MAPS OF RALEIGH AND HONDITJS. 





brated incursion of that navigator, in 1595, on the coast of 

 Venezuela and at the mouths of the Orinoco. Raleigh col- 

 lected from Berrio, and from other prisoners made by 

 Captain Preston* at the taking of Caracas, all the informa- 

 tion which had been obtained at that period on the countries 

 situate to the south of Vieya Guayana. He lent faith to 

 the fables invented by Juan Martin de Albujar, and enter- 

 tained no doubt either of the existence of the two lake* 

 Cassipa and Ropunuwini, or of that of the great empire of . 

 the Inca, which, after the death of Atahualpa, the fugitive 

 princes were supposed to have founded near the sources of 

 the Essequibo. We are not in possession of a map that 

 was constructed by Raleigh, and which he recommended to 

 lord Charles Howard to keep secret. The geographer 

 Hondius has filled up this void ; and has even added to his 

 map a table of longitudes and latitudes, among which figure 

 the laguna del Dorado, and the Ville Imperials de Manoas. 

 Raleigh, when at anchor near the Punta del Gallof in the 

 island of Trinidad, made his lieutenants explore the mouths 

 of the Orinoco, principally those of Capuri, Grand Am ana 

 (Manamo Grande), and Macureo (Macareo). As his ships 



* These prisoners belonged to the expedition of Berrio and of Her- 

 nandez de Serpa. The English landed at Macuto (then Guayca Macuto), 

 whence a white man, Yillalpando, led them by a mountain-path between 

 Cumbre and the Silla (perhaps passing over the ridge of Galipano) to the 

 town of Caracas. (Simon, p. 594 ; Raleiyh, p. 19.) Those only who are 

 acquainted with the situation can be sensible how difficult and daring this 

 enterprise was. 



+ The northern part of La Punta de Icacos, which is the south-east 

 cape of the island of Trinidad. Christopher Columbus cast anchor there 

 August 3, 1498. A great confusion exists in the denomination of the 

 different capes of the island of Trinidad ; and as recently, since the expe- 

 dition of Fidalgo and Churruca, the Spaniards reckon the longitudes in 

 So uth America west of La Punta de la Galera (lat. 10 50', long. 63 20', 

 \t ia important to fix the attention of geographers on this point. Colum- 

 bua called the south-east cape of the island Punta Galera, on account of 

 th& form of a rock. From Punta de la Galera he sailed to the west, and 

 laa ded at a low cape, which he calls Punta del Arenal; this is our Punta 

 de Icacos. In this passage, near a place (Punta de la Playa) where he 

 st opped to take in water (perhaps at the mouth of the Rio Erin), he saw 

 to the south, for the first time, the continent of America, which he called 

 Isla Santa. It was, therefore, the eastern coast of the province of Cu- 

 mana, to the east of the Cafio Macareo, near Punta Redonda, and not the 

 mountainous coast of Paria (Isla de Gracia, of Columbus), which was first 

 discovered. 



