WHOLE VOL. THE WEST INDIES VAZQUEZ DE ESl'lNOSA 97 



which have been planted ever since 1615 in large cacao orchards and 

 plantations, which bear harvests of cacao in great abundance. They 

 brought down these cacao trees from the sierras and ridges of the inland 

 country, where there were great thickets and woods of wild cacao, in 

 which the cacao trees sprang up, climbed, and overtopped the other 

 trees in their path sunward ; they made up great bundles of these wild 

 trees, transplanted them and created plantations and ranches with these 

 cacao trees and fruit trees, thus enriching the country and its inhabi- 

 tants ; these trees are not as delicate to raise as those in New Spain 

 and Honduras. 



273. The province of the Ouiriquires lies 24 leagues E. of Caracas, 

 on the direct route to the Provinces of Guiana, in which the city of 

 Santo Tome is located. This province of the Quiriquires was sub- 

 dued by Capt. Sebastian Diaz de Alfaro, who went as General of the 

 expedition; with him, in the year 1585, were Captains Diego de 

 Henares, his son Juan de Lezama, Mateo Diaz, Andres de San Juan, 

 Juan Garcia, Mateo de Haya, and other soldiers ; and after having 

 some encounters with the heathen, they reduced them to a state of 

 peace, and since the country was suitable and had wide pasture lands, 

 they established the city of San Sebastian in a meadow that same 

 year ; it has a hot climate, and counts 70 Spanish residents. The chief 

 specialty of this region is large cattle ranches, which produce quanti- 

 ties of hides which are shipped to Spain. 



274. It was from this city of San Sebastian that Diego de Henares 

 Lezama and his son Juan de Lezama started on their exploration and 

 conquest of Guiana and El Dorado, where the father died in His 

 Majesty's service ; and Juan Lezama was continuing his service when 

 the corsair Walter Raleigh came up the Orinoco with 10 naval vessels 

 and 1,500 men, to settle down and fortify themselves in those 

 Provinces of Guiana, in the year 1618. This Capt. Juan Lezama with 

 great courage gathered together the residents of the city, as has been 

 narrated in chapter XI, and fought with the enemy till he drove them 

 out of the country ; and when he had informed His Majesty of the 

 death of the Governor and of the condition of those who survived, the 

 King wrote the city a letter of the following tenor : 



275. "The King to the Council, Judiciary, and Administration of 

 Santo Tome of Guiana. Your letter of Jan. 26 of this year has been 

 received and considered in my War Council (Junta de Guerra) of 

 the Indies. In it you relate what occurred in the capture of that city, 

 and the death of Gov. Diego Palomeque de Acuna, and how the 

 residents of the city are badly off. I am particularly grateful to such 

 good and loyal vassals, since, though so few in numbers and taken 



