IRRESISTIBLE ARGUMENTS OF THE HOLY CROSS. 329

The Cross reared upon despoiled shrines, whether of the Aztecas or the Incas, only added a cloak, a solemnity, an earnestness to their purpose; but the cruelties attendant upon the introduction of the Holy Catholic Faith were strange arguments wherewith to justify the Confessor's lessons of Justice, Humility, Good-will, and Love! From the throne to the hut, the population received the new Faith, baptized with the blood of their fellow-beings, and the bigotry and recklessness of the Fathers of the Conquest but illy paralleled the acts of Him, who on Golgotha offered himself for the Redemption of mankind! It is to these scenes of plunder, pillage, and violence, the memory of the exiled Indian reverts, as he gazes upon the Holy Cross-he feels an awe creeping over his soul, as he marks the Fathers, as of yore, chanting the Mass, and he innately shudders as he notes the dominion of the Church extending over his native haunts.

It has been said by some writer, "that from the outermost margin of this Continent to the shores of the Atlantic, the name and fame of Montezuma is cherished by the various tribes." Many of the Indians of Nicaragua, with still unextinguished, though secret veneration for their hidden Idols, nourish the hope, and sacredly cling to the belief, that this most unfortunate of the Aztec Emperors, will yet return and re-establish his Empire, and, hoping for the Paraiso of yore, where, ere the mailed steeds of Castile brought dismay and carnage, Monte

zuma, to his people, was the reflection of their Deity-the impersonation of Infinity.

We have thus given an extended sketch of the origin of Mexican civilization, because Guatemala at the time referred to comprised Nicaragua, and was peopled by the same tribes or their descendants. The flow of Empire has been westward; the gems of Honduras, the fertile valleys of Costa Rica, with her pearl fisheries, the minerals of Nicaragua, with its salubrious climate-these attracted the avaricious Conquerors, and ere long they broke in upon the peacefully-governed plains whither the shattered remnants of the vanquished had fled, and found a temporary retreat.

Nicaragua was justly termed El Paraiso de Mahoma. The early tribes who had journeyed from the far distant North, where wars were waging, found, as they progressed in their exile, pleasant hills and valleys, luxuriantly covered with shady groves and pleasant fruits, where nature offered them a generous support and exacted but little, if any labor in return. The spirit of the warlike grew more social as he came in contact with his fellow-man, and the magical power of agriculture revealed to him something beyond a subsistence to be gained by weapons imbued in his brother's blood.

The warrior, in his sterner Northern clime, had imbibed a spirit, a love for war, but in the soft luxuriancy of the South, new scenes suggested new ideas, and prompted the erection

A STEP TOWARD CIVILIZATION.

of protections against the Sun. ceeded by enthusiasm, a wish to

331

The love for war was sucvenerate something. There

was a Giver-a God-a Deity-a Parent of all this teeming, grandeur and goodness-and in the deep leafy arcades, on the mountain crests, in the dim niches of the echoing valleys, pyramids arose, fashioned by the once bloody hands, and dedicated to a Deity. Although adored by human sacrifices, this was a step toward civilization, inasmuch as the idea born might and would in time tend to the cultivation of ennobling thoughts and humanizing practices. The Deity they worshiped had protected them through their weary pilgrimage, and the Vale of Anahuac, once the scene of sacrifices, soon received the genial influences of the Christian religion, and the sacrificial stone and bloody knives were succeeded by the Baptismal Font and the Rosary.

The remains of ancient cities attract the tourist in Guatemala. Ruins of much interest have been found in Nicaragua, and we may truly hope that the records of the past may not be entirely destroyed, but may yet serve to throw much light on the early history of this interesting country. Nations have fallen, and been succeeded by others on our Continent. We vainly strive to gather data from the archives of oblivion; the tide of Time remorselessly sweeps important documents beyond our reach, and we must soon rely on the History of the Indian -Tradition!

CHAPTER XXX.

EL SECRETO DEL ESTRECHO-THE SECRET OF THE STRAIT

CORTES IN SEARCH OF THE STRAIT-WHAT PRESCOTT SAYS ABOUT IT-WHAT OVIEDO THOUGHT OF CORTES' OPINION-ALVARADO IN SEARCH OF IT-CHRISTOVAL DE OLID TRIES HIS HAND--THE SECRET TO MAKE CHARLES THE FIFTH LORD OF THE WORLD-ALL THE MARITIME NATIONS OF EUROPE TRYING TO PENETRATE IT-SPAIN EAGER ON THE SUBJECT — BALBOA CLAIMS THE ENTIRE PACIFIC OCEAN-REVELS IN GOLD AND GEMS-FINALLY SUFFERS AS A TRAITOR-PEDRO ARIAS AND HIS TREACHERY-THE CONQUERORS OF MEXICO AND PERU MEET IN HONDURAS-MUTUAL ASTONISHMENT OF THE WARRIORS SPECULATION STILL RIFE AS TO THE STRAIT-THE SECRET YET IN EMBRYO-FIVE POINTS OF TRANSIT-THE RIO SAN JUAN AND THE RAPIDSOBJECTIONS TO A SHIP CANAL-ADVANTAGES OF A RAILWAY-ESTIMATES

AND REMARKS.

CORTES in 1524 fitted out an Expedition, the principal object of which was to discover a Strait which should connect the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. He also had another squadron of five vessels for the same purpose in the Gulf of Mexico, to take the direction of Florida. This discovery was then, as

THE SECRET OF THE STRAIT.

333 others have been in our times, "the great ignis fatuus of navigators." Prescott very justly remarks: "By some it was supposed that the Rio San Juan had been at one time navigable for frigates, and the Lakes Nicaragua and Managua, as well as the Rio Tipitapa, were also considered to be one vast sheet, and thence, there seemed to the early Spaniards, to be a certain exit to the Pacific."

Oviedo, although he considered Cortés "the greatest captain and most practiced in military affairs of any we have known," thought his opinion relative to the Strait "proved him to be no great cosmographer." The conversations and correspondences of men of science touch frequently upon this subject. Columbus wrote to the Emperor: "Your Majesty may be assured that, as I know how much you have at heart the discovery of this Great Secret of a Strait, I shall postpone all interests and projects of my own for the fulfillment of this grand object." (Martyr, Opus, Epist. Ep. 811.) Alvarado was deputed, with a large force of Spaniards and Indians, to descend the southern plateau of the Cordilleras, and penetrate the countries beyond Oaxaca. This Expedition terminated in the Conquest of Guatemala.

An armament was equipped and placed under the command of Christoval de Olid, who was to steer for Honduras, and plant a colony on its northern coast. A detachment of this squadron was subsequently to cruise along its southern shore