815 



that the empire of el Dorado is infinitely rich in 

 mines." It seems probable, that there was some- 

 thing in the ceremonies of the worship intro- 

 duced by Bochica, which gave rise to a tradition 

 so generally spread. The strangest customs are 

 found in the New World. In Mexico the sacri- 

 ficers painted their bodies, and wore a kind of 

 cope with hanging sleeves of tanned human 

 skin. I have published drawings of them made 

 by the ancient inhabitants of Anahuac, and pre- 

 served in the books of their rituals. 



On the banks of the Caura, and in other wild 

 parts of Guyana, where fainting the body is 

 used instead of tatooing, the nations anoint 

 themselves with turtle fat, and stick spangles of 

 mica with metallic lustre, white as silver, and 

 red as copper, on their skin, so that at a distance 

 they seem to wear laced clothes. The fable of 

 the gilded man is perhaps founded on a similar 

 custom ; and, as there were two sovereign 

 princes in New Grenada*, the lama of Iraca, 

 and the secular chief or zaque of Tunja, we 

 cannot be surprised, that the same ceremony was 

 attributed sometimes to the prince, and sometimes 

 to the high priest. It is more extraordinary, t hat as 

 early as the year 1535 the country of Dorado was 

 sought for on the east of the Andes. Robertson is 



* According to the analogy of the ancient government of 

 Meroe, that of Thibet, and of the dairi and kubo in Japan. 



