823 



Ursua, in going down the Caqueta to enter the 

 river of the Amazons, heard of the province of 

 Caricuri*. This denomination clearly indicates 

 the country of gold, for I find that this metal is 

 called caricuri in the Tamanac, and carucuru in 

 the Caribbee. Is it a foreign word, that denotes 

 gold among the nations of the Oroonoko, as the 

 words sugar and cotton are in our European 

 languages ? This would prove, that these nations 

 learned to know the precious metals among the 

 foreign products, which came to them from the 

 Cordilleras*f-, or from the plains at the eastern 

 back of the Andes. 



We arrive now at the period when ihefable of' 

 Dorado was fixed in the eastern part of Guyana, 

 first at the pretended lake Cassipa (on the banks 

 of the Paragua, a tributary stream of the Caro- 

 ny), and afterward between the sources of the 

 Rio Essequebo and the Rio Branco. This cir- 

 cumstance has had the greatest influence on the 

 state of geography in those countries. Antonio 

 de Berrio, son in law;}: and sole heir of the great 



* Fray Peclro Simon, p. 422. 



t In Peruvian or Quichua (lengua del Inga) gold is called 

 cori, whence are derived ckichicori, gold in powder, and con- 

 key a, gold ore. 



X Properly " casado con una sobrina." (Fray Pedro Si- 

 mon, p. 597 and 608. Harris.ColUi vol. ii, p. 212. Laet> p. 

 652. Caulin, p. 175.) Raleigh calls Quesada Cemenes de 

 Casada, He also confounds the periods of the voyages of 



