American Tableau, No.1: Sketches of Aboriginal LifeBuckland & Sumner, 1846 - 250 pages |
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Common terms and phrases
admiration affectionate altars Alvarado Anahuac arms army Ash-te-o-láh avenue Aztec band beautiful bold brave brigantines Cacama canoe capital captive Castile Castilian causeway cavaliers Chapoltepec chief chinampa Cholula cloud Cortez court crown Cuitlahua dark daughter of Montezuma dear death deep defence destiny devoted doom earth Emperor enemy escape eyes fate father fear feet festival flowers friends gallant band gardens gods grace Guatimozin hand haughty head heart heaven honor hope imperial Indian instantly invaders Karee KATAHBA king lake light lord magnificent Malinché Maxtli mighty Minaree monarch Montezuma munificence Nahuitla nation noble omens once oracles palace palanquin passed perish person presented priests prince princess proud quarters queen ranks realm replied resolved retreat royal rushed sacrifice scene seemed side solemn soon soul sovereign Spaniards spirit strangers superstitious sustain sweet Tecuichpo Tenoch Tenochtitlan Teocalli terrible Tezcuco throne tion Tlacopan Tlascalan Tula voice warriors wax-plant wigwam young
Popular passages
Page 201 - Two hundred years ! two hundred years ! How much of human power and pride, What glorious hopes, what gloomy fears Have sunk beneath their noiseless tide ! The red man at his horrid rite, Seen by the stars at night's cold noon, His bark canoe, its track of light Left on the...
Page 219 - And from the wind-rocked nest, the mother-bird Sang to her nurslings. Yet I strangely thought To be alone, and silent in thy realm, Spirit of life and love ! It might not be ! There is no solitude in thy domains, Save what man makes, when, in his selfish breast, He locks his joys, and bars out others
Page vii - A rabid race, fanatically bold, And steel'd to cruelty by lust of gold, Traversed the waves, the unknown world explored, The cross their standard, but their faith the sword ; Their steps were graves ; o'er prostrate realms they trod; They worshipp'd Mammon while they vow'd to God.
Page 200 - He digged them up, burnt their bodies to ashes, and went home in safety with singular triumph. Other pursuing enemies came, on the evening of the second day, to the camp of their dead people, when the sight gave them a greater shock than they had ever known before. In their chilled...
Page 194 - ... lying at night on the bare ground, exposed to the changes of the weather, with his arms and legs extended in a pair of rough stocks, and suffering such...
Page 217 - ... leeward, that we might not be incommoded. Almost from the beginning of this interesting fete our attention had been attracted to a young man who seemed to be the leader or partisan of the warriors. He was about twenty-three, of the finest form, tall, muscular, and exceedingly graceful, and of a most prepossessing countenance.
Page 80 - The army halted as he drew near. Cortes, dismounting, threw his reins to a page and, supported by a few of the principal cavaliers, advanced to meet him. The interview must have been one of uncommon interest to both. In Montezuma...
Page 209 - The Pawnee Loups had long practised the savage rite, known to no other of the American tribes, of sacrificing human 492 M'Kenney on the Indians. [Oct. victims to the Great Star, or the planet Venus. This dreadful ceremony annually preceded the preparations for planting corn, and was supposed to be necessary to secure a fruitful season. To prevent a failure of the crop, and a consequent famine, some individual was expected to offer up a prisoner, of either sex, who had been captured in war, and some...
Page 243 - Indians of the party, who should have her for a wife ; and the poor girl was actually won and lost at wrestling, by near half a score different men the same evening.
Page 79 - Iztapalapan, his nephew and brother, both of whom, as we have seen, had already been made known to the Spaniards. As the monarch advanced under the canopy, the obsequious attendants strewed the ground with cotton tapestry, that his imperial feet might not be contaminated by the rude soil. His subjects of high and low degree, who lined the sides of the causeway, bent forward with their eyes fastened on the ground as he passed, and some of the humbler class prostrated themselves before him.