SETTLEMENTS ON THE DEMERARY, &C. 



347 



CHAPTER XVII. 



EXTRACTS FROM SIR WALTER RALEGH's RELATION OF HIS 



FIRST VOYAGE TO GUYANA TRINIDAD, OR CAIRI ^THE 



ESSEQUEBO COAST THE RIVER ORINOKO. 



I AM persuaded it will be agreeable to my readers, especi- 

 ally to my colonial readers, if I insert, from Sir Walter Ra- 

 legh's first voyage to these parts, an account of his discoveries 

 along the coast of Guyana : it stamps a sort of Englishness on 

 the shore, to have the first accounts of its rivers and inhabi- 

 tants to seek in the relations of English navigators. 



"On Thursday, February 6th, in the year 1595, we de- 

 parted England, and the Sunday following had sight of the 

 north cape of Spain, the wind for the most part continuing 

 prosperous. We passed in sight of the Burlings and the rock, 

 and so onward for the Canaries, and fell in with Fuerte Ventura 

 the 17th of the same month, where we spent two or three days, 

 and relieved our companies with some fresh meat. Thence 

 we coasted by the Gran Canaria, and so to Teneriffe, and stayed 

 there for the Lion's Whelp, and for captain Amias Preston, and 



Y y 2 



