No, we will not remain. This is Florida, the land of flowers, and we
+are looking for Bimini, the Fountain of Youth," said Ponce de Leon,
+firmly. "Your people have misled us continually. Bimini is an island
+and we are going to search until we find it."
+
+"And if you succeed will you return to us," asked an Indian chief
+eagerly. "You have the secret of life and death in your hands, and
+have already saved my wife and child. Stay and we will serve you
+faithfully."
+
+ [Illustration: "HURRAH! HURRAH! THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH"]
+
+"Oh! my brothers, stay with us!" begged and implored the Indians. Some
+of them clung to the garments of the knights, and others were dragged
+out of the boat by the determined natives. Finally Ponce de Leon,
+grown tired of useless parley, said angrily:
+
+"I am old and weary and must soon die if I do not find the waters
+which will renew my youth and vigor. Your thickets and swamps are
+filled with alligators and poisonous water snakes; the very air is
+laden with deadly fevers, and never again will I return to it."
+
+As the canoe started down the river the Indians wrung their hands and
+wailed loudly:
+
+"Come back! come back!" But Ponce de Leon stood up in the boat and
+shook his head, and made them understand by signs that he would not do
+as they wished. This made them all the more frantic and one of the
+warriors, snatching up a poisoned arrow, sped it with deadly aim. It
+went through the thigh of the gallant old knight where he stood, and
+it was not long until death ended his search for the Fountain of
+Youth. Since then no one has ever tried to locate this wonder-working
+fountain, but philosophers say that it is in our own hearts and that
+we find it when we realize that the soul never dies, and is
+perpetually young because of its immortality.
+
+
+
+
+Montezuma and the Paba
+
+
+Columbus died poor and in prison because nobody was interested in his
+effort to find a northwest passage to India, or cared whether the
+earth was round or flat. They wanted gold, and the stories of El
+Dorado told by the ignorant sailors had more influence on the people
+than anything Columbus said or did.
+
+"I have merely opened the gates for others to enter," he exclaimed
+bitterly, when he found himself thwarted in all his plans, but there
+is more honor accorded his memory than to any of the others who came
+after him, and made immense fortunes.
+
+The same year that Queen Isabella died, a young man, but nineteen
+years old, named Hernando Cortez, sailed from Spain for Cuba. Already
+there was quite a Spanish settlement on the island, and when the
+Governor offered him a large tract of land with Indian slaves to
+cultivate it, he answered angrily:
+
+"I came to get gold, not to till the soil like a peasant."
+
+He expected to find untold wealth locked up in the unexplored regions
+of the new world, and had no patience with any of the slower methods
+of gaining riches. Instead of working he meant to fight for what he
+wanted and we shall find when we know more about him that he broke his
+word to his king, the governor of Cuba, to his wife, to his soldiers,
+and to every friend who served him. Yet he was born a gentleman,
+handsome and well mannered, but a greedy love of gold rendered him
+brutal and treacherous to a degree.
+
+In his company were gallant knights of chivalry, servile retainers of
+the king, soldiers of fortune, and bearded friars, who left behind
+them country, home, family, friends and sweethearts, to seek El
+Dorado, which to them meant simply gold. When we study the history of
+the United States we shall be surprised to find men like them in full
+armor of steel, with lance, shield and helmet, mounted on prancing
+steeds, caparisoned in gay colors, glittering through the untracked
+wilderness of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and even as far west as
+Arizona, always in search of El Dorado. And in every case their greed
+for gold led to such bloodshed and violence, that it makes the heart
+ache to think about it.
+
+Not many years after Cortez landed in Cuba, the Governor sent for him
+and said:
+
+"I have at last secured permission from the king to explore the
+continent lying to the west, and I desire you to take ships and
+soldiers and have command of the expedition."
+
+Something in Cortez' manner excited the suspicion of the Governor, but
+he said nothing until he was ready to sail. Then he withdrew the
+commission, and ordered Cortez to remain in Cuba. Instead of obeying
+he stole away in the night, and did not land until he came to the
+coast of Mexico, close to the point from which the Golden Hearted had
+sailed. His men were afraid to venture far from shore, but he painted
+glowing pictures of the gold they were to find, and said:
+
+"I hold out to you a glorious prize, but it is only to be won by
+incessant toil."
+
+Then holding up a black velvet standard with a red cross in the
+center, surrounded by flames of blue and white, he continued:
+
+"Comrades, let us follow the cross, and under this sign if we have
+faith, we shall conquer."
+
+The padres with them, who had come to minister to the spiritual
+welfare of the cavaliers and soldiers, urged them to go forward,
+saying:
+
+"We are in honor bound to carry the gospel to these poor, ignorant
+heathens, and God has given you the privilege of helping in this work."
+
+The Indians were friendly and when asked for gold, answered:
+
+"We on the sea coast have little, but in Tenochtitlan there is a rich
+and powerful king named Montezuma, who has much gold and other
+treasures."
+
+Around them were parched and sandy plains, but on the march they soon
+came to "the land of bread," as the Tlascallan country was called, and
+here they heard of Cholula, the sacred city. When they came in sight
+of it they exclaimed:
+
+"It is the promised land!" and were amazed at the splendor of the
+city, as well as the surrounding country, where there were fields of
+maize, vanilla, indigo, sugar cane, flowering cacao groves, and banana
+trees in profusion. The streets of Cholula were filled with a
+concourse of priests whom Cortez mistook for beggars. They were
+holding a religious festival in honor of Quetzalcoatl, which was their
+name for the Golden Hearted, who had now become the Fair God of
+tradition. Long had they been expecting him to return to Cholula, and
+because Cortez had a fair complexion, and was accompanied by other
+white men they thought the Golden Hearted had come at last. The people
+lined the streets and roadways and not only wore garlands of flowers
+on their heads, but tossed bouquets to the soldiers, while the priests
+met them with music and swung incense up and down the cleanly-swept
+streets they passed through.
+
+"What is the will of Quetzalcoatl?" they asked eagerly of Cortez.
+
+"Do you come from Tlapalla?" they inquired of his followers.
+
+"No," they were answered, "but we have a disease of the heart which
+only gold can cure."
+
+Then the simple natives brought all the gold-dust and little trinkets
+they could find and gave to their visitors. Cortez thanked them, but
+said:
+
+"This is not enough. We must have very much more."
+
+"Then you would better ask our friend and ally, the great king,
+Montezuma. He has immense stores of it."
+
+"Where is this great king, and this city of Tenochtitlan?"
+
+"Farther to the west," they answered.
+
+Shortly after this an embassy of nobles from the court of Montezuma
+appeared with rich presents and an invitation to Cortez to visit the
+king. None of them had ever seen a white man before, and they did not
+for a moment doubt that Cortez was the Golden Hearted, returned to
+claim his own, and they were very anxious to please him. Touching his
+brass helmet one of them said timidly:
+
+"It is very like that worn by Quetzalcoatl, and I would like our king,
+Montezuma, to see it."
+
+"Certainly," responded Cortez, "but bring it back filled with gold."
+And they did. No one knows just why, but something made Cortez
+suspect the gentle natives of treachery, and one morning at daybreak
+he fell upon them in the market place, and slew thousands of people,
+and then set fire to the city. His rude soldiers went up on the
+pyramid and threw down the statue of the Golden Hearted, and erected a
+cross in its place. History says that the Aztecs had long been
+offering the hearts of human beings in sacrifice to the Golden Hearted
+in Cholula, while in Tenochtitlan they had set up an image of a
+terrible war god, and were worshiping that more than the gentle,
+inoffensive Golden Hearted. It was this disobedience which made
+Montezuma fear that he was returning to take vengeance.
+
+One morning early the king went to see the Paba, who had charge of the
+sacred fires on the altars built by the Golden Hearted himself. The
+chamber in the temple was square, with the ceiling covered by a
+lattice work of shining white and yellow metal which, at the
+intersections, was carved to represent flowers set with jewels. All
+around the walls were sculptured pictures of men. As the king
+approached the Paba said:
+
+"The gloomy clouds hanging overhead are not darker than is the mood of
+Quetzalcoatl, but to the poor Paba the voice of the king is ever
+welcome."
+
+"Why should the mood of Quetzalcoatl be dark? A new teocalli holds his
+image, and they say he is happy and that he comes from the place of
+sunrise with a canoe filled with blessings."
+
+"Do you remember, O king! that in some of the underground chambers of
+this temple, besides vast stores of wealth, there are prophecies to be
+read?"
+
+"I remember it well," said Montezuma.
+
+"Give me leave, and I will show you the writing from Quetzalcoatl
+himself."
+
+Groping their way through the great underground cavern, but dimly
+lighted, the Paba said:
+
+"Son of a king, is your heart strong? The writing begins here and
+continues around the wall."
+
+"Read it," said Montezuma.
+
+"The first is here on the north and represents the ancient king on the
+march. You see him in the midst of warriors who are dancing in honor
+of his victories. Here we have the whole story of our race."
+
+"This was before the coming of Quetzalcoatl and is of the remote
+past," said Montezuma, with a frown.
+
+"On the southern wall, opposite," replied the Paba, "is what you seek.
+Observe the king stands on a rock, and a priest points out to him an
+eagle on a cactus holding a serpent in its claws. Beside it the king
+reclines on a couch. Our city has been founded."
+
+Montezuma said not a word, but turned to another panel.
+
+"Look well to this, O king! There is Quetzalcoatl before an altar
+offering a sacrifice of fruit and flowers. _His hands are free from
+blood!_"
+
+Montezuma's face was deadly pale, because he knew that many orders of
+priests in his kingdom sacrificed human beings by cutting out their
+hearts, and he was afraid that the coming of the strange white men was
+on account of this forbidden practice.
+
+"See! Oh majesty! the fair god is departing from our beloved
+Tenochtitlan. Saddest of all days was that for us."
+
+"Show me a prophecy if you would have me believe that this was written
+by Quetzalcoatl. I would know something of the future."
+
+"Be wise, oh my master! Let the future alone; it is sown with sorrows
+for all you love."
+
+"Until I wrong the gods why should I fear them? Have done, Paba. I,
+too, am a priest," said Montezuma, earnestly.
+
+"I, his true servant, tell you never again to look for smile from
+Tlapalla. I will show you from Quetzalcoatl himself, that the end of
+your empire is at hand. Every breeze from the east is filled with woe
+for you and yours. The writing is on the wall. Look again and
+closely."
+
+"I see nothing," cried the king.
+
+"All that you have heard about the return of Quetzalcoatl is true. He
+is coming to end the days of the Aztecs forever."
+
+"Forever! It cannot be. Read the next panel."
+
+"There is no other, this is the last," answered the Paba sadly.
+
+Montezuma turned quickly to the north wall, but found it without a
+single mark. Here indeed was the end.
+
+That night the Aztec king could neither eat nor sleep. The prophecy
+was with him all the time. When the morning came he called for his
+canoe. From the battlements of Chapultepec, the palace and tomb of his
+fathers, he would see the sun rise. If Quetzalcoatl was angered and
+meant to wreak vengeance, he naturally supposed the sun, his dwelling
+place, would give some warning.
+
+In all the heavens around there was not a fleck when suddenly a cloud
+of smoke rushed upward, and across the pathway of the sun, so that
+when it crept over the mountain range, it looked like a ball of blood!
+Montezuma drew the hood over his face quickly, and his head dropped on
+his breast.
+
+The Paba had spoken the truth. Quetzalcoatl was coming! and next
+evening a runner sped hotly over the causeway and up the street,
+stopping at the gate of the royal palace. He was taken before the king
+and shortly after the news went flying over Tenochtitlan, that
+Quetzalcoatl had arrived in his huge water-house with wings, and
+filled with thunder and lightning! for that was what the Aztecs called
+the ships and cannon brought by Cortez.
+
+When Montezuma heard of the terrible massacre in Cholula, he called a
+council of wise old men and said:
+
+"Of what use is it, uncles? The gods are against us and resistance is
+of no avail. I mourn most for the women and children, and the old and
+infirm who are too feeble to fight or fly. For myself and the brave
+men around me, we must bare our breasts to the storm and meet it as we
+may."
+
+As Cortez neared Tenochtitlan he was met by so many chiefs and nobles
+under Montezuma, that it took them an hour to pass before him, and
+make their salutation which they did by touching the ground with the
+right hand and then carrying it to the forehead. The four nobles
+carrying Montezuma on their shoulders, were preceded by three officers
+of state bearing gold wands in their hands to show that they came in
+peace. The royal palanquin, or chair, in which Montezuma was seated,
+blazed with gold, jewels and gaudy feather-work, while the nobles
+carrying it were barefooted. They walked with slow measured steps and
+kept their eyes bent on the ground. Finally the train of warriors and
+nobles halted, and Montezuma came forward to meet Cortez.
+
+Imagine what their feelings must have been as they looked at each
+other! Montezuma thought he was welcoming back the gentle, kind
+Quetzalcoatl, whom we know as the Golden Hearted, while Cortez knew he
+had found more gold and riches than he ever dreamed existed anywhere.
+
+The poor misled Aztec king approached the Spanish adventurer and
+putting an exquisitely wrought gold collar around his neck said:
+
+"This was my father's palace but it belongs to you and your brethren.
+Rest here after your fatigues and in a little while I will visit you
+again."
+
+When he went out of the palace he sent slaves to wait upon them, and
+he gave each one new clothes, and a splendid feast. When they had
+finished eating, the rude soldiers searched all through the palace for
+hidden wealth, and finding the treasure house of the king proceeded to
+help themselves. When Montezuma heard of it he said:
+
+"They are welcome to the gold and silver and other articles, if they
+will but spare the things belonging to the gods."
+
+In the palace grounds where they were quartered they found an aviary
+filled with beautiful singing birds; a menagerie full of strange
+animals, and snakes; ten big tanks stocked with water-fowl and fish;
+fountains playing everywhere, and wonderful floating gardens on the
+lakes, while all around them lay a city filled with temples, market
+places, and handsome houses.
+
+True to his promise Montezuma returned shortly and in speaking to
+Cortez said:
+
+"I have been expecting you for many days. The wonderful deeds
+attributed to you, your complexion and the quarter from whence you
+come show me that you are Quetzalcoatl. You and your brethren shall
+share all things with me," and with tears in his eyes he gave them as
+many costly presents as they could carry. The padres and soldiers
+were constantly asked:
+
+"Do you come from Tlapalla?" while Montezuma did everything he could
+to please Cortez.
+
+One day he went to the king's palace and after accepting the usual
+presents of gold and silver, Montezuma offered him one of his
+daughters for a wife. Cortez declined, and seeing that the courtyard
+was partly filled with his trusted men, he approached Montezuma
+abruptly and said:
+
+"You have treated me treacherously, and have allowed one of my
+officers to be killed on the sea coast."
+
+Montezuma turned very pale. No one else in his kingdom would have
+dared speak to him in such an insulting manner, and besides that he
+knew nothing of the death of the officer before. In reality the
+officer had been murdered while torturing the poor natives to make
+them give him more gold.
+
+"I demand that you send for the chief and all the notable men in his
+council that I may punish him for the death of my comrade," said
+Cortez, trying to pick a quarrel with the king.
+
+"Very well," said Montezuma, kindly. "I will have them brought as you
+desire."
+
+"I believe in your promise, but you must come to my quarters as
+hostage until the thing is done."
+
+Poor Montezuma thinking it was a command of God did not dare refuse,
+and in a short time afterward the chief and his council were brought
+before him. He turned them over to Cortez for punishment, and they
+were burned to death in the public square, where Montezuma could see
+them from his window. Cortez had the poor creatures tortured to make
+them accuse Montezuma of telling them to commit the murder, so that he
+would have an excuse for what he intended to do to the king.
+Pretending to believe the confessions, he went before the king and
+ordered two common Spanish soldiers to put him in irons. Poor
+Montezuma moaned and groaned like his heart would break, while his
+faithful attendants, weeping bitterly tried to put their mantles under
+the irons so they would not touch his flesh.
+
+Cortez now demanded that he abdicate his power, and pay tribute to
+Spain, so he compelled the king to assemble all his chiefs, which he
+did saying to them:
+
+"You are acquainted with the traditions which say that the good
+Quetzalcoatl is to return and rule over us. That time has come and we
+must obey our new masters. You have been faithful vassals of mine, and
+I expect you to show me this last act of obedience by acknowledging
+the great king across the water as your lord also." The tears streamed
+down his face, and his haughty chiefs were very sad at heart, but they
+were loyal as well as brave men, and they answered:
+
+"Your will is our law, and if you think the king of the strangers is
+the ancient lord of our country we are willing to acknowledge him as
+such."
+
+As soon as this was done the grasping Spaniards compelled Montezuma to
+send throughout his kingdom for all the gold, silver, precious stones
+and feather-work that could be found, in the name of the king of
+Spain, but when they got it they divided it among themselves, and then
+quarreled fiercely over who should have the greater part.
+
+Here indeed was their fabled El Dorado!
+
+There was but one more humiliation awaiting Montezuma, and that was to
+have his own people revile him. The Spaniards had been so brutal and
+cruel in their dealings with the Aztecs that some of them began to
+doubt whether they could have come from Tlapalla, and whether Cortez
+was the Golden Hearted. Knowing this Cortez induced Montezuma to dress
+himself in his royal robes, and appear on the stone parapet of the
+palace where he was confined, to quiet the mob and induce them to go
+about their work peaceably. Cortez was beginning to fear for his own
+safety, but the populace were not to be tricked by him. They did not
+believe it was Montezuma before them, and hurling a stone at the royal
+palanquin accidentally hit the unhappy king on the forehead. The blow
+was not sufficient to kill him, but he took to his bed and refused to
+eat until he finally died. History says of him that "his great heart
+was burst in twain by the sorrows that oppressed his high courage."
+Certain it is that he could not live when he found that both his God
+and his people despised him. It has never been known what became of
+his body, for a terrible war followed his death.
+
+Today we call his country and city Mexico.
+
+ [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Child of the Sun
+
+
+None of us have forgotten about the Children of the Sun, and the city
+of Cuzco founded by the Golden Hearted, or of his ruling over them as
+Manco-Capac, the powerful one. He went into their country which we
+call Peru before he had ever seen Mexico, but the Spaniards came to
+the ancient city of Tenochtitlan before they knew anything about
+Cuzco. It was not long after the death of Montezuma until the
+Spaniards heard about the riches of the Children of the Sun, and they
+were determined to find that country.
+
+The Aztecs did not help them any because they no longer looked upon
+them as sent from Heaven but as ruthless destroyers borne along on the
+backs of fierce animals swift as the wind, and carrying weapons in
+their hands that scattered death and destruction everywhere. The
+Aztecs learned to hate the Spaniards bitterly, and when we came to
+study their history we shall know why. Even their own historians do
+not pretend to deny that they fell upon the poor Aztecs sword in hand
+and robbed them of all the treasures they had, besides taking their
+lands away from them.
+
+Some say that Francisco Pizarro was a cousin of Hernando Cortez who
+conquered the Aztecs, but all agree that he was an ignorant swineherd,
+who could neither read nor write, and whose parents were not
+respectable. While he was not actually a convict he belonged to the
+low class, and the men going with him to search for the new El Dorado
+among the Children of the Sun, were really no better. Cortez had some
+hidalgoes, cavalliers and knights with him because men of good family
+often came to the Americas on the first voyages after Columbus, but
+Pizarro collected a band of cut-throat adventurers who were just as
+greedy and ignorant as he was. All the exploring they did was simply
+to search for gold, and they did not care what methods they used to
+get it. The simple natives with their naked defenseless bodies, and
+bows and arrows were no match for men covered with steel armor,
+mounted on horseback and armed with guns and cannon. Balboa had
+already found the Pacific Ocean, and Pizarro knew that the Children of
+the Sun lived in that direction, so he rigged out a vessel and sailed
+along the coast trying to find them. At the first place he landed the
+natives said to him:
+
+"Why do you not stay at home and till your own land instead of roaming
+about to rob others who have never harmed you?"
+
+But the savages wore some heavy gold ornaments, and Pizarro asked
+eagerly:
+
+"Have you more of this?"
+
+"Yes, we have a little more," they said, and as they were weighing
+some of the metal their chief struck the scales with his fist,
+scattering the nuggets all over the floor.
+
+"If this is what you prize so much that you are willing to risk your
+lives to attain it, I can tell you of a land where they eat and drink
+out of vessels of gold, and where there are great quantities to be had
+for the asking."
+
+"Where is this rich country?"
+
+"It is ten days journey toward the south and is ruled by the Child of
+the Sun."
+
+The Spaniards were nearly mad with joy because now they said:
+
+"All our fond dreams are about to be realized." They were in such a
+good humor that they gave the natives some glass beads and some live
+chickens. When they turned the rooster loose, he crowed, and then the
+simple natives clapped their hands in glee, and asked:
+
+"What is it saying?"
+
+It sounded as if the rooster said:
+
+"How do you do, sir!" which the natives thought was very funny indeed.
+Then they wanted to know what the cannon said. One of the men set up a
+target and fired at it shivering the board into fine splinters. The
+loud noise, the flash of smoke and powder, frightened the poor
+natives nearly to death. Some of them fell flat on their faces, and
+others ran into the woods as fast as they could go, screaming:
+
+"Our good Manco-Capac is coming back to us angry."
+
+That night the old men huddled the terrified people together and said
+to them:
+
+"Do you remember when the comet flamed through the sky; when the
+earthquake shook the land, and there was a rainbow around the moon?"
+
+"I well remember," said one of the old men, "that a thunderbolt fell
+on one of the Incas' royal palaces setting it on fire, and I saw an
+eagle chased by several hawks hovering in the air over Cuzco. Our king
+saw it too, and while he looked at it the eagle fell dead at his
+feet."
+
+"It is no use to resist these strangers," said an envoy from the Inca,
+who had arrived in time to hear the last statement. "Seven years ago
+when the father of our king died, he called his son to his bedside and
+told him that white and bearded strangers were coming to overturn the
+Empire. And as you know, our great oracle has foretold the return of
+Manco-Capac at the close of the twelfth dynasty of the Incas. That day
+is at hand, so do not quarrel with the strangers."
+
+No one showed a disposition to disobey him, and in a short time he
+stood before Pizarro saying:
+
+"I bring you greetings from the Inca, Child of the Sun, who rules this
+land. He wishes me to ask why you come, and from what country."
+
+"Our home is far across the sea," responded Pizarro, "and we serve a
+rich and powerful prince who has heard of the Child of the Sun, and
+sends us to pay our respects to him."
+
+This was not the truth for the King of Spain knew nothing whatever of
+Pizarro's wicked intentions, nor did he know about Cortez either until
+long after poor Montezuma was dead and his country laid waste. But
+when men turn out to be wholesale robbers they do not care whether
+they tell the truth or not.
+
+"Our Inca is at his favorite baths and wishes to know when you will
+arrive, so that he may provide suitable refreshments for you."
+
+"We will come at once," said Pizarro.
+
+"It would be better to wait a few days," said the king's messenger.
+"Our Inca is keeping a sacred fast, and we cannot disturb him until it
+is finished." The Spaniards had no respect for the king's wishes or
+his privacy, so they made ready to follow the messenger. While they
+were dividing the presents of llamas, sheep and gold goblets among
+themselves some of the soldiers said:
+
+"This dog of a king may have thousands of followers. What can a
+handful of men like we are, do against so many? Suppose they should
+try to fight us?"
+
+Pizarro happened to overhear them and replied:
+
+"Let every one of you take heart, and go forward like a good soldier.
+God ever protects his own, and will humble the pride of the heathen
+and bring him to a knowledge of the true faith--the great end and
+object of this conquest."
+
+It was the first time he had spoken of conquest, but the soldiers
+remembered the complete success of Cortez in Mexico and only needed to
+be told that the natives were to be Christianized to make them certain
+that the home authorities would not interfere with them, so they
+shouted:
+
+"Lead on! wherever you think best we will follow with good will."
+
+The few padres in the company were sincere in their wish to teach the
+natives and so was the King of Spain, but neither of them could
+control the actions of such men as Pizarro and his adventurers, now
+ready to pounce down on the mild and inoffensive people like a band of
+hungry wolves. When they got up on the top of the mountain and looked
+down, the landscape had the appearance of a huge checker-board cut
+into squares by canals and evergreen hedges. A wide river rolled
+through the meadows, like a narrow silver ribbon, while across the
+valley were the famous hot baths with steam and vapor rising from them
+in the clear air. Along the slope of the hills a white cloud of tents
+covered the ground for several miles, where the Child of the Sun, and
+his court were encamped.
+
+Pizarro with banners streaming and the sparkle of armor glittering in
+the sun, galloped into the city with blare of trumpets and lances
+fixed. The Inca was in a camp near by, but the rude Spaniards broke
+in upon his fast, and a brother of Pizarro almost rode him down with
+his horse. Giving the bridle a sudden jerk he brought the horse to his
+haunches, so close to the Inca, that the horse snorted with fear, but
+the brave king did not move a muscle, although he had never seen a
+white man in armor nor a horse before in his life. Seeing that he
+could not frighten him Pizarro's brother said haughtily:
+
+"What is your royal will? My brother desires that you visit him."
+
+Without raising his eyes from the ground where he had kept them as a
+mark of respect to his visitor, the Inca smiled and said:
+
+"Tell your captain, that I am keeping a fast, which will end tomorrow
+morning. I will then visit him with my chieftains. In the meantime let
+him occupy the public buildings on the square till I come, when I will
+order what is to be done."
+
+Turning to his attendants he continued:
+
+"Give our brothers food and drink, and have their quarters made ready
+for them."
+
+That night Pizarro put all his cannon in place and boldly planned to
+take the Inca prisoner in his own pleasure garden. He ordered his
+soldiers to hide in the plaza, and wait until the Inca arrived. As
+soon as he was in the great square they were suddenly to spring out
+and put the natives to the sword, and capture their king.
+
+It was late in the day before the Inca got all his court in splendid
+array, and then he sent word to Pizarro that he was coming in state.
+
+"I am much pleased to hear it," said Pizarro. "Let your king come
+anyway he will; he shall be received as a friend and brother. Let him
+sup with us and sleep in our quarters tonight."
+
+When once in motion the Inca's retinue had on so many gold ornaments
+that they blazed like the sun. Some wore showy stuffs in white and red
+with gold and silver embroidery, while others were dressed in white
+and carried silver maces in their hands. The Inca wore the royal
+borla, or crown on his head, with the Quetzal feathers in the back and
+the long red fringes across the forehead. Over him was a canopy
+representing a rainbow, to show that he was a Child of the Sun, and a
+follower of Manco-Capac, who we know was the Golden Hearted. He was
+seated on a gold throne which was placed in a litter and carried by
+four noble youths, in gorgeous liveries. Around his neck was a
+splendid gold necklace set with large emeralds. Looking around and not
+seeing any one the Inca asked in surprise:
+
+"Where are the strangers?"
+
+At this moment a padre came forward and demanded that he give up his
+power and become a subject of Spain. He also told the king that he
+must become a convert to Christianity. The eyes of the Inca flashed
+fire as he replied:
+
+"I will be no man's tributary. Your prince may be great; I do not
+doubt it when I see that he has sent his subjects so far across the
+waters. I am willing to hold him as a brother. As for my faith, I will
+not change it. My God still lives in the heavens and looks down on his
+children. By what authority do you make such demands upon me?"
+
+The padre handed the Inca a bible but as the thought of the insult
+offered came over him, the Inca threw it to the ground and said
+angrily:
+
+"Tell your comrades that they shall give me an account of their doings
+in my country. I will not go from here until they have made me full
+satisfaction for the wrongs they have committed."
+
+A soldier turned to Pizarro and said:
+
+"Do you not see that while we stand here wasting our breath in talking
+to this dog full of obstinate pride that the fields are filling with
+Indians. Let us set on at once."
+
+Pizarro saw that the hour had come, and waving a white scarf which was
+the appointed signal he and his soldiers sprang into the square,
+shouting the old war cry of Cortez:
+
+"Santiago! and at them!"
+
+The poor natives in their holiday dress and fine jewelry were wholly
+unarmed, because they were coming to make a visit, and had no way to
+defend themselves. When they tried to escape they found they were
+hemmed in on all sides by the stone buildings facing the plaza, and
+nobody knows how many thousands of them were killed. They were stunned
+by the roar of the cannon, choked by the smoke, trampled under
+the horses' feet, and their naked bodies hacked to pieces with swords.
+
+ [Illustration: "THEIR NAKED BODIES HACKED TO PIECES WITH SWORDS"]
+
+The Spaniards seemed bent upon killing the Inca, but his loyal
+subjects caught hold of the horses' bridles and saddle blankets, and
+even the legs of their riders to prevent them from hitting the Inca.
+Some offered their own bodies to the lances--anything to save the king
+who was stunned and bewildered. As the men who were carrying him were
+killed, the litter lurched to one side and he fell to the ground.
+Instantly the imperial borla, or crown, was snatched from his head;
+his hands were securely tied, and he was hustled, a prisoner, into a
+building nearby. Then the soldiery robbed and pillaged as much as they
+pleased, even carrying off the plate from the Inca's table.
+
+Realizing that it was gold that the Spaniards wanted, the Inca began
+at once to try to buy his freedom.
+
+"I will cover the floor of this room with gold if you will release
+me," he said, to Pizarro. Seeing that the soldiers smiled at this, he
+added:
+
+"I will fill the room full, as high as I can reach," standing on
+tip-toe and stretching his arm against the wall. Pizarro agreed to
+accept that amount of gold, but demanded double that amount of silver,
+and would only allow the Inca two months' time to collect it in. The
+Spaniards kept close watch over him, and as soon as the amount was all
+paid in, Pizarro accused the unhappy captive of trying to stir up an
+insurrection. The Inca was surprised and indignant; saying:
+
+"You have me in your power. Is not my life at your disposal? What
+better security have you for my fidelity? It is very far to my capital
+at Cuzco, but that you may be satisfied that I am proceeding in good
+faith, send some of your own people there."
+
+The Spaniards sacked and pillaged Cuzco when they got there, taking
+seven hundred plates of gold from the walls of the temple dedicated to
+the Golden Hearted. Besides this, there were heavy cornices of gold,
+fountains, birds, fruit, vegetables, tables, statues, slabs, basins
+and panels of pure gold; which, when melted down made millions of
+dollars.
+
+Never before did anybody in the wide world pay such a ransom. But
+Pizarro had no intention of setting the Inca free. Pretending to be
+very suspicious, he suddenly appeared before the Inca, and said:
+
+"What new treason is this you are meditating against me? _Me_, who has
+been so brotherly and kind to you?"
+
+"Why do you mock me," replied the Inca. "Am I not a captive in your
+hands? How could I conceive such a design as you speak of when I would
+be the first victim? You little know my people, if you think they
+would attempt such a thing against my will."
+
+Pizarro was determined to get rid of him, so he trumped up twelve
+charges against him, and, after a mock trial, sentenced the helpless
+Inca to be burned at the stake.
+
+When told of his fate, the poor king said to Pizarro, with tears
+streaming down his face:
+
+"What have I, or my children done, that I should die like this? And
+from _your_ hands--you who have received only benefit and kindness
+from me and my people."
+
+The doom of the Inca was sounded by trumpet in the same square he had
+innocently entered to visit his strange white brother, and two hours
+after sunset he was led out by torch-light and burned to death.
+
+To make sure that there was no danger of an uprising in the distant
+parts of the country, Pizarro sent an officer to finish collecting the
+ransom and find out the actual condition. While he was gone Pizarro
+had the Inca executed. When the officer returned, he said:
+
+"I have met with nothing but kindness on the way. There has never been
+any attempt at an uprising."
+
+And this was the truth.
+
+ [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Gilded Man
+
+
+There were none willing to say "God forgive him," is what history
+tells us of the end of Pizarro, whose throat was cut by some of the
+men he quarreled with over the treasures they had taken from the
+Children of the Sun, and I do not believe that any one was ever sorry
+that he perished like a wretched outcast. Of course, one of his
+brothers had heard of El Dorado, and he began to inquire closely of
+the Indians whether there really was such a person.
+
+"Yes, there is," he was told, "and this chief smears himself all over
+with a sweet-smelling gum and sprinkles his body with fine gold-dust
+until he looks like a shining statue."
+
+"Where does this chief live?"
+
+"Not far from here, and his people are very rich in gold and
+emeralds."
+
+This was what the Spaniards wanted to hear, and the Children of the
+Sun hoped by this means to get rid of their hated conquerors. We
+remember the visit of the Golden Hearted to the Zipa of the Muscas,
+and we see, by the unfriendly feeling of their neighbors, that they
+were still quarrelsome.
+
+"We will go and find the Valley of the Gilded Man," said the brother
+of Pizarro, to his soldiers, who were getting tired of being idle. "I
+am told that there are wealthy regions to the north, east, and south
+of us, where the people go about covered with gold-dust, and where
+there are no mountains or woods."
+
+This pleased the greedy adventurers very much, and it was not long
+before there was quite an army of them ready to start. But they did
+not know that they were going into a country where there were
+cannibals--savages ready to kill and eat every one of them, and that
+they fought with poisoned arrows. The Muscas were obliged to fight
+these people, but they traded with them, because there was no gold in
+their own land, and they prized it highly as an offering in honor of
+the Golden Hearted. They had quantities of salt which they pressed
+into little round cakes, like sugar loaves, and carried over beaten
+paths to market. Besides this, they wove beautiful cotton cloth, and
+managed to get large quantities of gold and silver and emeralds by
+trading with the cannibals.
+
+They had not forgotten what the Golden Hearted taught them about
+hammering the gold, or casting it into tasteful shapes, and they not
+only wore it for ornaments, but used it to decorate the outside and
+inside of their temples. It was near the anniversary of his departure,
+and there were many pilgrims from neighboring tribes who had come to
+cast emeralds into the lake at Gautavita in his honor. On the
+mountain tops surrounding the lake beacon lights were burning, and the
+sacred fires on the altars in the temples had never been allowed to go
+out. As each band of pilgrims came into the city, the Zipa welcomed
+them, saying:
+
+"Tomorrow, comrades, we will go in solemn procession to the lake, and
+commemorate the departure of Bochica, and his purification afterward.
+We have made his heart very sad by our misdeeds, but from his home in
+the sun he can look down upon us, and see that we still adore and
+worship him."
+
+The next day, at noon a solemn procession approached the lake. In the
+lead walked bronze-colored men, without any clothing, but whose bodies
+were covered with red paint, as a sign of deep mourning, and they
+wailed in a most sorrowful manner. Behind them were warriors decorated
+with gold and emeralds, wearing bright feathers in their gold
+head-dresses, and carrying mantles of jaguar skins over their arms.
+Some of them were singing, while others shouted joyfully or blew on
+horns and pipes, and conch shells. Close to them were priests in black
+robes, with white crosses on them, and tall black hats, like those
+worn by the wise men. In the rear was the Zipa riding in a kind of
+gilded wheelbarrow hung with disks of gold. His naked body had been
+anointed with a resinous gum, and covered all over with fine
+gold-dust.
+
+Arrived at the shore, the Gilded Man and his companions stepped upon
+a balsa gay with streamers and loaded with flowers, and rowed out into
+the middle of the lake. There the Zipa, who was the Gilded Man,
+plunged into the water and washed off all the gold-dust. While he was
+doing this his companions, with music and singing, threw in the gold
+and emeralds they had brought out on the lake for that purpose. Coming
+back to the shore the Zipa said:
+
+"Do no more work for this day, but make merry with singing, dancing
+and feasting, as if the gentle, kind Bochica were with you again."
+
+All this time Pizarro's brother, and his greedy soldiers, were
+wandering around in the mountains trying to find the Gilded Man. If
+they could have seen him covered with gold at the festival, they would
+probably have tried to skin him alive to get the gold dust on his
+body. One of the padres, who came to convert and teach the natives,
+writing to the king of Spain, said:
+
+"I do not believe that the men taking part in the expeditions in
+search of the Gilded Man, would have tried so hard to get into
+Paradise."
+
+Further on in his letter the padre describes the terrible hardships
+and suffering the men had to undergo. After telling about their
+failure to find El Dorado, he says:
+
+"The men and officers returned to us nearly naked. In the warm rain
+their clothes had rotted on their backs, and were torn into shreds by
+the thickets they had crawled through on their hands and knees. Their
+feet were bare and wounded by the thorns and roots in the pathways,
+and their swords were not only without sheaths, but were eaten up with
+rust. Hunger compelled them to kill and eat their horses and dogs."
+
+While this had been going on in Peru, the King of Spain was busy
+sending out men for the same purpose. The story of the Gilded Man was
+known over all Europe, and other nations, besides Spain, were trying
+to find him. Some German bankers had loaned the king large sums of
+money for the privilege of searching for El Dorado, and the first
+white men to visit Gautavita was a band of Germans sent out by the
+banking house. They wanted slaves as well as gold, and were just as
+merciless and cruel as the Spaniards. In fact, any man having money
+enough to buy boats, or to provision men, stole off into the woods and
+went in search of the Gilded Man. The country was overrun with armed
+bands of adventurers who were ready to commit any kind of crime for
+the sake of gain. Whoever offered resistance was killed, and they were
+suspicious and jealous of each other, as well as of the Indians.
+
+After Pizarro's brother made such a miserable failure, and had to
+endure such bitter hardships one would expect his friends and
+associates to be careful about making another venture, but they knew
+of the German invaders, and then it was a race to see who would get
+hold of the Gilded Man first. Either side would have killed him and
+burned and pillaged the city, so the Indians had learned to distrust
+and hate all white men, and they made war on both the Spaniards and
+Germans whenever they had an opportunity.
+
+A young Spanish lieutenant, named Quesada, was the real conqueror of
+the Muscas, and, as might have been expected, he murdered the Zipa and
+robbed Gautavita, and every other village in the kingdom. He was as
+hard-hearted with his men, as he was with the Indians, and after five
+hundred of them had died from exposure on the way, they found
+themselves surrounded on all sides by overflowing rivers. Weeping and
+dejected they sought Quesada, saying:
+
+"We beseech you to send us back to Peru. Instead of gold, only hunger,
+misery and death await us here. The Gilded Man only exists in the
+distorted fancy of those who believe the lying tales of the Indians."
+
+At this juncture they stumbled on to a path with huts, at intervals,
+by the wayside, filled with the white cakes of salt said to come from
+the home of the Gilded Man, and they also found some cotton cloth.
+
+"We are on the right road at last," said Quesada, to his dispirited
+soldiery. "Prove faithful now, and we shall soon stand face to face
+with El Dorado." With a significant nod of the head, he added: "You
+know what that means to fearless men, like yourselves, and you can
+trust to the generosity of your captain for a rich reward."
+
+The prospect of getting plenty of gold soon caused the men to forget
+all about their troubles, but the Zipa not only fought them
+stubbornly, but when he was finally compelled to abandon Gautavita,
+there was no treasure to be found. The Muscas had either buried all
+their gold and emeralds, or thrown them into the lake. Great, indeed,
+was the disappointment of the Spaniards, and for his own safety
+Quesada soon planned another expedition against a neighboring tribe of
+Indians. The strange chief was surprised and captured in the Council
+House, and with him perished all of the notable men of the tribe. The
+soldiers found some gold and some very fine emeralds, but when they
+went to sack the Temple of the Sun, which had a thatched roof, they
+carelessly set the dry leaves on fire, and burned all the plate and
+other treasures it contained. Bands of armed men rode hither and yon
+looking for the Zipa, whom they now believed to be the Gilded Man. He
+kept in very close hiding, and no amount of torture, or promises of
+reward could make his followers tell where he was, or where the gold
+ornaments and vessels were hidden.
+
+"He is in the mountain fastnesses, where he has a house made of gold,"
+declared some irresponsible Indians, glad to get rid of the cruel
+Spaniards.
+
+"Where is the house located?" Quesada asked, eagerly.
+
+"Some of the Indians say it is in the north, some say the south, some
+say near by, and others far away," answered his servant.
+
+"Very well, we will search in all directions until we find the
+miserable dog, and when we do it shall go hard with him."
+
+It took them several months to hunt him down, and when they did find
+him he could not be induced to tell anything about the treasures.
+
+"I have a house of gold in the sun where my master and lord, Bochica
+lives. I go to him, whom I have faithfully served all my life."
+
+After his death a new governor was sent from Peru, and he undertook to
+drain the lake to get the treasures of gold and emeralds which had
+been thrown into it in honor of the Golden Hearted. The Muscas were
+told that the new Governor would be kind to them if they would tell
+where they had hidden their wealth, but one of their priests said:
+
+"Do you think a river will run up hill?"
+
+The new Governor, hearing the remark, turned to him, and said:
+
+"No, it is not possible for water to run up hill. Why do you ask such
+a foolish question?"
+
+"How then, do you expect me to believe in the existence of a white man
+who will be just to us? One thing is quite as possible as the other."
+
+And to this day no one knows what became of the riches of the brave
+Muscas, but it is said that they still remember the Golden Hearted,
+and in secret, offer gold and emeralds in his honor.
+
+
+
+
+ [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The White Sea of the Manoas
+
+
+The death of the Zipa and the complete subjugation of the Muscas, did
+not cause people to forget the story of El Dorado. On the contrary
+other nations soon began to fit out expeditions to search for him, and
+they went into some dreadful places in South America thinking they
+would find him.
+
+"What ails that dog of an Indian?" asked Aguirre, the tyrant, and the
+worst of all the Spanish adventurers looking for gold.
+
+"He has fainted from fatigue," answered one of his men.
+
+"Then cut off his head. We have no time to waste on these slaves."
+
+"Let us unfasten the chain around his neck, and then he can drop
+behind the rest of the gang," pleaded some of the Indians, who were
+being used to help the horses carry the baggage.
+
+"It will take too long, and the whole chain-gang of men would have to
+wait until we could unfasten his neckband and put some one else in his
+place. Chop off his head with this sword, and go on."
+
+The other officers tried to console the terrified Indians by saying:
+
+"If we were to leave him lying by the roadside, some wild animal would
+come along and eat him, so it is just as well for him as if we had
+done as you wished."
+
+Many people now say that Aguirre was insane, and to this day the poor
+Christian Indians cross themselves when they hear strange noises at
+night, and exclaim:
+
+"It is the soul of the tyrant Aguirre, who plunged a dagger through
+the heart of his own daughter when the King's officers came to arrest
+and punish him for his cruelties. He is doomed to wander over the
+swamps at night, and wail over his terrible sins. His soul can never
+be at rest."
+
+Like thistle-down scattered by the wind, were the wonderful tales of
+El Dorado. No matter where white men went they failed to find it, but
+the cunning Indians always told them that it was still farther away,
+because they wanted to get rid of the unwelcome visitors, who tortured
+and enslaved, as well as robbed them.
+
+Finally Sir Walter Raleigh, who helped colonize the state of Virginia,
+and named it for Good Queen Bess of England, heard about the city of
+Omagua, and the White Sea of the Manoas, and he determined to find
+them, because there, he believed, was El Dorado.
+
+Some English sailors under his command traded some pieces of old iron
+to the Indians for shields of gold.
+
+"Where did you get this metal?" was asked of the Indians.
+
+"In Omagua, where the tiles on the roofs of the houses are made from
+the same glittering substance, and where we hang crescents of it in
+front of our doors to keep away evil spirits."
+
+"What they say must be true," said the sailors among themselves, "for
+they have gold crowns on their heads, and breast-plates and earrings."
+
+"Where is this city of Omagua?" again asked the men.
+
+"It is very far south, and is on a lake of gold. Our chief lives in
+the House of the Sun, and has many green stones in his shield and on
+the walls of the temples."
+
+"What is the name of your chief?"
+
+"El Dorado," answered the Indians, anxious that the white men should
+know that they could speak their language.
+
+"It is all plain to me," said Sir Walter Raleigh, when told of it.
+"Those Spanish adventurers have failed to find the real El Dorado. We
+will search for it ourselves."
+
+"The Indians say there are whole streets filled with workers in gold
+and precious stones," said one of his officers, "and I dare say we
+shall make our enterprise quite profitable." So they, too, were
+looking for gold, only their methods were not so barbarous and cruel
+as the others had been.
+
+As they went farther into the country they found a numerous band of
+Indians with flat heads, and when they examined the babies carried on
+the backs of their mothers it was seen that they had tied a board
+across the forehead so that it would sink in and leave the head
+pointed and flat in front.
+
+"Why do you treat your heads in this manner?" some one asked their
+chief.
+
+"Because our fathers did so, and we think it makes us beautiful," he
+answered. In that country there are still plenty of flat-headed
+Indians. As the men marched along they came to trees with holes cut
+through the bark, and little earthen pots hanging under them to catch
+the sticky-looking milk that oozed out.
+
+"Can this be something good to eat?" the men said. "Let us taste it
+and see."
+
+"Ugh! it has a nasty, disagreeable, bitter flavor," said the speaker,
+licking his finger after he had stuck it down into the pot. "It smells
+so badly that it makes me feel sick," he continued, spitting it out
+quickly.
+
+"Here comes an old woman with some nuts from the palm tree she has
+been shaking in her hands. Let us ask her what this stuff is good
+for."
+
+But the old woman evidently did not have a very good opinion of white
+men, and would not speak to them at all.
+
+"We can watch her," they said, "and see whether she intends to eat
+it."
+
+She paid no attention to them, but went on making a fire out of the
+palm nuts and some dry leaves, and as soon as they blazed brightly she
+set the little pot near the fire and began stirring the milk with a
+wooden paddle she carried in her hand. As soon as the blaze
+smouldered, she held the paddle over it until the milk began to get
+thick. Then she dipped it back into the pot and repeated the process
+until there was enough coating to scrape off and make a flat cake.
+
+ [Illustration: DRYING INDIA RUBBER]
+
+"Will you please give me the biscuit?" inquired one of the bystanders.
+Without a word the old woman threw it at him, and when he caught it in
+his hands, he exclaimed:
+
+"It is India rubber! Now we can have a game of ball!" As it was still
+warm he rounded it into shape with his hands, and then he and his
+companions amused themselves for quite a while throwing the ball
+against the trees and catching it as it bounded back. While they were
+engaged in this sport the cooks were preparing them something to eat,
+but the forest was full of monkeys swinging themselves from one tree
+to another by their long tails and seemingly very much interested in
+what the men underneath them were doing.
+
+Now, we all know that a monkey imitates everything it sees, and so the
+whole band began to go through the motion of throwing. As soon as they
+found out there was something to eat they bobbed their heads and
+screeched and chattered in great excitement. Every time the cook's
+back was turned they slid down a limb of the tree and grabbed a dish
+and scampered back again. They had such solemn little faces, and were
+so quick about it, that the men shouted with laughter, but when they
+sat down to eat, the monkeys jumped out of the trees and rushed for
+the food.
+
+The old Indian woman, comprehending the situation, approached camp and
+said:
+
+"Will the white chief let me cook something for the monkeys?"
+
+"What do you want to feed them?"
+
+"A pot of rice," she answered, "such as I know well how to prepare."
+
+No one made any objection, and it was not long before she had a big
+pan full of boiled rice, which she had made almost red with pepper.
+Taking a wide, green leaf, she laid it down and poured the rice out to
+cool. No sooner had she done so than the monkeys swarmed around the
+pile, and squatting beside it began to eat by the handful. Tears ran
+down their faces and water poured from their mouths, but they kept on
+eating for a few minutes. Then, suddenly seeming to suspect each other
+of being to blame, they commenced fighting with sticks and stones
+until they scattered the rice all over the ground. By this time the
+pepper was burning their mouths worse than ever, and not knowing what
+was the matter they set up a doleful howling, and ran pell-mell into
+the river quite a distance from camp. They tumbled into the water and
+rolled and wallowed in it, but it was some little time before their
+mouths quit smarting, and they were very willing to let the men alone.
+
+The dogs belonging to the party gave chase, but the monkeys screamed
+so that they awoke the alligators sleeping in the sun on the river
+bank, and then the dogs had to run for their lives. One or two of them
+barely escaped being caught in the wide open mouths of these monsters.
+It was very much cooler when the sun went down, but that brought out
+the mosquitos, and the men were obliged to sit in the smoke to save
+themselves from being bitten dreadfully. They kept the fire going all
+night, because they were afraid of the jaguars and panthers hidden in
+the woods during the day, but ready to kill and eat anything they
+might find in their night prowls.
+
+It was considered safer out of doors than in the tents, but it was
+impossible to sleep on account of the hideous noises made by the
+animals, monkeys, birds and snakes.
+
+"Why do these creatures keep up such a terrible din?" asked the men of
+their Indian guides.
+
+"Because they are keeping the feast of the full moon," they replied,
+and this appeared to be a settled belief among them.
+
+"Men put the jaguar out of humor," they explained. "He is a very
+selfish beast, and if he cannot rule alone he goes to his den and
+sulks. He will follow a man all day through the woods and will not
+spring upon him unless he tries to run or moves his arms. If you think
+one is following you do not look back and do not trust anything but
+the sharp blade of your sword. The noise of a gun only infuriates
+him."
+
+As the men heard this they imagined they could see the yellow eyes
+glaring at them in the darkness, and some thought they smelled him.
+
+"He is a ferocious, blood-thirsty beast," said the Indians in
+conclusion, "and you may well think yourselves fortunate when you
+leave these tropic forests and get out into the open plains."
+
+The men would have agreed with him if it had not been for the intense
+heat, and a terrible sandstorm that almost blinded them for days when
+it did not blow so hard that they could make no headway against it.
+Finally, footsore, weary, and almost discouraged, they came to a wide
+and deep river, and here the Indian guides brought them boats, which
+they called pirogues.
+
+"We are not far from the lake of gold beside the city of the Manoas,"
+they said, and when the delighted soldiers inquired particularly, they
+responded readily:
+
+"We have these things from our fathers and other men wise in the
+traditions and sayings of our people, but we are afraid to go any
+further, for the Manoans are a fierce and warlike race."
+
+About this time Sir Walter Raleigh learned that the Queen was not
+pleased with his efforts in search of the El Dorado, and he decided to
+withdraw his men and abandon the attempt.
+
+But this did not hinder other men from trying to solve the mystery. It
+was more than a hundred years before the truth was finally known, and
+then a scientist discovered that the location itself had shifted and
+was nearly as much changed as the ideas about El Dorado. He traced the
+legend to Lake Parima, near the center of South America, and said:
+
+"This is really the White Sea of the Manoas, which people have long
+believed was a lake of gold. The reason the Indians thought so was
+because there is some fine gold-dust in the washings of the sand,
+which has plenty of mica mixed with it. Then there is a large quantity
+of salt dried on the grass, and when the hot sun shines, it looks at a
+distance as if it were a great sea of gold."
+
+"Are the houses covered with gold tiles?" was the next inquiry.
+
+"No indeed: they are common huts with thatched roofs on which the salt
+and mica glisten and sparkle as they do in the grass and sand."
+
+"Are the natives warlike? and do they eat each other, as we have been
+told?"
+
+"They are armed with javelins, wooden shields, bows and arrows, and a
+short sword which they make for themselves. We found them very
+friendly, and as for their being cannibals that is all imagination,
+but it may have been true in olden times."
+
+And this is really what people spent millions of money trying to find,
+and for which hundreds of lives were uselessly sacrificed.
+
+ [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Mountain of Gold
+
+
+Very far to the north of Lake Parima, is the celebrated Roraima, the
+"Mountain of Gold," one of the objects sought by the men who were
+looking for El Dorado.
+
+"Let us set out on an expedition to see if we cannot solve the mystery
+of this mountain, that is not only rich in gold and precious stones,
+but grows the Plant of Life in abundance, which keeps one alive for
+hundreds of years," said some idle Cavaliers who had become reckless
+in their eagerness to acquire sudden riches.
+
+"But they say Roraima is inaccessible, so what is the use of
+attempting the impossible?" said one of the party, who had been out
+hunting.
+
+"I believe that the flat top of the mountain is inhabited, and that up
+there is the famous island city of El Dorado," responded the first
+speaker. "There is almost unlimited wealth to be had by finding it,
+and these cowardly Indians are afraid to go near it."
+
+"It will be a long, tedious journey," said the hunter, "and I doubt if
+we can persuade the slaves to accompany us."
+
+"They _shall_ go," said the other, firmly, "and if there is any sign
+of rebellion we have a remedy," he continued, pointing to his gun
+with a smile that was not pleasant to see.
+
+It was as the hunter feared. The Indian porters and servants were
+nearly frantic at the idea of being compelled to approach the dread
+mountain.
+
+"The whole place is weird and uncanny," they declared, "and the demon
+mountain is surrounded by haunted woods, filled with camoodis and
+didis."
+
+When asked what a camoodi was, they explained that it was a gigantic
+snake with a hood over its head, and whose breath killed whatever it
+touched, while the didis were man apes, ferocious and terrible to see.
+
+"It is a foolish superstition," said the Spaniards, in derision, "and
+we will not listen to such idle tales."
+
+"Roraima is an island, connected underground with the other mountains,
+and the lights you see on the tops are put there by the demons to lure
+us on to destruction."
+
+"If it is inaccessible, how do these demons manage to get up there?"
+asked the Spaniards.
+
+"There are huge white eagles, that fly so high we cannot see them; but
+they have very fine eyesight, and many a poor brave has been seized by
+them, and carried to the didis on the mountain."
+
+"They must mean the big white birds we call condors, found in the
+highest peaks of the Andes," said the Spaniards, "but our good weapons
+are proof against any bird, and we need have no fear."
+
+"As soon as it is dark in those terrible woods, blood-sucking vampires
+swoop down from the trees and fasten their long red bills in your
+throat," said the Indians, with a shudder, but no attention was paid
+to anything they told of the hardships to be endured.
+
+"It is better for us to start at the beginning of the dry season,"
+said Carino, the Indian guide, and in a short time the entire party
+was voyaging on one of the splendid rivers that span that country. In
+canoes they passed through untracked forests and grassy savannahs
+following the course of the river. Some places they were in great
+danger from cataracts and rapids, but finally landed in a place where
+there was a flock of red flamingos half hidden by tall pampas grass,
+and where there were hundreds of little wild ducks with tiny horns on
+their wings. In the trees were some rare and beautiful orchids, and
+when some of the party climbed up to pick the big perfumed blossoms,
+they were much surprised to find that what they thought was a flower
+was a perfumed butterfly.
+
+"We must be near the enchanted wood," said the Spaniards, but just
+then they heard a sort of combination of whistle, snort and hiss that
+frightened them dreadfully:
+
+"Carino! what is that?" they all said, huddling up close together, and
+listening intently.
+
+"It is the cry of the Lost Souls, who have been slain by the camoodi,"
+said Carino. "We have already seen their strange shapes flitting
+through the deep shadows. They are in league with the didi to guard
+this spot." As he spoke the Indian porters and slaves began a curious
+chant in a singsong tone:
+
+ Darkly from sunset to the rising sun,
+ A cry as of the pained heart of the wood,
+ The long despairing moan of solitude
+ And darkness and the absence of all good,
+ Startles the traveler with a sound so drear,
+ So full of hopeless agony and fear,
+ His heart stands still and listens with his ear,
+ The guide, as if he heard a death-bell toll,
+ Crosses himself and whispers "A Lost Soul."
+
+The last words seemed to affect Carino deeply and falling on his knees
+before the leader of the expedition he said:
+
+"My heart is heavy at the thought of your undertaking to fight the
+demons of the mountain. It is not good--this thing you are about to
+do. The didis may tempt you to enter these fatal woods, but they will
+trap you by closing the trail and you will never be seen again."
+
+"We will encamp here for the night, and tomorrow at sunrise we will
+have a look at Roraima," said the leader, not feeling very comfortable
+over the doleful noise called the wail of a lost soul. "It may be that
+these Indians are not so far wrong," he said to himself when their
+backs were turned. "At any rate, I do not fancy going into the woods
+so near nightfall."
+
+After a long parley Carino succeeded in persuading the porters and
+servants to venture a short distance to get some wood for cooking and
+other purposes. They had not been gone long when the Spaniards heard a
+loud roaring bark, almost like a trumpet, quickly followed by several
+more in the immediate vicinity. Soon the Indians came flying into camp
+terror-stricken.
+
+"The Warracaba cats!" they shouted, and before the Spaniards could
+stop them, they had all piled into the canoes and were rowing for the
+middle of the river. The white men stood with guns raised as four
+screaming tigers sprang out of the woods in full pursuit of the
+Indians they had smelled, but not seen. Bang! bang! bang! went the
+guns in rapid succession, and three of the four tigers rolled on the
+ground dead or dying, while the other one made off into the woods as
+fast as he could go.
+
+"That was a narrow escape, my masters," said Carino, shaking as if he
+had ague, "and the other Warracaba will come back and bring
+companions. These tigers hunt in packs like wolves, and are not afraid
+of anything except deep water."
+
+"What are we to do?" asked the leader, gruffly, pale with fright.
+"Those dastardly slaves have gone off and left us without a single
+boat. Do you think you can call them back?" he asked eagerly.
+
+"I fear to answer that question," faltered Carino. "I have warned you
+that my people fear these woods, and are never willing to go into
+them."
+
+Then the Cavaliers began very foolishly to blame each other for coming
+to such a place, and were soon in high words--as if quarreling would
+help them out of their difficulty.
+
+"If you had not been so greedy for gold you would never have
+undertaken such a journey," said one of them.
+
+"And if you had been willing to work for an honest living you would
+not have been so eager to come with me," retorted the other angrily.
+
+Carino realizing that something must be done at once, interrupted the
+dispute by saying:
+
+"There is an old Manoan witch named Monella, who has lived at the edge
+of this wood for hundreds of years, and if you will follow me I will
+conduct you to her hut. The pathway is hung with bell-shaped flowers
+of many hues, and these give a dim light when the sun goes down. If we
+make haste we may reach it before dark."
+
+Without a word the Spaniards picked up what things they needed for the
+night, and carrying them on their backs in separate bundles, moodily
+followed Carino. None but an Indian could have found the way through
+such a tangled mass of undergrowth. Suddenly Carino stopped and called
+out:
+
+"Beware! here is one of the fierce lords of the wood, mouth open and
+bent upon attack." Being an agile, quick fellow, he jumped to one side
+barely in time to miss the venomous snake as it rushed toward him. The
+warning made the Spaniards ready, and with unerring aim one of them
+shot the reptile through the head.
+
+"These are some of the guardians of Roraima," said Carino, solemnly.
+"They are not only poisonous, but show fight, and will not run from
+man."
+
+By this time the Spaniards were beginning to lose heart.
+
+"If the Holy Mother preserves me through this night I will give up
+this search for El Dorado," said the leader, and the other men agreed
+with him.
+
+"The witch Monella has strange tales to tell of Roraima. She has been
+through the secret cavern in the side of the mountain, and up to the
+top," said Carino.
+
+"Does she say that there is gold up there?" queried one of the
+Cavaliers. Before the guide could answer, a large yellow puma stood in
+the pathway, directly in front of them. A gun was leveled to shoot at
+her, when Carino sprang forward and said:
+
+"Do not harm the puma. She belongs to Monella, and no red man ever
+kills one of these animals. They are always our friends, and to injure
+one is to bring bad luck on yourself and family."
+
+They went forward eagerly now for the thought of a human habitation
+near by inspired them with courage, and they were soon rewarded by
+seeing a thin column of smoke issuing from an opening in the dense
+foliage. Nearing the hut they were met by a queer looking old Indian
+woman, who had no teeth, and whose face was so wrinkled that she
+could scarcely see out of her eyes. Carino approached her and said:
+
+"We have come, good mother, to ask shelter and food for the night. We
+are a band of travelers who are left with no servants and must make
+our way the best we can."
+
+ [Illustration: "THE OLD WITCH, MONELLA"]
+
+"Your strange white masters come on a useless errand," said the old
+crone, blinking at them and grinning in a knowing way. "You think to
+find the hidden treasure of Roraima and to unearth its buried secrets,
+but you will fail. No one living, except myself, knows these things,
+and I will not tell you more than is good for you."
+
+"Do not quarrel with the old hag," said the leader to Carino, "we need
+a place to sleep and are very hungry, so give her some gold and tell
+her we will do as she says."
+
+"These are not Mellenda's men," said the old crone to Carino, as she
+eyed them suspiciously. "But the White Brotherhood would despise me if
+I refused to shelter them from the dangers of the forest at night.
+They are welcome to come and sup with me."
+
+When they had all been given something to eat, and were sitting before
+the fire of pine knots, one of the Cavaliers said:
+
+"Tell us, good mother, how you have managed to live so long. Carino
+says you are very old and very wise."
+
+"Since I was a little child I have drank a tea made from the Plant of
+Life. Its juice is bitter-sweet, and unless one has the Falloa, or
+Don't Care Sickness, he can live always."
+
+"Where did you get this wonderful plant?"
+
+"It was given me by Ulama, the beautiful daughter of Mellenda,"
+answered the old woman, proudly. "This is like her smiling face," she
+continued, going back to a cupboard and getting a curious old
+parchment roll from a shelf. As she unwound the figure the astonished
+Spaniards saw a fair representation of a yellow-haired girl with a
+circlet of gold set with gems on her head. On the breast of her
+flowing robe there was a golden star, and around the waist there was a
+jeweled girdle.
+
+"Can you read this picture writing?" asked one of the Spaniards.
+
+"It is the language of my forefathers, and as a child I could speak it
+well. Listen, and I will tell you what it says. Long years ago there
+was a rich and powerful white race living in these lands, and they
+built a wonderful city on the Mountain of Gold. But the Children of
+Darkness captured the city, and they enticed people up there so they
+could sacrifice them to the Devil-tree. There is never any thunder or
+lightning on top of Roraima, and its crest is a flat tableland edged
+with a high forest and guarded by white eagles. The mountains
+surrounding it were once islands in a great lake, and Mellenda was the
+ancient king of the Children of Light who lived there. The King was a
+man of peace and very great wisdom, and he had a wife and four
+beautiful children whom his enemies, the Children of Darkness,
+sacrificed to the Devil-tree while he was away in a distant part of
+the kingdom. He had a great fleet and could have punished the Children
+of Darkness."
+
+The old crone ceased speaking, and seemed lost in deep study. Finally
+Carino roused her by asking:
+
+"Did Mellenda do nothing for revenge?"
+
+"No; he went away, but he promised he would come back again, and he
+will. Not long after his departure came the great sinking of the
+waters, and the lake of Parima has disappeared into another region of
+our country. For centuries after this the surrounding land was but a
+chaos of swamp and mud. By degrees vegetation grew up, and in time the
+trees became the thick tangled forest that cannot now be penetrated."
+
+"Did this Mellenda take with him all the gold and silver?" asked a
+Cavalier, intent upon finding something worth carrying away.
+
+"In the city on top of the mountain is kept a full suit of his gold
+armor, bright and ready, waiting to receive him."
+
+"We will get it and take it home with us," said the Spaniards, now all
+eagerness.
+
+"We, of Mellenda's race, firmly believe that he will come again, and
+none of us would dare touch any of his belongings," said the crone,
+earnestly.
+
+"You need not touch it," began one of the Cavaliers. "We will bring it
+down the trail ourselves."
+
+"There is no trail up the sides of Roraima. The entrance to its hidden
+passageway is guarded by a giant Devil-tree."
+
+"Did you ever see this Devil-tree?" asked her visitors.
+
+"Yes; a few years ago, I took my two pumas and went to the cave for a
+certain purpose. As we stood looking at the monstrous thing one of its
+long, horny branches crept toward us, and one of the pumas sprang
+forward to bite it. Instantly it curled around the body of the poor
+creature, dragging it until they came to the trunk of the tree. Here
+shorter and thicker limbs knotted together over the struggling puma,
+and finally all rose in the air and almost disappeared in the hollow
+trunk."
+
+"Did you make no effort to rescue your pet?"
+
+"I hacked the first branch with an axe until it bled a dark, crimson
+liquid that smelled so badly I was deathly sick. Every inch of the
+bark is covered with small mouths that pierce the flesh and suck the
+blood of its victims. I kept watch until the moon came out, and then
+the knots of limbs unrolled and out fell something. Each branch tossed
+it before it reached the ground, when I saw it was the crushed and
+lifeless puma. Out of a slimy pool near by rushed huge alligators, and
+in a few minutes they were eating what the Devil-tree left of the
+puma."
+
+"Let us go away from here," said the Spaniards among themselves.
+"Instead of being an earthly paradise, this is an infernal region."
+
+When they were bidding the old crone good-bye the next morning, she
+looked at them sharply and said:
+
+"You came here searching for gold, and expected to find it ready for
+your use. My friends, the great blessings of life must be worked for
+and earned. You cannot cheat your way into Heaven, nor will you or
+your people ever find any more hidden treasures belonging to other
+races. You will earn all the fortunes you get after this adventure."
+
+
+
+
+The Amazon Queens
+
+
+We should all get very tired I am sure if we tried to follow the
+Spaniards into every nook and corner of the New World where they went
+in search of El Dorado, but we are interested in knowing that the name
+Costa Rica means the rich coast, because it was one of the El Dorado
+regions, and in Panama, the little narrow strip of land which unites
+North and South America, they expected to find a Castle of Gold, while
+the Island of Porto Rico is also one of the homes of El Dorado. It
+made no difference to the Spaniards whether the natives in these
+places had heard of the Golden Hearted or not. They only wanted to
+find the riches of the country, and would not have listened to any
+teaching other than that brought by the padres. So for years and years
+they kept on making mistakes and undergoing the most terrible
+hardships trying to acquire sudden wealth.
+
+One of the stories that is very queer was that about the Amazon
+Queens. Columbus wrote of them, and this is what he said:
+
+"On the first island discovered on the voyage from Spain to the
+Indies, no men are allowed to live. The female warriors do not follow
+any womanly occupations, but use bows and arrows of cane, and cover as
+well as arm themselves with brazen plates, of which they have many."
+
+He says nothing of their having great wealth, but Cortez also heard of
+them, and wrote to the King of Spain that the island was ten days
+distance from a province in Mexico, and that many persons had gone
+there and seen the women warriors. He concludes his letter by saying:
+
+"I am told that these fighting women are rich in pearls and gold."
+
+This news was quite enough to start the Spaniards on a search for the
+island, and, as usual, the Indians gave them much contradictory
+information about its location. Some said it was north and some said
+it was south, so exploring parties were sent in both directions. A man
+by the name of Guzman came up into Mexico as far north as Sinaloa,
+looking for this wonderful island, and his march was one of
+devastation and murder. He not only compelled the Indians to accompany
+him as slaves to do all the drudgery, but tortured such chiefs as he
+thought had gold, and in many cases killed them because they either
+did not give it to him quickly enough, or in as large quantities as
+he wanted. The farther north he went the poorer the natives were.
+
+"Instead of a rich island inhabited by soldierly women," he exclaimed,
+in disgust, "I find a few insignificant villages occupied by women and
+children, because the men have all fled to the mountains. In the whole
+country there is not a trace of gold, pearls or treasures of any
+kind."
+
+Along the way he found very scant supplies of gold, and this made him
+furious, for he returned to the city of Mexico poorer than when he
+left it.
+
+Pizarro and his followers in Peru heard of the Amazon Queens, and so
+did Sir Walter Raleigh and the German adventurers, but their country
+was said to be along the banks of a very wide river in South America.
+The Indians called them the Great Ladies, and the river has since been
+named the Amazon in their honor.
+
+"If the Great Ladies do not invite you to visit them, it is a very
+dangerous thing to attempt," said the Indian guides to Orellana, the
+man who discovered the Amazon river, and was the first to sail its
+entire length.
+
+"Why do you say that?" asked Orellana.
+
+"Because they are tall, strong-limbed and fair, and are great
+fighters. They wind their long hair across their foreheads in thick
+bands, and defend themselves well."
+
+"What kind of weapons do they use?" queried the Spanish soldiers, when
+they could stop laughing at the Indians for being afraid of a lot of
+women.
+
+"They shoot with blow-pipes, bows and arrows, and have a war-club that
+they wield with great vigor," answered the Indians, with serious
+faces.
+
+"Are they always so hostile to men?"
+
+"Only the grandfathers of this generation have seen them, and none
+save the Kings of the Borderers ever venture near their habitation."
+
+"How are the Kings of the Borderers received by these strange women?"
+
+"They meet them at the frontier of their possessions with bows and
+arrows in their hands, but after an exchange of pledges the Great
+Ladies invite the men to come and feast and dance with them. Sometimes
+they stay a month, and then the Queens escort them to the edge of
+their land, and send them home loaded with presents."
+
+"What kind of presents do they give?" asked the Spaniards, suddenly
+taking a great interest in what was being said.
+
+"There are gold ornaments in plenty, and emeralds and pearls, besides
+the grains of gold carried in eagle quills."
+
+"We will capture these Great Ladies," interrupted the Spaniards,
+excitedly. "We will teach them their proper places when we get hold of
+them. Why do you Indians allow them to live in such a manner?"
+
+"Our forefathers have taught us to hold them in great veneration,
+because they live in a Mansion of the Sun. Long years ago they were
+Virgins of the Sun, but in the wars between the different tribes they
+were allowed to separate from the rest and live in a community by
+themselves."
+
+"Do they build houses?"
+
+"They have temples, and keep the sacred fires burning on the altars,
+as was done in olden times."
+
+"Who rules them, and what do they do with their boy babies?"
+
+"They select their own queen, and the boy babies are given to the
+Kings of the Borderers; they only keep girl babies in their tribe, and
+when they grow up they become either warriors or priestesses."
+
+"How do they support themselves?"
+
+"By hunting, fishing, weaving cloth and trading with their neighbors."
+
+"Where do they get their riches?"
+
+"From the mountains of Parima, where they have secret storehouses
+filled with treasures they have been hoarding for ages."
+
+This pleased the Spaniards very much, and quite decided them to make a
+raid upon that country. Even after they had talked the matter over
+fully among themselves they recalled the Indians and questioned them
+still further.
+
+"Would you be afraid to undertake to fight these strange women?" they
+asked, when they saw that the guides were unwilling to accompany them.
+
+"No, we are not afraid, but we are enjoined to let them alone. None of
+us would ever think of disturbing them. They are very fierce, and will
+kill any man that they do not like."
+
+ [Illustration: "A FLOWER OFFERING"]
+
+"But you could easily conquer women warriors," urged the Spaniards,
+now eager to commence the journey.
+
+"It would not be so easily done as you imagine," said the guides,
+shaking their heads doubtfully. "The Great Ladies wear thick shields
+and cover their clothes with metal discs which turn away an arrow
+point."
+
+"We can easily overcome that protection with our guns, and we are not
+commanded to respect them," replied the Spaniards.
+
+"You will find that they have deep underground retreats to which they
+fly in times of danger, and they are known to be excellent shots."
+
+Just then a party of prospectors returned from the mountains where
+they had been looking for gold. Among the things they brought was a
+number of thin, flat green stones with holes pierced in each end,
+showing that they had been used for ornaments. The Indian guides said
+at once they were the same kind of emerald as that worn by the Amazon
+Queens for an amulet against disease.
+
+"How did you succeed in getting them?" they asked.
+
+"From some Indian pedlars we met with packs on their backs. They said
+the stones would cure the spleen, and we have been wearing them ever
+since."
+
+"Did you have any difficulty in persuading the pedlars to part with
+them?"
+
+"No; they said they got them from a tribe of women warriors many
+leagues to the south, but we did not believe them."
+
+"It is all true," said the guides, "and these Great Ladies have been
+in that land a very long time."
+
+"If we can find enough of these spleen stones to make our trip
+profitable we do not care whether we meet the Great Ladies or not,"
+said the prospectors, when told of the proposed trip in search of the
+Amazon Queens.
+
+As the party pushed forward into the tangled thickets, they found
+cocoanuts, and plantains, ripe and ready to eat, and they also found
+some very juicy little canteloupes growing on a vine, but none of the
+Indians living on, or near the Amazon river, could tell them where to
+find the Queens. They searched up and down the banks for a hidden
+passageway which was said to guard the entrance to their mountain
+home, but to all questions the river made no answer. To the
+disappointed Spaniards it looked angry, sullen and relentless in the
+untamed might of its turbid waters.
+
+"It seems to be always summer here," said the weary soldiers, "but one
+would die of malarial poisoning if compelled to stay long."
+
+Some of the guides felt sorry for the sick men, and went into the
+woods and brought them sarsaparilla bark, and made them a tea of it.
+
+"Drink this," they said, "because it will cure your sickness which
+comes from the head. If your heart was strong with love for your
+brothers you would find blessings in this land. As it is you seek to
+plunder and rob the Great Ladies, but the Sun is their father, and he
+will make the mountains, trees and rocks hide them and their
+treasures."
+
+"It is no use to look for these women any longer. We shall all die
+before we can reach them," said the leader, wearily.
+
+And no one to this day knows just where the Amazon Queens lived.
+
+ [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Seven Cities of Cibola
+
+
+The Nahuas in Mexico were really a sect of wise men descended from
+those that came with the Golden Hearted. They believed that they
+originated in Seven Caves, which were not locations at all, but was
+only a way of saying that human beings have seven wonderful qualities.
+They might have thought so because we can see, feel, taste, hear and
+smell, and have instinct and are able to reason, or it may have been
+something else. At any rate, it did not mean actual caves, but was a
+symbol. In later times when people were not so wise, they said it was
+seven tribes instead of caves, and when the Spaniards heard about it
+they managed to twist it into seven cities, and immediately conceived
+the idea that great riches and gold could be found in them. When
+questioned on the subject the Indians said:
+
+"To the far north there are seven wonderful cities where the people
+make arrow-heads of emeralds and take the sweat off their bodies with
+scrapers of pure gold, and have jeweled gates, and turquoise ornaments
+over their doors."
+
+"Do these men know how to work precious stones and metals?" asked the
+Spaniards eagerly.
+
+"There are long streets filled with jewelers who make rings for the
+ears, nose and arms," they said. "Forty days must you journey to reach
+this land, and you must travel through a desert where there is neither
+water nor food to be had."
+
+The first Spaniard to attempt the search for the Seven Cities was the
+cruel Guzman, who looked north for the Amazons. He had with him quite
+an army, and his men were so excited over the stories they heard that
+they scarcely took time to eat or sleep on the way. They hoped every
+day to find the cities, but instead of this the country grew more
+desolate, the road more difficult, and the cities still farther to the
+north. Then the Spaniards began to complain, and said:
+
+"We have been deceived, and shall all die in this bleak land. Let us
+return to Mexico." And they did. For six years no one had the courage
+to seek the Seven Cities.
+
+Then something very strange happened.
+
+Into a little seaport where Cortez had ordered some ships built to
+explore the western coast, came wandering four strange men. They were
+barefooted, and had no clothing except some old, dirty skins with the
+hair worn off in spots. Their heads were a perfect mass of tangles,
+and their beards reached almost to the knees. Falling flat on their
+faces before the first white man they saw, they cried out in a loud
+voice:
+
+"Thank God! We are safe at last!" When the astonished Spaniard turned
+to look at them, they seized his hands and kissed them, and springing
+to their feet danced and shouted for joy.
+
+"These are escaped maniacs," said the people, gathering around to look
+at them. "Whatever shall we do with mad men?"
+
+"No, no! You do not understand. We are poor wanderers who have been
+lost for years among the Indians."
+
+"Let us take them to our Captain. There is something very strange
+about this," said the Spaniards, and they started at once.
+
+"Who are you?" asked the Captain, rudely, looking with disgust at
+their dirt and rags.
+
+"I am a noble of Castile who came to help conquer Florida, and my name
+is De Vaca," said the oldest man. "The fleet was wrecked and all were
+lost except my companions here, and me. All the years since we have
+been with the Indians."
+
+"I do not believe a word of it," said the Captain. "Put these fellows
+in prison until we find out about them. They may be criminals."
+
+For three months they lay in prison, and then the Alcalde came and
+released them.
+
+"Tell me your story," he said.
+
+"When the ships were lost," responded De Vaca, "we swam to the
+mainland, and were captured by the Indians. They were a poor, starved
+tribe who lived on roots and berries, and often went days without a
+mouthful. We had with us a rattle, and this, with our beards, made
+them think we came from Heaven, and were great medicine men. They fell
+on their faces before us and gave us all they had. We asked them to
+take us where the sun sets, but they refused, and we pretended to be
+very angry, until they finally let us go. After months of wandering we
+came to a land of plenty, where the people were wealthy, and wore
+beautiful plumes in their head-dresses. They brought us five emeralds
+cut into arrow-heads, and many fine turquoises, and beads made of
+coral. When I asked where they got these stones, they pointed to some
+lofty mountains toward the north and told us the gems came from there,
+and that near them were large cities, with houses three or four
+stories high. I did not go there because I heard that toward the
+sunset were other men of my kind, and I longed once more to look upon
+the face of a Spaniard."
+
+"Of course," said the people, as they talked the matter over, "these
+are the same cities Guzman tried to find. He did not go in the right
+direction, but we know where they are," and many were eager to set out
+at once. But the Viceroy was a quiet and careful man.
+
+"There have been many lives lost already," he said, "and it will be
+best not to hurry. I shall not send an army there until I am sure."
+
+Then he thought of a padre, named Fray Marcos, who had lived much
+among the Indians of the north, and he sent for him, and said:
+
+"Perhaps there lies to the north as rich a nation as Mexico or Peru.
+If so it must be conquered for the Church and the King of Spain. You
+know how to speak to the Indians, and it might be that they would let
+you come among them and learn the truth. Will you undertake to do so?"
+
+"God giving me strength I will," said Fray Marcos, with enthusiasm.
+
+"Very well. The negro Stephen, who was with De Vaca is here, and is
+willing to be your guide. If you come to any great city do not send
+back word, but return yourself and tell me about it. Make all your
+plans and set out as soon as possible."
+
+Fray Marcos did as he was told, but it was several months before
+anything was heard of him. One day a traveler, in a monk's gown, came
+walking into the same seaport that De Vaca had visited.
+
+"It is Fray Marcos, who went in search of the Seven Cities! Did you
+find them! Are they full of wealth? Where is the negro Stephen?"
+
+Fray Marcos would not answer their questions.
+
+"I have much to tell, but my news is for the Viceroy himself," said
+the padre, and he started for the city of Mexico. When there he said
+to the Viceroy:
+
+"The Indians came out to meet and welcome me everywhere. They had food
+ready for me, and where there were no houses, they built bowers of
+trees and flowers that I might rest safe from the sun. I spent four
+days journeying through a desert, and then I found some Indians who
+marveled much to see me. They thought, because I was white and wore a
+gown, that I must have come from Heaven. I asked them if they knew of
+any great kingdom where there were seven large cities, and they told
+me that farther on were high mountains with wide plains at the foot
+where the people lived in cities and clothed themselves in cotton. I
+sent Stephen ahead three-score leagues, and charged him to send back
+Indians to bring me news of his success. If the country was poor and
+mean, he was to send me a cross no longer than my hand; if it were a
+goodly place the cross was to be two lengths of a hand, and if he
+found what he sought he was to send me a large cross. In four days a
+messenger came from Stephen bearing a cross as high as a man. He
+brought news of a mighty province called Cibola, thirty days journey
+northward from the town where Stephen was. In this province there are
+seven great cities governed by one Prince."
+
+"You should have followed at once to make sure that all these things
+were true," said the Viceroy, now very much interested.
+
+"I did," responded Fray Marcos. "Each day messengers came to me
+carrying large crosses and giving more particulars concerning Cibola.
+Finally I entered a valley where there were many people, and all of
+them had turquoises hanging from their noses, and ears, and collars of
+the same three or four times double around their necks. Then I had to
+go through another desert, and was beginning to get very tired when
+one day there came running to me, an Indian in great fright--his body
+covered with sweat and dust, and his face showing extreme sadness. He
+said that the day before Stephen had reached Cibola, and had sent
+guides into the city with presents for the chief, and to let them know
+he came in peace. But the great Lord of the City flew into a rage and
+dashed the presents to the ground. He drove the messengers out in
+fury, and said he would kill them if they came back again. He said,
+too, that he would kill Stephen. But the negro was not afraid, and
+went directly into the city. Instantly they were seized and cast into
+a prison, where they were kept all night without anything to eat or
+drink. The next morning Stephen and his guides tried to escape, but
+the people killed all of them except one other and the messenger who
+came to me. These two were struck down and left for dead, but were
+only stunned, and when the angry people went away they crept out in
+the night, and made their escape."
+
+"What did you do then, Fray Marcos?" asked the Viceroy.
+
+ [Illustration: "ONE OF THE SEVEN CITIES OF CIBOLA"]
+
+"So great was my grief that it seemed for a moment as if I
+should die, but when my guides began to weep and lament I gave them
+the presents I intended for the Lord of Cibola, and resolved to go and
+see the city, even if I could not enter it. I traveled one day and
+came to a round hill, which I climbed. Looking down I saw the
+beautiful city of Cibola."
+
+"And the houses, were they as the Indians told you?"
+
+"Yes, my lord; they were built of stone four stories high, and
+glistened in the bright sunshine. The people were fair and dressed in
+white. Greatly was I tempted to risk my life and go down to them, but
+I contented myself with planting a cross and hurrying here to tell you
+what I had done."
+
+"That was right, Fray Marcos," said the Viceroy, "and now it is time
+to send an army."
+
+The first person the Viceroy thought of to lead the soldiers was a
+brave nobleman, named Coronado, who sat by his side. He had been
+listening eagerly to all that Fray Marcos had to tell. Turning to him
+the Viceroy said:
+
+"It is my wish that you should command my forces and conquer this
+Kingdom of Cibola. I desire you to make ready at once."
+
+"Fray Marcos simply confirms what Guzman and De Vaca have already told
+us," replied Coronado, "and I accept your commission with one
+proviso."
+
+"And what may that be?" asked the Viceroy, with a smile.
+
+"That you allow me to bear the expenses of the entire expedition."
+
+"Very well, and when you find Cibola I will make you its governor and
+give you all the treasures you find except what justly belongs to the
+King of Spain, and his representatives and soldiers taking part in the
+enterprise."
+
+So great was the excitement over Fray Marcos' story of the new El
+Dorado, that Coronado scarcely knew what to do with the volunteers of
+all classes who came flocking into camp determined to go with him. He
+not only spent all his own money, but borrowed all he could get and
+provided for every one in splendid style. They marched out in
+glittering armor, on prancing horses with lances gleaming in the
+sunshine and banners flying gayly. They were all in high spirits
+because they expected to return in a short time loaded with gold and
+jewels.
+
+But it was very different when they reached the desert and mountains,
+for they did not know how to bear the fatigue of such a journey, nor
+how to care for their horses, cattle and sheep. The animals died
+rapidly, and the soldiers got into many fights with the Indians who
+resented being robbed and badly treated. On they went through what we
+now call Arizona, over almost the same road that Fray Marcos had
+traveled, and found, instead of the fine, glittering city they
+expected, only a few houses of one of the Zuni Indian villages.
+
+The hearts of the Spaniards sunk as they gazed upon it. Calling some
+of the men, Coronado said:
+
+"Go in to the people of the city, and say that we come to defend and
+join with them in friendship."
+
+They went and delivered Coronado's greeting, but were received with
+scorn.
+
+"We did not ask you to come, and your chief had no right to send you.
+This is our land, and we can defend it. If you attempt to stay here we
+will kill every one of you." Even as the soldiers, carrying the
+message, turned to go away the people of Cibola began firing arrows at
+them. Coronado quickly gave the command to attack, which the Indians
+answered by a shower of arrows and stones which they sent down from
+their high-walled houses. They seemed bent upon killing Coronado;
+twice they felled him to the ground, but he recovered and led the
+charge with an arrow sticking through his foot.
+
+"Santiago! and at them!" he shouted, as he rode forward in the last
+assault.
+
+"Santiago," echoed his soldiers, close at his heels. When the Indians
+saw the horses coming at full speed into their village, they threw
+down their bows and arrows, and fled in every direction.
+
+Then the Spaniards almost cried with anger and disappointment. The
+houses were really made of stone, but there were no jewels, no gold,
+no treasures of any kind--nothing, in fact, but a poor, miserable
+Indian pueblo, or village, built upon a high ledge of rocks, miles
+away from the fields of corn, beans and squashes, upon which they
+lived. All the Indians in that part of the United States built their
+houses in pueblos, or villages, but not one of them had any treasures.
+They irrigated the dry, sandy soil and tilled their fields, and were a
+simple, kindly people, until the greedy Spanish soldiers drove them
+into rebellion which has left their country bare and desolate, even to
+this day.
+
+ [Illustration: "FRAY MARCOS"]
+
+
+
+
+The Kingdom of Quivera
+
+
+The air was full of the chill and blast of winter, and with the first
+snow-flakes great discontent broke out in camp, and Coronado realized
+that he must find a place to make his men more comfortable.
+
+"There are ten big community houses on top of that spider-shaped
+rock," he said, one morning to a squad of soldiers who had been
+drilling on parade ground, "and I want possession of it for the
+troops. Some one must go ahead first and report the situation."
+
+"The rock is so high that our bullets scarcely reach to the top," said
+the scout, who had galloped over to the pueblo to spy out a way of
+doing what Coronado commanded. "But there are four winding paths
+leading up the sides, and we can ascend in single file."
+
+"Have you tried it?" asked Coronado.
+
+"Yes, and found it quite an easy task. I spent last night there, and
+as the rays of the sun took leave of the lofty Sierras, I felt
+forsaken, and as if I were about to float away into the darkness."
+
+"Did the Indians suspect your purpose in coming?"
+
+"Certainly not, and all my gloomy feelings passed away as soon as the
+fires began to blaze on the roofs at different heights of the same
+building. Inside the houses laughing voices greeted me, and I was glad
+to be the guest of such simple people."
+
+"Do you think we would be safe from attacks and surprises at night?"
+
+"Perfectly. And when once up there it would be almost impossible to
+come down at night. The narrow paths are really unsafe except in
+daylight."
+
+It was not long until the Spaniards had forcible possession of the
+village, and during the long, dreary winter months they went about in
+rusty helmets, battered cuirasses, ragged doublets and worn-out boots,
+while the Indians wrapped themselves in thick coverings made of rabbit
+skins. Every morning the bell called them to mass, and then the criers
+went up and down announcing the day's duty to every one in the camp.
+On the plains below was heard the neighing of horses, the lowing of
+cattle and the bleating of sheep.
+
+In the pueblos near by the Indians danced, and gathered around the
+fires to listen to the old men's stories of their past, and as the
+winter drew to a close the Spaniards were no longer homesick and
+despondent, but ready and willing to test the truth of some of the
+things the Indians had told them of the Wrathy Chieftain and the
+Kingdom of Quivera.
+
+At Pecos the scouts were received with music and presents of cotton
+cloth and handfuls of turquoises, because the inhabitants were not
+sure but that the white men came from the sun, and were sent by the
+Golden Hearted, whom they revered and honored as the Wrathy Chieftain.
+
+In this village they met a strange-looking Indian.
+
+We will name this fellow the "Turk," because he looks so like one, and
+find out, if we can, where he lives. "May be his people have gold,"
+said the soldiers, as soon as they arrived at Pecos.
+
+"My home is very far to the east," said the Turk, when questioned,
+"and we have plenty of gold."
+
+"What is the name of your country!"
+
+"Quivera, and my king's name is Tatarax. He wears a long beard, and
+worships a golden cross and an image of the Queen of Heaven."
+
+Had the Spaniards been at all cautious and shrewd they would have
+taken pains to find out how true this statement was, but they were so
+tired of being in camp, that they were glad of an opportunity to go on
+another expedition in search of an El Dorado, which they always hoped
+to find.
+
+"The chiefs of the Pecos have taken a gold arm band of mine," said
+the Turk, wishing to make trouble between them and the Spaniards. "No
+matter what I say to them, they will not give it back to me."
+
+He described the band as being so wide and heavy that Coronado was
+induced to seize the chiefs and carry them off to another pueblo in
+the hope of compelling the Pecos Indians to pay a big ransom for them.
+In addition the Spaniards demanded cotton clothes and provisions for
+their journey. The Indians refused, and fought two weeks before
+Coronado became satisfied that the Turk never had such a thing as an
+arm band, and that there was no gold in the village.
+
+"It is no use to waste time looking for treasures in this part of the
+world," he finally told his men, and they immediately began to
+question the Turk.
+
+"I know a country," he declared, "where there is a very wide river
+that has fish in it as big as a horse. The people tip their canoes
+with gold, and sometimes there are forty rowers in a boat. Every
+vessel they use is made of gold and silver."
+
+All the time he was talking he watched the faces of the soldiers with
+keen craftiness, and when he saw how delighted they were, he made the
+story just as big as he could.
+
+"There are plenty of such places," he said, with a toss of his head,
+"but my country of Quivera is the most important of them all, and I
+will take you there first."
+
+When any one gets lost on the plains where there are no hills or trees
+to mark the way, they wander around in a circle, and finally get into
+a perfect frenzy by coming back to the same place over and over again.
+
+This was what happened to the Spaniards under Coronado. They returned
+in a wide bend to Pecos, after marching for months on the desolate
+plains.
+
+"Led around in a circle," he said, "as if by some evil spirit.
+Everywhere we went we found ourselves surrounded by herds of
+misshapen, crinkly-wooled cows. Some of them had calves, and the bulls
+had beards of sunburnt hair. Our horses took fright and ran away,
+while some of them plunged and threw their riders over their heads."
+
+"Were these woolly cows ferocious?" asked the good padre, who had
+remained at Pecos to teach the Indians, and had never seen a buffalo.
+
+"They are very terrible when they stampede. If they catch sight of a
+white man, they lower their heads and with a quick, short bellow set
+off at full tilt in a heavy, rolling gallop. On they come, like a mad
+rush of waters, tails high in the air and their big eyes gleaming with
+fright. We had much ado to keep out of their way, for they would run
+over and trample all to death."
+
+"No wonder your horses ran away," said the padre. "It was quite enough
+to frighten anything."
+
+"Finally we met some of the people who go around the country with the
+cows. They make tents of the hides and wear them for blankets, and
+keep huge dogs to carry their food and baggage. They were friendly to
+us, but knew nothing of Quivera and its treasures."
+
+But the feeling of helplessness and desolation of the plains gradually
+left the Spaniards, and then they were ready to follow the Turk's lead
+again. This time they got lost in the desert, and many of them
+wandered off and died from thirst, and their bodies were eaten by
+wolves and coyotes. They kept going round and round in a circle until
+their tongues hung out of their mouths and they were delirious. In the
+hot, quivering air they imagined they saw cities, and lakes and
+springs of water, and they laughed and cried, and sung and danced in a
+raging fever. At last they began to suspect the Turk.
+
+"He is purposely leading us astray," they said. "He is trying to lose
+us on these desolate plains where we will starve to death. He intends
+to desert and leave us here."
+
+They put the Turk in chains, and then he confessed that he had never
+seen the big stone houses he said were in Quivera, but stoutly
+insisted that the country was rich in gold and silver.
+
+The Prairie Indians begged Coronado to turn back.
+
+"The land of Quivera is forty days' journey toward the north," they
+said, "and you will suffer from hunger long before you reach other
+tribes."
+
+But Coronado had spent all his money and was in debt deeply, so he
+determined to take twenty-nine picked horsemen and go forward. Leaving
+the rest of the company to find their way back to Pecos, he engaged
+some new guides among the Prairie Indians and pushed on determined to
+find Quivera. They rode directly north until they came to a place in
+Kansas near where the city of Leavenworth is now located.
+
+In the meantime the Pecos Indians went on the warpath and refused to
+receive or aid the Spaniards who left Coronado and went back to them.
+He found them encamped before the pueblo when he returned months
+after, weary, empty-handed, and disappointed.
+
+"I have found Quivera and explored it well," he said, "but it has no
+permanent settlement, and no gold and silver. I was expecting to see
+houses several stories high, made of stone. Instead of that they are
+simple huts and the inhabitants are perfectly savage."
+
+The Turk tried to secure his freedom by saying that the Pecos Indians
+had hired him to lose the Spaniards on the plains, but no one paid any
+attention to him. In revenge he said to the people of Quivera:
+
+"Do not let one of these white men escape alive. They will bring
+others of their kind and rob you of all your possessions and ill
+treat your women and children. They have already killed many of the
+Pecos."
+
+Some one told Coronado what was being said, and he ordered his
+soldiers to take the Turk out and hang him to the first tree they
+found, which they did.
+
+Coronado spoke the truth about Quivera, but even the men who went with
+him believed that there was a land near by where they would find great
+riches, and they kept repeating all the stories about El Dorado until
+Coronado was obliged to promise them that he would make another effort
+to find it.
+
+"If we go north again we can be certain of good food for the soil is
+the best that can be found for all kinds of crops. In Quivera we were
+given plums, nuts, very fine grapes, mulberries and flax. I really
+believe we shall make some important discoveries very soon."
+
+One day at Pecos after he had made friends with the Indians, he was
+tilting with an officer in his command when his saddle girth broke
+while his horse was running at full speed. He fell on his head and was
+run over and so badly hurt that for days it was thought he would die.
+Before he got well news came from Mexico that the Indians behind him
+were on the warpath, and then he knew he must retreat as quickly as
+possible. So instead of going in quest of the roving band of Quivera
+Indians, he was obliged to return to the city of Mexico. Here the
+Viceroy received him coldly and upbraided him, saying:
+
+ "It is a source of keen disappointment and regret to me,
+ that you, my trusted friend and favorite officer, should
+ abandon the rich treasures of the north. I wish you to go
+ to your estate and live in retirement for the remaining
+ years of your life. I will try to find some one more worthy
+ of my confidence for future work."
+
+Reduced to poverty, with many debts unpaid, and disgraced by the
+Viceroy, the poor unfortunate nobleman lived only a few years on his
+estate in Mexico and died heartbroken over his failures.
+
+Everybody in Mexico believed that he was mistaken, and several other
+expeditions set out to find the Kingdom of Quivera. More than a
+century afterward the legend settled around one of the missions
+founded by the padres, and for years people thought this was the Grand
+Quivera. Great treasures were supposed to be buried there by the
+missionaries when the insurrection of 1680 came. That year all the
+Indians in the region of Arizona and New Mexico organized a general
+uprising and they not only killed all the whites they could find but
+sacked and burned the missions. And that is the last ever heard of the
+one known as the Grand Quivera. No treasures were ever found in or
+near its ruins. There are ten curious maps of that time and each one
+locates the kingdom of Quivera in a different place. One of them
+brings it as far north as the Sacramento Valley in California.
+
+Really Quivera is a will-o'-the-wisp, and from a roving band of
+Indians, has become a wandering treasure city, and a land of vague and
+mysterious proportions.
+
+ [Illustration: "AN OLD COMMUNITY HOUSE"]
+
+
+
+
+The Land of Gold
+
+
+If any of the boys and girls born in the United States were asked
+"Where is the land of gold?" they would answer "It is California," and
+if any of the children born in California were asked "What is El
+Dorado?" they would say "Why, that means the land of gold."
+
+So it does and for two reasons.
+
+Cortez named it California after the heroine of a romance of chivalry
+he had read when he was in Spain. The book said there was an island on
+the right hand of the Indies very near the terrestrial Paradise,
+peopled with black women, who were Amazons, and wore gold ornaments in
+great profusion. Down in his heart Cortez cherished the hope that he
+might find the northwest passage to India, not because he cared very
+much for science, but because he believed the most extravagant stories
+about the silks, spices, sweet-smelling gums and rare gems to be found
+there. His ill-gotten Mexican gold did him very little good, and was
+soon all expended, and he was anxious to find some other country to
+conquer. The very next year after the death of Montezuma, Cortez heard
+of the Land of Gold, and came over to a cove on the Pacific Coast of
+Mexico where he laid out a town and built some ships for the purpose
+of finding the new wonderland. All he ever discovered was the
+peninsula of Lower California, where the Indians already knew about
+the pearl fisheries. This was what he thought was an island, and what
+he named California.
+
+One of his officers sailed around the island of St. Thomas, and on a
+Sunday morning he said he saw a merman swimming close to his ship.
+
+"It came alongside the vessel," he declared, "and raised its head and
+looked at us two or three times. It was as full of antics as a monkey.
+Sometimes it would dive, and then raise up out of the water and wash
+its face with its hands. Finally a sea bird drove it away."
+
+Of course he was mistaken, for what he really did see was either a
+walrus or a big seal as both animals abound in the Pacific Ocean.
+
+It was more than three hundred years after Cabrillo sailed into the
+Gate of Palms at the entrance to the bay of San Diego, before gold was
+discovered in California. The country had been settled by Spanish
+Cavaliers and padres and there were missions for the teaching of the
+Indians. Mexico had rebelled against the King of Spain and the United
+States had made war on Mexico and won. Then a man by the name of
+Marshall found some free gold. It was in the sand at the bottom of a
+ditch he was digging to get water to run a sawmill he was building. He
+knew at once that the bright yellow pebbles he held in his hands were
+gold, so he hurried to the men at work on the watershed and said:
+
+"I have found it!" and that is what the motto, _Eureka!_ on the state
+shield of California really means.
+
+"What is it you have found, Mr. Marshall?" asked the men.
+
+"Gold!" he exclaimed, excitedly. The men threw down their tools and
+gathered about him to examine the new find.
+
+"No, no; you are mistaken," they said, when they had turned the
+pebbles over, and held them to the light, and hammered them with a
+stone.
+
+"I am certain that it is," he stoutly maintained, but they only
+laughed at him. He paid no attention to them but turned on the water
+the next night. Then he picked up all the yellow lumps he found in the
+sand, and putting them into a little bag hastened to the man for whom
+he was building the mill, and said:
+
+"I have found gold at the sawmill, and want you to come and see for
+yourself."
+
+His employer tested and weighed the shining mass carefully, and
+finally said:
+
+"You are right. It is real gold. Go back to the mill, but say
+nothing until we get it finished. If you do the men will quit work and
+we shall have no one to take their places."
+
+ [Illustration: "THE DISCOVERY OF SAN FRANCISCO BAY"]
+
+But the secret was too good to keep, and in a few days the whole
+country raised the same sordid cry of "gold, gold, gold," which had
+brought the Spaniards to the coast. In less than a year eighty
+thousand people came to California looking for gold. From an
+independent republic, California became a state and with its admission
+into the Union the search for El Dorado passed from Spanish into
+American hands. Both the padres and Cavaliers in California as
+elsewhere in the Americas enslaved the Indians in a system of peonage
+which thinned out their ranks, and led to many hostile outbreaks
+before they were finally subdued. The gold seekers had to do some of
+the fighting, but they did not rob and pillage the country, nor were
+they allowed to be unnecessarily cruel. One of our great writers has
+said of the Indian:
+
+"The red man of America has something peculiarly sensitive in his
+nature. He shrinks instinctively from the rude touch of a foreign
+hand. Like some of the dumb creatures he pines and dies in captivity.
+If today we see them with their energies broken we simply learn from
+that what a terrible thing is slavery. In their faltering steps and
+meek and melancholy aspect we read the sad characteristics of a
+_conquered_ race."
+
+His faith in the traditions of his forefathers, the belief that the
+Golden Hearted would come again to bring him all that his heart
+desired finally enslaved and ruined him.
+
+If we pity the Indian we must also feel sorry for the miserable ending
+of all the Spanish leaders who searched for El Dorado. Columbus spent
+the last years of his life in prison; Balboa, who discovered the
+Pacific Ocean, was treacherously executed and lies in an unknown grave
+near Panama; Pizarro was assassinated and buried in Peru; Magellan was
+killed by the natives in the Philippine Islands; Cortez was accused of
+strangling his wife to death, and finally deprived of all honors and
+wealth; Guzman died in poverty and distress while Coronado was said to
+be insane after his return to Mexico. For the crime and violence done
+by Spain in these expeditions she has not only lost all the revenues,
+but no longer owns a foot of land in any part of the new world.
+
+Let us be thankful that the wisdom and liberty of our own government
+has saved us from making such terrible mistakes, and doing such
+grievous wrongs in our attempts to find El Dorado. The brave men and
+women who crossed the plains long before we had a railroad were
+willing to work for the riches they wanted. They did not come with the
+idea of robbing anybody, and when they found the gold they were
+generous and kind to less fortunate neighbors and friends.
+
+"In this land of sunshine and flowers," they said, "we find gold in
+the crops of the chickens we have for our Sunday dinners, and our
+children build doll-houses with the odd-shaped nuggets given to them
+by the big-hearted miners."
+
+It is hard to imagine the stirring times that followed. Everybody had
+the gold fever, and in crossing the plains they heard the name El
+Dorado as soon as they came near where Coronado had been. Some of them
+made up a song about it, which was for many years very popular among
+the men in the mining camps. This is one verse of it:
+
+ We'll rock the cradle around Pike's Peak
+ In search of the gold dust that we seek,
+ The Indians ask us why we're here
+ We tell them we're born as free as the air,
+ And oh!
+ Boys ho!
+ To the mountains we will go
+ For there is plenty of gold
+ Out West we are told
+ In the new El Dorado.
+
+Many of the emigrants sickened and died on the way; others were killed
+by the hostile Indians, and all were subjected to a life of hardship
+and toil, because they were the builders of a new commonwealth. Once
+in California they found many trying situations, not the least of
+which was an occasional fight with the huge grizzly bears that roamed
+through the forests. Many times the men were obliged to organize a
+hunt for the purpose of ridding a district of a nest of grizzlies.
+Not only would the bears fight ferociously, but they did not hesitate
+to go into a corral and carry off calves, hogs and sheep under the
+very eyes of the owner.
+
+"Never for a moment imagine that a grizzly bear will run from you,"
+said the leader of a hunting party filling his powder horn and putting
+a box of caps into his pocket. "Take good aim at the center of his
+forehead. Otherwise one shot will not kill him, and remember that he
+cannot climb. If you get into close quarters, try to get up a tree as
+fast as you can."
+
+"We know his trail and we are going to send our dogs in to start him
+out of his den."
+
+"Unless your dogs know how to attack him it is very unsafe to let them
+go near. One blow from a grizzly's paw will kill any dog, and we
+cannot afford to lose any of yours," said the leader, doubtfully.
+
+"My dogs know all about bear hunting. They will keep well behind him,
+and after we have crippled him, they will snap at his heels and worry
+him so he cannot chase the last man who shoots at him."
+
+"Will a grizzly do that?" asked a man who had never been in a bear
+hunt before.
+
+"Indeed he will. If you watch closely you can tell how many times he
+is hit for he will fall down, roll over and slap himself wherever the
+bullet strikes him."
+
+"I would not advise you to waste any time trying to find out who fired
+the last shot, for the bear will never make a mistake about it. He
+knows, and is always after the last one."
+
+"Separate into pairs," said the leader, when he had finished examining
+the bear tracks in the path they were following. "Take your stations
+about a hundred yards apart, and when you hear the grizzly coming, aim
+as I have already told you, and then look out for trouble."
+
+"Do you think we are likely to find him soon?" asked the newcomer,
+nervously.
+
+"He is in that thicket where the dogs are keeping up such a loud
+barking. You will hear him snapping and growling in a few minutes."
+
+"The grass and underbrush are so high I am afraid I will not be able
+to see him," said the timid, inexperienced hunter.
+
+"You can tell by the way the dogs bark when he is coming, and you can
+easily hear the click of his sharp claws before he gets too near for
+comfort," said the leader, with a smile. "Make sure that the trigger
+of your gun is properly set, and you will be all right."
+
+He had stationed other men farther up the ravine, and in a few minutes
+the dogs yelped warningly, and the man at the upper station shouted:
+
+"Look out! here he comes!"
+
+"Bang!" went the gun, and then the dogs rushed by in a solid pack with
+a huge she bear at their heels.
+
+"There are two of them," somebody said, and in a moment everything was
+in the wildest confusion.
+
+"Man alive! don't you see that wounded grizzly rolling in the grass.
+He is not badly hurt, but he will be after you in a second. Give him
+another dose, and run," said the leader excitedly, to the new hunter
+who was standing stock still and gazing around him helplessly. He did
+not seem to hear what was said, and before he recovered from his
+paralyzing fright, the bear grabbed him.
+
+"Help! help! help! For God's sake come here! I am being killed!" he
+screamed.
+
+"Lie perfectly still and pretend you are dead," said the leader. "Make
+no sound when I shoot, and crawl behind that big rock as soon as you
+get up."
+
+The knowing dogs barked and raged around the bear until he could not
+tear the prostrate man. They kept him turning round and round, and the
+daring hunter coolly waited until his head was away from the wounded
+man's, and then he shot him through the fore leg. Down he fell and
+kicked and scratched the fallen hunter, but true to his instinct got
+up and gave chase to the leader, with the dogs in full cry behind him.
+The wounded man managed to reach the rock, and by scrambling up on its
+jagged sides was comparatively safe. From his height he could see what
+the other men were doing.
+
+"I am all right," called the leader from a neighboring tree, "but how
+is it with you?"
+
+"My powder-horn is crushed and broken and my arm is bitten through.
+There is blood running down my face too, but I think that is only
+scratches."
+
+"Bang!" went a gun near by, and turning to look both men saw one of
+the party standing up in the saddle, on the horse brought along to
+carry the game.
+
+"Get out of that thicket! You will be killed if you try to stay
+there," shouted the leader.
+
+"My only chance is to shoot as I stand," answered the man, busy
+loading his gun. "I can not make this horse move. But for the Mexican
+stiff-bit in his mouth and a vigorous use of my big spurs he would lie
+down with me."
+
+"I am coming to help you," said the leader, sliding down the limb of
+the tree to the ground. "I will ham-string the grizzly and then you
+can finish him."
+
+He was an excellent shot, and soon the bear was dragging his hind
+quarters and showing signs of weakness from loss of blood. The man in
+the saddle deliberately aimed at his heart, and after a few convulsive
+struggles the grizzly lay dead.
+
+The barking of the dogs and the reports of the guns brought the whole
+party together, and after bandaging the wounds of their companion, and
+sending him home on the horse the remaining men went in search of the
+she bear. They had wounded her and it was not hard to track her to a
+small stream, where they found her sitting on her haunches and
+groaning like a human being.
+
+"That sounds too much like a woman's moans," said the men, "and we
+will slip away without being seen and let her alone."
+
+As they walked home they took turns in carrying the skin of the
+grizzly they had killed.
+
+"He would weigh two thousand pounds and could jump fully twenty feet,"
+they said.
+
+ [Illustration: "A PRAIRIE-SCHOONER"]
+
+
+
+
+The New El Dorado
+
+
+One day long after the gold excitement in California had subsided, a
+strange craft sailed into San Francisco bay flying a flag different
+from any other ship in the harbor. It was a yellow satin banner
+showing the imperial double eagles of the Russian Czar, and the guns
+at the forts fired a royal salute as the vessel passed by on its way
+to the wharf. On board was a man empowered by the Czar to sell Alaska
+to the United States, and waiting on shore to greet him was a Senator
+who was appointed to make an offer for the territory.
+
+"You are very welcome, my friend," said the Senator, grasping the hand
+of the Diplomat, as he came ashore. "Your arrival gives my countrymen
+much pleasure, and I earnestly hope that we may be able to make the
+ties of friendship between your people and mine very much stronger."
+
+"His Majesty, the Czar, charged me to make plain to you his sentiments
+of good will and his desire to render your government a service."
+
+The two men pushed their way through the crowd and were soon being
+driven rapidly toward the Senator's residence. After dinner that
+evening, while sitting by the fire the Diplomat said:
+
+"Do you know the Russian story of the discovery of Alaska, the Great
+Land, as we called it?"
+
+"No," replied the Senator, "I do not. I only know that it was a
+curious freak of fortune that your people should be the ones to
+discover the fabled 'Straits of Anian' so long sought by the
+Spaniards, Portuguese and English navigators. Bering's Sea is very far
+from India, but it is the famous northwest passage, that separates
+Asia from America." The Diplomat said:
+
+"While Europe was exploring and settling the Americas my countrymen
+were throwing off the yoke that made them subjects of the Khans of
+Tartary. Even at that time we had a great caravan trade with China and
+Persia, but our merchants suffered severely from the depredations of
+the Cossack freebooters roaming over the steppes of Siberia. These
+reckless horsemen would charge down on a caravan and rob it of all its
+silks, spices, teas and perfumes."
+
+"Then you can sympathize with the galleons of Spain that were harassed
+by the buccaneers and pirates infesting the high seas ready to scuttle
+and sink any ship that fell into their hands," said the Senator,
+greatly interested.
+
+"Our merchants had no redress and they complained bitterly to Peter
+the Great, who immediately undertook to chastise the unruly Cossacks.
+They fled into Siberia, and it was not long before they found rich
+silver mines on the Amoor river, and began to traffic in the ivory and
+sable skins which make that vicinity notable. As they advanced toward
+the Pacific Ocean they were able to slaughter herds of musk oxen, and
+before many years the fame of the ivory deposits brought hundreds of
+adventurers into that barren region. Diligent inquiry among the
+natives disclosed the fact that there was a Great Land toward the
+North Pole where remains of the hairy elephant were plentiful, and its
+beautiful tusks were heaped up in huge mounds."
+
+"It was a desire for gold that brought the first white men to
+California," said the Senator, "and the building of the railroad
+across the continent is the result of having found it."
+
+"Ivory and furs were the lure that nerved the Russian freebooter to
+brave the frozen sea and six months of night," said the Diplomat.
+"They went to sea in open boats made of planks tied together with
+rawhide straps and thongs. Their sails were of soft dressed reindeer
+skins, and in place of rope they used elk skin strips. The anchors
+were pieces of wood weighted with stones. They had no beds, and
+carried a wooden plate and spoon tied to the sash around their
+waists."
+
+"They must have suffered very much from cold and hunger," said the
+Senator.
+
+"They did; and many of them died with scurvy. They were greatly
+hindered by glaciers and icebergs, and would never have been able to
+make the journey at all except for the sleds and dogs furnished by the
+natives."
+
+"Were the Eskimos and Aleuts always friendly?" asked the Senator. The
+Diplomat hesitated for a moment, then said with a smile:
+
+"The freebooters found it necessary to fight after they had once
+ill-treated the natives. At first the white men were supposed to be
+superior beings, but they proved themselves unworthy of confidence and
+then there was serious trouble."
+
+"We have had a somewhat similar experience in dealing with the Indians
+in this country," replied the Senator.
+
+"In one of the numerous attempts made by the freebooters to reach the
+Great Land, they fell in with some Japanese castaways who claimed to
+have found gold and silver there in abundance. When this was reported
+to Peter the Great he organized a scientific and military expedition
+under Bering to find Alaska, with the hope that it would lead to
+commercial relations with America and Japan."
+
+"It seems a hard fate that Bering should die of scurvy in the winter
+when all was dark as night and exceedingly cold," said the Senator.
+
+"Yes," answered the Diplomat, "especially after he had survived the
+six weary years of hardship and toil necessary to march across
+Siberia. It is possible that he would have failed at last had he not
+noted the flight of the land birds and known that there must be a
+shore-line not far away."
+
+"Did he or his family profit by the discoveries he made?"
+
+"Very little. It has been the fate of all the Russian explorers in
+America to die poor," responded the Diplomat. "It has cost my
+government vast sums of money and more than two hundred years have
+elapsed since the first efforts were made. We have profited greatly by
+the seal fisheries and so will your people when once Alaska becomes a
+territory of the United States."
+
+"It has always been a puzzle to me why the Czar recalled the Russian
+colonists living in peace and prosperity in California under Spanish
+rule," said the Senator, after a pause.
+
+"It was because he wished to maintain friendly relations with the
+United States and he was far-sighted enough to see that California
+would some day come under the American flag. It is to increase that
+feeling that he now offers to sell Alaska to you. He does not wish to
+have any possessions on this continent. The destiny of Russia lies in
+another direction."
+
+Both the Senator and Diplomat went to see the President and it was not
+very long until the purchase was made. When the Senator came back from
+Washington he said:
+
+"We have paid exactly two cents an acre for Alaska, and its seal
+fisheries are well worth that amount. We will not have to fight for
+its possession, and I am certain that we have made a good bargain."
+
+Since then many men have sailed into the northern waters and come back
+with cargoes of whale oil, or seal skins or canned salmon, but no one
+paid any particular attention to them. A party of scientific men
+explored the Yukon river which is as long and as wide as the
+Mississippi and made the ascent of Mount St. Elias, one of the
+loftiest peaks in North America, but nobody was interested in Alaska
+except as a place where the sun shines for six months and then leaves
+the whole country in partial darkness for another six months.
+
+Imagine the sun apparently traveling around in a little circle all the
+time. There are no sunrises and no sunsets, and no need of lights at
+night. Then when it goes down, lamps or candles must be burned all the
+time. When the extreme cold comes the aurora borealis sends out
+splendid rays of many colored lights to burnish up the vault of heaven
+and make a grand electrical display.
+
+The Eskimos are a dwarfed race of men and women with flat noses, and
+eyes wide apart, and they dress themselves in heavy furs with the hair
+turned next to the body. They live on fish and whale blubber, and are
+experts in throwing a spear or managing a skin canoe. In front of
+their homes they have curious totem poles to show what tribes they
+belong to, and they are quite ingenious in weaving fish-nets, baskets,
+and in the carving of silver and ivory.
+
+For many years no news came from Alaska, except by ship, and on a
+warm, sunny day in autumn not long ago, some sailors set up the cry:
+
+"Gold has been found in Alaska! It is the new El Dorado! It is richer
+than California!"
+
+At first people did not believe them, but when the experts passed upon
+the findings everybody said:
+
+"Let us go to the Klondike! We can get rich in a few months."
+
+The excitement was so great that it did no good to point out the
+hardships and dangers of such an undertaking.
+
+"We will take the chances of freezing," they said, carelessly. "We can
+walk over the mountain passes and we do not care about the
+discomforts."
+
+"But only a few can find the gold. It was the same in California. Not
+one in a thousand can possibly bring away as much gold as he takes
+with him to live on, for food will be very scarce and high priced,"
+urged the prudent ones.
+
+"You will freeze," said others, "or will die with scurvy, or be eaten
+by those terrible white polar bears and wolves."
+
+"No matter what you say to us we are going," was the reply, and every
+ship that could be found was loaded with eager men, and some
+venturesome women bent upon wresting the gold from the frozen north.
+Many of them had never seen an iceberg or a glacier, and had no idea
+what misery awaited them.
+
+"Write us as soon as you can," said the wives and mothers tearfully,
+as they stood on the wharf in some seaport of the Pacific saying good
+by to some loved one, going to seek a fortune.
+
+"It will be six months before this ship can return," said the captain
+of one of the first ships that carried gold seekers to Alaska in
+answer to an anxious inquiry as to how long it will be before the
+promised letters could arrive.
+
+"Why will you be so long?" asks some little boy or girl whose heart is
+sad at parting with their beloved father.
+
+"Because the great ice-floes will close in on our vessel and we will
+not be able to move until the weather moderates."
+
+"Then will you bring my father back to me?" asks the simple child.
+
+"I hope so, my dear," and then the kindly face of the captain looks
+serious and he mutters to himself, "God forbid that it should be a
+grave instead of a fortune that awaits this child's father."
+
+The first season many a brave man sailed away, full of hope and
+expectancy, but the next year returned haggard, worn and in some
+instances a hopeless invalid.
+
+"What do you think of the gold fields of Alaska?" asks his old friends
+as they shake his hand.
+
+"It is a place to suffer and grow old in; a place to lose the earnings
+of a lifetime, and your health with them. In the long, dreary, dark
+nights the stoutest heart loses courage, and next to longing for home
+is the longing for death."
+
+If he were one of the fortunate few who found the grains of free gold
+deposited in the frozen sands, he had a sobered, prematurely old look
+and said:
+
+"Yes, I have made money in the gold fields of Alaska, but I hope I may
+never be obliged to go back and live in the mines."
+
+Strewn along the trail and over the Chilkoot Pass are the bleaching
+bones of those who sacrificed their lives in the effort to reach the
+new El Dorado. The simple Eskimos looked on in wonder at the frantic
+energy of their white brothers, and were content in their own
+security.
+
+The Ice Queen is their guardian and she punishes those who venture
+into her frigid realm to unearth and carry away the hidden treasures.
+In Alaska, as everywhere else, one must work hard and build up the
+country instead of robbing it, if money is really to be made. The late
+comers have already learned this lesson, by experience, and are
+beginning to build railroads, good houses, schools and churches in the
+warmest and most fertile part of the country surrounding the seaports.
+
+And we know at last that El Dorado exists solely in the hearts and
+minds of men, and not in the everlasting snows of Alaska.
+
+ [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+
+The following is a partial list of the books consulted by the author
+in the preparation of the "Stories of El Dorado."
+
+ Aubrey, Frank The Devil Tree of El Dorado.
+ Baldwin, J. D. Ancient America.
+ Bandelier, A. F. The Gilded Man.
+ Bancroft, H. H. History of the Central American States.
+ Bancroft, H. H. History of California.
+ Bancroft, H. H. History of Alaska.
+ Bancroft, H. H. Native Races, Vols. III and V.
+ Brinton, D. G. Myths of the New World.
+ Brinton, D. G. American Hero-Myths.
+ Donnelly, Ignatius Atlantis.
+ Harrison, Elizabeth Story of Christopher Columbus.
+ Heuvel, J. A. Von El Dorado, a narrative of a rich and
+ splendid city in South America.
+ Higginson, T. W. Tales of the Enchanted Island of the
+ Atlantic.
+ Hittell, T. H. History of California.
+ Hood, Margaret G. Tales of Discovery on the Pacific Slope.
+ Longfellow, H. W. The Song of Hiawatha.
+ Markham, C. R. History of Peru.
+ Payne, E. J. History of the New World called
+ America.
+ Prescott, W. H. History of the Conquest of Mexico.
+ Prescott, W. H. History of the Conquest of Peru.
+ Plongeon, A. Le Sacred Mysteries of the Mayas and
+ Quiches.
+ Plongeon, A. Le Queen Moo.
+ Stephens, J. L. Incidents of Travel in Central America.
+ Stephens, J. L. Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, 2 Vols.
+ Simon, Pedro Expeditions in search of El Dorado and
+ Omagua.
+ Schoolcraft, H. R. The Myth of Hiawatha.
+ Wallace, Gen. Lew The Fair God.
+
+
+
+
+ * * * * * *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+ Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have
+ been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
+
+ On page 44, "there was not a surely man in the moon" might be a
+ typographical error.
+
+ On page 68, "as if he were going to a picnic" should possibly be
+ "as if she were going to a picnic".
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42823 ***
generated by cgit v1.2.3 (git 2.25.1) at 2026-05-17 00:53:54 +0000