2,12 7 ^^ Discoveries Settlements Book I. 
Ground, and the Places where they flood lowed with 
Salt. 
I chofe to mention the Attempts of the Spaniards to 
penetrate into this Country on the South-fide ; firfl, that 
I might end with thofe Attempts made by the fame Na- 
tion upon the North, by the great River Oronoco^ or, as 
moll of our Englip Writers write it, after the French 
Manner, Oronoque^ by which alfo Sir Walter Raleigh 
made his Attempt. The firfl: Perfon we read of who 
engaged in this Defign of finding and making himfelf 
Mafter of the Inca’s new City of Mamoa, was Diego 
de Ordaca^ who failed from Spain with a great Force lor 
this Purpofe, in the Year 1531; which, by the way, 
fliews how early this Notion was taken up, and that it 
Was not, as is commonly believed, invented by the 
Indians, to rid themfelves of Gonzalo Pizarro. This 
Diego de Ordqca, with fix hundred Foot and thirty Horfe, 
reached the Oronoco, where, by a Series of unlucky Acci- 
dents, too long for us to relate, his Expedition was totally 
ruined : Yet one of thefe Accidents proved the means 
(as the Spaniards pretend and believ^e) of making a full 
Difcovery of this famous City ; and the Story is thus 
told : When Ordaca came firfl upon this Coaft, and an- 
chored in the Flarbour of Morequito, his Magazine of 
Powder, by fome Mifchance, blew up ; and this be- 
ing imputed to the Carelefnefs oijtian Martinez, hive^yieS.- 
ter Gunner, he was condemned to be fliot for it •, but 
the Seamen prevailed to have this Punifhment changed 
into his being put alone into a little Canoe, with his 
Arms only, and without any Provifions, and lb com- 
mitted to the Mercy of the. Wind and Waves. 
In this wretched Condition he was found by fome of 
the Indians or Savages, who, having never feen a white 
Man before, paffed him about from one Place to ano- 
ther, till he came to the royal City of Manoa, where 
the King no fooner faw him than he knew him to be a 
Chriftian and a Spaniard, for this happened but a very 
little after the Marquis Pizarro had deftroyed the Em- 
pire of the Inca’s in Peru. This Prince, however, re- 
ceived him civilly enough, though he was far from for- 
getting the Cruelties exercifed by the Spaniards on his 
Countrymen. Fie kept him feven Months at Manoa 
but in all that time he was never fuffered to go with- 
out the City, or even to pafs through the Streets of it, 
without a Guard, and a Cloth bound over his Eyes. 
At the End of this Space, when it was perceived that 
Martinez had acquired, in fome Meafure, the .Language 
of the Country, the King lent for him, and propofed 
two Things to his Choice, viz. either to remain with 
him as long as he lived, or to return into his own Coun- 
try, and he chofe the latter ; upon which the King fent 
him under a Guard the fliortefl way to the River 
Oronoco •, but, at the Time he difmifTed him, he was 
pleafed to bellow on him, as a Mark of his Favour, a 
confiderable Qiiantity of Gold, which, however, was 
taken from him' by the Savages on the Frontiers, and 
by the Oronocoponi, a Nation fo called from their living 
upon the Banks of that great River. They left him, 
however, two large Bottles, in which they thought he 
kept his Drink, but which were really filled with Gold 
Dufl, and thefe he brought along with him to the Ifland 
of P rinidada, from whence he went afterwards to St. Juan 
de Puerto Rico, where he lived for fome Time, and 
from whence he intended to have procured a Paffage to 
Spain ', but being feized there with a mortal Difeafe ; 
after he had received the extreme Un 6 lion, and faw no 
Hopes of Life, he caufcd his two Bottles of Gold to be 
brought, and the Account he had written of his Voy- 
age : The Gold he gave to the Church for Maffes to be 
faid for his Soul, and the Relation of his Voyage was 
entered, at large, in the Regifters of the Chancery of 
St. Juan de Puerto Rico. 
To this Martinez the Spanip Writers unanimoufly 
afcpbe the Difcovery of this famous City, which he Riled 
Manoa el Dorada or the Golden Manoa, on account of 
the prodigious Quantities of that Metal which he had feen 
there, in their Palaces, Temples,, and other public Edifices, 
but more efpecially in their drunken FeaRs, of which he 
gave the following very fingular Account : That thofe who 
drank with the King, were quite naked, and having their 
Bodies rubbed over with a kind of thin gummy Bal- 
fam, they were then^ powdered with Gold DuR, fo as 
to be gilt from Head to Foot ; this Relation, whether 
true or falfe, proved of very fatal Confequence to the 
Spaniards, for it gave Occafion to, fome fay twenty, 
others fixty, feveral Expeditions in fearch of this golden 
City, all of them with very indifferent Succefs. Juan 
Cortez attempted it with thirty Men, but neither he 
nor they were ever heard of more. Gafpar de Sylva, 
and his two Brothers, failed with two hundred Men 
from the Canaries to reinforce Diego de Ordaca ; and, 
after taking a great deal of Pains, to no Purpofe, re- 
turned to the Ifland of Prinidada, where they died. 
Another Adventurer, in the fame way, was Don 
Pedro Hernandez de Serpa, v/ho landed at Cuniana, and 
afterwards marched by Land on the Banks of the Oro- 
noco till he came to an Indian Nation called Wikiri, who 
oppofed -his further Paffage, and attacked his Men With 
Rich Fury that only eighteen of his Spaniards efcaped 
from the Battle ; yet this Enterprize was of particular 
Service to Sir Walter-, for it fell out that when Captain 
Amias Prefion took the City of St. Jago de Leon by 
Storm, he made one of thefe Adventurers Prifoner, who 
gave him a large Account of the vaR Riches the Spa- 
niards hoped to find in this Country, which coming to the 
Ears of Sir W alter Raleigh, induced him to miake diligent 
and Rrifl Search into the Original of this Story, whence 
he came to colledt a Multitude of HiRories, relat- 
ing to this Matter of which we have given the Reader 
only a lew, that he might fee upon what Grounds this 
Expedition was undertaken, or rather what Reafon Sir 
Walter Raleigh thought fit to affign for his Voyage, in 
order to draw fuch an Approbation of it as was neceffary, 
from thofe whom nothing but a Shew of vaR and immedi- 
ate Profit could tempt ; for, I muR confefs, it feems very 
doubtful to me, whether Sir Walter Raleigh gave entire 
Credit to thefe Accounts, or not ; but whatever his own 
Opinion was, he had certainly a Right to ufe them as 
popular Arguments for promoting his Defign, fince no 
Politician ever doubted that it is lawful to cheat Men as 
well as Children for their own Good. But he took care 
to provide Reafons of another Nature, for Men of 
other Minds ; He fhewed them that of all the Coun- 
tries in America the moR profitable, the beR fituated, 
the eafieR planted, the moR defenfible, was Guiana. 
Thefe Notes of Excellency I have colledied from his 
Writings upon this Subjedt, which are very artfully im- 
methodical, and, under an apparent Carelefnefs of Stile 
and Order, are fo wrote, as to affedt the Mind of the 
Reader with an Opinion, that he has made Difcoveries 
in Sir Walter^ Treatife, by penetrating into thofe Se- 
crets, which he meant to conceal ; while, alas ! the true 
Secret is, that he meant thus to catch us, and make 
every Man’s UnderRanding revolt in his Favour. 
It was neceffary, in his Time, and more efpecially to 
him ; and therefore his Defign is as commendable as his 
Execution is inimitable. But that he might proceed cau- 
tioully in an Affair of fuch Importance, he fent before him 
one Capt. Whiddon, to take a View of the CoaR, that he 
might be perfectly informed of the State things were 
then in, and thereby become more able to take the 
proper Meafures for overcoming thofe Difficulties,, 
which a Man of lefs Sagacity v/ould have eReemed in- 
fuperable. This Gentleman did his Bufinefs effedlually, 
though he met with fome ObRrudlion from the Force, and 
fuffered much greater Tnconveniencies from the Frauds, 
of the Spaniards, v/ho were at that time bent upon the 
fame Defign, and labouring with the utmoR Diligence to^ 
difcover and fecure this valuable Country. 
Among other Adventurers there was one Gonzales 
Ximenes de Cafada, a Man of greater Courage than good 
Fortune ; who, after having had a large Share in the 
ConqueR of New Grenada, attempted to penetrate into 
Guiana -, but after a great Expence, and incredible Fa- 
tigue, to no Purpofe, was obliged'to return, difappointed 
indeed, but not in Defpair. This Gentleman had an 
only Daughter, whom he miarried to Don Antonio de 
Berreo •, to whom, - with a large Fortune, he bequeathed 
this Expedition, taking from him an Oath, that he 
would profecute the Difcovery and CpnqueR of Guiana, 
tO' 
