Orelland's Descent of the Amazon. 13 



Great islands were passed, channels running parallel with the 

 main stream larger than any river they had ever seen. Still 

 on. they went, till after several months they reached the Atlantic 

 Ocean. Then they sailed north in their little boat, skirting the 

 coast to Trinidad, where they found a vessel which bore them 

 to Spain. They recounted the story of the great river ; the 

 wonderful country through which they passed ; and the rich 

 mines of which they had heard. They told fabulous tales of 

 the Amazonians they had encountered, strong and masculine 

 women, armed with bows and arrows, living by themselves, 

 admitting men into their country only one month in the year, 

 killing or sending away the male children and training the girls 

 to become amazons and warriors. 



Orellano was received by the Queen ; his treachery was for- 

 gotten and a new expedition was sent out under his command ; 

 but he died before reaching the i-iver. 



Meantime, Pizarro and his followers slowly and with difficulty 

 made their way down the Napo, taking as many months to reach 

 the Amazon as Orellano had taken days. They looked in vain 

 for their companions, but found only the solitary man who 

 had been left behind, scarcely alive, and from him learned of 

 Orellano's desertion. Further explorations being impossible, 

 they turned back, reached Quito two years after their departure, 

 their horses gone, theii' arms broken or rusted, the skins of wild 

 animals their only clothing. " The charnel house seemed to 

 have given up its dead, as they glided onward like a troop of 

 spectres." Half of the Indians had perished, and of the three 

 hundred and fifty cavaliers only eighty were left. 



Such was the end of an expedition which for dangers and 

 hardships, length of duration, and constancy displayed is proba- 

 bly unmatched in the annals of American discovery, 



Guiana; 



Guiana is the only country of South America not inhabited by 

 the Latin race. It was acquired for Great Britain by one who 

 acted contrary to his instructions in . attacking a power, Spain, 

 with which his own country was at peace. 



Gonzalo Pizarro, on his journey down the Napo in 1539, heard 

 wonderful stories of a golden city far away on the banks of the 

 Orinoco, surrounded by mountains of gold. Rumors of this 

 golden city were carried by English navigators to Great Britain, 



