30 
DIFFEBENT SITES OF EL DORADO. 
second beiong those that are supposed to lie between the 
Kio Branco and the mountains of Dutch and French Gui. 
ana. It results from this sketch, that the question whether 
there exists a lake Parima on the east of the Eio Branco, is alto- 
ge^er foreiga to the problem of the sources of the Orinoco. 
Beside the country which we have just noticed (the 
Dorado de la Parime, traversed by the Eio Branco), another 
part 01 America is found, two hundred and sixty leagues 
toward the west, near the eastern back of the Cordillera of 
the Andes, equally celebrated in the expeditions to El Do- 
rado. This is the Mesopotamia between the Caqueta, the 
Eio JN^egro, the TJaiipes, and the Turubesh, of which I have 
^ready given a particular account; it is the Dorado of the 
Omaqms, which contains Lake Mauoa of Father Acunha, 
the Laguna de oro of the Guanes, and the auriferous laud, 
whence Father Fritz received plates of beaten gold in liis 
mission on the Amazon, toward the end of the seventeenth 
century. 
The first, and above all the most celebrated enterprises 
attempted in search of El Dorado were directed toward the 
eastern back of the Andes of ISTew Grenada. Fired with 
the ideas which an Indian of Tacunga had given of the 
wealth of the kmg or zaque of Cundiruinarca, Sebastian 
de Belalcazar, in 1535, sent his captains Anasco and Am- 
pudia, to discover the valley of El Dorado,* twelve days’ 
journey from Giiallabamba, consequently in the mountains 
between Paste and Popayan. The information which Pedro 
de Anasco bad obtained from the natives, joined to that 
which was received subsequently (1536) by Diaz de Pineda, 
who had discovered the provinces of Qdixos and Canela, 
between the EioNapo and the Eio Pastaca, gave birth to 
the idea that on the east of the Nemdos of Tuno-uragua 
Cayambe, and Popayan, “ were vast plains, abounding in 
precious metals, and where the inhabitants were covered 
El vaUe del Dorado. Pineda relates, “ qae mas adelante de la 
provincia de la Canela se hallan tierras muy ricas, adonde andaban los 
hombies armados de piejas y joyas de oro, y que m havia sierra, ni 
montana. [Beyond the province of Canela there are found very rich 
countries (though without mountains) in which the natives are adorned 
with trinkets and plates of gold.] Herrera, dec. v, lib. x, cap. xiv. and 
tom Tp 373^' p. 261. SoutAej/, 
