426 TUINIDAD. 



him. He probably succumbed to the cachexy which had deci- 

 mated his people. 



In 1576 two missionaries, members of the Society of Jesus, 

 came to Trinidad, and settled at Puerto de los Hispanioles (Port- 

 of- Spain), where they began to preach the Gospel to the Indians; 

 but they soon abandoned the task, and retired to the continent. 



It is a well-known fact that the great object of those who 

 flocked to the New World was to enrich themselves by the 

 discovery of precious stones and precious metals. About this 

 time the Dorado was the great attraction. It was supposed to 

 lie in Guiana, and many already had been the efforts directed 

 towards the discovery of that inexhaustibly rich country, accord- 

 ing to the rumours propagated by the Indians and one Juan 

 Martinez, otherwise Juan Martin de Albujar. 



The province of Guiana formed part, as it seems, of the 

 Government, or Capitania- General, of New Grenada, of whicl 

 Gonzalo Ximenes de Quesada was Captain-General. He had as 

 companion one Antonio de Berrio y Orufia, an enterprising an( 

 upright man of great energy. Don Antonio de Berrio, having 

 married Quesada's niece, was left by him sole heir of his large 

 fortune, on condition that he would prosecute the conquest o] 

 the Dorado. He, therefore, set on his undertaking in earnest, 

 and came down the Meta and the Orinoco, losing on his waj 

 down the rivers a large number of men and beasts. There ht 

 heard more of the Dorado. Being, however, unable to commence 

 the conquest of that fairy land, he came to Trinidad, there to 

 make his preparations. It was about the year 1584. De Berrio, 

 after firmly establishing himself in Trinidad, went to Margarita 

 and Cumana in search of reinforcements ; he then returned to 

 the island, and succeeded in subjugating the natives, and estab- 

 lishing a regular form of government. He then decided on 

 building a town, some six miles to the eastward of Puerto de los 

 Hispanioles, and gave it the name of " San Jose de Oruna/' 

 which was for several years the capital of the island. The site 

 was well chosen on an eminence, with the river Saint Joseph 

 running by, to the Caroni, which it joined about two miles south- 

 ward. He also built another town on the right bank of the 

 Orinoco at the spot known as " San Tome de Guiana," or 

 " Vieja Guiana." 



Spain pretended to be the sole power which had a right to 



