NO. 4 THE ORDAZ AND DORTAL EXPEDITIONS — SCHULLER 3 



Two of these inscriptions refer to the exploring expedition of the 

 famous conqueror Diego de Ordaz ' which set out from Paria on 

 June 23, 1532. With 280 men, 18 horses, and one mule he arrived 

 at the Indian village of Huyapari." 



The first legend, on the right of the Indian village depicted on the 

 map, runs thus : " El pueblo grande de huyapari E a dos leguas a 

 tierra adentro q(ue) do En seco la canoa gra(n)de de ordas " (" The 

 large village of Huyapari is situated two leagues inland from the 

 Orinoco River " — to which Oviedo added mention of the accident to 

 Ordaz's large canoe after his return from the expedition in search 

 of the Meta-El Dorado' — " Ordaz's large canoe remained [here] on 

 dry [land] ")• 



The second legend, above the mountains in the upper right-hand 

 part of the map, reads : " Esta sierra no la pudo pasar ordas por El 

 foE yndisposicion del agua E se torno por El mismo rio abajo a la 

 mar desde aquesta montana." (" Ordaz could not pass this chain of 

 mountains^ [by the river, on account of] the bad condition of the 

 water ' and from this mountain he returned down the same river to 

 the sea.") 



And, to the west of the mountains on the map, we read : " A Esta 

 parte o del otro cabo desta peha no an pasado xpianos " (" To this 

 side, or the other end of this rock. Christians had not [yet] come ").• 



These two inscriptions unquestionably refer to the disastrous 

 expedition up the River Orinoco to the " rapids," near the mouth 

 of the j\Ieta, undertaken by Ordaz in the second half of the year 

 1532, and this evidently led Harrisse" to believe that the map was 



' Native of Castro Verde in the Kingdom of Leon. Herrera : Historia 

 General, etc., Madrid, 1601, Dec. IV, libro X, cap. IX, p. 275. We see him 

 as early as 1515 in Cuba; cf. " Probanza hecha a peticion del almirante D. 

 Diego Colon." etc. Villa de San Salvador, Febrero 16, 1515 ; in " Colecc. 

 Docs. Ineditos " [" De los Pleitos de Colon," II], 2d serie, T. num. 8. Madrid, 

 1894, pp. 61-87. 



Herrera: Dec. II, libro VI, cap. XVIII, '".... i que Diego de Ordas 

 reconocio el Bolcan de Tlascala [Popocatepetl], cosa para los Indios mui 

 admirable" (edit, of 1726) (".... and that Diego de Ordas explored the 

 Tlascala volcano, a feat greatly admired by the Indians"). 



^ Properly termed Aruacay, according to Oviedo, loc. cit. 



^Oviedo, loc. cit., pp. 217-218; especially p. 2I8^ 



" It means that they could not overcome the powerful and rapid currents 

 produced by the narrowing of the river-bed between the mountains. 



° The low level during July and August. 



* " Cartographia Vetustissima," No. 200 (sic), instead of 202; in "Dis- 

 covery of North America," etc., London. 1892, pp. 588-589. 



