305 



far as the coast of Cumana ; and they are fond 

 of relating* to travellers how much, at the time 

 of the expedition of Solano, they struck the 

 imagination of a commander at la Vieja Guay- 

 ana, a native of the mountains of Bierzo. This 

 old officer complained of having come by sea to 

 the banks of the Oroonoko. " If it be true," 

 said he, u as they affirm here, that this vast pro- 

 vince of Spanish Guyana extends as far as Por- 

 tugal (a los Portugueses), why did the court 

 make me embark at Cadiz? I should have 

 liked quite as well to have gone some leagues 

 farther by land." These expressions of ignorant 

 simplicity recall to mind the strange opinion 

 of cardinal Lorenzana. This prelate, other- 

 wise well versed in historical studies, says, in a 

 work printed in our own days at Mexico*, that 

 the possessions of the king of Spain in New 

 California and New Mexico, the northern ex- 

 tremity of which is in the latitude of 37° 48', 

 " border on Siberia by land." 



If two nations adjacent to each other in Eu- 

 rope, the Spanish and the Portugueze, have alike 

 become neighbours in the New Continent, they 

 owe this state of things, not to say this disad- 

 vantage, to the spirit of enterprise, the active 

 courage which both displayed at the period of 

 their military glory and political greatness. 

 The Castilian language is now spoken in both 



* Historia de Nueva Espanna y Cartas dc llermn Corks. 

 VOL. V. X 



