| | 1 | Author: | Bird
Robert Montgomery
1806-1854 | Add | | | Title: | Calavar, Or, the Knight of the Conquest  | | | | Published: | 1997 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 | | | | Description: | The day that followed after the flight of Abdoul-al-Sidi,
beheld the army of Cortes crossing that ridge
which extends like a mighty curtain, between the
great volcano and the rugged Iztaccihuatl; and many
a hardy veteran shivered with cold and discontent,
as sharp gusts, whirling rain and snow from the inhospitable
summits, prepared him for the contrast
of peace and beauty which is unfolded to the traveller,
when he looks down from the mountains to the
verdant valley of Mexico. Even at the present day,
when the axe has destroyed the forest; when the
gardens of flowers—the cultivation of which, with a
degree of passionate affection that distinguished the
Mexicans from other races, seemed to impart a tinge
of poetry to their character, and mellow their rougher
traits with the hues of romance,—when these flower
gardens have vanished from the earth; when the
lakes have receded and diminished, and, with them,
the fair cities that once rose from their waters, leaving
behind them stagnant pools and saline deserts;
even now, under all these disadvantages, the prospect
of this valley is of such peculiar and astonishing
beauty as, perhaps, can be nowhere else equalled
among the haunts of men. The providence of the
Spanish viceroys in constructing a road more direct
and more easy of passage, to the north of the great
mountains, has robbed travellers of the more spirit-stirring
impressions which introduced them to the
spectacle, when pursuing the ancient highway of the
Mexicans. It ascends among gloomy defiles, at the
entrance of which stand, on either hand, like stupendous
towers guarding the gate of some Titan
strong-hold, the two grandest pinnacles of the interior.
It conducts you among crags and ravines, among
clouds and tempests, now sheltering you under a
forest of oaks and pines, now exposing you to the
furious blasts that howl along the ridges. A few dilapidated
hamlets of Indians, if they occasionally
break the solitude, destroy neither the grandeur nor
solemnity of the path. You remember, on this deserted
highway, that you are treading in the steps of
Cortes. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
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