6 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 66 



command of the intrepid but unscrupulous Alonso de Herrera. The 

 itinerary of Herrera's ill-fated voyage is described on Oviedo's map 

 as follows : 



" Este Es vn estero por donde entro alonso de herrera El qual 

 Entra En Elrio de Huyapari E hazenle Estos rios q(ue)s dicho." 

 ("This is a swamp where Alonso de Herrera entered and* which 

 empties into the River Huyapari ; it is formed by the aforesaid 

 rivers.") 1 



Further, in the angle formed by the Huyapari and Carranaca 

 rivers, we read : " Rio de carranaca por El qual Entro alonso de 

 jierrera 2 E passo adelante E deste( !) Este rio hasta El estero de 

 Meta por El grande huyapari ay XXXVII leguas " (" River Carra- 

 naca where Alonso de Herrera entered and went farther on and 

 from this river to the Meta swamps, up the great river Huyapari, it is 

 37 leagues"). 3 



Facing the mouth of the swamp there is the following legend: 

 " Rio de meta por donde Entro alonso de herrera con la armada de 

 geromi -(sic) no( !) dortal E le mata ron " ("River Meta, where 

 Alonso de Herrera entered with the fleet of Geronimo Dortal ; and 

 they killed him"). 4 



Finally, the last legend to be considered in connection with this 

 disastrous exploring expedition appears at the left of the Tinoco 

 River on the map. The legend reads: " Aqui mataro[n] a al de 

 herrera 5 teniente del gou or dortal y has ta aqui llego despues El dicho 

 dortal y hallo yndicios veros de la muerte del dicho he rera E se hallo 



1 The affluents are as follows : " R. de tinoco, R. de Nirua, R. de pao, R. dela 

 portuguesa, Rio vininio, R. gunaguanari. 



2 The elegia IX, canto I, of Juan de Castellanos' " Elegias de varones ilustres 

 de Indias," does not at all refer to Herrera's expedition in 1535, as is 

 erroneously asserted by the untrustworthy Chilean writer Jose Torfbio 

 Medina, " Notas " to " El Descubrimiento del rio de las Amazonas," pp. 273-274. 



3 Oviedo, II, cap. IX, p. 245*, ' from the Gulf of Paria to the village of 

 Caburutu, 150 leagues; from San Miguel de Neveri, a small town founded 

 by Dortal in 1536, on the coast of Maracapana, to the said village, 40 leagues ; 

 and from San Miguel to the mouth of the river Huyapari, 120 leagues of 

 sea-coast." 



4 Loc. cit, libro XXIV, cap. VII, p. 240". 



Medina, 1. c., settles the matter in a very summary manner, saying flatly: 

 "Verificada en 1535, fue dirigida a las regiones que se extienden al norte 

 del Amazonas" (sic ! !) ("Organized in 1535, [the expedition] was directed 

 to the regions situated to the north of the Amazon River"). 



5 He was wounded with a poisoned arrow, cf . loc. cit., and see p. 247", where 

 is given a detailed account of the preparation of urari, or curari, by the Carib 

 Indians. 



