CHAPTER III.
RAIDS ALONG THE SOUTH SEA.
1521-1524.
King Zwanga's Warning — First Entry into Michoacan — Montaño's Visit to the Court of Tangaxoan — A Narrow Escape — Tarascan Envoys — Olid Invades Michoacan — Outrages at Tangimaroa and Tzintzuntzan — Colonization Attempted — Visions of the South Sea — Ship-building at Zacatula — The Route to the Spice Islands — Álvarez' Mishap in Colima — Olid Avenges Him — Chimalhuacan Region — Isle of the Amazons — Cortés Hastens to Appropriate a Rich Field — The Queen of Jalisco — Tradition of a Shipwrecked Cross.
It has already been told how the Aztecs in their sore distress appealed for aid to King Zwanga of Michoacan, representing to him the danger of letting ruthless strangers obtain a foothold in the country. Brief as had been their stay, they had revealed their avowed intentions by rapacious extortion and enslavement, by overthrowing the cherished religion of their forefathers, and by slaughtering those who attempted to defend their homes and institutions, going even so far as to shackle the sacred person of the emperor, and finally to murder him. Zwanga was naturally roused, especially at the probable fate awaiting himself, and he hastened to send envoys to Mexico to gain further information and advice before he should trust himself to a people who had ever been hostile to his race, or should venture to face the wrath of the children of the sun. He resolved, nevertheless, to arm for any emergency, and quickly a hundred thousand men stood prepared, to join, perhaps, in an overwhelming avalanche that should sweep the Spaniards from
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