Everybody knows, that when the Spaniards conquered Mexico, they experienced but little difficulty in subduing the peaceable nation inhabiting those southwestern countries by means of their firearms, which proved to be far superior to the bows and arrows of their opponents, and against which courage availed almost nothing. The ruler Montezuma saw the impossibility of resisting, and called to his aid the neighboring tribes. At that epoch the Moskoquis formed a powerful separate republic in the northwest of Mexico; they succored him with a numerous body of warriors, but were frightfully decimated by the Spaniards, who dismembered Montezuma's domain, and almost completely depopulated it. The conquerors also extended their sceptre over the territory of the Moskoquis, who, disdaining abject slavery, preferred to leave their native country to regain their former independence.