12 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 66 



The author, surely a Spanish professional chart-maker, used for 

 the compilation of the map, at lea%t as far as concerned the rivers 

 Esequibo and Orinoco, data which he must either have obtained 

 direct from explorers of these rivers, or else he may have simply 

 copied an original chart to which, presumably, he afterwards added 

 several of the inscriptions. 



The fancy representation of the course of the Amazon River, on 

 the contrary, was, ostensibly, depicted from one of the numerous 

 derivatives of the Sebastian Cabot Mappa Mundi of 1544.* 



Two of the legends relate to the Ordaz expedition in 1532. The 

 first is placed, approximately, in the region which on Oviedo's map 

 is occupied by the Indian village Huyapari, and runs as follows : 

 " esto q[ue] mo Ordas. ano. 1536 " (" This was burned [by order of] 

 Ordaz in 1536"). This refers to that shameless outrage committed 

 by Ordaz before he started up the Orinoco, in the village of the 

 Indian chief Baratu-baro. 2 For some trifling reason the cruel dis- 

 coverer ordered the village to be burned, and over 120 of the defence- 

 less Indians perished in the flames. 3 



The second legend, at the foot of the chain of mountains in the 

 interior, and to the left of the rapids, where Ordaz was compelled 

 to abandon his project, reads : " Aqui llego ordas co[n] sus naujos y 

 no pudo passar por vn salto q[ue] el rio haze e[n] la sierra y volujose 

 ano 1536* murio en la mar camjno de Castilla " (" Ordaz reached 

 this place with his vessels and was unable to sail farther, on account 

 of a fall formed by the river in the mountains, and he returned, 1536. 

 He died at sea on the voyage to Castille "). 



That the dates of the historical events are the chart-maker's weak 

 point, can be seen also in the following inscription which refers to 

 Orellana's memorable voyage down the Amazon River in 1542: 

 " Aiio de 1546* baxo este rio abaxo Orillana. mas q[ue] mjll leguas 

 y fue a espana y bolujo co[n] la gouernacio[n] do[n]de se p|er] dio 

 co[n] todos los qu[e] co[n] el yuafn] por entrar por el rio a riba( !) 

 q[ue] es grafn] parte anegadizos e auja salido este del peru co[n] 



1 Diego Homen, 1558. British Museum, Add. MSS. 54I5A, reprod. by Rio 

 Branco, loc. cit, No. n. Diego Homen; 1568, ibid. No. 17*; Atlas of Bartolome 

 Olives, Vatican, Codex Urbinas, 283 ; ibid. No. 15. 



2 It is a very interesting fact that names of Indian chiefs and of rivers are 

 often identical, as f. i., Baratu-baro, Juan-ico, Tari-pari, or Turi-pari, 

 and so on. 



3 Oviedo, II, p. 216. 



4 Originally, " 1536!" See the emendation on the accompanying photograph 

 of this map. 



