144 



THE LOWER AMAZONS 



miles, with 45 canoes and 900 men, and returned to Para 

 without any great misadventure by the same route. 

 The success of this remarkable undertaking amply proved, 

 at that early date, the facility of the river navigation, 

 the practicability of the country, and the good disposition 

 of the aboriginal inhabitants. The river, however, was 

 first discovered by the Spaniards, the mouth having been 

 visited by Pinzon in 1500, and nearly the whole course 

 of the river navigated by Orellana in 1 541-2. The voyage 

 of the latter was one of the most remarkable on record. 

 Orellana was a lieutenant of Gonzalo Pizarro, governor 

 of Quito, and accompanied the latter in an adventurous 

 journey which he undertook across the easternmost chain 

 of the Andes, down into the sweltering valley of the 

 Napo, in search of the land of El Dorado, or the Gilded 

 King. They started with 300 soldiers and 4000 Indian 

 porters ; but, arrived on the banks of one of the tri- 

 butaries of the Napo, their followers were so greatly 

 decreased in number by disease and hunger, and the re- 

 mainder so much weakened, that Pizarro was obliged 

 to despatch Orellana with fifty men, in a vessel they had 

 built, to the Napo, in search of provisions. It can be 

 imagined by those acquainted with the Amazons country 

 how fruitless this errand would be in the wilderness of 

 forest where Orellana and his followers found themselves 

 when they reached the Napo, and how strong their dis- 

 inclination would be to return against the currents and 

 rapids which they had descended. The idea then seized 

 them to commit themselves to the chances of the stream, 

 although ignorant whither it would lead. So onward 

 they went. From the Napo they emerged into the main 

 Amazons, and, after many and various adventures with 

 the Indians on its banks, reached the Atlantic eight 

 months from the date of their entering the great river ^. 



Another remarkable voyage was accomplished, in a 

 similar manner, by a Spaniard named Lopez d'Aguirre, 



^ It was during this voyage that the nation of female warriors 

 was said to have been met with ; a report which gave rise 

 to the Portuguese name of the river, Amazonas. It is now 

 pretty well known that this is a mere fable, originating in 

 the love of the marvellous which distinguished the early 

 Spanish adventurers, and impaired the credibility of their 

 narratives. 



