WHOLE VOL. THE WEST INDIES — VAZQUEZ DE ESPINOSA 59 



and through many other provinces with different tribes, and pours 

 into the sea through many mouths, as I shall describe fully in the 

 following chapters. 



153. On the shores and banks of these mighty rivers there are 

 many aromatic trees, like those furnishing dragon's blood ; stick a 

 knife into one, and this liquid oozes out. They get also canime, bal- 

 sam, liquidambar, benzoin, storax ; there are cinnamon trees and 

 other valuable timber, copal and other gums, and medicinal fruits, 

 roots, and juices. 



154. The city of Santo Tome was established on the shores of 

 this mighty River Orinoco ; it was founded and settled by Gov. 

 Antonio de Berrio in the year 1588, in the huge province of the 

 Guayane Indians called Guiana, 40 leagues up the river from the sea, 

 at 9° N. The city has over 80 Spanish residents, with a parish church 

 and a Franciscan convent. The country has a warm climate and 

 many woods and forests. The chief product of this province is tobacco, 

 excellent and abundant ; there are cattle and hog ranches, which are 

 increasing ; these were introduced from the Province of Caracas and 

 the city of San Sebastian. They are beginning to plant cacao and 

 the yield is excellent ; in addition they have Spanish fruit trees, which 

 need nursing along, as is natural in a new country. Their chief sub- 

 sistence is Indian corn and cassava, which grow and yield abundantly 

 in the fertile soil ; they have much native fruit ; the city is excellently 

 provided with fish, of which much is caught in the rivers, and with 

 the feathered and other game which they hunt in the hills. 



155. There are in the district of Guiana more than 600,000 souls 

 lacking knowledge of our Holy Faith ; in the following chapters I 

 shall describe the tribes which dwell along the banks and shores of 

 this mighty River Orinoco, all of them still heathen because there is 

 no prelate to promote the conversion of their souls, for since the 

 foundation of the city not a prelate has seen or visited it ; the reason 

 is that although at the beginning the Archbishop of the New King- 

 dom of Granada was charged with the task, he declined it because 

 the great distance (300 leagues) and the necessity of passing through 

 hostile Indian territory rendered it impossible. Then the Council, 

 in His Majesty's name, entrusted it to the Bishop of Puerto Rico, 

 likewise 300 leagues distant, for a period of 4 years ; he did not come 

 to visit it, either, and those new countries have not had the good 

 fortune of seeing any prelate among them, to strengthen and comfort 

 them. 



156. Accordingly, since these provinces are so remote and back- 

 ward, and are coveted by the Dutch pirates and other foreign nations, 



