8 THE SEA. 



" defended with rocks of hard stones, which we call white spar " (presumably quartz). He 

 states that in the canoes which escaped there was a good quantity of ore and gold. 



Still proceeding, on the fifteenth day, to their great joy, the distant mountains of 

 Guiana came into view, and the same day brought them in sight of the oreat Orinoco 

 about the branches of which river thousands of tortoise eggs were found, which proved to be 

 "very wholesome meat, and greatly restoring." The natives, too, were friendly, and to 

 Raleigh's credit, be it said, he appears in all cases to have treated them fairly and well. 

 With the cacique he made merry, treating the natives to a small quantity of Spanish wine, 

 they in return bringing in fruits, bread, fish, and flesh. The chief conducted them to his 

 own town, " where/' says Ealeigh, " some of our captains caroused of his wine till they 

 were reasonably pleasant ; for it is very strong with pepper, and the juice of divers herbs 

 digested and purged; they keep it in great earthen pots of ten or twelve gallons, very 

 clear and sweet; and are themselves at their meetings and feasts the greatest carousers 

 and drunkards in the world." The settlement stood on a low hill, " with goodly gardens 

 a mile compass round about it." And so they proceeded, meeting friendliness everywhere 

 among the natives, till the rivers commenced fast rising, and they could not row against the 

 stream. Small parties were then detailed ashore to look for mineral stones. Raleigh describes 

 the country as lovely ; " the deer crossing in every path ; the birds towards the evening 

 singing on every tree with a thousand several tunes; cranes and herons, of white, crimson, 

 and carnation, perching on the river's side ; the air fresh with a gentle easterly wind ; and 

 every stone that we stooped to take up promised either gold or silver by its complexion. * * * 

 I hope some of them cannot be bettered under the sun ; and yet we had no means but with 

 our daggers and fingers to tear them out here and there, the rocks being most hard, of that 

 mineral spar aforesaid, which is like a flint, and is altogether as hard, or harder; and 

 besides, the veins lie a fathom or two deep in the rocks. But we wanted all things requisite, 

 save only our desires and good will, to have performed more, if it had pleased God." Some 

 of the others brought glistening stones, and among them, apparently pyrites, which very 

 commonly accompanies gold, but of the precious metal itself Raleigh could hardly boast 

 a speck in truth. His account of these discoveries is mixed up with the strangest fables, 

 as for example of the Ewaipanoma, a people of that country whose eyes were in their 

 shoulders, and their mouths in the middle of their breasts ! 



The ships were regained, and the expedition sailed for England, where Raleigh, 

 in spite of the work which he published under the boastful title of " The Discovery of the 

 Large, Rich, and Beautiful Empire of Guiana, with a Relation of the Great and Golden 

 City of Manoa (which the Spaniards call El Dorado)," &c., lost both popular and queenly 

 favour, having brought home no booty. In fact the narrative given to the world rather 

 did him harm than good, for it is full of excuses, admits that the voyage had been most 

 unprofitable, and is undoubtedly not veracious in many particulars. His arguments for 

 immediately attempting the conquest of Guiana were not regarded. Yet still he had 

 means and friends. Two expeditions to Guiana were afterwards organised, neither of which 

 resulted in any discovery or profit. 



But others besides Raleigh and his followers had been inflamed with the accounts 

 floating about concerning El Dorado. Berrio, the Spanish Governor before mentioned, 



