of flint, and which, slight as is our acquaintance with the prominent personages in Europe, we immediately pronounced to be the profile of the Duke of Wellington. The figure in the stone, it is said, has somewhat the appearance of an enamel painting, the figure being of a whitish gray substance, surrounded by a dark-gray ground: and when the stone was slit up near its centre, two other profiles were seen which resembled the face of the present king. Sometimes nature shows these freaks on a larger scale. Any one who has been upon the North river, must doubtless have been struck with that prominent point in the Highlands, termed Anthony's Nose. The Camel's Hump too, on the White mountains, is said to bear a striking resemblance to the real object. But perhaps the most singular thing of this character, is the "Old Man of the Mountain," figured at the head of this article. This is found in the Franconia notch, which is a continuation of the range of the White mountains. It presents an exact colossal representation of the human face, as seen in profile, surmounted by a helmet. This face is delineated by the hand of nature, on the brow of a bare rock nearly one thousand feet high. No art could improve the effect, nor could any attempt be made to assist it, for the profile being seen perfect from only one point, the least deviation throws every thing into a confused mass. The upper part of the rock too, upon which it appears, is perfectly inac cessible. THEY who are most impetuous in the pursuit of happiness, usually meet with the severest disappointments. Happiness enters most freely into the mind which is the most tranquil in its desires. THE MOTHERS OF THE WEST. "A spirit so resolute, yet so adventurous-so unambitious, yet so exalted-a spirit so highly calculated awaken a love of the pure and the noble, yet so uncommon-never before actuated the ancestral matrons of any land or clime." THE mothers of our forest-land! In its days of blood and strife- The mothers of our forest-land! On Old Nan-tuc-kee's soil, How shared they, with each dauntless band, War's tempest, and life's toil! They shrank not from the foeman They quailed not, in the fight But cheered their husbands through the day, Their bosoms pillowed men! To run the leaden ball- The mothers of our forest-land! LIFE IN THE WEST. [Buffalo.] THE following vivid description of a buffalo-hunt, is from Washington Irving's tour on the prairies. Mr. Irving remarks: Having made two or three ineffectual shots from horseback, we determined not to seek the camp until we had made one more effort. Casting our eyes about the surrounding waste, we descried a herd of buffalo about two miles distant, scattered apart, and quietly grazing near a small strip of trees and bushes. It required but little stretch of fancy to picture them so many cattle grazing on the edge of a common, and that the grove might shelter some lowly farmhouse. We now formed our plan to circumvent the herd, and by getting on the other side of them, to hunt them in the direction where we knew our camp to be situated; otherwise, the pursuit might take us to such a distance as to render it impossible for us to find our way back before nightfall. Taking a wide circuit therefore, we moved slowly and cautiously, pausing occasionally, when we saw any of the herd desist from grazing. The wind fortunately set from them, otherwise they might have scented us and have taken the alarm. In this way, we succeeded in getting round the herd without disturbing it. It consisted of about forty head, bulls, cows and calves. Separating to some distance from each other, we now approached slowly in a parallel line, hoping by degrees to steal near without exciting attention. They began, however, to move off quietly, stopping at every step or two to graze, when suddenly a bull that, unobserved by us, had been taking his siesta under a clump of trees to our left, roused himselt from his lair, and hastened to join his companions. We were still at a considerable distance, but the game had taken the alarm. We quickened our pace, they broke into a gallop, and now commenced a full chase. As the ground was level, they shouldered along with great speed, following each other in a line; two or three bulls bringing up the rear, the last of whom, from his enormous size and venerable frontlet, and beard of sunburnt hair, looked like the patriarch of the herd; and as if he might long have reigned the monarch of the prairie. There is a mixture of the awful and the comick in the look of these huge animals, as they bear their great bulk forward, with an up-and-down motion of the unwieldy head and shoulders; their tail cocked up like the queue of Pantaloon in a pantomine, the end whisking about in a fierce yet whimsical style, and their eyes glaring venomously with an expression of fright and fury. For some time I kept parallel with the line, without being able to force my horse within pistol-shot, so much had he been alarmed by the assault of the At length, I sucbuffalo, in the preceding chase. ceeded, but was again balked by my pistols misMy companions, whose horses were sing fire. less fleet, and more way worn, could not overtake the herd; at length, Mr. L. who was in the rear of the line, and losing ground, levelled his double-barrelled gun, and fired a long raking shot. It struck a buffalo just above the loins, broke its backbone, and He stopped and alighted brought it to the ground Dismounting, I now fettered my horse to prevent his straying, and advanced to contemplate my victim. I am nothing of a sportsman: I had been prompted to this unwonted exploit by the magnitude of the game, and the excitement of an adventurous chase. Now that the excitement was over, I could not but look with commiseration upon the poor animal that lay struggling and bleeding at my feet. His very size and importance, which had before inspired me with eagerness, now increased my compunction. It seemed as if I had inflicted pain in proportion to the bulk of my victim, and as if there were a hundred fold greater waste of life than there would have been in the destruction of an animal of inferiour size. o despatch his prey, when borrowing his gun which | vember, 1518; and, on his arrival at Tabaco, Cortez nad yet a charge remaining in it, I put my horse to set fire to his ships, that is soldiers might have no his speed, again overtook the herd which was thun- other resource than their own valour. The Tlascadering along, pursued by the count. With my pres-lans he conquered and converted into allies, and ent weapon there was no need of urging my horse then advanced towards Mexico, where he was amito such close quarters; galloping along parallel, cably received. Jealous of his success, Velasquez therefore, I singled out a buffalo, and by a fortunate now sent Narvaez to supersede him, but Cortez shot brought it down on the spot. The ball had marched against the latter, took him prisoner, and struck a vital part; it would not move from the place gained over the new-come troops. The conduct of where it fell, but lay there struggling in mortal Cortez to the natives soon produced hostilities, and agony, while the rest of the herd kept on their head- he was driven from Mexico. By the decisive victory long career across the prairie. of Otumba, however, he resumed the ascendency, and, after a long siege, in which perished 100,000 Mexicans, he regained possession of the capital, and finally subjugated the whole of the kingdom. In 1536, he commanded in person a fleet which discovered California. Charles V., while under the impulse of gratitude, created him governour and captain-general of Mexico, and marquis of Guaxaca; but he subsequently removed him him from the governourship. In order to obtain justice, Cortez, in 1540, returned, for the second time, to Spain; and he accompanied the emperour to Algiers, where he highly distinguished himself. Yet he was unable to procure even an audience. "Who are you?” exclaimed Charles, when Cortez had on one occasion, To add to these after-qualms of conscience, the forced his way to the step of the emperour's carpoor animal lingered in his agony. He had evidently riage. "I am one," replied the undaunted warriour, received a mortal wound, but death might be long in" who has given you more provinces than your ancoming. It would not do to leave him here to be torn piecemeal, while yet alive, by the wolves that had already snuffed his blood, and were skulking Such is a brief account of the life of this remarkand howling at a distance, and waiting for my de-able man. We shall close our biography of him, parture, and by the ravens that were flapping about, with a description of the city of Mexico, at the time croaking dismally in the air. It became now an act of Cortez's conquest, which will give our readers a of mercy to give him his quietus, and put him out of slight idea of its magnificence. his misery. I primed one of the pistols, therefore, and advanced close up to the buffalo. To inflict a wound thus in cool blood, I found a totally different thing from firing in the heat of the chase. Taking aim, however, just behind the fore-shoulder, my pistol for once proved true; the ball must have passed through the heart, for the animal gave one convulsive throe and expired. cestors left you towns." Cortez died at Seville, in comparative obscurity, on the 2d of December, 1554. The city of Mexico, which contained sixty thousand families, was divided into two parts, one of which, called Tlatelulco, was inhabited by the meaner sort, while the court and nobility resided in the other, which had the appellation of Mexico, which from thence was given to the whole city. It stood in a spacious plain, surrounded by high While I stood meditating and moralizing over the falling down into the valley, formed several lakes, rocks and mountains, from which many rivulets wreck I had so wantonly produced, with my horse and among these were two that extended about thirty grazing near me, I was rejoined by my fellow-sports-leagues in circumference, and were surrounded by man, the virtuoso; who, being a man of universal adroitness, and withal, more experienced and hardened in the gentle art of "venerie," soon managed to carve out the tongue of the buffalo, and delivered it to me to bear back to the camp as a trophy. BIOGRAPHY.. fifty towns. These lakes communicated with each other, through openings left in a stone-wall, by which they were divided, and over these openings were wooden bridges, with sluices on each side, by which the lower lake was supplied from the other : the water of the uppermost was fresh, while that of the lower was salt, a circumstance proceeding from the nature of the soil. In the middle of the lake, stood the city of Mexico, in nineteen degrees thirteen minutes north latitude, yet the climate was mild and healthy for the natural moisture of the situation was corrected by frequent breezes of wind. HERNANDO CORTEZ.-Born, 1483-Died, 1554. HERNANDO CORTEZ, a descendant of a noble but poor family, was born at Medellin, in Estremadura, in 1485. The law, to which he was bred at Salamanca, he quitted for a military life. In 1504, he It was joined to the main land by three noble went to St. Domingo, and, in 1511, accompanied causeways; the streets were large and straight, and Velasquez to Cuba, and received from him a grant had a great number of canals for the convenience of of land, as a reward for his services. The conquest water carriage, in canoes and barks of various sizes of Mexico being resolved upon, Velasquez intrusted above fifty thousand of which vessels belonged to him with the command of the enterprise. The ex- the city. pedition, which consisted of ten small vessels, and All the publick buildings and houses of the nobil unly seven hundred men, sailed on the 18th of No-ity were stone, and even the habitations of the com mon people, though more mean and irregular, were disposed in such a manner as to form several large courts, in which their merchandise was exposed for The square of Flatelulco, in which they kept fairs on particular days of the year, though one of the largest in the world, was, on these occasions, quite -filled with tents, containing a variety of goods, and covered with coarse cotton cloths, which were proof against sun and rain. Here they sold by barter, jewels, chains of gold; and different utensils of silver curiously wrought, together with paintings, landscapes made of feathers beautifully arranged, different sorts of cloths, drinking cups of a kind of porcelain, fruit, fish, and all manner of provisions. Maize or cocoa served as money for small value; they had no weights, but a variety of measures; and instead of numbers, certain characters, by which they adjusted the prices of goods. There was a house appointed for judges of commerce, who decided all differences arising among the merchants, and these appointed inferiour officers to maintain justice and good order in the fair. Their temples were magnificent and spacious, particularly that dedicated to Vitziputzli, their god of war, who was esteemed the supreme of all their nose and forehead being swathed with bands of a deities. The first part of this edifice was a great blue colour: in the right hand it held a curling sersquare, enclosed within a wall of hewn stone, on pent, and in the left a shield of four arrows, with the outside of which were cut wreaths of serpents.five white plumes placed in the form of a cross, and At a little distance from the principal gate, was a the Mexicans related many extravagant stories replace of worship, with a flat roof, in which were specting these ornaments. fixed many trunks of trees in a row, with holes bored in them at equal distances, through which passed several bars run through the heads of men who had been sacrificed. On each side of the square, was a gate over which stood four statues of stone, representing inferiour deities, to whom the people on their entrance paid reverence; and though the dwellings of the priests and their attendants were built on the inside of this wall, there was space sufficient for ten thousand people to dance on their solemn festivals. In the middle of the square stood a lofty stone tower, having a staircase of one hundred and twenty steps, by which people ascended to the top, which formed a flat pavement forty feet square, beautifully paved with jasper, and surrounded with rails of a serpentine form. At the top of these stairs stood two marble statues well executed, supporting two large candlesticks of an extraordinary fashion.. A little farther was a green stone, about three feet high, and terminating in an angle, on which the priests extended the wretched victim while they opened his breast and plucked out his heart. Beyond this stone, fronting the staircase, stood a chapel of admirable workmanship, in which was placed the idol, upon a high altar, surrounded with curtains. It was of the figure of a man, sitting in a chair, sustained by a blue globe furnished with four rods jetting out from the sides, each terminating in the likeness of a serpent's head; and these rods the priests placed on their shoulders when they exposed the idol to the view of the publick. The head of the figure was covered with a helmet, composed of plumes in the form of a bird with a bill and crest of burnished gold. The countenance of this idol was horrible, the VOL. I.-52 There was placed on the left hand of this idol, another of the same size and form, made for Talock, the supposed brother of the former, and equally revered by the Mexicans. The ornaments of these chapels were of inestimable value, and there were in the city, eight temples built nearly in the same manner, and almost as rich: those of a similar size amounted to two thousand, dedicated to as many idols of different names. Besides the palace in which Montezuma kept his court, he had several magnificent pleasure houses, in one of which, a most elegant building supported by pillars of jasper, he kept an aviary of birds, remarkable either for their singing or plumage, so numerous, that three hundred men were employed in attending them. Not far from. this was another vast edifice, where the emperour's fowlers resided, and took care of the birds of prey, among which were some bred to the game like our hawks, and in the same place were voracious eagles of a very extraordinary size. In the second square of this house his wild beasts were kept, consisting of bears, tigers, lions, and Mexican bulls, which are extremely strong, nimble and fierce : and over their dens was a large apartment for buffoons and monsters, who were kept and instructed for the entertainment of the emperour. Montzeuma's grandeur was equally conspicuous in his armories. In one building a number of workmen were employed in making shafts for arrows, grinding flints for the points, and forming all sorts of arms, offensive and defensive; in another building the arms were laid up in great order; these consisted of bows, arrows and quivers, two-handed swords, edged with flints, darts and javelins, head-pieces, breastplates, quilted jackets, and bucklers made of impenetrable skins to cover the whole body, which the juice of salutiferous herbs. After eating, he they carried rolled upon their shoulders till they were ready to engage. To all these buildings there were large gardens well cultivated, producing a great variety of fragrant flowers and medicinal herbs set in squares, and adorned with beautiful summerhouses and fountains of water. But of all Montezuma's buildings, the most remarkable was his house of sorrow, to which he retired on the death of any favourite relation, or in case of publick calamity: this place was very well adapted to promote gloomy sentiments; the walls, roofs, and ornaments were black; instead of windows, it had only narrow openings in the walls, which admitted no more light, than was just sufficient to make the whole place appear more dismal. The emperour had also several pleasant countryseats, with large forests for the chase of lions and tigers, in which he took great delight. In these sports a number of men were employed to surround the game, and contract the circle into a certain space, where he beheld the combats of his huntsmen with the wild beasts, in which exercise the Mexicans were not less daring than dexterous. Montezuma had two sorts of guards, one of common soldiers who filled the courts of the palace, and were posted in bodies at the principal gates: the other consisted of two hundred nobles of distinguished rank, who were obliged to attend every day at the palace, to guard his person. This attendance of the nobility was divided between two bodies, who were upon duty by turns, comprehending the lords of the whole empire, who were obliged to repair to court from the most distant provinces; a scheme contrived by Montezuma, who thereby kept the nobility in dependance, and had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with their persons, capacities, and dispositions. He very seldom granted audience, and when any one was so far honoured, he entered barefoot, and made three reverences, saying at first, "lord," at the second, "my lord," and at the third, "great lord." He appeared in great state on these occasions, being surrounded by his courtiers; he listened attentively, and answered with severity, seeming delighted with the confusion of the speaker. Montezuma frequently dined in publick, but always sat alone at the table, which was usually covered with upward of two hundred dishes of different meats; out of which he fixed on a certain number for his own use, and ordered the rest to be divided among the nobility. He sat on a little stool at a large low table, which was covered with napkins and cloths of fine cotton. His dining-room was divided in the middle by a rail, which, without obstructing the view, kept the domesticks and crowd at a distance. Within the rails he was attended by three or four old favourite servants: the dishes were brought in by twenty women, richly dressed, who served up the meat, and presented him with the cup: the dishes, which were of fine earthen ware, as well as the cloths and napkins, having been once used, were distributed among the servants: he had cups and salvers of gold, and sometimes drank out of cocoa and other shells, richly ornamented with jewels. He drank several sorts of liquors, one of which was a kind of beer made of maize; others were perfumed with rich odours, and a third sort mixed with drank a kind of chocolate, and used to smoke a sort of tobacco perfumed with liquid amber: indeed the juice of this herb was one of the ingredients with which the priests wrought themselves up to a fit of enthusiasm, whenever they were obliged to deliver an oracular answer. Among other attendants at his table, were generally three or four buffoons, who diverted him with their ludicrous talents, and at proper intervals he was entertained with musick produced by pipes and seashells, accompanied by voices that formed an agreeable concert. The subject of these songs was generally the exploits of their ancestors, and the memorable actions of their kings. They had also merry songs used in dancing, accompanied with the musick of two little drums, made of hollow pieces of wood of different sizes and sounds: these were most commonly used in a dance called Mitates, practised at festivals, in which the nobility and the vulgar, mingling without distinction, used to shout, make odd gesticulations, and drink to each other till they were drunk. The people, at other times assembling in the squares and porches of the temple, made matches for wrestling, shooting at the mark, and running races. Here were also rope-dancers, performing in an astonishing manner, without the assistance of poles, and numbers of people playing at ball, near the statue of an idol, which the priests brought out, as the superintendant of that diversion. In a word the inhabitants of Mexico were almost every day entertained with shows and amusements, contrived by Montezuma, to divert their imaginations, which might otherwise have been employed to his disadvantage. The prodigious wealth of Montezuma, which enabled him to support the expense of his court, and to keep two large armies always in the field, arose from the salt-works and other taxes, established from time immemorial, from the produce of the gold and silver mines, and from the contributions levied on the subject, amounting to one third of the annual produce of that vast and populous empire. These taxes were collected by officers depending on the tribunal of the royal revenue, that resided in the court, and punished the least neglect or fraud with the loss of life. All the towns in the neighbourhood of Mexico furnished fuel for the royal palace, and men for the emperour's works. The nobility were obliged to guard his person, to serve in his army with a stipulated number of vassals, and to make him many presents, which though he received as gifts, they durst not neglect to offer. He had different treasurers for the several kinds of contributions; and the tribunal of the crown-revenue, having issued out what was wanted for the expenses of the war, and the royal palaces, converted the rest into ingots of gold. Besides this tribunal, there was a council of justice, which received appeals from inferiour courts; a council of state, a council of war, judges of commerce, and other officers, each of whom carried a staff as a badge of distinction. As the Mexicans had no written laws, but were governed by the customs and institutions of their ancestors, their trials were short and verbal; murder, |