856 



only twenty leagues distant from the lake Pa- 

 rima, or the banks of the Rio Branco. This 

 proximity procured credit to the tidings of the 

 flight of the Inca to the forests of Guyana, and 

 the removal of the treasures of Cuzco to the 

 easternmost parts of that country. No doubt 

 in going up toward the east, either by the 

 Meta or by the Amazon, the civilization of the 

 natives, between the Puruz, the Jupura, and 

 the Iquiari, was observed to increase. They 

 possessed amulets, little idols of molten gold, 

 and chairs sculptured with art; but these traces 

 of dawning civilization are far distant from those 

 cities and houses of stone described by Raleigh 

 and those who followed him. We have made 

 drawings of some ruins of great edifices east of 

 the Cordilleras, when going down from Loxa 

 toward the Amazon, in the province of Jaen de 

 Bracamoros ; and thus far the Incas had carried 

 their arms, their religion, and their arts. The 

 inhabitants of the Oroonoko were also, before 

 the conquest, when abandoned to themselves, 

 somewhat more civilized than the independant 

 hordes of our days. They had populous villages 

 along the river, and a regular trade with more 

 southern nations ; but nothing indicates, that 

 they ever constructed an edifice of stone. We 

 saw no vestige of any during the course of our 

 navigation. 



Though the celebrity of the riches of Spanish 



