Cu. V. SOUTH AMERICA. 383 



This was the first expedition of any consequence, 

 to make discovery of the river Maranon : and if the 

 success of Pizarro was iiot equal to his force and zeal, 

 he was at least the instrument of its being entirely ac- 

 complished by another ; and to his resolution in 

 pressing forward through difficulties and dangers, and 

 by his expedient of building the armed vessel, must, 

 in some measure, be attributed the happy event of 

 Orellana's voyage, who, with a constancy which 

 shpwed him worthy of his general's favour, recon- 

 noitred the famous river of the Amazons throuo-h 

 its whole extent, the adjacent country, its innumera- 

 ble islands, and the multitude and diiierence of na- 

 tions inhabiting its banks. But this remarkable ex- 

 pedition deserves a more particular detail. 



Or ELL AN A began to sail down the river in the year 

 1541 J and in his progress through the several nations 

 along its banks, entered into a friendly conference 

 with many, having prevailed upon them to acknow- 

 ledge the sovereignty of the kings of Spain formally, 

 and with the consent of the caciques took possession 

 of it. Others, not so docile, endeavoured to oppose, 

 with a large fleet of canoes, his further navigation : 

 and with these he had several sharp encounters. In 

 one Indian nation bravery was so general, that the wo- 

 HiCn fought with no less intrepidity than the men ; 

 and by their dexterity showed that they were trained 

 up to the exercise of arms. This occasioned Orel- 

 lana to call them Amazons ; which name also passed 

 to the river. The scene of this action, according to 

 Orellana's own account, and the description of the 

 place, is thought to have been at some distance below 

 the junction of the Negro and Maranon. Thus he 

 continued his voyage till the 26th of August, in the 

 same year; when, having passed a prodigious number 

 of islands, he saw himself in the ocean." He now 

 proceeded to the isle of Cubagua, or, according to 

 others, to that of La Trinidad, with a design of go- 



