DISCOVERIES OF THE ENGLISH. %35 
nitude of his own achievement ; for he believes, 
" never any boat, nor any Christian,' ' had ascend- 
ed so high. He did not, therefore, feel himself 
called upon to proceed farther, but immediately 
began his voyage downwards. 
Considering the nature of this journal, and the 
shape in which it appears, shrewd suspicions have 
been entertained, whether the author ever per- 
formed the voyage which he so lamely describes. 
It is remarked, that gold had never been discover- 
ed in this track by any one but himself; that 
many of his notices have much the air of being 
borrowed from Jobson ; and that nothing can be less 
precise and satisfactory than the whole tenor of his 
narration. It is, in fact, so loose and general, as 
scarcely to afford ground to decide either for or 
against it. No one else, indeed, has discovered 
gold ; but no one appears to have searched for it 
so diligently, or to have analyzed the sands, either 
by chemical or mechanical processes. The mor- 
tifying mistakes, and disappointments of his own, 
which he recounts, bear a considerable semblance 
of truth. Stibbs, who seems to have possessed a 
more copious journal, and who was the best judge 
on the subject, does not express any doubts of his 
authenticity. If he really ascended the river, he 
probably went higher than any European. From 
the time of his passing Barraconda, three months 
are said to have elapsed ; a period which, if em- 
