a ORI&Itf OF MICTIONS 



thyfts, and all the precious ftanes, were fhovelled to- 

 gether in heaps, to be carried for fale, at a trifling 

 price, to the fairs of this golden land, as play-things 

 for children. The luft of gold fet all the faculties of 

 the imagination at work for defcribing this miraculous 

 region in terms proportionate to its dignity and worth ; 

 and it was thought not poffible to be liable to exagge- 

 rate in thefe defcriptions, as the diamond- pits in the 

 Brazils, and the gold and filver mines of Mexico and 

 Peru, apparently juftined the higher! expectations. 



A number of adventurers fitted themfelves out to 

 go upon a viflt to this glorious land. Indeed, they 

 did not exactly know where to find it ; but this was 

 the leafb of their difficulties. Some went in quefl: of 

 it on the coaft of Carthagena or St. Martha f and, not t 

 finding it there, they proceeded to Bogata, the ancient 

 capital of New Granada. But neither was it here* 

 However, in the luxuriant vale of Samagofa, which 

 lay at no great diftance, as they had been told, they 

 would be fure to find it. Hither they came ; and in- 

 deed here they found gold, but in far too little quanti- 

 ties for a Dorado to produce. 



Unwearied in their refearches, they went on to feek it 

 in Quito, in Venezuela, in the regions of the Guaviari, 

 6n the Rio Negro, or the fea of Parima. It was long 

 thought to lie behind the lofty mountains which bor- 

 der the city of St. Fede to the eaft and fouth: but* 

 wherever they went to look for it, it feemed to fly be- 

 fore them. 



Among!! other adventurers, Quefada fet. out to feek 

 it, in the year 1543, attended by two hundred foldiers. 

 After having traverfed, with inexpreflible labour, the 



above- 



