THE GILDED KINO. 31 



irith armour of massy gold." Gonzales Pizarro, in search- 

 ing for these treasures, discovered accidentally, in 1539, the 

 cinnamon-trees of America, (Lauras cinnamomoides, Mut.); 

 and Francisco de Orel! ana went down the Napo, to reach 

 the river Amazon. Since that period expeditions were 

 undertaken at the same time from Venezuela, New Grenada, 

 Quito, Peru, and even from Brazil and the Bio de la Plata,* 

 for the conquest of El Dorado. Those of which the remem- 

 brance have been best preserved, and which have most 

 contributed to spread the fable of the riches of the Manaos, 

 the Omaguas, and the Guaypes, as well as the existence of 

 the lagunas de oro, and the town of * the gilded king * 

 (Grand Patiti, Grand Moxo, Grand Paru, or Enim), are 

 the incursions made to the south of the Guaviare, the Bio 

 Fragua, and the Caqueta. Orellana, having found idols of 

 massy gold, had fixed men's ideas on an auriferous land 

 between the Papamene and the Guaviare. His narrative, 

 and those of the voyages oi Jorge de Espira (George von 

 Speier), Hernan Perez de Quesada, and Felipe de Urre 

 (Philip von Huten), undertaken in 1536, 1542, and 1545, 

 furnish, amid much exaggeration, proofs of very exact local 

 knowledge. t When these are examined merely in a geo- 

 graphical point of view, we perceive the constant desire of 

 the first conquistadores to reach the land comprised between 

 the sources of the Rio Negro, of the Uaupes (Guape), and 

 of the Jupura or Caqueta. This is the land which, in order 

 to distinguish it from El Dorado de la Parime, we have 

 called 1 Dorado des Omayuas.% No doubt the whole 

 country between the Amazon and the Orinoco was vaguely 

 known by the name of las Provincias del Dorado ; but in 



* Nufio de Chaves went from the Ciudad de la Asumpcion, situate on 

 the Rio Paraguay, to discover, in the latitude of 24 south, the vast 

 empire of El Dorado, which was everywhere supposed to lie on the 

 eastern back of the Andes. 



t We may be surprised to see, that the expedition of Huten is passed 

 over in absolute silence by Herrera (dec. 7, lib. 10, cap. vii, vol. iv, 

 p. 238). Fray Pedro Simon gives the whole particulars of it, true or 

 fabulous ; but he composed his work from materials that were unknown 

 to Herrera. 



J In 1560 Pedro de Ursua even took the title of Govemador rfef 

 Dorado y de Omcjuu. (Fray Pedro Simon, vol. vi. cha*>. z, p. 430.) 



