2o8 A. D. 1595, 



fifli at Iceland, the port of Weflmony alone excepted ; the fifhery of 

 that port being now, as well as antiently, appropriated for the ufe and 

 fervice of his own court. [Fa'dera, V. xvi, p. 275. 1 



Sir Walter Raleigh having in the preceding year fent out a fhip for 

 making difcoveries in the country of Guiana, of which he had, unhap- 

 pily and fatally, formed very exalted ideas with refped: to its immenfe 

 treafures and great cities, from falfe information, this year failed thi- 

 ther himfelf with feveral fhips, and many worthy and experienced gen- 

 tlemen and mariners. He firft feized the fort on the ifle of Trinidad, 

 where he learned that Guiana extended above fix hundred miles up- 

 from that coafl ; and there he alfo received abundance of frefli but very 

 falfe accounts of rich mines and great cities, and particularly the vaft 

 and rich city named El Dorado, or Manoa, the fuppofed capital of Gui- 

 ana. On this romantic prefumption, Raleigh, with an hundred men in 

 boats, failed four hundred miles up the great river Oronoque, enduring 

 great fatigues for a whole month, but without meeting with any great 

 city, though he faw many Indian nations on its banks : but it begin- 

 ning to fwell on account of the approach of their winter, he found him- 

 felf obliged to return to his fhips before he could reach that imaginary 

 golden city : he is, however, faid to have brought back fome plates of 

 gold, which he had obtained from the bordering nations who traded' 

 with Guiana. He had, it is faid, been encouraged to this attempt by 

 his coufin the lord admiral Howard, and by Sir Robert Cecil fecretary 

 of ftate, to whom he dedicated his account of it. 



In this fime year, Sir Amias Prefton, with three fhips, burnt Porto 

 Santo at the Madeiras ; thence failing to the Weft-Indies, he deftroyed' 

 fome of the Spaniards' towns there (poorly defended doubtlefs), and re- 

 turned home with fome booty, though probably lefs in value than the 

 expenfe incurred. And Sir Francis Drake, with fix of Queen Eliza- 

 beth's own fliips, twenty-one private fhips and barks, and 2500 men, 

 failed from Plymouth to the Weft-Indies, where (the Spaniards know- 

 ing of their coming) he did but little execution againfl their towns ; fo 

 well had they now fortified almofl every where, being fufficiently warn- 

 ed by former diikfters : there he fought with part of a Spanilh fleet 

 fent againft him, with little advantage. Next he attempted with 750 

 men to get crofs the ifthmus of Darien to Panama on the South fea, but 

 the Spaniards had fo fortified the roads that they were forced to come 

 back t) their fnips. In their return homeward, both Sir Francis Drake 

 and Sir John Hawkins (two mofl gallant commanders) died at, and were 

 buried ia, their element, — the fea. 



The officers and failors of the Dutch fhips which had been fent laft 

 year to try a pafTage by the north-eaft to China and India giving ftill 

 great hopes of being able to find fuch a paflcige, v/hich they computed 

 would be about 2000 miles nearer than the ufual way, the ftates-general 



